Wow you guys, I'm so terribly sorry I haven't updated. School is awful! And I've been having a rough time lately. Anyways, I've been rewatching the movie and trying to add tidbits of conversation to make it longer and deeper. I will be updating more, I assure you! Xoxo!

Tinybubbleyo: I'm glad you love it! I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much!

~Rusty14~ : I live for the sweet moments! ;)

Demona Evernight: I am planning on going all the way to Apocalypse! And honestly I haven't decided about Alex. I mean, I may still be in the denial stage of grief...

Cassie-D1: Aw so sweet! I love showing Erik's softer side. I mean c'mon the man had a wife and daughter in apocalypse so obviously he has one. I always feel sad when fics make him out to be this cruel character. He's my chaotic-fav.

Zabuza's girl: Here's the update! Hope you enjoy! 3

Thanks to all my reviewers!

Chapter 6- Numbers

Eliana stared at the clock, Breakfast would begin around 6:30, and training immediately after as Raven had reminded her.

It was only 1:47. She had been tossing and turning all night, her mind replaying the previous night.

"It's because, no matter how hard you try, you aren't Erik."

Shaw's tone had been mocking, but there was truth, and that made her even angrier.

She had spent the majority of her life with Erik, in fact almost all of her memories include him in Them. It was perfectly reasonable to adapt ones traits or mannerisms. However, she always flinched when someone died, and she looked away when Erik turned gruesome. Maybe that was a good thing, it certainly would be for any other girl her age, But to her it was a weakness.

The later the clock ticked on, she grew restless.

At long last, the alarm buzzed and she sighed in relief.

Fiddling with the Chester drawers before pulling one open, she thanked whoever had placed the simple grey joggers and cropped sweatshirt there.

Within a few quick moments she was ready and dressed, Her brown hair was tied in a ponytail. She frowned down at her arm, disgust marring her features at the number engraved in her skin. She almost always wore long sleeves to cover it, but today she couldn't.

With a bitten lip, she stepped into the hallway, already foreboding the experience to come. Her eyes widened as she stared as the multiple hallways she could take, she had forgotten the way to the kitchen.

"Keep walking straight and take a right, then a left."

She jumped at the voice echoing in her head, her hands flickering in and out before realizing it was just Charles.

She thought a quick thanks, hoping he would hear it and jogged to the kitchen, sliding to a stop in the doorway.

"Good Morning Księżniczka, (princess)" Erik smiled and she returned the favour, sitting next to him at the table. Everyone else was there, aside from Sean who was probably still sleeping.

"How did you sleep?" Raven asked from across the table and Eliana answered after a moment of hesitation.

"I've had better nights," she picked up a piece of toast from the plate in the middle and took a small bite.

Alex frowned at her and she shrugged.

"What's the plan?" Sean stumbled into the dining room, his hair stuck up in odd places and his eyes sleepy.

"Look who finally showed up!" Alex snickered and Sean glared at him as he took a seat next to Eliana.

"Hey I'm here," Sean rolled his eyes and reached over Her to grab a plate. He paused, "What's that on your arm?"

Eliana froze, her piece of bread halfway to her mouth and her eyes wide. With a large gulp and a glance at Erik, she set it down and rubbed her arm uncomfortably as a surge of awful memories surfaced.

214785- the number with a much greater meaning.

When she was younger, She and Erik used to theorize that if she had enough control- Eliana would simply be able to conceal certain parts of herself, possible the tattoo. For years she had sat alone, her brows furrowed in frustration and sweat dripping for her forehead as she tried with all the strength in her to make the sickening mark disappear.

It never worked.

"It's a tattoo," Alex snapped. "What, you've never seen one before?"

Sean looked down awkwardly and Eliana sighed with relief as the attention was drawn off her. She had never really admitted what the tattoo was outloud, she had never had a need. Erik had the same one spare a number.

"Well, I believe we should work on your abilities separately, since each of you bring such a different skill to the table. While I'm working with some of you, the others will be helping or train physically." Charles broke the silence, and everyone nodded.

"Right now I'll show Hank where he can set up his lab. So feel free to wander around."

With that, Charles and Hank set off somewhere, and Eliana quickly excused herself from the table.

With focused breathing she made her way to a small study or living area of sorts. Books were on shelves and there were small couches facing a TV.

She curled up, her face down turned as she stared yet again at her arm.

Jumping, her extremities fading out of sight, she looked up and saw Alex seated near the tv, evidently having just turned it on.

She once again relegated her breathing and she could soon see her hands again.

"Why did you do that?"

Alex looked up at her, his blue eyes visible from underneath his messy blonde hair.

"Do what?" His tone was gruff.

"You know what I am speaking of. What you said to Sean." Eliana paused and her voice lowered so much it was barely audible, "About my arm."

"I don't think anyone should be forced to talk about something they don't want to talk about. I could tell you didn't want to..." His posture grew stiff, as if he was uncertain of how she would react.

Slowly, Eliana smiled slightly. A small, but true smile that made his heart skip a beat.

"Well, I appreciate it." She turned her eyes back down to her arm and the smile dropped from her lips. "I wish I never had to think about it either... I'm sorry. I'm not trying to burden you with my problems."

"No! I mean, It's alright if you need to get it off your mind. I'm an okay listener."

She pushed a lock of hair falling into her face behind her ear as she turned to face him.

"Do you know why I hate Shaw so much, why Erik hates Shaw so much?"

He shook his head, turning to face her and placing his arms behind him for balance.

"We are Polish-Jews; Erik and I. Our families were brought to concentration camps when we were much younger. It was there they discovered our mutations, and Shaw the one who experimented with them." Her voice shook slightly, memories flashing in her mind.

The striped pajamas, nazi's, her people who were so thin you would have sworn the dead had risen from their graves, the blood pooling beneath their mothers, Shaw laughing as they screamed in fear and pain, the yellow star she had always worn as a Kid: how before she knew it's meaning she would smile at how beautiful the yellow thread was, the guns, the screams...

"Hey, woah, you're safe now alright?"

Eliana blinked, her brown eyes shifting into focus as she met blue ones in front of her. Alex's eyebrows were furrowed and he was squeezing her shoulders gently with worry.

"He won't hurt you anymore. I- we won't let him."

She nodded, his tone reassuring.

"Thank you Alex," Eli said. "You're a much better man than one who deserves solitary confinement."

"Thanks, And for the record," he added. "You aren't weak. I think you're one of the bravest people I know," leaving her speechless as he turned and exited the room.

After running around the track and doing simple strength training, The mutants were all gathered in that same room later that day, listening to the American President John F. Kennedy give his speech.

"Dear Comrades... the United States has dispatched warships for Cuba. This leaves us with no choice..."

Eliana lowered her gaze, her mind still turning over the information nuclear war? Hadn't she already seen enough?

Her thoughts drifted until Erik sat next to her, carefully lifting J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit from her grasp and turned to her.

"Are you alright?"

"Is something wrong Erik?" She questioned, his worry in turn worrying her.

"Hm? No, I'm just worried about you. You should ask Charles to see if you can make those invisible, he pointed to the tattoo. "I know how much you hate them."

"Erik, Do you ever wonder what life would be like if we hadn't went to Aushwitz?"

He narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, but I stop. Because then I wouldn't have met you, siostra (sister). My mother used to say, 'Wszystko dzieje się z jakiegoś powodu' ('All things happen for a reason')."