Ruth walked into the danger room in awe. She had heard the stories of it from the others, but seeing it up close was different. It was dark, the walls silver with glowing lights.

"Welcome to the bunker," Alex announced as he led her inside.

"It's called the Danger Room," Hank corrected, following close behind.

"I trained in here first, Bozo, I'm gonna call it whatever the fuck I want. Ruth, you ready?" He bent down to look at her, smiling as she fidgeted in her new suit.

Hank ran his hand over the slits in the back of her suit making her shiver. She shook her head. "No. I'm scared. And uncomfortable. I also feel like it's the first day of school and you two are giving me the 'be nice and play with the other kids' pep talk, but instead of be nice it's 'fight the robots' and instead of play it's 'work with'."

Alex looked up at Hank. "We have a child now, this is great. Where's my ring?"

Hank sighed. "Ruth, you'll do fine. I'm not sure if there's anything I do about your suit since it does need to accommodate your wings. Don't feel the need to use your boots if you don't think you can, they're just there in case. Your gloves are fully functional. Go get 'em."

She rolled her eyes. "Thanks, dad. Please leave, everyone's starting to show up."

Alex wiped away a fake tear. "They grow up so fast." He let himself be dragged away by an exasperated Hank.

Ruth felt a gust of wind and turned to see Peter standing behind her, decked out in a blue and silver suit. He smirked down at her, his goggles resting on the top of his head. "Look at you, all shiny and new. I like the gloves."

She smiled and lit up her hand, a flame rising. "Thanks."

He gasped. "Choice! That's sick! This'll be fun. We refer to each other in codenames—except for Jean because she's a butt and hasn't picked one yet—so get used to it. We have to get you one still! Hey, guys!" He waved over the rest of the team who had just walked in, "Ruth's here, we gotta name her!"

As they walked over, Kurt spoke up. "Isn't her name Ruth?"

Peter nodded patronizingly. "Yes. It is. But, we gotta give her a code name! I'm think Fire Girl!"

"I'm thinking no," Ruth said, crossing her arms.

He pouted. "Hmm...you got that fight or flight thing...Angel! Wait, no, that's the dude we're supposed to find. Glider? Pixie? Fire-something. Something-fire."

"Pyro," Jean offered.

"Ooh, I like that, we'll call you that," Jubilee said, smiling.

Peter crossed his arms. "I was gonna say that."

Ruth shook her head, laughing, and looked at Scott who looked put-off, sending hurt eyes at Jean who purposely looked away.

"Scott came up with," Jean signed, relenting, "I just said it."

Scott raised his chin, looking away from his best friend who rolled her eyes and shoved his shoulder.

"Line up!"

Everyone jumped at the sound of Raven and immediately ran into what Ruth guessed were their starting positions. She took her place next to Jubilee who waved her hand to call her over.

Raven walked up to Ruth, decked in a white suit, her yellow eyes examining Ruth closely.

"Hank hasn't briefed me on your suit. Explain." Her tone was demanding and curt, the type heard in the army. Ruth would be impressed if she wasn't terrified.

Her voice quivered as she described her suit. "My gloves concentrate the flames from my hands so it's easier for me to throw them. The flames, I mean. And there are slits in the back for my wings if they decide to show up. The boots aren't for anything, Hank just wants me to keep them just in case. They're like rocket boots, but they're not safe."

Raven nodded, then raised her chin. "What do you mean 'if they decide to show up'? Can you not call your wings at will?"

Ruth shook her head. "We've mainly been working on the fire. I mean, they seem to pop up if I'm falling, because I was falling a bit yesterday and they showed up. I don't know."

Raven sighed, as if Ruth's answer physically pained her. "Fine. We're going to see how you do as of right now."

She walked off and the wall in front of them started to move. Ruth's heart started to pound as she saw large robots come into view.

She looked at the others, seeing them get into position.

Jubilee's hands started to spark.

Kurt—Nightcrawler—growled, getting into a crouch.

Ororo's—Storm's—hands started to crackle with lightning.

Jean lifted her hand to her temple.

Peter—Quicksilver—lowered his goggles over his eyes.

Scott—Cyclops—turned on his visor.

Ruth raised her hands, letting the flames ignite.

This was going to be fun.

º º º º º

"Ruth! Stop screaming!"

Ruth shrieked, dodging a metal arm swinging at her, glaring in the general direction of Mystique. "Fight me!"

She groaned as she was hurled into the wall, her side screaming with pain. She really hated training.

She got up and took off at a run, throwing a fireball at a sentinel's head, trying to distract it to let Jubilee get around them.

"Ruth!" Cyclops shouted, shooting a beam at a sentinel, causing it to slow, "Get to the top of it!"

"Why me?" she shrieked, running underneath one that was trying to hit Storm.

"Because they all haven't adapted to you yet!" he snapped, pulling her out of the way, "Now go!"

He flung her towards one of them and she fell in front of its feet, sliding. She was going to kill Scott when she got out. If she got out.

She looked at the sentinel, her heart racing. It faced its attention towards her. So, like a sensible person, she did the only thing she could think of.

She ran.

She ran as fast as she could around the expanse of the room, running under robot legs, around other robots, making u-turns and taking long ways around.

"Ruth! Stop running!" Mystique barked.

"That's not her codename!" Peter called, trying to slow some sentinels.

"I will use her codename when she proves she's capable of being part of the team," Mystique snapped.

Ruth scoffed. "I'll show you, lizard-lady."

She lit up her hands and started waving her arms in a pattern, in a circle by her sides, then in a circle in front of her. As she did, she ran around the room in a figure-eight, trying not to veer too far off course when trying to dodge obstacles.

She kept running, even when Mystique called for her to stop, when Peter asked her what the fuck she was doing, when Jean offered her break.

She saw the sentinels start to change course. Instead of following her, they started changing formation.

She grinned; she was counting on that. She did one more round, trying to make the fire bigger.

She ran straight for the sentinel that was blocking her path, forming a fire ball in her hand. She changed course at the very last second, throwing multiple fireballs for the sentinel chasing her to focus on instead of her actual self.

She watched, triumphant, as the two ran into each other, attacking.

She looked at the others who stood in front of the other defeated sentinels, staring at her.

She cheered. "I didn't die!"

Then her legs gave out and she fell to the ground.

º º º º º

Ruth was too tired to be upset. She had a lot to be angry about, especially given all the criticism she received, but her body was aching for her to care too much.

"That was awesome," Peter said, putting an ice pack over his eye.

"According to Mystique my 'technique was flawed and I didn't work with the team'," Ruth snarked, closing her eyes, trying to relax.

Peter waved his hand. "Aw, she just likes to give us a hard time. She has to, you know? Nice job, Pyro."

She smiled, laughing slightly. "Thanks, Quicksilver."

Scott and Jean walked into the room, sitting on the couch opposite the two.

"Nice work, Ruth," Scott said, leaning back.

"Yeah, that was really great," Jean commented, leaning forward.

Ruth smiled. "Thanks."

"Congrats on surviving your first day, Ruth!" Jubilee cheered, walking in the room with Ororo, sending fireworks up.

Ruth laughed. "Barely did, but thanks."

Ororo smiled, sitting on an armchair. "You look better than Peter on our first day."

Ruth laughed at a pouting Peter. "Yeah, but that's 'cause he's old!" She laughed, kicking him as he tried to smack her legs. "Where's Kurt?"

Jubilee shrugged. "Mystique called him over, she wanted to talk to him."

Peter oohed. "Kurt's in trouble."

Scott shook his head. "Nah. She loves the guy."

Jean shrugged. "It makes perfect sense."

Everyone turned to look at her. Peter clicked his tongue. "Um...Jeanie, is it because they're both blue because—"

"No," Jean said, cutting him off, "It's because, well..."

"Yeah..." Peter pushed, leaning forward.

Jean sighed. "He's her son."

The silence in the room was tangible. Ruth tried not to tap her feet, the tension in the room making her skin itch. She looked at Scott who seemed to be frozen in thought.

Peter sucked his lip. "I did not see that coming, but now that I'm thinking it over, it makes perfect sense. I'm gonna get a snack, anyone want anything?"

"Get me a muffin," Ruth said, looking up. "Does Kurt know?" She addressed the last part to Jean who shook her head silently.

"That must be so difficult for her," Jubilee said, "Keeping that big of a secret from her son."

Ruth didn't say anything. She didn't have the best feelings towards parents. She hadn't for a while.

She felt the familiar sensation of anger. Raw, self-hating anger that she hadn't felt in a while. The anger she felt when she was asleep, when she nearly burned down the school the first time.

She felt her hair ignite instantly, the anger fuming inside of her. She hated herself. Her parents. Her school. Her city. She hated everything.

"Ruth! Ruth!"

She snapped her head up to see Scott staring at her, his legs pulled up on the couch. "Calm down please!"

That only got her more upset. She couldn't explain why, but Scott's voice just got her so angry. She felt her hair grow in intensity, causing Jubilee to yelp.

She was devolving. The more time she spent at the mansion, the more she calmed. The less angry she grew, the easier it was for her to put things in proportion. She was more relaxed, she had friends, she was calm.

Now, she was angry and emotional. As emotional as the first few days she met everyone. As emotional as she was the first month she was at the mansion.

She was so angry.

She was sweating, she could feel her shirt being soaked. She was burning up and she couldn't lie down or else she'd burn the couch, but she was so light-headed.

Black spots started to cloud her vision and then she was falling.

º º º º º

When Ruth came to, she was lying in her room, a muffin on top of her record player, a Scott Summers sitting next to her.

"Was it something I said?" he asked, not looking at her. She wished he'd look at her more often.

She was about to respond, but Lionel started screaming. Multiple Lionels, all different ages.

"Ruth," six-year-old Lionel sobbed, trying to stop his best friend's crying as they sat in his room, "Please calm down! Please!"

"Ruth!" nine-year-old Lionel cried, holding his best friend on the floor of the girl's bathroom like he'd been doing for the past week, "Please calm down. Please."

"Ruthie! Ruth!" twelve-year-old Lionel screamed, pinned against the ground, a foot on his head, watching his best friend try and fight her way to him, getting shoved around, "Calm down! It's okay! Please calm down!"

"Ruth!" newly-turned sixteen-year-old Lionel begged, "Calm down! Please! Calm down!"

Ruth looked up at Scott, tears running down her cheeks, stinging her eyes. "Yeah. It was. Wasn't you, just the words."

He still didn't look at her. "I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "You didn't know. I didn't even know."

He reached out to take her hand, but pulled away when he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," Ruth said, staring at the wall. She felt numb; not really angry, not really sad, not really anything.

The door opened to reveal Kurt, looking about the same as she did. "Have you heard the news?"

Ruth shook her head, not knowing what he meant. "What's happening?"

He cleared his throat, stepping inside. "Mystique is my mother. I had already told our other friends, I wanted to tell you."

She tried to smile. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Yes. I am. May I rebuild our blanket fort?"

She smiled and stood up, looking at Scott who finally looked at her. He nodded and walked out, squeezing Kurt's shoulder as he went.

"I interrupted something again, didn't I?" Kurt sighed, "I'm sorry."

Ruth shook her head. "Hey. Hey, Kurt, no. Okay, you have nothing to be sorry for. You didn't do anything. 'sides, I don't think there ever really was an anything."

Kurt sighed again. "You never know with Scott. He is very reserved with his emotions."

Ruth nodded to herself. "Yeah. You never know."

a/n sorry this chapter isn't that good and I went 200 words above what I had sworn I would but who cares!

I had realized that my writing style has changed as the chapters went on, I stopped focusing on Ruth's physical reactions to her emotions and her emotions in general and I realized it was because her relationships with people had changed. I'm going back to my old writing style because the last few chapters are going to be intense.

I'm sorry that the battle scene was so bad, I can't write fight scenes.

The last thing about Lionel is really important. Remember it.

I think that's all I have to say. I hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading!