'My mom says you'll forget about me,' Lionel said as he and Ruth sat in his tree house, 'She says that we make new friends and move away from the old ones.'

'Your mom is wrong,' Ruth decided, crossing her arms. 'We'll be best friends forever and we'll get married.'

He frowned. 'But what if I don't wanna marry you?'

She sighed, huffing. 'Fine. If you and me don't get married by the time we're old like our parents, then we get married.'

The two eight year olds shook on their pact in Lionel's newly made tree house, positive that they would both live to see their thirty-fifth birthdays.

Ruth woke from her dream, or rather her memory, her heart aching. She stared at the ceiling, letting herself cry. She'd been doing that a lot the past few weeks.

She didn't know when she fell back asleep, but she woke up after breakfast with a heavy heart and the sensation of missing something important.

º º º º º

"Are you sure you want to start today? You can take a breather, we can start tomorrow."

Ruth shook her head, looking up at Hank. She was clad in gray sweatpants and a gray hoodie, something that Alex got a kick out of for reasons unbeknownst to Ruth.

"I wanna find Warren," she said, "What do we do first?"

Hank shrugged, looking down at her bare feet. "Well, I'm glad you're already out of your shoes, though I think that's more personal preference for you than anything. Anyways, you said you can now summon the flame in your hand at will?"

She nodded, shaking out her arms. "Yeah. I mean, if I'm mad. I did it a lot when I was just getting used to Ms. Maximoff's house. I got angry a lot. But I still got a lot of the symptoms if I didn't release all of the anger."

Hank perked up. "What were the symptoms? And how did you know if you had released all the anger or not?"

Ruth shrugged, walking around the taller man. "I got really sick for a day, I was throwing up for hours another day, diarrhea, I got so mad I was about to trash Peter's things but I forced myself to let it out of my hair.

"I don't know about the second part. I just kind of felt it? I'm not sure..."

Hank nodded thoughtfully. "That's alright, what you've told me is already very interesting. On moment. Alex!"

Ruth looked over at the blonde who always seemed to be in Hank's lab more often than not, smiling when he jumped, dropping the two vials he was about to mix together.

"I didn't do it!" he shouted, running towards them. "What're we doing."

Hank gestured towards Ruth, rolling his eyes at Alex. "Ruth, when angry, has perfected bringing the flame to her hand, but she displays negative side effects as a result until all the energy has dissipated. Thoughts?"

Alex worried on his lip. "Ruth, how much do you have to release until you're safe from the side effects?"

"I don't know, it depends on how angry I am."

Alex snapped his fingers, looking at Hank. "That's it! We just teach her how to bring the energy without getting upset! If she gets upset while in a fight, she'll already know how to get rid of them." He turned to her. "Do you ever run out? Like, you're still angry but have no more fire?"

She shook her head. "No, because this happens when I'm angry. It stops when I've stopped."

The two men looked at each other. Hank sighed. "How do you synthesize an emotion?"

Ruth sighed and sat down, staring at her hand. She really wanted her hand to light up without her getting angry. She just really wanted to find Warren.

She started to feel a different sensation. It wasn't exactly like the one she always felt, but it was like it. In an instant, a flame rose from her palm, crackling like it had all those other times.

"Uh...is this what you meant?" she called towards the two men.

They looked over, Alex screaming and Hank scrambling for a clipboard. It was all very entertaining.

"How did you do that?" Alex demanded, Hank scribbling ferociously.

"I just really wanted it to light up, I dunno!" She hoped her hysteria was just her and not a side effect.

Alex took a deep breath, making her do the same. He sighed. "Did you never try the tactic before?"

She scoffed, growing a little irritated. "Of course I tried it, it just didn't work. Great, now I'm mad."

Hank nodded. "Good. Try making another flame in your other hand."

She raised her other palm, ready to show him it wouldn't work as she had never tried it on the other hand before, but the second she focused, it went up in flames.

"Uh...I've never done that before. Like, this hand has never seen fire. What's going on, this is a bit too sudden for everything, don't you think?"

Hank shook his head. "It's because you've exercised it already. You have mastered calling the flame to your hand. Whether you are angry or calm doesn't matter anymore as it's become muscle memory. Your mutation stems from primal instinct, but you've gone and exceeded the level of instinct it had originally been. Bringing the flame to your hand is instinctual now, it no longer matters if you feel the need to protect yourself."

Ruth nodded slowly. "Neat. But what do I do now?"

Hank and Alex looked at each other. Hank motioned towards her hair. "Has your hair been lighting up recently?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I had to do that if I wanted to release all the energy."

Hank grinned. "Great! Try to light up your hair, but keep the flames in your hands."

Ruth nodded and tried. She looked up at the two men, frowning when she saw them waiting. She tried again. Nothing. And again. Nothing. She tried five more times, but nothing happened.

She sighed, not upset, just disappointed. "Can't."

Alex smiled at her encouragingly. "It's okay! You could cook two sets of s'mores at the same time now, so there's that! Just go take a break, we'll continue later."

Ruth nodded, rolling her sleeves as high as she could, saying her goodbyes to a smiling Hank and a laughing Alex.

She wondered why they were laughing. It probably had something to do with her clothes. Those two had a lot of stories and inside jokes, it seemed.

º º º º º

Ruth lounged on her bed, staring at the ceiling. When she had gone to her room the night before she had found her records rearranged differently than when she had left them. She figured someone had listened to them.

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door. She sat up and looked at the it, glad she could play her guessing game again; it was hard to play when it was just another woman living in a house.

It could be Alex or Hank, calling her back to work. Kurt or Jubilee, inviting her to do something. Peter, just wanting to talk.

She opened the door, not surprised to see Scott. She would have guessed him, but it seemed too easy.

"Hi," he said, smiling, "Can I come in?"

She nodded and walked towards her bed, making room for him to sit.

He sat next to her, their shoulders touching. She was surprised, remembering Alex and Peter saying that he was kind of awkward when it came to physical contact.

"How was the testing this morning?" he asked, turning his head to look at her.

She smiled and lifted her hand, a flame rising instantly. "I don't have to be mad anymore."

He grinned. "That's great! Anything else?"

She shook her head, closing her hand. "I tried to get my hair to light up, but I couldn't. They said we'd try later."

Scott moved so he was sitting across her. "Try right now. It's later."

She frowned. "I don't think I should. 'sides, I don't think I can."

He shrugged, holding his hands out. "Just try. C'mon. For me?"

She made a face. "I'll do it for myself, thanks."

He smiled. "Works for me. Go on."

She sighed and tried to focus on her hair igniting. She didn't understand why it worked so easily for her hands. Maybe it was because the flame was smaller there. She focused on creating a bigger flame with more energy, with more everything.

She watched Scott for any reaction, or at least an orange tint to his face, but nothing happened. She sighed and fell back on the bed. "Nope."

He worried on his lip. "Well...when I first met you your hair ignited instantly. You had no trouble doing that. I know you were mad, but you couldn't have been that mad."

She sighed. "Yeah, because my powers don't work right when you're around. Everything's easier."

He raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that a good thing?"

She rolled her eyes. "Now it is. Look, it's not going work. Watch." She stared at him defiantly, willing her hair to ignite.

She stared at his red glasses, wondering what color his eyes were. Alex's were gray, so maybe they were gray as well. She imagined him with bright blue eyes, then dull ones. She imagined him with light brown eyes, then with eyes as dark as her own. Green. She tried them all, but gray seemed to fit him the best.

"Ruth," he whispered, mouth barely moving. When did he get so close?

"Yeah?" she whispered back, now hyperaware of their close proximity.

"Your hair's been on fire for the past three minutes."

She gasped, raising her hand, feeling the warmth radiating from her hair. A smile slowly crept on her face, turning into a loud squeal and shriek of delight. She threw her arms around his neck, crawling into his lap as she hugged him.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she cried, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

He laughed. "Good job, Ruth Dakin Bailey."

She pulled away and felt her smile start to fade, realizing just how close they were. She could see her reflection in his glasses and was growing increasingly more aware of just how close they were; she was in his lap, for crying out loud.

She had never acknowledged it before, but Scott had really nice lips.

She had never kissed anyone before. The closest she had to anyone liking her was that cute kid from biology, but he called her a freak of nature when he found out who her parents were.

Scott wasn't like that, Scott didn't think like that. She really liked Scott.

"Can I kiss you?" he whispered, tilting his head.

Her heart leapt in her throat as she nodded and leaned forward. Time seemed to move at snail pace and Ruth just wanted to kiss him and run away at the same time.

She closed her eyes and—

"Ruth, Scott, we are needed in the kitchen!"

º º º º º

Ruth stood next to Scott, finding it hard to be angry at Kurt for more than five minutes. She stayed as far away from Jean as possible, though she figured the girl already knew what had almost happened.

"We were going to make an announcement in my office but..." Charles trailed off, looking up at Erik who cleared his throat, not looking at him. "It's kind of a mess as of late."

Peter snorted, then froze up when Erik shot him a glare.

Charles continued. "We adults—excluding Peter—have been talking and we have decided that we are close to going off to find Warren."

The group cheered, but Erik stopped them short. "We just need Ruth to be able to master her abilities to the level we need them to be. With that, comes technical upgrades."

Hank raised his hand. "That's where I come in. Most of your suits are as upgraded as they can be, however I have designed better gloves for Ororo and Jubilee, better goggles for Peter, a more precise visor for Scott, and Ruth, we'll talk separately. Kurt and Jean, you two are golden."

Raven addressed them all. "I know I've been working you hard in the danger room. Ruth, Charles has made me promise not to work you that much for times sake, but you are going to have to get used to working as a team once you get situated. Keep up this pace and we'll be bringing Warren back soon."

Everyone could see she wanted to say so much more, but she stopped herself. She had to keep her persona up, for the students' sake. It seemed that even at the mansion, she still had to wear a mask.

Charles dismissed the group, telling them to finish their studies then get some rest.

As Ruth left, she caught Charles smiling at her. She frowned. "What?"

He smiled, moving himself out of the room. "Oh, nothing."

She felt her cheeks go red. "Shut up!"

He laughed. "I didn't say anything. Although, if I may comment, Hank and Raven experienced the same thing many years ago." He looked up at Erik who frowned, then nodded, a look of understanding spreading through his face.

Erik shrugged. "It's a German thing."

a/n that happened! The ending for this was gonna be badly written, then I remembered so it became something funny.

The almost kiss! You all probably hate me now, but I regret nothing!

I hope you don't think her mastering her mutation is going too fast, I'm trying to make it realistic, but I'm also trying not to drag on with her powers too much. Thoughts?

QUESTION! Do you think I should unpublish and rewrite Constellations. I feel like I should, but I don't know if it's just me, you know? Thoughts?

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!