View From A Mutant Point of View

I’m backed up against the ruins of the research lab that recently caged us. The heat of the flames, the non-stop explosions as their research literally goes up in smoke, and the constant rat-tat-tat of gunfire are the only things keeping me awake. God, I’m so tired…

“We gotta move,” Leroy yelled as the building belched more smoke and flame. “Steven, do something about these peons, will ya? I’ll cover the princess while the rest of us get the fuck outta Dodge!” Steven nodded before ducking around the corner and directing his supersonic shriek at our enemies, bursting their eardrums before their heads exploded. 

The silence afterward was deafening.

“Come on, before they regroup,” Leroy said, picking me up as if I weighed nothing. He’s the only reason I’m able to escape at all; the serum our captors have been pumping into me religiously for the past nineteen years has rendered me docile and controllable while they experimented on me and exploited my unique power. The same can be said of my fellow inmates. Crystal and Gregory yawn as they link hands, forming a portal for the rest of us to escape through. If only every molecule of my body wasn’t screaming for sleep, I’m sure I could be of more help. 

“I feel so useless right now,” I mumble against Leroy’s rock hard shoulder. My body is completely limp in his arms. I can barely keep my eyes open right now. Everything in me is begging for sleep. I notice through the fog of fatigue that Steven is bleeding from his shoulder. I reach out and touch him as he passes me… and the only evidence of his bullet wound is the bloodstained fabric there. There’s not even a scar; the flesh knits together as if it never misaligned. I smile sleepily; it’s the first time I’ve used my power freely in a very long time.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, Princess,” Leroy chuckles, bounces me playfully as we run through the portal to safety. Safety is green apparently. We’re suddenly in a field of grass next to a dirt road. What the hell? “Tell you what. You can carry me next time.” I chuckle tiredly, giving up on knowing our location and knowing that I could never carry the solid behemoth. He’s six tons of solid muscle; it’s the reason the sleeping serum never worked on him. The twins get the rest of our exhausted band out of the facility, sealing us away from the troops coming to subdue us by any means necessary. I don’t know where we are and frankly, I could care less. As long as there’s a flat surface to lie on to get this damn serum out of my system. They call me Princess because I’ve been the Sleeping Beauty who’s been asleep for almost two decades. It’s the only way they’ve been able to control my mate. Now that I’m free their control over him will be lost and the slaughter will begin. 

This is a war that’s centuries in the making. The humans have been trying to suppress our kind since time out of mind. They killed us, enslaved us, exploited us, and tried to deny our very existence. But evolution is undeniable. Mutants are on the rise and we will take our place at the top of the food chain. It’s as inevitable as the tide.

I yawn, beyond exhausted as the serum slowly works its way out of my system.

“Sleep, Princess,” Lanister said kindly as we’re all loaded onto a truck. What? When did we- “It’s alright, Princess. We planned for this. You’re safe now. We’ll get you to your man soon enough. Hey, do you have an actual name? It seems stupid to keep calling you ‘princess’ or ‘the asset’ now that we’ve freed you.”

“Aurora,” I mumble as sleep overtakes me, demanding it’s due.

…  …

“Hey, look who’s awake.” I can hear several people nearby and try to maintain my facade of sleep as I try to determine whether I’m safe or not. “No use pretending, sweetheart. We’ve been eagerly counting your breaths, waiting for a change in your breathing pattern for days now. Besides, you talk in your sleep.”

“I do?” I blink, abandoning my plan to feign sleep until I had a better sense of my surroundings. I stretch and sit up. Someone changed me out of my hospital gown while I slept. My unhealthily slender form is clothed in a long white t-shirt under a denim jumper dress that compliments my mahogany skin. My long, long locs are braided into two large plaits. My feet are warm in knee-high white socks and Mary Janes. In short, I’m dressed adorably - like someone was playing dress up with me while I slept. 

“I hope you don’t mind the clothes,” the original speaker shrugs. He’s an older gentleman, sporting the latest in farmer’s chic. He even has a wheat stalk in his mouth. “The missus and I always wanted a daughter. And the clothes are better than what you had.” He winks at me and the stalk he’s chewing on grows a few inches longer. I blink and nod, not quite sure how to return the gesture and show what I’m capable of. “Well? You gonna say something or just keep gawking at me? I’m Riley, by the way. Riley Lanaster. Your kin have taken to calling me old man Lanaster.”

“Sorry. I’m Aurora Langley. I don’t mean to be rude. I’m a bit discombobulated at the moment. Where am I?” Riley’s accent says that I’m somewhere in Ireland, the last place I’d expect to be considering that I’ve spent the last nineteen years in the Midwest of the United States.

“You’re on my farm just outside of Killarney, lass. Welcome to Ireland, home of the potato!” His laughter is infectious and I join in. I look around at the dozen mutants I escaped with. They look similarly freshly scrubbed and tubbed. I smile and feel my power coursing through my veins, my own to command once more. 

“Thank you for rescuing me,” I say politely. “God, it feels good to be back in the driver’s seat of my life. Being Sleeping Beauty sucks ass!” A round of titters greet my admission and I blush. It seems I’ll have to work on my verbal filter. After the laughter dies down, there’s crickets from the deafening silence in the room. Everyone is staring at me as if expecting me to do something. “What? I feel like I’m being put on the spot, but I just woke up. I’ve got nothing.”

“Sorry, Aurora,” Crystal smiles, holding onto her mate, Gregory. “None of us have ever been around such a powerful mutant before.”

“Powerful?” I chuckle bitterly. “I’ve been asleep for the past two decades! What about me screams ‘powerful’?”

“But you’re a match to the Destroyer,” Wesley protests, forming a tiny lasso out of flame to show me what he can do. I nod and the lasso disappears before it can spark any of the bushels of hay in the barn we’re in. “He’s coming for you. You know that, right?”

“If he doesn’t get himself killed first,” I grumble. My stomach growls loudly before I can say more.

“Come on, girlie. Let’s get you something to eat. It’s been a while, but I reckon you could use a decent meal.” I smile my appreciation, standing unsteadily. Once I get my bearings, I follow Riley with the others to his quaint farmhouse. I can’t help smiling to see it. Riley’s wife, Sandy, feeds all of us in short order. She’s been cooking all day, just waiting for the opportunity to feed her guests. We help clean up, knowing that we’ll have to move out soon to keep the wolves off our scent and protect our hosts.

“We’ll move out first thing in the morning,” Leroy says once the kitchen is put to rights. “Gotta keep the princess moving - sorry Aurora.” I nod sadly. I know how it is. My parents used to keep me mobile before the government caught up with me and killed them. All to retain control of the Destroyer. I’ve never met him, but I dream of him. In those dreams he’s hunting me down. In those dreams I feel safe. I'm sure he has a name just like I have a name, but everyone calls him the Destroyer like they call me the Princess. I'd prefer to be called the Creator for symmetry, but we rarely get to pick our nicknames. 

Donald hugs me close, guiding me back to the hay loft we've apparently been staying in while I recovered. He's a telepath and telekinetic, so I'm not surprised when people and things are gently pushed aside as we move along. 

“Don't worry about anything, Princess. Last I heard, the Destroyer was making a beeline straight to our location. The only reason we're moving out is that we need a more defensible location for the battle. Oh, and Old Man Lanaster will be pissed if his chickens are disturbed.” I giggle, making him smile. “That's better, Princess. You've had precious little to smile about all this time. What were you dreaming about all this time?”

“Holding him in my arms,” I sigh dreamily. I shake my head to clear it. “I'm wondering if Old Man Lanaster will allow me to keep these clothes. I like them.”

“He and his wife have a whole knapsack of clothing and toiletries for you, Princess. They packed you up before giving a thought to the rest of us mere mortals,” he chuckles. “We're headed to Africa in the morning. Shawn says Libya   is where our worlds will collide.” I nod, having heard over dinner just how accurate the psychic's predictions are. “I know you're over the moon excited to see your mate, but you should try to get some sleep. We'll be patrolling in shifts through the night to keep you safe.”

“Hey, I am capable of patrolling just like the rest of you,” I yawn, hating that my first good meal in decades is putting me to sleep. 

In the meantime, all the playfulness drains out of my escort. “Princess. As much as you don't want to hear it, you are the only reason to patrol. If something were to happen to you, we'd lose the Destroyer and the war. Every single one of us is aware of that and ready to lay down our lives to get you safely to Libya. It's been too long and we've lost too many friends to this damn struggle.” His sincerity brings tears to my eyes. He huffs but hugs me just the same. Then I'm alone with some of the girls in the upper loft in the barn. 

“Don't worry about a thing, Princess. We'll get you to your mate,” Crystal smiles as she settles in the sweet-smelling hay. 

“Yeah, Princess. You've got nothing to worry about anymore,” Rashida assures me, forming her arm into a whip. Something about the way she addresses me makes me feel… Off. I look at her sharply but she's already on her side facing away from me. The woman has been short and snarky with me all night. If I didn't know better, I'd think she was jealous. But that didn't make any sense. We're all on the run. Resolving to sleep as lightly as I can, I turn in for the night. 

… … 

I wake to Steven clamping a hand over my mouth. I look at him curiously, not feeling threatened yet. 

“Come on,” Crystal says from the loft ladder. “We gotta go now. Rashida was a plant” 

“Huh?” I eloquently manage as Steven helps me to my feet. 

“That treacherous snake was placed in the facility to infiltrate our group. She fed them our location and destination while on patrol with Charles. We have to move.” 

“Where is she now?” Both mutants gave me a dirty look at the - admittedly - silly question. Snitches get Stitches and wind up in Ditches after all. Betraying your own kind is a capital offense. “Sorry. My brain is still catching up. Is Charles hurt?” I ask, hoping that the shapeshifter didn't take too much damage subduing Rashida. 

“He could use a little attention, Princess. But right now we need to get out of here before The Friends of Humanity show up and turn this peaceful place into a war zone.” We quickly gather everything to portal to Libya. There's extra food and clothes for all of us and with a touch of my hand, the razor whip marks on Charles’ torso are gone. 

“You take care of them, Aurora. Your mate will find you.”

“Wait,” I say as Crystal and Gregory open the portal to Africa, “aren't you coming with us? You can't stay here, they'll kill you!” Old Man Lanaster places a fatherly hand on my head, causing me to tear up. 

“Someone has to buy you time, little one. And as long as they are interrogating us about where you went, the Destroyer can join up with you in Africa. Once you're by his side, he will be unstoppable.”

“But I don't… I don't want you to…”

“The missus and I have lived a good life. We want to stay on our land. The greedy fools will just burn the whole place down. No. I make my stand here, lass. Yes, we'll die, but we'll die fighting for what we believe in. And we'll die ushering in a new age for mutants. Won't that be something?” Leroy picks me up and runs through the portal before I can answer him or thank him for his sacrifice. I didn't even get a chance to give him a vial of my blood to help them with the battle! My eyes tear up again. How many people have died for me? How many more will have to be sacrificed before this is all over? For the love of God, I’m so sick of all this! 

“There's no time to mourn, Princess. The Destroyer is weaving a swath of destruction through North America on his way to you. Now that we've reached the Congo, we need to be on alert for-”

“The Congo? But I thought we were going to Libya.”

“As you were meant to,” Shawn grinned. “Rashida was always jealous of you, Princess. She wanted your power so she could have your mate. It was only a matter of time before her jealousy got the better of her. This will give you a chance to rest and prepare yourself for the final showdown. I know that violence makes you queasy. The war has already begun. The humans just think that stopping the Destroyer will stop the madness. They couldn't be more wrong.” I nod, suddenly exhausted. I’d only gotten two hours of sleep before Rashida’s betrayal forced us to move. You’d think that 19 years of slumber would be enough for me. 

But this is different. Thinking about all the people out there fighting - dying - for our right to exist… I suddenly feel a fatigue deep in my bones. An exhaustion that goes beyond my twenty-six years of living. Before the Friends of Humanity caught up to me and killed my parents when I was seven years old, I felt old and worn out. Always hiding, always ready to move, always being so careful not to slip in front of the humans and do anything that might tip them off… When I was five, I swore my friend Jenny to secrecy and healed her broken arm when she fell out of her treehouse. The next day she ratted me out because I wouldn’t give her my favorite Barbie doll. I learned my lesson as we fled Indiana that night. Humans are not to be trusted.

“Let’s get the Princess in a defensible place so we can get some sleep,” Lanister said tiredly. The others nodded in agreement. “Her Prince is coming. And he’s going to change everything.” A hearty round of cheers went up and before long I was being placed in a stylish hut at the center of a complex group of structures. Quentin’s ability was the ability to shape nature into whatever he wanted.

“Thank you,” I said to him as Crystal entered my temporary home much later that night. They were guarding me like someone knew where I was already. “You guys really should be catching up on sleep right now while our whereabouts are a secret.”

“It’s fine, Princess,” Harriet giggled as she passed my domicile on patrol. “We’ve been rotating shifts like this since we broke you out of that facility two weeks ago. I promise we’re getting enough rest nightly. Just relax and try and think of what you’re going to say to that luscious man of yours when you finally meet up with him!” she snickered as I blushed. Everyone was so intent on me getting to the Destroyer. But nothing had been whispered of what happened next. 

“Girl, you look like you’re going to be sick! Are you okay?”

“I-I… I’m fine, Harriet. I just… I’ve been told my whole life that I had to get to the Destroyer. No one’s ever mentioned what’s going to happen once I get there.”

“Your power will evolve,” Crystal shrugged. “It was that way for Greg and I.”

“Evolve? How?” I gulped. I didn’t like the sound of that. “I like my power the way it is. I understand it. I can control it. I don’t need someone coming in and changing all the rules on me!” Both women laughed heartily, enjoying my distress to my chagrin.

“Darling, that’s just the way it works when you find your soulmate,” Harriet continued to chuckle at my expense. “It will be the most natural thing in the world once you meet him. Now rest. Morning approaches.” 

I did as I was told, fretfully dreaming of what the future held.