REST IN PEACE

which make up the American culture are about as foreign to Brianna as they are to Kurt Wagner. From the time she could walk to now, she never found a good reason to leave the mansion, her home. She felt as if she had everything there that she could ever want.

But when she gets a taste of an ice cold blue-raspberry slushee, she realizes just how wrong she was.

It tastes like heaven, she thinks, if heaven had a taste, that is. She has never tried something so delicious before in her life. As she cradles the cold beverage close to her, Scott sends her a glance, visibly raising an eyebrow.

"It's like you've never had a slushee before, Bree," he says, in a joking manner, unaware of how right he is. Brianna looks away, watching the floor as it moves with her feet and the heat rises to her cheeks. She doesn't want him to see the embarrassed look in her eyes.

"You've never had a slushee before?" He asks, disbelief flooding his voice. Brianna shrugs and continues walking, Scott falling into place beside her. A few feet in front of the two, Jean and Kurt walk at the same pace, seemingly in a heated discussion about the terrible movie they just saw.

"I don't leave the house much," Brianna argues quietly, still watching her feet. She sticks the white straw in her mouth, sipping at her drink again. Scott rests his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, finding warmth for them there. Brianna watches the ground in front of her as she walks, careful not to trip over anything in her way.

"I know," Scott responds, "Alex told me." This gets Brianna's attention. She whips her head to the side and furrows her eyebrows at him. However, he does not notice, as he is still looking at the ground.

"What else did Alex tell you?" She dares herself to ask, tossing the empty slushee container into a trash can as they walk.

"Not much," he says. "Says that you spend most of your time in the library. And that you always skip class, and no one says anything about it, because you're the Professor's kid."

Brianna's jaw hardens. If Alex told him all of this, who knows what else he said? She thought that Alex was someone that she could trust with anything, and he would keep it a secret so long as she asked him to.

"We should probably go back," Brianna says, trying to change the subject. Also, she has never been out for this long. Already, she is getting homesick. She misses the cool walls of her room and the books that are just beginning to collect dust and the posters that cover half of her wall space.

"What?" Scott asks incredulously. "We haven't even been gone that long!" Brianna begs to differ, as she glances at her watch and shows it to Scott, proving that they've been away from the mansion for hours.

The boy puffs air out of his cheeks in an annoyed manner and reluctantly agrees, and after some convincing, the other two also decide that it is time for them to return to their home.

-

When the four of them pull up to the school thirty-five minutes later, they come upon a shocking and terrifying sight. The school seemed to have burned down. It is in pieces, gray, hot, broken pieces of Brianna's home, all morphed to rubble.

She can't breathe.

Just the sight of her home in pieces is enough to make the corners of her eyes sting with salty tears. Scott slammed on the brakes of the ugly yellow car and hopped out, rushing over to the large group of mutant children standing at a safe distance from the school.

"What happened?" Scott demands. "Where's Alex? Where's my brother?" The words come out fast, and some of the kids look at the ground, while others share sad glances. Brianna clutches her stomach, already knowing what happened.

"Pretty sure I got everybody," a familiar voice says, causing Brianna to lift her head to the crowd until her eyes land on the familiar face that belongs to her friend — Peter.

There he is, in his normal attire, all silver and black and leather. He stands a few feet from Hank, who must have lost his glasses at some point during the explosion.

Everyone seems to take a moment of silence for the one they lost, but Scott won't accept it. Peter also seems confused.

"Alex was closest to the blast," Hank explains to the silver-haired boy. The pain in Brianna's stomach doubles; she feels like she is going to be sick. Scott's breathing becomes labored, before he takes off running through the rubble, in search for his brother.

After they seem to snap out of their trance, both Jean and Brianna rush after their friend, chasing him through the scattered fragments of the mansion.

The air reeks of smoke. Scott skids to a stop and gazes down, where the ground stoops too low for him to reach.

"Alex," he says quietly. Suddenly, the reality of the situation hits Brianna. Her best friend is gone. Dead. Never again will she share another secret with him. Never again will he scold her for ignoring her father. Never again will be hug her the way a big brother would hug his little sister.

Tears silently fall down her face. She barely takes notice when Jean clasps her hand over her mouth, probably just as sad as everyone else about the situation.

Scott removes his glasses and falls to his knees, head lowered. He's crying, and not silently, like Brianna. His shoulders shake with sobs. Jean stands behind him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

The pain that Brianna feels is terrible and Alex wasn't even her brother. He was Scott's. The pain that this boy is feeling must be a thousand times worst than what Brianna is feeling. A pang of sympathy courses through her, for Scott.

Suddenly, the sound of a helicopter whirring in the distance drags them away from what is going on. Everyone seems to simultaneously turn their heads up towards the sky, towards the chopper coming slowly towards them.

"Please remain calm," a woman's voice says calmly over a loudspeaker. Jean urges Scott to stand up. "Medical assistance is on the way. Please remain calm."

Jean, Scott, Kurt, and Brianna hide themselves behind a pile of rubble and watch the scene with curious eyes. The woman over the loudspeaker continues to repeat the same thing, ordering the mutant children to keep calm and that they will be helped shortly.

The helicopter lands, off in the distance well enough so the four of them do not really need to worry about being seen. Still, they stay out of sight, just in case.

People dressed in helmets and suits of black and gray emerge from the helicopter, spreading out a fair distance and approaching the group of mutants, large guns in hands.

A woman who Brianna does not recognize comes forward from the group of mutants, waving her arm and shouting.

"Hey! Moira MacTaggert! CIA! Thank God you're here!"

A tall figure who lacks the special helmet comes off the helicopter last, only wearing sunglasses. As he removes them, a few of the older mutants start to recognize him, from what Brianna can see.

"Wait!" She hears Raven's loud voice pierce through the air. But it's a little too late.

"Fire!" The man with the sunglasses orders, and Brianna is expecting a series of gun shots to ring out. But instead, waves of something practically invisible come out of the guns, polluting the air and causing all of the mutants to collapse to the grass.

Brianna, Jean, Scott, and Kurt, however, are at a safe enough distance, so they are not affected by the chemical. They only watch with wide eyes.

The men walk forward and begin to choose people from the group of unconscious mutants. Brianna watches as they take the woman, Moira MacTaggert, and place her in the chopper.

And then Hank, then Peter, and finally, Raven.

Raven, who, at the moment, is blue from head to toe. Brianna has never seen her like this, except on television. Her eyes stay wide as they watch the scene unfold in front of them.

A man has began to walk their way. All four of them duck lower, out of sight. For now.

"What do we do?" Kurt questions, to no one in particular. Brianna places her hands on the large chunk of rubble in front of her.

"Keep quiet," Jean answers.

"X-Ray 7, I'm doing a final sweep of the ground," the approaching man says, through his radio. Brianna watches in some kind of mix between shock and disbelief as Jean places two fingers against her temple and concentrates.

This reminds Brianna so much of her father, which causes another pang of guilt to run through her. She doesn't know where he is. He could be gone.

The man in the suit stands directly in front of them, but doesn't seem to notice them all sitting there hiding.

Mind tricks, Brianna thinks, glancing at Jean. However, the red-head is too occupied with trying to keep them out of sight.

"Clear!" The man yells. He turns away, walking back to the chopper. Jean waits a few seconds after he has disappeared before she removes her fingers from her temple.

"Thanks, Jean," Scott says, quietly. "We gotta help them. Kurt, can you get us in that thing?"

And just like that, Brianna is sucked into the biggest fight of her life.