The Story of Anne - Fic for Twitter!Verse
Aug. 5th, 2010 09:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
phasing_catCharacters: Kitty Pryde (X-men)
Setting: Orphans!Verse sparked the idea. Since orphans is an extension of twitter, this is also Twitter!Verse. And since that backstory came from Shades of Gray!Verse, I feel this could also work as part of Kitty’s canon there. May or not make it part on there, though.
Rating: PG-13 (violence)
Word Count: 1,500
Most of you don’t know my history. You think you know me, Kitty, the teenage innocent, and I’ve let you. I’ve encouraged you, even, loving and hating it at the same time. The one side, one dimension, that I’ve projected at you is just that – flat, and false. You want to understand how the “child” you thought you knew could taunt and goad Teri into nearly killing her? I think I am ready now to explain it – to explain her. Her name is Anne.
You probably know that my parents kicked me out of the house at 13. That’s when the headaches started, and my ability manifested. I had no control and no idea what was happening to me. I turned to my parents for comfort and guidance, and was shown the door. My family is Jewish, my mother being especially devout. I can still see her grasping her Star of David as she accused me of being a demon. She said I must be evil, or have given my soul to the devil, slept with him like a common whore, to have such power. My father cringed, but said nothing. He didn’t even move from his chair as she grabbed my arm and dragged me out the back door, spewing superstitious Hebrew prayers just for having to touch me. The door slammed, and I never spoke to her again.
I waited until they were asleep to sneak back inside. I went straight to my room and packed a backpack of clothes, then stared at a piece of paper for an hour, pen in my hand. In the end, I left it blank. I took the money I knew my mother kept hidden in the kitchen, then hitchhiked my way to New York City. It was six months to the day after my 13th birthday.
New York was… big. Scary. I didn’t know where to go. The money only lasted a few days. I ended up outside the Met, one of the few places I recognized from a class trip the year before, begging for change. I stopped looking people in the eye pretty quickly. I just held out my hand and stared at the ground, letting the rumbling of my empty stomach do the talking.
The second night there I slept on a bench in Central Park. Cops found me. I had to use my ability to get away. I had never been so petrified. That’s when I stumbled upon them, and she offered me sanctuary. Callie, with her black hair and blue eyes. They were hiding behind the boathouse, huddled together in the dark like a litter of puppies. They taught me how to survive.
The first thing I did was change my name to Anne. It is my middle name, after all. They said it would keep the cops off my trail if someone official was looking for me. There were about 10 of them, sometimes more, sometimes less. All alone like me. Callie said we would look out for one another, and for several months we did. Summer is tourist season, and I quickly became the deftest pickpocket in our group. My ability helped with that, obviously. But when it grew colder, things changed. In times of feast, we were a family. When the famine came, it was every man for himself.
The first time she stole from me, I cried. I was the youngest, the easiest target. When I confronted her she denied it, eyes cold, heart hidden. What was left of my ability to trust began to shrivel and die. Then I overheard her bragging about how easy it was, and how gullible and childish I was. My resolve was set.
A week later I caught her going through my bag while I was pretending to sleep. I threatened her. She laughed in my face. So I used my ability to snap her wrist, pretending (to her at least) that it was an accident. Her screams echoed through the abandoned building we were holed up in for the night. After that, when they talked about me behind my back, they whispered. “Anne’s crazy,” they said. “Don’t fuck with her, that innocent look’s all a front.” And it truly was becoming one. They didn’t leave me, though, not yet. They needed me.
My 14th birthday arrived, marked by a blizzard from mother nature – and a new member of our group. His name was Shaun, and he was gorgeous. Blonde hair, blue eyes, tall, almost 18. I dreamed about kissing him almost every night. I imagined us as the king and queen of our little troupe. He was so smart, too. Smart enough to hide his true nature. I thought I was in love with him, and despite what Callie had done, I wanted to trust him. Wanna-be-badass Anne trusted him.
Until that night. The first day of spring had been glorious, and I’d fallen asleep with a full belly and a smile on my face. His breath on my face woke me first. It smelled of stale beer and cigarettes. His hands pushing at my pants made my eyes fly open. He was on top of me, his pants already around his ankles. He was muttering something about how he knew I wanted it, I watched him all the time. It felt like he had grown extra hands – they were everywhere, under my shirt, inside my pants. I opened my mouth to shout and he quickly covered it with one of those hands.
“If you don’t struggle, it won’t hurt.”
He grinned, and the last of my heart turned to ice. I bit down hard on his finger, and phased my arm out of his grasp. Reaching down between us, I grabbed his balls and pulled hard, using my ability to separate his sack from his body. Blood poured over my hand as he rolled off me, shouting every obscenity in the book. Everyone ran in, and I tossed his balls to the closest person. “He might need those,” I said. Blank stares, looks of horror. They helped him up and carried him out. I never saw any of them again.
I overheard a week later than Shaun had refused to be taken to a hospital, and had bled to death in an alley three streets over from where he attacked me. Young Kitty from Illinois cried for him in my mind. Anne, the thief, now killer, did not. She smiled.
After that I truly was alone. Alone, but safer. Word about what I’d done got around, and I never bothered to refute it. Let them fear me, I thought. They should. My mother was right – I was evil. I deserved everything that happened to me. But Anne protected me from the worst. She kept me alive.
Three weeks later the Company found me. They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse – an apartment of my own, money, independence and training in how to use my ability. And most of all, they’d make sure no one ever found out I was responsible for Shaun’s death.
So I left Anne behind, on the street where she was born. I went back to school, I learned how to control and manipulate my ability at will, and slowly she fell asleep inside my mind.
As time passed it was easier to think of her as someone else. The things she’d done, that wasn’t me. Some days I forgot she even existed. If anyone had asked me about her, I’d have denied even knowing her.
When I joined this family, I had no idea what I was getting into. My first day working at the shop, I did as I’d done for the prior three years. I was Kitty – pure, innocent, naïve, quiet. I didn’t even realize that I was falling in love with all of you until it was too late to stop.
When Teri took Amy, Anne woke up with a vengeance. The second I spotted Teri in the alley, Anne took over. I couldn’t stop her. Honestly, I didn’t want to stop her. I see now that she was only doing what she does best. She was protecting me. Losing you, my wonderful family, would be more pain than I could bear.
I know I sound crazy. I still can’t accept that Anne is a part of me. That’s why I hide her still. As long as you all see me as the child, the little sister, you will continue to protect me. And Anne won’t have to.
I know opening my heart to you all has created a door for her to come charging back into my life. Perhaps that is the true reason I love you so much, because I see the darkness in all of you that she finds kindred. All I know is that she scares me, and I can’t control her.
There, now you know everything. So please, don’t leave me. As long as I have you, I don’t need her.
Setting: Orphans!Verse sparked the idea. Since orphans is an extension of twitter, this is also Twitter!Verse. And since that backstory came from Shades of Gray!Verse, I feel this could also work as part of Kitty’s canon there. May or not make it part on there, though.
Rating: PG-13 (violence)
Word Count: 1,500
Most of you don’t know my history. You think you know me, Kitty, the teenage innocent, and I’ve let you. I’ve encouraged you, even, loving and hating it at the same time. The one side, one dimension, that I’ve projected at you is just that – flat, and false. You want to understand how the “child” you thought you knew could taunt and goad Teri into nearly killing her? I think I am ready now to explain it – to explain her. Her name is Anne.
You probably know that my parents kicked me out of the house at 13. That’s when the headaches started, and my ability manifested. I had no control and no idea what was happening to me. I turned to my parents for comfort and guidance, and was shown the door. My family is Jewish, my mother being especially devout. I can still see her grasping her Star of David as she accused me of being a demon. She said I must be evil, or have given my soul to the devil, slept with him like a common whore, to have such power. My father cringed, but said nothing. He didn’t even move from his chair as she grabbed my arm and dragged me out the back door, spewing superstitious Hebrew prayers just for having to touch me. The door slammed, and I never spoke to her again.
I waited until they were asleep to sneak back inside. I went straight to my room and packed a backpack of clothes, then stared at a piece of paper for an hour, pen in my hand. In the end, I left it blank. I took the money I knew my mother kept hidden in the kitchen, then hitchhiked my way to New York City. It was six months to the day after my 13th birthday.
New York was… big. Scary. I didn’t know where to go. The money only lasted a few days. I ended up outside the Met, one of the few places I recognized from a class trip the year before, begging for change. I stopped looking people in the eye pretty quickly. I just held out my hand and stared at the ground, letting the rumbling of my empty stomach do the talking.
The second night there I slept on a bench in Central Park. Cops found me. I had to use my ability to get away. I had never been so petrified. That’s when I stumbled upon them, and she offered me sanctuary. Callie, with her black hair and blue eyes. They were hiding behind the boathouse, huddled together in the dark like a litter of puppies. They taught me how to survive.
The first thing I did was change my name to Anne. It is my middle name, after all. They said it would keep the cops off my trail if someone official was looking for me. There were about 10 of them, sometimes more, sometimes less. All alone like me. Callie said we would look out for one another, and for several months we did. Summer is tourist season, and I quickly became the deftest pickpocket in our group. My ability helped with that, obviously. But when it grew colder, things changed. In times of feast, we were a family. When the famine came, it was every man for himself.
The first time she stole from me, I cried. I was the youngest, the easiest target. When I confronted her she denied it, eyes cold, heart hidden. What was left of my ability to trust began to shrivel and die. Then I overheard her bragging about how easy it was, and how gullible and childish I was. My resolve was set.
A week later I caught her going through my bag while I was pretending to sleep. I threatened her. She laughed in my face. So I used my ability to snap her wrist, pretending (to her at least) that it was an accident. Her screams echoed through the abandoned building we were holed up in for the night. After that, when they talked about me behind my back, they whispered. “Anne’s crazy,” they said. “Don’t fuck with her, that innocent look’s all a front.” And it truly was becoming one. They didn’t leave me, though, not yet. They needed me.
My 14th birthday arrived, marked by a blizzard from mother nature – and a new member of our group. His name was Shaun, and he was gorgeous. Blonde hair, blue eyes, tall, almost 18. I dreamed about kissing him almost every night. I imagined us as the king and queen of our little troupe. He was so smart, too. Smart enough to hide his true nature. I thought I was in love with him, and despite what Callie had done, I wanted to trust him. Wanna-be-badass Anne trusted him.
Until that night. The first day of spring had been glorious, and I’d fallen asleep with a full belly and a smile on my face. His breath on my face woke me first. It smelled of stale beer and cigarettes. His hands pushing at my pants made my eyes fly open. He was on top of me, his pants already around his ankles. He was muttering something about how he knew I wanted it, I watched him all the time. It felt like he had grown extra hands – they were everywhere, under my shirt, inside my pants. I opened my mouth to shout and he quickly covered it with one of those hands.
“If you don’t struggle, it won’t hurt.”
He grinned, and the last of my heart turned to ice. I bit down hard on his finger, and phased my arm out of his grasp. Reaching down between us, I grabbed his balls and pulled hard, using my ability to separate his sack from his body. Blood poured over my hand as he rolled off me, shouting every obscenity in the book. Everyone ran in, and I tossed his balls to the closest person. “He might need those,” I said. Blank stares, looks of horror. They helped him up and carried him out. I never saw any of them again.
I overheard a week later than Shaun had refused to be taken to a hospital, and had bled to death in an alley three streets over from where he attacked me. Young Kitty from Illinois cried for him in my mind. Anne, the thief, now killer, did not. She smiled.
After that I truly was alone. Alone, but safer. Word about what I’d done got around, and I never bothered to refute it. Let them fear me, I thought. They should. My mother was right – I was evil. I deserved everything that happened to me. But Anne protected me from the worst. She kept me alive.
Three weeks later the Company found me. They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse – an apartment of my own, money, independence and training in how to use my ability. And most of all, they’d make sure no one ever found out I was responsible for Shaun’s death.
So I left Anne behind, on the street where she was born. I went back to school, I learned how to control and manipulate my ability at will, and slowly she fell asleep inside my mind.
As time passed it was easier to think of her as someone else. The things she’d done, that wasn’t me. Some days I forgot she even existed. If anyone had asked me about her, I’d have denied even knowing her.
When I joined this family, I had no idea what I was getting into. My first day working at the shop, I did as I’d done for the prior three years. I was Kitty – pure, innocent, naïve, quiet. I didn’t even realize that I was falling in love with all of you until it was too late to stop.
When Teri took Amy, Anne woke up with a vengeance. The second I spotted Teri in the alley, Anne took over. I couldn’t stop her. Honestly, I didn’t want to stop her. I see now that she was only doing what she does best. She was protecting me. Losing you, my wonderful family, would be more pain than I could bear.
I know I sound crazy. I still can’t accept that Anne is a part of me. That’s why I hide her still. As long as you all see me as the child, the little sister, you will continue to protect me. And Anne won’t have to.
I know opening my heart to you all has created a door for her to come charging back into my life. Perhaps that is the true reason I love you so much, because I see the darkness in all of you that she finds kindred. All I know is that she scares me, and I can’t control her.
There, now you know everything. So please, don’t leave me. As long as I have you, I don’t need her.
