It was a dream Jessie had almost every night.  Cold, raining, living out on the streets.  It wasn't really a dream at all.  No, this was a memory of those years on the streets as a cat.  She remembered turning into a bear and mauling her brother.   Her parents kicking her out and she shifted into a black cat and ran to the city.

But this one dream, the same one every night haunted her.  Cold...raining... hungry, the cat hid in a box next to a homeless man.  The man cared for her as if she was a cat.  She had been a cat for 4 years now, not shifting out of this form at all.  To stay hidden was to stay safe.  She didn't know others were like her.   The homeless man opened a can of tuna for her as the rain poured.  Jessie purred, licking the mans hands as he fed her.

She cared for him.  People that passed by them would throw things at him.  They hated this homeless man.  Called him a thief. The man never stole.  Jessie hated this, was tempted to shift and attack them, but she couldn't do it.  Had to stay hidden.  the dream was fuzzy as time sped by to the night of the murder.

Her homeless man was attacked by a drunk man, who stabbed him repetitively.  Jessie shifted into a leopard.  Pounced the drunk man, shredded him to pieces.  Next thing she knew, Athena Calor from Xavier's School for gifted youngsters found her defending the dead homeless mans body.  Nursing the wounds that did not bleed.  Athena told her it was safe at the Institute, that there were others like her.  She told Jessie that she wouldn't have to hide on the streets and feed off the scraps.  She'd have a bed.  Athena picked Jessie up as Jessie shifted to a black cat....

Jessie awoke after a flash of lighting, crying, every morning.  She couldn't save him.  She couldn't save him...