Life Behind A Mask - (PG-13)

Rachel's life has been nothing more then a mask. She hunted criminals in the dead of the night and cleaned up streets of New York City. To protect those who she considered friend was not easy. Bit that was the real reason why she never told anyone her true name and always went by Amy. She  wanted her enemies to be afraid of her just like she was when she was a kid.

Now though, she adopted a kid and she knew keeping up wig her vigilante life would be much harder then it was before.  Charity was going to realize Rachel dissapears every night. She wasn't stupid. That is why Rachel decided to tell her exactly what it was she did and what her real name was.  

Sitting in a chair in her office, Rachel waited for the girl to come and find her. She anticipiated many questions and just as many confused looks from Charity. But she couldn't let the girl live in a shadow. She was old enough to know.

Charity loved being at Rachel's home, the ability to not have to hide like she used to when she was on the streets. She held an animated cat in her arms as she hopped up and down with her wings flapping, trying to fly better and better.  She knew Rachel had wanted to talk to her about something and hoped it wasn't that Rachel wanted to kick her out.  That would devastated her.  It was mostly why Charity was taking her time in meeting Rachel in the office.  Other thing crossed her mind like the fact that, she knew Rachel left sometimes at night, that others called her Rachel at first, but the little girl wasn't going to question these things herself because she was happy with her home now.  She wasn't cold on the streets or worrying that M.R.D was going to take her away.  So Charity really wasn't sure what Rachel wanted to speak to her about unless maybe they were going to go somewhere.

As she reached the office, she folded her wings in and knocked politely.  Everything with Charity was with manners.  She just was that way.  She smiled and wave at Rachel and pressed on the cat statue, making it freeze back up into its original position and placed it on the floor to decorate the frame with it.  "Hi Miss Amy.  You wanted to see me?"  

"Yes," said Rachel as she pulled up a chair next to her. She didn't know how to tell the little girl that the person she lived with, was a vigilante. She found it even harder to explain how Rachel acquired all of this stuff and how her parents ended up dead. How she killed them in their sleep all because someone told her to. 

Rachel pulled herself out of those thoughts and looked up at the girl. How could she tell her all of that. She didn't want to frighten her. "You know me as--" she started but had no way of finishing it. Sitting silent for a while. " I am not who you think I am."

Charity smiled and walked over to the chair, and jumped, flapping her wings and landed in the seat by flying over and giggled a little bit before noticing how serious Rachel was.  She raised her brows and looked at her and frowned, putting her hands on Rachel's to show her comfort.  When Rachel began she was confused because her somewhat foster mother didn't finish her sentence.  As Rachel started the next and finished it Charity was still confused, not understanding at all what Rachel meant.

"I don't understand Miss Amy.  What do you mean?"  She asked with a curious tone, folding her wings in and scratching at them in a nervous habit when she was confused, sad, or scared.  A small feather fell out as she did so and slowly floated to the ground.

"Well--" said Rachel, still not sure how to explain it. "I am not Amy. My name is Rachel and--" she leaned closer to the girl "and I am a vigilante. Every night, I go out and catch criminals, whether they are mutant or human it makes no difference." said Rachel.

"I am not telling you this to scare you, but only if you are in trouble. There is a place called Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. If you ever need help and I am not there for you, Stephan will know what to do. He might take care of you, but if bad people come after you, I want you to run."

Charity listened to the words, her eyes confused at firs, thinking first about why Rachel would lie about her name to her, then to the fact that she killed others.  Sure, Charity could understand it, but it still seemed to not fully register with her. Rachel said it so easily so simply to her that Charity needed a few moments to really think before answering.  She looked down unsure of what to say until Rachel continued about the next half, Xavier's institute.

"Wh-why did you lie to me?"  She asked finally after a good five minutes.  Her smell legs swung under the chair nervously as her little eyes looked at Rachel directly.  "I could... maybe... I can help you so we don't... so we don't have to be apart?"  

Her eyes seemed to water.  It was like the entire vigilante thing didn't phase her, just the part about if she had to run away, to go somewhere else.  Charity didn't want to do that.  She had come to love Rachel like her own mother.  Her wings seemed to expand in fear, uncontrolled.  "Who would want to come hut me?  I'm just a little girl..."

"You have to understand," said Rachel, taking the young girl's hands into hers. "I have many enemies and all of them want to kill me. I didn't tell you my real name because I didn't want them to know who I was. Some of the enemies are mutant and they can turn into others and I would have no way of telling them apart."

It hurt Rachel to tell Charity all the truth, but sometimes lies were the only thing that kept people she cared for alive. "Nothing between us is going to change and I am not leaving you. OK? But you have to understand that what I do is dangerous and I can't put your life at risk like that."

Rachel wanted for the little girl to understand everything she was saying, but now she wasn't so sure anymore. "Some of my enemies don't care if you are just a little girl they will kill you just to hurt me and I couldn't live with losing someone. When I was a little girl, about your age I killed my own parents because a bad man told me to. So, now, I am making a difference I am changing the world."

Thinking of the fact that someone would want to hurt Rachel, Charity began to turn red in sadness and cried a tiny bit, listening.  "I don't know who anyone would want to hurt you.  You are so nice..."  She said softly and listened more.

"I know you wouldn't ever pu me at risk, you saved me miss... miss Rachel..."  Charity said, adjusting to the new name that she now knew her as. She listened on, pushig her tears away ad quickly jumped up, flying into the air nd into Rachel's lap and wrapped er tiny arms around Rachel and sniffed in.


"I understand.  But I am so sorry that you killed your mommy and daddy... mine called me a freak... is that why you did that to yours?"  The little girl asked with curiousity and now was no longer teary.