Wildheart

Wildheart is an original fictional character who first appeared in New Mutants: Last Class.

Background
From the moment she was born, Vivian Meeks was betrayed by her wild red hair - and she would never forgive it. She was a mutant, clearly, though beyond her unnatural hair colour she appeared to show no signs of special abilities or powers.

Vivian was an especially difficult baby who simply refused to be calm for any length of time. Whether it was fits of laughter, rage, or tears, she just never seemed to settle down. The constant stress of looking out for such a tiny bundle of emotions nearly destroyed her parents' marriage, but somehow the Meeks family pulled through, stubbornly refusing to give up on their daughter, nor each other.

By the time Vivian was 5 her wild mood swings were far from behind her - if anything, they had grown worse. She would be starting school soon, and her parents couldn't imagine how she could possibly get through the first day, nevermind the year. That was when the Xavier Institute stepped in.

Emma Frost, the steely headmistress of the Xavier Institute, payed the Meeks a visit at their home in Huntsville, Alabama, explaining that their daughter's mutation appeared to go well beyond her ruby red hair. Her heightened emotional states were a part of her mutant ability, though they were only the tip of the iceburg. With help from the staff at the Xavier Institute, Ms. Frost explained, Vivian could one day learn to control her emerging powers, and perhaps her wild emotions, too. After agonizing over the decision for days, the Meeks reluctantly agreed to send their only daughter away.

As promised, Vivian benefitted from her studies at the Xavier Institute. In addition to joining the Lower Class and receiving a proper education, Vivian worked closely with Emma Frost in special therapy and training sessions designed to help her cope with her emotional outbursts.

Initially, she found herself at the wrong end of a lot of teasing from her young classmates, as her overblown reactions made her an easy and satisfying target. Others, such as Kiona Kinney and Ahn Myung-Sun (aka "Sunny") were quick to come to her defense, and Vivian immediately formed strong emotional ties to them both. Inevitably, the trio formed a small clique that would last throughout their years at Xavier's, and beyond.

New Mutants: Last Class
Vivian was one of a small number of mutants who retained their powers after M-Day. Two years later, when it seemed that mutants were once again appearing around the world, Vivian found herself having difficulty adjusting to all the new faces that started to appear at the school. She coped with the chaos of her wildly mixed emotions in part by focusing on the smouldering crush she had started to develop on one of the new students, Nathan Jacobe. Kiona and Sunny seemed to develop matching crushes too, though as always, theirs weren't on Vivian's level. The trio would spend a good portion of the coming months stalking the object of their mutual, age-inappropriate desire.

Timeskip and the Last Stand
Over time, Vivian's powers matured as she did. Though still prone to exaggerated emotional reactions to just about anything and everything, her body began to feed on her powerful feelings, growing stronger, faster, and tougher in return. The stronger her experience, the stronger her body grew. Years of meaningless mood swings were finally starting to pay off, and she looked forward to the day when her powers would be great enough to qualify her for a spot on the X-Men.

But to her horror, it was the Last Stand that came first. As with all things, no one took it harder than Vivian. While others mourned the loss of their friends, mentors and loved ones, and struggled to find answers, or at least a way to move on, Vivian simply shut down. Regressing into a catatonic state, Vivian drifted in an out of periods of rigid torpor and hyperactive activity. Even at her most lucid she seemed to be suffering from large gaps in her memory. Weeks turned into months, months dragged into a year before she showed signs of anything resembling progress.

She remained with Unity during this time, with her friends Kiona and Sunny never far from her side. Without their help she may never have recovered, but slowly but surely she began to come out of her shell. Her lucid periods grew longer and more frequent, and her memories, even the painful ones, returned to her piece by piece.

By the second anniversary of the Last Stand, Vivian was declared well enough to begin training along side her friends, only to discover that her powers had grown immensely. It seemed as though the trauma of the Last Stand had unlocked her full potential all at once. Vivian was retroactively given status as a founding member of Unity and awarded the codename "Wildheart" in a thoroughly emotional ceremony.

As anti-mutant sentiment began to wane around the world, Vivian grew increasingly excited. She has reportedly been glued to the television set, watching protests and political debates over the potential repeal of the SRA with fascination, and dreams of the day when she may finally be able to return home to see her parents without fear.

Powers and Abilities
Vivian is a Beta-level mutant. Her body instinctively adapts to potentially dangerous situations by increasing her strength, speed, agility, and/or durability to superhuman proportions according to the perceived threat. The precise adataptions are patterened on her emotional state, which acts like a code, telling her body everything it needs to know in order to provide the right physical abilities. Feelings of anger may result in increased strength, while fear may translate into excessive speed or agility; mixed emotions may produce a mixed reaction. The absolute limits of her abilities have not been tested in the field, but she has demonstrated a strength rating of over 25 tons and the ability to break the sound barrier when under duress.

As a result, Vivian's emotions are constantly heightened, essentially amplifying the crucial signal to ensure an accurate and appropriate adaptation.

Vivian is a skilled artist, having incorporated painting and sketching in her therapy sessions as a method of channeling and expressing her emotions since an early age. She has had basic self defense training and is experienced in hand-to-hand combat.