Chapter 1: The New Girl
Amber walked up to the rusty gates and peered through to see an old mansion. She reached a hand slowly into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. She slowly opened the paper and read the name printed boldly on the it 'The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.' Amber looked at a metal sign not far from the gate that said the same thing.
Slowly she opened the gate and walked to the mansion. She walked up to the huge double doors, and stopped peering straight up to where the doors met the wall. Amber then looked straight. She knocked on the door three times. She waited about five minutes then turned around and started to walk off, but when she stepped onto the grass the two huge doors slowly opened.
Amber turned around startled to find that no one was there. She walked slowly towards the doors daring herself to move on and see what was going on. She walked inside the building to the middle of the room and stared at the three people before her.
One of them had blue hair that was fixed to look like a wolverine. He wore a brown cowboy hat with loose blue jeans, and a stripped shirt. Next to him stood a bald-headed man in a wheelchair. His elbows rested on the arms of his wheelchair as she saw the 'We've been waiting for you' look in his eyes. The one next to him was a woman. An African American. Her long white hair was tied in a bun and her glasses near the tip of her nose as her brown eyes stared happily at the girl before her.
"Welcome, Amber to the Xavier Institute for higher Learning. I am Professor Xavier, this gentlemen next to me is Logan, and this is…" The man in the wheelchair said.
"How did you know my name?" Amber asked.
"This is a school for mutants. You are a mutant, and I know you know," Professor said.
"I mutant? You mean those powers I have right?" Amber asked letting out a sigh.
"Look you are welcome to stay here and live with others like you, or you can leave now. We are not here to force you to stay, but to help you with your powers." Professor said waiting for the girl's answer.
"I think I'll stay," Amber said.
"Ok, I'll get someone to show you to your room," Xavier said smiling.
"I will do it Professor hommie," A black and red I'd man walked in.
He wore a brown trench coat with a black shirt underneath. He had tight blue jeans that were somewhat torn.
"Ok, show her, her room," Professor Xavier turned his wheelchair and wheeled away.
"Hey, the names Gambit. Who are you, chere?" Gambit stepped closer to Amber.
"I'm Amber…Amber Muun," She said staring into his black and red eyes.
"So what are your powers?" Gambit began walking away.
Amber ran a little to catch up, "I control shadow. I can't make it, but I can turn it into anything I want," Amber was quiet.
"Come on lighten up. Everyone here is nice. You don't have to be shy," He said stopping and stared at her.
Gambit put a finger on the bottom of Amber's chin and lifted it up so that she was staring into his eyes. He brought his face closer to hers so that their lips almost touched. Amber's face became a bright red as the man before her brushed his lips against hers.
"Gambit, what are you doing?" A voice called out from down the hall.
Another person came walking down the hall.
"Hey, Lloyd hommie This is Amber, she's new here," Gambit pointed to the girl next to him.
"Hey, the names Lloyd. Welcome to the Institute," Lloyd put a hand on the girl's shoulder and whispered into her ear, "If he ever bothers just come find me or Logan, ok."
"Ok, I will."
"Now why did you have to do that?" Gambit asked almost pouting, "Come on I better take you to you room, so you can put your stuff there."
"Lloyd, hey, who's the girl?" A girl with brown hair and two thick white strips in the front walked up to Lloyd and kissed him on his cheek.
"Oh, this is Amber. She just got here today. Gambit's taking her to her room," Lloyd smiled.
"Oh, Gambit don't try anything." The girl said, "I'm Rogue. Nice to meet you."
"Um…you too…" Amber said.
"Don't let Gambit get to you. He's a big flirt. He tries to get a girl, but always seems to find others," Rogue perked an eyebrow, "What did he do?"
"He…um…he kissed me…" Amber blushed again.
Rogue let out a sigh, "Gambit she's new here you could get to know her first."
"Come on Rogue. It was just a kiss. Are you jealous?" Gambit smiled.
"No! Why would I be jealous? I broke up with you remember. Besides I have Lloyd now," Rogue said turning around in anger and storming off.
"Rogue? Wait for me," Lloyd ran off and walked with Rogue.
"Come on," Gambit smiled an evil smile, "So do you have a boyfriend?"
"Um…no I don't. No one liked me because I am a mutant," Amber sighed.
"Oh, come on. A pretty girl like you needs a boyfriend."
Amber's face turned bright red once again. She looked down, too shy to stare at the man before her. Gambit once again lifted her head and brushed his lips against hers again. Amber felt her face turn red again.
"Gambit?" Professor Xavier said rolling towards the two mutants in his wheelchair, "You're suppose to be showing amber her room, not kissing her. Please behave yourself."
"Sorry Professor X. I won't do it again." Gambit grabbed Amber's wrist and pulled her to the dorm rooms where the girls were staying.
He walked up to a door and opened it, "This is your room."
"It is? Wow, it's huge…" Amber said stepping in and turning around in a circle to get a good look at her new room.
"You've never seen a room this big before?" Gambit asked closing the door behind him.
"Yeah, well. I lived with a family who didn't exactly take care of me. This room is three times the size of my old room. Our house was probably as big as…" Amber tried to compare her house to one of the objects here.
"The pool? It's 50 feet in length." Gambit said placing a hand on Amber's shoulder.
"Yeah…as big as the pool…that is a really big pool." Amber said heading for the door.
Gambit grabbed Amber's arm and brought her back towards him. Amber twirled in a circle towards him then landed her hands on his chest and her head resting on her hands. Amber looked up at Gambit who was smiling. Amber started blushing.
"Do you dance?" He asked.
"No. I…I can't…I don't know how…" Amber said.
"Then I'll teach you…" Gambit placed Amber's hands in their correct spots, "There's no music so I'm going to teach you without using any beats…"
"Um…ok…"
Gambit began moving across the floor of Amber's room. Amber stumbled as she tried to keep up with him. Gambit just laughed. He led her and himself to her bed, and laid her on it. Gambit fell on top of her still laughing. Amber looked at the strange red and black eyed man before her.
"Can you get off?" Amber asked unable to move.
Gambit grabbed Amber's arms and placed them over her head. He began kissing her lips roughly. Then he moved towards her neck, nipping at it. The nipping soon turned into biting, and kissing. Amber moaned as the man lapped at the blood that slowly dripped down her neck from when he bit her.
Gambit went to take Amber's clothes off, but amber got free from his grasp.
"It's way too soon…" She said trying to get him off of her.
"I thought you were enjoying it. That moan sure told me you were…" Gambit smiled, and went to bite Amber's neck again, but was stopped when he went flying across the room.
Gambit was soon surrounded by darkness. Amber stared at him angrily, her eyes flashed a red color then changed back to black, but it didn't stay black for long. Soon her eye color was completely red. She formed the darkness into a cage, and it gradually got smaller as Gambit struggled to get out.
"Chere! What are you doing?" He said frantically.
Amber didn't say a thing. She almost closed her hand all the way, but stopped. Her eyes flashed again this time changing back to black, and staying that way. Amber held her head wondering what happened. The cage around gambit disappeared, and he just sat where he was staring at her.
"Are you ok?" He asked reaching a hand towards her.
"Please, don't touch me…don't come near me…" Amber back away slowly staring at her hands in fear.
"What the hell happened to you?" He asked standing up, and taking a step towards her.
"Please, don't come any closer…I don't know what I will do this time…I will tell you if you please step back…"
Gambit took a few steps back, and leaned against the door to her room, "Now what the hell is wrong?"
"When I was younger I was almost raped by a man. I was so frightened my powers took control of me, and when it does my eyes turn a different color…red to be exact…and it causes me to lose control of myself. That's the only part of me I can't control. I try to avoid people so that this problem doesn't happen again. It only truly happens when I'm angry or frightened."
"The Professor can help you with that problem…" Gambit said coming towards her again.
"No…no one can help me…" Amber said falling on her knees to the ground.
Amber felt tears. Her painful memories from that horrible day. The day she found out she was a mutant. She tried so hard to forget, but something or someone always brings them back.
Gambit wrapped an arm around Amber's shoulders and lifted her to her feet. He walked her out of her door, and to the Professor's office.
"Yes…what is it?" He asked opening the door.
"Professor can you help her?" Gambit asked.
"Sit her on the chair over there. I will try."
Gambit put Amber on the chair. Professor put a hand on her forehead, and placed the other hand on his own forehead. He closed his eyes, and searched her mind. He saw the memory of what happened to her so long ago. He then saw something else. It was a battle between her and her feelings of anger and fear. She seemed to be losing.
The professor sent a telekinetic wave at the two feelings and destroyed them. The girl's mind was so dark and mysterious before, now it was bright. She seemed to be happy again. The Professor took his hand away from Amber's forehead, and opened his eyes dropping his other hand as well.
"The problem should be fixed. Your feelings cannot control your powers anymore. If you are frightened you will now have to concentrate to bring your powers to life. You eyes should also stay the same color too. So don't you worry about that."
"Um…thanks I guess…" Amber replied, "Can I go now?"
The professor nodded, and Amber left the room. Gambit went to follow but was stopped by the professor.
"Gambit let her be…she just got here. We don't want to scare her away. We are here to help her. So behave…"
Gambit frowned, but knew it was true. He then nodded and left the room. He walked down the hall towards the kitchen. When he got there he saw Amber talking with Lloyd, Kurt, and Raine.
"I'm Amber…" She said kinda shy.
"I'm Lloyd. Nice to meet you. This is my half-sister Raine, and this is Kurt." Lloyd smiled shaking Amber's hand.
"Great…more people…" Raine sighed and left the room.
Amber looked at her confused.
"Don't mind her. She doesn't like people that much. Just stay out of her way and you will get along with her just fine."
Amber nodded, "Ok, I will take that advice."
"Has anybody shown you around yet?" Lloyd asked smiling a friendly smile.
"No. Not yet." Amber said shaking her head.
"Ok. We will then…" Lloyd grabbed Amber's wrist and drug her throughout the Institute.
He showed her the Medlab, the Kitchen, both dorm areas, the rec. room, the Professor's office, and lastly the pool area. Although amber knew where most of the stuff she was shown were she didn't say a thing, and just let them lead her.
Lloyd and Kurt dragged Amber outside to the pool area where most of the mutants were. Some of the people glanced over, and saw Lloyd and Kurt with the new girl. Those mutants got up, and walked over to the three.
"Hey! Are you new here?" One of them asked. This one was a girl. She had long red air, and green eyes.
"Y…yeah…I…I…am…"
"Oh, come on. Don't be nervous. We're friends." The other on said. This on was a boy with brown hair, and red sunglasses.
"This is Scott and Jean." Lloyd said then whispered in Amber's ear, "They can get annoying sometimes. Jean is a telepath, and Scott can shoot red eye beams from his eyes. That's why he wears those glasses all the time. So don't take off his glasses unless it's important."
Amber nodded her head. She felt Lloyd's warm breath as it hit her ear. Lloyd once again dragged her by her wrist. This time he brought her towards the pool. Amber looked at everyone who was swimming.
"Hey! Everyone! We have a new mutant here! Her names Amber!" Lloyd said catching everyone's attention.
"Hey!" Gambit whispered from directly behind her. Amber felt his warm breath against her neck.
Amber screamed and jumped when two firm hands wrapped themselves around her waist. Lloyd stared at Gambit. What the hell is he going to do? Gambit picked Amber up, and dropped her in the pool. He then jumped in after her.
When Amber reached the surface of the water with Gambit she slapped him as hard as she could across his right cheek. Gambit screamed in pain as a handprint began to form on his face.
Everyone stared at Amber then at Gambit.
"Gambit got Bitch Slapped!" Someone said laughing, "Damn! Are you gonna take that from a girl Gambit!"
Gambit shook his head. He grabbed Amber's wrist and held a tight grip around it. His eyes were burning with anger as he bent her wrist back. Amber opened her mouth to scream in pain, but was stopped when someone roughly kissed her.
Amber stared at Gambit. His eyes were closed yet you could still tell that he was angry. Gambit forced his tongue down her throat then roughly played with her tongue. Amber tried to pull away, but she was stuck between Gambit and the edge of the pool.
Gambit finally pulled away, and stared at Amber. Amber looked at him with confusion, but she was also scared. Lloyd who doesn't like water kicked Gambit away from her. He then reached a hand out to help her out. Amber grabbed Lloyd's hand and was hoisted up out of the water, and onto the smooth pavement that surrounded the pool.
"You ok?" He asked.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Why'd he do that for?" She asked expecting an answer.
"I honestly don't know. He's never done that before." Lloyd said surprised.
Amber looked around. Everyone was now staring at her, and she really didn't like it.
"Can I go inside, please?" she asked.
Lloyd noticed she was very uncomfortable and shook his head. He led her to the dressing room, and grabbed her a towel. Amber took the towel from Lloyd, and wrapped it around her soaked body. Lloyd then led her to the kitchen where he grabbed both of them a drink.
"So, why aren't you going back to the pool?" She asked.
"I hate water." Lloyd stuck out his tongue in disgust.
"How can you hate water?" Amber's never exactly met anyone who hated water before.
"You will find out one day."
"Why can't you tell me now?" Amber pleaded.
"Because you will find out one day…"
"But I wanna know now…"
"Well, you'll just have to wait," Lloyd touched Amber lightly on her nose, then he left the kitchen.
"What do I do now?" Amber said talking to herself.
"You could go with me to the Danger Room. We need to test you on your powers. It's just simple training."
Amber turned around to see the blue haired man from before.
"Do I have to now?"
"What I said was more of an order, kid. You've got no choice in the matter. There will also be Raine and Lloyd in there with you."
Amber nodded her head, and followed Logan to the Danger Room. The doors opened and Amber stepped in only to find Lloyd and Raine there too. Lloyd turned his head in her direction and smiled.
"Hey, Amber come on over here! Are you ready to train?"
Amber nodded. Lloyd pointed to a tall towed like object in the center of the room.
"Up there is the control center. Logan and Hank will be there controlling everything that happens down here..."
Amber nodded her head once again, and got in her battle stance. There was a loud echoing beep signifying the beginning of their training. Three huge panels on the side closest to Amber opened up and allowed three spike balls to roll out and trample everything in it's path.
Amber looked down underneath the spike balls to see shadow. She smiled and took the shadow. She held her hands apart from eachother creating separate shadow balls. She then combined them to form a huge light sword.
Amber swung the sword, which sliced two of the three spike balls in half. The third one escaped from Amber's view. She looked around expecting it to come from behind her or in front of her. Then there was a loud crash. The spike ball suddenly appeared next to her.
Amber had no time to dodge. All she could do was let it hit her. the shadow she had gathered earlier was gone and it would take too long to get it back. The spike part of the metal spike ball had skinned across Amber's arm causing her to whimper in pain. Before Amber realized the spike ball was coming back for another attack.
"Amber! Look out!" Lloyd suddenly turned into a black metal panther and knocked Amber out of the way.
Amber hit the ground of the Danger Room pretty hard, and had lost her vision for a few seconds. When she finally got it back she saw the panther tearing the spike ball to shreds.
'Where did that thing come from? It's so pretty!' Amber thought admiring the panther in front of her.
When the spike ball was destroyed the panther turned back into Lloyd. Amber gasped at this.
"You were that really pretty panther?" She said now figuring that's why he didn't like water.
"Yeah…are you ok?"
"Yeah I'm fine, it's just a scratch."
"Here let me look at it…" Lloyd grabbed Amber's arm.
The flesh had been torn, and she was bleeding badly.
"Just a scratch, eh? It's not a serious wound, but the bleeding is bad," Lloyd tore a piece of the sleeve of his shirt and wrapped up Amber's wound.
Amber closed her eyes and clenched her teeth in pain. Lloyd noticed and smiled.
"This should hold the bleeding until the training is over…"
"Thanks…" Amber stared at him.
Lloyd stood up and held a hand towards Amber. Amber grabbed his hand and stood up.
"Hey! Could use a little help here!" Raine shouted from the other end of the Danger Room.
Four worm like objects were squirming around Raine as she tried to hit them with her fists and feet. Lloyd looked at Amber. She stared at him. She was ready to fight again. Injured or not.
"Are you sure you can fight with that injury?"
"Who knows…I'll live though. This one injury isn't enough to kill me…"
Amber walked pasted Lloyd towards Raine. Lloyd soon followed. Amber gathered shadow in her uninjured hand and formed that into a sword.
"You like swords, huh?" Lloyd asked smiling.
"Yeah. Swords and staffs are my most favorite weapons besides guns and knives…"
Amber ran for one of the worm like objects, and sliced it in half. Half of the body fell to the ground with a thud, the other half hung from the wall. Lloyd smiled evil at two of them.
Their attention seemed to be on Amber now. He turned into his panther form and lunged at the two objects. His claws dug deep inside their metal bodies, cutting the wire. Electricity shot out from the two. Raine, Amber, and Lloyd each ran away, and hid as the two exploded causing the last one to explode as well.
"Man! That was awesome! Good job you guys!" Lloyd said happily.
Amber smiled, "That was fun!"
Raine shook her head, "I'm surrounded by idiots…"
"Come on sis, you know you liked fighting them…"
"But that doesn't explain the fact that I am surrounded by idiots…"
"Ok, you guys…good job…"
Hank's voice echoed through the room as he spoke into a small microphone in the control room.
"You are free to go now…Amber we would like to speak to you…"
"Did I do something wrong?" Amber asked Lloyd.
"Not that I know of…hey, maybe it's good news…" Lloyd patted Amber on her shoulders, "It was nice training with you though."
Amber smiled and walked towards the group of people who were standing in front of the entrance to the Control Room.
"You did very good with the training, but you need to keep your guard up."
"Yeah, sorry. That happens to me sometimes."
"We'll help you so it won't happen again. If that was a real battle you could have been killed…if not for Lloyd…"
"I know…can I go now? I'm really thirsty…"
"You are dismissed…"
With that said Amber walked off towards the kitchen. She went up to the doorway and stopped. A group of people stood in the center of the room talking. Amber hesitated. She doesn't like a lot of people.
Amber turned around to walk away when she bumped into someone. She looked up to see a smiling Gambit. Amber blushed slightly with embarrassment before she stood back up.
"Sorry 'bout that…" She said going to walk away.
"It's ok…hey do you want to go outside. It's stuffy in here, and it's kinda boring when you're by yourself."
Amber stopped and stared at Gambit. Could she trust him to not do anything? Not really, but hey, she was bored.
"Sure I'll go…"
Gambit grabbed Amber's wirst and pulled her next to him. He then moved his hand down from her wrist and into her hand. She looked down towards their hands. Does he like her or something?
"Um…you're holding my…um…hand…"
"I know," Gambit said cheerfully as they both walked outside.
Amber listened to the chirping of the birds, and she felt the light breeze that swept across the earth. Gambit stared at the girl next to him. He saw as she looked around watching the birds and other small animals playing on the ground.
"Come on. I want to show you something…"
Amber allowed Gambit to lead her into the woods behind the Institute. They both dodged trees before a small cabin appeared.
"What's this doing here?" Amber asked staring at it.
"Well, I honestly don't know. You're the first person I ever really took here. So, do you wanna go inside?"
Amber hesitated before nodding her head. Gambit ran up to the door and opened it for Amber. He bowed his head and pointed a hand inside.
"Ladies first…"
Amber smiled and walked inside. She looked around. Everything looked neat as if someone came once and a while to clean it. Gambit walked behind Amber and wrapped his arms around her.
"Let's stay the night here? Forget about your room and the other mutants. It'll be just me and you."
Amber blinked in confusion. Did he really like her or was he like the other people? The last time someone said they liked Amber she almost ended up getting jumped by their friends. Everyone where she used to live knew she was a mutant, and they all teased and threw rocks at her because of it. She always dreamed of just becoming a normal human being instead of the freak…no the monster…that she turned out to be.
End of Chapter 1