A full moon hung high over the Xavier Institute, casting an eerie glow over the campus and all it's sleeping inhabitants. Well… almost all of them sleeping anyway. One man, in particular, was not sleeping at all. Instead he was pacing, quite heatedly, back and forth in front of his "yet to be used" bed. He ran his hands through his dark and unusually spiked hair, occasionally stroking his long side burns, as if constantly moving would distract him from the dreams that haunted his sleep.
"Damn," he cursed, for lack of anything better to say. For what could he say? Nothing in his vocabulary held the power to dispel the poignant images that burned in his mind from previous nights of sweat-laced sleep.
"Damn." He huffed again, making his way over to the window (in his opinion the best aspect of his dreary room). He pressed his for head against the cool glass, his agitated breath fogging up the clear panes.
Suddenly, just as he was about to return to his pacing, a bit of movement in the courtyard caught his eye.
Instincts flaring he flung open the windows and drank in the sent of the outdoors. His eyes had not failed him. He most certainly smelled someone out there.
Carefully he slid out of the window and onto one of the roofs below. The vastness of the Institute along with the quantity of different buildings made it quite easy for the man to slink about for a full view of the terrace below.
Peering intently he soon found the intruder. It was a girl, perhaps about sixteen or seventeen. She had long black hair and wide eyes. It appeared as if she was contemplating going up to knock on the school's large and, somewhat, intimidating doors.
Seeing the intruder as harmless the man quickly slipped back inside and headed out of his room and down the hall. He was surprised to see another man inhabiting the hallway.
"Scott?" he asked, walking towards the other man.
Scott looked up, his short brown hair and young features practically glowing in the moonlight.
"Logan?" he asked back. "What the hell are you doing up?"
"I could ask you the same thing." Logan shot back coldly. Scott glared back from behind his sunglasses, looking ready to start an argument.
"Look," Logan growled. "Before you start your bitchin' just listen to me alright." Scott complied with a haughty silence to which Logan took as a queue to continue.
"I saw a girl down in the courtyard, right outside the main entrance. She looked about sixteen…"
"A mutant?" Scott asked, surprised.
"Couldn't tell." Logan replied. "She didn't seem like a threat though….. I was just about to go down and see what she wanted."
"I'll come too." Scott said.
Logan rolled his eyes. He could have done well enough without four-eyes tagging along, but the hell if he cared. He wasn't in the mood to get into a fight.
The two men made their way down the many flights of stairs 'till they made it to the main entrance hall. Logan opened the door with a grunt and headed out on to the veranda.
"Hey you," He smirked looking to the shadows where his heightened senses could easily see the girl hiding. "Kid! What are you doing?"
The girl, looking terrified, slowly emerged from hiding.
"This is Xavier's …right?" she asked timidly. "The school for mutants?"
"Yes it is," Said Scott, coming up along side Logan. "Are you one? ..a mutant that is…"
The girl nodded.
"I'm sorry," She mumbled. "It was not my intent to disturb anyone. I just… I don't have anywhere else to go."
"Well you're welcome here," Scott said with a smile. "And lets get more acquainted inside shall we? I'm sure Xavier has already sensed your presence, and there's no reason for you to stay out here in the cold any longer!"
The girl shot back a timid smile at Scott before her big Onyx eyes met Logan's.
"Any reason you had to come at night kid?" Logan asked jokingly.
The girls face flushed and she glanced away nervously. "I don't do so well during the day…" and with out another word she followed them into the school.
The three of them walked in silence, for the most part. Though, to Logan's slight annoyance, Scott was attempting to spark casual conversation.
"Damn kiss-up always has to play the good guy," He thought to himself.
"So what's your name?" Scott said to the girl, oblivious to (or ignoring) Logan's displeasure.
"Emilie." the girl answered. "Emilie Fairbrook"
"Nice to meet you. I'm Scott." he replied, then throwing a look over at Logan, who looked anything BUT interested in playing "getting to know you", he continued introductions on his own. "That's Logan. I wish I could say he's friendlier than he looks, but I'm not one to stretch the truth."
Logan gave Scott an angry look, but didn't say anything.
"It's a pleasure to meet the both of you." Emilie said politely, before returning to her submissive demeanor.
Awkward silence overtook them again as the trio made there way to Xavier's office.
Soon, they reached the main stairwell.
"Here we are Emilie," Scott announced, throwing her another charismatic smile. (Logan had to suppress the urge to gag) "Just up these stairs and we'll be at professor X's office!"
He waited for her response, but was met with silence. He turned to her, surprised. He was expecting at least a little excitement for this grand announcement.
What he saw, brought him to a stand still.
"Logan," Scott breathed nervously, grabbing the man's arm.
"What?" Logan snarled, wrenching away, but then, he too, fell silent at the sight of Emilie.
She was standing unnaturally still a couple of paces behind them. Her already pale face, was now a shocking white, and her mouth was drawn together in a tight line.
"Kid?" Logan ventured, an uncomfortable sinking feeling settling in his stomach. Her disposition was disturbing, to say the least.
"Emilie?"
Suddenly, Emilie fell. She hit the ground hard, convulsing violently.
"What the Hell!" Logan rushed to her side, at a loss for what to do.
"What's wrong with her?" Scott asked, panic creeping into his voice, as he joined Logan at the girl's side.
"How the fuck should I know!" Logan shouted at him. "Go! Get the professor, Jean … anyone!"
Scott nodded fervently and tore off up the stairs and out of sight.
Logan turned his full attention towards Emilie again. Her convulsions had ceased, though she now shivered intensely.
He touched her forehead tentatively. She was as cold as death.
"Jesus kid," He murmured under his breath. "What's happened to you?"
Her shivering continued, but he noticed her breathing becoming more and more shallow. This continued for several more, agonizingly long, minutes, before she stopped shivering altogether and lay still and silent as the grave.
Logan looked around desperately, wishing Scott would get back with help already. For once, he actually wished someone would tell him what to do.
"Damnit, come on!" He whispered edgily to the lifeless looking girl. "Is there ANY way you could show me what's wrong with you!"
He looked around once more, but still, he and Emily were alone at the bottom of the deserted stairwell. He looked her over yet again. He was unsettled to find how corpse-like she appeared. Anxiously, he grabbed her wrist and felt for a pulse. It was there, but faint and slowing down.
"Son of a bitch! She's dieing!"
Logan quickly scooped her up, as gently as he could manage, and raced up the stairs. He knew it was never a wise idea to move someone if you didn't know what was wrong with them, but it couldn't possibly do her any more damage than she had already undergone. He needed to get her to the infirmary NOW, or else they were going to have a dead kid on their hands.
Tearing along the institute's corridors, Logan nearly ran headlong into Scott, who was now accompanied by Ororo, Jean, and Professor Xavier.
"About damn time you got help!" Logan hissed angrily.
"He got us as fast as he could Logan," Ororo said steadily. "Now, what's wrong with the girl?"
"I'll tell you on the way," Logan grunted, continuing his flight to the infirmary. "Her vitals are slipping!"
"Scott said she was having convulsions?" Ororo prompted.
"Yeah," Logan affirmed. "Those stopped not to long after he left. Then she was shiverin' for a bit, and it's like she started dieing on me! She's freezing, and her pulse is fading away."
The group reached there destination and they entered urgently, getting Emily on an inspection table as fast as they could.
Ororo immediately started hooking her up to a heart-rate monitor, and went to get an I.V. to start pumping some fluids into her. Jean began looking her over, checking her eues and opening her mouth to see if her airways were blocked in anyway.
"Her heart rate's still declining," Xavier said placing his finger tips softly on her temple. His brow furrowed and he closed his eyes. "I can't see what's in her mind," He frowned. "Something's blocking me…"
"What are we supposed to do with her then!" Ororo asked, still scrambling for any medical implement that might aid them. "We can't help her if we don't know what's wrong!"
A high pitched ring filled the room. Emily was flat-lining.
"Damn!" Ororo cursed, rushing for a defibrillator.
"Wait!" Xavier commanded, opening his eyes.
Jean and Ororo stopped, confused, looking anxiously to their dying patent.
Suddenly, much to everyone's surprise, Emily sat straight up, very much alive.
Xavier watched her, his mind working through things the others could not see, meanwhile, the rest of them just stared at her in shock. Her heart-rate slowly came back and she just sat there, wide-eyed, terrified, and shivering.
"Are you, okay?" Jean asked, after a pause.
Emily looked like she wanted to answer, but suddenly turned from them and proceeded to vomit off the side of the table. She slowly turned back, looking mortified, before slumping back down into unconsciousness.
"What the hell is wrong with her?" Logan asked.
"I'm not sure," Xavier answered slowly, though his brow was still furrowed in thought. "But I think she has stabilized for now."
"Stabilized!" Logan scowled. "She gone from fine to dead and then fine again all in the span of less than an hour! How the HELL could you think she's stable now!"
"I can't explain right now," Xavier replied calmly. "Especially not until after I talk to her. You just have to trust me until then."
Logan growled discontentedly.
"Her heart-rate IS back to normal." Scott pointed out.
"Yes," Jean nodded, gazing perplexedly at the young girl before her. "But she definitely needs to be watched through the night."
"I couldn't agree more," Xavier agreed.
"I'll stay." Logan offered with a huff. "I wasn't getting any sleep tonight anyway."
Xavier gave a small smile. "Right then, but I'll stay alert. I'll be back here if anything happens with her again."
"Same goes for me," Ororo added. "My room is just down the hall. Call for me and I'll be here."
With that Ororo and the professor left.
Jean and Scott lingered, with Jean still checking her vitals carefully and cleaning up the mess that had been made.
"Are you sure you're comfortable staying here Logan?" Jean asked. "Maybe someone with more medical knowledge should be with her."
"Nah." Logan sniffed. "You need your sleep, especially if something does go wrong. You can't work if you're exhausted."
Jean nodded, though she didn't look convinced. "I'll stay with Ororo tonight. If something goes wrong we'll both be here right away."
With a comforting hand from Scott, Jean and he left the infirmary.
Scott paused in the doorway.
"I hope she's okay," He muttered, glancing quickly to Logan. "She seemed nice from what little we saw of her conscious."
Logan gave a small snort to pass off the comment, but he knew he'd be lying if he said he didn't feel the same way.
Now by himself in the dimly lit quarters, he pulled up some chairs to form a sort of make-shift bed for the night.
Sinking into his fixture, Logan suddenly felt exhausted. All the adrenaline that had flooded his system moments ago, was now gone. He gazed over towards Emily. Her face was still pale, and her dark locks now clung to the sides of her face in a cold sweat.
He closed his eyes and sighed to himself.
"Damn kid, you sure made one hell of an introduction."