Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men! I only own Karla Kalida as of this chapter, and I will let you know of any other characters who are OCs as the chapters come up!

Chapter One: Healer

Karla watched as trees whizzed by. She was riding in a sleek car, being driven off to her new school. Her new school is the one that she would be living at for most of the school year. It was called Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters.

The car she rode in turned, and drove through open gates. Karla looked forward to see the huge mansion that would be her home for the next few months. Fear and wonder grew in the pit of her stomach. What would these strangers be like?

Karla looked at her gloved hands. She had elected to wear them, as her mutation was far from harmful. She just couldn't control them, and everyone freaked at her touch because they could feel her energy flowing quickly up their arm, or into their body.

When the car stopped, Karla climbed out of it. The breeze was cool, as it was early autumn. Karla went to the trunk of the car to pull out her bags that held all of her possessions that she had brought with her.

The woman who had driven her to the Institute came back to help her carry her things. Karla shrugged. It didn't matter to her if Ororo Monroe helped her with her luggage or not.

"Follow me," Ororo commanded gently. She led Karla into the building and up a set of stairs and into a bedroom. "This will be your room. You may end up with a roommate, but it'll be yours for the time being. I'll send a student to show you around," Ororo told the shy girl kindly.

Karla nodded as Ororo set the item she was carrying down. Karla watched as Ororo left the room, quietly shutting the door behind her. Karla sighed, and looked around. The room had two of everything: two closets, two beds, two nightstands, two dressers, and two desks.

Keeping in mind what Ororo had told her, Karla selected one side of the room to be hers. She unpacked most of her clothes, and some of her personal items. The only thing she had left untouched was the case that held her guitar.

As Karla carefully set the picture of her family on the nightstand next to her bed, someone knocked at her door. Karla glanced at the door, and decided she wouldn't ignore it. Besides, Ororo had told her that she'd send someone to show Karla around.

A peppy-looking girl stood near her door. As she saw Karla, she gave her a big, welcoming smile. "Hi! I'm, like, Kitty Pryde. I'm going to be your tour guide," she explained cheerfully.

"Oh. Hi," Karla said blankly. While one of her friends had been like this peppy girl, she hadn't expected it here at a school of mutants. Just goes to show you can't generalize, Karla thought with an inner grin.

"Follow me! Your Karla Kalida, right?" Karla nodded. "You'll, like, totally love it here," Kitty assured the girl as she led Karla down the hall. The girl yammered on about why Karla will love it here as they continued down the hall.

Karla wanted to say 'But I loved it where I was!' But she didn't. Her life would never be the same, even at home.

As Kitty led her down another hallway, a girl walked out of one of the doors.

"Hey, Kitty!" the brown-haired girl called cheerfully. "Who's the stranger? Is she the new girl Ororo brought here?"

"Yeah, she is," Kitty giggled. "Her name is Karla Kalida. Karla, this is Armara," Kitty introduced.

"Hi," Armara responded, holding out her hand to shake Karla's. After a moment's hesitation, Karla took it.

"Hi," Karla mumbled.

"What's your mutation?" Armara wanted to know.

Karla shrugged. "It's unimportant," she sighed.

Her sigh must've been a signal to the two that she wasn't in the mood to discuss or even think about her powers. Kitty told Armara that she was showing Karla around, and she'd better get back to showing her around. The two friends said goodbye, and Kitty led Karla off in one direction, and Armara went in the other.

Karla noticed Kitty didn't chat as much as she had earlier, and wondered why. She suddenly realized that she was being a touch bit grumpy, and immediately was ashamed of it. But she couldn't tell this stranger girl what was on her mind. She couldn't even consider her a friend yet, and you never spilled your guts to a person who is almost a complete stranger.

Silence spread between the two, and the only time either of them spoke was when Kitty told Karla where each hallway led off to.

Kitty was feeling worse as she led the new kid down the halls. She had hoped for an exuberant new student, but instead the new girl was more like Rogue than she had expected. She was even wearing gloves like Rogue did. And Kitty couldn't help but wonder why.

As she led the strange girl down into the main entrance, she saw Jean and Scott. Hoping she could convince Jean to lead the Rogue-like girl around, she bounced down the steps.

"Hey, Jean! Hey, Scott! Have you met the new girl yet?" Kitty called.

Karla stared at the girl who had gone from happy to quiet to exuberant, and couldn't believe it. How could anyone be as hyper as Kitty Pryde?

The redhead turned and watched as Kitty came happily down the stairs. The tall boy she had been talking to looked up, his eyes hidden behind a pair of red sunglasses.

"No, I haven't. Why don't you introduce her to me?" Jean suggested, smiling up at the girl who shyly moved to follow Kitty down the steps.

Jean's first impression of the girl was that she was shy. Her second was that the girl was wearing gloves, which happened to be a strong trademark of Rogue's. The idea made Jean wonder what the girl's mutation was.

"Of course I will!" Kitty giggled. She glanced up at Karla, who was about halfway down the steps. "Karla, this is Jean Grey and Scott Summers. Jean, Scott, this is Karla Kalida," Kitty introduced cheerfully.

"Hi," Karla greeted softly. At this point, she didn't care who she met as long as this "tour" was over, or over soon.

"How are things going?" Jean asked kindly.

"Uh… well. Things are going well," Karla answered, a little taken back.

"How is your tour going?" Scott asked.

More prepared this time, Karla replied shyly, "Fine. Kitty's a good tour guide."

Unnoticed by Karla, Kitty looked at the girl in surprise. Karla had hardly made any hint of satisfaction on the trip around the place. Jean and Scott noticed Kitty's look, however.

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," Jean stated cheerfully. "Enjoy the rest of your tour, and it was nice to meet you!"

With an inner sigh, Kitty banished the hopes that Jean would finish the tour. Besides, Kitty thought, Karla isn't that bad. She's just shy.

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That night, Karla returned to her room to find a folded outfit on her bed. The note pinned to it said,

Tomorrow at 6:30 A.M., there is a practice session which we would like you to participate in. Kitty will show up ten minutes prior to the session to help you find the right place. Please wear this uniform to the session.

Ororo

Karla unfolded the uniform, and sighed. It was mostly black, but had yellow and black patches on the sides of the shoulders that were in the pattern of an 'X' on each side. The black belt was rimmed with yellow, and the buckle was another black and yellow 'X'.

Do they really need me? All I can do is heal… what use is that? Karla wondered, frowning at her uniform. Well, I can't escape it, so I guess I'll have to go.

Resigned to the fact that she would have to, Karla went to bed, setting her alarm for 6:00. She liked to wake up and play her guitar in the mornings… Although, she thought as she drifted to sleep, I might accidentally wake someone else up…

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Karla woke up, not only to her own alarm clock, but to the cacophony of everyone else's alarm clocks. One, Karla noted as she put on her uniform, was accompanied by a crashing sound.

Kitty arrived punctually, dressed in what Karla though was a cool uniform compared to her own bland one. There was a blue upside-down triangle on her chest with a large collar of the same color. It was much nicer than Karla's plain black one.

"Are you, like, ready?" Kitty asked cheerfully.

Even this early in the morning, she's cheerful, Karla thought bemusedly. "Yeah," she answered, smiling shyly at the girl. "What is… this training session about?"

"It's where we, like, practice team skills in different scenarios with different leaders. I don't think you'll be picked as a leader today, since you're, like, new and don't know anyone's powers," Kitty assured Karla, beginning the descent to the Danger Room. Spotting a chance to ask Karla about her powers, Kitty added, "I can, like, walk through anything. What's your powers?"

Surprised and slightly embarrassed, Karla realized that she had never told any of them her powers. "I can heal, at really fast speeds," Karla answered softly, looking away.

"That's, like, totally cool! Logan, one of our instructors, has the same ability," Kitty giggled. Remembering Karla wore gloves, Kitty was struck at how odd it was that she wore gloves. "If you, like, don't mind me asking, why do you wear gloves? Have you, like, always worn them?"

Karla looked down at her gloved hands. Well, I suppose I would've had to tell her anyway, Karla thought sadly. She closed her eyes, and pulled off her glove. "I'll show you," she told Kitty, opening her eyes. Hesitantly, Karla touched Kitty's face.

It was her first time in a month, touching someone skin to skin. After the first two times after her powers appeared, she'd started donning gloves. Karla felt an almost pleasant tickling sensation in her fingers. Her powers never drained her, which had always surprised her.

Kitty gasped and jerked her head back, raising a hand to touch the spot that Karla had touched. Miserable, Karla looked at her feet.

"Kitty, are you okay?" a harsh voice not immediately recognizable as Scotts demanded. Karla closed her eyes, on the verge of tears. At the same time, she pulled on her glove.

"I'm… totally fine," Kitty said in surprise. On an impulse, Kitty pulled up her sleeve to check a cut she'd gotten the previous day in a Danger Room practice session. She couldn't explain why she did this, but it answered a question that was haunting both Kitty and Scott.

"Isn't that where you had got cut yesterday?" Scott asked, frowning.

"Yeah…" Kitty looked up at Karla, who was standing like she'd just had her heart broken, although she wasn't looking at either Kitty or Scott.

Kitty met Scott's eyes and jerked her head towards Karla, who did not notice the silent exchange. Scott nodded slightly. "Listen, Karla, I'm sorry for getting so upset. I was unsure of your powers, and I had no idea what was happening," Scott explained. Karla looked up at him in surprise. "One of our other students has the ability to absorb other people's powers and life force, which is what I had thought was happening here. I'm very sorry." Unsure of what else he could say, he finished by saying, "I'll meet you both in the Danger Room."

Scott hustled away, leaving Kitty wondering what to say to the now very confused Karla. "Listen, we have to be, like, really careful around here. Since no one knew your powers, Scott, like, totally assumed the worst," Kitty explained soothingly. "C'mon, if we don't hustle, we'll, like, totally get in trouble."

And, without any more problems, they found their way to the Danger Room.

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