Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men, it belongs to the rightful owners. I get no money for this fanfic.
A/N: I couldn't remember where Xavier's school actually was, I knew America but other than that… So I chose California.
It was a quiet day for the X-Men. No alarms sounded. No banks being robbed. Magneto, Apocalypse and the other evil forces had all been very quiet recently. Cyclops and Jean had all the time in the world for dates. Storm, Rogue and Jubilee were catching up on gossip in the Rec Room. Gambit was practising with Beast in the Danger Room, and Wolverine was getting bored. No new enemy to beat up, no old enemy to beat up. He found himself pacing his room, just waiting for something interesting to happen.
Then something did.
In the city of California, 13 year old Zahra Depp and her three year old sister Summer got off their plane and began the walk to the hotel their parents were already staying at. Summer let go of Zahra's hand to run after a pigeon, and the pigeon landed in the road. Summer pounced for it, and the bird flew away leaving a crying Summer.
Zahra ran towards her sister. She saw a car coming straight for her sister, and screamed. Suddenly, a man grabbed Summer and ran with her across to Zahra.
"Summer! Thank you!" Zahra said to the man, hugging her sister.
"Your welcome. You should keep a closer eye on her, petite." the man cautioned.
"I will."
"What's your name then?" the man asked. He seemed nice enough to Zahra.
"Zahra. Zahra Depp," she smiled. "and yourself?"
"Name's Gambit." he smiled back.
By the time Zahra and Summer got to the hotel, their parents were pacing.
"Where have you been!" Mrs. Depp yelled, running to hug her daughters.
"Sorry, Mother. We were just exploring a little and got lost." Zahra casually lied.
That night Zahra climbed out of the hotel window, and went for a proper look around California. She realised she'd taken the wrong street when she found herself in the wilderness, lost. She ran forward, hoping to find some sort of building.
Then she found one. 'School for the Gifted' it said. She took a step forward, before something hit the back of her head and she found everything going black.
