AN: an XMA au where instead of finding Logan in Striker's cage, the teens find Laura, and release her to similar results. Logan had already escaped at the time, and shortly after the apocalypse issue joined the team at Xavier's. also, Alex didn't die bc he should have been three doors back from where he was aka Peter could have saved him and ALSO bc part of his power is being immune to his own, and cyclops', psionic blasts, and didn't the movie writers research their character's power? He was just gravely injured and was in critical condition. He's fine now, just lost his lower left leg.

Alterria shook her head as she watched Jay Gatsby throw clothing down on Daisy on the screen in her English class room. She saw many other students do the same, one girl even voicing how stupid she found it. Coach Kinsley, their teacher, smiled a bit before returning to his computer.

The door opened and a girl in a yellow jacket with pigtails came in. She gave a pink slip to Coach Kinsley, then left. Coach looked at the slip, then turned to Terri.

"This is for you. To the councilors office, when convenient." Terri nodded as she took it, then put it on her deck and turned back to the screen. The girl next to her, Lillian, turned to her.

"Aren't you gonna go?"

"Nah, I'll go at the end of the period. I have lunch next block, and I can go then. I wanna watch the movie"

Lillian nodded, and turned back to the movie as well. Terri glanced down at the slip. She wanted to watch the movie, yes, but she doubted she'd go to the councilor immediately after.

One, she had been to the councilor last week and they had finalized her schedule.

Two, this slip looked different, and not quite like the last one she had gotten. It didn't have all the unnecessary checks and options the other pass had listed at the bottom. She remembered making fun of all the reasons with Mari at lunch.

And three, Terri recognized the girl who had brought it in. She didn't go to her school.

When the bell rang, Terri slowly picked up her notebooks and shoved the pink slip into her lunch bag. She left the class room, planning on joining Mari and Cecily in the cafeteria. But as she turned into an empty side hall lined with lockers, she heard a voice behind her. She turned, and caught just a glimpse of the girl in the yellow jacket before someone grabbed her arm from the front, saying urgently, "Don't!"

She half turned again, before her vision was filled with blue smoke and her nostrils with an acrid, sulfuric smell.

"Whoa" she yelped, leaning into the arm, before realizing she wasn't in the school anymore, but a dimly lit room with many machines around it. She jumped back from the person who had grabbed- and apparently taken -her here.

There were also more people approaching them. She looked around at them. A man in a wheel chair, a red haired girl and a teen boy with strange glasses, two taller men, one show seemed very strong and broad and the other, less so. When she turned to the one who had had her arm, she saw a boy with long black hair and blue skin. His red eyes seemed to glow. She realized who they were and took another shaky step away from all of them.

"Stay back!" she said, her voice sounding week and afraid, even to her. She tried again. "Why am I here? Don't come any closer, or I'll-" she put her hand together, and began to form a glowing white ball. It wasn't much, but she had discovered a few years ago she could make objects glow, and even form small balls of light between her hands. It wasn't much, but she had hidden her mutation from everyone but her family. Drew had always like it, but she still didn't use it much.

"I don't want to use it, so just stay back…" this approach obviously wasn't working, and they had continued toward her. The man in the wheel chair slowed to a stop at this, and gestured the other to follow suit. The red haired girl pressed her fingers to her head, and turned to the man, who looked back at her, then nodded. While they were distracted, Terri attempted to get further from them, but hit a device on a lab table she hadn't noticed behind her.

Clang!

Terri jumped, and mentally scolded herself as the others attention returned to her. The light between her hands faded, but she quickly made it flare back up.

"Please, be calm" said the blue boy, looking nervous. "I am very sorry to grab you so sudden. We just did not want the others to hurt you". He spoke with an accent, maybe German.

Terri stared at him. "The others? You mean that girl? But I recognized her, I recognized all of you, you're…" her voice trailed off her temporary confusion fading back to apprehension.

"X-Men" the red haired girl said. "Yes, we are. But that girl wasn't. It was… someone else pretending to be Jubilee." Terri assumed Jubilee was the yellow-jacket mutant.

"Who?" demanded Terri, "and why? I'm not all that…" she faltered, looking for the right word.

"Dangerous?" the girl supplied for her. "No, sorry, but you really aren't. You couldn't hurt us with that light, even if your heart was really in it. As for who, well," she turned to the man in the wheel chair.

"We do not know for certain," admitted the man, "though we do know they are working for a man named William striker. And he probably is, ah, interested in you because your ability is not dangerous. The last mutant he tried to, um, use was very dangerous. She ended up escaping and causing him a lot of grief."

"With no small help from us." grumbled the boy with the glasses, speaking for the first time.

The blue boy shuddered, "I do not want to remember that, but thank you so much, Scott."

Scott grinned

"That's what they get for trying to clone me." muttered the strong man.

Terri still had no idea what they were talking about, but she was now twice as worried.

"Hey, it's okay" reassured the ginger, and Terri felt a small compulsion to calm settle over her, a reassurance, before it went away. Oh heck no.

"You're in my head?!" exclaimed the girl, whose whole body was beginning to glow faintly. "like him?" she pointed to the man in the chair. "like he was, earlier… in everyone head. During the International Panic, when- when- in Egypt- well- in everywhere-they-uh-" she was rambling now, fully panicking.

"Yes." Interrupted the bald man. "when Apocalypse attempted to destroy the world. They all were there, actually, fighting. Well, not him" he gestured behind him to the strong man, who hmphed with a small bit of humor.

"Where were you instead?" the question slipped out of Terri's mouth before she could fully realize she had asked. Her eyes widened, and she stuttered, "Um- uh- I mean- It doesn't ma-ma-"

"Honestly? Probably in a bar somewhere. I dunno. Not with these crazies, that for sure." The strong man said, with a slight smirk that betrayed he was even a little shocked at the question. "Where were you?" he shot back.

"At home, with my family. Me and my siblings hid under the table, we all watched the tv and-" Terri choked off, concerned for her family and wondering why she was telling them all this. Would she see family again? What if this Striker person got to them too?

"Your family is fine." assured the man who read minds. "We have people protecting them now, Summers and Julen. If you wish, you could join them, but it may put them in even more danger. Or, you could stay at the academy and train with us. We can help you with your powers" he gestured to her still glowing arms. She looked down and quickly stopped the light.

"Ye-yeah. Ok. I'll think about it. But, I've kinda got one more day of school left, and an exam last period tomorrow, and, yeah." Her mind was racing a mile a minute. The man in the chair seemed to understand.

"Yes. We can get you back to your school in time for your exam, and keep a watch on you. Summers and Julen have no doubt explained the situation to your family. Would you like to call them?"

Terri nodded. The man smiled, and gestured for him to follow him out of the room.

AN: well, here it is, the first chapter of Photokinesis. hope you enjoyed, R+R, all that good stuff. oh, and I should update the second chapter pretty soon too, but after that there's no promises.