The Xavier Fanfiction Institute for Soon-to-Be Gifted Authors

By Michelle Solo

Disclaimer the First: I don't own the X-Men, comic or otherwise, but sorely wish I did. The comic incarnations of the X-Men belong to Marvel and were created by the minds of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The movie incarnations of the X-Men belong to 20th Century Fox and were morphed to fit the silver screen by Bryan Singer, Tom DeSanto, David Hayter and company.

Disclaimer the Second: Official Fanfiction Universities weren't my idea either. That credit definitely goes to Camilla Sandman, who gave me the a-ok to write this crazy thing. My many, many thanks to her. Many.

Author's Note: If you want to enrol at XFI (the more, the merrier, I say) just fill out the handy application located within this chapter and e-mail it to yours truly using the address on my Bio page.

*****

Ah, the reviews. Erin's favorite part about writing fanfiction was the seemingly endless praise she got for her work. Sure, she'd tried different fandoms in the past and received a fair amount of critical acclaim, but none before it had struck fiction gold like this.

Erin found her current writing niche in the ever-expanding world of X-Men movieverse fanfiction. Her original mutant character Angelica "Angel" Kensington, the young girl from a rich family who mysteriously sprouted feather wings from her back, had struck a chord with her fellow movieverse writers.

Erin had never really read any of the comic books or watched either of the cartoon shows (she might have seen one or two episodes of the original animated series with her brother as a kid) but she'd seen both movies enough to get a feel for the characters and their cause before adding her own spice to the mix.

Let's see... Junk, junk, more junk, junk again-

Here we go.

This subject looked promising.

From: "Katherine Pryde" shadowkitty@x-school.edu

To: "Erin Dawson" angelicwritergal@hotmail.com

Subject: Regarding Fanfic

What Erin found inside the e-mail was not at all what she had expected.

Not at all.

Dear Ms. Dawson,

We here at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters have become aware of your presence and cordially invite you to attend our campus (located at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, Westchester County, New York).

No, don't be alarmed, you're not a mutant (although some of you are under the impression that you, in fact, are).

You see, it has come to our attention that so-called "fanfiction" has begun appearing on the internet not only about our kind, but of this school and particular mutants residing in this mansion. We are also aware that not all of this fiction has been, to put it lightly, properly written.

We the X-Men, as many of you know us, have grabbed the proverbial bull by the horns on said subject. Henceforth, any author seeking to write "fanfiction" about previously aforementioned X-Men, or topics pertaining to, must obtain what we have christened an Xavier Fanfiction License.

Believe you me, I have a powerful way of influencing those who don't willingly cooperate. Whether you come here on your own volition or by other means of persuasion is entirely up to you.

I, Charles Francis Xavier, founder of the X-Men and Headmaster of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, have allowed my residence to be open for educational purposes relating to the subject of fanfiction.

Instruction at the Xavier Fanfiction Institute for Soon-to-Be Gifted Authors commence five days from the date posted at the head of this e-mail. All students are required to report to school grounds four days in advance for Orientation and preparation for the school year ahead.

Please fill out the questionnaire attached which holds all required information for registering at XFI and forward the completed document to iceman_cometh63@x-school.edu or subzero@ubercoolninja.com (I haven't the heart or willpower to read his mind to find out why, but from what I gather it has to do with a video game of some sort).

We are looking forward to your arrival. May your stay at XFI be an enjoyable one.

Mutatis Mutandis,

Professor Charles Francis Xavier

P.S. It is not recommended that this message be deleted until you have registered completely. You really don't want to know what will happen to your beloved computer if you do.

Don't say I didn't warn you. ;)

With love and Pryde,

Kitty

If jaws could detach themselves, Erin's definitely would have.

An e-mail from Professor X... Was this for real? Yes, it certainly looked real and yes, there really was an attachment, but was she absolutely sure that this wasn't a product of her twisted imagination? For a brief moment, she considered deleting the message and forgetting all about it.

But Kitty's warning was boring a hole into her brain.

Out of curiosity, and fear of what would happen if she outright ignored the e-mail, she clicked on the attachment link and a new window opened on her computer screen. It was the questionnaire (an application, by the looks of it) Xavier told her about.

The form went as follows:

"The Xavier Fanfiction Institute for Soon-to-Be Gifted Authors" Student Enrollment Application

Name:

Codename (if applicable):

Age:

Gender:

Species: Human/Mutant/Other (please specify)

If Mutant, please specify power:

Alignment (all species): X-Men/Brotherhood of Mutants/Other (please specify)

Favorite Resident of the X-Mansion: Professor Xavier/ Cyclops/ Jean Grey/ Storm/ Wolverine/ Rogue/ Iceman/ Nightcrawler/ Other (please specify)

Favorite Brotherhood Member: Magneto/ Mystique/ Sabretooth/ Toad/ Pyro

Preferred 'Ship:

Character Which I Desire Most:

Have You Created an Original Character?: Yes/No

Have You Ever Written Slash?: Yes/No

Why Do You Write/Want to Write X-Men Movieverse Fanfiction?:

Exposure to the X-Universe (leave all that apply)(please specify the canon which you are *most* familiar with): Comic Books/ X-Men: The Animated Series/ X-Men: Evolution/ Movies

The application went on to state that "any injuries sustained at XFI are entirely the fault of the student, not the staff. The faculty are only there to help you and if it means Education Through Pain, so be it. You are the ones who want to write X-Men fanfiction; we here at XFI never forced you to."

Once Erin had completed the form to its fullest extent, she sent it off to whoever it goes to (she chose the latter address, even though she was pretty sure both were the same person).

By the time all that was said and done, Erin decided that she was far too bewildered to do much more on the computer and quickly logged off.

A nap. That's what she needed: a nice, healthy nap. Maybe she could sleep this away and find that it was all a crazed dream induced by bad pizza and a caffeine overdose.

Yeah, a nap...

Far too late did she realize that it was the last thing she should have done.