Blaze: A Mutant Girl's Story.
Intro: Kirra is returning to Xavier's institute. She is no longer the angsty teen with issues and a lame power. She's now all grown up and has the teaching position to prove it. But life with the X-Men is never easy or dull; Will she make it through her first year? And will living with the team change her for the better or worse?
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Marvel or familiar. I just own my characters and plot.
A/N: Well it's been a long, long, LONG time since I published anything. But I've had this story floating around my head for years and decided it's time to get it out of my head. There will be violence. And Drama. And some romance here and there, the 'who' will remain a surprise. Input is appreciated!
NOTICE: I updated this chapter! It's mostly a section at the end to the people who have already read this chapter, so you can just skip down to the bottom, if you want. This is a work in progress and NO where near good, let alone perfect, so sometimes I might go back and edit chapters. I was trying to wait until I had chapter three finished, but I figured some sort of updates were better than none. So yeah…. Anyways. Enjoy, and please review, it helps me work out what is ok and what is terrible.
. . . .
Kirra Granger stepped over the threshold of the doorway and paused to gaze around the entry hall. The mansions grand architecture was both breathtaking and reassuringly familiar. It had been seven long years since she had lived within these walls. So much had changed since then.
"Move it or lose it!" A gruff voice barked from behind.
Kirra grinned, once upon a time that voice terrified her, now it was reassuring to hear Logan growling orders at her once more.
"Charming as always Logan." Kirra threw over her shoulder and stepped aside.
"Oh my, you do enjoy living dangerously." The second speaker added with a chuckle, bringing up the rear.
"Well like you said, I have grown up."
Logan and Hank had picked her up from the airport. Apparently they drew the short straws.
"That's fer' damn sure." Logan added eyeing her up and down.
The last time Kirra had been here, she had been a fifteen year old punk-goth hell-raising exchange student from Australia. She had looked even more ridiculous then she acted. Now she stood as a mature young adult who had filled out in all the right places. Her dyed hair was carefully styled and her piercings were reduced to a more tasteful number. Her clothes looked less like a homeless-hooker and more like a real grown up. Sure she still had she own flare as evident by her trademark knee high lace up leather boots, but the blue skinnies and black band t-shirt were far less extravagant then her previous outfits consisting of tulle, fishnets, corsets and lingerie.
"It's good to be back."
"It's good to have you back. I'm glad you took my offer to teach."
"Professor!" Kirra turned to see Charles Xavier wheel through the archway, adjacent to the doorway, Ororo Munroe at his side.
"Storm! Oh my god, I love the hair!" Kirra added.
"Thanks Kirra. I like yours as well" Storm ran a hand through her recently shortened hair.
Kirra dropped her bags and raced forward to embrace Ororo and then Charles respectively before quickly backing away and retrieving her things.
"Why didn't I get that greeting?" Logan muttered sarcastically. Hank elbowed him.
"Once you get situated, if you would be so kind as to join me in my office? Logan, Hank, I'll trust you both to help Kirra find her new room?" Charles was giving Logan a pointed look. The feral mutant rolled his eyes and started stomping up the stair case.
"C'mon!" He called back.
"It is good to be back." Kirra repeated meaningfully.
"We are glad you decided to re-join us Blaze." Ororo smiled serenely.
Kirra started. "Wow, I haven't heard that name in forever."
"You'll get used to it. After you madam." Hank gave her a mock bow towards the stairs. She grinned and bounced forward to catch up to Logan. Who knew what he would do with her things if left waiting?
The pair instantly fell back into chatting and catching her up with the schools changes, the team's roster, and a bit of idle gossip.
"So I heard Scott and Jean got married?'
Logan growled.
"And it was after Jean died and came back. Do I even want to know?" Kirra added pointedly ignoring Logan.
"Oh yes, it was a dramatic affair, I shall have to tell the tail later perhaps." Hank replied thoughtfully. "Ah, here we are."
They arrived at her room. Kirra looked around with a gasp. "Is this a teacher's room?"
"Well when we re-built the school two years ago the Professor added to the estate and extended all the rooms, I apologise as its one of the few left unoccupied." Hank replied.
"You mean this is one of the crappy rooms?!"
"Well I wouldn't say that, but yes it is indeed one of the smallest." Hank answered.
Meanwhile Logan dumped her bags beside the four poster bed. The French windows with a love-seat were closed to the night air. The ceiling was so high she almost missed the delicate ceiling paintings. Her built in cupboards to the left were almost a walk in and her en suite bathroom was the size of a normal bathroom, all sleek white tiles trimmed with black. The entire thing was overwhelmingly magnificent.
"Try not to paint these walls Bug." Kirra turned to Logan, his words impacting close to the heart. She had rebelliously painted a mural on her old dormitory walls years ago, much to the annoyance of Xavier and the amusement of Logan. And 'Bug' was his old nickname, short for 'Firebug'. It used to annoy her so much when he called her that. Both memories came rushing back.
"Wow. I forgot."
"Forgot what my dear?" Hank asked distractedly as he carefully placed his load of luggage by her bed.
'I forgot you were all like my family' she wanted to say, but bit her tongue. "I forgot how much I missed this place." Kirra said instead. Too many feelings made her uncomfortable, so she pushed the overwhelming emotions chocking up her throat aside.
"Well this place missed you as well, dear Kirra. We shall leave you to get settled. Do you recall the way To Charles' office?"
Kirra blinked the tears she was ignoring away and dropped her bags. "No. I'll deal with this lot later if one of you could show me the way now?"
Logan grunted something about 'Danger room session' and wondered off.
"Well I suppose I have the pleasure of escorting you." Hank chirped. Kirra smiled. It was strange the way that all of these people had so suddenly switched to treating her as an adult. The last time she had seen the X-Men she had been an anarchic teenager full of angst and mischief. She had been treated as such. So for Kirra the sudden adjustment was both welcome and strange.
"Thank you Hank. That would be awesome."
Kirra was glad she asked for an escort, the mansion was akin to a maze and she did not feel like being lost her first night within the walls. It set a bad precedent. Xavier met with her and went over specifics like her new schedule, classes, curriculum and any extra duties that were covered as being a teacher at his school. Kirra was extremely glad her powers didn't allow the Professor to skim her mind because then he would see how nervous and intimidated she was by all of these new changes. It was only two weeks ago she was an unemployed University drop out who had not completed her teaching degree and had just broken up with her boyfriend. As a consequence Kirra had been forced to take a job in a crappy kitchen because her scholarship was cancelled.
Now she had a high paying teaching job overseas at a prestigious private school, which also housed one of the world's super hero teams, the X-Men. Her stress levels were all over the place at the moment.
"Now is there anything you would like to enquire about?" Xavier asked when they had reached the end of their briefing.
"Yeah, just quickly: Why did you give me a job at all? I'm not technically qualified to teach." Kirra asked in a rush. Xavier smiled.
"How long have you wanted to ask that?"
"Since you first called me with the offer."
Xavier chuckled at her bluntness. Kirra was a straight shooter, she didn't mince her words. He appreciated her honesty since he couldn't read anything off her without permission or causing her pain. (A natural side effect of her powers.)
"It is my belief you are more than competent for the job. Formal qualifications are not necessary as technically if that were the case you would be one of the few who had any official higher education."
Kirra's eyes bugged.
"Do you really think Logan attended any formal institute to become a teacher?'
Kirra snorted. "Yeah, I suppose. But that's not an answer. Why me? "
"Why not you? You are well suited for the position."
"I'm not exactly the most powerful mutant, let's face it I'm a glorified lamp."
"You sell yourself short Kirra. The ability to control all forms of light is not a very common mutation."
"It's also not particularly intimidating when facing down bad guys; hence why I declined your offer to join the X-Men. But besides that, I'm also not the smartest mutant in the world or the wealthiest, or the best connected or any of that. There are people out there more qualified than me and I don't understand why you would want me here over them."
Xavier steepled his fingers in his familiar pose.
"I asked you to come because I believe it is both what you and the school needs. We have the highest amount of students in our history and we needed to extend the staff. You showed signs of being well suited to teaching even back when you attended seven years ago. You're recent studies can attest to all of that. You are also highly resourceful, creative, intuitive and work well under pressure. It is also within the schools best interest for the safety of our students, that I higher teacher's from within our mutant community, preferably those which we already know. Frankly it's because I trust you. Thus you were near the top of the short list."
Kirra sat back shocked. She couldn't believe it. All these years she had thought that the X-Men had forgotten about her brief stay with them. She had been at the school for only a year and they had so many students come and go she had believed she was just another face in the crowed. Kirra was suddenly touched that Xavier had kept her in mind all of this time, especially in the face of her recent personal issues, Xavier's timing couldn't be better. She had always thought fondly of her friends at the institute, and even kept contact with some of her former class mates. However it was hard to stay in touch online for so long without seeing each other, so they had inevitably drifted apart. To hear that people had missed her was heart-warming. She seemed to be having a lot of these moments since she returned.
"I don't know what to say, other than thank you for thinking so highly of me."
"But of course. The X-men have always been a family to anyone who needs it, and we are happy to see you come home. Now if there is nothing else?"
"There will probably be a million things I need to ask later on, but for now I'm good."
"Excellent. Well then I believe it is dinner time. If you would be so kind to join me I can re-introduce you to the rest of the staff."
"Sounds perfect, I forgot I was hungry."
"Well we can certainly fix that, I believe Mr. LeBeau cooked tonight."
"Is Remy living here now?"
Xavier gave her a pointed look she missed, as the pair headed out. He didn't need to be a psychic to see how interested Kirra was all of a sudden. "Yes, he joined the team three years ago when he started dating Rogue."
Kirra's shoulder's slumped slightly.
"It was a shame when they broke up, however thankfully Remy decided to stay with us."
Kirra's shoulders visibly straightened again.
Xavier indulged a smile.
"Well that's cool, him staying I mean. Not the tumultuous relationship part."
"Indeed. Here we are."
They had arrived at the teachers' kitchen. Really it was the adult Kitchen, because not all of the X-Men were teachers at the school.
"Everyone, I would like to welcome our newest staff member, some of you may remember Kirra Granger?"
As Kirra rounded the corner the room exploded with sound.
"SURPRISE!"
Kirra stood stunned for a moment. A room full of people she new and some she didn't all standing around with drinks in their hands. A 'Welcome Home' banner strung up along the far wall emphasised the point. Jubilee had provided a round of fireworks as well. Kirra felt that damned emotion threaten to choke her again. People didn't do things like this for her.
"Seriously?!"
They laughed, she laughed.
She didn't even realise until now she had been missing them so much.
Yup. She was definitely home.
. . .
Much Later that night, in the Professors office….
Charles Xavier sat opposite his two dearest students, Scott Summers and Jean Grey. Both currently occupied the plush brown sued couch positioned under his office window that overlooked the basketball courts. All three were watching images and files flick across the screen on the wall to his left. Security footage from a dingy looking medical room showed them images of a raid S.H.I.E.L.D conducted on an illegal testing facility.
"Professor, are you sure it was a good idea to bring Kirra back? Isn't this putting her in more danger?" Scott spoke up as the screen went blank.
Xavier sighed heavily, before pressing a button on his desk. Moments later the screen folded back into the wall and an original Henry Martisse 'Bouquet of flowers in a white vase' painting took its place.
"Bringing her here was not my first plan Scott, but it was the only one that would keep Kirra's family and friends out of harm's way while also giving her the best protection imaginable under our roof."
"I agree with Charles. You are right Scott, we risk bringing her to the attention of these mad men, but with our files being leaked, these psycho's could potentially already know who she is. With her here, she has a fighting chance. With her home in Australia, we have very little hope of protecting her." Jean added. Her hand grasped Scott's, imploring him to understand. Scott sighed heavily, the safety of a staff member weighing him down.
"I know you are both right. I just don't think I could live with myself if she came to harm BECAUSE we brought her here."
The professor smiled comfortingly. "Scott in all these years, I hope you would be able to trust my judgment. Trust me when I say; this is the safest place for Kirra at the moment."
Scott sighed heavily and ran a hand down his face, while Jean rested her hand on his shoulder.
"I do trust you, Professor, I just don't trust the rest of the world. I hope you are right."
. . . . .
A/N: Ta daaaah! I realised that I needed a little foreshadowing so added this. Who spotted some references? Well, let me know what you think! I hope you enjoyed!