The main courtyard of Xavier's School for the Gifted was covered with a blanket of pure white snow, untouched by the footsteps of the students that attended the school. The front gates were closed and there was no way other way in, at least for humans. A boy stood in front of the gates eyeing them with distaste. He was dressed in a ragged jacket and faded blue jeans, a black back pack on his shoulder. A brisk wind blew back strands of dirty blond hair that showed signs of not having been washed in a long while. He had been told that they would know when he was coming, but so far there was no sign of such thing. He glanced at the fence, irritation becoming more and more apparent as each second passed. Finally, barely a minute later, he had had enough, dark amethyst eyes narrowed with concentration. Suddenly it seemed that the boy's body was shimmering, shaking violently and just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Sweat beaded on his forehead, fists clenched in frustration. He was too tired, too hungry, and it had been too long. He could see no way to signal that he was outside and if he didn't get in soon, he would freeze. He sat down hard onto the snow covered road, there were tire tracks there but they were at least a day or two old, he would just have to wait until someone came along.
The soft humming noise startled Arcane to his feet, his fingernails lengthening to deadly points. Well at least I can still do that, he thought bitterly, still feeling utterly vulnerable. The noise was coming from the gate, which was swinging open slowly, dislodging piles of snow that had formed since it had last been open. Arcane stood stiffly, moving only to shake disheveled hair out of his eyes. Nothing happened for a few moments, but the gate remained wide open. Cautiously, he took a step forward, then another and another. The humming noise started the second he had stepped past the gates and for a moment Arcane seemed torn, to run or keep going forward as they seemed to want him to do, whoever they are. He fought the urge to shift as he continued up the path, he could just see the pale gray of the stone around the sharp bend in the path.Arcane slowed his pace, to a bare crawl, his body in a half crouch that would be ready to bolt within a second's notice. The tall pine trees seemed forbidding in the fading light as he closed in on a great wooden door. As he crept closer, he stopped suddenly, wondering what he would do when he got there. Knock and just hope that it wasn't a trap set by mutant hating doctors who wanted to use them for painful tests?
Arcane got his answer sooner than he wanted as the doors swung open, a warning snarl escaped his lips as he retreated quickly, stopping another ten feet away.
"Peace child, we aren't here to hurt you."
The man who spoke sat in a wheel chair in the center of the doors, he was bald, the light from the sky shining off the bright surface of his head, kind brown eyes peered at Arcane with a slight touch of curiosity and confusion. On his left was a woman, her skin a shade of light caramel, snowy white hair flowing to her shoulders. On his right a man, his eyes covered with sunglasses, brown hair cut short and hanging halfway down his forehead.
Arcane hated being stared at the way the woman and the standing man were staring at him, with a mix of pity and wariness, though he couldn't exactly tell with the man's eyes covered by the reflecting lenses of the sunglasses. But the man in the wheel chair beckoned with one weathered hand, "Welcome to Xavier's School for Gifted Children, I am Charles Xavier. Come, let's get you settled in."
Arcane stared at him, "That's it, you're just going to let me stay here?"
Charles Xavier looked at the boy squarely, "Yes, now come along before you freeze yes?"
Arcane hesstated almost a full minute, breathing in the scent that came off the people in front of him. All three were mutants, though he expected no less when he saw them, other than the slight smell of rain that he could detect off the woman, nothing else seemed out of place. Finally he stepped forward, shoulders squared, chin up, and his steps slow but strong, following them into the building.