Chapter 2

"This is a school for mutants who were sent here or are runaways like you two. I felt your presence in the shopping mall and I saw you sneak out after what John and Bobby did in the food court. Flux, you need not to be reluctant. You two are safe here from the outside world until you are ready to face it again." He stopped and turned to face the two of us.

"How did you read my mind?" I asked.

"Yeah mine too?" Flux asked.

"I have telekinetic and telepathic abilities. I am a mutant like you two. Everyone here is a mutant or has some "special" power. I bring people here where I can help them control and excel their powers." He turned back around and wheeled himself into some sort of office. "This is my office and I would like you to meet some of our teachers here." He said as a few people came walking through the office doors after us. I saw them at the mall and now it was starting to make sense. "Blaze, Flux, this is Dr. Jean Grey, our science teacher. Scott Summers, or Cyclops, is our Math teacher. Ororo Munroe, or Storm, is our History and English teacher. Logan, or Wolverine, here is our gym teacher. And I teach Physics and English."

They all nodded their heads and shook our hands.

"Now it makes more sense!"

"What?" asked Storm.

"Why no one freaked out when the little boy stuck his tongue out and no one was scared."

"Artie? I didn't think that anyone saw that. He's learning to hide his tongue but it's taking some time." She smiled back.

There was a knock on the office door. "Rogue and Bobby please come in. I'd like you to meet Edana and Hali, or Blaze and Flux."

My eyes popped out, as did Flux's. 'How did you know our real names?'

"I know everything having to do with a mutant that comes to my school or comes in contact with me." He replied slowly.

"Hey! You're the two girls from the mall!" Rogue piped up. "It's good to meet you." She said as she extended her gloved hand for mine.

"Yeah same." Bobby said extending his hand. Both me and Flux shook their hands and stood in awkward silence.

"Rogue and Bobby, please give Edana and Hali a tour of our school. I think they might enjoy what they see." Professor Xavier finally said after a beat of silence. I could feel him searching inside my brain for answers or was he asking questions?

'Does he expect us to stay forever? Why are we touring a school we just arrived at? This is all too fast!'

'Calm down Edana. I'm just showing you that there is a safe haven here. A place that you don't have to put up your defenses.'

Defenses, I remembered saying that at our last home that I shared with my family as a whole. Now it's just me and Flux, and now possibly this place with these strangers.

'Do you ever get in trouble for searching in people's brains if they don't want you to?' I thought.

'Sometimes, but there's not much they can do, now is there?'

I chuckled, 'No, I guess not.'

Flux looked at me weird. I had just chuckled at a conversation that no one else had heard. I felt a little embarrassed, but what could I do about it?

"Rogue, what's your power?" Flux asked.

"I barrow people's energies and on mutants, I barrow their powers but I can also kill them if I wanted to."

"Cool. What about you Bobby?" Flux asked.

"I'm also known as IceMan because, well…I think it's self-explanatory."

"Really!"

"Yeah. What about you two?"

"Well, as the Professor said, I go by Blaze. I create friction and start my own flame and control it." I answered.

"I pull water vapor from the air and freeze or soak anything." Flux replied. She was obviously excited about someone with a similar power as her. I think she was more excited to actually meet another mutant besides me. We both knew that there were other mutants out there, but they were hidden so well or you couldn't tell the difference between them and a normal human.

We stayed at the school for a few days and a lot had happened in the past few days. Intruders came into this home, kidnapped a few kids by a man named Stryker and the rest of us ran away through secret tunnels, led by a guy named Hank. We stayed hidden for a day or two to make sure that no one was still there. We arrived back and got a call from Jean and Storm saying that they were in Boston, heading to Alkali Lake in Canada and should be back soon. If only we would have known that, that would be the last time we would be able to talk to Jean. The X-Men came back two days later, minus Jean. Everyone was in a mood of depression, which was totally understandable. Wolverine became extremely moody, Cyclops spend most of the days in his room, moping about. Professor spent a lot of time in his office, not wanting to be disturbed, claiming he had a headache.

Flux and I were sitting in the TV room, reading magazines after lunch. One of the boys was flipping through the channels by blinking his eyes, which I thought was cool, but something on the news caught my eye. It was on a mutant. "Wait! Go back to the news real quick!"

The boy turned and looked at me like I was insane, but he complied and changed the channel to the news.

"Today a young boy caused destruction in a public school today. Students and faculty evacuated the vicinity before bodily harm could be on them. One student said that the boy known as Dustin McHill sneezed and lightning struck the teacher, sending her into shock. It was obvious that he is a mutant and should be approached with caution. We have footage of him and a young girl said to be his twin sister running away from the scene of the crime. Let's watch." The anchor faded away and Flux and I watched our little brother and sister running away from a burning building. Electricity was moving all over his body and he was running at incredible speeds. He was dragging Alyson behind him, trying to keep up with him. From the looks of it, they were running for cover in the woods. Wasting no time, I grabbed my cell phone and dialed up Dustin's number.

"Hello?" He didn't sound winded at all. As if all of that running hadn't affected him.

"Dustin? Are you okay? This is Blaze. You are on the news. Where are you two?"

"Blaze, calm down. We're okay for now. I'm in the area you told us about when you two ran away." He paused for a minute and I could hear the worry behind his voice. "Edana, what's happening to me? Alyson doesn't look too good either. What's going on?"

"Dustin, I want you to sit tight. Flux and I are on our way right now. We're going to pick you guys up. I think these people I'm with can help you guys. Just hide your self and don't move!" and I hung up.

"Blaze! What's going on? Where are they?" Flux was firing questions at me before I could even answer the first one.

"We need to leave right now! We have to go pick them up right now. They are at our old campsite. We need to get to them before the police do." I grabbed my purse, jacket and keys and started to head for the door.

'Where do you think you two are going?'

We turned around and found Professor wheeling up from behind us. "We have to go get our little brother and sister."

"No. I'll send a few of the X-Men to get them. They don't understand their powers and they need someone to help them control them until they get back."

"But I think we'll be okay Professor. Really. We just need to leave right now!" Flux tried to assure Xavier, but it didn't do any good.

"I'm sending Logan and Storm to bring them back. You can see them when they return."

"You called Chuck?" Logan and Ororo walked up behind us.

'Chuck?' I thought.

"Yes. It's quite annoying after a while. So informal…" Professor muttered.

It has only been a few hours but it might as well been a few years. What is taking them so long? I had been in my room, my first room by myself and was all fire proof, pacing the floor not knowing what to do with myself. Finally giving in, I went downstairs into the kitchen, deciding that I was hungry since I haven't eaten in 14 hours. Something cold sounded good. My nerves were tweaking and little flames were bursting on the floor. At one point, my sleeve caught on fire. I walked into the kitchen and opened the freezer.

"You want a sundae?"

I turned and found Scott sitting at the island with a long face. "Yeah sure. Thanks." I grabbed an extra spoon and sat down next to him. "Scott, are you okay?" He had been mostly to himself and depressed since Jean died. I don't blame him, he was in love with her, engaged to her, and watched her died because he couldn't save her.

"I'll be okay. I don't really want to talk about it."

"Okay. That's fine." And we dug into our sundaes.

"So I hear that your little brother and sister are going to stay with us. Professor said that I need to take over his classes so he can work with them more." He looked over at me. "You miss them don't you." I had missed them. I felt bad about leaving them alone with our parents when we left, but it was for the good of them.

"Yeah, I do. I'm nervous about their powers. I should've known it would've happened to them too. We could've taken them with us but we didn't." Scott was about to say something but his phone started to ring.

"Hello? Yeah she's here. Yeah in the TV room. Okay. We'll be here ready for them. Okay." He hung up the phone and looked over at me again. "Well, I need to get in the lab. Your brother and sister are on their way." He smiled and walked away. The first time he has smiled in a while.

I took off on a search for Flux to let her know. "Blaze! Dustin and Alyson are on their way!"

"Wait! How do you know?"

"The professor just told me. They'll be here in a few minutes!" and she took off for the elevator.

"Wait for me Flux!" I ran to keep up.

'Where could they be?' It has been at least an hour since Scott received the phone call and Storm and Logan have yet to return.

'Patience Edana. They'll soon be here quick enough. We don't know what's going on.'

'You do know that sometimes I think to myself right?'

'Yes but it was a question you've been asking for the past hour, so I thought I might answer it so you'd stop worrying.' Professor chuckled.

"Here they come." Professor announced just as the elevator doors opened. Storm and Logan were carrying both bodies, well one was visible and the other not. Logan had Dustin's unconscious body and laid him down while Storm was carrying what I could only assume was Alyson's body.

"Sorry we're a little delayed, but we had some company." Wolverine half way explained. "Knew the party wouldn't start without us being there."

Once Storm and Logan set Dustin and Alyson down on the tables Flux and I ran to them, well tried. "No! I want to see them. Let us go Professor!" He had stopped us telekinetically.

"No, right now your brother and sister need our help. I want you two to go outside and wait in the hall." And moved us out the door and shut the door in our faces.

'Professor, it's been an hour! I want to see Dustin and Aly! Please, let us in!'

The door opened up and the professor rolled out. "Girls, your brother and sister have been through a lot of stress here recently and it's taking us longer than we expected. We finally got Alyson calmed down enough that she would become visible and it would be easier to help her that way. By tomorrow morning, I believe that they should be up and running around and you can see them." He said looking at us both in the eyes.

"I'm not leaving Professor. I'll wait." Flux said, surprising me that she could be stubborn, but of course she could've gotten that from me.

"I would suggest that the both of you go to sleep though." And he turned and went back into the lab, shutting the door behind him.

I can't remember how long we sat there at the lab doors, but the next thing I do remember was being carried by someone strong. I zoned out and felt the softness of my pillows beneath my head. I looked up and saw Logan leave my room, quietly closing the door behind him, and everything went black.

Logan's POV

We had finally got Alyson to relax and become visible. It was creepy watching Storm and Chuck working on air. Just moving their arms around. It was getting late and the kids were sleeping quietly. They would pull out of this quickly. Kids rebound quick, right? I don't know, never was one to like kids. They smell, they are loud and annoying and ask too many questions. But there was something different about these two. I couldn't put my finger on it. Three eyes and me finished up on Dustin and left the lab. Out in the hall, Blaze and Flux were asleep, leaning on each other's shoulders. They looked kinda cute, but there was something about Blaze that had me curious about her. Scott came up behind me. "We can't leave them here all night." He said to me. He started to go to pick up Blaze, but I reached her first. He gave a look and shook his head and went to pick up Flux. 'Does he feel something for her? He had gotten Jean, I won't let him take Blaze. Wait! What was that all about? Ownership all of a sudden? That's not my style, but I'll worry about it later.' She started to wake up but she fell back asleep. I opened her door and felt a little weird walking into her room. I laid her down and pulled the sheets over her. 'God she's beautiful.'

Narrator's POV

Blaze woke up with a crick in her neck. How did she get into her bed? Then she remembered Logan bringing her here. There was something about him that she liked about him. She couldn't put her finger on it though. Her stomach growled loudly. She decided that breakfast could be a good thing. She walked down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. Logan looked up from his eggs and bacon he was frying. She mumbled a good morning and he nodded. "Hungry?" He said looking up at her. She looked in the fridge and then back at him and nodded.

"Where's Flux?"

"She's with one of the students. Watching tv I think." Logan said cracking two more eggs into the pan and adding more slices of bacon. He set out an extra plate and fork as she sat on a stool at the island.

"How are you doing?" He looked up at her, not quite understanding her question but having a hunch.

"I really don't want to talk about it." He growled.

"Sorry." She growled back. She grabbed her plate and orange juice and sat out on the back porch.

He grabbed his plate and coffee and sat in the TV room to watch Saturday morning cartoons with the other kids. 'So much for breakfast for two.'

Flux was teaching a girl named Veronica, one not to get on her bad side because she controls nightmares and has some telekinesis. She was only five but she could do some damage. Veronica was having some trouble with adding and subtracting and her class was now learning how to multiply and divide and she was falling behind.

"Five plus six is….." she waited for Nightmare answer.

"Umm…. Eleven?"

"Yeah that's right! You're getting it!" she hugged the young child. "I'll write out some more problems that you can do and then I'll check them okay?"

"Okay!" delight in her voice that someone was not too busy for her to get some help. Flux gave her twenty problems and told her to find her when she was finished.

'Hali, please come to my office.' She hated it when he did that. Creeps her out.

"Hali, come in." She entered and sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"Yes?"

"We have a little situation. Scott and I have to go out on a mission and I noticed how well you are with the kids. I was hoping you could take over the math classes for Scott while he's away."

"Of course I can. I love math. The only course I really understood, except science."

"Okay, well we're leaving early in the morning. School starts at 7:45 and breakfast is at 6:45. I'll have Scott get some papers for you to give the students."

"Okay." Flux got up and wandered out into the hall. 'Where is Blaze?' She hadn't seen her all morning. She looked around in the TV room, but she wasn't there.

"Blaze is out on the back porch." Logan said.

"What, do you have telepathic abilities too?" He smirked and shook his head.

She walked out onto the patio and found Blaze curled up on one of the benches, watching the sunrise, or what was left of it. Blaze scooted over and let Flux sit down.

"I have some good news!"

"Hm…"

"I'm going to be the math teacher for a few days, until Professor and Scott get back from a mission or something like that. Isn't that cool?"

"Yeah Flux. Congrats, I think. But-"

'Edana, may I see you in my office?'

"Ummm… Flux, I'll be right back." She got up and went in. She slowly opened the office door and walked in. Professor was sitting at his desk, filling out some forms.

"Please, come in and sit down." He gestured to the chairs in front of his desk.

"You wanted to see me?"

"I thought since your sister had a 'job' or was teaching that I could give you the same opportunity." Blaze nodded. "How would you like to be our art teacher?"

"Art? I'm good, but not that good. Not good enough to teach."

"Well, I've seen your work and I think you are excellent, but I won't force you to teach something you're not comfortable with or if you don't even want to teach at all." He started to swiftly read her mind, but she felt him and shot him a glare of disapproval. "But I know that you really want to teach. It's up to you. Flux starts tomorrow and hopefully you will too. Until you make up your mind, I have a little surprise for you and Flux." Just then Flux walked through the office doors.

"You called?" she said smiling.

"Yes, follow me down stairs." Blaze and Flux looked at each other.

When the elevator doors opened, they saw Scott and Storm and Logan walk out of the labs and behind them were Dustin and Alyson, breaking through the wall of adults and rushed Blaze and Flux.

"Oh my god! Don't scare us like that! You had us worried last night." Blaze said as she picked up Dustin and held him in her arms. He might have been 12 ½ but he was smaller and light so Blaze could still hold him up off the ground. Flux picked Alyson up off the ground as she wrapped her legs around her sister's waist and wrapping her arms around Flux's neck, hanging on her dear life.

"Alyson, it's okay. Everything is okay now. You're safe. No one is going to hurt either one of you." And Alyson started to cry into Flux's shoulder as did Dustin.

"Don't leave us again! Please don't leave us!" Dustin cried out.

"We won't leave you ever again. We're so sorry."

The whole team was watching their little reunion and Flux and Blaze comforting them by making soothing sounds and swaying gently. Finally they quieted down only because they fell asleep, which was okay, they needed their sleep and they had been extremely stressed out these past few days.

Professor cleared his throat and Flux and Blaze looked up at him with tears in their eyes. "We have set up rooms for them with some other students. But I think it's best if they weren't around the students just yet." Blaze nodded.

"We're going to put them in our rooms for now until they wake up." She said wiping away a rebellious tear that fell. Professor just nodded and the two girls walked away, back to the elevator.