Ororo Munroe and Jean Grey sat in front of the large mahogany desk in the Professor's office. Jean was a teacher at the school, and studying for a medical degree at a local college. Ororo was better known to the public as Storm, and much enjoyed being a teacher, guidance counselor, and principal for the Institute when she wasn't busy with other duties. They both listened intently as Dr. Charles Xavier told them about the new student.
"Milo developed fairly sensitive empathic abilities, early in his life. Over time, it has contributed to his Social Anxiety Disorder. Jean, I'm afraid your panicked arrival yesterday afternoon partially triggered it. Ororo, I appreciate your quick action, but your hovering may have worsened the situation as well." Both women looked very ashamed and guilty. "We only wanted to help, Charles," said Ororo.
"I have no doubt of that," said Xavier gently, feeling Storm's rising defensiveness, "but to many people with mood disorders, it may not be perceived that way. Now," he held up a hand to deflect some argument from Jean, "I know you had no way of knowing how to help him or what would harm him. I am fully sympathetic of that; navigating each person's different emotional needs has posed a challenge to us all as teachers...and diplomats," he nodded to Storm. "We shall simply have to develop training to better handle such situations in the future. Agreed?" Both Ororo and Jean smiled and nodded, relieved that Charles had put no personal blame on them.
Xavier felt the tension in the room ease and smiled at his two faculty. "Now," he said, "I have invited Milo here to my office this morning to speak with us before we get him started. Is that fine with you two?" That was the Professor's way of asking them to stay. Ororo and Jean had no intention of leaving anyway. They both got up and moved the two chairs on the other side of Xavier's desk, so they could face Milo when he came in. The two women sat down on each side of Professor Xavier, right as there was a knock on the door.
"Please come in," I heard Professor X say when I knocked on his door. I turned the handle and let myself in.
The Professor's study was, like every other room in the mansion, huge. Low bookshelves wrapped all around the circular walls and some chairs, sofas, and tables were clustered in the middle.
Along the far wall, Ororo, Professor X, and Jean sat on the other side of a huge old-fashioned desk. I nervously sat down in the single chair in front of it. It all seemed so formal.
"Good morning, Milo," Professor X began. "Did you sleep well?"
I fidgeted, despite my chair being surprisingly comfortable. "M-my night was...okay." Slept like a rock, actually. I was REALLY tired.
"You've already met Ororo Munroe," Ororo nodded politely to Milo, "and Ms. Jean Grey." Jean smiled. They both looked almost as nervous as I was. I looked back at Professor X. Jean and Ororo had first met me at my moment of greatest weakness (in the middle of an anxiety attack) and the Professor had met me at my best (beating back my Anxiety). This was probably the weirdest first impression I'd ever had on anyone.
"First, I'd like to discuss your abilities and how they affect you. Milo, have you ever been diagnosed with an Anxiety Disorder?" I looked down and mumbled. "Um, m-my parents never took me to a d-doctor or anything, they said I w-was just shy…" I clenched my fists. I hated even being reminded of my parents now. "But I've done my own r-research on it."
Professor X nodded approvingly. Then he asked me softly, "And do you know what most often triggers it?" I looked down at my lap and wrung my fingers. "P-people…" I felt like I was taking a test. "Spending a lot of time around, around p-people. And extended conversations, or...or being w-w-with m-my f….family..." My stuttering always got worse when I got asked a bunch of questions.
"Those were very good answers, Milo," Professor X said. "Most people do not have prepared responses like that." I felt relieved. Like I had given him the answer he wanted.
"Here at The Xavier Institute for Gifted Youth, you will have private one-on-one training and counseling every other day, with classes on the weekdays in between. Managing your anxiety better can be something we work on in your private sessions." I nodded, but I was unsure. I'd been to therapy before, and it didn't exactly go well. Trying to work on my weaknesses with only one other person in the room actually made me more nervous than being in a classroom full of kids. There'd be nowhere to hide from their judging eyes, nothing to distract me from hearing their emotions. But if I wanted to stay here, I had no choice.
"Now, as for your classes," said Professor X, "there will be required academic courses, electives, and specialized mutation-related courses. These are divided into type of ability as well as skill level, and you will be placed in one of these special mutant classes based on the results of an examination. Are there any questions about what I've said so far?"
Suddenly put on the spotlight again, I shook my head. Professor X seemed to understand my discomfort with speaking, and I was perfectly fine to let him do all the talking.
The Professor looked to the two ladies sitting at his side. "Before we proceed, would anyone else like to say a few words?"
Jean spoke immediately. I noticed for the first time how young she looked. She couldn't have been much more than a recent high school graduate. "We're both really sorry, Milo!" she blurted. "We wanted so badly to help, but then we just made everything worse, and….I feel like we really messed up. We'll try to do better." I could feel her agitation from across the desk.
I looked away, embarrassed that she was getting so upset over me. "It's okay. You d-d-didn't know."
Ororo spoke up. "But we SHOULD'VE known better." She shared a look with Jean. "We BOTH should've. I…" She hesitated, and I could sense her braving up to say something. "I have claustrophobia. Phobias are a type of anxiety too, and I should have known what to do yesterday."
"N-no, it's alright," I said, "every person with anxiety is d-different. You can n-never know what can hurt or help someone. What happened wasn't...your fault."
Professor Xavier smiled at that. "Well said, Milo. Well said." He backed up his motorized wheelchair and rolled it around the desk. "Now, if everyone would please follow me downstairs, we have an aptitude test to begin."
We followed out the hall and into an elevator. Professor X pushed a button for a floor, put a code into a keypad and spread his hand flat on a sensor to take his fingerprints. Even though we were on the ground floor, we must have gone down four sub-basements. How big WAS this mansion?
The elevator doors opened into a long corridor. Professor Xavier put more codes into a pad on a door across the hall. "Welcome to one of our training rooms," the Professor says the door opened to a brightly lit white room with a high ceiling. "It may look empty now," said Jean, seeing my unimpressed look, "but with the right computer commands, it can be anything you want! We use it to mimic different situations to see how you react." She led me into the room.
"Here we will ascertain the nature of your gifts, Milo," said Professor X. "We'll use this room to give you a series of blind tests. We'll be up there, in the control room." He pointed up, where I could see a circular glass-walled room near the ceiling looking down into the training room. "Ororo will administer the test; she'll be talking to you the entire time." Ororo handed me a tiny headset to put on one ear.
I was left alone in the big empty room as the others went back in the elevator. After a moment, I saw their faces appear in the control room's windows above me. I heard Ororo's voice in my ear.
"A room will materialize in front of you, Milo. All you have to do is tell us what you think is inside the room, if anything at all. Do you understand?"
"How...how is a room going to appear out of nothing?" The room was empty. Another room was going to appear inside the room? I was so confused here.
"It's a hard-light tactile hologram, Milo, designed to look and feel VERY real. And yes, it will seem to appear out of nothing."
"So…" I grew more and more curious. "Are people going to appear out of nowhere, too?"
I heard Ororo chuckle into her mic. "Telling you would be spoilers, wouldn't it? I'm beginning the test now."
Four walls rose up from the floor and connected seamlessly, forming a tiny house in front of me. It even had a door.
Ororo's voice sounded in my ear again. "Milo, do you sense any people in this room?" I concentrated on the space straight ahead of me and could immediately feel them. "Yes."
"Do you know how many?" Ororo asked. Her question made me a little nervous and I felt my heart pound as I closed my eyes and listened, listened to their emotions. It was like trying to hear how many voices were in a conversation. I counted one, two…."Three," I answered Ororo. There was a pause. Then, "Could you describe the physical attributes of the people inside the room?"
My heart pounded louder in my chest. I clenched my fists anxiously. I'd never had my powers tested like this before. "It's okay, Milo," Ororo said at my lengthy pause, "this isn't the kind of test on which you'd receive a grade. This is just to understand the extent to which your powers go."
I took a shaky breath, then another deeper one. I tried to hide my unsteady hands as I wiped my damp palms on my jeans. "There's...three people around a table," I said. "Two girls, and one boy, I think?"
"Can you tell us any other details about the people in the room?" Ororo asked. I closed my eyes and concentrated. "One girl, sitting in a chair, tilting it back with her feet up on the table. She's having fun…she's listening to music. Another girl's, twirling her hair with one hand, looking down at...something? Probably her ph-ph-phone. She feels like she's...laughing...in her head. She's texting someone. The guy is sitting, um, with his feet on the t-t-table, tilting the ch-ch-chair backwards. He seems...bored."
Describing people's emotions was way easier for me than counting people I couldn't see. And from their feelings, I could kinda tell what they were doing at the moment or what they were thinking about. Not because I practiced or anything - I could just draw conclusions from years of experience.
Ororo sounded impressed. "Very good, Milo. That was more than what we expected." I smiled proudly at that.
She didn't say anything for awhile, and I nervously shifted from foot to foot. What the heck were they doing in there? But then my earpiece clicked on again and Ororo asked me for the second time what I could sense about the people in the room.
I closed my eyes and concentrated. All three of the same people were there, but there were someone else with them now. Someone who felt familiar. I looked up and noticed that Jean had disappeared from the control room. "Ms. Jean?" I said softly.
"Sorry Milo, could you speak up a little louder, please?"
"There's five p-people now," I said. "But...um…"
"Please, say whatever's on your mind, Milo," Ororo coaxed me.
"...I think Ms. Jean is in there. Even...though...she w-w-was j-just up...there with you, Ms. Ororo, I know that s-s-sounds crazy, b-b-but -"
"It's okay, Milo," Ororo interrupted my stammering. "Remember, there are no wrong answers, despite how strange it may seem. Could you tell me about the other person you think is in there?"
I closed my eyes again. "It's...a boy...the same one from before. He's...trying to annoy Ms. Grey, and he's b-balancing on the edge of the t-table, using his...Ms. Ororo, this is gonna sound weird."
"Go on, Milo," Ororo encouraged me gently.
"I think he's got a tail. Uh, Ms. Ororo? Is that really possible?" I wondered aloud.
"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough," said Ororo mysteriously. I didn't know what to think of that.
There was another pause and I started to get nervous again, but then Ororo said, "You're doing great, Milo. There's only one question for you left." I breathed a sigh of relief.
Ororo asked me how many people are in the room this time. I listened carefully, but I couldn't hear anything. I shut my eyes tight and concentrated. Still nothing. That can't be right!
"Um…..n-n-none?" I winced. My stuttering came back full force as I gave my answer. But Ororo seemed to treat "none" as a normal response.
"Thank you, Milo. You've done very well." I sighed deeply in relief as I opened my eyes and squinted in the bright artificial light of the room. The walls retreated into the floor, as if by magic. The Training Room stood empty now. No people, no room-within-a-room, no table and chairs. I was amazed. What kind of super technology ran this place?!
The automatic door behind me whooshed open and Jean and Professor Xavier came through it. "You did good, Milo," Jean said. "We have no more testing for you - promise!" I smiled, glad I was done.
"Yes, Milo, now we will prepare your class placement and schedule," said Professor X. "I believe your abilities are strong enough to qualify you for our intermediate-level Empathy class; unlike all your other classes, students are not grouped by grade, but by the strength of their ability." Did that mean kids of different ages were going to be in that class with me? I wondered. That'd be weird. But then again, lots of things at this school were weird, and that wasn't all bad.
We all went out the double doors back to the hallway that would get us to the elevator. I turned to Jean to ask her if she had really vanished and reappeared somewhere else, as I had felt her do in the Danger Room. But then I was suddenly blinded by a giant flash of white light.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Q: Why isn't [this detail] exactly like in the show?
A: I re-watched all 4 seasons of X-Men: Evolution as research for this story, so now I can see soooo many mistakes I made in that first chapter. But it was a dream, after all. I'm playing my "separate universe" card and integrate the inconsistencies into the story; hopefully, you'll never know the difference. ;)
Q: What did the Professor mean by "diplomats"?
A: Storm has a job as the American UN Ambassador to Kenya, where her mother's family is from. It will probably be important in the story later.
Q: Didn't this chapter used to be different?
A: Yes, the second half of this chapter, and most of the next one, has been edited! I wanted to introduce the canon X-Men before I introduced the reader-submitted OCs. Plus, putting all those characters in the scene at the same time made Ch. 2, and future chapters, INCREDIBLY difficult to write. So I'll be introducing the OCs a lot more slowly; they're basically background characters now. I hope you'll forgive me for the drastic change!