The bald, middle-aged man in the wheelchair looked up at Aurora. He sighed once before beginning.
"This is a school for special children. Not a school for geniuses or children with academic problems. This is a school for those who are born with strange powers, that manifest themselves either physically or mentally."
Aurora had caught on. She glanced swiftly at the others in the room. Warren, Betsy, Rahne. They were all mutants.
"You mean this is a school for mutants?" Aurora asked.
Xavier nodded. "Yes. We can help you to learn to control your powers and use them as well as you can."
"I'm afraid I can't use my power." Aurora said, sadness clouding her face.
"Will you show us?" the professor asked gently.
"Uh, professor, should we go?" Warren asked.
"It's okay." Aurora replied.
She pulled off her jacket slowly. Underneath she wore a halter top that left her shoulders bare. She could almost hear the shouts of revulsion her father had given her when he had seen this, but these people wouldn't do that. They were different.
"Warren." Betsy sighed. "There is another one."
"Yes, but look at this." Warren replied.
"What?" Aurora asked. "Another what?" She tried to peer around her secret, but she could barely see the people behind her.
Only it was no longer a secret. She had wings, feathered ones that grew from her shoulders.
"Warren has wings too." Betsy told her.
"What happened to this one?" Warren asked, his fingers gently tracing the crippled wing. Even that soft action sent pain jolting through her.
"Please don't touch it." Aurora fought back tears. "It was my father. He saw me one night with my wings and he broke that one. I couldn't set the bone myself and I couldn't go a doctor and ask them to fix my wing. I am a mutant and I can't even use what makes me a mutant."
"We can set it, Aurora. We can help you." Xavier said.
She nodded. "Okay."
"We should ask your parents for permission for you to stay here."
Bitterness and sadness filled her voice as she replied. "My mother is dead. My father threw me out of the house the night he broke my wing." Her voice lightened a little. "But my aunt took me in. I'm sure she won't mind."
"Go ahead and call her." Xavier pointed to the phone that sat on his desk.
Aurora reached for the phone, then hesitated. "If you don't me asking, what are your mutations?"
Professor Xavier gave her a kind look. "I am telepathic."
"I am too, and I have some martial arts skills. Not that martial arts is a mutation." Betsy added.
"Amazing martial arts skills." Warren corrected. "I have wings."
"I can become a wolf. Or a werewolf, depending on how you look at it." Rahne finished.
Aurora nodded and picked up the phone, dialing her aunt's phone number. Susanne picked up on the first ring.
"Hi. It's me." Aurora said.
"Where have you been?" Susanne asked, more relieved than anything.
"Um….I'm at the Xavier Institute. The headmaster wants me to stay here for a while."
"The Xavier Institute?" Susanne sounded doubtful.
"It's okay, Aunt Suzy, they're fine people." Aurora quickly reassured her.
"Your aunt can meet with me if she likes. Actually, she should, if you are going to move in." Professor Xavier suggested.
"You can meet Professor Xavier if you want." Aurora relayed to her aunt.
"I would like that very much, thank you." her aunt replied. "I'll come by in a few minutes to pick you up."
"Okay. Bye."
Aurora placed the receiver carefully back in its cradle and turned to the others in the room.
"My aunt's coming in a few minutes."
"Well, we'd better make sure that she doesn't see a madhouse when she comes." Warren remarked.
At a strange look from Aurora, Rahne elaborated. "He means she better not see Kurt or some of the others without their…uh, camouflage."
"Kurt has blue skin, pointy ears and a tail." Betsy added, anticipating Aurora's next question.
"Oh." came the reply.
A few minutes later, a car pulled up in front of the mansion. A tall, dark-haired woman got out, looking around curiously.
"Aunt Suzy!" Aurora ran down the front steps to greet her aunt. Professor Xavier waited at the top of the stairs.
"Hello, Ms. Starling. I am Professor Charles Xavier."
"Susanne Starling; it's a pleasure to meet you." Susanne replied. "Would you mind telling me about this Institute?"
"No, of course not." Professor Xavier led the way inside, already telling Susanne about the Institute.
"He won't tell her the mutant part until later." Betsy had appeared next to Aurora silently. "She does know, doesn't she?"
"She knows that I'm a mutant. She doesn't know about my wings." Aurora said absent-mindedly, watching her aunt's receding back as the professor gave her a mini tour of the place.
"And she accepted you?"
"Yes. My mother would have done the same." Aurora answered, a trace of sadness in her voice.
Betsy laughed lightly. "My parents didn't have much of a choice. But then again, my father isn't human. He was from another dimension and was sent here to provide a champion. What he got was twins: me and Brian."
"Is your brother a mutant?" Aurora asked curiously.
"Brian is Captain Britain. He's still in England." Betsy sighed, half-lost in her own thoughts. "Sometimes I worry about him. I mean, he's only eighteen, and he's defender of Britain."
"If you don't mind me asking, how come you look Asian if you're English? And I'm assuming that the Braddock family is English down to its roots."
"You assume correctly. I used to be blond, but then…" Betsy broke off, the pain of old memories choking her voice. "Our minds were switched, in short. I don't really want to get too into the story."
Aurora nodded. "I had a brother. He's twenty-four, but he left home when he was sixteen. I was eight, but I don't remember him. I don't know what happened to him either. I guess he could still be alive, but I haven't heard from him since. My dad never spoke about him."
"Ever think that maybe he's a mutant too? And that's why he left?" Betsy asked.
"Yeah. But I don't know if I want to find him."
"Aurora?" Susanne said softly. "Professor Xavier told me about your wings. You could have told me, honey, I might have been able to help."
"I don't think I was ready to tell anyone." Aurora replied.
"Speaking of your wings, we should probably set the broken one." Betsy remarked, looking quickly to Susanne. "If it's okay with your aunt of course."
"It's fine." Susanne nodded, then extended a hand. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Susanne Starling."
"Elisabeth Braddock." Betsy replied, shaking the outstretched hand. "Aurora, if you will follow me please."
"Go ahead. I'll be inside with the professor." Susanne said as Aurora looked her way.
Aurora smiled gratefully before following Betsy down the hallway to the infirmary.
Susanne turned to Professor Xavier as her niece left. "You know, I think that is the first time I've seen her smile like that. Before it always seemed so guarded, like she was distancing herself from the world."
"I think she was. But now she has found a place where she can belong." Xavier replied.
Author's Note: This is not the end of the story – at least I think so – even though if it may seem like it.