A.N. After a long delay, here is chapter eight. Please Read and Review. Your comments are very much appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the X-Men characters (except for my original creations). Therefore credit must go to where credit is due. I do not intend to make money off of this work. I am only writing it for my entertainment and hopefully some of yours.

Chapter 8 ~ An Unexpected Transformation

The phone rang in Professor Xavier's office and when he lifted the phone to his ear, a man's cold voice began talking.

"I know my daughter is with you." He said,

"And who exactly are you?" Xavier asked suspiciously. It was all too common for both pranksters and discriminatory parents to call and harass his students.

"I am an associate of someone who calls himself 'Mr. Anderson'."

Xavier identified Magneto's alias at once and began to feel worried. What is he planning now? he thought.

"I can assure you that whatever this ... Mr. Anderson has been telling you is not true." Xavier replied, his suspicion mounting.

"I beg to differ." He replied icily, "It was up until a month ago that I thought my daughter, Leila, had died with her mother in a house fire. Of course, it is then brought to my attention that Leila is not actually dead and has been living at your so-called school."

"It is a good thing she came here." Xavier replied, "Her powers are too strong for her to control right now and I'm afraid given her current mental state, they will impede her from living a healthy and successful life."

"She will have a healthy and successful life once she is returned to me." He said. "I will make sure of it."

"What she needs is extensive psychotherapeutic help."

"What are you saying?" the man growled, "My daughter is not crazy! How dare you even infer that – "

"Forgive me sir, but your daughter has been subjected to serious amounts of physical and sexual abuse. It is amazing that she is even semi functional around small groups of people. Therefore, I must insist that she stay here with us."

"No, I must insist that she be returned to me. Since she is not yet eighteen and since I am legally her guardian, she will be returned to me by tonight."

"Why now? Why help your daughter now Mr. Nassrin? You abandoned her when her mother died and she has been on her own for almost ten years. Why chose now to contact her?"

"I don't need to explain myself to anyone, least of all to you." Lord Nassrin snapped. "You've seen her power. It is too dangerous to leave her alone –"

"Don't talk to me as though I don't know Leila. I know more about your daughter than even you do!" Xavier boomed. He rarely ever let himself get this angry but there was just something about this man that got under his skin. "I have seen into her mind. I have seen her struggle and I have seen her control improve greatly since she arrived here. My students and staff have been more of a family to her than you have ever been in her entire life. And we will still remain so."

Immediately after Xavier slammed the phone back onto the receiver, a sharp pain shot through his right temple and images began flashing before his mind. He saw a cruel and dark-haired man grab Leila and drag her out of a room. He then saw people, bleeding and emaciated, writhing in pain on the floor of a dungeon as the man threw Leila in with them. He saw a young girl with bright blue eyes that seemed to penetrate his soul. He then saw the X-Men disappear one by one and heard Magneto laughing jovially, "Yes! Yes. It is working!"


"Guten Tag." Kurt said cheerfully as he entered the kitchen. Noticing the sad look on Leila's face and the concerned look on Jean's he added, "I hope I'm not interrupting something."

"You aren't." Leila replied almost bitterly, "We're done talking."

Jean opened her mouth as if to say that they most certainly weren't done talking but Leila gave her a stony look which kept her mouth shut.

"I am only looking out for you." Jean said.

"I know and I appreciate that. Really, I do." Leila replied as she grabbed Kurt's arm, wincing when her nails dug into his skin. I just don't like to feel weak. She thought to Jean. By ignoring the dull throb in her head, she planned to do just that.

With a rough yank, Leila pulled Kurt out of the kitchen and out to the grand staircase. "I know you were eavesdropping again Kurt. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, but that's just how I feel."

"How do you know that we are not good for each other, Leila?" he asked, "You haven't given us a chance yet."

"Kurt!" she exclaimed, sounding harsher than she meant to, "Listen to me. I am not good for you. I cannot give you the things a normal girl can give. We can't go out on dates; I cannot go to school with you or even go to a sporting event with you. I cannot do the things a normal girlfriend can do."

"You can though – "

"I cannot kiss you Kurt." She said, cutting to the chase. Her stomach was now doing flip flops and it took everything in her to not curl up into a ball "Though it may take us a while to get to that point, eventually you will want to kiss me, and I, you. I cannot even be a person anyone wants to be around, let alone go out with."

"Leila, don't look at the things we can't do. Look at the things we can. We can climb onto the roof and look at the stars. We can go for a walk. I can teach you how to play Schafkopf. I will never ask you to do anything that with me intimately until you are ready."

"Kurt. Listen to me and listen good." She said, "I cannot – " but stopped and fell into Kurt's arms clutching her head. The dull throb turned into a sharp pain which exploded behind her eyes and began pounding to the beat of her pulse.

"Leila?" Kurt asked as he tried to ease her to the floor. Her fingers began fusing to her palms and he heard the sick cracking as her hands stretched into paws. For the first time, Kurt actually saw fear in Leila's eyes and it broke his heart.

Hearing the commotion, Jean ran out of the kitchen, saw the grotesque sight, and began alerting the house. She knelt down next to Kurt and helped him restrain her – now clawed – arms and legs.

"Leila, try to hold on. I have sent for help!" Jean begged.

Leila's screams filled the house once her patella broke and he legs were forced to bend outward. Blood began dripping from her mouth as her facial features began rearranging themselves.

Logan and Storm were downstairs first and helped restrain Leila's limbs which they hoped would help prevent her from accidentally hurting someone.

"Why is this happening so slowly? "What set her off?" Strom asked as she tried to restrain her upper body.

"Nothing!" Kurt replied, grimacing as her claws began digging into his arm. "We were talking and suddenly this happened!"

"This shouldn't be happening so slowly! Her transformation usually takes seconds, not minutes!" Storm said.

"Storm, she said she wasn't feeling well." Jean replied, "She asked if it was normal for mutants with her condition to get physically ill when they are separated from things that comfort them. She said she hasn't transformed since, well, the session in the Danger Room."

Leila's golden eyes met Jeans and she let out weak roar.

"NO!" Jean screamed and backed away from Leila. "No, no, no! I can't do that!"

"Jean?" Scott asked as he rushed to her side, "What happened? Tell me what's wrong."

"I can feel her pain!" She cried and screamed in unison with Leila when her ribs began breaking and reforming to accommodate a larger respiratory system. Sobbing, Jean curled into a fetal position. "It hurts so much."

"No! Leila I can't do that!" she yelled out loud. "I WILL NOT KILL YOU!"

Leila, it's ok. I know you are in pain. It will be over soon. The professor said feeling helpless. Please hold on a little longer and it will all be over.

"We need to let go of her and make it to the second floor." Logan growled, noticing the orange and black fur sprouting from her skin. "She is almost done phasing and I don't want to be down here with a 300 pound, hungry tiger."

At the same time, Logan, Scott (with Jean in his arms), and Storm began making their way up the staircase; but instead of following, Kurt took a few steps back and kneeled down again.

"Kurt!" Kitty hissed, "Are you stupid. She will kill you."

"I will not leave until I know she's okay." he replied stubbornly.

"Kid, don't be stupid." Logan replied and cautiously made his way back down the staircase.

Leila's eyes snapped open when she heard his footsteps approaching her. Despite being weakened by the change, she stood up and let out a warning growl.

"Logan..." Storm warned as the rest of the X-men watched and waited with baited breath.

Leila lowered her face to the ground and took in everyone's scents. The smell of her human blood and sweat was strong, but the smell of the group's fear and anxiety was even stronger. One particular scent caught her attention, however, and Kurt's eyes widened as she began to plod towards him.

"Don't move Kurt." the Professor warned, "Don't look her in the eyes and for God sakes, do not teleport! I do not want her to frighten her."

"You don't have to tell me twice professor." he whispered as Leila sniffed his neck.

He didn't smell like the rest of them and Leila picked up on that. The powerful smell of his pheromones both confused and interested her. In one way, he smelled like the other humans – warm and salty – but in another way, he smelled like an animal – earthy and spicy. Upon further inspection of his body, Leila found his transmorpher watch and pressed the button with her nose. Kurt's human image faded out like an antennae signal and revealed his blue elfish body. Even though Leila the human had watched him change between the two appearances, Leila the tigress had not and her look of bewilderment was almost comical. Leila made Kurt's image transition a couple more times until she was satisfied with the fact that the watch was no threat.

"Professor what do we do now?" Scott asked, his voice shattering the tense atmosphere. "This animal may be calm now, but we can't just let a tiger run around the mansion."

"The tiger's name is Leila, Scott." Jean interjected coolly as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "Don't de-humanize her by referring to her as 'this animal.'"

"Well we obviously can't let her go outside." Storm replied, "Tigers are not common in New York and she may hurt someone."

"We'll put her in the Danger Room." Logan replied, "We can program it to simulate a jungle habitat and leave her there until she changes back. No one is allowed to enter that room until she becomes human again. You hear me furball?"

"Yes, yes!" Kurt exclaimed, now flat on his back as Leila lay across his legs like a giant house cat. "Just get her off of me. My legs have fallen asleep!"

"And how exactly are we gonna get her down to the Danger Room?" Rogue asked.

"I can try to levitate her." Jean suggested.

"What if that freaks her out?" Kitty asked, "I don't want to risk pissing her off. We can try to lure her there like my parents do with my cat. Maybe she will follow a trail of food."

"It wouldn't hurt to try." The professor replied. "I think there are a couple pounds of hamburger meat in the fridge – "

" – For hamburgers later – ." Scott mumbled gloomily.

" – Why don't you go get them Kitty."

Kitty returned a minute later with two large trays full of hamburger meat and gave one to Rogue. "We need to ball these up and leave a bread crumb trail downstairs."

"Leila" Rogue called as she threw a meat ball near her, "Heere kitty!"

The meat landed with a wet smack which got her attention. Faster than they expected, Leila got off of Kurt and snatched up the meat.

"Quick, start making more!" Kitty cried as she dropped another meat ball next to the stairs.

As Rogue and Kitty lured Leila into the Danger Room, Logan was waiting in the control room with Professor X awaiting their signal.

"I am having a hard time getting a trace on her mind Logan." The professor said sadly. "She keeps fading in and out like a poorly tuned radio. I am worried that if this continues on any longer, I might lose her completely."

"We won't let that happen, Charles." Logan replied as Kitty threw the last meat ball towards the far end of the room. "She is strong and despite my opinion of the furball, he seems to be helping her."

"Yes he does." the professor replied as he watched Leila bound into the faux jungle room. The door locked behind her with a satisfying clang.

"Well that went better than expected." Storm commented as she joined the two men. "But do we have enough food to feed her?"

A.N. First of all, I'm not dead. I apologize about the unforgivably long amount of time it took me to submit this. I suck. (I wrote this chapter while flying on a plane during my winter break) Second of all, I hope you enjoyed the slightly upbeat ending to the chapter because it is only going to get darker. Third of all, I know I am writing Scott as sort of a brat. I really don't think of him like that but I haven't had time to flesh out his feelings towards Leila. He obviously dislikes her but she doesn't understand why. There will be a little Scott/Leila bonding in the future. They may not see eye-to-eye but at least they will understand one another. Lastly, please review. Post a comment or constructive criticism. I read them all and I greatly appreciate them!