Many hours later, they pull-up to the mansion where Harry sees a group of kids playing and two faces he remember from their last visit.
Ember gave a sidelong glance at Harry, using her training to gauge his reaction to seeing a group of mutant kids.
Harry's eyes were wide with excitement and worry he looked over at Ember and then to Scott and Logan then back to her.
"How about you show Harry a room where he can stay." Professor Xavier suggests, and then added telepathically to Ember, 'I'll have everyone meet together and explain to them. Tomorrow morning, we will have our regular session.'
Ember barely nodded in agreement, "Come on, I'll give you the grand tour."
"Okay, Ember, sure." Harry nodded as they left the car.
Ember and Harry walked into the mansion, "Now we have the foyer, unlike Hogwarts, I think the professor trusts us not to go sneaking into each other's room, some students bunk up, others are grateful they have their own rooms."
"What about you, you got a roommate?" Harry questioned
"Not really." Ember replied, "I think the Professor expected that I will not be sane most of the time, so he gave me a room to myself."
He looked at her confused "But as far as I seen except for that fight, you seem normal to me?"
"I am more in touch with my primal side, I told you about my childhood." Ember replied
"Yeah but professor Xavier helped you get pass that right?" He asked softly
"Not all the way, I still remember, I have regular sessions with the Prof, he goes over everything I learned about human contact and explains it to me so I can understand or I end up as you witnessed." Ember explained, "Now we have bedrooms here, everyone else attends the high school in town."
"You sure it's ok. Umm, could I sleep close to your room?" Harry asked
Kurt teleported into the hallway. "He can stay in my room, while I'm gone."
"Ahhh, Kurt, what the heck?" Harry yelled as he grabbed his chest.
"Sorry, I do that to get around." Kurt apologized "But the offer stands, I'm going back to Germany for the holidays."
"Really, Kurt, it's ok with you?" Harry asked
Kurt nodded and showed Harry the bedroom.
Ember leaned against the door, "Once we figure out another arrangement, we'll see what rooms are still open, or we have to move stuff to the attic."
Jean came down the hall, "Ember?"
"Yeah, who else?" Ember responds
"Welcome home." Jean replies.
Jean looked behind her and saw Harry for the first time.
"Jean, this is Harry. With the professor's permission, he will be staying here until he is old enough to live on his own or not." Ember replied, "The Professor will explain the rest."
"Hello Harry and welcome to the manor I hope to you like it here." Jean greets, before leaving to meet with the Professor and the others.
Ember grinned, "Well, you saw where the restrooms are, the bedrooms. Let's move on to the kitchen, and the other areas."
Harry nodded and followed her further in to the manor. They saw the kitchen and the normal area of the school.
"Now for my favorite part of this place." Ember stated as she pressed on the wall and a hidden elevator opened up.
"Oh wow, hidden passageway to just like the school wicked." Harry replied
Ember took Harry and they went down to the lower levels.
"Now if I catch you down here, without me or another older mutant. I will make Snape look like he just woke up on the wrong side of the bed for the last twenty years." Ember threatened.
Harry gulped and shook his head in agreement. "Don't worry not gonna happen."
"Now there are three parts to the lower level, the hanger, Cerebro II and the danger room." Ember explained.
"Cool, so where to first, can we go the hanger first please." Harry asked
Ember nods and leads Harry over to the hanger, where large black jet was resting.
Harry looked at the jet and walked around it in awe "wow this is so cool."
"SR-77 Blackbird, twice as fast as the SR-71, with three times the range and fire power." The door opened again, and in walked Scott, as he had done with Nightcrawler, when he first joined the team.
Harry smiled and gave a quick wave at him.
"Good to see you again, Harry." Scott replied "Prof Xavier said you were down here, thought I give a hand."
"Hello Scott, this place is so cool, you really fly this jet, and can I get a ride in it sometime?" Harry questions
Scott looked over at Ember, and knew that she would not agree to this right now, but it is worth a try. "Perhaps in another few years, if Ember agrees, I'll teach you how to fly the blackbird."
"Really, you would teach me to fly it?" Harry's eye went wide and glazed over at the thought.
"But not right now, we'll see about it." Ember cut in. "Any other reason you're here, Scott?"
"Logan wants you in the danger room, like yesterday." Scott answers.
Ember nodded, Scott and Harry went to the observation deck there they saw Logan at the controls.
Ember went into the locker room to suit up, with a spare suit. This put her in mind of her HYDRA gear.
"Glad, you finally decided to show, Kid. I got a nice work out ready for ya to try out." Logan's voice greeted over the speaker system once Ember was in the danger room itself.
"Just start the thing already," Ember replied as her claws came out. She was unaware that this was payback for the beginning of the year.
Harry watched from the observation deck as Ember went through her exercise then became worried yet interested as the machines became even more aggressive against his sister.
Ember on the other hand, kept dodging the machines that were trying to grab her everywhere she turned; she was starting to have flashbacks of her training in the HYDRA compound.
Harry got worried as one of the machines nearly took her head off.
The elevator doors opened up and the Professor rolled out, he kept his face sooth but if one were Logan right now, you could hear the mental thrashing he was getting. Professor Xavier went over to the computer and overrode the whole system.
Ember collapsed in the middle of the room breathing heavily and looking a bit wild in her eyes.
Professor Xavier put his hands to his temples, and entered Ember's mind sending her into a coma that only he awaken her.
Ember's body slumped over as her mind went blank.
"Ember!" Harry yelled as he ran down to her.
Logan followed seeing; as he was the only one strong enough lift the girl up. He didn't think that she had so little control over her memories or that they would still be affecting her.
"Don't worry, Harry, she's just in a coma for her own good. I'll wake her once, I get her calmed down." Professor Xavier explained.
Harry looked to the professor "Are you sure, she's okay? I didn't like the look in her eyes."
"Yes, she may not show it, but her mind is fragile, she was mentally and emotionally abused and neglected. She has made progress in the last three years, she has been with us here at the institute, but she does backslide when pushed or having flashbacks." Professor Xavier answered
Logan carried her into the medical bay and laid the comatose girl on the table, where Professor Xavier wheeled up to her head, placing his hands to her temples.
Harry watched them and waited to see what happened.
As the seconds ticked by, Ember's claws retracted but she still wouldn't awaken, she was trapped in her mind in the past. Where she was alone, unwanted, unloved.
Harry came closer to her bed and placed a hand on hers. "Ember, come on back, your family needs you, I need you; I just found you."
Ember struggled against her past, against the memories that ruled her mind; she could not pull anyone's face into focus.
'Help me!' Ember's mental shout was full of pain, the feelings of neglect, of being used to be the perfect weapon kept coming back. She needed someone, who could understand.
Charles Xavier's eyes opened, he released Ember's physical contact and wheeled away. "She's fighting me; her memories are just too strong, she needs someone to focus on." He looked at the two in the room, unsure of how Ember felt. Harry wouldn't do to be that focus because they only knew each other for a few months.
"Look chuck, just link us in and I'll pull her out, just get the squirt out of here." Logan grunted.
A few minutes later, Ororo walked in, "Yes, I will be happy to assist Harry back upstairs."
Harry stalled not wanting to leave Ember's side "I don't want to leave, can't i stay, she might need me."
"Harry, you do not have the understanding of what Ember has been through, Logan does." Professor Xavier explains, "And there is a chance that Ember will awake and hurt someone."
"But she promised she would never hurt me were pack her words exactly and pack help each other." Harry shot back to the adults in the room.
"That maybe true, but she made that promise when she was sane." Logan growled "And pack obeys the alpha in this sense that is me."
Harry growled in frustration "Fine, but the second, she's back. I'm right by her side and you can't change that."
"We'll see about that." Logan growled before taking a chair and sitting in it.
Harry huffed and stormed out the room tears in his eyes. He almost ran straight to Ember's room.
Ororo placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, "You know it's easy when you talk about what is troubling you."
Harry wiped his eyes and tried to take a breath "I just find out, i have a sister and she's in trouble and I can't help her. I mean i don't have any powers like you all but I still want to help."
"She's only in trouble with her own mind, child. Do you think she would forgive herself, if she caused you to be hurt while she wasn't in control and her primal instincts are?" Ororo questioned
Harry sighed "B-b-but Ms Ororo, I want to help I know she would hate herself because I got hurt but she needs help now and I can't help." he flung himself in to Storm's arms crying once more.
The weather-controlling mutant just held the child, "The only way to help her is letting the adults help her, and you're only a child. Who I think has had his own share of neglect and abuse but not in the way Ember has."
"I don't know what you're talking about Ms. Ororo. I mean Ember's life been so tough and now this." Harry sniffed and wiped his eyes once more "Ms. Ororo think Logan and the professor can help her?"
"I have been dealing with young people that often come from homes that their relatives do not see their gifts as a blessing; you show the classic signs of a suppressed child." Ororo replied, "As to Logan and the Professor, they are more experienced in this area but it is a first that Ember would really need Logan's support to help bring her back."
"I guess your right, Ms. Ororo, I'm just scared right now as to the rest you're right but you can't tell anybody about it please it's in the past and I'm here now." He lay down on Ember's bed and just closed his eyes.
"So are Ember's troubles and she still has problems dealing with it. You can't just forget about it." Ororo replied, as she sat down next to Harry.
"Why not it's in the past both Ember and Professor X got me out of there so my life is better." Harry looked to the older mutant
"Because it's a part of who you are, without proper treatment you can never place your trust in good people or good mutants as this case is." Ororo answered, "Ember has accepted that it wasn't her fault that she was made and trained to be an assassin."
"Look Ms. Ororo I'm just not ready to talk about it, Maybe later but now just ain't the time." He grabbed a pillow and hugged it close to him.
Ororo nods, "Alright, and the same is with Ember, she doesn't know how to be a sister, she doesn't understand how to be a child. Just watch her around the other students." She stood up and left the room.
"Umm, Ms. Ororo, thanks for not pushing, I'll be down in a minute." He flopped back into the bed and tried to nap.
Logan through Professor Xavier's help went into Ember's mind and he was glad he had a strong stomach, because the memories were sick and twisted, how could anyone do this to a child.
He found a very small Ember hidden in a corner.
'Help me,' was the silent plea.
"Come on kid it's time to go this place and for us and your family's waiting." Logan said in a soft voice trying not to scare her.
"What is a family?" the small child looked confused that is when Logan realized that he was dealing with the past version of Ember, the one who was trained to kill him.
Logan took a breath and thought, "Well family are the ones that care for you and love you, you got a kid brother worried sick about you and your friends as well." he explained slowly. "So let's get the heck out of here, huh; because this place isn't any good for ya." He reaches out with his hands to grab her when she jumped back and growled at him.
"Nowhere is good for me." Ember's older and mature voice came as the child switched from child to the teenage body of the same person.
"That's not true ember and you know it Harry and the others are waiting." Logan spoke keeping his voice soft and calm.
"Yes, it is. Who wants to have the copy, the second best? When the original is around." Ember responds her insecurity was because she felt inferior to Logan.
"You're not a copy. Your Ember a smart kid and a tuff witch, I ever saw plus I know for a fact there one person that don't care." Logan reasoned
"Yeah right." Ember scoffed
"Yes, I'm right; you're the one that saved him, he needs you. Or did you forget about him." Logan replied sharply.
"He doesn't need me; I can't take care of him. I can't even keep my sanity together during a training session, which was completely brutal so thanks a lot for messing with my program." Ember replied, she knew it was Logan's fault.
"Look I'm sorry about that but that kid out there worried about you, look I'll show you." He looks up "Chuck show her was happened just before I came here."
"I heard him..." Ember admits, "But I'm just not ready to be among the others."
"Well you can't stay here either this place is unhealthy for ya remember what the professor showed ya come on lets go." Logan responds.
"Are you saying my own mind isn't healthy for me?" Ember questions, still not moving. The scenery changed from the HYDRA compound to the danger room when inactive. "I'll let you in on something else; I'm staying like this to give my half-brother time to befriend the other students here, without me playing interference."
"Your own mind no, where we were in your mind yes." Logan smiles "heh, sneaky kid, I like the idea just don't stay here to long the kid does really need ya."
"Hey Professor! I know you can hear me, so I think you need a therapy session with Harry, he doesn't want to talk about anything that involves his relatives!" Ember pointed out before a couch appeared and she sat down on it. "Now if you don't mind, get Logan out of my head."
Logan raised his hands in defeat. "Fine, I'm out of here just remember don't stay here too long." He said as he faded out of her mind.
"My head, I can stay in here as long as I want." Ember replied before her forced coma turned into true sleep.
