Chapter Six: Nights Without Stars

Lumina reached her new room. She looked at the door number, number seventy-seven. My favorite number's seven…Ha ha, professor. The door was a beautiful dark red, and the doorknob was an exquisite design, looping around and curling. She was almost afraid to touch it, for fear of ruining its perfection. It was the way almost everything at this mansion was, perfect. Probably to make up for the imperfections…

"You all right, sugar?" Gambit broke through her thoughts. She looked up at him, his dark hair surrounding his face and hiding his features. FLASH! Lumina gasped and stepped back in horror. "Lu?" Gambit advanced, trying to get a hold of her arm to support her. She was as pale as a ghost and was about to collapse.

"No…" Was the last word uttered before she fell limp into Gambit's arms.

"Looks like I get to tuck you in after all, sugar." He muttered as he searched her clothes for the key.

Everything was a blur, objects flying by her small body. She looked over at her parents' bodies, hoping against hope that they were still alive. That hope was dashed when she saw the dark red pool forming around their heads. She let out a small cry, and the darkness was almost immediately around her. There was no light, no hope. She heard him laugh, it was an evil, cruel laugh, that echoed around her and got louder and louder.

"NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!!" She screamed at the noise. Suddenly there was light spreading through the darkness, making it run and hide and dissipate when it was touched the black. She looked up, and the light poured from her eyes, and radiated from her body. She couldn't understand what was happening, but she was just happy there was light again. She saw the man who made it dark, the man who had murdered her parents. His eyes were black, like a night without stars, and they had an evil glint in them that scared her. She felt his icy fingers probing her mind, searching for something. She tried to shut him out, but she couldn't, she was too weak…She grabbed her head in pain and tried to squirm away from him, away from the mind probe…

"Lumina! Lumina, wake up!" A gruff voice woke her from her terrible dream. She opened her eyes and the pain was gone, and she felt relief wash over her when she realized that she was safe at the mansion. She rolled over to see who had waken her, and she discovered it was Logan, who looked very tired and tousled, his hair was even more out of control than before. He had his hand on her arm which he soon pulled away when he remembered that it was there. "You were having a nightmare." He said simply.

"What are you doing here?" She looked around. "Am I in my room?" She looked down and realized that she wasn't wearing what she was last night. She sighed heavily and realized that someone had had to change her clothes. Blast you, Gambit… She sighed heavily.

"Well, to answer your first question, I was a little worried when Gambit came and told Charles that you had collapsed, and well, some weird things were happening last night, and I suggested that you should have someone watching over you."

"So the prof picked you, huh?" She asked with a quirky smile. "Or did you volunteer?" The look on his face told Lumina what she wanted to know. "Aww, Logan, that's soo sweet of you…" She said in her best imitation of a school girl. He growled a little at this, and she just grinned widely at him, making him even more agitated.

"Well, I didn't want that blockhead Gambit handling it." He gestured towards her pajamas. "So what was your dream about?" He decided to change the subject.

"Well, when my parents were killed, I was about four, almost five years old." She said. "They were killed by mutant who could control darkness, kind of the opposite of what I do. The only thing I really remember was…"

"Your parents lying dead on the floor in a pool of blood, and the black eyes of the murderer." Logan said with certainty. He looked just as surprised as Lumina did at his own words.

"How did you know that?" She said, more sharply than she meant to.

"I don't know…But there's someone here now with black eyes that's about your age, and he gives me the creeps." Logan shook his head. "But I don't know why, he just doesn't…"

"Feel right." Lumina said.

"Yeah…" Logan looked at her sort of suspiciously. "Ever since I met this guy, there have been weird instances where all of the sudden there's this flash of light that rips through me, and…"

"It's only there for a second, but it's like a premonition." Lumina sat up and looked at Logan with her head cocked to one side. "But, I've been able to have those premonitions since the attack, and…You…"

"I don't understand it either, kid, but it might have something to do with the night we went to your house." Someone knocked on her door.

"Come in." Lumina called as she pushed back the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed. It was Jean, holding two trays of food by way of telekinesis.

"I thought you two would want some breakfast, since you didn't show up this morning." She nodded towards the clock, and they finally realized it was 12:30 in the afternoon.

"Have I missed my training? Cyke'd kill me if he thought I was playing hooky again…" Logan didn't actually appear worried, he just would be upset that he'd missed his daily exercise.

"It was pushed back to this evening because of the weird problems we're having with the computers." Jean said. "Anyway, Logan, Professor Xavier wants to see you in his office, and Lumina?" The girl looked up from her food. "I want you to meet someone."

Lumina followed Jean down to the infirmary. "So who is it, Jean…Some really cute guy, or some person you think I can help?"

"A little of both actually." Jean answered cryptically. They arrived at the door to the center, and Jean opened it using a password on the keypad next to it. Lumina walked in first, and was shocked at who she found. She took a step backwards and tripped over the leg of a table and fell backwards. The young man with black hair rushed over and tried to help her up, but crawled away from him, avoiding his grasp.

"Stay away from me." She said threateningly.

"Lumina?" Jean got behind her and helped her to her feet. "What's wrong?"

"Uh, are you okay?" The darkly handsome young man asked. His voice was kind and had an elegant English accent, but his eyes… "My name's Torrent, but you can call me Tory." He held out his hand. Lumina stared at it, and finally decided that since Jean was right behind her it was safe. They shook hands, and the moment they touched, there was an icy electricity that flowed between their grips. Tory pulled his hand back, just as Lumina did. He appeared just as confused as Lumina was. This guy looked almost exactly like…No…He couldn't be…He's NICE…

"Yeah, I'm fine…Sorry, I just…" She looked up at him. His eyes were so black they seemed like bottomless pits, and you couldn't see his pupils unless there was a direct light on his eyes. "I thought you were someone else."

"You mean my father?" Tory said knowingly. Lumina was taken aback. "Everyone says I look just like him…He wasn't a very good person. He did some pretty awful things. He was kinda cruel…I'm sorry if he did something to you." Lumina wasn't sure if he was telling the truth, but he looked to young to be the older man that had killed her parents. She decided to trust him, for now. "What's your name?" He asked politely.

"Lumina. Nice to meet you, Tory." Lumina tried to stop herself from asking, but she couldn't. "What happened to your father?" There was a little bit more of an edge in her voice than she had intended to use.

"He passed away about…ten years ago now…He had been convicted of murder here in the US was sentenced to life in prison…My mom passed away soon after that, and I came to America to escape from England's laws against mutants. I found out about this sanctuary and came here two days ago." His demeanor told Lumina that he was telling the truth, and his eyes…they still bothered her. "I've been told that you command light. That's a pretty intense power."

"Yeah, I guess so." She didn't mean to sound so off-handed. "What's your power?"

"Well, I inherited it from my dad, unfortunately." He shook his head. "I control the dark."