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Chapter two [ Roof overhead ]
Warmth. Another room... this time lit by two small lamps to his sides instead of by moonlight. A faceless man beside him, stroking the hair on the side of his head, whispering to him that he was the best that he's ever had. An overwhelming sensation of disgust. Then anger. A fake smile. A wallet filled with money. And warm lips pressed against his own. He closed his eyes, taking the invasion like the good boy they expected him to be. "Good morning Damon." His eyes opened and he turned to his right, a bald man in a wheelchair was sitting beside his bed. An african-american woman was behind him, stirring something in a bowl, both smiling at him. The smiles weren't fake. Unlike in his dream. But who...? "Forgive me. My name is Professor Charles Xavier." The man spoke, his voice elegant, reminding him a lot of his english teacher back at his old school. "And this is Ororo Monroe. My students brought you here last night because they taught that you needed medical attention." Students...? Professor Xavier...? Is this some kind of school? He tried to speak but suddenly was forced to clutch at his head when a small throbbing sensation brought back the same dizziness as last night. "Easy. Try not to move too much, you still need to rest." It was the woman's turn to speak, bringing to him the bowl which she was stirring. He noticed that Oatmeal... I hate oatmeal. It's not like you have a choice now, do you Damon? He mumbled mentally, brathing the scent in deeply. "Where... Am I?" Every word he spoke was strained, his difficulty in speaking was more likely the cause of not enough food for three days. "We can answer your questions later. For now, all you need to do is to eat." Ororo brought the spoon to his mouth and began to feed him. Scott wasn't the one who was most affected by heir encounter with the young mutant, that honor went to the gothic Rogue, but he felt an obligation to the boy. He was the unspoken leader of the X-Men. He also knew that he was bound to be the one who would look after Damon once he was out of the infirmary. Scott sometimes thought of a place where he wasn't Mr. Big Brother. Where he wasn't the one making decisions for everybody and being the most serious out of all of them. A place where he didn't feel all the pressure of holding a title like this... But he knew it was a responsibility he would gladly take. After all, if the Nightcrawler was the one leading the X-Men, who knows how long they would last? And as a leader, you have to understand your subordinates. Rogue was always distant, only talking when spoken to and almost never opening up to anyone. It probably came with the look but he also knew that it was because of her insecurity at not having a past. The sheer thought of just appearring out of nowhere with no one knowing who or where you came from was enough to unnerve even Scott! But Rogue seemed to carry all of that inside of her. Only her. Then how come is it that touching a boy as young as Damon would cause her to turn even more reclusive than she actually was? Something so dark and foreboding lay in the mind of the boy. And now, it was a part of Rogue, whether she liked it or not. His eyebrows twitched in uneasiness at the idea that there was something behind Damon that they might not ever find. He paused, his attention from the silent gothic girl broken by someone talking to him inside his head. "He's awake." Scott calmly mentioned above Evan and Kurt's private food fight. "That... That was delicious. Thank you, miss Monroe." Ororo smiled fully at hearing the small boy being so polite to her. Living in the same house as Kurt and Evan can make you long for more peaceful kids. But somewhere in the back of her head, she felt that Damon wasn't truly at peace. "Do you know that you have been unconscious for almost an entire day?" Damon blinked, the idea never popping into his head. "No... No, I haven't realized that." An entire day... I was out cold for an entire day... If they never brought me here... Damon lifted himself up from his bed, the dizziness fading from his head thanks to finally receiving nourishment. "I'm sorry miss Monroe, I have to get going." His legs were aching and his guitar felt unusually heavy. He winced in pain but he knew he couldn't stay here. "Please Damon, stay awhile. Give the institute a chance." He stopped, his knuckles white from gripping his guitar. "We can help you." She said softly. Damon felt like no one could. Afterall, who in the world could relate to a person who could burn anything to the ground in seconds? No one was like him... "We understand your gift." Damon laughed at the word Gift. How could you exactly call this, this mobile freak accident waiting to happen, a gift!? "I don't think you quite understand Miss. I don't think ANY of you know how it feels to carry this, this... gift, if that's what you would like me to call it, around for your entire life! Do you even know just how bad my life's been because of this Gift?" Boiling blood began to coarse throughout his body and he could feel the fire burning in his fingers again. Mentally, he scolded himself for the sudden outburst but he knew that it was important. This lady couldn't possibly understand what could happen if he was left here in this highly flammable house! "No, I do not know how bad your life has been. That life is yuors and yours alone, no amount of words can take away any of your pain. But hasn't it dawned onto you that the ones who brought you here have lived a life similar to yours?." Ororo's eyes spoke with authority in a way her gentle voice did not. An authority that seemed to break his will to resist and just make him crumble in his own state of pity. But he didn't. Not now. He has to leave here before anyone gets hurt. "I don't think any of them have bursts of fire coming out of their fingers like this now, do they?" He demonstrates, the flames dancing dangerously in front of his face, ready to get out of hand at any moment if only he wasn't so intent on showing her what it meant to be him. "No, none of them have flames that emerge like that." Damon smirked, maybe she wasn't as persistent now that she's seen just how dangerous hs power can be? Then the windows began to rattle, the howling winds outside very audible behind the glass windows. One... Two.. Three... And then rain. "But none of them can control the weather either." The confused boy's flames died down slowly in his hand, his eyes staring out the window incredously as he watches trees seemingly bend to a storm that had just emerged from nowhere... From nowhere... Just like his flames. "Y,you...?" He stammered, staring wide eyed at the woman whom he was sure could not relate to anything about him moments ago. A woman that he was mocking for not understanding power when it was right in your face, threatening to burn your very home. Now he felt like he was the one being mocked. But he felt good knowing that someone was able to mock him on his own terms. He wanted to smile at her. Instead, his jaw fell to the floor in shock. "So... how is he Professor?" The day seemed long for all the X-Men, maybe with Kurt and Evan being the exception since they showed almost no signs of being all too affected by the event's that had just transpired. But the day seemed exceptionally longer for Rogue. She knows about what's happened to Damon back before they met hm and she knew that she couldn't tell anyone about it. Not Jean. Not Ororo. Not Xavier. Then what was she supposed to do? Deal with all that trauma like it was her own? She sighed weakly. This was why she hated being herself. No memories of your own but everyone else's... No long lost treasures hidden in the back of your head... Instead ugly skeletons in the closet. Not any of them being hers. Jean had been watching her every moment, she knew that. Ever since then, she knew that Jean knew as well. She wasn't blind to the idea that she may have seen something that she shouldn't have but leave it to Jean to act all professional about everything. Rogue knew that she would never break that promise that both she and the professor had made about keeping their distance about their thoughts. But now was different... Why won't you read my mind and help me? She mentally screamed, her scream falling on Jean's deaf ears. "He still needs to rest to gain back the energy he lost when you found him. But other than that, he will be fine and mobile in a day or two." They sighed in relief at the news. But Rogue was preoccupied. Preoccupied with thoughts that she knew were not hers. Down a hallway, a door was heard opening. "Umm... Hey there." God, I suck at this. No wonder no one knew who I was back home. "Good afternoon, Damon. I'm glad to see that you're begnning to feel better." Okay, he knew who the Professor was and he just got newly acquainted with Ororo ini a very strange way... But what was everyone else's name? "Damon, allow me to introduce you to my pupils. These two were the very first that were enrolled into the Institute. Scott Summers and Jean Grey." They shook hands cordially, both of them smiling back at Damon warmly. Damon couldn't help but smile back. It was the first time someone had smiled at him like that... One by one they were introduced to him, each of them feeling lke friends already. He already liked Kurt a lot, he found the accent funny and everytime he would talk he would giggle inside, careful not to show it for fear of being offensive. Scott and Jean felt very welcome to him, probably because of the bigger sibling feeling that they just seemed to give off. Kitty seemed fun, Even without the cheerleader-like speech and Evan looked lke he knew how to enjoy himself, something that he hoped would rub off on him. Then there was that one girl... "And this is Rogue." He gave his hand to greet her, only to be met with a gaze that sent a chill down his spine. "Charmed, I'm sure. Excuse me professor, I've got homework to do." And there and then, she left them, no one bothering to stop her. Damon felt a pang of guilt in his mind. Was it something I did? "You have to forgive her... Rogue doesn't take well to everyone she meets." He nodded at the professor but his eyes followed the girl up the stairs, not knowing why he was rejected so quickly. And he began to wonder if he was supposed to know her from somewhere... "Umm... Professor? Is it okay if I ask a question?" He asked nervously, his hands sweating inside of his pockets. "Please, ask anything." "A..." He paused, unsure if this was something that would seem offensive. He took a look behind him at Ororo then back at the professor. "A-are all of you... I mean, do all of they... Y'know?" "Have powers like you?" He shrugged, god he so sucked at this! "Does this answer your question?" Kitty phased into a wall, Damon's eyes becoming as wide as saucers at seeing someone go through solid wood and back. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, which was kind of strange since he thought that he was the strangest person he would ever get to know! "What about..." Evan answered by growing shards on his right arm. "Or..." Jean then began to make her books float n front of her... And then in a clean circle abover her. "And what about..." A cloud of smoke and then Kurt was in front of him, followed by another cloud of smoke and Kurt was hanging onto the Chandelier. "Ver you vondering about me?" Kurt laughed, the look on Damon's face was priceless! He's never met a person who was so amazed by mutant abilities like Damon was and it was worth it, porting around pointlessly just to see the boy's jaw dropping like that! "Okay... This is way... way... strange. But, you know, in a cool kind of strange." He turned to Scott, expecting him to be just like the rest of them and show of his ability. he was puzzled by Scott simply standing there, like someone... Normal. "I can't show you what I can do right now. It isn't exactly very indoor friendly." He nodded his head in understanding, still amused by the fact that people like him were standing in the same room as he was, for the very first time! It made him feel... wanted. He smiled and then laughed out loud, everyone's eyebrows raised in questioning. Somewhere in Bayville, a boy was sleeping. In a bed. His own bed. End...?
Authors notes: Anyone ever found it strange that you can enroll at Bayville anytime of the year? Oh well, it makes a lot of things easier for me.
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