After Brody had told them everything he could bring himself to tell he decided to follow Kurt around for a while. He was more than a little nervous around the other mutants and was pretty much a silent observer to everything that was going on. At one point he almost laughed when Bobby created an ice patch in front of Scott causing the older mutant to lose his balance and fall on his butt.

"BOBBY!" Scott yelled as he crawled his way off the ice. "How many times have I told you not to ice the carpet?!"

Bobby ran for it with Scott right behind him. Brody watched them with a hint of a smile. "Are they always like this?"

"Ja, you get used to it though," Kurt replied.

"I don't doubt it."

*These people don't understand, do they? They don't have a clue what's coming,* Psycho grumbled. *They're not doing anything to prepare.*

*Yeah, they're all busy having fun and playing pranks.* Skeptic added.

*Have a little dignity Skeptic. Don't lower yourself to his level by agreeing with him,* Normal said. *And why should they understand? Do you think they can really understand the danger or even comprehend what's coming just because I told them about the escape?*

*Well, I'm not one to run away from a fight, but maybe we'd be better off with Kyran and Cody. At least they have an idea of what's coming,* Psycho suggested.

*What's the matter Psycho, are you scared of a little challenge? I thought you were made of tougher stuff.*

Psycho growled at Normal. *I'm not scared of anything! You'll see! I'll zap those bastards straight to Hell!*

*Are you sure it's a wise idea to rile him up?* Skeptic questioned.

Normal mentally shrugged. *Hey, if worse comes to worse I will let him loose on those fuckers. I won't let them take me again, or anyone else for that matter.*

"Brody?" Kurt's voice broke into the smaller mutant's thoughts.

"Uh, sorry, having some technical difficulties," Brody said sheepishly.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean there are voices in my head arguing with each other."

"Oh."

Brody could tell the subject made his knew friend uncomfortable. He understood completely as there were times when he just couldn't deal with them. Having voices almost constantly talking in his head made life difficult. Animal and Child weren't bad, but Psycho and Skeptic were starting to get on Normal's nerves. So, he couldn't blame the other mutant for being a little wary and uncomfortable around them.

*And you haven't even told them about me yet,* Psycho quipped.

*Oh please shut up,* Normal snapped. *I'm tired of you jabberin' on and on.*

*Don't you tell me what to do,* Psycho snarled. *You just wait, I'll make you sorry for giving ME orders.*

Brody almost growled out loud, but caught himself before he could make a sound. The last thing he needed was Kurt being afraid of him for any reason. Not that he could blame anyone for being scared of him. He looked like a freak and acted like one too. He hadn't even been a guest at the Institute long before he blew up a...what did Professor Xavier call it...a microwave? Then he goes and drops several bombshells on the group. The worst of which being his multiple personalities.

He often found that those around him were not quite sure how to respond to the revelation that there were several distinct voices in his head, a different presence for his emotion. People, especially the human guards, found it difficult to understand that sometimes there was a whole different person controlling the one body. Some seemed to not understand that Normal and Psycho were like two different people inside one mind with different beliefs and attitudes toward things. In this way Brody found it hard to deal with other people as well.

"I...am trying to understand the idea of multiple personalities...how can you have more than one presence in your mind?" Kurt asked.

"I don't really know how to explain it," Brody admitted.

"Are there...bad personalities?"

At that Normal hesitated. Psycho was egging him on, but he was not so sure that exposing the secret of Psycho to his new friend wouldn't ruin everything he had going for him right then. The knowledge that if Normal let down his guard Psycho could take over and kill everyone was not exactly a reassuring or trust building bit of information. However, he also knew that keeping things from people was just as bad as lying and Normal was not a liar.

"Yes. There is one...Psycho. As you can imagine the name explains it all," Brody finally said.

"Psycho? That's...is there anyway for us to tell who is in control?" Kurt questioned.

Brody frowned and thought hard. "When Psycho emerged the guards...the survivors...mentioned a change in eye color. Something about a murky green."

"So, watch out for murky green eyes, got it."

"Kyran once told me that when Child takes over my eyes somehow gain some...innocence of some kind," Brody went on. "And I've been told Animal has glowing green eyes."

"Animal?"

"Think of him as the animal instinct to survive. He tends to just take over whenever I'm in extreme danger." Brody explained. "Child is basically the personality that reacts to fear. Then there's Skeptic who is new so I really don't know how you're supposed to know when he's in control."

"I see...so who is in control now?" Kurt asked carefully.

"Normal, the very first and original personality. If that makes any sense," Brody replied.

"In some strange way, yes."

Brody sighed with relief. He was glad to know someone understood even the slightest bit, though he was sure Kurt was just humoring him for the most part. He'd yet to meet someone that fully understood his personalities, except maybe Kyran.

"If we're quick we can beat all the people that shower before bed and get done first," Kurt said, breaking the silence that had descended on them.

Brody stopped walking, "Shower? Sorry, this mutant doesn't go anywhere near water."

"What? Why?" Kurt asked. He stopped as well and turned back to face the smaller mutant.

"I...um...have a pretty bad phobia of water. Let's just say I haven't had any good experiences with it." Brody explained without going into great detail.

*Yeah, like those bastards using it against us to keep us under control,* Psycho quipped.

"Are you sure? I mean...don't you feel dirty?" Kurt asked.

Brody shifted, suddenly embarrassed. "Well, I was never allowed showers, so I found a more...natural way of staying clean."

For a moment Kurt stared at his friend, face twisted in confusion. He didn't understand what Brody meant by that. It took him a few minutes until he remembered a particularly insulting Toad had made about coughing up furballs from cleaning himself like a cat would.

"Wait, do you mean to tell me you...clean yourself? As in using your tongue?" Kurt asked.

"Ern...yeah. I mean, I'm pretty much more cat-like that human anyway."

In a way Kurt had to agree with that. By looks Brody was certainly more cat than human. In some ways he acted more like an animal by cleaning himself like a cat would or how he had eaten the bowl of macaroni with his claws rather than the fork. He's in desperate need of help that's for sure. Kurt thought.

"You've just never really been exposed to civilized behavior I guess," Kurt said. "I can help you with that if you want."

"I'd like that."

"Great, we'll start tomorrow at breakfast. For now I'm gonna take a shower, so you can go ahead and go back to my room." Kurt suggested.

With a slight nod of his head Brody turned and headed in the direction he thought Kurt's room was in. He yawned widely as the day's events caught up to him. So much had happened he still didn't quite understand it all. But he did understand that for the time being he was safe and he was determined to enjoy it while it lasted. He was sure it would be that long.