Disclaimer: Everyone, barring Blaize, belongs to someone else. No copyright infringements intended.

Author's Note: I changed some things around to suit me.

Change. Lupine Draconis

CHAPTER 2

The sun was streaming through the window when Blaize awoke the next morning, she sat up and for a moment forgot where she was. She listened intently to all the sounds around her before swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and standing up. She was staring around the room when the memories of the past night came flooding back to her.

She was in Massachusetts, in a school for mutants. She opened the door and looked out; someone had left the bathroom door open for her to find. She allowed herself a rare smile as she decided that it was probably Sean and went inside to have a wash and clean her teeth.

Ten minutes later she was back in the bedroom and pulling on a new pair of ripped jeans and a black long sleeved top. She French braided her hair and started down the stairs to find out what time breakfast was being served.

As she walked along the hall Blaize noticed a lot of closed doors. She opened one and found herself in another bedroom, this one was obviously occupied most of the time, the walls were covered in posters of Placebo and the floor was covered in clothes. Closing the door Blaize carried on down the hall and down the stairs.

She found herself in another hall, with more doors. She tried the first one and stepped into the largest library she had seen. The walls were lined with books, there were ceiling high stands holding more books and dotted around the floor were reading ledgers and tables. She slowly backed out of the room and closed the door; she was about to carry on down the hall when her stomach reminded her why she had started downstairs.

Deciding that she could explore later, she made her way to the stairs and walked down to the foyer.

A door opened to her left and Sean's head appeared around it.

"Ah, ye are up. Come in an' have some breakfast."

Blaize followed him into the room. Emma was already sat at the table and she watched Blaize sat down. Sean sat opposite her and grinned.

"Don't worry, we'll look after ye."

Blaize said nothing as she watched Emma pick up a slice of toast and butter it.

'What is her problem' Blaize thought as she poured herself a bowl of cereal. 'She's been looking down her nose at me since last night'

Sean noticed Emma staring at Blaize and took a good look for himself. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans with a few rips in them and her top was black and long sleeved. He couldn't quite work out what Emma didn't like about it, most kids these days were more obsessed with what was the latest fashion and she was always bitching about that. At least Blaize had her own style, yet it reminded him of someone else but he just couldn't put his finger on whom. He was snapped out of his thoughts by Blaize's voice.

"What's your problem?" she asked, staring at Emma.

"Those clothes are not really acceptable here." Emma said as she stirred her tea.

Blaize stared at her through her shades and Sean wondered about her accent.

"What's wrong with my clothes? It's not as though they're revealing."

Emma sipped her tea before answering.

"No, but they're scruffy. Students here have to look presentable."

Blaize clenched her teeth, but said nothing. Sean watched as she finished her cereal and stood up.

"Please excuse me, I have to change." She stalked out of the room, the door banging after her.

Sean looked at Emma.

"That was a bit harsh, wasn't it?"

Emma looked at him, her blue eyes like ice.

"She will have to learn that she cannot dress like a street punk in this school."

Sean sighed before replying.

"Em, she is a street kid. Didn't Charles tell you?"

Emma couldn't hide the look of surprise that crossed her face.

"No, he didn't."

"They're probably the only clothes the poor child has." Sean stood up. "I think we'll give her some of her allowance early and let her buy some more clothes."

Emma watched him leave the room in silence. He really was too soft on the students; he would probably let them get away with murder if he could.

* * * *

Blaize sat on the bed and concentrated hard, the piece of paper in her hand sparked and a tiny flame appeared. As the flame grew Blaize molded it into a face, the hair was shoulder length and as the features developed they began to resemble Emma.

A noise outside the door caught Blaize's attention and the flame disappeared quickly. Then someone knocked on the door. Blaize stood up and opened it; Sean was on the other side a friendly smile on his face.

"May I come in?"

Blaize stood aside and let him pass; he stood in the center of the room as she sat down again.

"We give each student an allowance to spend as they wish. I thought you might like to have some of it now.to buy some more clothes. That bag looked a tad small."

Blaize couldn't help the smile that curved her lips sensuously, Sean was trying hard and even if Emma didn't like her dress sense things might be all right here. Sean held out an envelope and she took it gratefully.

"I'll take ye down to the town if ye want."

"Thanks."

"May I ask where ye're from?"

"My mother was from down South, I don't know about my father. Mom never talked about him."

Sean nodded understandingly.

"I'll have the car out in ten, I'll wait on the drive for ye." He left Blaize alone to relive memories that had been long buried.

Ten minutes later Blaize had changed into the only pair of jeans she had that weren't ripped. She shrugged into her long duster and pulled on her knee-length boots.

She went downstairs and met Sean out on the driveway. She climbed into the car beside Sean and buckled the seatbelt. Sean looked at her out of the corner of his eye; he just couldn't place who she reminded him of. Shrugging the thought off, he started the car and they headed into Salem so that Blaize could do some shopping.

A few hours later they were back in the car and headed back to the Academy. Blaize stared out of the window, her thoughts back on the streets with the only people she had called family after her mom had died.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even realize that they had arrived back at the Academy until Sean nudged her arm.

She looked at him and saw the outside of the school for the first time. It was a big Gothic mansion; it looked almost as if Frankenstein could still be found inside. Blaize opened the door and grabbed the bags filled with shopping that were piled up behind her seat.

She watched as Sean went to park the car and then followed him through the big front doors and into the foyer. Emma was waiting for them, a grim expression on her face. Sean noticed and looked at Blaize.

"Why don't ye go and unpack that lot." He suggested.

Blaize agreed and went up the stairs, leaving them to sort out whatever had happened.

As she closed the door behind her, Blaize heaved a sigh of relief. Sean had been content to sit in a small café and wait for her to shop alone and so had no idea of what she had bought. She opened the first bag and took out a long black skirt. She had seen it in the shop and had bought it straight away. She took off her jeans and slipped into the skirt, as she moved across the room the light caught on the beadwork and sent tiny sparks of light dancing across the room.

The rest of the bags were unpacked and Blaize smiled as she saw herself in the mirror, gone was the street kid. Now she was dressed head to foot in flowing, shimmery black. She tried on the rest of the clothes and thanked whatever was out there for Sean's kindness.

She took the skirt and top off and slipped into a pair of skintight black jeans and pulled on a black top. It had long sleeves, which were decorated with a Celtic pattern in purple dye. On the main part of the top was a dragon that wound its way around her body.

She had just finished getting dressed when someone knocked on her door. She opened it to find Emma standing in the hall.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I must fill in some paperwork and I need you to tell me a few things about yourself. I'll be downstairs."

Blaize considered making her wait, but decided against it. "I'm ready now."

"Good." Emma turned away, leaving Blaize to follow.

Emma led the way to the ground floor, before opening a door that Blaize had not noticed that morning and motioning her inside. It turned out to be an elevator that took them down to the basement. As the door opened Blaize waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness before following Emma into a room.

It was filled with machines. Lights blinked happily and something beeped every now and then, just to let you know that it was still working. Emma sat down in front of one of the machines and picked up a clipboard.

"Name." She said, looking at Blaize.

"Blaize." Blaize replied. "It's the only name I've got."

Emma sighed; this was going to be a long interview. By the time that they had finished, it was revealed that Blaize had no real name, lived nowhere, had no next of kin, had no references, no schooling, no anything. Emma put the clipboard down and turned to look at Blaize.

"Stand next to the machine. Take your shades off and look into the eyepiece. I have to do a retinal scan."

Blaize bit her bottom lip and removed the shades, hiding her eyes from Emma. She did as she was instructed and replaced her shades as soon as it was done. Emma indicated to a small screen in one corner of the room.

"Step behind that and take your clothes off."

"Excuse me?!"

"Step behind that screen and take your clothes off. I have to check your body for distinguishing marks and we have to do a full body x-ray and scan."

Blaize stepped behind the screen muttering under her breath, if she had been asked she would have gladly told Emma all of her distinguishing marks.

Emma stood the other side of the screen and pushed a small button, a light flashed and the x-ray and the scan were done. She stepped around the screen and stared at Blaize's body, gasping under her breath. Scars covered her torso, arms and most of her thighs. It was only then that Emma realized that all of Blaize's jeans had been ripped with precision so that they showed only the parts of her legs that weren't scared.

Blaize stared defiantly at Emma, as if daring the older woman to say anything about the state of her body. Emma, for her part, kept her curiosity under wraps. It was only when she saw something on Blaize's left shoulder that she asked a question.

"What is that on your shoulder?"

Blaize looked at her right shoulder and stared blankly at Emma.

"No, your left one."

"Oh, that. It's a tattoo." She turned around so that Emma could see the full glory of the dragon that rested it's head on Blaize's shoulder, whilst its body covered her entire back.

"How long did it take to do?" The detail and colors amazed Emma.

Blaize shrugged her shoulders. "All told, about twenty hours. I had to keep going back for weeks until it was finished. I had the outline done first, then the darker colors were put in, followed by the lighter colors."

Emma finished writing on her clipboard and motioned for Blaize to get dressed again, as she stepped back around the screen.

Blaize pulled her clothes on and followed Emma, waiting for the questions about the scars.

"Want to talk about it?" Emma asked suddenly.

Blaize stared at her.

"I'm a telepath."

"Well you can stay out of my head!" Blaize stood up and marched into the elevator.