A/N: Well, all my prewritten stuff is gone. If the rest of the story sucks it's cuz I'm writing it cold and not editing it as much as I should. Oh well.
When her alarm went off at 8:30, Sabere was still so tired that, for the first time in her memory, she picked up the clock and hurled it against the far wall. Unfortunately, the resulting crash brought in Logan, who dropped her uniform on top of her and wouldn't leave until she had gotten out of bed. Staggering downstairs to the kitchen, she stole a cup of Scott's coffee and rummaged through the cabinets, trying to find something sugary and unhealthy.
"Help yourself to the coffee," Scott offered, entering the kitchen with Jean at his side. Sabere stuck her face in the cabinet so they wouldn't see her disgusted face, then turned around calmly with a box of Cocoa Puffs in her hand.
"Thanks. Does anyone have dibs on these?"
"I think those are Kitty's. But she's gone, and we won't tell." Scott grinned conspiratorially and filled his own mug with coffee. "By the way, why are you in uniform?"
"Training with Logan," she groaned, emptying a milk carton onto her cereal. "He came in this morning and dumped it on me…I guess he wants me to get used to wearing it."
"Logan?" Scott looked up in shock. "What crime did you commit to be sentenced with him?"
"Well, Kurt's on his way to the military base, so the Professor decided that Logan would be the best substitute."
"The Professor's insane," Jean groaned. "When I suggested training every day, I didn't think it would be with that man…"
Sabere shrugged and finished the last of her breakfast. "The way I see it, if he gets too rough on me, I'll just remind him that there doesn't happen to be any adamantium in the place he probably values most."
"Ooh." Scott flinched in sympathy. "I don't like the guy, but that would almost be more than he deserves."
"Since Cyclops doesn't like him, I assume we're talking about me. Are you ready, kid?" Logan growled from the doorway.
"Why aren't you in uniform?" Sabere asked.
"'Cuz I won't need it. Come on, already." He stalked down the hallway in a clear invitation to follow.
"I'll make you need it," she snarled under her breath, floating one of her knives out to her hand. To her surprise, Logan went not down to the training room, but outside onto the front lawn.
"Why are we out here?"
"Different approach today. I want to see how your reflexes can handle things shooting at you. I also want you to try using your telekinesis to shield yourself."
Sabere looked down the stone path. It looked harmless to her – until Logan pulled up what she had thought was a sprinkler and revealed a laptop computor. He typed something into it, and to her shock, several guns rose out of the grass and swivled around, doubtlessly looking for her.
"I'm timing you…on your mark…go!"
Sabere took off running down the path. Immediately the closest guns opened fire, and reflexively she raised her hands and shielded herself from the blasts. She rolled and dropped into a crouch, then launched a spike from her wrist into the nearest gun.
~behind you more guns~
She whirled to face a gun that was mounted high in a tree behind her, shielding herself again, and this time angling the shield so it sent the bullets back at the gun, exploding it.
This place must go through a lot of money if all the students come out here and butcher these guns.
The area around her was clear, and she sprinted forward, wanting to get out of there before she lost her focus and messed up her shields.
~duck something ahead of you~
Three spinning blades flew out of a cluster of trees. Sabere dropped into a crouch again and deflected two of the blades –
- and Xavier's mental wall dropped unexpectedly.
- damn this kid's better than she looks – Jean's all wrong about her abilities -
- man, where's rogue, she was supposed to meet me -
- Sabere! Fight it! -
- I'll go, Professor – Sabere, hang on -
- how can scott give us this much homework so early?-
- the last blade! -
The thoughts of every person in the school flooded her mind as Sabere collapsed, trying desperately to hang on the herself in the storm of minds. She was vaguely aware of being knocked to the side, but there were so many voices – where was she – who was she –
And the world silenced.
Jean Grey was kneeling next to her in the grass. The last blade lay broken on the path – next to Logan, who had a horrible gash across his back. Sabere sat up in horror – and watched in amazement as the wound healed over on its own, leaving a bloody tear in his shirt. He sat up and stretched, massaging the place where the injury had been moments before.
"You okay, kid?"
Sabere just stared at him. "You knocked me out of the way."
"Well, yeah, you weren't exactly focused on avoiding the blade. That thing woulda taken off your head."
Sabere turned to Jean. "Did you put up a new block?"
"Actually, no, I didn't. Apparently the telepathy wore off on its own. Are you feeling okay?"
My name is Sami. I call myself Sabere now. I'm at Xavier's school for mutants. Kurt's on a mission with Kitty Pryde. I broke my arm when I was five. I had braces in senior year in high school. Well, at least all those memories are mine.
"Yeah, I think I'm fine…a little disoriented, though…"
"That would make sense, seeing that you had over two dozen minds in your own a few minutes ago. You should probably – "
Jean was cut off by the sound of a jet overhead. The X-jet hovered over them for a moment, then disappeared down through the basketball court.
"They're back early," Logan said in surprise, getting stiffly to his feet.
"I hope everything's okay," Sabere murmured, jogging off to the hangar.