Author's note: Hi everyone. I have only gotten two reviews so far. So I am going to post all the chapters I have written and wait until Sunday to check for reviews. If I don't get any more reviews then I won't continue because I don't know if anyone is even reading this and it would be a waste of my time to continue. Thank you for your reviews Casakitten and Nemain. I'm glad to see you enjoy reading it. But like I said, it would be a waste of my time to finish if you are the only ones reading. Thank you all.

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Bayville Medical Center

January 7th, 2001:Wednesday

5:46p.m.

            Axel Fultz stuck his fingers under the cast that covered his arm to relieve the annoying itch it caused. He had been wearing this cast for only a day or so and already he was beginning to passionately hate it. He couldn't wait to get to the Institute, where he could get better medical help than this pitiful American hospital. Though he was glad to be in America, where he was closer to the Institute.
          His parents had requested transfer from Germany to New York, since they knew that he would be going to Xavier's school. They helped him pack, gave him their love, and sent him on his way. He couldn't help but notice that they seemed a little relieved to have him off of their hands. He was, after all, a mutant. Things like that probably weren't accepted in his part of Germany.
          "Mr. Fultz, your escort is waiting in the lobby to take you home." Axel whirled around and saw a nurse poking her head into his hospital room. It was your typical nurse: bright red lipstick, perky blonde hair tucked under her hat, too much eye shadow. The whole nine yards.
          "Uh… Yeah. Okay, uh, I'll be down in a minute then," Axel said, still a bit startled by the nurses sudden appearance.
          "Would you like me to walk you there, or can you handle it?" the nurse asked.
          "No, I'll be fine. Thanks anyway," Axel replied, dislodging his finger from under his cast. He gathered his things up, which included one big duffel bag full of his clothes and a few personal items. He had decided to leave some of his stuff back in Berlin for when he visited home, and he didn't feel like decorating a small dorm room with all of his stuff, especially since he was going to have a roommate who probably wouldn't agree with it. He hoisted his bag over his shoulder and headed for the elevator. Once inside, he pressed the button for the lobby and, after a minute or so, stepped out into the large sterile white room. There were a few pictures along the walls to keep the kids occupied, and there were 'Merry Christmas' banners strung all over the room in celebration of the winter holidays.
          Axel glanced around, searching for anybody that might be likely to take him to the school. Xavier had told him to look for a boy in his late teens with brown hair and red glasses. The part about the red glasses had naturally struck him as a little awkward.
          "What kind of dork wears red glasses, anyway? Maybe that's some kind of American fad…" Axel thought to himself as he sank into the most uncomfortable plastic excuse for a chair that he'd ever sat upon in his life. He glanced around for the glasses that should have been so easy to spot amongst all the normal people, but was still proving to be more difficult than he had expected. The room was swarming with people, all rushing to see their loved ones before Christmas.
          "Forget it. If I just stay in this spot, he's bound to see me eventually," Axel said to himself.  "He's bound to find me eventually…A-any time now." Axel was beginning to tire of sitting down; he was ready to go back to his room and wait for this red glasses man to pick him up, when suddenly he appeared, slithering his way through the crowd.
It was about time too.
          "Hey. Axel, right?" the teenager said after walking up to Axel with a smile.
          "That's me. Let's go, yeah?" Axel responded as he stood up and pulled his bag over his shoulder.
          "Sure. Let's hit the road then. Oh, by the way, I'm Scott," he added, offering his hand. Axel grabbed hold of it and shook it hastily, so wanting to get to the Institute.
          "Let's get going. I really want to get out of the hospital," Axel said excitedly. Scott turned and started walking for the door with Axel close behind him.
            The tingling sensation all over his body as he strolled for the doors of the hospital was so sudden, Axel stopped instantly in utter confusion. It's one of those feelings you get when your foot's asleep; but Axel had it all over his body.
            "Something wrong?" Scott asked when Axel stopped.

            "I… I don't know," he replied. He had no idea how to act. Should he itch himself, or what? He was tingling all over, and he was just standing there like an idiot, with confused practically written all over his face. The tingling feeling stopped just as suddenly at it had arrived, and Scott was instantly next to him. No, Scott was behind him. Or was he in front of him?
The people around Axel, including Scott, were shooting past him like bullets. They melded into one large mass of blurring skin and color. Scott was all around him, occasionally stopping for a split second, then moving again. Axel looked around in confusion, and again he felt helpless.

******
            Scott walked in front of Axel and waved his hand in front of his face. He got no response; Axel was staring out into space. He didn't even blink.
"Weird," Scott thought. "Must be part of his mutation."

            "Hey Axel. You alright, man?" Scott asked, again waving his hand in front of Axel's eyes. Scott glanced around nervously, and received only nervous glances in return. People were beginning to stare, and that could end badly. He paced circles around Axel a few times, stopped in front of him, then paced some more. He had no idea what he should do about this; he had no way of calling the professor to ask, and Axel didn't seem to be getting any closer to moving again.
            There were payphones, of course, but he didn't want to leave his accomplices side in fear of some change occurring while he was gone.

            "Do something, Scott. Come on! Think, think, think!" Scott said to himself, pounding his hands against his forehead. Nothing came to him; no ideas, no revelations, no nothing. He even pounded his head a few more times, but still could not think of what to do. He turned back to Axel to maybe wave his hand in front of his face again--maybe poke him or something--but the kid was gone. "What--Axel?" Scott looked around helplessly, but found no Axel. The kid was nowhere to be seen. Scott began to walk around the hospital frantically, searching for the mutant he was supposed to be responsible for.

            "Yeah, responsible," Scott mused. "I'm so responsible right now, aren't I? Can't even find a fifteen year old kid."

******
            Axel was standing there for about two seconds, letting Scott walk around him like a tornado, waving his hand in front of his face and everything. Then he was gone. Scott had given up; or at least he had left to go do something else. Axel had no idea where Scott had disappeared to, but he did know that the people around him started to slow down.
            "Finally!" Axel thought, just as the people slowed down to normal speed. But it didn't stop there. The people continued to slow down, until they were moving slower than he was. Soon enough, they were hardly moving at all. Axel timed it at over a minute per blink of an eye. Just to his left, Scott had one of his hands on his forehead, in a frozen smack of frustration.
            "Alright.. Reeeally gotta get to the Institute. So, I started this; I can stop it, right? All I have to do is speed everyone back up to normal. Let's do it," he said to himself. But even as he said it, it was beginning to sound more and more unlikely.

******

            Scott was about to call the professor when Axel appeared out of nowhere right in front of him. "Axel! What just happened?" Scott said.

            "I think it would be best if the professor explained it to you. I really want to get out of this hospital, okay?" Axel walked past Scott toward the door that led to the parking lot.

            "Sure, just don't pull that disappearing act again, alright?" Scott fallowed Axel out into the parking lot and showed him to the car.