"Mutants?" This was getting far too strange! How is it that the day she decided to leave home she ended up in some institute with these strangers claiming to be the one thing she was that made her father despise her? She opened her mouth to say more, but no sound came out.
"Yes. Surely you know of them as you are one yourself. What is your name, anyhow?" questioned the professor.
"Umbra," muttered a still very surprised Umbra. "Why am I here?"
"Like a said, you were brought here to regain consciousness. You are free to go, or welcome to stay if you like. This is an institute for mutants, where they are helped gain control over their powers and trained to use them for good."
"There are more mutants?"
"Hundreds. Only a very few here, you'll get to meet them if you decide to stay. How did you end up on the street, anyway?"
"I ran away," began Umbra. "When I was born, my father called me a mutant, and left me and my mother alone in a small city. She taught me at home, and I only left the house at night. I'd never set foot out of the city until this day. I was tired of hiding." Professor Xavier nodded.
"Understandable. It makes sense that your mother kept you away from people. Many react violently to mutants. If you choose to stay, you'd still have to hide from some people, but you'll be around other mutants."
"I'd like that," murmured Umbra. The professor smiled.
"All right. Have Rogue show you around the institute and introduce you to everyone. She should be waiting by the stairway. It won't be hard to find." Umbra nodded slowly and got off of the bed, walking out of the infirmary.
"Why were you asking all those questions?" asked Logan after she was out of the room. "Couldn't you have just looked in her mind for the answers?"
"I didn't want to startle her," replied the professor. "By the sound of her story, and her surprise, she's never been around anyone besides her family. Especially fellow mutants. Hopefully here she will learn that they are not such a bad thing at all."
Umbra followed the only hallway, her sense of direction helping her choose the right path. Within a few minutes she came upon the stairwell. Standing next to it was a ghostly pale girl with short red hair, dressed in black and green. "You must be Rogue," Umbra said when she was a few yards away. "I'm Umbra."
"Hey," Rogue's lips turned up at the corners in a friendly smile. She had a strong country accent that made Umbra's cat-ears twitch. Rogue caught sight of them and her eyes widened a bit in awe. "Whoa! Those are awesome. So, what are your powers?"
"Powers?" asked Umbra. What was Rogue talking about?
"Yeah. All mutants have powers. Like me. See, if I come in direct contact with anyone I get their abilities, memories, and if they're a mutant, I get their powers. They don't last forever, but that's a good thing." Umbra nodded.
"That's really cool. I don't know what my powers are yet..." Rouge nodded in understanding.
"Hey listen, before I show you around, you wanna go change clothes?" She gestured to Umbra's jeans and sweatshirt, both of which were torn and streaked with mud. "You look like you might wear the same size as me, and I'm sure we can find something in my closet you'd like." Umbra smiled.
"I'd like that, thanks." And so she followed Rogue to her room, and sat down on the edge of the bed, watching a blizzard of garments fly from the closet.
"Oh, hey, I'd think this'd look perfect on you. Here, try it on." Rogue pushed some clothes into Umbra's arms and showed her to the bathroom. She changed slowly, throwing her muddy outfit in the sink after using one of the sleeves of her old sweater to polish her boots. After reconsidering, she just dropped the tattered clothes into the garbage can and pulled on the new ones. They do fit perfectly, thought Umbra, looking at her reflection. She had carefully tugged out and retied a few of the stitches of the pants before putting them on, so that her tail wasn't trapped. Now she observed the outfit more closely. The pants were low-rise, made out of a black imitation-leather, the legs flaring, which looked nice with her boots. The top was nearly plain, sleeveless and indigo in color, with a silver star on the front. Rogue had even handed her a pair of black fingerless fishnet gloves that went up to her elbows. Umbra smiled. Her first day away from that little city, and she had already found others like her, was already making new friends.
"Hey, that looks great," Rogue smiled, standing up as Umbra re-entered the room. "Listen, the room across the hall is empty, and if you're gonna stay here, that's where you can crash. C'mon, I'll show you around the rest of the institute. She gestured for Umbra to follow her, and led her down the hallway, towards the front door.
