Chapter 2 – Questions and Nightmares

11:45 PM, Xavier Mansion

Hours later Rogue, Kurt and Kitty were sprawled out on the couches in the rec room as Kitty related the events from earlier in the day.

"…so we found them at the train yard, right? And they're being attacked by this green haired woman and a kid. Jean says the kid in green was a TK, but she wasn't sure what the other did. She was twirling little chunks of metal around her head…" Kitty shrugged and settled back onto the couch.

"Scott shot the green one and then they both ran off, after sayin' something about having ignored us 'till now.' And then…we came back and the professor and Hank took them downstairs."

"Weird. Maybe she's a magnetic mutant, like Magneto." Rogue had a magazine in her lap and was pretending to flip through it as she listened. "Maybe they're related."

"Ja…she had green hair, though. Well, who knows?" Kurt shrugged, then glanced over at Kitty with a grin. "Sorry I didn't come with you, though. I missed out on all the fun."

"Oh right. I bet you were makin' out with Amanda in the book store, anyway." Kitty teased and Kurt sank down a bit in his seat.

"We were not! We…uh…" Kurt's eyes darted around desperately.

"They were in the coffee shop. He was babblin' bout it to meh earlier," Rogue grinned at her half-brother over the top of her magazine.

"Schwester, I love you dearly, but…" Kurt scooped up a pillow and hurled it at the goth girl, who let out a yelp and blocked it with her magazine, grabbing it off her lap and hurling it back.

This degenerated to the two half-siblings hiding behind various pieces of furniture as they hurled cushions at each other, while Kitty just curled up on the couch laughing.

When Professor Xavier rolled into the room a few minutes later he took a pillow to the face.

"Oh cra…" Rogue rolled out from behind her chair and stared at the pillow she threw. "Uh…Ah'm sorry?" She pushed herself onto her knees. Kurt crawled out from behind the couch, looking sheepish himself.

"It is…alright," Xavier smiled as he picked up the pillow from his lap and tossed it onto a chair.

"So how are they?" Kitty interrupted, figuring that was the safest way to keep her two friends from getting into trouble.

"They are still asleep, Kitty. Hank has wrapped up the boys broken ribs. He will be unable to move for the next few days, but he should be fine. The girl is simply asleep…I believe the events of the last few days have been very hard on her, and the shock of being attacked caused her to pass out. She has been given some sleeping medication, and probably will not wake up for hours."

Kitty was torn between smiling and frowning. "I am glad they're alright…maybe I should stay down there? In case she wakes up."

"I had thought of that, and you may. I took the liberty of telling Hank to place a cot down there. And the phone, because I believe you are expecting a call from Lance?"

Kitty blushed and nodded, "Yeah, I am…thank you."

"Of course. Now then, head on downstairs. And as for the two of you," he fixed his gaze on Rogue and Kurt. "Bed."

"Yessir," Kurt vanished and Kitty disappeared through the wall, leaving Rogue to awkwardly stand and walk past the professor and out of the room.

"G'night."

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"Flare! What did you think you were doing out there?"

Christy's eyes shot open, the voice cutting through her brain like a knife. She was in the locker-room at the compound, half-undressed from the yellow and black uniform she'd been assigned to go with her name, her muscles sore from the afternoon work out.

"W…what?" None of this felt right, somehow. She turned to stare at Polaris as the green-haired instructor stalked across the locker room.

"Don't 'what' me, girl. You gave up three perfectly good kill shots out there." The instructor stopped and pointed towards the back wall, and by association the room where they'd been training all afternoon. "Your powers could have killed them before they had even reached you! What were you thinking?"

"But…" Christy bit her lip and stared up at the woman. "I can't really control the strength of the lasers, ma'am. I could have hurt someone."

"That doesn't matter! The point was to finish the exercise. God…You're gonna do it again tomorrow." Polaris glowered down at Christy, then shoved past her. "And you are NOT going to screw it up." Christy just stared at her as the instructor stalked off. It was not until she'd heard the tell-tale slamming of the door that she turned back to her locker.

She had removed the rest of her uniform and was pulling the hospital blue shirt and pants she had worn every day for the last two and a half years when another student walked up next to her. A short, pointy-eared girl with bright pink hair that spoke with an accent the glowing girl could never quite identify. Christy thought her name was Clarice, but wasn't sure.

"Hey Flare, you alright?" Christy remembered when she loved that name, but now she had to resist the urge to shudder. Still, some of the…dedicated…trainees tended to call each other by their call-names, instead of their real ones.

"Yeah, I'm fine Clarice, just fine." She shrugged and finished dressing. "I got reamed for not using my lasers in the mission."

"Call me Blink. And Polaris did tell us to do whatever we could in order to win." Blink stripped out of her own clothes and sat on the bench, folding the latex uniform before stuffing it into her locker.

"But I didn't want to hurt anyone…I mean, we might be on the same side in tomorrow's mission, or I might even have killed them…" Christy closed her locker and stared at the blue metal.

"But we're supposed to win however we can." Blink actually sounded confused, staring at the other girl. "It doesn't matter about tomorrow. Just today."

"I guess…" Christy sighed and grabbed her bag, stepping past Blink and heading out into the hallway. She'd seen this hallway so many times, but again…something felt wrong. The two guards standing nearby to ensure she returned to her cell, the few students taking their time to walk back to theirs, the slightly pink ceiling lights that Polaris claimed were designed to increase their thought patterns. Everything was always the same…

She waved to the few people she was friends with, avoided the others and slipped back into her cell. A bed, a desk, a lamp, and a dresser full of the three drawers of identical clothing. Everything colored blue. She used to like blue.

She had just sat down to take her shoes off when all the lights went out. Everything was completely silent, the students in the hallway suddenly gone. Even the glow from her skin was gone, leaving her in a darkness she hadn't experienced in years.

"Flare. Do you know what you have done?" The voice made her jump, the sound surrounding her like a blanket.

"W…what?" She clawed at the bed behind her, but it was suddenly gone, and she could feel herself falling.

"You have betrayed us! You tried to escape. We shall teach you what the penalties are, Flare."

"I…I don't understand. What are you talking about…Leave me alone! I'm sorry!" Her arms flailed through the air desperately.

Christy?

"You can never be sorry enough. You have betrayed us. You and Fade both betrayed us. We have already punished him…"

An image of Jim, his body dangling in the air like a puppet, flashed before her eyes.

"No! No…please…I'm sorry!"

Christy!

She covered her face with her hands, trying not to cry as the voice continued to berate her, more images of her friends battered body forced into her mind.

"Please…no…please…"

CHRISTY!

Everything went piercingly white, and she felt her powers burst out from every pore on her body.

"Gah…Christy! Stop it!"

She sat up with a start, feeling the tingling sensation passing through her body from the expenditure of her powers. What in the world? Where was she…? It looked like a bed in ahospital room, and she had an IV attached to her arm.

"Ow…" As she watched, a strange girl crawled up into a chair next to the bed. "God, that was bright. What did you do, Christy?" The voice was familiar, and as she stared at the other, the events from yesterday slowly seeped back into her brain.

"Oh…you're the girl from the mall…I'm…sorry." Christy stared at her hands, almost light-free. "I…didn't blind you, did I?"

"No…I'm just seeing spots. I was trying to wake you up. You were dreaming…" The girl smiled as she rubbed at her eyes. She was wearing a pink nightshirt, her hair back in a ponytail, and there were a pair of glasses hanging from a chain around her neck.

"I…I'm really sorry. I just…the spots should disappear soon." Christy stared at her lap, twisting her fingers together. These people had been nice to her and now she had blinded one of them. "I don't even know your name…"

"Kitty," The girl smiled again, and this time it seemed sincere. "Don't feel bad, though. Sometimes when I have nightmares I fall through my bed."

"You…oh, right. You go through stuff." Christy smiled a little, remembering Kitty walking through the dumpster the day before.

"Yeah, and you apparently glow." The brunette rubbed at her eyes again before she stared at Christy, focusing on her arm. "And are paler then Rogue. Jeez…"

"Rogue? Who is that? And where am I anyway?" Christy started to get up by Kitty gently pushed her back down onto the bed by her shoulders.

"Rogue is…another mutant here. She's kind of a goth. Big on the pale thing, anyway. And you're at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Children."

"Oh…" Christy rubbed at her eyes absently then looked around again, as though willing the walls to disappear so she could see further. "What about Jim? Is he here?"

"Yeah…Doctor McCoy patched him up, he's sleeping in the next room. Gonna be a few days before he's walking around or anything, though. You sure you're alright?"

"What? Oh…yeah, it was just a dream." Christy started to push herself off the bed but Kitty gently shoved her back.

"Hey, you're supposed to stay in bed."

"But I feel fine. I wasn't even that hurt, really. Just a little bruised…Can't I go see Jim now, please?"

"Uhm…let me go ask Dr. McCoy…wait here, alright?" Kitty stood and headed towards the door.

Once Kitty was gone, the injured girl found herself staring at the ceiling, tucking hands tucked behind her head. This was all so very strange. It was obvious this was another group of mutants, almost as organized as the syndicate, yet…everything was so different. In the infirmary back home…well, back at the complex…she would've been told to strip, checked over and given a shot before being told to get dressed and return to her cell. None of this coddling or extra checkups from the doctor.

It would definitely take some getting used to. If she stayed at all.

A few minutes later the door swished open, and Christy forced herself out of her memories to watch Kitty and a large…blue…furry thing walk in behind her. What the hell?
"Kitty? What's going on? What is that?" Pushing herself up onto her elbows, Christy couldn't help but stare at the man. And now that she looked, it was a man. Physical mutation, huh…

"What?" Kitty looked confused, then laughed. "Oh…this is Doctor McCoy. I know he kind of looks scary, but he's really just a big teddy-bear." The short girl gave the beast a quick hug and then scooted over to perch on the edge of her cot, scooping up her cell-phone and fiddling with it.

Christy tried not to stare, but she couldn't help it. "I haven't seen many physical mutations…" She said as McCoy came over and checked the various monitors attached to the new mutants bed.

"We pop up now and then." Dr. McCoy smiled at her, a decidedly less-frightening face then she'd expected. "Now please lie still."

"But aren't you from some mutant place? I would have thought there'd be other mutants like Beast there." Kitty tilted her head to the side, tugging lightly on her ponytail.

"Well…no." Christy closed her eyes and tried to relax as Beast checked her breathing and pulse. "Physical mutations are considered…defective. They make our differences to obvious. Little ones can be dealt with, like my eyes but…we were instructed to hunt down people like Doctor McCoy." Suddenly Beast plucked out her IV then, getting a faint yelp from the blonde girl.

"Sorry…Christy, wasn't it? Well, you hunt us down, I pluck out your IV…you seem sorry about the whole thing…I get the impression you did not have a choice…you're relieved face proves me right…I forgive you. There, that takes care of about a month of angst in less than a minute." The doctor glanced over at Kitty and smiled. "You teenagers could learn something."

"Nah. We like angst…it keeps us entertained. So, is she good to go?" Kitty stuffed her cell-phone back into her pocket and pushed to her feet.

"I believe so."

"T…thanks. Can I go see Jim then?" Christy sat up quickly and then blinked, rubbing at her eyes to kill the vertigo.

"Wait a few hours, until he wakes up. Kitty can show you around until then."

"Oh…alright, I guess." The blonde sighed and Kitty came over to give her shoulder a squeeze.

"Hey, we can go ransack people's closets for clothing, to keep you distracted." She bounced back a step as Doctor McCoy wandered off, eyeing the new girl. "You're the same size as Rogue…and maybe Tabitha…so we can find ya something."

"What do you mean? I still have my uniform, and…"

"And it's BORING. Don't tell me you like wearing stuff like that. Come on." Kitty grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her out of the infirmary.

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An hour later Kitty was perched on the edge of Rogue's bed, cell phone in her hand, while Christy changed in the nearby bathroom.

"Yeah Lance, she's sort of picking and choosing from everybody's stuff. I get the feeling she's desperate to look as different as she can from all that blue crap they had on. You should meet her though! She's cool. She's all glowy."

"Glowy?" Kitty pictured Lance hunched down in his desk in the back of fourth period calculus. "Like, sex glowy?"

Kitty blushed and shook her head into the phone, giggling. "No, no. Her powers, they make her all…light-bright-ish. She glows. You'll have to see it."

"Alright, well I was thinkin' about blowing off the rest of the day anyway. Want me to come by? We could have lunch."

"Lance! You said you weren't going to do that anymore."

"Come'on Kitty-cat, I've been good for a whole month. Just let me skip, we can have lunch…you can call it my reward for behaving and all."

Kitty sighed. It was so hard to refuse things from Lance. "Fine, fine. Why not. We'll meet here in a…wow." Kitty trailed off as Christy stepped back into the room, her hospital blue clothing in a pile in her hand. She'd showered and brushed out her hair, which actually had some body to it, tumbling down her back in long white-blonde ringlets. She was dressed in a pair of Rogue's black pants, a t-shirt Tabitha had left behind that said "Rub here for Luck", and a pair of Jean's boots.

"What? Does it look bad?" Christy started to turn back towards the bathroom, sending Kitty bolting from the bed to grab her wrist.

"Nono, it looks fine!"

"Kitty? You there?" Lance's voice echoed out from the cell-phone and Kitty took a step back, speaking into the receiver again.

"Yeah, I'm here. I changed my mind, you aren't allowed to meet her."

"What, why?" Lance suddenly sounded confused, and Kitty couldn't help but giggle.

"Cause you won't want me anymore. She's all supermodel-y."

"Oh hush Kit-cat. The teach is comin', I'll see you in half an hour." And he hung up, leaving Kitty to just sigh and slip the phone back into her pocket.

"Who was that?" Christy eyed the other girl curiously as she looked around for somewhere to put her old clothes.

"My boyfriend, Lance," Kitty explained as she took the pile of clothing and dropped it in the hamper in the bathroom. "He's at school, but he's gonna ditch and come have lunch with us."

"Ditch? He can just ditch like that?" For some reason, the idea struck some deep chord inside Christy's head, and she almost shivered. "God, if we skipped classes at the compound…"

"Hey, don't worry about any of that. Yeah, they can skip. Well, they aren't supposed to, but Principal Kelly is gonna kick them all out soon anyway. The professor wants to start a private school here at the Institute…well, more of a school…and the Brotherhood boys will probably end up comin' here too." Kitty shrugged. "So it doesn't really matter, ya know?"

"I guess. I haven't really gone to a regular school in years." The two of them headed down the hallway and towards the kitchen, where Kitty set about trying to figure out what she could 'make' to eat.

"Really? How long were you…at that place?" It was a sensitive subject, she could tell, but she couldn't help but ask.

"Two and a half years. But before that I was bumming around with a gang in Philadelphia and didn't bother going to school, so…"

"I see. Hey, bread! And cheese. I could make sandwiches…maybe." Kitty grinned, tugging out the various foodstuffs and putting them on the counter.

Christy was lost in her own thoughts, just nodding vaguely as the other girl. The back door opened and a tall African woman with long white hair, dressed in a simple skirt and blouse, stepped into the room, snapping her out of her revery.

"Hey Storm! Want a sandwich?" Kitty waved a piece of bread at the woman, who simply smiled and shook her head.

"No thank you, child," her attention seemed focused on Christy, who forced a little smile. Something about the woman reminded her of Polaris. "You must be Christy? The professor told me you would wake up today."

"Y…yes. It's nice to meet you…Storm?" She crossed her arms under her chest, frowning.

"You may call me Ms. Munro, Christy. Or Ororo, if you wish. Welcome to the Institute. I am one of the instructors here."

"Alright. Kitty was just showing me around. What do you teach?" Desperate to make small-talk, she latched onto the first idea she could think of. Education!

"I teach the students to control their powers. We leave most of the general education to the high school."

"Oh…so, this is like a training camp." Christy frowned and let her gaze drift out the window. So it was like the compound. "It reminds me of where I was, except…well, nicer."

"Well, I do not claim to know about where you came from," Storm smiled as Kitty handed her a sandwich. "I hope we are not the type of place you find yourself running away from."

"Yeah…" Christy didn't seem to be listening, and suddenly looked up. "Hey, am I allowed outside?"

"What? Of course child," Storm stepped out of the way, and Christy bolted out the door, leaving Kitty and the weather witch to just shrug at each other.

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Fifteen minutes later, armed with a tray of sandwiches, Kitty found the blonde girl stretched out in the grass of the front lawn, staring at the sky. She was glowing brightly enough that it was visible even in the mid-day sun.

Kitty tried to be quiet as she sat down next to her, holding the tray in her lap until Christy reached over to take one.

"I haven't been outside without my cloak in forever." Christy finally said, then bit into her sandwich. "Polaris always said that since I couldn't walk around in public without it, I should just get used to always having it on if I left the building."

"That sucks." Kitty munched on her own sandwich, pushing the tray onto the grass between them. "No one really cares at the institute. I mean, in town it matters, we hide but here it's just…who we are, ya know?"

"I guess. God, I missed the sun." Christy had already finished her sandwich, tucking her hands behind her head. "So where is this Lance person we were supposed to eat with?"

"He'll be here. Has to sneak out of the school, and Principal Kelly's been watching us all like hawks recently."

"He's your boyfriend?" Christy sat up and stretched again, twisting in her spot to face the sun.

Kitty blushed , then shrugged. "…Sorta? We never really specified. What about you and Jim?"

Christy laughed, wrapping her hands around her knee and tugging it up against her chest. "No way. I've known him since I was little…we got picked up at the same time. He's like my brother."

"Ah…right." The other girl smiled to herself.

"And what's the Brotherhood? You mentioned the 'Brotherhood Boys.'" Christy flopped onto her back again, stretching out her arms as she asked.

"They are…another group like us. It's complicated. We tend to get into a lot of fights with them, honestly. But they aren't really bad kids. Lance is in them." Kitty took a small bite of her sandwich.

"I see. And they would come to school here?"

"Maybe."

"You think I could go see him now?" Christy suddenly hopped to her feet, spinning around to peer down at the Kitty.

"See who?" Kitty peered up at her.

"Jim. Maybe he woke up."

"Uhm…yeah, probably. Just ask Doctor McCoy." Kitty stood as well, dusting off her pants. "You want to go ask him?"

"But…" The glowing girl waved a hand towards the gates. "We're waiting for your boyfriend."

"Hey, don't worry. I can wait for Lance by myself, he'll get here eventually. Go on." Kitty reached out and gave her a little push, then headed for the front gate, tugging out her cellphone.

"Alright. Thanks!" Christy ran back inside.

Doctor McCoy was at his desk when Christy reappeared in the infirmary, and he offered her a smile as she ran over to him. She seemed to be glowing much brighter then she had when he left. He hoped that was a good thing.

"Can I see Jim now?" The girl pointed over his shoulder and he nodded, setting his pencil down.

"Yes, but he isn't awake yet. He probably won't wake up for a few more hours."

"I can wait." She half-smiled and slipped past him, disappearing into the room where Jim was sleeping.

"I will get you a chair, then." Beast called out after her, shaking his head.

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Well, there you go. I know it's short, but I've been busy. Theoretically there will be more action in the next few chapters…particularly as I get more into the villains.

Next time: New mutants! Brotherhood! Some other stuff, too.

Tigue, Jlee: Thank you for your compliments on the characters! Christy's my baby, when it comes to OC's, and Jim is fun too…although he's been asleep a lot. Poor kid.

Silver Kitsune: I haven't honestly found a good spot to describe Jim. I will, but since he's out of commission at the moment it's hard. It'll show up eventually.

And for the record, FF.net's new edit program SUCKS. It keeps eating my asterix and symbols.