Cyclops positioned himself alongside of the wall closest to the professor's desk as they entered into the room.
"Good morning, Nora." The professor sent her a kind smile.
"Good morning," the girl returned in an even tone.
Wheeling himself out from behind his desk, he gestured that she could take the seat across from him. "How are you feeling?" he asked her, sincerely interested.
"Better," she said, sitting down. She looked to her arm, still bandaged. "Doctor…" She sighed as she found she'd forgotten her name and looked to the professor with a sheepish grin. "The doc was…very kind. Very attentive."
The edges of his smile widened ever so slightly. "Well, Dr. Clairmonde is an excellent care-giver." He leaned in a little closer. "But…how are you really feeling?" he asked in a more meaningful way.
Nora took a deep breath. "I'm worried." Cyclops listened closely, surprised by her immediate honesty. "About my brother."
The professor nodded, his deep blue eyes seeming to somehow completely understand the depths of her concern. "I began looking for your brother as soon as we realized that he had been abducted."
Nora blinked, suddenly grateful. Even while she was asleep, they had been trying to find him. "Well, what's been done?" she asked immediately. "Do you have some kind a search party that you send out? Or like a detective who can find the people who took him…"
"Through telepathy," Professor Xavier explained carefully, "through my mutation, I am able to locate certain people. It's how I found you and your brother, when you left Philadelphia."
In an odd way, the claim made sense. It explained how the X-Men had been able to follow them, how they had known where they were. Nora felt her hopes suddenly rise. "And you can use that to find Luke?"
The pause the professor took lingered, warning her that his answer would not be a favorable one.
His voice lowered an octave. "For unknown reasons, I have been unable to locate your brother." He watched the news weigh down upon the girl's shoulders, watched the words sink through her. "However, I intend to keep searching for him, and for the people who have taken him."
Nora looked up with a determination he hadn't expected. "I want to help," she said. "I'm his twin. There's got to be something I can do."
The professor shook his head. "Right now, I fear there is little that can be done that will not put you in harm's way."
Nora stubbornly pursed her lips. Luke hadn't cared about the dangers. He'd sacrificed his life to save hers. Why shouldn't she? Her mind raced through her options. She could strike out on her own. A map of the world stretched out in her mind. She felt the sudden impulse to leave just then, get up from the chair, pack a bag, and not stop looking, never stop until he was found. She would search every country, every crevice of every city, relentlessly until she brought him home. That's what Luke would do.
At that point, the professor's eyes met hers. They seemed to somehow bore through to her core. "And bringing harm to yourself," he said in a gentle voice, "will not help your situation."
Frustration built up in the pit of her stomach as logic and reason - the two things she had always relied upon to guide her - held her back. She closed her eyes. She knew he was right… She wasn't Luke. Running away and scouring the earth for her brother would only get herself killed, and if she wasn't alive, who would keep looking? Who would care for him like she would?
In a silent answer to her question, against her closed eyelids Nora saw her parents, her father with his easy smile and her mother's warm embrace.
She felt an urge to hear their voices like never before. "I need to call my parents," she said, sitting up. "They need to know what happened. They need to know I'm okay."
There was another pause, even longer this time. She darted her eyes to Cyclops, and then back to the professor, this time not understanding their hesitation.
"Nora, if I thought it was safe, I would let you call your parents," Professor Xavier told her. "There are powerful people looking for you. If they know where you are, they could attempt to capture you. And that is something we cannot risk."
Her mind latched onto a single thought. You can't go home. The words echoed, faster and faster until they were overtop of each other. You can't go home. You can't go home. A hurt and confused look spread across Nora's face as she brought her hand up to her temple. She didn't understand it, couldn't accept what she was hearing.
"In calling your parents, you would be alerting them to where you are."
When she opened her mouth to speak, her words were scratchy against her suddenly dry throat. "Who did this?" she needed to know.
"We are looking for the people who did this to you," the professor assured in a strong voice. "We have dealt with similar groups before who share their intentions, and it is quite possible that they are in some way connected."
Listening to him, Nora grew sick to her stomach. Again, she felt that deep and strangely familiar sensation. It burned her cheeks and forehead. A sudden hate filled her for the people who'd taken her brother. She hated them. Hated them.
Cyclops shifted uncomfortably as he watched her face steel and her eyes darken.
"So the truth is," she said in a cold voice, "you can't find my brother."
If the professor was put off by the attitude in her tone, he didn't show it. "We will keep looking, Nora," he said softly, "and right now that is the most anyone can do."
She stared at him then, reading the underlying meaning behind his message. She was beyond the help of society. She couldn't trust them, not her parents, not her family, not the authorities. She frowned, retreating further and further into her thoughts. She had nothing… What little help these people could offer her was the best she could get.
Her eyebrows pent together so deeply that the gesture was painful. She nodded to show that she understood.
The professor drew nearer. "When we find more, you will be the first to know," he said. His voice rose slightly. "Until then, you are welcome to stay here, for as long as you would like. We've prepared a room for you, on the same floor with others your age. You'll be safe here from those searching for you."
Though greatly disoriented, Nora shook her head. "I don't have any…" She meant to say 'money', but it hadn't come out.
The professor shook his head. "We don't ask for compensation here," he told her.
Unsure of how to respond, she only nodded.
After giving her a few more comforting words, the professor ended by telling her that Mr. Summers would show her to her room.
Confused, she looked around, wondering who he was referring to, and then saw Cyclops come forward. She nodded to him, understanding now that Mr. Summers and Cyclops were one and the same.
Nora kept her arms crossed across her middle for comfort as they left the room. As they returned back the way they came, Scott gestured for her to follow him up a nearby flight of stairs. "Your room's up here," he said.
She trailed after him obediently, but remained eerily silent as they reached a quiet room at the end of the hall. "There's a bathroom down the hall," he told her, "and a sink in your room."
"Thanks," she murmured, opening the door.
Cyclops caught her lightly by the shoulder. "Nora?"
She looked back, already halfway inside the room.
He took a breath. "I know what you're going through is probably too difficult for you to talk about right now, but I want you to know that if you ever want someone to talk to, we're here for you." He took a pause. "The staff – myself, the professor, and other teachers – live here, along with the students. If you ask around, the other students can usually tell you where we are. We're normally nearby."
All he got out of her was another one of her distracted nods.
With the offer on the table, he knew, for now, that he could only wait for her to come to him. "If you need anything, just be sure to let us know." He stepped back. "I'll let you get settled…"
Nora nodded again, waiting until Cyclops was a few good paces down the hall before shutting the door behind her. Leaning against the closed door, she let out a deep sigh and looked around the still and silent room. Not bothering to turn on a light, she used the dim mid-afternoon light from the window to take in her surroundings.
The room reminded her of the dorm rooms she'd seen when she'd been on college visits. It was big enough that two people could have squeezed into it, but there was only one bed, with a pillow and colorful blanket pulled overtop. She looked to the closet. There were towels up top, several outfits on hangers, and a pair of dress shoes on the floor. Nearby there was also a desk, with a lamp, a pad of paper, and a pen.
Nora felt emotion well up inside of her.
She had everything she needed except…
Even though there was no one there, she put up her hands to cover her face. Falling down onto the bed, she laid face down on top of the pillow and clutched it to cover her cheeks.
Alone in the room they'd given her, she cried as quietly as possible, wishing she knew how to be stronger, but knowing that in this strange place, away from her brother, her family, and everything she had known, it simply wasn't an option.
