Chapter 6:

Months passed from that talk between Ms Grey and the Professor and not much had changed in that time. Sienna had been taken in and adopted by the Faculty after she had been discharged from the medical bay. Given the chance to be a student, she had started attending classes under the guidance of Jean and Storm. Daily counselling times had been organised with the Professor under the guise of informal meetings and chats about life. This uninterrupted time also gave her time to receive advanced classes for half of her school day and intensive training of her ability. The teachers had quickly found that Sienna owned an amazing mind that was inquisitive, very advanced and self-controlled so she did not need remedial work. To the amazed Jean, it seemed that Sienna only needed to read or hear something once to know everything she needed to about it, indicating a very advanced and complex savant mind.

However, Sienna's schooling was not the area that worried the Faculty and the older students, it was Sienna herself. They had found out after the third day that she was more withdrawn than ever. The poor girl had no idea how to react or communicate with others and she had not spoken a word at all. No amount of coaxing seemed to work and even the Professor was stumped for once. There was nothing physically wrong with her, purely psychological but she refused to speak. The only sounds she ever made were screams late at night, it was as if she was still in that cell in the compound and nobody could bring her out of that state. Because of an accident in an experiment when she was seven, Sienna was physically unable to sleep so the screams were the product of waking nightmares. The staff often found her hiding in a corner of her private room shaking with fear, as if she was haunted by someone, or something...

Telepaths had no problem communicating with the terrified and traumatised girl but for the other students and especially the younger children, it was an uphill battle. The only ones whom she would allow to touch her were Jean, Storm, Xavier, Piotr, a few other students but most surprisingly, Wolverine and Gambit. She seemed to be impervious to Logan's surly temperament and Gambit she seemed to understand as if by instinct. The one who scared her most was Scott. Scott was surprising as he had been nothing but courteous to her but she always shivered as he came past and would hide behind another person. The children liked her and she didn't mind their presence but whenever any of them tried to touch her except for Piotr's sister Illyana, she would move away or run out of the room. For an exceptionally scared and traumatised girl, however, the training sessions were a shock to all who watched and/or participated. In the Danger Room, she changed completely and became very deadly and serious. Xavier could see a lot of her father in the version of Sienna that peeked through in there. Logan had been warned, however, and always made sure nothing went awry. To the casual onlooker, Sienna Stryker was a ball of contradictions...