Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men, just the idea of Brooke. Whoop-ee
V.V.V.V.V.V
He had to get up; they couldn't do this to him. ::Fight, got to fight them, Bastards!:: One of them grabbed his arms and held him down while the other tore away his skirt. ::Oh God, not that.:: Etienne bolted upright, a scream dying on his lips. He felt like he was burning up and threw the covers off himself. He looked wildly around his room, finally realizing it had been a nightmare only to hear pounding coming from the hallway. He threw open his door to find several of the X-Men clustered around Brooke's door. Bobby was banging on it, not getting an answer. "What de hell is goin' on?"
Kitty yelled at him across the hallway. "Like, we heard screaming and then lots of crashes coming from her room and now she's not answering. Evan went to go get Logan."
Something was clicking together in the back of his mind. :The nightmare!: "Don't open dat door!" Just as he opened his mouth, Bobby finally succeeded in busting the door open. A low hissing sound made everyone jump back. Suddenly a large dark shape came boiling out of the dimness. "Everyone, get out o' de hallway now, she won't know what she's doing!" A few made attempts to follow his directions, but Bobby had been too close. A claw reached out and snagged the back of his shirt pulling him towards the sharp teeth. "No! Drop him." Etienne lunged and slapped the dragon on its muzzle. As he had intended it forgot about Bobby to lunge at him. He stood in place, hoping she wouldn't bite him. The dragon stopped and hissed again, head dropping low, sniffing at him. "Get back!" He waved his arms, trying to steer her back towards the relative safety of her room, keeping himself between her and any other student. Suddenly she turned and bolted back into the bedroom.
Etienne felt rather than saw Remy come up behind him. "What happened?"
"She had a nightmare." Etienne moved slowly to stand to the left of the doorframe.
Logan and Storm came running up the hallway. "Everyone get back in your rooms and stay there. We will talk with you later." Logan looked at Etienne. "Can you handle her?"
Etienne nodded. When Storm tried to move past him Logan put a hand out. "No, let Patch handle this." She looked at him incredulously. "Trust me, you weren't in the Danger Room earlier."
Etienne moved to stand in the doorway. The growl came from the far side of the room. He moved into the room, slowly closing the door behind him as he cleared the threshold. The growl became a louder rumble. He reached over and flicked the light on. She was curled in a corner of the room. :Oh, chere.: He limped over to the scaly form. She made a half-hearted attempt to snap at him as he put his hand on her side, letting his power bridge the link between them. :She's scared witless.: He snagged the bedspread from the mattress and pulled it over, moving to sit next to her. She shifted, hissing slightly. He reached over and rubbed her head. :Calm down chere. I'll keep y' safe.:
V.V.V.V.V.V.V
Downstairs the other X-Men were meeting with Xavier at the kitchen table. "So what your saying is whenever she gets angry or frightened Brooke is going to turn into that, that thing?" Bobby was yelling while a very annoyed Hank was trying to determine if he had sustained any injuries from being grabbed by a very ticked off dragon.
"Until she gains control of her abilities, yes." Xavier looked at the wildly gesturing student down the table. "Unfortunately while in that state she seems unable to communicate normally, either verbally or telepathically. Etienne's empathy allows him to influence her emotionally and she responds to that."
Scott looked around the table. "What he means is, if you see Brooke getting extremely angry or frightened, go find Etienne or try to calm her down yourself."
Bobby interrupted him. "Then why in hell did she attack me?"
Remy spoke up. "She saw y' as a threat." Everyone looked at him. "Etienne told me she had a nightmare. If she can't t'ink normally when changed like dat, den she must have t'ought y' were attackin her when y' busted her door open."
Bobby had the decency to look embarrassed. "Oh."
V.V.V.V.V.V.V
Brooke cracked her eyes open, blinking against the light coming in through the window and unsure of why she was sleeping on the floor. It took a moment to realize that she was naked and not alone. With a yelp she flipped around only to see Etienne looking at her in surprise.
"Good morning t' you to chere." He sat up and ran a hand through his hair, yawning as he did so. "Feeling better?"
She clutched the blanket tighter to her. "Why are you in my room?" Looking around, she realized her room was a wreck. "What happened?"
"Y' don't remember?"
She looked at him. "I remember going to sleep, I think I had a nightmare and then..." She looked at him with dawning apprehension. "You came and ...did I hurt anyone?" She wanted to cry. Everyone would hate her now for attacking them.
He could feel her getting upset so he put his arm around her. "Non, everyone just lost some sleep is all."
She glanced down at the floor. "I'm sorry."
He played with her hair. "Why don't y' take a shower an den I'll come t' help y' clean up? Den we can grab some sandwiches an' go t' de lake so y' don't have t' face anyone till y' ready."
She looked around at the mess that was her room. "Thanks for the offer, but I think I better face everyone sooner rather than later."
He secretly agreed with her, and had been afraid she would take him up on his suggestion. "Okay den. I'll see y' downstairs fo' breakfast."
She nodded. "We better hurry or there won't be anything left."
He grinned at her as he stood. "I don't ha' t' worry bout dat, everybody knows femmes take longer t' get ready."
She grabbed a nearby book and chucked it at him, barely missing his head as he darted out the door.
V.V.V.V.V.V.V
Author's Note: Hey! I actually got a review. Somebody likes it, they really like it! Thank you BananaPanda24!