Oni was dreaming. He stepped into the home of his parents and something crumbled as the walls shook again. They were fighting, he had to hide; he knew he shouldn't have come home yet, but it didn't matter. They would beat him 24/7 if they could.
He walked downstairs and walked into his room. He hid in a corner of his room as he heard his father stomp down the stairs and smash the door open and look around. He shrunk into the pile of clothes, but it was too late.
His father grabbed him up by the neck and slammed him into the wall, and started choking him. "YOU pathetic piece of crap! Its you! You're the reason were poor! You're the reason we fight! You're nothing but a waste of space!" He threw Oni to the floor.
Oni woke up and looked around knife in hand, he saw it was already afternoon.
Jean walked through the hallways slowly with her head down. Her mind was crowded with the students thoughts, so many.. She closed her eyes, trying to focus to get them to stop. She knew her power was growing to a dangerous amount again, but she couldn't help it.
She stopped in front of one of the doorways, which she noticed was Oni's. Her heart sank again, hearing his thoughts. She approached the door slowly and knocked on it gently. "..Oni?" Her voice was angelic and calm. "...Are you alright?" She asked, putting her hand to the knob of the door.
Lacey opened her eyes slowly to blankly stare at the ceiling above her. She was confused for a moment before she remembered what happened. She raised herself from the bed and wrapped her arms around herself. She didn't know where she was, and she was a bit scared. Where was that man that had helped her? She dropped from the bed and ripped the mask from her face, dropping it to the floor beside her. Lacey looked around and sighed, backing away into a darkened corner. "H-hello?" She asked the silence with fear in her voice.
Jean smiled, noticing that Lacey was up. But it faded when she saw she was afraid. "..Oni? Lacey is awake.. Can you please help me calm her down?"
Oni put his knife back away trying to calm himself after the dream. After hearing Jean say that Lacey was awake, he stood up and opened the door and walked down the hall a little and turned into the infirmory and saw Lacey.
"Its alright, remember me? I'm Oni, remember?" He tried to stay as calm as possible even though he was still shaken from the dream. He waited for her response..
Lacey looked over to him with wide tearing eyes. "I-.." She paused, looking into his eyes. "..I remember." She whispered, nodding her head. Her body was shaking but she approached him slowly. She wrapped her arms around him, she was still scared. "Thank you." She raised her head, a smile on her face as the tears made their way down her cheek. She took a deep breath, putting her hand at the base of her neck which was still a little bit sore. "God will grant you great blessings, Oni." She whispered, tearing herself away from him.
She knew he probably wouldn't like a strange girl, such as her, clinging on him. She lowered her head but still kept that weak smile.
"No problem. I'm glad to help, but as for gods graces, he abandoned me a long time ago. Jean is a good person, she will help you alright. I'm still rather tired so I'll leave you to jean if that's ok." He turned and walked away slowly, angry at the reference. Not knowing how he felt about the whole thing, he started wandering around the complex trying to explore as much as he could.
Jean sighed and watched him walk away from the both of them. Jean walked over to Lacey and smiled. "It's okay.. I promise I won't hurt you, alright?" She could tell that Lacey was still a little bit hesitant, but she would try to ease that. "I'm Jean..." She smiled to her again. "..Are you feeling any better?.. Any pains?"
Lacey shook her head. "..Just.. my neck is.. sore.." She said.
"It's okay. It'll go away in a few hours." She smiled and sat her on the bed, helping her feel a little better.
- - - -
Storm had just came out of class, in her hands she held an armful of papers and books. She closed the lecture room door behind her and smiled, seeing Oni walking around. "I'm glad you're feeling better, Oni. Same with Lacey. I was worried about you two for a while." She said, walking over to him. "I hope you choose to stay here." She said, "I think you'd like it here.. Lots of food, lots of friends. Some mischief here and there, but.. thats how it goes." She shrugged. "I'll enjoy having you here, Oni.. As will the rest of us."
Oni nodded. "I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do but I'm at least going to give this place a shot. Thank you for your kindness." He smiled slightly and wandered off to explore more of this place. It was huge!
Storm nodded and went off into the corridor herself, she had a lot of work to do... A lot of grades, and a lot of paperwork. And, God, did she hate it.
Jean and Lacey slowly made their way through the corridors, walking to the Professor's office. Lacey was nervous.. Well, very nervous. As she walked she looked around the huge house, looking at every single thing looking at their details. She was worried that they would cast her away, or hurt her like her father said people would. She bit her lip and looked over to Jean, who she was beginning to trust. Oni was right, she was a good person. "..Umm..." She said, standing in front of the door. "..I'm scared." She whispered.
Jean smiled. "No need to be." She knocked on the door. "..Professor?"
Proffessor Xavier turned around and smiled. "Come in." He watched Jean and the woman. "Ahh, Ms. Lacey its good to see you up and about. We were quite worried about you." He gave a similar explanation that he had given Oni. "You can relax and be safe here. Do you have any questions?"
Lacey looked to him. "..Um... Thank you." She said, bowing her head. "I... Appreciate it." She forced a smile and looked into his eyes. She wanted to ask many questions, like.. Where was her father? Why did he want to hurt her? Her eyes teared slightly thinking about it, but she fought it back, hiding them behind a smile.
"...How.. How did you know about me?" She asked, which was only one of the questions.
Xavier smiled knowing the questions she would ask. "I found you using a machine known as Cerebro. Its' something that I can show you later and talk to you about in more detail. As for your other questions, some of them you will have to ask Oni. I don't know exactly went on. I'm sorry but if you need anything else talk to Jean or one of the other students and they'll help out. Jean, I hate to ask you for a second time but could you find a room for Mss Lacey?"
Jean smiled. "..I already have a room for her, Professor." She smiled brightly and looked to Lacey. She turned and put a hand on Lacey's back, leading her out of the room. Professor, what.. What about Magneto? She asked him through telepathy. She wasn't sure if they should tell them yet..
Xavier shook his head and spoke telepathically to Jean. "No, don't tell them yet. Odd, that they didn't even make an effort, but it will come soon.. I am sure of that." He smiled and watched the both of them go.