-1Disclaimer: I don't own X-men

# 3345671

Chapter 6

He stretched his arms over his head and frowned. Since he'd come here to this school he'd lost weight due to the distaste for him at the meal table and the general hate for him around the place. This hatred had doubled over ever since Jean and her little group of students had returned from their camping trip. He stretched again and felt his skin pull over his ribs. It wasn't a pleasant feeling especially as he heard his stomach growl. He considered going to get something to eat but thought better of it at the moment.

This place was almost worse then Caraway. It was huge but he wasn't allowed to go wondering around in case he got lost or ended up in the girls wing. Like he couldn't get there any time as a mouse or a bird or a bug. He grinned slightly, glancing at the large scab on the bottom of his left arm where the scratch had been only a few days before. This place had more psychos then the nut house did. He looked around the room with only a fleeting interest.

He was in the small room that seemed to be a room for washing clothes and laid out on the bench near the back, pulling one leg up. One of the washing machines near him was running and his shirt was inside, having gotten blood on it the other day and just now taking the time to wash it. Down the line of machines he could still hear the other machine running just as it had when he came in. "What a shit house." He glanced at the door as someone knocked and it swung open. He lifted an eyebrow as he saw who stood there.

"Ya better no' a said wha' I think you jus' said." She frowned at Gambit as he leaned back in his chair. "Cause if ya did Ah have at kill ya."

"Mon amour, Ah don' lnow wha' ya think ah said bu' ya probably 'eard me wrong." He grinned and put his hands behind his head.

"Jus' leave will ya?" She asked, frowning at him.

"Mon ami, Ah believe ah was here firs' if ah'm not mistaken." He said with a grin, and she glared at him, stood, and left the room.

"Who does he think he is?" She said with a huff, folding her arms. She was walking to the laundry room where she'd left her jeans to wash earlier. Shed gone to sit in the recreation room and wait for them to finish when she'd stumbled on Gambit. "Wha' an idio'." She fumed as she walked to up to the door of the laundry room and froze.

In the back of the room in a small corner stood Dodger with his back to her and his shirt off. The odd thing was the fact that he was hunched over a little like he was sick. As she opened her mouth to ask if he was ok when she noticed a hand wrapped around the back of his head. She blinked, that was defiantly a woman's hand.

She backed out of the room quickly and turned down the hallway moving quickly. Her face was pink, that was obviously not something she had been meant to walk in on. As the image flashed through her mind she frowned. At first she'd thought the hand was Kitty's but she realized it was too tan to be Kitty's hand, it could only be one of the girls…

Logan frowned as he knocked on Dodger's door again. "Open up!" He said loudly. "Open up or I'll break it down!"

The door opened enough that Dodger could stick his head out. "What'a ya want?" He asked shortly.

"Professor wants to talk to ya about something'." He said, noticing that Dodger was only wearing boxers and looked like he had just woken up even though it was four in the afternoon.

"Now?" He asked shortly, glancing back into his room.

"Whenever you get the chance." Logan said trying and failing to look past the slightly taller boy into his room. "Soon'd be best." Logan added to the slightly harassed look on Dodger's face.

"Yeah, I get the point." He said shutting the door.

Logan stood there for a moment not sure what to do before he finally started to walk away. As he did he heard Dodger climb back into bed and move around before he lost the noise amid the usual sounds of a house full of teenagers.

By the time he reached the stairs he could hear Dodger following him, his clothes on but his hair a mess. He shook his head. "Yer not gonna be able to sleep in this late when yah get a schedule."

"I wasn' sleepin'." He said shortly going past Logan and turning toward the professor's office. Logan stared at his back as it moved away from him and then looked over toward the boy's wing as a door shut. He raised an eyebrow and decided not to go and look into the room.

"You wanted to see me?" Dodger asked as he opened the door to the professor's office and stuck his head in. He blinked at the friendly looking décor.

"Yes, Dodger, come in and have a seat." Xavier said with a smile, motioning to a chair that looked out of place in the office, "This shouldn't take very long at all." Dodger walked in and sat on a chair which leaned back as he rested against it. "Just lean back." Xavier said, moving around his desk and stopping behind the chair.

Dodger leaned back in his chair and was surprised when it went flat, almost like he was laying down. "What exactly are we doing?" He asked, a little confused.

"Just don't move." Xavier said, holding a hand on either side of his head. Dodger opened his mouth to answer and stopped, his eyelids dropping till they were half closed, what could be seen of his eyes staring up at the ceiling.

"Just let me have a look." He wanted to know what was going on in Dodger's head that had him in a mental ward. At first there was nothing but black, and then it happened. To his left a door that looked very neat and clean appeared, on his right a door that was iron and looked very scratched up, and in front of him was an old looking door with graffiti on it. He'd never seen anything like this.

He reached out to grab the handle on the left and was surprised when a person materialized in front of him, it was obviously dodger but he looked much more kempt and shorter, a pair of glasses magnifying his eyes slightly. "You shouldn't be here."

"No shit Sherlock." To his right stood a slightly taller boy with blonde hair and no glasses but the same face, Dodger's face. He was a bit more muscular and was currently smoking a cigarette, "That's th old guy from the school, remember Ronny boy? You're supposed to be the smart one."

The boy in glasses looked offended, "I know very well who he is, and don't do that, it's terrible for you."

The blonde boy simply grinned, "Not like it affects you or anything so what'a you care?" He glanced over as the professor went passed them, having watched the exchange but now saw a third figure that seemed to be asleep beside the door at the end. "Hey, back off wheels…"

"Ray!" The boy in glasses said angrily, "Excuse him, he's a little rude, however I have to ask that you don't wake him, the last time that happened, well, he isn't a very nice person…" The boy finished, looking at the third figure who was slumped against the wall by the third door, apparently asleep.

"The last time?" The professor asked, looking at Ron.

"He was awake a moment ago actually, he fell back asleep when you came." Ron said, looking at him.

"He shot a pair of guys." Ray said, drawing the professor's attention away from Ron, "He just got out of bed with…"

"RAY!" Ron said loudly, "That's hardly appropriate conversation for…"

"Get out."

It was barely more then a whisper but they all looked up at the final door. It was standing open and the boy that had been seemingly asleep was still in his crouched pose, his face turned to the floor. The professor looked at the one on the floor as he lifted his head and glared, "Get out old man."

The professor stared at him, it was dodger's face but not his voice, it was deeper somehow, "Dodger are you all…?"

"Get out now old man." The voice was no louder even now that he was looking the man in the face the tone even more threatening although it still wasn't a command, but the other two images had gone and there was nothing but Xavier and Dodger, the door on the wall behind him the only obvious way out.

As Xavier looked at the man in front of him. He was much paler then the Dodger that Xavier knew and across his arms and face he could see a multitude of scars crisscrossing everywhere. The imaginary man's relaxed posture and sheer lack of concern made him nervous, the fact the man was sitting there barefoot and in almost too casual clothes making the feeling worse. "I said OUT!"

Xavier blinked and looked down at dodger who was laying there with his eyes half closed and staring at the ceiling, what struck hi as odd was that Dodger's hand was closed very tightly around his wrist, and no on had ever done that before. Xavier pulled the boy's hand off of his arm before allowing him to wake fully. "I apologize for not explaining what I was going to do before I did it, I do that for all of our new arrivals." He smiled as Dodger stood up and walked out of the room, looking more then a little weary.

When Dodger was out of the room and the door was shut he looked back down at his wrist which was turning purple-brown in a ring where Dodger's fingers had been. He blinked in surprise, and then turned his eyes to the door again.