Silence Comes by…Nature?

Storm woke early the next day. Well, earlier than she was accustomed to. She was adjusting well to being a teacher again rather than the headmistress. It was relieving not to have to worry about so much. But today she had more concerns than usual. And, naturally, they all revolved around this mysteriously powerful mutant.

She was seated on a balcony, looking up at the overcast skies. Pondering things like what would happen if she got angry or out of control again, or were the children safe around her, Hank walked up beside her. "Good morning," he greeted her, snapping her out of her thoughtful daze. She smiled and replied, though it was a distant greeting. "A bit thoughtful this morning? Or perhaps a bit suspicious?" he questioned politely.

She sighed and turned to face him. "I can't help it, Hank. There's just too much we don't know about her. It's to the point where we could be risking the lives of the children. I mean, if she is as powerful as Jean, she could do so much damage. I'm not comfortable having someone like that around these children."

Hank smiled at her, a calm and soothing smile. "There is a beauty in being what we are. We all possess two traits that set our lives on a certain course. Those would be random genetic variation and free will."

Storm gave a confused laugh at his intelligent answer. "What are you talking about?"

"It means that we all have different abilities," he explained. "That is what random genetic variation is: the splitting of genes and the random pairing of them to form a gamete, or an infant with unique personal traits and abilities. And free will lets us choose our own fates in situations. She doesn't have to be like Jean, Storm."

His last comment was quiet and assuring. Yet she was still not completely convinced. She paused to get her thoughts in order and accurately express her feelings. "Still, there is so much we can't be sure about. And what if Logan's right? What if she really is too dangerous, but we don't find out until it's too late? What do we do if there are more deaths?"

"Would you suggest the cure?" Hank asked quickly.

"What? No!" Storm snapped. She had been flustered and caught off guard by his question. She was about to make a sharp reply when he continued.

"A person can waste away their entire life thinking about 'what if?' I am a man of the present. I prefer to think of what is happening now and what I am able to do to improve things that need. And today I am to attempt to improve our communications with this woman so that all of your 'what if's' don't actually happen." Hank smiled warmly at her once more, then turned away and went to find a suitable breakfast.

Storm remained in place for several long moments. His words touched her and made her think carefully. Perhaps Hank was right. Perhaps she should be working to understand with woman rather than immediately persecuting her. Still, she would not trust this woman so easily when so much about her was left undiscovered.


Lessons were long and grueling that day. Going off of the theory that she spoke a language that was not English or German, Hank spent hours going through a computer to find samples of hundreds of languages. He played clips of different languages for her, but she didn't seem to recognize any. Thoroughly disheartened after hours of work, Hank was coming to terms with a new theory about this new mutant.

However, their hours spent were not a complete waste of time. Hank did learn about her peculiar behavior. Rather, he saw more of it. The moment he played a clip of Spanish for her, she leapt out of her chair and took a defensive stance against the computer. For whatever reason, hearing it speak frightened her more than being abducted by the X-men, brought here, and listening to them speak without understanding a word of it. The question remained, why?

When she had been so startled, Hank quickly rose and tried to comfort her. It had been his first instinct to say soothing words to reassure her despite the fact that she was unable to understand him. Somehow, she must have understood because she calmed down enough to sit back down. In time, however, after he had shown her samples of over one hundred different languages, she panicked again. This time she leapt up and the computer spontaneously burst into flames!

He had thrown his hands over his face to protect himself. Then, once he had moved away from the heat of the fire, he glared at the woman. He could not help himself from glaring. She had destroyed thousands of dollars worth of technology and priceless information. Yet when he looked at her, he was ashamed for thinking so negatively about her. Her mouth was curved downward in a frown and she looked up at him from lowered eyelids, as though she were ashamed of her actions. But it was what she did next that confused him beyond anything else.

As he watched her, his anger subsiding, she looked over at the flaming computer and blew softly with her lips. The air, soft at first, grew stronger and gusted over to the computer. The flames billowed at first, then wavered. It was then that he noticed his glass full of water. It sat on the desk near the wasted technology. The water was lifted out of the glass and brought over the flames. Miraculously, such a minute amount of water was able to smother the flames and put out the fire.

Hank stared open-mouthed at the mutant woman. She looked at him as though seeking his approval. Then, as though she was not given it, she turned and fled the room. Coming to his senses, Hank snatched a pad of paper and a pen and began to scribble notes furiously. His theory was becoming clearer.


Logan was outside on the grounds teaching. He had taken advantage of one of the first sunny days to take his class outside. Sure it was still wet, but that would introduce them to conditions that were not completely idealistic.

"Alright! Listen up!" He looked out at his class and saw Bobby, Rogue, and Kitty among others. He could sense the tension between them. It may not have been as obvious now that Rogue could actually touch Bobby, but it was there. "Ok, we're going to work on adjusting to your surroundings. Who thinks they can maneuver out 'ere?"

There was a rustle of movement, but no one was brave enough to step up to the challenge. Logan nodded at the cowardice of teenagers, and then yelled out, "Come on. It's a challenge. Someone has to step up."

For a moment, Bobby looked as though he would volunteer himself to try. But before he could the doors to the mansion were thrown open and the mysterious woman walked out. Everyone turned to watch her. Gossip had spread among the students, but only Bobby, Kitty, and Colossus had actually seen her. The rest were speechless. Even Logan could think of nothing to say as she walked past them. Before he had not taken note of how beautiful her hair looked when it shown in the sun, or her shimmering eyes that had a blue-golden tint in the sun, or how incredible her body was. How could he have wanted to kill her only hours before?

"Logan?" Rogue asked softly to get his attention.

"Yeah, kid?" he asked gruffly. He was suddenly embarrassed that she had caught him staring at the woman instead of paying attention to his class. He had just turned back to his class when she walked by him. He caught her eye and she gave him a shy smile that he returned with a questioning look. But she only walked past him and sat down on the grass a few hundred feet away.

She could hear his voice from where she sat, but the gargle of sounds made no sense to her. Instead it was his emotions that she clued in on. She felt his skin prickle as she walked by, and because of that so did hers. Yet his thoughts drifted further back in her mind when she seated herself upon the ground. The wet blades of grass brushed against her bare legs and the wind caressed her skin and blew her hair about her. She sat cross-legged and let nature touch her where her clothes did not reach.

Instantly her mind was filled with fantastic thoughts and images. Memories of people walking by, fighting and laughing, pressing down their heavy weight were brought forward. She saw of incredible shows of power that were witnessed from by a third person. She felt the calm stillness of continuity paired with rapid change.

The rapid thoughts shot through her mind at an alarming rate. The direct contact with living organisms increased the degree of her awareness of their feelings and memories. She closed her eyes and fought hard to put them back in order. Slowly, she could feel herself gaining more control. When she had pushed back all of the foreign thoughts, she concentrated on her own mixed up emotions.

So far as she could tell, this was the first time she had been able to focus and find a distinctive difference between her life and everything else, between her thoughts and emotions and everyone else's. Her own memories of last night and this morning appeared. A multitude of feelings bombarded her. She was ashamed, lonely, and utterly confused. Memories of her actions this morning caused a strange ache in her chest and belly. She recognized it at once as shame and embarrassment.

And how had it happened? She knew that she caused it, but how? She could remember feeling threatened and endangered. Then the flames just appeared. The threat was gone, but the man was very angry with her. That was when she felt shame. Perhaps she had overreacted, but what else was there to do? In an attempt to fix her wrongdoings, she remembered causing the water to put it out. That too had just happened. It was almost like it was an instinct, not a conscious action. But that didn't change that she had done something wrong. It also added more confusing properties to her already muddled life. What was she to do now?

And the blue man wanted so badly to communicate with her. She felt it. She had tried to communicate with him, but he did not seem as attuned to her thoughts as she was to his. She had felt his desperation, but was unable to do anything about it. Perhaps there was a way for her to learn to communicate…She pondered that thought for a few minutes. Then she vowed to learn no matter how long it took.

Her train of thought continued, and as she thought she continued picking up thoughts from the students around her. They were vague and pushed to the back of her mind, but they were there. Occasionally she would feel a sharp stab of pain, or the inkling of jealousy. But they soon subsided and caused her little problems.

Then, suddenly, a horrible fear shot through her and she had the strangest sensation of her stomach plummeting. Closing her eyes, she allowed the emotions to take over. She was in danger and freefalling.

"Bobby!"

The word cut through the air and pierced her mind. It was not so much the word that sliced through her fear, but the panic attached to it that caused her to redirect her attention. With a clear mind, she whirled around and saw a boy falling through the air. A runway of slick ice had formed on the ground below him. She suddenly understood.

It had been his fear.

Reacting on instinct, she threw out her hand. The ice thawed immediately and grass and roots jutted upward from out of the ground. They formed a soft, round bed directly below the boy. He fell into the ground she had prepared for him, and, much to his surprise, it caught him softly and he actually bounced slightly upon impact.

Bobby scrambled up and watched the woman withdraw her hand. As she did, the grass and roots retracted and the earth transformed back to the wet, squishy, flat mess it had been. She caught Bobby's eye and smiled in an embarrassed way. It was almost as if she wasn't sure if she had done the right thing.

"Thank you," he breathed as Logan and Rogue came running towards him. "I'm fine," he said hurriedly. Reluctantly, he turned away from the woman and walked back to the class with Logan and Rogue. When his adrenaline stopped rushing quite as rapidly, he noticed Kitty with a very worried look on her face. Bobby knew that it was only because of Rogue's presence that Kitty had not run to save him.

Logan caught Bobby's gaze sway from Rogue to Kitty. His blood began to boil as he thought about how Rogue may be hurting, but he pushed those thoughts to the side for now. He turned around and stared the woman down. Sure she had saved Bobby, but that didn't ease his caution. She was a complete mystery, and he would never trust her while she was. But that also explained some of the attraction…He nodded his head at her, a silent "thank you." Then he turned his attention back to his class, but not before he saw her smile slightly and blush.