It's been two weeks since the incident in Canada. The boy seems to be in a coma state. The kids are starting to talk. Jubilee and Kitty at the center of it, along with Rogue.
Besides that, everything was normal.
Jean taught classes. Beast did miscellaneous experiments on random items and subjects. Storm tended to her garden. Wolverine was quiet and gloomy. Cyclops was the fearless leader. Nightcrawler… Nightcrawler.
"Rogue, I hope you remember your checkup after your classes today." Beast reminded the southern belle. "I rememba, don' worry." She assured him.
The furry blue man nodded warmly, and walked back into the lab, leaving Rogue and Kitty to talk.
"So… have you like, heard anything new about that guy?" Kitty asked, referring to the black haired mystery boy.
"Why are ya so obsessed with him?"
"I am not obsessed with some- some weirdo Canada guy from Weapon X!"
"Then why are ya getting' so defensive?" Rogue asked, strolling away toward her next class.
Kitty and Rogue walked along the hallways leading to Beast's lab.
"So…"
"Kitty, Ah know ya just gonna ta ask me about that guy. The answer's the same. Ah don't know. Why would ya think Ah knew?" Rogue snapped as she crossed the threshold into the lab, leaving Kitty outside. Looking around her, Rogue realized she was alone.
"And he was worryin' about me forgettin'." Rogue rolled her eyes, jumping up onto the table to wait. Just as she got comfortable, though, she heard a loud crash from behind a door leading to another room off of the lab. She tilted her head to the side, staring at the door. Then she realized there were muffled voices coming from under the door. Sliding down from her perch, she edged closer to the door, making sure she was quiet so as to be able to hear what the people were saying.
"-I didn't mean to I…"
"That's quite alright, my dear boy" the professor's voice was calm and even.
Rogue heard someone sigh deeply, almost sounding as if the person were about to break down and cry.
"Now do you have any secondary powers?"
"Yeah. I absorb metal into my skeleton." The other voice sounded much more composed when it spoke this time.
"And why did you pass out that day in Canada?"
"There's an element in Adamantium, an artificial element, that I… react to."
"Is there any particular reason why?"
"N-n-no…"
"Oh really? When we took an x-ray, we noticed something about your arms…"
Rogue gasped. That's how they found out about Logan's claws. An x-ray showing six extra bones in his forearms.
Apparently, she gasped loudly.
"Rogue, you aren't eavesdropping are you?"
Rogue's eyes widened and she turned around to find Beast standing behind, arms crossed and knowing smirk on his lips.
"No… Ah dropped mah hairclip!" Rogue said, reaching in her pocket for a loose clip, and pulling it out, smiling sheepishly.
"Rogue, I've been standing here for the past minute. You didn't drop your hairclip."
At that moment, the door Rogue had been so interested in a few seconds earlier swished open and Professor Xavier rolled through.
"Rogue, you know our policies about privacy, here at the mansion." He began dully.
"Ah know, professor. It's just, Ah've- we've all been so curious! Ah just- Ah just couldn't help mahself."
"If you're so curious, why don't you just ask to meet him?" the professor suggested, raising his eyebrow and pressing his fingertips together.
"Uh, may Ah…"
"Yes. You may." Xavier looked back into the room and said calmly, "Joseph, you have a visitor."
The first thing Rogue saw in the dark room was a broken vase. That must've been what the crash was from. Next, was a young man, the boy from Canada, laying on a bed. He had long, shaggy black hair, and shining ice blue eyes. He was very lean, but also very thin, as if he were starved in his early years. When he saw her, he smiled a half smile, and inclined his head in a shy manner.
"Joseph, this is Rogue. Rogue, this is Joseph." Beast introduced the two, as he closed the door behind him, closing out most of the light, except what came from the dinky little lamp in the corner.
"Hi, Joseph."
"Hey… Rogue… um, no offence, but that's not your real name, is it?"
Rogue blushed slightly, and replied, "Nah, everyone just calls me that. Mah real name is Marie."
"I don't know where you come from, but where I grew up, if everyone called me that, it would be an insult."
"Um… ok. Thanks…?"
Joseph paused, and muttered to himself, "where is this girl from?"
"Um… how about you two just talk for a bit?" Beast said, "The professor and I have some other things to talk about."
"Ok…" Rogue shrugged, and with that, the two adults left.
There was an awkward pause, in which neither of them wanted to say something.
"Uh… so…"
"How old are ya?" Rogue blurted out, before she could stop herself.
"Nineteen."
"Um, where were ya born?"
"What is this, 'twenty Q'?" Joseph snorted.
"Well?" Rogue pushed.
"Canada."
"More specific?"
"If I knew, I'd tell you."
"So you're telling me you don't know where you were born?"
"Well, that kinda happens when you're kidnapped when you're three." Joseph quipped sharply.
"So no one knows where ya from? That must suck."
"Ha, 'no one knows'. My sister knows. But of course, she won't tell anyone. My sister figured out who our parents are. But she won't tell me." He crossed his arms and scowled at nothing in particular.
"Is ya sista' that knife gal we saw up north?" Joseph's expression softened, and he looked down, as if in shame.
"Yes. We got outta Weapon X a couple months back, but her head's just too far gone."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, like, she's always expecting a fight. She's just…"
"Gotten a lust for the fight."
"Yeah, I guess so."
"What's her name?"
"Kass-" he began, just as Beast and the professor came into the room.
"Rogue, we must begin your checkup. Joseph, will you be attending dinner with the rest of the school today?" Xavier asked.
Joseph looked at Rogue, "Are they all like her?" he nodded his head in Rogue's general direction.
"Mostly"
"Sure." He smiled a short, adorable little smile.
Utensils and plates clicked and tapped against each other as the residents of the Xavier Mansion ate dinner, in complete silence. Occasionally, someone would dare a look around, eyes lingering on this new guy, 'Joseph', a few seconds longer than anyone else. Kitty wouldn't even bother with anyone else, she spooned her food onto her fork, while staring at Joseph, not even looking at what she was eating.
"So professor, how's the X-Jet coming?" Cyclops asked, tired of the silence.
"Forge should have it fixed up shortly." Xavier answered simply, silencing Cyclops again.
Silence again engulfed the dinner table of the X-men.
Jubilee looked around at the others, and cleared her throat.
"So, Cyclops… when's our next Danger Room session?" she asked, though she really didn't care.
"Tomorrow morning."
Jubilee rolled her eyes, she had thought Cyclops would at least try to make small talk! 'I guess he's just too bland of a guy to really think of anything interesting to say'.
And so the table was silenced yet again.
Joseph sat in between Rogue and the professor, next to the end of the table. He hadn't taken much food to eat, so he was done ahead of everyone else. This gave him time to scope out the rest of the people at the table. There was Rogue, the professor, Beast, a guy with blue fur and yellow eyes, an attractive blond woman with her revealing white outfit, a redhead man with bandages covering his mouth, nose, and upper chest, a redhead girl with silver skin, almost as if it were made out of some kind of smooth stone, and a blond boy with pale white skin, and a short man with long black hair, blue eyes, and a leather jacket. Rogue noticed him looking around, and whispered their names, while pointing to them in order.
"That's Nightcrawler, Emma Frost, Chamber, Mercury, Iceman, and Wolverine. Nightcrawler's really nice, Emma is… well, unpredictable, Chamber's depressed, Mercury is your average teenage girl, Iceman's really nice too, and Wolverine… well, just don't get in his way." She ended with a wink. He smiled and nodded, silently thanking her.
Logan looked down the table to see an unfamiliar face. Black hair, blue eyes, and a very delicate looking build. 'Looks like Sleeping Beauty finally woke up.' He thought to himself.
Logan studied the boys' features for a minute, noting every little detail. He hadn't gotten a real good look at him when they were hauling his unconscious body to the X-Jet.
He had a real thin face. His fingers were long and thin, as were the rest of his arms. In fact, Logan felt that this boy looked so frail and thin, that he could probably snap his arm like a toothpick.
His face was narrow, with a small narrow nose, and high cheek bones, like a Native American's. It made him think back to the third person to appear in that old shack up north. She was Native American. Didn't we find out that the three of them there had been brother and sisters? So that means he must be part Native American too. Hm, if only this information actually explained something.
Logan, lost in his thought, hadn't noticed when the boy saw Logan staring at him.
"Um, Rogue, why's that guy staring at me?" Joseph asked quietly.
"I don't know…"
Logan tensed when he caught himself blanking out, eyes glued to the kid's face. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Rogue tried to get his attention. He ignored her. The boy had also tensed, frowning. He probably thought I didn't like him or something. That's not the first impression Logan would expect the kid would want, especially with Logan's appearance. When Rogue realized he was purposely ignoring her, she stopped waving her arms around. The kid caught on, and his shoulders slumped, and he pointed his face at his shoes. This kid really depended on other's opinions of him, Logan realized. When he was sure Rogue and the boy weren't looking anymore, he looked back at him.
He still looked kind of depressed, and disappointed. Oh, if he had a quarter for every time he made someone have that expression.
Wait…
When was the last time I made someone have that expression? Where'd that 'if I had a quarter' thought come from anyway?
Logan felt a kind of De-Ja-Vu as he looked at this boy.
Where's this coming from?
Okay, so... uh, idk.
I didn't have anything else to say. :D
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For the sake of Wolverine's memory!