i have returned!! here are some new chapters for you guys :) enjoy!

Chapter Seven

Shade pulled the black t-shirt over his head and idly wondered how Xavier had picked out clothes that he would like. He reached for his tattered black trench coat and found it still damp from the snow so he decided to hang it over the heat vent. He brushed his fingers over the top of the dresser which had some basic toiletries on top. He ran a comb through his hair then bent down to tie his boots.

"Xian? Shade? May I come in?" Wanda's soft knock accompanied the question.

"The door's open."

Wanda opened the door and stepped into the room. She was wearing jeans and a red graphic shirt. She was wearing makeup for the first time since Shade had met her and it made her look fierce and tough. A well worn red trench coat hung over her arm, "Hey."

"Hey, you look nice."

"Thank you, are you ready to go?"

Shade nodded and they left the room together. Outside Kurt was fidgeting with the collar of his shirt while he stood outside Gar's door. The changeling came out and stopped as he saw the other two mutants in the hall, "Wow, you clean up pretty nice Shade. Who knew?"

The vampire rolled his eyes and followed Wanda to Pietro's room. She raised her hand to knock but it was opened before she was even finished. The young man inside had his usually messy hair swept back and was wearing jeans and a plain white t-shirt with a casual blue button down on top. He smiled at his sister, "Ready to eat?"

"Oui," Remy said pulling on his fingerless gloves, "This Cajun is starving for some real food."

"Then c'mon, let's go before my stomach takes over my brain." Kurt said covering half of the hallway with a leap and a bound. The others hurried after him, talking and laughing to cover their unease.

"Ah, there you all are." Xavier said as the group of mutants trickled in. "Everyone else is seated and ready to eat. Would you care to join us?"

Shade sat down between Todd and Wanda. His dark eyes rested on a tall man wearing red sunglasses and a woman with fiery red hair and happy green eyes. The woman was talking quietly to the man who was smiling and nodding. At the other end of the table Logan sat with a dark-skinned woman with snow white hair. Her eyes were stormy grey and she was talking in low, serious tones with Logan.

"I'm sure you're all hungry. Please, dig in."

The new mutants needed no further urging. Food was passed around quickly and soon the only sounds of conversation came from the older residents. Everyone else was eating as quickly as they could without seeming rude.

Amanda buttered a biscuit swiftly then jumped as Kurt's tail slapped her side. She glared at him and was surprised to see him eating slowly, the picture of calm except his tail which continued to slap her and her chair without making a sound. She grabbed the offending appendage making the mutant jump. "What is wrong with you?" she hissed.

"They are staring at me." Kurt whispered still looking at his plate. "It's making me nervous."

"They're probably mutants too, just eat."

Across the table Jean Grey Summers quietly nudged her husband with her elbow, "You're making Kurt very agitated honey." She murmured as she reached for the plate of cheese.

Scott Summers looked at her then at his plate, "My bad."

"Just remember, they're probably all very self-conscious and scared. Some of them have been in the camp for years. They haven't been around anything normal for a very long time."

"The vampire is staring at me."

"Now you know how it feels." Jean replied; smiling as Shade turned his gaze on her.

"Todd!" Holly shrieked as the youth slurped up a biscuit with his tongue. "Use your fork. That's just nasty."

Todd made a face at her but he took up his silverware as requested. Xavier smiled as the newcomers talked and argued amongst themselves. They were all pretending to be happy and carefree but he knew that they were all terrified that this was all either an elaborate trap or that it was a dream they were going to wake up from at any moment. He caught Logan's eyes and the stocky man shrugged his shoulders. His attention wavered as he spoke with Ororo, the weather witch. Xavier leaned back in his chair as he watch two of his oldest friends catch up with each other after six months of separation.

"Okay, I've officially eaten more than I can handle." Rahne said pushing away her plate with a look of disgust. "Pietro, do you want the rest of this?"

"Don't look at me. I'm going to have to run fifty miles to burn all this off."

For the briefest of moments, everyone seemed to freeze. It was the first time anyone had mentioned their powers since they'd entered the strange mansion. Slowly conversation started up again but Xavier could tell that they were agitated. They wanted to know what was going on and they wanted to know now.

He cleared his throat and everyone turned to look at him almost immediately. He smiled kindly, "I know you are all wondering why you've been brought here. I'm sure you've figured out by now that Logan has long been a friend of mine and that he took you here because you'd be safe. As I have told you my name is Charles Xavier and I am a telepath. I have helped plan rescue efforts for almost ten years now. What my team and I try to do is infiltrate a camp and then organize an escape with the mutants inside. Then they are brought here and prepared to live in a mutant hating world. Some of them have decided to stay like Ororo, Jean and Scott. Do you have any questions?"

"How many mutants do you think you have freed?" Remy asked.

"Over three hundred. We could do more but the escapes have to be timed right so that no one suspects that they're all connected. And as I've said some have decided to stay. Scott and Jean are only part of a team of four. Wally and Jinx are in Russia at the moment. We also have instructors like Logan, Ororo as well as Emma, Victor and Hank who have declined to join us at the moment."

Raven raised her eyes from her plate. "How are we going to 'prepare' as you put it?"

"You'll be given fake IDs and those of you without a complete high school education will go to a public school here in Bayville. To the outside world we are a home for troubled kids who have been released from detention centers. Here at the mansion you'll be trained to control your powers so that you won't be in danger from accidental exposure. If you choose to leave then you'll get jobs at one of my industries or others where I can arrange for you to slip past the mutant gene screening process. Or you can stay and help our cause."

"Herr Xavier?" Kurt asked quietly, "What about someone… like me? I can't go to school looking like this."

"Our resident inventor, Victor Stone, has created several prototypes of an image inducer. It will allow you to disguise your appearance to that of a human. You and Gar both will be able to walk in public without fear of discovery."

The two mutants looked at each other with a twinge of hope. Xavier smiled, "Now if you're all finished eating I'm sure you're very tired. Feel free to retire to your rooms or explore the mansion, please do not go out on the grounds and please be in your rooms by midnight."

Scott lined up his que with the white ball and clicked it gently, letting the eleven ball fall into the corner pocket. Logan snorted and made a wild short without really thinking about it. Remy was standing nearby by the window, smoking a cigarette. Raven lounged on the couch, reading a book while Gar and Pietro were watching local news with rapt attention.

"Remy how old are you?" Scott asked as he searched for another shot.

"Eighteen."

"But you were in the camp for five years. You were thieving at thirteen?"

"Oui." The Cajun blew out smoke from his cancer stick and flicked it out the window to the ground below. "It was my first real job and I'd just discovered that I was a mutant. No one else knew and I was having trouble and in that profession having trouble ain't a good quality."

"Scott?" Jean walked in the door and went over to her husband, "Hey sweetie, we need to go over some of the plans of the Russian camp for Wally and Jinx."

"But I'm winning."

"C'mon." Jean said gently tugging him away.

The room was quiet except for the droning of the television. Raven turned a page in her book then looked up as the report changed. Gar turned the volume up and Pietro sat up straighter.

"A report was filed this morning for the escape and disappearance of a group of mutants from the Northern New York Camp. Somehow, the guards were overcome and the mutants disabled the defensive systems. Jason Gonzales, a guard, was the only casualty in the fight. In other news…"

"Great they're pinning us as murderers now." Logan grumbled shooting the balls into pockets.

Remy snorted and began shuffling a deck of cards with one hand, "Can't say it doesn't surprise me, they'll do anything to make us look bad." He listened to the newscaster for a few more minutes then shook his head, "I can't stand this I'm going to bed."

"I think I'll join you." Pietro said following him out of the room.

Logan finished his short game and put the ques away, "Don't stay up too late kids."

"G'night." Gar said as he turned off the TV and leaned back on the couch.

The silence pressed in as the wind rattled the windows. Raven flipped her book shut and rose slowly, "Good night Gar."

"Hang on, I'll come with ya."

Raven waited and they walked down the hall to their respective rooms. Gar wished Raven a good night then opened the door to the room he was to share with Kurt until the others were fully cleared. The German mutant was kneeling by his bed praying quietly. Gar tiptoed in, not wanting to disturb his friend. He grabbed his things and went into the bathroom. When he came out Kurt was hanging from the doorframe doing pull-ups.

"You're such a show off."

Kurt dropped to the floor and sat on his bed, "I'm afraid."

"Why? We're in a house; we've got food and somewhere warm to sleep and best of all we're free men… mutants."

"I don't know but I feel as though something very wrong is happening. Maybe I'm just paranoid."

Gar pulled his shirt off and sat on his bed, "Hey, never chalk instinct up to paranoia. You and me, we notice things that other people don't. It's a proven fact isn't it? If you think something's wrong then maybe there is something wrong. I'll be staying on my toes."

"Thank you mien freud. I just hope that things will work out here. I want to finish my education if possible."

Gar lay back on his bed with his hands behind his head, "I just hope they don't try and hold us back because we haven't been to school in two years."

Kurt smiled, "Well if nothing else we're out of the camp."

"Very true," Gar replied burrowing under the blankets, "G'night dude."

"Good night Gar."

Rahne groaned as someone knocked on her door loudly. She slowly got up and went to unlock it; outside Pietro was holding a tray of breakfast food with a large grin on his face. "Hey, it's after noon so I decided to bring you something to eat."

"It's after noon? How long have I been asleep?"

"About fourteen hours I think. Can I come in?"

Rahne opened the door and let the speedster inside. She sat at the small desk in the corner and began brushing her red hair, "Why'd you let me sleep that long?"

"I just got up about fifteen minutes ago. Almost everyone else except for Shade is still sleeping. I brought stuff for me too if you don't mind."

"That's fine with me." Rahne said taking a piece of toast covered with jam and biting down hungrily. "You made all this in fifteen minutes?"

"No the red-headed woman, Jean I think, had it already made. I just heated up the eggs and ham and brought it up here."

"Thank you."

The two teens ate in silence for a few more minutes then Pietro got up and went over to the window to look out onto the grounds below. "I can't believe how big this place is. I got lost five times trying to find the kitchen."

Rahne smiled, "I like it and I think we'll be safe here."

"Maybe, maybe not. All I know is that it was nice to sleep in an actual bed. It's been a long time since I've been able to do that."

"Well you're a bundle of cheer this morning."

Pietro turned around and shrugged, "Sorry, it's just… Wanda and I haven't really been around people, except for doctors, for years. She's been kinda freaked out about the whole thing and when she's worried it makes me jumpy."

"How long were you at that place?"

"Too long." the young man replied softly.

"But-."

Rahne was cut short by a loud scream. Pietro jumped nearly a foot in the air then bolted from the room leaving Rahne a little disoriented. She got to her feet and ran after him as the screaming continued. The door to Wanda's room had been flung open so she ran there as everyone else trickled out of their rooms groggily. Xian thundered past her and went into the room. The screaming died down into loud sobs.

Inside the room, Wanda was curled up in a ball in the corner with her hands over her ears. Pietro was standing over her looking worried and lost. Xian was kneeling by her side murmuring softly but Wanda shoved him with her shoulder causing him to fall over into the legs of a desk.

"Leave me alone!"

Pietro yelled as a blue glow surrounded his body and sent him flying backwards into a wall with tremendous force; he crumpled into a heap and didn't move. Xian dodged a blast of the energy and pushed Rahne to the ground. Wanda ran from the room crying, shoving past the others that were gathered outside her door.

"Stop her." Logan ordered.

"I'm on it." Raven said lifting her hand, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

Black energy melted up from the floor creating a wall in front of the runaway mutant, but instead of stopping, Wanda shot a blast of her energy at the wall. Raven yelled in pain as the wall shattered like glass, she fell backwards and Kurt caught her in surprise. Wanda kept running and soon rounded a corner so she was out of side.

"Go after her!" Scott yelled already running.

"There is no need for that Scott." a low female voice said. A woman dressed in a black pencil skirt and a low cut white blouse rounded the corner with her hand on Wanda's shoulder. The girl was still crying but she didn't have a crazy look in her green eyes any more.

"Emma, she's in no shape for you to be putting thoughts inside her head." Jean warned, "The Professor-."

"Has placed me in charge. He is going to Boston for a conference. Wanda, dear, why don't you go with Rahne and Xian to help your brother?"

Wanda ran to her room in tears. The others watched from the doorway as she knelt by her twin's side. "Pietro, what have I done? Are you alright? Please forgive me, I didn't mean it! I'm so sorry. Please don't be angry with me. I'm sorry!"

The speedster flicked his eyes from Rahne to his sister, "Wanda, don't cry. I'm not angry with you. I'm fine." He slowly sat up trying to mask the pain that flooded his face. "Don't cry, everything's going to be alright."

Wanda continued to cry as Pietro tried again to push away from the wall. Xian grabbed his shoulders as he nearly fell, "Maybe you should take it easy."

"I'm fine." the speedster said through his teeth, looking at Wanda pointedly.

Xian took the hint and moved away to talk with Logan. Rahne quietly rubbed Wanda's back as she continued to cry, "C'mon Wanda, why don't we go take a walk around the mansion?"

Pietro mustered up a smile for his sister, "Go on, I'll see you later okay?"

"Okay." Wanda replied shakily. She rose and left with Rahne still sniffling.

As soon as they were gone Pietro let out a sharp cry of muffled pain and slid further down the wall so he was lying on his back. The others crowded around him instantly while Scott shut and locked the door.

"Is Raven still out?" Logan asked.

"Ja I am afraid so. Should I try to wake her?"

Logan swore softly as Pietro cried out again in agony. "Do the best you can Elf; Jean can you lift him down to the infirmary?"

"I don't think so, he's injured his back. If we move him it could do permanent damage to his spinal cord. I'll contact Hank and tell him to prepare as quickly as he can. Don't let him bite his tongue off."

"Emma I want you to call the Professor and tell him what happened. Scott, help Kurt wake Raven up. We can't take him to a hospital or they'll scan him."

The room was a flurry of activity as Ororo took the rest of the group out of the room except for Raven and Kurt.

"Did she break his back?" Ororo asked as she re-entered the room.

"I don't know." Jean replied looking worried, "I can't use my telekinesis on things I can't see. If I go in there and poke around I could make things much worse."

Over on the bed Kurt was patting Raven's cheeks desperately, "Please fraulein we need you, wake up."

Suddenly the girl's eyes flew open and she sat up gasping for breath. "Dear Azar what happened to me? Wanda! She… she broke through my wall. Where is she? What is- ah!" The girl gripped her head in pain and looked up at Scott, "Who is it?"

"Pietro, Wanda threw him against the wall and he's hurt his back."

Raven pushed past them both and strode over to Pietro. The speedster yelled again and Raven clenched her teeth as the agony ripped through her empathic senses. "I need Xian's help, he can hold him down while I work. And once I'm finished I'm probably going to pass out and need some steroids."

"I'll tell Hank, can we move you afterwards?"

"Yes I'll be fine just knocked out for a few hours. Xian!" The cry was both vocal and telepathic.

As she spoke the mutant burst in, "I am here. What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to use your powers to hold Pietro down. He's delirious and probably going to fight me while I try to heal him. Can you do that?"

"Consider it done." Xian flicked his fingers and four black forms sprang from thin air. He swept his hands downwards and gently pushed Pietro's arms and legs to the floor. Again the speedster cried out and tried to struggle causing him to yell even louder.

Raven knelt by his head and put one hand on his chest and the other on his forehead, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

Rahne's sensitive ears twitched and a shudder passed through her as she faintly heard Pietro scream. She took Wanda by the arm and opened up a door to the garden outside.

"I don't think we should go outside." Wanda said nervously, "We might get in trouble."

"It's alright. We're just going to sit and talk. No one is going to hurt you."

The two girls went out into the lush garden full of both vegetables and beautiful flowers. There were several benches in the morning sun and Rahne sat on one patting the space beside her for Wanda to join her. The girl hesitated then sat down.

"It's beautiful here isn't it?"

"Yes."

Rahne fiddled with the ties on her sweat pants for a few minutes trying to ignore the screams that she could barely hear but shook her to the core all the same. "Wanda, how old were you when your father put you in that institution?"

"Who told you that?" the girl demanded half rising.

"Pietro told me. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But I think if you talk about it you'll feel better. Are you angry about it?"

Wanda glared at the ground as she spoke, "We weren't older than five. Pietro doesn't remember anything at all but I remember bits and pieces of it. Pietro cried for weeks, begging the doctors to let us go. But they didn't care, we were just a paycheck to them. As long as they took care of us they would get paid."

"That's awful." Rahne murmured.

"What kind of man does that? He ripped us away from everything that we knew and locked us away from the world. I never even knew my mother's name." The girl wiped a tear from her face and looked at Rahne, "Pietro nearly went insane in that place. They would lock him up in a tiny room and leave him there for days. When he'd come out he'd just curl up and sleep for a week or be totally incoherent. Why would they torture a little boy like that?"

"Do you think that your father knew you were mutants?"

"He knew and the doctors knew. I think they were studying us for some government project. I wasn't sure if there was anyone besides us in the building but at night you could hear people screaming for mercy. After awhile I began to think that they were ghosts, trying to warn us."

Rahne rubbed her arms unconsciously. "You must've been terrified."

"No the terrifying part was when they gave us those shots. They found out that we knew that we were mutants and came for us in our cell. Pietro fought them as hard as he could to keep them from getting to me and it took three of them to hold him down but… they made him watch while they…" Wanda hid her face in her hands and began to cry.

"Oh my gosh." Rahne whispered in horror. "Wanda…"

"Pietro screamed at them and fought them even harder but there were too many of them. They tore all my clothes off and beat me until I couldn't even think. I just remember being so terrified as they stood over Pietro and sank that needle into his neck. After he passed out they gave me the shot and when I woke up I was dressed and in the truck with you guys."

Rahne's eyes prickled with tears. "He never left your side you know. Not even to eat. Raven tried to help you and he told her that if she touched you he would kill her. I'd never seen anything like it. He kept checking your pulse like he was afraid you were going to die."

"I love my brother more than anything in the world. And now I've hurt him. What's wrong with me? Am I some kind of monster?"

"Wanda you are not a monster. Those people who did those things to you were monsters. You lost control. That's not a crime, it's a way of life for people like us. I've done it more times than I can count. You just need to put it behind you and move forward, okay?"

"…Okay."

"Are they going to be alright, Hank?" Emma asked as she looked at the two teens lying in the hospital beds.

Beside her was a large man with shaggy blue fur all over his body, he held a clipboard and had a pair of glasses perched on his nose. He slightly resembled a gorilla but was obviously human, "I believe so. I've never seen anything like it. What did Garfield tell you?"

Emma shrugged, "He said that Raven had told him about her healing power. Apparently she draws pain into her own body and then either absorbs it or passes it on to her enemies. She did that to several of the guards at the camp and they all passed out. She must've rid herself of everything then."

"A very good thing. She's pushed to her limit mentally and physically. I'm amazed she doesn't need anything more than rest, fluids and some standard steroids to get her back on her feet."

"And the boy?"

"All I can say is that it is a miracle Raven healed him at all. His metabolism is so heightened that his body had already started fixing itself. That explains why he was in such pain. Raven probably had to tear through newly mended muscle to correct the injury."

Emma shook her head and absently pulled her white hair into a braid. "Charles said that he would be back as soon as possible. We're to start the other children on their training tomorrow; these two will join in once they're able. How soon do you think that will be?"

"For Pietro… probably in a matter of hours he'll be ready to go. Raven I am not so sure about, her. I did the routine physical after she was settled and found some very strange things."

"Such as…?"

"Well for instance if you look at her you would think that she is merely pale because she does not get enough sun. Understandable if her parents tried to hide her from the authorities. But her skin, is in fact, grey. It is naturally that color."

"That's not unusual in mutants though."

"No, and neither are the other things that I discovered but the control she has over her abilities is extrodinary. They differ so greatly and yet she has nearly mastered each of them to the fullest."

Emma looked away from the window to her friend with raised brows, "So what is your conclusion Doctor McCoy?"

"That girl may have the mutant gene but she is not entirely human."