When Lara's eyes opened she noticed through her blurred vision that she was in a white room, one that was very brightly lit. A jolt of panic rushed through her as her hands searched for her glasses. The bed she was laid in donned a ridiculously plush comforter and she found herself getting tangled in the foreign material in her desperate search.

Long fingers reached out in front of her gaze, her glasses in their grasp. She quickly grabbed them and slid the square frames up the bridge of her nose. As her world came into view, Lara saw a young man standing before her with a gentle smile gracing his features. He sat down on the edge of the bed, the action done cautiously as though he was trying not to scare away a skittish animal. She did not recognize this man nor the room in which she was in, though neither was what startled her the most.

"Why can't I feel you?" she whispered, confusion laced in her words. She always felt every person's emotions, without fail, no exceptions. But right now Lara didn't even feel a hint of any emotion other than her own. Was something wrong with him? Was something wrong with her?

Nothing is wrong with you, Lara.

The words appeared in her mind, a whisper flittering through her thoughts. The disembodied voice made her jump in surprise, though it was somehow also soothing and she felt her nerves calm. The man in front of her smiled again, a bright twinkle in his blue eyes. Something in her mind clicked.

"You're a telepath," she guessed and was rewarded with an even wider smile.

"Yes, very good Lara!" the same voice praised, now coming from the man's moving lips.

"You know my name, may I know yours as well?" She thought it was only fair. After all, he probably knew more about her than she cared for him to at this point.

"Right, of course! My name is Charles Xavier," he offered pleasantly, embarrassed by his lack of manners. He had meant to introduce himself right away, but found himself continually distracted by her eyes: one was jade, just like her twin's, and the other was a stunning aquamarine. He wondered idly if they were a result of her mutation.

Lara, on the other hand, felt increasingly uncomfortable under his gaze, not unaware that he was staring.

"It's Heterochromia," she explained when she realized what he was staring at. "I was born with it, while my powers didn't show until I was twelve, so I assume they are not related."

"Are you sure you're not the telepath?" he joked with a chuckle. A small giggle escaped her lips.

"It's not the first time someone has looked at my eyes that way. It wasn't hard to make the leap." Lara realized then that her question from before had gone unanswered and her features pulled into a small frown. "You never answered me." Charles sighed.

"I am blocking myself from your empathy. We," he began before sighing again, heavily this time. She gave him an expectant look, urging him to continue. "We felt it would be best after what happened in your apartment."

Panic shot through her as she suddenly remembered flashes of the events of which he spoke. It was fragmented, but she clearly remembered a lot of screaming and not all of it was hers.

"Oh god," she choked out, now beginning to hyperventilate. "I hurt you, didn't I?" Suddenly feeling as though the strange sheets were confining her, Lara jumped out of the bed and began to frantically pace the floor. Her hands gripped her hair in an attempt to ground herself. She felt soft hands gently grab her arms and turn her around.

"Breathe, my dear. I am completely fine," Charles assured, keeping his voice low. Her mismatched eyes searched his blue ones, trying to discern whether or not he was lying to her. "Your sister created an illusion on both of us, blocking out all our senses. It stopped the onslaught. It was quite brilliant, really."

"Kira!" Lara exclaimed, suddenly ripped back into reality: the reality that she had no idea where she was or if her sister was nearby. She pulled herself away from Charles, searching the room for something to quell her growing uncertainty.

"She is here as well, with the others."

"The others?" She asked, eyebrows knitting in confusion. Charles simply smiled.

"We are at a secret CIA facility where there exists a division of fellow mutants. Your sister is safely with them on the other side of the base." Lara let out a disbelieving snort.

"Kira agreed to be brought to a government facility?"

"Yes, for a simple reason: I can help you learn control." Lara's gaze, which previously had been wandering the room, snapped immediately to meet Charles' eyes.

"What?" she whispered, voice breaking, not wanting to get her hopes up.

"We are not so different, you and I. I can hear thoughts, and even when I am not trying I can still hear whispers. Sometimes it overwhelms my mind, just like others' emotions overwhelm you. I can help. You won't have to suffer anymore."

A lone tear dripped from Lara's long eyelashes and a bright smile appeared on her face for the first time in a very long time.

"Teach me. Please."


Across the facility Kira sat on a couch with a group of other people around her age. She felt mildly uncomfortable in the presence of so many other people; she lived a rather isolated life up until now, the only company she ever kept was that of her sister. After all, her twin had always been the only other person to ever understand her.

Now she hadn't seen her sister in over 24 hours and there were five others in this room who had abilities, just like her; she didn't know what to make of it.

"We should think of code names!" the pretty blonde girl-Raven was her name, Kira recalled- sitting next to her suddenly exclaimed, silencing the rest of the voices. Everyone looked at her with differing levels of piqued interest. "We're government agents now; we should have secret code names." She paused for effect. "I want to be called Mystique," Raven declared, looking quite proud of herself. Kira figured this wasn't the first time the girl had thought about this.

"Damn!" the redheaded boy sitting across from them, Sean, exclaimed, a goofy pout on his face. "I wanted to be called Mystique." Kira couldn't help but chuckle at his antics.

"Well tough! I called it!" A ripple of blue passed over the blonde's skin and all of a sudden a second Sean stood in her place. Kira jumped in surprise.

"Holy shit!" Kira jerked, startled at the sudden display, as Darwin, the dark skinned man across the room let out a "Woah!"

"And I'm way more mysterious than you," the Sean next to Kira drawled out, wiggling his eyebrows before changing back into Raven.

"That's brilliant," Kira admitted, grudgingly impressed by the other girl. Raven flashed a brilliant smile at her in response.

"Darwin, what about you?" Raven asked, prompting the man in question to stand, explaining that 'Darwin' was already a nickname.

"Check this out," he smirked, strutting over to the fish tank against the wall. He shoved his entire head under the water and large gills appeared on the sides of his face. Everyone cheered and Kira nodded her head in silent appreciation.

"What about you?" he asked, pointing at Sean. The boy clasped his hands together and donned a contemplative face.

"I'm gonna be...Banshee." Kira quirked an eyebrow curiously.

"Why do you want to be named after a wailing spirit?" the nerdy guy on the other side of Raven asked. Kira couldn't remember his name...something with an H.

Sean instructed everyone to cover their ears and Kira immediately shoved her pointer fingers in hers. The boy bent down, his face level to the coffee table placed between the two couches. He sucked in a deep breath of air, turning his face to wink at Kira, before letting out a high pitched whistle. His aim apparently wasn't very good, as he missed the glasses atop the coffee table and instead shattered the sole large window in the room.

Everyone laughed but Kira laughed the loudest, clapping loudly at the accidental destruction of government property.

The pretty dark haired girl sitting on the other couch was apparently up next, declaring that her stage name was 'Angel'. Kira automatically felt a kinship towards the girl; they both clearly knew what it was like to need to resort to unsavory methods of making enough money to survive. The girl took off her leather jacket and Kira noticed the intricate tattoos decorating her shoulders and back. She gazed at them in appreciation: Kira herself had several tattoos, after all.

The 'tattoos' suddenly pried away from her tanned skin and became beautiful insect-like wings. They fluttered quickly and Kira let out a low whistle. As a little girl she had always wanted to fly and she imagined her younger self would have been infinitely jealous. Angel turned and spit some kind of acidic liquid out of her mouth, which shot out the window and landed on a statue, melting the top of it.

"I'm turned on and disgusted," Darwin quipped, prompting Kira to roll her eyes.

"What's your name?" Angel asked the boy with glasses-Hank! That was his name!- whilst putting her jacket back on. Hank looked sheepish at the question, clearly uncomfortable under everyone's expectant gaze.

"How about Bigfoot?" the blonde kid, Alex, who had been quiet thus far suggested. He looked pretty smug at his dig and chuckled before taking a sip from his drink.

"Well you know what they say about guys with big feet. And, uh, yours are kind of small," Raven sassed, causing Alex to sneer at her. Kira let out a loud laugh and pat the girl on the back.

After everyone's snickers died down, people began asking Alex what his gift was. He scratched his head in response, stuttering out that he couldn't do it there. In response everyone insisted he go outside and show them, cheering him on when he looked hesitant at the idea.

Once everyone started chanting his name Alex acquiesced and walked outside, standing in front of the statue Angel had burned just a few minutes before. The rest of the young mutants stood behind the wall, peering around the corner of it so they could see his display.

"Get back!" he yelled, gesturing with his arm for them to hide behind the wall. Initially they did so, but curiosity got the best of Kira and she peeked her head around the corner again. Everyone else followed her lead.

"Get back!" he yelled again, annoyance in his tone. No one budged and he mumbled 'whatever' under his breath. Wanting a better view, Kira stepped into the middle of the opening where the window once was, standing boldly out in the open.

"What the hell are you doing?" Alex shouted at her. "Get the fuck back or you're going to get hurt!" She could tell she was pushing the limits of his patience, but didn't move a muscle except to raise her eyebrows in defiance, as if to say she wasn't scared. He shook his head in frustration, but turned his attention back to the statue in front of him.

He began moving his body in a circling motion and red rings of energy formed around him. His motions grew faster until he threw the energy rings, effectively cutting the statue in half and setting it on fire. A stray ring of energy zipped towards Kira, hitting the ground right in front of her feet. She didn't so much as flinch.

"You got a death wish?!" Alex yelled at her, eyes blazing furiously. Everyone else had jumped back when it happened and now looked apprehensive towards the two. Kira simply shrugged returning back to her seat on the couch as though nothing happened. "Hey!" he shouted at her again, approaching her with fists clenched. She turned her gaze to meet his eyes, her jade ones sporting a bored look. "What is wrong with you?"

"You don't scare me," she said simply, and the truth was that he really didn't. Nothing really scared her in this life other than her sister's suffering. Kira figured she would be okay standing in the open-which she was- but if he had hurt her accidentally, well, perhaps she deserved it.

Something sparked in his eyes and she recognized it, having seen it looking back at her in the mirror many times. He was so furious because he had hurt someone before. Her eyes softened as she felt the guilt creep in, mumbling a quiet apology as she cast her gaze down to her lap.

"What about you, Kira? What can you do?" Raven asked her, breaking the incredibly awkward silence that hung in the room.

"Prepare to be amazed," Kira declared dramatically, rubbing her hands together and she stood up from her seat. She held her hands out in front of her, arms bent, and squinted her eyes in concentration. She conjured a raven to appear in the air, making it flutter over and land atop the blonde's head. The girl squealed in delight. Kira smirked, focusing her attention on Angel. She willed two giant white wings and a halo to appear on the girl, who rolled her eyes playfully in response. Last, she closed her eyes and focused all her power on herself. A chorus of gasps filled her ears and she opened her eyes to shocked faces.

"You disappeared!" Raven said, eyes wide.

"Nope, still right here," Kira assured, keeping up her illusion of being invisible.

"How?" Hank asked, not sure what exactly her powers were. Kira let the illusion fall and took a bow when everyone-minus Alex, who was still pissed at her- applauded.

"Charles calls it 'illusion manipulation,'" she explained. "Basically I can make you all see, hear, feel, etc. whatever I want by creating illusions."

"I got it!" Raven exclaimed, standing up and clapping her hands together in excitement. "Sorceress."

"Sorceress," Kira drawled out, testing the name on her tongue. Her lips pulled up into a pleased smirk. "I like it."