xfactors | Introduction to the School

Introduction to the School

1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, Westchester County, NY. Also known as Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters.

It was the site of hope for dozens of students built upon the bones of a lonely childhood. Two times the school had been opened. The first attempt had been destroyed by the war and by the patriotism (or recruitment) of students and teachers who felt they were doing what was right. The second attempt would prove to be more successful, run by a headmaster who had regained his own hope.

The school, the home, was no longer a place of loneliness. Instead, there were children almost always on the move, fluttering down from the top floor, walking through walls, or just appearing with a loud Bamf. There were darker things at the school, of course. Nightmares that could boil the walls of a room if left unchecked and homesickness, sometimes for homes that had rejected them. But there were also adults who mentored these children. Pain and heartache may have still been in the house, but so too were companionship and support.

It was an air that the teachers deliberately tried to invoke since many of them hadn’t had it in their own childhoods. They’d had to hide or were hidden or were even persecuted just for being who they were. It was the teachers who had all decided that they would try to make the lives of the children easier than their own.

But that didn’t come without a cost. There were layers beneath the school, layers where some of the students were trained to protect themselves and others and to fight. The world might have seen mutants in a different light after Mystique’s rescue ten years ago, but they’d also seen what Magneto could do. Mutants might have finally been in the light, but they still weren’t always safe and that was where the X-Men came in. Hoping for a better future, but also preparing for a worse one.

And that was really what Xavier’s was: a refuge and a place to forge the next generation of mutants, ones who wouldn’t have to live in the darkness their forefathers had. And it was up to their teachers to make sure they were ready for that future.

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She had to be optimistic, so she offered him a smile. "Well, I'm older than I look and younger than I should be, so maybe I will." She didn't put a lot of hope in it. The best she could hope for, she thought, was a truce. And that was with the public as a whole. She wasn't going to sugarcoat it for these kids like Charles would but neither would she tell them a stark future that would only leave them without hope. She might talk that way to Charles, but the kids deserved better.

She stirred the cocoa into the milk and carefully poured out two cups, offering him one and turning off the heat before pouring herself out the other.

"So is there a reason you can't sleep?"

"None of us know that. Well, except for Charles. He was always a professor, even when he was young." That didn't mean she was leaving. It didn't mean that she wasn't the making the decision to try to be a part of something again. Being alone wasn't healthy for anyone, especially him. She'd seen what he was like when he was alone. But she could see that he'd already made up his mind. She wouldn't ask him to stay, no matter how much she wanted to.

"Then I suppose we'll see you when you get back." We, not her. She wasn't sure she had a place in his life anymore.

He hadn't been ridiculously convinced by her statement, but Kurt smiled and nodded his head in agreement anyway; it wasn't that he didn't believe they would be able to do as he'd said, yet there was always this tiny voice in the back of his head, niggling away at his optimism. For now, it felt best to simply carry on with the conversation as smoothly as possible.

Reaching to take the offered cup, the blue boy clasped it between his hands and brought it close to his chest to inhale the sweet aroma. He brought the beverage up to blow away the steam, taking a tentative sip so as not to burn his mouth. "Nightmares," he murmured around the rim of the mug, honey-tinted irises flashing with anxiety at his own blunt response.

"... what about you?"

"Now I have a chance to figure it out." In a way that he never really had before. He had followed along in the direction that life and his choices took him, but now he's got a new direction to find. One that he wants to find on his own instead of doing what others expect of him.

There's more, too, and he feels like he owes her at least that much of an explanation. "There's a house in Poland that was occupied by people who were pretending to be no different from any of their neighbors." He was the one who had had to pretend the most, of course, but Magda had had to do plenty of pretending of her own, acting like she wasn't married to an international fugitive, and they're all lucky that Nina hadn't lost control of her powers in sight of others sooner than she had.

"They were more than victims of an unfortunate circumstance, and they deserve to have someone remember that. I can't let strangers dig through that house." He needs to rescue what's left of Magda and Nina, even of Henryk, before it's misinterpreted or turned into something garish and cheap.

"I heard," Raven said quietly. "That's why Charles started looking for you." She'd heard that he had a family. Or rather, every now and again, people who knew that she'd been involved with Erik saw fit to pass information onto her. No matter how hard he'd wanted to hide, there were some people who kept track of that information.

She sighed. Much as she might want to argue against Erik leaving, much as she might want to persuade him to stay, how could she object to what he was saying? If she'd somehow lost Charles, wouldn't she want to have some hint of him to remember him by? Wouldn't she object to having his home looted?

"I hope you find what you're looking for." Whatever that might be.

"I'm not used to staying in one place," she admitted, blowing at her own cup softly. "Especially not here. This used to be...home." Well, not quite. As she'd told Charles, this had never been her home. But he had. He'd made this place seem like more than another lie. She was almost glad that this place looked so different than it used to. There weren't nearly as many places she could walk into and be thrust into the past.

"And I'm used to keeping my own hours. Being on this kind of a strict schedule isn't something I've done for a while.

What she didn't say is that she liked having a little bit of time to herself. She always felt surrounded when the kids were awake. It wasn't their fault, really, but there were times when she needed a breather.

"Because of them?" He'd been too though, in that regard. By the time he'd found Erik, there had been nothing left to find.

"I hope I do too." He knows what Charles would say. He's looking in all the wrong places, he won't find it until he's least expecting to, he can't find what he's looking for if he doesn't know what he's looking for. But Charles knows nothing. He's been alone most of his life; it's a hard habit to break.

"It helps, knowing that I have somewhere I can come back to when I want to." When. At this point, he pretty much figures he'll be back here at some point.

"Because I found out what happened."

And she couldn't think of anything more to say. She wanted him to stay, but he had his reasons to go and she couldn't even argue them. She was just afraid that once he left, he'd decide to stay gone. Not that she could blame him for that either.

She took a deep breath. She just had to stay detached. He was a part of her past and, realistically, a year was nothing. A drop in the bucket of the entirety of her life, never mind that it was a drop of color in a clear pool.

"I should probably head back to bed."

"You did?" Somehow that doesn't surprise him. Charles had known about it, tried to pretend that he understood it, so obviously he had known about it too. Whoever had found out first had passed that information along to others.

"I'll see you tomorrow." The 'before I leave' is left unsaid. She knows what's happening, and if she's not going to believe him when he says he'll be back, then there's nothing he can do about that.

"I'm assuming you wander a lot, then." He takes another sip, lowering the cup to continue and before he can stop himself: "If this isn't home, what is it to you now?" As soon as it comes out, Kurt wants to take it back, but it's a bit late for that now. Honestly, he's not trying to pry - he only wants to understand why she can't call this place 'home.'

"You don't necessarily have to follow that rule, though. Being a teacher gives you more leniency."

Raven's not the only one that feels suffocated at times. He won't say anything about it, but having a room with a window that opens gives him easy access to climb out and scale his way to the roof, where it's far more quiet.

Apparently, her interest in him was well-known in certain circles. She wasn't sure what she'd done to cause that association. She hadn't directly expressed interest in him in the last ten year. But still she'd found out and, once she'd known, she hadn't been able to simply stand by and do nothing.

"Tomorrow," she replied. She wasn't sure whether she'd see him off or whether she'd be conveniently distracted by the children. It would depend on whether she'd be able to bear seeing him leave, knowing that it could very well be years if ever before she saw him again.

"Raven." He doesn't know how to say what he wants to say. He doesn't even know what he wants to say. There's so much between them, and he wishes that things had turned out differently twenty years ago, and their paths hadn't diverged so completely. The thoughts of her and of Charles are what had convinced him that the world was worth saving. When he returns to this place, it will be for them.

"I will miss you." It's the best thing he can think of to say, and it's rare enough for him even to admit that much.

"You may have helped, but I did most of the actual destroying. Yet here I am." Charles and his new crop of students are incredibly forgiving, as Warren is discovering. Erik's not sure he deserves that forgiveness, but there is it.

"You've seen what the X-men can do. There are worse groups to be part of." Though he doesn't really feel much like elaborating on how he knows that.

"It will certainly be drier if you bring it inside."

She glanced away for a moment, trying not to see the ghost of herself meeting Charles for the first time. Trying not to see the first time she'd ever defied him, really took him to task. It was a reminder of the past. Even if things weren't the same, the ghosts remained.

She shook her head and looked back at Kurt.

"Hope for the future." That's what she wanted to believe. Isn't that what any parent wanted for their children? They wanted them to be better than they'd been. They wanted a better world than the one they'd been forced to inhabit.

She smiled at him. "And maybe I'm a teacher and don't have to follow the rules, but I still have to keep the same hours as the rest of you. Longer, in some cases. I can only be awake late nights for so long." At least she was used to long nights and little sleep.

"Well, I can't disagree with that." Warren offers the older mutant another slight smile and pushes away from the office door, dragging his already raised hand down the back of his neck and around to scrub over his face.

"At least they seem like a somewhat sensible group." Stable, which is something that he needs in his life right now.

He turns on his heel and starts down the hallway toward the foyer, pausing mid-step to turn and glance over his shoulder at Erik with a silent, 'You coming?'

He swallows hard around another mouthful of hot chocolate, ignoring the slight burn on his tongue for favor of keeping his attention focused on Raven. Had his question been out of line or was it simply that she didn't know what to call the institute anymore? Either way, the fact she wasn't looking at him was making him more and more anxious by the second.

But she does turn back.

Kurt breathes a sigh of relief, smiles then shuts his eyes and nods his head in agreement. "We can hope and pray all we want, but we all must put forth some actual effort if we want to see things actually change." Optimism, with a side of realism, for once.

"True, ja. I know it's none of my business, but how often do you struggle with getting to sleep? It could have something to do with stress or ... maybe not. It might be something different altogether."

Raven hid her smile. There was something about him... Well, no. Not something. She knew exactly what it was that was so appealing in him. But that was a part of her life she'd put behind her. He was family, but in the way that all of the students at the school were part of her family. In the way that Charles and Erik and Hank were family. People she cared about, people she'd die to protect, but not ones who expected her to stay put. Not ones who expected her to do all the things typical families did.

"This? This isn't stressful. It's the opposite of stressful." Boring might be the word. What she'd set out to do here was important, but some days it felt like she was running in place. Maybe strolling in place. And this after she'd been used to sprinting.

But then, it was possible he hadn't been talking about her.

"Do you think you have something to be worried about here?"

He might as well. It's not like he's going to sleep anyway. He has become the sort of night watchman over the school while everyone else is asleep. Probably a good thing for Warren; someone else might not have been able to convince him to come inside.

"They can be sensible. Under the correct conditions." Most of the time. Pretty much they just follow Charles' lead, so the trouble comes when Charles and Erik disagree on something.

Those wild eyes blink curiously, his head tipping to the side in the same manner. He's not sure why she's hiding her smile, but it's kind of endearing, like she's pretending she has to be tough around him all the time; it makes his own grin widen, a laugh following soon after at her observation.

"No, it's definitely not stressful at all." Which is comforting for him, considering how he'd been living his life before coming to Xavier's. He'll take 'boring' over 'fight club' any day, though, to be fair, he doesn't know many people that wouldn't choose the former option.

There's only a few things he worries about nowadays and one of them can be easily kept under wraps. The other one - the nightmares - are less subtle when you have to live with a roommate and in a mansion full of other mutants, some of whom are telepaths.

"Not at all," he answers, probably a little too quickly, but he's hoping it won't be glaringly obvious.

"What kinda conditions?" he asks, being sure to keep the conversation going as he begins to lead them back toward the foyer. Metal on metal resonates from the appendages at his back, the scraping not unlike a blade across a whetstone; he's nervous about all of this. The fact he'd been so easily accepted into the school felt ... wrong in a way.

After a quick shake of the head, Warren straightens and picks up the pace of his stride, hurrying to get outside so he can return to the roof for his things. Erik should have no trouble keeping up.

"Most of them are teenagers, but they can be sensible when they're not under duress." Like any other person, really. When someone's life is threatened, they tend to lose more control of themselves.

Erik keeps up easily. "There are worse groups to be a part of."

"Most people have less knee-jerk reactions when they don't have to worry about when their next meal is gonna be or if that guy might knife them for being a mutant." That might have been a far deeper peek into his thoughts than he would've liked.

Good, because Warren's pace increases marginally after that slip-up, one of his arms raising to elbow the foyer door open so he can get outside.. "Heh, like the one before?"

Raven closed her eyes for a moment. She'd never been made to be a parent. Now Charles, here he was practically raising an entire school full of children. She was the one who was turning them into soldiers. But how could she sit by and watch a child - this child - be worried about his safety.

"Let's see if I've got this right," she said quietly, opening her eyes and fixing him with a steady gaze. "You can't sleep or you're not sleeping because you have nightmares. You say this place isn't stressful, but you're also not saying very loudly that whatever the nightmares are have something to do with worrying about something. Something here."

Not that she could really blame him. She'd brought him here and one of the first things that had happened was the entire thing had blown up. If that wasn't something to set young minds to have nightmares, she wasn't sure what was. But if that was the only thing on his mind, half of the school would be down here with him.

"What else am I missing?"

She doubted anyone would be able to say she had a maternal bone in her body, but this was as close as she was able to get.

"Then it's a good thing that they don't have to worry about those things, isn't it?" Certainly not here, where they're all mutants, but even in Westchester, the town seems to have accepted the mutants' presence here, even after the recent events in which the world nearly ended (and he knows there's a reason that Charles, and Moira too, only ever mentioned his role in helping to save the world, and not his role in helping to end it).

"Definitely not one of my better decisions." He knows that now, although he didn't care to hear it at the time.

It's close enough to maternal instincts, apparently.

Kurt holds his breath, turns away then shuts his eyes and wilts, shoulders slumping beneath the weight of what he's been hoping hasn't been obvious. Regardless, though, he figures he's got no reason to continue acting as if he's completely unconcerned by what could happen, even with the removal of Apocalypse.

"The fight club," he admits abruptly, thunking the bottom of his cup down onto the counter a bit harder than he intends. "It's ... it's the fight club that I keep having nightmares about."

And for once, the boy suddenly feels far younger than he ever has, slumping over the counter onto his elbows, face clutched in his hands. "What if there are more of them? We can't just let other mutants be treated that way." He raises his head and meets Raven's gaze with a bleary stare, fingers curling against his mouth. "... nobody deserves to suffer like that."

Case in point, little Blue here, but he'd never say his own name; he's nowhere near that vain and there might be the tiniest part of him that believes he deserved it for allowing himself to be caught.

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Introduction to the School

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