Chapter Two Oriana woke early the next morning and sat up on the bed, stretching. She looked down at the golden, silk nightgown that she had found while shuffling through the dressers in her room. She changed into her tight, silver pants and a gold top with long, flowing sleeves. She brushed out her long hair and left it down. After pulling on her tall silver boots she exited the room. She walked down the hall and past Luna's room. She stopped as she saw that the door was cracked open. Oriana gently rapped on it then entered. "Good morning," she said.
The other woman gave slight smile. "Morning, Oriana."
“Uneventful,” Ori said. “Yours?”
“Restless,” Luna replied. “I guess I’m just not comfortable here. You ever get that feeling you’re being watched?”
“All the time,” Ori joked. “Come on, breakfast time.”
Luna snickered and got out of bed. She was still in her nightgown.
“I’ll be right with you,” she said. “Gotta change.”
Oriana nodded and waved as she walked out the door. Luna turned to the wardrobe and opened it. Inside were exactly the sorts of clothes she wore. The colors even managed to match her odd hair and eye color. She picked out a tight, pink and black tank top and a pair of boot cut jeans. Then, she slipped on her trusty black boots. She and those boots had seen a lot of miles.
“Ready for breakfast?” Logan asked from the door.
Luna jumped. “How long have you been there?” she asked angrily.
“Long enough to see you staring at your boots.”
Luna scowled. “Mind your own business, Badger, or whatever you are.”
Logan almost snarled. “Wolverine.”
“Yeah,” she snapped, walking past him toward the kitchen.
Oriana was waiting by the kitchen door when Luna came up beside her. "Come on, let’s get something to eat and find a place to sit," Luna said going straight into the kitchen.
Oriana blinked, then saw Logan coming down the hall from the same direction that Luna had just come from and grinned. She followed her friend into the kitchen where all the food was. They gathered up some bacon, eggs, and juice. Oriana looked at all the food, then to Luna.
"I've not eaten this much in a long time."
Luna nodded. "Same here," Luna said as they sat down at a table. Luna looked behind her as Logan walked into the room. He looked over to her, and she snapped her head back.
Oriana stifled a laugh by stuffing her mouth with lots of bacon. She looked ridiculous, her cheeks puffed out and a piece of bacon hanging out of her mouth. At that moment Scott walked into the kitchen and over to the table where Luna and Oriana where sitting.
"Good morning, did you both have a nice night..." he trailed off as he looked at Oriana who was desperately trying to chew and swallow the bacon as Luna began to laugh.
Luna was trying to hold it in. Trying so, so hard. But she just had to cackle. Oriana perfectly resembled a ravenous chipmunk with that much food in her mouth. She cackled at the look on Scott’s face and wiped the tears that ran down her cheeks.
“What a way to start your day,” she snickered.
Suddenly, in a bamf of smoke, the blue guy, Kurt, was sitting beside her. She shrieked and looked at him with wide-eyes.
“Sorry,” he said. “Coffee?”
He held out a mug to her, which she took, laughing and blushing at her overreaction to his mutation.
“I didn’t mean to scream,” she said, sipping at the coffee.
“I didn’t mean to sneak up on you,” he said in his thick German accent. “I forget that some people are startled by that.”
She grinned and shook her head. “Some people are startled by me, too. Don’t give it a second thought.”
“Are you two adjusting well?” he asked, glancing at Oriana, who had swallowed her food.
“Yes,” Oriana said. “A warm bed to sleep in and a breakfast buffet are definitely making this place look better and better.”
Luna smiled in agreement. “Where’s the Professor?” she asked.
“In his office,” Scott answered. “Probably getting ready for his first class. Having his morning coffee… Professor stuff.”
Oriana giggled at him, and Luna smirked at her, immediately noting the attraction. Oriana wrinkled her nose as she caught Luna's smirk, then turned back to Scott who was now sitting next to her.
"So, either of you plan on showing us girls around today? This place seems pretty big," Ori said, looking from Scott to Kurt and back to Scott.
Scott looked across the table to Kurt, who nodded. "We would love to show you girls around," Scott said. "When you’re done with breakfast, we’ll get going."
Oriana bit her lip. "Um... I do believe I'm done." She grinned and took a sip of her jucie.
"How about you Luna?"
Luna took one last bite of bacon, much more gracefully then Oriana, and nodded. "Yup, let’s go."
Scott grinned. "Do either of you know how to ride horses?"
Oriana grinned. "I do. Does this place have a stable, too?"
Scott nodded and looked over at Luna. "Do you know how to ride?"
Oriana piped in before Luna could answer. "If you don't, I can teach you. Really it’s not that hard once you get the hang of it."
“I, uh…” Luna hesitated. “I don’t need to learn.”
“You know how to ride?” Oriana asked.
“No,” Luna said softly. “Not exactly.”
“Then what?” she asked.
“I… can be one,” Luna answered.
They all stopped and stared at her.
“It’s my power,” she said, shrugging.
“Turning into horses?” Oriana said, furrowing her brow.
Luna sighed. “Not just horses. Any animal I want.”
“That’s quite a talent,” Kurt said. “I’d like to see it, actually.”
“Any requests?” she asked with a laugh.
“How about… something small,” Scott said. “Like a mouse.”
Luna closed her eyes, heard a gasp or two, then opened her eyes again. She looked up at Oriana, Kurt, and Scott, rearing back on her hind legs and sniffling at them. Oriana bent down and looked closely at her.
“Wow,” she said in Luna-mouse’s face.
Luna closed her eyes again and heard Oriana stumble back. When she looked at the woman again, she was eye level with her.
Oriana blinked. "Okay... That was cool," she said, then laughed. "Shall we go?"
The others nodded, and the four mutants when out to the stables behind the school. Ori picked out a black stallion that had a flowing main and tail. She saddled him in an English saddle and mounted, waiting for Scott and Nightcrawler to get ready. They rode outside, and Luna formed into a black horse with pink stripes.
Oriana grinned. "That is just too cool."
Luna dashed past them and brayed. She heard Oriana laughing and started to buck playfully. Luna did have a slight weakness for showing off. She had no real trouble outrunning the other horses as they galloped along. She stopped and brayed again when she saw Logan walk up to them casually.
“Maybe it’s just me,” he said, looking up at her with a grin, “but I don’t remember us having a pink and black horse.”
Oriana snorted, then bowed her head slightly. She was a human again, crouched on all fours. She raised up and smiled at Logan, tilting her head to the side.
Oriana laughed at the look on Logan and Luna's faces. They both seemed to regard one another in a way that held respect for one another and also some aggravation, but Ori could see a glint of attraction in Luna's eyes. Only a little, but it was still there.
Ori glanced at Scott who was sitting next to her on his horse, then back to Logan. "So, Logan what are you doing out here?"
Logan looked up at her. "I was going to ask the same thing."
"Well, Scott is showing us around, but I asked you first." She cocked a grin.
“The Prof wants to see you, Scott,” Logan said. “Something’s up, apparently.”
“Really?” Luna asked, stepping close enough to him so that she was forced to crane her neck a little. “What might that be?”
Logan was obviously affected by her closeness, and she grinned.
“Classified,” he said with irritation, backing away and walking toward the mansion again.
Luna narrowed her eyes and transformed into a wolf with no real thought. There was an animal in her that wanted to show him up all of a sudden. She sprinted toward Logan and leapt at his back. Before she knew it, he was facing her, snarling with his claws extended. She landed heavily on him, and the two rolled, growling at each other. She was thrown and, luckily, not stabbed.
“What’s the matter with you!?” Logan asked. “I could’ve killed you!”
Luna shook her head and turned a human face in his direction. “But you didn’t.”
“I don’t know what your deal is,” he said, standing and pulling his claws back into his fists, “but you better watch your step. This isn’t a game.”
“Then why won’t you stop with the double talk and the secrets and tell me what it is?” she challenged, getting to her feet again. “You’re acting like some CIA agent. You want me to be apart of this? Then I need to know what this is! I mean, why ‘Wolverine’? That’s not the kind of nickname you carry for kicks. Neither is Cyclops. Or Nightcrawler.”
“You want to know?” he asked. He moved right in front of her, looking down into her upturned, brave face. “Ask the Prof, then.”
He turned from her again and stomped away.
Oriana looked at Scott, who shrugged. "Well, I guess we are going to have find another time to ride," he said.
The others nodded and turned their horses back towards the barn. After they unsaddled the horses and gave them fresh water, the group went back inside the school. Luna and Oriana followed Scott and Nightcrawler towards the Professor’s room. When they got there, Logan was waiting for them.
"You two ain't going in." Logan said gruffly.
"Not unless the Professor wants you," Scott said a little more gently, looking at the girls.
Oriana and Luna huffed and slumped up against the wall as the three guys went in. Luna looked at Logan from the corner of her eye and shook her head. Was it her imagination, or had he gotten some sick satisfaction from telling her she couldn’t be in on their secrets? She was beginning to think that he had done something like this before. Whatever this was, it was definitely not just a school. On the surface that’s what it appeared to be, but there was something beneath the veneer that whispered to her, telling her that she was being lied to.
Scott and Kurt came back out again and nodded to Logan. Luna pushed between them and into the Professor’s office without even a warning.
“Hey!” Scott said irritatedly.
“Listen, Xavy,” Luna said, placing her hands squarely on his desk and looking down at him. “You want me here, then I need to know a few things.”
She sensed Oriana behind her, curiously listening to what the Professor would say.
“What would you like to know?” he asked her.
“For starters?” Luna said, angry at his peacefulness. “What in the hell are you really doing here?”
He looked at her for a long moment, the smiled. “I think you’re both ready. Follow me.”
He angled his motorized wheelchair and steered it toward an elevator. Oriana and Luna followed and looked at the metal, cylindrical walls with awe when the door slid open again.
“It’s a lab,” Luna said.
“Partly,” Xavier said. “This is our underground laboratory and equipment storage.”
“Equipment?” Oriana questioned, following the Professor and Luna into the hall.
Xavier answered her by leading them toward the X-Jet hangar.
“Oh my god,” Luna said, walking alongside the enormous jet. “And you got this in here… how, exactly?”
“Mechanically operated trapdoor disguised as a basketball court,” he said.
“I see,” Oriana said, craning her neck.
“Anything else you’ve failed to mention?” Luna asked, her awe being replaced with annoyance again.
“One thing,” he said, smiling warmly and waving for them to follow him down the hall again.
They reached a rounded door with a large “X” embossed upon it. Xavier paused in front of it as a retinal scan took place and a robot voice welcomed him. When the doors opened, a huge, spherical room was revealed. Xavier wheeled out onto the ramp and turned around, facing the two women that slowly walked inside.
“This is Cerebro,” he said. “It a machine used to amplify my psychic powers so that I may track mutants.”
Luna reached the helmet resting on the pedestal and touched it gingerly. “It’s how you found us?”
“Yes,” he said.
Oriana looked around the huge room, then too Cerebro, then back to Xavier. "So you've been tracking us all this time and just waiting for us to come near your ‘school’?" she asked, and he nodded.
She stared at him for a moment then nodded. "Cool."
The group exited the chamber, and the doors slid shut.
Luna looked towards Xavier again. "So what was the important meeting about that we were not allowed in on?" she asked.
Oriana grinned at her. That was just what she was about to ask.
“While Cerebro is used to track mutants like yourselves, individuals forced into exile that we wish to give aid to,” he began, “it is also a tool used to track our enemies.”
“I see,” Luna said.
“There was a bulletin this morning on the news,” he continued. “I’m not sure if either of you noticed it.”
“I don’t watch the news,” Oriana said simply. “Too depressing.” Luna grinned and nodded, intimating that she was the same.
“There was a man admitted into a mental institution,” Xavier explained. “His name was Dennis Thorbes. He had been pursued for days when he was at last captured by the police. He was a jewel thief and had been targeting only specific amulets on display at very prestigious museums. What made these particular stones differ from any other, I still haven’t ascertained.”
“Wait,” Luna said. “Back up. They put him in a mental institution for robbery?”
“When they found him he was a babbling maniac,” Xavier said. “They could make no sense of what he said, except that it had something to do with the end of the world. He said he was gathering the amulets for the apocalypse.”
“And this guy…” Oriana said hesitantly. “Is a mutant?”
“No,” Xavier said. “But we think he was being controlled by one.”
“What would give you that impression?” Oriana asked.
“When I heard about his admittance, I was immediately curious,” he said. “I used Cerebro to track him, and when I found him, I sensed a lurking presence in his mind. Someone or something was using that man.”
“A psychic?” Luna asked.
“No,” he said. “But someone very powerful.”
Oriana frowned. "So I take it that you don't know who it is?"
Xavier shook his head. "Not as of yet." He looked at the group for a moment, then smiled slightly. "That’s all for now, but if I have any more news, I will let all," he looked at Oriana and Luna pointedly, "know."
When they reached the upper levels again, the men were waiting for them. Oriana and Luna shot condescending smiles to Logan and walked out of the room together. The two women went outside into the gardens and sat down on one of the benches.
Oriana turned the palm of her left hand up and produced an ice ball. She tossed it on the ground and watched as it spread out before her and froze the small area of the ground.
“Nice trick,” Luna said, grinning.
“Look what else I can do,” Oriana said. With her other hand, she produced a ball of fire, and the two watched it glow and spurt in her palm.
“So,” Luna began quietly. “What was it like when you found out you were a mutant?”
She wanted to know since she’d never really met another. She needed to feel like someone understood.
Oriana closed her palm, the fire ball going away in a puff of smoke.
"Well, I did not find out I was a mutant until I was fifteen. A boy was teasing me over my hair color and eye color. I had been teased about that for many years, but I guess it finally got to me. I was really angry and was going to slap him. When I reached out to slap him, a fire ball came out instead and burnt half of his face." Oriana looked up at Luna, "Needless to say that after that people wanted to hunt me out. I ran home and up to my room. The phone rang, and I could hear my mother’s shocked voice below and knew someone was telling her what had happened. I started to pack some of my things when I heard my father. My mom must have told him... Let’s just say when they came up to the room to tell me I was to leave the house, I was already climbing out the window." She laughed lightly. "It was a while before I found that I could produce an ice ball as well."
Oriana produced both the fire and ice in her hands and threw them at one another. She smiled as the fire melted the ice quickly and formed a puddle of water on the ground.
"How about you? When did you find out?" Oriana asked, looking at Luna once again.
“I was always a bit weird,” Luna said with a smile. “I spent most of my childhood outdoors. I would have slept outside if my parents had allowed it. We had acres of woods behind our house. I used to spend entire summers just roaming around, climbing trees and skinning knees. I was a real tomboy. My parents thought it was just a phase. They never thought to question what I did and neither did I. But it seemed that the longer I stayed there, the stranger it felt to go home. Like I didn’t belong in a house, but that I was meant to be out there with the squirrels and the deer. That was my true home.
“I didn’t have many school friends. It was the hair I think.” She pointed to her black and pink hair, and Oriana nodded with understanding. “But I did make one friend when I was about twelve. She came to my house once, and we played in the woods. It was nice to have a human keep me company for once.”
Oriana raised an eyebrow at the way she’d worded that but said nothing.
“I told her a secret I’d never told anyone,” Luna continued, staring out toward two teenaged kids laughing and flinging a Frisbee. “I told her about my powers. I didn’t know they were powers at the time. I thought it was some magic that the forest animals had given me. She didn’t believe me, so I showed her. I turned into a bobcat. I’d never done it in front of a human before. I had no idea I would do… what I did.”
“What?” Oriana asked.
“I attacked her,” Luna said, facing her again. “I tore open her throat. She lived, but to this day she can’t talk. And I’ve been on the run ever since.”
Oriana let out a small whistle. "Oh... wow." She took a deep breath. "It’s not your fault though. You had no idea you were going to do that. I mean, how could you?" Oriana smiled warmly at Luna. "I guess it’s a good thing that we found this place, or rather it found us. It’s nice being around people like us, you know?"
Luna nodded, then her eyes strayed as three people walked out into the yard.
"And a good thing for a few other things that might not be so obvious," Oriana said as she, too, looked and saw Scott. He was with Nightcrawler and Wolverine.
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