Disclaimer: X-Men are owned by Marvel. I do not own X-Men or anything associated with it.

A/N: This takes place a month after the end of the second movie.

Fifteen year old Danielle lay in bed, staring at the ceiling as she did most nights. It had been two years since she'd had a full night's sleep, but she didn't care. She was afraid of what would happen if she closed her eyes for too long. If she let her guard down.

A motorcycle roared down the street. It seemed to stop abruptly. Curious, Danielle slipped out of bed and looked out the window. She saw a man with brown hair pull off his helmet. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, then looked around. Danielle guessed that the piece of had an address on it.

She was startled when his eyes settled on her house. Can he see me through the window? He started walking towards her window, and she ducked down.

"Hey, hey you," he said roughly. "I can see you, you know."

She stood up again. "Who are you?"

"My name's Logan. I'm looking for a girl named Danielle. Is that you?"

"Why are you looking for Danielle?" She asked, answering his question with a question.

"I was sent by a man named Xavier. He runs the school your friend Kitty goes to." Evidently he was assuming that she was indeed Danielle.

"Kitty?" Danielle smiled slightly. So she did what she promised. She's getting me out of here.

"So you know why I'm here now?" Logan asked impatiently.

"Yep. Hold on, I'm already packed."

A few minutes later she came out the front door carrying a large backpack, a guitar and a skateboard. She had thrown on a dark sweatshirt and a pair of jeans.

"Put this on," Logan ordered, throwing her a helmet. "And hold on tight, this thing goes fast."

The ride to the school only took about an hour and a half, even though they had been in Illinois and the school was in New York.

"So what Kitty said to the professor was accurate," Logan said to Danielle after the extremely short trip. "You have some interesting powers."

"Only when it's dark."

"Come on inside and meet everyone."

"Logan?" Ororo Munroe looked up from the book she had been reading. "We weren't expecting you back until tomorrow."

"I have her to thank for that," he said, jerking his thumb in Danielle's direction.

"Oh. Hello," Ororo stood. "My name is Ororo. I'm one of the professors here."

"Hi." Danielle didn't say much, but she looked Ororo right in the eyes, which was unusual. Most teenage mutants were shy and hated to look people in the eye. It was encouraging to see Danielle so bold.

"Why don't I take you to see Professor Xavier." Ororo said with a smile. "I'll also call Kitty, okay?"

Danielle smiled when she heard her friend's name. "Sounds good."

They went up a flight of stairs and started walking down a long corridor. Danielle noticed a door ajar. Inside, a man wearing ruby-red sunglasses sat on a bed, staring at a picture of someone Danielle could not clearly see.

Ororo knocked on a door. "Kitty? Come out here a second?"

"Coming!" Kitty Pryde opened the door. When she saw Danielle, she grinned. "You're here!" She gave her friend a tight hug. "It's been so long!"

"Way too long." Danielle said with a grin of her own. "Thanks Kitty."

"You know I'd do anything for you."

"We're going to see the Professor," Ororo interjected. "Would you like to come along?"

"Of course!" She grabbed her friend's hand and squeezed it. "The Professor is a wonderful man. He'll be able to help."

"I hope so." Danielle said uncertainly.

Ororo took them to a plush office with a breath-taking view of the school grounds. Even in the dark of night, Danielle saw everything.

"Ah, Danielle." The professor greeted her with his hand out. "A pleasure to finally have you here."

"Thank you," she said. "I'm glad to be here."

"Lovely. Let's get right to it then. As Kitty has told you, this is a school for teenagers with special gifts. Here we teach you to control your gifts. We also educate you as normal prep schools would. We provide you with a sanctuary."

"Okay. Sounds easy enough."

"You stay in dorm rooms with other students," he continued. "When you graduate, you can stay on and teach other children like yourself, or reenter the world as an educated young woman. There is also the 'offensive' side of this school. We adults work to protect humans from other mutants called the Brotherhood. They want to start a war, and we are here to prevent it."

Danielle nodded but didn't say anything.

"Now, it's late. Ororo will show you to your room."

"All right." Danielle followed Ororo. They reached Kitty's dorm first.

"Mine's full," Kitty said sadly.

"We'll have her stay with Rogue."

"Rogue? Oh, you'll like Rogue." Kitty smiled reassuringly.

Ororo brought her to another dorm room and knocked on the door. "Rogue?"

"Hmm?" A pretty young girl opened the door. A boy was standing behind her.

"Bobby, you know you're not supposed to be in her room after nine."

"It's after nine?" He asked innocently.

"It's midnight, Bobby." Danielle said. Ororo looked at her, surprised she was speaking to this boy.

"D-Danielle?" Bobby looked at her. "What are you doing here?"

"You two know each other?" Ororo asked. Rogue looked confused.

"We're cousins." Danielle said. "It's been years since we've seen each other, hasn't it?"

"Seven, if I remember correctly," Bobby said. "But it's easy to recognize you with those purple eyes of yours."

"Uh-huh."

"Well this unexpected," Ororo said. "But Bobby should be in his room."

"Sorry Professor." Bobby said. "See you later Rogue. Danielle, we have some catching up to do."

"A hell of a lot," Danielle said.

Bobby left the room and Ororo introduced Danielle to Rogue. Danielle reverted back to a quiet girl who stared people in the eye.

Ororo left. "It's kind of awkward the first few days," Rogue said. "But I think you'll like it here."

"I hope so," Danielle said as she dropped her stuff in a corner and picked a bed. "Why is this dorm so empty?"

"I only came a few months ago and they still haven't found many more students."

"Oh."

"Well, I'm going to go to sleep. I'll show you around tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks."

Rogue slipped into bed and turned off the lights, but Danielle stayed awake. She changed into a short nightgown and stared out the window. I still can't close my eyes.