Mind Games [A Wolverine/X-Men Fan Fiction] #Wattys2014

Chapter Two: Human or Mutant?

| Chapter Two: Human or Mutant? |

The next day, Leila sat by the window in her room, on the large ledge with her knees tucked close to her body. She enjoyed watching others, she was an observer. It helped her learn and understand before she was able to do anything. There were things she didn't understand, but like the strange bald man that everyone called "Professor", all it takes is time.

Meanwhile, in the Professor's office, Logan had just been called in. Xavier's class was just leaving his room as he heard the roar of a motorcycle engine die down and stop in the front of the school. "You never want to stay here for long. Why not?" the professor questioned as soon as Logan walked in.

"I can't stay in one place, you know that. Especially not here." The man with the strange hair replied. He had on a leather jacket with a fat cigarette in his mouth.

"No smoking in the building," the Professor told him. Logan let out a groan and rolled his eyes as he took it out of his hand and put the fire out in his hand. He felt a bit of pain from the burn, but it immediately began healing and didn't look like anything had ever happened to it; as clear as a newborns'.

He then shoved it in his pocket and then walked further into the room with an annoyed face. Xavier wasn't exactly his most favorite person. He didn't have one, but Xavier was a bit far from the top of his Favorite People list. "What do you want? I have a class soon." The professor chuckled, a bit amused and with a little sarcasm.

"If I hadn't called you, you may have skipped out on it anyway."

Logan rolled his eyes a bit, but stopped. He wanted to at least show some respect for the professor. He closed the door and moved in to lean against the wall. "If you don't have anything to tell me, then I still have a chance to miss out on it."

"No, no. I need to ask you some things about the new student. The one you found in the lower levels. We found out her name is Leila." He said, getting right to it. Logan furrowed his eyes brows a bit before a look of realization dawned upon him.

He scoffed a bit and said, "She talked to you. Huh, she would barely breathe around me. What about her?"

"Do you have any idea how long she was down there?" the professor asked.

"I have no idea, but her scent is still lingering down there, so I think it's been a while."

"I do too. The clothes she wore when I saw her yesterday looked like some of the clothes our students wear. It doesn't seem like any of them noticed they were missing. I'm surprised you didn't find her earlier, Logan. You usually have a knack for finding things the most missed."

"Well, I still found her before anyone else, so I guess I still have that knack." He retorted.

"Calm down, Logan, I'm not attacking you. I just thought you may have noticed her sooner or as soon as she came here, is all."

"Yeah, well I didn't, but she's here now." The professor stayed silent for a while, looking calm, but giving Logan a look.

"You don't seem to be in a good mood today, Logan."

"Yeah, well this place has that effect on me." Xavier debated on whether he should read his mind or not to help out, but decided against it.

"Anyway, I wanted you to take care of the girl personally. Help her learn what to do around here; how the other students act and our rules and such."

"Is she even a mutant?"

"...I'm not sure." The professor looked down a little surprised with himself. He was so out of it yesterday, he didn't take the time to find out if she did or did not have any special talents. He knew better than to just let a human into the institute and stay. Too many dangers were in it.

She was a bit young now, and since her mind was nearly completely blank, she may not even remember what a mutant was. She may not even know the difference between a human and mutants. It's like she was a hermit who lived in the basement since she was born, but Xavier knew it wasn't possible for that to be... at least, he didn't think it to be.

And then if things negative towards mutants start to get in her mind, then she could put every person in the institute in danger. She could give away their location to everyone including Magneto, and Xavier could only imagine the things that would happen...

"Didn't you find out while you were doing your little mind check routine?" Logan asked, bringing the professor back.

"Her mind was mostly blank. I could only get her name. And if she does have powers, with a mind like that, she may not have yet tapped into it yet."

"Since when were mutations mental? They're just things that change physically."

"Logan, you of all people should know better. Telepathy is all about mental capacity. And many mutants, including you, have abilities that are linked to what's in their mind; emotions, per say. When you're angry, don't your claws tend to pop out automatically? Or when a new student is frightened, don't their powers usually come to life?"

"Yeah, you're right... so what do we do? What if it turns out she is human? Then what?"

The professor sighed, not being able to find a solution to the problem. "We could try a memory swipe with all the capable telepaths-"

"No. You and I know that that's not a surefire way to fix that." Logan interjected, knowing the effects of memory swipes. "We should keep her here anyway, it's not like we can leave her anywhere else. Unless you want to leave her at an orphanage doorstep like a newborn baby."

"No, no we can't do that. She trusts me now, I can't just convince her to and then abandon her. Alright, let's keep her. You can go see her now, she's in the room next to Kitty's."

"Why am I always stuck with taking care of kids and all that?" Logan asked as he started towards the door.

"Because nearly everyone here knows the reputation and relationship's you have with most of the children here." The professor answered with a smile.

When the door opened, Leila's head snapped to see who it was. It was the man who had brought her out from her hiding place yesterday and left her with the woman with white hair.

"Logan?" she asked, in almost a whisper, surprising Logan. He had told her his name yesterday in an effort to get her to say something, but he didn't expect her to use it since she was so quiet.

"Yeah." He said slowly as he walked into the room, getting closer to Leila. She still wasn't big on the idea of people she didn't know getting closer to her so she backed away slightly, but tried to hold her ground since it looked like she's be staying a while. "I hear your name's Leila. Nice to know you have a name." Logan replied, sitting on the ledge. He sat further away from her, seeing how uncomfortable she already looked.

She nodded and continued to stare at him. "Do you know anything else about yourself? Your age? Where you came from?" Leila took a moment before shaking her head. "Well, until you start to remember things, I'll basically be your guide to this school. Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah," was all she said as she stared intently at his chest now. She reached her hand out towards Logan who had raised an eyebrow at her action. He was tempted to move away, but also curious to see what she wanted to do.

Leila grabbed his dog chains that he tucked under his shirt, and pulled them out to read. Before Logan could stop her, she read it aloud, "Wolverine?"

"Yep." He said, taking it from her and putting it back in his shirt. "I'm not too sure where I got it from, but it's my code name right now. I-it's part of my past that I don't remember. I don't feel like telling the story right now, not to be mean."

A wide smile appeared on Leila's face, almost making Logan recoil and move away from her. The way the smile was-it seemed a bit demented but also sweet. More on the demented side, to him. She then said the most she had probably said the whole time she was there. "It's okay, you don't have to be sorry. I just..." she looked Logan in the eye with her crazy looking smile.

"I love Wolverine's."