We Are The X-Men

Strategy X

WARNING: Trauma and self-loathing, description of a panic attack.

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A/N: This is a Reader-Insert fanfic, so I'll be using a few abbreviations. Here's a key:

Y/N = Your Name

Y/F/N = Your Full Name

F/C = favorite color

Other Notes: Reader is she/her and I pretty much write out Kurt's accent, replacing w's with v's and th's with z's. If it turns out it's too hard for people to read that way, I'll change it.

Also! Here's a translation for German words Kurt uses:

Ja = Yes

Meine freundin = My friend

Was ist das? = What is that?

Wo sind wir? = Where are we?

Enjoy! :)

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The rumble of the tracks wakes you up, and you glance around the train car. You managed to find an empty one, thank god. Still, the lack of people doesn't make you any less nervous. You've never been away from the Home as long as you can recall, and now you're being sent off to stay at some fancy school?

You shiver, never having liked school.

'What is it called again?' You wonder, pulling out the piece of paper from your pocket. Matron Mary's handwriting scrawls out:

Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, Bayville, New York.

Gifted. You shake your head, feeling slightly sick thinking about it. Nothing about you is gifted. All you are is a menace, a freak, a nobody. Certainly nobody who deserves to go to this school.

That sick feeling is gradually overshadowed by annoyance. Your fingers crumple the paper, tearing it slightly. You can't help it. 'Not again... Why do I feel like this?'

"Ahem."

'Oh. That's why.'

You turn in surprise to see a lady with a drink cart, looking down at you. She must have been standing there for a minute as you were lost in thought. "I said, what would you like to drink?"

"I.... um, I...." You can hear her foot tapping impatiently against the carpet. The soft beating builds and builds inside you, and you can't block it out.

"Well?"

"Nothing! Leave me alone!"

You snap at her without meaning to. The lady just gives you a forced smile and continues on to the next car. You can feel her irritation jabbing at you. It's so sharp that you inadvertently bang your fist against the table.

Slowly, the feeling subsides and you're left alone with your guilt and a sore fist. Looking out the window at the passing view, your heart sinks. This Professor Xavier has made a mistake. Once he meets you, he will surely change his mind and send you back. But then, Matron Mary doesn't want you either, so maybe you won't be able to go back.

'You don't belong anywhere.' You think to yourself, 'So don't get your hopes up.'

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The crowd goes wild as the high school quarterback makes a touchdown just as he's getting tackled. It's the heroic kind of move that makes Duncan Matthews the king of Bayville High. Lost in the stands, however, there's a boy who isn't as eager to cheer for the star athlete. The teenager in the deep red sunglasses frowns down at the quarterback, who's now getting photographed and helped up by a tall, beautiful, redheaded girl. To anyone else, these high school sweethearts might seem cute. To Scott, not so much. Scott Summers flips a quarter between his fingers as he recounts all the times the same football star has harassed him or some other poor student in the halls of Bayville High. Yet somehow he has the most amazing, talented girlfriend in existence.