Chapter One
It was a sunny day at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Students roamed the grounds freely, conversing amongst themselves about their studies, plans for the day, and the usual teenage gossip. Taryn Hughes, the school’s newest student, made her way up the driveway, stopping at the front gates. She paused for a second, reading the sign indicating she was at the right place, before continuing to make her way toward the castle-looking mansion.
Taryn had come a long way to get here, and she was just 18 years old. She was raised like any other kid in the suburbs of New York. Everything was going great, until one day when she was 8 years old. That was when her mutations manifested. Anytime she felt any strong emotions, the things around her would begin to levitate, and would often go flying. She also started hearing voices in her head, and it scared her even more. Her parents taught her to control her powers, but for her safety, kept her mostly isolated. They feared what other people would think, but mostly feared what she could do to them…
One day, when she was around 12, she found an old video of Magneto in D.C. He, along with Mystique, was fighting for the rights of mutants. They weren’t ashamed of who they were, or what they could do… She decided she wasn’t going to hide her powers anymore, and began practicing them more and more, until she developed exceptional control over them- at least, the telekinesis. When she made objects float, she no longer feared that they’d shoot toward someone, and she even began to have fun with it. She could read thoughts, and even influence them sometimes. She was excited to show her parents all that she could do, but when they realised she would never agree to stop using them, they kicked her out at just 15 years old. She drifted from place to place, often with fellow mutants. On occasion, she would end up making money by fighting in places not unlike the fighting rings Wolverine was often in. She’d physically fight people twice her size, but would discreetly use her telekinesis to give her punches extra force. Word got around the mutant community about the school, and eventually she found her way there…
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Inside the school, Hope Dayspring sat in her dorm working on an assignment for her psionic principles class. She was deep in focus on her work, when she heard a voice in her head.
“Hope?” The voice said. Hope’s iris began glowing a deep red as she responded.
“Xavier? Isn't breaking into the mind of students like illegal or something, not to mention creepy.” She said as she continued to write, with the urge to completely ignore Xavier due to the fact she didn't like people being in her head. Ironic, huh?
“I apologize, but if it makes you feel any better your mental defenses are quite impressive. But there's a new student who's arrived, as I’m sure you noticed, and I want you to show her around.”
Hope rolled her eyes and put her pencil down as she sat back in her chair. “Yeah, I'm a telepath too- I noticed, but why can't Emma do it or literally anyone else.” She complained.
“Hope...please.” Xavier said sincerely she smacked her lips and grabbed her things getting up from her seat in the study hall before walking out of the room.
“Fine.”
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Moments later while Taryn was taking in the sight of the school in front of her, the front doors leading to the main entrances of the mansion swung open and walking through them came Hope. She came down the stairs and stopped turning her attention to Taryn after a shallow look at her mind. “You must be Taryn.” She said out loud before switching to telepathic communication. “I'm Hope. I'm here to show you around.”
“Yeah... Erm- sorry, I've never met another telepath before.” Her face slightly cringed as she ‘spoke’ to her. It was clear she wasn't as accustomed to using her telepathy, and she was struggling. “So... you knew I was coming? Impressive…” She knew Hope could be reading her thoughts at any moment, so she tried, and mostly failed, to hide her skepticism about the school. She really only knew two things. One, it was run by Charles Xavier, one of the most well-known, and well-respected mutants. But two, Charles was the same man that opposed Erik when it came to the fights between humans and mutants in the 70s... She knew if she ever came face to face with him, some of their morals and ideals wouldn't exactly go together.
“Yep, and even though I tried to ignore it at first, out of every other student in the school, I’ve been given the honor of showing you around.”
Taryn stuffed her hands inside the pockets of her leather jacket, shrugged, and nudged her head toward the doors. “Lead the way.”
“Alright, follow me.” Hope said with a smile leading her into the school, the doors closing by themselves behind them. The tour wasn't all that exciting to Hope herself. She's been here long enough for the awe of the place to be worn out. But the school was vast- a swimming pool, multiple training rooms, classes that are tailored specifically for that of mutants. “This is the Xavier school for gifted youngsters and as you could guess, it's a school for mutants. Other than the fact all the students have superpowers, it's a pretty normal school with all the classes you'd get at a normal school plus more. Classes like mutant physiology and psionic principles for example, are classes specifically for mutants.” She explained as she led them through the first floor, which is where most notably the kitchen, library, and the lounge was located, along with most of the class rooms.
“Moving onto the dorms which are pretty self explanatory. It'll be easy for you to find your room. Your name along with your roommates name will be on the door, the dorms are on the second floor along with the study hall.” She explained, but wasn't taking them up there because- too many stairs.
Next was showing the gym, where a bunch of muscle heads were playing weighted dodge ball, starring the school’s infamous bully Ben. Ben saw hope and taunted her with a wink and she gave him a disgusted look.
“This is the gym. It looks fun until you're in here long enough to smell the air… Moving on.” She said, next, leading them through the basement where the training rooms were located, and also explained they were the safest place for telekinetics to have meltdowns. The end of the tour was marked with Hope leading them back to the front entrance, instead of leaving them to get lost in the dark halls of the basement. “Ok and that's that. Any questions?” she asked, looking at Taryn.
She took a second to absorb everything, and quickly replayed it all in her head. Getting lost here would suck. Then she turned to Hope.
“Yeah, I got one.” she said with the slightest smirk. “Was that your boyfriend back there showing off in the gym?”
“That was Ben Levin, and he wishes I was his girlfriend, or- actually he doesn't. But no he's not my boyfriend, just the walking embodiment of toxic masculinity and past trauma. If I were you I'd avoid him.” She explained, but despite those facts Hope and Ben were still somewhat friends.
Taryn’s interest piqued… She tended to have a bit of a problem with authority, and that included being told what to do, and what not to do. “He’s a mutant too, right? What’s his power?”
Hope sighed and looked away for a moment, she was really doing this… Fine.
“Yep he's a mutant, and his power is the definition of pain in my ass. He can absorb kinetic energy which lets him increase his own speed, strength, durability, and even lets him heal himself.” She explained, and was right to an extent but no one really knew how Ben's powers worked other than the fact that if you hit him and he doesn't die, he's gonna hit you back 10x harder.
“Hm…” Taryn looked out toward the field and saw groups of students talking amongst themselves, occasionally using their powers for simple things. Until recently, she'd always tried to keep her powers hidden. Even amongst other mutants there was always some sort of hierarchy and some didn't like the idea of everyone doing what they wanted. “So, you can use your powers just- all the time? Whenever you want?”
“Yeah, it would kinda defeat the purpose of the school to tell the kids they can't use their powers. I wouldn't go around showing everyone your tricks though. You may have to train with or fight some of these people.” Hope explained, looking around. People did usually use their powers often but a select few didn't, and she was one of those few.
Taryn asked about the training rooms, specifically how high-tech they were, and Hope explained that the danger room was probably the coolest place in the whole school.
“It creates real life holograms and simulations to train students in real life situations, without being in real life situations.”
The danger room was made from alien tech, far more advanced than anything humans, or even mutants, would have or should have. Hope didn’t even want to imagine what purifiers could do with something like that.
“And trust me the danger room is controlled but there's nothing safe about it. The other training rooms are lower level for personal or solo training.” She finished.
Taryn nodded along, taking a mental note of the danger room, then for a brief second focused on Hope. “Y'know I don't know who exactly put you up to all this" she waves her hand around "showing us around... but I think I've got it now. I can look around some more myself if you've got something to get back to.”
The entire time, she'd been trying to get a read on her, but between not having the greatest control on her telepathy, and Hope's mental defenses, she didn't get much.
Unbeknownst to Taryn at the time, Hope is an omega level telepath, meaning she possesses the highest genetic potential in that ability, unable to be surpassed in any measurable fashion. The only thing is, she isn't experienced in using her telepathic abilities. While she can push someone out of her mind so hard it'll give them a nosebleed that'll last a week, and she can dominate the minds of others, more experienced telepaths can get the best of her. Guess that wouldn't be Taryn. “Great, well it was nice meeting you but I have an essay to write,” she said, clapping her hands together, then turning around and walking away…