Changes

Title: Change.

Category: Umm...I can't think of a category for this except maybe...nope, nothing comes to mind.

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Everyone, barring Blaize, belongs to someone else. No copyright infringements intended.

Author's Note: I changed some things around to suit me.

Distribution: Go ahead, just let me know where.

Feedback: Be a responsible reader. Email me: ShiniLuv@aol.com

Change.
Lupine Draconis

Emma Frost watched the minibus pull away and sighed, the place was going to seem quiet for the few days that the students had gone to stay with professor Xavier. She turned to the man that stood to her left.
"What are we going to do without them, Sean?"
Sean Cassidy smiled at Emma and chuckled.
"Sleep easily at night?" he suggested, before sobering up. "Face it, Em, they've got to meet the other teams. What happens if one of them goes up and they don't know a soul? They'll fail before they get a chance."
Emma smiled thinly before sitting down at her desk and pulling out some paperwork.
"At least I'll get a chance to do this now," she picked up her pen and started to work.
Sean watched her for a few minutes before quietly leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.

He was asleep when the telephone rang, groggily he reached for the receiver and put it to his ear.
"H'llo, Massachusetts Academy. Sean Cassidy speaking how can I help?"
"Sean?" the voice on the other end was clear and well spoken. "I am sorry to bother you, but we have a problem that might be best sorted out by you."
Sean blinked the last few remnants of sleep from his eyes and listened intently.
"What can I do f'r ye, professor?"
"I have a young mutant here who I would like to attend the Academy."
"Aye?" Sean sounded a little suspicious.
"Her name is Blaize, she is sixteen and having some trouble controlling all of her mutant powers."
Sean sucked in a breath. "Emma isn't going ta like this. She likes ta be the one ta decide on the students."
"I have already contacted Emma telepathically and informed her of Blaize's arrival."
"Which is when?"
"Emma and I both feel it necessary for Blaize to settle into the Academy before the other students return. Therefore I have asked Nightcrawler to teleport her over in ten minutes."
Sean groaned and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. "So a good night's sleep is out then."
"I am afraid so. I am sorry about this Sean, but you were the only place I could think of that would be safe for Blaize."
Sean shook his head. "Don't worry about it, professor."
"Thank you." Professor Charles Xavier hung up the telephone in his study and stared at it for a long time.

Sean hung up the phone and stood up, opening the door he peered down the darkened hall before remembering that the students were not in their rooms. He walked swiftly down the hall to the girl's wing and met Emma as she was leaving an empty room.
"It's all ready for her." Emma said as Sean leant on the wall.
"She'll be fine." Sean reassured her before turning around and starting back up the hall, leaving Emma to follow at her leisure.

Kurt Wagner searched the mansion for his young charge, but found no sign of her. He asked everyone that he saw but no one had seen hide nor hair of her. He saw a small man in the distance and teleported next to him.
"Herr Logan," he greeted. "Have you seen Blaize?"
Logan stared back at him, his dark eyes taking in Kurt's indigo fuzzy fur. "Long time no see, elf. She's on the roof out back. Just above the doors, it's the only accessible part."
"Danke," Kurt smiled as he teleported onto the roof.
The young girl was indeed sitting on the tiles, her knees drawn up and her arms wrapped around them with her chin resting on top. She didn't even look at Kurt as he appeared out of thin air beside her.
"Hey, guess we're going now." She sighed.
Kurt looked at her; she looked far older than her sixteen years. Her face made her look twenty-six and the mirrored shades that she constantly wore made her seem that much older. But the thing that got to Kurt the most was the way her shoulder bowed as though she had the weight of the world on them. He smiled gently at her and nodded, Blaize bit her bottom lip but refused to look up.
"Brace yourself, liebchen," Kurt said as he concentrated on the Massachusetts Academy.
With a small implosion of air they disappeared from the roof and when Blaize opened her eyes she was in a bedroom. As she looked up she saw a man and woman standing next to each other in the doorway. The man stepped forward.
"Good evening, my name is Sean Cassidy. Anything ye need jus' ask me."
Blaize looked at him but said nothing as the woman moved forward.
"I am Emma Frost. Welcome to the Massachusetts Academy."
Blaize stared Emma in the eyes, but still said nothing. She looked over her shoulder at Kurt as he moved to stand beside her and put his arm around her shoulders.
"Don't worry, liebchen. You'll have fun, just give yourself time to settle in first." He smiled and waved as he disappeared into thin air.
Blaize sighed and turned to face Emma and Sean, her eyes hidden behind the shades. Her auburn hair was held back with a black ribbon and she held a small bag in her hand. Emma looked at her clothes with a look of distaste, before turning and leaving the room. Sean shrugged apologetically before following. Blaize looked down at her ensemble, the ripped jeans didn't show too much skin and the top, although skin tight, had a high neckline and reached the waistband of the jeans. Shrugging her shoulders she opened the bag and pulled out a midnight blue silk nightie. Slipping into it she untied her hair and brushed it thoroughly before climbing into the bed and settling down to sleep.

The sun was streaming through the window when Blaize awoke the next morning, she sat up and for a moment forgot where she was. She listened intently to all the sounds around her before swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and standing up. She was staring around the room when the memories of the past night came flooding back to her. She was in Massachusetts, in a school for mutants. She opened the door and looked out; someone had left the bathroom door open for her to find. She allowed herself a rare smile as she decided that it was probably Sean and went inside to have a wash and clean her teeth.

Ten minutes later she was back in the bedroom and pulling on a new pair of ripped jeans and a black sleeveless top. She French braided her hair and started down the stairs to find out what time breakfast was being served. A she walked along the hall Blaize noticed a lot of closed doors. She opened one and found herself in another bedroom, this one was obviously occupied most of the time, the walls were covered in posters of Placebo and the floor was covered in clothes. Closing the door Blaize carried on down the hall and down the stairs.
She found herself in another hall, with more doors. She tried the first one and stepped into the largest library she had seen. The walls were lined with books, there were ceiling high stands holding more books and dotted around the floor were reading ledgers and tables. She slowly backed out of the room and closed the door; she was about to carry on down the hall when her stomach reminded her why she had started downstairs. Deciding that she could explore later, she made her way to the stairs and walked down to the foyer.
A door opened to her left and Sean's head appeared around it.
"Ah, ye are up. Come in an' have some breakfast."
Blaize followed him into the room. Emma was already sat at the table and she watched Blaize sat down. Sean sat opposite her and grinned.
"Don't worry, we'll look after ye."
Blaize said nothing as she watched Emma pick up a slice of toast and butter it.
'What is her problem' Blaize thought as she poured herself a bowl of cereal. 'She's been looking down her nose at me since last night'
Sean noticed Emma staring at Blaize and took a good look for himself. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans with a few rips in them and her top was black and sleeveless. He couldn't quite work out what Emma didn't like about it, most kids these days were more obsessed with what was the latest fashion and she was always bitching about that. At least Blaize had her own style, yet it reminded him of someone else but he just couldn't put his finger on whom. He was snapped out of his thoughts by Blaize's voice.
"What's your problem?" she asked, staring at Emma.
"Those clothes are not really acceptable here." Emma said as she stirred her tea.
Blaize stared at her through her shades and Sean wondered about her accent.
"What's wrong with my clothes? It's not as though they're revealing."
Emma sipped her tea before answering.
"No, but they're scruffy. Students here have to look presentable."
Blaize clenched her teeth, but said nothing. Sean watched as she finished her cereal and stood up.
"Please excuse me, I have to change." She stalked out of the room, the door banging after her.
Sean looked at Emma.
"That was a bit harsh, wasn't it?"
Emma looked at him, her blue eyes like ice.
"She will have to learn that she cannot dress like a street punk in this school."
Sean sighed before replying.
"Em, she is a street kid. Didn't Charles tell you?"
Emma couldn't hide the look of surprise that crossed her face.
"No, he didn't."
"They're probably the only clothes the poor child has." Sean stood up. "I think we'll give her some of her allowance early and let her buy some more clothes."
Emma watched him leave the room in silence. He really was too soft on the students; he would probably let them get away with murder if he could.

Blaize sat on the bed and concentrated hard, the piece of paper in her hand sparked and a tiny flame appeared. As the flame grew Blaize molded it into a face, the hair was shoulder length and as the features developed they began to resemble Emma. A noise outside the door caught Blaize's attention and the flame disappeared quickly. Then someone knocked on the door. Blaize stood up and opened it; Sean was on the other side a friendly smile on his face.
"May I come in?"
Blaize stood aside and let him pass; he stood in the center of the room as she sat down again.
"We give each student an allowance to spend as they wish. I thought you might like to have some of it now...to buy some more clothes. That bag looked a tad small."
Blaize couldn't help the smile that curved her lips sensuously, Sean was trying hard and even if Emma didn't like her dress sense things might be all right here. Sean held out an envelope and she took it gratefully.
"I'll take ye down to the town if ye want."
"Thanks."
"May I ask where ye're from?"
"My mother was from down South, I don't know about my father. Mom never talked about him."
Sean nodded understandingly.
"I'll have the car out in ten, I'll wait on the drive for ye." He left Blaize alone to relive memories that had been long buried.

Ten minutes later Blaize had changed into the only pair of jeans she had that weren't ripped. She shrugged into her long duster and pulled on her knee-length boots. She went downstairs and met Sean out on the driveway. She climbed into the car beside Sean and buckled the seatbelt. Sean looked at her out of the corner of his eye; he just couldn't place who she reminded him of. Shrugging the though off, he started the car and they headed into Salem so that Blaize could do some shopping.

A few hours later they were back in the car and headed back to the Academy. Blaize stared out of the window, her thoughts back on the streets with the only people she had called family after her mom had died. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even realize that they had arrived back at the Academy until Sean nudged her arm.
She looked at him and saw the outside of the school for the first time. It was a big Gothic mansion; it looked almost as if Frankenstein could still be found inside. Blaize opened the door and grabbed the bags filled with shopping that were piled up behind her seat. She watched as Sean went to park the car and then followed him through the big front doors and into the foyer. Emma was waiting for them, a grim expression on her face.
Sean noticed and looked at Blaize.
"Why don't ye go and unpack that lot." He suggested.
Blaize agreed and went up the stairs, leaving them to sort out whatever had happened. As she closed the door behind her, Blaize heaved a sigh of relief. Sean had been content to sit in a small café and wait for her to shop alone and so had no idea of what she had bought. She opened the first bag and took out a long black skirt. She had seen it in the shop and had bought it straight away. She took off her jeans and slipped into the skirt, as she moved across the room the light caught on the beadwork and sent tiny sparks of light dancing across the room.
The rest of the bags were unpacked and Blaize smiled as she saw herself in the mirror, gone was the street kid. Now she was dressed head to foot in flowing, shimmery black. She tried on the rest of the clothes and thanked whatever was out there for Sean's kindness. She took the skirt and top off and slipped into a pair of skintight black jeans and pulled on a black top. It had long sleeves, which were decorated with a Celtic pattern in purple dye. On the main part of the top was a dragon that wound its way around her body. She had just finished getting dressed when someone knocked on her door. She opened it to find Emma standing in the hall.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I must fill in some paperwork and I need you to tell me a few things about yourself. I'll be downstairs."
Blaize considered making her wait, but decided against it. "I'm ready now."
"Good." Emma turned away, leaving Blaize to follow.
Emma led the way to the ground floor, before opening a door that Blaize had not noticed that morning and motioning her inside. It turned out to be an elevator that took them down to the basement. As the door opened Blaize waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness before following Emma into a room.
It was filled with machines. Lights blinked happily and something beeped every now and then, just to let you know that it was still working. Emma sat down in front of one of the machines and picked up a clipboard.
"Name." She said, looking at Blaize.
"Blaize." Blaize replied. "It's the only name I've got."
Emma sighed; this was going to be a long interview. By the time that they had finished, it was revealed that Blaize had no real name, lived nowhere, had no next of kin, had no references, no schooling, no anything. Emma put the clipboard down and turned to look at Blaize.
"Stand next to the machine. Take your shades off and look into the eyepiece. I have to do a retinal scan."
Blaize bit her bottom lip and removed the shades, hiding her eyes from Emma. She did as she was instructed and replaced her shades as soon as it was done. Emma indicated to a small screen in one corner of the room.
"Step behind that and take your clothes off."
"Excuse me?!"
"Step behind that screen and take your clothes off. I have to check your body for distinguishing marks and we have to do a full body x-ray and scan."
Blaize stepped behind the screen muttering under her breath, if she had been asked she would have gladly told Emma all of her distinguishing marks.
Emma stood the other side of the screen and pushed a small button, a light flashed and the x-ray and the scan were done. She stepped around the screen and stared at Blaize's body, gasping under her breath. Bruises, cuts, scars and tattoos covered her torso and most of her thighs. It was only then that Emma realized that all of Blaize's jeans had been ripped with precision so that they showed only the parts of her legs that weren't scared.
Blaize stared defiantly at Emma, as if daring the older woman to say anything about the state of her body. Emma, for her part, kept her curiosity under wraps. It was only when she saw something on Blaize's left shoulder that she asked a question.
"What is that on your shoulder?"
Blaize looked at her right shoulder and stared blankly at Emma.
"No, your left one."
"Oh, that. It's a tattoo." She turned around so that Emma could see the full glory of the dragon that rested it's head on Blaize's shoulder, whilst its body covered her entire back.
"How long did it take to do?" The detail and colors amazed Emma.
Blaize shrugged her shoulders. "All told, about twenty hours. I had to keep going back for weeks until it was finished. I had the outline done first, then the darker colors were put in, followed by the lighter colors."
Emma finished writing on her clipboard and motioned for Blaize to get dressed again, as she stepped back around the screen.
Blaize pulled her clothes on and followed Emma, waiting for the questions about the scars, cuts and bruises.
"Want to talk about it?" Emma asked suddenly.
Blaize stared at her.
"I'm a telepath."
"Well you can stay out of my head!" Blaize stood up and marched into the elevator.

When the doors slid soundlessly open in the foyer, Blaize stepped out and headed up the stairs to her room. She flung herself on the bed and closed her eyes against the flood of memories that came flying at her.

She was eight years old and in a foster home, her mom had just died and she felt alone. Her foster dad burst into the room, she wasn't doing well in school. She was a bad girl and needed to be taught a lesson. He took his belt off and starting whipping her on the back with it. She screamed and cried, but no one came to help her. Finally he stopped and left her alone; that was when her foster mom came up and bathed her back. Telling her to be better in school. She was eventually moved from that house and put into another.

She was nine; the children in her new foster family didn't take too kindly to the Southern Belle that was suddenly thrust into their midst. She was tormented by the other children and finally ran away. The authorities found her and took her back. She ran away from them eight times before she was moved again.

The next two places were OK, but when she was twelve they moved her again. This was to be the last foster home she lived in. She had started puberty when she was eleven, now a year later she was becoming a young woman. Her new foster dad noticed this and started to pay her special attention. One night he came into her room and took her innocence away, when he had left her room she ran away.

She lived on the streets of that town for two weeks before hitchhiking to Atlanta. She stayed there for a month or so and then moved on. Never staying in a city for more than two months and never visiting the same city twice. Then she came to New York. She found kids younger than her on the streets and took them under her wing. She found a place for them to stay; somewhere warm and dry. Then she went out and earned money to feed them.

Until the day that Xavier had found her and took her back to his place, telling her he knew of somewhere that was safe for her to live. Where she would have regular meals, clothes on her back and kids her own age to talk to. So she ended up here, in Massachusetts. With a woman that hated her for no reason and a guy that was obviously nice to make up for his partner.
Blaize turned over and closed her eyes, sinking blissfully into a deep sleep. Maybe things would seem better afterwards.

When Blaize opened her eyes the room was dark. She stretched her body and sat up; the clock beside the bed told her that she had slept for nearly six hours. Blaize stood up and wandered downstairs to find out if there was any food going spare.
She reached the foyer and started to look for the kitchen, she guessed it would be somewhere near the dinning room and started there. As she glanced into rooms, she came across a partially open door. Pausing for a moment she heard voices coming from inside the room, Blaize moved a little nearer the door and listened.

"I'm not saying that," Sean sighed. "But surely she deserves the benefit of the doubt."
"Sean, look at this picture." Emma thrust a sheet of paper under Sean's nose. "You tell me that isn't Blaize."
Sean looked at the figure staring defiantly at him from the front page of the newspaper. "I must admit, it's a good likeness. But how do you know it is her and not someone masquerading as her?"
Emma sighed loudly. "Why would someone want to pretend to be her just to kill two people? Why her?"
"Maybe they saw her on the streets and thought, hey street kid, what better cover. There are a few shapeshifters out there."
Emma sat down and rested her head in one hand. "This is getting us nowhere, I just want to know."
"Well, accusing her isn't the right way to go about it." Sean's voice lowered to a more conversational level. "I'll talk to her about it."
"But she could have done it, Sean, we don't even know what her powers are. These men were burnt to death, how many shapeshifters have two powers?"
"True, but as you said we don't know her powers. She may not be able to do it herself."
Emma nodded in agreement, before contemplating the newspaper again. Sean watched her for a few moments more before leaving the room as quietly as he possibly could.

As soon as Blaize heard Sean lower his voice she knew that they had nearly finished talking. She backed away from the door and ran soundlessly to the stairs, stopping halfway up and turning around. She was nearly at the bottom when Sean left Emma's office. He glanced up at her and smiled, but Blaize could see suspicion underneath it. Did she kill those two men? If she did why and if she didn't who did?
Blaize stopped as she reached the floor. "What's up Sean?"
Sean pursed his lips and thought about how to approach this matter. "Blaize, darlin'. Will ye come an' sit in th' lounge with me?"
"Sure. This sounds serious, have I done something wrong?"
Sean sat in one of the armchairs and motioned for Blaize to sit as well. He watched the younger mutant as she settled onto the sofa and looked expectantly at him.
"Blaize, Emma was going through some of her files earlier and she found an old newspaper."
"Oh?" Blaize knew where this was going.
"Aye, there was a picture on the front page of a girl. She looked a lot like you. She was the main suspect of a murder."
Blaize nodded but said nothing.
Sean suddenly began to feel awkward; maybe it hadn't been her. "Well, Emma an' I were jus' wonderin'...if well..."
"If it was me?" Blaize finished for him.
"Aye."
"Yeah, it was me."
Sean stared at her in shock. "It was?"
"Yeah. The police didn't have enough evidence and they had to let the case go." She looked at Sean's face. "You wanna know if I did it, don't you." It was more statement than anything else.
Sean found that he suddenly couldn't look her in the face.
"Well, yeah I did it. I killed them. Given the chance I'd do it again."
Sean's head spun round to looked at her. "What?!"
Blaize sighed. "They were trying to rape a nine year old girl. They were scum. I stopped them, then they tried it on me so I fried them."
Sean stared at her, digesting all that he had just heard. "You did it to save a little girl?"
Blaize stared at the floor. "Yeah, unfortunately I wasn't in time to stop them killing her brother. I promised his body that I'd look after her and I was until Xavier sent me here."
Sean stood up. "I have to tell Emma about this."
"I know. Look I just wanna say, thanks. You know for letting me stay here and all, I guess Emma's gonna want to send me away so...well, it's been real." She got up and walked away silently.
Sean watched her go up the stairs before walking into Emma's office. He stopped in front of the desk and braced his hands on it.
"She did it. She admitted it and she told me why."
Emma looked up at him, expectantly.
Sean sat down and picked his words carefully. "She was saving a girl from being raped. The men killed the girl's brother, but Blaize stopped them from hurting the girl."
Emma looked down at the paper. "They do mention another body, a young boy. It says that it looked as though he was sexually abused, either before or after he was stabbed."
"So, Blaize must be telling the truth." Sean sighed softly. "She's upstairs packing now. She thinks she's goin' ta have ta leave."
Emma looked at Sean, the Irishman had a big heart and it was sure to get him in trouble, but he was right about this. Blaize did what she had thought right, maybe it was a little extreme but at least the men weren't going to hurt any more children.
"OK," she relented. "She can stay for now. But any trouble and she's gone."
Sean smiled at her. "You know Em, no matter what anyone says I know you've got a heart in there somewhere." He got up and left.

Blaize had finished packing her bag when Sean knocked on the door. She opened it and looked at him solemnly.
"I'm ready."
"Unpack ye're things, ye can stay with us. We don' like people like that any more than you do, we just have slightly better ways of handling them."
Blaize allowed her lips to curve slightly. "Thanks."
Sean smiled and left her to unpack again.

It took a couple of weeks for Blaize to settle in properly at the Academy, but soon she was feeling at home.
She woke up one morning with the feeling that something was different...not wrong, just different. She quickly dressed herself and made her way down the stairs to grab some breakfast. On the way down she noticed that some of the closed doors were now partially open.
Accustomed to seeing only Sean and Emma, Blaize was shocked when she pushed the door to the dining room open and saw the table filled with teenagers. Sean was standing to one side talking to a girl with long blond hair, when he noticed Blaize he walked over to her with a huge smile plastered onto his face.
"Blaize, darlin', we thought you'd slept in." He reached out for her arm. "Come on in, these are the other students that live here."
Blaize followed him into the room as conversations were stopped and everyone looked at her.
Sean pretended not to notice the tension that suddenly filled the room and ploughed straight on.
"This is Blaize, she's a new student." He looked around at the students sat around the table. "Well, I guess introductions are in order."
He looked at Blaize and felt a pang of sympathy for the young girl she had only just started to get used to living in the school.
"Blaize, these are the rest of the students that live her...this is Jubilee," he indicated to a dark-haired girl sitting nearest the door. He then pointed to each of the students in turn. "And these are Paige, Kurt, Arley, Everett, Angelo, Leech, Artie Maddock, Penance and Jonathon."
Blaize looked around the room and quickly realized the situation. Most of the students were looking at her, their feelings perfectly clear.
Suddenly a blond stood up, Sean had introduced her as Paige.
"On behalf of everyone here I want to welcome you to our school," her smile was warm with friendship. "I hope you'll be happy with us.
Blaize lifted the corners of her mouth into what she hoped was a sort-of friendly smile and hoped that her life wasn't about to become too complicated.

The End.