X-Men Academy : Chapter Seventeen

* * *

Sasha's Pov:

I made an excuse of slipping out of class today just so I could go to the library. There, Catherine, Wyatt, Zeke, and I discussed the plan for today. We went to sit in the area that was only meant for students like Catherine, whose abilities are very advanced and they have full control over them.
My boyfriend brought us little microphones and earpieces that they were attached to them. Everyone put them in their pockets for later, so nobody would have known about them. Catherine -as I asked her to- put her hand on my forehead and I let her gaze into my mind so she'd know who she has to knock out, and then share it with Wyatt so they would hide those people away from unfriendly eyes. They're mainly some of the caretakers -including Chris-, the head researcher of the facility, a few of the guards, and some of the secretaries and head watchmen of the floor.
Zeke and some other guy will take care of the cameras and some of the locks. Ace -who was on the phone with us at one point- decided that he would be the one who will guide me through the halls. I am serving as bait. Some people won't remember me, and that will help us in getting through. I'll be SCP-X-712 again. That's why I won't be taking out my tracking device for now. It will let me into my room, like it was supposed to do. And will make it enabled to see that I am an actual Object and not a trespasser. I'll punch in the door codes and I will let my accompanying friends in without triggering alarms. I think that there will be three other people besides Ace who will be walking me through the facility, and whom will not be my boyfriend, Catherine, or Wyatt.
It is two hours before the time to roll now. It is a few minutes before lights out. I am sitting with Zeke in the garden, holding hands with him. We are praying for success, even though we -Mutants- shouldn't get God's blessing for help. But we didn't care. Well, I didn't. Zeke was helping me because I asked him to.
My clothes -white gladiator sandals and my white dress that I came in with- are sitting under my bed, safe behind the box from the concert that Zeke and I went to. My boyfriend looks up at me with worried eyes, gently letting go of my hand. His hand goes up to my face and gently pressed to my cheek. I smile at him and place my hand on his, sighing gently. I turn my face towards his hand, our gazes locked.
"Whatever happens tonight, neither my brother or Sam can know about this. We'll just say that Aiden escaped. From what I know, he CAN actually help you to get Mona Lisa." Zeke explained his team's plans earlier to me, and I remembered how Aiden loved sketching out certain areas of famous museums, especially since he has their maps and has eagle's vision, meaning that he can look at a picture and point out all the cameras and alarm systems and wires, knowing where they are going. He always wanted an adventure...maybe he'll help Zeke and his gang out if they're persuasive enough.
"Promise me that you'll be fine for tonight. I won't be there for you, and I don't trust Ace just like Catherine." Zeke muttered, leaning towards me and pressing his forehead to mine.
I nodded, inhaling the sweet scent of his cologne. I slid my fingers into the gaps of his own, holding his hand tightly. I promised Zeke and gently fit my mouth against his, feeling my heart fluttering. I loved him so much... I would have never hurt him. Nor betrayed him. Mor lied to him.
But I have to keep my secret away from him. I need to make sure that he won't leave me because of it. Because once he'll know, it will be a matter of his will. I just don't want to do something stupid and then regret it... and that is mostly why I don't haste into becoming a 'woman', as they say. I want to wait. Because Zeke may not be the one for me... and I'd rather him leave me closer than being with me and then leaving because of the truth.
So for right now, I savored those little moments with him. Especially our kisses.
~~~~~~


Rose:

* * *

"Hello?! What?! I can't hear you!"I yelled into my phone as I danced. I had just snuck into a nightclub when my instructor, Ace, called. He was pissed off when he heard the music in the background. "Where are you?! You're supposed to be at the Academy! We have an important mission tonight and I'm not going to let your shenanigans screw it up!"my instructor yelled into my ear, making me flinch. "Okay, okay! I'll be there in a sec! Don't worry! Oh, and I'm fine, thanks for asking!"I sighed dejectedly. With that, I hung up and left the club, getting back on my stolen motorcycle and driving back to the Academy, where I met up with my heist team and three people I didn't recognize. Quicksilver hurriedly introduced me to his friends: Catherine, Wyatt, and Sasha. Ace was passing out bulletproof vests to everyone, and I saw that Catherine girl give him a dirty look as he looked at her. I quirked an eyebrow at Mr. Instructor as I took the vest he handed me and slipped it on. "Are you really going out like that?"Quicksilver asked, his eyes roaming over my legs. I was wearing short shorts and a tube top. Luckily, both were black so I could still do a heist in them. I also had my leather gloves in my pocket. Sadly, I was wearing black stilettos. I've never done a heist in high heels, so I'm a little concerned about tonight...but I've been through worse. I shrugged at QS's question and hopped into the back of our van, sitting beside Blackjack. Soon enough, all of us were in the back of the van except for Sasha and Ace. Ace was driving tonight and Sasha was giving him directions to wherever we were headed. All of us had guns and freezers, but were told not to use them. Amber, aka Catherine, was going to knock the guards out for us without violence. How? I have no idea. Anyways, Quicksilver introduced us to his friends as he sat opposite Blackjack and I. Wyatt and Amber squeezed in beside him while Spade sat on my other side. I saw Blackjack smile a little in Amber's direction. My eyes widened at him as he did that. I've never seen him smile before. Then I understood. "Long time, no see, Amber!"he chuckled, and I could've sworn I'd seen Ace check her out in the rear view mirror. "It's good to see you again, BJ,"Amber replied sweetly, smiling at the guy beside me. "You two know each other?"I asked curiously as Ace drove away from the AAT. "Of course! Amber was Ace's top student! Well, she was before...never mind..."Blackjack trailed off, seeing how Amber shifted her gaze to the floor. "Are you two engaged?"I asked Amber and Wyatt, spotting a ring on the girl's finger. "Actually, yeah, we are!"Amber replied happily, smiling again. Now Ace, for whatever reason, slammed on the van's brakes as he came to a stop sign, making all of us fall forward. "Watch it, Ace!"I yelled at Mr. Instructor, leaning back against BJ. "Sorry, didn't see it coming,"Ace muttered with an edge of bitterness in his voice as he started driving again.

* * *

Catherine:

So far I was actually enjoying myself. As soon as BJ started talking to me, I started remembering how much of a rush I got from heists. Before long, I felt right at home with Zeke's heist team. Especially since Ace and BJ were here. Ace I used to have a thing for...but not anymore, obviously. However, Blackjack is kind of an old friend of mine. Sure, he called me a brat when we first met, but after I proved myself worthy to be in his and Ace's heist team, he warmed up to me. I even taught BJ some Russian that I knew. That's actually how we were talking to each other right now. In Russian. Rose just stared at us, constantly tugging on the strap of her bedazzled black stilettos. I'm surprised Ace didn't kick her --- for wearing those. He would've been furious if I had done that. Wear high-heels, I mean. Anyways, Wyatt stared blankly as I talked to BJ. Zeke looked just as lost as Rose and my fiancé. After a while, I got tired of talking and leaned back against my wonderful fiancé. I kissed his cheek, making his eyes light up in interest. Grinning, I managed to pull myself into Wyatt's lap and kissed his mouth...just as Ace slammed on the brakes and yelled, "We're here! Stop making out!" That didn't stop my fiancé from giving me one last kiss though before I noticed we were actually at some checkpoint in front of the base. Not only that, but there were guards. Guards that I needed to possess and make them open the gates in front of us. "Amber, any day now, Darling,"Ace called to me, wanting me to hurry up and take control of the guards. "Patience, Baby,"I shot back, putting my hands on my head as I took over the weak-minded guards. Their eyes rolled back into their heads and they stepped back from our van, saluting us and opening the gates for us. Without a word, Ace drove through the checkpoint and parked where Sasha asked him to. Then, we all piled out of the van with everyone drawing their weapons. Well, their freezers. We don't want to kill anyone. Sasha came over to me and we walked side by side with the heist team flanking us. Sasha meanwhile had me knock out most of the guards outside. Then she made me possess one for the retina scan to enter the building. That's when the real mission began...
~~~~~~


Sasha's Pov:

I took a deep breath. Planes and helicopters always made me upset. Even though I traveled by two almost my whole entire life.
Because Area 51 is in Nevada, we needed to drive to this guy that Zeke knew that could provide us with aerial transport. Luckily, Ace said that he'll pick us up before we set out to the guy. The guy supposedly promised to take us to an area nearby the godforsaken territory because he was too afraid to get shot down.
Once at the landing area that Zeke told Ace to drive to, two new people came onboard the van. I was ridingh shotgun, with Ace driving. The two people introduced themselves as Blackjack and Rose. The guy was wearing his getup by now, which was a white and black uniform, a helmet at hand. The girl, however, was either one of the hackers that my boyfriend told me about or was a lookout. But she certainly didn't look like a normal thief. At least not in her outfit. I think that she just came back from a party... but I might be wrong. I mean, a skirt, tube top, and stilettos should have said enough... even though I don't know her for a long time, I already don't like her.
Zeke and I held hands as we drove. I was taking this way worse than he was, mostly because I've lived a terriblelife where we were heading. He doesn't know half of what happened in the research facility. And it wasn't just my physical scars. Whenever I was getting more and more upset, Zeke leaned forward and put his arm as best as he could around me, comforting me. I got glances from all the guys that were there. All except Wyatt, of course. Blackjack couldn't believe that Zeke and I were together, the same as Rose and Spade. Ace, on the other hand, was more interested in Catherine and Wyatt to care about me and my boyfriend. I could feel that he had emotions for her... sadly, he seemed to have lost his chance. He slammed on the breaks one time while we were still in New York state after hearing that Catherine was engaged. I gripped tightly onto Zeke with one hand, digging my nails into the seat with the other. I panted once we were at a standstill, and Ace started driving onward again.
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Aiden's Pov:

I jerked awake in the middle of the night. I sat up abruptly, panting. I had a very weird dream... that I had a twin or something like that... she looked exactly like me. Except that she didn't have talons like me... and that she had horns. But everything else was the same about us. Even our hair was similar. Of course, my hair is long, and is just jet black. Not black and red like hers.
My room was in a better condition than when I thrashed it. Everything in my room was replaced and returned to its former state. The researchers were even kind enough to still let me have the picture of me and Sasha, as well as the gryphon that she made for me. Although its rear talons have fallen off, pretty much just like mine.
I was lucky enough that the researchers took mercy on me this time. Instead of cleaning out my feet with me awake, They gave me sedatives. Although I DID get in a fight with my caretaker... she said that I should be thankful that They didn't tear off my front talons. Sure, I was thankful for that, but I didn't want to have all my rear talons torn off either. Especially on the same day. With no anestethics whatsoever.
I rubbed my aching feet at the thought of my missing talons. I scowled before remembering that I had another dream before the one of my twin sister. And it showed Sasha among a group of some unusual people who wore all black. They busted me out of here... and then asked me to do something in return. The people she was with, I mean. She wouldn't dare ask anything of me in return... she's too sweet for that. Of course, I woulkd have told her that if she needed anything, then I'd do it for her. But she wouldn't have suggested it by herself.
I stretched out my wings as a stretching exercise. Then, I got on my knees and looked up at the suspended hammock under the ceiling of my room. I smiled silently before making my way up to it, gently laying down on the black rope bed. I folded my wings under myself as gently as I could, stretching my body out to relax. I loved my little hammock... that was the only thing that They let me keep. It was from my dad, from what I know... or was told, anyways. My mom died when I was little... and my dad disappeared from my life after I was taken into the SCP Containment Facility of Area 51. Sasha always got the name wrong... but it was true that we were in the 13th subdivision of the full organization. So she is -in technical terms- right. I haven't seen her in a while so I forgot what she called it... I want to see her so bad now... I miss her... we depended on each other as children, because we were pushed away by society and experimented upon because we were 'mutants'. We were even the same Object class: Euclid. Except that I changed to Keter a few days ago because I tried to attack a researcher... but I did it only because I was in pain. And I was agitated by how ignorant those people are. Sure, I have powers and a few extra characteristics, but I am still HUMAN! It wasn't fair how they treated me! And Sasha... and probably everyone that was before us.
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Wyatt's Pov:

Catherine seemed to love teasing Ace... first she and I started kissing in the back of the van, and then she started to call him pet names with that wry smirk of hers. I wasn't that worried about Ace at that point, to be honest... I was more worried about that Blackjack guy. He's shady... even very... my fiancee said that I'm just overprotective of her, so I stopped paying attention to him.
Well, I HAD to stop. Mostly because we breached the inner walls of the research center Sasha grew up in.
The redhead was accompanied by Blackjack and Ace disguised as patrolmen of the halls. My main job was to hide the guards whom were knocked out by my girlfriend. I wrapped their torsos in my silk before stuffing them into janitorial closets, gagging them for good measure. After that, I crept through the ventilation shafts and the ceiling, watching over everyone below. I snatched Catherine in appropriate times, holding her close to myself and hiding with her on the ceiling. After the danger passed, I gave her some sweet kisses just to piss Ace off and continued to crawl on the ceiling with her in my arms before setting her on the ground because my arms got too tired to carry her. But eventually, we found out that it was pretty handy to knock some people that Sasha pointed to out.
Especially after finally reaching inside the dormitory-like rooms at the end of the facility. And, well, several levels underground.
"Catherine, you'll need to be ready to strike this time." Sasha whispered into her microphone. It was so sensitive that it picked out her quietest whispers and murmurs. "Wyatt, make sure that you hold her tightly. I haven't seen Chris nor any researchers that worked on me yet, so I can only expect them to pop up at this time." The redhead added. She paused for a second, grabbing at her arms. She trembled, making me, Cat, Blackjack, and Ace look at her curiously. Zeke -because he's a good hacker like Rose- is supposed to be in the control room right now and disabling cameras one by one so we wouldn't be seen. Or at least was freezing them in one spot and playing them on repeat until we would pass that specific camera.
"Sasha?" Zeke's voice sounded in the speaker of our Bluetooths. "Is everything okay? Do you want to stop and me to come to you?" He asked urgently. His girlfriend squeezed her arms and let out a quivering breath, shaking her head and saying that she's able to go on. She just needed to take a few breaths to stabilize herself.
Good thing that the cameras here aren't recording with sound. We would have been caught a LONG time ago, even with Zeke and Rose being our hackers. EVen though Ace assured us that they wouldn't fail, they are still human. They would have forgotten to eipe out the recorded sound and we wouild have been busted.
Sasha stood in front of a wall panel labeled 'X-Label SCP Objects'. This must have been where she was kept, since she wrinkled her nose. She quickly typed in the code and the doors opened, letting us inside.
"He's across the facility from here." The redhead said, pointing towards the hallway on our right. "It's a maze down here. ANd this is the only way in.Luckily, you have me to guide the way, so we should get to Aiden in no time." She looked up at me and Catherine, whom was focusing hard and ready to knock out anyone that would sabotage us. Ace and Blackjack regained their posture and continued to pretend to be the patrolmen, nodding to the men as we passed them. Well, they did. Catherine and I were on the ceiling the whole time.
Hmm... I don't know why, but I'm starting to think about a family... of my own. With Catherine. I smiled at the thought, burying my face in her beautiful, silk-soft hair. I wanted a ton of kids... and I wanted girls. Not all of them, but most of them. Catherine would be a great mother...
But I couldn't think of this now. We had a mission to do.
Before long, we reached the room. Sasha typed in the clearance code and swiped a card from one of the researchers that we knocked out. I hopped down from the ceiling and landed on my arachnid legs, grunting with effort as I made contact with the ground. My fiancee and I slipped inside the room and looked up to find a boy that looked nearly exactly like Sam staring down at us from a hammock. Well, at Sasha, to be more precise.
I looked at the redhead. A wide smile broke across her lips and she stretched her arms out, laughing out 'Aiden!' In turn, the gryphon boy grinned back and jumped off of the hammock, opening his wings and scooping the girl from the ground, holding her close to him while in air.
It was a cute view, but it didn't hide the fact of what was next.
The retreat to the parking lot where we left the van. And knowing life, we'd have to quickly run through the halls, since my fiancee's hypnosis only works so long.
~~~~~~


Catherine:

Aiden looked just like Sam. In fact, it kind of freaked me out when I saw him, but then I remembered we were pressed for time. "Come on! We have to get out of here before the guards wake up!"I hissed at them. Aiden and Sasha stopped their little reunion and followed me back out into the hall. Unlike before, I didn't stay hidden with Wyatt. This time, we all just made a break for the exit. Ace, BJ, and I pulled out our freezers. By the way, freezers, if you don't already know, are guns designed to stun and immobilize people for three hours. They come in handy in situations like these. However, I wasn't going to immobilize ALL the guards. We still needed some for retina scans. Anyways, we started making our way through the facility until we ran into a familiar face. "Rose?! What are you doing here?! You're supposed to be with Quicksilver!"I snapped at her furiously. "Don't worry! He's got it all under control! The guy is a speed demon. He can take care of himself. Besides, he wants to be the last one out,"she argued, running alongside us in her stilettos. Honestly, I was hoping she would trip and fall flat on her face from those shoes.

* * *

Somehow, we managed to get out of the building without getting caught. Unfortunately, our van exploded. Sirens started going off behind us and Sasha started freaking out because her boyfriend was still inside the facility.

Zeke:

I zipped through the halls as fast as I could, the alarms making my ears ring. Everyone was out of here except me. I flashed down the halls and somehow managed to find a window behind my friends. I tapped the safety glass and yelled at my friends to get out of the way. Rose didn't listen to me, of course. She walked right up to the glass and flicked it. Suddenly the whole window exploded in my face, and I threw my arms up to shield myself. Yes, Rose is a mutant. She breaks stuff and then fixes it. Basically, she's a walking stick of TNT. However, it drains her energy whenever she uses her powers to the max...like she just did. She collapsed into Catherine's arms, since Catherine knew the girl was about to faint and ran up to catch her. "Zeke!!"Sasha screamed and ran up to me, shaking and trembling in fear. She thought that we were done for. I climbed out the window and grabbed my girlfriend by her shoulders. "Calm down, Sash. It's not the end of the world. I have a plan. We will get out of here, I swear. You just have to trust me, okay?"I said quietly, looking into her eyes with a confidence in my own eyes that no one else seemed to have in this situation. My girlfriend nodded, whimpering as she hugged me. "I love you more than anything else in the world,"I murmured, pulling her away from me to kiss her. After that, I took off, leaving my team and my girlfriend. She screamed my middle name desperately, thinking I was abandoning her. I wasn't, by the way. I was going to hijack a Hummer I saw nearby. I broke the window and unlocked the car door from the inside before hot-wiring the vehicle. Once I did that, I slammed the Hummer into gear and sped towards my team. My beautiful girlfriend was in tears by now, thinking she was doomed. At least, she was until I pulled up beside my team. "Get in the ------ car!"I yelled at everyone, and they immediately got on. My girlfriend scrambled into the passenger seat, afraid I would leave her. "Put your seatbelt on,"I said quietly as I punched the gas. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room in this Hummer for everyone to have their own seat. Rose wound up in someone's lap and of course Catherine sat in Wyatt's lap, his arms wrapped around her protectively. Meanwhile, I tore out of the facility as fast as I could. "Zeke, stop! The gates!"Catherine yelled suddenly, pointing at the checkpoint ahead. I floored the gas pedal, challenging the gates ahead. As soon as we were about to hit it, I held my arm out in front of Sasha, ready to stop an airbag if I had to... Luckily, I didn't. The gates broke when we hit them and we managed to get out of the facility. Sadly, we had cops on our tails. That was no biggie for me though. I just started driving like a stunt driver. I even crossed into a road with oncoming traffic. Finally, we lost the cops and I pulled into a Dairy Queen drive thru. "Ice cream, anyone?"I panted out, trying to slow my racing heart. Everyone around me groaned, looking pale and sick. Suddenly, I heard someone start laughing. "Can we do that again?"Catherine giggled, surprising us all. "You can... I think I'll pass,"I sighed, looking over at my girlfriend. "Ice cream?"I offered, giving her a weak smile. It wasn't long before most of us got ice cream and were sitting in the car, enjoying it. I looked at Aiden curiously. "Geez, he looks just like Sam,"I thought aloud, making the boy look at me funny. I smiled as I thought of how thrilled Sam will be once she meets her long lost twin brother.

* * *

Well, we made it back to the X-Men Academy. At least, Aiden, Sasha, Wyatt, Catherine, and I did. What happened was that when we got back to the AAT, everyone kind of went their separate ways. Rose woke up to go to her party or whatever, Ace trudged to his bedroom after an argument with Catherine, BJ went off to who knows where, and Spade went to her room. I kind of wondered where she had been all this time... Oh well. Anyways, when my friends, my girlfriend, and I got back to the X-Men Academy, Wyatt and Catherine ran off to their room to celebrate the success of the mission...whatever that meant. Meanwhile, Sasha and I led Aiden to the dormitory, silently praying that Sam hadn't decided to sleep with Crimson tonight. Lucky for us, Sam was in our dorm. Unfortunately, she was curled up in her bed, fast asleep, and neither me or Sasha had the heart to wake her up. Besides, all of us were exhausted. So, I let Aiden take the empty bunk bed below mine and we all went to sleep. I was going to get a call from Ace tomorrow about the Mona Lisa heist.

* * *

Sam:

What the heck? I got up and dressed after I took a nice, hot shower. It seemed like an ordinary day...until I saw a new guy sleeping in the bunk under Zeke's bed. Sure, he could just be a new edition... But when I took a closer look at the sleeping boy, I saw that he had hair as black as night and bat-like wings on his back. I couldn't tell if he had a tail or not since he was curled up in the bed's sheets. I stared at him for a few minutes before I went back to my own bed and sat down, waiting for everyone else in the dormitory to leave. My best friends, Sasha and Zeke, were the last two to get up. Well, besides the new kid, that was still unconscious. Zeke was ready in a flash, and Sasha trotted over to the strange boy I had been staring at earlier. She shook his shoulder a little, trying to wake him up. He groaned and blinked awake, smiling up at Sash. I felt faint suddenly... Why? Because that boy had the same eyes as me. He was like my mirror image. My pupils widened as my best friend looked at me, pulling the boy's arm so that he was standing beside her. My friend practically drug the boy over to me, bouncing with excitement. "Aiden, meet Sam. Sam, meet Aiden!"Sasha giggled happily. Aiden stared at me, his icy blue cat eyes widening just like mine. I stared back at him in complete and utter shock. I couldn't believe my twin brother, that I never knew I had, was suddenly staring me right in the face.
~~~~~~


Sam:

When I was introduced to my long lost twin this morning, I nearly fainted. Aiden looked just as stunned as I was. I rose to my feet, standing in front of him. His pupils dilated and slowly, I opened my wings. I wanted to know if his were like mine. He stared at my wings for a minute and then seemed to take the hint. He opened his own wings, and I stared at them in silence. They were exactly like mine. I smiled suddenly, showing my fangs. Aiden mimicked me, showing off his own fangs. Yes, we were definitely related. I could even see his tail. I noticed he had talons, too. However, I had horns and he didn't. I also didn't have his talons. I glanced down and saw his feet bandaged as I pulled my wings back into my spine. "Here,"I said quietly, taking Aiden's hand gently and pulling him over to my bed. "Sit down,"I said quietly, and he immediately obeyed. I sat next to him, pulling my knees up to my chest the exact same time he did. "Who are you?"he asked me suddenly, curious. "My name is Samantha Pierce Wargrave, and you are?"I asked back, even though I already knew. "Aiden Terrence Wargrave..."he replied softly. "We're twins,"I heard myself say, managing to startle both of us. I was in complete and utter shock and amazement. I mean, I never expected to meet my real twin. Now I was sitting beside him, looking down at his injured feet and asking him if he was okay. I felt Zeke and Sasha start looking at me funny as I turned sweet and caring around my brother. Yes, I am pretty heartless sometimes and I don't normally care for other people. In fact, it's not unusual for me to get into fights. However, I can feel this weird psychic connection forming between me and my brother now that we were side by side again for the first time since birth. Which is why I feel like I need to take care of him right now. "Do you two think that Professor X and the instructors here would be okay if I showed Aiden around after breakfast?"I asked my two best friends. After breakfast we always had training. Then lunch and a break. Then more training. I wanted to skip today's training, if I could, to spend time with my brother. I want to get to know him while everyone else is in lessons. That way, we'll be alone. My two friends shrugged. "Ask your boyfriend,"Zeke said simply. As if on cue, Tobias walked in. He froze in spot when he saw who was sitting beside me. I grinned at my boyfriend as I stood up and strode over to him. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him, surprising him. His cheeks turned red as I released him, and then I saw Professor X behind him. Hehe...awkward... Without hesitation, I asked the Professor if I could have the day off from training. I didn't even need to explain my reasons why because the man already knew. He smiled at me kindly and nodded, saying that Aiden and I could explore the grounds today. I smiled and let the Professor introduce himself to my brother, who was still in a daze from meeting me. After that, we all headed to the cafeteria to eat breakfast. I walked between my brother and my boyfriend, helping Aiden walk since he was limping a little.
~~~~~~


Aiden's Pov:

It felt really nice to sleep in a bed that didn't reek of night sweat, remnants of vomit, and bleach. And that was smaller than my old bed, which comforted me.
I slept in longer than i should have, but I pretended to sleep the first time when I woke up. I heard chatter and curious whispers behind me, which startled me at first. But soon, I got used to it. I wasn't in that Hell of a research center anymore... so I could calm down with fair ease. Especially since I knew that my best friend was sleeping right above me with that Zeke guy. Not doing anything weird, of course, but just sleeping in each others' arms. I figured that Sasha was having nightmares since I heard her groan in the middle of the night, which was actually pretty surprising. But then again, she suffered more than me. Of course she'd be haunted by her past...
Eventually, most of the chatter ceased. I wanted to turn on my back or on my other side, but I didn't want to before Sash would come and get me. I'm not that used to being in new places -much less getting up and walking around when I know that my best friend brought me here- so I decided to wait until Sash would come and tell me to get up.
Luckily, I didn't have to wait long.
I immediately turned on my back and looked up at my pretty redheaded bestie, smiling widely. Then, my eyes found and identified Zeke, who was fully dressed and refreshed. After him, I met with a girl whom I didn't see yesterday.
But I only could catch one thing about her. Well, a couple of different things.
One: curved horns on her head, which appeared to be Maleficent's horns. Except that they were swept back more and that they had a red sheen to them. Second: her hair. It was black just like mine, with thin, red highlights. It was cut short, even shorter than mine that reached my shoulders.
And third: her eyes. They were just like mine. Icy blue and oval-shaped, shimmering with curiosity and surprise. I couldn't help but stare back at the girl, seeing a tail lash behind her. It was just like mine.
Sasha helped me up and got me to my feet, which didn't ache as much becuase she healed them with her powers. At least partially, anyway. They'll always hurt me because of my oversensitive nerves that were left behind when my talons have been ripped out of my toes. The redhead dragged me to the girl, and I just then saw that she had wings behind her. My childhood best friend introduced us to each other, revealing that the girl's name was Sam.
I remembered my dream of my long-lost twin sister and compared it to the girl sitting in front of me. My breath hitched in my throat and my cat eyes widened when I realized that the two were exactly alike. And that Sam was my twin sister.
I watched as Sam opened her wings. I looked over them and then looked into her eyes again. I understood what she meant, since she sees the similarity as well. From what i've been told, gryphon siblings -or twins- have the exact set of wings and the same wingspan despite their heights. So I stretched out my bat-like wings, making my sister's eyes run over them.
When she saw for herself that they were like hers, she slowly flashed me a toothy grin. i saw that her canines were long fangs, making me smile myself and reveal my own fangs. I pulled back my wings and swayed my tail, watching as my sister looked me up and down. I was ecstatic that I finally got to meet her. I don't know where our mom is... and I'm not sure where our dad is... and I thought that I was alone up to this point. But then, i find this out... it was amazing to know that I had a sister who was exactly like me. If not for her highlights, horns, and lack of talons, I could have said that we are identical twins. Well, if only we didn't hit gryphon puberty... which was a pain in thhe --- for me, since they experimented on me while I was in my form, startled and surprised out of my wits.
Suddenly, my sister dropped her wings and pulled them back to herself. I presumed that she saw my bandaged feet, and I followed her line of sight. She took my hand with such gentleness that made me bashful, telling me to sit down. I obeyed without a word, pulling my feet up on the bed covers like I did whenever I was super excited, frightened, or cautious. In this situation, it was both because I was excited and a little bit cautious. I thought that this was a dream, so I didn't want to mess this up and wake up and see that she wasn't there. Even though my sister's touch seemed pretty real to me.
I couldn't help but smile softly when she sat exactly like me, her tail tapping on her bed in the same rhythm as mine.
"Who are you?" I asked. I knew who my sister was in relation to me, but I wanted to know her name. FULL name. I wanted to see if our dad named us both by his name: Terrence Pierce Wargrave.
"My name is Samantha Pierce Wargrave, and you are?" My sister replied. I rested my wings on my shoulders, feeling euphoria take over me. And I didn't want my sister to see how much I was shaking from happiness.
"Aiden Terrence Wargrave..." I murmured, loud enough for my twin sister to hear.
"We're twins..." My sister said all of a sudden. I had to hold myself back from grabbing Sammie into my arms and hug her with all my might.
I noticed that my sister kept staring at my feet. I felt bad, since I never had anybody really care for me or look at my injuries like that. I remember Sasha was always worried about me whenever she saw my injuries, but I usually hid them from her. I haven't seen her as often as before, so I actually forgot about how weird this felt... I put my left foot over my right, and then switched. I felt nervous, and this was what I always did.
"Are you okay?" My twin sister asked softly, frowning.
"Yeah... I'm okay... thanks to Sasha." I smiled assuringly, looking at my best friend. She smiled back, putting her arms around Zeke.
My sister looked at the two, asking them if some 'Professor X' guy would let her show me around. Zeke replied that Sam should ask her boyfriend, which made me look at her with my pupils becoming slits. Then, I looked at Sasha, whom blushed in embarassment.
But it wasn't because of my expression.
It was because some guy walked into the room. I presumed that it was my twin sister's boyfriend, since Sasha was pointing at him when she saw me looking at her. Surprisingly, he looked somewhat like her... maybe he was that brother of hers that she talked about when we saw each other?
I watched how my sister jumped up and strut over to the guy, who stared at me with surprise. Sam put her arms around his neck and stood on bher tiptoes, kissing him sweetly. The guy blushed, confused even more than he was up to this point.
I saw that a bald, old guy in a wheelchair came out from behind my sister's boyfriend. I presumed that he was Professor X that Sam talked about earlier, since I saw an X over his heart. Sam asked him about being able to have the day off to show me around, in which to he agreed.
"Hello." The man smiled kindly at me. "My name is Professor Charles Xavier. I am the founder of the X-Men Academy for the Gifted that you are in right now.."
"Nice to meet you, sir." I smiled back, shaking his outstretched hand. "My name is Aiden Terrence Wargrave. I'm Sam's twin brother, and I came from the same facility as Sasha. I've known her since I was three, which was when she came to the facility herself." I explained.
All of a sudden, the bell rang.
The Professor said that all formalities aside, it was time for breakfast. He told me to find him after dinner so he could register me to the school. I was both nervous and excited about going tgo school. On one hand, my best friend and sister would be here. On the other, however, I never went to school. I can read and write, but I don't think that i meet the knowledge requirements for the school. Nonetheless, I promised the Professor that I would come.
My sister let me lean on herself so I wouldn't fall because I was limping. And the pain in my feet got worse, spreading to my knees and almost made me tear up. Sasha was on the other side, also helping me up.
Once at the cafeteria, Zeke's phone rang. He took it out and looked at the caller ID, turning to my best friend. He gently nudged her with his elbow, whispering something into her ear. Sasha looked behind at someone, and I turned around as well. She was looking at Catherine and Wyatt, who were looking at a phone as well. They looked up and nodded at Zeke and my best friend, whom nodded as well. The two excused themselves before standing up and leaving. I wondered if it was Ace... he mentioned that he had a proposition for me, but he decided to wait until I'd feel better. At least when my feet would have been healed.
But I won't really need my feet, since I have wings. I fly silently, mostly soaring through the sky. Or low to the ground, depending how much flight space I had.
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