RAVEN AND THE BLUE BOY

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of some ruby quartz I had lying around. They should be able to refract your optic beams and keep them contained within their own vector fields."

This time, when Hank and Scott go outside to explore his powers, the professor does not go with them, as he has left on short notice with Alex. Brianna stands at Scott's side, though he still has the blindfold around his eyes and can't even see her there.

Scott holds Hank's new invention in his hands, getting to know the feel of the sunglasses between his fingers.

"Try them on," the girl says. Scott inhales sharply before reaching back and untying the white bandage and removing it from his head, revealing his closed eyes. Brianna notices Hank lick his lips impatiently. She just smiles at the boy.

He puts the glasses on. Brianna takes in the detail of them as they rest on the bridge of his nose: the blue frames, the slight slant, and the red ruby Quartz lenses, which cover his eyes in a way that should keep his mutation from getting out of control and causing destruction.

"Okay," Hank says. "Go ahead." Then he remembers what happened the first time, when the laser beams split a tree in half. Many yards in front of them, mutant children play, unknowingly. "Wait, sorry, no..." Hank mumbles, taking Scott by the shoulders and turning him, so that if they didn't work, he would not hurt anyone.

"Now?" Scott asks, unsure.

"Yeah, you're good," Hank confirms.

They all seem to hold their breaths as they wait for Scott to open his eyes. Then, he exhales in relief, and they know it worked. He tilts his head and looks around him, evidently fascinated by the beautiful surroundings.

"Whoa," he says, "I... I can see." Hank chuckles and Brianna cracks a small smile, proud of her teacher for coming up with such a thing, and giving Scott the ability to see again. "Thank you," he says, half-smiling, glancing at Hank. "Professor, thank you. You're a genius."

"No," Hank replies shyly, glancing at his feet. "I'm not a professor," he corrects. "I wish..." He trails off when he notices the look on Scott's face, how he seems to be gazing off in the distance.

"Who's that?" He asks. Brianna tries to ignore the gut wrenching feeling in her stomach when she sees the person he is referring to: the one and only Jean Grey.

"I believe you two met," Hank answers. "That's Jean Grey. You bumped into her when you arrived."

"Wait, that's her?" Scott asks, sounding astonished. The jealousy takes over and forces Brianna to slip away, as quietly as possible. If they are only going to gawk at the mysterious specimen that is Jean Grey, then Brianna wants no part of it, no matter how selfish or rude she comes off as.

She retreats back inside the school, an assortment of books piled in her arms. When she will have time to read them, she doesn't know.

At the end of the semi-empty hallway, in the large room that is also usually emptied out at this time of day, there are two figures standing where the floor rises two steps.

Her eyebrows pinch together curiously, but she immediately recognizes the blonde haired girl standing inside, hands thrust into the back pockets of her pants as she looks around.

"Raven?" Brianna chokes out, before she can help it. Wishing she could take it back, she just stares, too shocked to be embarrassed. The blonde glances her way, along with the other figure, leering a few feet behind her.

"Bree?" Raven asks, copying her tone. Brianna takes a few reluctant steps deeper inside the room as Raven steps down the wooden steps, followed by the other figure, who Brianna has identified as an odd looking blue boy.

"What - what are you doing here?" She says, tightening her grip on the items in her hands and becoming more nervous with every passing second. She hasn't seen Raven in a very long time, besides on television and in pictures. Charles used to tell stories about her.

"Is your dad here?" The older girl brushes off Brianna's question and glances around the room, refusing to meet Brianna's gaze.

"No," she responds, "he left yesterday. With Alex." Raven nods, keeping her hands firmly at her sides. "What are you doing here?" Brianna demands again, tapping her finger against the spine of one of her books impatiently. She hates not knowing things, especially important things that are kept from her because the adults think she is too young to handle it.

"Raven?" Hank's voice interrupts, followed by the sound of his slow ascending footsteps. Brianna actually rolls her eyes, hoping Raven doesn't see it as rude - or see it at all - and then scoots to the side so the old friends can reunite. Something unrecognizable seems to glow in Hank's eyes as he stands in front of Raven, looking at her through his glasses. The glow is mirrored in her eyes.

"I... you're... " Hank stammers, unable to find words.

"Not blue?" The corner of Raven's mouth turns up as she finishes his sentence for him. "Looks like you and I have that in common now." Her eyebrows fall and she gives him a quick once over.

"No, no, I meant, um," he says, "you're... you're back." He points out. "I never thought I'd see you here again."

"Yeah, me neither," Raven says, sighing a little and glancing around the room once again. The air is filled with a silence, and before Brianna can say anything, the blue figure pokes his head beside Raven, a goofy smile on his purple lips.

"I'm blue," he says. Brianna can't help but smile at the strange boy. "I'm Kurt," he introduces, in response to he strange look from Hank. Raven shakes her head, as if remembering something suddenly.

"Oh, right."

"Kurt Wagner," the blue boy continues, sticking his hand out for Hank to shake. He does just so, and adds a "welcome".

Later, Brianna finds herself walking down the halls of the mansion with Kurt, giving him the grand tour of the place. This is surprising, to say the very least, because Brianna rarely ever jumps at the opportunity to show a new mutant around the school. However, Kurt presented a certain awkwardness that made her want to get to know him better, so here they are.

"I'm very excited to see your culture," Kurt says, speaking in a thick German accent that he possesses. Thankfully, Brianna can make out all the words he says, even if they do sound a little foreign to her ears. She must sound odd to him also, what with her British accent.

"Well, you're not gonna see it here," Scott speaks up. Brianna hasn't even noticed him sitting on a soft blue-green couch covered in pillows next to the window. He's sitting with his arms swung up over the cushions and one of his legs reclining on the bright orange foot rest next to the couch, the other planted loosely on the ground.

"The only thing American about this place is that it used to be British," Scott comments, earning another smile from Brianna.

"This is Scott Summers," Brianna introduces the two. "He's new here, too." Kurt eyes the teenager in a curious way. It's pretty obvious to Brianna that he doesn't spend a lot of time with kids his own age.

"And I'm already up for a prison break," Scott continues, lowering his arms to rest on his legs for a second before rising to his feet and approaching Kurt. "What do we say, we take this blue guy on a little field trip? I'm sure there's a mall around here somewhere." Brianna looks to Kurt, but he only seems confused.

"What's a mall?"

Scott snickers. "What's a mall? All right, now this is the matter of national pride. Civic duty." Brianna rolls her eyes, but her stomach drops as Jean approaches, seeming to come out of nowhere.

"Scott," she warns, giving him a pointed look.

"What?" He asks, defensively. "You've been cooped up here for a long time and the Professor's not even home." Jean releases a sigh of annoyance and raises her shoulders, hesitating.

"I - I'd like to go to the mall," Kurt chips in. Brianna doesn't like this idea, though. "Try it."

"All right," Scott agrees, then turns to the brunette expectantly. "Where does he keep his cars?"

As if she would know.