Disclaimer: Every character you recognize (Generation X) belongs to Marvel Comics. Glenn, Dawn, and her family belong to ME. This story is mine, so don't even THINK about trying to copyright it. You have been warned. There is little or no bad language in this story, so don't worry about it. (I'd like to apologize in advance for Glenn's horribly overdone accent, but since he doesn't use it very often I figure it shouldn't be too bad.)

Author's Note: Here's the deal: this is my first fanfiction story, so if it starts off a little rocky I'm sorry. I can't drive, and it will be several years before I do, so please don't sue me. And while I'm apologizing, I'd like to say that this story was supposed to have been posted about a week ago, but my e-mail got screwed up and Hawk (through no fault of her own) couldn't translate the program. Sorry again, guys (and Hawk, who's been very tolerant throughout) Comments are more then welcome, but since there will most likely be some confusion between who you're writing to (my father and I only have one e-mail address) address the comments to my screen name, Tapestry. (Magical Mouse, if you're reading this this is NOT intended to be a rip off of your story. These kids don't even KNOW the Shadow King most likely never will.) Now, on the story.

First of all, my name is Dawn Embers. Yes, I know it sounds like some sort of pun or another, but bear with me here, okay? Anyway, I was in a boarding school in Oklahoma when it happened. I know what you're thinking, what kind of boarding schools are in Oklahoma? Well, it didn't matter because I was in it whether I wanted to or not. Course, the only reason I was in it in the first place was because Dad inherited a few million dollars from some relative he never even met. But hey, I wasn't complaining. It was a heck of a lot better then my old school, which even the rats had condemned. Still, I missed my friends, (yes, all three of them) and the place had been starting to giving me the creeps.

First of all, the headmaster, Dr. Essex, was very... odd, for lack of a better word. Not cruel, mind you, just odd. I might have been new to that rich kid riff, but I did know when there was something wrong. The day before I had to take a test involving cards with shapes on the backs of them. A woman had held up a card with the blank side facing me and had me write down what shape it was. They hadn't let me know what it was for, or what I had scored, but the woman who had tested me had looked pretty grim. I'd asked her what it was for, but all she did was shake her head. I couldn't imagine why, but she seemed almost sorry for me.

Needless to say, this was NOT very comforting.

Still, the place had some perks. My own room, nice view, and the food was fantastic. I figured I'd had it made. At least until I had to go to high school, anyway.

Naturally things didn't last that long.

"Yyyyyyiiiiiiieeeee!" I screamed as I suddenly felt as if something was attempting to burst into my head. Not physically, but mentally, as if some unseen force was battering my mind like a toy boat in a stormy sea. I crumpled like a piece of paper, clutching my head tightly, trying to quell the pain.

"AAAAAYYYYYYAAAAHHHH!!!" I shrieked; the pain had intensified ten fold. That was when I KNEW something was wrong. Whatever it was that had been trying to get inside of my mind had succeeded. I felt as if I was being ripped apart, then crushed, then suffocated, then burned. I could FEEL people out there. I could feel people dying. It was agony; more then I could bear.

Then I could feel something else, too. Emotions. Millions of emotions tugging at my heart,--my very sanity--and none of them were mine. I could sense what everyone in the school was feeling.... what everyone in the whole flipping state was feeling! It was being caught in the center of a traffic jam and everyone was beeping at ME. I felt like killing myself just to end the insanity, and then--

Silence. It was gone, all of it. Just like that. I'd never thought I could know such bliss as that single, peaceful moment. Presently I was aware of someone pounding on the door and shouting to be let in. I straightened my clothes and pushed the hair out of my face before letting them in, hoping to look more presentable.

The 'someone' at the door turned out to be Ms. Jameson, one of the teachers. "Dawn, what's wrong?!" she exclaimed.

What was I supposed to say? 'I'm sorry Ms. Jameson, I've just been assaulted by every emotion this side of the Mississippi, but next time I'll suffer quietly'? Riiiiiiight. Think fast, girl. "Um, uh, I was just, uh..." I knew I'd better hurry up or she'd go ahead and call the nice men in the white coats to take me away. "It was just a... uh, migraine." I STILL can't believe I said that.

"Oh, I know how much those can hurt some times, dear," Ms. Jameson said, putting a cool hand on my forehead. "Shall I get you some aspirin?"

I still can't believe she BOUGHT it, either! Either I was a better liar then I gave myself credit for (which wouldn't take much) or she shouldn't have been teaching.

"Um, no thanks," I said, my sentences still consisting largely of um's and uh's. "It's gone now. Weird, huh?"

"Actually, things like that are quite common," Ms.Jameson told me as she walked away. "Call for me if it happens again and I'll bring the nurse."

"Thanks Ms. Jameson," I said. I started to close the door.

She nodded her head, then did a double take. She looked at me strangely and removed her glasses and wiped them off on the edge of her blouse. She put them on again and squinted at me. By the time I closed the door I was REALLY feeling paranoid. What on earth could she have been staring at?

I looked in the mirror and did a double take myself. I had a pure white streak that covered a third of my head running through my BLUE HAIR?! I remember thinking something like: What the %$!& is going on here?!? Since when did I get this streak?!?! Since when is my hair BLUE!?!?!!

I collapsed onto my bed, literally in shock. That headache (which was a major understatement of what it had actually felt like) could POSSIBLY have been the result of stress. Not likely, but possibly. But that? I looked like a renegade Smurf! And this was quiet, conservative (according to my teachers) little Dawn we were talking about. Dawn, who'd always gotten straight A's. Dawn, who'd never missed more then three days of school in the space of six years. Dawn, who'd never been in any trouble in her life. The only thing I could think about was that my dad would kill me when he saw me like this. That, or whether I should check into a mental institution or join a rock band.

I decided to place a call to my best friend, Glenn Keaton. He said he was seventeen, but I always got the distinct impression that he was older, even though he looked the part. Anyway, Glenn inherited big bucks from his folks when they died. (Once I'd asked him how, but he just ignored me and changed the subject.) Aside from being rich, however, Glenn was also a thief. Not a real thief, mind you, he rarely actually stole anything, but he was an excellent lock-pick and master escape artist. I locked him in a trunk once, handcuffed and hogtied, and he got out in less then twenty... Sorry, where was I? Oh yeah. I'd met him a few years ago when I was on a camping trip with friends. I'd been climbing a tree near a river and the branch had broken. I'd fallen into the water when out of nowhere Glenn just dives in and rescues me, a complete stranger, without hesitation. We'd been friends ever since, and he'd always helped me out when I got into trouble.

I figured now qualified as one of those times.

I pulled on my cream sweater (part of the school's uniform) and a hat to cover the new involuntary fashion statement that was my hair. I could just see the headlines: "Punk Smurf Look Sweeps the Nation; 13 Year Old Girl Sues for Royalties."

I opened the door and stuck my head out. "Ms. Jameson?" I called.

"Yes Dawn?" she replied, her voice coming from directly beside my door.

Eeeeeep! What had she been doing, waiting for me? "Can I use my phone privilege to call my... uh, boyfriend?" Not technically a lie; Glenn WAS a boy, after all. "I promised him I'd call him today, and I miss him a lot." Do you ever notice how stupid something sounds the moment it leaves your mouth even though it makes perfect sense in your head? This was one of those times.

"I suppose," Ms. Jameson agreed amiably. She led me down the hall and to the main office, where she waited for me while I dialed the number.

"Um, do you mind?" I said. By then I'd said so many uh's and um's lately that I wouldn't have been surprised if they were now considered actual words. "This is kind of personal."

Ms. Jameson smiled and left the room. I locked the door and prayed for Glenn to answer the phone.

"Hello?" he said at last.

"Hey Glenn," I said, ever the smooth talker. "It's me. Um, do you know the boarding school I'm staying in?"

"St. Anne's? Yeah, I know it."

"Well, could you come here?"

"TONIGHT? Why?"

"Well, something really weird's going on with me. It's hard to explain, but it feels like I'm-hhhgxck!"

"Dawn? Dawn, are you okay?! Speak ter me, gel!!!"

I didn't answer him. The pounding had started again, and this time it was so bad I couldn't even move, let alone talk. It was slightly more focused this time, though. I was getting some of Glenn's emotions, which were mostly panic. Added to my own, it made for one heck of an anxiety attack. I could feel myself turning white as a sheet and could just barely make out Glenn's panicked voice on the other end of the phone. It sounded like he was miles away, and getting farther every moment.

And suddenly it was gone again, as quickly as it had before.

"Dawn gel, wot's wrong with yer?!"

I wondered if he realized that his accent (British I believe,) always kicked in when he was worried or excited, like it just had. I figured I'd better answer him before he gave himself a heart attack.

" S'okay, I'm still here," I gasped.

I heard him sigh with relief. "Wot's wrong with yer?" he asked.

"You're forgetting your accent again," I reminded him.

"Oh. I said, what's wrong with you?'" he said after correcting his grammar.

I couldn't help but smile at how cute he was when he tried to sound American before I answered him. "That's part of what's wrong with me," I replied. "It feels like there are all these voices trying to get into my head, and they won't stop. I can... sense people dying. It... it's very painful. That was the second time it's happened today, and it was a lot worse this time. Can you come over? Please?" The last line was dangerously close to a plea, but it was quite genuine.

Glenn didn't answer right away. After all, it HAD been an odd request to ask him to come all the way to my boarding school just to nurse me through a few migraines. But the fact was, I did need him there, if only for moral support.

"I'll come," he said at last.

"Oh, thank you Glenn! How soon can you get here?"

"How soon do you need me?"

"As soon as possible!"

"I'll be there in about fifteen minutes."

"But you live two hours away at least!" I protested. I was too late, he'd hung up.

I walked out of the office in a daze, trying to figure out how Glenn would change a two hour car trip to a fifteen minute one. Oh well, no time to argue about it anyway.

"How was your, er, friend?" Ms. Jameson asked, a sly look in her eye.

"Fine," I told her. "He said he might visit me sometime." Another half truth, but that was as close to lying as I could get.

Ms. Jameson walked me back to my room, where I settled down to wait for my friend. As I did I took off my hat and sweater. Naturally, I go cold again almost imediatly, so I pulled on my leather jacket. Of course, as soon as I put part of my regular clothes on I had to put the rest of them on to. Besides, not only did a leather jacket look absurd with a skirt, I didn't like skirts anyway. I had donned a pair of jeans and slumped onto my bed with a book, trying (unsuccessfully) to keep my mind of the bizzare twist my life had taken, when I heard a series of clicks and my window popped open.

" Ello, luv," Glenn chimed as he crawled in. "Did yer miss me?"

"Accent," I said affectionately as I hugged him. He smiled and ruffled my hair, and then looked closer.

"What did you do to your hair?" he asked. "You look like a reject from that old Smurfs show."

See? Great minds really do think alike.

"I didn't do anything to it, you twit," I scowled. "It's natural."

"What, are you going pre-maturely grey?"

I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "No, you moron. This took place within the space of five minutes, tops."

"Hmm. If that's what you look like now I wonder what you'll look like in the morning."

I gave him a gentle shove and he took the hint. He inspected me closely and looked puzzled. "Do you have contacts on?" he asked.

"Nope. Never worn em in my life. Why?"

" Cause your eyes are blue, too."

I looked in the mirror and got another shock. My eyes, which had previously been brown to match my hair, were now well and truly blue. Not the light, sky blue you usually see, either. They were a deep, navy blue, and they had the effect of making it seem like you could drown in them.

And how would I explain to my parents that their mousy little girl's hair and eyes were now blue? Mom had always said I'd grow out of it, but I think she'd meant that my hair would turn chestnut or something, not blue.

"Dawn?"

"Huh?"

"What exactly happened to you?"

"Well, I was just sitting here, getting ready to go to sleep, and suddenly it felt like someone was trying to split my head open with a sledge hammer. When it finally stopped my hair was blue, but I didn't notice my eyes."

I couldn't hear what Glenn said next, because the room went black. The pounding had started again for the third time in the space of two hours. And this time it was pure AGONY. The first two times seemed like a walk in the park compared to that time. The cries of the dying alone was tearing my mind apart, and when I tried to scream no sound came out. I could feel what each person was thinking when they died, and the waves of death were endless. I could feel Glenn holding me tightly, trying to calm me, but my mind seemed detached from the rest of my body. The thing that DID comfort me, though, was the thoughts I gleaned from his mind. They were soothing and filled with concern for me. I tried to focus on them, but it didn't work, my mind was being pulled deeper and deeper into the madness. Finally I screamed mentally :SOMEONE--ANYONE--FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, HELP ME!!!!!!:

I felt a gentle touch on my mind, much like Glenn's in the fact that it was trying to help me. I let it in gladly, and it helped me fight back the madness. It showed me how to defend myself against the onslaught of emotions and the voices quieted. Not entirely, but enough that I could think again.

:There,: came the voice of the one that had helped me. :Does that help yer?: His voice had a distinct Cockney accent to it, similar to Glenn's. He was concerned, and I immediately decided I liked him.

:Yes,: I thought. :Thank you.:

:Ye're welcome,: he sent. :But I have t' go, we're too far away t' keep our psi-link.: And with those parting words he faded from my mind. I staggered to my feet when I regained the ability to move again, leaning on Glenn for support.

"Are yer okay?" he asked.

"Accent," I reminded him shakily. This time I noticed that the voices hadn't stopped completely. They were much quieter, but they were still there. I could still sense people dying, but only a little, not enough to drive me mad. "And yes, I'm fine someone helped me this time."

"Who?"

"I don't know. He talked to me with his mind and helped me build walls around mine to keep out the voices."

Glenn was lost in thought for all of five seconds, and then he started to laugh.

"What's so funny?!" I demanded.

"Don't you see what's going on?" he laughed. "You're a mutant! A telepath!"

I wasn't sure whether to kiss him or punch him for straightening the whole mess out for me.

He doubled over with laughter. "Welcome t' my world, gel!" he gasped.

"What're you..?" I started. Then I realized something. "How did you get here so fast?" I asked.

"Flew," he chuckled. "One o' me many natural talents."

"You're a mutant, and you never told me?!"

"Just so, luv," he gasped, appreciating the irony. "Yer father's in the Friends of Humanity, remember?"

I took one look at his smug little face and slugged him in the nose.

TEASER FOR NEXT CHAPTER (Yeah, I know regular books don't have teasers, but this is my story and you can't do anything about it, so humor me, okay?)
Glenn and Dawn go on a road trip to the Academy and Generation X actually makes an appearance! (parts of it, anyhow)