After meeting Lauren, Christian, Hunter, and Amelia, life became both easier and harder at the school. I started taking online classes to get a college degree. Christian helped me whenever he could. He was ridiculously good at math and had a knack for making a complicated derivative equation understandable. This was especially useful for me. I had to take three calculus courses for my biochemistry degree.

Lauren was well-versed in psychology, and she worked as a caretaker for the younger children, many of whom had been orphaned by their parents because of their Talents. She worked to ease their loss and initiate them into the lifestyle of Mutants. Not that Mutants live too differently from normal humans. Our world just tends to be a bit more dramatic and over-exaggerated. For example, when a fight would break out, fists wouldn't be thrown. Talents would be used, and God knows what would result. For the worst cases, I was called in. On average, that would be once every two weeks. Yeah, a lot of the teenagers had a love-hate relationship. One moment they would be best friends, but one wrong word or move would change that status to enemies.

Hunter, who I came to learn was Lauren's boyfriend, was amazing at sports. He was always in the gym that was attached to the castle, working out or playing on the basketball court with the others. When a sunny day occurred, he would be in the large field that doubled as a football field. It's called the Cobalt. It's an indoor arena whose roof was a series of glass panels that reflected the light so any aircraft that were to pass would not be able to see it. It would be suspicious if a helicopter pilot were to find a huge arena behind a mansion. Well, maybe not too weird but strange enough we couldn't risk it.

Amelia, on the other hand, was in the works to teach history. She was working as a mentor in hopes to progress to the position. She definitely needed to gain some people skills before she worked with children. I discovered that she was a nice person, but that trait was hidden beneath many layers of selfishness she had been encouraged to harbor as a child. We later became best friends, especially when she became Christian's fiancé. Plus, she and Lauren were the only girls around my age at the castle at that time. The others were younger or significantly older. I needed someone to talk to when Laura was working and Nat was on missions.

That was something I missed. There was always something going on around S.H.I.E.L.D. Of course, the castle had its fair share of events going on, but ever since Charles and Max Eisenhardt, better known as Magneto, had resolved their differences, life could get rather monotone. Logan had informed me that the two used to be rivals of the greatest magnitude. The tales of their battles were remembered by Logan with both respect and hatred. He was behind the Professor one hundred percent, and it was true that what Magneto had done in the past certainly warranted Logan's dislike of the man. Now, however, Logan was working on mending his relationship with Magneto.

Personally, I had only heard of the man. Whenever I asked Charles, he would simply say that his old friend was helping other Mutants around the world. I accepted the answer easily enough. He helped fund the school, after all. It was not too outrageous to believe he was assisting those who could not get to the school for one reason or another.

My training continued. For a few hours every evening, once the children had finished their homework and were relaxing, I would train. There were two training facilities located on the school's campus. There was one for the children which was found in the gymnasium. The other was for the adults, the ones who had more experience with controlling their Abilities and wished to continue mastering them. That was the one I used, and it was found in the basement. It was rather state-of-the-art, especially compared to the standard technology of society.

The room could produce holographs that actually had sustenance to them. I'm not much of a technology buff, so I'm extremely sorry of having no better way of describing it. Basically, it could produce things that weren't real but appeared to be. The opponents produced for target practice, for instance, could move around and be hit. But once hit, they simply disappeared. If they came within a certain distance of you, you lost, and the simulation was restarted.

Logan and Scott assisted me in my combat skills. They refined the hand-to-hand skills Natasha taught me. It was different battling a smooth assassin like herself and the utter, brute strength of Scott and Logan. Jean often had to wrap my bleeding knuckles, and Storm would help to put paste on my bruised and sore arms.

Hunter helped with the other aspects of my physical training. I started running with him in the mornings, and I also lifted weights. I played sports with them in an effort to better my hand-eye coordination. Laura would come by during our little tournaments, especially volleyball. That girl might have been shorter than me, but boy could she jump and spike the ball. Plus, during soccer, she was so fast on her feet it was almost impossible to get the ball from her. She admitted that she hadn't really been interested in sports during school, but she was more than happy to play them with us. I think the sense of camaraderie brought out some confidence in her.

Charles and I worked with my mental capabilities. I came to learn that my magic, the substance that fueled all of my Abilities, was directly tied to my emotions and focus. If my emotions took over, I lost focus. When this happened, I would end up breaking something, usually a piece of art. As long as I kept my emotions somewhat controlled, I was good. I could feel the magic running through my arteries when I centered myself.

I'll never forget the first time I managed to tap into my magic willingly. It was amazing. I could almost feel it in every cell in my body. I felt transcendental. The experience was surreal.

"Charles, what...?" I gazed around the room in disbelief, seeing colors and patterns and shapes and so much more.

"You've tapped into your full potential."

I continued looking around in wonder before exhaustion took over. I sighed and released the hold I had on my magic. Luckily, I was still focused enough to keep it in check, but I kneeled down from the energy loss. "That was...there are no words to explain something like that. It took a lot out of me, though."

Charles nodded. "The more you practice, the easier it will be and the less energy it will require."

I brushed off my knees when I rose. "Can I retire for the rest of the day?"

Charles began wheeling to the exit. "Of course, dear one. Take your time. I'll let Logan know his services won't be needed."

I hesitated before I called out, "Professor!"

He turned around. "Yes?"

"I've been thinking about this for a while, and it's been bothering me. I keep having that nagging that I'm missing something essential. Will I ever find my One?"

Charles smiled, almost sadly. "I believe you will, yes."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why are your emotions somber?"

"I cannot guarantee that your ending will be happy."

My heart sunk. "Is there any reason behind your assumption?"

Charles sighed. "I have seen many love stories come and go with humans. Mutants tend to form stronger connections, but I don't think a Mutant will be your One."

"A human? What? Why?"

Charles began to leave. Just as the door was closing behind him, he said, "We shall see what destiny has in store. Keep your hopes and head up. Don't lose yourself in the possibilities of the future. Live in the present."

I stared at the floor. Was my future as hopeless as my past?

I apologize for the wait for this update. I had a family member in the hospital who was not doing so well.

Love you all, my darlings!