DISCLAIMER: Everything you recognise is property of it's respective owner. Everything you don't is probably mine.

This is a little brainchild that came about from a nightshift at the video store I work at. We had Jumper on our Blu-Ray demo and X-Men on the rest of the tv's, and the idea gave birth to itself. I then grew from a cute little "what-if?" sort of one-shot into a multichapter monster. Hoefully you all enjoy the ride :D

Fifteen year old David Rice supposed that if he had to pinpoint the moment his life had gone to pot, it would have been when he was five. To be honest, it probably started with his birth, but up until the age of five he'd been just any other kid in any other small town USA. Then he turned five and everything fell apart, starting with his mother.

David's mother had been the best mother on earth. David was sure of it. She read stories with all the voices and made him soup when he was sick, or when it was cold out, or sometimes just because. She played games and sang songs and took him to the park and always had a special smile, just for him. Even as faded and grey as all his memories of her had become, he still remembered loving her with everything inside his five year old body, and then probably some.

Then she left, David's father turned to alcohol and a little boy's entire world came undone. His father outright refused to ever speak of her again and David had never learned what, if anything, the man had known about his wife's disappearance. He'd have spent most of his life despondent and alone if it hadn't of been for Millie Harris, his best and only friend since diapers. She was sweet and lovely, the sister he'd never had. She'd carried him through dark times, held him when he cried, and patched him up after his father had hit him in a drunken temper. So when Mark Kobold had taken the Christmas gift David had given her (and shoveled many a driveway to earn the money for in the first place!) and tossed it onto the frozen river, he didn't think twice about walking onto the thin ice for it. Even when all the kids watching started yelling for him to come back, he kept on, thinking of the instant of joy on Millie's face when she'd first held the heavy glass snow globe. But maybe David had been wrong before, and it was what happened next that started the nightmare he was in now.

One second David was returning to solid ground, snow globe in hand, when suddenly Millie was at his side, tugging his sleeve, urging him to hurry. The next thing he knew they were below the ice. The shock of the cold forcing the air from his lungs, extremities immediately numb. The cold burned his eyes to much to keep them open and closing them rendered his world dark and silent. He reached for Millie, but came up empty handed. He was dimly aware of the swift current pushing at him, keeping him moving but he was already slowing his struggles, heart sluggishly trying to move icy cold blood, lungs burning for air and ready to accept water instead. It was only the jolt of hitting the floor in the middle of the Ann Arbor public library that had him gasping for breath and coughing, relieved at the intake of pure fresh air. It took him several seconds to reorient himself, and by the time he had the head librarian had already called an ambulance and begun treating him for hypothermia. Yeah, that was it; the split second between the river and the library's nonfiction section that had changed his life. The moment of his first jump, when confused and dying he'd wished for a warm safe place, and managed to bring himself there on will alone. Millie's body was found the next day over half a mile downriver. She'd never had a chance. David's guilt and grief was so raw he hadn't yet even cried.

Now three days later after being discharged from the hospital; after the men in black suits had come to the door and made long speeches about "late blooming" and "betterment of mankind," his father had signed countless pieces of paper that gave sole custody of David over to the United International Jumpers Council minus the occasional visitation, and been promised monetary compensation for his trouble. David was property of the UIJC now, as all Jumpers were worldwide. Of course most jumpers manifest sometime before the age of seven, in fact fifteen was almost unheard of. It meant David was woefully behind on his training. "What training?" David had asked, the first thing he'd said unprompted to the pair of men since they'd arrived at his home. David already had an inkling of the answer though. In a world of 7.4 billion people, there were only a little over 500 known Jumpers, making them a precious commodity. Any person that could instantly move all over the globe was in high demand for everything from boring courier jobs to exciting careers with many search and rescue organizations. From working for a hospital to ferry the severely injured straight into the ER to giving guided tours of exotic places usually thought to be inaccessible to the general public. Jumpers were never without options and Gould academy in New Zealand where David was now enrolled was the only school in the world that prepared young Jumpers for these possibilities.

Naturally, the first man went on to explain as he fastened an odd and heavy metal band snugly on David's right wrist, no Jumper was allowed to work in a mundane career. Nor were they allowed unregulated jumps across international borders without clearing it with the UIJC first. The men explained about the creation of inhibitor bracelets and the matching keystones. Keystones were machines installed inside any country, state or even building that wanted to regulate or prevent jumping outright. Once inside a territory controlled through a wireless signal by the keystone, the second man explained to David, who was staring at his wrist in horror, the inhibitor would block all jumping abilities until the jump was authorized by the UIJC. Most small-grade keystones prevented theft from businesses and residents by prevented jumps into or out of the building they were installed in. Medium keystones, like the ones installed in the Gould Academy, prevented students from leaving campus to play hooky. Unless of course, the first man was quick to reassure David, it was a pre-approved visit home. David glanced at his father out of the corner of his eye, sizing up the beer in his hand and the scowl on him face and decided he'd be spending most holidays in the dorms. Millie was dead and never coming back, meaning there was nothing in this town for him anymore. For a moment, the thought overwhelmed him and he reeled. Explanation done, the men gave him 15 minutes to pack before man number two grabbed his arm and with a sharp burst of air the trio appeared before a large wrought iron gate.

Ok, David thought, slowly taking in his surroundings as the gate swung open. So maybe Gould Academy was a little less intimidating in person than he'd built it up to be in his head.

Only by a small, small margin though.

The sprawling campus stretched forward before him, covering nearly 250 acres of New Zealand's most beautiful territory on one of the smaller, less inhabited islands. All in all, the school was well located; isolated enough from the rest of the population by miles of open space, but situated only a short trip from many nature trails, a small scenic overlook, and of course, the beach. The buildings themselves were large, airy structures designed to have an old-world feel while combining the more modern architectural ideas of "open layouts" and "cram as many windows in for maximum sun exposure." Complete with four gender-segregated student dorms, a cafeteria located in the conservatory, a large gymnasium including outdoor track and multipurpose sports field, an art and music studio slash auditorium, and of course the main building housing all other classrooms and a wing of science labs. The school was a little piece of heaven on earth for the average teenager.

David was definitely not your average teenager and if he could have gotten away with jumping himself to the bottom of the Pacific, he would've.

Allowing himself to be led by his nameless (hulking!) escorts, David made his way past a handful of students enjoying the free time in the sunshine between last class and dinner; a group of tweens sprawled on a circle surrounded by a pile of textbooks comparing homework answers, a handful of younger children climbed on a jungle gym off to one side. Over on the multipurpose field in the distance David could make out half a dozen teenagers participating in what looked like a typical team practice, provided the sport involved was some kind of freak hybrid between volleyball, basketball, and was that a Frisbee? David shook his head minutely to clear it; certain that Quidditch would make more sense to him at this point. The whole last three days had been beyond surreal, and he kept waiting and waiting to wake up from this horrible dream. The first day he'd even pinched his own arm so hard he'd broke skin, but by now he was becoming resigned to his new fate.

Making his way down the wide brightly lit corridor to the main office, David focused as hard has he could on the back on his guide's plain black suit jackets, if only to avoid meeting the eyes of any of the gawkers that were trying and failing to look uninterested in the new face. Stepping through the double glass doors into the main office, David was waved into a smaller office near the back. The men in black suits shutting the door behind him with a soft thump that echoed like a death knell. David was trapped with a middle-aged man with a receding hairline and an impatient smile.

"Have a seat son" The man says, and David obeys mechanically. "We have much to go over." His nametag reads "PRINCIPAL BROWN" which says absolutely nothing descriptive about him. Attempting to listen as "PRINCIPAL BROWN" talked about class schedules, optional courses and future career paths while David nods, mumbles something about drama and creative writing, and smiles emptily in that order. After a few more rote pleasantries, David is handed a schedule, a campus map, along with his dorm and locker assignment and offered first a guided tour and a handshake. David declines the first and hesitantly accepts the second, and is then promptly cut loose into the nearly empty halls where a small group of three students who seem to be all headed for dinner somewhere, if the chatter about Pizza Tuesdays was to be believed. Feeling sick to his stomach, David pulled the hood of his sweater up to obscure his face and set about walking against the flow, determined to find his dorm, unpack his bag, crawl into bed and perhaps suffocate himself in his pillow. The urge to jump away is overwhelming, but the weight of the inhibitor bracelet he'd been slapped with seemed to triple around his wrist, keeping him grounded. It felt like a manacle and that thought made David even sicker. Screw Pizza Tuesdays or whatever, the first thing he was going to do once he found his way out of the main building and over to his dorm was try and drown himself in a hot shower.

Rounding the next corner delivered him into another deserted hallway as bland and generic as the ones before. Unable to make heads or tails of the map, David sighed and shuffled forward, determined to make it to the boy's second dorms before night came. He was so lost in his own head he barely even registered the odd site that caught the corner or his eye from an open doorway. Once he processed what he'd seen though, he found himself stopping dead and slowing turning, moving into the doorway of the apparent copy room for a closer look.

"Whoa." He murmured; having not been wrong.

Sitting on one of the biggest, newest, and priciest photocopier David had even seen was a boy probably a year or two older than David, most likely a senior to David's sophomore and trouble from the looks of it. Wild shaggy hair, a scruffy canvas jacket in a military green and heavy black combat boots were the first things he noticed. The second thing was the pair of black jeans and blue plaid boxers pushed down the mid thigh. In fact the only thing saving David's delicate sensibilities was the faded black t-shirt that was thankfully long enough to fall into the boys lap. David blinked slowly, but when he opened his eyes, the boy was still there, swinging legs crossed at the ankles lightly as the photocopy machine whirred and hummed, casting little highlights and shadows as it scanned and dutifully reproduced perfect pictures of the boy's ass. In high contrast and astoundingly detailed photo quality, thank you expensive office equipment. It was around that moment that David realized the boy was speaking and in a clear British accent, no less.

"Eh, a little privacy over here, yeah?" The boy seemed less upset at being caught in a compromising position, and more upset at being ogled at by a stunned David.

"Yeah, ok." David forced out; closing his gaping jaw with an audible click and taking a step backwards.

"Big fancy school, guy photocopying his arse... it's not a fashion show. Can you give me some space?" The guy waved a hand in the air vaguely as if mapping out his own personal bubble, one which clearly did not involve David's continued presence.

"Sure, place is all yours." Putting his hands up in front of him to emphasize his point, David took another step back and turned, continuing on down the hallway while deciding not to let his odd first encounter with a fellow student deter him from his ultimate goal of a shower, bed, and pity-party. He'd only gone a couple of steps before the dull clump of thick soles on tile and a now-recognizable voice had him turning back again.

"Hey, wait, new kid?" The boy was still adjusting his pants on his hips and buckling his belt, unkempt hair in his eyes, holding himself casually but looking with intent on David like he was seeking revelation. Something about the other boy compelled David to raise a hand to his hood, pulling it down to give the boy in front of him an unimpeded view of his face. This must have been the right move because the boy's stance shifted slightly after, like a miniscule relaxation and he favored David with and edgy pirate smile. Emboldened, David took the introduction a step further.

"David Rice." He stated simply in and even tone, trusting the other to catch on. In the heartbeat that passed before the strange, wild boy responded. David watched that lopsided smile widen just enough to reveal a flash of canine, as if the other boy were a predator having scented something tasty. The sickness that had abated somewhat in David's distraction came over him again full force.

"Well then, David Rice," The boy spoke as if savoring the name on his tongue. "Welcome to Jumper High."

Well there it is, chapter one of my first-ever AU fic. Please let me know what you think, I welcome all contructive feedback!