The Dreams of Heroes

This is not only my first X-Men fic it is also my first fic for this site. Hopefully all of you enjoy it. I would greatly appreciate your feedback so please review it. I honestly want to know what you think…Do you like the OCs? Is it too wordy? Does the dream catcher legend add or detract from the story? Etc. or you can just tell me if you think I should continue or not.

Disclaimer: The only things that are mine are the characters of Ellie & Ruby. The X-Men in all their glory belong to the brilliant minds of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and all the amazing writers, artists, and staff of Marvel Comics. And the legends of the Ojibwe belong to themselves. (I've always been fascinated by the legends of Native American tribes, hopefully I can do them justice)

Anyway, Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Lives of Legends

Louisville, Kentucky 1962

"You promised!" a voice shouted breaking the silence that had filled the sleazy motel room.

"Well I am sooooo sorry," another voice responded this one oozing with sarcasm.

"Dammit Ruby!" the first voice hollered as the voice's owner angrily flipped the light switch bathing the room in harsh florescent light that banished the dark to the corners of the room as mere shadows.

"Calm down Ellie," the one named Ruby groaned, shielding her chestnut brown eyes from the onslaught of unforgiving and unyielding brightness.

"Calm down, CALM DOWN! HA! You swore you wouldn't but you did," Ellie snapped.

"I said I would try not to," Ruby said removing the barrier that had consumed her vision and glanced at her one and only friend. Ellie glared but said nothing. With a small groan Ruby sat up moved to sit on the edge of the bed. She continued, "Well sorry, little Miss I-sneeze-and-sprout-a-tail."

"ONE TIME!" Ellie shrieked, "That was one time!"

"You can't control it any better than I can," Ruby smirked, but the gesture never reached her eyes. Ellie contemplated throwing something large and heavy at her friend, but settled for throwing her hands in the air with an exacerbated sigh that soundly strangely like a growl.

"Ellie, I'm sorry. Okay?" Ruby sighed, "I can only do so much and I'm soooo tired." A slight groan escaped her lips as her shoulders slumped and her eyes focused on a stain in the carpet about a foot away from her.

"I'm sorry too, Ruby," Ellie said sitting down and wrapping an arm around her sullen best friend, "I know it's not easy." Ruby looked up and turned to face her friend, who in all honestly was more of a "big sister" figure. The anger that had been behind Ellie's jade green eyes had melted away leaving a warm and concerned look behind. Ruby knew exactly what those green eyes saw when the met her doe-eyed brown ones, if only because the face haunted her when she glanced at a mirror. A face, one that as a child was filled with excitement, innocence, and youthful energy, now at the tender age of 19 looked back with dark circles from sleep deprivation and absolute exhaustion. Brown eyes that, at this particular moment, were brimming with frustrated tears that spilled over and ran down her face framed by the wisps of raven black hair that escaped the once orderly braid. Ellie pulled her into a full on hug, tears streaming down her own face. "It'll get easier," Ellie promised.

"How do you know?" Ruby whimpered.

"Because I'm older," Ellie smirked. Ruby couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, by less than a year," she retorted.

"And your point is?" Ellie smirked. Ruby laughed as she wiped away the now dry tears.

"Well you clearly aren't the mature one, I can tell you that for sure," Ruby laughed again.

"Yeah well," Ellie shrugged, "What can I say I'm German and Irish."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're a German ticking time bomb with short Irish fuse," Ruby grinned, "But you can drink any guy under the table with that make up. Though the 50% Ojibwe* background might tamp that down slightly."

"Well your ½ too," Ellie smiled back.

"Nah, I'm better then that, I'm ¾ Ojibwe," Ruby said nudging Ellie with her elbow.

"Oh right, my mistake," Ellie laughed with a roll of her eyes.

"Well anyway, I hope you're right, about it getting easier," Ruby sighed, "I don't know how much longer I can go without more than 2 hours a sleep."

"Well why don't you try and sleep now, I'll stay up," Ellie said with a reassuring smile.

"Are you sure?" Ruby hesitated.

"Of course," Ellie said her smile only increasing, "Now sleep before I make you." As Ellie finished she walked over to the little desk in the corner of the room and switched on the desk lamp before walking over and turning of the main light. The room was cast into near darkness, the shadow that had once been banished now crept back in. Only the light from the desk lamp remained casting even stranger patterns of light and darkness. Ellie made her way back to the desk and grabbed her worn out copy of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, picking up where she had left off with Romeo hiding in the shadows listening to Juliet's lament. She reaches the line every Shakespearian lover knows.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," whispering softly she continues, "So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, Retain that dear perfection which he owes."

Perfection, she thinks, what a concept. Like I could ever know perfection. She glances over at Ruby who breathing softly and evenly as she finally found some well needed rest. Ellie felt her eye lids starting to flutter but she had to fend off the heavy eye lids and stay awake. If only for her friend's sake, they knew each other too well. It was easy for Ruby's drifting mind to find its way into Ellie's if they both slept. She recalled the legends her Nokomis (grandmother) used to tell her about the dream catcher. If she remembered correctly (it had been years since she heard the tale) went like this…

A spider was quietly spinning his web in his own space. It was beside the sleeping space of Nokomis, the grandmother. Each day, Nokomis watched the spider at work, quietly spinning away. One day as she was watching him, her grandson came in. "Nokomis-iya!" he shouted, glancing at the spider. He stomped over to the spider, picked up a shoe and went to hit it.

"No-keegwa," the old lady whispered, "don't hurt him."

"Nokomis, why do you protect the spider?" asked the little boy.

The old lady smiled, but did not answer. When the boy left, the spider went to the old woman and thanked her for saving his life. He said to her, "For many days you have watched me spin and weave my web. You have admired my work. In return for saving my life, I will give you a gift."

He smiled his special spider smile and moved away, spinning as he went.

Soon the moon glistened on a magical silvery web moving gently in the window. "See how I spin?" he said. "See and learn, for each web will snare bad dreams. Only good dreams will go through the small hole. This is my gift to you. Use it so that only good dreams will be remembered. The bad dreams will become hopelessly entangled in the web."

She often thought of this tale on nights like this; nights where she would awaken after having her dreams invaded by a foreign entity. That entity was always Ruby, even though Ruby always did her best to keep her mind to herself, a sleeping mind is just that, sleeping.

In general one's mind naturally wander at night, but for most individuals their minds remain within the confines of their own cranium, but not Ruby's, no definitely not Ruby's. From what Ellie had figured out of the nomadic year she had spend with her and the years of friendship before that, Ruby's subconscious can enter the dreams of any individual as long as she, herself, is asleep. Ruby's family had abandoned her at the age of 10. They were afraid of what she was, but Ellie remembered how her Nokomis would not stand for that. Why when her Nokomis found out what the family had done she went straight to the home where Ruby was, took one look at the doe-eyed girl who had no one to love her and without a second thought scooped up the poor, sweet child and took her home. Ellie had been living with her Nokomis since her parents had died in an accident. And she was very excited to finally have a new companion, friend, and "sister". And Ruby was thrilled to find out that Ellie had strange abilities too, gifts according to Nokomis.

But as Ellie and Ruby's gifts grew stronger and acceptance became hard to come by they never found themselves wanting for love, if only because Nokomis' love was both unconditional and truly unfaltering. But just after Ellie's 18th birthday Nokomis became ill. And by her 19th birthday she had passed away. Ellie and Ruby had promised Nokomis, and each other, that they would always love each other and take care of each other. But as Ruby's power began to grow the neighbors were becoming frightened. The now 18 year old strange girl from next door was beginning to haunt their very dreams and the two were driven out of the town by Ruby's 18th birthday.

They had developed a nomadic life style sense then, always too afraid to stay longer than a few months in one place because a few months was all it took for Ruby's mind to create familiar connections with those she met and the stronger the connection the easier it became for Ruby's subconscious to enter someone else's.

Ellie didn't blame Ruby, it wasn't her fault she was different. And as promised she'd spent the last year bouncing from town to town living out of rundown apartments and cheap motels to keep them both safe. She did everything she could do to help her "little sister" but she could only do so much. Ellie had her own abilities to worry about. Constantly worrying that any minute she might lose control if she sneezes, hiccups, or loses her temper. She can't afford to lose control, to become one of the animals. Like when she became so frustrated at not being able to figure out a puzzle Nokomis had given her, she shifted into a bear and nearly ripped the house apart. Being a shapeshifter is not easy. But then again, dream walking isn't that easy either.

Ellie couldn't seem to focus on her book, her mind was racing with the memories of her past, not just hers, but Ruby's as well. Ellie sighed closing the book. Verona will have to wait, she thought. She stood up and slowly began pacing. What are we going to do? We can't live like this forever. We have no money, no home, and no one cares. The anger she had been feeling earlier returning. I'm sick of running, I just want to go…

Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door. She froze, her animalistic instincts taking over. She could see everything in the room in vivid detail, and could hear the slightest sounds. There was another knock, but this one was much louder, her heightened senses causing her to flinch slightly, but the hair on her neck stood up when she heard voices that accompanied the knock, voices of two men on the other side of the door.

"Erik," the first said in a pointed whisper, "Stop it, Ruby is sleeping, and you've frightened Ellie."

"What? We don't have all night Charles," a second voice, the man called Erik, stated coldly. Ruby was now standing next to the bed confused by not only being woken up but by Ellie's crouched stance and look of total concentration. It actually looked like Ellie was ready to pounce, like a barn cat hunting a mouse, or even a lioness stalking her prey. Ellie gestured for Ruby to stay there and to remain silent. Ruby knew better then to disobey. Ellie moved faster than Ruby had ever seen her. Ellie's mind racing as she approached the door. How did they know Ruby's name, wait they knew mine too. She ripped open the door and practically snarled at the two men, "Who the hell are you! And how did you know our names," Ellie hissed. She heard a muffled gasp from where Ruby stood. Immediately the shorter of the two men took a half step back and put his hands out in front of him, the taller one standing his ground, challenging Ellie.

"Please Ellie, we mean you no harm. My name is Charles Xavier, and this is my good friend Erik Lensherr," The smaller one said trying to ease Ellie's nerves. But his answer just provoked her.

"HOW do you know our names!" she growled. Erik was having trouble suppressing a laugh as he watched his telepathic friend being stared down by a young girl who looked barely old enough to drink and couldn't be taller then 5'5". She spun around and let out a low growl. An animalistic growl, Erik noted, like you'd hear from a tiger or a lion. He found himself staring into a pair of jade green eyes as she growled "What are YOU laughing at!" she barked.

"Come now, Ellie, we will explain everything if you just invite us in," Charles said trying to draw some of the attention away from Erik.

"No," Ellie hissed without missing a beat, her eyes never leaving Erik.

"Ellie, we are like you. We are here to help. I know how much you worry about Ruby's powers," Charles said.

"You know NOTHING!" Ellie hissed as she spun and grabbed hold of Charles' jacket by the lapels and pinned him to the wall. Erik moved to grab the girl but was stopped when Charles held out his arm. "Erik, no," Charles said. Erik halted.

"I know everything, you see I'm a telepath, a mutant like you and Ruby," Charles said in a voice that was oddly calm for being held a foot off the ground and pinned to a wall. It unnerved her.

"Ellie," a meek voice came from the doorway.

"Ruby, go back inside!" Ellie yelled.

"No," Ruby said, her voice a little less meek then before.

"What?" Ellie looked over at her "sister" still holding Charles up against the wall.

"I said no," Ruby said, "And put him down."

"No!" Ellie shouted.

"Yes," Ruby said finally stepping out and placed her hand on Ellie's arm.

"Why?" Ellie said a little softer than before.

"Because they didn't do anything and he said he could read minds. That means he is like us," Ruby said, "Please just put the man down." Ellie let go of Charles and he landed on his feet with a slight thud. Ellie's eyes darting suspiciously from Erik to Charles repeatedly.

"Besides, he said he could help and I trust him," Ruby said, a desperate edge to her voice. Ellie looked at her.

"You TRUST him?" Ellie said unable to hide the shock and anger in her voice, "They knock on our door at 2 in the morning, knowing everything about us, and you TRUST THEM?"

"Well I don't have any reason not to," Ruby said with a reassuring smile, "And well, let's face it Ellie we need all the help we can get."

"No, we don't. We're not some charity case," Ellie said, "We don't need them."

Erik cleared his throat. "We are standing right here," he said flatly. Ellie turned and growled at him. Ruby reached up gently grabbed Ellie's chin bring Ellie's attention back to her.

"Yes we do. Ellie, we're almost broke. We are barely scrapping by as is," Ruby sighed, "And I'm tired Ellie, I'm tired of running, I'm tired of being scared, and quite frankly I'm just tired." Ellie looked at Ruby's now pleading eyes.

"Fine," Ellie grumbled and stormed back into the room. Ruby turned to Erik and Charles. "Sorry about that, she's a bit overprotective, and has a little bit of a temper," Ruby smiled at them, "Please come in."

*A/N The Native American tribe called Ojibwe(or Ojibwa/Ojibway) is often(and more commonly referred) to as the Chippewa.