Hello readers, both new and old, this is the (very much) revised first chapter of Echo. I deleted the other chapters and am now writing this from scratch I have grown much as a writer and as a person in the two years since I visited this story, so I have decided to completely start over. Mostly, I realized while trying to write my own original work that if I can't even finish a fanfiction I probably won't be able to finish my own fiction. So now that NaNoWriMo has begun, I will be focusing on nothing but this story. I hope to write a chapter a day. Thank you for reading and please review 3

She had a dream that she was a lighting bolt. A stroke of energy that burst from the sky and created destruction wherever it struck. First she hit the ocean and watched as the fish near the top were electrocuted and floated to the surface. Then she was at her old high school, shocking the group of girls who had bullied her in her adolescence. She felt joy as their head stood on end and each of them received the same scars they had teased her about in school. The joy soon faded when she flew over her own bed, and she watched as she struck her own sleeping body. As the dream version of herself woke from the strike, Kristen awoke to the real world.

She gasped as her eyes shot open, sweat caking her hair to her forehead and her clothes to her body. She threw the covers off and stumbled out of the bed and over to her full length mirror. Her scars were more prominent than usual,an angry red instead of the usual dull pink. The branch like scars spread all across her body, from the tip of her toes to the top of her head and down her arms. They covered her light brown skin like branches of a tree, even spattering her face in the thin lines. She rubbed her arms, the scars aching. They got like this sometimes: tired, hungry, or a mix of the two. The only way to soothe them was to feed them power from other people like her, other superhumans. She'd have to wake Colin up for that. Kristen sighed and pulled off her sweat soaked tank top and slumped to her bathroom for a shower. She turned the knob as far as it would go, she preferred hot showers when her power flared up like this. Colin always said she would burn herself alive taking showers like that. Kristen always replied that the burns would match the rest of her body.

She stepped out of the shower and quickly changed into her waitress uniform and put her hair up in a towel. After applying her make up and drying her hair completely, she tiptoed over to Colin's room and knocked twice. From inside the room, Colin snorted awake. She listed as his heavy footsteps approached the door. He opened it slowly and peered down at Kristen with half opened eyes. His brown hair that normally hit his shoulders was sticking up at every angle, defying all laws of gravity. His shirtless torso revealed just how skinny he was, lacking muscles everywhere except for his arms where you could see a hint of how little he exercised. With his power, he never had to lift a finger, so he thought there was no need to exercise.

"I had a dream my best friend was an elephant and we solved mysteries together," He said.

"Are you calling me fat?" Kristen replied as she entered the room and fell onto the bed.

"No, it was a different best friend,"

"Only in your dreams would you have another friend," Kristen sat back up and reached for Colin's hand, "We have work in an hour."

Colin grabbed her hand and sat beside her as Kristen's scars began to lightly glow as his power coursed through them. She felt instant relief as the energy spread through her and let out an almost erotic moan at how it made her feel.

"Listen, I know I'm sexy but this seems like an overreaction," Colin said. Kristen giggled and shook her head as she playfully shoved him. The still half asleep Colin fell off the bed, landing not so gently onto the vomit colored carpet. The mock hurt look he gave her only launched Kristen into further giggles until the larger boy lifted his hand, and Kristen's body followed it.

"Two can play at this game," said Kristen, and soon after Colin was in the air floating next to her.

Colin pouted and suddenly Kristen flipped upside down, the skirt of her waitress dress following her dark, black hair, which was not trying to get back to the floor.

"Nice undies."

"Real mature, asshole."

"You're the one who started it."

"What are you, 12?"

Colin fell to the ground without warning, once again landing painfully onto the disgusting carpet.

"You need to get ready for work, if we're late again Johnson is going to fire us," Kristen cautioned.

He yawned, nodded, and motioned to his closet door, which sprung open and his work clothes floated to him.

"Can you let me down before you start undressing?" Kristen said.

"I thought you liked looking at me naked?" Colin joked.

"Just as much as I like watching you take shit."

Colin laughed and slowly put Kristen back on her feet, right side up and with a smile on her face. Nothing made her happier than Colin, especially his laugh. He was her best friend, not matter how annoying he could be.

Kristen walked out of the room, a little more pep in her step than when she had first woken up that morning.

"The usual, Arnie?" Kristen asked as she refilled the cop's mug.

"As always, Kristen. Is Colin in the kitchen today?" Arnie asked.

"When isn't he in the kitchen?"

"He is the best. His pancakes are even better than my ma used to make."

Kristen smiled at the cop, whom she had known her whole life. He had been much skinnier back when he was just a deputy, but once he became sheriff the weight began to pile on. Most of it was probably due to Colin's world famous pancakes. They're only world famous in their town of Sundale; but, to Kristen, the Sundale was the whole world.

"I'll be right back with your food," Kristen said before she entered the swinging door into the kitchen where Colin was simultaneously cooking eggs, flipping pancakes, and cutting fruit.

"One day someone is going to walk in here-" Kristen began

"And if they see anything, I'll just say that they're crazy. No one would believe them anyway." Colin replied.

Kristen didn't answer as she grabbed Arnie's order. She gave Colin a warning look and replaced it with a winning smile as she returned to the main part of the diner. As she placed Arnie's breakfast on the counter, the bell signaling customers rang.

Kristen looked up at the pair that had walked through the door. The shorter man had piercing blue eyes and gave Kristen a kind smile as she and the other Waitress, Lucy, greeted them. The other man was intimidating, not even looking at Kristen or anyone else as they took a seat in a corner booth. She threw a smile at Arnie as she walked over to the two men who were reviewing the menu.

The closer she got to them, the more she could feel them. It was a weird feeling, a feeling she had gotten soon after she got her powers. It was drawing her to the two men. A foot away from the table her scars began to tingle. She ignored them, thinking Colin was exerting power trying to lift something big in the kitchen. The more power Colin exerted, the more her power wanted. It had been like this with Thomas before, but Kristen didn't like to think about Thomas.

"Welcome to the Wallflower Diner, my name is Kristen, how are you guys doing this morning?" She greeted. The blue eyed man grinned at her and set his menu down.

"I'm doing absolutely splendid, Kristen, thank you. I am Charles Xavier and this is my friend Erik Lehnsherr," The man now known as Charles said. He had a fancy, British accent that Kristen had only heard on television. The man now known as Erik gave a brief hello with an actually quite charming smile.

"That's great to hear, Charles. Are you boy's ready to order?"

"I think we're both quite interested in your 'world famous pancakes,' they sound truly amazing."

"They are the best anyone in this town have tasted I assure you, and it helps that we have one of the best cooks in Virginia. I'll have those right out for you," Kristen began to turn away from the booth when Charles spoke.

"Thank you, I'm sure your extra talented friend back there is just as good at flipping pancakes as he is at telekinesis."

Kristen froze. She glanced over at Colin through the order window, then turned back to Charles and Erik. The two men had similar smirks on their faces. Kristen tried to mimic the smile she had on before, but could feel how fake it was.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kristen had never been a good liar.

"I'm sure you do, Kristen. Especially since you yourself have utilized...Colin is it? Yes, Colin's powers before. Those aren't normal scars, after all."

"How do you…"

I know all about, Kristen, because I am like you.

"How are you...Are you in my head?"

"I'm like you Kristen. Me and Erik." As Charles spoke, Erik raised his hand and snapped his fingers and the small, metal pitcher of syrup floated up and poured onto the pancakes. Kristen watched in awe and turned to look back at Colin through the window into the kitchen. Colin looked up and began to wave when he noticed her expression. She sharply waved him over and turned back to the two men who were looking at her expectantly.

"Who are you?"

"We have proposition for you. You as well, Colin," He answered as Colin joined the group. Colin looked from Kristen's ghostly pale face to Charles wise one and said:

"What the hell did I miss?"

Kristen tried to ignore Colin's pacing as she packed his bag for him. He's had already been packed the moment they had returned home from work, albeit much earlier than usual. Charles and Erik were waiting downstairs for them, they had drove them home from work after a long conversation about mutations and a mutant named Sebastian Shaw and whole mess of things that she was still trying to process. Colin was trying to process it as well, only much louder than Kristen.

"This is insane! How do we even know these guys are telling the truth? This could be some long con and they are going to steal all our money or something!" Colin ranted.

"We don't have any money," Kristen replied, calmly. The added the last of Colin's clothes to the bag and zipped it up before turning to her anxiety ridden best friend.

"Besides, I heard him in my head! You did too, what more proof do you need?" She question. Colin froze mid pace and stared at Kristen for a moment. He suddenly collapsed onto the bed, throwing his hand over his face dramatically.

"It's just too much for me," He said, sounding like a damsel in some dramatic film. Kristen sighed and sat next to him, patting his tummy in an attempt to comfort him.

"I know how worked up you get, but just imagine, Linny! We've spent our whole lives thinking we were the only ones who were different," She started.

"Until we met Thomas," Colin interjected.

"Let's not talk about Thomas. Anyway, these men are like us, and they want us to be a part of a whole group of people like us! We'll probably never have another opportunity like this in our lives!" She cheered.

Colin sat up quickly, a grin on his face.

"Yeah, you're right," He jumped off the bed, throwing his backpack over his shoulder and marching out the door. "Let's go be superheroes!" He shouted. Kristen giggled and picked up her own pack and followed Colin towards their new lives.