A Burning Realization (Xavier)

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

Monroe was trying to stay awake. Although it was the middle of the day, he was always exhausted from never sleeping very well. Sure, he wasn't as sleep deprived as he'd been upon first arriving here, but not entering people's dreams and finding time to sleep when he wouldn't was a tough task.

He'd taken up the couch in the common room, lounging across it and turning on the television. Some crime show was on and Monroe tried to concentrate on it, but he found that his vision was getting blurry and that his eyes were fluttering closed. He'd already had several cups of coffee that day and he wasn't sure what else to do to keep himself awake. He had a few techniques and it didn't help that his mp3 player was dead.

Entering others dreams wasn't his favorite thing to do and while he was better at pulling out of them than he used to, it took a lot of energy and sometimes he just didn't have enough to spare.

Even with all of these thoughts about how he couldn't afford to fall asleep, his eyes shut and in a moment, Monroe was fast asleep.

[Xavier O'Conner]

Xavier was now tired after not sleeping all night and with his roommates finally out and about he had turned up the temperature so he was more comfortable. He headed to his room and jumped on to his bed instantly falling asleep.

Xavier usually didn't dream but when he did it was always really weird. More then once he had woken up on fire. At this moment his dream was taking a weird turn and Xavier was playing with Mia's snake on top of some giant volcano. This was only weird because Xavier hated animals because they had a tendency to burn with his touch and he had never seen a volcano in his lifetime. He was pretty much happy until he saw someone else there that defiantly didn't belong. "What are you doing here?" Xavier's voice echoed.

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

Monroe swore that the minute he'd closed his eyes, he'd opened them again and it didn't take long to realize what had happened. "Damnit," he said, groaning under his breath.

He sighed and decided to take in his surroundings before deciding if it was worth it to use the energy to pull out of the dream, as if he had much energy anyway. He was on top of a large volcano and a blonde was holding a snake. It was extremely unrealistic and he wondered how what the personality was of this guy if he was having such a dream.

It wasn't long before the guy spotted him and shouted over at him. "I should ask what you're doing here. A volcano...interesting," he mused.

[Xavier O'Conner]

Xavier like his volcano and frankly he was pretty happy until the other guy showed up. Xavier placed Spike on the ground and walked a step over to the guy. " I can't burn Spike here unless its a nightmare. How did you get here and who are you?"

Xavier was not happy some stupid guy was in his dream. Granted it wasn't a very good dream but Xavier was in the hottest place he could think of and that was good enough for him. At least when he was sleeping no one could ruin it. Guess he was wrong.

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

Spike? Monroe guessed that the guy was talking about the snake he was holding. Why he was concerned about burning the snake, he didn't know, but the fact that it was in his dream revealed something about him. Maybe the snake belonged to a person he felt guilty for hurting. "Well...how I got here is really simple. I fell asleep and well, here I am. Funny how it works." The guy seemed to be all business and not the least bit friendly. "My name's Monroe. I've seen you around Hammel."

[Xavier O'Conner]

" I'm Xavier and yes I go to Hammel and I'm not allowed to leave. " Xavier wasn't in the best mood when he went to sleep but now he seemed worse when this guy entered his dream. " Why can't my brain have some alone time? Sean is in my head or at least I think he is and now you are"

Xavier's skin was getting hotter and in the dream the lava started rising in the volcano. The snake had also disappeared and was forgotten as Xavier focused on Monroe. So far Monroe hadn't done anything to set Xavier off but he never liked people in his head. He didn't like sharing what he hated and what he was guilty about. Monroe was getting very close to what Xavier didn't want to share. Xavier often had dreams about when his power manifested and he preferred for people not to know what happened.

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

Xavier. Monroe hadn't really heard of him, but then again, there were a lot of teens at Hammel. He seemed pretty miffed about not being able to leave, like he was under prison watch or something.

This was a typical reaction people had when he was in their dreams. They were annoyed and scared that somebody was in their head, even if he could only see into their unconscious and not their conscious mind. Dreams was where unconscious desires came out. "Look, I'm not here to be in your head. I didn't exactly choose to land in your dream. I must've fallen asleep." Was he talking about the school psychiatrist? What had he done to need him in his head?

He heard noises from inside the volcano as if it was going to burst and the snake had disappeared almost immediately.

[Xavier O'Conner]

" Why did you have to land in my dream. I want you out." Xavier wasn't sure of the other guys abilities but now was a great time to test them out.

The volcano finally exploded but by then Xavier had moved in his dream and they were next to a house with a tree in the backyard. The volcano was in the background with lava spilling over it and heading straight towards the house. " You have to go now. " This was not what Xavier wanted to happen. His mind was replaying the worst moments in his life and he didn't want anyone else seeing it. Of course it wasn't exactly what happened but pretty close.

Xavier was getting mad that the guy was still here. He couldn't be aloud to see this. Xavier lit on fire. If this guy wasn't going to leave then Xavier was going to make him before he saw anything. Xavier started heading toward Monroe. The fire wasn't destroying his clothes like they would in real life, so Monroe couldn't get hurt but Xavier hoped he would leave anyways.

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

Why? That question made Monroe furrow his eyebrows in frustration. Really? He was a dream walker. He didn't just choose to land in Xavier's dream and if he could choose, he'd choose a dream with a lot less...fire or really to not go into anyone else's dreams at all. "I get that you want me out, alright? Nobody really enjoys my company in their dreams." Xavier wasn't the first to have such a harsh response to Monroe being in his dream.

He turned his head quickly as he heard an explosion, but the scene had already morphed around them and now they were at a house and the lava was coming down a hill towards the house. What was going on in this guys' head? Damn. And now he was all 'You have to go now' as if it was some sort of threat when Monroe didn't even understand what was going on around him. All he knew was he was tired and he'd accidentally fallen asleep and landed in this mess.

"I'm sorry, dude. I'd leave, but I'm pretty much zapped of energy which I need to pull out of a dream. So unless you wake up, I'm stuck here." Being zapped of energy was the whole reason he'd fallen asleep. He hadn't been trying to and now he was paying for it. Damn, he was going to have a migraine when he woke up.

He was trying to reason with Xavier, but the guy suddenly lit on fire and was heading his way.

[Xavier O'Conner]

"Maybe a little burn will zap some energy in you." Xavier was really starting to get pissed off. Only a few people knew of his story and even though this was only a dream and was way different then what actually happened, he still didn't want the kid connecting the dots.

"If you can get out of my head then do so. I've missed enough nights of sleep and I need this. GET OUT!" Xavier is frustrated and angry. Even in his sleep he lights on fire when he was mad. Sadly he was also on fire in his bed and not just in his dream. This set off the newly replaced fire alarms in his room. Xavier was too focused on his dream to notice. He just thought it was the fire alarms in the house he was looking at.

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

"Whoa," Monroe said, putting out his hands and backing away a little bit. It wasn't his fault he was in his dream! He didn't choose to be here! And the guy was on fire and threatening to burn him. Just great.

He was so angry that he was screaming in addition to being aflame and Monroe didn't really understand why he was so adamant on him not being there, he wasn't doing anything, but yeah, so he guessed he was intruding, but pulling out of a dream took so much energy that he'd be left with virtually nothing.

He sighed to himself. "Fine. I'm leaving." He concentrated hard and closed his eyes, using mental energy to wake himself up and out of the dream. It took just over a minute and the fiery form of Xavier faded to black until Monroe opened his eyes and saw the commons room around him. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, a loud sound ringing in his ears.

Was that...a fire alarm?

[Xavier O'Conner]

Xavier was happy to see Monroe leave. In his dream he had control over his powers and he shut them off. He had no control when he was awake so he kept on burning his bed and the start of his wall. Sleeping in a comfortable fire that just helped him sleep more.

The alarm was still going off but wasn't heard because in the middle of the day no one was likely in the dorm area. Usually Xavier was a light sleeper but he was in too deep of sleep to even notice the alarm. The smoke was going through his open door and out into the hallway. Luckily the fire was actually protecting Xavier from any smoke inhalation.

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

Monroe started to smell smoke and he scrambled off of the couch and to the stairs that led up to the dorms. He was exhausted and it felt like everything around him was moving extra slowly. That's how things were when he pulled out of a dream. It was as if something just sucked everything that kept him going out of him and he was left trying to function. However, the adrenaline from the smell of smoke and the fire alarm were keeping him going somewhat.

His eyes started to water as he got closer and he covered his nose as if to help not inhale the fumes. Could it be that...that he actually started a fire? No way...that wasn't possible right? But this was Hammel and anything could happen. The smoke was worse in the hallway and Monroe stayed crouched as he moved along the wall, seeing an open door through all of the black wiry smoke traveling down the hall. He stood in the doorway, stricken by the sight. The blonde boy he'd just been interacting with was laying in bed, asleep and his bed was on fire and the wall nearby was catching fire as well. "Wake up!" he yelled, his voice hoarse. They needed to get out of here...or something.