Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men…maybe I own the new character, but that's that x.x.

Solace in You

A young man with a tortured past helps Logan and the X-Men escape from the underground base of Alkali Lake. He claims to be Stryker's son and is taken back to the mansion, where he falls for Kitty Pryde. He finds solace in her, until he discovers who and what he truly is. Post-X2, pre-X3. Kitty/OC...Possibly a hint of Rogue/OC

Note: I initially released the first two chapters of this story years ago x.x. Thinking of taking it into a new direction and finally continuing it, here it is, edited and updated to match what I have in mind for it this time around ;)!

Chapter 1: The Boy from the Underground Base

The underground base rumbled as the merciless water rushed fast and hard into the spillway. The rushing water from the lake, with the speed and force of its unleashed nature, completely overtook the entrance that Mystique had taken when she had first infiltrated the underground fortress.

Jean, Cyclops, Charles, Storm, Nightcrawler, and the children they had saved, quickened their paces as they felt the impending doom of the structure. If they weren't fast enough, they knew they were going to be submerged together with the mechanical labyrinth.

The only way out was through the entrance. That was where they had also agreed to reunite with their comrade, Wolverine, whom Jean hoped and prayed was as safe as when they had first infiltrated the place. And soon enough, her hopes and prayers were justified when she saw him running towards them from another corridor.

Their eyes met but no words were spoken. Perhaps that was enough to assure each other that everything was going to be alright, and that they were both glad to see them both safe and sound. Oh how Logan wanted to hold her, touch her, tell her he was so glad to see her again after going through something that had almost cost him his life. But by looking at the way Jean had held onto Scott, told him that she will always love Scott, and that she had chosen him. Whoever said good guys finish last? They always get the girl.

Wolverine's eyes suddenly widened as he felt the water rushing closer and closer to where they had gathered. And with his wolf-life instincts, he wasted no time and punctured the control panel that kept the huge, gigantic door open. The control panel sparked and sputtered at the contact with Wolverine's claws, and the gigantic metal door immediately closed shut, sealing them all inside the center of the base.

The children's eyes were filled with fear as the felt trapped and hopeless. Were they going to die here? Why did Wolverine close their only way out?

"You don't wanna go that way." He said assuring. "Trust me." He added, after seeing the faces of those children whose lives were still on the line.

He wanted them to trust him. He wanted them to know that it was going to be alright. But will those two words he had just said, really give them their freedom? Did he really know the way out? How long before they all end up in a watery grave?

"I know the way." He said firmly. His eyes immediately sureveyed the area, trying to use his wolf-like senses and his blurred memories of the place to find the best way out of there without drowning. "We're all gonna get out of here alive!" He shouted for everyone to hear. If only he could remember all the paths and corridors he had once taken when he roamed this place as the person he was before. He knew there was a way out. He knew it. He just couldn't remember, couldn't decipher.

Then his eyes focused on one of the hallways. There were three corridors before them, leading to God knows where, but that was where his instincts was pointing him.

"Over there! Come with me!" He shouted. He quickly ran towards his chosen corridor with the others quickly and running behind him. This had to be the way out. It had to be…Because if he chose wrong, he knew he was going to cost them all their lives.

Before Logan could make his way into the corridor, a voice, a voice that sounded like that of a young man who could barely speak, echoed in the area.

"That's not the way out!" The voice shouted. The voice was loud, yet shivering, as if it had used all its energy to speak and form words. It sounded like the voice of a male person who was on the verge of freezing to death.

All heads turned at the sound of the voice, and they found a young man. He looked weak and frail. He was standing in the corridor on the other side of the huge room. His moderately tall and fit frame leaned helplessly against the wall of the corridor. He was all wet and cold, and his lips shivered with each every word. He seemed young, probably in his late teens. He had dark blue eyes that were dulled by his pale skin, and dark brown, feathery hair that clung carelessly against his wet forehead. He wore nothing but a pair of white shorts, and his body was covered with bruises and sores, making him appear as if he had been beaten and punctured with needles for the past few days. It was a sight that would make a mother cry.

"I said, that's not the way out!" He added. He pushed himself off the wall and motioned his shaking hand towards them. "This way! I know the way out!" He waved his hand again, enticing them to come and follow him.

Jean couldn't help but feel pity at the sight before her. What was that boy doing here? Who was he? Just by looking at him, she could see and feel that he had been through so much pain --- his entire life. "Who are you?" Jean finally asked.

"I don't trust him, Jean." Logan immediately said, his voice deep and gruff, filled with doubt and indifference. "For all we know he may be working with Stryker." There was just something about that boy he didn't like. Something about him that was too vaguely familiar for his taste. He would rather trust his instincts than put their life on the hands of that familiar stranger.

"You have to trust me!" The young man pleaded. "You have to or you're all going to die in here!" He shouted. He took a step closer to them and almost fell when he placed his full weight on his foot. "Please…You have to! It's the only way! No one deserves to be trapped in here! Maybe I do, but you don't!"

The persistence of the boy and his unwavering truthfulness even surprised the still-weakened Charles Xavier. Though his mind was still foggy from his encounter with Jason and Dark Cerebro, he could feel no malice coming from their newfound friend.

Charles looked at Logan and focused his eyes on his doubtful pupil. "You have to trust him, Logan. We have to trust him. I believe him." His voice never wavered. He had no doubts that the boy wasn't going to bring them any harm.

Logan looked back at the boy and breathed in. "You better not be fooling with us, or I'll make you pay!" He said through gritted teeth.

"Why!" The boy suddenly asked, his voice suddenly filled with force. "You think you can save them, Wolverine?" Then he stretched his arm and pointed towards the corridor that Wolverine and the others were about to enter. His arm shook as he did, for he could barely keep it up. "You see that corridor that you're about to lead them in? That leads deeper into the research facilities. Once the water rushes in, you'll have no choice but to drown in it." His arm fell to his side and he stumbled backwards, back against the wall.

Logan's eyes widened at what the boy had just said. He quickly looked down at the corridor and suddenly had a vague flashback of where it led. The boy was right. The corridor was going to lead them deeper into Stryker's research facilities, where they would eventually be trapped under the incoming water.

He looked at the others and knew that the decision was now wholly in his hands. He was the only one who was supposed to know the way out, and now, they had another choice. He turned his head again to stare at the weakening boy, and gritted his teeth. He couldn't believe that he was about to put that stranger's word over his.

"Let's follow him!" He said firmly, almost commandingly. "Let's go!" He shouted.

He could already see the water seeping through the cracks of the gigantic door, and he knew all too well that it was going to give way soon. It's either they run now, or stop running for the rest of their lives.

So Logan and the others quickly ran to the corridor where the young man stood. The young man, on the other hand, looked weak and drained as the others ran past by him. His back leaned against the wall and so did his head that he could barely keep upright. He looked like he was going to collapse soon. In fact, if it weren't for his healthy-looking physique, he would have already looked near dead.

"Go straight there. Keep going until you reach a door at the dead end." He said weakly. His lips continued to shiver and his voice continued to choke in his own throat. "That will lead you outside, where the sun shines."

Jean gave him a gracious half-smile and nodded as she walked quickly pass-by him. She would have loved to thank him for all his help, but they didn't have the time. Perhaps she could do it later. The others, Charles, Nightcrawler, Cyclops and Storm felt the same way too and just offered the young man hastened gestures of gratitude as they ran pass him.

Logan ran last. He followed the others, helping the younger mutants who couldn't run and move any longer. Most of the children could still feel the effects of Stryker's Dark Cerebro and found themselves weakened from it.

When the last of the children ran through the corridor along with the other X-Men, Logan let himself get left behind. He walked towards the weakened, pale, young man and looked at him. The young man's face was turned towards the direction the others ran to. His blue eyes looked hopeful as if he wanted to run with them. A half-baked smile spread across his colorless lips as he watched the other run to their freedom. His naked chest shivered up and down as he tried to breathe normally.

"Aren't you coming with us?" Logan finally asked. "This room and this corridor's about to be flooded. You're going to die in here if you don't move now! You know that, kid!"

"I know." The young man whispered. A small smile arched up the corner of his lips, the first true sign of a smile he had ever made with them. Then he turned his head to face Logan, looking deep into Logan's brown eyes. "Don't you see? This is where I belong. I am destined to stay here as I had been my entire life. This is where I will find my end."

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To be continued :D!

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