Professor Xavier made his way down the sidewalk after buying a dozen roses. A close friend of his was to be married soon and had invited him as well as the rest of the institute as guests. The one thing he did not look forward to, however, was that she was also close to the brotherhood, causing them to be invited as well.

Oh well, Xavier said. I'm sure today they'll behave themselves, he tried to convince himself with little avail.

He couldn't help but notice how few people were out on such a nice day.

He immediately shook it from his mind as his wheelchair continued to bring him to the church. Suddenly, he felt it jump a little, stopping momentarily before continuing. "What-?"

Again, it stopped for a moment, longer this time, then started again. Finally, it ceased all movement.

Xavier tried again and again to restart the chair with no results. Of all days… Xavier thought to himself. The chair must have broken. He reached down to push the wheels himself—surly it wouldn't be that hard.

Wrong. The Professor tried to push the wheels, only to find they wouldn't budge. He looked around to find no people around him. No one to ask for help.

He signed, sitting. Telekinetic powers would be extremely useful right now…

Unfortunately, he was only telepathic. Not so helpful at the moment. Another sigh left his lips as he pressed his fingers to his temples.

Kurt…

Silence.

Kurt…!

Silence.

Kurt!

I'm not getting through to him, Xavier thought. With another sigh, he tried to contact Kitty. She, however, was so engrossed in another conversation that he couldn't reach her, either. Finally, Xavier tried Logan.

"What?" Logan answered, his tone seeming more tense than usual.

"Logan," Xavier said. "My wheelchair seems to have broken down. I'm about ten blocks away from the church. Could you tell the others I'll be a little later than I imagined?"

"No can do, Chuck," Logan informed him.

"Why? Is everything alright?"

"I'm stuck in traffic," he told him.

"I thought you were on your motorcycle?"

"I am," Logan's tone seemed to get even more annoyed. "Think there was a serious car accident ahead. No going forward or back. I'm stuck. Think you can get the elf ta' teleport us?"

"I can't seem to reach him," Xavier explained. He sighed. "Just call me when it starts moving, I'll try moving the chair myself. Guess we'll both be a little late."

"Yeah," Logan said. "A little…"

He hung up angrily, shoving his phone back in his pocket and leaned on the handles. Of all the fuckin' days, He thought, his head starting to pound from the honking around him. Suddenly, the car next to him began to honk. Then honked again. And again.

He let out a small growl of annoyance, looking over.

He recognized the car right away. The window opened to show Ororo sitting in the driver's seat waving at him. Evan sat in the passenger with, he assumed, Scott and Jean in back. "Quite a bit of traffic today," Ororo commented. Logan could just barely make her voice out through the noise.

"Yeah, messed up, right?" Evan said. "Did someone die or something?"

"There's an accident up ahead," Logan told them bluntly. Evan closed his mouth.

"Oh," he said softly.

"Looks like we're going to be late," Scott said from the back. "Someone wanna tell The Professor?"

"Just talked to him," Logan told them. "His wheelchair broke down. He's gonna be late too."

"Really?" Ororo asked, raising one eyebrow. "That's a bit odd, don't ya think? Did Kitty and Kurt get there okay?"

"Not sure," Logan told him. "Chuck says he couldn't reach him."

"What? I hope he's alright…"

"Didn't Kitty say Lance was driving them?" Jean commented.

"Wait, Maximoff mentioned Lance was driving the Brotherhood." Evan told them. "They can't all fit in that car!"

"Hmm," Ororo said, deep in thought. "Looks like those two might end up being late too."

Logan just growled, trying to shake the feeling something weird would soon happen.


"Like, I know, that was so not cool!" Kitty said, with a giggle. One hand went up to her hair, fixing an annoying strand, the other held her pink cell phone to her ear.

"Kitty," Kurt said quietly, fixing his tie. "C'mon, ve have to get zere soon."

"Just five minutes," Kitty answered. "We're waiting for Lance anyway!"

"He's driving?" Kurt asked. "I zought it vas just us. Isn't he taking ze rest of the Brozerhood?"

Kitty, however, either didn't hear or didn't listen. She was already back out of the room, phone in hand, still laughing with a friend. Kurt sighed. "Oh vell," he said quietly, taking a seat on the couch. He yawned, remembering how little sleep he had gotten the night before. He had been up till 3AM studing for two tests that day. He glanced at the clock.

We've got some time, He said, leaning on the couch, and shutting his eyes. Besides, Kitty will wake me when Lance gets here.

"Yeah, I know…No, she is so not a size four. Yeah," Kitty glanced up at the clock for a second time. 3:24. Huh, guess it was a long minute, she thought. Had it really been only a minute or two since she last looked at the clock? It felt like much longer than that.

Kitty shrugged it off, going back to her conversation. Whatever, she thought. Lance isn't even here yet. Besides, Kurt'll tell me when we're late.

A few minutes later, she gazed back to the clock. 3:24.

What? Kitty thought, "Um, what time is?" She asked her friend. Her eyes widened. "Fuck," she said a little louder than ampisitated. "I gotta go!" Without another word she hung up and quickly ran to find Kurt asleep on the couch. "Kurt! Wake up!"

"Vas?" He mumbled, disorganized.

"We. Are. So. Late." Kitty said, grabbing his arm. "Forget Lance, just teleport us!"

Without speaking, Kurt hung on to Kitty and teleported near the church, in a spot he was sure they wouldn't be seen. It wasn't long before they heard the screaming and heat radiating from the church.

They're mouth dropped as their skin went pale. Quickly, Kurt grabbed Kitty's hand again and teleported without a thought except get away.


"Shit," Lance mumbled, trying to restart the car. "You've gotta be kidding me…"

"What?" Todd asked from the back seat. The others glanced over to the boy.

"The car's messed up," he finally declared, his hand ramming into the dashboard. He glanced at the time. "Yeah, we're gonna be late."

"Dammit, Blob!" Pietro said, turning to the back seat. "I told you should lose weight! Your fat ass broke the car!"

"Hey," Freddie called back. "Not my fault this cars a piece of crap!"

"Fuck you, man!" Lance yelled, hitting the dashboard yet again.

"Yo, we are so-o-o-o fucked," Todd stated.

"Wait," Lance said, looking over to Pietro. "Pietro, you can get there. Just run over to the church and tell them we're gonna be late. Why don't you get that blue guy to teleport us or something."

"Why should I do that?" Pietro asked. "I don't even wanna go to this shit!"

"Just do it!"

"Fuck that!" Pietro sneered, putting his feet up on the dashboard. A smug look appeared on his face. "You just want to see your little girlfriend."

"Pietro!" Lance yelled, too frustrated to say more. "Just get your ass out of the car and run there. It'll take you two seconds!"

"Yeah, but it's more fun to stay here with you."

"Just go!" Lance screamed loudly. He could feel his face going red with anger as Pietro's lips remained in a grin.

"Fine," he said, opening the car door and began getting out. "But you owe me big for thi—" A yelp left his lips, leaving his sentence unfinished. Just as he was about to stand, the three teens saw their friend fall from the car, with one leg, as though caught, remaining in. His thin body slammed hard into the pavement. Lance cringed as he heard a loud "pop."

"Shit!" Pietro screamed. Lance, being the only one able to fully see him, couldn't help but notice the odd way his ankle bent.

"Crap," Lance yelled, looking over. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay!" Pietro exclaimed, the look of pain not leavening his face. He tried to free the leg that remained in the car but screamed once again. "I think I broke my ankle!"

"Yo, how the hell did you do that?" Todd asked, looking above the seat in front of him. Lance got out of the car and grabbed his friend, helping the screaming boy back up.

"My ankle got caught in Lance's crappy car!"

"Told ya this car sucks," Freddie mumbled.

"You're not helping!" Lance told him, looking at his friend's ankle. He raised the end of Pietro's pants leg a but to see his pale flesh turning a bright red. The spot had already begun to swell.

"Fuck," he said. "He sprained it. We are so gonna be late."

"Thanks for the concern," Pietro spat.

"Oh suck it up," Lance said back. "It's just a sprained ankle. Be a man about it!"

"It hurts like hell!"

Lance let out another grown of frustration. "Fuck it, I'll just call Kitty. Have her and Nightcrawler pick us up." As he said that, he grabbed his cell phone and called the number he had memorized so long ago.

"Hello?"

"Kitty, it's Lance, listen we—"

"Lance? Thank God! You're okay!" Her voice sounded nearly hysterical.

"What?"

Suddenly, Lance heard the phone being taken from Kitty. "Listen, Bub—" Wolverine. How lovely. "—I don't know how the hell you kids did it, but I know you did it."

"Did what?" Lance asked, his sweat starting to appear as beads on his forehead. The others started at him with intense eyes.

"Where are you?"

"On the highway," Lance explained. "Our car broke down. We were about to send Pietro ahead to tell you guys we'd be late but he fell and twisted his ankle or something."

"…You're telling me you…haven't even gotten here yet?"

"No!" Lance exclaimed. "What happened?"

He heard Wolverine and a few others, voices he couldn't make out talk on the other line. "What happened!" He asked again, nervousness getting the better of him now.

"Shut up," Wolverine ordered, talking to the other person. "Okay, yeah. Okay. Listen, tell your friend with the broken ankle he got lucky."

"Why!"

"Because," Wolverine told him. "A fire started just after the wedding began. Everyone inside is dead."

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