Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the X-Men. Marvel Comics does. I got the idea
for this after reading charm3power's story "Wild West Rangers and Countdown
to Destruction." Journal entries are in []. This has nothing to do with
my previous X-Men story or my X-Men/Power Rangers crossover.
Discoveries and Rediscoveries
Katherine "Kitty" Pryde walked around the old, abandoned country land in Russia. This was once the farm of the Rasputin family. Now that they were all deceased, nobody lived here anymore. Despite being a city girl, Kitty understood why Peter, the deceased X-Man Colossus always considered this place home, even after going to America. "No wonder he loved it here," she said to himself. "It's so . . . peaceful."
Kitty had left the X-Men so that she could concentrate on college. After Peter had sacrificed himself to cure the Legacy Virus, she had left, leaving only a note requesting not to follow or contact her. Peter had been cremated, so she took his ashes and scattered them in another part of Russia. Of all her friends within the X-Men and the now-defunct Excalibur, Colossus was the she always felt closest to. She felt that they could have a serious relationship, but Colossus declined. Even after that, they always seemed to have some sort of strong bond that neither of them could explain. Now that he was dead, that bond no longer existed. She felt an emptiness in her soul, but was determined to move on with her life. She felt that he would want her to do that.
She was on a break from college and was cleaning out the Rasputin's old house. She had already swept and dusted and was now organizing the items that remained there. As she was emptying the bookcase, she came across a book that was hidden in the back. She wiped the dust off of it and saw something written in Russian. She had learned a great deal of the Russian language with both the X-Men and Excalibur, so she could easily tell that this was a diary. Wanting a break anyway, she went into the living room, sat in a recliner and began to read it. As she did, one particular entry caught attention. It read like this:
[About nine months ago, my husband and my kids were in town to get supplies. John Vincent, one of our gardeners, who was originally from America, came in for a break. I kindly offered him a beer and he gratefully accepted. I never made a worse mistake in my life. After three of them, he was drunk. In his drunken state, he raped me and made me have sex with him. When Nikolai got home, I told him about it and he was furious. He immediately fired John and had him arrested. He pleaded guilty to the rape charges and was placed in jail. He apologized and requested that Nikolai and I visit him once in a while, insisting that he wanted to do whatever he could to make it up to us. We questioned his sincerity, but agreed to do it. About a month later, I discovered that I was pregnant.
We visited and told him about it. He cried for hours on end. When I was about eight months along, he asked that bail be posted for him. He insisted that he take the child to America. John felt that it was his fault that I was pregnant with the baby girl and that he would be incapable as a father. He pleaded that he find someone who could raise her right. He knew that I was having a hard enough time raising both Mikhail and Piotr. We decided to go out on a limb and trust him with this. A month later, I gave birth to a baby girl, but I didn't name her. Piotr and Mikhail were saddened that their new baby sister wouldn't be staying. The day after she was born, Nikolai bailed John out of jail. Transportation had been arranged for him and the girl to America.
A week after he left, I received a letter from John. He had arrived in his hometown of Chicago, IL. He had taken the girl to an orphanage. Two days after he had landed in America, the girl was adopted by Carmen and Terri Pryde.]
Kitty nearly went white when what she read sank into her head. "Those are the names of my parents!" she exclaimed to herself. She read on.
[He told us that the Prydes had named her Katherine. And then, minutes after he mailed the letter, he shot himself.]
Kitty dropped the diary and gasped. If what she read was true, then that meant Colossus was her brother! She shivered and thought, 'No wonder we felt such a strong bond!' She dropped down on her knees and cried.
Two days later, she knocked on the door of her mother's house. Terri Pryde opened the door and exclaimed, "Kitty! I'm so glad to see you!"
"Can't say the same for you," Kitty said with a frown. This surprised Terri to no end. The angry girl held up the diary and said, "We need to talk."
Kitty explained the whole story to her. "Why didn't you tell me I was adopted?"
Tears in her eyes, Terri said, "Because the man who brought you to the orphanage asked us not to tell you. All he told us was that it was by his sins that you were born. He wanted you to be raised by a loving family, something he said he could never be." Her voice cracked as she added, "But there was also a more personal reason." When she saw that Kitty was listening, she continued.
"I had been raped once myself. Not just sexually. I was also beaten. That beating had made me infertile. I couldn't bear children. If I wanted to have a family, adopting was my only option." Terri then started to cry harder than before.
This revelation reached Kitty to the core. Her anger was now replaced with sadness. She would have never guessed this! Her now-revealed adopted mother couldn't have been her biological mother if she had wanted to be. Tears now welling up in her eyes, she pulled her mother to her in a tight hug. The two cried on each other's shoulders, comforting one another, though Terri needed it most of all. Crying, Kitty said, "I'm sorry, mother. I had no idea. I forgive you, mother. I forgive you."
Two days later, Kitty arrived at Professor Xavier's mansion in Westchester. She had decided that she would tell the professor and the X-Men about what she discovered. After they had a right to know. They had been her extended family for a long time. She knocked on the door, trying to prepare herself. She felt that she was ready for anything.
When the door was opened, Kitty grew weak in the knees. She nearly fainted. She WAS ready for anything. Anything but THIS! "P-P-Peter? Y- You're alive?"
Before he could respond, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Even in human form, Colossus wasn't prepared for this! "What's with the squeeze, Kitty? Professor Xavier said you were attending college."
Still in shock, Kitty said, "I must be dreaming. Is it really you?"
"Da," he said with a nod. "I have only recently been resurrected. But why are you hugging me so hard?"
Finally letting go, Kitty took a deep breath and asked, "Do you remember a baby girl being taken to America by one of your family's old gardeners? A little sister that your mother gave up at birth."
This hit Colossus like a truck. He stammered, "How . . . how do you know this?"
A tear streaming down her face, Kitty said, "Because you're looking at that baby girl right now." Wiping the tear and handing him the diary, she said, "Take a look at this entry."
He skimmed through it quickly. Here it was, in his mother's own writing. He looked at Kitty, tears welling up in his eyes. Her own tears threatening to start up again, Kitty gave a weak smile and said, "Give your sister a hug." He gladly complied.
As they embraced, Colossus sent his thoughts, 'Professor, gather the others downstairs. Kitty and I have something to tell you.'
'I know,' came Xavier via telepathy. 'Kitty has already asked for the meeting.'
In the briefing room, all the X-Men had gathered. Walking in, Wolverine asked, "What's goin' on here?"
"Not sure," admitted Cyclops. "All the Professor said was that Kitty was here. Neither Jean nor Emma could find out what this is all about."
Once everyone was gathered, Peter and Kitty walked in. Never one to beat around the bush, Peter said, "I'm sure you all know Kitty Pryde, our friend and long-time teammate. Well, I want you to meet Kitty Pryde. My sister."
Everyone was genuinely surprised, even Xavier! Even Wolverine was failing to hold his surprise! Once everyone settled down with their questions and such, Colossus answered, "It's all in my mother's diary."
Over the next few months, Kitty and Peter stayed in touch. They visited each other whenever possible. And once she graduated, Kitty decided to rejoin the X-Men. After all, even though she had left the hero life, she knew that a great part of her missed it.
But that's another story.
THE END
Discoveries and Rediscoveries
Katherine "Kitty" Pryde walked around the old, abandoned country land in Russia. This was once the farm of the Rasputin family. Now that they were all deceased, nobody lived here anymore. Despite being a city girl, Kitty understood why Peter, the deceased X-Man Colossus always considered this place home, even after going to America. "No wonder he loved it here," she said to himself. "It's so . . . peaceful."
Kitty had left the X-Men so that she could concentrate on college. After Peter had sacrificed himself to cure the Legacy Virus, she had left, leaving only a note requesting not to follow or contact her. Peter had been cremated, so she took his ashes and scattered them in another part of Russia. Of all her friends within the X-Men and the now-defunct Excalibur, Colossus was the she always felt closest to. She felt that they could have a serious relationship, but Colossus declined. Even after that, they always seemed to have some sort of strong bond that neither of them could explain. Now that he was dead, that bond no longer existed. She felt an emptiness in her soul, but was determined to move on with her life. She felt that he would want her to do that.
She was on a break from college and was cleaning out the Rasputin's old house. She had already swept and dusted and was now organizing the items that remained there. As she was emptying the bookcase, she came across a book that was hidden in the back. She wiped the dust off of it and saw something written in Russian. She had learned a great deal of the Russian language with both the X-Men and Excalibur, so she could easily tell that this was a diary. Wanting a break anyway, she went into the living room, sat in a recliner and began to read it. As she did, one particular entry caught attention. It read like this:
[About nine months ago, my husband and my kids were in town to get supplies. John Vincent, one of our gardeners, who was originally from America, came in for a break. I kindly offered him a beer and he gratefully accepted. I never made a worse mistake in my life. After three of them, he was drunk. In his drunken state, he raped me and made me have sex with him. When Nikolai got home, I told him about it and he was furious. He immediately fired John and had him arrested. He pleaded guilty to the rape charges and was placed in jail. He apologized and requested that Nikolai and I visit him once in a while, insisting that he wanted to do whatever he could to make it up to us. We questioned his sincerity, but agreed to do it. About a month later, I discovered that I was pregnant.
We visited and told him about it. He cried for hours on end. When I was about eight months along, he asked that bail be posted for him. He insisted that he take the child to America. John felt that it was his fault that I was pregnant with the baby girl and that he would be incapable as a father. He pleaded that he find someone who could raise her right. He knew that I was having a hard enough time raising both Mikhail and Piotr. We decided to go out on a limb and trust him with this. A month later, I gave birth to a baby girl, but I didn't name her. Piotr and Mikhail were saddened that their new baby sister wouldn't be staying. The day after she was born, Nikolai bailed John out of jail. Transportation had been arranged for him and the girl to America.
A week after he left, I received a letter from John. He had arrived in his hometown of Chicago, IL. He had taken the girl to an orphanage. Two days after he had landed in America, the girl was adopted by Carmen and Terri Pryde.]
Kitty nearly went white when what she read sank into her head. "Those are the names of my parents!" she exclaimed to herself. She read on.
[He told us that the Prydes had named her Katherine. And then, minutes after he mailed the letter, he shot himself.]
Kitty dropped the diary and gasped. If what she read was true, then that meant Colossus was her brother! She shivered and thought, 'No wonder we felt such a strong bond!' She dropped down on her knees and cried.
Two days later, she knocked on the door of her mother's house. Terri Pryde opened the door and exclaimed, "Kitty! I'm so glad to see you!"
"Can't say the same for you," Kitty said with a frown. This surprised Terri to no end. The angry girl held up the diary and said, "We need to talk."
Kitty explained the whole story to her. "Why didn't you tell me I was adopted?"
Tears in her eyes, Terri said, "Because the man who brought you to the orphanage asked us not to tell you. All he told us was that it was by his sins that you were born. He wanted you to be raised by a loving family, something he said he could never be." Her voice cracked as she added, "But there was also a more personal reason." When she saw that Kitty was listening, she continued.
"I had been raped once myself. Not just sexually. I was also beaten. That beating had made me infertile. I couldn't bear children. If I wanted to have a family, adopting was my only option." Terri then started to cry harder than before.
This revelation reached Kitty to the core. Her anger was now replaced with sadness. She would have never guessed this! Her now-revealed adopted mother couldn't have been her biological mother if she had wanted to be. Tears now welling up in her eyes, she pulled her mother to her in a tight hug. The two cried on each other's shoulders, comforting one another, though Terri needed it most of all. Crying, Kitty said, "I'm sorry, mother. I had no idea. I forgive you, mother. I forgive you."
Two days later, Kitty arrived at Professor Xavier's mansion in Westchester. She had decided that she would tell the professor and the X-Men about what she discovered. After they had a right to know. They had been her extended family for a long time. She knocked on the door, trying to prepare herself. She felt that she was ready for anything.
When the door was opened, Kitty grew weak in the knees. She nearly fainted. She WAS ready for anything. Anything but THIS! "P-P-Peter? Y- You're alive?"
Before he could respond, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Even in human form, Colossus wasn't prepared for this! "What's with the squeeze, Kitty? Professor Xavier said you were attending college."
Still in shock, Kitty said, "I must be dreaming. Is it really you?"
"Da," he said with a nod. "I have only recently been resurrected. But why are you hugging me so hard?"
Finally letting go, Kitty took a deep breath and asked, "Do you remember a baby girl being taken to America by one of your family's old gardeners? A little sister that your mother gave up at birth."
This hit Colossus like a truck. He stammered, "How . . . how do you know this?"
A tear streaming down her face, Kitty said, "Because you're looking at that baby girl right now." Wiping the tear and handing him the diary, she said, "Take a look at this entry."
He skimmed through it quickly. Here it was, in his mother's own writing. He looked at Kitty, tears welling up in his eyes. Her own tears threatening to start up again, Kitty gave a weak smile and said, "Give your sister a hug." He gladly complied.
As they embraced, Colossus sent his thoughts, 'Professor, gather the others downstairs. Kitty and I have something to tell you.'
'I know,' came Xavier via telepathy. 'Kitty has already asked for the meeting.'
In the briefing room, all the X-Men had gathered. Walking in, Wolverine asked, "What's goin' on here?"
"Not sure," admitted Cyclops. "All the Professor said was that Kitty was here. Neither Jean nor Emma could find out what this is all about."
Once everyone was gathered, Peter and Kitty walked in. Never one to beat around the bush, Peter said, "I'm sure you all know Kitty Pryde, our friend and long-time teammate. Well, I want you to meet Kitty Pryde. My sister."
Everyone was genuinely surprised, even Xavier! Even Wolverine was failing to hold his surprise! Once everyone settled down with their questions and such, Colossus answered, "It's all in my mother's diary."
Over the next few months, Kitty and Peter stayed in touch. They visited each other whenever possible. And once she graduated, Kitty decided to rejoin the X-Men. After all, even though she had left the hero life, she knew that a great part of her missed it.
But that's another story.
THE END