Hello everyone, and welcome to my X-men fanfic, this is my first X-men fanfic, I hope you enjoy it. I really don't know what else to say except: ENJOY!

And like every chapter I will every write...

I OWN NOTHING!

Chapter 1

" Today we have gathered here for a truly saddening event." Said the priest, his face full of grief.

Zane stood in his finest tuxedo, and watched as the cold, dead body of his father lowered into the ground.

Zane's sister Lily buried her face into his chest, and cried quietly, Zane held her hand in an attempt to comfort her, for there was nothing else he could do.

This was their last family member, the last adult left in their lives, their mother died during Lily's birth, and today their father died when his private jet lost control, and crashed to the ground. Zane struggled to hold in his tears, he was the head of the household now, and he would show no weakness.

"Christopher Haides was a man of many things, a billionaire, a writer, a philosopher, but most of all he was the father of two children, but no one knew the true him, so I say we listen to his children, for they are the only ones who knows the true Christopher Haides." The priest gestured for Zane, and Lily to come.

Zane tugged on Lily, she wiped her tears off on the top of her black dress, and she walked with him, make up was smeared all over her face, but even so she looked like an angel, her dark brown hair was loose down her back, her turquoise eyes glistened with even more tears, but she held them in bravely.

" My name is Zane Haides, I'm here to say three things, first: my father was the most generous person, he did everything he could to make this world better for the less fortunate, he donated to each, and every charity in the world, and he died on his way to ensure children in Romania had a proper school, and clean water, unfortunately that's something he'll never be able to do." Zane started, he gripped the wooden stand in front of him, he gripped so hard he was surprised it didn't shatter. " Second: he was never truly happy. Ever since my mother's passing, my father's never been the same, to the public he was still the cheerful optimist everyone sees, but at home when he lets his guard drop, he was a different man, one tormented by the past, one who was forever saddened by the death of his wife, but despite all the obstacles life has given him, he never once stopped helping others, and as far as I know, he's never regretted helping others. And third: Christopher treated everyone equally, and it didn't matter to him who they were, or what they're social status is, he didn't care if you had no limbs, or if you had a million, he would help you regardless, and my father's support for the mutant community proved that, that's right my father was pro-mutants."

The room erupted with whispers, and murmurs as soon as Zane finished that sentence, Zane was about to quiet the room down himself, but before he could someone did it for him.

" QUIET!" A tall blond man shouted, Zane looked at him, and in spite of himself smiled.

Warren Worthington III, was a rich business men who was a mutant, and one of Zane's father's best friends, but Zane was surprised he could make it, the winged mutant didn't seem to have much free time lately, or any of the other x-men for that matter, in fact Zane saw them on TV just a few days ago.

Meanwhile everyone turned to Warren, all had quieted down, all but one.

" What makes you think you can tell me what to do freak?" A man middle aged man in an expensive silver suit spat at Warren.

Warren was completely unaffected.

" I don't think I can tell you to do anything sir, but I do wish you would quiet down for the son of the deceased speak."

" Why you..." the man walked towards Warren threateningly, but Zane stopped him.

" I would ask everyone to please settle down, Mr. Jerason if you decide to cause trouble I will have you thrown out." Zane spoke into the mike drawing the man's attention back to him.

" I'll sit down if you tell me why you would allow filth like him," he jerked his thumb at Warren. " To sit with people like us, in fact I thi-."

Zane glared at the man his gaze was intense enough to shock the man into silence.

" Because Mr. Worthington was on the guest list, now please return to your seat or you will be thrown out." Jerason gulped and sat down without another word.

Zane cleared his throat." Now the point of me telling you folks my father was pro-mutant isn't a cue for some of you to start a riot," he glared at Jerason pointedly, then looked back to the crowd. " My point was for you to understand that I will also support the mutant society like my father before me." Zane waited for someone to protest, but no one did. "That is all for me."

Zane backed away from the stand, and Lily stepped up, when everyone was focused on his sister he brushed away some tears that's formed around the edge of his eyes.

" Hello, thank you for coming," Lily spoke in a soft voice, but it still sounded clear that she's crying. " In my life I have no memory of my mother, so I've never had to mourn for her, and I've never missed her, because my father single-handedly gave me more love than two parents combined, but now that he's gone," She paused to brush a tear away from her cheek. " Now that he's gone I feel like someone had ripped out my heart, and I can only imagine what it is like you people who's lost both parents, because right now it hurts so bad I can't stand it, now I'm not as strong as some people, but I hereby swear I will not let my father's sacrifice go to waste," another tear streamed down her face, this time she didn't stop to brush it away, "I will continue to help as many as I can, and one day I hope I can save someone else from feeling the lost of a loved one," tears were now pouring out of Lily's eyes, but still she continued. " I will see my father's dream through, his dream to create a better world for everyone. Thank you." Lily bowed to crowd.

" Nice job Lil," Zane patted Lily on the shoulder, it was then he realized she was trembling, struggling to keep herself from crying again. "It's okay if you want to cry."

To Zane's surprise she shook her head.

" No I won't cry, after all you didn't cry." Lily looked up at Zane with puffy, red eyes.

Zane nodded, he understood his sister's thinking.

" Alright, alright, now that the children of the deceased have spoken, we will now lay the deceased to rest." The priest said, Zane leaned over his father's coffin before it could be closed.

" Goodbye dad, I hope our namesake grant you a palace in the Elysium fields." Vidos whispered, and slid his mother's ring onto his father's finger. " Oh, and I hope this helps you find mom."

" Zane," Lily placed her hand on his back.

Zane looked back, four gentlemen in suits were ready to close the casket.

" Do you want to see him one last time?" Zane asked.

Lily shook her head.

" I want my last memory of dad to be a happy one, and not one where he's dead in a coffin." She explained.

Zane nodded, then he led his sister back towards their seat. And the siblings watched as the lid was nailed onto the wooden casket.

" I'm surprised you could make it Warren." Zane said as he, and his sister walked with Warren.

" I would never miss such a significant event for the two of you." Warren replied.

They were quiet for a while before Warren spoke again.

" So do you want to talk about it?" He asked, straightening his tie.

Lily shook her head, and so did Zane.

" Alright, how about we go out to lunch? I'll treat." Warren suggested, as they approached the parking lot.

Normally Zane would have refused, but this time he nodded.

" Sure, Lil you wanna come along?"

Lily smiled at her brother.

" I've got to eat sometime right?"

" Well that settles it, I'll meet you two at our usual place?" Warren asked unlocking his car, a silver and white Tesla.

" Sounds good." Zane answered as he opened the door of his Lamborghini for his sister, then he walked around and slipped into the driver's seat.

" How you holding up sis?" Zane asked, driving out of the parking lot.

Lily thought about it before answering.

" I'm doing okay, but it still hurts when I think about... it, is this what you went through when mom died?"

" Somewhat." Zane answered, he turned a corner.

" How did you get through it?" Lily asked.

" I found something to distract me with namely this." Zane snapped his fingers and a black sword in a sheath settled in his sister's lap.

" You practiced with Master Shen Tian?" Lily referred to her brother's sword fighting instructor, a Chinese man who's mastered kung fu, wushu, Shaolin fist, and is a master in jeet kun do.

" Yeah, but since you're not into this stuff I suggest you practice your mutant powers, practicing mine took my mind off mom." Zane said, the two of them were both mutants, something they'd known since as far back as they could remember, no one else knew except for their father, and a handful of household staff, one of which included Master Shen.

" Wait you were two when mom died how can you practice anything then?" Lily questioned.

Zane gave her a droll look.

" Did I say I started training as soon as mom died? No, I started when I was six, surprisingly I remember everything about mom."

Lily was quiet for a bit before asking another question.

" What did mom look like?" She asked.

Zane sighed as he passed a cross road. " This question again? I told you she had blond hair, your eyes, and my nose. Compared to dad she was short, I'd say she's probably somewhere around five feet, but I'm just basing this off memories."

Lily closed her eyes, and imagined what her mother looked like, the mother who died because of her.

" We're here," Zane said parking his car, a few seconds later Warren parked into the empty spot next to them.

" Already?" Lily opened her eyes surprised.

" Already? You've been asleep for half an hour, traffic today is slower than molasses in January." Zane stepped out, and walked over to open her door, but she opened it herself.

" I got it, I'm not your date you don't need to open my door for me." Lily said yawning, and stepped out of the car.

" Good thing I booked a table for a bit later than our expected arrival huh?" Warren said locking his car.

" Congrats Warren, you spoke to the guy on the phone, that's so amazing, seriously, someone give this guy a goddamn medal." Zane rolled his eyes.

Warren sighed, and led the two inside.

" So you wanna talk about it now?" Warren asked, just as Zane was about to cut into his steak.

" No." Zane answered without even looking up.

Lily took a drink of her tea, and dittoed Zane's answer.

Warren was quiet for a while, before asking again.

" How about now?"

" Ask me again Blondie, see what happens." Zane growled, gripping his knife threateningly.

Lily, on the other hand, had the opposite answer.

" Sure." She said taking a small bite of fish on her seafood platter.

" Alright Lily, you go." Warren said, wary of Zane.

Lily took another drink of tea before starting.

" Well, I don't really wanna talk about dad's death, so I'm just gonna talk about some good moments with him." Lily clarified before starting.

Warren nodded.

" By all means, you talking at all is more than what I can get out of your brother."

Zane didn't react as he took another bite of his steak.

" Well, once on April fools, me, and my brother decided to prank my father, so we go his study to set it up, while he was at work, and our butler Robert was out shopping for dinner, with our cook. Well as soon as Zane opened the door, a giant bucket of water dropped on his head soaking him from head to toe, it was then we realized out father beat us to the punch, and anticipated we'd prank him, so Zane was even more determined than before, and we figured that dad would only have one trick, and oh boy, were we in for a surprise, Zane took out one of our 'toys', and proceeded to place it into dad closet, but was instantly socked by a spring-loaded boxing glove," Warren started laughing, as Zane's face into a deep shade of red.

" Well in my defense I didn't figure dad would pull something out of the home alone movies." Zane mumbled.

Lily rolled her eyes before continuing.

" I went ahead place my own into my dad's drawer on his desk, put as soon as I opened it a pie flew into my face," Zane chuckled at the memory, but stopped immediately when Lily shot him a dirty look. " As I was saying, at this point we were both really weary, so we decided to work together instead of going off separately, and that was the biggest mistake we made, we open the door to another closet, and a mountain of flour dropped onto our heads."

Warren was about to comment, but Lily stopped him.

" Before you start Warren, that wasn't even the worst part, you see my brother was wet, like dripping water wet, so the flour and the water made a paste on him, and it looked like he was wearing a body cast."

Zane scoffed.

" Don't just comment on me Lil, as I remember you were so white, Snow White would've been jealous, if you stood next to a wall you would blend in better than a chameleon."

Warren laughed even harder, as the ludicrous images invaded his head.

" Anyways, my brother, and I were pretty spooked at this point, so when the lights of the closet wouldn't turn on we knew something was wrong, or at least I did, Zane, in his flour-body cast glory, didn't care, so he strolled right on into the walk in closet, and effectively took me along, then a skeleton, one of those Halloween decorations you could buy at the mall, dropped from the ceiling, and that sent us sprinting out of the closet, and then the study, we didn't stop until we were in the living room, and after that, we never decided to pull a single prank on our dad again." Lily finished.

" Smart choice," Warren commented. " See? That wasn't so hard was it? Now Zane you share."

Zane sighed.

" I said it before Warren, and I'll say it again: NO!"

" Alright, alright, calm down." Warren said, raising his hands in surrender.

Zane finished the last of his steak when his phone rang, the ring tone was Cha-ching by Hedley, which told him all he needed to know about who was calling.

" Give me a sec, I gotta take this." Zane apologized leaving the room.

" So how's school?" Warren asked Lily, while he finished his chicken.

" We don't go to school remember Warren? Me, and my brother are homeschooled." Lily answered.

" Still? Surely your father isn't afraid of anyone finding out, is he?"

Lily swallowed before answering.

" Well that's part of the reason, but the other thing is me, and my brother are so much ahead of the other kids we wouldn't learn anything at a school.

" Ah, so that's it." Warren pushed his plate aside, and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

" Yep."

Zane returned, and sat down at his seat.

" So anything wrong?" Warren asked.

Zane shook his head.

" Nope just another phone call to say sorry about my dad's death, they're really getting annoying at this point, I've been receiving them for a solid month now, if I have to take anymore of this..." Zane trailed off.

" So what did you two talk about?" Zane asked, taking a drink of his sprite.

" Nothing really." Lily answered before finishing off the last of her seafood platter.

" Later kids." Warren said as he stepped into his car.

" Sayonara." Zane said back.

" Bye, be safe." Lily waved as Warren sped out of the parking lot.

" So back to home we go?" Zane asked starting the car.

Lily nodded.

They were quiet until they got back to their sky scraper, which had been given to them as their property as stated in their father's will.

" Welcome back, Master Zane, and Lady Lily." Said the familiar voice of the family butler: Robert.

" It's been good, thank you Robert." Zane replied.

" Hi Robert, I missed you this morning." Lily hugged Robert, and the old man smiled and hugged back.

" Thank you milady." Robert bowed, then looked at Zane.

" And was Master Christopher laid to rest?" Robert asked, his eyes filled with sadness, he was said to be their butler, but in truth he was Christopher's best friend.

" Yeah." Zane answered quietly, and immediately went to the training room.

" Hey Master Shen you in here?" Zane called, looking for the Chinese man.

" Right here, Zane." Shen called back, as he stepped out of the armory.

Shen had graying hair even though he wasn't even forty, his eyes were a dark brown, and his brows formed in a way that made it look like he is forever frowning.

" I see you're back," Shen said.

" Yeah."

" So how did the funeral go?"

Zane turned away.

" Alright if you don't want to talk about it, let's get right to sparing shall we?" Shen pulled out his Jian, a Chinese double edged sword.

Zane summoned his own sword, a trail of black fire oozed out from his arm, and turned into his sword when they reached Zane's palm.

" Would you like to change into something more appropriate, before starting?" Shen asked, looking pointedly at Zane's designer suit.

" Oh right, totally forgot I had this thing on, gimme a sec." Zane disappeared into the walk in closet in the training room.

Seconds later Zane emerged with a pair of black shorts, and a red Nike T-shirt.

" Alright let's go." Zane drew his sword, and advanced on the Asian man.

Zane pulled a quick slash across the man's chest, but Shen countered it with ease, then Shen followed the momentum of Zane's strike, and returned with his own attack, forcing Zane to jump back, Zane lunged back in only to have Shen knee him in the stomach before he could strike.

" You didn't move fast enough," Shen commented as he backed off, walked around Zane, forcing him to constantly follow him with his eyes.

Zane got up, and the two started to circle each other, this time Shen made the first move, he moved in with a wushu technique, known as the sword step, which is a highly offensive maneuver, that when done right can force the opponent into a defensive position, but if one is not experienced enough, they can mess up and get into major trouble, unfortunately for Zane his master executed the move perfectly.

Zane grunted as he barely had enough time to pull his sword up to avoid being turned into a shish kebob.

" Good, I see your speed has not wavered, but can you keep up with this?" Shen slashed three times at incredible speeds, and a followed up with a feint to Zane's right side, Zane in returned blocked everything, and when Shen feinted Zane used the opportunity to move into the offensive, he swung his sword in a wide arc across Shen's chest, but Shen avoided it easily by taking a step back, Zane then used the momentum of his strike to hit a second time, this time he aimed for Shen's head, but Shen just ducked, and moved in under Zane's guard, and with one well placed palm strike sent Zane crashing into the wall, there were times when Zane wondered if his master was actually human.

" Don't just focus on your enemy's weapon, focus on every move the opponent makes, if you did that I wouldn't have caught you with that palm strike." Shen Tian lectured.

Zane took a deep breath, picked up his sword, and stood up again.

" Duly noted, now my turn." Zane said pulling three whirlwind slashes across Shen's chest, two of which were blocked, and the third one Shen ducked under, only to find the butt of Zane's sword to his face.

" Ma de," Shen cursed in Chinese, and was knocked flat onto his back by Zane's attack.

" So can you still stand up after that old man? Or do you need a break." Zane taunted, and Shen laughed.

" Young man it'd do you well to be a bit more modest." Shen said lunging.

Zane laughed back, and countered.

" Phew, that felt good." Zane exclaimed walking out of his shower, it was six PM now, he got home by two, trained with Shen 'til four, then spent the next two hours working out.

" Hello, Master Zane I hope the water was nice today?" Robert asked as Zane took his clothes from his butler.

" It was." Zane said putting on his jeans, and a black, and red sweater, with the words: there's nothing to fear, but fear itself sewed onto the chest pocket.

Zane then realized there was a letter on his dresser.

" Hey what's that?" Zane asked Robert.

" Ah yes, a letter from your father written two years ago, for you." Robert answered.

" What's it about?"

" I never asked, but he told me to only give it to you after his... passing." Robert replied.

Huh, strange of his father to do so, but Zane couldn't exactly argue logic with a dead man.

" Thanks Robert, I'll come down for dinner after I finish reading the letter."

" Yes. And what should I tell the chef to prepare?"

" Tell him to make some Steamed Lobster, with a bowl of Soupe à L'oignon." Zane answered with the letter already in his hand.

" Very well Sir." Robert formally bowed, and left the room.

Zane ripped up the letter's casing, and began to read:

To Zane, my beloved son.

Zane if you are reading this then I am already dead, and the duty of being the man of the house falls on your shoulders, and I want you to decide what is the best for yourself.

As you know, you and your sister are mutants, by the time you are reading this I don't know whether or not mutants are accepted by society, so I'm assuming no. Anyways, if you are still in school when you are reading this I want you to attend the Xavier's school for gifted youngsters, now I know you are asking why, and the answer is this: I did my best to help you master your powers, but there is only so much a normal human can do for a mutant, if you go to Xavier's school you would not need to hide any longer, you would be surrounded by people like you, as well as people who can teach you how to master your powers, so please go do it as a favor for me. If you are a grown man when you are reading this I want you to join the X-men, the reason is that you have the power to change the world, and I hope you would want to change it for the better, and because you have your powers you don't need to save the world from the side lines like myself. You can become a hero, a person everyone would look up to, and the X-men is a great place to start off, it is also the best place to fit in.

Now you need not do this, you can rip it and toss it in the fire, but know that I know what is best, I have thought about this many times over, this is the best option for both you and your sister, speaking of your sister... I want you to take care of her, you are her only family now, don't ever leave her, and please protect her from the rest of the hostile world.

It is not easy being a mutant, and your path will only become harder as life goes on, but remember: the night is always darkest before the dawn. So don't ever despair, no matter how hopeless the situation, and no matter where I am, I will always love you and your sister

That is the message I leave for you.

From you father...

Christopher Haides

Zane brushed a tear away from the side of his cheek, and took a deep breath, then he tucked up the letter carefully into it's envelope, and left it in his desk drawer, then he picked up his phone.

" Hey Warren? It's Zane, you work at Xavier's school for gifted youngsters right? Good, me and Lily would like to apply."