Disclaimer: X-men Evo, and all associated characters, products, whatchamacallits and whatnots belong to someone who is not me, much to my chagrin.

A/N: First inspiration for this came from a play, featuring one man that recalls one by one the events of his life, some innocuous, others not, and delivers them all in a totally emotionless tone, as if it was the account of some other person's life. Second inspiration was found in 'The Pianist', which inspired the scenes in the Warsaw, since no-one knows where lil'Erik came from before he wound up in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

A/N2: This piece starts out in comics continuity, but then gradually slides into Evo-verse.

A/N3: This is more of an excercise in style than anything else. I just wanted to try a new approach, and this is what came out.

I remember...

I remember the days before, in Warsaw.

I remember the feast my mother used to make for easter.

I remember Grandma, always in her chair, always knitting.

I remember being told Grandpa died in the War.

I remember that little shop at the street corner, where my father would sometimes buy me some poppy-seed cakes.

I remember peeking in on my parents, catching glimpses of their worried expressions as they listened to the radio.

I remember the Nazis, storming into Warsaw.

I remember our moving into the Ghetto with my family.

I remember the cramped space of our two-roomed flat, when there were eight of us.

I remember once crossing the bridge to the larger Ghetto with my father, hoping we would be able to garner foodstuffs.

I remember the closing of the smaller Ghetto, how we were forced to move into a warehouse with fifteen other families.

I remember the soldiers who came to get us in the middle of the night.

I remember the train, the camps, Auschwitz.

I remember that canadian man who held me in his arms as he rescued me from that place that had seen all my relatives die.

I remember Life afterwards, devoid of emotion or purpose, until I met Magda.

I remember our wedding, she was so truly beautiful that day.

I remember the birth of our first child, Anya.

I remember thinking I could never be any happier.

I remember the day of the fire, my daughter's cries as she was being burned alive.

I remember hating those people that would not move to help my precious daughter.

I remember lashing out at them with my powers.

I remember Magda leaving me, fearing me, depriving me of the child she was pregnant with.

I remember getting to Israel, signing up in that hospital.

I remember meeting Charles Xavier, the talks we would have, the dreams we would share.

I remember how we went our separate ways, he choosing the path of negociation, I choosing that of dominance.

I remember our various meetings afterwards, some on friendly terms, others not.

I remember Raven coming to me for help, a blue baby cradled protectively in her arms.

I remember my fascination for that second-generation specimen, my need to see how he could be further improved.

I remember Raven's fury, and grief, at what I had done, and her foolish flight, only to drop her son down a waterfall.

I remember finding out my wife had died giving birth to twins.

I remember scouring the land, searching for their whereabouts, until I discovered their adoptive parents had left with them to America.

I remember my first tentative contact with my two children, when the Maximoffs finally agreed to let me meet them.

I remember how they were only too glad to foist them off on me when they discovered their 'children' were mutants.

I remember running tests on my children, trying to determine their potential.

I remember Pietro always being eager to please me, unquestioningly submitting to the experiments.

I remember Wanda losing control for the first time, and wrecking the lab.

I remember Pietro first running to Chicago and back in an hour and a half.

I remember commiting Wanda to that institution, on a cold rainy november day.

I remember being called for an emergency by Raven, and leaving Pietro in an orphanage.

I remember first learning of Xavier's School for the Gifted.

I remember forming my brotherhood of mutants to counterbalance Xavier.

I remember.

And now, it begins.