"They're too late. You're with ME now." Lance said. Kitty phased out of his grip, saved the day, and joined the X-men- But what if she HADN'T phased right then? What would have happened? LANCITTY

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost

For want of a shoe, the horse was lost

For want of a horse, the message was lost

For want of the message, the battle was lost,

for want of the battle, the kingdom was lost

And all for the want of a horse-shoe nail.

Chapter one- For want of phasing...

"Daddy?" The girl- the one with long brown hair up in a ponytail- called, as if disbelieving. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she stretched out a hand towards her father.

"Forget them! Come on, I'm bringin' this place down!" The brown-haired boy said. The girl struggled to pull away from him. Fear clouded her mind, and, terrified, she forgot that there was an easy way out of this whole mess.

"You called your gift a curse. If you go with him, I guarantee you, it will be." The redhead told the girl, a tone of pity in her voice.

"Please, Kitty! Listen to her!" The woman called, tears in her eyes as she watched her daughter being pulled away.

"Sweetheart, we love you!" The man, also, had tears in his eyes. Pieces of the school's roof fell down all around him, barely missing him.

"They're too late. You're with me now." The boy told her, yanking the small girl the rest of the way through the hole in the wall. He had made the hole with his strange powers moments before, and now he was leaving Kitty's parents to die.

"Lance! STOP IT!! Let- me- GO!!!" Kitty yelled, trying to pull away. But it was to late. Even as 'Lance' pulled her clear of the hole in the wall, the wall collapsed in on itself, locking Kitty's parents, and Jean (the redhead) in- and Kitty out. Unless... Kitty phased through Lance's grip, and ran back through the wall. Yes, through. Kitty had discovered her new 'gift' just that morning. She had begged her mother to be allowed to go to school- but now she wished she hadn't. Now her parents were dead.

When the wall collapsed, the ceiling of the room had too. Kitty's parents were crushed under the rubble. Kitty backed away from her mother's dead body, the only one visible from under the rubble. She turned and ran, but only made it to just outside of the building's wall before collapsing. She didn't wake up for hours.

Lance bent down, picked Kitty up, turned, and walked away from the building. He didn't stop until he came face-to-face with a woman. He had never seen her before.

"I'd say you've blown your chances at this school, haven't you?" The woman said, not answering his question.

"Who are you?" He asked, holding Kitty more tightly, as if afraid that this unknown person would somehow hurt her.

"Your new advisor. I've made an opening for you at Bayville High. I have much to teach you, my young Avalanche- you AND your little Kitty-cat." The woman said, smirking, She spoke in a voice that hinted at untold secrets.

"I SAID, 'Who are you?!'" Lance repeated angrily. He was prepared to attack this woman if she didn't give him the answers he wanted.

The woman just smirked. "My name is Mystique."

And that was chapter one of 'For want of a nail', previously called 'Shadows and Rockslides'.