Hello everyone. I'm afraid I don't own any of the X-men. I wish I did.
"He doesn't have to be real. You control if he's real." Maria Hunter told her little girl, working her hands into her daughter's.
At first the child didn't react. She didn't take her mother's hands. Then, slowly, Maria's hands were enclosed in a gentle grip which grew and grew until the little girl's knuckles were going white. The girl was studying the drawing in the centre of the room. She was struggling to look away. Maria raised one hand to her daughter's damp cheek and pressed gently agaisnt the tears, getting her daughter's attention. Kathy looked at her mother with her red ringed blue eyes.
"Sweetie, he's not real." Maria whispered to her daughter.
Kathy blinked and calmed down. She took a deep breath.
Shaken, Maria pressed one hand against her daughter's forehead. It had happened before with a wolf, a drawing that Kathy had done. The eight year old had been crying and screaming about it being real, about it having chased her around the living room which had been left in tatters. And Kathy had got cuts – cuts she claimed her been from the wolf.
Maria had dealt with the drawing of the wolf in one way. She was going to deal with this new drawing in the same way. She walked towards a piece of paper on the floor. There was a picture of a tall male vampire glaring out at Maria, reaching out as if it was going after her. She couldn't understand why Kathy would draw something so terrifying. She frowned and went to tear it up.
"No, mummy! That's murder!" Kathy screamed.
Maria looked at her daughter as she held up the drawing. The eight year old was still shuddering from terror. She was sweating and crying and holding her covers up to her chin. Kathy's small form was pressed in the corner of the room as she was curled up on her bed. She wasn't calming down.
Yet the conviction in the little girl's voice had been so strong. Maria was almost sure that Kathy believed the drawing was real and that it would be murder.
Then Maria had an idea. She walked up to the cupboard and opened the door. A large wooden crate-like box was on the bottom shelf. It had been used to send a few dolls from Maria's brother in Australia to Kathy but the dolls had quickly been abandoned when the young girl had fallen in love with art. The box was taken out and placed on the little girl's bed. Maria opened the box, turning the key that was already in the lock. She put the picture in the box and closed it, locking it. She took the key and shifted towards her daughter.
Silently, she handed Kathy the key and then reached into her pocket. She found a length of string and threaded it through the eye of the key hole. She run it around her daughter's neck, tied it there and lifted the key up to the girl's eyes. Kathy took the key from her mother and held it, studying it.
"This means that only you can say what goes in and what comes out of the box and if the drawings are real like you say they are then... You put them in there."
.
Eight years later, the three metal prongs of the key clicked as they slid into the lock. The wooden lid swung open. Inside was a pile of drawings. These drawings were expertly done, each one laboured over and in perfect condition.
The box however was not.
Dulled marks in the wood caught blue eyes and glared back. They brought old threats and fear resurfacing. Along the rim of the lid, fresh sections of wood had been broken away in an attempt to get out. With an internal shudder, the girl noticed new hungry claw marks on the inside of the wooden lid. It looked like a wild animal had been trying to escape. With shaking fingers, she traced her fingers into the deep, fresh canyons on the inside of the lid.
Fifty-six pieces of paper were inside the box, the top one being a brilliant drawing depicting a snarling clown with one hand wrapped tightly around the string of a balloon and the other reaching out with grasping angry fingers and chipped nails. With the wood that was caught under the points, it looked as if the clown had been clawing away at something wooden. The snarl was half open as if the clown had been calling out. The eyes were focused on Kathy with a heartless hunger.
Kathy knew she hadn't draw him like that. She had drawn a picture of a smiling happy clown with both hands by his sides and... Then he had turned bad.
She had quickly banished him to the box before anyone knew that she had drawn yet another bad drawing. Her parents understood that she had been right... That some how her drawings, and later even other people's drawings, became real if Kathy willed them to. They had understood that most of Kathy's drawings were good. They had often watched at the girl had played with the real life copies of her drawings and watched as the girl found friendship. Yet both parents knew what happened to some of Kathy's drawings. The horror and terror that they brought. Like the wolf. Like the vampire.
Her family didn't know how bad it had gotten.
Kathy looked away from the box of drawings, not even reaching into the box to touch them. She focused on the empty shredder that had been put in her room five years ago. It had never been used, much to the disappointment of her parents. For a few seconds she reached into the box to shred the drawings. She stopped and looked down, shaking her head. A tear growing in Kathy's eyes, she flipped the lid back over and turned the key to shut the box.
Kathy sat on the floor of her room, staring at the box. She couldn't take her eyes off it, feeling her heartbeat return to normal as the danger from within was now locked safely away. Around her, drawings of smiling happy people were on her wardrobe. Piles of papers and pencil pots were on the desk to her side and folders of drawings that the walls didn't have space for were pressed into a corner. None of these had ever caused Kathy any concern so her eyes were fixed on the box in front of her as she struggled to work out what the next step was. She couldn't live with the constant threat of...
Then there was a knock on the door. Quickly, in a panic, Kathy pushed the box back into the corner near her cupboard and pulled a cover over it to muffle any noises that might come from it.
Her parents didn't know how bad it had gotten.
She opened the door and looked down at the blonde little boy who was standing in the hallway. His curly hair was slightly off blonde but he had the same blue eyes as his sister. He smiled up at her, giving her the joyful smile only a six year old could manage. It radiated energy and it made up, in a way, for the time Kathy had spent laying in bed, listening for... Them.
Kathy smiled, recognising her little brother, Tommy, instantly. She opened the door wider to let him in and he walked over to sit on the bed.
"Have you drawn another picture, Kathy?" Tommy asked, playing with him thumbs.
"Not yet, Tom." she said with a sigh.
She had lied. She had drawn him the picture of the clown. She wasn't going to risk giving it to Tommy.
"And there's this man downstairs and mummy and daddy are talking about you going away."
"WHAT?" Kathy shrieked, suddenly becoming very nervous.
Kathy's mind raced at a hundred miles an hour. She knew she was dangerous but no one had been hurt, no one but her. They couldn't take her away, could they?
And Kathy realised she had slipped. She calmed down with the pressure of appearances upon her.
Tommy didn't know how bad it had gotten.
Matching eyes met and Tommy stood up, running up to his older sister. He wrapped his arms around her waist Kathy frowned and began to pat Tommy on the back.
He didn't like loud noises or Kathy when she got panicked.
"I don't want you to go!" Tommy moaned. "They might hurt you because of your magic!"
She told him everything would be alright and that she wasn't going to go anywhere she wasn't going to be safe.
"And it's not magic, Tommy." Kathy said, taking her little brother's hand and leading the way down the stairs.
She closed her bedroom door but the girl's panic hung in the air. From under the cover, inside the box, a voice rose up.
"Kathy? Kathy? Are you there, little Kathy?"
No one knew how bad it had gotten.
.
There were two strange men in the lounge, not just one. One was a bald man sitting in a stylish wheelchair. His eyes shifted to concern when he saw Kathy. The other man was younger and had red tinted lenses over his eyes. The fact that this meant she couldn't see his eyes put Kathy on edge.
"That's the man I saw before." Tommy hissed, pointing at the man with the red lenses.
Kathy was told to take a seat on the brown leather couch by her mother but nervousness meant the girl hung back. She stood and studied the two men. She looked around the room and her eyes landed on the large painting hanging on the wall. It was a painting of a series of dark brown birds birds and Kathy knew that, if she lost control of her powers, the birds could be a big problem.
"Katherine..." the bald man began.
"Kathy." the teenager corrected before she knew what she was going. "It's just Kathy."
She was never called Katherine. Although that was her full name, she had never liked it.
"My apologises." the bald man said. "Kathy, we believe you are a very special, very gifted, young lady."
Kathy paused the man by asking who he was. Tommy was still clinging to her side and her parents were still in the room so Kathy would rather not find out what the men worked for a mutant registration agency. She didn't want to have a fight.
"Once again I apologise, my name is Charles Xavier. I run a school for children such as yourself, for young people who have abilities like you do. This is m friend and colleague, Scott Summers. We believe you would benefit by joining our school."
Kathy looked at the two men. She studied each man with her artist's eye and then glanced at her parents. She didn't like spending time at home but she didn't want to go anywhere with anyone. Her eyes fell onto Tommy and she frowned.
Then she heard birdsong filling the lounge.
Her eyes snapped up to the painting and she saw the birds had disappeared. A bird was sitting on Scott's shoulder and Kathy winced. Scott looked at the bird with a frown. Kathy noticed the way his forehead creased as he stared at the bird but, in the corner of her eye, she realised Charles was smiling. The bird had long brown feathers and shifted about on Scott's shoulder. Another bird had landed near Tommy and the little boy was staring at it. He was used to Kathy's powers but, every time the girl made something suddenly appear, his youthfulness caused him to become mesmerised.
"That is very impressive. I could teach you to control it." Charles said.
Kathy thought about the box in her room. She thought about the horror her powers were causing.
"Prove you can do even some good." Kathy instructed.
Charles paused and Kathy freed herself from Tommy's arms. He looked at Kathy as she walked into the centre of the room.
DO YOU FEEL YOU NEED MORE PROOF? asked a voice in Kathy's head.
Kathy shuddered but understood. She had recognised Charles' voice in her head. She had never met a telepath before. She hadn't met anyone with powers before.
"Can I have some time to decide?"
.
Kathy lay in bedroom on her bed. It was the afternoon and her parents were downstairs talking to Charles and Scott. Tommy had gone off to play. The blinds were closed and she had her focus on the ceiling. She was making patterns from marks on the ceiling, her artistic mind forming detailed shapes and drawings.
"You know it's for your own good." a young man's voice said.
Kathy looked at the young man who had suddenly appeared in her room. She looked at the blank sheet of paper that was stuck to her wardrobe and sighed.
"I didn't want you to come out." Kathy told the young man.
The boy scoffed and sat down on the bed. He told Kathy she didn't really mean that. It was dark in the room as the light wasn't on but Kathy could make out the young man's figure.
He was sixteen like her and had a floppy mop of light brown hair. His keen eyes were green and dotted with flecks of brown. He was dressed in a white shirt and brown fabric trousers. Kathy could remember drawing him. He was one of the few drawings who hadn't been made while she had been drawing. She had dreamt about a boy called Danny. He had had a British accent and they had spent the whole dream having fun. She dreamt of him occasionally and had drawn him pretty soon after.
"I don't know why you're panicking. You want to go and you need to go." Danny said.
Kathy sat up and looked at the young man.
"I could send you back in your drawing, Danny. I should. I don't need you making this decision for me."
Danny sighed and helped Kathy sit up. They sat beside each other and studied the carpeted floor. Neither had anything to say to the other as they worked out what they were going to do. There was silence between the two. Finally Danny turned to Kathy.
"So you're going then?" Danny said with all the conviction in the world.
The teenaged girl looked at Danny and she looked at him questioningly. It was no secret that Danny knew Kathy better than anyone else. She had told him about how bad everything had gotten and what was in the box.
"What makes you think I'm going?" Kathy asked, with a slight smirk.
Her eyes were deadly serious. This was an issue of her future and effect not only her but all of her drawings and her family.
Danny nodded towards the covered box. He cupped his hands against his ears and smirked.
"Because they're silent."
The room hung with a deep and rare silence. Kathy walked forwards and pulled off the cover. She stared at the wooden material and toyed with the blanket in her hands. Not a single noise came from the box.
"And I know what that means. You're not nervous about this. You know you've made the right decision." Danny said with a smile.
Kathy looked at him and remembered drawing him. She had drawn him earlier that year and got on with him very well. He was one of the good drawings – no, one of the best ones. She wouldn't dare put him in the box.
"I hate you sometimes, Danny."
"And you love me the rest of time." he smirked. "Will you be taking the box?"
"The little box of horrors?" Kathy frowned and looked at the covered box.
She wanted to be rid of it. She wanted it to be gone from her life. It couldn't be through. She knew that she would make another one sooner or later, another bad drawing, and need a place to put it. She also knew that some times, her powers worked over a much further distance. They fluctuated lots and Kathy couldn't leave the box in case the horrors got out and...
"Well, I can't leave it here, can I?"
.
The pencil scraped against the page as a drawing was done. Kathy was sitting on her suitcases, waiting for the car coming to take her to the Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters. Tommy was posing in front of her as she drew a picture of him.
A week had passed since Kathy had made her decision. It had all been rushed and Kathy was rather glad it was. She hadn't had time to stop, think and come up with reasons that pointed towards her decision being the wrong one. She had had her last day at school the day before and, although she had had a few friends she had needed to say good bye to, she didn't feel like she had really felt anything behind.
"And you promise you won't forget me?" Tommy said, shifting around.
Kathy promised with a smile. She laughed a bit when she told Tommy that she was going to be returning for Christmas. Tommy frowned. He looked at a large series of folders, full of Kathy's drawings. He looked at the large crate and paused. Kathy frowned and pulled the blanket further over the crate.
Kathy turned her art book around and showed it to Tommy. The six year old smiled. He took the drawing. He ripped it out, gently and handed it to Kathy.
"Can you keep him with Danny?" Tommy asked.
He knew about Danny. He had spent many hours with Danny and Kathy, playing games and having fun. Tommy looked up to Danny. He looked up to most of Kathy's drawings if they were good. There had been a girl called Jane who Tommy had become a very good friend with and Jane was often brought to life so Tommy could spend time with the girl who was three years his senior.
"I'll miss you, Kathy. I'll miss Danny and Jane and the other people." Tommy said.
"I'm going to miss you, Tommy." Kathy said, pulling Tommy into a strong hug.
She was kneeling down and her chin was resting on her younger brother's shoulder. Tommy burrowed his head into her jacket and under her hood, searching for the warmth there. Kathy rubbed circled in his back, being careful not to crumple the drawing.
A cough caused the two siblings to break apart. Kathy looked up at her father. Her father was, if Kathy had suspected right, a mutant, a low level one at least. She was pretty sure that she had got the powers from him. It meant Tommy might be a mutant, not that she wanted him to know that there was even a chance.
Her father told her that the car would be there again second.
"Have you got everything?"
Kathy nodded. Her father noticed the box. He frowned and asked her why she hadn't destroyed it by then. Kathy didn't answer. She reached up to the collar of her t-shirt and checked her key was still there. She had worn it so much it felt strange when there wasn't the slight weight on the back of her neck or the thumping of the key just below her neckline.
"I have everything I need." Kathy told him. "And everything I want."
She slipped the drawing of Tommy into a folder and slipped away her art book. She looked at her father and Tommy.
"Probably be a lot easier for everyone when I'm gone."
"Quieter at night." Kathy's father remarked with a weak smile.
He sighed and took Kathy's hand. He told her to bring Danny out. She picked out the piece of paper with Danny on and put it down. She didn't even need to point at it before the paper began to glow with a pinkish glow and a hand reached out. Then more and more came, forming above the piece of paper until Danny was standing there.
"Keep her safe, okay, Danny? You know that if anything happens to her, she won't be able to bring you out any more. Or I won't let her." Kathy's father promised.
Danny nodded and looked at Kathy. He was out nearly every day and had been out every day that week. He had helped Kathy pack and spent time with the family while they had been saying good bye. It had been very sudden that the eldest child was leaving but it had to happen.
.
Danny was in his drawing by the time Scott had knocked on the door. Kathy had just slipped away the drawing when her father went to let him in. Scott studied Kathy from behind his red lenses. Kathy was dressed in a casual jacket and a set of jeans. Scott looked a bit smarter but he was still rather casual. He gave Kathy an acknowledging nod.
"Mr Hunter, could you help me take Kathy's bags to the car? She might need to have some time to say goodbye." Scott said.
The girl's father nodded and Kathy turned to Tommy. She asked him to get her mother. Kathy was left standing in the hallway. She turned to look at her retreating brother and sighed. She wasn't sure what to do. She couldn't tell if she wanted to go or not. What Danny had said about the box still danced around in her mind.
"Any where we shouldn't take her?" Scott asked, looking at the girl as he returned to get another suitcase to take out to the car.
Kathy's father smirked and he nodded towards his daughter. Kathy began to list places: art galleries, museums, old houses and art schools. Scott nodded, taking every in his stride, and Kathy turned towards Tommy who was approaching with her mother. She pulled her mother into a strong hug and sighed.
"I'm going to miss you, sweetie." Maria said with a weak smile.
Kathy pulled back and looked at her mother. She could see tears in her mother's pure blue eyes and felt her mother's hands on her cheeks. Her mum had been there for her through lots. Her mum had been the first person to realise Kathy had powers, the first person who had realised some of Kathy's drawings could turn bad and the first person who had even considered that Kathy could be a mutant. Kathy couldn't bare to think about what situation she would be in without her mother.
"Now you keep safe and you keep Danny safe and... You come back for every holiday and you have to call once every week and you make sure..."
"Mum, I'll be fine." Kathy said.
She held out the key to show her mother with a trembling smile. Her mother nodded and told her that she knew what to do. She kissed her daughter's forehead after bowing it towards her.
Scott watched the scene from behind his red lenses. He watched as the teenager turned to her father and said a lot quicker goodbye. Then she turned to Tommy. She pulled him into a hug and kissed his forehead.
"Be good and if you start... If you end up like me, I expect to see you joining me in this new school." Kathy said with a smile.
Then she turned to Scott. He could see tears in her eyes and a forced smile on her lips but he took in her nod and her willingness to go. He nodded back and opened the door.
.
Scott had been very surprised to see the girl hadn't waved at her parents. He had occasionally had to go and collect new pupils but Kathy was rather different. She had sat down and reached around her neck, pulling out a thin tube of metal that Scott realised was a key.
"Nice car." Kathy remarked after they had left her home city.
Scott paused and offered her a silent answer. Kathy sighed and looked down at the key. She slipped it away and studied the countryside.
"So what are your powers? Because Charles is a telepath and I... I bring art to life, I suppose. So what do you do?"
Scott paused and smirked slightly. He placed a cup on the side and pulled the car over, making sure he wasn't going to crash. He raised his glasses when he was sure he would hit the cup. A hole was burnt straight through the card of the coffee cup and Kathy's eyes widened. She grinned.
"So, what is the school like?"
.
The mansion was amazing. It was amazing and dark and mysterious and open and... As Scott drove down the long gravel driveway, Kathy couldn't help but gasp. She could see teenagers and even younger children running around in large rolling lawns. Perfectly clipped hedges were lining the grounds and at least two sports courts fenced off. There were some pupils with different coloured skin and some with even more limbs. There was an archery competition going on by one side and a group of people were training in self defence with a man with black hair that seemed to be spiked into two points, one on each side.
The actual mansion drew Kathy's eyes. It was a neo-classical home made with red brick. The windows were large and made with white frames. Pupils looked down at Kathy as she climbed out of the car and looked around.
"I'm going to put this in the garage." Scott said, looking at Kathy.
He looked around for a few seconds and then called over a rather tall, strong young man. He looked a few years older than Kathy and smiled at her happily.
"Can you take Kathy's luggage inside?" Scott asked. "And then take her to see Mr Xavier?"
"Yes, Mr Summers." the young man said and picked up the bags from the boot.
Kathy could tell the young man had super strength as he lead the way into the mansion.
.
Kathy's luggage was piled up outside Charles' office. He was inside, talking to someone, and Kathy stood outside, knocking. Charles told whoever who was in there that they could continue with their discussion the next day. Kathy went to open the door for the figure but they simply disappeared. Kathy blinked for a few seconds and frowned.
"Teleporter?" she asked after a few seconds.
Charles nodded with a smile. Kathy wasn't sure if she was ever going to get used to the sudden influx of mutants in her life.
She slipped into the room and studied Charles as he offered her a seat. His office was liked the rest of the mansion. It had an old and homely feel but at the same time had very modern ideals that Kathy couldn't help but pick up on. She slipped into a large black leather arm chair next to a black leather fainting couch. She studied Charles as he sat at his large dark wood desk and wondered if he was reading her mind.
YOU ARE CORRECT. Charles' kind voice announced in Kathy's head.
Kathy jumped not used to having her thoughts suddenly intruded. She looked down at the green carpet on the floor and asked how Charles knew that she was a mutant.
"We have a machine that allows a telepath to pick up brainwaves from all around the world. It is called Cerebro. I was using the machine when I picked up on a very troubled mental signature."
"I get nightmares." Kathy admitted slowly, choosing her words deliberately.
She didn't like to talk about the box. She was sure Charles at least had some idea of it but she also wanted to pretend that she still had some control over what happened surrounding the crate.
"And I completely understand." Charles said. "I can't give you a tour right now. How would you feel about having a tour in the morning and then going straight into lessons?"
Kathy told him she would be fine but she was sure her mouth was dried as she tried to speak.
"You should go to your room and get unpacked. Your room mate is currently in lessons and I believe she will be coming to bed late. It will give you some time to get your bearings."
The teenager nodded and asked if she should go. Charles nodded.
.
It was another person's room. That was the first thing Kathy thought. The room belonged to someone else.
There were two beds in the room. Both were neatly made but one, the one just under the window so you could watch the sky if you lay on your side, was a bit messier than the other. A framed picture of somewhere in London (Kathy guessed) was hanging on the wall and depicted a young couple. Both were smiling and the woman had dark red hair. Kathy walked towards the picture and suddenly felt very alone. She had no idea who the woman was and it felt very strange. There was a wardrobe next to the bed and a set of draws that were littered with random objects from lots of different places. Kathy couldn't understand many of them and why they were there but she could sense each had a little story behind them.
The room was almost completely in half. One half was clearly used but the half near the door, the half Kathy would be getting, looked empty and soulless.
Kathy missed her own room. She missed the desk she drew at and the wardrobe that had pretty much become an art gallery for her drawings.
She sat down on the bed, staring at her luggage and it felt very quiet. She hadn't heard anyone move her luggage upstairs and she couldn't hear anyone. She had been lead upstairs by an older student but he had quickly disappeared afterwards. There wasn't the creak of springs from the mattress or the way the old wood of the bed clunked a bit when she moved. She got up and reached down, picking up a folder that had been placed on the top of her luggage. She lifted it and dropped it, staring at what had been underneath.
The box had been there. Kathy took a deep breath. She hadn't thought about it before but there were very little places she could put the box. She didn't want people to know about what happened and if the box, if the things inside it, began to call out again, then... Kathy wasn't sure what she would do if lots of people knew. Her parents were aware of one or two drawings, not fifty-six. Tommy wasn't aware of a single one.
She touched the wood of the box and then pulled back at if it had bitten her. She reached down once more. Her hands closed around it. A deep breath escaped her mouth as she relaxed into the silence that was coming from it. She lifted the box so she could move it and then...
Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.
A noise from inside the box. Something so small and easily dismissed.
Scrape.
Movement.
Kathy dropped the box and listened to the thud. She raced over to the bed and pulled off the covers, covering the box as it lay on its side in the centre of the room. With shaking hands, she opened the folder she had been after and two figures appeared in the room.
Danny was standing over her, offering her his hand and help to stand. The drawing of Tommy was looking around, shocked for a few moments. Danny helped Kathy up and studied the pile of covers. He told her to take a deep breath as he walked towards it.
"Kathy, they only get out when you panic, when you're scared. Calm down and we'll put the box in the wardrobe where they can't get you."
Danny scooped up the covers and the box with ease. Kathy opened the doors to the empty wardrobe and let Danny put the box in. He freed the box from the covers and then replaced the covers back on the bed in a heap. A smile crossed his face.
"See, nothing is wrong." he remarked.
Kathy nodded and calmed down, joining Danny on the bed. Danny smiled at her as they sat there. He promised he would help her with the rest of the luggage after she had calmed down.
"Do they do that, all the time?"
"You know full well they're only real when you're nervous. You can't control it when you're like that. At least it helps us sort the good from the bad."
Kathy looked at the six year old boy standing in her room. She watched with a smile as joy at being real lit the boy's eyes. He looked exactly like her little brother but she knew that they could be very different people. She asked the boy what his name was. Some times she named the drawings. Like she named Danny after a boy she dreamed about frequently. They acted the same and... Dream Danny had a British accent while Danny had an accent that Kathy was sure came from somewhere near New York. He was one of the few people she had managed to predict the personality of.
Anyway, most of the drawings Kathy didn't name. She let the drawings name themselves.
"My name is Vincent." the boy announced with a grin.
Back when she had been younger, when her powers had just started out, Kathy had wondered why even pencil sketches gained colour when she made them real. She wasn't exactly sure but Vincent was an exact copy of Tommy except for one detail. His eyes shone brown instead of blue.
"We should unpack." Danny said with a sigh. "Vincent, do you want to help?"
The little boy nodded and began to go through the boxes. Kathy stayed sitting on the bed.
"Do you think they'll except you two? Well, any of my drawings? You're not exactly human."
"Neither are you." Danny countered.
He offered Kathy his compassionate smile and told her that they would be fine.
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