Many miles away Logan bolted upright. It was the middle of the night. His claws were out before he realized it was just a memory. He set his head in his hand as his claws slowly retracted. It wasn't until then that he noticed he was breathing heavily. He placed his hand on the necklace he was wearing. Marie had made it for him.
Logan got out of bed and walked through the school. Being the middle of night everyone was asleep. Almost everyone. Once again, Bobby was in the kitchen, drinking soda.
"Still no beer?" Logan asked looking in the fridge. Bobby laughed behind him. It was a joke of theirs.
"Take a guess."
"No." Logan took out another soda and sat across from Bobby. He looked at him puzzled. "Why are you always up late?"
Bobby shrugged and took another sip. "I can never sleep." he said not meeting Logan's eyes. "I kind of pity him, Matt, even though he called the cops on us. I know, I sound like I'm mad, don't I?"
"Not really." Logan continued to watch Bobby as he looked at the table. "That's not the only thing that's bothering you." Bobby glanced at him then back at the table.
"You're right." He didn't say anything for a little. Logan knew it was better to let him think than to intrude in his thoughts.
"John is also bothering me. So is Marie."
This definitely got Logan's attention. Marie was like a daughter to him. He would gladly die to keep her safe. "What do you mean?"
"Well, she's been acting differently. I talked to the Professor but he said I would have to figure it out myself." He set his head in his hands and sighed. "Something is seriously bothering her and I can't figure out what it is. I don't want to talk to her about it incase it upsets her. But she's been acting that way sense-"
Bobby stopped short and looked up at Logan. There was a look in Bobby's eyes, a look of fear. "I don't want to bother you with my problems."
He got up to leave but Logan interrupted him. "Bobby. Tell me. I might be able to help."
"She's acted odd ever sense . . . well, ever sense Brazer attacked here." This was met by silence. Bobby looked like he had said something wrong, Logan's face was unreadable. He hunched his shoulders and set his head in his hands. "Sorry Logan, I shouldn't have said anything."
"No. It was the right thing to do." Logan reassured him as he also stood. "You should get to bed."
"What about you? What are you going to do?" Bobby asked as he walked to the door.
"Never mind about me, I can take care of myself. You need sleep. Now that you are an X-Man, you need to be ready for a situation at anytime. You can't be exhausting yourself." Logan said as they both left the kitchen. Bobby went to his room while Logan continued to patrol the school. This had always been a habit of his.
Logan reached the back of the school and wandered into the lawn. He was surprised to see Angel sitting on a bench there. He had his back to Logan, his head turned upward. His wings were folded tightly over his back. They were feathered wings that looked like, well, like an angel's.
"Hi, Angel." Logan said sitting on the bench by him. Off to their right was the basketball court that the jet was hidden beneath. No one would have guessed it was there unless they knew about it. Angel looked over at Logan, then he looked across the lawn and into the woods.
"Can't sleep?"
"Nah. I was never one that was big on the whole sleeping thing. Listen, I was wondering if you would do something for me?"
"Sure, Logan."
Anna was sitting in her cell, rubbing her many bruises. Brazer, she found out, had a short temper. After refusing to help him he got mad and had his men beat on Anna. She didn't give in though. There was no way she would help them to hurt others, to hurt Logan. He had sacrificed a lot to get her away from all that.
It was mostly done by this man, Pyro, that Brazer had broken out of jail. He seamed to get a kind of pleasure out of it. Anna had just been thrown into the cell after the latest beating. She could tell that at least one of her ribs was broken and it felt like several of her toes were broken also. He had made a big deal of stomping on them. Knowing that if she didn't realign them, she may never walk again. Anna clamped her mouth shut and grabbed the broken toes. She was just able to stop from screaming as she snapped them back into place.
She rested her head against the wall and just sat there for a few minutes. Then she looked at her left side. It was swelling terribly from the broken rib. Inspecting the rest of herself, she found that nothing else was broken. That was a great relief.
There was a sound outside the barred window. It sounded like the rustling of wings, but that wasn't possible. Anna painfully got to her feet, and looked outside. The cell was down in the ground like a basement so she was eye level with the grass. To her great surprise there was a man standing there. Then she noticed the wings. Feathered wings, like an angel's. He was standing so close that Anna could touch him. And she did.
Anna reached out a timid hand and tapped his ankle. He turned around surprised. Seeing her hand he crouched down, and looked into the lightless cell.
"Are you Anna?" he whispered softly. Anna nodded not knowing or caring who he was or how he knew her name. "Logan sent me."
"Logan? Is he ok? Where-" He raised his hand to stop the flow of questions.
"Right now what we need is to get you out of here."
"I tried." she told him, putting her hands around the bars. "I'm not strong enough, especially not now." Instead of answering, the man pulled two hacksaws out of the backpack tucked between his wings. He gave Anna one and they both began to cut at the bars. Those ten minutes it took to cut through all of the bars seamed to last forever. Each second that went by was a second closer to getting them caught. Finally the last bar fell out and he pulled her up through the hole. Her shirt ripped on the rough edges but that didn't matter, she was free. The man told her to fly with him, and Anna was so glad to be in the open air she did what he told her without question.
"Logan? Can I talk to you for a second?" the Professor asked as Logan worked on the motorcycle in front of the class. Kurt was with him.
"Sure Professor." Logan stood up and cleaned his hands.
"Class dismissed." he told the group of teens. They all went scurrying from the room glad to have the rest of the class off. All accept Bobby and Marie. They looked from the Professor to Logan and back again. "Go on you two. Get. Go do some homework or something. The Professor just wants to talk."
"But . . . " Marie complained.
"Marie." he said in a warning tone. Logan was like a father to her and she trusted him with her life, which he had saved more than once.
"It's nothing too important, Logan. I just wanted to know if you had seen Warren lately?" the Professor said turning to him in his wheelchair. Logan tried to avoided his gaze.
"What are you hiding Logan?" the Professor asked in a harsh tone. Logan didn't answer him, he didn't need to, the Professor had read his mind. "God Logan, what have you done?"
"What do you mean, Professor?" Marie asked him. She didn't know what he meant but she was worried, hearing him talk like that.
"Why don't you ask Logan?" he said still looking at him.
"I asked Angel to do something for me." he said before Marie could ask.
"What did you ask him to do?" Kurt asked also looking at Logan. He had followed the professor into the class. Logan looked up into Marie's eyes. There was a look in his eyes, a look that Marie had never seen before. It was the look of a cornered animal.
"I asked him to go after Anna. I couldn't just leave her there, she's the closest thing to family I'll ever have."
"I have to go." The Professor said leaving the room. He was going to Cerebro. Rogue looked at Logan, surprised. He avoided looking at them. Bobby had to stop Rogue from following him as he left the garage.
"He needs some time alone."
By the time Angel and Anna reached the edge of the school Angel was exhausted. Brazer's hideout was some ways into the forests of Maine and it took several hours to fly to Westchester. They both landed in the forest surrounding the school. Anna surveyed her surroundings. Slowly she changed back. Before they left the woods Anna pulled out a pair of silver tinted sunglasses and put them on.
"What's that for?" Angel asked.
"My eyes freak people out." He just shrugged and started to walk.
They walked onto the school grounds, and a sight met Anna's eyes that she was surprised to see. There was a big mansion surrounded by a nicely kept lawn, a basketball and tennis court, several benches, a few trees and lots of kids. One of them detached themselves from the swarm of kids and came running over. It was a boy about 15. He pulled Angel into a hug. He was tall and skinny but Anna could tell that he was strong.
"Anna, meet my son, Tobias."
"Yep, I'm Tobias." he said shaking Anna's hand. "I can hack into about any computer there is. But my dad tells me not to."
There was a great big grin on his face. Anna stood there laughing as Angel pulled his son into a head lock and ruffled his hair. Tobias pulled out of his dads arms, and got a more serous look on his face.
"I think the Professor noticed that you were gone, Dad. He came into class to talk to Logan. He dismissed the class but you know Marie. She and Bobby stayed behind. But that doesn't matter, what does, is that I saw the Professor going down to the lower levels."
Angel took off running towards the school with Anna, having no clue as to what was going on, in close pursuit. They sped through the school disturbing some students. He stopped so abruptly that Anna ran into the back of him. She didn't know why they stopped, there was nothing in front of Angel but blank wall. Then he reached out his arm and pushed the wall in about an inch.
The section of wall then slid to the side revealing a yellow elevator. Angel stepped in and, Anna, after a second of hesitation, followed. There were no buttons to push. Instead it went down by itself. It opened up to a large hall.
It was an amazing sight. The hall was long, high, and made of steel, unlike the rest of the house. At each end were doors with others branching off along the hall. By one end door were four suites in glass cases. The suites were black, all having a similar design on them but each was unique. The opposite door was different than the rest. It had some globe in the middle with a blue circle in the center of it. Anna would love to have been able to explore this place in detail, but there was a man in the middle of the hall. He obviously had been waiting for them. He was an old man, completely bald. Anna and Angel steeped out of the elevator and walked up to him.
"Warren, I was worried." he said nodding his head to him. "It's good to see that you're alright." Then he turned his attention to Anna. "Ah, you must be Anna, Logan's daughter."
Anna looked into his eyes as she crouched down. She liked to be at eye level when she was talking to someone, it made her feel like equals. "In a way. And you must be the Professor that I've heard about."
"How did you know that?" he asked smiling.
"Who else would you be?" Anna asked also smiling. She liked him.
"Good point." he said going around them. "Come. I'm being rude. Lets have lunch, I doubt Brazer feed you much."
The Professor entered the elevator with Anna and Angel following. He lead them through the school to the back, where the kitchen was. Anna opened the door to find several people sitting around the only table. Logan, Bobby, and Marie she recognized, though she only knew Logan by name. There was another man there. His skin was blue and his eyes were yellow.
Logan stood when the door opened but he didn't seem to know what to do with himself. The Professor wheeled in with Anna following him, Angel stood in the doorway. Kurt and Marie also stood but Bobby just sat there eating.
"Kurt, Bobby, Marie, this is Anna. Anna, this is Kurt Wagner, also called Nightcrawler. He's one of the teachers here. And this is Bobby and Marie, two of the most ambitious students that we have." the Professor motioned to each one as he said their names. Kurt nodded and said, "Nice to meet you". Anna noticed the thick German accent he spoke with. Marie just nodded and Bobby raised his spoon in a kind of 'hi'. "You already know Logan."
Anna refused to say anything to him. Logan still looked like he didn't know what to do with himself. The Professor seamed not to notice.
"Help yourself to whatever you want. I need to go back to my office." At this he left. Angel turned to leave too.
"Aren't you hungry, Warren?" Anna asked before he could go anywhere.
He shrugged and said, "I'll eat later."
Anna turned back to the others as he left. She found everyone looking at her and felt extremely out of place. The only one who wasn't staring was Bobby, who was still eating his lunch. Marie sat down but Kurt and Logan still stood there. Those yellow eyes seemed strange Anna. She wasn't sure why, especially with the way her own eyes were. Then Kurt noticed he was out of place and sat down too.
"Are you all right, Anna?" Logan asked seeing her bruised cheek.
"I'll live." Anna said going over to the fridge.
"Anna." His voice was sharp. "I know you're-"
Anna turned to look at him, extremely frustrated. She didn't take orders from anyone, let alone this imposter. "It doesn't mater. I might not have your ability to heal myself in an instant but I will heal. I've had a lot worse happen to me."
She turned back to the fridge and ignored Logan as he sat back down, sulking. Anna closed the fridge and sat by Logan. He was about to say something when Anna raised her hand.
"Just drop it Logan, I'll be fine." He sighed and laid his arms on the tables. Anna's eyes traveled over his hands as she sat there thinking. Even though she was really hungry, she refused to get something to eat as ideas floated around in her head. Then her thoughts were interrupted rudely.
"Why are you wearing those?" It was Marie. She was pointing to Anna's strange sunglasses. Marie's experience told her that Anna wore them for a reason. Anna decided to answer truthfully.
"My eyes aren't normal. People are afraid of them."
"What do they look like?"
"You're sure you want to know?" Anna asked.
"Yes." There was confidence in her voice but Anna sensed unease as well. She bowed her head and slipped them off. She saw Marie cringe when she looked up at the girl. In fact the only one that didn't squirm was Kurt. He actually looked interested. Anna was unable to tell what he was thinking from his face. Usually people seeing her silver eyes with slit pupils was enough to make them yelp in horror.
"Most people find me disturbing." Anna picked up the sunglasses and was going to put them back on when Marie lad her hand on Anna's arm.
"No, it's ok. I don't mind, I was just unprepared for that. Besides, you shouldn't have to wear them because of what other's have to say about you. "
"Marie's right." Bobby said looking up from his lunch. His hand rested on Marie's. "Besides, this is Mutant High. You're not the only odd person here, just take a look at Kurt."
Kurt laughed at the much younger kid. Anna snorted softly and tucked the sunglasses into her pocket. Then she noticed that Kurt was watching her again. It unnerved her, so she looked down at the table. Once again her thoughts turned back to Logan. Anna sat in silence as everyone else ate. It didn't take long before she got bored. She got up to leave.
"Do you mind if I talk with you for a while?" Logan asked also standing up.
"I'd prefer not to." The venom in her voice shocked him. She left the room-and a group of very confused people-and wandered outside. That night Kurt showed her to her room and left without saying anything.
The next day Anna spent most of her time in the mechanics class. She had propped a chair up against the wall to watch. It was very interesting to her. Considering the fact that she had spent over 6 years in the Siberian Taiga she didn't know much about cars and motorcycles. The students were also very interesting. She had never seen so many mutants in one place. Actually she had never seen so many mutants period. Logan's classes were all in the morning so after lunch Anna had nothing to do but wander the grounds. She made sure to be the first out of his class though. She was in no mood to deal with him.
Three days later, after meeting Storm, she came across the tennis court. In it was Kurt wearing one of the uniforms. He was stretching when Anna walking in on him. He didn't notice the intrusion. Later, after his warm up, he began teleporting all over. The gymnastic stunts he pulled off were amazing. After about half an hour he stopped in the middle of the tennis court and went over his stretches again. It wasn't until he finished that he noticed Anna standing there.
"Oh. Hello." He seamed tongue tied. "I didn't see you there."
"Obviously not." she said standing up. She had been leaning up against the hedge that grew on all sides. "You are very good."
"Thank you." He walked out of the court. Anna following him. They talked as they walked up to the school.
"What's with the uniform, Nightcrawler?" Anna asked with her hands clasped behind her back. He looked over at her when she said his name.
"Please, call me Kurt. You sound too much like Logan as it is without calling me that." Anna's face turned stony. She looking over at him. Again a thought interrupted that was pushed roughly aside. This was not the time.
"You don't want to talk about him, do you?"
"No." was the only reply he got.
They walked silently for a while. Then Anna spoke up, "You still haven't told me what's with the uniform."
"Well, it's what we wear whenever we go on a mission. Logan has one too." Anna smiled at this. She would have laughed if it wasn't for her rib. The broken rib made deep breaths painful, let alone laughter.
"I can't imagine him wearing that." She motioned to his uniform.
"Now you really do sound like him. The-" Anna straightened abruptly, cutting him off. They were just nearing the garage, and Anna could tell something was wrong. Anna always had a little telepathic ability. She could sense people's thoughts and feeling but was never able to control people or read deap into their minds. No one here knew about it for she never told them. Sense she got to the school her power had greatly expanded until she could mentally see everyone near her. And now she 'saw' that someone was in the garage trying to do something they shouldn't be doing.
"What is it?" Kurt asked her, worried.
"It's nothing. I've just been a little jumpy sense . . . sense I got away from Brazer." she lied. "I'm gonna go get something to eat, want to join me?"
She knew that he had already ate, that's why she asked. "Neine. I need to get changed and take a shower."
He turned and headed into the school. Anna waited until he was out of sight before she entered the garage through a side door. Inside, she could see Bobby and Marie in a blue car. Bobby lay on the floorboard messing with the wires. Several curses were heard as sparks shot everywhere. Anna took the keys out of the box they were kept in, and walked up to the car quietly.
"It would work better if you had these." There was a thud as Bobby jerked upward, hitting his head on the bottom of the steering wheel. Marie swivelled around to look at Anna as Bobby crawled up onto the driver seat holding his head. Nether of them said anything, they just looked at her guiltily.
"Look, I'm not going to turn you in. I just want to know why you are trying to hot-wire Logan's car." Anna said dangling the key from her finger. "I know you are doing this for a reason. If you tell me I'll give you the key, if not I'll leave you to figure out how to get the car started on your own."
A strange fire burned in Bobby's icy blue eyes. His breath came in ragged gasps, like he was suppressing a great anger. "My family was attacked. I just saw it on the news. My parents were killed, Matt was sent to the hospital. I'm going to go down there and find him. Will you help us get there?"
"Hm." Anna hummed thoughtfully, putting her elbow on top of the open door. "Do you know how to drive?"
"A little, yes."
"Good," Anna said, tossing him the keys. She climbed into the back, "'cause I don't."
"Do you know where Anna is?" Logan asked Kurt after he bumped into him outside the kitchen. He was expecting to see Anna, Bobby, and Marie in there but no one was there. "I haven't seen Bobby or Marie ether?"
"Neither have I. The last time I saw any of them was last night but . . . " A look came over Kurt's face as he stopped talking. "Oh, no."
Kurt took off for the garage with Logan right after him. Logan tried to ask something but Kurt wasn't listening. They both went through the side door to the garage and stopped short. Summer's old blue car was missing.
"We better tell the Professor." Logan said rubbing his neck, smiling a tiny bit. They had taken the same car that he had taken before. It took Scott a month to fix the ignition after Logan had driven his claw through it. He had fried everything in there. Then his face fell. That car was his now. Knowing who might be driving, it was very unlikely that it was coming back in one piece.
They found the Professor in his office watching the news. Logan stood by the door as Kurt walked up to the desk. He set his hands on it and look at his feet.
"Um . . . Anna, Bobby, and Marie are missing. So is one of the cars." It seemed like the Professor didn't hear him. He just stayed facing the TV. "I don't know where they'd go . . . "
"I do." the Professor said. He raised a hand and pointed at the tv. It was showing a great house burning, a house Logan had been in once before. They could hear the news lady talking.
"This happened last night at Boston. Two people were killed. The other, a young boy, was severely burned. The cause of the fire is still under investigation." The Professor clicked off the TV, and turned to face them.
"Brazer did this."
Bobby got them there before dawn. His driving wasn't the best but at least they didn't get caught by the cops. He skidded into the parking lot of the hospital and barreled out of the car. Anna got out and grabbed his shoulder.
"Calm down, Bobby. You can't just go bursting in there." He sighed but listened to her. The three of them entered the hospital, there were few people in there. They asked to see Matt. A nurse led them into a room down the hall. There was a bed in the middle of the room with a few chairs around it. In the bed lay Bobby's brother sound asleep. A tube ran across his face and nose, and a machine was keeping track of his pulse. A sheet was pulled up to his chin. The nurse left them so they could be alone.
Bobby sat on his right side, Marie sat next to him, and Anna leaned against the wall. Bobby set his hand on his brother's shoulder. Matt moaned and turned his head to look at Bobby.
"Bobby?" his voice was soft. Anna heard no pain in it. But people with third degree burns didn't feel pain until later, when their nerves started to grow back. "You're here." He was quiet for a little, staring off into the distance. Then a great shudder racked him. "I'm so cold, Bobby. Am I going to die?"
"No, Matt. You're not going to die." Bobby picked up the sheet and was going to pull it up farther, but he stopped short when he saw Matt's arm. Bobby tossed the sheet off his brother's side. Anna heard Marie gasp. His chest was bare and the whole right side was covered with deep, ragged burns. So was the small portion of foot that stuck out of the white hospital pants. The only thing that had escaped the burns on that side was his hand, neck, and head. Anna came up and knelt by the bed as Marie put her arms around Bobby's shoulders. They knew that Matt had been burned but they didn't know it was that bad.
"God." Anna whispered as she ran her hand lightly over the burns. Another shiver racked Matt.
"Bobby . . . I'm so sorry, about the last time you were home." Matt muttered softly. He didn't seem to notice Anna touching the burns.
"Last time?" Anna asked. No one answered her. Bobby took his brothers hand in his own and held it lightly. A tear rolled down his cheek. Matt turned his head and fell unconscious. Suddenly Bobby stood up.
"We have to get him out of here. Brazer can't afford to let him live if he thinks Matt knows who did it." he told Anna and Marie. They stood up and looked at him.
"How do you plan on doing that?" Anna asked him, looking at Matt. His breathing was slow and shallow.
"A diversion."
A high-pitched scream echoed through the deserted halls of the hospital. The only doctors and nurses on duty came running. So did two of the few security guards. Anna crouched outside the hospital clutching her left side. Blood flowed freely from between her fingers. The people came running out and stopped at the site of the blood that was everywhere. There was also a bloody knife laying close by.
One of the doctors turned to the rest and started shouting orders. The nurses went back to wherever they were supposed to be as the rest of the doctors ran inside for a stretcher. The security guards started to search the premises. The first doctor tried to steady Anna. She accepted his help toward the hospital until the guards were out of sight. Then Anna punched him full in the stomach. He doubled over just as Bobby and Marie rushed out of the hospital carrying Matt between them on a stretcher. Anna opened the door of the car and grabbed her knife off the ground, giving it a shake. She would have to clean it later.
Matt was laid on the back seat as Bobby started the car up. Anna jumped into the sky as the dragon as she tossed aside the blood pack. Bobby started down the road. Somehow they managed to avoid the cops on the way back to Westchester.
Logan and Kurt were about to leave when they heard a car screeching up the road. The blue car shot into the driveway. They could see Anna flying above it. They both climbed off their motorcycles as the car skidded to a stop. They ran up to it just as Anna landed. She opened the door with her human hands and picked Matt up from the seat. They stopped to gape at his burns.
"Help me." Anna cried, staggering under his weight. She was too exhausted from her flight to carry him. Logan took him from Anna's arms as the kids climbed out of the car. Kurt ran in front of them to get the door.
"Bobby, Marie. Go find the Professor." Kurt ordered. They ran off as Logan went to the elevator. The three steeped inside and stood there silently as it sank beneath the school.
"How could Brazer do this?" Kurt asked as they stepped out of the elevator. He lead them to the one end door without the globe on it. It opened automatically. Inside was a great room filled with hospital beds and machines to test for things. Logan set him on the closest examination table. They waited for the Professor as Matt lay there. He had fell asleep in the car from exhaustion. Logan ran a hand over the burns on his arm, and sighed.
"God, I wish I could give my power to others. I would rather suffer this than have a kid deal with it."
"We all want to help." Kurt said also looking down at him. "But there's not much we can do." The door opened behind them and the Professor came in. Bobby and Marie followed him. The Professor wheeled up to the bed. He pulled himself up out of the wheelchair and looked Matt over for a little before saying anything. Everyone around the table looked crestfallen.
"What are you prepared to do, Jonathan?" he whispered to himself.
"Is there anything you can do to help him?" Marie voiced the question everyone was thinking. The Professor sighed and set his head in his hands.
"Beside knock him out and give him antibiotics and pain killers, no. He'll have to do the rest." There was stress in his voice, a stress that everyone was feeling. He turned to Logan and Kurt, "I'm going to Cerebro. Anna, will you join me?"
Anna was surprised by the offer but didn't dare to refuse. The only other person who was really listening was Kurt. He was also surprised, but he nodded encouragingly. She followed the Professor out of the room.
"Has Logan told you what Cerebro is, Anna?" he asked as they headed to the end of the hall.
"No. I've been avoiding him." she said looking down at him. He didn't say anything to this, but continued to the odd door. He kneeled in front of it. A blue light came out of the globe and scanned his eye.
"Welcome, Professor." a computer voice said. The door slid aside and they both stepped in.
Anna looked at the room they had just entered with a mix of surprise and nervousness. It was huge. And round. It was big enough to fit a small house in it. But Anna was bothered by the fact that there was no other door to go out of. It would be a bad place to get attacked. A single walkway lead to the middle of the room. There was a metal desk there with a kind of helmet. She followed the Professor up the walkway. The door snapped shut behind them, making Anna even more jumpy. They proceeded up the aisle to the desk. As soon as they reached it, she saw that it was built to the Professor's height when he was in the wheelchair, not one of a standing person. Anna cast a casual eye over the helmet, and shied away from what she saw.
"What is it?" the Professor asked immediately. Anna stood there shuttering. Finally she spoke,
"Sorry, it just reminded me of . . . something from my world."
He looked at it and seemed to think this over for a little. Anna was curious about what he was thinking so she timidly reached out her mind. A thousand images assaulted her mind. There were all sorts of thoughts. Some showed Kurt, Storm, a man with an odd red visor on and another, red haired woman. Magneto, Mystique, a big, burly man, and this green, long tongued guy. Then it shifted to Logan. At the one where she saw Logan laying on a bed, covered in bandages, her eyes flew open. This broke the contact. The Professor seamed to have noticed nothing. "I'm sorry about that."
"Huh?" she asked, not knowing what he was talking about.
"That it reminded you of something you didn't like."
"It's all right. It's just . . . well lets just say that wasn't a fun time." Anna said setting her hand on her side. Her rib hurt often, even though it was mostly healed. The bodily injuries were only part of the reason why she hated Brazer, if you could live in a forest for over 6 years and not get seriously injured than you were luckier than everybody in the world. But what did bother her was what she had learned.
"This is Cerebro." the Professor told her, placing the helmet on his head as he knelt before the desk. "I can use it to find any human or mutant in the world."
"How?" Anna asked as she looked about the room again. The walls, now that she really looked at them, were made up of large panels.
"I am psychic. And this machine amplifies my power. I can find anyone in the world just by thinking it."
Anna thought this over. A thought entered her mind but she pushed it aside. This wasn't the time to think of him. But, when is the time? She thought. "Why tell me?"
"All the staff and a few of the students know of it. I figured you would like to know."
Anna stood there for a little. The Professor had brought her here for a reason, but what? Again a thought came to mind. A thought of someone she thought she had known. But this time she didn't push it away. She sighed deeply before she spoke, "Can you find someone for me?"
"Yes. Who is it?"
"His name is . . . Grant Tohja." she said bowing her head. "He's a human."
The Professor closed his eyes, a look of concentration set into his face. Anna could only imagine what he was seeing. He sat there for several minutes. Then a sigh escaped him and he opened his eyes.
"I can't find him." He turned to look at her. "Sorry, but he must have died."
"Don't be sorry. It's for the better. Now I can put many memories to rest. Some of them I'll be glad to forget." she told him leaning her head back. Once again her eyes traveled around the room. But this time it was to look in wonder, not in fear. It must have taken great time and to skill make this, Anna thought.
"You knew Brazer, didn't you?" she asked.
"How did you know that?" he asked as he eyed her suspiciously.
"Easy." Anna answered looking up again. "You seam to have know him before 'cause you call him Jonathan."
"I can see your reasoning." They both moved down the aisle and out the door. He didn't answer the question, but Anna didn't need him to answer it. They went and checked in on Matt.
He stood before Anna, tall as ever. Grant Tohja, her husband. The ax was resting on his shoulder. The village people were gathered in a circle around them. There were three people in the circle. Anna, Grant, and a scientist from the United States. He had been captured and now Grant was going to kill him, just because he was not from the village. Anna was standing in his way.
"He must die." Grant told Anna in the local language. "He is an outsider."
"That's no excuse to kill him and you know it, Grant." she hissed, furious.
"He is an outsider." Grant repeated stubbornly.
"So am I!" Anna flung her arms out. "Do you want to kill me?"
He looked down to avoid the question. "Get out of the way Anna."
"No." she whispered softly. It pained her to stand against him but she would do what was right. Then she raised her voice for all to hear. "I grant this man Passage. He is not to be harmed."
"Why?" he asked. Anger laced his voice. "Why do you protect him? You swore that on your father's death that you would protect this village. And I said I would help. That is what I'm doing. Will you stand against me?"
"Yes." she answered simply.
Grant turned around, and with a growl, slammed the ax into the ground. Then he turned on Anna. Her arms were still stretched out, protecting the prisoner. "I thought you loved me?"
"So did I." she said, a single tear rolling down her cheek. "But I will not stand by while innocent people are killed. Even by you."
"The Savior grants him Right of Passage." the Shaman said stepping forward. "If you wish to challenge that you can leave this village."
"No, Shaman." Anna said as her arms fell against her legs. "I will leave."
Shouts came from the crowd and Grants face turned white. They all knew that Anna was the only reason the forest hadn't been cut down several years before.
"Quiet!" Anna shouted over the people. They fell silent to listen to her. "I will still protect this forest, this village, but it has become clear that I can no longer stay here. You all have my blessing, but it is clear to me that I must leave." She turned around and heaved the prisoner to his feet by his tied hands. She walked out of the village without looking back. A young boy watched her as she left, his eyes the same green as hers.
Anna sat up in bed, shuttering. So much for forgetting them, she thought sourly. She climbed out of bed and turned on her light. Her knife was laying there. Anna picked up the eight inch leather sheath. She pulled the knife out. It was a good knife. The hilt was made from an antler, the blade was half serrated and razor sharp. She tested the balance. Still perfect. Anna smiled to herself as she tied it to her belt.
She walked out into the hall and leaned on one of the windows there. Outside she could see the full moon high in the sky. It was so peaceful here that Anna felt out of place. She was used to being surrounded by violence. Usually she was the cause of it. Even though here there wasn't much danger, her memories continued to haunt her.
"Can't sleep?" came a voice to her right. She spun around, hand instinctively going to the knife. But it was just Kurt. Anna turned back to the window, resting her hands on the ledge. "I didn't mean to scare you." he said coming up beside her. For some reason she couldn't explain, his presence there soothed her fears.
Anna just stood there, not saying a word. Her thoughts were still on Grant. She had loved him. But he changed. He became angry. Then Anna realized she still kind of loved him. Then her thoughts went to Kurt. She felt like she loved him too, but what if he didn't feel the same way? Then she wondered if she would be able to truly love anyone again.
"What's bothering you, Anna?" Kurt asked, reaching out for her. Anna flinched away from him. She walked a little away from the window. She felt bad for treating Kurt this way but Grant's memory was still bothering him.
"Anna. It's ok." he said setting his hands on her shoulders. "I'll protect you, I promise."
She looked over her shoulder into his blue face and yellow eyes. "I'm sorry Kurt, but you can't protect me from my own memories."
He looked at the floor as his hands lifted off her. Then he look back at Anna. "Have you ever loved someone?"
Anna looked away from him. He must have taken that for a yes because he said next, "So have I.
"Yes, I have loved someone. But she was killed several years ago." His voice faltered and Anna looked back at him. He was looking at the ceiling. His eyes were closed tight. "She died to save me. I still regret that I couldn't do anything to help her, but I decided she wouldn't want me to punish myself about it. She would want me to be happy. And she will always be with me. My guess is that you feel the same about someone? Ja?" He looked back over at her.
"Somewhat." she admitted. "He wasn't who I thought he was, though. He tried to-" Anna cut herself off. Kurt let her have her time to think. "It doesn't mater. I haven't seen him in over four years."
"So, he's still alive?"
"No." Anna said at once. "I left before he died."
"I'm sorry." he said, walking back over to the window. He looked out for a minute, then turned to face her. He leaned his back against the windowsill "I shouldn't have brought it up."
Anna walked over to him. She was a little surprised when he leaned forward and kissed her. All of his passion and need flowed into Anna. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, just as passionately. For several minutes, neither spoke. They just held each other.
"It's for the better."
Over the next two weeks Anna's life was different than it ever had been. Whenever Kurt wasn't in class she was with him. These times were the best in her life. Whenever he was in class she would go to the infirmary or out in the woods. Matt was healing rapidly. He would often complain about being stuck in bed. Bobby was there for the whole day, the Professor said he could stay instead of going to class.
"How's Marie doing?" Anna asked sitting in the chair next to Bobby. Matt was asleep. The Professor had been surprised when Matt didn't feel any pain from the burns but he ordered him to stay in bed and get as much rest as he could. Teenagers could sleep a full day away and still be tired, so it didn't surprise Anna that he was usually asleep when she went there.
Bobby sighed and set his head in his hands. "She's changed. Something's bothering her but I don't dare to ask about it."
"How long has she acted odd?" Anna asked thinking about it.
"Sense Brazer attacked," He looked up at Matt as Anna looked over at him. In a slight undertone, he muttered to himself, "sense the cure began to wear off."
Matt grunted in his sleep and rolled over. His burns looked lived in the light. Many had scabbed over but many more had cracked open. It was amazing that he had survived with burns that intense. How anyone could do that to a kid was just horrifying. Anna's thoughts wandered to Marie. Bobby had told Anna about how she had been acting different for a while.
"You should ask her about it. Right now what she probably needs is someone she can talk to, someone who can understand and be bothered to take the time to listen. Right now she doesn't need a boyfriend, she needs someone to understand what she is going through." Anna stood up. "I'm gonna get going."
"Thank's Anna." Bobby mumbled as she left. She went out of the school and wandered about the grounds. The students were playing games and doing homework, oblivious to Anna's passing. Then she saw Tobias sitting on a bench a little ways away. There was a laptop in his lap. Anna smiled to herself and snuck up behind him. She looked at what he was doing on the computer. All sorts of files were coming up on the screen. One popped up saying NSA. Anna didn't know what that was, nor did she care. She stuck her mouth up by his ear and whispered,
"I thought you weren't supposed to be doing that." He jumped a mile high and fell right of the bench. The laptop hit the ground a little to his right in the grass. His breathing was coming in gasps. Then he saw who it was.
"Anna. God, are you trying to kill me?" he gasped, pulling himself up from the ground. He picked up the laptop and dusted it off.
"If I was trying to kill you, you'd be dead."
"Ha, ha, very funny." he said sarcastically, sitting back down. He started typing on the computer again. Anna looked up and saw Kurt came out of the school, looking around. She jogged over to him. Seeing the serious look she knew something was up.
"The Professor has asked me to go on a mission later." Kurt said as they walked into the school. His arm was around her shoulders.
"I'm going with you." Anna said automatically.
"No," Kurt said just as fast. "I don't want you to get hurt."
"I will not stand by while you go off and get killed, Kurt. Besides, I can defend myself." The look on his face made it apparent that he was going to refuse. "Please Kurt, don't make me stay here and wait to find out that something has happened to you. I've already lost everything I once loved, I don't want to loose you too."
His face was turned away from her. Gently, she reached up and turned his head so that they were looking in each other's eyes. "Please."
She could see the pain in his eyes.
"Alright," he whispered, "we don't leave till tonight. You should get some rest."
That night Kurt led Anna under the school. They went through a series of doors and ended up in a huge room. In the middle stood a jet. On one wall were more uniforms. The other walls were unoccupied. Kurt put on one of the uniforms an led the way into the jet. He sat in the "driver's seat" and Anna sat next to him. She made sure she had her knife and buckled herself in. Kurt started up the engines. The roof above them split open and they flew up through the basketball court.
"The Professor said that more loggers have been dying back in your forest."
"Then why were you planing to go by yourself? I can find out who it is easily." she said looking over at him. He stayed looking ahead.
"I didn't want you to get hurt." Anna thought that over. That was what he had said earlier, but she didn't think that that was the whole problem. They spoke little on the trip. Sooner than she could have imagined they were there. The vast forest spread out below them. Kurt looked at it, unsure of where they should land. Anna, with the slightest of smile, directed him where to go.
"Why here?" Kurt asked, looking around after they had left the jet. Anna just smiled and started to walk a well remembered path. Kurt walked beside her, his hand in hers, not knowing what else to do. He pressed her to know where they were going but she would say nothing more than; "You'll see."
At dawn they reached Anna's destination. They had just climbed a ridge. Kurt gasped at what he saw. Before them was a village made of rough, thatch roofed houses. On the other side of that twisted a small river. The village ended on one side at what looked like a large rock pile at the bottom of a steep cliff. Anna proceeded down the hill with Kurt stumbling behind her.
"Uh . . . Anna?" he whispered as he caught up to her. "Where are we?"
"We're home." she said simply. She cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted out to the village. "Mornignae tuturaz!"
The dogs started barking as people ran from there huts to see who was there. When they recognized who it was the came running up the slope shouting greetings. Kurt stopped, making Anna turn to him. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, so she climbed back up to where he had stopped. His jaw was clenched as he looked at the approaching crowd. He seemed a little panicky to her.
"Come on." Anna said pointing with her head encouraging. When he didn't move she took his hand. "They're not going to hurt you, Kurt. You're with me."
"Ja? What difference does that make?" he said walking forward when Anna tugged on his arm.
"I'm Da'Ja. They wont harm you or me." she said continuing to walk towards the crowd. They met halfway down the hill. The village people circled them, shouting there welcomes to Anna. She talked back, switching to their language. None of the people dared to approach Kurt. Then the Shaman stepped forward and pointed at him. Kurt stiffened and his hand instinctively went toward his pocket. Anna pulled it back into her's.
"Who is that?" Everyone quieted down to hear what Anna would say.
"I claim him as mine." Anna said her voice suddenly hard. "He is not to be touched."
"What of Grant Tohja? He left to find you." another asked.
"He has died." Anna said gripping Kurt's hand harder. She should have known this would happen. She changed the subject. "It's nice to see you all again. May we proceed to the village?"
The babble broke out again as they started down the slope. Kurt however, didn't move.
"Why where they pointing at me?" he asked. Several of the people had noticed they weren't moving and stopped too.
"Not now. I'll tell you later." This didn't calm his fears but he followed Anna. Yawoi, an old friend of Anna came up beside her. She was a small woman and a good friend. Anna usually trusted her judgement.
"He looks so weird. Is he even human?" she asked looking over at Kurt, who was on Anna's other side. He was walking close to Anna, alert for danger.
"He is like me." she explained as Yawe's husband, Junac, a massive man, came up next to her.
"You mean, he is one of your mutants?" The last word was said in English for they had no word for mutant in there language. Anna had taught it to them. Kurt's head swivelled around to look at Anna.
"Is she saying something about mutants?" he asked as he looked at Junac's massive size.
"She was asking about you." He eyed Yawe with distaste.
"What did she want to know?"
Anna laughed at his suspicions. "She just wanted to know why you look the way you do."
"Good." he mumbled as he continued to look around.
They reached the village. Here some of the crowd dispensed. This made Kurt a little less nervous. They pushed toward the center of the village. The Shaman walked in to the circle and slapped his hands against his thighs. In a booming voice he said,
"Leave. I must talk to her alone. Now!" The crowd dispersed. Once they were gone the Shaman turned and continued to walk. Anna followed with Kurt at her side.
"Where are we going?" Kurt asked as he watched the Shaman's back. When he didn't get an answered he looked over at Anna. Her head was turning from side to side. Kurt saw that something was bothering her. The farther they walked, the more worried she became. Her fear radiated out from her, reaching Kurt's mind.
"Anna?" Again he didn't get a response. His mind began to flood with her emotions. He couldn't stand it. Fear began to override every sensible thought in him.
"Anna!" he shouted, desperate for the assault to end. She froze in place. The Shaman turned at Kurt's shout. Anna's eyes locked onto the older man's.
"Where is Mitchell?" she asked in English.
"This is not the place to dis-"
"Where is he?" The fear laced her voice. The answer came in no more than a whisper.
"He died." Anna stood there motionless. Then took off. Kurt ran after her. She wove her way through the buildings and occasional group of people. Even when he was pressed to the limit, Anna managed to stay a few yards ahead of him. If the streets had been curved more, he would have lost sight of her. Several times he had to jump close to her to keep her in his line of vision. But, even with this advantage, he couldn't catch up to her completely.
Soon they were at the edge of the small village. This section cut off briefly. What had once been there was now under several tons of ruble. There Anna collapsed, and there Anna cried for her son.
For several minutes Kurt did nothing. Then he reached out and touched her shoulder. She flinched away from the movement. However, she did turn to face him.
"I'm sorry, but I need to be alone Kurt." She looked around and found a little boy playing among the large boulders and rocks. She called out to him. Carefully he picked his way over to them. After a short conversation, Anna turned back to Kurt. "He will take you to my house. Please don't leave there. This place is very inhospitable. I don't want you getting hurt."
Kurt squatted so they were face to face. He gripped her shoulders and gazed into her eyes.
"Will you be alright Anna?"
"Eventually." She muttered.
Kurt nodded and got up. He realized her need to be alone. He understood. Slowly, him and the boy left.
Anna did not come back that night. Kurt respected her wish and didn't leave the house. Instead he curled up in one of the corners and dozed lightly. Somehow he felt safe enough in this place to be able to sleep, so sleep he did. It was well past noon when he woke the next day.
Still, the house was empty when he rose. Finding nothing else to do he started to pace back and forth. How long he paced there, he did not know, but eventually the door opened and Anna stumbled in. She managed a few steps, then fell to the floor. Kurt rushed up to her as she attempted to regain her feet. As he pulled her to her feet he felt something wet in his hands. Thinking she could keep her footing, he let go of her to look at his hands. What he saw on them caused him to stare.
Blood covered the palms of both his hands. As he stood there, transfixed, Anna staggered and fell against him. He snapped into action without even thinking. He grabbed a hold of her and concentrated with all of his might on the jet. A Latin prayer escaped his lips as he made the jump, unsure if he could make it. There was a puff of black smoke and Kurt found himself in that foreign, dark landscape he always entered when he jumped. Then there was a tremendous yank on his body that rocked him to his core. He stumbled forward with Anna and fell to the cold, hard floor of the jet.
Every muscle within Kurt's body screamed as he forced himself up. He grabbed the emergency med kit and raced back to Anna. She was unconscious. Wether that was from loss of blood or a side effect from the long distance jump he wasn't sure. All he knew for definite was that she was in a bad way. He rolled her onto her belly and pulled up her tattered, blood soaked shirt to reveal a jagged gash that stretched from her shoulder, across her back, to her hip. Kurt knew immediately that he would not be able to stop the blood flow. Doing the only thing he could think of, he pulled Anna to him and forced his body into another jump that he knew would kill him. Again there was a puff of black smoke and again he found himself in that dark place that he visited to often,
then everything went blank as he slipped into a coma.
"Can you help him?"
The voice rang in his ears like a gunshot. Pain erupted in his head, but that wasn't all that hurt. His entire body screamed at him if he even thought about moving. Even the light soaking through his eyelids caused him anguish. Never before had he felt this bad. The voices still talked about him, unaware of the damage they caused.
This must be death, he though.
Then who is talking? the logical portion of him argued.
It could be —
Any and all thoughts he might have had were cut off as his memories started to come back. He slipped back into unconsciousness under the weight of his life pressing down on him.
When Kurt woke up he found himself in total darkness. Before he risked moving he assessed his situation. From the feel of it he was laying on a bed in a small room somewhere, but where? He could have teleported anywhere. And Anna —
Kurt bolted upright so fast that he caused Logan to jump in his corner hideaway. Instinctively he flicked on the light, blinding both of them. Logan recovered a lot faster than his blue friend and was quickly at his side.
"Kurt, are you alright?"
"Where's Anna?" Kurt asked. He pressed the palms of his hands into his eye sockets to try and rub away the pain. Logan seemed to ignore his question.
"We need to get you down to the doc."
"Logan!" Kurt snapped at him. He stopped moving to watch his friend. "Where is Anna?"
A pained look crossed the big mans face. When he spoke, his voice was soft, caring.
"Come with me."
Quietly Logan pushed open the door. He stepped back, allowing Kurt to sweep past him into the well lit room. It was a fair sized room in the bowels of the school. Every surface gleamed, every surface except the bed in the center of the room. Anna lay there, tubes and wires connecting her to the machinery around her. Because of the nature of her injuries she had to lay on her stomach with her back exposed to the cool air. She was laying spread eagle and Kurt did not see why until he got up the nerve to approach her still body. She was restrained.
Leather straps bound at her wrists and upper arms kept her from moving. More bound her legs and there was even one across her neck that kept her from lifting her head up out of the hole in the steel bed she lay on. Kurt's eyes traveled from these restraints to her wound as he gripped her hand. The slash across her back was deep and appeared to be one giant scab. It may have looked horrible but Kurt knew that the scabs meant it was healing. He felt Logan come up next to him.
"Why is she restrained?" he asked. He was surprised by how steady his voice was.
"Doc was afraid that if she moved she would reopen the would. She's lucky that you were there, otherwise she would have died within minutes from blood lose."
Kurt did not say anything for the longest time. He just stood there, looking down at her as he held her hand, gently caressing it with his thumb. Soon he knelt next to her and whispered into her ear. He wasn't saying anything important, he was just talking, praying that she would be alright. He was still in this position an hour later when Doc. Johannes walked in on them.
"Kurt! Thank God, your are alright. We were all so worried."