1.

"Over 3 hundred thousand years ago reptiles abandoned life in water and adjusted to the new surroundings. A dozen millions of years ago apes rose to walk up straight and use tools, thus turning into homo erectus, and for many it was the most crucial milestone in becoming human as we know it. And now, that we've traveled to space and created technologies we could only dream of ten years ago, as we're merely two decades from stepping into a new millenium, some of you may wonder - what's next? Where does our specie go from here, having already came this far? And I'm here to address this question [...].

Mutants.

How they came to be is a matter we still strive to understand completely.

Everything indicated that there were a few sources that resulted in the variety of mutations we can observe - skin discoloration, disabled limiters in our brain which result in enhanced strength or speed, amazing memory, and yes, those are mutations, mostly random or inherited, but nowadays mutation can be so much more. Controlling molecules of your surroundings, transforming your very own body, controlling elements, auto-regeneration or - reading minds, for a vague example. The options are countless and thrilling [...] Question isn't when will those especially gifted mutants come to exist.

[...]Question is - how far is nature able to take it? How much control, and how much POWER can one individual possess?

So how has mutations gone this far? What caused them? Radiation, pollution, likely. Natural selection, viruses, probably. But on the bottom of it all, there's evolution. It's the nature's tool to improve us, as species, to bring us to the next step. So are mutants, as now defined, the next step in human evolution or just a side product?

Unfortunately, mutation doesn't always go in favor of evolution, therefore it is to be expected that some mutations may be unbeneficial or even - destructive. [...]"

- Professor Ch. , "Future of genetics", 1976

2.

Prof. Ch. F. Xavier's private letter to Eric Lensherr, 1994

"Dear Old Friend, I never hear from you, but I certainly hope you hold no resentment for me.

I'm writing to you in hopes to reunite, and in the spirit of old days bring to life a noble idea. You surely know better than anyone that the amount of mutants emerging is increasing in these times, and now I happened to lay my hands on technology that would make it possible to do what we didn't manage years ago - create a safe haven for them to learn how to control their gifts and use them for a greater purpose.

We've got everything we need to bring peace between us and homo sapiens, once our presence will be known to the society. For that we'll need to build a fresh team that would represent all of mutants. They will need teachers to help them overcome the obstacles. They will need teachers to guide them in those confusing times. They will need us.

Please consider this an offer and get back to me as soon as you make up your mind. You know where to find me.

Sincerely,

Charles Xavier"

Eric Lensherr's response to Prof. Ch.F. Xavier's letter, 1994

"Charles, you make it sound so official it almost feels like a crime to deny. Still you do know that my idea of a 'haven' for mutants differs from yours and we already saw what happens if we try to ignore it.

With all due respect, I find your quest for peace a foolish one. You need to face it, once people will learn about existence of mutants among them, they will want to raise a war against us before you spell the word 'peace'. I do not intent to sit around preaching about living in union to my oppressors.

Perhaps it is you who should consider whether idle waiting for them to strike first is really going to do any good to the mutantkind.

Respectfully,

Eric"

3.

Prof. Ch.F. Xavier's Institute, Bayville, New York, 2005

"Is it true?" a young man entered the office of his Professor. "You heard from Kurt? Is he alright?"

Charles turned his face to him. "Ask him yourself" he smiled nervously, turning his wheelchair forward him.

Only now Scott noticed his fellow teammate getting up from the big armchair to his left. "Kurt!?"

"Hi Scott" the German chuckled, amused with his friend's shocked face. "Long time no see" he said as they shook hands.

"Man, I thought we wouldn't ever again" he patted him friendly on the back. "When you disappeared and we couldn't contact you for months we thought you are... you know" he grimaced.

"I know" Wagner smirked. "But I'm fine."

"Where have you been all this time, dude?"

"About that" Professor Xavier cut in having the two of his students turn their face to him, "Kurt makes an extraordinary claim."

Scott peeked at the younger friend with an eyebrow raised questioningly.

The returnee lifted his hands as if to stop them from rushing it. "I'll explain everything I know, but I want everyone to hear it. Can we do that?"

A few minutes later every single resident of Xavier's Institute was in the day room. Some of them stopped by to give Kurt a warm welcoming and a tight hug, but with the amount of people currently living at the mansion he had to rush everyone along to sit and wait for what he was about to say.

And he knew that what he's about to say is going to sound insane even within the walls of an Institution that's a home to the strangest bunch of 'superpowered' young people.

As soon as everyone settled down he looked at Professor Xavier, who - with a nod - confirmed that he can begin.

Kurt swept his eyes over the room and all the people he missed sincerely for the time of his absence. But then, a soft voice in back of his mind reminded him of the people he met while being gone from here, and memory of one person especially made a small smile grow on his lips.

"Ok guys" he nervously rubbed his hands together. "First of, it's awesome to see you again. I know a few of you don't know me, so, I'm Kurt Wagner" he waved his hand once, especially towards the small group of new students sitting around the coffee table. "I've been a student at this school for a few years before you. So, to the point" he wetted his lips, unsure of how to drop this bomb. "For you it seemed like I was gone for months" he started out. "But for me, it was years already. It is because I've been in a different dimension."

A few raised brows and confused frowns were to be expected. Nobody seemed to question it though, especially since his inherited mutation, aside of his unique looks, was teleportation triggered by quickly diving into another dimension only to pop back here. It wasn't quite strange at this Institute. But it was merely a first milestone of what he was about to tell them.

"That dimension was much like ours, except, there were no mutants at all" it wouldn't seem so hard to believe here either, merely five years ago. Now, that he could see the variety of mutations at this school, it seemed hard to imagine a world without it. There were psychics, telekinetics, shapeshifters, kids with outer mutations like wings and tails, scales, fur, or a mix of a few - much like him.

Having been born with a spaded tail, short blue fur, three digits and all the other things that made him stand out and forced him to grow up hiding at home, he used to find it hard to believe that there could be others like him out there. But there were, and so many of them wounded up here, in this haven created by Professor Xavier to provide safety and comfort. But even with the scientific explanations he always wondered, why was he born a mutant, why was each of them born this way.

And now that he knew, he found the answer hard to digest. It took him years in that dimension to come at terms with his origin, and thus origin of all of them, of this entire world. It was scary and unbelievable, he knew that, but they deserved to know.

"That's enough, Kurt" Professor Xavier cut him off just as he was about to deliver the terrifying truth. He felt confused as to why would the Professor stop him, but then the familiar tingle sprouted in his brain. He knew that the man probed his mind telepathically, and apparently he didn't want the truth to slip. "Since you told everyone what you wanted, I'd like to talk to you in private" the man gave him a meaningful nod.

"Alright..." he agreed. Perhaps the man is right, perhaps they're not ready to take this. "But, Professor?"

"Yes, Kurt?"

He approached the man to privatize the question. "May the main crew...?"

He didn't need to finish, the man nodded again and looked past him. "Instructors please follow along to my office."

Another minute later and a small group was sitting on the red couch as Kurt anxiously went back and forth in front of the fireplace.

Everyone's eyes were on him. Kitty's eyes were especially sparkling, and he smiled at her. She was- is one of the best friends he ever had, and he cared about her so much. He was glad to see that spark back in her eyes, after everything she's gone through recently before he disappeared.

Then his eyes moved on to Forge, his other best friend, and a young inventor who managed to single-handedly create a pocket universe.

"Forge, I need you to listen close to what I'm about to say. And all of you, I know it's going to sound crazy. It's about that dimension I've been to. It's not only that there're no mutants there. They are there only as science fiction comics and cartoons" he said seriously and took another moment before he actually said it. "And so are we."

For a moment there was silence so complete that he could hear the crackling of the fire behind him echo about the office.

"I don't think I understand" Forge shifted forth with a confused frown. "Are you implying WE are FICTIONAL CHARACTERS in that dimension?"

Kurt bit his lip and nodded hesitantly.

"Wait, so there's a comic about us-us there?" Rogue asked critically.

"And cartoons" Kurt confirmed. "And movies, kinda."

The girl rested back against the armchair. "I'm not buying that."

Seeing faces of the others Wagner could tell they pretty much agree with his foster sister.

He inhaled deeply. "Look, guys, I know it sounds ridiculous" he brushed back his shoulder length hair. "Even more so when I say it out loud now. But I swear it's true!"

"He's telling the truth" Professor Xavier said before anyone else assumed it's a joke or that Kurt went nuts. Everyone looked at the man shocked; now that their mentor and a telepath in the same person, confirmed those far stretched claims, it began to settle in.

"But, how...?" Scott asked low.

"Well" Kurt tapped his fingers against the back of the armchair Rogue was sitting in. "We believe that this dimension we're in now somehow origins from that dimension. What they created as fiction became our reality, simply put."

"Is that like, even possible?" Kitty asked bewildered.

"Forge" Professor Xavier inched his armchair closer to the genius who listened with eyes wide. "You created something a lot like that. Can you explain?"

The man blinked sitting up straight, he seemed to snap out of his initial shock. "No, I mean - what I created was different, it was a, a, a pocket universe, like an alternative layer of reality at hand. What Kurt's talking about is by far more complicated, it's advanced quantum physics."

"But have you heard about anything like it?" Professor asked again.

"Meaning, can you tell us if it's even possible?" Scott asked a little harshly.

Forge looked between them and Kurt trying to break down his complicated analysis of the situation into simple words that lay men could grasp on.

"I've read about it a lot and tried to initiate something like that, but it never worked" he admitted. "There's this... theory, that a dimension can be created off a thought structure, which means something like a fictional canon could translate into a subjacent universe accessible through a wormhole. The thought structure part was never proved though."

"So it's not possible" Scott stood up rapidly and turned to Kurt. "Somebody must have messed with your head. It must be some telepath's doing, Professor!" he looked at Charles while gesticulating towards Wagner.

The man closed his eyes and shook his head lightly. "I don't see a trace of any telepathic work on Kurt's memories of the said dimension."

"But Forge said it's not possible!" Summers frowned angrily.

"He only said it hasn't been proved" Kurt insisted gently. "Look, I know it must be hard for you to believe it, so it was for me. Believe me."

"I must agree with Kurt" Forge spoke up again. "It hasn't been disproved either, so what you're saying is unlikely but- plausible."

"Now you're just contradicting yourself" Scott stated.

"What I'm saying is, just because no one documented it, it doesn't mean it's never happened" Forge clarified with a grimace.

"Ok, guys" Kurt directed everyone's attention back to himself. "Let's assume what I say is a fact. I also know how to get from that dimension to here and back, but only by myself."

"And how exactly would you do that?" Scott continued to question.

"Let me remind you that my teleportation skills are all about being able to trigger the crack between dimensions. So assuming such crack exists between this and that one, I think my abilities could have to do with it. And it would only work when the circumstances are in my favor, that's why I waited for so long to come. Anyway" he inhaled deeply and turned to Forge again. "I can only move between the dimensions by myself, but I want to, um... I want to bring someone along. Do you think you could make it happen?"

Forge threw himself back against the armchair. "Ah, I don't know, man. If it were so easy to artificially trigger the bridge it would have been done before."

"Do you mean Einstein-Rosen's bridge?" Xavier asked.

"Yeah."

"What is it, Professor?" Kitty asked with interest.

"It's a theory that explains exactly how someone could possibly travel between time and space as well as dimensions" Forge aided before Charles got to respond. "But the best scientists worked on it for all those years and only came up with ways to trigger it that Earth's resources can't afford, how can you expect me to figure this out for you?"

Kurt grabbed his shoulders and looked at him seriously. "Has any of those scientists created a pocket universe?"

"Not as far as I know?"

"Exactly. And you did it" Wagner smirked standing back. "If anyone can make this happen, it's you. For all I know I have until the end of the next week to go back there before the vortex won't be accessible, until then I'll try to tell you everything I know. Will you try? Please?"

"What's the fuss all about anyway?" Rogue asked with a confused frown. "Why can't you just stay?"

The young man looked down, thinking it over as he bit his lip. Eventually he responded in a lowered voice. "I don't want to."

"Why?"

"Like I said" Kurt smirked lightly in her direction. "I want to bring someone along. If I can't, I... I'll just continue my life there."

"Again, why?"

"Chérie, I think your brother's talking about a girl" Remy aided looking down at her. "And if that's the case, I think it's self explanatory."

"Is that right?" Kitty shifted towards Kurt with excitement. "You've got a girlfriend in that other dimension?"

Kurt felt a bit awkward, he smirked shyly. "It's a very vague way to describe her but as a matter of fact, ja."

"This whole situation is nuts" Scott said with defeat.

"I know" Wagner stood straight again and stepped towards the fireplace. "But I can't change how things turned out. I just want to make the best of it, and that means not giving up on you guys, nor Fallen."

The office's door closed behind the last person, leaving only Kurt and Professor Xavier again. A soft smile was still on Wagner's lips as he turned away from the door and looked at the man's wheelchair bound figure against the cool light from the tall window.

His expression turned more serious as his mentor picked up in a lowered voice;

"I didn't want you to tell everyone about the cartoon origin back in the day room because they are not ready for that. It contradicts too much of what they believe in, religion or science wise. Learning that your entire belief system related to world and life is based on a lie could push anyone to a very dark place."

"I understand that, Herr Professor" Kurt nodded slightly. "I figured it right when you stopped me from revealing the truth. Honestly, I find it difficult to believe it myself and I've actually BEEN there. I..." he sat down, suddenly appearing defeated. "I watched it. That cartoon. It was so... bizzare. It's been years and it still didn't really grow on me."

"It's hard for me to imagine what it was like for you to face all of this on your own."

"Lucky for me I wasn't 'on my own' for long" Kurt smirked again, warm memory of Fallen playing along his line of thought. But then this tender feeling washed away as his expression grew serious and he lifted his eyes to meet Xavier's gaze. "Since everything here was fiction there I learned some things better left unsaid. But there's also a lot that I think you should know... And with any luck maybe you can prevent those predictions from becoming a reality."

"What are you insisting, Kurt?" the man asked feeling his heart shiver at the ominous words.

"I think I know the future of this world, Professor."

4.

It's been a few months since Forge started working on the way to artificially create Einstein-Rosen's bridge, and he certainly gave it his all. He spent most of the time in the basement, drowning in data, calculating, researching, simulating. It only took a little over a month to figure out how to trigger the bridge, but the real problem was sustaining it long enough and controlling vortex.

For all he knew, he was playing with something capable of bringing doom to the entire Earth on both ends of the stick. If he won't be able to control the flow it may as well vacuum the entire solar system.

Another two and a half month later he managed to design and build a simulator that allowed him to figure how to reduce the size and power of the vortex thus limiting the necessary resource. He felt thrilled, knowing that he's almost there. From that day residents of the Institute saw him even less, merely passing by to grab instant soups and then diving back into his 'cave'.

It was almost three weeks later that he stormed into Professor Xavier's office, holding onto a bunch of papers, breathing heavily from the run across the mansion.

"We'll need to cut power off in a couple of states for a month, but we can do it!" he gasped. "We can bring Kurt and Fallen here."

5.

At the time the amount of effort put into bringing Fallen along with Kurt to the dimension of his origin seemed ridiculously inadequate. Nobody does that for your average Joe, and the only reason she was granted this chance were her relations with Kurt Wagner who happened to be best friends with possibly the brightest young inventor of his times.

It would seem ridiculous to do so much merely for a relationship of your friend, but the fact that this transdimensional happening took place changed more than anyone expected. Soon enough they will ask themselves if it was worth it. Still, even if they knew now what events they set in motion, it is already too late to stop any of it.

The wheels are turning.

Author's Afterword: I'm still not fully satisfied with the first couple episodes of this story, I feel like they downgrade the overall quality, so bear with me if you find them no quite as interesting as you'd like. It builds up alright towards the end of the season :)