Darkness of the Mind
Summary: Nathaniel Grey is a 17-year-old X-Man (and ironically is also called X-Man by teammates) with the power of telepathy, and telekinesis stronger than anyone else in the world. (Along with other powers that will be described later) Franklin Richards is a child who lives in his parents' shadow. (Did I mention his parents are ½ of the Fantastic Four?) He can warp reality to his liking along with other amazing abilities. Suddenly these two are brought together in the apparent dystopian future- where a malicious creature called Onslaught wants to use Franklin. Now these two, just meeting, must work together to save the future.
"Is this the real life, is this just fantasy? Caught in a land slide, no escape from reality….."
~Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody
Nathaniel Grey, called Nate by his friends, walked down the bustling corridors of Xavier's School for Gifted youngsters. His next class approached at an alarming rate. His thick hair was slicked back, and a single pure white streak was going from his forehead back. His left eye shone brightly with psionic energy.
"Alright, Geology with Ms. Monroe's next." Nate said. His backpack zipped open and out flew his Geology book. It plopped down in his hands and flipped open. He looked up and saw his mom, Jean Grey, who taught Algebra, standing in her classroom doorway.
"Hi mom." Nate said, giving a small wave to her.
"Hi Nate." She said. She smiled and gave a small wave back.
Nate passed by. He walked straight into the Geology room, where Ms. Monroe was sitting at her desk.
"Hi Ms. Storm!" Nate said, smiling.
"Hello, Mr. Grey." She said.
Nate sat in his seat two rows from the front.
"Sup, freak?" He heard someone say. Nate sighed and looked from the corner of his eye to see Haroum.
Haroum was a mutant, like Nate, but he was a jerk. Haroum could propel energy from his feet, which could allow him to fly at supersonic speed. They called him Jetstream. Nate called him a moron. What Haroum didn't know is that the glowing eye was from his powers and the streak was from when he over-exerted his powers trying to save his friends, the X-Men, when Magneto tried to crush them. That's right. He saved the X-Men. But Haroum didn't care.
"What do you want, Haroum?" Nate asked, annoyed.
"Just to say hi." Haroum said smugly.
"Hi." Nate said behind teeth.
"How've you been?" Haroum asked.
"Fine." Nate said, less angry.
"Have you joined the X-Men yet? I mean, Ms. Frost has already offered me a scholarship in the X-Men."
Nate shivered. He remembered Ms. Frost. She was as old as ice, and always talked in a monotone yet icy expression.
"Really?" Nate asked.
"Yep." Haroum replied. "Well, not the X-Men exactly. She says it's a group full of only powerful mutants."
Nate heard Haroum lean closer to Nate until he could feel Haroum's breath on his neck.
"But they didn't want you, because you're just a fre-"
Suddenly, Nate lifted his finger, his hand resting on the desk, and Haroum stopped talking. Nate wasn't choking Haroum, but instead controlling him telekinetically.
"Excuse me, Ms. Storm?" Nate asked. Storm looked over at them.
"Haroum's feeling a bit shy today, and wanted to know if he could move to the back today. Isn't that right, Haroum?"
Nate made a movement like he was scratching the desk. Haroum nodded.
"Um, okay…" Storm said. She looked like she was going to say something about Nate controlling Haroum, which Nate could confirm, since that's what she was thinking, but instead didn't.
Nate dragged his finger diagonally and Haroum got up into the space between the desks. He looked back and glared at Nate. Nate made a motion like he was flicking something off of the desk, and Haroum was pushed down the space to the back.
Nate grunted angrily and just turned back around. It wasn't long before the class was filled, and the very attractive Dani Moonstar sat behind Nate.
"Hi, Nate." Dani said. Nate waved.
This was going to be a good day.
Franklin knew this was going to be a bad day.
Not because he destroyed his dad's strange gizmo-thing, not because his best friend, Jack Power, hung him out to dry.
But because his mom came to him first when he was waiting in his room.
Usually when he gets a lecture, his dad comes in and talks to him, and his mom comes in after to assure him what he did wasn't that bad.
But, due to his mom coming in first, that meant she couldn't cool him off enough, the gizmo-thingy was very important, and that Franklin was going to get the lecture of his life.
Franklin felt a shiver creep down his spine as his mother, Sue, left the room. Franklin sat in anticipation as he awaited his father. Finally, he came in.
Reed Richards, Franklin's father and also known as Mr. Fantastic, stretched into the room. He wore his usual Fantastic Four outfit, underneath a lab coat.
Reed looked directly towards Franklin with a stern expression. Franklin looked down at the ground in shame.
"Franklin, do you know why you're being punished?" Reed asked calmly.
"B-because me and Jack broke one of your gadgets?" Franklin asked.
"Yes." Reed replied. "You destroyed the one thing that can allow us to find Doom."
The 9-year-old looked at his feet. Victor von Doom, one of his mom and dad's greatest villains, was constantly trying to kidnap (and possibly kill) Franklin. If they lost Doom, that means that Franklin can be taken at any moment.
"Sorry….." Franklin whispered sadly.
"Franklin, you know what we've said about this! These machines you keep destroying are very useful and us having to keep rebuild them time after time is a supreme pain!" Reed said, and then sighed.
"Look. I know what you did was an accident, and I know you're sorry, but you still disobeyed me by going into my lab. So, due to that, no TV for a few weeks. Okay?" Reed asked.
"Okay." Franklin said sadly.
Reed walked out the door, and stretched his hand back to the door and closed it behind him.
Franklin looked back up at the closed door. He really felt bad about what he did, he really did, but it was Jack who really did it, and he got off scot-free!
Franklin sighed and closed his eyes. He focused on the space between his hands, suddenly he felt something warm in his hands. He opened his eyes and saw a chocolate cupcake in his hands. He smiled and began to eat it.
Franklin could make things…..appear. And disappear, also. Whenever he wanted something, like the cupcake, all he had to do is think of it and it appears. This also works with disappearing too.
Along with this he could read people's minds and levitate things. Small things, to be exact. His parents knew about the telekinesis and telepathy, but they didn't know about the random object summoning.
Franklin hummed happily to himself as he ate the cupcake. Suddenly he heard a cackle. It was super deep, and every laugh made Franklin feel more and more dread.
Suddenly, Franklin felt himself being pulled out of the room. At that moment, Franklin Benjamin Richards disappeared, and the cupcake that was once in his hands dropped to the ground.
Nate walked back to his dorm after a long day of work at school. His backpack floated beside him as he walked upstairs.
He liked school, it was enjoyable. His favorite teacher was Logan, or Wolverine, who taught History. He really tried his best, and luckily Nate helped him out at any chance he could for any point he wasn't alive at (telepathically).
Nate entered his dorm, which was right next door to his parents'. He tossed the bag on the bed telekinetically. He sat at his laptop and pulled out Logan's history homework. Controlling a pencil with his mind while surfing the web, he wrote down the answers and surfed FaceBook.
Then he heard the cackling. It was deep, and it filled Nate with dread. Then, Nate disappeared off of the face of the Earth, the pencil dropping on the desk.
Nate woke up on cold, hard ground. He sat up quickly and studied his surroundings. It was terrible. There were pieces of rubble all around the ground. Heavy dust was slowly falling through the air and fog (or smog) hung close to the ground. There were piles of large rubble on the ground around him. Looking as far as he could, he could see destroyed buildings everywhere.
"Where am I?" Nate asked aloud.
He scanned the area for anyone close by. He felt a presence close; he couldn't read who it was for some reason.
"Excuse me?" He heard a voice say. Nate turned around and saw a boy, probably around 10 years old, with short blonde hair and a bright blue shirt.
"I don't know where I am, could you help me?" The boy asked.
Nate sighed. "Well, kid, I can't help you out that much, I don't know where I am."
The boy climbed down the rubble. "Maybe we can help each other." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Franklin."
Nate hesitated and shook Franklin's hand. "Nathaniel. Call me Nate."
As Franklin shook his hand, he saw Nate's glowing eye.
"Wow, that's cool!" Franklin said.
"You're….not weirded out by it?" Nate asked.
"Of course not! It's awesome!" Franklin replied, and smiled.
Nate tried to read the boy's mind. When he did, Franklin's eyes dilated. His hand squeezed hard and Nate heard a voice in his head.
GET OUT. It screamed in Nate's head. Nate let go of Franklin's hand and covered his ears.
"Th…there was someone…he was in my head….." Franklin said.
Nate uncovered his ears as the ringing faded.
"How could you tell?" Nate asked.
"I could feel it. In my head." Franklin said, tapping his head.
Nate stopped and did a quick scan. Hopefully it wouldn't be detectable. Franklin scratched his head furiously until Nate was finished.
This kid had power beyond Nate's comprehension. Nate sighed.
"Kid, can you read people's minds?" Nate asked.
Franklin looked shocked.
"N….no-"
"Franklin, it's okay, I can do it too. I was in your head." Nate said.
"Really?" Franklin asked. "So you know I can do this?"
Franklin lifted his hands and a few rocks and rubble floated in the air.
"Yeah, I can do this too." Nate said. He lifted his hands and all the rocks in the area floated as if there was no gravity.
"Whoa!" Franklin muttered, obviously excited.
Nate smiled and looked around. Suddenly, he saw something different. It looked like metal. It looked like a plane. It also looked familiar.
The Blackbird. Nate thought. Suddenly, all the rocks dropped to the ground. Nate walked over to the plane and looked back at Franklin.
"C'mon, I think I see something that can help us." Nate said. Franklin nodded and followed.
The two climbed the pile of rubble, with Nate occasionally floated Franklin and himself at points that were too high to climb. They finally reached the rubble where the plane was sticking out. Nate moved his arms in ways that corresponded to the ways rocks flied out of the pile.
Then, the plane was sticking out further enough that Nate pulled it out with his mind to the spot where he woke up. It was the Blackbird, and it had dents and a few cuts in it.
Nate sighed. He approached the back, which was closed and probably stuck. Nate held his breath and closed his eyes as he touched the plane.
The plane's sirens wailed as Nate opened his eyes. He was in the back seat of the plane and it was clear it was going down.
Storm was driving, and Jean was in the passenger seat. Nate's dad, Scott (or Cyclops) was in the front, holding on to Jean's hand. Logan was sitting in a seat near the front of the plane. Professor Xavier was there across from Logan. Kitty Pride was there and so was a girl with very short orange hair.
"Storm, we need to get to the base!" Scott yelled over the siren wailing.
"What do you think I'm doing?!" Storm yelled back. She steadied the plane.
Logan tried to light a cigar but it fell from his mouth.
"Can't you do anything else but smoke?!" The orange haired girl yelled at Logan.
Logan looked over at her.
"Not really." He said.
Suddenly, Xavier looked over at Nate.
Fix this. Please. Xavier said in Nate's head.
You know I'm here? What happened? Nate thought.
Find us. Stop Onslaught. Please. Xavier said.
Suddenly, a blade came through the outside of the plane. Kitty screamed and Logan's claws came out.
Nate let out a breath and opened his eyes as the vision stopped.
"You okay?" Franklin asked.
"Yeah." Nate said. He held his hand up to the back hatch of the plane. He moved it down quickly to his side as the hatch came flew down to the ground.
"C'mon, let's go inside."