Don't bother asking why I randomly updated this. It should be quite obvious. The new movie comes out in two weeks and I got inspired. Plus, I've had an idea to take the story in an entirely different direction for a while now, so I got a little spark and I went with it. Hopefully it saves the story from utter destruction. Hope you all enjoy.


The girl put down her pencil, took a sip of coffee from her mug and looked around her dark bedroom. Had it been bright enough to see, one could have taken in her appearance, as a smaller young woman, with copper hair, blue eyes, wearing a silk tank top and shorts. Her hair was wet and dangling down her back from a recent shower.

The only light was the microscopic glow of the hall night light creeping under her closed door, and the faint blue light that was given off by the laptop computer screen in front of her. She sighed in frustration and re-read everything she'd written. It was supposed to be a present for her friends when they graduated high school, but that day had actually come and gone, two years ago actually. Writers block had prevented the piece from being written, or rather, prevented it from being written well. She compared the last thing she'd written to the first paragraph of the story, and sat back, taking in the fact that her writing had indeed improved over time, as her friends continuously told her. That was the only thing she had to be proud of when it came to the mess she called a story that sat on her desk. She glared at it, as her eyes darted to the bottom of the computer screen. 2:30 am. Perhaps some sleep could do her some good. She moved the mouse, about to put up an away message for the night, when a small window opened, with a familiar beep. She sighed and glanced down. It was a chat room invitation from one of her friends. What they were doing awake at this time she had no idea, but she confirmed.

Hello!

Hiya Nymph!

The girl groaned; how could they be so bubbly.

How many people did you two invite to this thing?

Just the five of us

But sleep

No one needs sleep

Actually, normal people need sleep… Brenna, you aren't normal.

None of us are.

Why me? bangs head on desk

Well, we wanted to know how it was coming?

How what was coming, Amy?

Don't play stupid with us. You know what she means

It's crap. It's always been crap.

Its not crap. I've read part of it. I like it.

Me too.

Me three.

Yeah, well Katlin and Jenny always like; I think its crap.

Ok, so what are you going to do about it?

Dunno, trash it maybe. I just don't think its worth it anymore. I've been working on it for two years, and its just… I don't like it.

Ok, so start over.

Yeah, we'll help.

We'll see. Let me sleep on it, K?

Of course. Night!

Night dear.

Night Nicole!

Morning!

What?

Well, its am so morning

Oi. Night guys.

Nicole left the chat room and put up her habitual away message. She took one more look at the pieces of paper on her desk, and sighed. She picked them up and stared at the print for a little longer. Then she let them fall into the waste basket beside her desk. All it had been was crap, no matter what her friends said. Crap is what it had been. They just wanted to spare her feelings. Not that it mattered to her anymore; she knew when to surrender a story. When it was beyond salvation.

She left the few window browsers she'd been looking at on her computer open. They'd been for research, trying to make the piece more authentic. She'd look at them more in morning. Maybe she could just start over from scratch. Besides the papers in the trash can, the research windows, and the small outline she had typed up in the open word processor, there was nothing left of the story; not as far as she was concerned. She didn't want to think about it; didn't want to think about the failure she was continuously having with a fanfiction.

She left her computer, and half full cup of coffee on the desk and retreated to her bed which had been looking more and more inviting as time went on. Now she pulled the blankets over herself, forgetting to open the door to let the cat out. She was way too preoccupied thinking about what she should do with the story. She'd tried writing a fiction twice now, and nothing seemed to work. Maybe it was just time to give up the whole thing.

She closed her eyes, and slipped into a dreamless sleep, glad school was out, and at least she didn't have to think about that.

Half way through the night, the cat she'd forgotten to let out of the room decided he'd had enough of being locked up and he began to paw at the door. Lacking opposable thumbs, however, prevented him from being able to let himself out. Desperate to get free of the dark prison, the black cat jumped up on the desk, and due to his sheer massive size, knocked over the lamp on Nicole's desk. The domino effect occurred, as the lamp slammed into the pencil holder, startling the cat who jumped off the desk, banging agaist the cold coffee cup, and waking his sleeping owner. Scared out of her mind, the Nicole sat up, and stared at her cat, as the cool liquid had very adverse reactions with the computer it happened to be spilled on. Sparks began to fly up, and the blue glow was infiltrated by bits of yellow and red.

"Panda! Oh, my god, you didn't!" she said, alarmed, and jumping out of bed to remove the cat from harms way. Just as she reached the doorknob to let the large animal out, a brilliant green flash erupted from the computer screen, and the cat dashed out of the room in fright, leaving the bedroom, entirely empty.


Due to the last internet connection from the computer, four other computers began to be effected. Each one began to put on its own version of a pyrotechnics show, sparks, and multicolored lights playing off the white or painted walls of the rooms that enclosed them.

One of the other girls was sound asleep, and never noticed her computer acting strange. Jenny was a small girl, like Nicole, but with shorter, darker hair. She was slightly smaller in build and possibly an half inch taller. The bright green flash from the screen didn't even awaken her, but it did leave her bedroom one occupant short.

The other three were all awake to see their computers start freaking out. The first was a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes who had left the room for only a short second to get a drink of water. She was taller than both Nicole and Jenny, although two years younger. As soon as she entered her room, Amy dropped the glass of water and attempted to figure out what was making her computer freak out. The screen blazed green for a moment and then she was gone.

Across town, the second oldest of their group, was desperately trying to grab her ringing cell phone. Her curly brown hair kept getting in her eyes as she panicked. Finally she managed to grab the phone, before it woke up anyone else in her family. She also needed to find a way to stop her computer from having the spas attack it was having.

"Hello? Yeah, mine's going nuts too… wait I think its stopped. Its really really green…."

A short distance away a girl with short brown hair was freaking out into her cell phone. She'd called her friend Brenna when her computer went all demonic on her, only to have the line go dead, when Brenna told her that the screen went bright green. Katlin was about to panic even worse, when her own computer turned an eerie green color, and the next thing she knew, everything went black, and her room was left empty.


Jenny slowly sat up, holding her head which felt as someone had decided it was a nail and had been hitting it over and over again with a very heavy hammer. She moaned and looked around, not exactly liking what she saw. She was on the ground behind an old green park bench, which appeared to haved been the canvas for a graffiti artist. There were several discarded beer bottles beneath the bench, and a toppled over garbage can only a few inches from her hand. She screamed when a rat's head emerged from beneath a crumpled up piece of papers.

"Ahh, so you live," a female voice said to her. Jenny gulped and turned around until she was face to face with a tall woman wearing a white business suit, and high heels. Her dark black hair was pinned up in a bun behind her head. Jenny wasn't exactly sure that the woman belonged there, but she definitely didn't protest when the woman smiled kindly, stooped and handed her an unopened bottle of water. "There, that's better, isn't it?"

"Yes ma'am," Jenny responded, standing up at the same time as the woman. Her eyes went wide when she realized that she was barely as tall as the breasts. She gulped.

"Don't be afraid, I'm a friend," the woman told her. Jenny just stumbled backwards and sat on the bench, looking at her hands. When had she shrunk? Why was the woman talking to her as if she was a child? She appreciated the water and all, but she was a grown, twenty year old woman. She could take care of herself.

"I- I'm not scared. Just confused; I don't remember how I got here. I don't know where here is," Jenny retorted, defensively. She was not a little kid.

"Well now, that's not good. What's your name?"

"Je-" she started to give the woman her name, but thought better of it. Something definitely wasn't right. "It's Wendy," she told the woman. She frowned and looked around for a moment. The area was very secluded. It didn't look like anyone ever came back there, save maybe the rat. "How- how exactly did you find me?" Jenny asked the woman. The woman's eyes sparkled with laughter.

"Well, I was told that I would find a young mutant in this area, so I came to investigate," the woman told her. "I'm Ms. Darkholme, by the way."

Jenny just blinked. Mutant? "I think you must be mistaken. I'm not a mutant. I'm a normal person," she told Ms. Darkholme.

"Of course you are dear. You're a normal person, with a very special gift. Care to tell me what that gift is?" the woman pushed, offering the water bottle back to the girl.

"I already told you, I'm normal. I don't have any special gifts. I'm just a regular college student," Jenny protested.

"College? Sweetie, I would have guessed middle school at the most. Certainly not college. How old are you really?"

"What? I'm twenty years old. I live in North Carolina, and I am not a mutant!" Jenny shouted at the woman.

"Ok, that's enough pretending from you. Come with me and we'll figure you out," the woman said, grabbing Jenny by the wrist, hard. She began to drag the girl after her. Jenny fought against her at first, and even thought to scream out for help, but then thought better of it. She was probably dreaming, and even if she wasn't, no one would believe her; especially if this woman was so convince that she was a child. She stopped resisting, very glad that she had given the woman a false name, and resigned herself to following at a rather brisk pace.


Amy woke up laying on something soft and somewhat damp, but she didn't open her eyes, afraid of what she might find: an exploded computer, and her in a white, water soaked night shirt laying in the middle of the carpeted floor. She supposed she'd been knocked out by the explosion and greatly resisted having to come to the land of the conscious and find out.

Unfortunately, she felt like someone was watching her. She figured that one of her brothers had come in and was now standing over her, waiting for her to wake up so they could go tell her parents that she'd caused the loud noise they'd heard and that her computer was now a smoldering mass of metal, glass, and wires. She groaned, and opened her eyes, prepared to say whatever she needed to in order to make the younger boy go away.

However, when she opened her eyes, she didn't see a younger boy looking down at her. Instead, she had turn to her head to left to find a young man, around her age, sitting in the grass beneath a tree, flicking a lighter open and closed, and staring at her. He had red hair and startling bright brown eyes which were focused directly on her.

"Doing alright there?" he asked in a heavy Australian accent, as he watched her. Amy blinked. Outside. Wet grass. Tree. Hot Australian guy with a lighter. She had to be officially dreaming. Or at least that was the only way she could explain it. Although, why she was dreaming of hot Australian guys when she should have been dreaming of her boyfriend was beyond her comprehension at the moment.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Right then, little one, what's your name?"

"Its Amy. What am I doing out here?" she asked him, looking around.

"Could ask you the same. There was a flash of green light. Next thing I know I'm being plowed over by a girl in a white nighty," he responded. Amy frowned as he helped her to her feet. "You're a little one aren't ya?" he asked. Amy looked at him curiously and then realized that she did feel really small next to him. "So, what are you? A teleporter?"

"Teleporter?"

"Yeah, you know, your mutant power? How'd you just suddenly appear here?"

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Well, I do, sorta. But I'm not a mutant, by any means."

"Well, seeing how young you are, you probably haven't figure out your abilities yet. Come on, we'll see if we can't figure em out inside," he told her, turning around to lead the way back to a large building behind him.

"Wait! What do you mean young?" Amy called after him, running to catch up.

"Well, you're like what? Twelve? Thirteen?" The young man told her. Amy just blinked. Ok, so that was weird. Last time she'd checked she was eighteen. Something was seriously not right.

"Uh… yeah, that's right. Sorry, don't tend to think of that as a little kid, you know," Amy lied. She had to figure out what was going on. "So, what's your name anyay?"

"Its John. Come on kid, lets get you figured out," he told her, as held the door to the large building open for her. Amy bit her lip, but stepped through the doorway, wondering what she had just gotten herself into, and slightly wishing she would wake up soon.


The first thing Brenna noticed when she'd come too, was that she was leaning against an old brick wall that surrounded a rather large and Ivy covered mansion. The second thing she noticed was that she wasn't alone. Katlin was still laying unconscious beside the wall, only a few feet away. The third she noticed was that there were two very large back raven wings penetrating from where her shoulder blades were located. The fourth thing she noticed was that her friend didn't look a day over fourteen. She was pretty sure she was no better off. The fourth thing she noticed was that she was going to kill whom ever was responsible.

She reached over her shoulder to scratch the base of one of the wings, and sighed, looking at the carved stone sign on the wall: Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters. Great just great. She knew exactly where she was, and she was pretty sure she had an idea of who was responsible, but how exactly her friend was responsible, she couldn't say, but she knew she they couldn't stay there in plain sight. If she was correct, and she was pretty sure she was, she and Katlin were some how in New York City, in the world of the X-men, and to top it all off, they were mutants. Luckily, they were right where they needed to be if they were.

"Katlin, come on. Get up, lazy. We'll be in big trouble if we don't." Brenna said, poking her friend in the sides until the girl squirmed enough to realized she was laying on hard concrete.

"Brenna what – ack!" shescreamed, and backed up into the hard brick wall at the sight of the massive wings sproating from her friends back. "What the hell are those?" Katlin shouted, calming down after a second. "And why the hell do you look like a fifteen year old?"

"They're wings. And I think this has something to do with Nymph's story," Brenna retorted, helping Katlin to her feet.

"You think? The more I look at you, the more I'm sure. Where is she? When I get my hands on her," Katlin began, looking around, still quite flustered from being suddenly awoken and not finding herself in her own soft bed.

"She's not here. Now come on. We've got to get some shelter. Especially if we're mutants now," Brenna explained, trying to keep calm.

"Mutants? I don't really want to be a mutant Brenna! It was cool when it was a story and all, but mutants are persecuted!"

"All the more reason why we need to get inside," she protested. "Now come on," Brenna said, tugging on her friends arm, until the younger girl started moving. She pushed open the iron gates that surrounded the large school with one hand, keeping Katlin's arm grasped in the other. She found herself shaking slightly with nerves, as they crossed the nicely manicured lawns that graced the school grounds, knowing they hid deadly weapons, should they be presumed as a threat. When they reached the top of the steps, Brenna and Katlin let out small sighs of relief. "Let me do the talking," Brenna whispered to her friend who nodded obediently and tightened her own grip on Brenna's arm.

The older girl raised her fist and knocked a small rhythm on the heavy doors to the mansion. A few minutes later, the door opened, revealing a very tall, rough looking man staring down at them. He had his dark hair parted to both sides, as well as decent length side burns. He glared at them, and both girls gulped, unsure what to say.

"Yes?" the man asked, looking slightly irritated. Brenna didn't exactly blame him. It was according to her watch, it was only seven in the morning on a Saturday. The man was wearing only a pair of long pajama pants and a inside out T-shirt that both young girls were sure he had thrown on just for the purpose of opening the door.

"Um… can we see professor Xavier?" Brenna asked carefully, knowing exactly who the man was. She was sure Katlin knew as well, as the girl's nails were digging into the skin of her arm. The man looked them over for a moment, as if sizing them up. His eyes which had fallen on Brenna's new wings, remained there for a few seconds before he nodded, and opened the door wider for them to come in.

Both girls walked into the well lit entrance way of the mansion and looked around, taking in the comfortable surroundings for a second.

"Morning Mr. Logan," said a cheerful voice fom the right. A young girl around Katlin's new age, with long brown hair and brown eyes came bouncing into the living room. "Ohh… guests," she giggled. Logan ran his hand over his over his face and gave the teenager and exasperated look.

"Yes Jubilee. Any of the older kids back yet?"

"Nope! Why Mr. Logan?" Jubilee asked, taking a seat on the couch. Logan just groaned.

"No reason. Watch them," he commanded and disappeared down the hallway. Jubilee looked from his back to the two very nervous girls, and smiled.

"Don't mind Mr. Logan, he's not really a morning person," the teenager told them. Brenna just looked at Katlin and then back at the girl. "Come, sit. He'll be back with the professor in a little. Wonder why he was looking for the older recruits. He knows they're off on a training mission," Jubilee giggled. Both girls looked at one another and then sat, seriously wondering what they'd gotten themselves into.


Nicole had stepped out of her bedroom door only to go tumbling down a steep rocky slope, skinning her knees and elbows in the process, as well as tearing holes in her already skimy clothing. She slammed directly into a very large black wheel, knocking her head against the rubber.

"Oww… damn it. What the hell?" she muttered rubbing her now sore body, and gazing around her, extremely confused as to how her bedroom door became a portal into a desert. She considered herself lucky she hadn't gone toppling into a cactus on her way down the hill. She sighed, and looked up at the wheel, studying her reflection in the metallic surface in front of her. "Oh my god," she whispered, knowing she appeared at least five years younger than she really was; which probably wasn't a good thing.

"Where on earth did you come from?"

Nicole nearly jumped out of her skin. Obviously she knew there would have had to be people around her, since the wheel was connected to a very large plane. She turned to look up at the owner of the very heavy southern accent. The young woman appeared to be about eighteen or so, and she was flanked by two other young people, about her age or a bit younger. The girl who'd spoken had short brown hair that appeared to have been bleached white in the front on both sides. The girl on her left had long brown hair pulled back into a pony tail; and the boy on her right (a least Nicole figured it was a boy) had blue skin, darker blue hair, and tail.

"Impossible," Nicole whispered to herself.

"Ya gonna answer or not?" the center girl spoke again.

"Don't scare her Rogue," the other girl told her. She turned her attention back to Nicole and reached her hand down to her to help her to her feet. "Sorry about Rogue. I'm Kitty, this is Kurt," she told the girl. "Are you alright? That was a nasty fall you took."

"I- I can't believe this. I was in my room one minute nice and safe and sound. Next thing I know, I'm in the middle of the desert, talking to mutants," Nicole replied, talking more to herself than answering the girl who helped her to her feet. Kurt offered her a water bottle, but Nicole just ignored it, trying to wake herself up. This really couldn't have been happening.

"Looks like she's a teleporter," Rogue commented. Nicole just looked at her, barely managing to process what was going on.

"Teleporter?"

"Yeah, like Kurt. You know, a mutant." Rogue told her. Nicole just stared at her for a few seconds, and then her eyes rolled back and she collapsed backwards, as Kurt caught her.

"Damn it! Storm!" Rogue called, as Kitty and Kurt looked at one another and down at the young girl.

Nicole woke up in a small, almost circular room. She wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but she knew she was strapped down to a stretcher which was supported on a stand. Her first instinct was to panic since she was strapped down, but then she realized she was moving, and it'd obviously been done for her own safety. She turned her head slightly to the left, only to be confronted with the inside wall of the jet she'd seen earlier. "I want to wake up now," she muttered, to herself.

"But you are awake," said a familiar voice on her right. She turned to see the smiling blue face of the boy who'd been introduced to her as Kurt. "Welcome back to the land of the conscious," he told her, un-strapping her, and helping her sit up on the stretcher. She looked around for a moment, holding her throbbing head in her hands. At the very front of the plane, a woman with long white hair was driving, while a young man wearing crimson glasses was at some of the other controls. Behind him was a young woman with bright red hair. She was talking animatedly with Kitty, obviously about the girl who was supposed to be knocked out on the stretcher. Rogue was in a seat behind Kitty, her arms folded over her chest as she stared out the side window at the ground below. Nicole turned back to Kurt.

"What happened?"

"Well, we told you we were mutants and you fainted."

"Did I? Oh my god, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it." She hadn't wanted to offend them. She was just surprised. It wasn't everyday that your cat knocks over your coffee and you wake up in a story you were writing. If she was right about being in her own story, then she was now a mutant. There was only one way to tell. She looked down at the leather straps that lined the edges of the stretcher. She squinted her eyes, and concentrated for a few moments. Kurt frowned at her, and followed her gaze until he realized that the straps were floating a bit, and the girl in front of him was sweating heavily.

"Ok, ok, relax," he told her, placing his three fingered hands on her shoulders. She immediately obeyed, dropping her gaze, completely exhausted. "So you're a telekinetic; and a new one at that," he told her, causing her to blush. Obviously she'd gotten the powers she'd written for herself, but she hadn't gotten their strength. She guessed that maybe you actually had to follow the laws of nature when things happen for real. She just nodded. "Well, at least we know that much. What's your name, anyway?" he asked her. She looked at him for a moment.

"Nikki," she retorted, not giving her full name. He smiled, and held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you Nikki," he said, pulling her off the stretcher and leading her to the last row of chairs, behind Rogue, who turned to look at them.

"So, she's awake?"

"Guys, this is Nikki," Kurt told the others, ignoring his foster sister completely. "Jean, she's a telekinetic. Maybe you could help her?" he told the girl with the long red hair. Jean smiled and nodded.

"Definitely. We'll be at the school in an hour or so. Make yourself comfortable," she told her. Nicole just nodded.

"You've already met Kitty and Rogue. The woman driving is Ororo Monroe, one of the teachers at the institute, and the guy is Scott Summers, the leader of our team," Kurt told her, as they sat down in the seats. Kurt began rattling off facts about each of them, where they were going, and what exactly was going on. Nicole just took it all in, wondering what exactly had occurred with her computer.


So, its definitely a brand new direction on a story that hasn't been updated in god knows how long. I wasn't liking where it was going; I couldn't remember where it was supposed to go, but I didn't want to totally trash it. So, I took a few elements from The Encounter, and mixed it with the beginning of the original Beyond Fate, and I get an all new story without having to start from scratch. Hopefully this rendition lasts longer than the others have. Hope you guys enjoyed. And if you're a character… I expect a review!
Fatelesswanderer