"An angelface smiles to me
Under a headline of tragedy.
That smile used to give me warmth.
Farewell - no words to say
beside the cross on your grave
and those forever burning candles.
Needed elsewhere
to remind us of the shortness of our time.
Tears laid for them
Tears of love, tears of fear
Bury my dreams, dig up my sorrows .
Oh, Lord why
the angels fall first" ~ "Angels Fall First" Nightwish
Kaiba frowned, pulling at his white gloves.
"Stop fussing," Magneto said gently. "You look fine."
Kaiba was in an almost completely black outfit. He had black shoes and pants similar to his Battle City outfit. His black shirt was long sleeved with a thick, blue stripe down the middle. The sides of the stripe bend in slightly. The neck of the shirt was concealed by a floor-length black cape that clasped under his throat with a gold button with a spiral engraved on it. He wore a white belt with a pale blue buckle. Dark blue metal was strapped to his elbows like those of a suit of armor. These had short spikes on the outside, so that if he slammed his elbow into anyone, they'd be slightly impaled, too. And, of course, he had white, wrist-length gloves.
"Tell me again why I have to wear a costume?"
"Kaiba, Kaiba, Kaiba…" Magneto said. "Haven't you ever wanted to be a superhero?"
The young man shrugged.
Magneto sighed. "Just do it…"
"I suppose you want me to pick a codename, too," Kaiba drawled, looking scornfully at his new mentor.
"Yes, but for different reasons. The codename is to protect your identity."
"I'll get back to you on that."
"Take your time." They had been walking down a long corridor made completely of metal and lit by lights on the floor. Magneto stopped in front of a door in the side, and it swung open at his mental push. The room was wide and seemingly barren and empty. Kaiba suspected the room had hidden machines that could attack you, but he didn't question. It would make itself known in good time.
Magneto walked into the center of the room, and Kaiba trailed behind him. The old man turned to face his student and said, "This is where most of your training will take place. To start off, we need to get your mental stamina up." Kaiba nodded, agreeing.
"So what do you want me to do?"
"Simple, really," Magneto said. "To get your stamina up, you simply need to practice summoning illusions. You won't be able to practice the personal ones one me," he added, tapping his red helmet. "My helmet protects me from psychic attacks. But you should try summoning a group illusion."
Like I did the other day in class… "All right," he agreed. He held out his hand in front of him, palm up, and closed his eyes in concentration. He figured the easiest thing to create would be something small and something he knew every detail of. His first thought would be Mokuba, but the little boy was actually too big. But… his Blue Eyes White Dragon could be that small. Taking a deep, cleansing breath, he sent his intent from his mind and imagined it traveling down his arm to his palm. When he snapped his eyes open, they were glowing, and a miniature Blue Eyes faded into view.
He felt the effects of this almost immediately, but fought to keep his beloved dragon in his hand. It was making little chirruping noises, and moving in little circles to get a look at its surroundings. He knew somehow that subconsciously, he was controlling every wild, instinctual move the illusion was making. But he was feeling faint all ready, and it had only been a few seconds. The edges of his vision prickled with gray. His breathing came short. His legs could barely hold him up…
"That's enough, Kaiba," he heard Magneto snap harshly. With a gasp, Kaiba clenched his hand quickly into a fist, dispelling the illusion. Sweat dampened the roots of his hair, and his knees buckled, forcing Magneto to have to hold him up. "Maybe that was the wrong type of lesson," the old mutant sighed. "Sorry, Kaiba, but I'm going to have to cut this lesson short. We'll train again tomorrow."
Kaiba didn't have the energy to agree or disagree.
"Alright, Mokuba," Mr. McCoy said to the little boy sitting in front of him, "This lesson's focus is to discover what it is you can do, exactly. Normally, someone else would do this, but I'm capable, too."
Mokuba swung his legs in front of him. The chair he was sitting on didn't let his feet reach the floor. "That's fine, Mr. McCoy," he said with a smile. "I like you. I'd love to learn from you." God, I'm such a suck-up, he thought to himself. But it cheered him up to see Beast's face brighten.
"Before we head to any desired location, we need to pinpoint what exactly happened that made Cerebro pick you up," Mr. McCoy continued. "So what happened that made you realize you had abilities?"
Mokuba thought back to the night Jean and Scott picked him up. "Well, I was clutching a metal ball really hard, 'cause I was angry, and then it suddenly turned soft, like I had taken away its hardness."
"In that case, we'll go outside," the teacher said. "We can test your abilities."
"Okay!" agreed Mokuba. The two mutants headed outside, this time to the backyard. It was after dinner, and it was already pretty dark, seeing as the sun sets early in winter. Beast led the new recruit to a small clearing and handed the boy a little rock.
"Do you think you could make the stone soft, too?" he asked.
"I could try," Mokuba told him, accepting the rock. The ravenet clenched the stone hard, like he had done with the metal ball. Its edges were biting into his palm. It kind of hurt, so he willed it to soften. A few seconds after sending mental signals to the rock, he felt it crumple in his hand. He opened his fist again, and Mr. McCoy let out a small gasp.
The rock was as soft as a foam ball, and when Mr. McCoy poked it with a finger, the resulting indent slowly inflated. "Amazing," he breathed. He then reached down and plucked a particularly long blade of grass. "Maybe you could do something similar to the grass. Like, make it harder."
Mokuba shrugged and took the blade of grass from Beast. He stretched it out with his fingers, careful not to break it. Sighing, he imagined the grass crystallizing, hardening like ice. When he held the grass up, pinched between two fingers, it did not curl. Indeed, it was hard and straight.
"I think we can pinpoint your abilities," Mr. McCoy said, grinning. "It seems you can control the hardness of objects. Right now, you have to be touching the object, but I wonder if through training you could do it without physical contact…"
Mokuba could almost feel the joy emanating from his teacher as the ape-like mutant mulled over the scientific possibilities. He could tell that Mr. McCoy really liked science…
Mokuba's eyelids started to droop. "Ah, you must be tired," Beast said. "Maybe you should sleep now, and get well rested for your first day tomorrow." Mokuba nodded wearily, and the two of them headed back up to the main building.
"So, you start school tomorrow," Beast said, trying to make small talk.
"Yeah," Mokuba said. "I'm… a little nervous."
Mr. McCoy laughed. "It would be strange if you weren't. Everyone there is going to be older than you."
"You can say that again."
The elder mutant smiled at him. "You'll be fine. You should be sharing classes with some of the other mutants here, like Kitty."
"Thanks, Mr. McCoy." Mokuba could tell the man felt kind of sorry for him. He couldn't judge if the words were empty or not, but he accepted them, if only to make Beast happy.
"Well, good night, Mokuba. And think of a codename," Mr. McCoy offered. They were in front of Mokuba's room now.
"I'll sleep on it," the ravenet told him. "Good night." Mokuba opened the door and immediately crawled under the pale blue sheets and closed his eyes.
And sleep he did, but it wasn't as pleasant as he would have wished.
Mokuba wasn't immune to nightmares. Nay, he had plenty. And they got worse when his big brother was away. Tonight was no exception.
His dream actually started off bright and colorful. He was back in Domino City, holding someone's hand. He looked up and saw Seto, who in turn glanced down and smiled warmly. Mokuba wanted to hug him hard, but suddenly everything darkened and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Before he knew it, Seto's hand was gone from his small one.
He looked around frantically. Where did he go? Where did his big brother go? And now it was suddenly so dark… He was scared. He couldn't see anything, hear anything. Mokuba squinted as a bright light shone in the darkness, as if from far away. He started at it, and it grew brighter and closer, brighter and closer, until he could see there was a silhouette of a woman.
He knew who she was. He'd seen pictures of her before he and Seto had gone to the orphanage.
"Mokuba," she said with a smile. Her honey hair floated around her as if she was underwater. Her soft skin seemed to glow. Her blue eyes twinkled at him like two sapphire stars. Mokuba reached out a hand towards her, and she started to laugh.
It wasn't a kind laugh. It didn't tinkle with the sound of a thousand silver bells, like he imagined it might have. It was harsh and cruel and cold and flat. He quickly withdrew his hand. Her skin turned blue, and her hair a coarse red. Her blue eyes changed into a glowing yellow. She continued to laugh at him.
"Monster!" Mokuba screamed. "Monster! Give me my brother!"
She laughed and laughed and laughed, and another laugh joined her, a deep and booming one that could only belong to a grown man. There was a flash of red color, and Mokuba woke up.
He came to with a fight, struggling against hands. He screamed and shouted until he realized that he wasn't dreaming anymore. He stopped struggling, breathing heavily. With wide eyes he looked up at Professor X, Storm, Wolverine, and Beast crowded around his bed, all with looks of pity and worry. Mokuba could see Scott, Jean, Nightcrawler and Kitty at the now-open door.
"Mokuba, it's all right," Storm said, stroking his forehead.
"You were screaming in your sleep," the professor told him. Xavier was looking at Mokuba with suspicious eyes. "Are you okay? Do you want to tell me anything?"
Mokuba didn't know why, but he felt angry. He wanted to punch something. He balled his hands into fists, but resisted the urge. "Just–just go away!" he yelled.
"Mokuba…" Storm uttered, a little shocked. She pulled away slightly.
He couldn't help it. He burst into tears. He latched onto the nearest person – which just so happened to be Wolverine – and sobbed into his shoulder. He didn't want to cry. He mentally chastised himself, telling him to be strong. But that didn't help. It was a full blown sobfest, complete with wailing and snot and a waterfall of tears. And it was not going to stop soon.
"I want my brother baaaaaack!" he yowled, his voice hoarse. "I need him back!!!!"
Unsure and awkward, Wolverine rubbed the small boy's back with a massive hand. He looked at the professor.
"Charles…" he said. "We gotta do something. If this is every night…"
The professor nodded, knowing what Wolverine was getting at. He sighed. "Yes, I'll get right on it…"
Back at the door, Kitty leaned against the frame. "Poor guy," she said mournfully. "He's just a kid."
"Yeah," Nightcrawler agreed. "I wish we could do something."
"There's nothing at the moment," Jean said, turning away from the scene. "We should go back to bed."
They headed back into the hall only to see Rogue there. "What's goin' on?" she asked. "It sounds like someone let a banshee into the house."
"The new kid, Mokuba…" Kitty started.
"He had a nightmare," Jean completed. "I–I'm sure he'll be fine in the morning."
It didn't sound very convincing over Mokuba's howls.
"Yeah, right," Rogue said, obviously not believing her. "He sounds just fine and dandy."
"Man," Nightcrawler said, "he sounds like he could use some love…"
"Well, honestly, he did lose his only family member," Scott pointed out. "Combine that with the stress of new people, new home, new school, and new abilities… well, I'd be surprised if he didn't have a nightmare."
Kitty declared, "Well, tomorrow, we'll be his best friends!"
Rogue crossed her arms. "All right, but if this continues, I'm going in there and knocking him out." She wiggled her fingers, confirming any suspicions of what she meant by that.
"I think the professor has that covered," Nightcrawler said, peeking back into the room. They had lain Mokuba back down, and the professor was touching his forehead. The boy's breathing was still irregular from the sobs, but Xavier slowly put him back to sleep, hopefully in a dreamless state.
Beast poked his head out the door. "All right, young students," he ordered. "Back to bed for all of you. You have school tomorrow, and you should get a good night's rest."
Phew, I'm just cranking out chapter after chapter! I hope you enjoyed this little influx of chapters. Sorry I didn't update any other story, heh heh heh... ^^;;
Anyways, sorry if any of the X-Men are OOC. I tried, I really did...
Tell me what you thought nonetheless. Your reviews are greatly appreciated.