Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men First Class.

Kate took in a deep breath and stared ahead. She slowly lowered herself to the ground, getting in a running position. Suddenly, she stood up, and shook her head. "No, I can't."

"Yes, you can." Charles said from beside her. He encouraged her further. "Lions can reach speeds up to 30 miles an hour, sometimes more. Cheetahs can go even higher."

Kate cracked her knuckles, "Really, though? I mean, I swear, if Sean or Alex sees me-"

Charles interrupted her. "Kate." He looked into her eyes. "When has that ever stopped you before?"

Kate looked at him from the corner of her eyes and sighed, "Sometimes, I really hate you."

"I know."

Kate lowered herself again, and started to take deeper breaths. "Just around the house, one time, right?" He nodded.

Kate took off. It was odd, and she stumbled a bit, running on all fours was difficult. Soon though, her claws extended and Kate was running, leaping and dashing around the house. Minutes after Charles started the timer, she arrived back at the starting line.

However, when Kate stopped, instead of slowing down to a stop, Kate tripped, taking a tumble. She rolled, and ended up on her back. Kate flipped herself back up, and grinned, adrenaline pumping itself through her veins.

She walked to Charles, "That was amazing!"

Charles gave her a weird look, "Could you repeat that?"

But Kate didn't hear him, and instead she was staring out across the lawn, she lifted her head higher and opened her mouth. Her eyes narrowed, and Charles could have sworn that her pupils turned into slits.

"Sean!" She shrieked, or it could be said that she hissed. Kate streaked across the lawn to where the tree line began. She ran there on all fours and pounced at the dark figure with red hair.

Charles chuckled and turned to leave them alone.

"Where's Kate?" Raven asked, as all the kids, Alex, Sean, and Hank sat at the table playing cards.

Sean looked up, and flinched. No one had asked him how he got the cut on his face, and instead they looked the other way.

"I don't know." Hank answered, to everyone's surprise. "I saw her walking into her room with a bunch of math books, paper, pens and a calculator…"

Alex scoffed, "Is she doing homework?"

"No."

All the kids jumped, and looked to the doorway. Kate stood there, her beanie in her hands and a piece of paper in the other. Her eyes looked red, like she had been crying.

"I, uh…" She trailed off, and Kate walked closer to the table. "I was bored, so I decided to do some calculations." She put the piece of paper on the table, and slid it to Hank. He eyes wide and desperate. "Please, tell me I did them wrong."

Hank studied the sheet, and slowly his mouth dropped and he raised his hand to it, taking in a breath sharply. He looked up quickly. "Kate…" He started to say.

Kate bit her lip and looked at Alex. "I did calculations on the night Darwin died." Kate closed her head, and cringed slightly. "If I did them right that means he could have lived, but…"

"He held the rays in, because they would have killed us." Alex finished, looking down at his lap. He licked his lips, and threw his cards on the table. Silence grew around the kids, and Raven let tears scroll down her cheeks.

"I-I" Kate started to say before breaking off. "I didn't know what to say, but I couldn't keep silent…"

Sean spoke, surprising them all. "It's okay." He said, "It'll be okay."

Kate looked at him, tears in her eyes. "Will it though? Will it?" She asked, not to Sean, but to everyone in the room. Kate didn't wait for anyone to answer her, and instead she took the paper and walked out of the room.

Sean, Alex, Raven and Hank looked at each other.

Kate stood outside, looking up at the window. She gave Charles and Hank thumbs up. "All clear down here!" She said cheerfully.

Sean looked down at her, scowling. She grinned back at him.

They thought that Sean could fly using his scream powers. "Are you certain this will work?" He asked them.

"Yes."

Alex and Raven were inside, looking out from another window. Sean took a deep breath and jumped out the window, screaming. Instead of flying, he fell right onto the bushes beneath him.

Kate didn't let him forget it the entire day.

Kate stood out on the lawn, bouncing slightly from foot to foot.

"Are you ready?" Charles asked her, standing beside Erik.

"I've been ready since that day in the library!" She called out. Kate wriggled her fingers, and then clenched her hands.

"Go!" She shouted, and without missing a beat, Erik launched a knife at her.

With the grace of a gazelle, but the deadliness of a snake, Kate dodged it and the oncoming knife by ducking, rolling, jumping and weaving.

Soon, small metal balls were thrown at her too, and Kate caught them in her hands and threw them back at Erik.

"Alright, try to reach there!" Charles suddenly pointed behind him and Erik, at the top of a huge tree, where Kate could see a small black chess piece was lodged.

Kate grinned, and raced towards there, moving to the left and then right. Erik, true to himself, didn't show any mercy, and threw three knifes at once at Kate. Kate hit the ground, rolling then popping up to grab to two balls and hurl them at Charles.

A ball raced past her and she reached behind her to grab it and swing it around to Erik. "Watch out!" Charles called out, but Kate didn't need it. A knife was going straight at her, and she stopped suddenly, and clapped her hands in front of her face, stopping the knife from meeting its mark.

Even Erik wasn't expecting that, and paused for a moment. Kate grinned, and then with a flick of her wrist threw the knife back. Charles ducked and Erik reached out and grabbed it with one hand.

"Not bad." He said. "But you're not finished yet." Kate let a feral look take over face and pounced.

She went down on all fours and leapt through the middle of Erik and Charles. Her ears were exposed and were flat on her head. Kate looked behind her, and rolled to the left when she saw the knife flying towards her. Kate jumped back up and ran on two legs to the tree, zigzagging to avoid knifes.

"Don't tell me that's it!" She called out, grinning, and Kate glanced back at Erik and Charles. Three mini metal balls zoomed at her and Kate grabbed two of them, and then punched away the third. Kate was now a few feet away from the tree.

Kate turned her back, crouched, and then jumped up, grabbing hold of the first branch. Her claws came out and Kate felt a sudden swoosh by her head and a knife lodged in front of her in the trunk. She blew her hair out of her face, wrapped her legs around the trunk and let go with her hands. Before she had let go, she grabbed the knife, wrenched it from the tree and when she hanged upside down, threw it at the oncoming knife, knocking it out of the way, and both the sharp weapons fell to the ground.

Kate hauled herself up higher and higher, her breath becoming panting because of several knifes lodging near her head.

Soon though, she was a few feet away from the chess piece. Kate looked behind her at Erik, and she felt her voice die in her throat when she noticed the multiple knifes and balls zooming towards her.

She whispered a curse word, and then straightened, standing on the branch, clutching the trunk with one hand. Kate took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and waited.

When the objects were close, her eyes opened, and Charles felt a sudden jolt of fear go through him. Her eyes were feral, and turned into slits. She didn't look like the girl he had talked to in the library. Back then, she had seemed like a skittish kitten, curious as one too.

Now though, with her short golden hair ruffled, claws extended eyes feral, tail curling and uncurling in the wind, and posture hunched, she looked dangerous.

Kate launched herself forward, so that she was free falling from the tree. She had just barely missed the wave of knifes and balls coming at her, and they hit the tree. Kate fell down from the tree, and landed on all fours.

She stood up, tall and her eyes returned to normal. Kate took a deep breath and looked behind her, at her tail. She smirked and grabbed something from it.

She marched over to where the two men were standing.

"Not so bad." Erik praised, crossing his arms.

"I had a not so bad teacher." Kate replied, smiling at him. She opened her hand, and presented the black chess piece to her mentor.

"Checkmate." Kate cracked her neck, and knuckles, before heading back to the house.

In the distance she could see four figures standing, Kate raised her fist in a celebratory manner. The blonde female figure jumped up and down and then raced to Kate. The other three followed more slowly. When they reached Kate, Raven hugged her, Hank congratulated her and Sean ruffled her hair. Kate looked at Alex, raising an eyebrow. Alex shifted from foot to foot. "I guess you weren't so bad." He mused, looked down at her.

Kate grinned.

"For a pussycat."

"You're not so bad too."

Alex smirked.

"For a jerk." Kate smiled wider and she gripped Alex's hand that he extended to her.

"Truce?"

"Us mutants have to stick together, right?" Raven placed her hand on theirs, and Hank and Sean followed suit.

Wow, that was a long chapter, happy Thanksgiving people! I saw Frozen yesterday, I loved it, I thought it was clever and witty.

Please, review!

With that out of the way, it's time to say-

-GP2 OUT!