Helloooo everyone, and here's another new chapter to the story. This chapter will be more of an interlude before Mercury Falling. This is the memorial service that was held for all of the fallen mutants of the past, and I thought that it would be good to write it in here, as it would help Naruto reflect on the people he too had lost back home and come to terms that as of now, he is officially stuck in the Marvel universe.

Chapter 9: We Remember…

-Kevin Ford-

"NO!"

Kevin woke up sweating after the nightmare again that he'd been having for weeks. He ran away from the school after he had hurt Laurie's arm, the girl he loved. He knew that the new guy, Naruto his name was if he remembered correctly had completely healed her arm, but he was afraid of what the teachers would do with him afterwards. He just felt that he couldn't trust hs friends anymore after overhearing them back in the Danger Cave.

"No, please God, no...make it stop..." The nightmares just continued when he came to District X aka Mutant Town after a few days. He had managed to find an old run down apartment that was vacant, the only other person that lived there with him was an older mutant woman who had asked him for a little bit of help while in the park one night.

"Every night, you have the same nightmare." The woman spoke up from her own mattress in the apartment.

"Yeah."

"Why do you not go back? You're not like us, the few that remain. You were one of his. One of Xavier's chosen. You had a place to live, friends, protection..." All true things indeed.

"No..." His mind went back to Laurie's arm. "They needed protection from me." That's what he kept telling himself at least.

-The Institute; Emma Frost's Office-

"Kevin doesn't want to come back, Cessily." She wanted to try and explain the situation to her student, but her feelings for the boy apparently override her common sense.

"Ms Frost, you can't just abandon him! Especially with everything that's happened...he shouldn't be alone." She wanted to try and explain to Emma that now is the time to stick together as they used to.

"I have people looking after him." A simple reply.

"How could you not tell us? How can you be so cold?" She was honestly hurt that her teacher, her role model would keep this a secret from them.

"What would you have me do, Cessily? Go after him? And when he refuses to return, then what? Force him to come back, against his will?"

"But David..."

"Kevin is not David." She put emphasis on the word not. "But I assure you, the moment Kevin wishes to return to the Institute, I will collect him personally."

"Ms Frost, please..."

"He needs time, Cessily."

"Does he know? About the students? Does he know about Laurie? I know now she's..."

"We will finish this discussion another time. Our guest is here."

-Josh's Room-

"It changes, but it's always there. Just moving across my body. I can feel it." Josh was still in his pajamas in his bed. Laurie had come to spend what time she and he would have left, as her mother would be taking her home after the attack. She didn't tell her about being dead and then revived. More than likely as she wouldn't believe a single thing about it. He mother felt that she would be safer at home rather than the Institute, but that didn't mean that they could still talk over the phone, in town, or over Skype on their laptops.

"Can you still...you know...?" She was worried that he would be tempted to use this new deadly power again. It just wasn't him.

"Kill? Yeah. But I don't want to. I know that this isn't what you'd want for me." But he would be forced to do so again in the future.

"But you were able to heal again."

"Something changed in me Laurie. When I killed Stryker...and then it changed again when I healed Laura. It was something Julian said of all people...I know I can be more. I can do more. Now I just have to learn to control it." And that would be words he would make sure to keep to.

"Guys?"

"Melodie..." Laurie turned to the door frame to see one of the Guthrie's hear for tonight's memorial service.

"Hi." It wasn't as enthusiastic as she usually says 'Hi' to her her friends.

-Outside-

Lucinda Guthrie had arrived after receiving word that her youngest son had been killed. Tonight a memorial service would be held and honor all of the loved the ones the X-Men and their friends had lost. "Three times I've been here. Each time, I never stayed long. So much has changed since Sam first came to the school. He told me what to expect. He didn't want me to come. But I had to be here, for Joshua...and for Sam and Paige, too."

Cyclops and Rogue led her through the military occupied grounds into the school, offering his apologies. "Paige is getting Sam now. Ma'am, I can't tell you how sorry we all are."

"We should have done more." Rogue had said. In all honesty, she felt the closest to the kids more so than even their teachers.

"Thank you both. Thank you for letting me...for letting me say good-bye." No words can describe the loss that she and her family had just suffered.

-Naruto & Xavier-

"So you made the school and the X-Men to try and make thing better between humans and mutants...how am I doing so far?" Naruto counted with his fingers to keep count of how many things Xavier had done to try and create peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants.

"So far, so good."

"And you recruited these kids originally to train and teach them, and they've pretty much been keeping things going for a while and so on and so forth?"

"Yes."

"So I already saw what Cyke, and Furry Buddy do now, but what about the other three in the picture here?"

Xavier looked back at the picture and smiled at the nostalgia of the old days with his first students. "Bobby, the one covered in snow there, he tends to come and go every now and then, but ultimately he's remained the same throughout the years, but he has matured greatly though...something many of us didn't think possible, contrary to his usual hijinks. Warren, the one with the wings, has had a rough life to say the least. His father loved him, but he was a little ashamed to have mutant son, and he was the CEO of their company at the time. He tried to find a 'cure' per say, but failed in the end, but he has learned to deal with Warren's status as one of us and a mutant." He stopped for what seemed like an eternity as he looked to the girl.

Naruto caught on that something bad had happened to her and was now more curious than ever as to who she was. Finally Xavier spoke up, after shedding a small tear and wiping it away. "Jean was…many things. A teacher to everyone, even myself at times. A wonderful and immensely talented young woman that had succeeded me as headmaster for a time. She...died shortly after and, some things weren't the same afterwards." Naruto widened his eyes at what he just said. She was dead...and yet, he saw some sort of vision of her with him dancing out on the pond. She had to have been older than him, and yet, she looked like a teenager in the vision! What did it mean? He needed to get answers from her tonight, if she would want to talk with him at all about it. Xavier saw his eyes fixated on Jean specifically and asked a question of his own. "Are you alright. It looked like you've seen a ghost."

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts and remembered the promise he made to her back in that white room. "It's nothing...it's nothing..." He decided to shift things into another direction. "So, where were you the last few weeks, I've never seen you around the place?" They began to walk down the halls once more after changing the subject up.

"I actually was here for a couple of days about a week ago, but I headed into space with a few other X-Men to help me make up a terrible mistake that I had made many years ago...one that I fear may never be fixed." Xavier looked down to the ground for a bit in thought about Vulcan and the others. Naruto then raised the question..."What mistake was that?"

Xavier stopped and stared out into the school ground, particularly to the graveyard that they had. He focused on three in particular. Sean Cassidy aka Banshee, Petra, and Susan Chan aka Sway. Three lives that had been lost because of his mistakes. Three lives that could still be among the living. Xavier preceded to tell Naruto that he had sent a team to rescue the X-Men on Krakoa, the living island.

Naruto was a little perplexed by that, but hey, who was he to say what was weird or not. He was the host to 10 powerful beings of chakra. Anyway, Xavier sent a team that Moira MacTaggert one his closest friends, had put together to save the original X-Men and one of the students was Vulcan, who was a brother of Cyclops. It was traumatizing for Cyclops knowing that he had a new found brother only to be killed after a brief meeting. In order to save Cyclops's life, Xavier wiped his memory of Vulcan and his team, and without the knowledge of them revealed to anyone else.

Naruto understood why Xavier did what he felt like he had to do, to spare Scott the pain and anguish of losing a brother he never knew he had. But Naruto didn't like what Xavier had done, and he felt that it was something that he never should have done. Scott had a right to know that he had another brother, and that he needed to mourn him along with the rest of his comrades. Xavier reminded him a bit of Old Man Sarutobi; he was wise and kind, but he made decisions both good and terribly bad that came back to haunt him. The Uchiha Massacre came to mind...but it was far worse than what Xavier had done.

Either way, the consequences were disastrous; Sasuke had become a murderer after killing Itachi and learning the truth from Obito, and Vulcan had apparently survived Krakoa, only to reawaken one week after Naruto arrived in this dimension on M-Day. He wished he could have been there to help the X-Men deal with Vulcan as he rampaged to get the truth of what happened to him and his teammates to the other X-Men, only to be 'betrayed' by both of his brothers, and fled to the Shi'ar Empire to exact his revenge on the former Emperor named D'ken, who kidnapped Scott's parents, killed his mother, and ripped Vulcan from her womb while she was still two months pregnant with him. It disgusted Naruto that a man could be that cruel to a woman, but then again…Hidan wouldn't give two shits who got killed as long as they could be sacrificed to his god, Jashin.

Cyclops was angered by Xavier's actions and ostracized him, but some of the students were more forgiving of his actions. Xavier still formed a new team to battle Vulcan who was slowly making his way to the Shi'ar Empire. While on the way, Xavier was kidnapped by a few Shi'ar people that they saved from another alien species called the Skrulls and was turned in to the imperial court for money. He filed the Skrulls away for later thoughts, as Xavier continued his story. He had recruited Nightcrawler, Warpath, Havok, Polaris, Darwin, and Rachel to help him in stopping Vulcan. 'So that's why she said it was sort of a family matter…' Naruto thought to himself.

"Wait, so how is it that you and half of the other X-Men made it back? What happened to Rachel and the others, I'd know if she came back to Earth, otherwise I would've sensed the seal I placed on her hand." Naruto wanted to know why she didn't come back to Earth with Xavier when she left with him.

"It was during Vulcan's wedding that they had come to rescue me when I was captured by the enemy and they were planning on killing me once it was over by throwing me into the M'Krann Crystal. An object that could potentially destroy the universe if in the wrong hands. But I had regained my telepathy as Darwin managed to pull me out before my existence collapsed on me and die, though he was badly wounded as a result. And Vulcan, in his rage…killed his own father in front of everyone as he stopped Vulcan as he was about to kill Lilandra, the woman who was once my wife, and Empress to the Shi'ar. She had teleported myself along with Darwin, James, Kurt and Hepzibah back to our ship and had it set back to Earth, crashing us back where we took off." He explained to Naruto.

Naruto had felt his heart sink a bit at the news, but he was also pissed off. He wanted to cave in Vulcan's face after hearing that he killed his father without any disregard to him being family, but he was sad to hear that his best friend…the only person that understood him the best of his situation, was now far out in deep space in another galaxy away for who knows how long. Xavier saw the boys sad expression on his face and was about to speak up, but Hank had come around the corner and looked like was searching for someone. And it seemed that he needed to speak with Charles immediately.

"Charles, you need to come see this right now. It's a message from Alex."

Naruto's eyes widened at that. Maybe he could have one last chat with Rachel before they were out of contact indefinitely for who knows how long. "Umm…is it alright if I tag along? Just to see if I could talk to Rachel one last time?"

"Of course, Naruto." Hank had said. 'Ah, young love…haha.'

They made their way to the lab where a large computer screen was up on the wall. Hank punched up a few keys and brought up the video where Rachel, in a new outfit that Naruto noticed along with several other people were in some sort of cockpit from the looks of it. Naruto observed each of the others inside with her: a blonde guy with some light on his chest seated in what looked like the captain's chair; a woman with neon green hair, which was weird but also attractive in a way. A massive lizard/frog dude who looked pretty cool and something out of Star Trek, yeah he watched the new movies with the guy from Sherlock in it; they were awesome. Then a guy showing half of his body in a black suit with small lights dotting it and a long ponytail with no hair left on his head. And then finally there was a gut who had…bird feathers for hair?

"My God…when did this come in?" Xavier asked.

"Just a few minutes ago, and Alex isn't answering any of my replies." Hank wanted to see how they were doing emotionally. They just lost a great man…a father, a captain…

"I hope you'll all understand, especially Scott and the Professor…but our job out here isn't done. So we're going to stay and fight to restore Lilandra to the throne. We're going to lead the resistance against Vulcan and Deathbird."

That's when the screen changed to what Naruto assumed where the one's Alex was talking about. Vulcan was having a headpiece placed on his head in front of hundreds of people in a grand looking hall, and bowing to him as he rises from the throne. It must have been a crowing ceremony for the title of the Shi'ar Emperor.

"Because we have to end this threat…he has to die. And X-Men don't kill, so I guess we aren't X-Men anymore. We're what my brother turned us into. If we succeed, we'll see you all again…hopefully soon. But if we fail, you have to send someone else to stop Vulcan…because he's crazy. He's a warped child…and if we fail, I truly believe the Shi'ar Armada will head for Earth."

The dread of that permeated the room, odds are they wouldn't be able stop it seeing as they would need one of their own, but they were still years away from getting to that kind of technology and space travel. But Naruto would fight to the bitter end and he knew that odds are he probably could wipe it out…but at what cost is what he wondered. He wanted to go there, and help them fight against Vulcan, but it seemed someone had already anticipated his thoughts, and from his best friend no doubt, as she spoke up after Alex had finished giving his message to them.

"Now, I have a feeling you're watching this right now Naruto, but no. Your place right now is at the Institute, I know that after hearing what Alex just said, you want to find a ship and get here yourself and smash skulls, break stuff and other things, and I have no doubt that you could shorten this whole ordeal after being in a war yourself. But they need you more than we do, don't worry about us right now, focus on the there and now. With the way things are back home, our enemies are going to move against us if they haven't already. Don't worry, we won't fail. We'll win, and then we'll be back home, and we'll be hanging out again in no time. Until next time Naruto, take care." She had a stern face on while she talked to him through the message, and had a confident stance and tone that carried her words. At the end of the message, she smiled and threw a small kiss to him and waved goodbye. After that, the message cut out and the screen turned black.

Naruto wanted to say something, but the words just weren't coming too him…his best friend was about to go to war with a highly advanced alien race along with a handful of close allies, and a third of their forces. The odds didn't seem in their favor, and…no…they'd come out alive. He and the Allied Shinobi Forces managed to go up against imposing odds an won, he knew that Rachel and the others would win and that they'd return alive and well. "Good luck Rach, good luck."

-Central Park, New York City-

"What are we doing?" Kevin had asked his elderly friend.

"I just like to get out. I enjoy the city. When you're close to death like I am, you want to be out among the living." She took him out to also get him out of the apartment and have some fresh air. If anyone would have thought, it would have looked like a boy out with his grandmother like any other day.

"Don't say that."

"Should I lie to myself? Should I not embrace the truth? Kevin?" He saw some pigeons that were decaying by his own death touch. It was part of the nightmares he had been having.

"I'm sorry...I...I shouldn't be here." He didn't want to hurt or kill anyone else. The first time he discovered that he was a mutant and fond out his power...was when he had inadvertently killed his father a few years ago. He looked over to a young couple making out while leaning on a tree. They too were in a decaying state...it wasn't an easy sight to see, but it was all he saw.

"Is it hard Kevin? To see people like that? When you're not with the one you love?" His thoughts went back to Laurie...and...Josh...she loved Josh, and not him.

"No. It doesn't matter."

"Why?"

"Because I can't touch the people I love! I can't touch anyone!" It tore him apart at what he did to Laurie...and now he couldn't even fess up to her that he was truly sorry for what he did.

"I should be going." She stepped up and began to walk back to the apartment .

"No, please don't...I'm sorry. It's just...I miss all of them so much, but it doesn't matter. Even if I were with them...with her...I couldn't...can't..."

"Death is all around us. I've accepted this. Look, there." She referred to the police and coroners near an apartment that they were coming out of, carrying several bodies covered up by sheets in gurneys. "The humans have taken more lives. They blame a mutant, but it's humans." She went on with the stereotypes of humans blaming mutants of the past. "One day soon, they will come to take me."

"No, they won't." He grabbed her hand an pulled her back with him to the apartment for her safety. In the past few days the elderly woman had become his only source of socialization and friendship.

"You know the truth, but will not accept it. Have I ever told you about my gift, Kevin?"

He ignored her words and focused just on getting her away from the cops. "They won't hurt you. I promise."

Over at the crime scene, the police were discussing the details. "Just leave the body bags in there, Doc. You might wanna grab a Dustbuster, though."

"Are you serious? Again?" The coroner was just confounded by the state of the bodies,

"We got a witness this time. Won't be long now." They now had the culprit's face, now they just needed find out where they were.

-The Institute; Julian's Room-

He had been asleep for 34 hours...literally. After having his power's restraints released and boosts to their maximum potential, and Josh had volunteered to haul his ass back to his bed.

"Zznnnn...nnn...uh..." He was stirring a bit in his sleep. Laura apparently had snuck into his room for...whatever reason it was...there really wasn't a real way to tell what she was thinking. Other than listening in on what people say.

"...Sofia..." So that's what he was dreaming about...huh, makes sense given that they never really said goodbye to each other.

Aaaaannnnnndddd...Laura was outta there. Aaaaannnnnndddd...Julian was still sleepin' on, oblivious to the girl that very sneakily went in and out of his room.

-The Common Room-

Santo was bragging again about how great he he was and the recent story with Nimrod. "So Foley's gone all Zen and probably isn't coming back to the team. The team that took down Nimrod. Did I mention that? I'm not saying for sure, but there could be an opening. So...have either of you died and come back, like me? You guys an uber powerful ninja assassin dude?"

"Uhhh..." Vic couldn't really form the words to respond.

"Not really." While Hammil did on the other hand.

"Too bad. Now, Hammil...you've got the flame head, that's pretty cool. But what if we're in a dark room, doing stealth stuff? You'd blow it!"

"Well, one time in the Danger Room..."But then Santo turned to Vic and started talking to him, blatantly ignoring Hammil's words.

"And you, Vic...you've got the stealth, but what are you going to do in a fight against, oh I don't know, Nimrod?! Tongue him?"

He ignored Santo's little jab and instead reflected if with a question of his own. "What is it with you guys calling people by their last names? You never call me by my last name, or Naruto's...what gives?"

"Because your last name is 'Borkowski.' Lame! And Naruto's way too long to even say, am I right Qadir?" Plus Japanese names just weren't exactly easy to say. He turned to his friend for a little back up, but he didn't really get it.

"Cessily asked everyone to be nice to you for as long as possible. You are making it very difficult." She turned to the hallway where she saw Rogue walking with another woman older than her and talking with her. It peaked her curiosity a bit. "Who was that woman?"

"That's Lucinda Guthrie. Jay's mom." Sooraya sprung up from her seat and hurried to catch up with them to apologize to Jay's mother for not trying to save Jay. It tore her up that she could have done something to save him...but she didn't in the end.

"Sooraya! Don't...don't keep beating yourself up." He hated that she was blaming herself for something she didn't even do. He turned to Vic with some annoyance in his voice. "Way to go, lizard boy. You're out."

"What?!" What'd he say?

-Jay's Room-

Lucinda looked around her son's room and began to reminisce about the old days when he was still here, when he wasn't himself. "At first, he didn't want to come here. He wants to be with Julia, but I made him come. He wrote to me. He said that in time, the pain eased. It never went away, but it eased. He found friends." She looked at the picture of her son with his team that they took at the end of their first year at the school. "He began to live again." Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a voice coming from the doorway.

"Mrs. Guthrie?"

Rogue turned around to see who it was. "Dust?"

Sooraya took off the headpiece of her burqa so that Mrs Guthrie could see the sadness and guilt written on her face. She tried to speak but the words would not let themselves be said due to the pain. "I...I..."

"You must be Sooraya. My boy told me what a beautiful person you are." She spoke so calm and collectedly to the young student, she heard many things about Sooraya from her son. Sooraya soon broke down in tears and clung to Lucinda with sorrow. Rogue shed tears of her own at the sight. "Please forgive me!"

Lucinda hugged Sooraya as if she were one of her own, soothing the girls tears and sadness. "Oh, honey...it's ok...it's ok. There's nothing to forgive you for...this isn't your fault."

-Naruto-

After the message from space, he began to explain to Xavier who he was and how he had gotten here from his world. It astonished Xavier quite a bit. Naruto reminded him of his first student Jean, there were many similarities between the two of them but there were a few differences. Either way, Xavier saw great potential as Naruto could become a game changer in many scenarios, and perhaps a true bridge between human and mutant, and coexistence a true reality between the species.

Naruto also had been shown Cerebra, the device that tracked mutants across the world and recruit X-Men and enroll Xavier's earlier students at the school, though now it was used primarily to locate missing mutants and for use in missions. When Xavier had used it, Naruto's eyes were wide with astonishment. But when he saw the true amount of mutants left, he was saddened by the sight, he imagined that before he came here there were millions of lights signifying mutants across the globe.

Xavier had told him that his twisted twin sister, Cassandra Nova had created advanced Sentinels and that she programmed them to wipe out the mutant nation of Genosha, the place he remembered the Ice Queen had talked about when she lost students there. 16 million mutants were wiped out, for no reason at all...Naruto wished that he could have been there to stop the genocide and stop her, perhaps had he arrived, earlier in this dimension, he could have also saved Jean, maybe even stop the events M-Day also, but he would never know.

However, his thoughts went back to the chakra signatures that he sensed two weeks ago, and he needed to find out who it was before they could cause trouble of they were an enemy. "Hey could Cerebra possibly track other types of people too?"

Xavier had responded to his question. "Yes, if tuned to those without the 'X' gene, others can also be tracked. But why do you ask?"

"About the time when I first came here...I felt a chakra signature, twice. I need to find out who this person is and how they got here and find out what they're doing." He was determined to get to the bottom of this.

Hank and Xavier's eyes widened in shock at the fact that he said that there was someone else with his type of energy running around their world, and with unknown motives. Hank spoke up after hearing his words, "I need to gather some of your data and see what we can do about tracking that signature." Hank left in a bit of a fast paced walk that carried urgency. Xavier came up from the chair and took of the Cerebra helmet connecting him to the rest of the world and asked a question of his own, "Are you sure no one else came through the rift with you when you fell?" That may have given one explanation to the signature.

But Naruto shook his head, "No. I know for a fact my Shadow Clone threw Kakashi-Sensei, Sakura and Obito back through the rift that led to our home, and if Sasuke got trapped here too, then I think that the Doc also would've have found him, or I would've encountered Sasuke by now, so it can't be him." He knew that Sasuke would've searched him out and found him by now since more than likely he wouldn't want to stay here in this world. Xavier thought on what he said and it was a rationale explanation.

Hank had made his way to his lab and brought up the computer's log data and history to see if anyone had been poking around where they shouldn't. He brought up the data and saw that only he had been in it, so the data was secure...but that didn't mean he was going to take a chance of someone eventually sneaking in and stealing it, so he grabbed what he needed to help track the signature and destroyed the data.

So many things and problems could have been accomplished and solved with it in the future, but events at the moment would put that on hold for who knows how long. If the advancements that he made were somehow released as of now, there would be no telling on how much destruction would be caused if in the wrong hands. That and he would need Naruto's input and help in dealing with them in order to minimize any and all risk posed in dealing with the chakra, if he would even allow it that is.

Hank returned to Cerebra with the data and the three of them began to work on modifying Cerebra to track any chakra signature outside of Naruto's own.

-Kevin-

"NO!" Kevin woke up in a cold sweat. The nightmares were getting worse by the day. He sat up and curled into a ball against the wall, folding his arms up in front of his face to hide the horror from the elderly woman.

The woman apparently was watching him thrash around in his sleep, and asked him about it, whilst stating the obvious. "The dream again. What is it that scares you so? That you've done something horrible? Or that you like it?"

"I told you what happens when I use my powers. What happens to people...I see it happening all the time, whether I'm asleep or awake. What would God let something like me exist?" He muffled loudly behind his arms, almost on the boarder of crying his eyes out. He did his best to hold the tears in.

"Your gift is a blessing." The woman tried to male him see a good side to his ability, but was fruitless with his next response.

"It's a curse!" He put the emphasis on curse primarily as he yelled out.

She hadn't moved an inch from her position in the bed, and began to lecture him on accepting that he was who he was, otherwise...how be happy and live with himself. "Poor, poor Kevin. You're such a good, pure soul. For weeks, you've helped me, taken care of me. Talked to me. But your hatred of yourself is holding you back. Death is part of the natural world. Your gift was meant to be used. Only when you accept yourself will you achieve your heart's desire."

"Never. I'll never use my powers again." Not after he hurt Laurie on M-Day, he just couldn't bear the thought of him accidently hurting or even killing another one of his friends. It's why he ran away to 'protect' them in his eyes.

"Not even to save a life? Would you kill to save my life? Would you take the life of the man who killed your friends?"

"What did you say?"That caught his attention. The woman began to talk some more, but he otherwise just more than likely had filtered her words in one ear and out the other.

"We are not so different, Kevin. Did I ever tell you about my gift? To be one with death. To sense souls as they are freed. I felt your friends...Xavier's new children. I felt them die. They were so young. So pure and innocent. So many children, so painfully taken. They suffered, Kevin. Such pain. Killed by humans." He got up out of the apartment and ran outside to the nearest phone booth to make confirm what the woman just said to him.

-Cessily and Laurie's Room-

"So...is your mom really having you go back?" Cessily asked her roommate, or soon-to-be ex-roommate after tonight.

"Yeah. Mom doesn't want me up here after what's been happening, even though I tried my best to convince her that I should stay." She had her things packed and ready to go save for tonight to head home with her mom, as she too would be staying at the Institute for tonight's memorial service. Suddenly the room's phone rang up with no caller ID prompting the girls to ignore it, but it kept ringing for a while before Cessily finally had enough and picked up the line.

"Hello?" But she was soon shocked for words as she heard the voice on the other end.

"Is it true?!" Kevin's voice had the tones of desperation and sorrow in it as he spoke over the line.

"Ohmigod...Kevin." She was honestly speechless...she hadn't heard his voice in what seemed like forever. Laurie's eyes shot open in surprise as well, ever since Naruto healed her hand, she hadn't had a chance to tell him that it wasn't his fault for what happened to her arm.

"Is it true?! Tell me Cessily!" He was getting impatient due to the lack of an answer from his former teammate.

"Put him on speaker." Cessily hit the button and Kevin's voice soon became enraged. "Where is Laurie?!"

"Kevin! It's alright, I'm here with Cessily! But please...come home..." Laurie was beginning to cry with Cessily at the pain they all had endured in the last few days.

"Who all died? Who?!" Now he knew that at least she was alive and alright...yeeeeaaah, if only he knew the truth...

They were hesitant at first, just remembering the night of the bus attack, so Cessily spoke up. "Everyone that lost their powers...except David..." She then broke down in tears with Laurie trying to hold back hers still and holding Cessily by her arms trying to comfort her roommate. "...oh, God, Kevin...please...please just come home...we can talk when..."

"I can't! I can't risk hurting or killing anyone again! Not after I hurt Laurie!" He yelled out. Cessily tried one last time to convince him to come home. "Please...just come home. Don't...Kevin...please...don't do this..." But he hung up on her the next minute, leaving the girls to their pain.

-Kevin's Apartment-

The elderly woman was sleeping soundly as SWAT units busted down the door with their weapons raised and ready to fire at a moments notice. Two of them had the door while two others held their guns at the woman, but they had their guard down and the woman reached out and grabbed their arms, draining the life from them.

It seemed to empower her as her eyes turned blood red and, giving her a vampiric appearance...but it was a given to who she truly was. The officers on the door opened fire on her and shot her several times in the chest, slamming her against the wall, seemingly killing her. Kevin heard the gunshots and ran upstairs to see his friend dead, slumped up against the wall. "NOOOOO!" He grabbed of anger without his gloves and killed the officers, withering them away to dusty, mummified husks.

Kevin slumped to his knees and was staring at his hands in horror that he had used his powers again...he had taken lives out of anger, something he was taught back at the Institute. "What have I done?" His hand shook as he spoke.

But then a new, unfamiliar voice came over the room, with a sympathetic, and yet commanding tone. "You've become who you were meant to be Wither. You are death. Pure and simple."

It was the elderly woman...or so he thought, judging by the dust obscuring his vision. "I don't...I don't understand...they killed you." Then her appearance changed drastically as the dust settled. "But I am immortal. We are the same, Wither. We are killers." Now in place of the elderly woman, there was now a young raven haired woman in a dominatrix outfit, smiling down on him over the corpses. She was Selene: Former Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, and longtime enemy of the X-Men.

She began to pick him up by his chin with her fingers up to head level and spoke to him in a seducing manner. "Now that you have embraced the truth, I can give you everything you have ever wanted..." She got closer to his face and was very close to kissing him. "This is what you want, Wither. This is what you were meant to be. No more fear. No more running. All you have to do is say 'yes,' and I will be your queen."

Then they kissed for several minutes and Kevin gave her his answer. "Yes." He was now a part of her new and growing Inner Circle.

-The Institute-

Night had fallen and the memorial service was about to commence, but before it did, Lucinda Guthrie said a last few words to her son's friends. "When Sam was young, the world hated special boys like him. When he discovered he was different than other kids, he was scared...so was I. But then Charles Xavier brought him to this school. Here my son blossomed and became a man. This place gave Sam and my other children something I thought they'd never have...hope."

Naruto took in her words, and saw that she was a very open and accepting woman, who had come to terms with the lifestyle that her children had taken up. As she said the last word, a new image popped into his head...it was him in what looked like an ANBU outfit with his mask off and he was hugging a little red-head girl, in a mini X-Uniform who was crying tears of sadness, but also...happiness? As it seemed with her ever twisting mouth trying to form words. He snapped out of it immediately and turned his attention back to Lucinda.

"Joshua loved it here. He loved ea h and every one of you. You are his family. Horrible things have happened...I've lost my son. Melodie lost her gift. But I still believe. I believe in the dream that Charles Xavier told me when I brought my first child here. The X-Men are the light in the darkness. They represent hope, hope for a better world. And while I worry for Sam and Paige, I could never tell them to stop fighting for that dream. Because inside this place, that dream is already real...and you are the ones who will make it a reality outside of these walls. My son believed that and I do too. We miss you Joshua, and love you with all of our hearts."

Everyone was dressed in black the evening of the service. The men in suits, and the women in dresses, while Naruto was in his Shinobi funeral attire from the funeral from the previous days. They each held a candle in a cone and carried them out with them to the graveyard, where Kitty began her speech. "We remember John Proudstar and Sean Cassidy. We remember Jean Grey. We remember Sarah Vale, we remember Mark Sheppard, Andrea Marguiles, Floyd Carter, Callie Betto. We remember Brian Cruz. We remember Sammy Pare and Jeffery Garret. We remember Esme and Sophie Cuckoo. We remember..."

Kitty began to choke up at the next two names, but she managed to recompose herself. "…we remember Doug Ramsey. And Illyana Rasputin. I miss you. We remember Joshua 'Jay' Guthrie."

Emma put a hand on Cessily's arm to comfort her, and she soon sensed Ms Marvel in the area, and looked at the corner of her eye and saw that she was in the back of the crowd. Most likely here once again as a friend and not an Avenger in business, here to honor those lost before, on, and after M-Day.

"We remember all the mutants lost on M-Day, and the students lost to the violence in the days thereafter. We gather together for support, to never be alone. To remember those we loved. To respect their memories, and to keep them alive in out hearts. Let them be at peace. We will never forget you."

Kitty's speech hit Naruto, as he thought back to all of those that died in his world to protect him, and the Leaf Village from the Akatsuki. 'Mom...Dad...Pervy Sage...Asuma-Sensei...Neji...Old Man Sarutobi...Nagato...Konan...Itachi...I'll remember each and every one you. Even you Obito in your final moments, you found yourself once again. After loosing sight of your path, and you tried to redeem yourself and save me...to be honest, I never thought I'd say these words but...thank you...for trying to do the right thing in the end.'

After the service ended, Naruto retired to his room for the night and ate Ramen in his bed while watching some TV. Once he finished up he sealed the empty cartons in a scroll for disposal later and decided to try and talk to Jean, as he knew her now. He got into his position and began meditating into the white room, and soon found himself in there as he opened up his eyes. He looked around to see that she was waiting for him, and she had a somewhat worried look on her face...'This doesn't seem good.'

"Indeed." She responded. Of course, she was a telepath and technically she could read his every thought in here. So he asked what was nagging him the back of his head.

"Ok, so...I've been having these visions or something lately in the last few days, and I have no clue how they're coming to me, this has never happened to me before. Do you have any idea?" He hoped that she may have some sort of answer, and thankfully he got one.

"It may be due to your intrusion into here: The White Hot Room. Here, one can view events of the future and see the effects of the choices one makes and their consequences. I have seen many timelines, events, and futures from here." She turned and waved her right hand and many 'screens' appeared out of nowhere in front of them and showed multiple people that looked similar and different within different events taking place.

Naruto was in awe of what he was seeing, it was similar to what he saw back in Kaguya's dimension before he fell down the tear that brought him here. "But wait, why can I only see a few things, my visions have been around some girl I don't even know, and you too. I saw some sort of vision where you were alive and you were like, my age or something." That's what he wanted to know.

Jean's eyes widened at that last sentence, she honestly had no answer to it all, it felt like she had lost a bit of her omnipotence ever since she ascended into the White Hot Room when the Phoenix came to her once again, and then scattered itself prompting her to put it back together and return one day to her original plane of existence. "I...don't know...it's odd, but perhaps some of this place latched onto you, when you first came here. And recently...I have lost some of the visions, in which they may now come to you I stead. How often, I cannot say for sure, but, do not try to change them, for the future that you see, may never come to be."

Naruto took in her words and nodded in acceptance of what was of his situation. And so, he decided to ask more on Jean herself for the rest of the night. Jean smiled gladly and motioned for him to sit down in a chair adjacent from another that had been placed facing front towards the other, and so Jean's story began.

And done! Yeah, it's an interlude chapter and not part of Mercury Falling arc, but I felt like I had to do this chapter for whatever reason. But anyway, hope you guys like this chapter as I had Naruto and Xavier talk with one another and see how they view each other. Make sure to swing by my profile and vote on your favorite girl for him to be paired with, and continue to read, favorite, follow and review, no flames please as they will be deleted. See you guys next time :)

One thing I would like to address is when you guys post a review, saying "Great" or "Awesome Chapter" is cool and all, but let me know what you specifically liked and disliked about the chapter, giving me just that doesn't help me to become a better writer, so please in future reviews, don'tbe afraid to say more, thanx guys :)