Well...

I'm sorry that I'm a couple of days late with the update.

And that my pictures are taking so long. I'm going to disappoint you when you see how bad they are...

But whatever. Another boring chapter for you to read... I'm a little discouraged that I didn't meet my goal of 50 reviews...

But that's whatever also. The story must go on! Anyway, this chapter is boring and short. Sorry for the disappointment...

Anyway, try to enjoy! I hope you like it! And if you have any ideas for names, go ahead and send them to me.

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution or any of its characters.

Claimer: I own Mneme because I made her up.

Chapter Twenty-One

Mneme opened her eyes wide, only to see an Olympic sized pool in front of her, flames all around the room. The heat was extremely intense, but for some reason her powers weren't working. Unconcerned, she crawled across the hot concrete, but was stopped abruptly by a shackle around her ankle. Paying no heed, she merely glanced at it before peering down into the water. A figure distorted by the rippling water seemed to be down there, thrashing wildly. Her eyes grew wide when she realized that it was Pietro. Immediately she tried to use her powers to lift him out, but they were still inaccessible. When she felt around her neck, there was her first collar—only there was no keyhole. She looked down at the helpless Mutant, also shackled, and he looked at her with pleading eyes.

Heart pounding, she knew that she must've been kidnapped in her sleep—how else was someone supposed to get to her unless her powers were "shut off"? More importantly, how was she supposed to get Pietro out? Yanking on her hair in frustration, the heat closing in on her, Mneme decided that her only option was to try and pull him out. She laid on her belly, outstretching her hand towards Pietro's, the chain pulling on their ankle to the point of bleeding. Their fingertips were mere inches away from each other, but no matter how hard either of them reached, it was impossible for them to touch. Mneme was getting to the point of panicking when she realized that the fires were getting closer and closer, but her main concern was Pietro—he'd probably been in there a good two minutes, so he was probably starting to run out of breath. This is just a simply to tease me, for someone's own amusement, Mneme thought to herself. She shook her head to clear the thought and focused on her ankle, trying to see any way that her heel would be able to fit through the shackle, but it was gracefully bent to fit tight against her skin. Only one mutant was able to bend metal with that precision: Magneto. Mneme snarled, but looked up when suddenly the fire cleared to the edges of the room. "Pyro," she hissed, looking up at him. "What do you want?" she demanded, her voice coated with hate but hoarse from all the smoke.

He shrugged. "Just here to see how you're doing, and you're still alive, so you must be doing pretty well," he said, a wide and playful grin stretching across his face. Fire danced in his eyes, urging him to take his revenge on her—although it was simply a few comments from before, during the night of Pietro's and Mneme's date, Pyro was bound to hold a grudge on someone that spoke to him so lowly.

"Who's in on this?" Mneme yelled at him, her throat burning. "Is it just Magneto, or was it all your idea?"

"Whoa, take it easy!" he said, taunting her because he knew she was in such a bad situation. "Magneto's orders, it had nothing to do with me, besides the fact that I'll be the one setting you on fire, as I've attempted before—although you're not too powerful now, so I'm guessing you'll get nice and crispy this time," Pyro chuckled, pinching Mneme's cheek and shaking her head back and forth as if she was a toddler. She jerked away, not in the mood for his antics. "He told me that you have to die because you're the most power Mutant, blah, blah, blah, kill you since he doesn't want the X-Men to have you, and the silver rat over there," he continued, jutting his thumb over his shoulder in Pietro's direction, "is dying as his punishment, blah, blah, blah, in love with you, blah, blah, blah, lied to Magneto, not being himself, acting all nice around you, not being pompous as usual, and being a weak link, blah, blah, blah…the whole Magneto shebang." Mneme furrowed her brow angrily.

"So are you going to kill us?" she asked, looking up at him with the same hatred she held with Magneto. She glanced at Pietro, who had probably been holding his breath for about four minutes since Mneme woke.

Pyro tapped a finger on his chin, seeming to be thinking about it. But he wasn't. "I am, but it's a hard decision on whether or not I should make you suffer or not…" Mneme stiffened—she had to get Pietro out. She didn't care if she lived, for some reason, but as long as Pietro survived, she wouldn't care.

Forcing the thought of Pyro from her mind, she turned to look down into the pool, Pietro's eyes half closed. He was close to drowning, but the water was evaporating from the fire…. If he was able to hold his breath just a little longer, he might be able to get air. "Hold on, Pietro!" she pleaded, forcing the edge of the pool underneath her arm joint and separating it from the socket, dislocating her arm. Forcing back a painful scream, she used her right arm to direct it to Pietro since it hurt too much to do it normally, but he had passed out. "No, this can't be happening!" she said, angry with herself for not thinking of it before. Mneme was almost close enough to reach his head, but it wasn't enough to grip his hair. Quickly thinking, she used her right arm to pull her shackled leg out of its socket, which took a lot of strength, but her adrenaline powered her enough to get her through it. It was so painful to hold her arm reaching toward him that she actually started screaming in pain. From her collarbone down was still on the concrete, but the rest was over the pool. Hot vapor rose into her face, slightly clouding her vision. She moved her left arm over, finding that she was close enough to grab hold of his hair. He was sinking to the bottom from lack of air, though. His hands were lifted up from the declension, floating up while his head was sinking down. She reached out as far as she could, trying to get his hand, but she just couldn't reach, and then the fire was upon her.

Gasping, she sat up, eyes clenched tight, her throat burning. Sweat poured from her skin and her eyes still stung from the fire, yet she was only in her room. Looking out the window, she saw that the sun was just coming over the trees, indicating that it was probably about ten-thirty. She wiped the sweat from her face, and her heart still pounded. Vowing never to conceal her powers fully ever again, she turned her collar to the fourth notch, not quite sure if she was ready for the fifth one. When drops started hitting her blanket after she had cleared the perspiration, she noticed that she was crying. Her lip started trembling and before she knew it, sobs were escaping her mouth quite loudly. Mneme wasn't sure why, since it all had just been a dream, but she couldn't find a way to stop it.

"Mneme? Are you, like, okay?" Kitty asked from the other side of her door. Settling that she wasn't, Kitty phased in without permission, holding a foamy toothbrush in her hand. "What's wrong?" she asked, putting an arm around her friend. Mneme reached behind her and pulled out a pillow, stuffing her face in it to muffle the sobs. She shook her head and used her powers to stifle the crying, forcing it back inside.

"I…I just got scared, that's all," she assured, which wasn't very assuring at all because not much scared her. Kitty grimaced at her voice.

"It sounds like you just came out of a fire," she said concernedly. Mneme frowned at how right she was. "And you're all sweaty. What happened? Did you have another bad dream since you decided to go to sleep?" How did she know?!

Mneme looked at her with an odd expression. She didn't sense any new powers, so how was she figuring all this out? "Yes, it just frightened me, that's all. I—"

"Hey!" Kurt yelled in her face, teleporting onto her bed from who knows where. Kitty fell to the floor, but Mneme was unaffected. She caught the toothbrush before it hit the floor and handed it back to Kitty. "I heard you crying. Vhat's wrong?" Kitty glared at him, but he tried to ignore her. Kitty rose up and stared Kurt down, but he remained crouching over Mneme.

"She had a bad dream, that's what," Kitty explained, calming herself down before she blew any circuits. Kurt looked at Mneme with concern.

"That hothead vasn't in here like last time, vas he?" he asked, clearly trying to make a connection to Pietro. Mneme frowned at him, shaking her head and knitted her brows together with a slight discontent. He rubbed his chin in thought, which in Mneme's eyes didn't really fit because Kurt usually wasn't one to do thinking. "Vell, maybe you should come to church vith me."

"Church?" Mneme asked. It only took her a few seconds for her powers to figure out exactly what a church was. "I don't know…. I've never been to one of those before. I take that it's a Catholic church, right?"

Kurt nodded. "How did you know?"

Mneme's shoulders dropped with exasperation. "I have a ton of powers—don't you think that one of them would be able to tell what religion you are? Just like Kitty is Jewish."

"Oh…" the two said in unison, clearly surprised and not willing to underestimate her power limits.

"I guess I'll come. I should be ready by eleven, which is when it starts, right?"

"Yeah," Kurt said sheepishly, still not expecting her powers to see that deep into things. She snapped her fingers and was ready in an instant, her clothes formal and her hair braided. "Let's go get some breakfast!" Kurt yelled in excitement, jumping off the bed and over to the door.

Kitty raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you already have breakfast? I saw you in the kitchen," she pointed out, suspecting something.

Kurt raised his hands up defensively and put on an innocent face. "No, I didn't eat anything this morning—I vas just looking to see vhat my choices vere…"

"Then why is there a whole bologna sandwich in your stomach?" Mneme asked, giving Kitty something to work with.

Kitty's jaw dropped, looking at Kurt with pure disgust. "You had a bologna sandwich for breakfast and you ate it whole?!" she said in disbelief, unmistakably disgusted.

Kurt looked at her expressionlessly. "Vould you like one?" he asked with a shrug. She pulled the head of her toothbrush back in response, ready to fling toothpaste foam at him. He teleported away just in time to dodge the froth, but the loud popping noise coming from the room below indicated where he was, so Kitty sank through the floor and chased after him, both laughing.

They act perfectly fine together when they forget about Amanda and Lance… Mneme thought to herself. So why can't they just forget about them and admit that they love each other? It confused Mneme, perhaps because she didn't know as much about love as they did. It was said to be a complicated thing, but it wasn't complicated to her. Just choose who appealed to you most, get to know whoever it was, and then stay together and have lots of babies. Wasn't that it? Or was it something different? Mneme had the feeling that she was missing something…

A knock at the door made her jump almost out of her skin; she had been so absorbed by her thoughts that not even her automatic powers had sensed Jean coming. "The Professor would like to speak to you…now," she added when Mneme let out a small groan of protest. Without any further hesitation, Mneme stepped out of bed, the embroidered sea-green skirt she was wearing trailing on the floor, and teleported herself to the Professor's office. She saw him sitting by the window, looking out with a longing expression, not seeming to notice that she was there.

"You called?" she reminded, breaking his train of thought. Looking up from where he had been staring down into the yard, his eyes met hers with a slight frown. Mneme's insides felt tight with anger as she realized that he was going to comment on her behavior displayed the night before. "I wasn't overreacting last night!" she protested before Xavier had even spoken. "And even though the thought has weighed on my mind heavily, I still disagree that Pietro would ever do that to me—ever."

"Mneme, you seem to be forgetting that Quicksilver is Magneto's son, and his only son. He's not one prone to failure, so he's probably making sure Quicksilver doesn't slip up—on anything," he said reminiscently. Xavier was calm, completely understanding Mneme's point, but he wanted her to see where he was coming from.

She sighed, letting out her anger; after all, he was only trying to look out for her. "Thanks, but I'm certain that Pietro is more on my side than Magneto's," she assured with a confident smile. "If anything goes wrong between Pietro and me, which I doubt, it won't be because of him. Trust me, I can handle myself."

The Professor didn't look very convinced. "I know you can handle yourself, but if you get upset and start using your powers to express your emotion, I doubt we'll be able to handle you." Mneme's face fell; she hadn't thought of the others at all, and that made her feel selfish and ignorant. Shamefully she looked down at her feet. "You're an extremely powerful Mutant, and I don't want anything to happen to you or anyone else because of an emotional problem." Mneme looked up at him and tilted her head sympathetically, although she hardly had any sympathy for them at all. "Another thing I've noticed is that your personality seems to change ever so slightly each time you switch to a different notch on your collar." She looked up suddenly, knowing that he thought she was going back to her ruthless, uncontrollable state.

Holding up her hands in denial, she explained, "I'm not becoming an emotionless monster like before—I'm just figuring out my personality and such." Her voice sounded slightly desperate, clearly stating that she didn't want to go back to solitary confinement. "I promise you that I'll straighten everything out soon," she vowed with a reassuring smile. The Professor nodded, trusting that she would hold her word. "Well, it's almost eleven, so Kurt and I had better get going to the church," she said as she departed, teleporting to where Kurt was waiting outside with his button-up shirt tucked into some casual dress pants. Mneme fixed the collar to her own bottle green button-up. The breeze easily lifted the thin fabric to her long, layered skirt, her silhouette ever-changing against the concrete driveway.

"Thank goodness you're here," Kurt said with a tone of relief. "I thought you veren't coming for a few seconds." He held out his hand as an offer to teleport them both, but Mneme simply snapped her fingers and they were a few yards from the parking lot. Across the street, there was a man smoking in front of an apartment building, and in front of them was a tall white church with abstract stained glass in the tall windowpanes. The two walked across the parking lot and through the big doors leading to the chapel. Many people were sitting in the pews, but there were plenty loquacious ones standing and chatting. Almost like a routine, as soon as the priest came out, everyone locked it up and took their seats in the pews. Kurt and Mneme sat down in the back, her eyes glued to the priest with curiosity.

"Good morning, everyone," the old man said with a surprisingly loud voice. Everyone replied with a drone of greetings that couldn't be made out when said all at once.

"Guten morgen," Kurt said, his voice lost with the others. Mneme was silent, wondering why anyone would reply at all if their voices weren't even singled out.

"If you would please," he started again, "take out your bibles and turn to the first page of Genesis." Kurt opened the one he had brought along while Mneme had to resort to one of the ones provided, placed in holders along the backs of the pew. The pages of The Holy Bible were thin and written in columns, the spaces between the words creating images unseen to the naked eye. Mneme looked at them with interest, seeing that a few of them were hands, a few were eyes. She read the page within a millisecond, ignoring what the priest had to say or what he read aloud. Turning the pages at an unbelievable rate, she was finished with the book in only a mere course of seconds, maybe three.

Jesus. Mneme said the name in her head, but even though she knew everything about every religion, there was something missing, something she didn't understand. He was kind and caring, but how could he give up his own life? —and just for Humans, who had betrayed him! It didn't make any sense to her. With a sigh of annoyance, she furrowed her brow and tried to make sense of it. After a few minutes she gave up, unable to tell heads or tails of Jesus's decision. Closing the book and putting it back in the holder, Mneme looked up when she felt a heat on her cheek, her powers making her skin sensitive. She squinted her eyes and looked through the wall and across the street, only to see the apartment building across the street was up in flames, people gathering around, too cowardly to rush in and save any victims. Alarmed, Mneme teleported out, using her powers to make sure no Humans noticed she was ever there. She pushed her way to the front of the crowd and looked at the building that had flames reaching desperately out each window. In the distance there was the sound of sirens coming faintly over the roars of the fire. Clapping her hands together and spreading her feet to brace herself, she faced her palms toward the building and a wide jet of water shot out at the flame, but it wasn't enough.

And Mneme knew this. People gasped and yelled as they realized she was a Mutant, stepping back away from her. She stopped, knowing she was going to have to either turn the dial on her collar or resort to something else. Deciding that releasing more of her powers was too risky, she produced a giant fire hydrant out of the ground, about twenty feet wide. People were yelling in fright, and at that point the two fire trucks had pulled up, but they saw that they were no longer needed now that a fifty-foot tall hydrant was putting the fire out. Mneme was standing in front of it, making sure that the water wasn't being shot out too hard; if it did, the building's bricks would get blown away and people could get hurt by flying debris or the water itself. She raised her hands and sensed all the individual beings inside, pulling them forward and phasing them through the walls. A few were slightly burnt, but most were unharmed. She lowered them to the ground, releasing her grip on them and returning the road to its original state once the fire was out. The shocked and crying people found their families, hugging each other in relief, glad that no one was hurt. The fire fighters went over and looked people over for burns and injuries, and Mneme just stood, about to walk away unnoticed when she saw a rolled up blanket on the ground. She stood still for a few moments, something telling her that it was more than just a rolled up blanket.

Her eyes were glued to it as she weaved throughout the urgent people, trying to get to the infant so she could reunite it with a worried mother or father. She dodged the people running around and trying to find loved ones or pets, and when she got to the sidewalk she knelt down next to the little girl. She was sleeping soundly, unaware of anything. "Let's find your parents," Mneme said sweetly, holding her hand to the baby's forehead and picking though her memories, trying to find out who her parents were. She couldn't find any remembrance of a mother, but she recognized the father as the man who had been smoking the cigarette right before she and Kurt went inside the church. The little girl's memory showed the father lighting a cigarette, walking across the apartment, and slamming the door behind him. Mneme could sense that the father didn't want to take care of the child on his own, and he didn't have any intentions of coming back. She pulled her hand away and drew in a sharp breath when she realized something. "You're a Mutant," she whispered, surprised. Mneme picked up the child and walked over to the dripping building, putting her hand on where the father had been leaning on the wall. She closed her eyes and saw what the man had done after they went into the church: He had been smoking, and after one last drag of the cigarette he tossed it into the window that he had left open. Apparently their apartment had been on the bottom floor. So was him who started the fire? He was trying to kill this baby… Mneme concluded, opening her eyes and returning her attention to the girl. She had dark green spikes that fell over her face for hair, and her peachy skin was toned with pink cheeks.

Pop!

Kurt appeared next to her, a ring of smoke dissipating from his teleportation. "Vhy did you leave? I looked over and you vere gone. Is everything—whose is that?" he asked, stopping in mid-sentence abruptly. His worried look clearly showed that he expected something out of the ordinary.

"She's mine now." Mneme answered, stroking the baby's soft cheek gently.

Kurt yelled in unease and jumped backwards; he obviously hadn't expected that. "Vhat, are you crazy?! You could get in so much trouble for taking someone's baby!"

Mneme looked up at him with a heated expression. "She has no parents; her father left her, and I'm not leaving a Mutant to the orphanage—who knows how they would discriminate her, or possibly lead her down the wrong path?" She scooped her up in her arms and held her close. "I suppose I should go back home—are you staying for the rest of the service?" Kurt shook his head.

"Vonce they saw that the people vere getting out of the fire, they all came rushing out." He gestured with his thumb behind him, and indeed the churchgoers were outside, curious about what had happened.

"Alright. Let's go. I have to tell Xavier about this," Mneme said, taking Kurt's arm and teleporting them into the courtyard, where everyone was enjoying the sunshine. Xavier was next to Hank, watching the teens play basketball, who were cheating with their powers occasionally. Mneme held the baby close, making it seem like nothing but a rolled up blanket in her arms.

"Back so soon?" Hank asked, his voice, as usual, very friendly.

Kurt nodded. "The building across the street vent up in flames, but Mneme put it out and saved everyone." She outstretched her arms to reveal the girl, still sleeping. Xavier and Hank looked at it curiously, awaiting an explanation.

"She has no parents—her father left her and set the apartment on fire. She's a Mutant," she added, clearly showing that she was expecting her to stay. Hank gave him an uneasy glance, but Xavier stayed looking at Mneme. "She can't go to the orphanage—what if she hurts someone? Or what if they mistreat her?" she said challengingly, trying to convince him that the girl could stay. Xavier closed his eyes and clasped his hands over his mouth, unsure of what to tell her.

He couldn't keep a baby at the institute without the parents' permission; it was the law. But if what Mneme said was true, he couldn't leave the baby alone or in the hands of an uncaring father…. "If you can get some adoption papers filled out and possibly get the father to sign it—"

A puff of smoke appeared and a pile of papers emerged in the air. "Here they are, completely filled out and legally signed by the father." She grabbed them out of the air and handed them to Xavier.

Xavier sighed; he knew that the father hadn't really agreed and that Mneme just used her powers to make him hold a pen and sign his name, but how could he refuse a Mutant in need? Especially a baby? "Alright, she can stay."

"Who can stay?" Jean asked curiously, overhearing, completely disrupting the basketball game.

"What? Is there, like, someone knew?"

"It'd better not be Maximoff…" Evan said with a vengeance, walking up behind everyone else as they gathered around. Mneme pulled the blanket from over the child's face so they could see her.

"Aw!" Kitty squealed, covering her face with her hands in her excitement. "She's adorable!"

"I want one," Jean said jokingly as she ruffled the child's hair. Scott tensed up a bit and looked slightly worried at her words.

"Where'd it come from?" Rogue asked her with a hint of disgust in her voice, knowing that she couldn't have become pregnant and birthed something overnight—or could she have? Mneme's powers enabled her to do a lot of things, that possibly being one of them…

"What'd you name it?" Evan asked, glad that Pietro wasn't going to be joining the X-Men. Mneme shrugged.

"Oh, you should name her Chelsi!"

"Ew! No way! You should totally name her Kelsie."

"What about Helga?"

Everyone looked at Jean with concern: Helga wasn't exactly the most impressive choice.

"Well, since I'm going to be taking care of her, I guess I'll have to think about it before I put her name on the birth certificate," Mneme said, walking past everyone and towards the mansion.

"Wait…there's no name on the birth certificate?" Scott asked, scratching his head.

The others just shrugged, not knowing what Mneme was talking about. In truth, the baby came with a name, but she planned to change it on every single document in the world—not that her name was on very many documents—with just a snap of her fingers, but first she had to decide on a new name. She walked inside the house, up to her room, and made a big cushy crib appear next to her bed. She placed her inside and looked down at her, excited to know what her power—or powers—would be when she got older. "You can get out of my closet, you know," she said, redirecting her focus from the crib. "I knew you were there as soon as I turned the dial on my collar." She looked at her closet door, and when he refused to get out, Mneme pulled him forward with her telekinetic powers, revealing Mastermind, an odd looking fellow with dark circles under his eyes. "Why did you give me that dream?" she asked sternly, stepping over to him. "Well? Talk! I know you're not a mute!" Mneme spat, looking him in the eye with a threatening glare. Gritting her teeth, she produced a jeweled sword out of thin air, pointing it at his throat.

"Wait!" he pleaded, not willing to give his life for a stupid mission. "These could be used to your advantage," he said lowly. Mneme wrinkled her brow.

"What do you mean?" she asked, sensing that he was telling the truth. He didn't hesitate to answer.

"Magneto has been ordering me to torment you with dreams, which was difficult since you never go to sleep, and I don't want to do it, so I've been giving you hints of possibilities you while still making them perturbing enough so where I won't get in trouble…"

Mneme narrowed her eyes. "You're the one who gave me the first dream!" she accused, recognizing the voice. "How are those supposed to help me?!"

"Please, you must understand that if they didn't frighten you, I'd be punished…" Mastermind was trembling as the point of the sword faintly touched his neck. "The first one was so you wouldn't travel back in time and not kill your parents—because that would've made things even worse for you." Mneme's face softened with realization when she heard this: She had never thought about traveling back in time, and her parents probably would have used her for profit if she had, so, like Mastermind said, it was probably best for her that she didn't. "And the second was to warn you what will happen if Quicksilver stays with you."

Her heart stopped from shock, but it wasn't like she needed it anyway. "Explain," she demanded, her face turning hard as granite again.

Taking shallow breaths, he explicated, "Magneto isn't very happy with Quicksilver—in fact, he's already beaten him a few times, but he won't give in. He says he's never going to leave you, so Magneto just gave up and left him in the cell, solitary confinement." Mneme felt a pang in her chest: Pietro was putting up with beatings just to be with her. Did he really think that much of her? "He's thinking of ways to separate you two, and so far he's found nothing." Mneme held the blade sideways against his throat, threatening to slice it open.

"If you ever speak of this to anyone," she said in a hostile hushed voice, "I find you in half a second and make you suffer for a whole eternity. Understand?" Mastermind nodded, so Mneme continued, "If I find you back here, you'll be dead before your brain will even be able to process your next thought." And with that, she backed away and snapped her fingers, the sword and Mastermind disappearing. She straightened up and looked out the window, thoughts of her dreams clouding her mind like a storm a Saturday with plans. Why does it mean so much to Magneto for us to be separated? Mneme asked herself, pondering the thought, but the fourth notch in her collar wasn't releasing enough power for her to pry through faraway minds—not Magneto's, anyway. She knew that he was extremely skilled in concealing his whereabouts and such from others… More importantly, what should I do about Pietro? She considered a few possibilities: Going to save him, letting him work it out on his own, just plain out eliminating all that were against her or the X-Men…

The question nagged her. Her heart was heavy, knowing that Pietro was being punished. He didn't deserve that, and even though Evan—and others—always said what a big jerk he was, she had never seen that side of him, so not even his personality could tip the scale and make that penalty valid. But what if Professor Xavier is right? What if he is just putting on a show? What if he's really just a big jerk like everyone says? she reflected, doubting Pietro, and her towering faith in him started to crumble. But perhaps she was worrying for nothing; after all, Mastermind very well could just be lying about Pietro taking those beatings, even if she didn't perceive a lie…

With a sigh, she walked back over to the crib and looked down at the little girl. She should probably take her to Pietro, to show him the cute little girl and bust him out of wherever he was being kept, then maybe she could figure out more of what's going on with him and Magneto…