Rebekah
I didn't mean it. Believe me honestly and truly when I say it was an accident. I didn't think telling Kitty about the X-Men films would be that bad. Unfortunately, she decided to find out who played who, looked up the actors' profiles then called the other X-Men by their actor's names. After about a week, Logan yelled at her to stop calling him Hugh and Kurt ended up pasting foot-high letters on her bed telling her his name wasn't Alan. I think Scott's still trying to work out why we keep calling him James. In the end, the Professor dragged us up to have a little talk, that resulted in Kitty being unable to think too closely about the X-Men movies and me being forced to promise not to mention them ever, ever again, on pain of extra training sessions with Logan.
So right now, I'm sitting on my bed, with a book, with Queen thumping out of my new laptops speakers. And I have a cat on my lap, a very nice thing, especially when you're reading aloud and he's just listening quietly. Try and avoid reading books about cats to cats. They don't like how we portray them. No, seriously. I gained a few scratches for reading 'The Rats of NIMH' to him. He likes the Inheritance series, but keeps asking me to skip to Solembum's parts. Oh, and he kept making remarks about why humans couldn't just sing to the other about how they liked their hair or something instead of all the being careful and messing up any chance of being together. I can't help but think that cat romance is a lot easier. I've been spending a lot of time with Silver-Paw in the woods, learning to be a cat. It's rather confusing actually. Every movement has meaning and I'm absolutely hopeless at hunting. Stalking, fine. Tracking, superb. Hunting, I walk into stuff and trip over my own feet.
There's a scent of brimstone outside my door and I grin.
"Come in."
Kurt sighs and I know he was just about to knock.
"We're having dinner."
"Not really hungry."
I'm not. Silver-Paw brought me food which I ate in cat-size, which turned out to fill me up even when I went bigger. Which is a good thing to know. Full in cat form, full in human form. The door creaks open.
"Are you still angry about Isaac?"
"Not angry as such. Just…disappointed and slightly hurt."
He crouches down, so his eyes are level with mine.
"It'll always hurt. You just have to find a way to make it cope."
"I know."
"So how do you cope?"
I smile and slip out the little necklace and Kurt just looks at me then nods.
"I will go downstairs now. I hope you'll join us."
I smile and he frowns.
"What are you listening to?"
"Queen. Haven't you heard of them? I thought everyone had."
"Er…"
"Right, I am going to burn you a CD of the best pieces."
"Kitty's already done that with the Dazzler tunes."
"Queen is better. No offence meant to Dazzler, but Queen is music to me."
Kurt just rolls his eyes and backs out, but not before ruffling Silver-Paw's fur.
"See you at dinner."
I nod and then return to my book and stroking Silver-Paw as I read. I'll go down in five minutes.
I know it's only a little thing, but Kurt and Kitty just letting me have space is one of the nicest things they could have done. I reckon I could have dealt with the sudden culture difference if I'd just moved to the US, but moving there and crossing realities, has sort of overloaded all my senses. Every little difference jars me. From the way they drive, to the way they talk, to the way they look. There aren't any old buildings here, not so old they have seen whole dynasties pass. I live –lived –near an old stone tower built during Robert the 2nd's reign. For all you people who haven't a clue about Scottish history, he started ruling in 1371. Old buildings are special to me.
I place the book down, gently ease Silver-Paw off my lap and head down. I may not eat much, but I can talk. About a lot of stuff. Just as long as no one asks me about the X-Men films again…
Isaac
I poked my head over the top of the wall. I could see maybe a hundred armed men. I had been training hard all week and Magneto had finally agreed to let me go out. I could have just told him about the mutants under seige in Texas but for some reason I couldn't explain. I didn't want to.
The mutants were trapped inside a cave of some sort. The exit had been blocked up with a huge boulder. I teleported inside the cave. Instantly, the smell of death hit me in the face like a fist. I walked through the cave confidently, allowing my mind to wander, trying to detect any mutants.
There were two up ahead. I called out to warn them of my approach. Even though I warned them, their eyes glowed black with their power.
"Who are you?" The female questioned viciously.
"My name's Isaac. I'm a mutant. I've come to help."
"We don't need help. We need a miracle."
"Can I speak to your leader?"
The two of them looked at each other. The man nodded and they turned towards me and started to move forwards slowly. I was confused until one of them hit me. I reeled back and retaliated with my own punch. Without warning, they grasped each other's hands and sent a bolt of energy towards me. It hit me like a truck and I fell to the floor.
When I awoke I had a splitting headache. I stood up and looked around. I was in a cave of some sort. I walked to the door and phased through it. On the other side of the wall there were three guards. Sabretooth's training took over instinctually and seconds later the guards were unconscious.
I didn't really want to hurt anyone but I had to talk to their leader and the easy way wasn't working. I scanned the caves in seconds. The most powerful mutant in the area was off to my left so I turned and sped in that direction. When I closed my eyes I could see a burning white light in my head. I felt something probing my mind. Automatically I raised my mental shields like Bekah had taught me. The battle in my brain raged as my assailant tried to break past them. I heard people running towards me. I broke off from the battle and made quick my getaway. I started running again but my legs had turned into mud. I reached out with my mind and I could see a pitch black aura coming towards me. I tried to teleport but my powers had all but left me. I fell to the floor in exhaustion.
Two mutants approached me. I looked up.
One was thickly corded in muscle. He had only one eye and deep scarring all over his face.
The other was small and wiry. His eyes blazed with anger. The bigger one reached down and lifted me off the floor as if I weighed no more than a sack of feathers.
"Why he's no more than a kid!" He exclaimed.
"He could be dangerous. Let's take him to Joseph," The other man said.
"I doubt he's dangerous but okay then."
They both frogmarched me off to see this Joseph, whoever he was, without even letting me try to explain myself. What had I gotten myself into? I stopped trying to struggle. I would just be wasting my energy. After what seemed like an eternity I was thrown into a room where a man sat talking to a boy about my age. When the man saw me he dismissed the boy and turned to stare at me. This man was obviously Joseph.
"Where did you find him?" He asked.
"I felt his presence so I tried to scan him but he blocked my mind. His mental shields are advanced for his age," The smaller man replied.
So this man was a telepath. I tucked that information away for later use.
"He was dead," Joseph said bluntly. Even I was surprised at this information. I think I would remember being dead.
"Dave and Davia brought him here about half an hour ago. They had caught him trying to get through the gate and had killed him when he tried to get by with force."
"Can I say something?" I asked.
"I'd be most grateful," Joseph replied.
"I came here to help you. I'm a mutant. I'm an ex-member of the X-men and I'm now part of the Brotherhood. When I came here, those two sentries' of yours attacked me without cause. As for me being dead. I assume they probably just damaged me a lot and I healed after a while."
There was silence for a minute.
"What I would like to know, is how you got here in the first place? I doubt you just appeared out of thin air."
I smiled. "Actually I did. I'm a power leech, something I suspect, your friends here is. I took Nightcrawlers teleportation powers."
"You're right. My friend there can drain all your energy and stop you using your powers. He can't use them himself though."
"Well the real reason I came here was to help you guys get out. Is there anything I can do?"
"I'm afraid you can't do anything. We're trapped in here and we can't to get everyone out. We'll have our last stand. This is not over."
Only then did I see the battle wounds on them. I had never been the most observant person and only now did I notice the bloody bandage poking out from Joseph's shirt. He turned from me for a second but I caught sight of a raw, open slash down the side of his neck.
"We can help you. I'll call Magneto. He'll help," I said.
"We've tried to get hold of everyone. The Brotherhood, the X-men. You can't get a signal or an internet connection anywhere in these caves," Joseph said wearily.
"I'm sure the X-men are on their way. I saw the file on their computer. They must have hacked it off the government."
"Then why aren't they here?" He suddenly said irritably.
"They'll be here. The X-men don't move until they've planned for every eventuality. They'll be here."
I said more confidently than I felt. What could they do if they did come? And what would they do if they caught me here?