So I've been working on this concept for a very long time…. Months and months so about a year or so on and off. I'm taking elements of this character from other parts of the X-men Universe because while he was a main threat/villain in this one his back story is not as expanded on as his other versions. I did my best to work with what I had and I hope you enjoy! I'm sorry it has taken forever to get from my mind to written form to you, but hopefully you've dealt with me this long that you can forgive me.

Many thanks and much love,

Ris

Disclaimer: I do not own X-men: Evolution.

I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow was the final Dawn, the last sunrise before the Earth and Sun are reshaped into computing elements. -Eliezer Yudkowsky

The babe was a fighter, strong, and the will to survive was strong. Cast aside by his birth parents he was found in the desert by a nomadic group. The small infant was unusual in color with a blue tint to his visage, but the child had survived in the blazing desert for an undetermined amount of time. Survival was the first rule that the travelers held in highest regards. They took the babe and raised him with their ideals. Growing up the boy ventured to many places and was able to meet many different people. Scholars from such far lands sharing in the knowledge that they had amassed. Other travelers to share their rich stories from lands that he could only imagine from their tales. He met merchants attempting to sell their vast wares and strange relics, religious men that spread their different beliefs and gods, and foreign armies that spewed their own thoughts of life and the world.

His family believed in survival. That was their creed and way of life. They traveled across the land, but they needed to survive to do that. The belief that the cardinal rule of survival was to adapt. The world was in a constant state of change and therefore the people of the world also needed to constantly change to grow with it.

As a young boy he was always told he was meant for greatness. The world that he was used to would be no more one day. He was the herald that would bring upon great change. The concept of such a responsibility weighed heavily on his tiny shoulders.

The golden orb that embarked across the sky was shrinking in the distance denoting another day had passed. Another survival won.

In the cave they had taken refuge in held the spark that had been missing for so long. The connection thrummed through the air as it alit an inner complication. The thrumming zinged into a presence that seeped more than just blood or bone deep – it went to the core the very molecular structure that had hidden away a connection that even it was unaware of.

Exhausted the boy slumped against the cavern wall. The sounds of the surrounding terrain gave way to the thrum and eventually it all became background noise. His brain became more and more fuzzy and felt of the white wooly plant one of the tradesmen had showcased. The boy's eyes grew heavier and heavier. The darkness crept in softly on the vestiges of awareness until the silence had engulfed everything. The darkness led through to dreamscape as a friend leading another into their home for a social call.

The boy moved into the light as the darkness faded away. Confusion swept through him as the world he had entered was not his own. He shuffled his feet before stumbling onto his hands and knees. The ground beneath his feet were cobbled together with what appeared to be a strange stone. His breathing grew erratic and he struggled to take in this strange new world. There were torches that held what appeared to be the stars instead of flame. The glow twinkled and lit up the path and foreign surroundings. The air felt completely different. This had a chill reminiscent of the desert night, but felt heavy with water. The boy's breathing did not calm as it was more and more difficult to take in air. He felt like the description of those that had been left out in the desert too long. His eyes finally adjusted to the darkness and odd torches. He gathered himself and regained his composure as he fought to his feet. He stumbled but rushed forward racing forward into more unknown. The path led to another corner as he flung himself around the edge he forced his body to slam into a sudden stop.

The darkness of the night split open by a burst of unnaturally colored light. His eyes felt as if they had been stabbed. He recoiled back into the shelter the dark corner had given as a respite. The boy looked on into a sea of people. There were so many. So like the great cities near his home there were tens of thousands of people dressed in vibrant fabrics rushing too and for. They were going by each other without acknowledgement. Eyes looking but not seeing. Bodies talking but not speaking. Strangers hearing without listening. As if their very souls were composing a musical masterpiece without ever being shared or having others listen to it. The silence was unbearable. It was suffocating. The boy felt as if he was drowning in a river of silence. Swallowed up by the crowd.

He opened his mouth but his voiced failed him. He tried again and again as the sky began to cry rivulets of water. His mouth opened again and the words that spewed forth were only echoed by the silence of the rain. The boy watched the crowd of strangers busy themselves with mindless puttering. He stretched his arms out to try and reach for them, but it was like trying to hold on to the grains of sand. They danced around him. They passed by and out of sight and that moment brief as it was of fate trying them together become nonexistent. Ignored him as if he was a phantom that was not even there.

Some stopped to stare at the flashing lights while others hustled along past them. Most had their heads bowed in a mockery of prayer as they forced and weaved their way through the throng of people. The lights flashed out their caution, but it seemed as if the people were not taking heed of their warnings. The strange letters and pictures flashing around made no sense to the boy; however, his mind began to process them as if he knew in his soul – in his very essence – what they were trying to tell him. The words that they were unable to speak out loud were everywhere. The words were written in the very center of the universe itself. The words unspoken of the future were on the walls around them, underneath them, whispered in the unassuming silence around them, and in their very unacknowledging naïve souls.

The boy began to fade away with the whisperings still clinging to him. He was meant for greatness. He was meant for more. Seeing whatever nightmare this was come true felt wrong. He must remake the world in the image of the whisperings. He would grow stronger and develop the tools needed to survive and cultivate his garden and children. The whispers became a hum buzzing in the back of his mind as he groggily regained himself back in the cave. It was as if he had never left. The images nor the feeling inside him had happened before, and he wasn't aware that the images would never happen again in the manner of a prophetic dream.

The boy was not meant to be a prophet. His life was already decided that he would amass power and survive. However, the whispers clung to the buzz of another world that lingered in the desert that called out to anyone that could hear them. The boy had the ability and his soul resonated in a manner that the buzz latched onto him.

The man was a fighter, strong, and his will to survive was unbreakable. He was always told he was meant for greatness. The world that he was used to would be no more one day. He was the herald that would bring upon great change. This responsibility was what pushed him to survive.

The golden orb that embarked across the sky was shrinking in the distance denoting another day had passed. Another survival won.

Hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again in the sound of silence.

Okay, so it most definitely did not turn out the way I had originally thought, but I can't complain sometimes the stories move in a direction I was unprepared for. Hopefully you enjoyed it! I'm very sorry for the long delay between chapters! Please be aware that I appreciate your continued support of this story and my other works! So, one of the reasons I was waffling about putting this out and pushing it back from when I originally wanted to have it out is - I'm pretty confidant at this point that 2016 is the apocalypse. Yup. I've been telling everyone that nothing is surprising after the craziness of this year. If aliens invade (hostile or not) in December I won't be able to even muster an ounce of surprise.

Also – I don't own Sound of Silence (duh), but the version that inspired this was Disturbed.

Thank you again.

-Ris