Tis a Christmas miracle! Yes it is! I have updated! I know junior years been hard for me as well as some other ups and downs in my life not to mention speech team but I've got a few more chapters already typed up so as soon as I edit them you get those as well! I am so sorry about not updating but its gonna get better! Break is giving me a lot of time for work. So then MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I don't own the xmen, I'm just a deranged chainsaw killer who types fan fiction while waiting for my chainsaw to get repaired ( all sorts of gunk -gets caught in it I have no idea how)

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Rogue's crumpled clothes were covered in filth and her eyes were gaunt, she couldn't lose another one, she couldn't live through it, not again. Her head lay on Luke's bed as she started to slump out of her chair, she was just so close to exhaustion right now she didn't know how long she would have to wait but it didn't matter, as long as it takes she promised herself quietly.

It had been days and no change. Luke's face had swollen with the abuse, they had managed to pump out most of the chemicals that were in him as soon as he was stable.

He looked like a fallen angel, his wings were the tubes and machines that surrounded him, holding him aloft. His skin was harshly white against the artificial light in the med bay. His cheeks were sunken and he reeked of the antiseptic in the Spartan room.

She clutched his sheets and stroked his hand careful of the IV. She could see his veins and hear the unstable heart monitors monotone beeps. It was positively hellish. The only sounds were the machines whirring and beeping really and the sound of her occasional sob.

A whine came from under the bed skirt and Rogue saw a small red furred tail sweep out before ducking back under the bed, Rahne had been here since Luke was admitted.

No one could get her to leave, people left plates of food for her and Rogue, Rogue usually forgot about them. She couldn't remember the last time she had gotten up. A few days maybe, her body was in agony, wanting to heal her own wounds, wanting to be clean, to eat, she didn't have to go to the bathroom, not without anything for her body to purge itself of.

The light from the hall was blocked and she knew without looking up it was Remy, his old spice, leather, bourbon, and cigarettes smell came before he did.

She didn't turn around. "Chere, he'll be fine, go eat something people are getting worried. He won't die just 'cause you leave"

Rogue didn't say anything, instead she clutched Lucas hand tighter. Remy didn't know what to do, if she kept this up god knows what would happen, she wasn't eating, she wasn't getting treatment, she wasn't even sleeping.

Remy walked out and slammed a fist into the metal walls of the sublevels. The impact was heard all throughout the floor, Remy hit them again and again, until he felt the skin of his knuckles break, the warm flow of blood dripping down onto the cool silver tiles was stark and menacing. He kicked the growing pool of blood and let it smear against the tiles "damnit!".

How had everything gone wrong so quickly?

" this is fou!"

How had they been making leeway one moment, then go so far back so quickly?

" Why can't she understand?"

He didn't even know what it was she didn't understand, what he wanted her to understand.

As he lay with his fist still against the wall he rested his head against the warm leather of his sleeve. He peered up through his lashes at the worn sleeve and thought to himself, if it had been Henri he would have been just as bad.

Rogue saw Lucas as a brother, maybe more. He thrust another fist towards the metal and got ready to beat the defenseless walls again when he was stopped

"That won't help things Gambit".

Remy looked up to see the master of metal in a casual pair of black slacks and a light blue button down. His face was also haggard, his eyes looked sunken and the lines around his face seemed deeper. His hair was tousled and Remy noted that even his clothes looked wrinkled, no one was getting any sleep.

Remy let his hands fall to his sides, ignoring the dripping blood.

"We all worry for her but she will not change, were it you or I in that bed she would be keeping the same vigil. There is nothing we can do but be here for her"

Remy didn't want to look at him, didn't want to hear that there was nothing he could do.

Eric ran a hand over the dented metal walls and they became smooth. "With all of our powers one would think we were gods, and yet we suffer so much for them"

"Dieu, Pourqoui? Why? What did we do, to deserve these curses?!"

Remy's voice echoed in the halls, the walls vibrated and Eric looked at him solemnly, he pressed his back against a wall and slid down to the ground , he gestured to the Cajun to sit and huffily Remy sat down

"Maybe it is a curse. You think I have not suffered for our powers? We all have. Maybe this is a curse, maybe it is a test"

Remy looked up and with doubt written clear across his features he let the words tumble out "A test? What did we do to deserve this? I ain't no Job, 'm just a regular homme, Things, they shoulda never have gotten this way"

Eric nodded and let his head touch the metal behind him "Perhaps this is a test to see that the bounties we may later be given in life are well deserved, to see whether we deserve the powers we have been given. We can do marvelous things with power, we must merely endure. For as long as we can weather the storm, we will survive, and with us will survive the hope of the people we cherish. I suppose you could say we were given our powers to carry this hope, to protect them and those who have not protectors otherwise"

Remy stayed silent and the sounds from Lucas room were a small, like they were at a distance

" Then who protects us?'

To this Eric's response was quiet, almost hesitant and sad "Rogue"

The two men sat in silence as the woman they both cared for lay starving both emotionally and physically in the other room.

It was another two days before even a ray of hope would pierce the gloom that had descended upon the residents

Betsy Braddock was inspired after an explanation of Wanda's powers' the changes in outcomes of various chances, and then the knowledge of Anya Lensherr's new powers.

The Lensherr Triplets had mysteriously appeared with Blink and Matt while they had been on the mission to save Lucas. No one questioned it, with mutants, especially teleporting ones you just accepted it. Betsy had been talking to Magneto, he was worried for the oldest triplet, she was having nightmares of fires burning, of yellow walls and a singing woman. Dreams of a man with silver hair and blue eyes spinning her high into the clouds. She knew things, sometimes she spoke with the knowledge of an old woman, not an infant child. She was so serious sometimes, more so then the others who had endured the darkness of the labs. She was seeing things that shouldn't be happening. Things that hadn't happened yet.

Anya Lensherr had developed Pre-cog abilities. And when Betsy found out everything clicked. She had flown the idea by Wanda, then Magneto, and then asked if Anya would do it. The child nodded before Betsy could say anything and walked out of the room, but not before grabbing her coloring book and crayons.

Betsy stumbled into he room after getting everyone's consent, her excitement was palpable and for the first time in a long time Rogue looked away from her fallen comrade. Remy who had chosen to sit with Rogue today looked up as well, the defeat that was slowly staining the confidence that Magneto had given him was halted by the sheer joy on Betsy's face.

Rogue didn't sat anything just looked at her exuberant friend. " luv, I may have a solution to little Lukey's problems!' Rogue raised an eyebrow. "but I'm not telling till you bathe and eat, Luke will keep, you however smell damn ripe!'

Rogue got ready to object but was already being rushed out of the room by an eager Remy.

Within the hour Rogue had bathed, changed into fresh cloths, had all of her scabbed wounds scrubbed till they were bleeding to get all the trapped dirt out, she was disinfected and then fed till she felt plump. By the time Remy escorted her back Magneto was holding Anya's hand and Wanda was talking to Betsy.

As soon as Rogue walked in Wanda jumped to the front of the bed and Anya gave Magneto's leg a quick hug before going to Luke's side, so she could hold his hand. Betsy sat by his head, half on the bed with both hands on his temples. Betsy looked to Rogue so she could explain what she was going to do.

"Every time we've tried to get into his mind to wake him up there's been a barrier, it's always been a matter of luck at how I approach him. There are thousands of possibilities, it all depends on what we try. But if I go into his mind with Wanda constantly changing the probability of what happens we are bound to hit on the successful route. But that alone could take years, the possibilities are infinite, but Anya and her precog abilities will tell us when we get close, or when Wanda needs to stop changing the probability. I go in with that possibility and do my magic"

Rogue looked skeptical, but they had been trying for days now to little avail, maybe this would be the break, she turned to Anya. "Hey kiddo, y'all think you can do this? You think it'll even work?"

Anya looked up, her eyes solemn with years of misplaced knowledge. The girl stroked the needle that led into Luke's arms, following his cuticles with her fingers

"It'll work, there is only one possibility where he doesn't die or stay asleep forever. He will wake up, but I'm not sure that you'll be happy when he does. Just know that this is the only way to even begin to save him. What was only fractured before, it has completely shattered now"

Her dark eyes left Rogue's and she went back to tracing his fingers with her own small digits. Rogue looked to those around her, from their faces the decision was on her she saw the darkness of the little fire dancer's eyes and shuddered. God she hoped she was doing the right thing.

She turned to Remy and he placed a large hand on her shoulder, as he came close to her she felt dwarfed, by not only his size but also the decision she faced. She looked to him and while his face did not change the red on black jewels that stared back at her gave her courage.

She looked to Betsy "do it"

Remy tugged her back against the wall and while he stood on her left Magneto stayed to her right, between the two of them she felt safe. Wanda raised her arms and blue light poured from her fingertips, it wrapped around her like a snake coiling round a tree and then as she flexed her fingers it fell to the ground like a fog, the way dry ice melts the gas seemed heavy. She raised her head and her eyes opened with blue light as the blue mist climbed around the bed side. When she flexed her fingers again the mist became brilliant blue light and vanished, leaving a halo of blue glowing around Lucas's head.

Anaya clutched Lucas's hand and Betsy's eyes were glowing purple. Anya closed her eyes and clutched at his hand tighter "close" she winced "getting very close, just a little more power" The halo shone brighter as Wanda groaned at the effort of the continuous hold of power.

Anaya shrieked "now!"

Wanda let her hands fall and within a blink the halo vanished, Magneto ran to his daughter and helped off of her knees. He helped bring her to the back of the room and settled her into a chair, she looked awed at this kindness, every time he did something kind. She looked so awed. Rogue's eyes never wandered, after Magneto went to her aid

Rogue turned her attention back to the bed. Anya had also let go and wandered back to Eric. Betsy sat alone by Lucas her fingertips once poised above his temples now made contact with the thin skin of his skull. As she delved into his mind she found the same barrier that she always did, but this time something was different, on the mental plane everything was infinite, including this wall. But she had stumbled onto the one miniscule portion of his mind with weak spots. As she found this point she took as much energy as she dared and forced it into the weak point.

The wall didn't shatter, but that one part gave way and Betsy entered through it and she saw the mess of her friends mind. She had linked with Luke before and had always been awed by how separated his mind was, it was like a mirror with a series of cracks that distorted the image it was supposed to portray. And whence previously it had been fragmented now it was shattered.

Everything seemed to be floating, words and thoughts, his and others. Memories floated through the air, some she recognized others were foreign. She floated in the miasma, she didn't know for how long, she didn't know if it had minutes or days for a time that's all she knew, his mind and its vast infinity.

Then everything stopped and amidst the chaos the was one solid thing, a door it was simple, generic, if anyone ever asked her to describe it she wouldn't have been able to give any important details. She willed herself to it and before long she was there. When her hand touched the knob she nearly wept in relief, finally something tangible. She tugged it free and a tidal wave swept out and consumed her.

Rogue looked worriedly at her friends, it had been almost hour now, suddenly Betsy's breathing became quick and Lucas's heart monitor started to chirp out of control. Betsy fell to the ground, her hands just barely holding onto Lucas' temples. Her screams were the only sound as the others watched, unsure of whether or not to help. Rogue finally stepped forward to help when Betsy's screams subsided.

Rogue stepped aback and Betsy knelt from on the floor, her hands still connected to the blond man's forehead. Her eyes alight with purple light once more shone.

Betsy was caught in a wave, as it threatened to consume her she frantically searched for something to hold onto. It was not water, it was something different, it was black and it made her mind race with a thousand thoughts and memories at once, it was all so much she just wanted to sit down and scream at the force of it all.

Suddenly she was in a delivery room, a woman with honey colored hair plastered to a red sweat covered face. She was screaming with the effort of what she was doing. Her legs propped up and a paper gown covering the rest of her. A team of doctors around her waiting for the coming of a new life. A man with thinning hair stood at the woman's side. He clutched her hand and winced every time she screamed. The doctors urged on the woman and Betsy watched in morbid fascination as she watched her friend's birth.

What seemed like hours later the doctors handed a small blue bundle to the eager parent. " Oh Charles , it was all worth it, it was so worth it"

The woman smiled and looked down though exhausted eyes and the sleeping bundle, he was pink and botchy, and Betsy personally though he looked a bit like ET but the parents were so consumed by the joy at this they didn't even care. Charles let a finger glance across the top of the child's head, dragging across the peach fuzz, the same color of his mothers "I couldn't agree more Gabrielle" Betsy watched in awe as the dignified Charles Xavier turned into a pile of goo over a small yawning infant.

Suddenly she wasn't there anymore and the same horrific wave pulled her out f the hospital and suddenly she was standing in a room with dim lights. It looked old fashioned and a large four-poster bed made out of dark wood to one side, two large bookshelves on the other side, and great big wooden armoire. On a light blue carpet surrounded my toys was a little boy, Betsy estimated he couldn't be more than five or six, he sat crying and with each hitched sob was another toy flung in another direction.

The large imposing wooden doors of the room opened up and the jack in the box that was in the air spinning about stopped as a woman in a long soft pink dress entered. The flounce of the skirt brushed against the doorway as she quietly closed the door behind her.

She walked through the storm of flying toys, lightly batting away a small wooden horse and a sock monkey. She knelt by the child Lucas and petted his hair until the sobs subsided " Lucas-" before she could finish what she was going to say the boy flung himself into her arms and broke out into a renewed sob

" I didn't mean to, I swear I didn't!" She held him tight and he muffled his cries in her should "he said everyone had accidents in the beginning, I tried! But the voices became too much I just couldn't stop!" He sobbed more into his mothers shoulder

"Oh Luke I know, he doesn't mean what he says, he just is so tired, with all of his work he can't deal with the stress of two such great situations. Your father is becoming an important person Lucas"

He pulled away from her "does that mean he can't help me? Mommy I didn't mean to!" Gabrielle held her son close; over her head she met the tired gaze of her husband. Charles was losing his mind, his son was so radically powerful, and so very out of control he didn't know what to do anymore, if he had any more accidents his work could be jeopardized. Gabrielle mouthed something to Xavier but Betsy couldn't figure out what it was. Charles merely shook his head and walked away.

Gabrielle stayed there kneeling on the ground clutching her son to her bosom as he wept.

Suddenly the wave returned and this time Betsy gave into it instead of resisting. As it swept her away she found that she was in the same room.

This time the mirror was shattered and the bureau had more chips and scratches. A breeze kissed her skin drawing up goose bumps and she saw the shining shattered glass of the windows that lay on the floor. Huddled up in a corner of the massive bed was Luke. He seemed a few years older maybe seven.

He want sobbing this time, buried in a cocoon of blankets his eyes were fearful, and his mouth pursed shut. Gabrielle's voice was heard through the thick doors. It was muffled but easily understood "He can't go there! I won't let you send him away!"

"Gabrielle this isn't your decision to make, I am the leader of this family and I say he is too dangerous to be allowed near innocents"

Xavier's harsh voice seemed final but Gabrielle didn't want to let it go

" What of him? What of our child? Is he not innocent? He is a child Charles! He is young and afraid! In the lord's name, he hasn't spoken in almost three weeks!"

Gabrielle's voice was pleading now, begging for Xavier t relent. He did nothing but walk away.

Gabrielle slowly opened the door again and slowly walked over to Lucas's bed. She sat on it and pulled the boy free of his down bindings. He held his silence

"Well now that's ok, you don't have to say anything how about I tell you a story instead? A story about a little boy named Ian, a boy whose parents loved him very much" As Gabrielle wove her tale Betsy watched Luke's face change.

When the story was done Luke grabbed his mothers waist, clutching her silk skirts. "Momma, don't make me go away, I don't want to leave" His voice was raspy with disuse and clogged with tears.

" I'll do my best baby boy I'll do my best"

Another wave came and she was gone

She was in front f a large building, it was great and imposing, the cold austere entrance screamed of sorrow. Charles Xavier drove up in front of the building and a clueless Luke was pulled out. Two large men came out of the building and grabbed the young eight year olds bony shoulders. Another car screeched onto the pavement and a frazzled Gabrielle leapt out, her hair was in disarray and her eyes were bright. She lunged for her child trying to pull the screaming boy away from the two large men.

As she did another guard came out and she was pulled aside. Gabrielle clutched for her terrified child but he was dragged screaming into the dark building arms stretching for his mother. Xavier stood firm and jumped back as Gabrielle lunged for his lapels.

The sunny weather made the hysteric scene seem wrong. The birds were chirping and a sweet scented breeze drifted by, but it was all eclipsed by the screams of a woman and the scent of tears.

"MONSTER!" Gabrielle's hair had fallen from the elegant bun it had been in and her fingers looked bony as she lunged for the man she once loved. Xavier watched as his elegant beautiful wife sought nothing but to hurt him, his once amazing child now locked up. Xavier locked away part of his heart and closed his eyes it's the right thing to do, the world cannot mend its ways without a few sacrifices. All great leaders had to make sacrifices….

And yet a part of him wondered was this his sacrifice to make?

Gabrielle screamed against the bruising forces that held her away form her husband, by some fluke she managed to slip out of the grip and lunged for Charles. Betsy watched in horror as the woman grabbed his lapels and shook him, she yelled and screamed and pounded at his chest, the men tried to pull her back but she clung to him "CHARLES!" before they fully jerked her away Xavier lightly wrapped his arms around her heaving shoulders before pushing her into the orderlies grips.

As they dragged her away she yelled "He is your son!". Betsy saw one shining tear and then his face was stone again. "He is no son of mine" Xavier said softly and put on his bowler and got back into the car.

Betsy felt like making a sound would be disrespectful, she stood still and when the wave came she didn't make a sound.

She was in a long dark corridor, the walls were concrete and the lights were simple hanging lamps that let off a dull ilumination that seemed to summon shadows. A thick dark metal door lined the walls, in each was a small slot just big enough to slide a tray in, painted on them with peeling colors were numbers.

She saw Gabrielle again, walking down the menacing corridor, her heels clicking on the cold stone floor. She didn't have the same look of madness that Betsy had seen before , She had determination in every line of her body, a dark coat covered her and she wore a dark scarf around her head. At her side was another figure, covered with a hat and large jacket Betsy could at best assume he was a man.

They approached a door and Gabrielle knelt down so she could peer through the slot that food was sent through. 'Lucas, Lucas come to me child it's your mama" She whispered quickly and waited to hear the scurrying sound of Lucas.

In a few moments his eyes peered out of the slot into his mothers. Gabrielle nearly cried with relief and her heart soared, "I promised you I wouldn't let him do this, I'm sorry it's taken so long."

She stepped away and the man stepped forward. He took off his glove and touched the door, as soon as his skin touched it the door collapsed into liquid and flooded out. Lucas wet with the liquid peered up at him in awe. "Come on now boy, we don't have a lot of time" Gabrielle scooped him up heedless of the liquid and the trio hurried out.

The liquefied door swirled and the fluid grew dark and big. Soon it transformed into another wave and swept her away.

When she opened her eyes she was in an office, it seemed to be an attorney's, law books lined the walls and a large desk took up most of the room.

She only saw Lucas's parents. Gabrielle was perfectly composed, it was hard to imagine she had ever been the screaming hysteric woman begging her husband not to do what he did. She wore a simple cream dress with long sleeves and a dark green mantle. Her honey colored hair was up and her expression was icy. Xavier on the other hand looked tired, he was dressed in brown tweed and rubbing a hand down his face

" Gabrielle I know you have him! You will tell me where he is immediately! He needs help!"

She looked at him, eyebrows aloft in such a way it seemed more like she was looking right through him. She strolled over to one of the plush leather chairs and sank into it crossing her legs she leaned back and looked up

" Know where who is Charles? What ever answer it is you're looking for can't you just go into my mind and see for yourself? You've never had a problem with such things before, privacy has never been a problem"

She coldly referred to the file she had found in his secret safe when searching for knowledge on when Charles was planning to send Lucas away, and a file on her self, a very in depth file.

Xavier looked to her with a glare

" OUR son! Gabrielle, he needs help, and you know very well I cannot force myself past that damned mysterious mental block of yours!' Charles was often frustrated by the unexplainable inability to read his wife's mind.

She turned to him with a small gasp "Oh Charles a son? I could have sworn you said you didn't have one! And help? What help are you offering? You offer a cage, a cage when you could teach him yourself!"

Gabrielle turned her head away from him and stared out the window ignoring her husband until the divorce attorney came in. Betsy saw the pain in both of their faces, they obviously loved each other, but neither side would relent, both believing the other side was so very wrong.

Betsy spread her arms out for the wave that swept through the office before it came, this time she was in backyard, the grass was green and a little white picket fence surrounded the lawn. Behind her was a nice house painted a cream color, on the wooden porch was a man in tee shirt and shorts. He had his legs crossed and was floating in the air. His hands were gloved. She could hear the excited jabber of a boy on a phone though the door she stepped onto the porch and walked in, it was Lucas. He was older now and sitting on a chair cradling a phone like he never wanted to let it go.

" Mom! Yeah I'm learning how to stop, Kevin says soon I'll be able to have really good control!"

He talked for a few more moments before bolting outside to join the floating man. Betsy watched in awe as Lucas lightly un-tethered his control of his poweres, she was awed by the size of them, for a child to control so much was amazing, no wonder there had been this many accidents. Charles Xavier himself couldn't have handled this much power, and yet a child did?

Betsy watched as they tried, simple things lifting rocks, juggling. Then Kevin walked to a garden hose and focused the spray on Lucas, as soon as the water came forward Lucas made drop after suspended drop of water. Betsy couldn't imagine the sheer concentration going into the activity. Soon the air around them was filled with hanging water drops shining like a thousand rainbows wherever they hung.

Then the water fell as armed men crashed through the back door, they wore thick armor and ignored the flood of water from above. Lucas screamed and let loose a fearful blast of fire. The misty smokescreen created from this allowed him an advantage and Betsy watched as a child Lucas fought as best he could against such strong people, she watched as he screamed when Kevin took a bullet in the head, and as the commander emptied clip after clip into his lifeless body.

She saw this image more vibrant then the others, she saw the shredded face, the man didn't look human anymore, more like pulverized meat. She watched as they took a slumped over Lucas away. Then the wave came down and she saw his strapped to a table

Wave

Scratching at the walls of his cell till his fingernails were gone and his hands covered in

blood

Wave

Defeated eyes

Wave

Starving, lost the will to live

Shift

A man named Magneto, he had caused a distraction, he had walked into the cells and the walls had fallen, the bars were torn from their cells and he had announced soon freedom would echo through these halls. Something had happened and all the guards had left. Soon the mutants realized what was happening and they stampeded out, running over each other. They didn't care who they shoved aside and the hordes of abused bodies piled out the door. Lucas had managed to make his way out, he felt some bruises but that was hardly damage not after everything else.

Wave

Lucas had been on the run for days, his calloused feet didn't hurt anymore and he had managed to feed himself through theft and begging. He walked down the pavement, the street was empty, but Lucas didn't trust that. The way he figured he was 10 now, maybe eleven. He stopped a window and saw the televisions inside, they were advertising for some toothpaste commercial "Peter's teeth are shining white and clean!"

The boy on the screen had well combed over hair, shiny shoes and even his pants were pressed. The boy had a smile and a polo sweater. He didn't look hungry.

Shift

He had been hiding out in the tree house by the creek when a purple haired lady brought him down. Lucas ran the moment he saw her, she had been a prisoner too, he remembered. Betsy watched as a younger version of herself coaxed Lucas out of the tree.

Wave

He was in awe, many of those who had escaped had come into one house, they lived together, like a family. It would be a long time trusting them but he would try

Wave

New neighbors, a short angry man who stayed to himself. Months later a little girl appeared. Quiet as the moon with eyes like a cats, big and green. Somehow Lucas found himself drawn to her, protective.

Wave

Marie and him were friends now, she was like a sister and the rest of the family liked her too. Even better, she was mutant, she didn't say what her power was but they knew it had to do with her skin. Marie truly was one of them, even her father had slowly gotten closer to them

Wave

Crashing the car

Wave

Climbing trees

Wave

Betrayal

Betsy watched in horror as she revisited one of her worst memories. She saw comrades fall and houses burn. Innocents scream and the guilty revel. Betsy ran to help one of the five, the few humans who had escaped from the labs. The five human were to Betsy the greatest wake up call, when humans were willing to work on other human, how dark was the world?

She tried to stop the bleeding with her hands, frantically screaming. But of course this was a memory and she felt the girls heart stop and her eyes cloud.

Betsy screamed out as she held her dying friends, she looked up to see Pete reel back with the force of a bullet, Rogue snarl, bare skin flashing as she fought against as opponent.

Luke burned those around him, tearing through their minds watching as they fell. She saw herself shot in the shoulder and Laura collared by a metal leash like an animal.

She saw Rogue screaming up at her father and blacking out.

Through Lucas's eyes she saw all that she hadn't seen when she had fallen on that battle field, and she wished to god she hadn't. Logan walked away, to where she didn't know and Lucas screamed with one last burst of power before the collar snapped around his neck and oblivion claimed him. The last thing he heard was the word survive

Wave

Back at the facilities, but he was no longer tested on, instead guards occasionally walked by and he was abandoned for the most part. But every day he saw them drag her body into her cell, Marie. Betsy gasped at the grotesque beauty of the scene. The bloody child brilliant green eyes dulled by the horror of what she endured carried by two men who seemed to have no faces.

She was the new favorite and that moment Lucas knew he would never go through a fraction of what she had. He saw layers of skin peeled away from her back and burn marks. Injection bruises and lash marks.

He heard her screams and smelled the disease that she seemed to expunge as her healing factor too place. He saw how she couldn't move with the weight of her own bones after she was given the adamantium, how she screamed as constantly shifted it to keep her bones from girding into each other.

Wave

A man came he wore a suit and tie, a nondescript fellow. He made a gesture with his hands and Lucas's starved body was taken out of its cell

Wave

"Your son, Xavier" she saw as Lucas' skeletal figure was handed to a man by his father.

" I don't want to know where you got him, I trust after this day you will never contact me again?"

The other man nodded and turned "Not a problem, why this need for the boy? You never seemed to care before"

Xavier looked at the boy with disappointment "He was too powerful to be left in their hands"

The man let out a deep laugh that sounded almost like a cackle "you had didn't have any problem with him being there before! What's the difference?"

When Charles didn't reply he laughed again and walked away. Lucas turned a head up to look at his father. He needed answers, where was his mother?

Wave

Betsy found the place she was in now to be different than the other places, it didn't have the same mental signature as the other memories. That's when she understood this was Lucas's memory, his memory of what he had seen in his fathers' head.

She was in a small hotel room, this time she saw Xavier senior he was standing behind a woman curled up in a chair reading a book. From what she could see from the back Betsy figured it was Gabrielle, and she didn't know who was behind her .

Xavier spoke and frightened the woman out of her seat. "Where is he?" Xavier's voice was sharp with the edge of hysteria glaring as she pulled herself upright Gabrielle yelled " My god! Charles what are you doing here? Leave immediately or I'll call security!"

Her face was full of fury at his presence and when he asked again Gabrielle moved towards the phone. Xavier blocked her and as he reached to her temple Betsy saw the glimmer of fear dawn behind the woman's eyes. Xavier reached into her mind, he used all of his effort into shattering the shield and tore into her mind. As he learned the location he pulled out of her brain. "I'm sorry I had to do that Gab-"

He didn't finish his sentence when he realized his ex-wife was on the floor, He leapt into her mind again and it was blank

"my god"

Xavier whispered in shame as he stumbled back "what have I done"

The scream that fled his through his mouth Betsy thought, was more animal than human.

Before she could blink she saw another one of Xavier's memories

Xavier senior squabbling with his heavily pregnant wife about what to name their child. She smiled as she saw the love in their eyes and wanted to weep when she realized what they would eventually come to.

Gabrielle won with the name Lucas, after flat out rejecting name "Peter" images flashed and Betsy felt Lucas tearing himself away from his father's mind, but before he left she saw the image of a young boy with pressed pants and neat combed hair, the boy his father wished he could have been.

Lucas screamed out at what his father had done, to him, to his mother, all for that damnable cause! With all the force left in his body, with the all the power he could summon he lashed out at his fathers mind, he pinched his nerves and sent a message to his brain. And as the impulses traveled through Xavier's body, in that split second before it happened Xavier knew what would happen.

He felt himself lose the power in his legs, they crumpled beneath him and he fell. As Lucas stared into his father's face, hatred burning in his eyes he resisted as he felt himself being dragged into a tube and felt his limbs turn to mud. He saw the liquid climb higher and soon he closed his eyes.

Wave

Betsy saw Lucas attack Rogue as he woke up and then it all went black.

Betsy stood in front of another door, as she entered she spotted a small huddled figure in the center of the room, it wore a long white robe and when it looked up she screamed.

He had three faces, only one at a time but shifting between the three so fast she couldn't identify any definite features.

She stepped back and then with a burst of energy she grabbed his cloak and pulled him up, the cloak disappeared the moment she touched it and Lucas lay there bare and huddled. Betsy reached out again to grab his arm, when she got a firm grip she pulled him up and through this layer of his mind.

She pulled through the layers of muck and chaos. She pulled till she reached his subconscious mind, she pulled the changing figure up and towards the front of his mind and then with one last burst she pulled herself away.

Remy pulledled Rogue to the chair he was sitting in. It had been six hours and no one had left the room since they had come. Rahne had taken to pacing and driving her claws against the wall in her irritability. Charles Xavier had wheeled into the room fifteen minutes ago, he stayed in a corner of the room and held his voice. The growing tension was causing Rogue's scales to peak and ripple. The gleaming shine in her hair was causing it to bristle and whip out. Remy would pet it down every few hours when it bristled into his face and the metal pool Rogue had tried so hard to reabsorb had released itself, dripping from her fingertips.

The moment Betsy's delicate hands fell from the Scots temples Rogue released herself from Remy's hold and went to catch Betsy as she slouched down. Her almond eyes opened with a dazed confusion and she turned to Luke with a light in her hands. When she touched his head and a spark leapt from her hands and onto his head.

Lucas's eyes opened and her hand lowered. Rahne morphed back into a human and eager eyes and ears waited for his first words.

Lucas sat up slowly, his muscles were weak from so much bed rest , Rogue helped him up and even Remy waited with baited breath.

Lucas turned cerulean blue eyes to Xavier " Dad, where am I?" .

Xavier recoiled in shock, and Rahne let out a small yelp. "Dad, why am I in the hospital? Who are all these people dad?!"

Xavier let his hands move to the wheels of his chair and as he pushed forward. " dad oh my god! You're in a wheel chair!"

Xavier looked at the boy and saw the differences in his child's face. His eyes weren't their usual green hazel, his face more young, more boyish. The guarded expression was gone and he looked like a child, not the man he usually was. The goatee and slight facial hair was gone and his hair was shorter, it looked nicely combed. Rogue saw the varsity letter football player of her past, Coadie, in him, young and innocent, normal.

Xavier reached out but before Xavier could touch his face Rogue batted his hand away.

"You don't get to touch him" Xavier looked up to Rogue in confusion

" Who is this child?" Luke looked confused and hurt but Rogue started to talk before he could say anything. "This is Peter, he's one of Luke's three personalities"

DADADUUUNNN

Here's a bunny!

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WOOT UBER LONG CHAPPIE

I figured the least I could do was give you guys sixteen pages to make a proper apology!! Well Merry Christmas! Its Christmas eve in Chicago and all the snow that was coming down yesterday is melting as the rain pours over it. The weather is cold but I was out walking all over town today! Hung out in millennium park for a while before I realized y nose was about to fall off because of frost bite! So with that lovely ending note I bid you my readers adieu! Im gonna work on my speech a little but I can definitely say there will be more in the future! And here's a xmas teaser, Mystique, yep that's it just one word. But more soon to come!