August 19, 1992

Kurt woke up, groaning. He knew he was underground somewhere: that was the only explanation for the flickering light. He vaguely remembered being taken, and the new surroundings were only lending credence to that theory.

A few feet away Luna was out, her hands curled by her head. Kurt forced himself upwards and checked her for injuries. She seemed fine, and blearily opened her eyes when Kurt touched her head.

"Luna?" he asked.

She nodded and looked around. He put an arm around her and winced. His arms felt like they were on fire, almost as though they had been bitten by something millions of times. He adjusted his eyes to the light and turned them over to get a good look at them.

There were several angry puncture marks on them. It looked like someone had been sticking him with needles. He pushed himself up so he was in a seated position and tried to get a good look. He had to teleport out before he found out just why someone had been drawing his blood.

A collar rattled around his neck. Kurt touched it, but he managed to get a good look outside of the container. He cemented his grip on Luna and tried to teleport the two of them out, but the collar started beeping. He stayed in place as he desperately tried to teleport.

"It shocks you if you try too much. You should probably stop."

He looked over at his shoulder. Mystique was looking at him from a different cell. Her golden eyes looked tired. Kurt wondered how many times she'd tried to use her powers while she waited.

He took his hand off the collar and winced. He swallowed. He didn't really want to talk to Mystique, for a couple of reasons, but there didn't seem to be anyone else to get information from. Luna had obviously been out for that time, and she seemed terrified.

"Did you all get captured?" he asked.

"All of us," Mystique said, "A couple of your X-men got turned, mind control or something similar. They're going around working for Sinister now. Him and someone called Apocalypse."

"Damn," Kurt muttered.

He tapped his collar.

"Which ones?" he asked.

"Archangel and Polaris," Mystique said.

She said Lorna's codename like it was a filthy word. Luna's eyes widened.

"Mom..." she said.

"Hey, it's okay," Kurt said.

He knew it wasn't, but he didn't know what else to say. He gave Mystique a warning look before he continued talking.

"Have you seen Gambit?" he asked, "He got taken too."

"I haven't, no. Most of us got separated," Mystique said, "I'm surprised that Sinister didn't want Luna close though. She's a Summers."

Her voice was dismissive. He puled Luna closer.

"She's a child," Kurt said.

"So are you," Mystique said.

"Not really," Kurt mumbled.

He knew he sounded petulant, but he couldn't help it. Mystique smiled and Kurt just shook his head.

"Never mind," he said, "Have you seen my parents?"

The smile faltered a bit on Mystique's face. Kurt didn't want to think about what that could mean. Not when he'd spent so much of his life trying to avoid it.

"I haven't, no," she said, "But I have a feeling we're all part of some plan somewhere."

She gestured to his arms.

"They were drawing a lot of blood from you," she said.

"Why?" Kurt asked, "I'm not special genetically."

Mystique opened her mouth. She closed it and looked away.

"A couple of years ago, someone told me a story about two subsets of mutants that were secluded in the mountains," she said, "They were called Neyaphem and Cheyarafim. They evolved to hunt each other. The Cheyarafim developed blood that could heal. The Neyaphem developed blood that could be used as a poison."

"That's not a reason to go around drawing blood from every mutant you come in contact with," Kurt said.

Mystique hesitated again.

"Neyaphem are supposed to look like demons," she said.

Kurt looked up at her.

"Kurt's not a demon," Luna muttered.

"Of course he's not," Mystique said.

Her expression softened.

"He looks fine," she said.

Kurt looked at her for a long time. He could almost feel the scar on his hand, a tangible anchor to another life. The door swung open at the end of the hall and the man from the camp walked in.

"Apocalypse," Mystique murmured.

Lorna walked in behind him. Kurt's eyes widened when he saw her. Her skin was tinged green and her eyes were vacant. Luna whimpered. He knew what was bothering her: the woman in front of them looked nothing like the woman who had raised her.

Her lack of a reaction to Luna was most telling though. Kurt immediately looked at Apocalypse.

"This is what you do to people?" he asked, "Is that the only way you can get them to fight for you?"

Mystique's eyes widened but Apocalypse smiled.

"The best of the best are often stubborn," he said.

He gestured to Lorna.

"She's an exquisite design for a soldier," Apocalypse said, "Trained since a young age to fight, her powers developing early. She's a little out of practice, having strangely settled down, but she's still rather promising. With Sinister's augmentations, she'll be one of my best generals."

"My mom's not gonna fight for you!" Luna said.

Kurt looked at her. She had wiggled out from under his arm and was on her feet. She pointed a trembling finger at Apocalypse.

"She's not gonna," Luna said, "She's better than that."

Apocalypse laughed and walked up to the wall of the cell. Kurt immediately grabbed Luna's hand and pulled her back.

"You think her so saintly, don't you?" he asked, "I know what she did in the Brotherhood."

"She didn't know better," Luna said, "She does now."

Her voice was steadying with each word. Kurt didn't know what had gotten into her.

"Well, if you explain it that way, then how do you explain your grandfather?" Apocalypse asked.

Luna furrowed her brow. Apocalypse smiled to himself.

"It appears that there's more than one family here with secrets," he said.

He looked at Kurt.

"Your blood was useful. Sinister's developing a serum even as we speak," Apocalypse said, "But I must admit, there is one thing that I have to ask."

Kurt didn't say anything, but he held Luna tighter. He didn't know if the man in front of them had a breaking point when it came to his temper.

"Did you ever share any blood with your brother?" Apocalypse asked.

Kurt blinked, the question catching him off guard.

"What?" he asked.

"Your father and brother are both accomplished telepaths," Apocalypse said, "The incident at the hotel was of great interest to me. We had originally orchestrated it to get your father out of the way, but secondary agents are so unreliable. I had some of Sinister's associates follow-up on it. He said your brother hears voices. Your father should have been able to cut them off, and when your brother's powers entered into maturity he should have been able to banish them entirely. But he didn't."

He scratched his chin.

"I was simply wondering if he'd been exposed to your blood," Apocalypse said, "If he had, then it would explain why he was unable to fight them. The mind-weakening affects of your blood would have made them a little stronger. Your blood can stay in the system for years you know, and it doesn't take much to get in. Perhaps exposure through an open cut, something like that?"

Kurt felt the scar on his hand burning into him.

"We're gonna be blood brothers after this, okay? You have my blood, and I have yours. And I have mom and dad's blood in me. So this means that you have our parents' blood too now. We all share blood. Understand?"

"Oh my God," Kurt whispered.

It was his fault. His brother's mental illness, it was his fault.

"I see," Apocalypse said.

"Stop it."

Apocalypse turned. Mystique was standing up in her cell. Even through the haze in his own mind Kurt could see her defiance.

"What purpose does this serve?" she asked, "Is this something to do with your pride? Or is this your way of asserting dominance?"

He strolled over to her. Mystique continued to stare at him.

"I suppose you think that the Brotherhood is so much better," he asked.

"We don't gloat. Not like this," Mystique said.

He nodded to himself.

"But you are terrible parents," Apocalypse said, "Not that I'd know: my parents left me in the desert. However, it does puzzle me why two members of your order chose to abandon their children."

Mystique gave him a level look. Kurt could see her tremble slightly.

"You really want to go down this path?" she asked.

"Yes," Apocalypse said, his voice mild, "I would like to talk about why you left Kurt over here at your brother's doorstep."

Kurt sagged under the weight of his words. There was too much. David's suffering was his fault, and now he couldn't pretend that he was really his brother. He had lived for years, trying to forget that he was adopted, trusting in the scar on his hand as a promise that it didn't matter. Now that scar was just a sign of how he had ruined something.

"Because it was the best choice," Mystique said.

Her words were strong. She pointed at Lorna.

"She's a perfect soldier, yes," she said, "Maybe I didn't want that for my son."

"And you left him with your brother, why?" Apocalypse asked.

"Because I couldn't give him that chance, and he could," Mystique said.

She tilted her chin up.

"You might be able to guilt someone else with that, but you can't guilt me," Mystique said, "I didn't do anything wrong. I made the hard choice, but it was the best one. Kurt might be as naïve as my brother now, but as far as I can tell he's grown up well. He's the type of person I can be proud of-"

"And who will undoubtedly perish in my new world," Apocalypse said, "If things had been different, he'd be standing behind me instead of Polaris."

"And that's why I did it," Mystique said.

She looked at Kurt, almost as though hoping he would understand. Kurt didn't say anything. He kept his eyes on the wall in front of him, trying to gain some semblance of right.

"Stop it!" Luna said.

She looked at her mother.

"Mom, make him stop!" Luna cried.

Lorna's eyes focused. She made a faltering step towards Luna, her hand reaching out. Apocalypse glared at her and the crystal on her forehead glowed. Lorna winced before returning to her position of standing at attention.

"One more thing before I go," Apocalypse said.

He opened the door to the cell Kurt was in. Kurt quickly gathered enough sense to try to put Luna behind him, but Apocalypse batted him to the floor. He grabbed Luna's hand and dragged her out of the cell, slamming the door.

"Luna!" Kurt shouted.

"Kurt! Mom!" Luna said.

She reached for Lorna again. Lorna's eyes widened and the crystal glowed. Tears welled in Lorna's eyes, but she didn't do anything.

"You're a gift to Sinister," Apocalypse said, "A reward for his hard work."

He smiled.

"On one side, you're the descendent of the longest line of mutants known to man, the Summers," he said, "On the other side you're descended from Magneto, one of our races' greatest products."

Luna's mouth dropped open.

"I imagine there are a lot of secrets to be gleaned from your DNA," Apocalypse said.

"She's just a child!" Kurt yelled.

Apocalypse dragged Luna out, Lorna following close behind.

"So were we all at one point," Apocalypse said, "But time goes on."

He shut the door behind him, leaving Kurt and Mystique alone in the room.