Chapter 26

Shadowed Past

At the Institute

All the X-men were preparing for bed. They all had to take their exams tomorrow before spring break started. But there was still one X-man that was not ready for bed.

"Yeah I know, thanks for lending it to me" Rogue said talking over the phone.

She's been talking over the phone for like half an hour and it was driving Kitty crazy, why does she have to be her roommate? 'Who is she talking to anyway?' Kitty thought, 'And why is it taking so long?'

"I thought it was great. Especially the end when he turned into a werewolf and nobody knew it" Rogue said.

'Aren't the X-men like her only friends? Since when does she have friends from school?' Kitty thought.

"Well I gotta go. I've got three exams tomorrow. Talk to ya later, bye" Rogue hung up the phone.

'Finally some peace!' Kitty thought as she sat in her bed.

Rogue closed the lamp on her dresser and covered herself with her sheets.

A few hours later Rogue stirred in her sleep. It was that dream again.

The wolves were howling on a cold snowy night in the woods.

The scene changed to the dark castle that lied in the heart of the woods. High up in one of the towers green electricity was sparking everywhere.

"Monster! What have you done to him?!" A voice shouted.

A person started running through the dark castle, a woman in a cloak with a crying baby in her arms.

The gates to the castle opened and out came running the cloaked woman. Behind her a dark figure floated out right behind her.

"Come back at once!" the dark figure shouted.

The cloaked woman ran through the woods trying to outrun her chaser but heard the howling of wolves on her tail. She had to hurry before they caught her.

The woman came across an old bridge and took a chance by trying to cross it with the wolves right behind her. The wolves surrounded her before she could get far and right behind them the dark figure, their master, landed on the ground.

The wolves barked and tried to snatch the crying baby out of the woman's hands but the cloaked woman wouldn't give it up without a fight.

Eventually the woman was pushed to the edge and in an attempt to protect her child when a wolf jumped for the crying baby she dropped it into the river.

"Nooooo!" the cloaked woman yelled.

Rogue woke up from her nightmare screaming.

Dean was finally enjoying some sleep where he didn't have a strange voice invade his mind, and he was loving it. Too bad it wasn't going to last very long.

The sound of screaming immediately awakened Dean. He recognized the voice, Rogue. Within seconds he ran to Rogue's room and burst in almost breaking the door by accident.

"What's going on?" Dean said looking around.

He noticed Rogue clutching her head and Kitty trying to comfort her.

Scott walked in with Jean, "Rogue are you alright? What happened?"

"I—I don't know" Rogue replied sounding scared, "I was dreaming….some kind of awful nightmare….with these…these images. It was horrible"

"Yeah. Her shrieking totally freaked me out. I just about phased through the bed" Kitty said shaking from the adrenaline rush.

"Whoa, finals must be really getting to you" Scott said.

"No, it's not the first time. I've had this dream before. They started when I moved to the institute" Rogue pleaded.

Evan and Kurt walked in.

"Unh" Evan yawned, "What's going on man? Are you guys ok?"

"Rogue's having creepy nightmares" Kitty quickly informed them.

"Whoa what about?" Kurt asked.

"I'm not sure. There's, uh….a castle and wolves. Oh the poor baby" Rogue said crying, "I didn't really see his face, but I seem to know—to know him somehow" Rogue said looking at Kurt.

Kurt noticed that she was staring at him, "What? Why are you looking at me like that? What's wrong?"

"It was you" Rogue pointed at Kurt.

"What was me?" Kurt asked getting confused.

"Somehow—I just know. It was you, Kurt!" Rogue said.

"What are you talking about?" Kurt asked totally oblivious to what she was saying.

"In the dream…there was a baby crying. Cry—someone—a woman, I think, I didn't really see her face, was running, and she—the baby was dropped into the river" Rogue said.

"And you think that baby was me?" Kurt asked.

"Why am I having this dream?!" Rogue said angrily.

"Maybe the Professor can help us sort this out. But let's do it in the morning. It's pretty late" Jean said.

'That's all right, Jean. This is important.' Charles spoke telepathically to everyone, 'Rogue and Kurt, please come to the library with Jean. And the rest of you, try and get some sleep. In case you've forgotten, you all have exams tomorrow'

"Man, there's no keeping anything from that dude is there?" Evan said.

"I've always known that my parents adopted me, but they never said anything about me being fished out of a river" Kurt said.

"Don't worry Kurt, we'll try to sort this out" Charles looked at Rogue, "Rogue, since this was your dream, I think I should start with you. Would you mind sitting here, please?" he said pointing to the chair next to him.

Rogue sat on the chair and the Charles rolled in front of her, "Now, just relax. Try to think of the dream" He said placing his hands by her temples.

"You sure this isn't gonna hurt?" Rogue asked feeling nervous.

"Yes" Charles replied, "Now, please, just concentrate" They both closed their eyes.

Rogue concentrated on the dream and started from the beginning. The lab, "Monster! What have you done to him?!" the cloaked woman ran out of the castle with a crying baby in her arms. The dark figure and his pet wolves pursued her, they cornered her on a bridge and made her accidentally drop her baby into the river below.

"Nooooo!" the cloaked woman yelled.

The woman tried to catch her baby but failed, in the process her face was shown revealing that the cloaked woman was in fact Mystique.

Mystique fell to her knees and started crying.

The Dark figure came closer and showed himself to be a man in Dark red armor.

"Why?!" Mystique shouted in despair, "Why?" she asked the man looking into his eyes.

The man in the Dark red armor said nothing and simply floated away.

The scene changed into a bright sunny day where a man and a woman found a crying baby in the river.

The man took the baby out of the river and the little toddler raised his blue hand out of its blanket. Watching from afar Mystique made sure her little boy was safe. The dream ended.

Both the Professor and Rogue opened their eyes simultaneously and simply stare at each other in silence. They were both watching, they both knew.

"Well, did you see anything else?" Kurt asked.

"Apparently, Rogue, your dream isn't a dream. It's a repressed memory, not just your imagination" Charles stated.

"But if I'm in it, then why is she having the dream? Shouldn't it have been mine?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, Professor, what's going on?" Rogue asked trying to understand her situation.

"Well, I'm not quite certain. You must've absorbed the memories of someone who, indeed, knows about Kurt's past" Charles said.

"She touched me!" Kurt said, "Back when we first met, remember, Rogue? Maybe you got those memories from me" He suggested.

"You were just an infant in the dream. It might be possible that you could have memories that far back" Charles said.

"Probe my mind now, Professor! To find out more! Maybe I've got more memories about what happened later" Kurt said.

"Yes that might help, but—but not tonight. We've had quite enough excitement, I think, for now" Charles said needing time to think.

"But, Professor!" Kurt complained.

"Tomorrow, Kurt, after school. I promise" Charles said rolling away.

Kurt sighed.

As Charles rolled towards his room he couldn't help but wonder, 'Erik what did you do?'

The next day at Bayville high

Charles had gone to see Mystique to question her about Rogue's dream.

Charles rolled in front of her desk, "Hello Raven"

Mystique looked displeased at hearing the name she once had, "I told you to never call me that"

"You lost that privilege when you abducted a boy's mother" Charles said.

"Spare me the lecture Charles" Mystique said obviously not feeling remorse.

"Has he become so desperate that he'll do anything to gain followers?" Charles asked.

"We will do anything, for the preservation of mutant kind" Mystique said.

There was once a time when Raven listened to reason, that time is long past.

"I won't waste my words a second time" Charles said.

"What are you here for Charles?" Mystique asked not wanting to be reminded of the past.

"You've been carrying a heavy burden for many years Raven. Rogue's recent contact with you seems to have given her some of your darker memories—nightmares about a very unfortunate incident involving an infant" Charles said.

"You're fishing. You know nothing" Mystique said.

"I know about your relationship with the boy, Raven. What I don't know is what Erik tried to do to him. Why did you run that night?" Charles asked.

Mystique got out of her chair, "Dear, dear, Charles. How incredibly frustrating for you to realize that that amazing mind of yours knows so very little, really" She grabbed a book from the shelf.

"What were you two up to in that dreary castle?" Charles asked, "Was it worth the loss of your son?" he asked hoping to get a mind reaction out of Mystique.

Mystique's mind wandered to that day. The dark castle in Sausenburg, 'Monster?!' The howling wolves chasing her through the black forest. Dropping her boy in the Danube River 'No!'

Mystique dropped the book she was holding, "Get out! Get out now!"

Charles turned around and rolled away. He stopped by the doorway, "Oh, and just in case you're curious. He turned out to be a very fine lad"

Mystique leaned on her desk and sighed, she really wished she could see her little boy but she can't.

Charles exited the school. He telepathically communicated with Logan, 'Logan, I've got the coordinates'

The X-jet

"Fire away" Logan said engaging the thrusters and blasting off.

Bayville high

Dean walked through the hallways finally done for the day wondering, 'Who do I pick?' the question that had been haunting him for a few days now.

There were two girls that had caught his attention. Jean and Rogue.

Both very interesting, each one of them was unique in certain ways. First off we have Jean, the popular high school girl.

She's beautiful, smart, confident, and talented in different ways including her powers. She's the first girl X-man he met so naturally he liked her. She was nice to him from the beginning and she played a big part in bringing him to Bayville.

Now on the other hand we have Rogue, the sort of high school Goth girl.

She's also beautiful, funny, and fun to hang out with. At times she could be a little rough around the edges but that wasn't anything he couldn't deal with.

A lot of times from what he heard, Rogue would distance herself and hide her feelings from everyone. That was apparent when he first met her but since then her attitude towards him has changed. Over the weeks he's been at the institute, Dean has spent a lot of time with Rogue and liked her company. She enjoyed his humor and rebellious side and vice versa. Whereas Jean was a strict by the book type of gal, something Dean definitely was not.

Dean originally thought Rogue would be like any other unpopular girl in his previous school, kind of just sad and miserable, hating every aspect of life. But surprisingly he ended up seeing something beyond just her outside appearance, which by the way without all the covering up is a very hot body. He saw potential, you could say.

It's just that she's lacking in certain fields, like for one-her powers. They really prevent her from having any contact with anyone, which is being fairly considered here. Ultimately no matter how much Dean likes her, he and Rogue could never be a thing.

Which means Jean is the only choice.

But in the mist of all this he constantly dismisses Jean's longer relationship with Scott. He underestimates Scott's chances with Jean seeing him as a boring dork but doesn't know their history. Right now, it seems that the only muscle Dean has yet to figure out is his own heart. The answer was clear but Dean refused to see it.

Kurt was staring out the window wondering what answer awaited him when he returned to the institute. Will he finally be free of this rumor of him being a hell spawn? Will he finally find out who his mother really is? All this suspense had him waiting anxiously for the bell to ring.

When the bell did ring he was the first one out to get out of his seat and hand in his exam. Kurt walked out of his classroom in a fast pace.

"Hey, Kurt, wait up!" Kurt heard from behind him. He looked back and saw Rogue trying to catch up with him.

"What's the rush?" Rogue asked.

"You know" Kurt said continuing on walking with her, "Prof said we'd look for more answers after school"

"Right" Rogue said thinking about her dream. "You sure you wanna know?"

They came to a stop in front of his locker.

He opened it and got the rest of his things, "What?" Kurt asked, "Of course! Hey wouldn't you? I mean haven't you ever wondered who your real parents were?"

"I guess so. Yeah, sometimes, but Irene was always a good mom to me. I mean, sometimes she could be real strict and all, but…"

Kurt closed his locker and they continued walking, "My adopted parents were great, too, but I always felt that they were keeping something from me. Whenever the subject of where I came from popped up, they were always vague. They never mentioned anything like the stuff in your dream"

"Maybe they didn't know" Rogue said.

Kurt raised an eyebrow to that.

"Or maybe they were just trying to protect you" Rogue said.

Kurt came to a stop, "How, by hiding my own past from me?" his tone sounding slightly angry.

Dean, Jean and Scott noticed the commotion and walked over to them.

"Kurt—"

"Listen, maybe you can live without knowing, but I've got to know the truth about my life!" Kurt switched off his image inducer revealing his blue form, "I'm outta here!" he teleported leaving a trail of smoke behind, luckily no one was around to see that.

"What's wrong with Kurt?" Dean asked.

"He feels resentful towards his parents for not telling him the truth" Rogue said.

Dean sighed, 'I've been there'

"Ah, well, we'd better go find him" Scott said.

"Scott, I think Kurt went back home" Dean said seeing the obvious answer.

"Well how do you know?" Scott asked, the tension between the two of them becoming obvious.

"He wanted to find answers and there's really only one person who can give them to him, the Professor. It's kind of a no-brainer" Dean said intentionally trying to mock him.

"What if he wanted to be alone for a while?" Scott retorted.

"Where do you think he would go? The ice-cream shop? If he wanted to be alone and cool off he'd go back to his room" Dean said raising his voice slightly.

They both fell into a serious deep stare.

"Fine. Let's go home and see" Scott said walking away.

"Alright then" Dean said also walking away.

"Oh I'll ride with Dean" Jean said catching up with him.

That pissed off Scott further and he stormed out mad.

"Hey wait for me!" Rogue yelled.

As they all left a student was behind the corner listening. The student morphed into a very sad looking Mystique.

Mystique handed Quicksilver an envelope.

"Are you sure about this? I mean, I've seen the defenses they've got around that place" Pietro said.

"Don't worry. You're fast enough. You should be able to get in and out of there undetected" Mystique said.

"Why is it so important? I mean, what are you telling that blue-furred freak?" Pietro asked.

Mystique masked her anger for the safety of her cover, "Never mind. That's none of your business. Just deliver it!"

Pietro zipped and vanished into thin air.

At the institute

Charles was in the war room in communication with Wolverine.

"Looks like this is the place, Charles. I'll set her down in the woods nearby and go in on foot" he heard from the com link.

"Good. Keep me informed" Charles said.

"Right. Logan out"

Pietro jumped over the Mansion gate in super speed.

Charles felt an unknown presence, he searched with his mind.

Pietro ran across the front lawn and into the mansion.

'Quicksilver?' Charles queried.

Pietro zipped through the living room passing by Kitty, Evan and Storm appearing as nothing but a gust of wind.

"Hey, who opened a window?" Kitty said.

Kurt stared at an old photo of him as a child with his adopted parents.

'Why did they ever keep these things from me? I deserved to know. But what if Rogue is right, and I don't like what I find?' Kurt wondered.

There was a knock on his door that interrupted his thoughts. As he hung from his chandelier he dropped from the ceiling and teleported outside his door. Only to find no one there.

'Hmm, how strange' Kurt teleported back into his room only to find an envelope on the floor. He picked it up, opened it and read it.

If you want to know the truth, come to the new mall construction site at sundown. Come alone!

Kurt walked over to his desk and placed it in the top drawer. He thought about it, 'This could be a trap, but what if this is for real? I need to find out once and for all. I mean if anything does happen I can just port out of there right?'

He looked out his window and noticed sundown was a few minutes away, "Why not?" he said before teleporting out of there.

Just then there was a knock on his door, "Yo Kurt! Prof said he might have some info—" Dean said opening his door.

He looked around but Kurt was nowhere to be seen.

"I could've sworn I heard him" Dean said.

He sniffed the air and smelled fresh sulphur, very recent.

'Must've just missed him' Dean thought, 'I should tell the Professor'

"That's what the note said, I'm telling ya. She's gonna meet that little blue creep tonight. And that Wolverine guy and the blackbird were gone just like you said" Pietro said over the phone.

His father's voice could be heard from the other side, "Hmm, as I feared"

Magneto was standing in front of a few screens, one in particular fixed on the blackbird, "Now I need you to do something further for me. Get the others and intercept Nightcrawler before he gets to Mystique. She must not tell him what he wants to know"

"I have to take care of a visitor" The screen zoomed in on Wolverine.

Logan jumped down the hill he landed the Blackbird on. He made his way through the forest and reached the base of the mountain which held the Sausenburg castle.

Logan climbed it and eventually reached the top to find the gates wide open, as if they were expecting someone.

He sniffed the air, nobody close by. Logan ran in and hid behind a column. He peeked his head out to see if anyone was by the stairs, nobody there. He ran up.

Logan reached the top of the staircase and rushed in the next room only to be stopped by an electrical field. He unsheathed his claws and slashed the fuse box on the right column disabling the electrical field.

He walked away smoking, limping and holding his right arm from the shock. Within mere seconds he was back to normal.

Logan continued forward and turrets came out of two columns ahead.

They shot plasma blasts at him. Logan shifted from side to side until he was close enough where he leapt forward, jumped off a column and slashed one of the turrets midair.

The sliced turret flew into the other one destroying both.

Logan hid behind a column again and scouted the area ahead. He spotted a big, closed wooden door, 'Seems like a good place to start'

He sprinted at the door full-speed and kicked the door opening it. He landed inside and found everything trashed like one of his fights with Creed.

Logan walked around, he retracted his claws.

"Wolverine report" he heard through the com link.

"Looks like I was expected. I think this place was some sort of…." Logan sniffed the air, "DNA lab or somethin, but whoever was running it pulled out recently. Real recently"

He suddenly heard a beeping sound, "Huh?" he find the source and it looked like a device counting down from 10, "Sorry, Chuck, I gotta sign off now!" he immediately jumped out the window with no time to spare as the whole castle exploded and to crumbled to the ground.

At the Institute

"Jean!" Dean said spotting her in the hallway, "Kurt's taken off. Prof wants us to check out his room"

"Ok" Jean said. She followed him to Kurt's room, "So what are we looking for?"

"Tell you the truth, I'm not sure" Dean answered, "Prof thinks that Kurt might have had a visit from Pietro earlier"

"Quicksilver?" Jean said with concern, "Here? But how?"

"Well he does have super speed so he probably got past the mansion security with no problem" Dean said.

Jean opened Kurt's top drawer, found the note and read it, "Oh no. Dean Look at this" she gave him the note and he read it.

"Get the others, we gotta move" Dean said hurrying to change.

Author's note: Finally got to an actual episode haha, about time. Next chapter we'll finally see a full team on team battle!