Chapter 40

Scars never heal

At the Institute

Dean and Evan were engaging Kratos.

Their current battle plan was for Dean to keep him occupied while Evan fired his bone spikes at him.

Dean was faster than his brother which allowed him to avoid any of his attacks, but at the same time because Kratos was stronger Dean's attacks did little damage to him.

Dean blocked a punch from Kratos and was knocked back. He landed on his feet close to Evan.

"Nothing we throw at this guy is hurting him" Evan pointed out.

"Yeah, I noticed" Dean said as he tried to think of something.

Kratos ran at them, with his blades in his hands.

'He said resistant to lightning, not immune' Dean thought.

Kratos attacked Dean, slashing with his blades. His focus was on his brother, his mutant friend wasn't important enough to have his attention.

Dean backed away and moved as fast as possible to dodge everything. Fighting someone with weapons unarmed was extremely difficult, if you made one wrong move you could lose a limb.

Evan sprouted two medium sized spikes and shot them at the duo.

The spikes flew past Kratos, one on each side of him, right into Dean's hands.

Dean grabbed the bone spikes and swiftly swept Kratos' legs with them.

Kratos fell on his back, taken by surprise by the assist from Dean's teammate.

Dean then swung the bone spikes downward.

Kratos sliced the bone spikes mid swing chopping them in half.

Dean jumped backwards, avoiding a stab from Kratos, and summoned a lightning bolt to his palm.

Kratos was already back on his feet and charging at his brother.

Dean put triple the amount of energy he usually needed to create a lightning bolt, resulting in it expanding in length.

When Kratos was a few feet away Dean threw it at him, hitting him dead center in the chest and sending him flying backwards.

Kratos planted his feet in the ground and skidded a couple of feet before he stopped. There was a scorch mark in the center of his chest and it looked like the attack hurt him.

"You were saying something about resistant but I don't see it" Dean said with a smirk.

Kratos glared at his brother as he furiously slashed with his blades.

Dean dodged and backed away from every slash, 'That won't work either, I'll waste too much energy trying to make my lightning bolts big enough'

Evan shot a spike between the two of them forcing them to instinctively back away.

With his momentary distraction, Dean kicked Kratos in the chest sending him flying back.

"Unless I get my weapons I won't be able to get close to him" Dean said to his teammate.

Evan looked back at Kratos getting up and gulped, "Go"

Dean looked at him, "What?"

"Go, I'll distract him. Just hurry" Evan said standing up straight.

"I'll only be a minute" Dean said running inside.

Kratos watched him leave and laughed, "Ha! Coward!"

Evan sprouted spikes all over his arms and proceeded to fire them at Kratos hoping to slow him down.

Kratos drew one of his blades and deflected all the spikes.

Evan started to sweat nervously, he made that look easy.

Kratos ran at Evan as he deflected more spikes.

Evan slid underneath Kratos at the last possible moment and used his spiked arm to stop himself and turn around for a sweep. His sweep was ineffective against Kratos' solid stance.

Kratos kicked Evan in the face lightly and he went skidding along the ground.

Evan wiped his face with his sleeve and saw red, Kratos must have broken his nose and he didn't seem to put much effort into it.

"At least make it a challenge for me" Kratos said approaching again.

Evan quickly got up and produced a staff like spike.

"A weapon huh, let's see how durable it is" Kratos said with a cocky grin as he sheathed his sword.

Evan tried to use the staff to keep a good amount of distance between him and Kratos but sadly he wasn't that good with it.

Kratos grabbed the staff by the end of it, pulled Evan close, and punched him in the gut.

Evan dropped to his knees holding his aching stomach. It was like he'd been stabbed.

Kratos held the staff in his hands and snapped it in two without any effort, "Play time is over"

Evan panicked and covered his whole body with spikes to provide some protection.

Kratos lifted him up by his shirt, "You think those spikes of yours are gonna do any good? Think again!" he started smashing the spikes off Evan's body a few at a time.

Evan kept trying to protect himself by constantly producing more spikes but they didn't last more than two seconds.

Kratos looked unamused, "Can't you do any better?!"

"HEY!" he heard.

Kratos looked back and saw Dean standing not too far away holding his gladii, "Put him down!"

Kratos did as he said only out of anticipation for a real challenge, after he knocked him out with a punch.

'Looks like I'm on my own for now' Dean thought.

Kratos looked at the gladii and chuckled, "You use mortal weapons?"

"They do their job" Dean said entering his stance.

"As you wish" Kratos drew his adamantine blades.

Dean and Kratos stared each other down, waiting to see who was going to make the first move.

"Why do you want to fight me so badly?" Dean asked curiously.

"To prove to father that I'm the more capable son" Kratos said.

Finally, the silence was broken as they charged at each other and their blades clashed at an alarming rate.

Kratos' skill with blades exceeded that of his brother's. Although the same could be said about Dean's speed.

Which brought the two of them at an interesting standstill. Neither could seem to get the advantage.

They backed away from each other, still glaring at one another.

"Not bad, for a coward" Kratos said.

"I'm getting real sick of you calling me that" Dean attacked with a double overhead slash.

Kratos blocked by crossing his swords and kicked Dean in the chest.

Dean was sent flying back and crashed into a tree. He felt his chest aching, 'He's so strong'

Dean instinctively moved his head to avoid Kratos' blade that imbedded into the tree.

Dean's eyes widened as he looked at the adamantine blade that was centimeters away from his face.

Kratos went to stab with his other blade but Dean rolled out of the way just in time to avoid it.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Dean shouted.

Kratos laughed and retrieved his blades, "In any conflict the winner is the one who is prepared to do what the loser is not"

Dean raised his guard in case of a sneak attack.

Kratos suddenly charged forward trying to catch his brother off guard with a low attack but Dean was prepared and jumped over it.

Kratos went on the offensive again but Dean simply dodged and didn't fight back. It was difficult to find an opening, "I don't understand, I'm your brother" Dean backed away, "Doesn't that mean anything to you?" he said sincerely.

"Half-brother" Kratos corrected him, "And you're nothing but an obstacle in my way that needs to be crushed!" he slashed downward with all his might.

Dean went to block the attack but his gladii were shattered from the amount of force from Kratos' blades.

Kratos then slashed at Dean's chest.

Dean instinctively backed away leaving only a flesh wound on his chest. He looked at the handles of his now broken swords, 'How the hell am I going to fix these?'

"I hope you don't break as easily as your pitiful weapons" Kratos leaped at him.

Dean let go of the handles and rolled underneath Kratos, "I don't wanna fight you, just let my friends go" he pleaded.

Kratos landed hard on the ground and turned around to face Dean, "Are you afraid of me brother?"

"Not in the least" Dean said confidently.

"Then stop running and fight me!" Kratos ran at him.

"All this to impress our father?" Dean asked dumbfounded.

Kratos slashed horizontally with his left hand.

Dean blocked with his gauntlet and grabbed his hand, "You think father actually cares about you?!"

Kratos then slashed with his right hand.

Dean then grabbed that hand as well got up in Kratos' face, "If he ever gave a measly thought about either of us he would have been there when we needed him!"

Kratos headbutted Dean, opening a gash on his forehead.

"You needed him not I, your life of privilege has made you soft. I was raised in Sparta where I had to fight to survive every day of my life!" Kratos shouted.

Kratos was about to charge again when a massive lightning bolt struck the ground between them, 'ENOUGH!'

Both stood still from the thundering voice of their father.

'I will not tolerate such behavior!' Zeus said.

"Father let me prove my strength!" Kratos shouted.

"You both are my sons, and as such, I will not allow you to kill each other. If you are to fight you shall do so without weapons, as men" Zeus commanded.

"What?!" Kratos shouted, "I will do no such thing!"

"You will, or are you afraid that you'll be helpless without your weapons?" Zeus asked.

They looked at each other.

Kratos sheathed his blades, "My bare hands will be enough"

At the Sanctum Sanctorum

Logan got up, "This is insane, you actually believe this shit?" He asked his bald friend.

"We cannot ignore this Logan" Charles said.

"So what, I'm supposed to believe he's gonna end the world?" Logan asked.

"Maybe, maybe not. The prophecy spoke of two" Charles said.

"There's no way it's him, I know the kid ain't like that" Logan said.

"Regardless of what he's like right now you don't know what time will do to him" Stephen said.

"I'm afraid to say that he's right Logan" Charles admitted.

Logan sighed heavily, he couldn't deny that, "What do we do then?"

"The best course of action would be to continue doing what you were doing as if nothing changed" Stephen said.

"Although now that I think about it we can't be sure there are only two sons of Zeus in the world, perhaps there are more. Dean might not be a part of this prophecy" Charles said.

"There is a way to know for sure if you'd like" Stephen said.

"If there is a way we need to know" Charles said.

"What is the boy's name?" Stephen asked.

"Dean Nobili" Logan said.

"Show me Dean Nobili" Stephen commanded the eye of Agamotto and it showed Dean fighting Kratos.

"What the hell is going on?" Logan asked.

The eye then displayed a wider view of the area showing the other X-men unconscious.

"They've been attacked" Charles said looking at Kratos.

Stephen examined Dean through his astral form, "It's as I feared, he's one of them"

"How can you tell?" Logan asked.

"Around young Mr. Nobili I can see the lines of destiny twist, he's a nexus" Stephen said.

"What does that mean?" Charles asked.

"Think of life as a road" Stephen explained, "Fates are the different paths, destiny is the result of those paths. Your choices can determine what destiny you have but sooner or later you reach a point where there is no turn off the path you are on...unless you happen to bump into young Mr. Nobili here. Because of his connection to the prophecy he can alter the destiny of anyone he encounters"

"I've learned enough today, we must quickly get back" Charles hurried out the door.

"Wait a minute" Stephen said staring at Kratos.

"What is it now?!" Logan shouted.

"It seems that the stranger attacking your boy…is also a nexus" Stephen said not believing his eyes.

Charles was shocked to say the least, but right now was not the time to dwell, "Thank you for your hospitality my friend, but right now we have to hurry"

"Wait a minute, by the time we get there it'll already be too late" Logan said thinking ahead.

"I can have you home in mere moments if you so wish" Stephen said offering to use his mystical abilities.

Charles looked through the eye and watched the two brothers fight with curiosity, "If what you're saying is true, then perhaps it's best to observe them" he would like nothing more than to help his student but the fate of the world depends on them knowing their true nature.

At the Institute

Dean punched Kratos in the face with his full strength.

Kratos' head cocked back from the force of he hit and he was forced to take a step back, only one.

Dean stood there waiting for his opponent to do something.

Kratos' looked back at Dean with a trickle of blood running down the side of his mouth. He wiped the blood off his mouth and grinned, "All too easy"

Dean wasn't prepared for the fast front kick that hit him right in the gut, followed by an elbow to the face that sent him flying.

He skidded across the ground, 'Ok note to self, don't stand so close to him' he grabbed his aching head, 'and get better healing abilities' he got up only for Kratos to continue his assault.

Kratos threw an overhand right to the jaw, which Dean dodged, followed by a left elbow to the gut as he spun around.

Dean tried to block his elbow but the attack sent him skidding a few feet back.

Kratos then attacked with a side kick but it was caught by his opponent,

Dean grabbed Kratos' leg and started spinning him around in circles faster and faster until he smashed him into the ground creating a small crater.

Dean quickly pressed his advantage and went to beat on Kratos while he was down but he kicked Dean in the chest sending him a few feet back.

Kratos charged at Dean again.

Dean jumped off his chest trying to get some space but Kratos ran forward and launched an immediate barrage of punches at his opponent.

Each blow collided with Dean's defenses with the crushing weight of a mountain. He could feel his bones aching from the impact.

Dean kicked Kratos' heel, making him lose his balance and fall forward.

Dean then elbowed him in the chest and followed up with an uppercut.

Kratos immediately retaliated with a wide swing.

Dean ducked underneath it and came up with an uppercut to his ribcage.

Kratos ignored the pain and kept fighting. Even though Dean wasn't that strong, enough hits to an unprotected ribcage could do some damage.

Dean stepped backwards as Kratos pressed the attack.

Kratos then threw a punch aimed at his chest.

Dean dodged, grabbed Kratos' arm, and flipped him over.

Dean then pummeled him with fast punches, trying to overwhelm him.

Kratos kicked Dean off sending him flying back.

Dean went back so fast that he couldn't find his footing, resulting in him tumbling backwards.

Kratos quickly got on his feet and ran towards his brother.

Dean rolled to the side, avoiding a stomp, and punched Kratos in the ribcage again.

Kratos swung wildly in response but missed.

At the Sanctum Sanctorum

The three adults watched as the two sons of Zeus fought.

"Good, he's keeping his distance and utilizing his speed" Logan said.

Stephen stroked his beard, "Regardless of the outcome of this, neither of the two meet the description we're looking for" he looked at Charles, "You've become familiar with his life, is there anything from his past that might lead you to believe he could be the destroyer?"

Logan became concerned, just because there was one incident doesn't mean he'll end up like that right? After all killing one person ate him up inside.

Charles frowned, "The boy is very secretive of his past, his trust with us has not gone very far"

"Then we can do nothing but watch" Stephen said.

At the Institute

"You're not very familiar with hand to hand combat, are you?" Dean asked as he waited for his brother to make a move.

"I never needed to be" Kratos threw heavy punches and Dean maneuvered to avoid every one of them, "The way of mortals is beneath me"

Dean punched him twice in the face and backed away from a haymaker that would have knocked his head off, "Is that why you've barely hit me?"

Kratos chuckled, "No, that's because you're too afraid to be hit"

Dean raised an eyebrow in confusion, "I don't think you know how fights work. When someone tries to hit you you're supposed to dodge, not let them hit you"

"Unlike me, you're a coward. I let my enemies strike me, to prove that there is nothing they can do to hurt me, that's how I became so strong!" Kratos attacked and Dean dodged once again.

Dean then hit Kratos with a fast side kick to the chest that made him take a couple of steps back.

Kratos winced and then grinned, "Is that it? Is that the best you can do?!" he challenged him.

Dean jumped and hit him with a tornado kick to the face.

Kratos' head turned from the force of the hit. When he faced Dean again there was a small bruise on his cheek, "Face it brother, you don't have what it takes to beat me"

Dean clenched his fists angrily, his brother was poking at his pride.

"C'mon brother, show me your power, hit me!" Kratos shouted.

Dean pulled back his fist and hit him as hard as he could.

Kratos spit out blood, "Good" he then punched Dean as hard as he could in response.

Dean got dizzy for a moment and then hit Kratos again.

Kratos took the hit and hit his brother again.

The two started swinging back and forth until it became a slugfest.

At the Sanctum Sanctorum

Logan watched with wide eyes, "No, no, no what are you doing? Don't go toe-to-toe with him kid! That's what he wants!"

"He's exploiting Dean's weakness" Charles said, "He's no fool"

"Perhaps this would be a good time to intervene" Stephen said preparing his transportation spell.

"No" Charles shook his head, "Dean prefers to fight his battles alone, and I will respect his wishes"

"Charles that sounds crazy" Stephen said.

"I know, and I don't agree with it myself, but this is how he wants things. For my students' sakes be ready to open the portal just in case" Charles said.

At the Institute

The two sons of Zeus hit each other with haymakers back and forth trying to prove their strength.

Kratos hit Dean with a right hook to the jaw making him stubble back. His head was pounding from the number of blows to the head.

Kratos saw an opening and side kicked Dean in the midsection, when the kick connected there was a crack noise, a broken rib. Dean slowly backed away holding his side in pain.

Kratos, seeing his moment of weakness, kept on attacking.

Dean acted quickly and summoned a lightning bolt to his hand and threw it at Kratos.

Before the lightning bolt reached him, Dean had moved behind Kratos and swung a hard uppercut into his foe's back.

Kratos dodged the lightning bolt, turned around, and he swung at Dean.

Dean dodged and jumped into the sky,

Kratos launched himself off the ground and quickly closed the distance between him and Dean.

'Uh oh' Dean thought. In the air there was no dodging anything.

Kratos then started to pummel him mercilessly until he ended their brief aerial battle with a double axe handle to the head sending him crashing down to the ground.

Dean collided with the ground creating a small crater. He felt disoriented from the impact but he could still see a black figure from his blurry vision coming towards him fast.

Before Dean could pick himself up, Kratos smashed into his lying corpse, breaking three more of his ribs, knocking the wind out of him, and making him spit out blood.

Dean's eyes almost popped out of his skull from the amount of force of that blow.

Kratos then grabbed Dean's leg and threw him into a tree breaking right through it, trashing his body even further.

Dean used one hand to try and lift his body off the ground, 'What the hell do I do now?' he thought. Dean held his ribcage to try and keep himself from passing out from the pain, 'I might not like it, but this guy is just too much for me to handle alone. I need my team' he looks over to his teammates who were still out cold.

Dean looked over to Kratos and spotted him approaching ready for more.

Dean rose to his feet panting and holding his side trying to comfort himself as much as possible. He used his free hand to wipe the blood dripping from his mouth.

Dean tried coming up with a plan but everything seemed hopeless at this point.

He was shaken out his thoughts by an upward kick from Kratos. He backflipped avoiding it, feeling the sting of his broken ribs but trying his best to ignore it.

Dean went to sweep his legs as he hoisted himself with one hand.

Kratos jumped over the sweep and goes for a kick to the face, Dean luckily managed to bring his arm up to his head in time and block but had to remove his other hand from holding his side causing a shock of pain to coarse through his body.

Kratos spotted the pain on Dean's face so he aimed a punch for his midsection which hurt ten times more now than it did before.

Dean used the full strength of his legs to leap straight up into the sky trying to get away from Kratos but he followed.

Kratos quickly caught up with Dean, grabbed his leg and pulled him down sending him straight back down.

Dean landed face first on the ground and could feel his muscles losing energy fast, 'Gotta get up' he thought as he willed his free arm to lift his body.

Right as he got up a massive overhand punch hit him in the jaw with devastating power.

Dean felt a crack in his mouth, his jaw was broken. He dropped to the floor from the burst of pain and Kratos continued to mercilessly beat on Dean's body.

Again, Dean grabbed both of his opponent's hands and stopped him from throwing anymore punches. He tried to push him back with all of his strength but his efforts seemed futile.

"What's the matter coward, tired?" Kratos said with a cocky grin.

He pushed Dean's hands lower showing his superior strength, "All that talk about you being a good fighter when you fight like a puny mortal" Kratos forced Dean's hands to the ground, "You're nothing but a waste of my time" Kratos head-butt's Dean splitting his head open on his forehead.

Kratos placed his knee over Dean's gut and proceeded to push down.

Dean, almost passing out from the pain, managed to knee Kratos in the back, taking him by surprise, and successfully knocking him off.

Dean jumped back avoiding an overhand punch from Kratos as he punched into the ground.

Dean lands on the ground safely and quickly leaped at Kratos with an overhand left punch.

"I don't know why you even bother" Kratos ducked underneath the punch and sent a devastating blow to Dean's gut knocking the wind out of him.

Dean's eyes widened from the pain. His body couldn't move from the shock.

Kratos then punched Dean in the face sending his body skidding across the ground.

Dean tried to get back up holding his head from the pain, when Kratos slowly walked up to him and threw an upward kick.

Dean dodged it by somersaulting back a few times to get some space, when he stopped another punch sent him skidding face first into the ground.

Kratos took his sweet time walking over to Dean.

As Kratos stood over Dean's unmoving body he was surprised when all of a sudden it jumped into action and sends a fast kick that almost hit him.

Kratos countered with an angry punch to the jaw which further aggravated Dean as well. They both start trading blows trying to outclass the other but in his current condition Dean couldn't do much.

Kratos caught his fists and their hands locked in a test of brute strength.

Unfortunately, Dean was running extremely low on energy and his opponent was not.

Dean went to do what Wolverine once did to him. He fell back and tried to kick his opponent in the gut only for Kratos to see it coming and head-butted him feeling the sharp sting of pain from where his head split open before.

Kratos then threw his most powerful underhand punch hitting his opponent in the gut colliding with the ground simultaneously. This would be the definition of being stuck between a rock and a hard place, of pain.

Kratos grabbed his stunned foe by the neck and squeezed hard, Dean started to choke. It was already hard enough to breath with all the blood coming out of his mouth.

"Well it's been fun, but everything has to end at some point" Kratos pulled back his right fist.

Dean had to admit that he was feeling something he honestly never felt before in his life…fear. His body was surrounded with cuts and bruises, he had multiple broken ribs, a cracked jaw, and his face was barely recognizable. He had been utterly humiliated and defeated. And there was nothing he could do.

Suddenly a portal opened right next to them.

Charles and Logan came out of the portal along with Dr. Strange.

"I suggest you put him down and leave" Charles warned Kratos.

Kratos eyed the bald man, he knew from Magneto that he far surpassed him in mental prowess. If he wanted the Professor could fry his brain.

Kratos dropped Dean, "I have what I came for anyways" he walked away.

Logan ran over to Dean who was on the brink of losing consciousness.

"I'm…sorry. He was…too strong…" Dean said as he passed out.

"I can help with their recovery if you wish" Dr. Strange offered.

"If you would be so kind Stephen" Charles said.

Dr. Strange placed both his hands over Dean's chest and proceeded to focus his energy on his healing spell. His hands began to glow, radiating energy.

Suddenly Dean's birthmark began to glow and his whole body was encompassed in a golden energy cloak.

Dr. Strange backed away with a surprised look on his face, "Interesting"

"What's wrong? Why can't you heal him?" Charles asked.

Dr. Strange inspected the birthmark on Dean's shoulder, "His father has placed a mark of protection upon him"

"A what?" Logan asked.

Dr. Strange tapped his birthmark, "This, it protects him from any magic or sorcery. Which means my powers won't have any effect on him"

"Sounds like a dumb idea to give that to your possible destructor" Logan said.

"Maybe, but if he wasn't protected any god or sorcerer could influence the outcome of the prophecy. Something Zeus doesn't want" Dr. Strange said.

Logan tossed Dean over his shoulder, "Then I'll get him to the infirmary while you take care of the rest of them"

"Well it's been fun, but everything has to end at some point" Kratos drew one of his blades.

Dean was frozen in place, he couldn't move an inch.

"Time to die!" Kratos went for the kill.

Dean woke up from his dream in the infirmary. He looked over his body and saw no trace of injury of any kind. How long was he out? A day? All his broken bones healed so it must have been at least a day.

But even though all his wounds healed, Kratos had left a scar in his mind. A scar of his defeat.

Dean clenched his fist and punched a hole through a wall in a fit of rage.

Jean and Rogue were both curious as to how Dean was doing. He skipped school due to his condition.

When they arrived in the infirmary they didn't see Dean anywhere.

"Where do you think he went?" Jean asked.

Rogue thought about it but couldn't seem to understand what happened, "I don't know, let's try the Danger Room"

They entered the observation room to find Logan watching Dean, using the gravity simulation.

"There he is" Jean said, "I'm going to go talk to him"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, red" Logan warned her.

Jean stopped, "Why not?"

Logan took a good look at Dean, "When the kid came in here earlier he looked pissed off, more than I've ever seen him"

"But why would he just leave the infirmary so early? I don't get it" Rogue said.

"He lost, badly. Hell, he would have been killed" Logan sighed, "Losing isn't an easy thing to experience. The kid spends day and night trying to be the best and all off a sudden some chump comes along and just beats him, that hurt him more than any punch ever could"

Rogue looked inside at Dean and could see the anger and ferocity on his face as he battled an invisible opponent, struggling to keep up with the increased gravity.

"His pride was hurt more than anything yesterday, I'd say that this will give him a new incentive to try and get better" Logan admitted.

Dean struggled as he pushed up and down on his one-handed push ups.

His angry and determined face showed that he simply wouldn't allow his muscles to give out, 'I will get better, and I will show him who the better fighter is when I do'

Author's note: Start training montage haha, he may have lost but ultimately this will make him stronger in the long run. As always thanks for reading and please review!