MATTHEW

Matthew didn't know how long they stood there like that, both crying, bathed in the dusty halo of the station lights. After a time, the tears stopped, but they still stood holding on to each other. Finally, Matthew lifted his head from where he had rested it on hers.

"We should find somewhere to go. Somewhere we can talk." He breathed out in mild frustration as he tried to organize his thought.

"I know a place," Eleni volunteered quietly.

She moved away from Matthew and led him around to the back of the station. He recalled that there was a park on a terrace up above it, and that is where she took him.

A broad path wound up to the entrance near the wall of the mountain which edged the back of the park. Once there, she curved back to the front of the space, which looked out over the expanse of the DownMountain. A chest-high wall bordered the terrace. During the day, green plants set in small squares of earth would have been visible throughout, but in the dim lights of the sparse lamps, they were dark shadows to be avoided.

Eleni led him to a patch of tall bushes growing up against the wall. Pushing through them, she climbed up and over the wall, and disappeared. Matthew followed and found himself in a small alcove, a few feet lower than the park above. It spanned about 5 feet before descending down a fairly steep hill to the station far below. The hillside rounded outward again on either side of the small space, and there were some scraggly bushes at the front of the space, giving it a sheltered feel.

Eleni sat down, her back to the earthen wall, in one of the rounded corners of the alcove. Matthew sat in the other. They were separated by about a couple feet in between.

Matthew considered his companion for a moment. In stark contrast to the emotional storm he had felt in front of the station, she was tightly controlled now, her emotions distant and difficult to discern. He was about to speak when she set the agenda.

"What is a psychic bond?" Matthew blinked in surprise. How could she not know something like that? Sure, they were rare, but people romanticized them in stories and as such they were common knowledge. Oddities from her dream that had occurred to him on the train ride down came to mind, leading him further to an impossible conclusion. For now, he focused on the question.

"It's a permanent telepathic link between two people." There was a flash of dread, similar to what he had felt in front of the station when he had revealed his mutant ability.

"Take it away."

"What?"

"I don't want it. Take it out of my mind!"

"I…uh, I can't."

"Why not? You put it there."

"They form spontaneously. It's something the subconscious does. I didn't do this on purpose, and don't know how to undo it. And I won't go into your mind without knowing what I need to do!" In the face of her insistence, he found himself getting worked up as well.

She fell silent for a minute, staring at him, then seemed to take what he said at face value. She said something that sounded like a curse.

"I need to understand this. So, you can read my thoughts without even…I don't know…trying? Find me anywhere?" He sighed, relieved they we no longer at odds, but dismayed by the horror he felt from her.

"No and yes, kind of."

"Kind of?"

"As the bond is, I would need to be close to you to pinpoint an exact location. Otherwise, it would just be a vague direction. It should be the same for you, too." He sensed no relief from her when he pointed that out. "I want to try something. Don't talk for a moment." In his mind, focusing on her but careful not to project telepathically, he thought: Where did you come from? "Did you hear or sense anything?"

"No." Matthew shared what he had confirmed.

"Our bond is strictly emotional, then. With some of them, the people can pass thoughts back and forth. I just 'thought' at you, not reaching out telepathically. As you didn't 'hear' it, our bond doesn't include that."

She pressed her fingers to her temples with her elbows rested on her knees, looking overwhelmed. He sensed horror and frustration from her. Nothing he said allayed her fears, though they all pointed to a bond that was limited. As he watched her, he found her discomfort concerning.

"I don't want you to be scared of this bond. I'll research all I can about it, and let you know if there is anything we can do." He spread his hands, trying to reassure her. "They are fairly rare, so I'm not sure there will be much information on them. And," here he paused, "I am no danger to you. I hope you believe me." She listened to him, but he sensed she reserved judgement for later.

"Is there anything else you know now?" He only had his own conjectures to share, but that he did.

"I think ours formed from our shared grief and trauma. When I first saw you dancing, the emotions you were feeling…screamed at me, though I didn't recognize it then. On some level I understood what you were going through." He sighed, he couldn't promise her anything, but he did know that the bonds didn't always last. "There's a chance the bond will fade. I don't remember the details. I'll let you know what I find in my research." He repeated the last words as quickly as possible. She had become angry at his dismissive words. He desperately looked for something else to add to distract her.

"Distance will affect it," he tacked on as an afterthought. "The farther apart we are, I believe the less you will sense. Distance affects my telepathy, so it must be the same." He fell silent, with nothing else to say on the topic and starting to feel bad about the whole situation.

"OK," she murmured. He looked up again, relieved to sense a sort of resignation from her. At least she accepted it for now.

She was looking to the side, and he took the opportunity to study her face and sort through his feelings. In spite of the turmoil of the night, he didn't feel an imposition being here with her. He truly wanted to help her. He also felt that the bond was not the real problem at hand. Hopefully, she would come to see how circumspect he was with his powers. Even the people who had trained him in his telepathy as a child had been impressed with his ability to keep his mind contained. He never caught stray thoughts and didn't think the bond would change that. As the silence lengthened, he recalled his question from earlier.

"Elayni, where did you come from?" There was a flash of irritation. "I didn't recognize the language those men who attacked you were speaking, although I understood the meaning from you…I've never heard anyone speak of 'Demonspawn'…" Reluctantly, she looked at him. Feeling that she was going to try to sidestep the issue, he kept his gaze fixed on her. He wouldn't let this go. She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed in defeat.

"The Citadel." Even though he had already suspected, Matthew took a long steadying breath as that guess was confirmed. "I don't want to talk about it. And I don't want anyone else to know."

He stared at her in disbelief. She wasn't going to explain how she had traversed the over a thousand miles that lay between the Montagne and its neighbor far to the east? She was going to leave him to guess at how she survived in a society where mutants were executed as soon as they were found? It was common knowledge that every infant was tested, and if evidence of a mutation was found the innocent babe was taken and slaughtered. The Montagne schooled all of its residents thoroughly in the atrocity that existed across the continent.

He felt her tensing, and knew that if he pressed her, he could lose all the inroads they had made since they had first spoken that afternoon. She would run, and likely disappear. He swallowed his need to understand the impossible.

"OK," he said softly. "That must have been hard on you." He felt a flash of incredulity and winced knowing how banal the comment had been. The feeling faded to frustration and then he only had a sense of overwhelming weariness from her. Her stomach grumbled audibly. That gave Matthew a new topic.

"The pass card can help with that," he murmured. "You don't have to do anything to use it, you know." She gave an annoyed sigh, but then surprised him.

"I'll take it. Tomorrow." A respite from the tension of their situation, the relief he felt was sweet. She was coming around and that was in spite of the secret he now knew, and the intrusion of the bond.

He heard a shiver in her voice as she breathed out. It was late enough that the heat of the day had diminished, and a slight chill was setting in. They pumped in the cold air of the desert at night to alleviate the stored heat from the day. He reached for his coat, then realized he hadn't grabbed one as he left. Eleni shivered again, and then leaned her head against the wall to her side as if to sleep.

He opened his mouth to object but didn't immediately speak as he realized there were very few options. He couldn't get back UpMountain, and anyway he didn't want to leave her here alone. He was pretty sure she'd refuse an offer to take her to a hotel, and that was risky for other reasons as well. The thought of trekking back across the DownMountain to the Towers to sleep somewhere around the abandoned building made the grassy nook where they sat positively cozy. He resigned himself to their present spot for the night. That didn't mean they both had to freeze.

"You know, Elayni, it'll be a lot warmer if we are sitting next to each other." He didn't expect her to accept his invitation, but then she spoke with defeat in her voice.

"Well, you can get in my head whenever you want, and find me anywhere I go. Sleeping next to you seems a small risk in light of all that." She made a sound he thought was laughter. "It's Ellen-ni by the way." She shifted to sit close to his side.

Tentatively, he raised his arm. She hesitated, but then rested her head on his shoulder, and he let his arm fall so that his hand rested on her hip. He noticed sadly that he could feel the protrusion of the hip bone clearly and was again relieved that she would accept the pass card and start getting food consistently. She shivered a couple more times, but then settled and was asleep in a matter of minutes.

In spite of his own exhaustion, Matthew didn't go to sleep right away. Pondering the young woman curled up next to him, he reviewed the events of the night and the things he had learned about her. She had survived a brutal attack, an attempted gang rape, only to find her mother beaten to the edge of death. Because they had discovered that she was a mutant, it seemed. That made sense, given where she had come from. He found it cowardly that in their fear of Eleni, her attackers had instead gone after the vulnerable woman who had given birth to her. He shuddered at the brutality of the Citadel.

The depth of her trauma echoed strongly in his mind, but that brought thoughts of his own mother, and he purposefully angled away from it and to a new topic.

A psychic bond. He had felt her keen dismay at its existence and now he took a moment to understand his own feelings and found that he wasn't bothered by it. Surprising, perhaps – it gave her a window into him, just as it gave him one into her. However, he decided he wanted to solve the puzzle this young woman presented; he genuinely wanted to help her. The bond, unintentional thought it was, and an intrusion from her point of view, nonetheless created a closeness between them. It would make doing these things easier.

He looked down at the top of her swathed head resting on his shoulder as he felt sleep creep up on him. He hoped over time she would come to be comfortable around him. Then, maybe, she would reveal how she had come to the Montagne.

"Eleni," he whispered her name as he rested his cheek on her head for a moment. He had never heard the name before. It was pronounced similar to Melanie but without the M he decided. Taking his head from hers, he leaned it back against the steep hillside behind him and stared at the indistinct shapes dimly illuminated throughout the DownMountain below. He slowly slipped into sleep.

Matthew awoke disoriented. It took a minute for him to recall fully the night before and reorder his thoughts. During that time, he registered the warm body pressed against his side, and felt relief. She was still there. The morning sun was glinting on the mirrors in the ceiling of the cavern, and that had woken him up. It was early; they had slept maybe 3 hours, possibly 4. The lack of sleep made his eyes burn.

Eleni stirred slightly in her sleep, bringing him out of his thoughts, and he was surprised when she cuddled closer to him. He stayed as still as possible, not wanting to wake her, but it appeared the light was already doing just that.

Her eyes slowly fluttered open, and she tilted her head back to look up at him, a sleepy but content look in her eyes. Through the bond, he was surprised to feel an openness from her, and even…happiness? Love? His breath caught and his chest contracted painfully. He gazed down at her in return. Suddenly her eyes flew wide, and she pushed herself away, scrambling back from him. He let her go, but with reluctance. He had known the moment wouldn't last. He wondered who it was that she had once gazed at so.

She was reordering her own thoughts, he could tell, so he gave her some time. She sat, eyeing him warily. He was about to speak, when she suddenly said, "What did you feel from me a moment ago, and what do you feel now?"

He paused. When she had woken up completely, she had had a moment of disarray, but now…

"You were flustered, alarmed, angry, but now I would say you are…controlled." She nodded, her eyes narrowed slightly, taking this in.

"We should go get the card from G. Then you can get a proper meal." She nodded her assent, and they left the alcove, climbing back up into the park.

As they descended to the station, Matthew started telling her about the places they passed, attempting to fill in the gaps in her knowledge of the Montagne.

"So, you know this is the station. Do you know the UpMountain?"

"I've heard of it."

"That's where I live actually." Eleni was quiet for a minute.

"Does G live there, too?" she asked.

"Uh, no."

"How did you end up there, and G here?"

Matthew became uncomfortable. He had never had to explain this story to someone before.

"Well, if a mutant has a desirable mutant ability, efforts are made to bring them UpMountain. They, uh, they place a lot of value here on what your mutant abilities are."

"So, you were brought UpMountain because you are a telepath." He nodded. She caught on quick. "What is G's ability?"

"That's a mystery. It happens sometimes. He doesn't even know himself."

"But he is a mutant?" Matthew nodded. Eleni took this in, then continued "What are the other 'desirable' mutant talents?"

"Ah, you know," he paused, "or you don't." The Citadel, he could still barely believe that. "Telepathy of course, telekinesis, shape shifting, strong energy-based powers, weather or nature-based powers, ice, fire and the like. And magnetism. If they found a magnetist, they'd be adopted straight into the Lensherr family, no questions asked!"

Eleni was quiet for a moment. He felt a flash of anxiety from her. "Lensherr. Like Magneto?" The Citadel again – Matthew actually cringed thinking about the stories they must tell of the man there.

"Yeah, same family. They rule this place, more or less. There is a governing council, but the Lensherr's still hold most of the power. The current Head, head of the family that is, but that's the official title as well, is named after Magneto himself. Erik Lensherr XII. He's not very popular." Matthew added the last in a low voice.

Eleni was quiet while she took in the information. They had passed the station at this point. After a moment, Matthew started up again.

"The place where we have been dancing, and…where you have been staying?" he gave her a sideways glance at that, but she simply looked back at him neither confirming nor denying his guess. He kept going. "That place is called the Towers. They were never finished, obviously. So, G moved in and set up his kid's organization there a year and a half or so back."

"It's real?" Matthew frowned for a moment, then realized what she was getting at.

"Yes, it's real. Meaning, its legitimate, he's got all the paperwork in order. Doing so helped get some protections for the place. The press can't just go in. He can have people removed if they are causing trouble. The authorities probably take their sweet time coming down here, but the center has a right to their services. He's made it a really great place for kids from the Sewers, or any of the DownMountain if they wanted to come. He calls it a place where life can be protected and thrive." Matthew made his voice deep with that last bit in imitation of G, then flicked his eyes upward. "He gets a bit dramatic at times."

Eleni raised her eyebrows at that. She didn't know G yet. Matthew thought the man would go easy on her. "That sounds very good for the kids." She paused, staring at the Towers as they approached then said quietly. "It helped me. I understood that not just anyone could go in there." Changing the subject, she asked about dance schools in the Montagne. "Are there a lot of them?"

Matthew had to think. "There are 3 UpMountain, I think." He was surprised to find he didn't know off the top of his head. "There must be some DownMountain, but I don't know for sure. I'll find out. Do you want to join one?" She just shrugged noncommittally at that.

"Just curious."

When they reached the street across from the Towers, Eleni stopped. He turned to her, worried she was having second thoughts. Instead, she surprised him.

"I need to do this on my own. You helped me see the value in it, but it was a choice I made."

"OK," he said, gazing down at her. "Maybe we can dance after you get the card and some breakfast?" He didn't want their dancing together to end, but with her about to get the card the future of their relationship again seemed uncertain. She looked at him, silent, and he sensed she was torn.

As the moment lengthened, Matthew found the world around him faded away. She suddenly seemed vulnerable, and unconsciously he reached his hands out and grasped her arms gently, trying to understand her conflict. He made to step closer, but the action snapped her out of the trance, and she crossed her arms in front of her and stepped back. She shook her head.

"Sure," came her hasty response. "I'll see you upstairs." Without looking back, she crossed the street and entered the Towers.

Matthew watched her enter, then turned away. Realizing he was hungry he went to get a snack before going up to the dance room. When he finally entered the Towers, Matthew veered towards the stairwell intending to go straight up. He was cut off by an arm which grabbed his shirt front and pushed him up against one of the concrete walls none too gently.

"What do you think you are doing, Summers?" G growled while he continued to pin Matthew to the wall. Underneath his outer layers of fat, G was solid muscle. "Coming back with her first thing in the morning, looking like you've been out all night? What happened?"

"What?! G, nothing happened! Nothing, I swear. Now let me go!" Hadn't he just done what the man had asked? Gotten Eleni to take the card?

G looked at him, suspicion thick on his face. "Nothing?" Matthew could tell he wasn't convinced. "Look, Matthew, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this time. But remember, all I asked you to do was get her to accept the pass card. Not your tongue in her mouth," here G examined Matthew's reaction sharply, "or any other part of you in any other part of her, for that matter." G paused again, giving Matthew another searching look. Matthew glared back at G, and the man finally released him, but not without a warning. "I know what you are capable of, Summers. Stay away from my sister. In that way at least."

"She's not your sister," Matthew growled. "And I got her to take the card, right?" G nodded reluctantly indicating she had collected it. "Don't I get some thanks for that?!" G waved his hand vaguely and mumbled something that might have been thanks. Matthew sighed in exasperation and started turning away.

His plans were interrupted when G grabbed him again. "Wha-? I'm just going up to dance!"

"She's not there," was G's response. Matthew thought the man seemed a bit embarrassed. He narrowed his eyes. G was definitely acting oddly as he replied. "I sent her to get…an education." He pinned Matthew with another sharp look. "About you." Matthew groaned.

"G, why? She knows I dance, that's all that matters." G's look turned incredulous for a moment, but then he rubbed his mouth and looked vaguely displeased.

"Yeah, it might have been a bad idea. There was too much giggling going on when I left." Matthew glared at his friend, and again tried to turn up the stairs and again was stopped.

"Well, since you have some time, might as well get some morning exercise in. Make sure you are too tired to make any of the things people are going to be saying true!" G ignored Matthew's objections as he mercilessly dragged his friend towards the courtyard.

Matthew suffered through a half hour of basketball with Patches on the opposite team. G had pulled the younger man, who had just arrived, into the game as they went out on to the court, and Patches had been all too happy to accommodate. The fact that he was a decent player meant that he was all over Matthew anytime time he got the chance. Matthew could usually hold his own in basketball but was distracted and ended up with the blame for his team loosing terribly. He didn't care; G had wanted him to get a workout, and he had, complete with a threat at the end.

"You've done what G brought you in for. Don't come back." Glaring at Patches' retreating back, Matthew found some satisfaction in the fact that he had no intention of doing what the man wished. Then he was distracted again as a poignant emotion took his breath away from the other end of the bond.

It seemed that Eleni had loosened her control on her emotions, and throughout the game he had gotten flashes of her mental state: a mix of disbelief, disgust, and annoyance which had then shifted to mild anxiety. He had missed a shot in the game because of a spike of fear and guilt that quickly resolved into determination. He tried to piece together what the feelings meant but couldn't come up with much except that he suspected the first ones had been felt while Eleni was getting G's 'education'.

The current feeling reminded him of how she had felt when she woke at his side that morning. His chest tightened again. The feeling was followed by a wave of overwhelming sadness. Even though he felt that emotion was quickly subsumed as she reasserted her control, he made for the stairs ignoring the calls that another game was starting.

He found her standing at the edge of the room, staring at a thin slice of metal, the pass card, while she ate a nutrition bar. She looked up as he approached and extended the card out to him. He took it and looked at Tara's familiar face.

The card was simple enough. The picture somehow glazed onto the metal, a name and a number. The Montagne's emblem, Magneto's legendary helm superimposed over a silhouette of mountains, framed by a hexagonal border, was stamped in the upper left-hand corner. It was just like the one he had. He handed it back to her.

"You do look a bit like her," he said as she tucked it into a pocket. "You should be able to get it updated, the picture and such." He wondered about G's claim that administration was so lax in parts of the DownMountain that he thought they could change the name as well.

"G mentioned that. We're going to go do it later." She looked at him for a moment, and he wondered what she had heard about him. Remembering the disgust he had felt, he decided he didn't really want to know. She could say something if it bothered her. Still, he studied her face.

"Eleni, you're hurting so much," he said quietly, "Do you want to talk about it?" At his inquiry he felt a spike of annoyance and then her emotions went opaque.

"I just want to dance." So, they set to warming up in silence.

When they were ready, they agreed on a piece to practice, and Matthew cued the box. He then took up position about 6 paces away from Eleni. She glanced at him for a moment, adjusting to the shift in their relationship. Then she resumed her pose and music began.

As they danced, Matthew sensed his relation to the bond change. He couldn't explain it, but it seemed to become fluid with emotions floating across the surface at random. There was a pensive quality to it, with hints of anxiety. As they moved through several different pieces, sometimes dancing together, sometimes practicing independently, he felt the fear slowly fade to be replaced by a sense of resolution. She had come to a decision. He wondered what it was.

Around noon, G came up.

"Eleni," he pronounced it right, and Matthew suspected G had been tutored as he had. The pronunciation was a bit unusual, "some of us are heading to the cafeteria. We can show you where it is."

"OK." Matthew joined Eleni as she went to the door. G gave him a look but said nothing.

They met Patches, Bright and Hulio at the bottom of the stairs. The blue patched man predictably glared at Matthew and maneuvered himself to stand by Eleni as he spoke.

"We'll see you when we get back, Summers." Matthew looked at him directly as he replied.

"I'll come along for the walk. I can grab a snack while you all are eating." Patches' scowl darkened, and Matthew saw him glance at G, though the large man seemed not to notice. Bright fell in besides Matthew as they left the Tower with a group of kids who were waiting at the entrance.

Patches seemed to be engaging Eleni in conversation, and Matthew would have liked to hear what they were talking about, but Bright was doing the same to him.

"So, what is she like?"

"It's only been a day. I don't really know yet." Bright was silent for a moment.

"But…you guys talked last night, right?" Ah, that. At the question, Matthew felt his exhaustion press in. He tried his best to think through the night before. Most of it he couldn't share with anyone, even if he wanted to.

"She's quiet. A bit shy." None of that was particularly enlightening. He almost said she had been through a lot but stopped as it would probably only lead to more questions. "We talked about the DownMountain and stuff." He hoped the statement made it sound like that was all they had spoken of. Ahead of them, Eleni had moved over to walk besides G, and was asking him questions.

"Did you two plan to meet last night?" Matthew missed the soft question the first time, and had to ask Bright to repeat it, much to their chagrin. He suspected G had put them up to it and felt a flare of annoyance at his friend. He quickly thought of a reasonable lie.

"No. I forgot something and came back late to get it. I ran into her, and she had some more questions, so I missed the last train. I was showing her something in the DownMountain, and we ended up sleeping out in a park." With his brain suffering from lack of sleep, he wasn't sure how ludicrous that sounded. Bright seemed to accept it.

"She's really pretty, isn't she?"

"I suppose she is." His eyes flickered to the swathed head walking to the front left of them. As if sensing she was a person of interest, Eleni turned and looked back over her shoulder at them. Apparently done with G, she dropped back until she was walking next to Matthew. Bright leaned forward and greeted her.

"Hi. I'm Bright."

"Eleni." She glanced at Bright, but then looked forward again. Matthew frowned, sensing something simmering beneath the lock she had on her emotions.

"Here we are!" That was G.

"You can leave now." That was Patches. He looked expectantly at Matthew.

"What?" That was Eleni, who was suddenly colored with discomfort.

"Uh, I can't go in. My pass card won't work here." She looked at him, feeling confused and a bit betrayed. He used words to cover his dismay. "You see, this is how they, the administrators, can make sure there is enough food for everyone here. There are a few cafeterias throughout the DownMountain, and anyone with a DownMountain card can get in once each meal. My card is keyed to the UpMountain, so…"

"So, he can go get food that is actually decent over by the station." Patches interjected nastily. Matthew ignored him. He noticed some of the kids looking at each other questioningly, and heard a whisper of 'is that true?'

"I'm going to grab a snack bar and will be waiting for you when you are done." Eleni glanced from him to the three other adults and the kids who surrounded them, then nodded in resignation. Matthew watched them disappear into the large concrete building, then surveyed the square in front of it until he identified a small shop that was likely to have something to eat.

They emerged close to an hour later, Eleni flanked by Patches and G. G moved forward ahead of the group, calling back for Patches and Bright to corral the kids. Eleni started following G, and before she came within hearing distance, G spoke quietly to Matthew.

"She barely said a word the whole time." He sounded worried. "I'm going to take her to the pass card office. Can you come? She seems comfortable around you." Matthew nodded, then smiled as Eleni caught up.

"How was it?" She looked at him.

"It was food. I guess." G snorted at that.

"They keep us alive here, but they do their best to make it thoroughly unenjoyable."

"So, off to the pass card office?" Matthew proposed.

"You're coming?" He definitely felt relief from her as he nodded and was glad. G instructed Bright and Patches to take the kids back to the Tower, which they did though with obvious reluctance on Patches' part.

Throughout the walk to the administration office, which was located close to the station, G kept up a commentary on the DownMountain. His tone was friendly and humorous, but nearly everything he said provided useful information. It was obviously for Eleni's benefit.

At the administrative building, they ascended to the second floor.

"Ricardo!" G said in a generous tone as he entered the office. The middle-aged man sitting at the desk looked up and grinned.

"How you doing, G?"

"As well as I can be. How are the kids?" G and the man conversed for several minutes, then G motioned Eleni over. Matthew trailed behind her. He noticed the man at the desk had been eyeing him, and now focused on him instead of the young woman standing at his side. G redirected his attention.

"I'm hoping you can make a couple minor changes to this pass card here." He flashed the card in front of the man, then pulled it back asking if he wanted the number read out.

"That would be great." Eleni appeared to be watching with interest while G read out the number and the man typed it in.

"How are these cards tracked?" She asked.

"Hmm? Interested? Would you like a job?" He grinned at her in easy humor, then explained. "The cards are keyed to specific areas of the DownMountain, and the train. That's it."

"And all the information is stored on there as well?" She was peering with curiosity at the large boxy computer in front of the man. The man laughed at the idea.

"No! Too much information if we did that. Except for your name, age and mutant ability, it goes into the long-term storage. It takes some time to access that information, and it is a pain in the butt, so please don't come to me with questions about your history!" Eleni smiled obligingly. "So, what can I do for you?"

"Well," this was G, "we have one less mystery here. She heard someone practicing their ancient tongue – and she understood!"

The man nodded. "Language based ability. Any word on yours, G?" The large man raised his hands helplessly, "You know, they'll help you with that UpMountain."

"I'll keep that in mind," G said noncommittally. Ricardo looked at him knowingly and didn't press further. He returned his attention to Eleni.

"Know any French? I studied some a while back."

"Je m'appelle, Eleni. Je suis une étudiant des langues." The man nodded, satisfied.

"Well, if we ever start communicating with the Citadel, we'll be knocking on your door!" he said, with a humorous smile. Eleni returned a small sickly one.

"I'd rather you didn't." The man laughed sympathetically. "Could…could we change my first name as well?" The man raised his eyebrows. Eleni hesitated. "People call me by my middle name now." She added by way of explanation. The man shrugged again and asked what name should be entered. They went through the pronunciation dance, and this time the guy didn't get it right but Eleni let it go.

"Anything else?" he asked. Eleni shook her head. "OK, we'll need to reprint the card and then you are good to go." Eleni sat for an updated picture, and the man told her the new card would be ready in a week. "You are all set, Miss Jones." Thanking him, they turned and left. "That was a good idea, using the middle name. Tara didn't actually have one, but they'll never look for that," G said conversationally when they got to the stairwell.

"I don't have one either," Eleni murmured softly, as she inspected the building walls which were lines with pictures of the DownMountain from various angles.

"Something else you have in common!" G said grandly. Eleni just nodded and hummed.

G caught Matthew's eye, and tipped his head slightly, taking her response as a good sign. Matthew gestured back, though he wasn't so sure. Weariness was bleeding through the bond, and he suspected that exhaustion was what had let her guard down.

They descended to the larger foyer and were heading for the door when Matthew heard his name being called.

"Matthew Summers?" A woman with dark brown, her dark wooly hair cut in a halo around her head, was approaching them from down another hall. Matthew stared trying to place her for a moment.

"Baron Darkholme," he responded. Yanella Darkholme was one of the two Barons who managed the DownMountain on the governing council. She extended her hand which Matthew accepted. Her curious gaze focused on G and Eleni.

"This is G and Eleni, some friends of mine who live down here." Yanella smiled at them, and then spoke to G.

"You run the place at the Towers." It wasn't a question. G's eyebrows went up, but he readily acknowledged the truth of her statement. She said nothing in reply, but surveyed G for a moment. Then she turned her attention back to Matthew.

"Mr. Summers, I never had the impression you were focused on anything other than…ballet." G snorted at the placement of the pause. Matthew glared at his friend, knowing that the woman had paused for a different reason than the one that G was thinking of. "But, it seems you have some interest in the DownMountain. If that interest extends to management, please come talk to me."

"I will. Thank you," he assured her. He was sure that he wouldn't. She bid them farewell, and they left the building to make their way back to the Towers. G suggested they stop by the clothing recycling center, but Eleni said she wanted to dance some more. When they returned, however, and Matthew and Eleni retreated upstairs, she made no move to start stretching. Through the bond he thought she felt…thin.

"Is everything ok?" he asked. She looked at him sharply.

"Yes. I'm just tired." She took a deep breath and focused on him. "Matthew, please do as much research on the bond as you can. I want to remove it. I need to remove it. I understand that it wasn't something you did on purpose, but I am not comfortable with it." Matthew determinedly did not feel disappointed at her words.

"Of course. I can see how it would be…uncomfortable for you." She looked at him, and he felt she was evaluating his sincerity.

"And no one else can know about it." In that moment, the sense of vulnerability he had felt that morning returned. It was mixed with dislike.

"Yes, it's only between us. I promise," he said. She nodded slowly, keeping her eyes on him, then turned away.

"I'm done for today." She looked back over her shoulder, and he felt she was torn. Then she said, "See you tomorrow?" He smiled.

"Yes."

On his way home, Matthew kept reviewing the day since he had last ridden the train home. So much had happened, he couldn't believe it had only been one day. Lack of sleep from the night before was starting to catch up with him, and his jaw cracked as he yawned.

He wondered about the psychic bond. When it had formed? His gut told him it had formed slowly over their weeks of dancing together. He couldn't pinpoint a specific day but now recognized that he had been unconsciously aware of her feelings for a little while now. They hadn't been as clear as they were now, however.

He wished she was more open to it, though. They were rare, and coveted for that, a sign of a deep emotional connection. The most famous examples were all legendary romances; Charles Xavier and Moira McTaggert, Jean Grey and Scott Summers. While there was nothing romantic to speak of between himself and Eleni, he had to wonder at the reason the bond had formed. What possibility did its presence portend?

The train pulled into the station, and Matthew heaved himself off the seat. Despite his exhaustion, he jogged the way home, a spring in his step that hadn't been there the day before.Reaching the house, he ran the final distance to the back porch, but pulled up short when he saw Jae at the dining room table.

She looked up as he came in and narrowed her eyes. Sitting at the head of the table, Adam observed him curiously, too. The table was littered with papers and Matthew realized they must have been taking time to go over the business as their father regularly did with both of them.

"Did you finally wake up to reality?" his sister asked, suspicious. What? Her comment made no sense to him. He shrugged, honestly confused, and sat down to join them.

Jae tried to get a rise out of him a couple of times, once it was clear he hadn't gone back to Jenna. Apparently, that was what she had been asking about when he entered. Matthew ignored her attempts to irritate him and was relieved when she finally left. That is when Adam started, however.

"Mattie, there's something different about you. Has something…happened?" Matthew looked up, surprised. Of course, something had happened, a major change to his life in some ways. Was he projecting that? Suddenly, he wanted to tell his father about Eleni.

Then he thought of her request to remove the bond and thought better of it. He shook his head.

"Nothing in particular."

CITADEL 3020.07.25

DAVE

Dave Kelly considered infinity.

The tall young man stood with one foot propped up on the low ledge beneath the window, leaning forward with his forearms rested on his thigh. He cut a sharp, even commanding image, but he was oblivious to that. His eyes focused on the span of the world in front of him. Below, small bright squares floated in a sea of darkness. Above, tiny points of light made a grid of small triangles across the dark sky. The city was transformed into world of void and light. If you looked carefully at the grid above, you could see the real stars, shining in space far beyond. It was beautiful.

Too beautiful for such an ugly city.

Eleni.

He imagined himself floating in that space in her arms again. It was tempting. It called to him. He closed his eyes against it. He had made his decision and would not discover if his vision was true.

Dave Kelly had come to terms with the loss in the 3 months since Eleni had been killed. His grief was no longer so poignant, though his anger and hatred still burned hot. He had learned to channel them, to use them to focus himself on one goal. It had come to him slowly, as he had debated whether he even wanted to keep going with the life he led. If he didn't succeed…well, there was only emptiness otherwise, so why not risk it all?

Ironically, he had his father to thank for his changed circumstance. Though he still despised the man, Dave had finally agreed to meet with him a couple weeks back. It had been the first time they had met since Eleni's death, and Dave had gone thinking it would probably be their last.

However, as they spoke, stilted on Dave's part, his father had hinted that he had had a secret agenda for years. The suggestion of what he could do had taken root in Dave's mind and grown into something that gave him new purpose.

"When the sun rises at midnight," he murmured quietly to himself, gently touching the earring in his left ear. He didn't know what the phrase meant, other than something impossible. That was more than appropriate, because Dave Kelly, in memory of the woman he loved, would settle for nothing less than changing the world.

"Dave." His father stood in the doorway. "I have a late meeting. You should head home."

"I will. Soon." The man looked concerned. Dave stood and smiled reassuringly, but his father wouldn't let it go. He entered the large conference room, making his way around the tables that formed a large rectangle in the middle. It was strange to see the room with those tables boxing in the hard floor at the center.

"Dave," Robert Kelly spoke softly, reaching out to grip his son's arm, "I'm glad you came by, but I don't think you should spend a lot of time here. I don't want you chasing ghosts." No, that would not work.

"I have a right to remember her," Dave replied, trying to project sincerity towards the man who had taken her from him. "I won't dwell."

His father nodded, and after his dark eyes studied Dave's face for a moment, he excused himself and left.

As Dave turned back to the window, his eyes caught sight of a door in an alcove on the side of the conference room wall to the left. Pain shot through his heart and he quickly turned away. Maybe his father had a point. He couldn't allow himself to be distracted.

Dave left the room, and went down the hall, passing his father's office, and entering a small, enclosed hallway that backed the office on the other side. As he stepped onto the concrete stairwell that accessed it, he made sure to prop the door open slightly so it didn't lock. Then he positioned himself next to the closed door to the side, took out his phone, and read through the banal messages his peers were sending out while he waited.

He didn't bother to keep track of the time, but as soon as he heard footsteps on the stairs, he was ready. A man just short of middle-aged with short black hair, light brown skin and dark, shallow eyes appeared on the stairs and froze when he saw who was confronting him at the top.

"Hello, Dr. Wagner."

KURT

Kurt Wagner stared in horror at the young man standing in front of him, not believing the words he was hearing.

"I know everything. The secret meetings? It was never Katherine." Dave Kelly's eyes were ice cold, and as much as he tried, Kurt could not shake the feeling that the young man was serious.

"You wouldn't! Think of your father!"

"I never stop thinking about him. And everything he did. Everything he failed to do!"

Nausea spread in Kurt's stomach. The boy was only seeing what had happened at the end. He was refusing to remember the years before. Kurt tried to remind him, to get him to understand what his father had done, in spite of the fact that it had ended in disaster.

"He saved her life. He protected her! You don't know what he went through to help them!"

"I don't care because in the end he as good as killed her! And that is all that matters. Look, I know about you, and if you want to go on with your quiet life, it's quite easy. I've already told you my demand. I want meet them. The ones you know."

Disbelief began taking over Kurt, displacing even his horror. He was being blackmailed by an 18-year-old. It was ludicrous. Further, he knew Dave, from a distance, yes, but enough that he would never have imagined the boy capable of using such disgusting methods.

Rubbing his hand through his hair, Kurt felt helpless. He tried once again to connect with Dave on some level.

"Dave. I've never been close, but I have watched you grow over the years. I believe you and your father can mend the break between you. Yes, it was a terrible tragedy, but don't let it destroy you!" The words fell on deaf ears.

"Well then, it looks like there's a conversation I need to have with my mother." The younger man turned to leave in apparent but uncaring disappointment. The coldness in his eyes froze Kurt to the core. He had no doubt the boy would do as he said.

"Wait!" Dave turned back, emotionless. "Why do you want to meet with them?"

"I just want to talk to them. That's all. But I want to meet as many as I can."

"Just talk? You promise that? These people, they already live in a shadow. Don't cause them more pain." The young man seemed honest in his response.

"I don't want to put them in any danger. I just want to talk to them." Kurt willed that to be the truth, but knew he had no choice.

Defeated, the man lifted his hands in surrender. "OK. I'll make some introductions. But if I receive any word that you are causing them problems, then…" The would-be threat died on his lips. Then Dave would share the secret he knew with his mother and bring them all to ruin.