Disclaimer: I do not own X-men: Evolution
Okay, I'm glad you all liked the first chapter, some of you congratulated me on knowing so much even though I said I don't watch it much, well I looked it up online. Mainly what I needed were names and powers, that was all. I watch the show every chance I get, which is most nights at 10:30 on CN. I just missed out on their names. Anyway, many of you were wondering who was in the car, and when the Brotherhood is going to make their appearance. To be honest, I haven't figured out the latter yet, most likely later in the next chapter.
~*~ - mindscape
*~* - dreamscape
*~*~* - flashback
(sp.?) - did I spell it right?
The Mutant
Chapter 2
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*
Nate turned away from the car and sniffed the air, smelling something that was strangely familiar. He knew this smell from somewhere, sometime. When he was younger, he used to love smelling it. It smelled like...
"Apple pie," he concluded and ran down the hall on all fours, being -very- careful not to damage the carpet with his talons. "Who would be baking apple pie here?"
After a few seconds of running he emerged in the kitchen and saw Kitty sliding the pie out of the oven, and placing on the stove to cool. Being sure to be extra quiet he sidled up next to her and looked over her shoulder. He leaned in closer, and closer, and closer, till he was only a few inches from her ear.
"What's the occasion?" he asked just a little louder than normal causing her to jump.
"Jeez, don't, like, do that, okay?" she said and caught her breath for a second. "One of the students we used to have came back."
"Which one?"
"Rahne Sinclair," she answered simply like it was obvious who it was.
"Hm," was all he said before leaving, but stopped at the door, adding, "Someone named Lance called for you earlier, thought you might like to know."
And then he was gone.
"What, hey, when did he call?" she yelled after him, but too late. "Man, it might have been important."
Nate was already down the hallway and around the corner when he heard her, but didn't bother with answering, what he had to do was much more important. On all fours he could move much faster than on two legs, so he decided to go for it, and dropped down. He followed an unfamiliar scent trail and hoped it would lead him there. The scent led him into Xavier's study, which the door was open to.
"Ah, Nate, I was just about to call you," Xavier said from his desk. "I'd like you to meet Rahne Sinclair."
He gestured to the girl sitting in the chair in front of his desk. Her red hair, instead of being pulled into the two "ears" atop her head, now hung down to just past her ear. She stood and held out her hand.
"Hello."
"Hi," he stood up to full height (roundabouts of seven feet) and shook her hand. "You said you were going to call me, Professor?"
"Yes, you see, Rahne is a metamorph, she can shapeshift into a wolf."
"Could I see?" Nate asked bending himself at the waist to be eye-level with the younger mutant. "Please?"
"Sure," she answered and began to change, and in a few seconds was fully wolf. The canine turned its head to look up at him and sat down. He looked down at the red wolf.
"Amazing, and you can control it?" he asked and Rahne nodded. "I wish I were that lucky."
"You mean..." she started and saw how he covered his arm.
"No."
"Rahne, Nate's power is to nullify another mutant's ability, effectively making them normal," Xavier said wheeling himself out from behind the large oak desk. "It's just about lunch, why don't you two discuss this later, I'd like to talk with Rahne's parents alone," at that he gestured to the two people who had back away from Nate.
"Sure thing, I'm due for a session in the danger room with Logan, anyway," Nate turned to leave.
"I'm sure he won't mind if you're late," Rahne said grabbing his arm. "Come on, I don't like eating alone."
"Uh...'kay."
"Rahne, be good now," her mother said as they left.
"I will, Mom."
They walked down the hall, in silence, having nothing to talk about.
"Oh, little bit of advice," she said breaking the awkward silence, "don't eat Kitty's pie. It may smell just right, but believe me, don't let it fool you."
"Thanks."
Upon entering the kitchen they saw Kitty setting the pie up on a shelf. Nate walked over to the fridge and opened it, looking for anything to eat. He grabbed a ham that he had had his eye on the previous night and decided to have it now.
"Nate, when did Lance call?" Kitty asked with her hands now on her hips.
"Settle down," Nate said grabbing the object of his hunger and closed the door with his tail. "He called early this morning, around eight, if I remember correctly."
"Great, the day I sleep in is it day he calls early," she huffed and started for the door when she saw the whole ham he was putting in the microwave. "Hey, that's supper tonight."
"Really? It looked like fair game to me, it's been in there for a week," he said reluctantly removing the large piece of meat. "Oh well, guess I'll have to find something else."
His tail came up and he placed the plate on the spade and maneuvered it back to the fridge.
"Scott and Jean and I are going out for lunch, why don't the two of you come along," she suggested.
"Sure, Rahne, how bout you?"
"Okay, let's go," she said getting up from the table and heading out the door.
"Have you noticed that whenever they go somewhere alone, they always ask if someone wants to go with them?" Kitty asked them as if they were stupid.
"Hiding their affections, I guess trying to understand the teenage mentality is completely useless," Nate chuckled as he followed the two through the door. 'Personally, I can sympathize.'
*****
"On second thought, maybe I won't," he said only five minutes later, after looking at Scott's car.
"Are you sure?" Scott asked looking from him to the car.
Nate raised an eyebrow and studied the vehicle closely. For someone his height, almost seven and a half feet tall, the cramped car wasn't looking too inviting. His hands clenched and unclenched his fingers, feeling a slight soreness in his wrist.
"Yeah, you wouldn't want me slicing up the seat," he started to turn to head back and then added over his shoulder, "now would you?"
"No, I guess not."
Nate began walking back towards the building, and sighed when he heard the car peel out. But the sound of shoes made him stop, and turn back. Rahne was there, looking at him.
"The Professor said we should talk," she said.
He looked down at her, trying to find the words, and finally settling with, "I...uh...you're right, come on then."
*****
Nate stepped into his room at about ten o'clock, having had a bad reaction to Kitty's pie. There was no other feeling in his entire body except pain, which seemed to centralize in his back. Hand on his stomach he fell onto the bed, on his stomach, the skin on his back bulging. He held back the yell of pain he really wanted to get out, had he done that he would have betrayed his own ideal of never voicing his pain.
"Really should have listened to her," he said to himself as he rolled around. "How could something that smelled so good taste so bad."
He rolled off the side of his bed, and landed with a rather hard thud on the rug. Still holding his stomach, his free hand went to touch his scale- covered back. Bringing it back to in front of his face, he saw blood on his claws. There was a tearing sound as spines sprouted through the parted scales, along his spine, and they continued to push through all the way down to the base of his tail, and kept going till they reached the end of said tail. Up his neck they went cutting the black cord that held his hair tied back, and proceeded up onto his head. The last one jutted out as a horn from right at the edge of his hairline.
"Great, that's just what I need," he sighed as the pain subsided. "This is definitely not a mutation, this is something else entirely."
But what he didn't know was what it was. There was nothing that Xavier could do to even come close to explaining it. They tested his blood, and had indeed found two genes; but the second was like that of Juggernaut's. What was happening to his body was something much deeper than a mutation in his blood. Sure it was genetic, but nothing like this had ever happened to anyone else in his family, what little of it was left anyway. He was sure that his mother would have the answer, but as of the time his fingers fused together, she had wanted nothing to do with him.
"Stupid bitch," he looked in the mirror and remembered that he had her eyes. At that memory he put his tri-fingered hand through the glass. "I wouldn't have minded being a mutant as long as this hadn't happened."
He took the time to flick off the glass and carefully remove the pieces that had gotten into the spaces between his scales. With those out he walked over to the trash and dropped the tiny shards in. There was nothing more for him to do, sure he could go for a walk around the mansion, maybe find something that would spark an interest, but for the most part he didn't really feel like it.
But being cooped up in even a fairly large bedroom such as that one was getting to him, so he walked to the larger common room. There he found a fire in the fireplace, and Ororo sitting in one of the large armchairs, reading. He walked on all fours over to the fire and laid down like some kind of animal looking for warmth. His back was to the flames, which were no more than a foot away, and his arms were out in front of him, while his legs were perpendicular to them. His tail coiled at his feet. Ororo looked up from her book and smiled for a moment then went back to reading.
There was a comforting feeling, deep within him, from being close to the fire, like he had done it long ago. But no memories in his life had he ever done this, ever. In fact, there weren't even a handful of memories of his that had fires in them, not even a simple campfire.
*~*
His eyes opened just a little bit and saw what he hadn't seen except for in dreams; he saw a cave with a large fire close by. Looking straight forward he saw a long snout in front of him, and something stirring on the other side of the fire. Something large and shadowy, a dragon. This dragon moved closer to him, lying down almost on top of him.
*~*
Nate shook his head and opened his eyes all the way. Lying in the gap between his arms and legs was a red wolf. She looked to be sleeping quite peacefully, so he didn't move to wake her up. He just closed his eyes and tried his best to avoid cutting her.
"Aw, how cute," he heard a female voice say, obviously Jean.
"Yeah, looks like Rahne's got crush," that was Scott's voice.
He didn't bother to say anything, why spoil this perfect moment for them. Ororo had left almost five minutes prior to this, and let's face it, they didn't get to be alone too often in this place. But to be in a room with two sleeping people was just as good. They sat on the couch together and started to make out.
'Couldn't they do that somewhere else?' Nate asked himself and decided to urk them a bit.
He slightly shifted his tail, just enough to bump the couch they sat on, and he yawned, craning one of his arms to scratch his back. This got just the reaction from them as he wanted; they pretty much stopped everything and watched him closely, waiting for something to happen. They didn't notice, in the firelight, the small smile that just touched the corners of his mouth.
*****
"Great, how did I get stuck guarding the hangar?" Nate asked himself as he looked up at the X-jet. "This has got to be the most boring job in the whole institute."
"You skipped out on one of your sessions with me, that's how," Logan said while getting out of the jet. "Besides, having someone here keeps the trainees from joyriding again."
"That alone makes up for the mind-numbing boredom," Nate said sarcastically as he dropped to floor and stretched.
It was three days later and more scales had grown up onto his shoulders. He knew that he shouldn't have listened to Rahne, but it seemed so innocent. Now he was stuck guarding the X-jet all night, every night, for a week, which just happened to be Spring Break.
"This is just how I planned to spend my week, sleeping all day and patrolling all night," he planted his hand on the floor and lifted himself into a one-handed handstand. 'the only good thing about these is the increase in strength with every scale.'
"I'll be back in six hours to relieve ya," and with that Logan left.
Nate sighed and rolled onto his stomach, with the blades he was now unable to lay on his back. He got up on all fours and walked over to the X-jet, craning his neck to look up at it. His legs bent, and the muscles in them coiled, giving him the power to leap easily to the top of the aircraft. The points of his claws dulled and softened slightly as he landed, as not to scratch the paint. He laid down on his stomach and made himself comfortable, if someone took the jet, they would disturb him, and that is something that was not a good thing to do.
"Nate, you in here?" Rahne asked as she opened the elevator door.
"Yes," he said and stood up.
"I'm sorry I got you in trouble," she said looking down.
"It's okay," he dropped to the floor and looked around, making sure no one was there with her. "Why are you down here, you know this place is off limits after hours and without supervision."
"I just wanted to apologize."
"Like I said, it's okay, I didn't have any plans this week anyway. So the jokes on Logan if this is supposed to be punishment."
"I wouldn't feel right unless I said I was sorry."
"You just did, now go back to bed," he turned and walked back to the jet, opening the door as he grew closer. "I'm sure you and your friends have big plans for tomorrow."
There was a hand on his shoulder, and he stopped walking. It was a strange feeling, having that hand there, almost as if it were there in an affectionate way. But he knew that kind of thinking was just plain ludicrous. Though, it didn't feel like it was a questioning touch, nor was it a forceful feeling he got from it. It reminded him of the touch his mother would use to lead him somewhere. So, following the course of action he felt was wanted here, he turned around to look at her.
Rahne was wearing her pajamas, an emerald green tank top and matching sleeper pants (not sure exactly what their called). There was something about the look on her face that drew his attention away from everything else in the hangar at the moment. The piercing look he had on his face had dissolved and his eyes seemed to soften.
"You got any cards?" he asked.
"What?" surprise laced her voice.
"Well, your up, I'm up, we might as well play cards," he said stepping away from her and walked over to the cabinets on the other side of the hangar. "Here we go. You know Go Fish, right?"
"Sure."
*****
The next day was Monday and Nate was standing sleepily outside the front of the house, waving goodbye with the others as Scott and Jean drove off for the airport. They would be spending the week in Hawaii with Scott's brother's family. Rahne seemed to be falling asleep rather quickly, since he could feel her leaning against him more and more. They had stayed up pretty much all night playing Go Fish, Hearts, BS, and other card games that involved more than one person. Logan had shown up with a wry smile on his face at six in the morning to tell them time was up.
'Great, I have to go through this all week,' Nate thought sleepily as he looked down at Rahne, who was fading fast. 'Though, it did feel good to have company.'
He turned around, practically dragging Rahne with him, and went back inside. After finding her room he deposited her on the bed and left, hoping to get to his room before he fell asleep. Long story short, he made it there, and dropped to the floor before getting to the bed. His tail, acting on its own, whipped out and shut the door.
*~*
There was nothing else in the world to him, except to fly, eat, and sleep. Nothing took priority over these three main freedoms. Of course there were other dragons with him in this territory, many of them were different species from his own, and from many different places. Stories of creatures with weapons that could kill a dragon came from the ones who were from the south. But he rarely paid any attention to them, he was taught that dragons were indestructible.
This is what he believed, until he saw them for himself. First came the scarred one. An old dragon that had been in many a fight and won, but the scars he carried were different of any kind of claw or tooth or blade he had ever seen. These cuts were meant to kill, not just to weaken the opponent to submission. The points of entry were all over the old one's body, many of them over major arteries and muscles and ligaments. Then he saw what had scarred the dragon.
It was a creature unlike any he had ever seen, and such strange means of mobilization. Walking on two gangly legs like they did, and without a tail to hold them up, he was amazed at how they could possibly do such a thing. They wore what looked to be clothes that the elder dragons had shown to him. There were those that interested him the most, the ones who carried large, straight blades, that glinted in the sunlight, and wore not cloth, but scales, like a dragon. But these were not dragons, these were something different, something as opposite from a dragon as you could get.
Man.
*~*
Nate woke with a start from the dream that seemed so real. He had had it before, but it had never progressed that far before. He knew that dreams sometimes had a hidden meaning, but this one seemed to be throwing the meaning of his condition right in his face. There was no other explanation he could think of, and only one person knew why this was happening to him.
"Mother," he whispered as he stood and sniffed the smell of lunch.
*****
"Professor, your machine can locate a person anywhere on the planet, right?" Nate asked as he followed Xavier through the corridors.
"Yes, in theory, but it's mainly used to track mutants," he replied as the elevator to Cerybro (sp.?) opened. "You want to find your mother?"
"Logic dictates that I should hate her, which I do, but it also dictates that she knows more about this than I do," he looked at his hand, mainly at the two blades that had sprouted from his wrist.
"Well, I'll do my best to find her, what was her name again?"
"Erica Sindel."
The elevator doors opened into the massive room and the two entered. Nate looked around, wondering how a room this big could possibly fit into the building. Then he remembered that they were not in the institute, so to speak, they were below it. The Professor picked up the helmet-thing and placed it on his head. A large screen ahead of them turned on and showed a three-dimensional map of the world. It looked as if it were being seen through an infrared scope, the red being high-population zones, and blue signaling low population zones.
The 3-D globe turned this way and that, till it finally stopped over northeastern Europe, the Baltic Sea region to be exact. It zoomed in over Lithuania, and zoomed in again over a small town off towards the Russian border. But the signal was not in the town, but off to the side of it, in the forest. There was about a five square mile area that she could be in. After Nate had memorized the region, the map vanished.
"That's all I could get, I hope it's enough," Xavier said as he moved back from the console.
"Thank you Professor," Nate turned around. "I'll be leaving now."
"You're going now?"
"No time like the present, besides it's not like there's school to worry about."
"You have a point there, but take one of the trainees with you, and tell Logan you have my permission to use the X-jet."
"Why should I take one of them with me?" he turned and proceeded to the elevator.
"Well, I'm sure Rahne will be more than happy to go with you, just so you have some company," Xavier said with a tone of finality.
"Sorry, but I don't want to put her, or any of them, in danger," Nate responded when he reached the end of the walkway, and the elevator. "This is my problem, and doesn't involve any of them in the least."
"I understand," Xavier said.
He almost skipped at the thought of getting some kind of answer. Sure, he hated his mother, and would most likely end up forcing answers from her, but to see her again after four years was somewhat invigorating. She was the only family he had ever truly known, since she never spoke of any other relatives.
His fingers flexed themselves into a fist at the thought of being left alone in that accursed forest, with nothing but the clothes he wore and his shotels. Given that it had made him what he was today, and that had gotten him past the stupid training the others had to go through. His scales were hard as adamantium, and his strength grew with each new scale. Sometimes the thought of that scared him, but he knew that these changes were leading him to some final destination, and he knew his mother knew what it was.
The elevator door opened and he stepped out into the hall.
TBC
I hope you like the story so far, and sorry for taking so long to update, the network in my house crapped out and I had to upload from a different local. It pisses me off to no extent that I can't get online form my own home. Oh, my brother can, but he doesn't want me touching his computer, asshole. Anyway, hope you like it, and the next chapter should be up within a few weeks, if we can fix this damn problem with the network. Well, when you finish with this, remember to review.
Okay, I'm glad you all liked the first chapter, some of you congratulated me on knowing so much even though I said I don't watch it much, well I looked it up online. Mainly what I needed were names and powers, that was all. I watch the show every chance I get, which is most nights at 10:30 on CN. I just missed out on their names. Anyway, many of you were wondering who was in the car, and when the Brotherhood is going to make their appearance. To be honest, I haven't figured out the latter yet, most likely later in the next chapter.
~*~ - mindscape
*~* - dreamscape
*~*~* - flashback
(sp.?) - did I spell it right?
The Mutant
Chapter 2
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*
Nate turned away from the car and sniffed the air, smelling something that was strangely familiar. He knew this smell from somewhere, sometime. When he was younger, he used to love smelling it. It smelled like...
"Apple pie," he concluded and ran down the hall on all fours, being -very- careful not to damage the carpet with his talons. "Who would be baking apple pie here?"
After a few seconds of running he emerged in the kitchen and saw Kitty sliding the pie out of the oven, and placing on the stove to cool. Being sure to be extra quiet he sidled up next to her and looked over her shoulder. He leaned in closer, and closer, and closer, till he was only a few inches from her ear.
"What's the occasion?" he asked just a little louder than normal causing her to jump.
"Jeez, don't, like, do that, okay?" she said and caught her breath for a second. "One of the students we used to have came back."
"Which one?"
"Rahne Sinclair," she answered simply like it was obvious who it was.
"Hm," was all he said before leaving, but stopped at the door, adding, "Someone named Lance called for you earlier, thought you might like to know."
And then he was gone.
"What, hey, when did he call?" she yelled after him, but too late. "Man, it might have been important."
Nate was already down the hallway and around the corner when he heard her, but didn't bother with answering, what he had to do was much more important. On all fours he could move much faster than on two legs, so he decided to go for it, and dropped down. He followed an unfamiliar scent trail and hoped it would lead him there. The scent led him into Xavier's study, which the door was open to.
"Ah, Nate, I was just about to call you," Xavier said from his desk. "I'd like you to meet Rahne Sinclair."
He gestured to the girl sitting in the chair in front of his desk. Her red hair, instead of being pulled into the two "ears" atop her head, now hung down to just past her ear. She stood and held out her hand.
"Hello."
"Hi," he stood up to full height (roundabouts of seven feet) and shook her hand. "You said you were going to call me, Professor?"
"Yes, you see, Rahne is a metamorph, she can shapeshift into a wolf."
"Could I see?" Nate asked bending himself at the waist to be eye-level with the younger mutant. "Please?"
"Sure," she answered and began to change, and in a few seconds was fully wolf. The canine turned its head to look up at him and sat down. He looked down at the red wolf.
"Amazing, and you can control it?" he asked and Rahne nodded. "I wish I were that lucky."
"You mean..." she started and saw how he covered his arm.
"No."
"Rahne, Nate's power is to nullify another mutant's ability, effectively making them normal," Xavier said wheeling himself out from behind the large oak desk. "It's just about lunch, why don't you two discuss this later, I'd like to talk with Rahne's parents alone," at that he gestured to the two people who had back away from Nate.
"Sure thing, I'm due for a session in the danger room with Logan, anyway," Nate turned to leave.
"I'm sure he won't mind if you're late," Rahne said grabbing his arm. "Come on, I don't like eating alone."
"Uh...'kay."
"Rahne, be good now," her mother said as they left.
"I will, Mom."
They walked down the hall, in silence, having nothing to talk about.
"Oh, little bit of advice," she said breaking the awkward silence, "don't eat Kitty's pie. It may smell just right, but believe me, don't let it fool you."
"Thanks."
Upon entering the kitchen they saw Kitty setting the pie up on a shelf. Nate walked over to the fridge and opened it, looking for anything to eat. He grabbed a ham that he had had his eye on the previous night and decided to have it now.
"Nate, when did Lance call?" Kitty asked with her hands now on her hips.
"Settle down," Nate said grabbing the object of his hunger and closed the door with his tail. "He called early this morning, around eight, if I remember correctly."
"Great, the day I sleep in is it day he calls early," she huffed and started for the door when she saw the whole ham he was putting in the microwave. "Hey, that's supper tonight."
"Really? It looked like fair game to me, it's been in there for a week," he said reluctantly removing the large piece of meat. "Oh well, guess I'll have to find something else."
His tail came up and he placed the plate on the spade and maneuvered it back to the fridge.
"Scott and Jean and I are going out for lunch, why don't the two of you come along," she suggested.
"Sure, Rahne, how bout you?"
"Okay, let's go," she said getting up from the table and heading out the door.
"Have you noticed that whenever they go somewhere alone, they always ask if someone wants to go with them?" Kitty asked them as if they were stupid.
"Hiding their affections, I guess trying to understand the teenage mentality is completely useless," Nate chuckled as he followed the two through the door. 'Personally, I can sympathize.'
*****
"On second thought, maybe I won't," he said only five minutes later, after looking at Scott's car.
"Are you sure?" Scott asked looking from him to the car.
Nate raised an eyebrow and studied the vehicle closely. For someone his height, almost seven and a half feet tall, the cramped car wasn't looking too inviting. His hands clenched and unclenched his fingers, feeling a slight soreness in his wrist.
"Yeah, you wouldn't want me slicing up the seat," he started to turn to head back and then added over his shoulder, "now would you?"
"No, I guess not."
Nate began walking back towards the building, and sighed when he heard the car peel out. But the sound of shoes made him stop, and turn back. Rahne was there, looking at him.
"The Professor said we should talk," she said.
He looked down at her, trying to find the words, and finally settling with, "I...uh...you're right, come on then."
*****
Nate stepped into his room at about ten o'clock, having had a bad reaction to Kitty's pie. There was no other feeling in his entire body except pain, which seemed to centralize in his back. Hand on his stomach he fell onto the bed, on his stomach, the skin on his back bulging. He held back the yell of pain he really wanted to get out, had he done that he would have betrayed his own ideal of never voicing his pain.
"Really should have listened to her," he said to himself as he rolled around. "How could something that smelled so good taste so bad."
He rolled off the side of his bed, and landed with a rather hard thud on the rug. Still holding his stomach, his free hand went to touch his scale- covered back. Bringing it back to in front of his face, he saw blood on his claws. There was a tearing sound as spines sprouted through the parted scales, along his spine, and they continued to push through all the way down to the base of his tail, and kept going till they reached the end of said tail. Up his neck they went cutting the black cord that held his hair tied back, and proceeded up onto his head. The last one jutted out as a horn from right at the edge of his hairline.
"Great, that's just what I need," he sighed as the pain subsided. "This is definitely not a mutation, this is something else entirely."
But what he didn't know was what it was. There was nothing that Xavier could do to even come close to explaining it. They tested his blood, and had indeed found two genes; but the second was like that of Juggernaut's. What was happening to his body was something much deeper than a mutation in his blood. Sure it was genetic, but nothing like this had ever happened to anyone else in his family, what little of it was left anyway. He was sure that his mother would have the answer, but as of the time his fingers fused together, she had wanted nothing to do with him.
"Stupid bitch," he looked in the mirror and remembered that he had her eyes. At that memory he put his tri-fingered hand through the glass. "I wouldn't have minded being a mutant as long as this hadn't happened."
He took the time to flick off the glass and carefully remove the pieces that had gotten into the spaces between his scales. With those out he walked over to the trash and dropped the tiny shards in. There was nothing more for him to do, sure he could go for a walk around the mansion, maybe find something that would spark an interest, but for the most part he didn't really feel like it.
But being cooped up in even a fairly large bedroom such as that one was getting to him, so he walked to the larger common room. There he found a fire in the fireplace, and Ororo sitting in one of the large armchairs, reading. He walked on all fours over to the fire and laid down like some kind of animal looking for warmth. His back was to the flames, which were no more than a foot away, and his arms were out in front of him, while his legs were perpendicular to them. His tail coiled at his feet. Ororo looked up from her book and smiled for a moment then went back to reading.
There was a comforting feeling, deep within him, from being close to the fire, like he had done it long ago. But no memories in his life had he ever done this, ever. In fact, there weren't even a handful of memories of his that had fires in them, not even a simple campfire.
*~*
His eyes opened just a little bit and saw what he hadn't seen except for in dreams; he saw a cave with a large fire close by. Looking straight forward he saw a long snout in front of him, and something stirring on the other side of the fire. Something large and shadowy, a dragon. This dragon moved closer to him, lying down almost on top of him.
*~*
Nate shook his head and opened his eyes all the way. Lying in the gap between his arms and legs was a red wolf. She looked to be sleeping quite peacefully, so he didn't move to wake her up. He just closed his eyes and tried his best to avoid cutting her.
"Aw, how cute," he heard a female voice say, obviously Jean.
"Yeah, looks like Rahne's got crush," that was Scott's voice.
He didn't bother to say anything, why spoil this perfect moment for them. Ororo had left almost five minutes prior to this, and let's face it, they didn't get to be alone too often in this place. But to be in a room with two sleeping people was just as good. They sat on the couch together and started to make out.
'Couldn't they do that somewhere else?' Nate asked himself and decided to urk them a bit.
He slightly shifted his tail, just enough to bump the couch they sat on, and he yawned, craning one of his arms to scratch his back. This got just the reaction from them as he wanted; they pretty much stopped everything and watched him closely, waiting for something to happen. They didn't notice, in the firelight, the small smile that just touched the corners of his mouth.
*****
"Great, how did I get stuck guarding the hangar?" Nate asked himself as he looked up at the X-jet. "This has got to be the most boring job in the whole institute."
"You skipped out on one of your sessions with me, that's how," Logan said while getting out of the jet. "Besides, having someone here keeps the trainees from joyriding again."
"That alone makes up for the mind-numbing boredom," Nate said sarcastically as he dropped to floor and stretched.
It was three days later and more scales had grown up onto his shoulders. He knew that he shouldn't have listened to Rahne, but it seemed so innocent. Now he was stuck guarding the X-jet all night, every night, for a week, which just happened to be Spring Break.
"This is just how I planned to spend my week, sleeping all day and patrolling all night," he planted his hand on the floor and lifted himself into a one-handed handstand. 'the only good thing about these is the increase in strength with every scale.'
"I'll be back in six hours to relieve ya," and with that Logan left.
Nate sighed and rolled onto his stomach, with the blades he was now unable to lay on his back. He got up on all fours and walked over to the X-jet, craning his neck to look up at it. His legs bent, and the muscles in them coiled, giving him the power to leap easily to the top of the aircraft. The points of his claws dulled and softened slightly as he landed, as not to scratch the paint. He laid down on his stomach and made himself comfortable, if someone took the jet, they would disturb him, and that is something that was not a good thing to do.
"Nate, you in here?" Rahne asked as she opened the elevator door.
"Yes," he said and stood up.
"I'm sorry I got you in trouble," she said looking down.
"It's okay," he dropped to the floor and looked around, making sure no one was there with her. "Why are you down here, you know this place is off limits after hours and without supervision."
"I just wanted to apologize."
"Like I said, it's okay, I didn't have any plans this week anyway. So the jokes on Logan if this is supposed to be punishment."
"I wouldn't feel right unless I said I was sorry."
"You just did, now go back to bed," he turned and walked back to the jet, opening the door as he grew closer. "I'm sure you and your friends have big plans for tomorrow."
There was a hand on his shoulder, and he stopped walking. It was a strange feeling, having that hand there, almost as if it were there in an affectionate way. But he knew that kind of thinking was just plain ludicrous. Though, it didn't feel like it was a questioning touch, nor was it a forceful feeling he got from it. It reminded him of the touch his mother would use to lead him somewhere. So, following the course of action he felt was wanted here, he turned around to look at her.
Rahne was wearing her pajamas, an emerald green tank top and matching sleeper pants (not sure exactly what their called). There was something about the look on her face that drew his attention away from everything else in the hangar at the moment. The piercing look he had on his face had dissolved and his eyes seemed to soften.
"You got any cards?" he asked.
"What?" surprise laced her voice.
"Well, your up, I'm up, we might as well play cards," he said stepping away from her and walked over to the cabinets on the other side of the hangar. "Here we go. You know Go Fish, right?"
"Sure."
*****
The next day was Monday and Nate was standing sleepily outside the front of the house, waving goodbye with the others as Scott and Jean drove off for the airport. They would be spending the week in Hawaii with Scott's brother's family. Rahne seemed to be falling asleep rather quickly, since he could feel her leaning against him more and more. They had stayed up pretty much all night playing Go Fish, Hearts, BS, and other card games that involved more than one person. Logan had shown up with a wry smile on his face at six in the morning to tell them time was up.
'Great, I have to go through this all week,' Nate thought sleepily as he looked down at Rahne, who was fading fast. 'Though, it did feel good to have company.'
He turned around, practically dragging Rahne with him, and went back inside. After finding her room he deposited her on the bed and left, hoping to get to his room before he fell asleep. Long story short, he made it there, and dropped to the floor before getting to the bed. His tail, acting on its own, whipped out and shut the door.
*~*
There was nothing else in the world to him, except to fly, eat, and sleep. Nothing took priority over these three main freedoms. Of course there were other dragons with him in this territory, many of them were different species from his own, and from many different places. Stories of creatures with weapons that could kill a dragon came from the ones who were from the south. But he rarely paid any attention to them, he was taught that dragons were indestructible.
This is what he believed, until he saw them for himself. First came the scarred one. An old dragon that had been in many a fight and won, but the scars he carried were different of any kind of claw or tooth or blade he had ever seen. These cuts were meant to kill, not just to weaken the opponent to submission. The points of entry were all over the old one's body, many of them over major arteries and muscles and ligaments. Then he saw what had scarred the dragon.
It was a creature unlike any he had ever seen, and such strange means of mobilization. Walking on two gangly legs like they did, and without a tail to hold them up, he was amazed at how they could possibly do such a thing. They wore what looked to be clothes that the elder dragons had shown to him. There were those that interested him the most, the ones who carried large, straight blades, that glinted in the sunlight, and wore not cloth, but scales, like a dragon. But these were not dragons, these were something different, something as opposite from a dragon as you could get.
Man.
*~*
Nate woke with a start from the dream that seemed so real. He had had it before, but it had never progressed that far before. He knew that dreams sometimes had a hidden meaning, but this one seemed to be throwing the meaning of his condition right in his face. There was no other explanation he could think of, and only one person knew why this was happening to him.
"Mother," he whispered as he stood and sniffed the smell of lunch.
*****
"Professor, your machine can locate a person anywhere on the planet, right?" Nate asked as he followed Xavier through the corridors.
"Yes, in theory, but it's mainly used to track mutants," he replied as the elevator to Cerybro (sp.?) opened. "You want to find your mother?"
"Logic dictates that I should hate her, which I do, but it also dictates that she knows more about this than I do," he looked at his hand, mainly at the two blades that had sprouted from his wrist.
"Well, I'll do my best to find her, what was her name again?"
"Erica Sindel."
The elevator doors opened into the massive room and the two entered. Nate looked around, wondering how a room this big could possibly fit into the building. Then he remembered that they were not in the institute, so to speak, they were below it. The Professor picked up the helmet-thing and placed it on his head. A large screen ahead of them turned on and showed a three-dimensional map of the world. It looked as if it were being seen through an infrared scope, the red being high-population zones, and blue signaling low population zones.
The 3-D globe turned this way and that, till it finally stopped over northeastern Europe, the Baltic Sea region to be exact. It zoomed in over Lithuania, and zoomed in again over a small town off towards the Russian border. But the signal was not in the town, but off to the side of it, in the forest. There was about a five square mile area that she could be in. After Nate had memorized the region, the map vanished.
"That's all I could get, I hope it's enough," Xavier said as he moved back from the console.
"Thank you Professor," Nate turned around. "I'll be leaving now."
"You're going now?"
"No time like the present, besides it's not like there's school to worry about."
"You have a point there, but take one of the trainees with you, and tell Logan you have my permission to use the X-jet."
"Why should I take one of them with me?" he turned and proceeded to the elevator.
"Well, I'm sure Rahne will be more than happy to go with you, just so you have some company," Xavier said with a tone of finality.
"Sorry, but I don't want to put her, or any of them, in danger," Nate responded when he reached the end of the walkway, and the elevator. "This is my problem, and doesn't involve any of them in the least."
"I understand," Xavier said.
He almost skipped at the thought of getting some kind of answer. Sure, he hated his mother, and would most likely end up forcing answers from her, but to see her again after four years was somewhat invigorating. She was the only family he had ever truly known, since she never spoke of any other relatives.
His fingers flexed themselves into a fist at the thought of being left alone in that accursed forest, with nothing but the clothes he wore and his shotels. Given that it had made him what he was today, and that had gotten him past the stupid training the others had to go through. His scales were hard as adamantium, and his strength grew with each new scale. Sometimes the thought of that scared him, but he knew that these changes were leading him to some final destination, and he knew his mother knew what it was.
The elevator door opened and he stepped out into the hall.
TBC
I hope you like the story so far, and sorry for taking so long to update, the network in my house crapped out and I had to upload from a different local. It pisses me off to no extent that I can't get online form my own home. Oh, my brother can, but he doesn't want me touching his computer, asshole. Anyway, hope you like it, and the next chapter should be up within a few weeks, if we can fix this damn problem with the network. Well, when you finish with this, remember to review.