Special-section-for-thank-yous-and-answers-for-the-reviewers:
Escaflowne: Hello, and thank you for . . . reviewing (duh). To answer your questions, the romance wont last very long in this story and I think there will only be about four to five chapters before it's done and I switch to Unfinished Business. There will be more 'stuff' and a lot of OCs in that story.
Imaginator: I TOTALLY agree with you. ABSELUTELY. It was a bit not fun that we didn't see Cyclops enough, don't you think? He better have a nicely bigger role in X3.
Visio: Sooo . . . you live in Texas. Cool. Fun you specified, 'cause I'm in Montreal, Canada.
Chelsea: Thank you!!!! :) And you are not at all pathetic to go see it twice! Myself, I saw it again last Friday (because I had a free ticket, but that's another story).
Oh, and: "I'll have Jean braid your hair." heheh
Ice Phoenix: As always, thank you.
Chloe: well, all those quotes gave me a laugh! And to answer your question about Magneto not controlling the jet, well it was because Jean was controlling him with her power, and he was half knocked out in the first place, so that's my 'not so good reason that I'm going to pretend is valid'.
BLAZE: thank you for having me on your favourite author list (I feel so special)! Good luck with your exams, mine are coming soon too (*nnnooo . . .*) And for Nate's abilities, you haven't seen half of what he can do. You'll understand all of it better in the sequel, but that's another story! (yes, it literally *is* another story. Haha.)
Fireball: thank you, and I am going to make something happen with Rogue, just not now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 32:
Nathan looked back into the mirror, checking once again that his clothes and hair was fine and realizing that his eyes were still green. Weird.
His clothes were not different from what he wore usually because the places he intended to bring Kitty weren't exactly fancy, they were just places he knew she would like to see and hang out at. He was wearing black pants, baggy and with multiple pockets, as always, a plain black T-shirt and a leather trench coat. He had a simple chain for necklace, and a single silver earring. His fingers brushed the ring of metal in his ear, smiling to himself. His mother had punished him for months worth of weekend outings for getting it. She had hated it so much, but he had resisted, and had kept it. His hair, looking completely black without the sun, was still falling in messed up bangs on his forehead.
There was also another thing Nathan had noticed: there was always something showing that he was a mutant. If it wasn't his purple eyes, it was his canines, or, like that night, his a bit pointy ears. At least they weren't really visible, thanks to his hair. Why did his mutation keep . . . doing *weird* stuff all the time? What was wrong with it?
He turned around, looking at his room. He still hadn't returned to the dorm.
Looking near his wardrobe, he saw his suitcase he had taken out of his closet for some reason. That was the problem with him since he had become a mutant: he didn't believe in a place out of harm's way. No mater how hard he tried to convince himself that where he was, was secure, he had to move, and it was this morning when that urge had taken him one again, stronger than ever.
He sighed, pushing the suitcase under his bed and walking to the computer. He checked that none of his clients were on line and logged off.
It was almost time to go down and get Kitty.
He smiled at the thought of her, but it faded away when he thought of his suitcase and what he had said to Jean: he *needed* to go.
Sighing, he walked to the door, without forgetting his wallet and a box, in which was a present for Kitty.
He walked down to the common room, and spotted Kitty immediately: someone (probably Jubilee), had done her hair. It was spiked a little at the end, being held by a red bandana, and simply brushing her shoulders lightly. She had those loopy earrings, and had put on a touch of makeup, which was rarely seen because she didn't need any, being beautiful as she was. She was wearing a dress almost totally made of layers of red veil, and she had a pair of bellbottomed blue jeans since it was so short. She was wearing high-heeled sandals.
"Euh . . . h-hi," Nathan stuttered, walking to her.
She smiled widely, literally jumping to his neck. He hugged her, and pulled her backwards to show her what he had gotten her. He opened the box, to reveal a necklace.
"I got you this," he said, pulling it out of the box.
Kitty couldn't say anything. The necklace was absolutely magnificent: It was a silver chain, at the end of which was hanging a miniaturized flower, a blossoming rose, to be exact. Two little green and silver leaves surrounded it, and the flower itself was red. In the middle was a heart- shaped diamond.
"Oh, Nate, it's beautiful!" she exclaimed.
Nathan detached it and turned around to attach it around her neck. She contemplated it in front of the mirror for a few minutes, until she turned to him, and asked him what they were going to do.
"Ah, it's a surprise," he answered, smiling to her curious face. "Come, my car's in front of the door."
"Bye guys!" Jubilee cheered with Rogue as they walked out of the mansion. They cheered until the door closed behind them. "So, wanna watch a scary movie?" She said, turning to Rogue.
"Nah, I can't," Rogue answered, walking to the stairs. "I have a date with Bobby."
Jubilee smiled and her eyes sparkled maliciously. She was about to start that annoying song 'Rogue and Bobby sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g . . .' but she stopped herself just in time. How could they kiss?
~~~~~~~~~~
Sitting in the car, Kitty kept talking as Nathan drove through Westchester, going towards New York. The first stop was a restaurant, said to have the best vegetarian meals. Nathan had been informed that Kitty was a vegetarian.
They ate a wide variety of salads and other things, and Nate, who was more of a meat-eater, didn't find the food unpleasant at all.
The second stop was an attraction park, where they spent a couple of hours, just walking around, trying some of the games and winning most of them.
After that, it was at the movies that Nate brought her. They chose an old black and white movie, knowing that they weren't exactly going to *actually* listen to the movie . . .
After that, it was already one in the morning, so Nate started the drive back 'home'.
He half dragged, half carried Kitty back to her room, because she was so tiered she could barely walk.
Nathan returned to his room, satisfied by everything. To him, nothing abnormal had happened. Everything was great . . . except for one little thing he had ignored all day. His back ache, the one he had gotten by his fall back at the docks, while fighting Magneto, was getting worst by the hour.
Walking to his bathroom, he took off his shirt to inspect his back, The lower part was absolutely normal, nut the upper part was a mess. His shoulder blade area was totally beaten, purple bruises covering a large surface. It was extremely painful, and he just didn't know how he had managed to ignore it for twenty four hours. He rolled his shoulders, feeling his bones crack in an inhuman way. It didn't hurt too much, but felt . . . weird. He touched his shoulder blades. They also didn't seem normal. He felt maybe something was broken and that he would surely need to go see Jean in the med lab again. He shrugged. He hated to med lab.
He looked at his back in the mirror for a long moment, finally deciding that he would only go to Jean if it hurt as much in the morning. Maybe his little healing power would do the trick, but he didn't really think so. It was too feeble to cure broken bones, since all his power had concentrated on saving him when that bullet had nearly killed him. Now, it was just strong enough to cure cuts or things like that. It would still take a while for it to become powerful again.
Nathan shut the light and walked to his bed, crawling under the covers until he fell asleep. That night, his conscience didn't bother him about anything.
~~~~~
The next day, Nathan woke up pretty late, pushed to get up by the pain in his back telling him he needed Jean's help.
He put on clean clothes and walked out without doing his bed or taking the time to properly clean up. He took the elevator and reluctantly pressed the last button, to end up in the chilly underground levels. He walked to the med lab door and opened it, to see Jean sitting at her desk, filling up some files.
"Hey, Jean," he said, using on tone whatsoever.
"Oh, hello Nathan," the red-haired woman replied. "How was your date with Kitty?"
"Ah, just fine," he said. "I was just wondering if you could check my back. When I was fighting Magneto, I sorta fell and it's been killing me since then."
"Sure," Jean said, getting up from her seat. "Let me take a look."
Nathan walked to the med table and sat down, pulling off his shirt. Jean walked behind him and he heard her gasp in surprise.
"Nathan, we absolutely need to take some X-Rays," she said, feeling his bones with the tip of her fingers. "Something is definitely wrong."
"Listen to this," Nate said, rolling his shoulders, the merciless cracking of his bones being heard again.
Here, sit on this," she said, walking to the wall, a table coming out of it from a round cavity.
Nathan obeyed and lay on the cold metal table on his stomach. Jean walked to a group of machines, pressing on buttons as the table sided back into the wall. There was a moment of silence, then a repetitive 'clunk' as lights flicked on in the compartment.
Nate could hear Jean outside, tapping furiously on a computer's keyboard. Soon enough, the table zoomed back out, allowing Nathan to get up. Jean was still at the computer.
"The X-Rays will be ready in a couple of hours," she said.
"Okay," he said, ready to walk out. "I'll just be careful."
"Nathan," Jean called, just before he stepped into the corridor to go back upstairs. "Are you really going to go?"
"Yes," he said calmly, walking away.
Jean sighed and walked back to her machines.
~~~~~
Nathan walked back to his room, thinking about nothing in particular, when he bumped into Rogue.
"Hi Nate!" she said cheerfully. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing much," he said slowly. "Just walking around."
"Hey . . . is there something on your mind?" Rogue asked. "You seem . . . I don't know . . . different, somehow."
Nathan grunted an affirmative response as he continued to walk.
"Wanna talk about it?" asked Rogue, seeming genuinely concerned.
"Yeah," he said. "I'm only going to tell this to you, and I want you to promise me you are not going to tell anything in the next twenty four hours."
Rogue looked amused.
"Twenty four hours, hun?" she mocked, but regained seriousness as she saw he wasn't joking. "Sure, go ahead, tell me."
"I'm leaving today," he said calmly.
It took a few seconds for Rogue to fully bring that information to her brain, and realize the consequences.
"WHAT???" she exploded. "What about Kitty, and Max, and me, and the rest of us? You're just go-"
"Rogue, listen to me," Nathan interrupted. "I'm leaving 'cause I can't stay here. I just need to move a little. I'll come back, relax. I can't explain more, but . . . just . . . I . . ."
Rogue calmed down, looking at her friend's troubled face.
"I'll explain to Kitty," she said. "Now go."
"Thanks Rogue," Nathan said, smiling.
He ran to his room and started packing. At one point, he started his computer and waited impatiently for it to connect. Once it did, he logged on to the Internet and entered the chat room where his clients where waiting. Alcatraz was there, waiting for some reason, even though the arrangement was that Nate connected only two days a week, and at four o'clock. He started the conversation, and didn't wait for a response.
Alcatraz,
Count me in. I arrive in Russia in two days. Be at the airport, Moscow, ten o'clock.
Bait Hunter.
He disconnected, and continued packing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please review! The next chapter is coming in soon!
;)
Escaflowne: Hello, and thank you for . . . reviewing (duh). To answer your questions, the romance wont last very long in this story and I think there will only be about four to five chapters before it's done and I switch to Unfinished Business. There will be more 'stuff' and a lot of OCs in that story.
Imaginator: I TOTALLY agree with you. ABSELUTELY. It was a bit not fun that we didn't see Cyclops enough, don't you think? He better have a nicely bigger role in X3.
Visio: Sooo . . . you live in Texas. Cool. Fun you specified, 'cause I'm in Montreal, Canada.
Chelsea: Thank you!!!! :) And you are not at all pathetic to go see it twice! Myself, I saw it again last Friday (because I had a free ticket, but that's another story).
Oh, and: "I'll have Jean braid your hair." heheh
Ice Phoenix: As always, thank you.
Chloe: well, all those quotes gave me a laugh! And to answer your question about Magneto not controlling the jet, well it was because Jean was controlling him with her power, and he was half knocked out in the first place, so that's my 'not so good reason that I'm going to pretend is valid'.
BLAZE: thank you for having me on your favourite author list (I feel so special)! Good luck with your exams, mine are coming soon too (*nnnooo . . .*) And for Nate's abilities, you haven't seen half of what he can do. You'll understand all of it better in the sequel, but that's another story! (yes, it literally *is* another story. Haha.)
Fireball: thank you, and I am going to make something happen with Rogue, just not now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 32:
Nathan looked back into the mirror, checking once again that his clothes and hair was fine and realizing that his eyes were still green. Weird.
His clothes were not different from what he wore usually because the places he intended to bring Kitty weren't exactly fancy, they were just places he knew she would like to see and hang out at. He was wearing black pants, baggy and with multiple pockets, as always, a plain black T-shirt and a leather trench coat. He had a simple chain for necklace, and a single silver earring. His fingers brushed the ring of metal in his ear, smiling to himself. His mother had punished him for months worth of weekend outings for getting it. She had hated it so much, but he had resisted, and had kept it. His hair, looking completely black without the sun, was still falling in messed up bangs on his forehead.
There was also another thing Nathan had noticed: there was always something showing that he was a mutant. If it wasn't his purple eyes, it was his canines, or, like that night, his a bit pointy ears. At least they weren't really visible, thanks to his hair. Why did his mutation keep . . . doing *weird* stuff all the time? What was wrong with it?
He turned around, looking at his room. He still hadn't returned to the dorm.
Looking near his wardrobe, he saw his suitcase he had taken out of his closet for some reason. That was the problem with him since he had become a mutant: he didn't believe in a place out of harm's way. No mater how hard he tried to convince himself that where he was, was secure, he had to move, and it was this morning when that urge had taken him one again, stronger than ever.
He sighed, pushing the suitcase under his bed and walking to the computer. He checked that none of his clients were on line and logged off.
It was almost time to go down and get Kitty.
He smiled at the thought of her, but it faded away when he thought of his suitcase and what he had said to Jean: he *needed* to go.
Sighing, he walked to the door, without forgetting his wallet and a box, in which was a present for Kitty.
He walked down to the common room, and spotted Kitty immediately: someone (probably Jubilee), had done her hair. It was spiked a little at the end, being held by a red bandana, and simply brushing her shoulders lightly. She had those loopy earrings, and had put on a touch of makeup, which was rarely seen because she didn't need any, being beautiful as she was. She was wearing a dress almost totally made of layers of red veil, and she had a pair of bellbottomed blue jeans since it was so short. She was wearing high-heeled sandals.
"Euh . . . h-hi," Nathan stuttered, walking to her.
She smiled widely, literally jumping to his neck. He hugged her, and pulled her backwards to show her what he had gotten her. He opened the box, to reveal a necklace.
"I got you this," he said, pulling it out of the box.
Kitty couldn't say anything. The necklace was absolutely magnificent: It was a silver chain, at the end of which was hanging a miniaturized flower, a blossoming rose, to be exact. Two little green and silver leaves surrounded it, and the flower itself was red. In the middle was a heart- shaped diamond.
"Oh, Nate, it's beautiful!" she exclaimed.
Nathan detached it and turned around to attach it around her neck. She contemplated it in front of the mirror for a few minutes, until she turned to him, and asked him what they were going to do.
"Ah, it's a surprise," he answered, smiling to her curious face. "Come, my car's in front of the door."
"Bye guys!" Jubilee cheered with Rogue as they walked out of the mansion. They cheered until the door closed behind them. "So, wanna watch a scary movie?" She said, turning to Rogue.
"Nah, I can't," Rogue answered, walking to the stairs. "I have a date with Bobby."
Jubilee smiled and her eyes sparkled maliciously. She was about to start that annoying song 'Rogue and Bobby sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g . . .' but she stopped herself just in time. How could they kiss?
~~~~~~~~~~
Sitting in the car, Kitty kept talking as Nathan drove through Westchester, going towards New York. The first stop was a restaurant, said to have the best vegetarian meals. Nathan had been informed that Kitty was a vegetarian.
They ate a wide variety of salads and other things, and Nate, who was more of a meat-eater, didn't find the food unpleasant at all.
The second stop was an attraction park, where they spent a couple of hours, just walking around, trying some of the games and winning most of them.
After that, it was at the movies that Nate brought her. They chose an old black and white movie, knowing that they weren't exactly going to *actually* listen to the movie . . .
After that, it was already one in the morning, so Nate started the drive back 'home'.
He half dragged, half carried Kitty back to her room, because she was so tiered she could barely walk.
Nathan returned to his room, satisfied by everything. To him, nothing abnormal had happened. Everything was great . . . except for one little thing he had ignored all day. His back ache, the one he had gotten by his fall back at the docks, while fighting Magneto, was getting worst by the hour.
Walking to his bathroom, he took off his shirt to inspect his back, The lower part was absolutely normal, nut the upper part was a mess. His shoulder blade area was totally beaten, purple bruises covering a large surface. It was extremely painful, and he just didn't know how he had managed to ignore it for twenty four hours. He rolled his shoulders, feeling his bones crack in an inhuman way. It didn't hurt too much, but felt . . . weird. He touched his shoulder blades. They also didn't seem normal. He felt maybe something was broken and that he would surely need to go see Jean in the med lab again. He shrugged. He hated to med lab.
He looked at his back in the mirror for a long moment, finally deciding that he would only go to Jean if it hurt as much in the morning. Maybe his little healing power would do the trick, but he didn't really think so. It was too feeble to cure broken bones, since all his power had concentrated on saving him when that bullet had nearly killed him. Now, it was just strong enough to cure cuts or things like that. It would still take a while for it to become powerful again.
Nathan shut the light and walked to his bed, crawling under the covers until he fell asleep. That night, his conscience didn't bother him about anything.
~~~~~
The next day, Nathan woke up pretty late, pushed to get up by the pain in his back telling him he needed Jean's help.
He put on clean clothes and walked out without doing his bed or taking the time to properly clean up. He took the elevator and reluctantly pressed the last button, to end up in the chilly underground levels. He walked to the med lab door and opened it, to see Jean sitting at her desk, filling up some files.
"Hey, Jean," he said, using on tone whatsoever.
"Oh, hello Nathan," the red-haired woman replied. "How was your date with Kitty?"
"Ah, just fine," he said. "I was just wondering if you could check my back. When I was fighting Magneto, I sorta fell and it's been killing me since then."
"Sure," Jean said, getting up from her seat. "Let me take a look."
Nathan walked to the med table and sat down, pulling off his shirt. Jean walked behind him and he heard her gasp in surprise.
"Nathan, we absolutely need to take some X-Rays," she said, feeling his bones with the tip of her fingers. "Something is definitely wrong."
"Listen to this," Nate said, rolling his shoulders, the merciless cracking of his bones being heard again.
Here, sit on this," she said, walking to the wall, a table coming out of it from a round cavity.
Nathan obeyed and lay on the cold metal table on his stomach. Jean walked to a group of machines, pressing on buttons as the table sided back into the wall. There was a moment of silence, then a repetitive 'clunk' as lights flicked on in the compartment.
Nate could hear Jean outside, tapping furiously on a computer's keyboard. Soon enough, the table zoomed back out, allowing Nathan to get up. Jean was still at the computer.
"The X-Rays will be ready in a couple of hours," she said.
"Okay," he said, ready to walk out. "I'll just be careful."
"Nathan," Jean called, just before he stepped into the corridor to go back upstairs. "Are you really going to go?"
"Yes," he said calmly, walking away.
Jean sighed and walked back to her machines.
~~~~~
Nathan walked back to his room, thinking about nothing in particular, when he bumped into Rogue.
"Hi Nate!" she said cheerfully. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing much," he said slowly. "Just walking around."
"Hey . . . is there something on your mind?" Rogue asked. "You seem . . . I don't know . . . different, somehow."
Nathan grunted an affirmative response as he continued to walk.
"Wanna talk about it?" asked Rogue, seeming genuinely concerned.
"Yeah," he said. "I'm only going to tell this to you, and I want you to promise me you are not going to tell anything in the next twenty four hours."
Rogue looked amused.
"Twenty four hours, hun?" she mocked, but regained seriousness as she saw he wasn't joking. "Sure, go ahead, tell me."
"I'm leaving today," he said calmly.
It took a few seconds for Rogue to fully bring that information to her brain, and realize the consequences.
"WHAT???" she exploded. "What about Kitty, and Max, and me, and the rest of us? You're just go-"
"Rogue, listen to me," Nathan interrupted. "I'm leaving 'cause I can't stay here. I just need to move a little. I'll come back, relax. I can't explain more, but . . . just . . . I . . ."
Rogue calmed down, looking at her friend's troubled face.
"I'll explain to Kitty," she said. "Now go."
"Thanks Rogue," Nathan said, smiling.
He ran to his room and started packing. At one point, he started his computer and waited impatiently for it to connect. Once it did, he logged on to the Internet and entered the chat room where his clients where waiting. Alcatraz was there, waiting for some reason, even though the arrangement was that Nate connected only two days a week, and at four o'clock. He started the conversation, and didn't wait for a response.
Alcatraz,
Count me in. I arrive in Russia in two days. Be at the airport, Moscow, ten o'clock.
Bait Hunter.
He disconnected, and continued packing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please review! The next chapter is coming in soon!
;)