THE KNIGHT AND THE MAIDEN

CHAPTER 2

Disclaimer- Still don't own the X-Men. Maybe one day.


"Aunt Kitty, can you please tell me another fairy tale? A real one this time. And I wanna hear the whole thing."

Kitty groaned inwardly. She was beginning to think Rachel was never going to let her go to sleep. "Aren't you even a little tired yet, Ray?"

"Unh-Unh. Come on, Kitty. Please?" she begged.

"Alright, I give in. Let's see, you want a fairy tale?"

"Only if it's a real one."

"Ok. Well then, once upon a time there was a young maiden and a knight-"

"Is this the same maiden and knight from before?

"In a way. Now, as I was saying- The knight and the maiden were very much in love, but the maiden was promised to someone else. Yet their love was strong and pure, enough so that the maiden was able to break away from the one to whom she was bound and return to her knight. And, for a time, they were happy. But the knight had left his village to be with his love, and without him there it was very much vulnerable. Evil fell upon them, and it so happened that the knight's good mother and father were lost bravely defending their lands against soldiers of the state. The knight despaired at this news, blaming himself and his absence as cause for this tragedy. But all was not lost, he still had his beloved maiden, and Snowflake, his little sister, who had survived the attack that destroyed their home. He and the maiden fostered Snowflake, and in only a short while came to love her as though she was their own child. And although she remembered and missed her own parents, she grew to love these two others in much the same way. As the seasons passed, they spent many happy days together. But in the night, Snowflake's memories would haunt her and the dreams would come, visions so terrible that not even her loyal protector, Martin the Dragon, could keep them away. So the knight and the maiden would stay with her, one on each side, until morning came and sunlight chased the nightmares away.


Peter stood on the edge of the cliffs, hurling rocks into crashing surf below. The little he had seen of Muir Island did not impress him. It was summer, and still the isle was cold and bitter and dark. He hated the thought of Kitty living on this wasteland.

Next to him he heard a faint bamf and the stench of brimstone filled the air.

"Nice day," Kurt said.

"It is?" he scoffed.

"It is for Muir. Brought you some coffee," he offered, handing him a cup. "I have to warn you though, it's Moira's special blend. It's what most consider to be an acquired taste. Much like Katzchen's cooking."

Peter took a sip and grimaced. "It is pretty terrible," he agreed.

"The cooking or the coffee?"

"Both."

Kurt laughed while Peter smiled half-heartedly. Their conversation lulled and he threw another rock in to the ocean, watching the water and sea mist splash up into the air from the impact before falling back into the waves.

"When did you rejoin the X-Men?"

Peter jumped at the sound of his friend's voice. He had been so focused on the sea below him that he had nearly forgotten Kurt was even there.

"Almost a month."

"What made you decide to come back?" he pressed.

"I had nowhere else to go." He took another sip of coffee. "So team leader, huh? Congratulations, Kurt."

"Thanks," he said, watching as Peter wandered a few feet away to pick another rock from the ground. He came back, throwing the stone up in the air and catching it repeatedly. "You know I gave everyone a half an hour break before the mission so they could unwind. Maybe have a little reunion with old friends. You should be in there with them, Peter. I believe Kitty would be happy to see you."

"I think we both know she wouldn't." He stopped tossing the rock and held it in his palm, his arms dropping to his sides.

"And whose fault is that?" Kurt asked, bothered with his friend's detached behavior.

"I know it's mine!" he said harshly, his fist clenching tighter around the stone.

"I apologize. I did not come here to blame you. It's just... mien gott Peter, why did you have to leave her? Then, of all times?"

"I remember..." he started quietly after a long silence. "I remember the night my parent's died. Illyana was visiting us then. We had taken her to the zoo earlier that day. She had wanted to see the dragons." He gave a small laugh. "Dragons," he muttered.

Kurt smiled encouragingly at his friend. He had no idea where Peter was going with this, but from the sound of his voice it was something he'd been needing to get off is chest for a long time.

"We came back late from the city that night, but Snowflake was still awake. She said she was still too excited to sleep."

"Yeah, well what do you expect after you let her eat three snow cones? Not to mention she started out the day with a big bowl of Sugar Bombs. Really Petey, what kind of example are you going to set for your sister?" Kitty asked in mock frustration as the car pulled into the drive.

"That in America we let you eat as much junk food as you like so she should visit more often," he joked, opening the door of the SUV to help his sister out. "Besides, she is a good girl. I tried to buy her a corn dog and she told me she didn't want one."

"That's because I don't eat meat. I'm a vegy-" Illyana struggled with the word- "vegytarin. Like Katya," she said proudly.

"Do you mean a vegetarian?"he corrected, amused by her answer.

"Uh-huh," she said brightly.

"Since when?" Kitty asked.

"Oh, since always."

"Really? You did not seem to mind meat yesterday when you ate that entire hamburger," Piotr teased. Illyana stuck her tongue out at him.

"The professor was waiting for us in the foyer when we got back. He said he needed to speak with me, so I gave Illyana to Katya and she went upstairs to put her to bed. I do not really know what happened in the next few minutes. I suppose Xavier told me about my parents, and I must have somehow gotten up to my room. The next thing I remember is sitting on the edge of my bed, looking at Katya standing at the edge of the door to my room, peeking her head in. She knocked softly on the door frame and called my name out. I made no acknowledgement of her presence. I just kept looking straight ahead across the hall into my sister's room, staring at her sleeping outline."

"This is my fault. I should have been there, I could have protected them. Instead I killed them."

"No. Listen to me. This is not your fault. You did nothing wrong. And if you hadn't been here, then your sister would have been visiting, and we could have lost her, too."

"But I don't understand why this happened. My parents have never been anything but good, hardworking people. Why would anyone attack them, let alone my own country?"

"I don't know, Peter. I'm sorry."

"How am I going to do this? How am I going to raise my sister all alone?"

"You wont. We'll raise her together. And we'll love her. We'll love her enough for you and me and your mama and papa and even for Mikhail. We'll love her and we'll love each other and everything will be okay," she promised.

"She promised me, and I believed her. I had to. But you can't promise something like that, can you. We decided to let Illyana sleep, that it would be better to tell her tomorrow. After that, there was nothing left to say, so I cried. She had never seen me cry before that day, but it didn't matter. She just hugged me and whispered she loved me over and over again until we fell asleep in each others arms."

Peter closed his eyes, breathing in the smell of the salt air as the cold winds beat aganist his face while he cleared his mind, allowing the memory to flow.

Kitty stirred in his arms, a quiet, contented sigh escaping from her lips. He watched as her eyes fluttered open and she gazed sleepily at him.

"Hi."

"Hi," he responded, a strange look on his face. Kitty couldn't tell if he was trying to hold back tears or a smile.

"Oh Peter, what's going on inside your head?" she asked, reaching up to run her fingers through his dark hair.

"There is something I forgot to say to you last night."

"What?" she prodded gently.

"I love you."

"Peter -"

"I woke up last night, after you fell asleep, and I was watching you sleep, and the moon, it was shining down on you. You looked...you looked dead. Your skin was so blue and pale and I was afraid to move. I thought if I stayed still and didn't do anything that might wake you that I wouldn't know for sure if you were gone or just sleeping. I don't ever want to lose you. All I want to do is hold you in my arms for the rest of my life. Marry me, Katya. Be my wife. Please. I love you so much."

Kitty inched a little closer to Peter and kissed him on the lips, her hand still fingering his hair.

"Is that a yes?" he asked hopefully.

"No, that's a no. I love you too, Peter, and I want to marry you one day. But not like this. When you're ready, when your heart has healed a little more, then you can ask me again. But not now."

"Why not?" he asked moodily, pulling away from her and sitting on the edge of the bed.

Kitty crawled across the bed and put her arms around him.

"Because it wouldn't be real."

He turned his head and stared at her with wounded eyes, but deep down she could see he knew this was the right choice to make. Across the hall the sound of cartoons on the television drifted into their room, and a look of panic came over him.

"She's awake. I have to go tell her now, don't I?"

"Yeah. We have to go tell her."

He focused back on Kitty, and a ghost of a smile came across his face as he stared into her eyes.

"I really do love you, Katya."

"I know. I love you too."

He finished telling Nightcrawler the story the same moment the memory ended. He hadn't even realized he had been talking.

Kurt had a hard time understanding. Peter had been slipping back and forth between English and Russian, and there were times he stood quietly with a look on his face that made Kurt think the story was still going on in his mind, but he had forgotten to say it out loud. Still, he knew the point behind the story. It was Peter's way of telling him he still loved Kitty. There was just one thing he still didn't get.

"What does this have to do with why you left Kitty?"

Piotr looked down at the rock in his hand. His skin was white from the pressure and he had to use his free hand to pry apart his fingers. Already the skin of his palm was starting to turn purple and bruise.

"Everything. It has everything to do with it."


Kitty stood at the observation window to the Med Lab, watching as Moira prepared Rachel for a C.A.T scan. Behind her she heard the sound of footsteps too light to be a mans, but still strong enough to give off an air of purpose and strength.

"Hello, Rogue," she said without turning around.

"After all this time you can still recognize the sound of my footsteps?"

"Old ninja tricks die hard, I guess."

"Logan would be proud to hear that. You know he's pretty angry right now. Storm and Beast are doin' their best to calm him down. He and Peter haven't been gettin' along real well since he got back, and Ah think they're afraid he might try an' start a fight with him."

"Good."

"You don't really mean that?"

"No. I don't know," she responded, turning her attention back to watching Moira and Rachel through the window.

"Kit, maybe you should talk to him. At least be in the same room as him. What are ya doin' here?" she prodded gently.

"Shouldn't the question be what is Scott not doing here?" she demanded.

"He had to do extra work since Kurt disappeared somewhere after you left. Besides, he doesn't like to see her like this-"

"And you think she likes it? She's hates these tests. And no matter how many times I lie to her, I'm not even sure if she needs any of this."

"That's not fair!" Rogue said defensively. "Scott's only trying to do what's best for her. Besides, Moira's a doctor. Why would she go along with this if she thought it was unnecessary?"

"Because Scott's playing on her own fears. Mutant children growing so powerful that they go insane is kind of a sore spot for her!"

"Look, just because you're mad at Peter doesn't mean you should project all your anger on Scott. Besides, it's not like Peter was that great of a father either." Before the words had finished leaving her mouth Rogue had closed her eyes in regret. "Kitty, Ah'm sorry. Ah-

"Peter was a good father," she argued, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Ah know."

"No, you don't. Because you never really saw it. None of you did. And you need to see it."

Without warning, Kitty reached up and touched the exposed skin on Rogue's face, focusing hard on the memory she wanted her friend to see.

"Good morning!" Kitty chirped as she, Peter, and Illyana entered the busy kitchen. "Sleep well?" she asked to no one in particular as they headed towards the table.

Her question was met by a chorus of halfhearted "hellos" and "good mornings".

"Hello Rachel girl," Kitty said, looking over at the toddler happily playing with Cheerios in her high chair . The little redhead looked up and sneezed "Ohh, do you have the sniffles? Good thing you have Mommy to take care of you," she cooed as Jean walked up with a sippy cup and a bottle of cough syrup for her daughter. "So what's for breakfast?" she asked, sitting down next to Illyana.

"Your favorite," Peter told her from his spot on the other side of the blond haired girl. "Bacon and eggs."

Illyana scrunched up her nose.

"I know how you feel," Kitty told her, looking at the greasy strips of bacon in front of her. "I'll make us something else."

"Katya, Illyana did not do anything wrong. Why are you punishing her?" Peter teased.

"Haha,very funny, but I think I can handle popping some frozen French Toast in the oven."

"Can I have a cookie instead, Mommy?"

"No Snowflake, cookies are not for breakfast," she heard Peter tell her as she walked over to the counter where Jean was putting away Rachel's medication.

"She calls you Mommy?" Jean asked softly, a hint of surprise in her voice.

"Yeah, and she calls Peter daddy. She started it about two days ago" Kitty told her uncomfortably. "It was after she had a bad dream about me and Peter going away like her mama and papa. She came to our room to find us but we were downstairs in the kitchen. It scared her."

"Are you ok with this?"

"Why shouldn't I be?"

"Is Peter?"

Kitty looked back at the table where Illyana was laughing at something Peter had said. If they weren't careful the little girl was going to end up with the same odd sense of humor as him. Both looked happier than they had been in a long time.

"See for yourself," she told her.

"You have a point. Do you mind if I steal your little girl for a few minutes?"

"Go ahead."

Jean walked over and picked up Rachel out of her high chair. "Illyana, I need to get Reachel into some new clothes. She managed to spill all over these. Do you want to help me pick some new ones out?"

"Ok" she said excitedly.

"Hey, what about your breakfast?" Kitty asked.

"Oh, that's ok Mommy. Daddy gave me a cookie when you weren't looking."

"Peter!"

"Illyana!" he said, giving her a surprised look. She giggled as she followed Jean upstairs. "I couldn't help it!" he protested as Kitty frowned at him. "She gave me the sad face."

Kitty tried to hold back a laugh over the repentant look on his face. "Come on. Let's go for a walk, big guy," she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him into the backyard. They walked quietly for awhile until they came to the lake. Peter picked a rock off the ground and threw one in. Kitty stared at him.

"Why are you sad?" she asked quizzically.

"I am not sad," he protested.

"Peter, I know you. You chop wood when you're angry. You come here when you're sad."

"That's only because this lake holds a lot of happy memories for me," he told her, putting his arms around her.

"Our first kiss," she said, standing on her tip toes to give him a peck on the lips.

"Da, but it's more than that," Peter told her, letting go of her and walking closer to the water's edge. "I cared for you, deeply, for a long time after we first met. But the first day we spent here together, that was the day I fell in love with you. I came that day to honor my brother, and in doing so I found you. I like to think Mikhail had a part in it, that he found a way to bring us together. That he is still watching over his little brother."

"I'm sure he is. But that still doesn't explain why you needed to come out here,"Kitty said, walking next to him.

Peter threw another rock in to the lake. As he brought his arm down Kitty grabbed his empty hand and held it tight.

"Oh no, you are not shutting me out, mister. I wont let you. Now you know how stubborn I can be, so it'll be easier on us both if you just tell me what you're thinking."

Peter turned to face her, a smile coming across his face.

"Right now I am thinking it might be fun to throw you into the water instead of this rock," he said, pulling her into his arms again.

"You wouldn't."

"And why not?"

"Because it's early, and I haven't had my coffee. And if you do that you know I'll kick your butt."

"Oh really?"

"Well, maybe not. It's such a cute butt after all."

"See? I told you the lake works. I feel better already," he told her, bending down to kiss her deeply.

"Good," she said after they broke apart. "But you're not off the hook yet. Not until you tell me why you were upset."

He stared at her for a moment, evaluating how serious she was being, then nodded. "Our first kiss seems like a million years ago, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but it was only a little less than two."

"A lot has changed since then. Even more so after my parents died. Because now we have Illyana. It's strange, when I look at her, I don't see her as my sister anymore. I see her as my daughter, and it makes me wonder if that is how she sees herself. She calls us Mommy and Daddy now, Kitty. And when I hear that I feel so proud and full of love and happy. My parents are dead, and I am happy. Because I have my Katya, and we have our little girl. Except she is not ours."

"She calls us Mommy and Daddy instead of Mama and Papa because she knows were different from them. But the love's the same."

"But are we not erasing my parents memory from her?" he asked forlornly.

"She remembers them Peter, and we will never let her forget them. But all I know is that you both deserve some happiness. And the last ten months have been better than any of us could have expected them to be. She may not be my blood, but she's my daughter, at least in all the ways that count. And we couldn't love her more if she were our own."

"You are a very good mother, Katya."

"And you're a wonderful father, Piotr. Now come on, let's go back to the house. Cause I don't think I ever took the French Toast out of the oven."

"Rogue?"

Kitty's memory faded from her as a male voice called out her name.

"Rogue? Shadowcat? It's time to go," Scott said, walking up behind them.

Rogue still felt a little woozy, but the look Kitty gave her seemed to be imploring her not to tell Scott what had happened. She knew Scott would probably end up giving them a lecture about putting themselves in danger right before a mission.

"Ready to go, Kit?" Rogue asked cheerfully, throwing her arm around Kitty's shoulder for support. Kitty smiled a silent thank you. Behind them, Scott looked sadly at through the observation window at his daughter, then turned and walked away.


Hope you enjoyed it! I know this chapter was pretty much all flashbacks, but the main story will continue in the next chapter. And thanks for all the reviews!

KittieKat8- Don't worry, I can't keep Kitty and Peter apart for too long. It makes me sad. Kitty will get a chance to be happy soon, but you never know how long it's going to last ;)

Lucas'sgirl- Wisdom's part was probably just a one time thing, I mostly put him in just because I like making little "Excalibur" references. There will be some twists coming up soon, so I hope you like those!

SperryDee- A little bit of Kitty and Peter's past was told in this chapter, but there's still a lot more to go. A good portion of it is explained next chapter, hopefully you find it surprising, or at the very least unexpected. ;)

ishandahalf- Pete probably wont be showing up again, but I wanted to throw him into the story at least once. I have a strange affection for Pete Wisdom. I wanted to hate him for getting between Kitty and Piotr, but under Warren Ellis's pen I couldn't help but like him, which only made me hate him even more. But I know what you mean about intensely sarcastic British guys, after all I loved Spike from "Buffy". And about Scott and Rogue, it will all be explained in time....

DemonRogue13- The depth of the Scott/Rogue friendship will be more clear in chapter 7 or so when Rogue explains it to a certain mutant. I originally wanted to make Scott a total bastard just because I hate him so much in the comics, but then I felt bad for Rachel, so I made him nicer, but Iike Rogue too much to stick him with her :)

B- Glad you liked it! As for the foreshadowing, most of the backs tory is explained at the end of chapter 3. And I had to work in the Bamf doll cause it's just so lovable. I always wished Marvel would start selling those. They'd be even better than Care Bears!

Star-of-Chaos- Peter had a reason for leaving, I promise! But it won't get fully explained for awhile. And sorry to say that chapter 3 got pushed back to chapter 4, but the romyness has not been forgotten!

oldprydefan- I'm so happy you liked it! And Rachel just seemed like the natural choice to put in this story, especially since she and Kitty ended up on different teams for Reload. Of course, much as I like Rachel, I absolutely adore Illyana, so she had to be a part of this story, too. They'll be a little more of her in the next chapter.