Title: Requiems of The Past

Disclaimer: I own nothing from X-Men Evolution. It's a great show, I'd suggest for everyone to at least watch one episode…

Warning: This story is an alternate universe to the one seen in the show, which occurs after episode fourteen; Growing Pains. It will contain angst, fluff, and violence.

Rating: M+ due to more violence and bad language. If you are offended by coarse language or don't like violence, than don't continue. You have been warned.

Author's Notes: You still need to ask permission to use these characters.

Dialogue Notes: Italics- Flashbacks, Bold- Thoughts, Bold/Italics- Telepathy, ""-Regular speech

Chapter Dedication: I'm dedicating this chapter to everyone that made a character for me. You know who you are! Also I'm dedicating the Chapter Name to the new TRUST Company CD. I urge all who read this chapter to go and buy that CD. It's Awesome.

Chapter 8: True Parallels

Faint trembles of sound...like an empty echo are all Michael can hear. His opens his eyes…but it's not the infirmary ceiling he's looking at. Shimmering stars stand out against the blackness of space above the ground. Michael sits up and finds himself on a large rock…in the middle of what looks to be a sand ocean; the rolling and waving sand cutting into and eroding the landscape. Suddenly pieces of a large building come into view, spiking high in the air, before being swallowed again by the sand. He looks around frantically for anything familiar, but finds no comfort in this place. Deciding to go look for clues as to what this place is, he jumps off the rock. The sand ocean parts under him, a black void in the center of the hole. He screams as he falls down into the darkness, feeling the all to familiar feelings of panic and fear gripping his body, making it hard to breathe.

Out of nowhere, a figure rises from the darkness. It grabs Michael's hand and sets him back down on the rock. Mike says, "Thanks you. What's with this place?" He looks up at the figure and feels his body go limp with fearful confusion; because the face looking down on him was his own. This new Michael had kept his black hair from birth, but everything else is the same.

The black haired Michael speaks, voice proud and confident, "The deal with this place? Don't you recognize our mind when you see it?"

Michael looks around, "This is our mind?"

"Yes. Oh, by the way, so there's no confusion between us…call me Zeon…Michael." Michael looks shocked that this strange man would know his name. Zeon continues, "I've been trapped here since we were eight years old. You remember…don't you?"

Michael cringes and fights to not lose control of his anger. He stands, "Yes…but I don't understand. How come I was never aware of you?"

"There will be time for questions later, for the time being…you're trapped here. I need to teach you how to survive in this place."

Michael studies Zeon's face, looking for anything to be suspicious about, but finding none, "Ok. When do we start?"

Zeon turns and looks over his shoulder, "Right now."

Meanwhile Hank is still sitting in the infirmary waiting for the professor to get there. Hank had run some tests while Michael is unconscious. One of which had provided a piece of mysterious information. Charles Xavier enters, with Jane at his side, "You wanted to see me?"

Hank pulls up some papers, "I'll get right to the point. I don't think Michael's psychotic breaks are being triggered by outside forces. When any telepath enters someone's mind, there are increased alpha waves, signaling the target's brain is aware of the intrusion, even if the targets' body it not. Michael's brain is full of these alpha waves. I think what's going on is there is another presence in Michael's mind. And since I'm not all psychic, there's no way for me to tell if this new psyche is dangerous or not."

Charles lets the information sink in, "Alright Jane, I need you to come with me."

Jane asks, "Um…where are we going?"

Charles says, solemnly, "Into Michael's mind."

Jane looks over at Michael's unconscious form, "I don't think we should."

Charles turns, "Why not?"

Jane, never taking her eyes off of Michael says, "If there is someone else in his mind, "Won't more people just put him in more danger than we have to put him in. Let's just wait. If anything happens…then we'll go. Right now, he seems relaxed."

Looking at Michael's form, Charles got the same intuition…he was relaxed. "Fine…we'll wait."

A large building toppled over into the large sand ocean that raged in this place. Michael, sweat coating his face says, "Alright, I did it."

Zeon speaks up, "Yes, you did. Great job. So, what's it like now?"

Michael turns, unsure of the question," What do you mean?"

"The real world? How is it now?"

"I don't know…it's ok. Why?"

"Because I want to go back."

A cold icy chill runs down Michael's spine at that comment. He backs up a few steps, "Really? How are you planning to do that?"

Zeon steps forward, "You'll have to stay here. And then I can leave again. This place is unstable it needs someone here to keep it together. I want to go back to the outside."

"No. I want to go back."

Zeon fumes, "YOU'VE HED YOUR CHANCE! I WANT MINE!"

Michael flies away, toward a central column of light. Zeon growls, "NOOOOOOOOO! IT'S MY TIME!" Zeon flies toward him and the same central column of light.

Jane is pacing when she see it…Michael face twitches. She grabs Charles' shoulder and places her hand on Michael's head, but before she could pass into his mind he sits up. He turns and sees Hank, Jane, and Charles staring at him, concern on each of their faces. Michael leaps off the table, "What the fuck was that all about! I'm going to my room." He runs off toward his room.

Jane goes to follow but Charles' hand stops her, "Don't Jane. Let him work through this by himself. If he needs help he'll ask."

Jane growls and goes to go to the library and Hank follows her wanting to read up on his parapsychology. Charles thinks out loud, "Why would you do this to another human being?"

"Why not?" Came a voice from seemingly nowhere.

To Charles' surprise he was actually talking to this disembodied voice, "Because this is another life. You can't treat another leaving being like that."

"Oh please…" A shimmer of light trembled in front of Xavier and a woman appeared out of thin air. The woman was sharply dressed, looked beautiful, and spoke with an air and tine reminiscent of Ororo, "…you don't really believe that do you?"

"Of course I do. You can't treat another…"

"…living being like that. I know. I heard you. But this is no ordinary life. Trust me…Michael will be great in his future. Oh…before I go…tell Magnus I said hi."

The women left. Charles mentally calls Magnus who is still in the next room looking after Shante. He enters, "You wanted to see me?"

Charles looks him straight in his eyes, "How much do you know about a woman named…Maria?"