Title: Reflection with the heart

A car park outside the Brotherhood's boarding house and Mystique gets out and heads for the door.

"PIETRO!" Wanda screams while walking down the stairs. Wanda is fuming mad as she discovered her brother filled her moisturizer with men's shaving cream. Freddy is in the living room watching cartoons with Lance. Toad is busy drawing a silly face on Pietro's picture. The moment Wanda entered the room, the TV went blank.

"Where is he!" Wanda shouts.

"Who?" Freddy asks letting out a loud burp.

"Pietro! Who else!" Wanda screams. This time, Freddy's cereal blasted right at Toad's face. Toad drops Pietro's picture and the marker and hops up to Wanda.

"Wanda, pumpkin, calm down and relax. Pietro is not here right now so why not you and I watch a movie and let all that tension just fade away?" Toad asks lovingly.

Wanda stares at him for a second.

"Just hope that I don't blast you from the ground into the sky by accident!" Wanda said irritated. From a loving face to a scared face, toad swallowed hard. Just then, they heard the door open. Wanda, at first thought it was Pietro. She stormed over and shouted, "Pietro, I am sick and tired of your pranks and I…" Wanda stopped the moment she knew she was facing Mystique in her normal form. The others were already on their toes, ready to run when Mystique bursts. Wanda, particularly scared said, "Sorry…I thought you were Pietro…"

However, Mystique just continued walking upstairs. Everyone seemed a bit confused on why Mystique did not blow up.

"Gee, something's got her down lately…" Lance said confused.

"You think it's her freaky looking blue elf?" Toad said out loud then let out a small laugh. Slowly, the others backed away as a figure walks up to Toad who apparently does not know that.

"URK!"

Mystique grabbed Toads shirt and lift him upwards with just one hand.

"Don't you dare call my son a Freak! You leave him alone! The next time I catch you making a comment like that, you'd be wishing you never made such comment!" Mystique said and then throws him to Freddy who catches Toad. Mystique then turns around and storms back up the stairs to her room. The others just stood there with their mouths open at the sight of the angry woman. In the distance, Kurt watched the whole thing from a tree.

"It's true, my mother does care about me…she even whammed Toad for insulting me…"

Yes, deep inside, Kurt knew Mystique truly loves him but yet, why does he still want to deny it?

Night time falls and Kurt appears in the middle of his bedroom. He felt happy and yet at the same time, there are other mix feelings inside him he just can't explain. Then, he heard his stomach growl. It seems he hasn't eaten anything since after school. Kurt then ports down to the kitchen where he sees Rogue, Kitty, Jamie and a new girl he hasn't seen before.

Rogue is particularly surprise that Kurt is finally out of his room. There was a moment of silence and the Kurt opened the fridge door.

"Who's he?" Peprica asks.

"Kurt Vagner, he is not usually like this so excuse him." Jamie whispers back.

Rogue looked at Kitty and Kitty signaled Rogue to do what she wants to do. Rogue looked at her cup of water then gathered her strength to go apologize.

"Kurt?"

Kurt turned around to see Rogue behind him but looking at the floor.

"Ah…ah just want to say ah am…sorry for what happened…ah really did not mean anything, ah was just worried ya know." Rogue said. Predicting another cold shoulder, Rogue was surprised when Kurt said, "it's my fault."

"I shouldn't have fired at you like that, you were just being concerned." Kurt said and for once, he smiled. Kurt then turns to the new girl sitting next to Jamie. "Who's she?"

"My name is Peprica and I'm new here." Peprica said happily.

In the middle of the night, Kurt tossed and turns in bed. His mind is in a mess and not at peace. All he could think about is his mother and how he heard everything that she said. Unable to sleep, Kurt gets up and decides to hang at his balcony. Just as he opens his balcony doors, a figure with wings flew by and landed on the second level porch.

"Angel? Is it him?" Kurt wonders. Curious, Kurt ported to the second level porch. However, it was not Angel because; it's a girl with long blue hair.

"Peprica?"

"Huh?" Peprica turns around to see Kurt behind her. "Oh! Hey, what are you doing here?"

"I should be the one asking you." Kurt says as he walks towards her. Peprica is standing on the Stone Railing with great balance. Kurt just stood beside her on the ground.

"So what are you doing here so late? Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Peprica asks

"Nah can't sleep." Kurt says

The wind softly blew against them, making the night cooling. "I usually sleep at 11 so it's nothing unusual. I mostly fly up to the top of the Bell tower and stare out into the night sky and watch the stars." Peprica said as she stretches her wings. Kurt nodded and continues to stare out into the sky. Feeling something is troubling him, Peprica decides to help him out.

"I sense that your mind is troubled, that is why you can't sleep right?" Peprica asks.

"How do you know?" Kurt turns to look at her.

"I can sense these things, I guess so. Anyway, you can tell me anything if you want." Peprica bends down and places her hand on Kurt's shoulder.

The moment Peprica touched Kurt; he felt a cooling and calming sensation flow throughout his body. It felt so angelic, so pure and rich that he felt his mind settling down for once. Kurt looked up and saw her eyes glitter in silvery blue, she truly looked like an angel with her wings elegantly folded.

"You see, Mystique is my mother who lost me when I was a baby. She found me but I was found by another couple. She left me to them and I never knew who she was until much later. But then, she has done a lot of terrible things. She even betrayed Rogue, her foster daughter one too many times and she even hurt me…because I love her so much but sometimes, I can't even bring myself to forgive her." Kurt said and then let out a huge sigh.

Peprica felt sorry for him. She can sense his mind is deeply troubled and all he wants is to have the power to forgive his mother, love her and be with her. But yet, all her wrong doings is against his thoughts of forgiveness.

"Listen, I may be only 13 but I live in a church long enough to learn things on my own and to forgive those that others cannot forgive. When I was 8 years old, my mother died from cancer. I am born in a poor family so life wasn't easy. I am the only child and I had to look after my mother all on my own. I never went to school and I never had any friends. My father is a thief. I knew he was an alcoholic but I never knew he was a thief. He and his gang broke into houses and stole things and then hid it at home in the store room. He never allows me to open the store room because he does not me to find out. He would then sneak the stolen items out to sell so that he could support me and my mother. He's jobless and no matter where he goes, he could never get a job. And then one day, my mother just quietly and peacefully passed away."

As Kurt listened, he could see tears welling up in her eyes. "Suddenly, one day, the police came knocking on the door. They searched the house and found the stolen items. My father was arrested. I love my dad so much and I was shocked he did all this. All along, I thought my dad had a job but it was all a lie. I ran away because the police wanted to take me to an orphanage. I never wanted that…I wanted my dad."

"And then?" Kurt said, eager to know what happens next.

"And then the sky started to cry like tears from my eyes. I was drenched from head to toe. After running for so long, I ended up at the church. The priest and the nuns took me in and they had only one place and that is the bell tower. At first, they wanted me to go to an orphanage with better facilities. But I insisted to stay at the church and make it my home. Then when I turned 10, I found out about my powers." Peprica finished as she wipes away the tears trickling down from her face.

"So…do you still love your father?" Kurt asks with meaning in his heart.

Peprica looks at Kurt with a hopeful smile on her face. "I do. Even though my dad committed many theft crimes, inside, he was confused and not knowing what he will have to face in the future. I don't blame him because it was at that point he did it for me. I still love him and I still wait for the day he will be released. Forgiveness is sometimes hard to find but look inside, under all those doubtful feelings, there is certain flame that would never die out."

"What flame is that?" Kurt asks.

"Love, the Flame of Love. No matter what, this flame will never die out. Even though the one you love has done many wrong doings in her life, deep inside, she may have done it because she was blind and confused. It's difficult to forgive her if you feel that way, I understand. But do this…clear all thoughts, search deep inside your heart and ask yourself, do you forgive her? Do you love her? Do you think that you should give her a second chance to prove herself?" Peprica places her hand on Kurt's head and then turns to the sky. "Do you think she feels happy about thinking that you don't accept her anymore?"

That immediately struck Kurt. All along, he's been concerned about he feels but now, he finally hears that he should consider about how she feels.

"You can correct a mistake; you just have to face all odds to do it." Peprica says. "Think about it, now, I wish to return to my room for a goodnight sleep." With a pat on his head, Peprica leaps into the air and spreads her large wings. She flaps her wings and flew behind the building.

Left on the porch, Kurt sat there and thought about what Peprica had said. She faced so many painful moments but yet, deep inside, she learned how to forgive. For a 13 year old, she knew a lot about life and how to deal with it.

Soon, Kurt felt sleepy. He ports back to his room and lay down in his bed. His heart felt lighter and his mind is more at ease. As each minute passed by, his eye lids were getting heavier and soon, he dozed off into the quiet night.

The next morning, Mystique woke up to a bright and early morning. Though she can hear the birds sing, she felt her heart sink like a stone in water. Wanting a good cup of coffee, she shape shifts into her Principal form and headed for the door.

Down in the kitchen, Wanda is busy fixing breakfast for Freddy. It seems that Freddy caught a terrible flu and since no one here seems to care much, Wanda decided to stay home to look after him. Pietro has already gone off to school with Lance while Toad pours out orange juice into a cup for Wanda to bring to Freddy.

"So you're just going to stay home to look after Freddy?" Toad asks.

"Yes, he's really down with a bad flu and I think I would rather stay home and look after him. This way, I won't have to be worried." This time, you can see the kinder side of Wanda.

"So…if I am sick like Freddy, would you stay home to look after me?" Toad asks cheekily.

Wanda looks at Toad while stiring the pot of oatmeal. "As if!"

Just then Mystique comes down and enters the kitchen. Upon seeing her, Toad hid behind Wanda.

"Morning!" Wanda greets Mystique.

"A cup of coffee please…" Mystique requests as she sat at the table.

Wanda went to the cupboard and took out coffee grains and makes Mystique a cup of coffee.

"I'm going to school first…where I won't get hurt." Toad says. He grabbed his bag and heads out the house.

At school, Mystique is greeted by her students. She kept a fake smile on her face as she walks down the corridors.

BBRRRIIINNGGG!

The students start heading off for class. As Mystique was about to enter her office, her secretary stopped her.

"A boy passed me this letter. He said that it is important that you get it and read it." She said.

Looking at the letter, Mystique saw that it was addressed to her. She took the letter and entered her office. She placed her bag on the floor beside her chair and sat down. Mystique then opens the envelope up and takes out the letter. It was addressed to her from someone she never expected it to be from.

"Kurt!"

Next Chapter: Can I call you Mother?

Author: I really hope that so far, you've enjoyed it. Please, once again, please review. I would really appreciate it. Really, I would. Thank you.