Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form own X-Men, X-Men: Evolution, or their characters; all of it belongs to Marvel Comics and their individual creators. The characters of Stacey Lofton and Vicki Byrne belong to Stacey Lofton (read our Evo/PotC crossover story on her name!). Aliana LeBeau belongs to Aliana LeBeau. Mithra Gale belongs to stormelle. I reserve the rights to this fiction, its story line, Leila Stone, Leonora Traviata, Carolyn Darjay, Niccolò Traviata, Pricilla Kenes, Christopher Swainison/Meltdown, Toby McGrath/Phantom, Karl Angler/Armour, and Emmeline Hayes/Glint.

A/n: Wow, I'm really dumping a lot of characters on you guys aren't I? Well, don't worry, I think I've got them all covered for now, so no new ones for at least this chapter. I'll try to keep piecing this puzzle together so it makes more sense. And oh yeah, remember that Leonora is Italian, so La Luce is pronounced la luch-eh; it means light. Niccolò is Italian too, everyone else is American, except Lelia who grew up in England.

Confessions of a Future Past

Chapter 12: See the Light

2005

Lelia Stone finished sipping her hot chocolate and placed the empty mug on the coffee table in front of her. She picked up the small, battered book that lay there and flipped to the front message again. Then she handed it to Jamie who was reading over her shoulder.

"Anyone know anything about time travel?" Stacey said from the window as she absent-mindedly watched the snow fall lightly.

"You can't really be serious. I mean, how do we know any of this stuff is really going to come true? And if they are, maybe that's what will happen if we do try to change things. I'm not going to put my faith in some book we found lying in a classroom," Bobby explained and snatched the book from Jamie's hands, flipping to a page at random. "It says here Principal Kelly's going to become the president someday. Like that will ever happen."

"He's got a point," Aliana said from her comfy chair. "Besides, shouldn' we be in charge o' our own destinies? Ah'm not sure Ah want to live mah life according to how some book says I should or shouldn'."

Ghost, who had been quiet through this all, stood up and tore the book from Bobby's hands. Without a word, she walked over to the blazing fireplace and tossed the book into the flames. "Whatever this thing says, I don't want to know. Whatever happens, happens; I'm not going to worry about it."

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2029-Vicki and Emmeline's apartment

"Come on, we're going to be late!" Bobby insisted and herded the three women out of the apartment. Once they were out of the building and down on the street Leonora walked the opposite way from the others and before Bobby could turn around she had disappeared.

"Oh no, where'd she go?" He said as he looked around him.

"She can control the light. We won't be able to see her," Vicki reminded him.

"Another day then, Luce," he said mostly to himself, then turned to the other two. "Hurry up! We need to save President Kelly!"

"What don't you understand about me being a time traveller?" Vicki said as she grabbed his and Emmeline's wrists. Soon they were all surrounded by a strange purple glow, and the lighting and scenery around them changed quickly until they were at the press conference later that day.

"There's Kelly!" Glint squealed, as a dark haired man approached the podium in the middle of a large stage. Before she could say anything else though she felt her pocket get inexplicably hot. She quickly reached in and pulled out a searing hot book, which she immediately dropped on the ground. Before their eyes the three mutants watched as it strangely turned into ash. "They burned my book!" she shrieked.

Vicki gave her a sly smile, "Well, you wanted them to change the future somehow. Looks like they did."

"What are you girls talking about?" Bobby asked curiously.

"Glint had a book of everything that's happened to the X-Men and at the Institute. We brought it back in time because she thought it would change the future and we wouldn't have all this destruction around us," Vicki started to explain, but before she could finish Bobby interrupted her.

"That ratty old thing? Ghost threw that in the fire more than twenty years ago. Are you telling me you guys sent that?"

"Well I wouldn't have if I would've known you were going to burn it up," Glint replied angrily.

"Well sorry, we didn't want to live according to some stupid book."

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2015-Inside Lelia, Stacey, and Aliana's condo

Jamie listened intently to Lelia's theories on her previous boss's strange behaviour. If it had been anyone else he wouldn't have believed a word, but he knew that he could trust her, especially after everything they'd gone through in the past years. He smiled inwardly as he thought of her first year at the institute, all the fun they'd had, all the danger room sessions, and trouble she'd gotten him into.

He felt a small shock to his leg, breaking him out of his reverie. He smiled thankfully at Stacey once he realised what had happened, she had saved him from Lelia's temper. When did he stop listening? What was the last thing she said?

"There were a couple of mutants at the presentation, but I kept sensing a weird one, and" Lelia continued, but her voice broke. Her eyes fixed on the table by the door. When she came in she had set down her phone, keys, and the mysterious book.

"What is it?" Jamie followed her gaze to the table. He stood up and walked over to the door. "Has this book always been red?" he picked up the book to examine it, it was hot, so hot he dropped it. Lelia caught it with telekinesis just as flames started licking the sides. She made a tight bubble around it, cutting off the fire from oxygen.

"What just happened?" Aliana asked anxiously as she turned around on the couch to get a better view.

"The book just burst into flames!" Stacey exclaimed, finally breaking her attention from her laptop. "I knew it! I had seen that book before! I wanted to find a time traveller to find out how to change things from happening like they're supposed to and you burned it! That's why it caught fire now, I bet."

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2029- Outside Vicki and Emmeline's Apartment, three hours before Kelley's speech

Pricilla held the communicator away from her ear so as not to hurt her ears by the loud reply she knew was coming from Niccoló. She let go of the side button slowly, so he could talk. But she didn't hear his reply, because she dropped the communicator from her perch in the branches of a tall tree, when startled by a bright flash of light in front of her eyes. She covered her eyes, and tried her best not to fall out of the tree as well.

"I think you dropped this signora," a voice came from directly below her.

"Who's there?" the agent asked, slowly removing her eyes, but seeing too many spots to see the person clearly.

"I thought you were supposed to know everything," the voice answered back, it was clearly a woman's voice. Pricilla squinted, trying to clear the spots from her vision to get a clear view below her, but it seemed that she was glowing. "Have you ever wondered just how bright the sun is up close? Blinding intensity. The brightest thing you could ever imagine, and a thousand times stronger. So amazing human eyes couldn't endure it, think about it. Yes, keep that thought."

Pricilla couldn't see a thing anymore, everything around her was reflecting light. She closed her eyes to protect herself from the glaring sight, but the light didn't fade. She covered her eyes, buried her face against the tree trunk, nothing helped.

"The human mind is pretty amazing too, it has no eyes or ears, but can see and hear things you think or dream about. It can make them feel real, can't it?" the insidious voice continued as Pricilla fought to dim the light. Eventually with all her thrashing she fell the short distance to the ground and once recovered felt around for any sign of the other woman.

Once the agent's mind recovered enough, still fighting the intense light, she remembered who her foe was. "Luce" she spat and reached more frantically to all sides, for any indication as to where she had fallen.

"La Luce, if you please," Leonora answered back, a grim satisfaction in her voice. Pricilla heard a soft click from slightly above her, yes, the mutant had the communicator the whole time, didn't she? She had probably held the button down to keep the line silent.

"Niccoló, I'm coming home," Pricilla heard, then the button releasing, and the communicator dropped to the ground. The woman left as well, her feet almost silent in the soft snow.

She couldn't make out Niccoló's anger through the communicator, but heard it nonetheless. Pricilla crawled awkwardly towards it, stumbling in the snow she couldn't see. When she finally felt the hard plastic in her hand the man had stopped ranting and there was a short silence, quickly followed by Carolyn's voice. "Leonora, what did you do to Kenes?"

"Carolyn, I'm here. Luce's gone, I don't know where she went. Oh my god, I think I'm blind," Pricilla finally said when she located the side button.

A/n: I find it some what funny that when I'm typing this up it amazes even me where the plot goes to. It takes so many turns I'm not sure where it will end up. But I think this is a good place to stop, don't you? As always, comments are wanted, and my many thanks and cookies to the readers. More of the missions in the next chapter, I promise.