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"Kurt…"

Sitting back, Pietro chewed his nails and looked at the blue teenager that was now lying on his bed and had been unconscious for nearly two hours. The annoying watch had been removed so they could actually see any injuries he had gained from the freak accident, but there didn't seem to be any.

Except for a few scratches and a slight bump on his head anyway, but nothing serious, and they couldn't take him to the hospitable either.

It really had to suck to be blue sometimes.

And they couldn't contact Xavier since none of them had any contact details, and the only person who knew them was unconscious.

Moving onto his bed and shifting the blue mutant's legs to do so, the speedster sighed and stared at the opposite wall. "You plan on waking up at any time soon, Kurt? I really don't want any more fur than necessary getting onto my bed." And his bed it was doomed to be since Toads was a health hazard, Lances was highly unstable and the girls beds where, well, the girls beds.

So it was him that was landed the duty of keeping an eye on Kurt whilst Magneto talked to Mystique about the current health of her son. Which was another thing, the speedster mused, the blue mutant had said that his mother was in Germany but she was right here…

Oh, he had an adopted family didn't he? Pietro sighed, the mutant that was currently unconscious was actually quite lucky in some respects – a pair of humans had just accepted him, fur and all, and yet Pietro knew that if humans knew he was a mutant they'd hate him.

And yet he actually looked normal, to a degree.

The door was suddenly flung open and, after falling off the bed in fright, Pietro was then run over by Mystique as she rushed in to check on her son.

Magneto followed at a more leisurely pace. "I'm very sorry about this Mystique, it was genuinely an accident."

"I'm not doubting that – it's the fact that my son is unconscious I'm worrying about!" The woman turned round and, gently, stroked her son's hair, her face softening. "There, there, wake up soon, wont you?" She sighed. "Why wasn't I informed of his presence here?"

Pietro shrugged. "We didn't know you were here, and if we had, I think we'd probably have said nothing in case the guy bolted – he's actually really hard to keep in one place for very long."

"Probably because he's been running all his life." The woman sighed and also seemed to have conveniently forgotten that it was her who had caused him the largest amount of grief in his life. "Has anyone contacted Xavier?"

"We cant – they're all out of town and Kurt doesn't have any contact numbers on him." The speedster summed up as, brushing himself down, he moved over to Kurt. "And before you ask, I was the one with the short straw on who looked through his pockets." He sighed. "And I had to give up my bed."

Mystique abruptly grabbed him. "If you dare moan about my son's welfare…"

"I wasn't moaning, just stating!"

Dropping him, the woman looked back at the unconscious mutant. "When do you think Kurt will wake up?"

"I don't know, Mystique." Magneto placed an arm on her shoulder. "But I will do anything in my power to help him."

The woman nodded. "Thank you." She frowned suddenly when the mutant abruptly rolled onto his side with a groan. "Kurt?"

"Mutter?" Opening his golden eyes, Kurt frowned as everything slowly came into focus. "Where am I?"

"At the brotherhood house." Pietro sighed; glad now that he was going to have his bed back after all.

"The brotherhood house?" The blue mutant sat up slowly. "That's right; I live in Bayville at the moment." He cocked his head and his face furrowed into a frown before he looked at them all. "But…who am I?"

Looking at one another, the group didn't know how to answer.


There was a full scale debate occurring in the living room as the blue mutant was left in Pietro's room to 'rest it off'. He hadn't asked any more questions, seemingly the idea of him not knowing who he was exactly wasn't any more important than asking about what he had to 'rest off'.

This was allowing the current debate to continue.

"What should we tell him?" Mystique finally managed to get to the most important point of their debate. "I mean, should we tell him he's an x-man and currently residing with his enemies?"

"What else should we tell him?" Tabitha pointed out. "I mean, if we tell him the truth he's going to freak and who knows then what would happen to the guy, but if we lie and he gets his memory back…"

"He might not." Magneto suddenly announced as he entered the room. "I've just been speaking with a telepath on the phone," he ignored the raised eyebrows, the idea of a telepath using a phone was hardly that surprising, "and she just finished giving Kurt a mental look over. He has amnesia."

"Which means…?"

"He might never remember who he is, or he could wake up tomorrow with his memory back." The man sighed and sat down, taking his helmet off. "And there's also the chance that anything we do and say now he'll forget completely if he recovers his memory at all."

"So…we should lie because there's every likelihood it'll stay that way, or he'll forget anyway." Pietro summed up. "But if we do lie, he'll know something's up when everyone starts telling him that Kurt Wagner actually lives with the x-geeks and has a family and a house in Germany."

Mystique narrowed her eyes at the last part of that statement. "He doesn't have family in Germany – just some people that chose to raise him. For all he knows I could have done that in Germany and then brought him over here to enrol into Bayville after the summer."

The speedster sighed. "But everyone else still knows him as the Kurt that lives with the x-geeks."

"That's it." Wanda grinned suddenly. "Everyone knows Kurt, sure, but if we change his image inducer to look like someone else and give him a new name, who isn't to say he's a new transfer student? And any likeness could be put down to a cousin of his called Kurt that recommended the school."

Tabitha raised her eyebrows. "That's good thinking, I take it you want to keep the walking plushie as well?" She grinned at the girls blush. "But we still have a problem, what happens if he remembers?"

"Tell him the truth." Pietro announced. "If he remembers everything, he'll know that we had to lie to ensure his safety. And if he never remembers, then he's as good as a member of the brotherhood."

"And if his memory comes back and he forgets everything that happens now but remembers everything before hand?" As he said this, Lance sat himself down with his head on one hand. "Then he'll just believe what the x-men tell him."

"Unless we tell him first – that he lost his memory, we told a few white lies and now that he has his memory back, we'd like to tell him how much we liked having him around the place." Mystique was grinning. "It's a win-win situation, and all thanks to that horrible image inducer of his – a few tweaks and to everyone else Kurt Wagner never returned from Germany and instead Michael Darkeholme has come to stay!" She clapped her hands with an even larger grin. "And our only worry is the x-men, but once we explain it to them they'll be forced to give up on him if he can't remember."

Everyone was staring at her.

"What?"

"Michael Darkeholme?" Wanda managed. "That sounds terrible!"

"It's his name."

"Since when?" Lance rolled his eyes at the whole idea.

Mystique folded her arms. "That's what I called my son when I gave birth to him; he was later named Kurt by those humans that decided to raise him."

Standing up, Magneto opened the living room door. "I think things are going to become very interesting, I'll go and tell him of his identity."

"Shouldn't I?" The blue woman asked, slightly annoyed. "I am his mother."

"Perhaps, but wouldn't his concerned guardian tell him of his identity so as to not upset his loving mother?" The master of magnetism smiled as she consented and, closing the door, headed up the stairs, only to stop when Pietro ran in front of him.

The speedster folded his arms. "This is a bad idea, there's absolutely nothing of his even here and where are we going to explain where he sleeps?"

"He just came here today, had a bit of a fright when someone saw how he truly looked on the plane and we're going to recover his things later. I'll give him the watch afterwards as well, so that he can blend in and not have to worry about it all happening again."

"And where is he going to sleep?" The silver hair mutant sighed. "I refuse to sleep on the couch."

"Then you'll have to share." Brushing past his son, the man was forced to stop again. "Yes, Pietro?"

"Why don't I talk to him first? It seems too…convenient otherwise."

Magneto folded his arms. "I'll be listening at the door."

So he couldn't tell the truth after all. "That's fine." Dashing ahead, Pietro entered the room and froze when he realised Kurt was cutting his hair with a pair of sharp scissors "Put those down!"

"Don't worry; I've cut my hair lots of times." Suddenly juggling the sharp implement, the blue mutant smiled. "I'm very gentle really, even though I don't look it."

Pietro blinked, having grown used to seeing the blue mutant in combat. "Yeah, about that…"

Kurt cocked his head. "You don't like how I look?"

"It doesn't really bother me, although the girls are going to give you hell about grooming you." He raised his eyebrows at the chuckle he received.

"There are girls here? I like the sound of that." Cutting his hair some more, the blue mutant looked at the mirror critically. "It is straight, right?"

Pietro looked back to the haircut that had stalled him earlier; it was simply a strip of long hair running down the centre of the mutant's hair and standing on end, in short, a mohawk. "It's certainly different, Michael." He was pleased to have put the name in so casually.

The mutant nodded. "I don't know why mother asked me to grow it out, it makes me look a little scarier, don't you think? Although my earring seems to have gone missing…" He looked at Pietro with his sharp yellow eyes. "Bitte, I forgot to ask, or maybe I did, what's your name?"

"Oh, Pietro."

"And my name is Michael?"

Pietro swallowed. "Yeah, it's Michael Darkeholme." He watched the blue mutant nod before moving away from the mirror and jumping onto the edge of the bed. "This is my room, just to let you know, but we're sharing until we organise something."

Grinning, Michael, as he was now called, suddenly back flipped on to the wall and then moved fluidly onto the wardrobe. "That's good; I'll just sleep up here then."

Squinting at mutant who was now completely blended into the shadows, Pietro couldn't help but laugh. "You're really weird."

"In a good or a bad way?" Teleporting behind Pietro, the mutant grinned.

"In a good way, I think."

"That's good." Looking up as the door opened, the mutant smiled at Magneto. "Hello, I'm Michael, what's your name? I'm sorry if I already asked but I seem to have forgotten everything – I hope I haven't upset mother."

"I am Eric, or else Magneto." Sitting down, the man sighed heavily. "I'm sorry about the airport; I should have taken more precautions."

"The airport?"

"You don't remember? You were seen." The man watched as Michaels face fell completely before he then abruptly vanished, reaping on the wardrobe.

From the shadows, his voice was weakly heard. "Bitte."

"I should apologise, Michael, it's my fault – I should have insisted upon a more private form of travel."

"I caused so much trouble again…" The blue mutant looked at his hands. "How did…how did you get me out?"

Magneto rose to his feet. "You bumped your head and, luckily enough, the collision caused you to teleport."

"I'm lucky I didn't end up in a wall."

"Indeed, but you did reappear in the air where you fell and crashed into a dumpster – I think that's why you lost your memory, but it also allowed me to retrieve you." The man smiled sympathetically. "But don't worry, not too many people saw you, and most were leaving for a trip anyway."

Michael nodded. "Can I see my mother?"

"Of course, she's downstairs, oh, and Michael? Could I ask for you to try and remember a little more? I don't want her to become any more upset."

Teleporting to the door, Michael smiled. "I'll do my best, oh, and how many people are living here?"

"There are six other mutants you're age, one of which is Pietro whom you've already met, as well as myself and your mother."

The blue mutant's eyes widened. "I've never been around so many people before, I think…"

As the two left, Pietro sat on his bed and wondered just what on Earth they had gotten themselves in for, and also, how much was Michael like Kurt?

Lying down as the whole thing was giving him a headache; he frowned and plucked blue fur off the bed. Oddly enough, he didn't mind so much that it was Michael's fur; after all, the guy seemed quite nice.

And he seemed to like him as well.


The following morning started strangely for Pietro, namely because he woke up feeling like he had slept with an electric blanket on, or more precisely, several dozen cats where sleeping on him judging by the weight.

Cats?

Opening his eyes, he found them staring into golden ones. Before he could scream, Michael covered his mouth and indicated for him to be silent then, he leant forward and, abruptly, dived forward with a growl.

Several squeals sounded and then Michael appeared from under the bed with a large rat in his hands. With a twist, he broke its neck and then handed it to the speedster. "Bitte, about being on the bed, but I had to in order to catch the rat."

"It's…a really big rat…" Holding it by the tail and as far from him as he could, Pietro looked at Michael. "Thanks, I think."

"It was sniffing your head when I noticed it."

Suddenly struggling with the urge to boil his hair, the mutant nodded. "Then thanks, definitely." Dropping the rat in the wastepaper bin, he then lifted out the plastic bag and took that with him as he headed downstairs. "What time is it?"

"Sunrise."

"What!" Groaning, he dropped the rat into the large bin before collecting the phone book and a box of cereal. Michael had collected some milk and two bowls which the speedster filled for them. "This is far too early."

"I like waking up at this time." The blue mutant grinned. "Although if I had my way I would be going to bed now and sleeping all day."

"You're nocturnal?"

"Not really, I just prefer the dark." Michael blushed and ran a hand through his strip of hair, which had caused barely a ripple of fuss last night to the blue mutants delight. "Bitte, you must think I'm really weird – catching rats and talking about being nocturnal."

Pietro shook his head. "Not really, you're just being you." He didn't notice Michael's sudden grin. "Anyhow, after we eat you'll have to help me find a half decent exterminator."

"Doesn't anyone here have any powers that could get rid of them?"

"We could gas them out with Toads smell…"


Smiling to herself, Mystique moved around the kitchen, cleaning the surfaces and preparing pancakes at the same time. Everyone was being woken up by the sound of her radio and, as they all trouped in rubbing their eyes, she smiled at their delight of having a hot breakfast.

And Michael in particular seemed ecstatic, asking her if she could make her infamous chocolate chip pancakes like when he was little.

The woman took it all in her stride, joking that it was so long since she had made them could he give her a hand? And he happily did, chatting all the while about how he liked it here and meeting everyone.

The 'everyone' he was referring to then ate chocolate chip pancakes with a certain amount of guilt at the mutant's enthusiasm. Although, oddly enough, as Lance pointed out once the mutant had left the room to fetch something out of Pietro's wardrobe he could wear for the day until Magneto 'retrieved his items from the airport'.

That was going to be interesting…

But, as Lance pointed out. "I remember Kitty telling me about when Kurt first came – he was completely bipolar between this goofball and this complete loner."

"Probably because they were all as startled at seeing him as most humans are." Mystique pointed out as she placed more pancakes on Michael's plate. "He probably thinks that we're really accepting since none of us are bothered by him being blue and furry."

Tabitha raised here eyebrows. "But we're used to you and your blue, so why should he bother us? I mean, we accept Todd's smell."

The woman nodded. "I don't think he quite realises that yet." Smiling as the door opened and Michael entered now wearing one of Pietro's T-shirts that clung to him tightly, she waved him to his seat. "Is that enough pancakes for you?"

Michael just grinned. "Is there ever such a thing as too many pancakes?"


That day, Michael had a lot of fun – first he was groomed by the girls which ended up in a tickle fight whilst the brotherhood boys cleared the attic and Magneto twisted metal into the walls so it was like a giant climbing frame inside for him.

Michael was then having a laugh as he helped tidy up the living room with everybody else so that when the exterminators came they would be able to get rid of all the rats, and he was delighted when Magneto turned up with his 'luggage'.

Although the only thing he seemed interested in was his swords and Errol Flynn movie box set.

Then the exterminators arrived and, during this, Michael tidied up and arranged the attic to his liking, particularly taking the time to explore the various new dimensions the twisted metal in the room offered.

It was like a small trapezium, although he couldn't quite fly in the room.

For some reason, Michael felt rather sad about that but shook it off as something he'd remember properly later.

And then the fun came back again.

He was in the middle of beating Lance at a computer game when Magneto presented him with the image inducer, he wasn't too ecstatic about having it so he could look human, but the positive fact of being able to go outside whenever he wanted to outweighed that.

Putting it on, he was pleased to see that his mohawk was part of the hologram, as well as his many sharp features. It really looked like him without the fur on and, grinning, he declared he was going to go for a walk and would be back in a while.

Closing the door behind the mutant, Pietro shook his head. "That hologram looks exactly like him."

"And totally different to his last one – it's the haircut mainly." Tabitha commented as she picked blue fur off her bright pink top. "It's great having Blue around though."

"I just wonder what the x-men are going to say about it." Pietro sighed as he sat down on the sofa.

Next to him, Lance just yawned. "They'll just have to accept it."

"Oh and what about what Kitty thinks over it all?" Pietro replied with a grin as Lance cursed. "At least you don't have to worry about him trying to take her away anymore."

Tabitha grinned. "Yeah, it's just you who'll have to worry about being snatched by Michael." She laughed at the speedsters shocked look. "He practically worships you."

"Well, he has good taste then." Ignoring the jibes, Pietro sighed. "And I was also the first out of all of us to actually talk to him."

Wanda nodded. "Yeah, once he realises how stupid my brother is, his days of worshipping an idiot are over."

"Oh? And who do you think he'll worship then?" Her brother replied snidely.

With the air of a princess, she smiled. "Me, of course."


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