Previously on X-Men: Revolution...
The three of our heroes get to settle down at the Institute - buying what they need, receiving uniforms, having first trainings and as for Fallen and Kurt - entering High School. Meanwhile Todd pays a visit at the Institute to spy for Mystique, disguised as the Principal Darkholme at Bayville High, and Wolverine arrives at the Institute, returning after he read in newspapers about recent explosion during football game, that as he concluded - Scott was involved in. However, in general, everything was calm so far. It is only about to get worse now.
NOW ON X-MEN: REVOLUTION...
For a lingering moment, she felt like she's falling. You know - the sudden feeling that you're slipping off of your bed and off the edge of the Earth and you suddenly jump out of your skin, grabbing your sheets in fear only to realize you weren't falling at all? That's what she felt. Except she didn't shake awake, she continued to descent into a void pictured in her mind, and the fear that usually hits quickly came to her slowly, but sent her to the same edge of panic and still - she couldn't move.
She imagined her heart racing, thundering in her chest as the panic continued to rise, and the feeling of falling continued to accelerate. But in fact she couldn't feel her heart, nor any part of herself. She stopped being aware of any part of her body, she felt like it's only her formless awareness storming into oblivion.
It continued for far longer than she wished, but eventually, with a strong tug - she was back in her Institute bed, drawing a harsh breath.
She woke up not drenched in sweat, but ice cold. It felt like she was exposed to cold wind whiping her throughout the night, but the balcony door was closed, and she started getting warmer moments after awakening, as of having just entered the warm room.
Confused and concerned, she rubbed her face and switched the night light on. She felt rigid when she got up, it was difficult to move around. She walked over to the mirror and saw her face looking unnaturally pale, grey even.
"Something is wrong" she whispered to her reflection. "Something is fucking wrong."
Episode 2: THE X IMPULSE
Installment 1 of 3
+21.09.1995, Thu+
When Fallen woke up again in the morning and looked into the mirror, her face was no longer so pale and unhealthy looking. In fact she looked and felt completely fine.
It was almost difficult for her to believe that what she felt last night and how it left her cold and paper-white and rigid was anything more than a dream. And maybe she would blow it off thinking it was, had it been the first time it happened.
The first time she had this feeling of prolonged falling was at the night before her first day at Bayville High, two days ago. It was terrible, but she figures it's probably just because she was more stressed about everything than she admitted to herself, and her body had difficulty properly falling asleep and awakening.
But it happened the following night too.
And then the following day she felt it during the day, being awake. She was glad nobody saw her as her knees gave in under her.
And now again, this time it lasted longer than before. It was about time she stopped blaming it on stress and try to figure out what's really going on with her.
"It's like I'm losing touch with reality when it happens, but I'm still aware and there's this sense of... I don't know, panic" she told Forge as they were sitting in the living room that afternoon.
"It's definately odd" the boy agreed with a little frown. "Did you tell Kurt?"
"No" she shifted a bit against corner of the couch. "I don't want him to worry... Besides, I don't even know what it is."
After a moment of silence, her eyes shifted suddenly to Forge as he spoke up again; "...I might have my suspection."
Not liking the tone of his voice one bit, the girl asked; "What?"
A grimace passed over his face. "Maybe something is not going completely right with anchoring you..." seeing Fallen's confused look he broke his line of thought an explained; "After we appeared in this dimension it was supposed to trigger a process of anchoring you here so you can function like a natural habitant, it should sort of, happen by 'default'... So I wasn't monitoring it. Now that I think of it, maybe it was a mistake."
"What does it even mean?" she sat up straight, her arms wrapped around herself.
"The amount of positively and negatively charged particles that made up your current body might ever so slightly disrupt stability of this universe. You know, it's like with you-there's more input than it needs to produce output, the amount of positive and negative energy is uneven so it doesn't cancel out... To sustain balance, our dimension could be trying to reject you."
She was trying to wrap her head around what Forge just said, but it was difficult for something like that to register. For a moment she just stared into vast space on the edge of the coffee table, her mouth parted and quivering in search for any words at all.
"Are you sure?" she whispered.
"I'm not" Forge dropped his feet of the couch. "But the more I think about it the more I think it's a big possibility. I should have warned you before but there was so much more that was more likely to go wrong" he put hand on her shoulder. "There were too many risks coming with what we've done. You knew it was a deal with no guaranees."
"What now?" she just asked in a low voice as she lifted her eyes to him. "Can something be done about it now?"
"I'll look into it and let you know if I can find anything, alright?"
"Here you are, guys" Kurt showed up in the doorway with a smile that died when the turned aroudn to look at him. "What's with the long faces?"
Fallen inhaled and swallowed to clear her throat. She forced herself out of her head. "No, it's nothing, just some deep thoughts" she smiled. "Did you fetch your homework?"
"Ja" Wagner waved a notebook in his hand and approached to plomp down on the couch beside her. She pulled up her own notbeook too. "Let's finish this as quickly as possible and hit some fast food place, what do you two think?"
"Sounds like a plan" Fallen agreed.
Forge looked a little too serious still. "You alright, man?" Kurt asked.
Fallen gave the older boy a meaningful glance, urging him to keep the conversation they just had between them. Silvercloud wasn't good at getting hints but this one registered easily. He couldn't sound natural to save his life though, as he stretched and got up. "Yeah, you can grab me when you finish your homework. I need to take care of something so I'll be waiting in my room."
Two pair watched him leave. Then Fallen turned around as Kurt gently poked her with tip of his pencil not to get up from his slumped position against the armrest. "He's a bad actor, there seems to be something wrong. What is it?"
Fallen grimaced and shook her head a bit. "Just leave it be for now. Let's focus on the assignment."
+That night, different part of the U.S.+
Kitty was flying.
Floated above the skyscrapers. The town shimmering with hundereds of thousands of lights spread underneath her everywhere over to the horizon. She flied above it all like a bird, weightless and free like never before.
But the moment was over too fast; she felt the lightness disapear as gravitation weighted her down, and soon she was falling. In split of a second overwhelming feeling of freedom was replaced with panic as she was crashing down.
Head down she was falling towards the street below, screaming at top of her lungs. She reached out, trying to stop, but windows of the skyscrapers were passing by her faster and faster, the noise of the street below was becoming louder and louder, coming closer.
With dread she understood she won't make it.
This is when the view of a street coming closer changed into view of ceiling moving further and suddenly she hit the ground painfully.
Her heart was still pounding like crazy, and she still felt like the moment she'd hit the ground and die is yet to come. Only after a couple seconds she realized it was a dream, but one relief was followed by another reason to panic - she wasn't in her bedroom.
She lifted up on her elbows feeling the pain of hitting ground spread throughout her back. She looked around with panic clenching her throat, and it only made her feel slightly safer when she realized she's in her house's basement. The darkness was torn by lightenings every couple seconds and then she could see the boxes, old furniture and everything else her family stored in here.
She sat up, scared and confused, unable to control her sobbs.
Then door opened and Kitty almost screamed with fear. Warm light from upstairs filled the basement as her scared parents ran down the stairs. Seeing them the girl felt her throat tighten as the sight held a promise of safety.
She got up onto her knees, trying to stop herself from wailing. Her mother was beside her immediately, letting her daughter cling to her like when she was a child.
"What happened?" her worried father asked, turning on the only lightbub hanging under the ceiling before he joined them on the floor. "You were sleepwalking?"
"No... I was falling, dad" Kitty pulled back a little, but her hands still had a tight grip on her mother's nightgown. "I-I fell through the ceiling" she tried to keep her voice stable. Her parents looked at her with worried expressions. She clung back to her mother, allowing herself to cry.
"Shhh, easy, my little" mother tried to keep her calm. The petite girl was shuddering in her arms. Cameron watched them both with worry.
He looked around, trying to figure out what could have happened. He wanted to spot danger if there was any, just in case Kitty would be sleepwalking again.
"It was just a nightmare" his wife tried to convince their only daughter.
Cameron's eyes suddenly stopped at the ceiling.
He got up, shocked. "You know... I don't think it was just a dream..."
His wife and daughter both followed his gaze and their eyes went wide at the sight under the ceiling; Material of Kitty's bedsheet and a pillow were hanging there as if merged with the cement. Great fear appeared on both their faces as they looked at bedsheets illuminated with lights of the lightening.
Kitty gave out a short cry. "What am I...?" she asked with fear. Her father knelt beside her, pulling daughter close to his chest. "What's happening to me?" she girl's voice was full of the same shock and fear that her parents felt in their hearts.
+Same time, Xavier's Institute+
Alarm rapidly woke up the Professor, rescuing him from his own bad dreams. He sat up, trying to forget the images that haunted him in his sleep. Now that he knew about the future, about all of this... life seemed a tad harder.
He put on his dark red night robe, tied the belt of it and used the handles on his bed to hoist himself into the wheelchair. He made his way out of the bedroom and through his office to the fast acess room with computer connected to the main section of Cerebro a dozen feet below the mansion. Computer-generated female voice started reading out loud informations about the new found mutant;
{{Mutant activity detected. Location: Deerfield, Illinois. First case in the area. Extrapolation: done. Identity confirmed. Name: Katherine Anne Pryde. Age: 15. Active gene X confirmed. Abilities: Unknown.}}
The screen displayed coded brain activity scans and other information, meanwhile a 3D print was beginning to be created on the left side of the screen.
"Professor?" Scott's voice was at the door of his office, and the boy enetered, followed close by by the rest of the students. "Is it someone new?"
Charles welcomed them quickly, not failing to notice a wamr smirk on Kurt's face as he saw the picture of a petite brunette on the big screen behind him.
"Do you want us to take care of it, Professor?" Scott asked, his voice maybe a little too motivated and posture a little too eager to take the responsibility upon his shoulders.
"Easy, Scott" Xavier gently put hand in the air to cool his enthusiasm. "We will take care of it soon enough. But there's no need to send the entire team, especially since you all have school in the morning. Jean, you're doing very well at school, is it alright if I ask you to be the one to assist me?"
"Just me?"
"Yes. This case seems fairly simple. I think a girl her age will be more likely to listen out her peer, rather than an old man in a wheelchair" the man smiled slightly.
"I have a test in the morning... but I'm sure the teacher will not mind allowing me to take it on a different day" Grey sighed, uttering a smile.
Xavier nodded slightly and turned to everyone. "Jean, I'll meet you in the hangar at 7 in the morning. Now you should all go back to your rooms and catch more sleep."
The students said their 'goodnights' and left his office, silence returned only disrupted by low buzzing of the computer. Charles sent the new-found girl's address into printing and ran another scan of the area. He wasn't very surprised when another pop-up showed on the screen of a second mutant that could have been picked up before if he met the requirements of the system for the area.
{{Mutant activity detected. Location: Deerfield, Illinois. Second case in the area. Extrapolation: done. Identity confirmed. Name: Lance Alvers. Age: 17. Active gene X confirmed. Abilities: Unknown.}}
Charles watched the 3D picture of this boy spin on the screen before proceeding to download avaible information on him.
xXx
"Fallen" Forge asked low before the girl entered her room. "Can I talk to you in private?"
She looked back at the empty corridor before joining Silvercloud at the entryway to his room. "What is it, you learned something new?" she asked as he closed the door behind her and switched the lights on.
"You could say that" he exhaled approaching his desk.
"I don't like how it sounds."
He glanced back at her briefly, the grimace of his face confirming that there's nothing to like. "I was right, the anchoring should be done by now but it's still going on. There's a push-back back from this dimension so the process can't be finished unless one side gives in or another factor comes into play."
"And what does that mean for me?" wrapping arms around herself the girl sat down in one of the chairs.
"...You may or may not make it."
Breath caught in her lungs for a moment, she slowly released it closing her eyes. That's what she expected to hear, but she kept rejecting this thought until now. "What are my chances?"
"I don't know... About fifty-fifty" Forge responded softly.
"Is there... Is there anything that can be done to maximize my chances of making it?"
"There would be... if I knew this would happen weeks ago, maybe I could create a- a container or something that would stabilize your particles until it's over... But now I'm afraid it's completely up to random chance."
"Great" she hissed getting up abrupty. She walked over to the window and looked out at the dark grounds of the Institute. "How long before... you know, it's concluded?"
"There's no telling" he shook his head with a grimace. In a lowered voice he added; "But I wouldn't set my hopes for more than a week."
"You say it like it's already confirmed I'm not going to make it."
"It's not, of course it's not" Forge put hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. "But it's a 50% chance after all."
After a moment of silence he added low;
"...I think you should tell Kurt."
xXx
Fallen was back in her room, sitting in complete silence on the edge of her bed; her eyes were stinging but she refused to break. There was still a chance for her, she can't act like she already lost it.
As if to prove her wrong, a sharp tug had her sprawled across the bed, unable to control contractions of her muscles, feeling of falling head first to her death filled her with panic, and this time it didn't come slowly, but hit her like a slap across her face. Then it left, and she regained control over her body, felt herslf lying on the bedsheet, safe, at least for the moment being.
Catching unever breaths she sat back up and tried to at least keep her emotions in check. She needs to stay composed even when something like this is but a remindement that if she's meant to lose it, she will. She wanted to fight for herself, she really did. But this very universe is trying to get rid of her. How can you even stand up to that?
It was the worst thing, that at this point there is nothing that she could do to give herself a better chance at staying here. For all she knew, she could be 'removed' from existence at any given time, and this seizure moments ago was all the proof she needed.
+22.09.1995, Fri+
All Kitty ever wanted was to fit in. To have a normal family, normal friends, lead a normal life - that's how she always felt. She tried to achieve it - she studied hard, had got grades, listened to her parents, avoided bad company. Basically she didn't have to try that hard to get a normal life, until now not much was in her way.
Her family moved from Europe after WW II and stayed in US where jews were more welcomed. She grew up here, in Deerfield, Illinois. Her parents, Cameron and Theresa, were ordinary, friendly suburban people. As parents they were a little overprotective, but she loved them wholeheartedly and she knew that they love her as much. She attented High School Of Theathre Arts, and she had a good rep among most of her teachers, and as every good student she had some enemies among other students. Given all of this her life was pretty ordinary.
Until tonight. Tonight something happened, something that crossed out word 'normal' with a thick line and made her fear her own self. It's an awful feeling to fear your own body.
But this, this is too much.
True, the events left her shaken, but when the first shock passed, first fear left, and day broke despite Kitty felt like she's not going to see the sun ever again - she calmed. But her parents on the other hand, that's a different story. It was too much.
At first they seemed as scared and confused as she was - her mother tried to act like everything was fine, her father was something between overprotective and angry. His little girl was crying and whatever makes her cry is bad and he should get rid of it - but how? What happened? Kitty felt like crying just because she didn't know what happened, and it made her father even more anxious to get rid of the problem.
They were in the living room, lights were on since the dawn was hardly breaking. Kitty was with her mother on the sofa, her father circled around the coffee table in front of them. The fiveteen year old cuddled in her mother's arm and wiped away her last tears. She wanted to talk about it, but she didn't know what to say. She didn't know what happened. She tried to tell them what she dreamed of, of flying and falling, but her father interupped her like the dream didn't matter at all.
Mother tried to calm her with words that didn't fit the situation. Kitty wasn't as a small child anymore, she wouldn't let herself believe that everything that happened didn't happen. She knew. She saw the ceiling as she fell through it, she had scratches on her elbows from hitting the floor in her basement, she still felt the pain. And the bedsheets hanging down from the ceiling - this image will haunt her for a long time.
After a dozen minutes of sitting there, Kitty's parents sent her to her room. As it turned out Kitty's bedsheets were gone from her bed, but pieces of them were merged into the mattress and floor. When they saw it, Kitty's parents exclaimed to God, but they weren't ready to talk about it. Theresa quickly found new bedsheets and made her daughter's bed again. Both of them made sure their daughter is back in bed and quietly left her alone.
Of course Kitty couldn't fall asleep. All the time she was afraid it will happen again. She was afraid to have that dream again and to end up in the basement again, or worse - further down, in the ground. Every thunder outside her window made her curl up, sometimes she even yelped.
But the storm went away and the morning broke completely, sun made everything seem safer, and Kitty was still up, in her bed, but no longer fearing for her life. As time passed she calmed down, time made the events from the night seem like some unrealistic nightmare. Pryde knew very well it all really happened, the fresh bedsheets were a proof, but the fear of it happening again was gone. Instead she felt bad for staying in bed and thinking about it.
Despite everything Kitty was a very lively person. She liked it when something nice was going on, and this is why she liked going to parties and participating in various events. Now, according to her parents' instructions, she was supposed to spend this day home. She didn't like this idea, not at all, but she knew she can't beg enough to get a permission from her father to go to school. He said no, and he wouldn't change his mind.
With all respect and love she had for her parents, sometimes she was ready to stand up to them if she felt that she really depends on something. Right now staying home would be like admiting something is wrong with her. She didn't want it, she wanted to be normal. Living in the normal rythm could be the easiest way for her to forget the night events.
She got up from the bed and followed her daily routine. It was the time she would usually be already downstairs, eating breakfast, but she knew if she skipped breakfast she can make it to school in time. Her stomach was twisted and her head was aching, so she didn't even feel like eating. Besides, if she wanted to get food she'd stumble across her parents in the kitchen and she'd be forced to stay home.
Speaking of a headache... in some odd way this headache was different from others, it wasn't exactly painful. She was getting this headache for two years, a little bit, growing slowly, and now she felt like it was sinking into her entire body. Like it cumulated for these two years so this night could happen. It was a funky, but creepy feeling.
She got dressed in clothes she prepared yesterday evening. She did it frequently to save time in the morning, otherwise she'd spent 20 minutes trying on various outfits. After getting dressed she spent a dozen minutes in the bathroom, and then only had to grab her tiny backpack. Shoving it on one shoulder Kitty quietly went down the stairs.
She made sure her parents weren't in the living room. As quietly as she could she got to the front door and opened them, already satisfied, when her mother's voice made her stop;
"Honey, you were supposed to stay home today, weren't you?" the woman said, her voice friendly and loving.
Kitty rolled her eyes iritated and disappointed. She turned around to face her mother. "Yeah sure, but why?" she asked, hand on her hip. "You don't want to talk about and I'm going crazy doing nothing!" she gesticulated feverly.
"Do you really need to go to school today?" Theresa asked, watching her daughter hesitantely.
Then they could hear Cameron calling from further inside the house. "Kitty! Baby, where are you?"
The brunette tensed and looked at her mother with puppy eyes. "Please, mom. Dad won't let me go...!"
For a short moment her mother was hesitant, but then she smiled. "Alright, go already."
Kitty smiled, sending her mother a kiss. The woman waved and closed the door behind her daughter, not sure if she made the right decision.
+Xavier's Institute, meanwhile+
It was a difficult morning after an even more difficult night. Fallen wasn't sure if it was a placebo effect or reality, but whenever she was on the edge of falling asleep she would get this sensation of falling, but it was slow - vast intangible space slowly swallowing her.
But she needed to carry on through this, no matter if she wins or loses, so she knocked on Jean's door and borrowed concealer to cover up dark circles under her eyes and went downstairs for breakfast as if her entire future isn't threatened.
Kurt was there, back to her as he prepared sandwiches. Jean and Scott were chatting at the table; she greeted them with a nod before approaching her boyfriend and wrapping him in a slight hug. "Morning" she said, her voice low enough to disguise any negative emotion she felt.
"Hey, Fall" the boy smiled briefly looking back at her to give her a quck kiss on the temple and returned to focusing on his task, just his tail loosely coiled around her calf. "Jean and the Professor are about to head out to Kitty's. I almost wanted to come along but I'd rather not interfere because she might not wanna joing anymore" he said, smile audible in his voice.
The brunette grimaced out of sight as she rested her forehead against back of his arm. "You sound excited."
"Of course I am excited" he slipped bread into the toaster and turned around to rest back against the counter, his hands planted on her hipbones and peeked at Jean and Scott to make sure they don't hear. "She was one of my very best friends, I'm glad to be able to see her again. Even if, you know" he lowered his voice even more, "she doesn't remember me" he finished with a smirk.
"Mhm..."
For a moment Kurt was looking at her, his golden eyes probing her own.
"You seem down" he stated at last, his voice soft and caring. Her grimace confirmed his observation. "Why? Is it about Kitty?"
"What?" she shifted in confusion. "No. Of course not."
"Ah, good" he chuckled slightly with relief. "For a moment I was worried you are jealous."
"I thought we're above that" she smirked trying to turn it into a joke, but it wasn't enough to draw attention away from that fact that it means that something else is off.
"What's wrong then, Schatz?"
She gazed back into his eyes, disaapointed in herself to have turned that sparkling joy from moments ago into the concern he was looking at her with now. Up until now Kurt was having a blast, basking in the thought he's about to get somebody important back into his life, and not only did she already made him worry but if she told him what's the deal, she would completely destroy his mood.
It sounded silly, but the harsh reality was that it could destroy much more than his mood. The information she was about to deliever could go down in the history of their lives as the beginning of the end.
And she didn't have the heart to do that.
"It's nothing" she lied. A petty white lie made her squirm inside, she hated being anything but fully honest with him. "You know I'm just overanalyzing the chaos factor in all of this."
"Chaos theory? I think you can relax about it" smiking warmly he pulled her a bit closer. "Especially since we don't plan to actually interfere with this recrutation."
She urged her lips to respond with a smile, even if a brief one. Before it faded from her lips she was saved by the toasts popping out with a low 'bing', drawing Kurt's attention suddenly to the side. He let go of her to place the steaming toasts on top of the stuffy sandwiches he already had prepared.
"Do you want one? I can make more later" he asked casually.
"I'm good. I'll get me some careal" she said, stepping away to open the fridge and pull out a jar of milk. In back of her mind she knew it's not right to hide the fragility of her existence from Kurt and putting it off is a terrible abuse of their number one rule on honesty.
xXx
Jean put away her plate after rinsing it off and turned to the other three. Scott was just offering Kurt and Fallen a ride;
"Actually I wanted to suggest we'd take a walk" Wagner said turning his face to the brunette. "Alright?"
She shrugged in response.
"Fine. In case you change your mind, I'm taking off in fifteen" Summers informed and passed by them to stop a few steps away from Jean. "So, um... Good luck on the recruitation, I guess. Just remember everything I told you."
"You don't have to lecture me, Scott" the redhead shook her head a bit. "I've been in this longer than you."
"Right" the boy's voice wasn't much more than a mutter. For the last months Grey noticed how his mood would immediately decoy when he didn't get to be the 'leader', but she never considered stopping to let him be one when it's uncalled for. "Just trust me."
"Yeah. I mean, I do. I know you have the gift of talking to people" he agreed as they walked out of the kitchen arm in arm. "I just don't get why the Professor wanted you to be the only one coming."
"You heard him. There's no need to throw an entire team one a single 15 year old student" Jean reminded calmly. "She would be overwhelmed. I'm sure she already is."
"Well yeah, but why you?"
"What, is there something wrong with it being me?" she stopped walking, a frown appearing on her forehead.
"Wait, no! That's not what I was trying to say!"
"That's how it sounds. Either way" her chin lifted ever so little as her eyes shifted away from him dismissively. "I'm going to get ready, Professor wanted me in the hangar in five minutes. Good luck on the test today" without giving him another look she walked past him and up the stairs, straight as an arrow.
"...Thanks" Summers muttered.
xXx
When Professor Xavier made it to the hangar, Jean was already waiting, an anxious and nervous look on her face berely but visible as she tried to appear on ease.
"Another mutant was detected in the same area" he said, drawing his wheelchair closer. "Lance Alvers, his powers seems to have surfaced a couple months ago. He's described as a trouble child, foster families repetively refused to host him, now he's at the same school as Kitty. Just keep an eye out for him, if he gets involved it might be a problem."
"Are we going to recruit him too?" the redhead asked stepping towards the Black-Bird.
"We'd be taking Velocity this time" the man gestured further into the hangar. They both headed towards the adjecent section. "For now we need to focus on Katherine. Lance is likely to be more hostile and shrink our chances of getting the girl on our side."
Grey nodded.
They arrived at a smaller craft and made it to the two-pilot cabin in the front. It was a jet with collabsible properells allowing it to hang in the air or take off without a ramp. The ceiling slid open and Charles pulled it up into air, they slowly moved forward for a moment before contracting properells and going solely by the power of engines and wings.
For a dozen minutes Jean was mostly quiet, looking out at the morning sky, in her mind she continued to ask the same questions Scott angered her with.
"What about the other kid Cerebro detected tonight?" she spoke up as they were nearing the target. "The one from foster family you mentioned before we took off."
"Yes, Lance Alvers" the man nodded slightly. "I'll take care of him later on, don't worry. We need to focus at one issue at a time, now it's the girl's parents. When we're there, remember - you're speaking on behalf of all of us. Don't force them" he reminded looking at her briefly.
The responsibility to be the face of an entire team was something that bugged her about it. She didn't dare question the Professor's decisions but she wished they were different. That she had the rest of the team here with her, or at least one of them, be it Scott, Kurt or Fallen, at least she wouldn't be the only student to handle this.
The redhead laughed bitterly, slumping down in her seat a bit. "And to think I could be taking a relaxing exam right now..."
+Deerfield, Illinois+
Kitty made it to the school just as the bell rang, slightly late because of the whole mess back home. She was nervous. She kept her head low, eyes on the ground, feeling like looking into anyone's eyes would make them realize she's not like them anymore. In this crowd of teenagers she felt scared, kind of surrounded. Until today she always felt great among people, even if she was a little shy. Right now she felt like anyone could tell she's a freak just by one look at her.
She was relieved when people went to their classes as she made it to her locker. Kitty knew she was late, but for once she didn't want to hurry. Too much happened, right now being slightly late didn't seem such a big deal.
From the other side of the corridor unaware of it she was watched by two girls, who didn't like her much, to say the least. Riley and Sydney, two blondes who found most joy in suffering of their schoolmates.
The taller one, Sydney, turned to her friend with a mischevious smirk. "Look, Riley. I think Kitty's feeling down today..."
The other girl, one with her hair a little darker shade of blonde, rubbed her hands. "I'd rather say she's scared for the PE. It's the only class she's not getting A's at" she said and rested hands against her hips critically.
"How about we excuse her from today's class, hm?"
Both girls exchanged meaninful looks, then they approached the unaware girl from behind and without warning pushed Pryde into the tall locker she was picking her stuff from. Riley immediately shot the door closed and the automatic lock trapped her inside. From the inside they could hear her muffled screaming at them and pounding her fists against the door.
"You're not claustrophopic, are you, Kitty?" Sydney asked and both blondes chuckled thinly as they looked around making sure no one saw anything. Then they quickly left to get changed for the PE, and they couldn't stop laughing.
"Hey! Let me out you idiots!" the could hear behind their backs. Punding against the steel door echoed in the empty hallway. "Open these door right now! Somebody let me out! Grrr!' the girl growled. Of course they wouldn't let her out - she will have to wait until this class ends and some more friendly students will come by and help her out.
It's not like it was the first time she ended up trapped in her own locker. But today was awful enough without it. On the other side she doesn't have to look at anyone for the next hour.
At least she thought so, but after barely a dozen seconds after she gave up shouting, she could hear whistling on the corridor.
"Hey, who's there?" she asked with hope. She began to hit her hands against the door again. "Hey, do you hear me?!"
xXx
Lance peeked out of the male's restroom's door making sure that the corridor was empty. A mischevious smile played on his lips as he let the door close behind him. He shook the spray in his hand, throwing it from one hand to the other as he searched for the right place to start. The dark green lockers lined along one wall seemed like a perfect space to express emotions he had for this school.
He shook his spray one last time and headed along the lockers, spraying a wavy line on them as he went. He whistled with joy, glad to once more get back on the teachers.
He didn't even paid attention when he heard someone calling and trying to get out of one of the lockers. He was no stranger to locking nerds in the lockers, for him it was almost like a sport.
It would be impossible though, to pay no attention when after another 'let me out!' feminie calling a female stumbled out of the locker right before him, and what was the strangest she literally went right through its door like they weren't there! As Lance was leaning in when it happened and worked on his 'art' the girl strumbled right at him and they both fell painfully to the floor.
Lance felt his own sprey over his face, but having it all over his face didn't bother him as his full interest was about the girl. He was fascinated by whatever it is the girl did to fall through the door.
She was on the floor appearently also shocked.
Lance got up to his legs and pointed at her, mostly speechless. "Hey, did you see what you just did?" he asked, and he felt himself smile. Going through stuff was a skill plain amazing and downright useful.
The brunette through, didn't seem to share his affectionate approach to the ability, as her eyes displayed fear when she looked at him. "What...? M-me?" she slowly got up onto her shaking legs. "Heck, I fell through!" she exclaimed with her eyes wide open.
"You fell through!" Lance repeated looking at the locker. It was material, stable and closed. He didn't see things, things just really happened! "Through the door!" he lifted his arms amazed at the act and turned to the girl. "Holly shit, that was so cool!" he clenched his hands pulling his elbows to himself like he just won something priceless.
The petite brunette stepped away with fear in her eyes. "You're crazy" she grimaced and turned to leave as fast as she could, but Lance abruptly grabbed her forearm making her yelp shortly and swing right back around to face him.
"Don't, wait a moment" he said putting his other hand in the air trying to reasure her it's okay to stay calm. The girl didn't seem anyhow delighted but he was sure that will changed when she hears what he's got to tell her. "I am the only guy here who gets it, because I am same as you" he pointed at himself with his thumb, still smiling.
The brunette stared at him her eyes wide and mouth agape, she didn't seem convinced.
"Really" he said.
She gave him a critical look.
Lance sighed, let go of her arm and looked around. "Okay then. Watch" he closed his eyes and clenched his fists, every muscle in his body tensing.
Kitty felt a slight shiver in the floor. The brown haired boy held his hands like he tried to perform some magic trick; he opened his eyes but they were running backwards. Shiver in the ground turned into shaking, the boy gave out an angry growl and shaking turned into real earthquake that made it really difficult for Kitty to stay on her feet, and some of the lockers opened on their own, books feel out of them.
Lance relaxed, calmed, and the earthquake disappeared. The boy leaned in resting his hands against his knees. Breathing heavily he looked at the brunette and smiled. "What, you get it now?"
The girl stared at him with shock and distrust. She frowned shaking her head. "No. You're some wicked punk-"
Seeing she's trying to leave again Lance grabbed her wrist but the girl quickly pulled her hand away from his grasp.
"Leave me alone" she scuffed at him as she hurried away towards the girl's locker room.
Lance watched her until she was gone. He wasn't happy with her reaction, but he was motivated not to give up. "You can't run away from me, I still've got tricks up my sleeve" he said to himself as he smirked.
"Why did you insist we walk?"
"There were two reasons" Kurt responded offering her a hand that she took joining him on the pavement. "One is that it's Kitty's recruitation day and I clearly remember getting detention for being late for school on that day because I went to get burders at Burger King, and tradition needs to be upheld" he stated.
"You want to be late on purpose? You're weird" she frowned.
"I meant the burger part, maybe we can avoid the being late part" he responded seriously. "Maybe."
"Fine. The other reason?"
Wagner turned his gaze to her, his eyes softening, same as his voice as he responded; "I wanted to talk."
"We talk all the time."
"Yeah. But you still didn't tell me what's wrong."
Feeling like by looking into her eyes he can read her too well, the girl turned her gaze away from him suddenly, instead shifting it between people they were passing.
"Come on, you think I wouldn't notice?"
"I didn't want to- I don't know" she sighed. "Maybe it will just not be... uh, necessary to talk about it."
"Fall" they just arrived at the Burger King's place, but the boy pulled her aside before they'd enter, his other hand joining so now he held both of hers. "You've been clearly living in your head for at least three days, even if you think it's not necessary I'd rather take time to learn what bugs you."
She knew he would let go if she asked, but at the same time it would leave him even more worried. Instead, she took a moment to cherry pick her concerns and convey them in a different way. One that would allow her to release a little of her emotions without staight up stating that she has 50% of turning up basically dead by the end of the week.
"I'm just having a feeling like I didn't deserve all of this" he said in a lowered voice, shifting a bit closer to Kurt to leave room for people going in an out of the local.
"All of what?" a confused frown appeared on the boy's face.
She grimaced taking a moment. "Everything. Being here, the luxury of the Institute, basically living in a dimension hunderends of thousands of people would give up everything to be in for five minutes... And you."
"Fallen, this is just plain nonsense" he stated, straightening up as if gaining another inch gives him more authority to call bullshit on her. "Since when do you put yourself down? You were always the one always telling me not to doubt my right to be happy and now you're doing the same thing to yourself."
She shook her head a bit. "I'm just worried that I've forced myself into something I'm not welcome in and it's going to be taken away for that reason" her voice was hushed and almost like she didn't want it to reach his ears. She instantly pulled away towards the door, but the boy kept a hold on her hand and brought her back, his hands locking behind her and holographic blue eyes shimmering with concern.
"Do you feel unwelcome? Why? Somebody said something to you?"
She shifted uncomfortably and sighed with frustration. "That's not what I mean. I'm just- I wasn't meant to be a part of this, so what if changing that was a mistake, what if fate is going to correct that mistake? I do not have powers, I am not a hero, I am not- a part of it" she felt her frustration affect her voice, even if she had to whisper anyway it still managed to quiver. She was nearly sumbiting to the sadness of the fact that she might lose it all any time now, and perhaps it was only the fact that they were in a public place that stopped her eyes from wattering.
Kurt continued to look at her as she spoke, his expression turning more and more concerned and sad. "Fall" his voice was merley a whisper. "I always gained strength from the fact that you were so positive that we're at the right place and time, and it's alright for me to claim what I want, and it really pains me to see you so insecure about your own right to be where you are and do what you want" he closed his eyes for a moment, his forehead coming to rest against her own. "...I want you here, I don't care what the universe or anyone has to say about it. And I know if anyone can ignore people's dissaproval it's you" his eyes cracked slightly to look into hers. "I know it's not a mistake that you're here... Not as long as you want to stay."
It tore on her heart to think about the reality of the situation. She slipped her head onto his collarbone, away from his eyes. "What if it won't be up to anyone whether I can stick around?"
"Then we'd leave together" he whispered into her hair, giving her head a kiss just before she pulled back, emotion in her eyes sudden, but hard to name.
"Didn't you have enough of being away from home?" she asked after a moment.
"Fall" he sighed. "I've spent a dozen years hiding in my village, half a year held captive, two years here as an outcast, and six years happy by your side, traveling the world and learning to take pride. If I am to call someplace my home, it's with you."
She knew she should have quit this conversation before it got to the point where thinking of telling him that she might be gone felt impossible. It was hard before, but now there was just no way she could tell him. Not right now anyway.
Without a word she closed her eyes, feeling the boy place another kiss on her forehead. She blindly found his hand. "Let's go inside and eat now... We'll be late for school" she whispered.
Cameron was on top of a ledder in basement of his house - with large scissors he worked on cutting off the bedsheets from the ceiling. He couldn't think of another way to get rid of it, and he couldn't just leave it hanging there. It would always bring up memories of tonight, and besides - if someone else sees it, how would he be supposed to explain it?
So he just did his best to cut it as short as it could get so it won't draw any attention. Little strips of material won't even remind the bedsheets they used to be and no one will figure what happened on that feral night. As if anyone could - he was shaken mostly because he never faced anything quite like this.
Just as he finished and placed the ladder back where it belonged, doorbell was audiable upstairs. Cameron've put away the jagged materials and headed to answer it. Once he opened the door he was faced with two strangers; a bald man in a wheelchair, who looked like an official, and a young woman with long, red hair.
They both put on polite smiles the moment his eyes laid on them. "Yes, can I help you?" he asked attentively watching them.
The man responded with no hesitation. "Good morning, Mr Pryde. My name is Professor Charles Xavier, I am a founder of boarding school in Bayville, New York, where I host young people with exceptional talents. This is one of my students, Jean Grey" he politely motioned to the redhead. She nodded with a smile. "We would like to talk to you about your daughter, Katherine."
Cameron heard his wife approach from inside the house, she stopped right behind his houlder. "What are you talking about?" she asked, her voice lowered with concern. He wrapped her under his arm. "How do you know Kitty?"
"We don't" the girl - Jean - said. "Not yet at least. Could we come inside and talk? We'll answer all your questions-"
Cameron's nerved from last night wouldn't let him tolerate this kind of request. "Excuse me, lady" he put his hand up with a frown. "We can talk here, outside."
"As you wish" the Professor agreed. He didn't seem to mind at all, but at the moment Cameron wouldn't care even if the man hated it to the bits. "You probably already figured that Kitty's going through some very unusual, let's say, changes" he said sympathetically. "We simply want to help her through it."
Cameron watched the man, hesitating. With corner of his eye he could see Theresa has the similiar look of concern and wonder on her face.
The bald man's hands dropped to lay in his laps as he picked up again; "Tell us, what happened last night?'
The question was like snapping of fingers that brings you out of a trance; Cameron felt shocked and exchanged a quick look with his wife before turning to the two guests, his finger threatening in front of the man's face. He felt exasperated. "What happened is non of your bussiness! Please, just leave us alone!"
With one hand on Theresa's shoulder to pull her along, he stepped back into the house and closed the door before they could say anything.
Xavier and Jean were left on the front porch, both slightly frowning at the cold shoulder they just received.
Jean snorted with short, bitter laughter. "Next time we could just call. Less effort."
"No, we'll try talking to Katherine herself. She should be at school right now, try reaching out to her there."
"What about you, Professor?"
"I will try set paperwork in motion so I can get access to local documents for Cerebro. I believe you will do well without me. We'll stay in touch."
xXx
"Ahh..." the blonde exhaled as she streatched before the proper PE. "One, two..." she counted as she leaned in further and further trying to reach her toes.
Close to Sydney was also Riley, also warming up. The rest of the girls from their group either stretched or trained before performing long jump they were supposed to get grades for. Their teacher measured and noted their time on the run-up distance. The ony girl lacking was the one they trapped in a locker.
Finally Riley noticed Kitty running over to them from the locker room's. She lifed her eyebrows with interest and patted her friend on her arm. "Hey, Sydney, check it out. She got out."
Their teacher also noticed her. She whistled letting everyone know it's time for the actual test. "Pryde, you're late" she frowned at the brunette.
"I- I'm sorry" Kitty tried to catch her breath. "I just had a... a problem with my locker" she said, peeking at Sydney and Riley who both seemed pleased with her 'problems' and in not being turned in.
The teacher sighed. "Alright, girls. Long jump" she pointed at the track as the students gathered in front of her. "The late one jumps first."
Kitty hesitantely looked at Mrs Craven, the rest of the students and the track. Having no other choice she got onto her place.
xXx
Rick climbed up the same tree they always used to get onto the roof of the gym. Right behind him was Dan, awkwardly getting of the last branch and down onto the flat roof. The third of the boys, Lance, didn't hurry but didn't have any problems with climbing after them.
The blond-haired Rick used a small ledder to get onto roof of the school itsellf and knelt by a hatch that was the official way onto this roof. He examined it carefully. Dan still followed him, his heavy steps driving him crazy.
It was Rick who was shorter and heavier by a lot, but his movements were much smoother and well coordinated than the slender Dan's.
"Could you stop stepping so loud?" she blond haired boy asked elbowing his friend's leg when he came close.
The brunet crouched punching him back three times harder. "Shut up! Are we going to get inside this way or not?"
"No" Rick stated with disappointment as he massaged the arm he got hit in. "They connected the hatch to alarm system."
"What now, Alvers?" Dan asked switching his gaze to the brunet who crouched on edge of the roof. "We can't get into the office and the exams start tomorrow" he frowned. Both boys got up and walked over to Lance. The boy watched something down on the school's field.
"We won't need these answers after the exams" Rick added. "Couldn't you, you know, do the lock?" he asked, resting his hand on the crouching Alvers.
The burnet frowned and looked up at him. "Sure, so they will know we got in there" he said iritated. "They would change the tests!" he pushed away the blond boy's hand, but then his lips bent in a mischevious smirk. He turned back to the field and pointed down. "I've got a much better idea."
Rick and Dan leaned in to see what Lance is pointing to.
His hand wrapped in a fingerless gloves was motioning to a girl who was about to perform a long jump on a track below them. "Her."
"What?" the blond stood straight with disapproval on his face. "She's supposed to long-jump through the wall? Stop kidding around" he slighty punched Lance on his shoulder. Alvers replied by quickly and strongly grabbing his wrist. The boy yelped.
"You've got a problem, Grief?" he asked with anger. He bent Rick's hand so much that he closed his eyes at the pain.
The roof started to shudder.
"Dude, I just-... I..." Rick tried to find the words.
Dan quickly got in between them and pulled them away from each other. "Hey, hey, hey! Chill, guys..."
Lance jerked away from Dan's hand, Rick started massaging his hurting wrist.
"You two get the clients. I'll take care of the answers" Alvers said, looking down the roof again. His lips formed a smirk again.
Knowing that their friend- and somewhat their leader- is focused on the girl again, they didn't want to annoy him any further. Rick and Dan exchanged meaningful looks and decided to leave, so they won't triger Lance's anger again.
Alvers ignored them as he watched the petite brunette.
xXx
The girl got up from her place and ran down the track, not fast enough to be impressive. To make it worse she focused on jumping with the right foot and in the end just messed up so bad that instead of long jump she performed a head-first dive towards the sand.
She crawled onto her knees and hit the sand with anger. This day can't get much worse.
Two blondes that watched her began to laugh loud. "Meeoow" one of them pretended to claw like a cat. "Little Kitty's got some temper."
The second one, Riley, smiled with satisfaction and got onto the start line. "Look carefully, Pryde. This is how it's done professionally" she got in the steady position and then quickly took off running.
xXx
Lance didn't need to hear what they say to know that the two girls appearently laugh at the girl that interested him. And if he was somehow interested in someone - he wasn't to be made fun of for he was Lance's person. Alvers hated it when other people messed with his people.
He stood straight, lifting his hands and focused. The roof began to shake, vibrations moved towards the playfield and its surface began to break. The cracks got to the end of the track at the same moment the blonde girl performed her long jump. Sand flied up with the vibrations, hit her in the face which made her painfully fall back as the sand covered her.
Kitty stepped back feeling vibrations that were already familiar to her. She looked around and saw the same guy from before who was on top of the roof. He waved at her as if he was doing her a favor, but she hated him right now.
For what he does, for who he is, for messing with her life, as if it wasn't complicated enough without him. Tonight she discovered that she's... different. Weird. But she didn't understand how the fact that she's not the only one weird was supposed to make her feel any better. It only made her more worried.
The girl withdrew then took off, turning around to look at the boy on the roof. As she looked over her shoulder she accidentaly crashed into someone. She looked briefly at the redhead and quickly passed by her. Without looking back again she pushed through school's door that led into backstage of auditorium.
xXx
Jean watched the petite brunette leave in a rush and wasted no time before following her. There was no doubt in her mind that this is Katherine, or - as her parents reffered to her - Kitty. She looked just like on the picture, including the same high ponytail.
Walking through the same door she used, Jean followed the only corridor, up the stairs, and through a big door that led her into the auditorium. The girl was down on the stage prepped to look like a living room. Jean suspected that the chair thrown aside wasn't part of the decorations so much as product of the girl's anger just now.
Before Jean decided to make her presence known, the girl tried to rest against the table and it nearly fell under her weight, and a bowl of clearly fake fruit went frlying; Pryde attempted to catch it but it fell right through her hands as if she were a ghost. That was all Jean needed to see to know she's dealing with an actual mutant, and the brunette's face left no doubt as to how started she is by her newly discovered powers.
Moving down the isle quietly, Jean watched the girl kneel and carefully tap the bowl, then she seemed to focus and her hand sunk into it as if it weren't there. She was scared.
"Kitty" Grey finally spoke up as she closed in to the stage. The girl jumped back with a gasp. "Kitty, are you alright?"
Pryde stepped back and covered her fear with an indifferent face as she rested back against the cardbord wall. "That Riley a friend of yours? 'Cause you know, I had nothing to do with what happened out there in the sandpit" to avoid looking her in the eye, she picked a tribal mask hanging on the wall and played it in her hands.
"I know" Jean said gently. "And I'm not Riley's friend."
"Well, you look like you'd be her friend" she said spiteful as she lifted the mask to her face.
"Kitty, look" Grey walked up the few stairs leading onto the stage. "There's no need for masks, I know what's going on."
"You don't know anything!" with sudden anger Kitty shifted the mask away to reveal deep frown on her face. "And neither does that creepy guy out there!"
"Who, Lance?" the redhead asked resting against the same table Kitty tried to rest against before. This time it didn't threaten to fall as she did so cautiously. "Forget about him, this is about you. You and your wonderful new gift."
Kitty closed her eyes tightly for a moment before snapping back; "I don't have any gifts! Just the curse..."
She was both, angry and sad.
Jean's voice was hardly above a whisper as she responded; "Only if you let it be."
And there was something so downright understanding, like she's been there too. It threw Kitty off for a moment, cooling her attitute. But only until she brought back that preachy tone again;
"I'd like to help you understand it. Together-"
"Look" Kitty cut her off. "I-I don't want ANY of this!" she yelled at her, gesticulating. "It's like, hard enough just being normal, you know!"
"Kitty, look, I- I want you to watch me for a second" Jean put her hand in front of her to calm Pryde, but as anger left, it was replaced by defeat. "Please?"
The brunette gave up and looked at her, waiting.
Grey lifted her hand directing it at the mask still held by the younger girl. It began to shake slightly in her hands, so Pryde - suprrised - let go, but it didn't fall, instead hovered in the air for a moment before proceeding to float back onto the hook it was hanging on ealier.
Kitty's eyes were open wide and a moan of fear escaped her lips as she nervously shifted. "How'd you do that?"
"The same way you can pass through walls" Jean approached her and put hand on her shoulder. "Just like you, one morning I woke up and I had this power. And trust me, I hated it too" she added as if on a side note.
"I... I don't believe you!" Pryde shoved her hand away. "This is a trick!"
"No" Jean said. "No..." her expression shifted slightly. "You do believe me... I know because of my other ability" she looked slightly to the side before confessing; "I can read your thoughts."
Kitty was shocked and all of sudden, terrified all over again. "No! Stay out of my head!" she ordered, grabbing it. "NO!" with a rapid shove of her arm she forced Jean back before running off through the prop door onto the backstage.
"Kitty, wait!" Jean called after her but the girl didn't stop, she went through another door, shoving it close behind herself. Grey took a slow breath, disappointed in how it was going so far.
Then suddenly someone grabbed her by the arm and forced her to turn around. She was suddenly face to face with an angry looking boy with brown hair and brown eyes peering at her from under his dark brows.
"Piece of advice, Red. I'm the only friend that girl's gonna need" he pointed to himself with his thumb, threateningly leaning down over her. "And I'll be teaching her what's what, so you just back yourself off" he strongly pressed his finger into her shoulder before shoving her aside and following the same way Kitty run off.
xXx
From the moment he laid eyes on the redhead who messed around the girl who walked through locker door. The all-too-compassionate tone of her voice, the brightly colored hair, her entire mannerism, he didn't like her one bit. The Ghost Girl on the other hand, she was intriguing, and he wanted her all to himself. This is high school, after all - law of the jungle. Means he wasn't about to share or give her up, because that girl had so much potential.
Kitty. That's the name of the ghost girl, he overheard the readhead say it. Little, sweet, innocent Kitty, who will help him get the answers for the mid term exams. He won't only pass the exam, but he will also make good money selling the answers.
He smirked at the sweet scent of the win mixed with the gentle smell of the brunette's perfume. He approached her when she was busy taking books from her locker, he gently tapped her shoulder with one finger.
The girl looked around slow, but when she saw his hand she rapidly turned around, dropping the books and standing in self-defense pose.
Lance stepped back and put his hands in the air. "Easy, I'm not going to shake anything, promise" he said, and it worked miracles, calming the petite girl. The boy already knew how to approach her, so he crouched and picked up her books, then handed them to her and rubbed back of his head. "I'm-" he looked into her scared, yet confident blue eyes, and he felt a slight surprise at how much he liked them. "My name is Lance" he introduced himself. "We should talk."
The brunette frowned offensively taking her books from him. "Why won't you all just leave alone, ha?" she asked obviously angry. She shot her locker's door closed so hard that Lance jerked away.
She headed down the hall. Alvers sighed; 'Chick's got a temper' he thought.
"You feel sick when you think about it, don't you?" he asked in understanding voice. Just like he expected, it made her hesitate and slowly stop. "You hope it would pass... but it won't" he continued. "You're afraid of future, your parents don't know what's really going on, you're probably ashamed..." he stared at her petite back and could see her head lower. "Being alone doesn't make it any better..."
The brunette suddenly turned on her heel, he could see sadness on her face quickly replaced by irritation. "What, you also can read my mind?!"
Lance put his hands in the air defensively. "No, 'course not! But I've been through all of this too- just like you, I tried to understand" he slowly approached her seeing a shadow of belief in her features.
The girl wrapped her arms around herself and slowly turned away to leave. He knew it's last try.
"I've learned how to control it. Be behind the school in an hour and I'll show you how" he called after her.
The girl didn't stop again, didn't turn to face him, but her resigned pose made Lance sure she already caught the bite.
xXx
"Sounds like Lance could be trouble. If he bonds with Kitty we might not be able to reach her" Professor Xavier said as he stopped outside the door of the local office.
*I agree, and he IS reaching her* the voice responded on the phone.
"You have to stay with her, Jean. I don't want want to lose her. Whatever obstacles get in the way, remember they can be overcome. Xavier out" he disconnected shifting his eyes to the tall staircase in front of him. He could see no ramp for wheelchairs as he put the phone into inner pocket of his jacket. "Though some obstacles are more irritating than others."
xXx
"So... what's up with Fallen?"
Kurt looked at Scott, his eyebrow arched questioningly.
"Look, man" Summers lifted his hands. "I only know her for two weeks, but she's clearly upset for the last two or three days. Did you two have a fight or something?"
"No, nothing like that. No" Wagner shook his head. "I'm honestly not sure why she's so down all of sudden."
She did kind of brief him on it ealier this morning, but it didn't seem quite right. Her being concerned about whether it's okay to live a life, basically, was completely out of character. It seemed like there was something else to it that Kurt was missing.
"Really, you have no idea?" Summers asked, the younger boy shook his head again. "Maybe you did something like... I don't know - glanced at another girl or forgot about some-amount-of-weeks anniversary? Some women count actually count these things."
Wagner chuckled bitterly at the sole imagination of Fallen getting angry over something like that. "I didn't do anything, and she doesn't count that. Besides, even if I did forget something she wouldn't react like this."
"Wouldn't every girl?" it was more of a statement than an actual question.
Wagner just gave him a look as if asking if he wants to bet on it.
Scott just sighed with defeat. "Maybe... you know..." he lowered his voice, peeking at the students they were passing by. "It's 'these days'..."
Wagner chuckled again, still bitterly. "And again, no, she wouldn't act like this."
Scott straightened his back, regarding him with a critical frown. "Where do you get a girlfriend who doesn't get moody during 'that time' and doesn't wnat to rip you to shreds if you forget about something?" he asked half-jokingly.
Kurt chuckled the third time, this time the bitterness was almost gone. "Aw, man... From far away. Really far."
They arrived at the doorway of caffeteria. Fallen was already at their usual table, her tray consisting mostly of today's dessert and chocolate bars from the vending machine by the door.
"Are you sure it's not 'these days'? She's on sweet hunger" Scott suggested hesitantely.
With a slightly amused smirk, Kurt elbowed the taller boy. "She's on sweet hunger majority of time, it doesn't mean anything."
xXx
"Thess!" Cameron's voice was audiable from the other side of the house, followed by sound of his footsteps. The man halted in kitchen's doorstep with his hands on sides of the doorframe. "Kitty left! I checked her room and the bathroom- even the basement! She's not here...!"
"Calm down" the woman kept her gaze on dishes she was washing. "She's at school."
The man stared at her for a moment before his hands slid down the doorframe. "What do you mean, she's at school?"
"She went to school" the woman said gently. She looked back at her husband. Seeing the look in his eyes she turned off the water and wiped her hands. "Darling, we can't prison her to stay home all the time..."
The man took her hands in his with fear and anger in his eyes. "We're not prisoning her, we're protecting her. What happened tonight... what if it happens again? In front of everyone at school? They will take away our daughter and they may wanna hurt her...!"
A glisten of fear appeared in woman's eyes. "But..."
"There's no 'buts', Theresa. It's about Kitty's safety. Take your jacket, we're going to get her."
xXx
Lance rested his back against wall of the school, impatient he drummed his fingers against his crossed arms. He began to doubt if Kitty would show up at all. For the 100th time he peeked towards the main door, but the brunette wasn't in sight.
He felt odd. His entire plan depended on this girl, and he decided to play nice with her instead of just forcing her to work with him. May he wanted to gain her trust/ hm, could it be Lance Alvers became soft?
He got a small heart attack when he heard her voice behind him.
"So how did YOU take control?" she asked slowly stepping out of shadow of trees a dozen feet away from him.
Lance put on a confident face and understanding, halfhearty smile. "By admiting something no one wants to cop to" he walked over to her. "That we ARE outsiders. That there IS something wrong with us."
The big, blue eyes grew sadder as the girl looked down. It almost made his heart sink... almost.
He reached to her chin and lifted her face gently. "Hey, don't fret it" he said in a friendly manner. "Embrace it. The way I see it, fate dealt us winning cards, if we play them together..."
The brunette turned away her gaze with a low sigh. "Nothing is making any sense" she said connecting her hands on her chest.
"That's why I'm here, to light your path" he put hand on her shoulder. He knew already that she would do what he told her. She caught the bite, now he just needed to pull the gimp. "And the first step leads us right into that office" he pointed his thumb at the wall behind him.
He smiled at the sight of the girl's expression. Right now she didn't wonder if it's a good or a wrong deed and why would she do that, she only doubted whether she can make it. Only whtether she's capable of it... and reasuring her she is will be easy.
"You can do it, I'm sure you can" he assured. "I'll go wait on the other side of the door, open up for me when you get inside, alright? I'm sure you will do great."
Kitty looked hesitant, but she noded her head a little.
xXx
Lance already left to - as he promised - wait on the other side. Kitty gazed at the wall, nervously tugging on her bolero. She was afrad of this ability she had, of getting stuck on her way through the wall, of being hurt... But Lance believed in her. Unlike her parents, who pretended that nothing ever happened, he tried to help her understand all of this.
She placed her shaky hand to surface of the wall and focused. She closed her eyes, stepped forward - she felt odd coldness passing through her body, but she took two more steps forward and only then she opened her eyes.
Seeing herself inside of the office she was surprised. She didn't expect it could actually work, it wasn't something that seemed possible until now. But it was. She looked back at the wall behind her back, then down at herself, but everything looked fine. She jumped happilly and ran over to the door, opening them for Lance.
"Did you see me? Did you?" the girl literally bounced around.
"Yeah! Damn, Kitty! How did it feel?" Lance asked, actually quite curious what it's like.
"Ah-oh-! It was- It was totally unbelievable!" she was so happy that she hugged him. The boy was a little surprised, but it felt pretty nice. Her childish, ridiculous behaviour was a nice change from the asshole'ish itiots he hang out with.
"You're making it yours, Kitty. Once you own it, nothing can own you" he said, looking into her bright eyes.
Kitty smiled like a child promised a candy.
Lance smiled down at her. "Wait for a moment? Then we can go have you practice more, or... hang out a little" he added wondering about this option, and how surprisingly he didn't.
The brunette smiled sincerely and noded. Alvers sent her one last smile then sat down by the principal's desk. "Besides... I didn't get your last name."
"Pryde" the girl introduced herself shyly. "Kitty Pryde."
xXx
"Professor!" Jean called from the distance. The man turned around to face her as she ran up.
"Where is Kitty?" he asked.
"I lost her."
"Have you tried to track her telepathically?"
"I wanted to, Professor. But there's too many students around, I couldn't locate her..."
The man sighed low. "Alright. Hold on."
He focused for a moment before his eyes shot open. "Lance used her to burgle into the office."
Just as the words registered in Jean's mind, a mint-colored call pulled over on the sidewalk just a few feet away from them, and the girl's parents bolted out of it, running up to them.
"Where is she?!" the father damanded.
"She broke into the office!" Jean responded.
The couple both looked shocked. "She- she's never done anything like this before!" Theresa assured.
Charles turned to his student with a look of urgency on his face. "Go with them, Jean, I'll catch up."
The three instantly bolted in the direction of the building.
xXx
Lance typed in the last access password he hacked and hit enter with a satisfied chuckle. He grabbed the square memory disc as it slipped out of the computer box, glancing over at the brunette who watched him with concern.
"Test answers present and accounted for" he smiled at the warm disc in his hand.
"That's what this is about? Cheating?" Pryde definitely sounded disapproving.
"Hey, this crummy school uses these kind of tests to keep us down, Kitty!" he frowned up at her. "No more, we take control" he smiled evilly slipping the disc into his pocket. "Now, let's modify some grades. Pryde... P... R..." he began searching her up in the digital files.
The girl felt sudden surge of fear. She was a good student, looking forward to entering a good college and leadin a normal life, she can't be a recorded criminal for faking her grades and what she now knew was a break in.
"No!" she lunged to stop his hands before he did anything, but the moment she did he twisted them out and grabbed her wrists instead, getting up from the chair, all of sudden looking threatening as he stared down at her. "Look, there's no victim here! We're just eveing the score" he let go of her wrists and smiled again.
But the smile didn't fool her anymore.
"This doesn't feel right, I've changed my mind. I want to go" she turned around and tried to walk away appearing as casual as she could, but tha didn't work.
She felt his hand grab her wrist tightly. "Woah woah woah, what are you doing?" he pulled her back, making her grunt low at the pain in her wrist. "Come on, Kitty!"
Just as fear stirred in her chest the door to the office opened and she heard a very familiar voice;
"Let go of my daughter!"
She turned around to see her parents and that redhead from before. She didn't know where they came from but she felt instant relief as her father proceeded to run towards Lance.
"Far enough, old man" the boy said and extended his hand. She could feel how much he tensed as the grip he still had on her intensified - looking back at him she also saw his eyes going backwards.
Before she could think anything of it the entire room began to shake, but the center of it seemed to be on the bookshelf by her father; it collapsed, pinning him to the ground.
"No! Stop!" Kitty ordered trying to free herself, but Lance kept her still.
"They're just gonna confuse you, Kitty!" he said. "We're outta here!" he pulled her towards the wall and extanded his hand towards it the same way he did before. Shaking began again and cracks began to appear on the wall.
"Kitty, please!" she heard her mother's voice. "We can do this together!"
Pryde took another deep breath and pulled her hand. "Let go of me!" she ordered firmly.
Just then the wall Lance was focusing on collapsed leavin a hole big enough to fit two people. Lance turned to face her again, his hands now gripping firmly on her forearms. "We're in control now, we make our own way!"
With the corner of her eye she could see the redhead use her 'powers' to lift the bookshelf off of her father. The man began to lift to his knees despite obvious pain; "Kitty, I pushed you to this, I know. I wanted to pretend nothing was wrong" he said as the girl's mom helped him to his feet. "I'm not perfect, I'm learning... just like you are."
Kitty fully looked back at them, feeling her eyes watter instantly. "Daddy..."
"Forget them!" Lance shouted on her other side and pulled her roughly. "Come on, I'm bringing this place down!"
She could see madness in his eyes before they ran backwards and the shaking caused every wall to crack, pieces of ceiling began to shower on them.
Jean extended her arms, creating what seemed to be an invisible umbrella above herself and Kitty's parents.
"You called your gift a curse" she said. "If you go with him I guarantee you, it will be!"
"Please, Kitty!" her mom begged. "Listen to her!"
"Sweetheart, we love you!" father added.
"They're too late. You're with me now!" Lance easily pulled her over to the hole in the wall.
"No, I'm not!" she realized it's time to me what she thought was a curse into her gift after all. She focused and was surprised at how easily she managed to slip her wrist through his hand. Before he could grab her again she was off running towards the other three.
Behind her was an angry yell and the shaking of the building suddenly picked up. She could see and even feel a large piece of the ceiling collapsing above her. She yelled in fear but instinctively knew what to do, as she focused on making herself intangible. All of sudden she was enveloped in darkness and couldn't breathe, but she it felt like she's not touching anything but air and ground. All she could hear was muffled rumbling, echoing deafly.
She tried to keep calm enough to remain in this state as she stepped forward, one step, another, one more, and her extended hand seemed to be met by cool air. Another step and she emerged into the collapsing office, pretty convinced she took no damage.
"Oh, wow!"
"Kitty...!"
Her parents seemed surprised to see her, no wonder. She approached them and hugged them briefly before analyzing the situation. The redhead continued to shield them from major pieces falling from above, but she seemes trained, and the building was so wrecked by now that it continued to fall apart even as Lance seemed to be gone.
Someone needed to get them out of here, and she knew she's the only one who has the ability to.
"Okay, everybody grab onto me, I'll get us out."
xXx
The Theathre wing was nothing but a dusty wreck, and upon the final collapse everything went quiet. Chalres was looking at it, honestly a little terrified after having suddenly lost telepathic connection with Jean just moments ago after she informed Kitty would walk them out of there.
Perhaps it is that in the intangible state she can't be reached, or...
Much to his relief four people emerged like ghosts through the wreckage, with the petite brunette in the front and the other three grabbed onto her hands and arms.
A smile instantly appeared on his face as they closed in and one thought was particularly loud in the head of the young girl.
"Yes, Kitty, it is a gift, and you've used it well."
The girl's face flushed with a smile. She turned to hug her mother. "Mom, I'm so sorry. And daddy... these people, they like, want to help me" she smiled up at her father. "I trust them."
"I know, sweetie. And so do I" the man took a hold of her hands and smiled at Xavier. "Professor, I think we have some things to talk about."
"Yes, we do" Charles smiled witha a small nod.
"Maybe you would like to come for dinner at our house?" Theresa suggested.
"Yes, please do" the man agreed squeezin his wife's shoulder with approval. "We have a lot of questions."
xXx
Lance stood on a hill watching fireman bustle around the piece of school that broke in and became wreckage. Thoughts passed through his head, nearly all of them cussing about Kitty, her family, the redhead with the other girl, exams, and the school itself. Why everything had to go wrong, how can you possibly screw up everything at once? At least the exams are called off. So much for the bright side.
He scuffed looking at the policemen inverstigating the scene. They can't possibly figure it was something he did. There was no cameras, maybe just some fingertips, but they won't look for that, and nobody will believe Kitty even if she told. However he had a feeling she won't tell anyone.
Suddenly he was sartled by a woman's voice; "I'd say you've blown your chances at this school, haven't you?"
Alvers turned around abruptly and eyed the owner of the voice. It was a tall woman dressed in dark grey tailor-made dress with short, black hair, with shining glasses on tip of her nose.
Lance hesitated, because he never saw her before. "And you are...?"
"Your new advisor" she stated firmly. "I've made an opening for you at Bayville High."
The brunet was visibly surprised with this offer.
"I've got a much to teach you, my young... Avalanche" she said.
What shocked him more than anything today - she began to change, her hair growing longer, turning red, her skin turned dark blue, and her eyes became yellow and cat-like. In a wicked way her glasses disappeared melting with her skin, and her clothes transformed into white dress with golden belt made of skull-shaped elements.
The boy stepped back and tensed, ready to shake the ground at any moment to get rid of the suspicious woman.
"Who are you, seriously!?" he damanded answers.
"Principal of Bayville High School" she smiled, her smile was pure evil, but it was such a familiar form of evil that Lance felt like whoever she is - her offer would be just for him. "You will know me better as Mystique... I have an offer for you, an undeniable one."
To be continued...