Chapter Twelve:
The Storyteller

The sun was already beginning to set when Mr. Logan decided that we both needed some fresh air, and I couldn't help but agree. Telling him everything was a lot harder to do than I thought, but after some encouragement from him and Voice, the words began to spill as did the tears. I told him everything and after it was done, and I know it sounds cliché, but I felt this weight lift from my chest and for the first time, in a long time, I felt good.

As we walked into the camp area, I put my hat back on and caught a glance of the two newcomers who had saved our lives earlier on. The woman was sitting by a fire, away from everyone else and the man was making his way towards Dr. Grey and Ms. Munroe. From Mr. Logan, I learned the names of our two unlikely saviors, though there wasn't anything saintly about them. The harmless looking old man with the silly helmet and cape was Erik Lehnsherr, also known best as Magneto and one of the most powerful mutants known. His bright haired companion, the tall woman with blue skin and yellow eyes was known as Mystique.

He could manipulate metal and she was a shape-shifter. Both where very dangerous to humans and any mutant that stood in their way to achieve greatness.

Mr. Logan's last statement unnerved me for some reason. I knew that there were some humans that were cruel, and the idea of mutants turning on them shouldn't have surprised me, but it did. I'd been isolated from the mutant world since I could remember, but I'd always imagined that our kind would try to find a way to keep the norms from thinking that we were dangerous, even though some of us were. I didn't think we'd want to advertise them, give them a reason to hunt us down.

As he explained who they where and what they were about, my eyes never left the exotic looking woman, who strangely reminded me of Mr. Wagner, eyes and all. They could be related, I thought to myself, but threw the idea out. And as if sensing my unwavering eyes on her, Mystique looked up from the fire and locked eyes with me. I sucked in some air and turned away quickly, cheeks burning from embarrassment.

Mr. Logan seemed to notice the shape-shifter's gaze, made a sort of strange noise that sounded like a growl and began to walk towards where Bobby, Marie, Mr. Wagner and… John were sitting, quietly, gathered around a pile of branches.

He carefully sat me down in between Marie, who was now sporting a thin jacket, the same one I was wearing, and Mr. Wager. I smiled shyly at him as I made myself comfortable, which he returned. "Stay together," Mr. Logan began in a serious tone, making me turn my attention towards him. "I don't wan' any of ya walkin' off on your own, got it?" He asked, though it wasn't a question, more like a demand. One that we had no problem following, well, at least I didn't. Everyone nodded and we all watched him walk away towards the rest of the adults, followed closely by Mystique, who gave us all a quick glance.

"She scares me," Voice muttered quietly in my head and I asked why. "Because she can become anyone she wants, that's dangerous." I nodded in agreement. It was scary to think that there was someone out there with the ability to take on your appearance, but I couldn't help but think it was a cool power. And I wondered, as I watched her stand beside her companion, if she could turn into anyone she wanted, why would she continue to walk around in her mutant form. "She's proud of who she is" Voice replied, "She feels she doesn't need to hide from the world." Again, I nodded and turned away from the adults to the people who were sitting around me.

Everyone was silent and I couldn't express how disturbing the silence was. It was already dark outside, so all I could hear was the sound of crickets and I was getting cold. Bobby was on his knees with John's lighter, trying to get a fire working but it didn't seem to be working at all.

"You could help, you know," I heard Marie say, finally breaking the uncomfortable silence. She was talking to John, I realized, but he just carried on as if he hadn't heard her and didn't so much as move from his spot. She shook her head in disappointment and turned to me, eyes softening as they roamed my face with concern. "How're ya feelin'?"

I gave her a reassuring smile. "Better, but still a little tired," I replied in a low voice, hoping not to draw any unwanted attention towards myself.

She tilted her head to the side. "You're face is blotchy," she pointed out, thankfully she had lowered her voice too so no one really heard. I hoped. "Are ya sure you're all right?"

I nodded, a little embarrassed that she had noticed I'd been crying. "Must have been from all that puking," I joked, faking a giggle to cover my discomfort. Sometimes I wished that people could sense what I was feeling. Well, they could, but it wasn't very pleasant for them… "I'll be fine," I told her, tucking some of my hair behind my ear. "I just need a little rest and I'll be as good as new." It was a downright lie, but she didn't need to know that.

We both fell silent again and turned our attention to Bobby's lame attempt to get the fire going. My eyes flickered towards John, his eyes were on his polar opposite and I could feel this anger coming from him, but his face was blank. I suddenly felt myself wishing I knew what he was thinking.

"If you can barely handle feeling other people's emotion, imagine what it would be like to have different thoughts, voices, invading your head."

V was right and I could only imagine what Dr. Grey had to go through.

Trying not to think on the matter, I looked away from John to Bobby, who was now on his hands an knees, leaning uncomfortably close to the pile of sticks. He was blowing on the embers, trying to get the small fire to catch. I smiled at his mild successes and at the irony. The iceman was trying to make fire. It was silly.

Suddenly the small fire, that was meant to keep us warm, erupted into a tower of flame. Bobby dived back as quickly as he could, trying hard to avoid getting burned and I jerked back as well, even though I was at a safe distance from the fire, but I couldn't stop the startled gasp from escaping my lips. I covered my mouth with my hand, hoping no one had heard.

"Asshole," Bobby growled, shooting John a dirty look as he made a motion to hit him, but Marie reached out to grab her boyfriend's arm before he could do anything drastic. John responded with a smile, but when his eyes caught mine, the grin vanished and he looked away, his mask falling back in its place as he stared into the fire he helped create.

From beside me, Mr. Wagner relaxed and I turned to face him, smiling again. His outer appearance was strange, but his soul was pure as strange as that may seem and I felt an urge to connect with him.

"My names Carolina," I told him, holding out my hand. It was the first time I had ever put myself out there for someone. "I never got to properly introduce myself."

He tilted his head forward, understandingly and reached for my hand, shaking it gently. "I am Kurt Wagner," he let go and sat up a bit and added, "But in the Munich circus, I was known as The Incredible Nightcrawler!"

I giggled a little. "Yeah, I know. I was sitting behind you when you were introducing yourself but, uh, Mr. Logan cut you off."

"Yes," he nodded, a bit put-off by the thought of intimidating man and I noticed that he was fidgeting with a rosary.

"I like your beads," I told him, conversationally, hoping to lift his spirit again. "They're very pretty."

"Danke," he smiled, "It was given to me by a friend, I knew long ago."

"Hey," Bobby called out and Mr. Wagner and we turned our attention towards him. He was now sitting beside Marie, staring at the group of adults standing in a circle, talking amongst themselves in secrecy. "Can either of you hear what they're saying?" He asked us.

"They're being too quiet," Marie responded, eyes on the group as well. I could feel the animosity coming from her, it was mostly directed towards the older man and I wondered why.

Mr. Wagner shifted slightly in his seat, making me turn to look in his direction. "I… I could take a closer look," he offered shyly.

"How?" I asked, eyes roaming his face. The markings on his skin where so strange and yet very appealing.

He smiled mischievously and bamf in a cloud of smoke, he disappeared, leaving the rest of us in awe.

"Nice," Bobby muttered and the rest of us nodded in agreement. "How long do you think it'll take before they realize that he's there?"

"If Mr. Logan doesn't sense him, Dr. Grey certainly will."

"I'm sick of this," John suddenly muttered, tossing a twig he'd been messing with towards the camp fire and stood up, storming away from the camp fire and into one of the tents.

Wide eyed, I turned to Marie and Bobby, taken aback.

"What's his problem?" She asked, bewildered.

Bobby shrugged and stood up as well, wiping his hands on his pants. "You know John - he has his mood swings. I'll be back," he told us. Got to use to bathroom."

Marie and I watched him jog towards the jet and up the steps. I was the first to turn away, eyes landing on the burning wood. The fire was going strong and I couldn't help but be hypnotized by the dancing flames. I hated fire. Feared it more. The screaming and the panic back at the Drake's house had hit home and I felt as though I were reliving my past. Sometimes I can still feel the heat on my skin. I wondered if John would have killed all those people. If Marie hadn't stopped - wait.

"Hey, Marie."

"Yeah?"

"I've been meaning to ask you something." She looked at me, waiting for me to continue. "Back at Bobby's house, what was it that you did to John when he… you know…?" I trailed off, hoping she understood what I was trying to ask.

She nodded, understandingly, pursed her lips and turned away before she began her explanation. "Um, ah'm sure you've noticed that ah always wear gloves and try to keep as much of mahself covered," she said, staring at her gloved hands. "Well, see, mah mutation is dangerous to others. If ah touch someone, ah can take their… life-force. People get hurt, they could die, but if ah touch 'em for a certain time ah absorb their memories and if they're like us - their powers."

I frowned as she spoke. "So what you did to John…"

"Was necessary," she finished, though it sounded like she was trying very hard to defend herself. "Ah only touched him long enough to be able to control what he was doing, not to kill him."

I nodded, taking everything in and felt a little guilty about thinking my power was the worst. Not being able to have skin to skin contact with people must be torture. I now understood what Bobby and Mr. Logan meant when we were sitting in the kitchen of the school. It must be hard for him and Marie.

"What can you do?"

I looked at her, startled. I should have known that she would ask and I really shouldn't have been, but it was only fair to share with her what she had shared with me. "I'm an Empath. I can feel other peoples emotions."

A shadow fell over her face. "Well, ah guess that's two things we have in common - we're both strays and our powers suck," she finished with a grin.

I laughed a little because she was right.

After a while, we both fell silent again and somewhere along the way my thoughts drifted back to John, and I suddenly got this overpowering urge to go talk to him, but I didn't know if it was a good idea. He'd never struck me as a people person and I was afraid he'd reject me as I had done so to him, but I felt that he needed to know what I reacted the way he did. I wasn't afraid of him, just the ability over fire that he possessed. "Maybe I should to talk to him…" I thought out loud.

"Who, John?" Marie asked in surprise. "Are ya sure?" I nodded, positive. He needed to know. "Okay, do ya need help getting over there?"

I shook my head. "I'll be okay, thanks." I smiled and carefully got up, making my way towards where John was.

"Are you sure you want to tell him?"

You told me to trust more.

"Yes" Voice said and I could hear Its frustration. "But are you sure you want it to be him."

I didn't answer Voice right away. The knots forming in my stomach were making it difficult for me to think properly and my hands were shaking. I was nervous about telling him my story. I had already told it once, so it shouldn't have bothered me to tell it again, but it did.

You like him more than you'd like to admit, that's why you're nervous.

Voice's statement made the heat in my cheeks rise, but I ignored it and stopped when I finally reached John's tent.

"John," I called out to him, figuring it would be rude if I had just barged in unannounced. "It's Carolina, can we talk?" I asked, but I received no reply. Maybe he was asleep. I decided to try one more time, at least. "John--?"

"What do you want?" Came a sharp reply from within the tent. He was angry.

My nerves told me to just give up and go, but I really needed to get the rest of this unwanted weight off my chest. "I just want to talk…. Can I come in?"

For a while he didn't reply, and all I heard was the quiet chatter from Marie and Bobby back at the camp fire and then John appeared, opening the front of the tent for me to enter. I nodded, giving thanks and crawled inside. We sat in silence for a while, him staring at me while my eyes nervously darted back and forth.

"You wanted to talk," he said, face blank and unreadable. I knew that he was hurt and upset, I just wished that he would show it. "So talk."

"I'm sorry," I started off and his face visibly softened a bit. "I shouldn't have reacted the way that I did."

"You don't have to tell him," Voice screamed in my head and I winched, bringing my hand up to rub my temple. "You could stop here!"

"Are you okay?" John asked, trying to get me to look at him.

I nodded, ignoring Voice's plea and continued. "I need to tell you something, something that'll help you understand why I am the way that I am, but I need for you to listen and not interrupt because if you do, I might not be able to continue." It was the same order I gave Mr. Logan, I think he was in to much shock to disagree. John reacted in the same way and I began. I took a deep breath and began.

"I was one of four kids, to start out with. I had two sisters- one older, the other younger. My twin, Michael and I were in the middle, but he was eight minutes older than I was, so he liked to boss me around. I got along best with my older sister, she was a lot of fun. Use to tell her everything and vice versa. We all got along fairly well for siblings, but we had our difference," I smiled fondly at the memories of my family, the way we use to be before everything changed.

"But things changed when dad found out that my older sister was a mutant. See, my sister had superhuman speed and could sense other mutants when they were near. She was sixteen when she left, couldn't take dad bagging on her all the time and mom ignoring her. Told me that it would be in my best interest to leave with her, but I couldn't understand why she wanted me to tag along. I was only thirteen and scared out of my mind. Where were we suppose to go? She left without us and a couple of months later I realized why she had wanted me to go.

"I began getting these vibes from people I walked by or touched. I knew what they were feeling. I couldn't block them out and it was driving me crazy. I had to resort to hiding in the basement of my home or under my bed. My family just thought I was depressed."

"You can still stop, you don't have to tell him the rest. Just leave it there, walk away! "

I shook my head to stop Voice from shouting. I couldn't understand why it didn't want me to tell John. I know that I had worked hard to bury these memories, but keeping them there just wasn't helping me. I looked up at John, he hadn't said anything like I asked, but now I wish he would say something. Anything. He was just sitting there, looking at me, waiting for me to continue, so I did.

"I stopped talking to my parents and younger sister and I barely spoke to Michael. For some reason, I didn't feel as much when I was around him. It was strange, but with the rest of my family- I just couldn't be around them. I couldn't be around anyone… I couldn't count how many times I burst into tears because of the pain that belonged to someone else. It was so embarrassing. I did a good job at hiding what I was, but one night my parents were fighting about my older sister. Mom wanted to go find her, dad couldn't care less. She was scum to him, didn't deserve to breathe the same air. He only had three children now, he screamed in mom's face and I could feel the furry coming from them both and I snapped.

"'Who are you to decide who should live or die, you're no saint! Calli isn't the monster, you are!' and he raised his hand to hit me, something he'd never done, but my barrier knocked him clear across the room before he could touch me. I freaked out, it was the first time I'd used that power and I-I didn't know what to do.

"Mom freaked out and Michael came running to see what was going on. When he saw me crying, he rushed over to me, not even bothering with dad, even though he saw him sprawled out on the floor, but mom shouted for him not to go near me.

"Dad woke up some time later, but I had already locked myself in my room. It took Michael a long time before he could convince me to come down. Neither of my parents would look at me, even after I had apologized. I could feel the hostility coming from dad and mom was torn. She wanted to hate me, but she couldn't. I was her baby. A few night later, while Irene and Michael were out running an errand for mom men came to take me away. Mom was crying and saying that it was for my own good, dad didn't seem to be phased. I kicked and screamed all the way to the van so they drugged me."

I remembered that night so well. I screamed so loud for my mom to stop them from taking me, but all she did was cry and tell me that everything would be okay.

"Carolina?"

"Huh?" I blinked, John's voice bringing me out of my thoughts. How long had I zoned out? "Oh, sorry I-- anyway…um. They took me to a place specifically designed for mutants. I woke up in a room, a man with glasses, Stryker was his name, was sitting beside me and told me that they were going to help me get better, that what I was could be cured. I believed him and then it started.

"The poking, the cutting and…" I shook my head, rubbing the side of my face. I wasn't going to cry again, but every time I thought about what they did, I could feel it. "They did things to me, to us, the rest of the mutants that were there. Things that shouldn't have been done. They kept us drugged and it dulled our minds and bodies so we wouldn't fight. I was crazy for a long time, thought I was gonna be trapped there forever, but then there was this man, a nurse who took care of some of us. He helped us escape. Only ten of us made it out of that place. I was sixteen.

"Somehow I made it home, didn't even know if my family still lived there, but they did. Mom was so happy to see me. I was so surprised that she had been expecting me at all. Turns out they had called her, told her that they should be immediately contacted if and when I arrived. Mom told them to go to hell. Michael and Irene welcomed me back with open arms. Irene had been nine when they took me away, she'd grown up so much. Dad was gone, I learned. Michael confessed to mom shortly after I was taken away that he was a mutant to and dad left, he couldn't take it. Mom had told him that she had already lost two kids, she wouldn't give up another.

"Everything was suppose to go back to normal after that, but it didn't." I told him, my voice breaking. "Mom was trying to get me back to school and I was catching up on what I had missed, but then things started back up again and I decided I needed air and went for a walk, but when I got back…" I took a deep breathe, this was the part of the story that always got to me. "When I got back my house was on fire and there were people gathered around and I could hear screaming. I made it into the foyer of the house, everything around me was burning and I couldn't breathe. People rushed in and pulled me out, dragged me away

"Irene was the only one who made it out of the fire, the only body they found, but she died a couple of days later from her burns and that was when those horrible people came after me. I didn't even get a chance to bury my sister, I just ran. I couldn't go back to that place. I ran away. But the drugs I had been taking were wearing off, I stopped taking them a long time ago, I thought they were making me sick. This couple found me out in the road, was awake enough to plead with them not to take me to the hospital. They took care of me while my body crashed. I had become so use to the drugs in that place I had almost become dependent of them.

"They asked if they should call someone. I told them I didn't have anyone. After some discussion on their part, they offered me a place to stay until I got back on my feet. They were nice people, Owen and Gwen, very lonely. They didn't have kids." I had almost grown to love them. "Things were normal for the most part. I never did tell them that I was a mutant, didn't think it was safe, but…. Gwen worked on getting me registered at the local high school and Owen got me a job at a video store.

"They set me up a room in the basement, they noticed that I liked to hide there sometimes. I was with them for a very long time and they helped me mourn the loss of my family, but things started happening." I didn't want to bring up Voice, didn't need John thinking I was crazy.

"There were these two guys - Ben and Dan - didn't like me very much. They found out I was a mutant, turned out Stryker and some other men had hunted me down and offered Ben and Dan money if they could bring me to them. So, they knocked me Knocked me out and drove me out into the woods…. Didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to Gwen or Owen, they must be worried. I don't think they know what happened…. Anyway, um, I managed to escape but not before getting some nasty injuries. That was when Mr. Logan found me."

I was so relieved to have gotten that off my chest but the look on John's face…. He didn't know what to feel. He was angry, confused… all of these emotions.

"Why did you tell me all of this?" He asked, uncharacteristically.

"Because I wanted you to know," was my reply. "I don't want to be alone anymore. I just want a friend who I don't have to hide from."

"But why me, why not Rogue or Popsicle?" He asked as he began to play with his lighter. "You're closer to them than me." He was nervous, So I reached out and grabbed his hand.

"I just wanted you to know." When he didn't say anything, I began to move my hand away, but he placed his other one over mine to keep it there.

"I burned down my house when I was twelve," he told me out of the blue. "We were having a barbeque out in the backyard, close to the house and I was arguing with my dad about something stupid. They disowned me when they realized what I was. Lived out in the streets for the most part, but then Professor Xavier found me, told me about the school and I said to hell with it, I got nothing to lose."

"What a pair we make, huh?"

"Yeah."

We grew silent, taking in what we had learned about each other.

"Do you think we'll ever fit in the world?" I asked, hopefully.

He shook his head, "No." I couldn't hate him for being so blunt. "Not unless we do something about it. We shouldn't have to fear what we are, shouldn't have to hide."

"You sound like my older sister," I told him. "She's still out there, you know. But I don't know if she knows what happened. It's been a long time since I've seen her or spoken to her."

"What was your sister's name?" He asked.

"Callisto. Her name's Callisto."