I do not own the X men. And I am sorry if any characters sound oc but I will try to get them into character. Thanks samiamf69 for reviewing.

X Chapter 6X

Blood. Hazy, red, dripping fluid…falling. Falling…splattering on the dusty dirt floor.

"No…" a terrified and weak whisper sliced through the frigid and silent air.

"Mother!" a young girl shrieked, trying to fight her way through…something; something holding her back. "No!" Another girl a year older fought through as well.

"I'm not letting you past!" the 'thing' holding them back was in fact an older boy with a fierce determination in his voice. He nodded to another, who gripped a knife.

"Come any closer and I'll slice your heart out," the boy with the knife spat.

"Good luck with that," the killer sneered.

"You're only five! How can you kill already with such deadly accuracy?" the older boy snarled, putting his arms around the first girl, who was shuddering.

"How do you know my age?" the five-year-old growled. The second girl, who was six, gasped and her jade eyes widened. The killer was only five? And yet he had already killed their parents…

"Because we know you!" the boy with the knife shouted, going forward and slashing.

"Augh!" the five-year-old yelled, recoiling. His arm was bleeding heavily.

"That's what you get," the boy with the now-bloody knife spit out. "Going against an eight-year-old."

"Why are you killing? We're so young!" the jade-green eyed girl cried out, running in front of them as the five-year-old boy slashed forward.

"No!" the younger girl screamed. "Jeanie!" Jeanie fell forward, her arm deeply cut. The boy with the knife gasped and raced forward, picking her up and carefully pulling her back.

"Nightcrawler, it's too much," the boy with the youngest girl in his arms said grimly. "We have to go." Nightcrawler spat furiously at the five-year-old boy and picked up Jeanie.

"Marie," the first boy said coldly to the girl in his arms, his coldness not directed at her but at himself for being too late. "We're going."

"But…River…" the girl whimpered. "How about Mama and Daddy?" River's eyes softened and his tears fell onto Marie's dark hair. He didn't answer.

"I will kill you all!" the five-year-old raged. "You'll pay!"

"We didn't do anything!" Nightcrawler shouted back. "We didn't do anything!"

"You did!" the seven-year-old yelled. "And you will pay!" Marie screamed in pain as a bullet grazed her shoulder.

"Marie!" Jeanie lifted her head. "Are you okay?"

"Get out of here," Nightcrawler hissed to River. "Get the girls out."

"We're going together," River growled stubbornly.

"Then c'mon!" Nightcrawler shouted, grabbing his arm and gripping Jeanie's hand. Marie gasped in pain once more as they raced for safety…wherever it would be.

"You self-murderer!" Marie screamed. "You killed your own parents! We had nothing to do with it!" For a four-year-old, she had a pretty good – or should I say bad – vocabulary.

"Marie, it's not worth it," River said quietly to his sister.

"I don't care! I want to kill him!" Marie cried, beating River's back with her fist.

"You can try, you stupid girl," the five-year-old spat sneeringly at her. Marie glared.

"We're leaving." Nightcrawler grabbed River's hand and they ran.

"Cyclops! Pyro! Iceman! Wolverine! Why are you letting them escape?" a furious man's voice yowled.

"They're not worth it," another boy spat.

"If you don't kill them, the secret will leak out!" the man yelled. "Get them now!"

"Fine, whatever." Another boy spoke and then a knife flew through the air.

"River!" Marie screamed. River stumbled forward and collapsed on the ground, blood pooling from his left shoulder. Marie was thrown forward, slamming against a tree. She stood up shakily, wiping the blood from her lip and wiping it off onto her blue skirt. Jeanie ran forward and used her scarf to soak up the blood from River that was on Marie away.

"Revenge is ours," the man jeered. "This time, you will not survive, River," Marie looked at her brother with horror glazing her eyes.

"Jeanie," Nightcrawler said warningly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Get Marie out of here while I'll get River away." Jeanie nodded, not stopping to question her cousin's odd behaviour.

"Marie," Jeanie said softly, "We have to go." Marie shook her head violently and only because of that did the weapon miss her—instead nestling in her hair.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, pulling it out of her dark hair. It was a glinting, jagged knife and the hilt was made of iron.

"Keep it," Nightcrawler advised. "It may prove useful."

"Sure," Marie agreed. Then to their surprise, the five-year-old came upon them, with a man in a shroud behind him.

"Time to kill the brother," the man sneered. "You're too late, Nightcrawler. What a pity—you could have stayed in the Assassin group and saved both yours and River's lives. Not to mention also perhaps the girls' lives as well."

"I chose this way of life—the good way of life—for a reason," Nightcrawler responded coldly. He pulled out a slender sword and swung, hitting a tree and toppling it over.

"You've gotten better," the man in the shroud smirked. "You should be proud."

"I am," Nightcrawler said steadily. "I'm proud now that my skill can be used for protecting instead of killing."

"Pity it will be wasted," the man sighed, almost as if he was thinking it was a pity.

"It will not be wasted," River spat, struggling to get up. The man kicked him in the head, sending him sprawling.

"River!" Marie screamed, dashing forward but was slapped away by the seven-year-old. His dark eyes glared at her and she trembled under his furious gaze.

"Run!" Nightcrawler yelled, giving Marie and Jeanie a push. "Get out of here!"

"No!" Marie cried. The five-year-old slammed into Marie, causing her to skid backwards. She shrieked and Jeanie grabbed her arm, dragging her quickly through the dark forest.

"Too bad," The man sighed. "Time to die, River."

"Die another day!" River spat. He sent his weapon, the end of his sword, at the man's face, revealing his identity. River gaped. "Y-you…"

"I thought we could trust you!" Nightcrawler accused, keeping an eye on the knife pointed threateningly towards him in the hand of the five-year-old.

"Trust is cheap." The man kicked River harshly in the head and River fell forward with a splash in his own blood.

"River…" Nightcrawler looked with weariness and almost no emotion as he watched his comrade leave his body—and the world—for a better place.

"You're alone." The man smirked, "Where to now, Nightcrawler?"

"Time to start fresh," Nightcrawler replied. As he took a small ball out of his pocket and threw it to the ground.

"Why didn't you use it before and save your life, boy?" the man shouted in outrage as he couldn't see from the smoke bomb. The five-year-old kept his ground, however, and lashed out at Nightcrawler, who fell back with a cry of pain.

"Mark my words," the boy growled, "I will find those two girls and kill the younger one." Nightcrawler groaned as he sat up.

"You can't kill her," Nightcrawler snarled as he managed to stand steady on his feet. "I'll be protecting her for as long as I live, and with my skills I'll live longer than River has." The other boy looked scornfully at River's dead body.

"Good luck, dead boy," he hissed.

Rouge sat up with a jolt, her head cradled in her arms as she gasped with the intense pain. Augh! Ow…no…go away…she cried silently.

That nightmare…

Rouge had always had that nightmare since she was young. Since it took place at night, she couldn't tell the features of the people in the shadowy dream.

But ever since she had seen John's face the dream had become even more vivid—and with the vivid memory came more intense pain.

"Rouge? Rouge? What's wrong?" Jean exclaimed, coming over and giving the younger girl a hug.

"It hurts…" the brunette whimpered. She cupped her shoulder. "It hurts…" Jean's jade eyes widened.

"Uh-oh," she whispered. "Rouge, did you have that nightmare again?"

"Yes…"

"What happened?"

"…Who's River?" Rouge asked tearfully. Jean bit her lip.

"River…do you mean Cody?" she countered evasively.

"No, Riv—Cody is River?" Rouge shouted. Jean threw her hand over the younger girl's mouth. Too late.

"Shut up!" she hissed, "Do you want everyone to know who Cody really was?" Jean was troubled. She had looked outside of the window and saw with growing horror that Scott and Bobby were for some reason stationed outside their window. She knew what was happening.

They were being hunted.

"W-what?" Rouge was at a loss. "River is Cody…Cody is River…" Her eyes widened in realization.

That nightmare…was about them.

this is just a chapter centered on the girls. it also explains the nightmare in one of the chapters. so Please Review and if you want answer the questions at the bottom.

so do you think Raven is still alive and who is the mysterious commander.

thanks for reading Natsori forevaX x