Chapter 1 – Kurt of the Atlantic
Author's notes – yay, reviews! Thank you for reviewing and/or adding my story to your favourites. Whyiseverythingtaken – I sincerely hope so, now I've more or less figured out what is going to happen in later chapters. Liz and shadowrider97 – as requested, here is the next section of this fic – enjoy!
Kurt followed the old man in silence as he led him outside. There, on the grass, was a small, two-seater black plane. The old man gestured for Kurt to get into the passenger side, and Kurt could see that he had little choice in the matter. He stepped inside as the old man got into the side with all of the fancy controls in front of him. Kurt stared at them for a moment, not entirely trusting either the plane or the man who clearly intended to fly it. The old man smiled at Kurt a little uncertainly. "I know that this is all new to you, Kurt, and I don't blame you for feeling uncertain about your future. Your mother and I do only wish that which is best for you," he said.
Kurt stared out of the window of the plane, and said nothing. If you really wanted what was best for me, he thought, as he watched the plane leave the ground, then you would leave me alone to get on with my life with my real family, rather than dragging me half way across the world.
They flew in silence for a long while, and Kurt watched his house, then Germany, then the whole of Europe, gradually vanish into the distance. He turned his attention back to the way that they were flying, staring at the sun, which did not seem to be setting. Well, we are travelling west, he reasoned, towards the setting sun. It still felt slightly weird, though, staring at the sun which did not seem to be moving at all.
The old man broke the silence, "My name is Magneto, and I am a friend of your real mother," he said.
No you're not, thought Kurt defiantly, my real mother is back in Bavaria, my real mother is the woman who raised me for as long as I can remember. You might well be a friend of the woman who gave birth to me, but she is not my real mother, and never will be.
They flew on in silence for a while longer. Kurt stared down at the Atlantic passing below them, more water than he had ever seen before, or even imagined. For the first half hour or so it had been quite mesmerising, staring down at the ocean, with the sun's rays reflecting upon the surface, but after a while it had become rather repetitive. He turned his attention back to the old man, who was staring ahead of him, but gave him a quick sideways glance. "You have a right to be curious, to feel disquiet at what you are being ordered to do," he said, sounding understanding, "now would be a good time to ask questions, since I am, in a sense, your captive audience, as I am yours."
Kurt narrowed his eyes. Maybe I don't want to talk to the person who has ordered me away from my home, has that occurred to you, Mr Magneto, he thought definitely. Instead, he decided that he would try a different method, "I…no speak the English…good…" he said, wondering if that would work.
"Really?" asked Magneto, sounding sceptical, "that is interesting, your parents informed me that you were practically fluent." He gave Kurt a quick uncertain look, but shrugged as he turned his attention back to the controls, "Then, if you would prefer, we will converse in German," he said, speaking perfect German.
Kurt cursed mentally. So he would not be able to get away from being interrogated by the old man by pretending that he lacked skills in English. He folded his arms, and glared at him for a moment. You're such a hypocrite, Magneto, he thought to himself, you're acting like you want us to be friends, when you are the one who has ordered me away from my old life. Still, perhaps now was a good time to talk to him, as he probably would not get another such opportunity once they arrived at their destination. "It's just… just that you don't know what it is like, to be forced away from your home, forced to go to a strange place, away from your friends and family, and everything that you have ever loved," he said.
"Yes," Magneto replied, "yes I do."
Kurt stared at him for a long moment. His face was stern, and gave nothing away, but there was a determination in those eyes, and Kurt got the distinct impression that the old man had seen rather too much in his long life, much of it unpleasant. He isn't lying, Kurt thought to himself, not about that anyway. And I don't think it would be right to question him further about it, however angry I might be feeling towards him right now. "But why now?" he asked, "I mean, after all of this time, why has my mother only wanted to meet with me now?"
"That, Kurt, is a very good question," Magneto replied, and was silent for a moment, as though considering carefully the best way to answer him, "there have been…developments recently," he spoke slowly, as though choosing every word with the necessary precision to tell Kurt just enough to satiate his curiosity, but not enough to inform him of too much too soon, "mutants have long had to hide themselves away from the rest of society for their own safety, but there was…an episode recently…where the existence of mutants was made public. This has led to feelings of concern for our safety," he cast a quick look at Kurt, "your safety," he added, "where you will be more likely to live and thrive if you are with your own kind. And of course you are old enough now to be able to understand the complexity of the situation, something your younger self may not have been able to do. There are those who wish to do us harm, and sometimes the only way to prevent them from doing so is to attack first, before our enemies get the chance to harm our kind. I am not sure that you would have been able to have understood the complexity of this situation before reaching the age that you are now."
Kurt narrowed his eyes. I am not stupid, Magneto, he thought. You're saying that you're the villain, but trying to make it out that you are the hero. "So you are a terrorist, you mean?" he asked, watching the old man's face carefully.
Magneto sighed, "It is true that your mother and I have been forced to take…morally questionable decisions in the past," he said carefully, "some…propaganda might indeed have labelled us as terrorists, but sometimes you do have to break a few eggs if you are to make omelettes, as the saying goes. Nothing valuable is ever achieved without some level of sacrifice, and this is especially true for mutant freedom."
"People are not omelettes," Kurt replied, staring at him angrily, "and innocent people being killed is not just an unfortunate event, like getting your clothes dirty when you play in the mud. You're talking about real people here, with their wants and hopes and dreams," he folded his arms across his chest, and waited for a long moment for Magneto to reply.
They flew on in silence for a while, and just when Kurt was sure that Magneto was not going to reply, so the old man finally seemed to formulate his answer, "We will do everything in our power to limit the number of innocents who are killed. But our freedom cannot be compromised, ultimately it is us against them. Our kind must come first, and I will put their safety above all else, no matter what."
"And just who is this 'us' you keep going on about?" Kurt demanded, "How many mutants are there in America, anyway?"
"That is not an easy question to answer," replied Magneto, "so many of our kind have had to hide for their own safety, that it is almost impossible to estimate how many of our kind there are, in America or elsewhere. Even Charles Xavier has admitted that there are likely to be mutants that he cannot locate, for even his powers are limited. But it is likely that mutants are on every continent, except perhaps Antarctica, and estimates have suggested that as many as one in ten people could have some form of mutant power or ability. I cannot be more precise than that."
"And just who is this Charles Xavier?" asked Kurt. Then, just to see how the old man would react, he added, "Is he your boyfriend?"
The old man cast him another sideways look, "A most…interesting hypothesis that you have come up with there," he said, again choosing his words carefully, "tell me, Kurt, if he is or was, would you care one way or the other?"
"No," Kurt replied, "I don't care what a couple of consenting old men get up to in the privacy of their own home, as long as they don't expect me to watch or to get involved."
Magneto gave him another quick look. Again, it seemed as if he was choosing his words carefully, and it was a long moment before he spoke, "Charles Xavier…is a brilliant man," he said, "academically at least, I have known none that could equal his abilities. But he is, has always been, something of an idealist, who cannot always understand the complexity of the situation, who does not always realise that there must be sacrifices if freedom for our cause is ever to be attained. But I was…still am, in awe of his abilities, and there are ways in which we were, in the past, closer to each other than either of us ever were to our respective wives."
You never give a straight answer to anything, do you? thought Kurt, although admittedly that was rather a private matter, and was not one that Magneto necessarily felt like talking about. Kurt looked down at the ocean, and towards where it met the sky. They continued flying westwards, like a tiny insect on a blue blanket. I could try to teleport, Kurt thought to himself, as he stared at the water below them, although he was fairly sure that it would not be a good idea to teleport from a moving vehicle. Besides, where would he go? There was just so much water below, it stretched on in all directions, seemingly going on forever. Kurt had never seen a body of water bigger than a large lake before. And the Pacific was even bigger, he thought, half a world practically, or the size of a small planet. He stared down at the water below him for a long moment, watching the sunlight as it played upon the water's surface. It was probably freezing, anyway, and he would need to be rescued by the enigmatic old man, if he tried anything stupid. He sat back, and stared ahead of himself defiantly. No, that was a stupid idea. Besides, he had told his parents – his real parents back in Bavaria – that he would email them when he reached America, which meant that he had to reach America in order to do that. There would be plenty of time for figuring out more about Magneto when they reached land.
"Get some sleep, Kurt," said Magneto, not unkindly, "America is several hours behind Germany, so you are likely to feel some level of jetlag when we finally make it over the Atlantic. It would be a good idea to get some sleep now, while you have a chance to rest."
"I don't trust you," Kurt replied, although in truth he did feel a bit sleepy, since he had not been able to get any sleep the night before, as he had been worrying about this encounter, this trip, "how do I know that you will not do anything bad to me while I sleep, if I were to fall asleep here and now?"
"If I had wanted to harm you, I could have done so long before now," Magneto told him, "in any case, you are a mutant, like me, and I have devoted my life to protecting our kind. I would gain nothing from harming you, and would lose much, since your real mother will be wanting to see that you are safe and well."
She's not my real mother, Kurt thought again, and never will be, no matter what you say. He stared down at the water once more. It was quite fascinating, watching it speeding away underneath them. He turned his attention back to Magneto, still not trusting him. Still, Magneto did make a valid point, and Kurt did feel tired. Maybe getting a few hours of sleep would not be such a bad idea after all. He felt himself slowly drift off to sleep, as the water continued to flow underneath him, and he continued to make his way westwards, towards the unknown.