August 19, 1992

David took a deep breath. He wished that he could get to sleep, but it felt impossible to relax. There was too much that had happened that night. Too much had changed, and it had happened far too fast. It felt like fireworks had gone off in his head, leaving sparks in their wake.

Next to him Sharon shifted. David smiled and adjusted his hand on her arm. Some of her hair was tickling his cheek, and it felt soothing. She'd had no problem getting to sleep. Then again, she wasn't worried about the same things that he was.

She didn't know that his brother's biological mother was back in his life. She wasn't worried about that. Sharon hadn't just heard that, despite everything he'd believed, he was considered trustworthy by the X-men. It was just more confirmation that the only one who'd seen him as damaged and broken was himself. He envied her that.

Sharon moved again, cuddling in closer to him. David smiled. He wondered just when she'd become so important to him. How had things changed so much since he'd first really seen her, a little girl with white hair hiding under a bed? They had slowly built a friendship as children, something that had turned deeper with each passing year. Perhaps it was inevitable that the two of them would end up together.

His talk with his father had brought some things into clarity. If he'd talked to him sooner, than maybe he would have been with Sharon longer. It was strange to think of his father as being like him, a young man with horrible insecurities. He'd found a way around them though, found the courage to marry his mother and try to begin life again.

In his own way, David was trying to begin his life again. He was trying to change things, to not be that bitter child anymore. He knew that twenty-two was young to start talking about beginning again, but he had to begin somewhere. He'd needed to restart things for awhile.

David?

He closed his eyes.

Jean, what is it?

We're going to go back to the Institute, Jean thought, We need you to oversee the evacuation.

Where to? David thought.

Washington. More specifically, Hank, Jean thought, Calvin and Clarice are here. With Kurt's help they might be able to get most of the students out of here fairly soon.

David rubbed his forehead.

And you're leaving me in charge of that? he asked.

You're the best candidate, Jean said, We're going to need someone to make sure that everything's okay. We're going to leave Remy with you in case they attack again.

I can't imagine that he's happy about that, David thought.

He isn't, Jean thought, But we need someone here in case something happens. Alex, Sean, Terry, and Deadpool should be down here pretty soon. We need someone to help coordinate them when they do.

Got it, David thought.

He let out a slow breath.

Jean?

Yes?

I know I don't really need to tell you this but...find my parents, okay? David asked.

Of course.

He got up. Sharon opened her eyes as David sat up.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"Not really," he said, "They're evacuating the students to your dad's. Clarice and Calvin are here, so they have a good shot at getting it done soon."

He yawned and stretched. A thought occurred to David and he laughed.

"You're probably going to be in the first group to go home," he said.

Sharon rolled her eyes.

"I'm one of the most mature people here," she said, "You can't do this alone."

"No, we can't," David said.

He grabbed his coat and put it on.

"I'd better wake up Kurt," he said, "They'll need him too. I hope he's had enough rest. They'll need him to do some of the teleporting. He did just finish marathoning his way down to Boston."

"Do you think he can get to Washington and back with several people?" Sharon asked.

She sounded skeptical. David didn't blame her. He was too.

"No," David said, "I think he can get himself to Washington along with several people though. Then he can stay there."

Sharon smiled.

"You really don't think he can take care of himself out here, do you?" she asked, "After the battle in the square?"

"He can take care of himself physically," David said, "I know that much."

"But not mentally?" Sharon asked.

David paused. Sharon sat next to him and wrapped her arm around his shoulder.

"Kurt's pretty strong," she said.

"I know," David said.

"Then what are you worried about?" Sharon asked.

He bit his lip. He wanted to tell her the truth about Kurt. He knew she knew that Kurt was adopted. Sharon had never looked through the Brotherhood dossier though. There had never been any need. She'd never wanted to be an X-man.

It was good that she didn't. She was tough. She'd been tough ever since she was a little girl running around in overalls. Yet, he understood that she was going to be better at being a politician than she would at being an X-man.

The same thing had happened to her father. He'd been a good X-man, but a fantastic doctor and a man who had done a lot for Mutant Rights. His destiny lay beyond the X-men in doing things that were more important to the mutant cause than being a soldier for it. The same had been true for Warren.

They had progressed to the point where they didn't all need to be soldiers anymore. Sharon was a good fighter, she had natural talent and he'd seen that, but she was better at being who she was: a clever, politically aware, brave woman.

So she didn't know. She didn't know about the time David had gone down and found his brother in tears, how he'd cut open their hands and declared them blood brothers. He had never told her about that, never told anyone.

More than that, Kurt didn't know that Mystique was his biological mother. The less people who knew about Kurt's background, the better. Kurt had chosen not to investigate his biological parents. He had chosen to simply call himself Charles and Moira's son. That desire should be respected.

The fact that it lined up with David's wishes for Kurt to be nothing more than his brother was an added bonus.

"David?"

He snapped back to the present. David smiled and kissed Sharon's cheek. He settled for a half-truth.

"I'll always worry about him," David said, "He's my brother."


"Are you holding up okay?" Kurt asked.

Amanda nodded, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Better than I expected anyway," she said.

Kurt smiled. They'd both napped for a while, but it had seemed so confining inside of the tent. The two of them had gone outside for some fresh air. They'd settled on one of the trees near one of the patrol points. It was safe enough, and Kurt could always teleport them away if something happened.

"You've been...really understanding," Kurt said.

Amanda shrugged.

"It's not like I could do much else," she said, "I didn't have a choice really."

"Yes, you did," Kurt said.

He clasped his hand around her wrist. Amanda kissed him on the side of his jaw.

"Not if I wanted to keep you," she said.

Kurt blushed, but wrapped his tail around her waist. He wanted to keep her close. They'd had a couple of close calls in the square. Amanda leaned her head back.

"You grew up around here?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, "I grew up in the Institute itself, but that's kind of far from here."

It had also been invaded by a mad scientist. He wished he could show Amanda what it had been like before that. He might get a chance when things had calmed down a bit. He hoped so. It had been a sanctuary for so many years.

"I played around here though," Kurt said, "This land's been in my family for several generations."

Amanda nodded and looked around.

"It's pretty," she said.

She looked up.

"I spent a lot of my childhood moving in cities," she said, "You don't get to see the stars there like you do in the country. It's beautiful."

From their left they heard heavy footsteps. Kurt saw Remy coming up to them, his head bowed and his teeth gritted together. He glanced at the two of them before leaning up against a tree.

"Dis be a patrol point," he said, "Ya might wanna scat."

His voice was sharp and angry.

"Remy, is something wrong?" Kurt asked.

"Nuthin's wrong," Remy said.

"Remy, whatever it is, it's okay," Kurt said.

Remy snorted and hit the ground with his bo staff.

"Yeah, it be okay," Remy said, "Dey just leave Remy here when dey could use all da people dey can get."

"What do you mean?" Kurt asked.

Remy snorted again.

"Da X-man are gonna start evacuating da students," he said, "An Remy has ta stay behind ta help."

Kurt unwound his tail and arms from Amanda.

"How are they planning on doing that?" he asked.

"Rankins are here," Remy said, "Gonna start teleportin people out."

"I should help with that," Kurt said.

"You got exhausted after you went to Boston," Amanda said, "I highly doubt you're in any position to do too much more."

Remy raised his eyebrows. Kurt gave him a sheepish look. Remy rolled his eyes.

"Never mind," he said, "Well, dey did wantcha ta help. More dan dey wanted Remy ta do."

"You can't take it that way," Kurt said.

"How else?" Remy said, "Apparently Remy still ain't good enough for da X-men."

Kurt wanted to tell Remy that he was wrong, that Scott valued him. He wasn't sure how to tell him without sounding pitying though. As he sought something to say there were footsteps. He saw Boom-Boom come up, along with some other members of the Brotherhood.

"Hey, we should start coordinating how we want to do this," Boom-Boom said.

Toad stood next to her, looking casually at Remy. After a moment he saw Kurt. His eyes bulged and his mouth opened.

"Zaz?" he said.

Kurt frowned and got up. Amanda got up next to him, looking warily at the Brotherhood. He'd given her a brief overview of who they were. She'd already known a bit about Magneto from the news.

"What was that?" he asked.

Emma Frost gave him a long look before bursting into laughter. Toad continued to goggle at him. Remy made a face.

"Whatever da hell you two be goin through, we best get started," he said.

"Magneto?" Emma called, "I think you should see this."

Kurt gripped Amanda's hand tighter. Magneto stepped around some of the tents, looking frustrated and angry. He looked at Kurt and the emotions melted off his face into something more thoughtful. It creeped Kurt out.

"I see," Magneto said.

Emma began laughing again.

"What's going on?" Kurt asked.

Emma covered her mouth with her hand.

"I mean...he's...you're..." Toad spluttered.

"My brother."

David walked up his eyes hard. Sharon walked behind him, looking about as confused as Kurt felt. David stepped in front of the Brotherhood, blocking Kurt from their view. He crossed his arms and looked Magneto in the eye.

"My name's David Xavier," David said, his voice cold, "And that's my brother, Kurt."

"Really," Magneto said.

David's eyes narrowed.

"Yes," he said, "Really."