Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution.

Sorry for the delay, but uni work and computer problems don't leave me with a lot of time.

Chapter Two – Arrivals

November 1999

Kitty was speechless.

There weren't really many things that could make her speechless, but this was one of them.

The X-Men as a whole were rarely what one would call quiet. However, due to the thickness of the walls, the hallways of the Institute were generally quite peaceful, except for a low murmur of what promised to be a lot of noise when you reached it.

The epicentre of this noise changed depending on what time of day it was and what day of the week it was.

Between seven and nine in the morning, it was the kitchen, unless it was a Saturday, in which case no one was of any use until after eleven o'clock and several mugs of coffee.

Early evening, it was the living room, especially on Saturdays, when the students would gather for a movie night.

During the rest of the day, during the winter, it was the rec room.

And so it was with great shock that Kitty found the majority of the noise at two o'clock in the afternoon in the kitchen. In fact, she'd never even seen this much activity in the mornings.

Finally, she managed to find her voice, however weak that voice may have been. "What the hell is going on?"

"Well, since we've got so much grill food in the pantry, we thought we'd have a party." Jean explained, shoving a basket of bread rolls into Kitty's arms as she passed.

"Oh, you need any help?" Kitty asked.

"NO!"

"It's nothing personal, Kitty." Jean assured her, hastily adding to the collective shout. "It's just that … well … you and kitchens don't exactly work well together."

Kitty sighed. "I'd be insulted if that wasn't true. Is there anything I can do that doesn't involve cooking?"

"Well, you could set the Danger Room up." Jean suggested.

Kitty did a double-take, pausing in the act of floating the rolls into the dining room. "We're eating in the Danger Room?"

"Well, Bayville might notice if the weather suddenly changes from snow to sun and it's too cold to eat outside." Jean pointed out. "So we decided to use a simulation instead."

"Oh, good idea." Kitty commented. "I'll go sort that out."

"I'll come with you." Carole offered. "I'm not the best cook either."

"You're better than me then." Kitty joked. "When the mansion blew up, the only thing that survived was the crack in the floor caused by Kurt dropping one of my muffins." As she let the door swing shut behind her, she heard Bobby curse at letting her beat him to it. "Did Lorna show you the lower levels?"

"No." Carole shook her head. "And, I must admit, I'm a little intrigued."

Kitty chuckled, calling the elevator, the bread rolls tucked under her arm. "Yeah, most people are." As the doors closed on them, she couldn't help but feel uneasy.

As though reading her mind, Carole sighed. "You don't like me, do you?"

Kitty started. "Why would you say that?" She knew it was a stupid question, but decided she should at least try to keep up appearances.

Carole shrugged. "You just seem a little cold towards me; that's all."

Kitty smiled tightly, giving up the charade. "It's not that I don't like you, Carole. But my instincts are never wrong and they're telling me that you're hiding something. Now I'll be the first to admit that I've been a little paranoid since Liam was born, so it's probably something small and inconsequential. But if that secret does anything to hurt anyone in this team, you will have me to answer to."

Carole nodded hastily. "I know." Her voice wavered ever so slightly. "But I'm not going to do anything like that."

Kitty's smile became more genuine. "Then we'll be fine. Like I said, I'm probably paranoid." The elevator doors opened and she led the way down the corridor. "The infirmary and Bella's apartment is that way," she jerked her head back in the direction they'd just come from, "and everything else is this way. That's the gym. That's the mainframe; Cerebro's in the next room …"

"What is Cerebro?" Carole asked curiously. "I keep hearing about it …"

"Cerebro is a computer created by Professor Xavier." Kitty explained. "It's powered by telepathy and picks up the mental signatures of mutants across the world. Not everyone we contact joins the Institute though."

"Is there a reason why I was never contacted?" Carole asked curiously.

"Well …" Kitty shrugged. "There could be any number of reasons. It could be that your aunt – it was your aunt, right?"

Carole nodded.

"It could be that we did contact her and she turned down our assistance. It could be that your powers were too weak to show up to start with and Cerebro picked you up while we were dealing with Apocalypse or the big reveal in '96 …" Kitty trailed off. "We're not infallible, unfortunately. Anyway, the Danger Room is in here, but we want the control room for now."

She pressed a button in the wall and the door slid open, revealing a dark staircase. The two women made their way to the top, emerging into the bright control room.

Kitty laid a hand on the activation panel, making sure it had registered her identity, and created a new simulation, immediately setting the danger levels to zero: nothing killed the mood of a picnic quite like giant robots or lasers attacking you.

"Park or grounds." She asked aloud.

"Visitors." Carole responded.

Kitty glanced at her. "I don't think they'd appreciate that."

Carole shook her head and pointed at the surveillance monitor. "No, we've got visitors."

Sure enough the screen showed two young women standing at the gates, eyeing the intercom warily.

"So we do." Kitty watched them hesitate for a few minutes, before pressing the button on the control panel that would turn on the intercom. "Welcome to the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. Can I help you?"

"We managed to meet outside and we've both got mutant powers." A female voice stated confidently. "And it's cold."

"Come in." Kitty told them, pressing the button to open the gates. She quickly finished the simulation, settling on a park. "Do me a favour and tell the others."

"Sure." Carole agreed, as Kitty teleported out to the front driveway.

As she hurried towards the gates, Kitty threw a glance over her shoulder. Despite their rather candid conversation, she still felt no better.

There's something not right about that girl.

Shaking it off for the time being, Kitty plastered a bright smile on her face and waved to the two visitors, mentally assessing them as she did.

The first girl was several years younger than Kitty, and seemed more apprehensive than scared, even if it still showed in her expression. She had wavy blonde hair and blue eyes, and there was something familiar about her, although Kitty couldn't put her finger on what.

The second girl was redhead with a bright smile, but her confidence seemed almost manufactured, a bit like Ray and Tabby's was, Kitty noted, as though she was used to depending on herself and no one else, and needed that extra protection from the world.

"Hi, I'm Kitty Pryde; welcome to the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters."

"Hi." The redhead held her hand out, her voice immediately confirming her as the speaker. "I'm Sarah Rushman."

Kitty shook her hand. "I've heard that name somewhere before. No, don't tell me." She closed her eyes, trying to picture the circumstances … she was sure it had something to do with Evan's power surge, while Ororo was hysterical … "Ray." She concluded. "Ray mentioned it. You were with the Morlocks, right?"

Sarah nodded. "We were best friends. And then he just disappeared on us."

Kitty gave her a sympathetic smile. "I know the feeling. What about you, sweetie?" She asked the blonde.

"I'm Paige. Paige Guthrie."

That's why she looks so familiar. "Of course, you're Sam's sister!" Kitty turned towards the house, stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled sharply. "Yo, Sammie-Boy, get out here!"

Despite their distance from the actual house, the piles of snow everywhere created an echo that sent her voice reverberating through the grounds.

Doors and windows flew open, heads popped out and, just as Kitty was getting ready to yell again, in her head this time (which would probably have been the smarter thing to do the first time), another cry sounded and Sam cannonballed over, barrelling into his sister and almost knocking her over.

Kitty winced on her behalf, glad that Sam had more control over his powers now, and called again, this time telepathically. Ray, you'd best get down here as well.

A second later, another shout went up and Ray sprinted over, grabbing Sarah in a tight hug and spinning her in a circle. "Sarah! What are you doing topside?"

"Same thing you are, silly!" Sarah laughed. "Joining the X-Men. And would it have killed you to call once in a while?"

"It's nothing personal." Kitty assured her, saving Ray from the need to answer. "Men never call when they're supposed to." She shot Lance an annoyed look as he approached with Liam.

"Oh, what did I do now?" Lance groaned.

"Aww." Paige cooed from her side. "How old?"

"Two months." Kitty answered, taking her son into her arms. "Liam. Would you like to hold him?"

Paige nodded eagerly, carefully cradling the baby. "He's so cute."

Sam looked worried. "No. Put him back."

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Relax, Sam. Last I checked, motherhood's not contagious."

"What did I do?" Lance repeated.

"Nothing." Kitty smiled sweetly at him. "Just sympathising with Sarah about people who don't call and let you know they're alright."

"Still?" Lance sighed. "Are you ever gonna let that go?"

"Of course." Kitty assured him. "It's forgiven and forgotten."

"Don't listen to her." Scott hissed. "Women never let anything go."

"Oh, for heaven's sake …" Jean swatted her husband's arm. "I'm beginning to regret helping you two patch things up; now you just gang up on us!"

"We do not!" The two protested, but any further argument or disagreement was halted before it began by a sudden, bone-chilling scream echoing from the house.

"Okay, you all heard that too, right?" Paige asked nervously.

"Yeah." Sam pushed her behind him. "What was that?"

"I don't know." Lance took Liam back, soothing him as he recovered from the shock of being woken so suddenly.

"Me neither." Lexa narrowed her eyes. "But I think we're about to find out."

Sure enough, Pietro arrived in a gust of wind, looking shell-shocked and deathly white.

"What happened?" Lance demanded.

"Wanda …" Pietro answered shakily. "It broke …"

"Shit." Todd muttered, taking several hasty steps backwards. He wasn't the only one; Tabitha's face turned a greyish colour, Fred closed his eyes and Lucie seemed to wobble on her feet, grasping Todd's shoulder for support.

"What broke?" Kitty asked. "What happened?"

Pietro swallowed hard. "Well, you know how Wanda suddenly mellowed out and … and …"

"Lost her homicidal urges?" Bobby finished, seeing him lost for description.

Pietro glanced at Todd. "Well, most of them, yeah. Well, Father may have had Mastermind … mess with her memories a bit."

Before Kitty or Lexa could let rip at him, Evan jumped in. "Nah, he can't have done. We talked about it back in February; she knew …"

"No, he didn't, you know, completely rewrite her memories." Lance interrupted. "We think that's what he was trying to do, but we got there before he could. She just thinks it was a normal hospital instead of … padded walls and straight-jackets. We did try to stop him," he repeated hastily, seeing the expression on Kitty's face, "but we couldn't and she was so much calmer afterwards …"

"Was this before or after we cleaned Pietro's head out?" Jean asked calmly.

"Before." Lance sighed.

"Look, this is all very interesting," Lexa rolled her eyes, "but shouldn't we focus on the fact that Wanda now thinks her brother stabbed her in the back rather than left her in a hospital because he was worried about her."

"I was worried …" Pietro began to protest.

"I think you've done enough!" Lexa snapped, causing him to flinch slightly.

"Maybe I should talk to her." Evan suggested quietly, catching everyone's attention.

"You?" Scott asked incredulously. "Why? Surely Anna would be a better idea; they get along. Or Lucie …"

"No, the boys warned me when I got there." Lucie shook her head, looking guilty. "She'll know."

"And I've been underground most of the time." Evan pointed out. "So I've had the least to do with the whole thing and I knew her from before."

"I think he's right." Pietro agreed.

"Alright then." Scott clapped Evan on the back. "Good luck, Spyke."

Evan nodded solemnly and strode towards the mansion. Bobby bowed his head. "A moment of silence for our fallen comrade."

His fiancée rolled her eyes. "Nothing's happened yet."

"It will." Bobby stated with certainty. "Just you wait."

"Okay, I'm hopelessly confused." Carole admitted. "What just happened?"

As Kitty took Carole and the two newcomers aside to explain, Lexa pretended to ignore the man standing beside her.

"Lex? Come on, please talk to me …"

"You should have told her." Lexa whispered. The whole idea of institution and incarceration hit too close to home and she had to hold back a shudder.

"Lexa …" Pietro reached for her, but she moved away, unwilling to give in just yet. "Lex, she was trying to kill him before; I was worried she'd do something stupid if we told her, something that would get her taken away again or hurt or … It's not like he made her thought she had a perfect childhood or anything … I would've stopped him if I could, I swear."

"Alright," Lexa whispered, "I forgive you. But only because I don't have the energy to stay mad at you and this has brought up some bad memories."

In a split-second, she was in his arms. She wondered why he hadn't done that before, but dismissed the thought almost immediately as he pulled her head to rest on his chest. "I love you, Lexa." He murmured into her hair. "I'd never do anything to hurt you. You know that."

"I know." Lexa responded. "That doesn't mean I'll stop her from hurting you though."

"Dammit." Pietro sighed. "Never mind."

Meanwhile, Evan wasn't nearly as confident as he pretended he was and that act dropped as soon as he was out of sight, especially as he neared Wanda's room. He could feel her powers sending out pulses of emotion through the air and he barely got down the corridor without falling.

Finally he reached the closed door and knocked softly. "Wanda? Listen, I know you're upset. And I know why you're upset; I don't blame you. But you've got to believe me – we didn't know. At least, the X-Men didn't know."

Deciding to forgo the Brotherhood for the moment, he dropped to sit against the wall, bracing himself for any hex that might get thrown at him. "Your father was out of line, Wanda. I know that. What he did was terrible. But we had nothing to do with it."

When nothing changed, Evan decided to see if he could get her to talk to him first and sort the others out later. "I had nothing to do with it, Wanda. Can you let me in? I'm the only one here, I swear. Everyone else is outside."

When he still got no response, Evan stood up. Maybe I should get Lorna; she's been stabbed in the back by Magneto as well, after all.

He didn't realise he'd said it out loud.

Not until the door opened.

"Wait …"

Never before had he seen her like this.

There was no anger. There was no rage.

There was simply pain.

Pure, unadulterated pain.

Magneto had done the impossible.

He had broken her.

AN: Review please!