Legend: Thoughts = <>

Stray thoughts = ()

Flashback **

Com links []

Ok, guys, all the disclaimers apply, that means all thanks goes to Marvel

For the X-Men, I'm just making the story. And I do read all the other

Stories and they're great, keep up the good work. They inspire me!

"What's the emergency?" I asked, coming into the crowded War Room.

I stopped at the sight of Raiden. She smiled up at me but I couldn't find the energy to smile back. I was fighting hard enough to not kick her ass.

"What's she doing here?" I asked sharply.

"Connor's missing." She said quickly.

"He's...what?" I asked.

"I had surgery and when I got out, he was gone." Raiden said.

"Maybe he saw the light." I said.

"Perhaps he is just gone." Ororo offered.

"He wouldn't leave me, not after everything we've been through." Raiden said.

"You had surgery?" Ororo asked, worried.

"I have cancer."

First pang of guilt.

"After I got stabbed, I found out I had cancer." Raiden confessed.

"Good Lord, you were stabbed?" Beast asked.

Raiden and I looked at each other. Emma gasped.

"What?" Scott asked, "Who stabbed you."

"I did." I said, causing a mass of audible gasps.

"Pane, you did such a thing?" Ororo asked, mortified.

"Yes." I said.

The looks I was getting were ranging from mortified to understanding.

"You didn't know?" Raiden asked.

"No, we had no idea." Emma said.

"Why would you do such a thing?" Ororo asked.

"She stabbed me first." I said.

There was another round of audible gasps.

"I went bad." Raiden said, "I hurt him and a lot of other people, but I've changed."

"She stabbed me and I almost died." I said.

"But..." Beast said.

"Don't ask me how. But I almost died." I said quickly, "Do we have any leads on Connor?"

"Nurse says that she saw a double, two of him." Scott explained, "Means we have a shifter."

"Means we got Mystique." Logan growled.

"Mystique? Why would she want him?" Raiden asked.

"Emma has a lock on him, it took some doing but we got a location." Scott explained.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"Oklahoma." Emma said quickly.

I looked at him oddly, "As in the state? The state in which I inhabit?" I asked.

"Your hometown." Emma said pointedly.

"We need to get there ASAP." Scott said, still taken aback by the new information, "If you want to go..."

"Good." I said, "Let's go."

On the plane ride, all I could do was worry about was my family. Something about this just didn't feel right. It felt odd and I felt out of place. The thoughts haunted me, gnawing at my consciousness. How could he be in Oklahoma? I loved my small town, but I would never think of it as a place to take a hostage. New York was a big place, plenty of places to hide, so why the excursion to the one place that would get whoever caught the fastest. I was in deep thought, staring out the window, when I felt someone sit beside me.

"Summers..." I said turning to see Raiden, "Not Summers."

"No." Raiden said, "It's me."

"Whaddya want?" I asked.

"I know, what I did was awful. Beyond awful, but I'm trying to make amends." Raiden said, giving a weak smile.

"Doesn't make anything you did right." I said quickly.

"No, I can't take back all the bad things. I can only promise to do good things." Raiden said, "Besides, I'm getting what I deserve."

"What?" I asked.

"This cancer, it won't go away." Raiden chuckled. It wasn't a funny chuckle; it was a sunken, sad one.

"I can't say either way." I said, "I'm not God, not even close."

Raiden took a deep breath, "He stayed with me through it all." She said.

"He's loyal to you like that." I said.

"Just to me?" Raiden asked.

I frowned, "Yes." I said, "He's got this thing for you."

Raiden chuckled, "Can you forgive me?" she asked.

"Honestly, I'm not sure." I said quickly, "We exchanged stab wounds."

"You heal fast." Raiden said.

"Not all the time." I said, not thinking.

"We're here." Ororo announced.

-           

I stood in the middle of my house. It was empty. The family was out. I called and they indicated that they had gone to the City, or Oklahoma City, and they wouldn't be back for a few hours. So here I was, in the middle of the house. Suddenly, everything began to levitate and paintings and wall fixings flew everywhere. I tried to will it all to stop, but it wouldn't. Suddenly, the walls cracked open and bile spewed out along with some huge bugs! I looked on in fear, trying to figure out exactly what was going on! I slipped on the bile and fell to the floor, careful not to touch any of the bugs, who seemed to be making a bee-line for me. There were whispers and they were all talking at the same time. That, paired with the bugs and bile, caused me to sink to my knees with my hands over my head.

I stood again, this time my palms open at my side, "That all ya got?" I asked, "I didn't even break a sweat!"

There was a huge explosion that rocked me off my feet, to which I got up again. I was lifted into the air by an invisible force and there was intense pain in my whole body! I kneeled on one knee and looked forward.

"Not even a scream?" Mega smirked, "I see we got those eyes to blacken, not in the way I had hoped but..."

I spun around, knocking his feet from under him, "You son of a bitch!" I shouted.

Mega chuckled and stood, wiping the blood from his lip, "I always liked just how feisty you are." He said.

"Just wait." I said, throwing my hands in his direction and causing him to fly backwards!

Mega stood, this time his smile faded a bit. He disintegrated into sand and dispersed in the room. I looked around, trying to find him, but I couldn't.

"No fair, I want to turn into air." I said, looking around. I took a step forward to feel the softness of sand against my face.

"You missed your friends." His voice echoed.

I felt like I got hit by a truck because the next thing I knew, I broke through the wall, falling to the ground, "Yes." I groaned.

"You like them. They are your comfort." Mega's voice came again.

"I can miss them without liking them." I said, coughing up blood onto the linoleum.

"So brittle, fragile even." Mega said, materializing, "Fighting a battle you can't help but lose. You inspire something within me."

"Fear."

"Amusement." He said, "You were never particularly close to one of my donors."

"Donor's?" I asked.

"The owners of these bodies before I, each one of them had wants and fears and memories. This one's memories of you were..."

"You're not him." I whispered.

"No! I'm not." He said, "I am no one and everyone. I am the dark just before the light. I am an amalgamation of every fear that is feared."

"Fuck you." I said, spitting more blood onto the floor.

"This is my last gift, there will be no more mercy." He frowned, "The person you knew ends here."

"The person I knew...died in space." I said angrily.

There was a knocking on the door and Mega threw his hand at it, causing it to shatter.

"Your power, as always, is unique." Mega said, leaving through the back door.

I sighed and lay my head on the linoleum, trying to absorb what him blowing up the door meant. He had absorbed my power, but he hadn't killed me. I breathed a breath of relief and choked a little.

"Oh God, we need to get him to the hospital." Scott's voice panicked.

Emma <Pane, relax, we're here now. Sleep.>

I closed my eyes and took another breath.

-         

I awoke to find myself in the familiar metallic room that I'd been in so many times before. My head was spinning and I couldn't stop it. It spun so fast and so hard...I barely caught my brain before it imploded. The room stopped with a sudden, clear view of the world.

"You're awake." Raiden said.

"How's Connor?" I asked, "Was he even there?"

Raiden nodded, "He was being tortured. He's still trying to deal with that." She said, "Richard called, he knows you're back."

I looked down, "I just got my ass handed to me." I frowned.

"Yes, you did." Raiden said.

"Something is wrong." I said, "Very wrong."

"What do you mean?" Raiden asked.

"Something just changed." I frowned.

"Maybe I have something to do with that." A young man said stepping into our view. The man bore a striking resemblance to...to me, but lighter. He wore a medium size afro and was wearing jeans with a zipped up leather coat.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm your son." He said.