Welcome to Gaia! ::

Its about mutants, and since mutants are from xmen, I guess its sort of a fanfic.

Enjoy!


He sat high on his perch atop the church’s cathedral roof staring moodilyout on the rapidly setting sun. The deep blues and purples appeared to meltinto the black shape of the mountains and hillsides of Romania. He kept himself from shuddering as the memories of his past eight years in the experimenting lab assaulted him once again.

Once again he smelled the acrid smell of antiseptic and the taste of ironinhis mouth. He felt the sensation of the needles plunging into his arms and the liquid fire entering his veins all over again. Then the images of his brother and sister’s deaths flashed in his mind. He covered his ears in an attempt to drown out the horrible shrieks that filled his mind and came back every time he remembered. It was worse torture than what the scientists did to him when he was a test subject for the military.

Everything that had been done to him had been done for one reason, one that most people wouldn’t believe until they saw the scars and the wings on his back. The scientists had attempted to use him to create a “perfect warrior” but they hadn’t succeeded, much to Val’s relief. They had tried to make him devoid of all emotions but they had failed when they forced him to watch his brother and sister’s deaths at the hands of one of their torturers.

It was then that Val had snapped and his mutant powers had emerged. Because he had no control over his powers he couldn’t stop himself until after he had destroyed the torturer and the scientist that was in charge of the whole project. Only after this happened did he see what his powers had done to the two men. The damage that had been done was so horrible that he had put up a mental block so to this day he wouldn’t be able to
remember what they had looked like after he had used his powers. He had promised himself that he wouldn’t use his powers again until he knew how to use them.

But it had been too late for his brother and sister. They had died during the
moments that he had been destroying their torturer and the head scientist. He had been so overcome with grief that he hadn’t noticed that the other scientists and guards were fleeing for their lives. When he had finally pulled himself together, he had freed the other subjects from their cells and then had destroyed the facilities so that they could never be used to torture or experiment on mutants ever again.

“Hey you, what are you doing up there?”

Val was rather startled to be brought out of his memories so abruptly. He glanced
down and saw that it had been a portly built priest that had yelled up at him.

“I was watching the sunset, father.” He replied respectfully.

“Well get down from there! If you fell and got hurt, it wouldn’t be good for you,
your family, or the church!” The priest exclaimed irritated.

“I don’t have parents.” Val replied as he started to descend the ladder that the
priest had leaned up against the lower part of the cathedral roof.

“Oh.” He heard the priest say in a rather mortified tone.

Just then the wind rushed around Val, causing his trench coat to go flying up
around his arms, revealing the leathery bat wings that grew out of the middle of his back.
Val jumped to the ground and pulled his trench coat down. He turned around and saw
that the priest was staring at him with a shocked look on his face.

“Y-you’re a…a…”

“Mutant? Yeah.”

The priest stared at him wide eyed with shock not saying a word. Val couldn’t help but wonder what the priest would do now that he knew his secret. He hoped that the priest would at least give him an hour’s head start before he called in his appearance. Val was pretty sure that because of what he had done to the scientist and the torturer that the army would consider him dangerous and want him dead for what he had done.

“Come inside, you must be famished.” The priest finally said.

“You’re not the least bit afraid of what I could do to you?” Val asked skeptically.

“Well considering that you didn’t kill me when I found out that you were a
mutant, I don’t think that you’re that dangerous.”

“That’s were you’re wrong, father. I’ve been taught to kill men with my bare
hands, and I could kill you if I had a cause to.”

“Well I’ll just have to make sure that I don’t give you a reason to want me dead then, won’t I?”

“You are a weird one.” Val said shaking his head at the elderly priest.

“No, just a man that sympathizes with mutants, though I’ve never actually seen one this close before.” He admitted.

“Why would you sympathize with my kind?”

“Because scientists do horrible things to them, all in the name of science and it shouldn’t be permitted. They get away with murder and torture of young children because they have the mutant gene and it’s wrong. I believe that all people, whether they’remutants or not are equal in God’s sight and should have the same rights.” The priest replied passionately.

“Don’t say anything, one of the brothers is coming towards us.” The priest
suddenly warned.

Val turned and saw a tall man with brown hair and blue eyes dressed in a course brown habit, like the priest’s walking towards them. When the brother got there, he looked Val over thoroughly before he turned to the priest and asked.

“Is he a mutant, Father Thomas?”

Val almost sucked in his breath at this question but caught himself before he could give himself away. Father Thomas gave him a knowing look and said.

“This is Brother Michael; he’s a mutant sympathizer here in the church’s
community, like me. Oh, I don’t believe that I caught your name.”

“Val.”

“That’s it?” Brother Michael asked with a slight frown.

“Valiant Mordell.” He complied.

Both men looked as thought they had been hit by a load of bricks when he said this. They quickly altered their expressions and looked at each other in stunned silence and then back at him. Val felt caution rise in him at their reaction and couldn’t help but wonder what was being said about him.

“The authorities say that you killed thirty men in cold blood before you escaped.” Brother Michael commented.

“T hat’s not true, I only killed two men. One was the head scientist and the other was the man that tortured my twin brother and younger sister until they died.” Val
replied.

“But why would he do such a thing?” Father Thomas asked horrified.

“Because they learned that their mutant powers would make them impossible to control in the way he wanted to. I guess the scientists were afraid that my siblings would become a danger to human kind. It seems when something is feared it’s destroyed before it has a chance to prove it’s not as bad as it was first believed to be,” Val replied.

“Though it also could have been the fact that the head scientist was a sadistic psychopath which was why he had it done.” He add rather bitterly.

“Well, we’ll have to get you out of Romania, there are soldiers looking all over for you. Its’ said that their orders are to shoot you on sight.” Brother Michael informed him.

“It figures. Where would I go though? I don’t know anyone that lives anywhere else but in Romania.” Val said.

“America would be the best place for you to go. We have contact with a mutant association that teaches young mutants like yourself how to harness their powers and use them for the good of others.” Brother Michael informed him.

“But how would I get there? I’d never be able to get on a plane to get out of here, they’re too heavily guarded by soldiers, and I’d get caught before the plane ever took off!”

“Don’t worry about that, just hope that there won’t be a raid on the monastery before tomorrow night.”

Val awoke with a jolt. There were yelling voices, stampeding feet, and sounds of guns going off nearby. He shuddered and took a quick peek out of the window near his bed. What he saw made his heart jump in his chest. A soldier aimed a gun in at him and ordered him to climb out of the recently debarred window. Val did as he was told, leaving his trench coat in a heap in the floor of the room.


A look of utter horror etched its way onto the soldier’s face when he caught sight of the eight-foot long bat wings growing out of Val’s back. Val took that moment to rip the gun out of the soldier’s hands. He whipped it around in one fluid motion and aimed it at the soldier’s head. The soldier gasped at this sudden turn of events, and glared rather angrily back at Val.

“Val the gate will be ready for you to go…” Val heard Brother Michael’s voice trail off when he came upon the scene.

“Put your hands on your head and march,” Val ordered the soldier.

“Where’s the gate?”

“Uh it’s a ways into the woods, I’ll take you there.” Brother Michael said, taking the lead a good six feet in front of the soldier.

“How can you aid a murderer, brother?” The soldier asked coldly.

“He gave two men the justice that they deserved.” Michael replied calmly.

“You have your facts wrong Brother; he killed thirty men, old scientists and
young men in cold blood. How can you call that justice, brother?” The soldier demanded.

“It’s you that has the facts wrong. I only killed two men, the head scientists and the man that tortured my brother and sister until they were dead.” Val said as they walked past the monastery grounds.

The images flooded his memory and he saw it all again, his thirteen year old sister being shocked with electricity until she had fallen forward limp in the chair, dead. His brother being tortured with hot coals until the burns had blistered three times over and had popped. The agony in his brother’s fifteen-year-old face kept playing over and over in his mind, until at last his brother had blacked out and died notfeeling the other horrible torture they had done to him. He felt ice like tears fall from his face as he remembered
the horror and anger that had burst inside him and had caused him to destroy the two people that were responsible for their deaths. He had promised himself after loosing his temper and letting his anger consume him that he would never let it get the better of him ever again.

“For your information,” Val began as they walked through the dense woods. “It was the torture of my siblings that caused me to lose control of my anger and caused the emergence of my mutant powers. If I had been able to control my powers I might have been able to stop the deaths of the two men. However that is not the case, it takes time and practice for mutants to learn to control their powers, like a boy learning to use a gun for the first time.”

“But I always thought that when a mutant got it powers he or she could control them completely from the beginning.” The soldier said.

“Well whoever taught you that was wrong. I don’t even know what I’m doing until I do it. So it has to take time to learn how to do different things with whatever powers a mutant gets.” Valiant told him.

“But why would the army lie to me about something like that?” the soldier asked.

“Let me guess, they’d rather all mutants were killed off so they can’t prove them wrong. If the rest of the population learned of this they’d know that mutants are like them in more ways than one. And if that were to happen there would be a lot more mutant sympathizers in Romania then there are now.” Valiant stated.

“Damnit! I do not like being lied to.” The soldier swore.

“The gate’s just up ahead.” Brother Michael said.

“Stop right there! A voice came from behind them.

Val froze and slowly un-cocked the trigger of the gun and held it up in the air. He stayed where he was not moving a muscle as Brother Michael and the soldier turned to face the man behind him.

“How many are there?” Val hissed in the soldier’s direction.

“Five.” He mouthed back.

“Take the gun from the mutant, soldier.” The same voice ordered.

The soldier took the gun from him and gave him an imperceptible nod. Val knew then that the soldier was going to help get them to the gate.

The soldier suddenly brought the gun up and a shot rang out by Val’s head,
missing him by inches. Val whirled and caught the nearest soldier off guard and snapped his neck. Between the two of them they took out the remaining three soldiers before they could get a chance to contact other forces.

Val turned and found Brother Michael staring at them horror stricken. Then Val felt the barrel of a gun pressed against the back of his head. Val felt anger seeping into his pores for trusting the soldier to help him.

I knew I couldn’t trust him. Why the hell did I then? He thought to himself.

He felt the gun suddenly release from he back of his head. A shot rang out and Brother Michael fell to the ground face first. The anger grew beyond control and moving quickly, he caught the soldier and threw him to the ground. The next moment the gun was pressed against the soldier’s throat.

“Why did you kill him?” Val demanded.

“It’s not Brother Michael, check the body.” The soldier told him, holding his sore arm.

Keeping the gun pointed at the soldier, Val backed up and turned the body over with his right foot. He quickly glanced down and was surprised to see that the face was melting away, revealing a metal skull underneath. He stood up and walked back to the soldier, wiping the sweat off of his forehead with his shirtsleeve.

“What is that?”

“It’s a robot that some scientist created to hunt down mutants. The real Brother Michael is in custody of the authorities.”

“Well that rises as a problem, he’s the only one who knows where the
teleportation gate is.”

“Not necessarily, I know where it is.” Came a voice from nearby.

Val and the soldier looked around until they finally spied the speaker, and was she a sight to behold! She was covered from head to toe, or so they guessed because she was wearing a long dress, with silver blue fur. She had short reddish brown hair, and brown eyes. Strangely though, her fox ears and tail only made her all the more stunning.

“And you would know where it is because?” Val asked curiously.

“Because I was given the location so that I go through tonight, so I can show you if you’d like.” She replied.

“That would be appreciated. You can go on your way, soldier.” Valiant said
compliantly.

“Thank you but I would rather go with you to make sure you get away all right, if that’s okay with you.” The soldier replied.

“We may need his help more than you would think, sir.” The girl told him.

“Who exactly are you and where did you come from?” Val asked.

“I’m Jodee McGinnis, and I was originally from America, before my parents were murdered and I was kidnapped and then sold to scientists here for an experiment subject. I only recently escaped, as I am assuming you did also.”

“That is true. So how much farther away is the gate from here?” Val asked.

“Five leagues, so we will want to start walking if we want to get there when it opens for us.” She replied and began to walk farther into the woods.


Val and the soldier followed closely behind her so not to lose her. They walked on for quite some way, until she came to an abrupt halt and lay down on her chest. They copied her and slowly inched their way up to her side, to see what had caused her to get out of sight. What they saw almost made them curse but they caught them selves and stared in utter despair at what they saw.

The gate was about a hundred feet away from them, illuminated by truck lights of army trucks and surrounded by armed soldiers of the Romanian forces. In the trees around the clearing they saw shadowy figures moving back and forth, ready to take out anyone that walked into the clearing. Val knew then that there was only one way that they would be able to get to the gate and that would be to break his promise and use his powers

“I’m going in you two stay here and wait my signal.” He whispered to the other two.

The soldier and Jodee turned to stare at him in shock. Jodee reached out and touched his arm, causing him to pause and look at her once more. She didn’t say a word, she just let him know by the look in her eyes to be careful and that she believed in him.

Val felt himself grow calm and serious, and knew that it was now or never. He concentrated on his power and felt it build in force field around him. Still concentrating he reached over and touched both Jodee and the soldier at the same time, within seconds they were also enshrouded with the same dark purple force field. Then without another thought he flew down the hillside and landed in the clearing.

Bullets began to fly all around him, but because of his force field he wasn’t hit once. Focusing his powers to his hands blue flames erupted from them and he began to throw it into the vehicles and on the large canons causing them to become engulfed in the bright blue flames and blow up. Before the soldiers knew what was happening he let his powers loose on their weapons causing their guns to melt in their hands. They screamed when the hot metal touched the skin on their hands and ran screaming from the clearing,
trying to find water to put them out of their misery. But Val soon found out that he wasn’t alone.

A snarling man suddenly pounced on him and began to tear at him, only to get shocked by the force field of power that Val had put around himself. He jumped back and let loose a hair-raising howl as he panted staring at Val with cold lifeless eyes. Val eyed the man, and then without thinking he pointed at the man and let loose a stream of blue fire into the man’s chest. The man was thrust backwards into a tree, breaking it in half and fell to the ground smoking. Val walked a little closer to make sure that the man was
dead before he motioned for his companions to join him at the gate.

When they joined him, He saw that they had astonished shocked looks on their faces that he knew weren’t going to leave anytime soon. The soldier eyed the ground around the gate and whistled at all the damage that had been done. Jodee just continued to stare at him wide eyed in amazement.

It was only seconds later that the gate shimmered and there was a mirror like surface in front of them.

“Well I guess this is goodbye then.” The soldier said, turning to leave.

“It doesn’t have to be, you can come with us to America.” Jodee told him.

“It would probably be better off for me if I do. If I stay here I’ll most likely be prosecuted for aiding your escape from Romania.” He said, then walked through the gate and disappeared.

“Well Dark Mage, shall we go to the other side?” She asked, offering him her arm.

“Why’d you call me that?” Val asked staring at her with confusion.

“Because, Val, your powers remind me of magic.” She replied with a smile.

“Dark Mage, I like the name. Let’s go then.”


And with that they stepped through the gate and into whatever was on the other side, in America.

Out of curiousity. Is this a work in progress.. or a rather long short story.
Just need to know, because I may have to move it.

Which main character? Val wans't Mary Sueish.

There's a MAry sue test? Gimme. eek

stare I hate that thing. You can hardly make an original character with all the crap they won't let you have.

What's wrong with falling in love with somebody/having an upsetting childhood/an unusual eye color? If you do it right, it can be really important, and interesting too! Hmph.

I got it Takky.

Well...here's one version that I've been typing up lately. It's not as well written as the first part. I will have to go over it again and rewrite a few parts. smile Also...keep in mind this version skips a year or two intor the future after Val has come to America. He's separated from his friend Jodee...so to protect her from the people who are still searching for him.

Val had been coming to the park for several weeks everyday after school becoming one with the bench and the park around him. Today however, was a much different story. Today there were families, at least two or three from what he could tell, having fun playing and conversing together. The happy laughter of the children was almost too much fro him to bear. It reminded him of happier times, of a time when he had been a part of a family.

The morose depressed feelings began to rise to the surface, making it a struggle to appear as though nothing was wrong. His attentions were jarred when something hard hit him in the back of his head causing him to gasp and grab his head, turning with a frown to see what had interrupted his thoughts. A small girl, perhaps about six or seven stared up at him with wide eyes, not in fright bur more in alarm.

“Are you okay?” She asked, a grave look on her face.
He smiled at her saying, “Yes, I’m fine. I was more surprised than hurt.”
“Rose come back, don’t bother the boy.” A woman called from the picnic area of the park where the adults were gathered around.
The girl turned to comply and then stopped, slightly turned around to face him and asked. “Am I bothering you?”

Val didn’t get a chance to answer the girl’s question when an older boy, possibly her brother walked up to her and pulled her away to join in on a game. The girl paused long enough to beam at him and wave before she was fully engaged with the game.
Rose. Her name was Rose. It seemed like every little girl he met was Rose. His Rose. He closed his eyes as memories, some good, some bad began to flood his mind. He was nearly shaking with the anger and sadness he had become familiar with in the past eleven years since his younger sister’s brutal murder. It just never seemed to go away. It always came back to plague him whenever he heard someone say her name.
A strong hand suddenly clamped down on his shoulder nearly breaking the bones. He almost let his instincts take over but stopped when he saw that the fathers of the kids were surrounding him looking very disgruntled, as well as angry. Val closed his eyes again, knowing what was going to happen next.

“Before you ask, no I’m not here to bother anyone, especially children. I’ll leave it if that will make you feel any better.”

“actually,” The burly man in front of him interjected. “we wanted to ask you to stop thinking about what you were thinking. The girls and two of our wives are telepaths and they were quote disturbed by what they picked up from you.”

Val felt the wind go out of him when he realized who the families were. He probably would have fallen over from the shock had the man gripping him hadn’t kept him up straight. He closed his eyes and gripped the front of his face with his left hand and swore softly in Romanian to himself.

“What was that you said?” The man holding him asked tensing up.
“Nothing you want an interpretation for. I apologize for anything you wives and daughters may have seen. Had I known they were telepaths I would have kept a tighter hold on my thoughts. Its….” Here his voice broke but he continued, “hard…when you lose family and it’s hard to not remember them. It all came back when the girl’s mother called her, you see my little sister’s name was Roselle, but we called her Rose.”

Somehow he found the will power to look up at the three men with tears in his eyes. They looked rather stunned and unsure of what to say in return. They were shaken from the awkward silence when a crash and loud crying came from the trees where the kids had last been seen.

Val instinctively moved towards the sound with the three men at his heels. He was the first to find the boy holding his dangling arm screaming at the top of his lungs. Val took the kid’s arm in his hands and began a healing chant. Green unnatural light emitted from his hands swirling around the kid’s arm. The kid stopped screaming the moment the green light engulfed his arm and was staring transfixed by it. When Val felt the bones had been grafted and healed as near completely he stopped chanting and let the boy’s arm go slowly.

“Wow! You can do magic! That’s freaking awesome!” The boy exclaimed his eyes wide with excitement and awe.

“Sure, if you say so kid. You still need to be careful with the arm, it’ll be sore and a little swollen for a week or so. But at least you won’t have to get it set in a cast.” Val said ruffling the kid’s hair.

The boy beamed up at him and then hugged Val around the legs a little fiercely but made sure to be careful of his left arm at the same time. Val could feel eyes on him, and knew that the adults would most likely start in on him at any moment. He felt like he wanted to turn around and run but something held him back.

“Well, thank you for healing my son.” A very refined blonde haired woman told him, holding out her hand to him, a grateful look in her blue eyes.

“You’re welcome, I can’t really bear to see anyone in pain, especially children.” He replied shaking her hand.

“I’m Emma Summers, my son is Ethan and that’s my daughter Emily, and my husband Scott.” She replied pointing them out to him.

“My shoulder has already been formally introduced to Mr. Summers.” He replied.
Several of the adults smiled at this, while Mr. Summers eyed him from behind rose tinted shades. Or he could imagine that’s what Summers was doing. It made him wish he had kept the remark to himself.

“Well, I hope he didn’t break it.” Mrs. Summers quipped, shooting a glance at her husband.

“It’s still intact, so don’t worry.” He assured her.

“Might ahh ask, what’s yore name?” A red head woman asked in a southern accent.

“That would be a Louisiannian’ drawl right?”

“Yes, how’d ya know that?” She asked looking a bit surprised.

“I’m just good with inflections and accents. I’m Valiant Mordeu, but feel free to call me Val.” He replied.

“Well it’s nice ta meet ya. Ahh’m Marie, Rose is my little girl. She seems a bit taken wit’ ya.” She replied casting a look down at her doe eyed daughter.

Val followed her glance and what he saw amazed him. Rose was glowing. Not physically, so that others would take notice, but glowing in a supernatural way. Rose was of the magic kin like he was. And from what he could tell she was closing in on her emerging time. In a week or more she would be manifesting magical powers.

“So it seems.” He agreed quickly, wondering how he was going to tell Marie about her daughter.

“Remy’s my husband and we’ve got two older boys, Charles and Eric around her somewhere.” She said taking the hand of her husband who was now standing protectively at her side watching Val closely with his red on black eyes.

A sudden thought jolted through Val and he blurted it out without thinking. “Charles and Eric are twins, right?”

Now it was Marie’s turn to eye him with a protective glare that only a mother could master. “How did you come to that assumption?”

“I’m sorry, I can see my question unsettled you. I don’t know how or why but sometimes I can pick up on the oddest of things. I apologize if I’ve upset you.”

“Well they are twins, that’s why Ahh was so surprised.” She replied.

“So its kind of like a strong impression or premonition then?” Mrs. Summers asked a thoughtful look on her face.

“Sort of, but not exactly, for some reason most of the things I do pick up on are usually things that mirror something in my own life. It’s kind of hard to explain really.” He replied stuffing his hands deeply into his pockets and slouching.

“Well it’s certainly unusual but I suppose there’s a reason for it. So then you have a twin brother as well?” Marie asked, curious.

“I did, an identical twin. He died several years ago, and I don’t really care to talk about it.” Val replied feeling uncomfortable speaking of his brother in front of strangers.

“Oh that’s horrible, how did he die?” Mrs. Summers asked, apparently not hearing all that he had said.

The sympathy from the people around him was almost too much for him to bear. It was as though he were being overwhelmed by an ocean of pity and he was drowning in it. Val closed off his emotion receptors and closed his eyes trying to concentrate and keep himself from losing it.

“As I said before, I don’t really care to discuss it. Especially with people I barely know. I don’t even talk about it with people I do know. Now if that’s all, I should be going now. It was nice to meet all of you, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day in the park.” He replied, and started to walk away stiffly.

“Wait, you can’t go yet!,” A little voice called after him, causing him to turn back around with surprise on his face.

“You didn’t get to meet Lily an’ Jack an’ their parents yet!” Rose implored looking up at him with wide eyes, grabbing his hand and tugging on him to stay.

He couldn’t say no to those eyes, they were too innocent…too full of hope. He sighed silently, allowing her to pull him back to where the adults were still standing watching him. They smiled faintly at Rose will looking at him more closely, as though they were trying to figure out why he had reacted the way he had.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pushed you when you said that you didn’t want to talk about how your twin died. It was cold of me to do so. I sincerely apologize for it.” Mrs. Summers amended.

“It’s as much my fault as it is yours. I’ve forgotten how nosy Americans are. They always want to know all the details, especially if it’s bad news. I’m still getting used to that. I really don’t care to talk about death especially when children are around. There are things I’ve seen that no one should have to see.” He replied.

“Well, sorry to add to the truth of that adage. It’s understandable that you wouldn’t want to discuss such things around children, most of them don’t understand the concept of death very well. Our children are another matter, being Xmen we’ve had to teach them about life and death at younger ages than most children because they’re surrounded by it every day.” The third woman said. This woman had bright orange red hair, striking green eyes, and pale skin, and a very soft motherly glow about her.

“Oh,” She laughed. “Sorry, I’m Jean Gray, and Logan is my husband, Lily and Jack are our twins.”

“So then, both you and Mrs. Summers are telepaths then?”

“Yes, that’s right. Only for some reason I’ve forgotten whatever I picked up on. I can’t really make sense of that though.”

“That’s because I took back what you saw out of your mind, as well as anyone else who picked up on them. No one should have to see the stuff I’ve seen and gone through save for me.” Val explained, feeling as though he were exposing too much of himself. He wondered how they’d react to his revelation.

“You did what?!” Logan growled, looking as though he’d tear Val in half if he could get his hands on him.

Val backed up, tensing up at this display of rage, knowing all to well what might follow if the other adults couldn’t calm Logan down. He didn’t want to think of what might happen if they failed.

“Logan, calm down. I didn’t feel a thing if you did, how is that possible?” Jean asked, putting a hand on her husband’s shoulder to calm him, and turning to look at Val with a puzzled expression on her face.

“Well magic is quite different from telepathy. For on thing it’s not as horrible as getting your memories erased or manipulated by a telepath. And yes, I do know that that feels like, I’ve experienced it enough in the past. In comparison, magic won’t affect memories of your own or how your brain functions, it only destroys any of my errant thoughts that you might have picked up. It’s a lot more precise and refined as well as safer than you may believe. Normally I don’t ever let my thought go errant when I know there are telepaths nearby. Unfortunately I didn’t know you were here until it was too late.” Val replied.

“Oh, well that’s good. If Lily and my Jean weren’t harmed in any way, then I’ll leave you intact.” Logan replied, calming down a bit more.

“Have you ever considered using your powers to fight crime?” Mr. Summers asked, still studying Val closely.

“I don’t really have the time right now. I’ve got normal school which I’m behind several grades in as well as “magic” schooling. Not to mention the supernatural regulating I do for the SPI organization. And then there’s the training for SPI and the Karate/Martial arts classes I teach on the weekends. I just don’t have time to do more than I already am.” Val replied.

“SPI? Supernatural Regulating?” Logan asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Supernatural Phenomenon Investigation Team, they left out the T because other wise it would have been called SPIT, and they couldn’t have that. Supernatural Regulating is pretty much self explanatory. We regulate the movements of supernatural phenomenon and creatures, so that they can’t get out of control or start vying for power of earth. SPI takes care of whatever problems arise, anywhere in the world.” Val explained.

“Like demons?” Rose piped up.

“Rose, we’ve told you a hundred times, there are no demons in your closet at night..” Marie said gently.

“You shouldn’t say things like that unless you are absolutely convinced of it.” Val interjected with a frown.

Marie, Remy, and the other adults all turned to look at him with a look of surprise and confusion.

“What do you mean by that?” Marie asked slowly.
“Hold on, why don’t you kids go play? No climbing trees boys, we’ll call you when we’re done and stay where we can see you.” Jean told the children with a calm tone.

The kids happily did as she had suggested, they had gotten bored from listening to the adults talk. Rose looked a little uncertain at firs but shrugged it off and joined the other kids in playing catch.

“alright, go ahead.” Jean said, taking a seat on one of the nearby picnic tables.
The other adults joined her, while Val remained standing.

“Demons do exist, whether you want to believe it or not. Most of the supernatural problems we have is with them. They’ve tried to destroy mankind over a dozen or so times in the past year alone. If Rose says she’s seen demons I wouldn’t disregard it. She’s one of the few people in the world, like my self who are part of the magic kin. Normally, when they start seeing things that other people don’t it’s a precursor to when their magical abilities will emerge. If she’s seeing demons, they are most likely there, though the level of threat they are would need to be assessed. Its more than likely that they’re of the lesser kind, and just hanging around because they sense her blossoming abilities. If you would allow me, I would like to scan her room and make sure they’re of no threat to her or anyone else in the house. If you’re uncomfortable with me doing it, I can get another SPI agent to check it out instead.”

Marie and Remy looked as though they had been hit by a ton of bricks. The other adults seemed rather stunned as well, though Logan didn’t. It made Val wonder why that was.

“B-but isn’t she too young and inexperienced for demons to be interested in her?” Remy demanded, clearly agitated.

“Not in the least bit. Usually demons are drawn to those who possess emerging powers because they are easier to mold and use. Rose is probably only a couple of weeks at the most away from having her powers emerge. She’s what, six or seven?”

“She’ll be seven in a month,” Marie replied. “Who was the youngest…magic kin I think you called it, that emerged?”

“The youngest was 18 months old. But that was only because both of her parents possessed magical abilities and passed some of each to her. “

“Well I think you should be the one to come over and check out Rose’s room. She already knows you and it would probably be a bit easier for her if it was you. What are we supposed to tell her though? I don’t want to scare her by admitting after denying the fact, that demons do exist for so long.” Marie confessed.

“Just tell her the truth. It may be scary, it may worry her but it’s better she knows than to be fearful of something.” Val replied. “You can also explain it like my grandfather did to me. ‘Just because parents believe something doesn’t exist doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Many times as people grow older they throw away their childish beliefs, believing them to be based on exaggerated emotions, even though they were in fact the truth.’ “

“That’s probably the best explanation I’ve heard. When did your grandfather tell you that?” Mrs. Summers asked, somewhat impressed.

“About twelve years ago. I had been seeing weird things; shadows moving in the forest, weird looking animals and ghosts in my house. I kept telling my parents about it and they kept telling me that I just had a wild imagination. Though one of the ghosts was my grandmother they wouldn’t believe me. I walked to my grandfather’s hut and told him everything. He smiled took me on his knee and told me that. Then he explained that in magical families, the magic jumps a generation and that’s why my father couldn’t see the ghost of his mother but he and I could. Then he told me he was glad that I was the first to see the supernatural specters because then I would be able to explain it to my brother and sister later on. It’s one of the few good memories I still have.”

“Well, I think the kids are getting tired, we should probably head home.” Mr. Summers suggested, eyeing the gaggle of kids lying around in the grass giggling and lazing around.

“You’re probably right. Val why don’t you come with us, that way you can do your perusing around Rose’s room right away.” Marie suggested.

“They don’t really show up until it’s dark and If I don’t show up at my foster parents on time, they’ll call the police on me. I’ll have to head over later tonight or sometime tomorrow. And don’t worry I won’t need directions. I knew you were the X-men the moment I was accosted by Logan, Remy, and Summers.” He replied running his hand through his hair and sighing.

“Oh, I see.” Marie said with a laugh. “well then we’ll see you later at about eight if your foster parents will let you come tonight.”

“Oh that shouldn’t be a problem,” Val said, as everyone walked towards the entrance of the park. He stooped and gathered his backpack and coat from the bench and then continued. “as long as I’m home for dinner, I can do whatever I want for the rest of the night. Looks like I’d better fly, I’ve got less than ten minutes to get home.”
He shoved his coat into his backpack and zipped it up, winked at the kids as huge bat-like wings emerged out of his back and then flapping them, ran down the hill until the air current lifted him off of the ground and into the air.

“WOW!” the kids chorused; their eyes wide as they watched him soar off.

“He left his backpack.” Rose said with a frown, pointing to the ground where he had left it.

Scott picked it up and glanced at it right as Val swooped down and grabbed it out of his hands with curved claw like feet.

“Thanks Summers!” Val yelled down as he turned once more for home, gaining altitude with every flap of his long bat wings.

“Sweet!” The boys chorused grinning from ear to ear.

Scott stood stunned for a few moment staring at his hands, then he turned to look at Logan asking, “Did you see that?”

“Yeah, the kid grew wings out of his back, kind of nifty if you ask me.”

“No, he had clawed feet, they weren’t normal!” Scott said.

“Umm sorry to break this to you dearest, but there’s not one normal thing about that boy.” Emma told him, hugging him around the waist.

“No there certainly isn’t.” He agreed.

“He’s a teenager, Aunt Emma, teenagers are never normal.” Rose pointed out wrinkling her nose.

“And how do you know that Rosebud?” Remy asked, picking up his daughter and tickling her fiendishly.

“Daddy…stop…stop….it!” Rose giggled, trying to get away from his attack.

“Only when you stop being my little girl, mi chere, and that will never happen.” Remy replied with a wide grin.