Legend: Thoughts = <>
Stray thoughts = ()
Flashback **
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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!
Chapter 34:The truth about lies
The X-Men sat in the War Room, trying to figure out what to do with their new...students. Pane had been up in his room for days and Pyro had was in the prisioners quarters. Of course Pane was dangerous but would he hurt anyone? Pyro was know for not caring.
" It makes sense." Logan said, " I never really got the feeling that 'copy' was Pane."
" Me either, there was something odd about him." Ororo said, " And in the end when he lost him powers..."
" The question now, suga, is what are we gon do wit him." Rogue smiled.
" He's been locked in that room for ages." Kitty said slowly, " It's not right."
" He is not exactly right." Hank said, " I love Pane as much as you all do, but he is...still different."
" So, what are you suggesting?" Logan sneered.
" We need to study him." Hank said earnestly.
" What?' Logan asked, looking into his eyes.
" How did we even manage to procure him?" Hank asked.
" Does it matter?" LOgan asked.
" He just fell." Warren said for the first time, " I was prepared for him to stop me, but he fell."
" Fell?" Hank asked.
" Just fell." Warren said, " Then he said that he didn't want to save himself."
" See?! All these oddities, all these enigmas...we have just seen Pane die..." Hank said.
" A clone." Piotr said loudly.
Hank ignored him, " In any form, the Pane that we knew is gone." he said darkly.
" No." Jean said, standing, " He is exactly who we knew. The fake Pane was not the real Pane, he was an imposter."
" He stayed longer than the real Pane, we knew him better! Who's to say he isn't." Hank argued.
" Me." I said at the door. I walked to the War Room table, " I'll stay, but only if you release my friend." I demanded.
" You want us to release flames?" Logan chuckled, " I don't think that'll happen."
I looked to Logan, " I think it might. I've been here for days. If I wanted to get him out, I would have, but I'm asking you." I said quickly.
" He does have a point, Logan." Ororo said.
" I don't know." Logan said, looking between us.
" This is absurd!" Hank said, " What if this is a plan to get our trust?!"
" You seem awfully intent on not trusting me." I said, looking at him, " If I wanted to hurt you, I would have."
" Do you expect us to believe that you no longer harbor feelings of hate towards Professor Xavier?" Hank asked.
I flinched at his name, " I do. I don't wanna kill him anymore. It's useless, he has so many people, despite what he did to me, that want to protect him. And I'm not gonna say I'm...dying changed me. Waking up after about a year isn't my idea of heaven, but I was there..." I trailed, then I looked at them. They just stared and I quickly started again, " I need him out."
" Done." Professor said, wheeling past me into the room, " Gambit, please go and let our other guest go."
I looked at him and he looked at me. His eyes penetrated me and I immediately closed my mind.
Professor Xavier<If you let me, I can help.>
I looked at him <You don't fool me anymore.>
I turned and followed Gambit to John.
John and I walked around campus, feeling the eyes following us. There were whispers. Thoughts. We walked past the different cliques, of course they'd never call themselves this, but that's what they were. We walked past the groups and to the edge of the lake.
" We need to get out of here, I don't like you being here, are you alright? Did they hurt you?" John asked, inspecting me.
" I'm good." I said indifferently, " What about you? Did you get forty lashes?"
John chuckled, " Mansion's just like left it." he said, looking back, " It's like living in a fairy tale."
" They have their moments." I said, causing him to look at me, " Good guys through and through."
" Why'd you come to the Brotherhood?" John asked.
" Do you know how it feels to die?" I asked, looking at him, " Of course you don't. I was ripped away from them. Taken. Replaced and now I'm back and I can't help feeling that...there's not a place for me. I'm not the Pane they know or knew. I'm neither Pane, one I never was, and the other died."
John shifted.
" It may look like I'm standing here, but I'm still in that temple. I saved them so I could finally rest. From the minute I got here, my life changed. I wasn't a student anymore, I wasn't a normal kid with super powers, I was put on a team and told that I had to learn to control it. I was a weapon..." I said disconnectedly.
" That doesn't expla..." John started.
" Xavier lied. Grandfather Magneto never lied. He said I was his grandson, but he also said that I was a weapon for his cause. Xavier used me." I finished.
" That's not true." a voice said behind me. My group of friends had appeared. Sam Guthrie, Ray Crisp, Jubilee, Bobby Drake, Amara, Julian Keller, Kitty Pryde, Piotr and Jace. They also had some new people. Davide Alleyne, Sofia Montega, Laura Kinney, or X-23, Josh Foley, Sooraya Qadir, Santo Vaccarro, Cessily Kincaid, and Rahne Sinclair.
" Robbie." John smirked, " How are you, Iceboy."
" John." Bobby sneered.
" I see the group has grown." I said, looking over them, " Where's Sira?" I asked
They all took a sullen look and I stared.
" She died." Amara answered.
I felt a tear appear in my eye, but it evaporated before it could leave my eye socket, " When?" I asked.
" A little before you..." Julian stopped, " A little while ago."
There was an odd silence and before they could say anything, John hugged me.
" You're wrong." Jubilee said.
I looked to her, " About Xavier? Not a chance." I said coldly.
" He does things for the better of the worl..." Sam Guthrie drawled.
" Finish that sentence and you'll be eating your teeth." I said angrily, " He wiped my mind, not put me in hiding."
" We thought you were dead." Amara said, not taking her eyes off me.
" Join the club." I said, walking towards them. They all parted for me and John and I walked on, but they cut John off.
" What do you think you're doing?" John asked.
" I don't know what you're doing, but if you hurt him, I'm gonna kick your ass." Bobby said angrily.
John frowned, " You honestly think I'd hurt him?" he asked, " I wouldn't."
" I'm not so sure about that." Julian said.
" Who are you again?" John said angrily.
" Doesn't matter. You hurt him and there won't be enough of you left for Bobby to kick." Julian said angrily.
John smirked and blew past them.
" Bobby, I'm worried about him." Jubilee said.
" Yeah, he's up to something." Bobby said, watching John.
" I think she means Pane." Amara said.
" He didn't know Sira was dead. We should have broke it to him slowly." Jubilee said worriedly.
" It'll be alright." Ray said, putting his arm around her. Sam looked at both of them, then sighed and started back up to the mansion.
I stood by Sira's grave. As I thought about it, Sira, my only non-X-Men friend and I wondered how she died. Did she die nobly or did she die running from something. Was there an attack on the mansion? This was why I hadn't come back. Things change. Life goes on for everyone else. It did when I left. People changed. The pain of seeing them all again, to feel their stares on me and to know that I was the source of, not only my own pain, but other's pain. I knew the deal, there was no rest for me. No death. Just an endless cycle of life that never failed to repeat itself. Sira would never know my endless cycle, was destined to never know her own cycle. A sadness gripped my heart and I felt it slide through my body. At the Brotherhood, there was no sadness. No thinking, just instinct. Just liberty.
" She died a few months ago, bub." Logan said behind me.
My head, which had been tilted, lifted, " Maybe she'll come back." I said coldly.
" I doubt that." Logan said.
" Where's Scott?" I asked. Until now, I had not wanted to ask, " Do his bones litter this place also? Did he die for Xavier as well?"
" No. He was convinced that he saw you and that you were alive, so he went looking for you." Logan said, " We just thought he lost it...again."
" And you? Did you think that I was dead. Did you cry? Did you feel?" I asked.
Logan was silent for a minute, then cleared his throat, " I thought you were dead." he said.
I turned to him, " Did you cry?" I asked.
Logan looked at me in shock, " Kid, what's with your eyes?" he asked.
" What about them?" I asked.
" They're red." Logan said, " Only your...whaddya call 'em? Irises?"
I nodded, " She died. Did her parents mourn?" I asked.
" What kind of question is that?!" Logan asked, walking over and grabbing my shoulders, " Kid, what's wrong with you?! What's this funk ya seem to be in all about?"
" When I died, did you cry?" I asked simply.
" Yes." Logan said, letting me go.
" Did my mother cry? Is she dead? Did my dad cry? Should I cry? Should I feel this?" I asked, telekinetically cutting my arms, " Should I cry in pain? Should this hurt?!"
Logan shook me, " Snap out of it kid, we all cried! We all cried!" he said, looking at me. It was as if realization hit him, " The clone felt this too. It almost destroyed him. You've gotta stop it! We need you!"
" You need me?" I asked.
" I need you." Logan panted.
" PANE!" I looked over and saw my mother standing a few feet away, " MY BABY! PANE!" she said, running and grabbing me. I felt myself go stiff and her warmth washed over me momentarily.
" I...I knew you weren't dead." Mom stammered.
Mom and I sat opposite each other. I stared at her in disbelief as she did I. I hadn't seen her since I left for this hellish nightmare version of Hogwarts. She smiled as much as I'd ever seen her.
" Say something, sweetie." Mom said with a concerned look.
" He's listening." I said slowly.
" Who is?" Mom asked.
I looked around, " Xavier. Do you love him? Is he your father?" I asked.
" My father?" Mom asked, " Yes, honey, I told you..."
" What you wanted me to know." I said angrily, " You helped him. I remember. He almost had me fooled with that fake memory about the play ground and the sand. Cute. But you came up with that, didn't you?"
Mom began to sob, " Do you remember what happened? What he made you do? You didn't need to know." she panted.
" What happened?" I asked.
Mom stood, " You do not need to know!" she said quickly.
I reached into her mind scratching at the truth. I suddenly found myself at that same playground.
" NO I'M NOT! I'm african american!" I shouted.
" Yes you are, you're a dirty nigger!" a kid shouted, throwing a rock at me.
The rock crunched against my forehead and I rocked back, but stopped. There was a chuckle and suddenly a storm began and dust flew everywhere.
" You cannot fully know me. I am the Hollow." Little me said, and suddenly there was a red flash and the dust settle and there was no one standing, not anymore. Every kid and teach was on the ground, faces froze in terror and I walked past them into the building. As I walked back into the building, I found myself seeing all the bodies. I stopped at a kid cowering in the corner.
" Pane!" Mom called.
I spun around to her, tears in my eyes. She ran and hugged me.
I was thrown from her mind and suddenly I was staring at Xavier, Logan, Ororo, Jean and a very startled mom.
" You still let me use my powers, uncontrolled?" I asked.
" You didn't remember." Mom said, " There was no harm."
" I killed all those people....what happened to the last survivor?" I asked.
" Mental institution." Professor Xavier said.
" What is the Hollow?" I asked.
" It is an entity. Your other self, your id." Xavier said.
" And I was...I did that effortlessly." I said, " Did I...Who else knows?"
" Yes and fuelled by the Phoenix..." Xavier started.
" WHO ELSE KNOWS!" I asked.
" Jean, Ororo, Logan, Scott, Magneto, by now Mystique, and Pietro." Xavier said.
" Magneto knows?" I asked.
" Yes, baby, are you okay?" Mom asked.
" What happened to 'the hollow'?" I asked.
" It merged." Xavier said.
" With what?" I asked.
" The Phoenix and yourself. The Phoenix and...The Hollow are now part of you." Xavier said.
" No." I said, " If it was, then I'd have known...Logan, you said that the clones had trouble, right?" I asked. He nodded, " But the Phoenix in him, it...wasn't the real Phoenix, it couldn't have been, right?"
Xavier looked at me in realization.
" We need that clone." I said.
" I'm goin." Logan said, quickly followed by Jean.
" So, the clone has not served his purpose?" Ororo asked.
I shook my head, " No. Looks like they need him for something else. Are you scared?" I asked.
" I can feel it, you know." Xavier smiled.
" What?" I asked.
" Everything's changed for you. Being back here is hell for you." Xavier said.
Mom looked at me, " Is this true?" she asked.
" It feels like I'm dreaming and this nightmare won't let me go." I said.
" Well get over it!" MOM shouted, "You have to come back, now! We need you to come back."
" Why?" I asked, " What did I ever contribute to anyone? And how do you know this isn't me?"
" So, what? You're just gonna give up?! You've contributed so much to the world in general! You saved us." she pleaded.
" It's not there." Logan panted, covered in dirt and carrying a shovel, " The Body's gone!"
I looked from Xavier to Mom, then to Logan.
" The dead body's not in the grave? Then where is the dead body?!" I asked, walking to the window and looking out onto the graves and I saw that the grave in which they'd put him in, " He couldn't just get up and walk away...unless..."
" What?" Logan asked, " Spit it out, bub."
" He was made to." Xavier said quickly.
" He was made to bring me back, I'm fuzzy on why, but all that work just to have him killed isn't smart for any genius, is it?" I said, thinking, " But a clone of the next 'step' in evolution would fetch a pretty penny...and also would make a great lapdog."
" So, they have a clone of you somewhere, teaching it what? To do tricks?" Logan asked.
" Why would they do that?" Jean asked.
" Because they don't plan on me living long." I said indifferently.
" So they plan on killin ya?" Logan asked.
" Won't help." I sighed, flopping into a chair and putting my face in my hands, " What the hell, just point me to the dyin and I'm there."
" STOP IT!" Logan shouted, " We're working our asses off to help you and you're..."
" Spying on you." I said standing quickly.
Everyone looked at me in shock, except Professor Xavier.
" What?" Mom asked.
" I was sent here to get information. Magneto needs..." I looked at Xavier, " ...He wants the Hollow. Or he wants the clone. You knew, didn't you?" I asked, directing that question to Xavier.
" I knew that you were a spy." Xavier said, " Why else would you willingly fall from the sky?"
" Cause Angel's hot?" I said.
" I had honestly hoped to show you how much I..." Xavier said.
" Save it..." I said, causing him and everyone to look at me in shock, " ...Save it for another time, now we need to do something."
" What can we do?" Xavier asked.
" Erase me." I said, take it all away. Lock my powers away, lock me in my mind. Free me from this! It hurts, free me! I need you to help me!" I shouted, sobbing uncontrollable. I sunk to my knees and I heard the wheels and felt the arms around me.
" No. I shall help you, but not in the way you wish." Professor Xavier said, " We will stand by you and we shall help you control her."
" Her?" I panted.
" The Phoenix." Xavier said.
" It's hard to control it, I know, but you must." Jean said, walking to us, " We know what we're dealing with this time around, we know the score."
" Do we?" Mom asked, " Someone is tricking us all."
" Grandfather." I said angrily and the looked at me, " The other one. But he's not the only one, Doom, Sinister, Apocalypse is alive. I should have known. But that's uneven, there's got to be ringleader."
" Your clone." Ororo said, " Jean didn't you say that he was unreadable?"
" Yes, there were parts missing from memory. There was something right before the Fantastic Four found him." Jean said.
" I think I'm getting it." Mom said, " One person facing himself, either way, he's still there."
" But they've tried cloning me before." I said, remembering the concert.
" Yes, but this clone was exactly like you. None of us guessed. I mean there were some genetic anomalies, but we chalked it up to you dying twice." Jean commented.
<Goodbye.>
Pane <John?>
John <I'm sorry that I had to...he knew that you'd figure it out and he wanted to know exactly when you would. He sends his apologies.>
Pane <I don't believe you're doing this to me.>
John <You were born the good guy, I wasn't.>
Pane
John's mind went aflutter.
Pane <But next time we meet, I'm going to flay you.>
John
" We need to find Firebrain and find out what he knows!" Logan said, snapping me back into the conversation.
" He's gone. Again." I said sadly, walking from the room.
Warren swooped out of the air, landing by the lake. He looked across the lake as the moonlight hit the surface and he walked towards the mansion and stopped when he saw a figure moving a few yards away.
" Hello?" he shouted into the darkness.
" I never said thank you." I said, becoming clearer.
" What? Pane?" Warren asked.
" Thank you." I said before he could anything else.
" It was nothing, I mean, that's why I was there." Warren chuckled nervously, " So, you're alright now?"
" Depends on what you mean." I smirked, " Thank you."
" So, you're staying?" Warren asked.
" Nice abs." I said, rubbing my figer between his abs.
He blushed. I blushed. Then I turned and walked away.
" I'll take that as a yes." Warren yelled to me.
I stopped and smirked at him, then kept walking.
Scott stood before a grave. The grave was blurry. He mourned and after a while of it, he sunk to his knees and looked down into the grave. The grave's dirt flew into the air and the coffin door flew off its hinges and a darkness flew from it. Scott backed away and ran into someone. Scott turned with a start and looked Pane in the eye, his long white robes flapped in the wind.
" Pane?" Scott asked, kissing him.
But Pane pushed him out of the way and the darkness collided with Pane and he was shattered into light. In the air, the darkness and the light met in the air and there was an explosion! Scott screamed out and sat up in his bed, cold sweat all over his body. He panted heavily, trying to make sense of the dream.
Pane stood at the opening of the pyramid, looking out into the sunset. Pane was decked out in all black. Eyes, clothes, long black hair. His belly had already gone back to its original size and his pudge wasn't visible. He had been restored. He was alone, the leader of the new Masters of Evil, alone. As much as they'd like to believe they were equal, they weren't. Everyone knew who had the power. Pane was no longer Pane. He is the clone, the second rate person. It was then that he fashioned a new name, The Hollow. Pane didn't know where it came from, but a voice was there, all the time.
" Deep thoughts, my son?" Apocalypse asked.
" Are the others ready for our meeting?" The Hollow said, referring to Magneto, Mystique, Sinister and Dr. Doom.
" Yes." Apocalypse smiled.
" I'm on my way." The Hollow smirked to himself, then the doorway to the pyramid slammed.