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 35: " Mommy!"
" Scott." Pane said, standing in front of Alkalai Lake.
" Pane?" Scott said, running to him, " I knew you were alive. You can't be dead."
" I'm not. You have to find me!" Pane said looking around as the winds began to change.
Out of the water the darkness rose and shattered Pane into pieces through the air and the forces fought in the air! Scott took off his visor but the blast didn't hit either entity, it just blasted through the sky. Both men sat up in their beds, looking into the dark shadows in cold sweat.
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The air was tense, not just because something scary was coming, but no one knew where they stood in the world. The world was changed, already, by everything that was happening. Everything was harder. Nothing was easy before. The X-Men were working overtime and there was no leads. Nobody had given up on finding Scott, though I could feel him. He was searching. While he was searching, I was fighting.
" I don't understand why I have to stay here." I said angrily.
" Because kid, you're in trouble." Logan said as we walked down the metallic hall.
I sighed in frustration," I've died before, that's how I know I can't die." I said impatiently.
" No matter, I feel that you are not up to going on this mission." Professor Xavier said.
" How about you give me a chance. I can do this. I've watched Alias. I've watched Buffy, Charmed...I'm goto guy." I said quickly, " And I know what to expect. I can do this."
Professor Xavier looked at me as if he was probing my mind, " I know but..." he started.
" It's my decision. She has to live with it." I said, referencing my mother, who was still around.
Professor sighed.
Logan looked from me to the Professor, " Chuck, I know you're not actually thinking about doing this?! He's not ready." he growled.
" When will I be ready? When they're here? When they have what they need and we're dead. Logan, why are you fighting me so hard?" I asked.
" Cause I don't want ya to get hurt, short stuff. An' there ain't no reason to go into this blind." Logan said quickly, " We don' know what we're getting ourselves into."
" Logan, I'm the reason for this. If there was no me none of this would be possible." I said in a depressed, sad voice.
" It is not your fault." Professor Xavier said pointedly, " I am under the impression that you are the farthest from blame."
" Maybe, but it's not you out there killing. When am i gonna be able to help? When someone I love dies?" I asked.
" No." Professor Xavier said sternly.
I looked from both of them, sighed, and walked away.
" Do you think my course of action was correct?" Professor Xavier asked Logan.
" I think ya did the right thing, Chuck." Logan said quickly, " We need to go."
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" What's wrong?" Warren asked as he joined me in my walk to the lake, " YOu seem, quieter."
" Cause I've been so talkative lately," I smirked and he smiled, " I need a shrink."
" Just call me shrink-master-general." Warren smiled, " Now see, that sounded way smoother in my head."
" Everything's happening so fast. And I can't help but feel like it's my fault. And everyone's treating me like I'm fragile when all I wanna do is kick someone's ass." I said, causing Warren to look at me with surprise, " I just mean, I survived. Everything they've thrown at me, I survived."
" They just don't want you hurt." Warren said as I stopped, I turned to him and looked at him, " I don't want you hurt."
I smirked, " Did I mention thanks for not treating me like a terminal patient?" I asked.
" Thanks for not saying something corny like, 'those wings are cute.'. It's annoying." he chuckled.
" Those wings are sexy." I smirked and he walked to me and kissed me tenderly on the lips, " There's a pretty scary version of me out there...could you really handle killing me?" I asked.
" I don't think I'll have to." Warren said seriously.
" Life is ironic." I said quickly, " Do you know what I did?" I asked.
" What do you mean?" Warren asked.
" When I was a kid." I said simply
" Most mutants lose control their first time, it's comming." Warren said, trying to rationalize my concerns.
" No. I killed a whole school of children and adults and...and I left one person. Why one person?" I asked myself
" Maybe he wasn't in on the taunting." Warren said, guessing.
" I was a kid. It's all fuzzy, but my thoughts weren't random. My powers weren't random. I'm scared spiders and snakes and bullies, and I wanted them to stop and they did. I made them stop." I said softly.
" Are you still afraid of them?" Warren asked.
" No, Warren, I'm afraid of me." I said quietly.
" He'll never get close to you." Warren said, hugging me.
I paused and closed my eyes, causing the tear to fall, " He is me." I said, turning and walking away from Warren.
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" X-Men, You are about to be given a very hard task. So hard that in fact, the junior X-Men shall not be joining us on this adventure." Professor Xavier smiled.
" What?" Bobby asked, " Why can't we go?"
" Because, this is indeed a very dangerous task and I am not sure that you are equipped to deal with it." Professor said slowly, " I predict you will join the fight soon."
" How soon?" Jace asked.
" Soon, kid." Logan said before Professor Xavier could say anything, " Now, ya gotta make sure you know the rules. You can't tell..."
" Pane." All the juniors said in unison.
" You're gonna have to." Pane said from the door. He walked in, fully gothed out, " Hey, what's the deal? Intergalactic baddies? Silver guys with power switching hands? Pregnant men?"
Professor Xavier looked at him slightly askew, " Pane, I thought you were in the study." he said.
" I am." Pane said look down, then back up with black eyes, " You never know what I'm up to."
Warren stopped closer, " Pane..." he said quickly.
" Sorry, he's not home." Pane smirked, slinking to the middle of the table, " You can't beat us. He can't beat us. All you can do is wait until me and my father take over this sorry universe."
" Not while we're protecting it." Logan sneered.
" I wouldn't worry about that." Pane winked, " You see me and Pane have this bond."
" Bond?" Ororo asked.
Pane looked at her and blew her a kiss that knocked her back into her seat, " Well, you see me and Pane have a connection. We're way powerful and the same person. Imagine two sexy guys like us. I didn't remember who I was until he was brought back, but now I remember what I was doing at the ruins. I was looking for him. Found him, but he's a powerful little bastard, itn't he? Almost killed me.Then I had to bring him to dad. I started acting like him...he's a major downer." The Hollow smiled.
" You set this all up?" Professor Xavier asked.
" Not by myself, but hey, who can think of everything?" The Hollow said quickly.
" We will fight ya, bub." Logan growled.
" And die, who wouldn't?" The Hollow cackled, moving towards them. He stopped as a flaming shield raised in front of him.
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I sat outside on a ledge by the steps of the doors, looking into the distance. I had begun to daydream about being a normal kid, at home. Being with my friends. Normal. Nothing came to me. Not right away, and when it did, it didn't stay. The way the sun shone over the hills was beautiful and the forrest just beyond the trees were brilliantly glistening. The light. It was beautiful. I remember the lights. And Jean. And Her. The Bird. The feeling of happiness, nothing but happiness. The rest of the Juniors were in the subbasement with the X-Men, plotting on how they would save the world. It was just my luck that someone was late for the meeting.
" Hey, what're you doing out here, late frot he meeting too?" Julian Keller asked, stopping to the side of me.
I looked at him, wide-eyed, " Who are you?" I asked.
" Yeah, right, umm," He reached out his hand, " My name is Julian Keller. You can call me Hellion." he smiled.
I shook his hand," Sorry. I was dead and my imposter/clone knew you...which makes you a little suspicious." I joked.
Julian chuckled and looked at me, " Umm..." he stammered.
A flash.
" Are you okay?" Julian asked.
Another flash. Julian standing by me in war, me wielding sais, Julian and me. Friends. Attraction.
" Pane." Julian said, putting his hand on my shoulder.
" Julian. You fought beside me. You..." I asked.
" You remember?" Julian asked.
" Yes Hellion," A voice said behind us. We both turned to see a blue woman that I knew to be Mystique, along with the Brotherhood and some robots, " But me and my friends have something we'd like to say."
" Say?" Julian asked.
" More like do." Mystique smiled.
I stood and looked around at the crowd of kids that had seperated and look on, terrified, " Mystique, this isn't the place. There are innocent kids here." I said softly.
" Do you really care about these kids?" she asked.
" For someone who knows what it's like to be discimanated against, you should feel more for these kids. You should be trying to help them, not enslave them." I frowned.
" Poor Pane, doesn't know where he belongs." Mystique smiled, " Capture him."
Sabretooth jumped into the air and dove at me. I stood there, unmoved by him and a forcefield materialized around me. I looked over to Julian, who winked at me. I smiled and held up my hand to project the forcefield around the group of villains. I smiled as a hand full of students had began fighting the villains back and pounding on them with everything from back-packs to telekinetics and Mystique moved face-to-face with me.
" You think you can take me, kid?" Mystique asked.
I shrugged, " Have before. Will again." I frowned.
" Guess we'll never know." She smirked, gesturing behind her and a knife hit me right in shoulder!
I fell backwards, thinking how if the knife would have been over a few more inches to the right I would have died instantly. This way I'm dying slowly. Mystique walked in, past me. I could heard someone saying my name. Julian? A group of girls scream. Everything was blurry...until he walked into my view.
" Poor Pane. Dying. Don't worry, I'll come back for you. In the mean time, haha, Sabretooth'll take care of you." The Hollow smiled, walking in, past me.
I closed my eyes and heard Sabretooth grunt to a stop, " Get away from me." I said simply and I felt his confusion. My eyes shot open and the knife levitated out of my shoulder. I raised my body with telekinesis and the knife slid into Sabretooth and the girls gave another shout. The robot targeted me and I tilted my head. My eyes glowed a golden red and the heads spun off of most of the robots.
" PANE!" Julian asked.
" Help them." I said emotionlessly. I turned and ran down the hall. The elevator was jammed or stopped so I felt myself extend. I felt the X-Men. The Juniors...Kitty. I used her. I used her powers to slip through the floor and immediatetly ran through the hall and found myself outside the War Room and I paused. Would I have to kill me? Would the other me kill me? I saw him moving towards them. My family. My mom was in there. I raised a telekinetic shield before he got to them.
" Mommy? Don't you love me?" The Hollow spoke.
I stepped into the doorway, " Sorry, but I'm mommy's favorite." I frowned.
He put on a mock hurt face, " Mommy, you mean I'm not your favorite?" he smirked, looking at my injury, " Oww, that looks like it hurts."
" There are worst things." I said, tilting my head.
" You're not gonna go all every Brady movie ever, are ya? Cause there's only so much one clone can take." The Hollow said, tilting his head in the other direction.
" Wow. I knew I was screw up, but Gothic?" I asked.
" Yeah. It's a new thing we're trying." he said coldly.
" Pane, are you alright?" Mom asked, standing.
I put my hand up, " Stop." I said to her, " Safety first kiddos."
The Hollow raised his hand and the shield dampened, " We're one." he said.
" You know, we should step outside." I said.
" Bombarda?" The Hollow said, raising his hand and sending a huge gust of energy at me, sending me flying into the hall and blowing apart the door frame! I slid across the floor and stopped at the Danger Room.
" I so didn't teach him that." I whispered to myself as we got up, " Had to be a freakin clone, why not a giant snake or a dragon?"
" Because you're annoying. You and two friends would be unbearable." The Hollow smiled, " Gosh, you're the original. I thought you were going to be all powerful, but this is anti-climatic."
" You don't even have a name." I spat.
" Call me Hollow." Hollow said.
" Ironic, huh." I said coldly.
Hollow smiled, " You are tough, aren't you. I didn't plan on killing you this early but..." he said, raising his hand and levitating up through the floor and as he rose, so did I, by his will, not mine. I smashed through the floor and its pieces flew back into place as I finally came through and he stood before me. I crawled out of the room and I felt an unseen force pick me up and throw me out of the door. I slid in the grass, my face turning green and my clothes stained. Dirt stained them also and my hair had mud in it. I rolled over and raised up on my elbows and looked into his face as he decended the steps in front of the mansion. A stone gargoyle lifted into the air and I caused it to explode.
" Ah! That was gonna bludgeon you! You bring that back!" Hollow said angrily, " Wow. You really got this geeky thing down, huh. Using spells from some children's book to control your powers...tch, tch, tch, I think I might just have to rework some thing, huh. Let's try one of my favorites, AVADA KEDAVRA!" he smirked.
A Green light emitted itself from his hand and before I could stop it, my mom flew in front of me! The spell hit her and she disappeared! I screamed out for her and collasped back onto my back. I got up and stood apart from Hollow, who looked just as put off as I did. I felt the Earth under me tremble and the ground began to catch on fire under me as my eyes glowed and the Phoenix showed itself once more. Hollow frowned and moved into the ground, disappearing with all of his cronies. I collasped onto the ground, crying. I felt someone wrap their arms around me and I smelled him. Felt his bare chest against me. Warren.
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" So what are we going to do now?" Mom asked me.
" Draw a picture!" Young me said excitedly.
" Yep cause you love to draw." she said happily.
I watched the video of me and my mom. I had been in the dark room for hours now, watching her on screen, realizing that I was going to have to do it. To kill her. Everyone dies. I felt her in my head, telling me to be strong and that it's okay. I felt the light wash over me. I felt the darkness realize that it was me. I felt Hollow in my head, blaming me. I felt Warren and Julian there for me, waiting to see what I could do, which wasn't the norm for Julian.
" I love you Pane." Mom said onscreen.
I felt all the pain that I had been keeping in. I couldn't feel anything but that pain. That desperation. The need. One of us was going to die and I had already died, so he was next. He'd pay for this. He took the one person who truly...
" Mommy!" Both, me and my littler version said at the same time, " I wuv you too." I cried.
Not Angel centric, but still, it should end with Angel by Pane's side and Wolverine watching. Pane and The Hollow began to have a voldemort-harry situation. NO SCOTT.Also, Pane's mother dies.The chapter ends with Pane watching home movies about his mother and himself. The last word is " I Wuv you."