X-Men: Rebirth

X-Men: Rebirth

    "Those days are over, Charles."

    "Eric, why did you do it? Why create such a place where only mutants can live, so that we can overpopulate?"

    "You see, Charles, that's not what I have done. I've deciphered time travel, Charles. There will soon be millions of Sanctuaries everywhere. No mutant will have to live with the humans anymore."

    "That's not what they want though, Eric. That's not what we want."

Chapter 2

Operation: Regroup

    I walk over to WX2 and wish him a cheerful morning. Usually, he is kind of polite, even sometimes cheerful, but this morning, he seems to be quite unhappy. I would not blame him. He gets to lead our currently depleted group. Basically, there are a maximum of five right now, and we do not really know if Shade will be with us too much longer. The past few months have been hard on the group, and Ambre has even become distanced. I sit next to him at the breakfast table and start eating the conjured food. WX2 knew immediately when he saw James, his twin, that he would be a wizard, but I did not know that I was one as well. Professor McGonagall seems to have taken a liking to me, probably because Transfiguration allows me to live up to my namesake, Morph. She does not know that, however, and at this rate, it seems that she will never know it.

    I remember the first day we appeared at Hogwarts. Adriana found a Port-key for us to use, and activated it. WX2 has made it mandatory for us to write down every single thing that has happened to us. So, I am pretty sure that he has written down that day, as have I, and I do not think I need to refer to it. He came to me after dinner that day and explained a few things that I have not forgotten. One, I am not supposed to change into anything else, though I still find it fun to become some people that WX2 has become used to me being, and he does not even recognize it when I happen to appear randomly and people always look twice at who he is talking to. Two, he told his brother and company that I'm an Animagus. I did not even know I was a wizard, let alone an Animagus at the time, but he explained it to me. I have to act like an Animagus, even though I have no idea how to. Not that big of a deal though, they can't tell the difference between every arctic wolf I've become. I can only remember so many forms, and, well, that just is not a form that I have put enough time into to keep it the same every time.

    I have a good reason for keeping this identity, though. No one at Hogwarts is to know that I am a mutant. It would not look that good for future references. Remus, a gray wolf animagi, is very nice to me. I really do not know why, except possibly because I picked a wolf with which to become an Animagus. They seem to all have taken a long course in becoming animagi, and I, on the other hand, just kind of do it. Remus and I have become quite close over the past month, and I am waiting for him to come through with the feelings I hope he has for me. I know I have those feelings, but I don't know if he has them as well. Alas, I thought that WX2 could be like Remus. Believe me, I have not heard a funnier joke.

    WX2 seems to be quite reclusive around Lily lately. I think it has something to do with the memories he happened to absorb that fateful day or something. Maybe the real WX2 knew Lily or maybe Magneto does. I do not really know. WX2 would approve of me using the present tense with Magneto, but Adriana is convinced that the man has died. I do not see how that is possible though. His children still like him and have taken a great deal of chances saving him from untimely deaths.

    I jump out of my thoughts and rush to the Potions dungeon. It is always cold down there, and I sometimes change my physical self some to keep warm. It is horrible to have Potions with the Slytherins, but the Potions teacher does not seem to take favourites in class. The class is dreadfully boring, and the Potion we learn is strictly elementary, or so I think. I have no problems completing it to perfection and the teacher awards me twenty points to Gryffindor house.

    It's amazing to think that in the mere month that we have been here, that all of us are at the top of our class. I have already gotten the N.E.W.T. in Transfiguration even though I have not even taken the class and the N.E.W.T.s are classes for the seventh year. WX2 has told me that he does not expect to stay for the rest of our seventh year, maybe not even for the rest of this year. We walk into the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and the teacher walks in. Or, the teacher we normally would expect would have walked in.

    Dumbledore smiled. "Well, it's nice to see you all." Most of the class looked at Dumbledore in shock, me included. It is not everyday the Headmaster of your school, principal for some of you, comes in to teach a class.

    "I wonder where I should start. Well, there have been some attacks recently." That sentence eliminated the shock and brought a grave, somber mood to the room. "I have a message for all of you, some of you might have lost parents or family, the rest of you it is merely just a precautionary measure. So, I will start from the beginning of the class."

    The classroom was bustling with unfortunate excitement. I sat in my chair and sighed. I hate having one of the first last names in the class. I stand up and walk to him before he starts with his list calling.

    "Yes, Miss Absil?"

    "I am guessing that you will be calling me first, seeing as I am the first in alphabetical order," I start with a cheery tone, but my voice dies off into a boring monotone. He smiles at me and indicates that he will be starting at the bottom of the list. I walk back to my chair with a smile on my face. Sometimes it is good to have such a last name. Within the first twenty minutes, he gets through all the Qs to Zs and I perk up as he calls WX2 and James. They go up and accept the letters that they have received. I watch James read his immediately and he smiles slightly. WX2, however, just stuffs the letter in his pocket.

    Finally, just before the end of the class, he calls me up and like some of the class members, he brings me outside.

    "Miss Absil, please follow Professor McGonagall. She will be informing you about what you are required to know." I look at Dumbledore quizzically, but I follow her and we walk to the empty Transfiguration room.

    "Miss Absil, do you have any parents or relatives of which you know?" she asks me in a stern tone, not a tone that I am used to hearing.

    "I... no, not as yet. My father has not been heard from in the last twenty years. My mother did not even know it was he that she married. He disappeared soon after I was conceived and... well, no one has heard of him since."

    "Well, I think I have a letter here for you, concerning your parents, and your now deceased relatives," McGonagall says softly. I take the letter mutely and read it.

To Gen, my daughter,

    I know it must be hard for you to live all those years alone. I am sorry that I never told your mother who I am, and I know it hurt her lots. I have not had much of a chance to go very far these years. I am in hiding and I finally have found my own father. You know your mother would think you very brave to live like her father did, saving his friends from things that they would have lived through any ways, as he did.

    I know that this letter might be depressing for you, or even make you angry, but I have good reason as to why I haven't been there for you. My father... is not a good man. He has taken over many people, and is planning a grand scale assault on Hallow's Eve in 1981. He says that he has heard a prophecy about that day, and that there is a little child that he must defeat before a prophecy will be fulfilled. I do not get much time to myself, and when I do, I don't usually get time to write to you.

    Please, Gen, do not get mad at me. I have tried my hardest to find you and make it back to you. But I will tell you this.

    My father is Mr. Sinister. And he has a p- pen name. Lord Voldemort.

    The writing on the paper dies there, though I know that my father would have liked to write more. Now I can see that I have a history, a dark one. My one grandfather is a double crosser of sorts, and he deceived my other grandfather. I walk out of the room silently, not even noticing McGonagall try to talk to me. I run out of the room and rush down to Gryffindor Tower. I walk into the room and find WX2.

    "We need to talk," I whisper as I walk past. "Astronomy Tower, midnight. Be there." He nods slightly, seeming to answer James's question, though I know he is answering me. McGonagall slipped a pass for the day into the letter, and I notice it. Good, I think. This will take a lot of thinking before I will finally accept it.

    The rest of my day happens uneventfully, and I sit in the Astronomy Tower, still a half hour early. No one can see me, I am just a bat sitting on one of the walls. There are a large amount of people there, most of them doing things that you would not see normally in school. PDA's are prohibited during class time, and most of them have too much homework to have any time for these activities at any other time. I really have lost faith in my generation, and I swiftly change into one of my other guises as I see WX2 walk into the Astronomy Tower. He spots me and shuffles over as fast as he can, without stepping on the fetal bodies in his way. I hand him the letter, and he reads it. He looks at me grimly and sighs.

    "Well, it seems that we will probably have to leave sooner than we think," he says softly, the sounds of moaning and kissing accentuating his words. We both wince as it seems that one couple is starting to have slightly too much fun. "We've got one month until we leave, Gen. Have your fun while you can, I wouldn't expect to ever come back." He hands the letter back to me and walks off as he came in, not even noticing those who are having their fun.

    I change into a different of my known forms and I walk out after him. I change back to myself as I walk through the door, and no one notices. I slip through the corridors, silently and just as I make it to the Fat Lady, I run over a person. At least I think it is a person, it is pitch black out, and I hear a muffled grunt as I run into the person. I grab what I know is the thing, and pull the cloth off of it.

    "James!" I exclaim, though inaudibly. "What are you doing here?" I hiss. I know all about his Invisibility Cloak, and am not entirely surprised that he is using it. He gives no verbal answer and I grab him. I pull him back into the common room, then point to the door, locking it from the inside for the next seven hours. I do not know if WX2 has made it back, and so I will let him enter once.

    "Look, Gen," James starts. "I... what did you show my brother that was so important that you might have to leave soon? I don't want to lose him anymore."

    I stare at the Marauder in pure disgust. Lily was not kidding when she told me that he was a sneak.

    "Look, it's a long story, and, well, he was expecting to leave sometime next year maybe. We all have our secrets, and we can't stay in one place too long. He's the leader of our little band, as you are yours and his loyalty is so fierce that he would even walk away from family for one of us. And we would do the same for him. I owe him my life more times than I can count. We all do. If he walks away now, he gets the same treatment he has given the rest of us. There used to be fifty of us, and now there are five, maybe. The rest are all his enemies, we've even killed some of our previous friends, where we would have saved their lives the day or minute before they walked out on us," I sigh. "We don't have an easy life, and I'm afraid that my grandfather will have his way with my friends soon. James, W- Matt is doing this to keep you safe. He has been through more than you can imagine." I see tears in James's eyes. He does not notice my slip as I almost say WX2 instead of Matt. I pull him close, one of the few things I have ever done for a boy and keep him safe for the next hour. I do not feel anything for James, though, and I know that I can only love him as a brother. My feelings are for someone else.

    The next morning, the boys' dorm has a new roommate, me. I left a note in the common room that morning that I was leaving, putting in a comment for WX2 in code that I would still be there. Dumbledore makes the announcement and I act purely scared as I walk up to the Sorting Hat. Before it can ask why I am being sorted again, I explain the reasons why, and I get resorted back into Gryffindor. James asks me less questions than before, and Remus always seems to be looking off into the clouds where he thinks I have gone. It is painful seeing him like this. WX2 can see it in my eyes. I am getting tired of this lie. He finally confronts me and tells me to tell Remus. It is the least we can do, or so he says, since he did not exactly give Remus that much time in identifying his secret.

    I confront Remus this night, starting in normal conversation, or my attempt at normal conversation.

    "Hey, Remus," I say in my now baritone voice. "Do you want to go for a walk? Talk about something that's been on my mind for a while." He looks at me startled, but nods and we walk out of the common room. We walk down to the Quidditch Pitch quite alone and silent. I am about to explain everything, but he starts talking before I can.

    "Hey, I know you don't know this person, but I can't stop thinking about her. Ever had the feeling where there was someone you've known, and when you're ready to talk to her, she disappears on you?" I can see tears start to fall down his face. "And every time I think that I can deal with the loss... I think I see her again." He turns to me, tears flowing down his face. "It hurts. I want to see her, and tell her everything I was about to say... everything I was going to say before she disappeared on me." He sits down on the ground, trying not to sob.

    "Remus," I say softly. "I know what you are feeling. I have some explaining to do as well." He looks at me curiously, but I can see the doubt in his eyes. "I know this girl. Matt said she was an arctic wolf Animagus. Well... she's a little more than that."

    "What," he says sarcastically, "she's you as well?"

    "And many other things, Remus," I say, after turning back into my own self. "Remus, I... I love you. And my disappearance was because, well, we are going to be leaving very soon. Possibly by the end of the month." I sit next to him, and rest my head on his shoulder, feeling comforted by his strong shoulder. "Remus, I... I'm a mutant. I can become anything I want. Anything. You ask it, I can do it. I used to forget who I was for so long. Sometimes I lived twenty years as someone else, someone who got married, and never had kids, lost the spouse in a car accident the next day. I guess I owe most of my training to Matt. He helped me learn to control what I am." I look him in the eye. "Remus, I've never felt such feelings before. I... I brought you out here so that I could tell you this." He looked at me a long time.

    "You know, I've been brought up to hate and despise mutants. I've been brought up to look down at Muggles. But..." he sighs. "I love you too, Gen. I might not have lived like you have, but... I'm a werewolf. One of the Dark Lord's servants. And normally, if anyone told me that they could do what you can without any proof, I'd laugh at them and send them to St. Mungo's." He smiles and I look him in the eyes. I had gotten lost in those eyes so many times. I shiver, it is a cold night. I huddle closer to Remus and our cheeks are touching.

    "I love you, Gen," he whispers in my ear, and I repeat the words to him in his own ear. He pulls back slightly and touches his forehead to mine. I see the first real smile on his face, the first smile I have ever seen on him. It makes me smile, and I lean closer, and our lips touch slightly. I feel a spark or something course through me and I back away, looking him in the eyes. The feeling of his lips does not leave my lips, and I think then that it will never leave them. I move back and kiss him again, and he kisses me back. I get lost in the kiss; I feel my legs become impossible to stand on. I am quite happy that we are sitting on the ground. He is a little more daring than I would have expected, and his tongue brushes against my lips. I open my mouth and let him in, moaning slightly.

    He breaks away after a minute or so. For all I know it has been hours. I look him in the eyes, and I feel a tear fall down my cheek.

    "Remus," I whisper. "I really wish that we didn't have to leave. I... I really can't leave you right now. This is hurting too much." He lifts a hand and traces the shape of my cheek down to my chin.

    "I know. But you have to," he says. He seems to have accepted this predicament. "I'll wait for you. I'll always be around here." I smile and kiss him again, but I break away quicker than the last kiss. I stand up, and when he looks up again, there I am, the baritone, the boy. The person with the cursed existence just as bad as being a werewolf. I offer him a hand, and he accepts it.

    "You can't tell anyone, Remus. I know this secrecy is hard, but I think you are used to it. I'll find you again. And when I do, we'll run together, just like a pack of wolves. All right?" He smiles at me, and we walk back up to the common room in silence, just as we had come, except we both now have knowledge in our hearts, some hard to deal with, some not. WX2 catches my eye, and I nod. He nods back, just as grim, and we go to bed for one of our last nights at Hogwarts.

    The next morning comes all too quickly, but we all accept that problem. We've been through harder times. WX2 finds Shade in the Slytherin pack, and he is more than ready to leave. He approaches Ambre and she doesn't need to ask questions, she just tells Dumbledore that she would be leaving the next morning.

    The day progresses all too quickly. I show my true talents in all my classes, and in Transfiguration, McGonagall pulls me aside.

    "You... you remind me of one of my former students. She left us just a few days ago. Her name is Gen. I haven't heard from her since she left. It's been really sad in my classes for the past few days, even though I've tried my best to continue without that happy, smiling face in class. And now you're here, and it seems like Gen's back. Like she's back in you." I smile, trying not to cry.

    "Well, Professor, you might just be more correct than you think." I smile at her, watching her become confused, but before she can ask any other questions, I turn around and walk away with a wave, the last goodbye I make to Minerva McGonagall. I don't expect to see her again, nor do I expect to see Remus again. But there is always hope, and that is what all of us live on.

    WX2 wakes me up late that night, and I slip into the girls dorm to wake up Adriana. She just nods and we all meet at the front entrance. The five of us. WX2, Shade, Ambre, Sorceress, and me. WX2 has his gloves on, and all his normal gear on. This time, he leaves with a wand, as do I. Shade, well, I do not know how he made it through the excursion at Hogwarts, but somehow he came out okay. WX2 informs us that we have to now go back to Sanctuary. He knows something, and with that knowledge, he can eliminate Sanctuary, giving the other mutants some form of sanity.

    As we walk off into the night, I think about Remus, and know that I will never be able to see him again. My travels will bring me too far, they will push me past my limits, and I will never be able to see my true love again.