Days of Future Pryde: Chapter One

Those first few weeks were hell. And I am not trying to be dramatic or anything, that's the gods honest truth. First of all, it turns out that almost a week had passed in between my bouts of unconsciousness. Second, my parents had no idea where I was at all. They didn't even know I had been in the ice-cream parlor when it had been attacked. The X-Men had done some technical hocus-pocus to keep their identities secret. Which actually didn't work out that well for them, considering that my parents completely lost it and thought that they had kidnapped me.

So when they dropped me off at home to let me pack and have my parents fill out the paperwork and all that, I got jumped by my mother while my father went after the Professor. Turns out that he knew the guy back when they fought together in the Vietnam war (My dad is old, just FYI). Unfortunately for Xavier, any feeling of friendship that my father had for him vanished the minute I did.

He lit into him, and when I say that, I mean that he was screaming and shouting obscenities so loudly and frequently, that if my mother could hear him her hair would have turned white. She was to busy sobbing over me, however, while I was secretly pleading to the X-Men to get me out of this mess. It looked like there was no way I was going to New York any more, or at least that's what I thought.

Turns out Xavier isn't the only telepath in this little band of misfits. Jeanie, who I later learned was actually named Jean, also had the brain magic thingy. What she did next is something that I will never forgive her for. She erased my parents memories of the past few days, and replaced them with ones of me going on a school tour. She manipulated them into letting me go to Xavier's. She dug into their minds and changed them.

I don't understand why she didn't. Sure, Carmen and Theresa were totally losing it and I was losing the chance to leave, but it was not her problem to deal with, it was mine. The way that she did it was personal and unethical. What if she had decided to make them think they were peacocks or something equally ridiculous? I doubt that any of us could have stopped her.

They all left shortly after that, with promises to have someone meet me at the airport later that week to take me to the school. My parents agreed whole-heartedly, and that scared me. They were more preppy than ever. My sarcastic darkness cannot compute this, this, happy.

It really didn't take me that long to pack and say good bye to my life. There wasn't much I was going to miss about it besides my home and my family. Who now had no idea what happened a few weeks ago and are now programed to smile, nod, and walk away when asked about it.

And it turns out, no one was really hurt at all. Lots of threats, sure, but as soon as they had us the goons left. There were a few that went to the hospital with ricochet wounds, and John was shot in the arm, but beyond that there was nothing that life changing. Although I do suspect that the children who were in the building at the time are going to need several lifetimes of therapy to get over the attack. Or maybe just several months, you never know.

Packing didn't take me long. Besides my pillow, books, and computer all I took was my clothes. I was told that my room would be fully furnished so I didn't need to worry about that. Frankly I didn't care. If I had needed to, I would have had my furniture shipped there as well. But, in the end, it was me, a few bags, and my parents when I got to the airport. I promised to write and call often, and they left shortly after making sure I was seated on the plane. That was a little embarrassing. I mean, yeah I am blind, but they should just give me to the steward or stewardess. Following me onto the plane wasn't necessary.

But the point is that I got on the right plane and I was bound for New York. Or I guess the real point is that I trusted my parents and the airline employees enough to put me on the right plane, since I was so distracted by all the noises and smells that assaulted me once I stepped into the building, I couldn't focus and therefore had no idea where the hell I was.

But, apparently I was right to trust them. This time. The second I stepped off the plane Piotr was there in all his giant glory. I am not ashamed to admit that I latched onto his arm and begged him to get me out of there.

Alright, so maybe that was a bit of a dramatic exaggeration. I did latch onto his arm, which he had offered me. I had my cane in my hand but there were simply to many patrons to even think about navigating the area all on my own. Any begging was done internally. I refused to voice my pleadings. All I said was, “Let's get out of here.”

“I agree Keety.”

I jerked my head to the right in the direction of the German voice and smiled slightly. “Hello Kurt. Am I that dangerous that Xavier thinks that it takes two to contain me?” They both laughed.

“How is your family?” Piotr asked later as we were putting my bags into the car.

“Well enough. How have you been?”

“Oh, we have all been eagerly awaiting your arrival.” Way to make me feel like a princess. “Kurt is studying to become an architect, so with the help of Storm he designed your room. We would not allow him to do it by himself, fearing it would be far to masculine if we did.”

“Ummmm....” I said as we were getting into the car. “You do realize that I will never be able to see it?”

“Ja,” Kurt exclaimed as he shut the door and started the engine. “Which is why I designed it for touch and not for sight.”

~*~

It was wonderful. When he said it was designed for touch, he wasn't kidding. There was a plaque on my door that held my name in raised numbers and in Braille. The door knob was textured somewhat like a rock, rather than being smooth. And when I opened the door, my bare toes (I never wear shoes in the house) brushed against luxurious carpet. I wanted to sink into it and never come out. Sure, it would be a pain in the but to clean but since I'm not that messy I wasn't worried.

The room was a weird shape. Almost like a rectangle, with one of the corners cut in. I then discovered that that corner was in fact my bathroom/closet area. The counter-top was some sort of polished stone, gently eroded so that there was no sharp edges or corners. The sink was a sunken bowl with a large faucet, and the shower/bath area had a handrail and raised letters on the faucet handles. There was a cupboard with all of my towels, washcloths, soaps, and shampoos organized on separate shelves. The closets was just like a typical closet, but Kurt took care to tell me exactly where each shelf was.

My actual bedroom was amazing. There was a desk in the far right corner, oval shaped, with drawers all on the front. A TV was mounted on the wall about two feet away from it, across from my bed and a few bookshelves. The bathroom was next to the bed, and in the last corner, on the left was a window and a small window seat. Kurt opened it, a told me to step outside.

“Are you crazy?” I asked. “I'm not about to fall to my death.

“Just trust me.” he said.

I don't know what it was, but something in his voice made me want to do just that. Trust him, I mean. Logically, I had no reason not too. Gathering my courage, I stepped out of the window. My feet hit hard wood, and I discovered a small balcony big enough for a table, a chair, and some standing room.

I couldn't believe what he had done for me, and there was no way I could verbally express my thanks. Instead, I threw my arms around him and squeezed as hard as I good, letting my body tell him what my words couldn't. You get your mind out of the gutter.

“You are velcome Keety,” he said gently, returning the embrace.

But, sadly, that was where my happiness ended.

When I read the Harry Potter books as a kid, I loved them. I still do to this day, but as a little blind ten year old girl who couldn't see anything, those books were everything. JKR had such wonderful imagery, that as my fingers ran across the page reading the words, I could see everything in my mind. All the descriptions created a picture that I could clearly make out. I suspect that such an image is largely compatible to a movie.

Whatever it was, I loved it. I even brought all the books with me when I moved into Xaviers'.

But once I get settled in and started exploring, I began to wonder if the Professor had somehow communicated with the Four Founders when he created this place. There were no moving staircases or anything like that, but it was a maze. I knew how to get from my room, to the front door and the kitchen/dining area. But that was it. Everywhere else I tried to get to on my own would end up with me getting lost and having Cerebro guide me.

Don't know who Cerebro is? Think Tony Stark and Jarvis. Apparently the billionaire is friends with the Professor or something like that. His donations, combined with the Xavier inheritance are what made this place possible.

But anyway, Cerebro is a artificial intelligence computer installed into the mansion. She runs our security, operates the majority of our electronics and acts as a super-computer hard drive for storing information. On what, I am still not sure.

But anyway, I couldn't find my way around. Half the time I would end up in the boys locker room, which even though I couldn't see was still embarrassing. My headaches were going away, but I was losing control of my power at times. Once, on my third or fourth day at the school, I slipped when reaching for my clothes when taking a shower and fell through two stories onto the kitchen island. Storm, Jean, and Scott were preparing breakfast at the time, but stopped when I fell through in all my naked glory. I slipped through the floor again, on purpose this time, and avoided them all for a few days.

Those two things weren't the only ones bothering me. I switched to all online classes so I wouldn't have to transfer, but doing so meant that I was stuck in the house a lot. In fact, the only time I left the grounds was for dance class (I enrolled in the local center the day I knew I was coming) and a shopping trip that I tagged along on. I was getting some serious cabin fever.

And then I had to go and make a fool of myself again. I hadn't gotten lost, I was waiting for Wolverine outside the underground training room that they called the “Danger Room,” when it suddenly got quiet. Up until that point there had been faint sounds traveling through the thick doors, and so I assumed that they were done and I could start my minor training session. I was right, they were done. But what I didn't know is that the sensors on the door were active, and I triggered the alarm when I phased through it.

I ended up landing on by but while Piotr, Angel, Storm, and all the others tried to shut it off. I also nearly got both myself and Piotr squished like a pancake, but I managed to phase us both in time. I was scolded harshly afterwords, and Angel told me never to walk into the room when the warning light was on again. I pointed to my shades and said sarcastically, “You just let me know when it's on then, because I can't tell the difference either way.”

But all these mishaps bring me to where I am right now. Standing in the Danger Room while everyone else is in the observation deck above me, waiting for my very first simulation to start. From what I understand, the DR is basically a giant virtual game board, and I am one of the pieces. It's a combination of simulation and robotics, which together create scenarios that the X-Men fight through and attempt to win.

Xavier himself programmed my first session. He wasn't here to see it however, due to some meeting he had in Washington. DC, not the state.

“You ready, kid?” Wolverine's voice asked over the speaker. He hadn't stopped calling me that, and I had stopped trying to make him.

“As I will ever be.” I said as clearly and as strongly as I could. Underneath trying to show strength, I was terrified.

“Alright kid, starting it up now. Just try to get to the other end of the room.” I nodded my head in response.

I heard the buzzing sound that signaled the start up, and instinctively switched on my power. Get from one end of the room to the other. Simple enough. I put one foot in front of the other, and walked. Every so often I would feel a tingle as a weapon of some sort brushed through me or near me, and I had to consciously try not to flinch. Even though a part of me knew nothing could touch me, another part was screaming at me to get the heck out of there.

I didn't listen.

I just walked and within minutes I felt my hands, which were held slightly in front of me, brush through the wall. I halted, but didn't turn off my power until I felt the machines shut down. Over my head in the Deck, I could hear someone laughing. I didn't have to ask who it was, because Piotr turned on the com a second later.

“That was very good Kitty!” he called out in between bouts of hilarity. “You did wonderful!”

I smiled. I loved it when I succeeded.

I began to make my way to the Deck stairs, when I stopped in my tracks. Something, or someone was watching me. The back of my head started to prickle, and it wouldn't go away. I was starting to feel really sick and woozy, and I was sitting down clutching my head before I even knew what was happening.

Shhhhhhhhh. Someone said. It'll be alright. I would never hurt you. But I need you right now. You are the only one who can stop this.

I saw visions of hell before collapsing completely, and drifting off. As I went, wherever I went, I felt a slight kiss brush against my forehead. I sighed before letting myself go.