I re-wrote a LOT of stuff, so hopefully, you'll take the time to read it through again. I have roughly 10k so far and I have much more planned ^.^
Enjoy!
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Cain sat with both of his legs pulled up to his chest, his arms wrapped around them as if he was trying to awkwardly hug himself, he stared emptily into the dark night, not really focusing on anything in particular. It was a cold night in Southern Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, and his spot on the roof was getting colder by the second, not that he noticed it. A particularly cold gust of autumn wind broke through his shields and forced him away from his train of thoughts and back to reality. The 16 year old boy sighed deeply as he stood up and entered his bedroom through the open window beside him. The dark room greeted its occupant with an eerie silence and immediately wrapped the boy in a blanket of nonchalant darkness. With near-robotic movements Cain began to remove his clothes. It had been a long day indeed. With a loud ‘thump’ he let himself hit the madras of his bed, sighing in exasperation. For a while, Cain simply stared at his ceiling without thinking of anything in particular, but far too soon for his liking, the question of the X-Men began to fill his mind and the teen groaned as he turned and hid his face in his pillow.
Cain Withers was a mutant, a powerful one if one was to believe the professor who sent him that damned letter, Professor Xavier or something like that. But he had probably told all of his ‘students’ that just to soften them up before he collected them. Cain had awakened the so called ‘X-Gene’ when he was eight, and now, many years later; this Xavier dude was apparently ready to take him in. The man had thrown some lame apology about not being able to locate him his way, but Cain didn’t buy it. It was too convenient to be true.
“Bullshit”
He mumbled into his pillow. Why the hell did this Xavier guy have to contact him now? The incidents at his school had gotten worse during the last couple of weeks and the police had come to question him twice this week. The timing was simply too convenient to be a coincidence. Cain gritted his teeth and felt the energy within him twist in anticipation, it was like his gift had a life of its own, always acting like some kind of primal instinct. He sneered into his pillow, and with a disgusted snort the teenager climbed out of his bed, he wouldn’t get any sleep anyway, he could feel it. The boy looked around his room in search of some kind of distraction and his eyes fell on his computer, he smirked in anticipation and slid into his swivel.
As he waited for the computer to start, Cain leaned backwards in his comfortable chair and placed his hands behind his head as he thought about how he had received the letter earlier that day.
Flashback
Cain had just gotten out of bed and was halfway on his way into the bathroom, when he heard his mother calling out nervously
“Cain! You’ve got mail!”
Her shrill voice cut through the half-awake boy’s consciousness and made him narrow his eyes slightly, he didn’t answer her call, that bitch didn’t deserve any answer from him. With a shrug, the boy left his shower for later and walked into the kitchen, where a nice and official-looking envelope was laying proudly on the table. Making his way past his mother, who was busy preparing breakfast, Cain grabbed the envelope and glanced at it. The front of the envelope was adorned with a big X that seemed to read around the envelope like a seal of some sort. With a single rip, he opened the envelope and a neatly folded piece of paper was released from its captivity. Snatching it in mid-air, the boy unfolded it and began to read.
Dear Mr. Withers
As you may know you are one of the few people on this planet in possession of the rare ‘X-Gene’, this gift comes with great responsibility and power and it has both advantages and disadvantages. As a young ‘mutant’, you may have experienced fear and even contempt from your peers, and it is perfectly understandable to feel put out by the reactions of the people you call friends.
In Westchester County, New York, lies a school for gifted youngsters, and gifted you are indeed Mr. Withers, you have a gift that many would pay dearly for, but sadly, some people fear these gifts. This letter is your invitation to join this school, Mr. Withers; it is a chance to meet people your age who have faced the same problems as yourself and understands what it is like to be a ‘mutant’. Normally, you would have received this letter about the time you discovered your gift, but technicalities left me unable to find you and for that I apologize. You do not need to answer this letter, no matter what your initial response is, a few teachers and myself will arrive at your home the day after you receive this letter and explain what the school is in further details. The choice will be completely up to you, Mr. Withers. If you have not told your parents about your gift, do not despair, another letter has arrived addressed to your parents, containing an invitation to attend a private boarding school in New York. We hope to see you at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
Professor Charles Xavier, Principal of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
Cain looked at the letter in disbelief for a few moments, before he snorted loudly and began to crackle with disbelieving laughter. The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on Cain, after training and experimenting with his gift for eight years without help, some strangers at an academy in America wanted to ‘help’ him. Glancing at his mother who was shooting him nervous looks as she tried to discreetly leave the kitchen, Cain quickly sobered up and pondered the whole academy-business. He knew that there were other mutants, of course, but a whole academy? In New York to top it off, what a surprise. Cain read the letter again and frowned, why would these people contact him now of all times? What were these ‘technicalities’ the professor-guy was talking about? Did these people know about his experiments? Without wasting a second, Cain hid the letter in one of the pockets in his trousers and left the kitchen as he sneered a barely coherent answer to his mom when she nervously asked about the letter.
In the calming darkness of his room, Cain collapsed onto his bed with a dull thump and an involuntary groan. Was he supposed to get his mothers permission to attend the academy? He could ‘persuade’ her, but Cain didn’t want to hurt his mother, she did give birth to him after all, and she had loved him for the first eight years of his life. It was all dads fault! After he left them, she had begun to blame all the world’s problems on the X-Gene. She didn’t exactly hate him; she simply couldn’t stand his mutation, or any mutation for that matter. The ****ing wench! She hadn’t done anything for him in eight years. No soothing words when he got injured, no hugs when he cried and no help when he got sick. The only thing she did was to make food enough for two, which also applied to the time before dad had left. She deserved everything he did to her and anyone who had another opinion could **** off. Cain growled far too realistically and mentally berated himself; he couldn’t afford to let any more emotion out than absolutely necessary. Taking a deep breath, Cain dampened his nerves and emotions again. Feelings would have to wait until later.
Cain sighed and grabbed the remote for his stereo. If he had to play the role of depressed, he might as well play it to the right kind of music. With the barest of a touch, he pressed ‘play’ and the sound of Three Days Grace made its way to his ears.
Flashback end
Cain typed in his password and the computer immediately forwarded him to his desktop, he didn’t do anything at first, he was still thinking about the letter, about his gift and about his parents. The professor had mentioned something about another letter in case he hadn’t told his parents, Cain snorted slightly, how anyone could ever manage to keep their gift a secret from their own parents was a mystery to him. Cain’s parents had discovered his gift the same time he had; it had been some kind of morbid, mutual discovery that changed all of their lives.
One morning, Cain had simply woken up with a strange ache in his back, but he had shrugged it off and gone to the kitchen for some breakfast. There he was met with the sight of his father dropping his coffee and staring at him in disbelief and to some extent, horror, and with good reason; his son’s spine was wagging like a tail, fully visible and in the exact same position as a tail would be. His father’s initial reaction, after the starring had been surprising, he hadn’t said much, he had just smiled at Cain and told him that he would call his mother and they would talk it out. For a few precious moments it seemed like everything would be alright. But Cain hadn’t been as lucky as he had hoped for; his mother had barely entered the house before his father began to scream at her. In his opinion, she had given birth to a monster, a demon, an abnormality. Cain’s father was religious, not fanatically so, but more than enough to firmly believe in hell, heaven, angels and demons. His mother had cried, she had apologized and begged for him to forgive her, not even for a second did she stop to consider that it wasn’t her fault, that it wasn’t anybody’s fault. Hours later his father had calmed down, his anger had, for the most parts, receded, but he had firmly stated that if he ever saw any sign of ‘demonic powers’ in his home again, he would leave, just like that. Cain was eight at that time, he was an angry kid with a potentially lethal ability, so he decided to train his gift in secret, where his father would never notice.
The next few years were strained, awkward and confusing; Cain’s mother became rather silent, she never really spoke more than a few words to anyone. Cain’s father, on the other hand, became a sneering loudmouth who constantly shared his anti-mutant opinions with anyone who cared to listen, and even those who didn’t. Cain retreated into himself, he stopped talking, he stopped laughing and he stopped socializing. He buried himself in his studies and training, and with his newfound loner attitude he was quickly labeled as the school’s freak, not because of his powers, no, nobody knew about those apart from his mom and dad. No, Cain was labeled a freak simply because he was different, like all other freaks.
Cain was very interested in psychology; he didn’t understand why people could hate other people like his dad did with the mutants. How could anyone hate a fellow human merely because he or she was different? Two and a half year after the discovery of his powers, Cain’s father caught him testing his powers in his room, the ******* left without a word; he never showed his face near Cain or his mother again. The extra stress and sorrow was too much for Cain’s mother, she became sickly and weak. The woman constantly cried and was unable to communicate normally with her son; she couldn’t help but blame him for her husband’s departure. Blame him for his mutation. Mother and son began to avoid each other, only communicating through the occasional yell, question, or one-worded reply.
Cain shook his head to push the unpleasant memories away. It didn’t matter if his mother knew it was a school for mutants, she wouldn’t rat them out to the government, she hadn’t sunken that low yet. Cain closed his eyes and used his gift to weaken his emotions, as he brutally pushed the feeling of sadness away and focused on his computer. He had been dampening his emotions too much lately and it was helping less and less when he talked to Eva, he would have to take a night of nightmares soon, or find someone to talk to about his problems. Cain snorted and shivered at the same time, like he could ever find anyone to talk to; he’d have to absorb them after confessing all the shit he’d done. But a night of nightmares, a night without emotional protection. Such nights seemed to last forever. Cain shook his head as he looked into the bright-blue screen of his PC, he knew the machine wasn’t the answer, but a single night of escapism wouldn’t hurt anyone, would it? Cain thought he had deserved that much; it wasn’t every day your classmates lit your leg on fire just to get a reaction to their bullshit. He’d had enough; it was time to leave this damned city.
Cain awoke to the sight of his ceiling somehow starring mockingly at him, his neck felt stiff and he could hear his computer humming. He had fallen asleep in his chair; boring series like that should be illegal. But thankfully, it had caused a dreamless night. The young mutant got up from his chair and stretched sleepily; he yawned and scratched the back of his head as a somewhat curious glint appeared in his eyes. Today was the day. From today, everything would be different.
Breakfast was a tedious matter; neither he nor his mother said a single word during the meal, not that he would be able to hear her through the loud rock pounding on his eardrums through his headphones. The annoyed nod he send her and the small twitch of her lip was the only evidence that the two had even noticed each other’s presence, and Cain immediately raced to his room to pack.
As the morning slowly turned to noon, Cain began to feel an emotion he hadn’t felt for a long time: Anxiety. The feeling took Cain by surprise; his dampening let him avoid all but the strongest feelings and emotions. If he actually felt anxiety through his strongest shields it could only mean one thing. He was actually looking forward to attending a ****ing school and afraid that the whole thing was a damn prank. Cain dampened his nerves to emergency level, he would have to do something tonight, or bad things would happen. He felt disgusted with himself; it had been a long time since he’d been forced to tighten his shields this much. That damn letter had completely smashed his routines. Cain fiddled with his IPod and closed his eyes as Yuki Kajiura’s piano music made its way to his ears. He needed something to distract him, if only for a few moments before those teachers would arrive, if they actually existed at all. Staring into the ceiling, the young mutant wondered if he would ever see this room again, or this house again for that matter. Not that he gave a flying shit; the building could turn to ash for all he cared.
Charles Xavier was a patient man, everyone knew that, he tried his very best to support mutant-rights through legal means, without the use of violence and he was always ready to offer young mutants a home and a school. Charles smiled himself as he thought about who he was supposed to meet today. Young Mr. Withers had been hard to find, for an unknown reason he hadn’t been able to find him, even with the help of Cerebro, until recently. Not that it mattered of course; the only thing that mattered was that the boy learned to control his powers instead of fearing them. No one should have to fear something they were born with. Suddenly, the big SUV he and his fellow X-Men had been driving in came to a halt and Charles looked at his driver, co-worker and former student, Scott Summers, for confirmation. The young man nodded once
“We’re here professor.”
"Ah, yes, let us go meet young Mr. Withers shall we?”
With the simple press of a button, Xavier, sitting comfortable in his wheelchair, was lowered down onto the sidewalk of a very normal-looking neighborhood. Charles idly noted that not a single thing looked out of place, it was as if everything had its specific spot, it was actually a bit discomforting.
“Professor?”
He heard his other student, Ororo Munroe, ask.
“Is this the correct address?”
Charles nodded once and the three began their short walk towards the Withers residence.
Scott rang the doorbell and the three X-Men patiently waited for someone to answer, it didn’t take long before a middle aged woman with mouse brown hair and a tired expression did just that. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the three and corner of her lip quavered a tiny bit before she carefully folded her face into a neutral expression.
“Withers residence. Can I help you?”
Scott and Ororo shared a look, the woman’s hands were trembling ever so slightly and her chest rose up and down in small, wheezing breaths, she seemed very nervous but somehow managed to keep her face blank and her voice friendly. The professor merely smiled kindly at the woman, seemingly ignoring her nervous twitches.
“Ah, yes, indeed you can. I am Professor Xavier from Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. I am here to enquire about young Mr. Cain Withers; you did receive my letter did you not?”
The professor raised an eyebrow ever so slightly as the woman flinched at his question; she opened her mouth a few times before she managed to whisper.
“I.. No, you must have gotten the address wrong. I’m sorry, please leave.”
She moved to close the door when Scotts arm shot forward with almost unnatural speed and caught the door. Ororo could somewhat understand what the woman was seemingly going through and immediately smiled and tried to calm her.
“Don’t worry; we’re not here to harm you. Just let us come in and we’ll speak to Cain, ok? We will leave as soon as we’ve told him about the school, and you won’t ever have to see us again if you and your son don’t want to.”
Reluctantly, the woman nodded and stepped back from the doorframe, she motioned for them to come inside and all the X-Men complied quickly.
The first thing Scott noticed about the house was its colorless state; everything seemed to be grey, black or white. While the house had a somewhat cozy feeling to it, it was distant and foreign, as if the feeling of home didn’t exactly belong here. The woman, who was obviously Mrs. Withers, led them into a nice sized living room where she pointed at a sofa and motioned for the guests to sit down.
“I-I’ll just go get… Cain.”
She said nervously, hesitating slowly before she said the name of her only child. She eyed the three X-men once more before the side of her lip twitched and she left the room to find her son. As her footsteps became distant, both Scott and Ororo let out a frustrated and tired sigh, the professor send them an amused look.
“Tired already I see? You seemed to be in high spirits when we left this morning.”
He said with a smile in his eyes. Scott leaned forwards in the couch and shrugged slightly.
“I just wish that we would be welcomed with a smile or a friendly gesture for once. I can understand why the parents are nervous and confused when their child is shown to be a mutant, but it’s beyond me why they sneer at us when we try to help them.”
Scott made to continue, but Ororo spoke before he had the chance.
“So, do we know anything about the boy, Professor?”
Xavier nodded.
“Yes, Cain Withers is a 1st year High School student. His overall average is above most of his peers. Cain seems to be average at most Science-related subjects, while his grades in subjects like history, psychology and most languages are near perfect. He-…”
“Hello.”
Scott and Ororo jumped at the sound of the new voice and turned to see a teenage boy standing in an adjacent doorway. The boy was wearing a baggy, white tee shirt, with an orange splash-print that read ‘Taiho’, his dark jeans were torn slightly and a pair of jet-black headphones hung around his neck. The boy looked scrawny and tired, his clothes seemed to be several sizes too big and hung off his body, he had several with scars on his face, the most noticeable; a large rough one that went from his hairline on the left side of his face and vertically down, reaching all the way to his jaw. His left eye, which the scar passed over, was milky white, almost unnaturally so, while the other was vibrant purple. Both seemed to stare into ones very soul and Scott squirmed ever so slightly in his seat as the kids gaze reached him. The boys face was set into a neutral, but calculating, expression, one that Scott recognized from several other young mutants. It was that expression that screamed ‘I don’t trust you’. Overall, the boy looked like someone who didn’t laugh much, someone who could send a clear message with a raised eyebrow or a simple look, someone who had seen a bit too much for his age.
“Ah, you must be Cain Withers. I am Professor Charles Xavier; it’s nice to meet you, Cain.”
The boy, now identified as Cain, nodded once before he slumped into a chair beside Scott.
“So, I presume you are the so-called ‘teachers’ from the mutant school?”
He said mockingly. Scott thought he heard a vague whimper and a couple of retreating footsteps at Cain’s comment, but shrugged it off as nothing.
“Indeed, Mr. Withers, we are. I have already presented myself, but these two are my fellow teachers on the institute, Scott Summers and Ororo Munroe,”
Charles motioned towards his two former students respectively as he presented them.
“I’m sure you’ll get to know each other very well if you choose to accept a place on my school.”
Cain winced almost unnoticeably at the title, but Scott saw it nevertheless.
“Please, call me Cain. Mr. Withers was my father.”
Scott raised an eyebrow and was about to ask ‘was?’, but a look from his former teacher stopped him in his tracks. Cain, obvious to their silent conversation, continued to speak.
“But anyway, when do we leave?”
“Leave? I had the impression that you wished to ponder your choice further.”
Cain shook his head firmly.
“There’s nothing left for me here, professor. Dad’s gone, the ****er. Mom’s being herself and this town means nothing to me. I just want to get out of here. There is nothing to ponder. This is a new chance and I intend to take it.”
He replied neutrally. The Professors brows furrowed
“I am sorry to hear that you have been unwell, Cain, I really am.”
Cain managed to disguise his scoff as a particularly nasty sneeze, but his thoughts were obvious to Scott. The boy didn’t need pity; he just wanted a new place to be. End of story.
“I’ve already packed my bags and left a note telling my mother where I’m going. I just want to get out of here.”
Cain sent the Professor something akin to a ‘puppy-eyes-look’, but his scared face and hard eyes made it seem like some sort of grimace. Scott had to hold back a chuckle despite the seriousness of the conversation. Cain quickly realized his failure and tried to salvage the situation.
“I don’t mean to sound like a kid, professor, but I honestly feel like I’m suffocating in this house.”
Ororo Munroe was curious. Just a few minutes ago the three X-men had left the Withers residence, now with a young man accompanying them. There had been no heartbreaking farewells when they left the house, no crying and no smiling, there had been a single nod towards the kitchen where Mrs. Withers presumably was and a look that asked the three X-men to just go with it. Ororo was initially against letting the boy leave without saying goodbye to his mother, but Cain seemed to know what he was doing, and not even once did Mrs. Withers come out from the kitchen. Nothing seemed to have changed with the boys’ departure, nobody seemed to care and it was breaking her heart. Ororo sat down beside the boy in the SUV, there was no music or useless chattering, just an awkward silence that begged to be broken. Out of the corner of her eye Ororo saw Cain put his black headphones on as he fumbled with a black IPod. Soon, the faint sound of a piano could be heard in the car, only audible because of the uncomfortable silence.
“Do you mind if we listen in?”
She heard Scott ask and at Cain’s confused expression he repeated the question a bit louder. Cain’s eyes widened slightly in surprise at the question and he quickly unhooked the IPod from the headphones. With a curious glance and a look that asked him not to break his only source of music, the boy handed the IPod to Scott, who connected it to the cars stereo.
“I don’t know if you’re into piano music, but Yuki Kajiura plays well.”
The young mutant said and Ororo smiled.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen a kid your age listening to that kind of music. Do you play?”
“Yeah,”
Cain nodded,
“I’ve had lessons since I was six.”
Ororo smiled softly at the boy. The soft tunes of a piano quickly filled the car before silence could and Ororo found herself becoming lost in the music. The piece was beautiful; it told stories of sadness and loss, but also of passion and love. Ororo wasn’t the only one becoming lost in the music; Cain’s eyes had become distant, even from her angle she could see that he was deep in thought.
“Do you want to see my power?”
His voice interrupted her observance and she had to ask him to repeat the question.
“Do you want to see my power? I can imagine that most of your students want to show other mutants their powers for one reason or another and I’d like to see what the three of you can do, too.”
To Ororo’s surprise, Scott, of all people, chuckled and added.
“I don’t think you’d want Storm and I to show off our powers here, they aren’t exactly designed to be used indoor. I shoot laser out of my eyes, though I’m unable to turn the beam off. So yes, there’s a reason for the glasses. Storm can control the weather, but I’m sure she has loads to say about that herself.”
Scott winked almost unnoticeably at her as he enlightened Cain about her powers, but she understood the hint. Cain seemed surprised with the answer and shot a questioning glance at Scott’s back. Ororo raised an eyebrow at him and decided to enlighten him.
“I’m Storm by the way; most of the people at the School have some kind of nickname that describes their powers.”
“No, no, that’s not it; I’m just surprised that Mr. Summers can’t control his power.”
Cain mumbled loudly enough for Storm to hear it. She shot the boy a calculating look and decided that a little bit of education was acceptable in this particular situation.
“Most mutants can control their power up to some extent, but some abilities simply can’t be controlled, it’s not something that we have any control over, sadly.”
Cain seemed to contemplate her answer for a while and she used the temporary silence to continue her explanation.
“Your ability matures along with your body, so most young mutants don’t have much control over their power. But like I said, some abilities simply can’t be completely controlled. That’s why some mutants are labeled as dangerous; because they’re unable to control their own powers.”
Unnoticed by her, the Professor had gradually begun to smile as she went into ‘teacher’ mode without even noticing it. Cain’s facial expression had gone from contemplating to frowning as Ororo’s explanation grew more detailed, she continued to explain the process of mutants maturing and their powers ‘evolving’ during their lifetime. Busy as she was with her lecture, she was caught completely off-guard when Cain suddenly interrupted her.
“What is the average level of control?”
Short and precise as his question was, it still interrupted Storm’s rant and she frowned at the rude interruption.
“Maybe you could show us your level of control Mr. Withers and we’ll assess where you stand.”
The professor, who had remained silent and observing during Cain and Storm’s conversation, offered. Cain nodded quickly and began to explain.
“My power is complete control of my body, I seem to be able to control all the cells in my body and dictate their behavior individually. I can’t turn into liquid or anything like that, but stuff like healing, growing new limbs, manipulating my skeleton, that’s what I do.”
Ororo’s eyes grew wide over the course of the explanation, had it been bone manipulation or healing it would’ve been a simple and straightforward power like most of the students on the School. But absolute control? The idea was incredible and scary at the same time. A strong power like that needed a strong wielder to keep it under control; she could only hope that Cain could attain that level of control, he could become very dangerous if he didn’t.
“I can’t just grow an organ out of nowhere; the energy has to come from somewhere. I haven’t figured out what my energy is yet, or where it comes from, but if I try to grow something or make something out of nothing, I can feel myself becoming tired. The good thing is that I can absorb most organic material and convert it into energy in my body somehow, so if I just absorb the things I created after using them, I’m back to normal. It’s actually pretty awesome.”
Cain excitedly told them, his face had gone from impassive to almost childish in a matter of seconds as he talked about his gift. Ororo chuckled at his excitement; it was nice to see someone experimenting with their powers instead of making do with what they began with.
“I haven’t discovered the limit to my power yet, I’ve done all sorts of experiments! You should have seen the-…”
Suddenly, Cain’s mouth clapped shut and his eyes gleamed with an emotion Storm couldn’t quite identify. A brief silence settled in the car as Cain stared into space, seemingly lost in his thoughts. After several moments the teen blinked rapidly and made eye-contact with Ororo again, an obviously fake apologetic look on his face.
“I’m sorry, I’m just a bit excited, that’s all. Maybe I should just show you instead of rambling.”
Cain made to move his arm, but suddenly turned towards the professor, seemingly awaiting confirmation. At the Professors smile and nod, he held his arm up and a look of concentration overtook his face. For a second it seemed like nothing would happen, not a single sound was heard in the car except for Cain’s controlled breathing. Ororo was about to ask Cain if something had gone wrong, when a disgusting crack was heard. Without warning, bones began to grow out of Cain’s arm and began to intervene with each other as a shape began to take form. Ororo squinted to make out the details of the figure, but it quickly became clearer and more detailed when more bones joined the creation. The result was amazing.
Cain had created a woman entirely out of bones, her marble-white bone skin seemed glow and her shape and curves were scarily realistic. Her body seemed to be made out of a single bone, not a single inch looked out of place. But the most impressive thing was her hair. The figurines hair was also made out of bone, but it seemed to be made of so many microscopic pieces that it retained the properties of normal hair and as Cain breathed down on her, it swayed beautifully. The bone-woman was created in standing position with her arms held in front of her and her head tilted slightly sideways, her face showed anticipation, curiosity and friendliness. Ororo stared at the creation in amazement; the sheer difficulty of making such a thing with one’s own bones was overwhelming. She had met sculptors who would kill to be able to make such a figurine in stone or clay, to make it out of bone was just about impossible. She was just about to voice her praise when the woman started to, in lack of better words; melt. The woman’s face distorted into a grimace and her arms went limp as she fell down onto her knees, in the end, the figurine fell on all fours and her hair hung in front of her face, hiding most of it from view, but Ororo could still make out the pleading look on her face as she was absorbed back into Cain’s arm.
“Eva is my creation, she was my first experiment and she has only improved over time. She’s perfect.”
Cain’s voice was low and loaded with emotion, he stared at his arm with longing in his eyes, but as soon as he noticed Ororo staring at him, his eyes went stony.
“She’s something I made up, nothing more, nothing less.”
Ororo’s head was in turmoil, the way Cain had looked at the figurine had been puzzling. No, puzzling wasn’t the right word, it had been unnerving. Not knowing quite what to say to the boy, Ororo decided to stay silent, and apparently, so did the rest of the car’s occupants. The rest of the trip towards the airport was spend in complete silence, the only sound coming from the car and the piano on Cain’s IPod.
Cain cursed himself mentally as he followed Storm through the Mansion that was known as Xaviers School for Gifted Youngsters. He had told those teachers too much, asked too many questions. He had even shown them Eva, how stupid was that? With a sigh, Cain nodded nonchalantly at Storm as she ushered him through a series of expensively furnished halls and marble staircases. He didn’t listen to a word of her introduction, so caught up was he in his own thoughts. On the bright side, all the teachers seemed to be impressed with his gifts; they weren’t repulsed like his father, or scared like his mother. They had probably seen hundreds of students with stronger gifts, wilder gifts. Laser eyes, control over the weather, these people weren’t pushovers; their powers were impressive. Maybe he could actually learn something here. His train of thoughts was interrupted as Storm’s voice cut into his ear
“Cain! Are you alright, Cain? You were just staring into space for a minute there.”
“What? What is it?”
Cain asked dumbfounded, he wasn’t used to being interrupted while he was thinking, not since his powers had manifested. It was actually ridiculously easy to fall out of the social circles without even meaning to, just because you had something else on your mind. That was probably why traumatized children had a hard time living a normal life, they couldn’t fit into the normal social circles because their thoughts were elsewhere and their behavior was slightly different due to their experience. Children could be so evil, leaving others out like that, but he was getting sidetracked again.
Ororo had, apparently, asked him a question during his pondering and Cain had to politely ask her to repeat it, she sighed and asked him if he wanted to go get something to eat while the paperwork involving his transfer was solved. Cain weighted the con’s and pro’s of meeting the whole student body immediately after arriving, but his curiosity easily won over his social awkwardness.
A single nod and a few minutes later, Cain found himself standing in front of the wooden double doors leading to the dining-hall. Cain looked down at his outfit and his baggy tee-shirt, torn jeans and worn sneakers silently mocked him for his choices. He didn’t care much for clothes, but most kids did. Some teens would take a look at his black headphones and think ‘music-dude, aint gonna get near that shit’, or something similar. Clothes were, sadly, important in modern society. With his trademark sigh, Cain opened the door as silently as possible and snuck into the hall. The sight that met him was… Disappointing, in a way. He didn’t really know what he had expected, but around 50 completely normal-looking teenagers and children, and a few not-so-normal looking teenagers and children, sitting around round, wooden tables eating lunch, certainly weren’t it. Cain stared at the crowd with a deadpanned expression, he must’ve looked obvious to the students, because a pretty teenage girl, who looked around his age, quickly noticed him and waved him over to the table she was sitting by. Mentally shrugging, Cain went to join his new peers at their table. As soon as he entered hearing-range, the wave-girl, which Cain in lack of anything better to call her, had dubbed her, started to talk. She had a very pronounced southern accent, but was, thankfully, perfectly understandable.
“Ey,”
she smiled at him,
“Ya new, right? Welcome to the school, take a seat and a’ll introduce you to the rest of the gang.”
The second those words left her lips, Cain analyzed her composure and tone, he’d gotten a habit of analyzing whether people had ill intentions before he even began to talk to them. Thankfully, the girls tone and body-language exuded warmth and curiosity, so Cain began to analyze the sociological aspects of the situation. Choosing a seat for the first time was actually a pretty important gesture. If you sat between two boys, you sent signals of being either gay, unconfident around girls, or one of those guys who could only approach girls in groups, or with a bottle of vodka running through his veins. If you sat between two girls, you sent signals of being a bit too initially interested, girls would label you ‘provocative’ or ‘that-guy-who-wants-***-a-bit-too-much’ and those labels took ages to peel off. If you sat at the nearest seat you could give an aura of carelessness, but it was risky, because you could end up looking like an idiot or rush into the seat too quickly. Everything could go wrong.
Cain was slowly reaching the conclusion that he should go for the attitude of nonchalant carelessness, when he felt something touch his right arm. Cain was no soldier, but eight years of hardcore training and experimenting with his ability had given him a certain sixth sense. He didn’t fear an attack per se, he had never experienced one, but with his body and mind being tense from everything that had happened that day, he reacted instinctively.
Rogue mentally chuckled at the new kids antics; he looked to be around her age, though his face seemed much older and more weatherworn. Many new students were almost petrified by the sight of the student body, not because of their teenage-antics, but because of the casual way in which they interacted with some of the more obvious mutants like Kurt. Rogue noticed how the new guy seemed to stare aimlessly around the hall and decided to help him out. They were all in this together, right? With a wave and a friendly smile, the boy was on his way towards the table.
“New dude, huh?”
John Allerdyce, a fire manipulating mutant said, as he played with the fire coming out of his shark-adorned Zippo lighter.
“A think so, he seems kinda nervous though.”
John shrugged and went back to playing with his fire, just as the new kid neared their table. Rogue immediately put up a small smile.
“Ya new, right? Welcome to the school, take a seat and a’ll introduce you to the rest of the gang.”
She said cheerfully and motioned for the teen to take a seat, only he never did. For the first few seconds, Rogue just thought that the guy was nervous. The guy stared at her with one milky-white eye and one deep purple, his scar-covered face bore a calculating expression and he seemed to contemplate every last word she said. After half a minute, Rogue began to get nervous; the guy hadn’t moved an inch. He just kept staring creepily at her. The rest of her friends had stopped eating and were now staring at the new guy as well, all curious as to why the dude was staring at Rogue like she was his long lost sister, or something down that alley. Finally, Rogue leaned forward and poked the guy on his arm.
The second the tip of Rogues gloved hand as much as grazed the kids arm, the arm simply blew up. There was no warning, no countdown, no nothing. The arm simply blew up at Rogues touch and covered her and her meal, in blood and gore. The entire hall went totally silent; everyone stared at the new guy and Rogue in shock and disbelief. Rogue herself was too shocked to move a muscle. What had just happened? Had SHE caused that? Were her powers developing so fast that she didn’t even need direct skin contact to activate them anymore? Her thoughts were running at a thousand kilometers per hour, but she was brought out of her stupor by the, now one-armed, new guy.
“What? Oh, I-…”
Only then did the guy notice his missing arm and the gores on Rogues face, his face turned sour for a fleeting moment, before it went blank and he smiled apologetically at her.
“I’m sorry, defense-mechanism. Keeps nosy people away.”
Before she could protest, the guy put his remaining hand on Rogues gloved hand. A second passed before she felt all the blood and gore disappear, Rogue even felt a bit more energized for an unknown reason. The guy’s finger convulsed slightly as Rogue felt the extra energy leave her body. With a revolting, wet and gross sound of flesh grinding against bone, a new arm sprouted out of the remains of his right arm, leaving him looking no worse for the wear.
“That was an unnecessary flashy first-impression, my apologies. I’m Cain Withers. Who might you be?”
The boy said courtly and eyed her neutrally, he didn’t seem the least bit concerned by the fact that his entire arm had been missing a few seconds ago, but he did look around curiously when the stares stopped and most of the students went back to eating. The guy, now identified as Cain, took a seat beside Rogue and Kitty, and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the silence.
“It was not my intention to scare you; I hope you can forgive me?”
Cain didn’t sound sorry at all, he sounded so devoid of emotion that Rogue frowned a bit as she tucked her hair behind her ears and adjusted herself in her seat. Before she could say anything though, Kitty decided to break the awkward silence.
“So… Cain, huh? That’s your power? Cool.”
Cain merely looked confusedly at Kitty, who opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a loud snort coming from John, who couldn’t resist the temptation to send a little barb at Cain.
“You can blow your arms up? That’s your power?”
He said mockingly. Rogue sent the fire-manipulator an annoyed look.
“Anyway. A didn’t introduce ya to the gang, did a?”
She managed to put up a smile despite her mixed feelings about the situation. After all, an arm had just blown up in her face.
“That’s Bobby Drake, John Allerdyce, Piotr Rasputin – call him Peter, it’s easier –, Kurt Wagner, Kitty Pride and a’m Rogue.”
She said and pointed at each person respectively. Cain nodded at them all as they were named and his eyes even lit up curiously as Kurt was introduced.
“Also called; Iceman, Pyro, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat.”
Cain didn’t seem to notice the last part of her introduction; he just nodded nonchalantly and stared at Kurt, who squirmed uncomfortably in his seat at the look. Finally, Cain decided to say something.
“Are you accepted?”
He asked with a voice devoid of any emotion. The fact that the question was very personal didn’t seem to cross the guys mind. He might as well have asked a girl he’d just met about her ***-life. Kitty, who had taken the silence as her cue to resume her talk with Peter, immediately snapped shut. Kurt’s uncomfortable look was immediately replaced with an embarrassed one as he tried to avoid the teens gaze. Kurt hated when people commented on his appearance, Rogue knew that his self-esteem took a dive every time he looked himself in the mirror. Not that he’d ever talk to anyone about it, or admit that he had an issue with it. Kurt was just easy to read like that. Bobby, who had become good friends with Kurt over the few months he’d been here, quickly spoke in his defense.
“Why do you ask? Do you have a problem with his appearance?”
He asked suspiciously. Rogue clenched her fists; she damn well hoped he didn’t. Kurt was one of the sweetest people she had ever met and she hated how most couldn’t even look at him with anything but disgust. People like that were *******s, they didn’t deserve his company, and if Cain had a problem with Kurt he could damn well go somewhere else. But Cain merely narrowed his eyes in response.
“My appearance might be somewhat normal, but do not assume that I am like any mutant you have ever met.”
A small amount of emotion leaked into Cain’s voice, a mixture between pride and scorn, a cocktail Rogue immediately decided she didn’t like.
“This is your first day on campus; maybe you shouldn’t be so mean to everyone.”
Kitty said with narrowed eyes.
To Rogues surprise, Cain bowed his head slightly in response.
“My apologies, I am not very good at making myself understandable am I?”
He said; his voice devoid of emotion once more. His eyes quickly shifted back to Kurt.
“I didn’t mean any offense, Kurt was it?”
Kurt nodded and shot the guy a half-smile. Cain obviously deemed it good enough and his face morphed back into what Rogue had dubbed his ‘happy mask’.
“Anyway, this serious conversation is getting rather gloomy. How’s the school here?”
Rogue couldn’t help but be surprised at his clumsy attempt at changing the subject, but decided to go with it nevertheless. She told him about classes, about the teachers and about the institute in general, the others were only happy to explain anything she forgot or answer any question Cain had. Cain wasn’t a joker, he wasn’t friendly but nor was he mean. He was neutral, that was the only way to describe him. He apologized for even the smallest mistakes and laughed politely at any jokes that were told, he never interrupted and he never talked about himself. All in all, he was polite and well-mannered, but he seemed fake from the inside out. About half an hour later, it was time to go to class and Cain excused himself, promising to meet them later. Rogue found herself thinking about him as she walked to her History class with Miss. Munroe, but she was brought back to reality by Kitty, who snapped her fingers in front of her face.
“Helloooooo, you there, Rogue?”
“Huh, what?”
“I asked you what you think of Cain. He seems kind of weird, doesn’t he?”
Weird didn’t feel like the right word to use. But yeah, Cain was weird in his own way, but who wasn’t? Cain Withers seemed like he had a million of things to share and say, but for some reason he didn’t. He was scarred, cautious, but also perfectly mannered and not afraid to speak his mind, like he did with Kurt. He seemed like an abused child who had somehow gotten a hold of a book on etiquette. She shared her thoughts with Kitty who laughed at her metaphor, Rogue simply smiled and refrained from telling her that she was quite serious. Entering the classroom to see her Bobby waving her over, Rogue pushed the thoughts of Cain Withers away. Right now, she had a history-test to worry about.
Cain sighed as he scanned what was to be his room here on the Institute. His short meeting with the professor had gone better than expected. The meeting had been a short introduction, nothing more. He smiled slightly as he checked his bags and began to unpack. Cain didn’t have a whole lot of stuff, but his stereo and computer was definitely his first priority when it came to decorating his new room.
As he began to reassemble his stereo, his thoughts went back to his little meeting in the dining-hall. The whole exploding arm business had been rather unfortunate, but at least it served to make a few people underestimate him. To them, he was probably already that freak who could make his arms explode and heal them afterwards. Cain sighed to himself and paused his reassembling momentarily. Sadly, he had also absorbed the blood off that Rogue girl, anyone with a few functioning brain-cells would see through the exploding arm and label him unknown for know, and people tend to investigate the unknown. Forcing out a scoff the teen resumed his decorating. Any nosy people would be dealt with accordingly, no matter what Xavier said. The professor had told him the rules, he’d handed Cain a timetable and told him to meet with someone called Jean Grey, who apparently was the school physician, sometime next week. There had been no counseling, no weird looks or suspicious questions, against all odds; it seemed like his business, remained his business. Cain sniggered as a mad glint appeared in his white eye, but he immediately stopped as it disappeared. Damn, he really needed to vent. All this pent up emotion was actually taking its tool on his sanity. Cain winced as he remembered the last time that had happened. He would have to vent tonight, there was no other option.
Ororo Munroe was nearly asleep when she heard a floorboard right outside her room creak. Fast as the lightning she controlled, she sat up and looked at the closed door with her eyes narrowed. Even in the darkness of her room, she could make out the outline of the door. The small amount of light that leaked through the bottom of it, betrayed the presence of someone standing outside. Ororo was not paranoid; she knew that it was all but impossible to enter the Institute without the professor knowing. A person with ill intentions would never set foot on the property itself. Just as she opened her mouth to call out the unknown visitor, a hand knocked on her door softly. Unsure of what to do, Ororo got out of bed and put on the night robe she had placed on her nightstand. With steady steps, she walked to the door and opened it slightly ajar. The sight that met Storm was shocking to say the least. Outside of her door stood the normally stoic Cain, with a look of complete and utter anguish on his face. His white eye was wet with tears and his breath was labored.
“H-hello Miss Munroe, I am truly s-sorry to disturb your beauty-sleep, but could I possibly intrude on you for just a few moments?”
Even through his anguished and rattling breaths, the boy still managed to sound polite and neutral. His voice was thick with emotion, but still he managed to make his request sound well-mannered and nonchalant. Ororo didn’t know what to do. She should have sent him to the professor, but a few reasons made her reconsider. Cain hadn’t even winced when he left his house, he hadn’t cried out when he shot bones through his own arm and he hadn’t twitched when he, apparently, blew his entire arm up in the dining-hall. Whatever problem that bothered Cain enough to make him look like that needed immediate attention. Plus, Cain had come to her, not the professor and not Jean. He had chosen her and somewhere deep inside her mind, she actually felt quite proud of that fact.
“Yes of course,”
She paused for a second before she opened the door and motioned for him to come inside. The teen quickly complied and hurried inside. As Cain walked towards the table and the chairs there, Storm moved to turn on the lights. But a small, unknown voice that sounded like it came from a young girl interrupted her action.
“Don’t turn on the lights, please! Pretty please! They can’t see me like this!”
The childish, yet desperate tone came from Cain’s direction and Storm whirled around to identify the newcomer. The sight made her let loose an involuntary gasp of terror. A young girl, no older than ten, was quite literally growing out of Cain’s back. Her wispy silver hair hung in dirty lock in front of her face and hid most of it from view. The visible parts of her head revealed an innocent face with marble-white skin and delicate features. While only her head was visible at that moment, her body was obviously on its way. Already then, her neck and the outlines of her upper body were visible through the back of Cain’s white tee-shirt. Her single visible eye, vibrant green, begged Storm to leave the lights off, and tears were already trailing down the girl’s visible cheek.
“Please,”
Came Cain’s weak voice from behind the girl.
“Just listen to me and listen to them. My shields are cracking. If I don’t let them out for a bit they’ll destroy everything!”
The teen rambled off several incoherent explanations in quick succession, and Storm could do nothing but watch in terror as the girl grew in size and her body became more pronounced. Finally, she managed to collect herself and break the terror that had taken a hold of her when she saw the girl.
“Explain.”
Was the only thing she said as she sat down on her bed. It was but a whisper, but it seemed to be all Cain wanted. With a shaky nod he simply let himself dump onto the floor as he began his tale.
Cain told her many things, he told her of how he had discovered his powers and how his family had reacted. Until then and even including his explanation of his parent’s reaction, Cain’s story sounded quite normal for a young mutant. Very few were anything but scorned by their families when their powers materialized. But then his story turned to his experiments. Cain had been all but abandoned when his powers materialized, the typical story really. Except that Cain’s lasted for eight years and got a whole lot worse over time. The more he said, the steadier his voice seemed to become.
“I am no angel, Miss Munroe, far from it. I invented the mental shields to deal with the neglect, but they have been used for so much more. My family has never physically abused me, my mother left me to rot and my father had his own, shitty opinion of me, but they have never laid a hand on me. No, it was my peers who are to blame for all the shit I’m in now.”
The look in Cain’s eyes became distant and his voice more cold as he continued.
“The freak, the freak. Always the freak. Pushing, kicking and hitting were just the beginning. The upper years joined soon enough, especially the bullies were eager to do their thing. Those who didn’t help were beaten themselves until they did. I had a whole school against me, Miss Munroe, it sounds impossible, but peer pressure worked wonders for those kids. What they did to me was bullshit, I never healed faster normal so none of them knew, but damn, what those kids did."
A suspicious look crossed Cain’s face and he stared at Ororo with narrowed eyes.
“Don’t think that I’m wallowing in self-pity here, if the shit I experienced at school was my only problem, I wouldn’t be here. I’ll get to the point soon, just be patient with me.”
He cleared his throat and continued, his voice eerily calm and collected.
“On my thirteenth birthday, some of the older kids came to my house to throw a ‘surprise party’ for me. They had never come near my home before that day, not even once. That day was the most painful day of my life. At least ten seniors form the local High-School beat me until I could hardly move a muscle. From that day, the local High-School bullies and cronies joined the fun.”
A grim look settled on Cain’s face, his purple eye shone with determination, even as tears continued to leak from his white eye.
“I developed my shields at that time, after five years of torment and never using my ability to heal myself, I developed the shields. The emotional equilibrium allowed me to see clearly, Miss Munroe, I could think without bias and judge without prejudice or emotion. When my shields are at full strength, only the strongest emotions can reach me. So at thirteen, I was able to judge and punish my torturers.”
A resigned look came over the teens face and made him look even older than usual. As he continued his tale, his voice shrunk to little more than a whisper.
“I know now that a bit of anger must’ve clouded my judgment, even with my shields at their fullest. Young as I was, I couldn’t control my shields very well. I was hardly aware of my actions when I did these things, please understand that.”
Cain’s voice was barely audible in the dark room. The air was thick with the smell of sweat and tears. The humid and enclosed room made Storm sweat and the tale kept making her wince or twitch nervously. Storm could feel that Cain was reaching his point. She had her suspicions as to what the point was, but she begged whatever deity up there that she was wrong. She was painfully aware of the awkward silence that had settled over the room as Cain finished his last sentence, only his labored breathing and the girl’s small sobs continuously broke the silence.
“He killed them.”
The little girl’s frail voice startled Storm and she gripped the covers of her bed tightly.
“One night, a boy came to our house. My sister was a Senior High-School student and maybe she had bullied him a bit! But she was a good sister! She hadn’t done anything to deserve what he did!”
The girl’s voice gradually rose until, at the end of her sentence, it was a high pitched screech. Ororo could hardly breathe. She felt sick in her stomach, her head was spinning and the adrenaline pumping through her veins was making her dizzy.
“You lie! She was filth! She was a ****! She did things to me that you can’t even imagine!”
Cain’s roar boomed through the room and the ferocity of it made Ororo wince. The little girl didn’t seem fazed by Cain’s outburst, she merely continued to cry and grow.
“I killed them all! All the ringleaders and their families who allowed them to do what they did! I ate their very essence until only their clothes remained! I burned it all and I regret nothing!”
The stoic and cold Cain was completely gone. In his stead, an angry boy stood, frightened by what he had done, but not regretting it. Corrupted and gleeful of the power he commanded, but still wary of its addicting power. Ororo got a single glimpse of Cain in his completely open and unadulterated form, and for a single second she felt nothing but pity for the boy. But the fleeting moment ended quickly and the horror surfaced. Cain had killed. He had killed several families and… Eaten them. The word brought bile to her mouth, but it fit the teen’s actions far too well.
“I was… I am a monster. But that night, that night I don’t regret. Only you, Selene. Only you do I regret. But oh if you knew how much I regret the things I did to you.”
Storm hardly heard the last part of Cain’s confession, her body was frozen in place and her head felt like it was trying to pound its way through her skull.
“Are you satisfied now?”
Cain, seemingly asked no one in particular. But Ororo caught a glimpse of the girl nodding once as her form shrunk back into Cain’s back, before the world went black before her eyes.
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AN: I am still an amateur when it comes to writing, but I'm trying my best. Any CnC is appreciated and anyone who can point plotholes out will be awarded virtul cookies, (unoriginal idea, I know -_-). I hate plotholes.
With love and stuff.
-Zero.
Enjoy!
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Cain sat with both of his legs pulled up to his chest, his arms wrapped around them as if he was trying to awkwardly hug himself, he stared emptily into the dark night, not really focusing on anything in particular. It was a cold night in Southern Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, and his spot on the roof was getting colder by the second, not that he noticed it. A particularly cold gust of autumn wind broke through his shields and forced him away from his train of thoughts and back to reality. The 16 year old boy sighed deeply as he stood up and entered his bedroom through the open window beside him. The dark room greeted its occupant with an eerie silence and immediately wrapped the boy in a blanket of nonchalant darkness. With near-robotic movements Cain began to remove his clothes. It had been a long day indeed. With a loud ‘thump’ he let himself hit the madras of his bed, sighing in exasperation. For a while, Cain simply stared at his ceiling without thinking of anything in particular, but far too soon for his liking, the question of the X-Men began to fill his mind and the teen groaned as he turned and hid his face in his pillow.
Cain Withers was a mutant, a powerful one if one was to believe the professor who sent him that damned letter, Professor Xavier or something like that. But he had probably told all of his ‘students’ that just to soften them up before he collected them. Cain had awakened the so called ‘X-Gene’ when he was eight, and now, many years later; this Xavier dude was apparently ready to take him in. The man had thrown some lame apology about not being able to locate him his way, but Cain didn’t buy it. It was too convenient to be true.
“Bullshit”
He mumbled into his pillow. Why the hell did this Xavier guy have to contact him now? The incidents at his school had gotten worse during the last couple of weeks and the police had come to question him twice this week. The timing was simply too convenient to be a coincidence. Cain gritted his teeth and felt the energy within him twist in anticipation, it was like his gift had a life of its own, always acting like some kind of primal instinct. He sneered into his pillow, and with a disgusted snort the teenager climbed out of his bed, he wouldn’t get any sleep anyway, he could feel it. The boy looked around his room in search of some kind of distraction and his eyes fell on his computer, he smirked in anticipation and slid into his swivel.
As he waited for the computer to start, Cain leaned backwards in his comfortable chair and placed his hands behind his head as he thought about how he had received the letter earlier that day.
Flashback
Cain had just gotten out of bed and was halfway on his way into the bathroom, when he heard his mother calling out nervously
“Cain! You’ve got mail!”
Her shrill voice cut through the half-awake boy’s consciousness and made him narrow his eyes slightly, he didn’t answer her call, that bitch didn’t deserve any answer from him. With a shrug, the boy left his shower for later and walked into the kitchen, where a nice and official-looking envelope was laying proudly on the table. Making his way past his mother, who was busy preparing breakfast, Cain grabbed the envelope and glanced at it. The front of the envelope was adorned with a big X that seemed to read around the envelope like a seal of some sort. With a single rip, he opened the envelope and a neatly folded piece of paper was released from its captivity. Snatching it in mid-air, the boy unfolded it and began to read.
Dear Mr. Withers
As you may know you are one of the few people on this planet in possession of the rare ‘X-Gene’, this gift comes with great responsibility and power and it has both advantages and disadvantages. As a young ‘mutant’, you may have experienced fear and even contempt from your peers, and it is perfectly understandable to feel put out by the reactions of the people you call friends.
In Westchester County, New York, lies a school for gifted youngsters, and gifted you are indeed Mr. Withers, you have a gift that many would pay dearly for, but sadly, some people fear these gifts. This letter is your invitation to join this school, Mr. Withers; it is a chance to meet people your age who have faced the same problems as yourself and understands what it is like to be a ‘mutant’. Normally, you would have received this letter about the time you discovered your gift, but technicalities left me unable to find you and for that I apologize. You do not need to answer this letter, no matter what your initial response is, a few teachers and myself will arrive at your home the day after you receive this letter and explain what the school is in further details. The choice will be completely up to you, Mr. Withers. If you have not told your parents about your gift, do not despair, another letter has arrived addressed to your parents, containing an invitation to attend a private boarding school in New York. We hope to see you at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
Professor Charles Xavier, Principal of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
Cain looked at the letter in disbelief for a few moments, before he snorted loudly and began to crackle with disbelieving laughter. The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on Cain, after training and experimenting with his gift for eight years without help, some strangers at an academy in America wanted to ‘help’ him. Glancing at his mother who was shooting him nervous looks as she tried to discreetly leave the kitchen, Cain quickly sobered up and pondered the whole academy-business. He knew that there were other mutants, of course, but a whole academy? In New York to top it off, what a surprise. Cain read the letter again and frowned, why would these people contact him now of all times? What were these ‘technicalities’ the professor-guy was talking about? Did these people know about his experiments? Without wasting a second, Cain hid the letter in one of the pockets in his trousers and left the kitchen as he sneered a barely coherent answer to his mom when she nervously asked about the letter.
In the calming darkness of his room, Cain collapsed onto his bed with a dull thump and an involuntary groan. Was he supposed to get his mothers permission to attend the academy? He could ‘persuade’ her, but Cain didn’t want to hurt his mother, she did give birth to him after all, and she had loved him for the first eight years of his life. It was all dads fault! After he left them, she had begun to blame all the world’s problems on the X-Gene. She didn’t exactly hate him; she simply couldn’t stand his mutation, or any mutation for that matter. The ****ing wench! She hadn’t done anything for him in eight years. No soothing words when he got injured, no hugs when he cried and no help when he got sick. The only thing she did was to make food enough for two, which also applied to the time before dad had left. She deserved everything he did to her and anyone who had another opinion could **** off. Cain growled far too realistically and mentally berated himself; he couldn’t afford to let any more emotion out than absolutely necessary. Taking a deep breath, Cain dampened his nerves and emotions again. Feelings would have to wait until later.
Cain sighed and grabbed the remote for his stereo. If he had to play the role of depressed, he might as well play it to the right kind of music. With the barest of a touch, he pressed ‘play’ and the sound of Three Days Grace made its way to his ears.
Flashback end
Cain typed in his password and the computer immediately forwarded him to his desktop, he didn’t do anything at first, he was still thinking about the letter, about his gift and about his parents. The professor had mentioned something about another letter in case he hadn’t told his parents, Cain snorted slightly, how anyone could ever manage to keep their gift a secret from their own parents was a mystery to him. Cain’s parents had discovered his gift the same time he had; it had been some kind of morbid, mutual discovery that changed all of their lives.
One morning, Cain had simply woken up with a strange ache in his back, but he had shrugged it off and gone to the kitchen for some breakfast. There he was met with the sight of his father dropping his coffee and staring at him in disbelief and to some extent, horror, and with good reason; his son’s spine was wagging like a tail, fully visible and in the exact same position as a tail would be. His father’s initial reaction, after the starring had been surprising, he hadn’t said much, he had just smiled at Cain and told him that he would call his mother and they would talk it out. For a few precious moments it seemed like everything would be alright. But Cain hadn’t been as lucky as he had hoped for; his mother had barely entered the house before his father began to scream at her. In his opinion, she had given birth to a monster, a demon, an abnormality. Cain’s father was religious, not fanatically so, but more than enough to firmly believe in hell, heaven, angels and demons. His mother had cried, she had apologized and begged for him to forgive her, not even for a second did she stop to consider that it wasn’t her fault, that it wasn’t anybody’s fault. Hours later his father had calmed down, his anger had, for the most parts, receded, but he had firmly stated that if he ever saw any sign of ‘demonic powers’ in his home again, he would leave, just like that. Cain was eight at that time, he was an angry kid with a potentially lethal ability, so he decided to train his gift in secret, where his father would never notice.
The next few years were strained, awkward and confusing; Cain’s mother became rather silent, she never really spoke more than a few words to anyone. Cain’s father, on the other hand, became a sneering loudmouth who constantly shared his anti-mutant opinions with anyone who cared to listen, and even those who didn’t. Cain retreated into himself, he stopped talking, he stopped laughing and he stopped socializing. He buried himself in his studies and training, and with his newfound loner attitude he was quickly labeled as the school’s freak, not because of his powers, no, nobody knew about those apart from his mom and dad. No, Cain was labeled a freak simply because he was different, like all other freaks.
Cain was very interested in psychology; he didn’t understand why people could hate other people like his dad did with the mutants. How could anyone hate a fellow human merely because he or she was different? Two and a half year after the discovery of his powers, Cain’s father caught him testing his powers in his room, the ******* left without a word; he never showed his face near Cain or his mother again. The extra stress and sorrow was too much for Cain’s mother, she became sickly and weak. The woman constantly cried and was unable to communicate normally with her son; she couldn’t help but blame him for her husband’s departure. Blame him for his mutation. Mother and son began to avoid each other, only communicating through the occasional yell, question, or one-worded reply.
Cain shook his head to push the unpleasant memories away. It didn’t matter if his mother knew it was a school for mutants, she wouldn’t rat them out to the government, she hadn’t sunken that low yet. Cain closed his eyes and used his gift to weaken his emotions, as he brutally pushed the feeling of sadness away and focused on his computer. He had been dampening his emotions too much lately and it was helping less and less when he talked to Eva, he would have to take a night of nightmares soon, or find someone to talk to about his problems. Cain snorted and shivered at the same time, like he could ever find anyone to talk to; he’d have to absorb them after confessing all the shit he’d done. But a night of nightmares, a night without emotional protection. Such nights seemed to last forever. Cain shook his head as he looked into the bright-blue screen of his PC, he knew the machine wasn’t the answer, but a single night of escapism wouldn’t hurt anyone, would it? Cain thought he had deserved that much; it wasn’t every day your classmates lit your leg on fire just to get a reaction to their bullshit. He’d had enough; it was time to leave this damned city.
Cain awoke to the sight of his ceiling somehow starring mockingly at him, his neck felt stiff and he could hear his computer humming. He had fallen asleep in his chair; boring series like that should be illegal. But thankfully, it had caused a dreamless night. The young mutant got up from his chair and stretched sleepily; he yawned and scratched the back of his head as a somewhat curious glint appeared in his eyes. Today was the day. From today, everything would be different.
Breakfast was a tedious matter; neither he nor his mother said a single word during the meal, not that he would be able to hear her through the loud rock pounding on his eardrums through his headphones. The annoyed nod he send her and the small twitch of her lip was the only evidence that the two had even noticed each other’s presence, and Cain immediately raced to his room to pack.
As the morning slowly turned to noon, Cain began to feel an emotion he hadn’t felt for a long time: Anxiety. The feeling took Cain by surprise; his dampening let him avoid all but the strongest feelings and emotions. If he actually felt anxiety through his strongest shields it could only mean one thing. He was actually looking forward to attending a ****ing school and afraid that the whole thing was a damn prank. Cain dampened his nerves to emergency level, he would have to do something tonight, or bad things would happen. He felt disgusted with himself; it had been a long time since he’d been forced to tighten his shields this much. That damn letter had completely smashed his routines. Cain fiddled with his IPod and closed his eyes as Yuki Kajiura’s piano music made its way to his ears. He needed something to distract him, if only for a few moments before those teachers would arrive, if they actually existed at all. Staring into the ceiling, the young mutant wondered if he would ever see this room again, or this house again for that matter. Not that he gave a flying shit; the building could turn to ash for all he cared.
Charles Xavier was a patient man, everyone knew that, he tried his very best to support mutant-rights through legal means, without the use of violence and he was always ready to offer young mutants a home and a school. Charles smiled himself as he thought about who he was supposed to meet today. Young Mr. Withers had been hard to find, for an unknown reason he hadn’t been able to find him, even with the help of Cerebro, until recently. Not that it mattered of course; the only thing that mattered was that the boy learned to control his powers instead of fearing them. No one should have to fear something they were born with. Suddenly, the big SUV he and his fellow X-Men had been driving in came to a halt and Charles looked at his driver, co-worker and former student, Scott Summers, for confirmation. The young man nodded once
“We’re here professor.”
"Ah, yes, let us go meet young Mr. Withers shall we?”
With the simple press of a button, Xavier, sitting comfortable in his wheelchair, was lowered down onto the sidewalk of a very normal-looking neighborhood. Charles idly noted that not a single thing looked out of place, it was as if everything had its specific spot, it was actually a bit discomforting.
“Professor?”
He heard his other student, Ororo Munroe, ask.
“Is this the correct address?”
Charles nodded once and the three began their short walk towards the Withers residence.
Scott rang the doorbell and the three X-Men patiently waited for someone to answer, it didn’t take long before a middle aged woman with mouse brown hair and a tired expression did just that. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the three and corner of her lip quavered a tiny bit before she carefully folded her face into a neutral expression.
“Withers residence. Can I help you?”
Scott and Ororo shared a look, the woman’s hands were trembling ever so slightly and her chest rose up and down in small, wheezing breaths, she seemed very nervous but somehow managed to keep her face blank and her voice friendly. The professor merely smiled kindly at the woman, seemingly ignoring her nervous twitches.
“Ah, yes, indeed you can. I am Professor Xavier from Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. I am here to enquire about young Mr. Cain Withers; you did receive my letter did you not?”
The professor raised an eyebrow ever so slightly as the woman flinched at his question; she opened her mouth a few times before she managed to whisper.
“I.. No, you must have gotten the address wrong. I’m sorry, please leave.”
She moved to close the door when Scotts arm shot forward with almost unnatural speed and caught the door. Ororo could somewhat understand what the woman was seemingly going through and immediately smiled and tried to calm her.
“Don’t worry; we’re not here to harm you. Just let us come in and we’ll speak to Cain, ok? We will leave as soon as we’ve told him about the school, and you won’t ever have to see us again if you and your son don’t want to.”
Reluctantly, the woman nodded and stepped back from the doorframe, she motioned for them to come inside and all the X-Men complied quickly.
The first thing Scott noticed about the house was its colorless state; everything seemed to be grey, black or white. While the house had a somewhat cozy feeling to it, it was distant and foreign, as if the feeling of home didn’t exactly belong here. The woman, who was obviously Mrs. Withers, led them into a nice sized living room where she pointed at a sofa and motioned for the guests to sit down.
“I-I’ll just go get… Cain.”
She said nervously, hesitating slowly before she said the name of her only child. She eyed the three X-men once more before the side of her lip twitched and she left the room to find her son. As her footsteps became distant, both Scott and Ororo let out a frustrated and tired sigh, the professor send them an amused look.
“Tired already I see? You seemed to be in high spirits when we left this morning.”
He said with a smile in his eyes. Scott leaned forwards in the couch and shrugged slightly.
“I just wish that we would be welcomed with a smile or a friendly gesture for once. I can understand why the parents are nervous and confused when their child is shown to be a mutant, but it’s beyond me why they sneer at us when we try to help them.”
Scott made to continue, but Ororo spoke before he had the chance.
“So, do we know anything about the boy, Professor?”
Xavier nodded.
“Yes, Cain Withers is a 1st year High School student. His overall average is above most of his peers. Cain seems to be average at most Science-related subjects, while his grades in subjects like history, psychology and most languages are near perfect. He-…”
“Hello.”
Scott and Ororo jumped at the sound of the new voice and turned to see a teenage boy standing in an adjacent doorway. The boy was wearing a baggy, white tee shirt, with an orange splash-print that read ‘Taiho’, his dark jeans were torn slightly and a pair of jet-black headphones hung around his neck. The boy looked scrawny and tired, his clothes seemed to be several sizes too big and hung off his body, he had several with scars on his face, the most noticeable; a large rough one that went from his hairline on the left side of his face and vertically down, reaching all the way to his jaw. His left eye, which the scar passed over, was milky white, almost unnaturally so, while the other was vibrant purple. Both seemed to stare into ones very soul and Scott squirmed ever so slightly in his seat as the kids gaze reached him. The boys face was set into a neutral, but calculating, expression, one that Scott recognized from several other young mutants. It was that expression that screamed ‘I don’t trust you’. Overall, the boy looked like someone who didn’t laugh much, someone who could send a clear message with a raised eyebrow or a simple look, someone who had seen a bit too much for his age.
“Ah, you must be Cain Withers. I am Professor Charles Xavier; it’s nice to meet you, Cain.”
The boy, now identified as Cain, nodded once before he slumped into a chair beside Scott.
“So, I presume you are the so-called ‘teachers’ from the mutant school?”
He said mockingly. Scott thought he heard a vague whimper and a couple of retreating footsteps at Cain’s comment, but shrugged it off as nothing.
“Indeed, Mr. Withers, we are. I have already presented myself, but these two are my fellow teachers on the institute, Scott Summers and Ororo Munroe,”
Charles motioned towards his two former students respectively as he presented them.
“I’m sure you’ll get to know each other very well if you choose to accept a place on my school.”
Cain winced almost unnoticeably at the title, but Scott saw it nevertheless.
“Please, call me Cain. Mr. Withers was my father.”
Scott raised an eyebrow and was about to ask ‘was?’, but a look from his former teacher stopped him in his tracks. Cain, obvious to their silent conversation, continued to speak.
“But anyway, when do we leave?”
“Leave? I had the impression that you wished to ponder your choice further.”
Cain shook his head firmly.
“There’s nothing left for me here, professor. Dad’s gone, the ****er. Mom’s being herself and this town means nothing to me. I just want to get out of here. There is nothing to ponder. This is a new chance and I intend to take it.”
He replied neutrally. The Professors brows furrowed
“I am sorry to hear that you have been unwell, Cain, I really am.”
Cain managed to disguise his scoff as a particularly nasty sneeze, but his thoughts were obvious to Scott. The boy didn’t need pity; he just wanted a new place to be. End of story.
“I’ve already packed my bags and left a note telling my mother where I’m going. I just want to get out of here.”
Cain sent the Professor something akin to a ‘puppy-eyes-look’, but his scared face and hard eyes made it seem like some sort of grimace. Scott had to hold back a chuckle despite the seriousness of the conversation. Cain quickly realized his failure and tried to salvage the situation.
“I don’t mean to sound like a kid, professor, but I honestly feel like I’m suffocating in this house.”
Ororo Munroe was curious. Just a few minutes ago the three X-men had left the Withers residence, now with a young man accompanying them. There had been no heartbreaking farewells when they left the house, no crying and no smiling, there had been a single nod towards the kitchen where Mrs. Withers presumably was and a look that asked the three X-men to just go with it. Ororo was initially against letting the boy leave without saying goodbye to his mother, but Cain seemed to know what he was doing, and not even once did Mrs. Withers come out from the kitchen. Nothing seemed to have changed with the boys’ departure, nobody seemed to care and it was breaking her heart. Ororo sat down beside the boy in the SUV, there was no music or useless chattering, just an awkward silence that begged to be broken. Out of the corner of her eye Ororo saw Cain put his black headphones on as he fumbled with a black IPod. Soon, the faint sound of a piano could be heard in the car, only audible because of the uncomfortable silence.
“Do you mind if we listen in?”
She heard Scott ask and at Cain’s confused expression he repeated the question a bit louder. Cain’s eyes widened slightly in surprise at the question and he quickly unhooked the IPod from the headphones. With a curious glance and a look that asked him not to break his only source of music, the boy handed the IPod to Scott, who connected it to the cars stereo.
“I don’t know if you’re into piano music, but Yuki Kajiura plays well.”
The young mutant said and Ororo smiled.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen a kid your age listening to that kind of music. Do you play?”
“Yeah,”
Cain nodded,
“I’ve had lessons since I was six.”
Ororo smiled softly at the boy. The soft tunes of a piano quickly filled the car before silence could and Ororo found herself becoming lost in the music. The piece was beautiful; it told stories of sadness and loss, but also of passion and love. Ororo wasn’t the only one becoming lost in the music; Cain’s eyes had become distant, even from her angle she could see that he was deep in thought.
“Do you want to see my power?”
His voice interrupted her observance and she had to ask him to repeat the question.
“Do you want to see my power? I can imagine that most of your students want to show other mutants their powers for one reason or another and I’d like to see what the three of you can do, too.”
To Ororo’s surprise, Scott, of all people, chuckled and added.
“I don’t think you’d want Storm and I to show off our powers here, they aren’t exactly designed to be used indoor. I shoot laser out of my eyes, though I’m unable to turn the beam off. So yes, there’s a reason for the glasses. Storm can control the weather, but I’m sure she has loads to say about that herself.”
Scott winked almost unnoticeably at her as he enlightened Cain about her powers, but she understood the hint. Cain seemed surprised with the answer and shot a questioning glance at Scott’s back. Ororo raised an eyebrow at him and decided to enlighten him.
“I’m Storm by the way; most of the people at the School have some kind of nickname that describes their powers.”
“No, no, that’s not it; I’m just surprised that Mr. Summers can’t control his power.”
Cain mumbled loudly enough for Storm to hear it. She shot the boy a calculating look and decided that a little bit of education was acceptable in this particular situation.
“Most mutants can control their power up to some extent, but some abilities simply can’t be controlled, it’s not something that we have any control over, sadly.”
Cain seemed to contemplate her answer for a while and she used the temporary silence to continue her explanation.
“Your ability matures along with your body, so most young mutants don’t have much control over their power. But like I said, some abilities simply can’t be completely controlled. That’s why some mutants are labeled as dangerous; because they’re unable to control their own powers.”
Unnoticed by her, the Professor had gradually begun to smile as she went into ‘teacher’ mode without even noticing it. Cain’s facial expression had gone from contemplating to frowning as Ororo’s explanation grew more detailed, she continued to explain the process of mutants maturing and their powers ‘evolving’ during their lifetime. Busy as she was with her lecture, she was caught completely off-guard when Cain suddenly interrupted her.
“What is the average level of control?”
Short and precise as his question was, it still interrupted Storm’s rant and she frowned at the rude interruption.
“Maybe you could show us your level of control Mr. Withers and we’ll assess where you stand.”
The professor, who had remained silent and observing during Cain and Storm’s conversation, offered. Cain nodded quickly and began to explain.
“My power is complete control of my body, I seem to be able to control all the cells in my body and dictate their behavior individually. I can’t turn into liquid or anything like that, but stuff like healing, growing new limbs, manipulating my skeleton, that’s what I do.”
Ororo’s eyes grew wide over the course of the explanation, had it been bone manipulation or healing it would’ve been a simple and straightforward power like most of the students on the School. But absolute control? The idea was incredible and scary at the same time. A strong power like that needed a strong wielder to keep it under control; she could only hope that Cain could attain that level of control, he could become very dangerous if he didn’t.
“I can’t just grow an organ out of nowhere; the energy has to come from somewhere. I haven’t figured out what my energy is yet, or where it comes from, but if I try to grow something or make something out of nothing, I can feel myself becoming tired. The good thing is that I can absorb most organic material and convert it into energy in my body somehow, so if I just absorb the things I created after using them, I’m back to normal. It’s actually pretty awesome.”
Cain excitedly told them, his face had gone from impassive to almost childish in a matter of seconds as he talked about his gift. Ororo chuckled at his excitement; it was nice to see someone experimenting with their powers instead of making do with what they began with.
“I haven’t discovered the limit to my power yet, I’ve done all sorts of experiments! You should have seen the-…”
Suddenly, Cain’s mouth clapped shut and his eyes gleamed with an emotion Storm couldn’t quite identify. A brief silence settled in the car as Cain stared into space, seemingly lost in his thoughts. After several moments the teen blinked rapidly and made eye-contact with Ororo again, an obviously fake apologetic look on his face.
“I’m sorry, I’m just a bit excited, that’s all. Maybe I should just show you instead of rambling.”
Cain made to move his arm, but suddenly turned towards the professor, seemingly awaiting confirmation. At the Professors smile and nod, he held his arm up and a look of concentration overtook his face. For a second it seemed like nothing would happen, not a single sound was heard in the car except for Cain’s controlled breathing. Ororo was about to ask Cain if something had gone wrong, when a disgusting crack was heard. Without warning, bones began to grow out of Cain’s arm and began to intervene with each other as a shape began to take form. Ororo squinted to make out the details of the figure, but it quickly became clearer and more detailed when more bones joined the creation. The result was amazing.
Cain had created a woman entirely out of bones, her marble-white bone skin seemed glow and her shape and curves were scarily realistic. Her body seemed to be made out of a single bone, not a single inch looked out of place. But the most impressive thing was her hair. The figurines hair was also made out of bone, but it seemed to be made of so many microscopic pieces that it retained the properties of normal hair and as Cain breathed down on her, it swayed beautifully. The bone-woman was created in standing position with her arms held in front of her and her head tilted slightly sideways, her face showed anticipation, curiosity and friendliness. Ororo stared at the creation in amazement; the sheer difficulty of making such a thing with one’s own bones was overwhelming. She had met sculptors who would kill to be able to make such a figurine in stone or clay, to make it out of bone was just about impossible. She was just about to voice her praise when the woman started to, in lack of better words; melt. The woman’s face distorted into a grimace and her arms went limp as she fell down onto her knees, in the end, the figurine fell on all fours and her hair hung in front of her face, hiding most of it from view, but Ororo could still make out the pleading look on her face as she was absorbed back into Cain’s arm.
“Eva is my creation, she was my first experiment and she has only improved over time. She’s perfect.”
Cain’s voice was low and loaded with emotion, he stared at his arm with longing in his eyes, but as soon as he noticed Ororo staring at him, his eyes went stony.
“She’s something I made up, nothing more, nothing less.”
Ororo’s head was in turmoil, the way Cain had looked at the figurine had been puzzling. No, puzzling wasn’t the right word, it had been unnerving. Not knowing quite what to say to the boy, Ororo decided to stay silent, and apparently, so did the rest of the car’s occupants. The rest of the trip towards the airport was spend in complete silence, the only sound coming from the car and the piano on Cain’s IPod.
Cain cursed himself mentally as he followed Storm through the Mansion that was known as Xaviers School for Gifted Youngsters. He had told those teachers too much, asked too many questions. He had even shown them Eva, how stupid was that? With a sigh, Cain nodded nonchalantly at Storm as she ushered him through a series of expensively furnished halls and marble staircases. He didn’t listen to a word of her introduction, so caught up was he in his own thoughts. On the bright side, all the teachers seemed to be impressed with his gifts; they weren’t repulsed like his father, or scared like his mother. They had probably seen hundreds of students with stronger gifts, wilder gifts. Laser eyes, control over the weather, these people weren’t pushovers; their powers were impressive. Maybe he could actually learn something here. His train of thoughts was interrupted as Storm’s voice cut into his ear
“Cain! Are you alright, Cain? You were just staring into space for a minute there.”
“What? What is it?”
Cain asked dumbfounded, he wasn’t used to being interrupted while he was thinking, not since his powers had manifested. It was actually ridiculously easy to fall out of the social circles without even meaning to, just because you had something else on your mind. That was probably why traumatized children had a hard time living a normal life, they couldn’t fit into the normal social circles because their thoughts were elsewhere and their behavior was slightly different due to their experience. Children could be so evil, leaving others out like that, but he was getting sidetracked again.
Ororo had, apparently, asked him a question during his pondering and Cain had to politely ask her to repeat it, she sighed and asked him if he wanted to go get something to eat while the paperwork involving his transfer was solved. Cain weighted the con’s and pro’s of meeting the whole student body immediately after arriving, but his curiosity easily won over his social awkwardness.
A single nod and a few minutes later, Cain found himself standing in front of the wooden double doors leading to the dining-hall. Cain looked down at his outfit and his baggy tee-shirt, torn jeans and worn sneakers silently mocked him for his choices. He didn’t care much for clothes, but most kids did. Some teens would take a look at his black headphones and think ‘music-dude, aint gonna get near that shit’, or something similar. Clothes were, sadly, important in modern society. With his trademark sigh, Cain opened the door as silently as possible and snuck into the hall. The sight that met him was… Disappointing, in a way. He didn’t really know what he had expected, but around 50 completely normal-looking teenagers and children, and a few not-so-normal looking teenagers and children, sitting around round, wooden tables eating lunch, certainly weren’t it. Cain stared at the crowd with a deadpanned expression, he must’ve looked obvious to the students, because a pretty teenage girl, who looked around his age, quickly noticed him and waved him over to the table she was sitting by. Mentally shrugging, Cain went to join his new peers at their table. As soon as he entered hearing-range, the wave-girl, which Cain in lack of anything better to call her, had dubbed her, started to talk. She had a very pronounced southern accent, but was, thankfully, perfectly understandable.
“Ey,”
she smiled at him,
“Ya new, right? Welcome to the school, take a seat and a’ll introduce you to the rest of the gang.”
The second those words left her lips, Cain analyzed her composure and tone, he’d gotten a habit of analyzing whether people had ill intentions before he even began to talk to them. Thankfully, the girls tone and body-language exuded warmth and curiosity, so Cain began to analyze the sociological aspects of the situation. Choosing a seat for the first time was actually a pretty important gesture. If you sat between two boys, you sent signals of being either gay, unconfident around girls, or one of those guys who could only approach girls in groups, or with a bottle of vodka running through his veins. If you sat between two girls, you sent signals of being a bit too initially interested, girls would label you ‘provocative’ or ‘that-guy-who-wants-***-a-bit-too-much’ and those labels took ages to peel off. If you sat at the nearest seat you could give an aura of carelessness, but it was risky, because you could end up looking like an idiot or rush into the seat too quickly. Everything could go wrong.
Cain was slowly reaching the conclusion that he should go for the attitude of nonchalant carelessness, when he felt something touch his right arm. Cain was no soldier, but eight years of hardcore training and experimenting with his ability had given him a certain sixth sense. He didn’t fear an attack per se, he had never experienced one, but with his body and mind being tense from everything that had happened that day, he reacted instinctively.
Rogue mentally chuckled at the new kids antics; he looked to be around her age, though his face seemed much older and more weatherworn. Many new students were almost petrified by the sight of the student body, not because of their teenage-antics, but because of the casual way in which they interacted with some of the more obvious mutants like Kurt. Rogue noticed how the new guy seemed to stare aimlessly around the hall and decided to help him out. They were all in this together, right? With a wave and a friendly smile, the boy was on his way towards the table.
“New dude, huh?”
John Allerdyce, a fire manipulating mutant said, as he played with the fire coming out of his shark-adorned Zippo lighter.
“A think so, he seems kinda nervous though.”
John shrugged and went back to playing with his fire, just as the new kid neared their table. Rogue immediately put up a small smile.
“Ya new, right? Welcome to the school, take a seat and a’ll introduce you to the rest of the gang.”
She said cheerfully and motioned for the teen to take a seat, only he never did. For the first few seconds, Rogue just thought that the guy was nervous. The guy stared at her with one milky-white eye and one deep purple, his scar-covered face bore a calculating expression and he seemed to contemplate every last word she said. After half a minute, Rogue began to get nervous; the guy hadn’t moved an inch. He just kept staring creepily at her. The rest of her friends had stopped eating and were now staring at the new guy as well, all curious as to why the dude was staring at Rogue like she was his long lost sister, or something down that alley. Finally, Rogue leaned forward and poked the guy on his arm.
The second the tip of Rogues gloved hand as much as grazed the kids arm, the arm simply blew up. There was no warning, no countdown, no nothing. The arm simply blew up at Rogues touch and covered her and her meal, in blood and gore. The entire hall went totally silent; everyone stared at the new guy and Rogue in shock and disbelief. Rogue herself was too shocked to move a muscle. What had just happened? Had SHE caused that? Were her powers developing so fast that she didn’t even need direct skin contact to activate them anymore? Her thoughts were running at a thousand kilometers per hour, but she was brought out of her stupor by the, now one-armed, new guy.
“What? Oh, I-…”
Only then did the guy notice his missing arm and the gores on Rogues face, his face turned sour for a fleeting moment, before it went blank and he smiled apologetically at her.
“I’m sorry, defense-mechanism. Keeps nosy people away.”
Before she could protest, the guy put his remaining hand on Rogues gloved hand. A second passed before she felt all the blood and gore disappear, Rogue even felt a bit more energized for an unknown reason. The guy’s finger convulsed slightly as Rogue felt the extra energy leave her body. With a revolting, wet and gross sound of flesh grinding against bone, a new arm sprouted out of the remains of his right arm, leaving him looking no worse for the wear.
“That was an unnecessary flashy first-impression, my apologies. I’m Cain Withers. Who might you be?”
The boy said courtly and eyed her neutrally, he didn’t seem the least bit concerned by the fact that his entire arm had been missing a few seconds ago, but he did look around curiously when the stares stopped and most of the students went back to eating. The guy, now identified as Cain, took a seat beside Rogue and Kitty, and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the silence.
“It was not my intention to scare you; I hope you can forgive me?”
Cain didn’t sound sorry at all, he sounded so devoid of emotion that Rogue frowned a bit as she tucked her hair behind her ears and adjusted herself in her seat. Before she could say anything though, Kitty decided to break the awkward silence.
“So… Cain, huh? That’s your power? Cool.”
Cain merely looked confusedly at Kitty, who opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a loud snort coming from John, who couldn’t resist the temptation to send a little barb at Cain.
“You can blow your arms up? That’s your power?”
He said mockingly. Rogue sent the fire-manipulator an annoyed look.
“Anyway. A didn’t introduce ya to the gang, did a?”
She managed to put up a smile despite her mixed feelings about the situation. After all, an arm had just blown up in her face.
“That’s Bobby Drake, John Allerdyce, Piotr Rasputin – call him Peter, it’s easier –, Kurt Wagner, Kitty Pride and a’m Rogue.”
She said and pointed at each person respectively. Cain nodded at them all as they were named and his eyes even lit up curiously as Kurt was introduced.
“Also called; Iceman, Pyro, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat.”
Cain didn’t seem to notice the last part of her introduction; he just nodded nonchalantly and stared at Kurt, who squirmed uncomfortably in his seat at the look. Finally, Cain decided to say something.
“Are you accepted?”
He asked with a voice devoid of any emotion. The fact that the question was very personal didn’t seem to cross the guys mind. He might as well have asked a girl he’d just met about her ***-life. Kitty, who had taken the silence as her cue to resume her talk with Peter, immediately snapped shut. Kurt’s uncomfortable look was immediately replaced with an embarrassed one as he tried to avoid the teens gaze. Kurt hated when people commented on his appearance, Rogue knew that his self-esteem took a dive every time he looked himself in the mirror. Not that he’d ever talk to anyone about it, or admit that he had an issue with it. Kurt was just easy to read like that. Bobby, who had become good friends with Kurt over the few months he’d been here, quickly spoke in his defense.
“Why do you ask? Do you have a problem with his appearance?”
He asked suspiciously. Rogue clenched her fists; she damn well hoped he didn’t. Kurt was one of the sweetest people she had ever met and she hated how most couldn’t even look at him with anything but disgust. People like that were *******s, they didn’t deserve his company, and if Cain had a problem with Kurt he could damn well go somewhere else. But Cain merely narrowed his eyes in response.
“My appearance might be somewhat normal, but do not assume that I am like any mutant you have ever met.”
A small amount of emotion leaked into Cain’s voice, a mixture between pride and scorn, a cocktail Rogue immediately decided she didn’t like.
“This is your first day on campus; maybe you shouldn’t be so mean to everyone.”
Kitty said with narrowed eyes.
To Rogues surprise, Cain bowed his head slightly in response.
“My apologies, I am not very good at making myself understandable am I?”
He said; his voice devoid of emotion once more. His eyes quickly shifted back to Kurt.
“I didn’t mean any offense, Kurt was it?”
Kurt nodded and shot the guy a half-smile. Cain obviously deemed it good enough and his face morphed back into what Rogue had dubbed his ‘happy mask’.
“Anyway, this serious conversation is getting rather gloomy. How’s the school here?”
Rogue couldn’t help but be surprised at his clumsy attempt at changing the subject, but decided to go with it nevertheless. She told him about classes, about the teachers and about the institute in general, the others were only happy to explain anything she forgot or answer any question Cain had. Cain wasn’t a joker, he wasn’t friendly but nor was he mean. He was neutral, that was the only way to describe him. He apologized for even the smallest mistakes and laughed politely at any jokes that were told, he never interrupted and he never talked about himself. All in all, he was polite and well-mannered, but he seemed fake from the inside out. About half an hour later, it was time to go to class and Cain excused himself, promising to meet them later. Rogue found herself thinking about him as she walked to her History class with Miss. Munroe, but she was brought back to reality by Kitty, who snapped her fingers in front of her face.
“Helloooooo, you there, Rogue?”
“Huh, what?”
“I asked you what you think of Cain. He seems kind of weird, doesn’t he?”
Weird didn’t feel like the right word to use. But yeah, Cain was weird in his own way, but who wasn’t? Cain Withers seemed like he had a million of things to share and say, but for some reason he didn’t. He was scarred, cautious, but also perfectly mannered and not afraid to speak his mind, like he did with Kurt. He seemed like an abused child who had somehow gotten a hold of a book on etiquette. She shared her thoughts with Kitty who laughed at her metaphor, Rogue simply smiled and refrained from telling her that she was quite serious. Entering the classroom to see her Bobby waving her over, Rogue pushed the thoughts of Cain Withers away. Right now, she had a history-test to worry about.
Cain sighed as he scanned what was to be his room here on the Institute. His short meeting with the professor had gone better than expected. The meeting had been a short introduction, nothing more. He smiled slightly as he checked his bags and began to unpack. Cain didn’t have a whole lot of stuff, but his stereo and computer was definitely his first priority when it came to decorating his new room.
As he began to reassemble his stereo, his thoughts went back to his little meeting in the dining-hall. The whole exploding arm business had been rather unfortunate, but at least it served to make a few people underestimate him. To them, he was probably already that freak who could make his arms explode and heal them afterwards. Cain sighed to himself and paused his reassembling momentarily. Sadly, he had also absorbed the blood off that Rogue girl, anyone with a few functioning brain-cells would see through the exploding arm and label him unknown for know, and people tend to investigate the unknown. Forcing out a scoff the teen resumed his decorating. Any nosy people would be dealt with accordingly, no matter what Xavier said. The professor had told him the rules, he’d handed Cain a timetable and told him to meet with someone called Jean Grey, who apparently was the school physician, sometime next week. There had been no counseling, no weird looks or suspicious questions, against all odds; it seemed like his business, remained his business. Cain sniggered as a mad glint appeared in his white eye, but he immediately stopped as it disappeared. Damn, he really needed to vent. All this pent up emotion was actually taking its tool on his sanity. Cain winced as he remembered the last time that had happened. He would have to vent tonight, there was no other option.
Ororo Munroe was nearly asleep when she heard a floorboard right outside her room creak. Fast as the lightning she controlled, she sat up and looked at the closed door with her eyes narrowed. Even in the darkness of her room, she could make out the outline of the door. The small amount of light that leaked through the bottom of it, betrayed the presence of someone standing outside. Ororo was not paranoid; she knew that it was all but impossible to enter the Institute without the professor knowing. A person with ill intentions would never set foot on the property itself. Just as she opened her mouth to call out the unknown visitor, a hand knocked on her door softly. Unsure of what to do, Ororo got out of bed and put on the night robe she had placed on her nightstand. With steady steps, she walked to the door and opened it slightly ajar. The sight that met Storm was shocking to say the least. Outside of her door stood the normally stoic Cain, with a look of complete and utter anguish on his face. His white eye was wet with tears and his breath was labored.
“H-hello Miss Munroe, I am truly s-sorry to disturb your beauty-sleep, but could I possibly intrude on you for just a few moments?”
Even through his anguished and rattling breaths, the boy still managed to sound polite and neutral. His voice was thick with emotion, but still he managed to make his request sound well-mannered and nonchalant. Ororo didn’t know what to do. She should have sent him to the professor, but a few reasons made her reconsider. Cain hadn’t even winced when he left his house, he hadn’t cried out when he shot bones through his own arm and he hadn’t twitched when he, apparently, blew his entire arm up in the dining-hall. Whatever problem that bothered Cain enough to make him look like that needed immediate attention. Plus, Cain had come to her, not the professor and not Jean. He had chosen her and somewhere deep inside her mind, she actually felt quite proud of that fact.
“Yes of course,”
She paused for a second before she opened the door and motioned for him to come inside. The teen quickly complied and hurried inside. As Cain walked towards the table and the chairs there, Storm moved to turn on the lights. But a small, unknown voice that sounded like it came from a young girl interrupted her action.
“Don’t turn on the lights, please! Pretty please! They can’t see me like this!”
The childish, yet desperate tone came from Cain’s direction and Storm whirled around to identify the newcomer. The sight made her let loose an involuntary gasp of terror. A young girl, no older than ten, was quite literally growing out of Cain’s back. Her wispy silver hair hung in dirty lock in front of her face and hid most of it from view. The visible parts of her head revealed an innocent face with marble-white skin and delicate features. While only her head was visible at that moment, her body was obviously on its way. Already then, her neck and the outlines of her upper body were visible through the back of Cain’s white tee-shirt. Her single visible eye, vibrant green, begged Storm to leave the lights off, and tears were already trailing down the girl’s visible cheek.
“Please,”
Came Cain’s weak voice from behind the girl.
“Just listen to me and listen to them. My shields are cracking. If I don’t let them out for a bit they’ll destroy everything!”
The teen rambled off several incoherent explanations in quick succession, and Storm could do nothing but watch in terror as the girl grew in size and her body became more pronounced. Finally, she managed to collect herself and break the terror that had taken a hold of her when she saw the girl.
“Explain.”
Was the only thing she said as she sat down on her bed. It was but a whisper, but it seemed to be all Cain wanted. With a shaky nod he simply let himself dump onto the floor as he began his tale.
Cain told her many things, he told her of how he had discovered his powers and how his family had reacted. Until then and even including his explanation of his parent’s reaction, Cain’s story sounded quite normal for a young mutant. Very few were anything but scorned by their families when their powers materialized. But then his story turned to his experiments. Cain had been all but abandoned when his powers materialized, the typical story really. Except that Cain’s lasted for eight years and got a whole lot worse over time. The more he said, the steadier his voice seemed to become.
“I am no angel, Miss Munroe, far from it. I invented the mental shields to deal with the neglect, but they have been used for so much more. My family has never physically abused me, my mother left me to rot and my father had his own, shitty opinion of me, but they have never laid a hand on me. No, it was my peers who are to blame for all the shit I’m in now.”
The look in Cain’s eyes became distant and his voice more cold as he continued.
“The freak, the freak. Always the freak. Pushing, kicking and hitting were just the beginning. The upper years joined soon enough, especially the bullies were eager to do their thing. Those who didn’t help were beaten themselves until they did. I had a whole school against me, Miss Munroe, it sounds impossible, but peer pressure worked wonders for those kids. What they did to me was bullshit, I never healed faster normal so none of them knew, but damn, what those kids did."
A suspicious look crossed Cain’s face and he stared at Ororo with narrowed eyes.
“Don’t think that I’m wallowing in self-pity here, if the shit I experienced at school was my only problem, I wouldn’t be here. I’ll get to the point soon, just be patient with me.”
He cleared his throat and continued, his voice eerily calm and collected.
“On my thirteenth birthday, some of the older kids came to my house to throw a ‘surprise party’ for me. They had never come near my home before that day, not even once. That day was the most painful day of my life. At least ten seniors form the local High-School beat me until I could hardly move a muscle. From that day, the local High-School bullies and cronies joined the fun.”
A grim look settled on Cain’s face, his purple eye shone with determination, even as tears continued to leak from his white eye.
“I developed my shields at that time, after five years of torment and never using my ability to heal myself, I developed the shields. The emotional equilibrium allowed me to see clearly, Miss Munroe, I could think without bias and judge without prejudice or emotion. When my shields are at full strength, only the strongest emotions can reach me. So at thirteen, I was able to judge and punish my torturers.”
A resigned look came over the teens face and made him look even older than usual. As he continued his tale, his voice shrunk to little more than a whisper.
“I know now that a bit of anger must’ve clouded my judgment, even with my shields at their fullest. Young as I was, I couldn’t control my shields very well. I was hardly aware of my actions when I did these things, please understand that.”
Cain’s voice was barely audible in the dark room. The air was thick with the smell of sweat and tears. The humid and enclosed room made Storm sweat and the tale kept making her wince or twitch nervously. Storm could feel that Cain was reaching his point. She had her suspicions as to what the point was, but she begged whatever deity up there that she was wrong. She was painfully aware of the awkward silence that had settled over the room as Cain finished his last sentence, only his labored breathing and the girl’s small sobs continuously broke the silence.
“He killed them.”
The little girl’s frail voice startled Storm and she gripped the covers of her bed tightly.
“One night, a boy came to our house. My sister was a Senior High-School student and maybe she had bullied him a bit! But she was a good sister! She hadn’t done anything to deserve what he did!”
The girl’s voice gradually rose until, at the end of her sentence, it was a high pitched screech. Ororo could hardly breathe. She felt sick in her stomach, her head was spinning and the adrenaline pumping through her veins was making her dizzy.
“You lie! She was filth! She was a ****! She did things to me that you can’t even imagine!”
Cain’s roar boomed through the room and the ferocity of it made Ororo wince. The little girl didn’t seem fazed by Cain’s outburst, she merely continued to cry and grow.
“I killed them all! All the ringleaders and their families who allowed them to do what they did! I ate their very essence until only their clothes remained! I burned it all and I regret nothing!”
The stoic and cold Cain was completely gone. In his stead, an angry boy stood, frightened by what he had done, but not regretting it. Corrupted and gleeful of the power he commanded, but still wary of its addicting power. Ororo got a single glimpse of Cain in his completely open and unadulterated form, and for a single second she felt nothing but pity for the boy. But the fleeting moment ended quickly and the horror surfaced. Cain had killed. He had killed several families and… Eaten them. The word brought bile to her mouth, but it fit the teen’s actions far too well.
“I was… I am a monster. But that night, that night I don’t regret. Only you, Selene. Only you do I regret. But oh if you knew how much I regret the things I did to you.”
Storm hardly heard the last part of Cain’s confession, her body was frozen in place and her head felt like it was trying to pound its way through her skull.
“Are you satisfied now?”
Cain, seemingly asked no one in particular. But Ororo caught a glimpse of the girl nodding once as her form shrunk back into Cain’s back, before the world went black before her eyes.
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AN: I am still an amateur when it comes to writing, but I'm trying my best. Any CnC is appreciated and anyone who can point plotholes out will be awarded virtul cookies, (unoriginal idea, I know -_-). I hate plotholes.
With love and stuff.
-Zero.
