Ani-Who?

Chapter Three

"Mystique, I suggest you leave before I have to make you." Kate said, ready to morph.

"Make me? HA! That's rich, little girl. Magneto, you handle Xavier. I'll make sure this little brat doesn't go anywhere."

"Kate, you need to make sure Mystique can't help Magneto. I think I can reason with him." Xavier said, turning his chair toward Magneto.

"All right, Mystic, lets see who's the better morpher here." Kate said, grinning at Mystique.

"The names Mystique, you little squirt." Mystique said, starting to morph Wolverine.

"So you want blades, huh? Well you got blades!" Kate said. Then, she started to morph a Hork-Bajir. She started with the green scaly skin, and then grew to seven feet tall. Towering over Mystique, she let the blades sprout from her joints, starting with the blades on her head and smoothly letting them slide out of her skin down her arms and legs.

Mystique stood in shock for a moment, and then leaped at Kate, slashing at her legs. Kate jumped up, taking a slash at Mystique's head. She missed, but when she landed, she spun and knocked Mystique off balance using her tail. Mystique managed to cut her arm, but not deeply.

"So," Mystique panted, slashing out all the while, "you had to join Xavier when Mommy and Daddy abandoned you?"

Yeah, but you know all about abandoning kids, don't you Mystique? Kate said, giving Mystique a shallow gash on her leg. She then kicked her down. Morphing a gorilla, Kate got her into a full nelson, rendering her helpless.

Looking over Mystique's shoulder however, Kate saw Xavier's wheelchair buck him out. Xavier flipped over backwards and fell to the ground. He stayed there, not moving. This sparked something inside of Kate. Hatred filled her, and her eyes got narrow, misting over red. She morphed an andalite and pressed her tail blade against Mystique's throat.

Magneto! She yelled in a voice that was so full of anger it almost didn't belong to her.

Magneto, however, ignored her, and prepared to trap Xavier under his wheelchair.

MAGNETO! She yelled again, louder.

Turning, Magneto took in the scene before him. He didn't like what he saw.

Let him go, or she dies. Kate said in thought speech. Her eyes, usually a soft sky blue, were hard chips of ice.

"You wouldn't kill her. You're just a child. You don't have the nerve." He said, scornfully.

Kate pressed her tail blade against Mystique's neck until blood became her scarlet necklace. Watch. Me. Kate said, her voice full of menace.

Magneto seemed to ponder this for a while, and then said, "Release her, and we will leave."

And leave us alone from now on?

"Yes." Magneto said, with a little difficulty, then he and Mystique left, going separate ways.

Once they were out of sight, Kate demorphed and rushed to Xavier. The lengthening shadows made it hard to tell, but she saw that he had a cut on his forehead, and it was still bleeding a little. Kate morphed an elf from a book she had read and muttered the words "Waise heill.", which meant 'be healed', while holding her hand over his cut. The cut disappeared, and Kate gently shook his shoulder. He groaned a bit and made an effort to sit up.

"Wait," Kate said, "I'll get your chair." She got up, wheeled his chair over to him, and helped him get into it.

"Thank you." He said. "We'd best get back to mansion before it gets dark."

When they returned to the mansion, Xavier motioned to Kate to follow him into his room. He went to his desk, and Kate sat down across from him.

"I suppose you're wondering why that attack happened to night." He said, choosing his words carefully. "It is very hard to explain, but I will try. Please wait until I finish to ask any questions.

"It was twelve years ago, and you were only one year old. Your parents' were mutant rights activists, and good fiends of mine. They had been in touch with me and had notified me the day you were born. They new you were a mutant, and I had just gotten the chance to fly to Denver, Colorado, which is where they lived. I went in order to bring assure your parents you could come to my institute, but Magneto had also received word of your birth, and he wanted you to fight for him, by any means necessary. He arrived about a day after I did. He met me at your parents' house. I think it is best for you to see what happened next."

"How? How can I see what happened. I was a baby." Kate said, exited at finally knowing were her parents might be.

"Just wait." Xavier said, and wheeled over to her. He put his hands around her head, on either side of her temples. He kept them there, about an inch or so away. "Try to relax. I'll probe your mind and send the memory to you directly.

Suddenly, Kate's mind was filled with an image, like a movie. She saw a woman and a man standing in a nicely furnished room. They obviously weren't rich or poor. The man had a face that looked exactly like Kate's, and the woman had her hair and eyes.

"Thank you for coming Charles. So, do you think our little Kate will be able to have a spot at your institute?" The man, her father, said. Looking down at the bundle he was holding. It was Kate, wrapped in a fluffy pink blanket; her tail was sticking out of it.

"Yes, James, I think she will. I'll make sure she will be able visit-" Xavier said. He was about to say 'you' when the door to the house was violently shoved open. Magneto had arrived.

"Charles. I thought you would be here. Always gathering students. I'm here to claim this one, however. She will prove valuable. I can teach students too, can't I?" He said with a voice hinting maliciousness.

"April, James, I believe you know Eric." Xavier said coldly, his expression hard.

"Yes we do. I presented the idea of plastic weapons to the force against him." April said, glaring at Magneto.

"Ah, yes. You are both just meddling fools. Now I can take your daughter, and kill you for making me suffer over the years. Petitions, speeches, rebellions, and those weapons! You nearly captured me more than once, and always supporting my old friend Charles. Now it stops; two less humans to stand in my way." Magneto said, his voice dripping with pure loathing.

"You're not taking her now, Magnus. She will decide when she comes of an age where she is wise enough to make such a decision." Xavier said, referring to his name for Magneto that he used when they were friends.

"I'll take her NOW. She is mine, and I ask only one thing of you. Don't get in my way. I will also take care of her parents. If you interfere, I will be forced to do things I may not want to. Think carefully; that's what that brain of yours is good at."

"Charles, you can't get hurt for our benefit!" James said.

"Think of the students, Charles. Just-just let him, but on only one purpose." April said, and turned to Magneto, her face strong. "You leave our child be. She doesn't need your shadow looming over her life. Is that clear?"

"Crystal. I am not to harm your daughter." Magneto said, his eyes shining at the thought of long awaited vengeance.

Turning to Xavier, James handed Kate to him. "Keep her safe. I claim you her official guardian. I have no other family I wish her to go to; and I'd trust you with my own life. Take good care of her." James kissed Kate's forehead and went to stand by his wife. Together they faced Magneto.

Then, Xavier's office came back into focus. Kate sat in shocked silence, her eyes stinging and tears forming in the corners. "S-so, he k-killed them?" She asked, her voice breaking.

Xavier sat with his eyes closed. "Yes. Only he and I know by what means he did, however. That is not for you to know." He said heavily.

Tears rolling slowly down her cheeks, Kate asked "But why didn't you bring me here? Why an orphanage full of regular humans?"

"Because you were too young. I thought you could be brought up there and I would claim you when your powers developed. My plan went a bit off when you left the orphanage. It also hid you from Magneto." Xavier rested his head between his thumb and forefinger. Shaking his head, he said, "I still wonder if it was the right decision. I am supposed to be wise, but doubt still fills me. But, you are here now, and safe."

Looking at his clock, he said, "You better get to bed. It's late, and you need to be able to go to school."

Kate got up and hugged him. "Thank you." She said, and left for bed. She did cry for quite a while, but was happy, now that she new she hadn't been abandoned. The fact that Xavier was legally her father was the best thing she had ever heard.

The next morning, when Kate woke up, she found a picture of her mother and father by her bed. She knew Xavier had given it to her. She carried out the school day, happy about last night, and exited about the dance. She saw principal Darkholme walking down the hall. She almost laughed out loud when she saw the cut on her neck, but the glare principal Darkholme gave her stopped her from doing so. In chemistry, she sat next to Nik, talking to him after the test they had. The only reason she was in the 10th grade class was because she was so advanced due to her studiousness at her hideout.

Thursday passed, and Friday went the same way. That night, she introduced Nik to Xavier. Later, sitting with Nik and eating dinner, she told him about the battle, but not why. She also explained that when they danced, her fingers would be fuzzy because the image inducer only mad a holograph. He understood, and said he loved her outfit.

She had borrowed her outfit from Kitty. It was a yellow shirt with a pink jacket over it, with light kaki pants. The dance was semi-formal.

At the dance, Kate danced every chance she could with Nik, getting to know him. She talked with Kitty, who had brought Lance. Wanda and Rouge had just come, and the brotherhood boys came, being a little too optimistic. Toad pestered Wanda the whole time, or at lease up to the point when Wanda got sick of him and left. Kate and Nik left early to go to the park.

When they got there they sat on the grass, listening to the crickets chirping out their autumn song.

"Nik." Kate said. He nodded in response, looking at her. Kate went on "You know when I told you about Mystique and Magneto's attack? Well, there was a reason for that."

Kate started to tell the story that Xavier had showed her last night. She didn't cry, and sometime while she was telling the story Nik's hand found hers, reassuring her.

"I had no idea." He said, looking at an owl, winging its way overhead.

"Me neither. At least I wasn't abandoned." She said, then told Nik "Don't move, just wait." and hooted at the owl overhead. It hooted back, coming down to land next to her. It perched on her arm, because Kate had allowed herself to take on the owl's scent. She and Nik stroked the feathers, and then Kate let him continue his silent flight.

"We'd better get back. The dance will be over by now." Nik said, helping Kate up. He drove her home, asking if she could go on a date with him another time. Kate said yes, and went into the mansion.

Life had taken a very normal turn for her. With the threat of Magneto gone, the knowledge that Xavier would look out for her, and the prospect of another date, Kate actually enjoyed the session with Logan the next day. She was an X-Kid, and proud to be so.

I give all credit of Hork Bajir and Andalites

to Ms. K.A. Applegate, and also the elf and

the phrase "Waise heill' to Mr. Christopher

Paolini.