Persistence of Memory
folder
X-Men - Animated Series (all) › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
57
Views:
7,433
Reviews:
68
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
X-Men - Animated Series (all) › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
57
Views:
7,433
Reviews:
68
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own X-Men Evolution, or any of the characters from it. I make no money from from the writing of this story.
11
Persistence of Memory Chapter Eleven (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta, it finally happened.
One of the Overly Affectionate Bees got me.
*sigh * InterNutter, TC and
Maxwell Pink are extra special for archiving.
And InterNutter gets extra muse kibble for being the one who started me
down this road with her “Forever” springboard over a year (!!!!) ago! ProPhile the Silent gets musekibble for the
muses he has running around now…they may be skinny but they still need to
eat! Readers/Reviewers: Shhh…don’t tell Morgan but she’s getting a
bday chapter tomorrow… And the Killer
Kitties ™ and their Minions ™ are starting to come out of hiding. I think they’re plotting something evil…
“What’re
you so grouchy about?”
“Nothin’.”
“Liar.”
Todd shot
her an evil glare from under his bangs.
“Why’d you care if it was Pietro?”
“Huh?”
“You seemed
worried that Kitty caught Pietro,” he said under his breath, looking both ways
down the hall to see if the object of his ire was present. “Want to call him at the house and make sure
he’s okay?” he added snidely.
“You’re
being a little bitch, you know that?” Rogue snapped, throwing her books into
her locker and slamming the door. “It
was a random comment!”
“Sure,” he
muttered, pushing away from the locker he had been leaning on. “Just like running into Cody was random.”
She stared
at him, mouth agape, speechless for one of the few times in her life. “What did you just say?”
Todd had
the distinct feeling, even through his haze of jealous anger, that he had made
a tactical error. “I…uh…”
“What’s
your problem lately?” she snarled, glaring.
“Seeing Cody this summer was so unexpected I can’t even begin to explain
it! And you beat him up, you twit, so
I’d have thought you were over it!” She
did not care that her voice was slowly growing louder, that they were now
officially attracting attention. “And I
couldn’t give a fuck about Pietro, no matter what you think! Get the Hell over yourself, Todd!” Rogue turned sharply on her heel and stalked
in the opposite direction of her class, heading towards the girls’ restroom
near the gym.
“Dude,”
Lance’s voice was just above Todd’s left ear.
“What’d you do?”
“Nothin’.”
“Man, she’s
one of the few good things you’ve got goin’.
Don’t fuck it up.”
“Thanks for
the advice,” Todd snarled. He
purposefully went in the opposite direction of Rogue, also the opposite
direction of his own class. He did not
care where he ended up, just so long as he did not have to face Rogue for a
while. He could not explain the surge
of jealousy he had felt upon hearing her apparent concern for Pietro. It simply compounded the anger he’d felt
towards Cody, irrational though that appeared to be. Todd couldn’t explain it the idea that Rogue had even been mildly
interested in anyone else, much less Pietro, made his blood boil. Stupid speed freak doesn’t deserve
her. He frowned and stopped in his
tracks. If he doesn’t, why do I? Because she said she loves you, you
idiot… So what? Maybe she said that to Cody and Pietro, too… He shook himself mentally, the conversation
in his head making his eyes cross.
“Mister
Tolensky…going somewhere?”
Shit. He turned slowly to face the new
principal. “Uh, to class?”
“I thought
you had advanced English this morning…the English hall is the otherway.”
“Advanced…wha?”
“Didn’t you
get your new schedule?” Principal Darkholme asked sweetly. “Well, I guess you need to come with me to
my office and discuss which classes you’ll be taking this fall.”
“Lady, I
barely speak English! What would
I be doin’ in A.P.?” He found himself
following the rather frightening woman down the hall towards her office.
“Watch your
tone with me, Mister Tolensky,” she said warningly. “I do not take disrespect lightly.” She opened the door to her windowless office and motioned him
inside.
Todd drew
up short when he saw Kurt sitting there.
“What’re you in for?”
“No
idea.” He was resting his head in his
hands, resigning himself to missing the test and failing senior year
automatically due to excessive absences and tardies. “Ich bin krank…” [1]
Principal
Darkholme shut the door with a soft click and moved to sit on her desk in front
of the two students. “Now, let me tell
you why you’re here…”
Kurt’s head
snapped up. Something was very familiar
and disturbing about the timbre of her voice, but he could not quite place
it. “Am I going to get in trouble for
missing my test?” he asked somewhat carefully.
She waved a
negligent hand. “It’s been taken care
of. I brought you both in here to
inform you of your new schedules.”
“Our new…”
Kurt looked at Todd, his eyes wide with surprise. “What is she talking about?”
“No idea,
yo. She’s got me in A.P. English.”
Kurt looked
askance at the principal. “A.P.
English? No offense to Todd, but that
just doesn’t fit…”
Principal
Darkholme smiled thinly. “I believe
that you will both rise to the challenge admirably.”
“Both?”
Kurt rocked back in his chair, not sure if it would be alright to laugh. “We’re both in English together?”
Todd
snorted. “I think yours ittertter than
mine.”
“That may
be,” Principal Darkholme said loudly, breaking the nascent conversation, “but I
think you will both do fine in the new classes you’ve been assigned to.” She handed them both slips of paper, riddled
with A.P. classes and work-study programs.
“This
is…” Kurt shook his head and sighed.
“Unglaublich.”
Todd eyed
his carefully. “But I don’t even know
what trigonometry is!”
“You’ll
learn,” she said firmly, opening the door and waving them out.
As the door
shut behind them, they heard her voice on the P.A. summoning Evan and Lance to
her office. “This is fucking weird,
yo.” Todd started to crumple the paper
but thought better, folding it into quarters and tucking it into his flannel’s
pocket.
Kurt sighed
dejectedly and stuck his new schedule into his backpack. “She didn’t tell us when to start this
madness.”
Todd
frowned. “Tomorrow.”
“How do you
figure?”
“Cause I
ain’t stayin’ here today. I’m off.”
“You can’t
just leave!” Kurt cried in protest.
“Watch me,
Fuzzbutt.” Todd waved over his shoulder and stomped towards the side doors to
the school without slowing down.
Kurt made as
if to go after him but stopped himself.
But I’ll get in trouble! Wait…how can I miss a test in a class I
don’t have? He hemmed and hawed for
a few more minutes before steeling himself and following Todd. I want to check on Kitty anyway… He still could not help the sick feeling
that settled in his stomach as he exited the school, however. I shouldn’t be doing this…I promised Amanda
I’d talk to her at lunch and she’ll notice I’m gone. She’ll ask around. Secreting
himself beside the Dumpster around the side of the school near the staff and
faculty parking, Kurt teleported as far as he could towards the Institute and
tried to swallow his gnawing nervousness.
Kitty eyed
the Professor with no small amount of curiosity. “How’re you feeling?”
“Fine…” he
narrowed his eyes for a moment. “Kitty. Kitty Pryde.”
“Got it in
one,” she smiled. Logan had told her that the Professor was experiencing a sort
of amnesia, that he would need daily checks from Beast who would report to St
Dymphna’s on his progress, which would be further monitored by weekly visits to
the hospital. He had told her that the
amnesia seemed to be transient, the product, the doctors figured, of a virus
peculiar to mutants that was only beginning to surface in the older segments of
the population. So far, only two
telepaths in the world had showed signs of it: The Professor and a woman in
India who had died during treatment. “She
was ninety five,” Kitty muttered to herself.
“She was old…”
“Who was?”
Professor Xavier asked, cocking his head to one side. “Anyone I know?”
“I don’t
think so,” Kitty replied honestly, setting the tray supporting the Professor’s
light lunch down on the coffee table next to him. “She lived in another country.”
“I think I
know many people in other countries…”
The Professor frowned for a moment and shook his head. “I know names and places…I know where I am
and I think I know what I do, but there are such huge holes… Are you my
daughter? My grand daughter?”
Kitty hoped
her smile was kind and confident as she replied, “Well, you’re like a father to
us here. And I kind of think of you as
my grand father sometimes…like when you helped me with Passover last year…”
“I’m
Jewish?”
“Mazel Tov,”
Kitty drawled, handing him the bowl of soup.
“I seem to…yes. That makes sense now. I was wondering about some of the fragments…” He fell silent for a bit while he ate,
occasionally glancing at Kitty as if he was about to ask her a question, then
shaking his head and taking another spoon of soup or a bite of cracker. “It is very important to me that I remember
everything,” he said finally.
“I know.” She took the bowl from him and put it back
on the tray, offering him the apple remaining there. “You’re, like, the smartest person on earth, I think. You know everything! I want to help you remember stuff…” She trailed off guiltily. Logan, Beast, Storm, Banshee, Forge and
Warren had ordered her—all of the students at the Institute when the Professor came
back, actually—not to give him too much information to input, to let him try
and remember on his own. She bit her
lip and hoped he would not read that bit of detail from her. “If you have any questions…”
He covered
his mouth as he yawned widely. “Actually,
I’d love to take a bit of a nap…It doesn’t seem like me to sleep during the day
but these medications…”
Kitty
nodded. They had given him antibiotics
and some other pills to take to stave off the effects of the mystery virus; those,
on top of the fact he was not exactly iak pak physical condition what with one
thing and another, would certainly require at least a brief afternoon
respite. “I’ll help you to your room.”
He laid a
staying hand over hers as she reached for his wheelchair. “Thank you for your
concern, Kitty, but I believe I’ve done this enough to manage.” His smile softened his words.
“Of course,”
she said, returning the smile. “Let me
know if you need anything.”
“Is there
an intercom?” He frowned, not
remembering.
“No…” she
gave him a quizzical look. “You don’t
need one…”
“Of course,”
he responded slowly. “Of course not…”
Kitty
gathered up the remains of his lunch as the Professor wheeled his way towards
the elevator bank. A nap…that’s an
understatement… He needs some help is what he needs. The strongest teep in the world and he has memory gaps. As she straightened the rec room, her
eyes fell on Jubilee’s latest project, a scrap book of her life since
California. Pictures… Pictures are
good for jogging memories… Hurriedly, she took the tray and lunch remains
to the kitchen and headed to her room and her stash of Polaroids. A few well-chosen pictures of us and life
here, a few pictures of him with us…I’ll borrow one of the empty books
Jubes hasn’t gotten to yet and just sort of leave it conveniently out where he
can find it…
[1] I’m
sick.
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta, it finally happened.
One of the Overly Affectionate Bees got me.
*sigh * InterNutter, TC and
Maxwell Pink are extra special for archiving.
And InterNutter gets extra muse kibble for being the one who started me
down this road with her “Forever” springboard over a year (!!!!) ago! ProPhile the Silent gets musekibble for the
muses he has running around now…they may be skinny but they still need to
eat! Readers/Reviewers: Shhh…don’t tell Morgan but she’s getting a
bday chapter tomorrow… And the Killer
Kitties ™ and their Minions ™ are starting to come out of hiding. I think they’re plotting something evil…
“What’re
you so grouchy about?”
“Nothin’.”
“Liar.”
Todd shot
her an evil glare from under his bangs.
“Why’d you care if it was Pietro?”
“Huh?”
“You seemed
worried that Kitty caught Pietro,” he said under his breath, looking both ways
down the hall to see if the object of his ire was present. “Want to call him at the house and make sure
he’s okay?” he added snidely.
“You’re
being a little bitch, you know that?” Rogue snapped, throwing her books into
her locker and slamming the door. “It
was a random comment!”
“Sure,” he
muttered, pushing away from the locker he had been leaning on. “Just like running into Cody was random.”
She stared
at him, mouth agape, speechless for one of the few times in her life. “What did you just say?”
Todd had
the distinct feeling, even through his haze of jealous anger, that he had made
a tactical error. “I…uh…”
“What’s
your problem lately?” she snarled, glaring.
“Seeing Cody this summer was so unexpected I can’t even begin to explain
it! And you beat him up, you twit, so
I’d have thought you were over it!” She
did not care that her voice was slowly growing louder, that they were now
officially attracting attention. “And I
couldn’t give a fuck about Pietro, no matter what you think! Get the Hell over yourself, Todd!” Rogue turned sharply on her heel and stalked
in the opposite direction of her class, heading towards the girls’ restroom
near the gym.
“Dude,”
Lance’s voice was just above Todd’s left ear.
“What’d you do?”
“Nothin’.”
“Man, she’s
one of the few good things you’ve got goin’.
Don’t fuck it up.”
“Thanks for
the advice,” Todd snarled. He
purposefully went in the opposite direction of Rogue, also the opposite
direction of his own class. He did not
care where he ended up, just so long as he did not have to face Rogue for a
while. He could not explain the surge
of jealousy he had felt upon hearing her apparent concern for Pietro. It simply compounded the anger he’d felt
towards Cody, irrational though that appeared to be. Todd couldn’t explain it the idea that Rogue had even been mildly
interested in anyone else, much less Pietro, made his blood boil. Stupid speed freak doesn’t deserve
her. He frowned and stopped in his
tracks. If he doesn’t, why do I? Because she said she loves you, you
idiot… So what? Maybe she said that to Cody and Pietro, too… He shook himself mentally, the conversation
in his head making his eyes cross.
“Mister
Tolensky…going somewhere?”
Shit. He turned slowly to face the new
principal. “Uh, to class?”
“I thought
you had advanced English this morning…the English hall is the otherway.”
“Advanced…wha?”
“Didn’t you
get your new schedule?” Principal Darkholme asked sweetly. “Well, I guess you need to come with me to
my office and discuss which classes you’ll be taking this fall.”
“Lady, I
barely speak English! What would
I be doin’ in A.P.?” He found himself
following the rather frightening woman down the hall towards her office.
“Watch your
tone with me, Mister Tolensky,” she said warningly. “I do not take disrespect lightly.” She opened the door to her windowless office and motioned him
inside.
Todd drew
up short when he saw Kurt sitting there.
“What’re you in for?”
“No
idea.” He was resting his head in his
hands, resigning himself to missing the test and failing senior year
automatically due to excessive absences and tardies. “Ich bin krank…” [1]
Principal
Darkholme shut the door with a soft click and moved to sit on her desk in front
of the two students. “Now, let me tell
you why you’re here…”
Kurt’s head
snapped up. Something was very familiar
and disturbing about the timbre of her voice, but he could not quite place
it. “Am I going to get in trouble for
missing my test?” he asked somewhat carefully.
She waved a
negligent hand. “It’s been taken care
of. I brought you both in here to
inform you of your new schedules.”
“Our new…”
Kurt looked at Todd, his eyes wide with surprise. “What is she talking about?”
“No idea,
yo. She’s got me in A.P. English.”
Kurt looked
askance at the principal. “A.P.
English? No offense to Todd, but that
just doesn’t fit…”
Principal
Darkholme smiled thinly. “I believe
that you will both rise to the challenge admirably.”
“Both?”
Kurt rocked back in his chair, not sure if it would be alright to laugh. “We’re both in English together?”
Todd
snorted. “I think yours ittertter than
mine.”
“That may
be,” Principal Darkholme said loudly, breaking the nascent conversation, “but I
think you will both do fine in the new classes you’ve been assigned to.” She handed them both slips of paper, riddled
with A.P. classes and work-study programs.
“This
is…” Kurt shook his head and sighed.
“Unglaublich.”
Todd eyed
his carefully. “But I don’t even know
what trigonometry is!”
“You’ll
learn,” she said firmly, opening the door and waving them out.
As the door
shut behind them, they heard her voice on the P.A. summoning Evan and Lance to
her office. “This is fucking weird,
yo.” Todd started to crumple the paper
but thought better, folding it into quarters and tucking it into his flannel’s
pocket.
Kurt sighed
dejectedly and stuck his new schedule into his backpack. “She didn’t tell us when to start this
madness.”
Todd
frowned. “Tomorrow.”
“How do you
figure?”
“Cause I
ain’t stayin’ here today. I’m off.”
“You can’t
just leave!” Kurt cried in protest.
“Watch me,
Fuzzbutt.” Todd waved over his shoulder and stomped towards the side doors to
the school without slowing down.
Kurt made as
if to go after him but stopped himself.
But I’ll get in trouble! Wait…how can I miss a test in a class I
don’t have? He hemmed and hawed for
a few more minutes before steeling himself and following Todd. I want to check on Kitty anyway… He still could not help the sick feeling
that settled in his stomach as he exited the school, however. I shouldn’t be doing this…I promised Amanda
I’d talk to her at lunch and she’ll notice I’m gone. She’ll ask around. Secreting
himself beside the Dumpster around the side of the school near the staff and
faculty parking, Kurt teleported as far as he could towards the Institute and
tried to swallow his gnawing nervousness.
Kitty eyed
the Professor with no small amount of curiosity. “How’re you feeling?”
“Fine…” he
narrowed his eyes for a moment. “Kitty. Kitty Pryde.”
“Got it in
one,” she smiled. Logan had told her that the Professor was experiencing a sort
of amnesia, that he would need daily checks from Beast who would report to St
Dymphna’s on his progress, which would be further monitored by weekly visits to
the hospital. He had told her that the
amnesia seemed to be transient, the product, the doctors figured, of a virus
peculiar to mutants that was only beginning to surface in the older segments of
the population. So far, only two
telepaths in the world had showed signs of it: The Professor and a woman in
India who had died during treatment. “She
was ninety five,” Kitty muttered to herself.
“She was old…”
“Who was?”
Professor Xavier asked, cocking his head to one side. “Anyone I know?”
“I don’t
think so,” Kitty replied honestly, setting the tray supporting the Professor’s
light lunch down on the coffee table next to him. “She lived in another country.”
“I think I
know many people in other countries…”
The Professor frowned for a moment and shook his head. “I know names and places…I know where I am
and I think I know what I do, but there are such huge holes… Are you my
daughter? My grand daughter?”
Kitty hoped
her smile was kind and confident as she replied, “Well, you’re like a father to
us here. And I kind of think of you as
my grand father sometimes…like when you helped me with Passover last year…”
“I’m
Jewish?”
“Mazel Tov,”
Kitty drawled, handing him the bowl of soup.
“I seem to…yes. That makes sense now. I was wondering about some of the fragments…” He fell silent for a bit while he ate,
occasionally glancing at Kitty as if he was about to ask her a question, then
shaking his head and taking another spoon of soup or a bite of cracker. “It is very important to me that I remember
everything,” he said finally.
“I know.” She took the bowl from him and put it back
on the tray, offering him the apple remaining there. “You’re, like, the smartest person on earth, I think. You know everything! I want to help you remember stuff…” She trailed off guiltily. Logan, Beast, Storm, Banshee, Forge and
Warren had ordered her—all of the students at the Institute when the Professor came
back, actually—not to give him too much information to input, to let him try
and remember on his own. She bit her
lip and hoped he would not read that bit of detail from her. “If you have any questions…”
He covered
his mouth as he yawned widely. “Actually,
I’d love to take a bit of a nap…It doesn’t seem like me to sleep during the day
but these medications…”
Kitty
nodded. They had given him antibiotics
and some other pills to take to stave off the effects of the mystery virus; those,
on top of the fact he was not exactly iak pak physical condition what with one
thing and another, would certainly require at least a brief afternoon
respite. “I’ll help you to your room.”
He laid a
staying hand over hers as she reached for his wheelchair. “Thank you for your
concern, Kitty, but I believe I’ve done this enough to manage.” His smile softened his words.
“Of course,”
she said, returning the smile. “Let me
know if you need anything.”
“Is there
an intercom?” He frowned, not
remembering.
“No…” she
gave him a quizzical look. “You don’t
need one…”
“Of course,”
he responded slowly. “Of course not…”
Kitty
gathered up the remains of his lunch as the Professor wheeled his way towards
the elevator bank. A nap…that’s an
understatement… He needs some help is what he needs. The strongest teep in the world and he has memory gaps. As she straightened the rec room, her
eyes fell on Jubilee’s latest project, a scrap book of her life since
California. Pictures… Pictures are
good for jogging memories… Hurriedly, she took the tray and lunch remains
to the kitchen and headed to her room and her stash of Polaroids. A few well-chosen pictures of us and life
here, a few pictures of him with us…I’ll borrow one of the empty books
Jubes hasn’t gotten to yet and just sort of leave it conveniently out where he
can find it…
[1] I’m
sick.