Disclaimer: All Highlander characters belong to Rysher.  All X-Men characters belong to Marvel Comics.  Victoria, Laurana, Twilight, Kane, and the rest of his X-Men friends belong to me.  Whitney belongs to the Maverick, and is used with permission.  All other unmentioned characters belong to me, and Laurrell K. Hamilton created the form of wererat used here (from her Anita Blake books).  I’m making no money from this, only enjoyment, and all characters will be returned unharmed.

This is rated PG-13 for language and violence.  Most of the X-Men information I’m using was gathered from the movie (but there are no spoilers), and it is combined with the Maverick’s X-Men universe.  Dedicated to the Maverick (a.k.a. my best friend) and to the *real* Emily (thank the gods you’re not actually pyrokinetic!) for inspiring me to write this.  Enjoy!

Part 1
Late August, 2000

The summer was nearly over, and Kane Nalamas only had a few days until school started again.  Normal school, that was – he had just spent a rather enjoyable summer in Los Angeles with his teacher’s friend Pallas Minerva.  Her job was that of a stunt person for the movies, and being Immortal made taking risks a lot easier.  Kane had learned a lot about both special effects, and how movies were produced.  He’d even gotten to double for a stunt in a music video when one of Pallas’ friends had called in sick.

But now it was back to reality – or as realistic as life ever got when one was a “sword-swinging, long-lived freak,” as his friend Laurana Thompson was fond of calling Immortals in general.

Victoria DiThon Kestral may have been his official teacher, but Kane had received a patchwork education from many of her friends, as well.  Duncan MacLeod had coached him in some unique moves only applicable with the curved blade of his scimitar.  Justin Le Faye had taught him the fine art of firearms, and even Pallas had shown him a thing or two in his on-going martial arts training over the summer.  And at the moment, Victoria’s roommate Laurana Thompson was attempting to teach him the staff.

“Okay, stop,” Laurana called with a barely audible sigh.  “Take a break, Kane.”  He paused in mid-form, heaving a sigh of his own.  After placing the staff gently on the floor, he walked over to the edge of the attic dojo and grabbed his water bottle off the bench.  He took a sip, studying Laurana out of the corner of his eye.  She was staring at the staff on the floor, glancing at him every few seconds.

“You know, ‘Rana,” he finally said.  “You don’t have to do this.  I know I suck at the staff.”

She gave him a startled look.  “Oh God, Kane!  I never meant to imply-“

“No,” he interrupted.  “I know it’s true.  I didn’t tell you that Richie Ryan tried to teach me back when Victoria had just taken me on as a student.”  Kane gave her an embarrassed grin.  “I failed then, too.”

Laurana stared him for a moment.  “Okay, so you don’t feel up to learning?”

“All depends on whether you feel up to beating it into my thick skull,” Kane retorted with a smile.

She laughed.  “Good point.”

Kane winked at her and got up to replace the staff in its proper spot on the wall, and then looked around the dojo.  “Well, I’m going to go get a shower,” he finally said.  “You and Victoria are going out tonight, right?”

The older Immortal nodded.  “Yeah, we’ll probably be gone until after midnight.  I think Alex said something about poker.”

Kane shrugged.  “You have some movies I haven’t seen before.  I’ll keep myself occupied.”

Victoria DiThon Kestral awoke suddenly in the middle of the night.  She jerked upright in bed and looked around wildly.  She smelled…smoke.  Something upstairs was burning!

She ran out of her downstairs room and through the kitchen.  When she hit the stairs, she began calling for Laurana and Kane.  The other girl also appeared in the upstairs hall, a look of intense surprise on her face – as usual, she’d slept with her door closed and hadn’t smelled the smoke.  Then both ran for the guest room.

They pushed the door fully open to find Kane in the throes of a nightmare.  The burning smell came from the fact that his blankets were flaming.  Victoria cast out with her mind and deadened the air around Kane’s bed with her telekinesis.  The air pressure in the room suddenly dropped, and the flames were extinguished with a muffled “whoomp.”

At that point, Kane woke himself up and sat upright with a cry of fear.  Victoria was at her student’s side in an instant, holding him calmingly as he sobbed into her shoulder.  Laurana silently removed the blankets from the bed and returned with a new one.  Nothing else in the room had even been singed by Kane’s pyrokinesis – not even the sheet beneath him.  When Laurana settled herself quietly at the end of the bed, he stopped shivering and raised his head to look at her.

“I’m sorry, Laurana,” he said when he had fully regained his composure.  “I’ll pay you back.”

Laurana tossed her hand dismissively.  “Don’t worry about it.  Are you okay?”

“It was that same dream, wasn’t it,” Victoria stated.  Kane nodded.  This was not the first time something like this had occurred.  “First Death,” Victoria mouthed to Laurana, who merely nodded once.  Kane had died in a car accident, when a drunk driver had hit the car he and his adopted family had been riding in.  The car had gone up in flames, killing everyone inside, and Kane’s pyrokinesis allowed him to literally relive it every time he had the nightmare.

Kane wasn’t looking at either of the women, but Laurana was staring at him intently.  “Kane,” she started quietly.  “How much training have you received to control your pyrokinesis?”

He tossed her a confused look.  “None,” he replied.  “Why?”

But the girl had fixed a steely gaze on Victoria.  “You are allowing a gift like that to run on instinct?” she hissed furiously.  “Victoria, are you insane?”

“The way I learned how to control my telekinesis was instinct and experience!” Victoria replied defiantly.

“Yes, but I think Kane’s gift is a bit more dangerous than yours,” Laurana snapped.

“Look, it’s four o’clock in the morning.  Why don’t we deal with this when it’s daylight, at least,” Victoria said after a pause.  Laurana nodded and headed back to her room down the hall.  Victoria turned to Kane.  “Are you going to be alright?”

He nodded slowly.  “Yeah, I will.  Go back to sleep, Toria.”

Victoria squeezed his hand and gave him an encouraging smile before leaving the room and returning downstairs to her own bed.

Part 2

Laurana had already left for work by the time Kane wandered downstairs for breakfast.  He made himself a bowl of cereal and poured a cup of coffee while Victoria finished talking on the phone.

“Okay, Twilight, and thanks…Yeah, I’ll tell ‘Rana to call you.  Sorry again for waking you up…Yeah, whatever!  Bye!”  She hung up the phone and glanced at Kane as he took a seat across the kitchen table from her.  “Well, I made some phone calls,” she began, “and you have some options.  Three, actually.”

He nodded.  “I need to be trained, that much is obvious.  Laurana was right.  What’d you come up with?”

She grinned at her student.  “I have a feeling I know which one you’re going to pick, but I wanted to give you a choice.”  Victoria paused to take a sip of her own coffee.  “Number one: you meet Moon Starbreeze in South Korea and she sends you to Sanctuary.  Moon is an Immortal like us,” she explained, meaning an Immortal who had died before becoming an adult, “and the Sanctuary is a haven for vampires and werecreatures.  I think this decade its somewhere in Indonesia….”

But Kane was already shaking his head.  “Next,” he said with a half-smile.

“Option two would be to go to England and get the Lady of the Lake to accept you into Avalon, and then convince a fire elemental to teach you.”  They both exchanged wry grins.  “Like I thought, a definite ‘no.’”

“Third choice?” Kane asked.

“You know all that stuff that’s been happening with mutants, right?” Victoria said.  “There’s a school in upstate New York run by Charles Xavier for ‘talented youth.’  This isn’t exactly advertised, but it’s really a place for kids with mutant powers to learn how to control and use them.  If you go there, you’ll also get to finish high school.”

Kane smiled.  “Sounds good to me.  How’re you going to get me in?”

“Remember that group of people who found you and Kenny in Wales last summer?”

“Yeah, your friend Hawaii Davids was one of them.”

“Well, the other woman was Whitney Mackenzie,” Victoria explained.  “She’s a mutant.  I called her this morning and she said she’d be glad to ask Professor Xavier if you could join the school.”

Her student nodded.  “Great.  One question, though.  Pyrokinesis is accepted there.  But what about Immortality?”

Victoria smiled slyly as she took another sip of coffee.  “It’s a good thing you said yes, because Whitney’ll be here tomorrow morning.  She’s the one with the answer to that, because she explains it better than I do.”

Kane had been rather amazed when an extremely high-tech hover-jet had landed in the large field beyond the horse paddock.  A ramp extended, and a woman with long blonde hair bounded down to meet them.  She and Victoria immediately hugged each other.

“Victoria!” she cried.  “It’s so good to see you again!”

“You, too,” Victoria replied.  “You haven’t changed a bit.”

“Neither have you.”  Both women grinned widely at each other, then the visitor turned to Kane.  “Hi, I’m Whitney Mackenzie.  We kind of met last year.”

Kane nodded.  “I’m Kane Nalamas.  You knew me by an old alias.  Nice to meet you.”

Another man exited the jet and approached the group.  He was wearing a pair of sunglasses with red lenses.  “Hi,” he said to Kane.  “You must be the new recruit.  I just made some modifications to the jet,” he added, pointed back over his shoulder, “so thanks for giving me an excuse to try them out.  I’m Scott Summers.”

“Kane Nalamas,” he replied, shaking the man’s hand.  Whitney rolled her eyes fondly at the man, and then introduced him to Victoria.  Then he began loading Kane’s three suitcases and two cardboard boxes onto the jet.  Kane was keeping his weapons with him in the bag Laurana had given him that was similar to hers and Victoria’s.  He turned to his teacher and said, “Guess this is it.”

Victoria reached for him and hugged him close.  “Be careful,” she whispered.  “Whitney knows what we are, and I’m pretty sure that Professor Xavier does.  I trust them.”

“Okay,” Kane replied, knowing that if his teacher did, he could trust them, too.  “Come visit me during Christmas?”

She smiled as she released him.  “Of course.  You know how to reach me-“

“Call Erik von Strausse in New York City, and he’ll find you,” Kane interrupted.  “I know, Victoria.”  He smiled at her.  “I’ll be careful, don’t worry.  And I’ll miss you.”  After giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and squeezing her hand, Kane and Whitney walked up the ramp into the jet.  As it took off, Kane caught a glimpse of Victoria out the window.  As if sensing that he could see her, she raised an arm in farewell.  When the hover-jet turned, she disappeared from sight.

Once they were airborne and speeding across the country towards New York, Whitney disappeared into the cockpit for a few minutes to talk to Scott.  When she came back out, she grabbed the seat next to Kane and gave him an encouraging smile.  “So, kid,” she said.  “How old are you, exactly?  I know your official age is seventeen, but how old for real?”

“Twenty,” Kane replied slowly.  “I became an Immortal when I was fifteen.  Victoria’s been my teacher for the past three years.”

“Okay, so here’s the deal.  You are an adult and will be treated as such by the teachers at the school,” Whitney began.

Before she could continue, Kane interrupted her.  “But if I don’t act like an adult, I won’t be treated like one.  Don’t worry, I know the drill.”  The two shared smiles.

“Apparently you do,” Whitney replied.  “According to what Victoria told me, you’re pyrokinetic.”  Kane nodded an affirmative.  “That’s not a highly unusual power, so you won’t be totally alone.  Charles told me that you’ll be one of four, and I’ll introduce you to them after you get settled in.  Actually, I think one of them is one of your roommates.”  She took a deep breath.  “Now, about your Immortality….”

Kane nodded.  “I was kind of worried about how that would be explained away.”

“Well, would you believe me if I told you I was a little older than your teacher?” Whitney asked.

Shrugging, Kane replied.  “Sure.  If you explain to me how, as a vampire, you can stand the sun.”

Whitney laughed.  “No, kid, I’m not a vampire.  I’m a mutant.  My healing factor has allowed me to live this long, and it heals me about the same way you guys do.  Just without the blue lightning affect.”

“Which can easily be explained away as part of my pyrokinesis,” Kane added.  “I understand.”

“Smart kid,” Whitney said with a thoughtful nod.  “Anyway, do you have a plan?”

Kane studied her for a moment, though he knew exactly what she was getting at.  “I’m thinking I’ll stay with you guys for a year.  Just to learn how to control my gift and *finally* finish high school.”

“Sounds good to me,” Whitney said.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Kane suddenly said.  “Don’t call me ‘kid.’”  Whitney merely grinned at that, but nodded her assent.

“So,” Professor Charles Xavier said, “you are immortal.”

“An Immortal,” Kane corrected automatically as he sat in front of the desk in the Professor’s study.  “There are many forms of immortality in the world.”

Charles gave Whitney, who was leaning against the wall by the door, a surreptitious glance.  “Yes, indeed,” he said.  “And you are one of them.”  Kane nodded silently.  “I also understand that your type of immortality has a bit of a fascination with swords.”

At that, Kane grinned.  “Unfortunately, sir.  Yes, I have a scimitar that I have been training with for the past three years.  And daggers and a gun.”  Charles raised his eyebrows, and Kane hurriedly continued.  “Which, of course, will be kept out of reach of the other students’ reach at all times.”

“Very good, young man,” Charles said.  “And with all that weapons experience, you have yet to receive training for your power.”

Kane shook his head again.  “My pyrokinesis isn’t a mutation, sir.  Theoretically, Immortals who die very young – like me – end up with what we call ‘gifts.’”

“Really?” Charles asked in interest.  “Please explain.”

“Well, my teacher, for example, died when she was thirteen, and she’s telekinetic.  I also have a friend who can teleport limited distances, and one who’s an empath.  The downside to all this is that our healing systems are screwed up.  My main problem is bruises – they take almost as long as a normal human to heal.”  Kane ended this speech with a wry grin.

Charles, meanwhile, was obviously having trouble reconciling this image of a teenage boy with a twenty-year-old man’s mind.  “Well, then.  We do have training rooms where you are welcome to practice your sword work.  It’s almost time for dinner, so Whitney is going to take you to the dining room and introduce you to your roommates.  They’ll show you around after you eat.”

Kane took that as a dismissal and stood up.  “Also, Professor,” he said before turning to leave, “Thank you again for allowing me to attend your school.  One of my interests in politics, and I’ve been following the situation concerning mutants.  If anything happens to the school while I am attending, you have my word that I will do everything in my power to defend it.”  The Professor nodded his head in acceptance, and Kane and Whitney left the study.

Author’s Note:  The Sanctuary I mention is *not* the one in Highlander: EndGame.  I actually started writing this story before I saw the movie, and I’ve had the idea for my Sanctuary in my head for quite awhile.

Part 3

Just as Whitney and Kane were entering the dining room, Whitney received a hail from a black woman with long white hair.  “Whitney!” she called.  “Scott’s called an emergency meeting!”  As she got closer, she lowered her voice and explained, “Mystique slipped up.”

Whitney nodded once and turned to Kane.  “See that kid with the spiky black hair?  His name is Will, and he’s one of your roommates.  I gotta run.”  At that, the two women rushed down the hall.

Kane stared after them for a moment, then headed for the food line.  After filling up his tray with dinner, he walked to the table where two teenage boys and two girls were sitting.  “Hey,” he said in greeting when they noticed him.  “I’m Kane Nalamas.  I’m your new roommate,” he added to Will, unsure what the teen’s reaction was going to be.

Luckily, his face lit up.  “Great!  David and I are sick of having the empty bed in our room.  I’m Will Sorenson.  Grab a seat.”  Kane did as directed, rather startled by his roommate’s enthusiastic reaction.  And there was something about his eyes that rather unnerved him.  “So,” Will continued.  “You a runaway?  Most of us are.”

“Kind of,” Kane replied as he ate a bite of baked potato.  “My parents died a few years ago, and I split before Social Services could get their hands on me.  Traveled to the West Coast and some people over there took me in.  But I’m here to learn how to use one of my…powers.”

Will nodded.  “Same here, kind of.  My parents sent me here when they couldn’t figure out how to deal with me.  Even though I’m perfectly fine with my powers.”

One of the girls at the table, the one with bleached blonde hair, smirked at Will.  “Whatever, Bird Boy,” she said.  “It’s nice to meet you, Kane.  I’m Emily Graysen.  These are the twins, David and Jaie Edren.”

“I’m your other roommate,” David supplied, his accent belying a British heritage.  “The girls room together, too.”

“Jay?” Kane asked the black haired girl.  She merely grinned at him.

“Janise, with the last two consonants removed,” Jaie replied.  “Way to old-fashioned for me.”  While David’s voice was a stereotypical upper-class English accent, Jaie had adopted a Cockney one.  It fit her, even though Emily was the one who looked like a Goth, and Jaie was wearing jeans and a red t-shirt.

The four students kept Kane company while he finished his dinner, and then they took him on a tour of the house and grounds.  “Just what do you guys do around here, anyway?” Kane asked as they walked up the stairs to the bedrooms.

“That all depends,” Jaie replied.  “We have our classes in normal school courses.  Then the other classes depend on what we want to do with our lives.  Will and I have already decided to join the X-Men.”

“And I’m going to program video games,” David added with a grin.  “I don’t really go in for the whole ‘defenders of justice’ gig – except when I’m playing it on a screen.”  Kane grinned at him in agreement.

They arrived at the boy’s room, and Kane said, “I still have some unpacking to do-“

But Will interrupted him.  “So we’ll keep you company.  The more the merrier!”  He pushed open the door and waved his arm with a flourish inside.  Emily stuck her tongue out at him, and the five entered.

An hour later, with the help of his new friends, Kane was done.  His weapons bag was stowed under the bed for now.  He would wait to see how discreet Will and David were before divulging any secrets.

“So, Kane,” Emily said from where she and Jaie were lounging at the end of his bed.  “You never did tell us.  What’s your power?”

“Emily, manners,” Will snapped at her.  “You’ll have to excuse her, she’s a bit of a barbarian,” he added to Kane.

“I don’t mind,” Kane replied.  “As long as you guys tell me what powers you have,” he added with a sly grin at Emily.  She merely rolled her eyes at him.  “I have two, actually.  I’m pyrokinetic-“

“Rock on, another pyro!” Jaie interrupted.  “That’s mine, too.”  She reached out, and Kane slapped her hand.  “What else?”

“I also have what Whitney called a healing factor,” he continued.

“Very cool,” Emily said.  “I myself have the vaguely interesting ability of telepathy, which I have sworn never to use on my friends.”  She grinned at Kane, who had tensed slightly.  “And a touch of empathy.”

“While my sister is a pyro,” David said, picking up the thread, “I have a specialized version of that – I can manipulate electricity.  Lightning, making stuff work when it’s not plugged in, stuff like that.”

Suddenly, all eyes were on Will.  “Well, Kane, I’m one of those lucky mutants whose outsides got altered, too.  Look, my eyes-“  Kane took a closer look at his roommate and saw why Will’s eyes had looked so odd earlier.  The pupils and irises were reversed, and in the dim light of the room, the black outer edge had expanded so there were not whites in his eyes.  “And one more thing.  The reason I’m called Nighthawk.”  Will had been sitting cross-legged on the floor and, without changing position, he rose to levitate about two feet in the air.  Kane’s eyes widened when he saw a pair of shadowy wings flapping lazily.  Slowly, Will settled back to the ground, and the wings folded behind his back and disappeared.

“See why I call him Bird Boy?” Emily said with a grin.

Part 4
Fall, 2000

Over the next few weeks, the five of them became a definite group.  Not a clique, because they each had other friends, but they knew that they could always count on each other.

Three times a week, Kane had two hours after lunch during which he had nowhere to be.  So he usually used that time to commandeer one of the smaller training rooms to practice.  He did not have anyone to spar with, but Kane’s plan was to work on his endurance.  One day in mid-October, he was doing a rundown of his three main forms: defense, offense, and a mixture of both.

Just as he was about to finish the last one, Kane heard a noise behind him where the door was.  He whirled around and went automatically into a defensive position.  Standing at the door was Emily.  He glared at her, since it was quite obvious that she had picked the lock to get in.

“Bird Boy said you would be here,” she said quietly.  For once, the amused smirk that was usually on her face was gone.  “But even he doesn’t know why.”

Kane sighed and lowered his scimitar.  “What the hell, Emily…*why* the hell?  You’re a mind-reader; you know the need for privacy!”

She walked into the room a few steps and shut the door.  “I tell all of you repeatedly that I’m not going to join the X-Men, that I’m not going to use my powers for the good of mankind,” Emily said slowly.  “That’s not exactly true.  My empathy is a hell of a lot stronger than anybody knows except for Jaie and the Professor.  I’m going to help people that way, by getting into their heads and helping them realize their problems so that they can solve them.”

Kane stared at her stonily.  “I don’t have any problems that you can help me with.”

Emily nodded.  “That’s the point.  I know I can’t help you, and if it were anyone but you or Will or the twins, I would leave it alone.  But the four of you are my best friends.”  She gazed into his eyes unflinchingly, willing for him to loose his harsh exterior.  Suddenly he seemed…older, for some reason.

Finally, Kane sighed.  “I’m going to get a shower, and then I have a class, and I’m going out to dinner with Whitney, Logan, and Rogue tonight.  Meet me in the back of the library this evening at about eight.”  At that, he paced over to his gym bag and slipped in his sword after sheathing in its leather scabbard.  Then he walked past Emily silently and disappeared down the hall.

“So, m’lad,” Emily said as she plopped down on the small couch next to Kane.  “What can I do for you?”

Kane put aside the book he had been perusing and glanced over at her.  “I was under the impression that you were the one who wanted something from me.”

Sobering, she nodded.  “Right.  First question: what was with the sword?”

“I was practicing,” Kane replied, groaning inwardly.  Thank god he had come up with a cover story, though he’d probably end up telling her the truth by the end of the evening.  “The people taking care of me in Seacouver, Washington, had this thing for swords, and I wanted to learn.”

“Well, that thing you had certainly looked real to me,” Emily said, raising her eyebrows.  “Educate me.  I know street fighting, not fencing.”  Emily had run away at fourteen and spent the next year of her life with a New York City street gang into order to not become a prostitute.

“It is real,” Kane explained.  “A sixteenth-century Damascus steel scimitar.  The only reason they let me have a real sword was because of my healing factor.”  And even after he’d received it from Duncan MacLeod, through Victoria, neither of them had let him graduate from wooden to a real blade until five months later.

Emily nodded.  “So, three times a week you practice with a sword, and when you leave the training room you radiate waves of negative energy.  The reason I finally confronted you with this is because Jean Gray noticed first and told Whitney she was worried about you.  Whitney asked me to see if I could help.”  Kane’s eyes widened when he realized who else was in on this.  “Don’t worry, Kane!  Both of them are totally discreet.”

He nodded slowly.  “Yeah, I know.  I was just surprised.  I didn’t think I was being quite that obvious about my…frustration is the only real word for it.”

“Why?” Emily simply asked.

Kane glanced at her once, and then made a snap decision.  “What I am about to tell you is a secret, one that my life depends upon, okay?  But I trust you.”  Emily nodded silently.  “I’m not seventeen years old, I’m twenty.”  He paused to wait for her reaction.  She merely stared at him, so he continued.  “My healing factor isn’t actually a mutation, it’s a natural part of me.  I’m one of a race of people who are immortal.  I became an Immortal when I was fifteen, and I’ll look this way forever.”

“You’re serious,” Emily stated quietly.  Kane nodded once.  “Okay, I believe you.  I saw some weird shit in New York City and this doesn’t even touch some of it.”

“Yeah, I’ve been wanting to talk to you about some of the stories you told us, since I can explain some of them,” Kane replied, a small smile beginning to form on his face.

“Great, I’m going to take you up on that,” Emily said.  “Keep talking, would you?  This is interesting.”

Kane rolled his eyes at her inability to treat anything seriously, but continued.  “The group of people who took me in are all Immortals, too.  But their friendship is pretty unique because as far back as the oldest Immortal I know can remember, there’s been the Game.”  He sighed.  “The motto of the stupid thing is ‘There can be only one,’ and that’s why I have to learn the sword.  To keep some maniac Immortal from taking my head – swords are the way we fight.”

Emily nodded slowly.  “That would explain some frustration, but not to the level that you’ve been feeling.”  She looked at him expectantly.

“From what I’ve been able to figure out, I’m the youngest Immortal in the world.  I have exactly three years of training, and I’ve never fought a real Challenge fight.”  The venom in Kane’s voice was obvious.  “Basically, I’m screwed.”

Staring at him for a moment, Emily suddenly said, “I’ve always been fond of the theory that teaching someone something makes you better at it.  And I’ve already had a bit of knife training.  Swords are just longer blades.”  She stood up and held a hand out to Kane.  “I also know some pretty dirty tricks for survival.  Those I am going to teach you.”

Kane took Emily’s hand and allowed her to pull him up.  “Deal,” he said.  “Now let’s go round up the others and tell them about how old I really am.  They deserve to know, too.”

By the time winter rolled around, Kane was fully settled into his life at the school.  Emily’s sword training was coming along nicely (Kane found that he enjoyed teaching), and she had taught him a thing or two she had picked up on the streets – how to lose a follower, how to ambush someone in a city, and other things along those lines.  Will and the twins had accepted his Immortality without reservation, and the five were closer than ever.

They were all hanging out in the boys’ room one Saturday afternoon after lunch when the phone rang.  Kane picked it up off his desk and absently said, “Hello…Hey, Victoria!  I was wondering when you’d call.”

The other four kept discussing a math assignment Jaie was having trouble with, and Kane hung up the phone a few minutes later.  “That was, obviously, Victoria DiThon Kestral, my teacher.  She’s flying to New York City on December twentieth, and I was supposed to take the train down to stay with her for Christmas.  She just called to invite the four of you along.”

He was greeted by four identical expressions of shock.  “Kane,” Will said, “you didn’t-I mean, she didn’t….”  His voice trailed off.  Emily was a runaway, the twins were orphans, and Will’s family didn’t want him – the four of them had been the only family they had for the year before Kane came, and he was still very touched that he’d been accepted into it.

“No, Victoria wants to meet you.  She has some other friends in the city, and it’ll basically be one big party.”  Kane grinned.  “Which I would be bored at since I don’t know anyone.  At least this way I won’t be the youngest there.”

At that, Emily threw a pillow at him.  “Shut up, Old Man!”  That was her favorite nickname for him, along the line’s of Will’s Bird Boy.

Before things could dissolve into a real pillow fight, David had the luck to glance at his watch.  “Shit!  We have a teamwork session today!  Scott’ll kill us if we’re late!”  The five leapt as one to their feet and hurried from the room.  The X-Men known as Cyclops could be a harsh taskmaster.

Four hours later, the five filed wearily into the dining room.  Clothes were singed and they were all dead-tired, but each had an elated grin on their face.  About a month prior, Professor Xavier had decided that since the five were already inseparable, they might as well train as a group.  And since three of them were pyrokinetic, the Professor had decided that their specialty would be controlled destruction.  Their “mission” that afternoon had granted them the right to choose code-names as official X-Men.

“So first of all, we need a team name,” David said when they sat down at their usual table with food in hand.  “We are a group, and should be known as such.”

“I know,” Will suddenly said after the five had thought in silence for a few moments.  “The Dragons.  The Fire Dragons.”

“No,” Kane countered when inspiration struck.  “Something more medieval….The FireDrakes.  A drake is a dragon.”

“Rock on,” Emily said.  “I like it.”  No one disagreed, so she continued.  “Now for individual names.  Bird Boy is pretty simple.”

Will nodded.  “I’ve been Nighthawk for years.  Why change now?”  His role in the group was as a scout.  The mission had been to find “bombs” planted around the estate, and Will’s flying ability and excellent vision made him ideal for the job.  “Now for Emily,” he said.  “I’m thinking something to do with emotions.”

“Evil emotions,” Jaie said with a sly grin.  “For an evil girl.”  Instead of glaring, Emily just smiled saucily at her roommate.  As a telepath, Emily’s job had been to take whatever information Will gathered and send it to the other three using her gift.  It helped that the twins were receptive enough to pick her up, and it turned out that Kane had latent telepathy anyway.

“I’ve got it.  Fury,” David suggested.  “I mean, her tantrums are legendary.  Ouch.”  He mock-glared at her for kicking him under the table.

But Emily did not have much choice, for the name was instantly agreed upon.  Then it was the twins’ turn.  “*We* are going to decide on our own names, thank you very much,” Jaie asserted.  “In fact, we already have them.”

“I am Lightning,” David informed the group.  “And Jaie is Flame.”  They were not disputed, since they fit the twins perfectly.  Then all eyes were on Kane.

“Fire, definitely…and swords,” Will said, studying Kane intently, the whites of his eyes disappearing as usually happened when Will was concentrating on something.  Kane always got the feeling that those times were when Will was most like the hawk he was named for – a hawk searching for prey.

“FireSword?” Emily suggested, stating the obvious.

“Fire*Blade*,” the twins corrected her simultaneously.  They gave each other startled grins since unlike most pairs of twins, they were not prone to speaking in unison.

Will nodded, and Kane knew that any chance for him to change the name was lost.  “I like it,” the young man proclaimed.  Kane just rolled his eyes, and Emily laughed at him.  Suddenly, she stood up and gazed about the dining room, prepared to announce to the students that a new group of X-Men had been created.  But no one seemed to notice her.

At least not until David gestured slightly with a hand, and a flash of ball lightning appeared in the center of the room, touching nothing.  Instantly, all of the students had either dropped to the floor in defense, or trained weapon-like powers at the group’s table.  “Sorry!” David called, an embarrassed grin on his face.  “Just trying to get your attention.”

After some shouts of disapproval died down, Emily waved her arms in a more tame way of drawing their attention.  “I,” she called loudly, “would like to introduce the newest specialized team of X-Men.  We are…the FireDrakes.”  Her speech was met with applause and cheers, as the students had gotten used to Will swooping across the sky and Emily tearing after him on her dirt bike on the ground in past weeks.  A few moments later, random items on the estate would spontaneously burst into flame or be destroyed by lightning bolts descended from the sky.

“My name is Fury,” Emily continued.  “And the others are FireBlade and Lightning.  Our co-leaders are Nighthawk and Flame.”  As their names were called, her teammates stood up amidst more cheers.  Will and Jaie had bee chosen as the “official” leaders, since both of them were planning to stay with the X-Men after they graduated from the school.

In the back of the room stood three adult X-Men, who were watching the proceedings with mixed emotions.  “Do they understand what this implies?” Jean Grey asked.  “I’m happy for them, but…I feel like we’ve stolen their childhoods already.”

Whitney and Scott glanced at each other, and then nodded together.  “All of them have sworn to act as X-Men until they leave the school,” Scott answered.  “They work well together.  All they need is more experience.”

“They’ll do okay,” Whitney added.  “They may be young, but mentally and emotionally, they’re already adults.  Their childhoods were gone long before they came here.”  She spoke for all five of the teenagers, but her mind was on Kane.  They all would never have completely normal lives, but any hope Kane had had died with him years ago.

Part 5
Early Winter, 2000

Christmas came and went, with Kane and his four friends staying in Victoria DiThon Kestral’s apartment in New York City.  Victoria’s long-time friend Erik von Strausse lived in the penthouse on the floor above, and Victoria had gladly stayed with Von and his fiancée Marie, giving the teenagers space for themselves.

They had been in New York City for a week, but the time before Christmas had been spent in a whirlwind of shopping and sightseeing.  They had attended Von’s Christmas Eve party with mixed emotions.  The party had been fun, but the majority of the guests had been adults – mortal, Immortal, and otherwise.  Victoria and two of her friends, Laurana Thompson and Elizabet Aspen, had been the other Immortal “teenagers,” and a young mortal man named Jon MacLeod had only dropped in for a few minutes before heading off to another party.  So the FireDrakes had spent their time dancing whenever decent music came on, and hanging out in a corner of the main room by the food.

Sleeping in on Christmas morning had been deciding unanimously, at least until Victoria had woken them up to go back to the penthouse and open presents.  After a large brunch, the seven spent the rest of the day watching movies on Von’s big screen TV, eating holiday food, and cooking for Christmas dinner – often all three at the same time.  During dinner itself, Will, Emily, David, and Jaie formally thanked Von and Victoria for inviting them for Christmas.  They professed that it was the first truly “family” Christmas they’d each had in years.

The day after Christmas, it was back to work at the hospital for Marie.  Victoria and Von also headed out for a day together – they had been friends for almost a hundred years and wanted some time alone.  So the FireDrakes ate a leisurely breakfast and discussed what they could do.

“Actually,” Jaie said, “I’ve been kind of hoping that Emily could give us a tour of her old hangouts.”

That idea was met with a look of caution on Emily’s face.  “I don’t know…” she said finally.  “My ‘old hangouts’ were *not* nice places to live.  But-“  She broke off with a pause.

“What?” David pressed.

“I guess I could introduce you to my old gang,” Emily said reluctantly.  “It’s only been two years since I disappeared, so some of them should still be alive.”  The matter-of-fact way that Emily said that startled everyone except Kane.  He had been on good terms with a gang in Boston when he was growing up, and he knew the dangers.

Emily popped the last bite of bagel into her mouth and stood up, a determined look on her face.  “Well, let’s get going.”

That evening, the five teenagers were heading home.  The day had not been a complete success, but not too much had gone wrong, either.  A few of Emily’s closer friends in the gang had been glad to see her, but there was a new leader, a guy she had never met.  Rob hadn’t been too thrilled to see her, though he had heard of her.  They had quickly gotten out of that situation.

“I’m sorry, guys,” Emily said as they walked down the street in the growing twilight.  “If I had known that guy was going to be such a bastard, I never would have brought you here.”

Jaie immediately put her arm around the shoulders of her best friend.  “That’s okay,” she said reassuringly.  “It wasn’t your fault.  Hell, he practically owes you now,” she added with a grin.  Rob had made some pretty leering remarks about Jaie, and the pyrokinetic had *not* been happy.  Emily had quickly made excuses and the FireDrakes had left.  “He could have gotten in a pretty hot place there for a minute.”  Everyone laughed at the pun, and the group continued in a companionable silence.

It was suddenly broken when a group of men burst out of a nearby alley.  They quickly surrounded the teenagers, who immediately went back to back, covering each other.  The man in front of Jaie stepped forward with a sneer on his face.  “This is the one,” he snarled.  “She’s the reason for the fall of our mistress Lenilia.  Kill them all.”  The man’s face shifted so that he looked vaguely like a rat, and the other men also took on that appearance.

Kane immediately knew what these men were, and what they wanted.  They were wererats, and Lenilia was a sorceress killed two Halloweens ago by some people in Los Angeles.  But the summer before that, the sorceress had kidnapped Victoria and tortured for her power – his teacher still had the scars on her back.  And now her wererat minions were out for revenge, and they thought Jaie was Victoria.  “Shit,” he muttered as all this raced through his mind in less than a second.  He drew his scimitar, and this served as a signal for the other FireDrakes to pull their own weapons.  And the rats attacked.

Emily and David immediately ganged up on about four of them.  David kept them occupied with painful bolts of lightning while Emily moved in for the kill with her dagger until they were all down.  Jaie was holding her own against another two, her hands glowing with brilliant red fire.  And Kane took on the last five with sword and fire as Will harried them with knife and hand, the thick fingernails he had been growing out for the past two months that vaguely resembled bird-claws.

Once the wererats were all down, Will took to the sky to lead the other four to safety.  They ran as fast as they could until Will called down that they weren’t being followed.  They immediately found the closest subway entrance and finally collapsed around Victoria’s living room half an hour later, the adrenaline rush wearing off.

“Okay,” Jaie said, a slightly frightened look in her eyes, “what the hell was that all about?”  She turned to Kane for answers.

“Those were wererats…”  He was about to explain more, but was distracted by the presence of another Immortal.  Victoria and Von entered the apartment, and paused at the site of the five weary teenagers.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Victoria immediately asked in concern.  She and Von took their own seats in the room, and then she turned to her student.

Kane took a deep breath and repeated what he had said.  “Those were wererats.  They obviously followed us from this apartment since they thought Jaie was Victoria.”  The two ladies in question glanced at each other, but their only evident similarity was brown hair.  “And the one who talked mentioned something about Lenilia.”  Kane turned to his teacher as he said this.

Victoria inhaled sharply at that name, and stiffened in her seat.  Von placed an arm comfortingly around his friend’s shoulders while Kane detailed the fight that had taken place.  Finally the Immortal man spoke in a voice evidently too used to battle.  “Well, there’s not much that can be done now,” he said.  “If they were wererats, nothing that you did to them will keep them down for long.  No one can get on the top three floors of this building without the passwords, so you all should be relatively safe here.  Just lay low, and stick to crowded places when you go out.”

Taking up the thread, Victoria took a deep breath.  “I’ll see if I can get in touch with the wererat clan in New York City.  Lenilia,” she practically spat the word, “only associated with renegades, so the clan might take them out for us.  It won’t hurt to ask.”  She gave a wry smile.  “Sorry about ruining your Christmas vacation.”

“Nah,” Will said.  “We’re used to trouble.”  That prompted Emily to roll her eyes and toss a throw pillow at him, and things degenerated into a pillow fight shortly after.  Victoria and Von grinned at each other and left the apartment to head up to the penthouse.  Kids.

Part 6
Spring, 2001

March was relatively calm at Professor Xavier’s school, and for that, many were thankful.  The only thing out of place was that the Professor took a leave of absence due to heart trouble near the beginning of March.  His long time friend Erik Lenhsherr took over as acting headmaster – the mutant otherwise known as Magneto, who also happened to be Whitney Mackenzie’s new husband.  Rumor had it that the Professor’s heart trouble was partly a result of the whirlwind of activity that had recently surrounded Kane.

For many of Kane’s long-lived friends had begun appearing, one after the other, to “visit.”  It wasn’t until a vampire appeared that Kane himself began to get suspicious.

“Twilight!” Kane gasped when a young Native American woman entered the dining room during dinner, escorted by Mr. Lenhsherr.  The two appeared to be talking animatedly about something, but the apparent young woman broke off when she saw Kane.  He stood up to give her a hug and chaste kiss on the cheek, and then gestured for her to take a seat.  After introducing her to the rest of the FireDrakes as Jenna “Twilight” Moonshadow, he asked “So, what brings you to New York?”

She shrugged elegantly and gave a small smile.  “I was in New York City and decided to drop by and say hi,” Twilight explained simply.  “I am allowed to do that, aren’t I?” she added with a wink.

“Of course you are,” Kane replied immediately.  “I was just a bit surprised.  How is everyone at the Twilight Mists?”

“Everyone at the club is fine, and Pallas also sends her regards,” Twilight answered.  “She wanted to let you know that you’re welcome to spend another summer with her.”

“So, you’re the friend of Kane’s that runs a nightclub?” Jaie interrupted.

“Yes, I am the owner of the Twilight Mists Dance Club.  I’m sure you and your friends would fit right in,” Twilight said with a wry grin.

Kane grinned.  “Yes, I’m sure.  And as for all the vamps that ran around there – I’m sure you guys would love a bunch of pyrokinetics.”

“Wait, you mean you’re one of the vampires that Kane told us about, too?” Will asked, his eyes suddenly widening.

Twilight turned suddenly towards Kane.  “You told them?” she hissed.  “You know about Enforcers, how could you?”

“Relax, Twilight,” Kane immediately responded, placing a hand on her arm.  “Your sire told them.  Laurana was here a little over a month ago…”  His voice trailed off, and he gained a speculative look.  “And after ‘Rana left, Justin showed up.  Now you.  What’s going on, Twilight?”

She sighed.  “I told Victoria you would figure it out.  You’re a smart kid.”  Twilight nodded once, as if telling herself what to do.  “Well, let’s go someplace a bit more private, shall we?  We need to talk.”

Five minutes later, the six were ensconced in the boy’s bedroom.  And now Kane was worried.  Pacing back and forth in the middle of the room, he asked, “Okay, so what is this all about?”

“The incident last winter,” Twilight replied calmly from David’s desk chair.  “With the wererats.  Once the renegades figured out that you-“ She nodded to Jaie “-were not Victoria, they gave up going after you five.  Right after you left New York City, they went after Victoria in Central Park.  She, Von, and Elizabet Aspen managed to fight them off and they disappeared again.  So Victoria went down to the ranch in Australia and no one heard anything about a pack of renegade wererats, though the word was spread to LA and St. Louis where the other big packs are located.  It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that we found them again-“  She broke off suddenly.

Kane went into what Emily called his “adult-mode,” when the twenty-one year old man broke through the teenage façade.  His eyes darkening, he asked, “What happened, Twilight?”

“Pallas got attacked,” the vampire replied slowly, her eyes tinged gold at the memory.  “Right outside the club.  She’s okay – Kaluk and I got there in time to help fend them off.  But Victoria’s worried that if she’s a target, you might be, too.”

Kane gave an immediate curse in Welsh.  “What, so you all don’t trust me to take care of myself?  Even with the rest of the ‘Drake’s backing me up?”

Twilight shook her head.  “Oh, we trust you all right.  Me, Laurana, Justin, Pallas, Von – but you know who doesn’t.”

He nodded.  “Victoria.  Shit.”  Kane closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then again focused on the vampire.  “So you guys were going to keep just ‘dropping by?’  Great, just great.  I’ve got the power of fire at my beck and call and my beloved teacher doesn’t trust me to fight off a pack of rats.”  After that short rant, his energy appeared to run out and Kane gave a small grin.  “I wonder what she’s going to do when a simple Immortal comes after my head.”

Emily laughed suddenly from her spot on Will’s bed.  “Poor, neglected child.  I shall surely nominate you for sainthood.”

This broke the tense mood, and Twilight smiled at the group of teenagers.  “Okay, no more ‘visits’ from your poor, neglected friends, Kane, I promise.  I told Victoria when this all happened that if she just warned you what was happening, you could take care of yourself.”

“That I can,” Kane replied affirmatively.  “But do tell my beloved teacher when you leave to look after her own head.  I’ve seen Toria in one of her suicidal moods, and I would hate to have to look after Justin if he got the same way.”

Twilight smiled sadly at that particular mental image as she stood up.  She’d been in the position of keeping Victoria sane before.  “I shall do that, Kane.  And meanwhile – watch your own head.”

“Don’t worry,” Will added.  “He’s got four extra sets of eyes for that job.”  Twilight smiled at the group, gave Kane a hug, and left the room.

“First things first,” Kane said immediately after she’d gone.  “Mr. Lehnsherr needs to know that a psychotic renegade pack of wererats might come after one of his students.  Then we need to seriously crack down on our training.”

Emily groaned.  She had only graduated to a real blade three weeks prior, and was in no hurry to rush her fencing skills.  But when Jaie and Will nodded agreement, she knew that there was no hope.  “Whatever, Old Man,” she groused.  “We’ll see who kicks whose ass the next time we spar.”

“Now who needs to get nominated for sainthood?” Kane merely teased.

Part 7
Late Spring, 2001

“No!” Kane called to Emily as she was practicing her kata.  “Slash, parry, and *then* lunge!  If you don’t parry, you’ve left yourself wide open for attack.”  They were the only two in the room as the rest of the FireDrakes had cleared out a few minutes earlier so Kane and Emily could work in peace.  After months of work, Emily knew better than to retort when she knew that Kane was right.  So she merely when back to a few moves before her screw-up to go through the kata again.

When she finished, Kane applauded, a huge grin on her face.  “Great, Emily!  That’s the first time you haven’t messed up the ending, too.  You’re doing a good job.”  She grinned half-heartedly, too tired to do much else.  “Okay, go through it once more, then we can stop for the day.”  She nodded at her teacher, glad when he moved in to perform the kata with her.  She raised her katana at the same time Kane did his scimitar, and the two began.

They ignored Jaie when their fellow FireDrake entered the room until the end of the kata.  Kane whirled towards Emily and suddenly attacked, and she parried on instinct, then lunged.  The tip of the blade stopped just short of Kane’s heart, in a perfect example of the move she had just recently screwed up.  Kane grinned and nodded in satisfaction.  “Rock on, Fury,” he said.  “You did it!”  Emily smiled widely back at him, then turned to their friend who was waiting impatiently by the door.

“If you two are quite done,” Jaie said, “Magneto has called us for a meeting.”  When speaking informally, the FireDrakes usually used *everyone’s* code-names.  And when students didn’t have one yet, they were fond of making up rather ridiculous names on the spot.

Kane and Emily gave each other worried glances, but sheathed their swords and grabbed their gym bags before following their friend.

Jaie was silent as they headed for Erik Lehnsherr’s office.  As the three walked in, they saw that David and Will were already waiting, and that Magneto had a grave look on his face.  Standing behind him, Whitney looked pretty much the same.  “Good, you are all here,” he said calmly.  “There is an important matter that I must discuss with you.”  Emily and Jaie perched on the arms of Will and David’s chairs, respectively, and Kane leaned against the back of Will’s, waiting to hear what was going on.

“Sir?” Kane asked.  He did not like the look on Magneto’s face.  “What’s going on?  Did we do something wrong?”

The acting headmaster shook his head.  “You five have done nothing wrong.  In fact, you are to be commended in both your schoolwork and training.  No, this is something else entirely.”  Reaching out, he tapped a few keys on his computer keyboard.  “I would like you to listen to a phone message I received about an hour ago.”  He hit another key, and Kane was shocked to hear that it was his teacher Victoria’s voice on the tape.

Victoria sounded calm, but evident panic was rather obvious.  She also started out the message as if she did not know she was being taped just yet.  “…Oh, shit, I don’t even know what to call you.  Um, Magneto, Whitney’s husband…whatever.  You don’t know me personally, but I’m Victoria DiThon Kestral.  My student Kane Nalamas is currently studying at Professor Xavier’s school.  You probably have already been warned of the possibility that Kane could be attacked by a pack of renegade wererats who are after me, but it’s now gone beyond that.  They attacked a good friend of mine about a month ago in LA, Pallas Minerva.  They’ve upped the ante again – I’m on the run at the moment, and I’ve told my friends to scatter.  Personally, I’d like Kane to hop on the next international flight out of Kennedy and meet me at my flat in Paris, but I’m leaving this up to him.  If he wants to stay at the school, that’ll work, too, ‘cause I trust the FireDrakes to take care of themselves.  I’ll be checking for messages at my ranch periodically, so tell Kane to leave his plan with the caretaker there.  Thanks, but now I gotta run.”

The blood drained out of Kane’s face.  He knew what would happen if his teacher were caught – the wererats would most likely finish the job that Lenilia had started.  And since the scars on Victoria’s back still hadn’t completely healed after nearly two years, he didn’t think she would survive a second go-around.  All eyes were on him, so Kane quickly did some mental calculations.  “Victoria on the run is not a pretty sight – she stops for *no one* and only her best friend Justin has ever managed to calm her down enough to stop before she was ready.  If it’s okay with you, Mr. Lenhsherr, I’d like to stay here.”

Magneto looked slightly surprised as his decision, but nodded his acceptance.  “But come to me immediately if you are attacked.  Neither you, nor the FireDrakes, have to fight this alone.”

“Yeah, we lowly mortals are pretty fond of you, man,” David said with a grin.  “The FireDrake’s are definitely behind you all the way.”

A few weeks later…

“What do you think we should do?”  Whitney Mackenzie asked her husband quietly.  They had been alerted only a few minutes prior by a panicked student that there was a fight going on in the forest on the northeast side of the estate.  So the two veteran fighters had immediately headed for the scene of the ruckus, but had stopped short at what they saw.

“Nothing at the moment, my dear,” Magneto replied calmly.  “They look to have things well under control.”  But both visibly winced when another bolt of lightning came crashing down from the clear blue sky.

All five of the FireDrakes had escaped the fenced-in confines of the estate and headed for a day free of responsibilities in the surrounding forests.  It had been about three weeks since the message from Victoria, and Kane had called Full Circle Ranch down in Australia with his plan to stay at the school.  According to the caretaker there, Victoria had gotten the message, but Kane had yet to receive a response.

The warm, early summer day had started out fine, with a swim in a nearby pond and a spur of the moment game of hide-and-seek.  After a picnic lunch, the five teenagers lazed about in a clearing, simply talking and relaxing.  One by one, they drifted off to sleep, warmed by the sun and lulled by the relaxing sounds of the forest.

Kane suddenly jerked awake when he heard the familiar sound of Emily cursing.  Hastily leaping to his feet, he shook his head to remove the last cobwebs of sleep – what he saw was not good.  The five had been lying on a large picnic blanket, and now they were surrounded.

The fact that the men surrounding them were wererats was quite evident, as most of them had glowing eyes and long claws.  A few had even shifted form completely, and the feral looks on the rat faces were not pretty.  In an instant, Kane realized that none of the group was armed with anything but their powers, and his scimitar was being held lazily in one of the rat’s hands.

The FireDrakes immediately went back to back, but they were out numbered at least three to one.  The wererat holding Kane’s sword stepped forward to face Kane.  “Well, it’s you kids again.  This time we’re not planning on loosing.”  At that, he swung the scimitar towards Kane’s neck, and only the Immortals fast reflexes kept him from literally loosing his head.  Kane dropped to the ground, and the rat’s momentum kept him going in a circle.  As the rest of the rats rushed to attack the other FireDrakes, Kane leapt towards the leader.

Jaie shouldered Emily aside and pointed her outstretched hands towards the charging rats.  Flames leaped out of her hands and ignited the rats’ fur and clothing, but they kept coming.  “Emily!” screamed Jaie.  “Call for help!”  Then her hands were full with distracting the rats away from her best friend.

Emily immediately put her fingers to her temples for focus and gave the loudest mental cry she’d ever uttered.  She was instantly rewarded with responses from five other telepaths at the school, including Jean Grey.  Opening her eyes again, Emily could only watch helplessly with Will as her three friends tried to fend off the rats with fire.  And Kane was rather distracted from the use of his powers since he was still trying to reclaim his sword.

Finally, with a cry of outrage, Will launched himself towards two of the rats.  They froze in shock at the sight, and Will was able to slice both rats with his claws in their confusion.  Then they were upon him.

Kane was bleeding in multiple places from slash wounds by his own sword, but his shots of flame towards the lead rat just weren’t having enough effect.  Together, David and Jaie battled the majority of the wererats, and their lightning and fire simply weren’t causing enough damage.  Things did not look good.

Caught as she was in the middle, Emily was the only one who noticed when Magneto and Whitney appeared at the edge of the clearing, though sans their battle gear.  When they did not jump into the fray, but instead appeared to be simply conversing, Emily got a little bit ticked off.  As Kane cried out in pain from another slice on the arm by his sword, the X-Man known as Fury’s eyes narrowed.  Though she did not know if either Magneto or Whitney were receptive, she aimed a mental call towards them anyway.  :If you’re not going to help, fine,: she said scathingly, :but don’t just fucking stand there!:

Whitney’s eyes widened at the anger in Emily’s mindvoice, but it was well deserved.  As well shielded as Erik was, he did not hear the message.  “Erik, Emily’s not too happy at the moment.”

Magneto raised an eyebrow.  “Well, we mustn’t let dear Fury get too angry, shall we?”  After studying the battle for a few seconds, he shook his head.  “This really is ridiculous.”  He raised an arm and pointed at the rat Kane was fighting.

On instinct, Kane caught the hilt of his scimitar when it suddenly flew out of the lead rat’s hands.  Reversing the sweep as soon as he had a good grip, Kane lashed out with his weapon of choice as the flames on his hands faded.  The wererat’s head thudded to the ground, followed closely by his body.

Now Kane was in his element.  Spinning around, he leapt into the havoc David and Jaie were still wrecking just as Will finally took out his two opponents.  Emily was getting severely antsy, especially when she saw David receive a large slash down the arm by a rat that got too close.  Suddenly, Magneto and Whitney were right next to her, and Magneto held her sword out to her, hilt first.

“Thanks, Mags,” she tossed off with a cocky grin as she accepted the blade, and then she too joined the fight.  Within moments, all of the wererats were down for the count, and the FireDrakes were just barely standing.

“Whoa,” Whitney said as she just barely prevented Jaie from falling down from exhaustion.  “I think you guys need to get back to the house.  I’ll get Logan to grab some of the more experienced students to take care of clean-up.”

Will, holding his bleeding left arm gingerly, added, “And we need to go give Jean a visit, too.”  Magneto reached out a hand to steady the young man when Will bit his lip and blanched.

Kane nodded emphatically – though his wounds were healing with flashes of sparks, he looked bone weary.  “I’m just glad that’s finally over,” he said tiredly.  “Oh, god, I’ve got to call Victoria.”

Part 8

The next day, the FireDrakes were summoned to Mr. Lehnsherr’s office.  As they filed in, Kane felt the presence of another Immortal wash over him and was surprised to see Victoria there.  She was standing by the desk and had a rather guilty look on her face.  Kane immediately went to his teacher’s side and embraced her.

“I’m so sorry, Kane,” she whispered.  “This wasn’t your fight.  It wasn’t supposed to be.”

“Toria,” he said softly back.  “I owe you so much.  It *was* my fight, from the very second that Lenilia had you kidnapped.  You are my teacher, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t help protect you.”

Victoria squeezed him once and released him, then turned to the rest of the FireDrakes.  “Thank you all very much,” she said, wincing at the sight of Will’s bandaged arm.  “Even though Kane feels that he has to protect his trouble-magnet teacher, you four had no stake in this.  I am very sorry.”

“Victoria,” Jaie drawled, a half-grin on her face.  “We’re X-Men.  We help those in need, especially when they’re practically related to one of our own.”

The FireDrakes never did figure out why Victoria looked so surprised by this last comment.  All they knew was that according to Erik Lenhsherr there was nothing more for them to be taught.  Will and Jaie were assigned to a squadron of the “professional” X-Men, and David and Emily were planning on heading to New York City.  There they would stay with Erik von Strausse while they attended NYU to get degrees in their respective fields of Computer Science and Psychology.

“What about you, Kane?” Jaie asked on the morning David and Emily were preparing to leave.  The two of them were heading to the library to replace the books David had been hoarding in the boys’ room.  “You’ve never really told us what your plans are.”

He shrugged.  “Victoria mentioned something about staying at her place in Wales for awhile with another friend of ours, Kenny.  There’s still a lot that I need to be taught when it comes to sword work.  Von is taking over Emily’s training, so she’s covered, but there’s still more I want to learn.”

Jaie grinned at him.  “Well, just remember that no matter what happens to you, you’re still FireBlade.  Will and I may be a member of the real X-Men now, but the FireDrakes will never die.”

“I know,” Kane said, putting an arm around one of his best friends.  “As long as I’m around, the FireDrakes are alive an well.”

~finis~

Author’s Note:  And thus ends the saga of the sorceress Lenilia.  I didn’t mean for her to keep popping up, but you know how those evil types are.  Thanks again to the Maverick for all her help with this story.  Couldn’t have done it without you!

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This page was last updated: 2.18.5 ~jlg~