psinex@yahoo.com Strange Attractors 6/25 by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: They're all Marvel's, except for Danny, who's mine. Please don't sue. WARNING: Some graphic imagery and violence ... -------------------------------------------------------- Mass. Acad. Biosphere Treehouse: 9/3/2003: 16:01 hrs EDT: -------------------------------------------------------- "Erik." "Grmmh ..." "Erik Lehnsherr, I KNOW you're faking exhaustion. I was in the study group last night until 1 a.m. same as you, and I'm fine." "Y'r half-elf. Y' get better sleep." Alexa smacked her boyfriend with a pillow the St. Croix twins had left in the redecorated treehouse and glared at Erik. The boy was sprawled on the couch Nicky had lugged up to the unofficial crashpad for both the boys and girls. "FINE," Alexa mock-huffed. "I'll be back in a minute. Jerk." She PAMPH-ed away, leaving Erik to doze off again. When he opened his eyes, a grey-uniformed man stood over him with a riding crop. "What - OW!" Erik yelled, feeling the crop slam into his head. He stumbled back, looking around and going pale at the landscape. Shallow pits were visible behind him, and he noticed a young girl clinging to a frightened couple nearby. The man reached for him, calling something in a language the boy almost understood. #What the HELL -# Then bullets slammed into the family, driving them into the pits below. Erik looked over in horror, seeing soldiers firing - - #BULLETS reach out stop them# - and fell backwards under multiple impacts. He grunted, feeling the slugs fall harmlessly away under his magnetic field. "OhmyGODohmyGOD-" Erik fell atop the family, vomiting when the girl's bloodied face stared back at him with empty eyes. More bodies fell in atop them, and he struggled to stay awake amidst the carnage. #NoGODmypowerswhat'sgoingON!?# He lashed out, but his abilities were sluggish beneath his mental effort. Then dust seared his lungs, and he looked up into a shower of dirt. #WHATTHEHELLISTHIS!?# The tightness and the smell - and the start of burning pain against what skin he had exposed - made him dig. Lifeless fingers seemed to weigh him down, but Erik shook his head. #Can't stay here what is THIS oh GOD THEY WERE SHOT THEY WERE MURDERED -# His last breath left his lips - - but he felt air on his hands, and pushed one last time - - and sat up screaming in the treehouse. "ERIK !" "'Lex - oh GOD - what - I had a nightmare - !?" Erik stammered, looking wide-eyed at Alexa. She hugged him, going pale beneath her fur, and stroked his hair slowly. "It'll be OK," she whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks and wetting Erik's head. "You - 'Rik ?" Erik pulled away and looked at Alexa with terrified eyes. "'Lex ..." he whispered. "MY TELEPATHY'S GONE." -------------------------------------------------------- Headmasters' Office: 16:23 hrs: -------------------------------------------------------- "... aye," Sean nodded grimly to Xavier over the holophone. Moira and Emma were gathered around the main desk, while Sean sat back and watched Xavier's face contort in fear. "Dear GOD ..." Xavier finally whispered. "We were afraid something like this might happen, but - Emma, is he reacting to the trauma ?" "He came in crying, Charles," Emma said softly, rare concern in her tone. "For Erik to cry ..." "I know," Xavier nodded, steepling his fingers. "Can you scan his mind at all ?" "No," Emma sighed, sitting on the corner of the desk. "His legendary mindshield is tighter than spandex. That's what seems to have frightened him as much as the nightmare. He was getting used to empathic impressions - but now he's mindblind." She looked around and added, "I'd be terrified myself ..." "The question is, how much more is he goin' t' remember ?" Moira asked. "There's absolutely no way to know now, short of an RNA read," Emma said. "And that would require an incredibly invasive procedure into the hippocampus which I'm not about to permit." "I agree," Xavier said. "For now, we'll help him as best we can. My greatest fear is that he'll start remembering more ..." -------------------------------------------------------- #What the HELL is going on ?# Erik thought, laying on his bed. He looked up at the ceiling, then over at where Joe Bailey would have been if the other boy hadn't been out playing football with most of the other male Mutants. #My music. That'll help me,# Erik thought hopefully. He picked up his guitar and began to strum, a vague tune dancing at the edge of his memory. #Sounds ... classical,# he thought, trying to duplicate the sound. He strummed - - but gaped when he found himself behind a cart. Of bodies. #Oh no NOT AGAIN !?# he thought, looking down at himself. He was gaunt, nearly skeletal, and clad in rags. A girl nearby, her head shorn, looked at him and whispered fearfully in German. "Keep moving, Erik !" she called, wheeling another cart. "You want the guards to put us in there ?" Erik looked to the building where she nodded, going pale again when he sniffed the air coming from the chimneys. #Oh NO - that smell -# "Come ON," the girl demanded, her eyes pleading with the boy. "Wh-who are you ?" Erik pleaded back, forcing himself forward. "Magda - you can't have forgotten !?" she exclaimed. #Magda - # -------------------------------------------------------- Library: 17:00 hrs: -------------------------------------------------------- "- and her name was Magda," Erik told Alexa, Frank and Ray. They looked at him with a mixture of horror and doubt, but Alexa just glowered. "It's not bad enough you're having flashbacks, but there're cute girls in them !?" she hissed. "WE WERE WHEELING DEAD BODIES TO A CREMATORIUM !" Erik roared, spittle flying and his eyes glowing with a rare fury. Alexa teleported away, fear crossing her face, while Frank took Erik by the shoulders. "Easy, man !" Frank demanded. "She's just trying to help !" "Some help," Erik growled. "I'm having goddamned flashbacks to the Holocaust, Frank !? HOW THE HELL IS THAT POSSIBLE !" "'Magda'," Ray said, frowning. "Erik, that sounds Eastern European. I bet there might be a list of victims in an Israeli or German website ... or maybe Kitty can help us. She keeps track of Holocaust survivors - you might've had a past life as a Holocaust victim." "Reincarnation ?" Alexa asked softly, looking apologetically at Erik. He stood, hugging her, and whispered, "I'm sorry ... I'm just ... scared." "I know. I'm sorry," Alexa said, holding him. "We'll help you, pal," Frank said, patting Erik's shoulder. "Whatever you need, Erik," Ray offered. "Thanks, guys," Erik said, smiling faintly as Alexa released him. "What I REALLY need -" "Guysdidyouknow-ohWOWErikareyouOK?" Luna asked, zipping up beside the others. Erik squinted at her, then sat down on a bench, sweating. "Erik ... ?" Luna asked fearfully. "Your face ... Luna - you look like the girl from my vision ..." Erik muttered. He looked at Ray and asked, "Ray ... the Phoenix might get through this new mindshield - if I could see her ..." "Erik, I don't know," Ray gulped. "Memory's a weird thing, and if we toss the Phoenix in there ..." "I know," Erik nodded, "but it's my mind. I trust you - please, Ray. I have to know." Ray looked at Frank, who squeezed her hand and nodded. "I'll be a psionic anchor," he offered. Ray kissed his cheek, psi-linking with him, and reached out to Erik. The kids gasped when they found themselves in a town square, a burning building ahead of them. Erik looked down, gaping, as Magda clung to him and cried, "SAVE HER !" "Oh no," Ray moaned, pointing upwards. The teens cried out, seeing a tiny girl silhouetted by flames shooting out of a window. "NO ..." Erik snarled, running forward until a crowd of angry villagers blocked his way. "Get out of my way, damnit !" the boy demanded. "Can't you see she needs help !?" "Your kind ruined everything ! YOU brought the Nazis down on us - let your brat die !" a giant of a man bellowed. Frank and Ray cried out when a torch struck Erik in the head, and again when the building before them collapsed. "Oh God - Frank ..." Ray cried, clinging to him. They looked down at the sobbing Magda, then up at Erik. He stood, the same manic stare in his eyes he'd given Alexa - - and blue fire consumed the psi-scape, the image shattering into a billion shards. Frank and Ray gasped, finding themselves back in their own bodies. Erik sat before them, his eyes glowing, and sobbed wordlessly into his hands. "She ..." "SHE WAS MY DAUGHTER ..." "'Rik ... ?" Alexa whispered, kneeling beside him. Erik pushed her away, rising and breaking into a run. "Let him go - God, we've done enough damage already," Ray told Alexa, grabbing the other girl's arm. Alexa whirled on her with ferocious eyes and demanded, "HE NEEDS US !" "He needs to try and figure out - oh God," Frank said, his voice dropping. "That Magda woman - Ray, who did she look like ?" Ray's jaw slowly dropped, and she shook her head. "No way," she whispered. "She COULDN'T BE ..." "She looked like the Scarlet Witch," Frank gulped. Luna looked from one to another of her friends and gaped, "Aunt Wanda ? Erik's a RELATIVE OF MINE ?" "If what we saw is true," Frank said, "he's your grandfather ..." -------------------------------------------------------- "Erik ?" "Go AWAY," Erik growled at Sean from the treehouse door. "I'm not in the mood." "Lad, get in th' mood," Sean frowned, levitating sonically to sit beside him. "Ye knew ye're nae t' be havin' psi-probes done on ye w'out -" "What are you hiding, Uncle Sean ?" Erik demanded. Sean looked at the boy with unabashed surprise, then stammered, "We're nae -" "Save it," Erik frowned. "I know you have to know who I was. What aren't you tellin' me ?" "Erik ... there's a lot t'this," Sean began. Erik cut him off with a choppy hand motion and said coldly, "I was a Holocaust survivor. I got away somehow with a girl named Magda, and we had a daughter. Then our daughter was killed, and - SOMETHING happened." "... aye," Sean sighed. "Ye ... sh'ld see th' Professor. He'll be able t'help ye." "Xavier ?" Erik asked, arching an eyebrow. "Why do I doubt if he'll really help me ... ?" -------------------------------------------------------- X-Mansion: 18:00 hrs: Headmaster's Office: -------------------------------------------------------- "Professor." Xavier floated into his office, feeling the chill in the air as he saw Erik staring out onto the lawn. The boy turned, arching an eyebrow in a hauntingly familiar way. #Lord ...# Xavier thought, sensing the boy's unspoken questions. #What do I say ?# "Erik ... there are so many reasons why we haven't told you about your powers," Xavier began. "But yes ... you do deserve to know the truth. I ... suppose we're trying to protect you." "And what if I get hurt because you didn't tell me !?" Erik yelled. "My telepathy's gone, my control over my mag-power's spiking, and I'm havin' horrible flashbacks !? And SOMETHIN'S tellin' me YOU know the answers !? SO WHAT'S SO GODAWFUL !?" Xavier looked sadly at Erik and pleaded, "Erik -" "Oh screw you," Erik snarled. "You spineless cripple. You sit there, telling dozens of X-Men where to go and whose ass to kick, but you wuss out when one teenage boy wants to know who the HELL he is. PISS OFF !" Erik stormed out, ignoring Xavier's stammering, and slammed the door. Finally, Xavier sighed and sat back in his chair, looking at a photo on the far wall of three 20-something people walking on a beach. "What DO you tell him ?" Xavier told himself, looking at the people. One was bald and dressed in khakis, while a black-haired woman held his hand. The third was a white-haired man who looked at Xavier with piercing blue eyes. "What would you tell him ?" Xavier sighed. "What would you tell him ?" -------------------------------------------------------- #Old fart,# Erik frowned, glaring out at the cove from the boatdock. He laid back and wiped his eyes, looking up at the full moon. #What'm I going to do ... ? Who WAS I ?# ~We could answer that, M'Lord,~ a voice rang in the boy's mind. Erik sat up, gaping, as three red-and-purple-clad figures appeared in a cloud of smoke at the end of the pier. "Hail, M'Lord," a red-haired man said, dropping to one knee. "I am Fabian Cortez, leader of the Acolytes - the worshippers of the Holy Magneto, the icon of those mutants who believe our people have the right to live over humans." Erik just gaped, muttering, "And this has anything to do with me ... ?" "Yes !" Cortez smiled. "YOU are Magneto !" "Magneto ? The mutant terrorist who forced the X-Men to become a fighting squad ?" Erik whispered. "The nutjob who disappeared at the United Nations ?" "Yes," Cortez nodded. Erik arched an eyebrow and muttered, "This has NOT been my day ..." -------------------------------------------------------- NEXT: Most 14-year-old boys'd go nuts for worshipping women, incredible power and an asteroid base ... ... so what's up with this one ? -------------------------------------------------------- end _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com