Panther - A Nightcrawler Fanfiction

40) Roll Back

[Author's Note: Warning. I rated this chapter R for the violence mentioned at the end of this chapter.

X-men Characters in this Chapter: Nightcrawler (Kurt)

OCs: Panther (Emery), (Kenneth)]

 "Remember me?" a voice floated out of the dark. Emery didn't need to see who it was to know his identity.

"Hello, Kenny," she said, hatred mixed with fear making her voice sound colder than normal. "What do you want?" If she could avoid fighting with him, then that might be best. Talking seemed like her best option. He was dangerous. He was the only one she feared. He was the reason her brain sent hypothetical flames out as a mental barrier. He was the reason she stopped talking out loud. He was the reason she couldn't trust anyone. He was the reason she couldn't get close to anyone.

And yet she had gotten close to people. First Chet. Then Kurt. The others at the mansion could make the list too. The color suddenly drained from her face, unnoticed in the darkness.

"Want? I don't want a thing."

"They always said you were a liar," Emery said, working on strengthening her mental barriers. She didn't dare move from her seat on the cold floor where she'd fallen.

"And why would you believe scum like that over me? I'm the only one that will ever understand you, Emery."

"Not true."

"Oh? You've told all your deepest secrets to someone?"

"No, I... I haven't, but..."

"Do the X-men know about your past?" the man sneered tauntingly.

"No."

"So they don't know about me? About us?"

"No."

"Oh, my dear little sister. You're not fairing so well here."

Emery knew that. She knew she would lose a fight against him. He was her brother after all; his powers were similar to his, but not quite. She knew he could portal and she knew he could get inside her brain and make her see things that never happened. He could hurt her from the inside out, and she was powerless to stop them: just as she had been powerless to stop her parents from calling the government anti-mutant agency to come collect her.

"How many of them did you kill Emery?"

"What?" She realized he'd been inside her brain. But how was that possible? She hadn't felt him. She had barrier after barrier up. She was burning her mind, as she had done to the Professor when he had tried to get inside her brain. She was... 

"Not as powerful or skilled as me. Your powers are too broad. I may not have the range that you do with your powers, but what I do have I have more talent in, more skill, more power."

Emery increased the barriers and flames inside her head. 

"Now, the government officials they called to take you away. How many did you kill?"

"If you were inside my brain, you should already know the answer."

"True enough, but you've never admitted it out loud."

"I'm not like you!" she exclaimed, her plasma starting to spiral around her.

Kenneth laughed. "Oh Emery, you silly little fool. You are just like me. You have father's blood in you. You have mother's blood in you. Just as I do. They called the government on both of us. They kicked us both out of our home the second they found out about our powers. And you know just as well as I do that the government officials are heartless. They tie you down and inject you with things to keep you drowsy and weak. They run test after test on you, and if you let them long enough, they find a way to control your powers, control you. So you're wrong. You're just like me."