The youngest member (X-Men Evolution)

No Good Deed

"Julie, are you a mother?" Number 25 asked as she walked down the never ending hallway. The five year old girl held onto Julie's finger as the scientist guided her. Her other hand was held tightly by the boy walking beside her. "No, I'm not." Julie said, looking at the notes in her other hand from the experiments they had run on the children a week ago. Julie wanted to make sure she had the information fresh in her mind before starting this week's experiments. "Then who is our mom? Number twelve was saying that everyone has parents. And since you are with us a lot we thought it might be you." The boy explained. Julie stopped walking. She took a second to kneel down in front of the two kids. "Everyone comes into this world from a mother and father, that much is true. But you two do not have parents. None of the children in this facility do...you should consider yourselves lucky. At least you have each other." Julie said, before telling the kids to stop asking questions. They continued to walk down the hallways till they reached a tall white door. Number 25 nervously tugged on her white latex suit, and Number 24 gripped the girl's hand all the tighter as Julie opened the door and the children walked into the room. The kids knew from experience that there was only pain for them behind the door, but they also knew from experience that there was no use trying to run from it. Number 25 felt the boy's hand get sweaty in hers and she turned to him. "Don't be scared. We already know what is going to happen." She said, trying to give him some comfort. "I know. But I don't want to feel this pain anymore. The fire hurts so much." He admitted, before a guard walked up behind him and yanked him away from Number 25. "No!" The boy cried out as Julie held Number 25 back. "Number 24!" The girl cried out. She was dragged to the other side of the room, but couldn't look away as the boy on the other side of the room was held over a burning fire. His screams echoing off the walls.

"No!" Marigold shouted as she shot up in her bed. She gasped for breath as her body jerked awake. She looked around her bedroom, looking for the boy in her dreams. It took a few seconds for her mind to fully escape the nightmare she had just been in and she sighed. "He's not here." Marigold said to herself, her fists gripping the comforter on her bed. Her heart was still racing as she got out of her bed and put her glasses on, before walking over to her desk and picking up the same picture that she had been staring at daily after finding it in one of the many files she had used to search for any other survivors from the facility. "Who are you?" She asked out loud.

-Professor Xavier's office-

I was pulled from my morning work by a knock on the door. I used my powers to see who was on the other side of the door and smiled, using them to then open the door for Marigold to come in. "Hello Marigold, I sense you are feeling nervous. Is it about going back to school today?" I asked as the young girl walked around my desk. I wheeled myself far away from my desk to give the girl room to stand in front of me. "I am a bit nervous about that, but that's not why I'm here." She said shifting nervously on the heels of her feet. It was then that I noticed that she was holding something behind her back. "Well now you have me curious." I said with a small smile, trying to ease the anxious girl. "Professor...I know you don't like 'poking around our minds' because you respect our privacy and all that. But what if I wanted you to help me remember someth-someone?" She asked, pulling a picture out from behind her back and handing it to me. I looked at the picture of a boy with blue eyes and jet back hair, much like Marigolds. It was a picture much like all of the others that I had seen of children from the facility. A sad child in a white latex suit. I was obviously apprehensive of going into the girls' mind because of the dormant winter-soldier program in her. I didn't want to risk waking up number 25 again in any way. But Marigold knew that risk, so there had to be some big reason for her to ask me such a request. "Why him?" I asked, deciding to keep my question vague. Marigold gently pulled the picture from my hands, looking at it again. A look of sadness and curiosity was on her face. "I have been having dreams about him...I know him. Even since I saw this picture - it feels like there is this hole or, or something missing in my head. Like a memory or -" Marigold stopped talking and sighed, looking back up at me. "I think I know who he is...or I need to know who he is. But I can't remember. All I have are these dreams of us in the facility together." I placed my hand on her shoulder assuringly. "What kind of dreams?" I asked. "I think they are memories...of fire." my blood ran cold. "of us being in experiments together, training together, of him -"