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notes-from-sarah · 1 year ago

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Kitty's Unexpected Hanukkah Road Trip

Rating: G/K+

Length: 6,700 words

Summary: Kitty is on her way home for the winter holidays when she’s attacked by The Purifiers. When Magneto rescues her she’s not sure she should trust him at first, but as they talk she discovers they share a lot in common. One-shot. Claremont canon compliant.

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A/N: Takes place at some point after X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills and a few months after The Uncanny X-Men, Issue 150 – I, Magneto where Magneto thinks he’s killed Kitty at the end. Kitty is around 14 years old and her current superhero name in the comics is Sprite.

December 1981

Kitty Pryde swayed methodically from the motion of the train. The ride from New York to Deerfield was a long one, and normally she would enjoy the time to read her comics or listen to tapes on her walkman. She’d even brought spare batteries and headphones, but she wasn’t interested in distracting herself. All she could think about was what home would be like. Her mom and dad had told her they were separating and she was brimming with anxiety over how Hanukkah was going to go. Would they be fighting the entire time? Would they blame her for their divorce? How was the rest of the family going to react? All of these questions swirled in her head and caused her stomach to clench in the most uncomfortable way. She tried to look out the window but there wasn’t much to see in the dark. Fresh snow occasionally hinted at the presence of hills and ravines in the countryside. Trying to calm herself, Kitty closed her eyes and rested her face against the glass of the train window. It was cool against her skin. Kitty focused on the coolness and tried to forget about her anxiety.

Suddenly, the door to the train car blew open with a cloud of smoke and a shower of sparks. People screamed and dove for cover as the door rained through the car in small fragments. Kitty ducked her head, instinctively protecting her face from the debris. Peeking up over her arm to see what sort of threat in particular this was, what she saw chilled her to the bone. Standing in the wreckage were three figures clad in the distinctive metallic armored garb of The Purifiers. Ignoring the screams of the passengers the leader swept the car with a small square device and before Kitty could blink twice the device was pointed at her. Kitty didn’t even hear the shrill beeping coming from the electronic as she jumped to her feet. She was an X-Man, she needed to act.

“Prepare for judgment, demon,” said the man holding the device pointed at her. His two followers silently raised guns, aiming them squarely in her direction.

“You can’t do this!” A passenger clad in a brown camel hair coat stood. She seemed to be over her initial shock. “Put down your guns.”

“If you attempt to stop us, you will join her, demon worshiper.” The leader raised his own weapon, this time pointing to the woman in the camel hair coat.

Kitty glanced at the woman. She could see the fierce protective instinct in the woman’s eye. She wasn’t going to back down. Kitty knew The Purifiers would kill the woman. She had to do something.

So she did.

In the blink of an eye she threw herself backward towards the wall of the train. The Purifiers turned their attention back to her and reacted quickly, but not quick enough. Their fingers only just squeezed the triggers as she phased through the wall of the train, tumbling backward into the dark night.

Skidding, sliding and stumbling down the side of the ravine, Kitty knew she had to get as much space between herself and The Purifiers as possible. Speed was important now, not caution. Throwing herself into a headlong dive she phased through the trees and brush in her path. Head over heels, gravity dragged her to the bottom of the ravine in seconds. With a dull splash, Kitty found herself sitting waist deep in brackish water. Gasping for breath at the shock, Kitty tried to gain her bearings. The fresh snow from yesterday made the area strangely luminous in the dark. It also made her path to the ravine bottom more than obvious. Without waiting for another second to pass, Kitty used her phasing powers to do her walking-on-air trick and ran along the ravine bottom in the opposite direction of the train tracks. Her only hope was to get herself somewhere where she could call the rest of the X-Men. She’d seen what those Purifiers could do to a Mutant who was all alone, and she didn’t want to test if she could beat them in a fight.

The bottom of the ravine twisted and turned every which way. Kitty tried to remember her training, to keep her head calm and do what she knew how. Not leaving tracks was a good start, Logan would be proud of her for thinking of that, but the energy it took to use her powers to run through the air was beginning to drain her. That, and the cold. She was wet and the night air was more than frigid. The jacket she was wearing was no match for real cold. She just had to keep it up a little longer. She knew she could do this, she had to, she had no other choice.

The ravine took a sharp turn ahead of her, and where it turned a bridge spanned from one side to the other. A road! Kitty thought in relief. Roads meant towns, towns meant phones, rescue was within sight. Using every last bit of strength she had, Kitty scrambled up the side of the ravine. The slick snow cover made it necessary for her to use her powers all the way up the side of the steep slope and by the time she crested the hill she was exhausted.

Trembling as shivers wracked her body, Kitty hesitated on the side of the road. Looking up and down it she had no clue where she was, or how far away she might be from any sort of town. She’d been on the train all day but she didn’t have the foggiest idea of approximately where that would put her between New York City and Chicago. Deciding it was better further away from the tracks rather than closer, Kitty turned toward the bridge and began walking.

The road was quiet. Trees grew close to the edge of the rural lane and even though Kitty strained her ears, she couldn’t pick up the sounds of any approaching cars. She also couldn’t see any driveways where a house might be lurking. Just trees and fields. Great, thought Kitty, I’m going to freeze to death out here on the road instead of spending a nice Hanukkah with my parents. If I live through this I’ll try my best not to be mad at them for getting a divorce. Trudging on, Kitty was on the cusp of giving up hope when in the far distance she heard the sound of a car. It was coming up the road from behind her, Kitty could see the headlights flashing through the trees. It seemed to take forever to get close, the car was traveling slowly on the snowpacked road. As the car got closer Kitty stood in the middle of the lane, waving her arms. She didn’t want them to miss her in the dark.

The car came to a stop, it’s lights blinding Kitty. “Hey!” she called out to the car, “I’ve been in an accident and need help.”

The doors of the car opened and three people stepped out. Kitty could hear an electronic beeping, the same beeping from on the train. These weren’t good Samaritans, they were-

“The Purifiers have come to send you back to hell, demon. Kneel, and accept your judgment.” Kitty didn’t need to see to know that the metallic clicking she heard was three guns being trained on her. Fear flooded her brain, she was so tired, she wasn’t sure she was going to survive this. Gulping, she prepared to use what little strength she had to phase one more time. The timing had to be just right or those bullets would hit their mark and she’d be a goner.

“Strange, Purifiers, I was just going to tell you the same thing.” The voice from above was filled with a cold fury and echoed in the still winter air. Kitty and The Purifiers jerked their heads towards the sky. Hovering above them was a helmeted man, a long cloak flowing from his shoulders.

“Magneto!” Kitty breathed. If things weren’t bad enough, now the man who almost killed her a few months ago was joining the fray. Was she ever going to catch a break?

Three guns pointed at the sky, but just as The Purifiers curled their fingers around the triggers, their guns began to disassemble in their hands. Pieces of firearms fell to the road, leaving the anti-Mutant evangelists completely unarmed. “Get in the car!” yelled the one who had been driving, “we can’t fight this one!”

Magneto threw out his hand and The Purifiers seemed to freeze in their tracks. Completely immobilized by the metal in their clothes and armor. Magneto’s lip curled in a sneer. “You take great and righteous pleasure in hunting down a child, but look at you when you have to go against someone who can actually fight back.” Waving his other hand the fallen pieces of the guns stretched into bands and flew around the necks of the attackers. Without so much as a movement from Magneto the bands began to constrict.

Kitty knew he meant to kill The Purifiers. For a long moment she wanted to let him. The anti-Mutants were gasping for breath, their limbs still immobilized by Magneto’s powers. Their eyes rolled in fear as the last of the air was being strangled out of them.

“Stop!” Kitty knew she had to at least try. It’s what Professor X would want. “You can’t kill them.”

Magneto paused, glancing down at her. “These murderers cannot be allowed to live, child. The next time they might succeed in killing you or another defenseless Mutant.”

Kitty knew he wasn’t completely wrong. The Purifiers were ruthless and showed no mercy to anyone. Still, how could she just stand back and watch them die? “There’s got to be a better way. I don’t want anyone to die.”

“Unfortunately, my dear, that’s not the world we live in.” Magneto began descending from the sky, his concentration, however, remained completely intact. “Survival of the fittest sometimes means that blood will be spilled. You cannot ignore a threat just because it’s unpleasant to deal with it.” Alighting on the ground between her and the car, Magneto turned to face her fully.

Kitty had no idea how she was going to convince Magneto to spare the despicable lives of these cultists. Truth be told, she kind of wanted revenge for all they had put her through. The image of Professor X came to mind, all those times he’d told her how important it was to use their powers to make things better, not to exact revenge. Kitty shook her head. “This won’t help.”

“Then what alternative do you propose, my dear?” Magneto’s tone was that of a teacher patiently waiting for you to come to the obvious solution.

“We can tie them up and leave them here. We’ll call the police and tell them what happened. They were attacking me, they’ll probably even admit to it. They can rot in jail where they deserve.” Kitty knew the cult was under scrutiny from the state and the feds. Certainly this would be a slam dunk case and these thugs would be off the streets for good.

Magneto didn’t say anything for a long, long time. He looked at Kitty hard, almost ferociously. It was kind of frightening, but Kitty didn’t look away. She wasn’t scared of him – that much – and she was sure she was right. Only the force of her determination was going to convince him.

“Very well, child. I accept your alternative.” Magneto turned to face The Purifiers. “Kneel, apes, and thank this Mutant child for your lives.”

Kitty was shocked when all three anti-Mutants dropped to their knees mumbling tearful thanks before the bands of metal snaked from their necks to fasten securely around their ankles. Her eyes darted between the pathetic cultists and Magneto. The Mutant stretched his palm toward the pieces of one of the guns that was laying in a heap on the road. The pieces twitched, then jumped into his hand fully reassembled. Twisting his other hand into a fist, Magneto dragged all three cultists to dangle before him in front of the car. The figures hung limply in the car headlights, like puppets from a string. Kitty gulped, not sure where this was going.

“You are being permitted to live, you are not being permitted to hurt another Mutant ever again.” Magneto flicked a finger and the right hand of each anti-Mutant was drawn forward. Tossing the gun into the air, it hung there, supernaturally suspended, the barrel aimed at the outstretched hands. He turned to Kitty. “Get in the car.”

Kitty didn’t want to listen, but she didn’t know what else to do. Magneto seemed to forget about the people he had dangling in the air and went himself to the driver’s side. Kitty wasn’t about to be left here with these murderous creeps, so she dove for the passenger’s side door. Once inside, Magneto used his powers and crushed the electronic device that had been beeping non-stop since The Purifiers had gotten out of their car. Putting the car into gear, Magneto pressed the accelerator and smoothly navigated around the people and the gun dangling over the road.

Kitty was almost afraid to ask, but she couldn’t stop herself. “What are you going to do to those freaks? What’s the gun for?”

“To remind them what it means to go against Mutants whenever they remember why they can no longer pull a trigger,” Magneto pronounced, grimly.

Kitty turned in her seat to see what was going to happen next, but the winding country lane quickly obscured the site of the attack. Only faintly a few moments later did she hear the distant sound of a gunshot. As merciless as The Purifiers were, Magneto was far more ruthless.

After a few more minutes of silence Kitty reached over to turn up the heat in the vehicle. She saw that her movement caught Magneto’s eye. A weird feeling rippled through her. The last time she’d been this close to him he’d zapped her with a bolt of energy that had almost done her in. Did he even recognize her? She wasn’t wearing the outlandish costume she’d had last time. He didn’t seem to know who she was, he was helping her just because she was a Mutant. She wondered if he would have done the same had he known she was an X-Man.

“Where are you taking me?” Kitty pushed the heat lever to max, then did the same for the fan. “Where are we?”

“I’m taking you somewhere you’ll be safe, child.” Magneto seemed to notice that she was cold since all the air vents simultaneously shifted to blow air on her. “I have no idea where we are.”

Kitty looked up at him, eyes wide. “You mean we’re lost?”

“I have complete mastery over magnetism and as such can control the magnetic fields of the entire Earth. I cannot truly be ‘lost’ anywhere magnetism exists. However,” Magneto shrugged, “I’m not entirely sure where we are or where the closest town might be. I don’t usually travel on the ground.”

Kitty blinked. “So, where exactly are we going then, if you don’t know where we are?”

“That entirely depends on you, child. Where were you heading to before those animals accosted you?” Magneto’s blue eyes glanced from the road to her face. Every word he said sounded so confident and assured. It was no wonder he was the X-Men’s greatest foe.

“I was on the train-” Kitty started.

“The train?” Magneto cut in.

“Yeah.” She nodded.

“How did you come to be on the road?” Magneto looked at her again. Kitty was a little worried he wasn’t paying enough attention to his driving.

“I jumped off when those freaks came after me. I didn’t want any of the people on board to get hurt.” Kitty put her hands up to the vents, the car was starting to spill out properly warm air now.

“You didn’t consider that you might be hurt?” Magneto sounded curious.

“Well if I didn’t then somebody woulda got hurt. I don’t think I could live with myself if someone got hurt on account of me.” Kitty looked at her hands for a moment thinking about all the close calls she and her X-Men friends had had. “Besides, I can phase through solid objects, I knew I’d be okay.”

“You are very brave, child.” There was approval in his voice. Kitty would have thought that he wouldn’t have cared.

Still, the compliment warmed her. She sometimes got told things like that from her teammates, but people like her parents or Professor X rarely praised her for bravery, usually they chided her brashness.

“My name is Kitty, by the way.” Kitty realized she hadn’t told him what to call her.

“Short for Katherine, I presume?” Kitty couldn’t quite tell with the helmet obscuring most of his face, but she thought he might have quirked an eyebrow when he asked the question.

“Yeah.” Kitty hoped he wouldn't call her Katherine, she only ever got called that when she was in trouble.

“Well, Miss Katherine, I believe I interrupted you as you were telling me your destination.”

Kitty cringed at the use of her name but tried not to let it show. “Right, anyway, I was on the train to Chicago so I can spend Hanukkah with my folks before those creeps made me take a detour.”

“You’re Jewish?” Magneto slowed the car to look at her.

Kitty tensed. She wasn’t used to dealing with dangerous antisemitism and she really didn’t want to start tonight after all she’d been through. “Yeah, you got a problem with that?” She remembered phasing through Magneto before and causing him harm, she didn’t want to have to do it again.

“No, Katherine, you have nothing to fear.” Magneto reassured, pressing the accelerator once more. “I, too, am Jewish.” There was a slight pause before he added, “Or, I was.”

Something in his voice caught Kitty’s attention. For the first time all evening there was a hint of uncertainty in him. Perhaps even doubt. He was such a commanding presence normally, the uncertainty was a sharp contrast.

“My bubbe says there’s no such thing as a former Jew, it’s a life sentence.” Kitty could feel the cracks forming in her perception of Magneto. She’d never thought of him as anything other than an evil spectre, a villain to be stopped, even some sort of warlord. She’d never considered that he was also a person.

“Is that so?” Magneto gave her an expression that Kitty could only interpret as a pre-smile. His eyes looked at her but it was clear he was far away. “Mine used to say something similar whenever I’d complain about how boring the sabbath was.”

Knowing Magneto had a grandmother was like a hammer that completely destroyed the illusion of Magneto the Master of Magnetism. He wasn’t some faceless monster, he was as human as she was. He had a family, people he loved and cared for. He had feelings. Hell, he probably had a favorite color and flavor of ice cream.

Kitty’s world was spinning out of control.

Turning off the rural lane, Magneto pulled into a gas station. The shop was closed up for the night, but it had a dirty payphone lit by an overhead light out front. Magneto parked the car in front of the payphone. “You should call the authorities and make your report.”

Kitty opened the car door and stood, feeling her pockets. “I don’t got any change.”

“No matter.” Magneto got out of the car and stood by the payphone. Lifting the receiver he tapped the payphone and handed her the handset.

Kitty took it and put the phone to her ear as she grabbed the phone book and flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for. She could hear the dial tone so she punched in the number for the police. The call went through with no prompt for payment. “Bet that comes in handy, not having to pay for calls,” she said. After she said it she realized she might have spoken out of turn. She still couldn’t see Magneto’s face properly and she guessed he was more than likely frowning at her. Man, Kitty, she thought, you really can say some dumb stuff you know.

He didn’t respond but the police picked up. Kitty explained that she’d been attacked and where they could find her assailants. She’d seen the sign for the road they were traveling on and knew The Purifiers were only a few miles away. Shivering as she hung up, she was motioned back to the car by Magneto.

Still reeling from her revelations about the other Mutant, the only thing she could think now was that she wanted to know more. As she settled back into the passenger seat and put her hands back up to the heat vents, she looked at Magneto. “What’s your name? I mean, your real one. I promise I won’t tell anyone.” Mutants, villains, superheroes, monsters, they had names like Magneto, Sprite, Spider-Man. Names they had chosen for themselves to separate themselves from the rest of humanity. People, though, had names. First and last names that showed a connection to other people, to a family and a larger culture.

“Telling hardly matters anyway.” Magneto sounded almost tired. “I have no one my anonymity would protect. As far as the world is concerned, who I am – who I used to be – is little more than a ghost.”

“You don’t have a family?” Kitty could hardly comprehend such a thing. Her mom and dad were her entire world, and the X-Men were a part of her family now, too. Her anonymity as Sprite protected so many people she couldn’t imagine losing.

“Not anymore. Not after Auschwitz.” Magneto’s eyes remained carefully on the road.

The word sent a chill up Kitty’s spine. “Were,” Kitty’s voice was almost a whisper, “were you there?”

“Yes.” Magneto’s voice was calm. What little of his face Kitty could see betrayed nothing.

“And you lost everyone?” Kitty didn’t really need to ask to know the answer. For all the survivors she’d met the story was always the same.

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry.” Kitty let a silence lapse between them. It felt disrespectful to ask anything more.

Leaving the rural lane, Magneto brought the car onto a larger state route. Kitty wasn’t entirely sure where they were driving to exactly. She guessed maybe a bus station or something.

“My name,” Magneto broke the silence between them at last, “was Magnus.” Taking his hands off the wheel, but still using his powers to drive, Magneto pulled the helmet off his head and set it on the center seat.

Magnus. Such a normal, human sort of name. Something his parents gave him. Something he learned to write at school. Kitty looked at his face properly for the first time. He didn’t seem so scary now.

“My great aunt Rachel, she was at one of those camps.” Kitty didn’t know why she was saying this. “She’s always so mean and angry all the time and Dad says it’s because of that.” Kitty knew she was being overly bold, but she’d always had a big mouth and not enough sense so she pressed on. “Is that why you’re so angry? Is that why you want to hurt everybody?”

Magneto – Magnus – took his eyes off the road to study her for a long moment. “In a way, yes,” he said at last. “But I don’t want to hurt everyone, Katherine, I want to live in a world where no one gets hurt anymore. The world, as it is now, is dead set against such an idea. The only option is to use force.”

“You really think you can do it, make a perfect world where nobody gets hurt?” Kitty and the other X-Men had talked at length about Magneto’s plans after their last encounter. For some reason Professor X kept insisting that Magneto wanted the same thing they did, she never really believed that was true.

“Perhaps not, but someone has to try. If we just sit back and wait for the world to change we will only find ourselves in chains. I’ve seen what happens when you wait for people’s better angels to guide them, it only leads to destruction and death. I have the God-given power to do something this time, so I will do it.” Magnus’ eyes flashed and Kitty could see the passion of his conviction.

“But, aren’t things different now? Don’t we have laws and rights to protect us?” Something about Magnus’ words frightened her, those far away nightmare threats seemed a lot more imminent the way he talked.

“Katherine, I see that you are a smart girl. You know the world is more complicated than good guys and bad guys. When one homo sapien makes a law, it takes only another to unmake it. Whatever they give us they can also take away. We have to take what is ours, with or without their permission.” Magnus held Kitty’s eyes in an almost frightening way, his voice had hardly changed in volume yet it seemed louder and stronger somehow. “And this world, dear Katherine, is ours.”

Kitty gulped, Magnus was throwing her completely off balance. Everything he said scared her, but at the same time didn’t sound that unreasonable either. She wasn’t sure what to think. She wished Professor X was here to help her make sense of it all.

Magnus turned his eyes back to the road. “I can see I am frightening you, child. I did not mean to cause you distress.”

“I’m not scared,” Kitty said, even though it was a lie. “It’s just, well, I’ve never heard someone talk the way you do. Do you really think people, humans, will just turn their backs on us? Even our friends and family?”

“Katherine,” Magnus’ voice assumed a gentler tone, “we must believe this to be the case. To do otherwise would be utter foolishness. I’ve seen it happen before, it can always happen again. Just take a look at The Purifiers. Though they are but few, their ideas are spreading. We cannot afford to be caught unawares.”

“But if they all turn against us, then we don’t have a chance. There’s so many more of them than us.” Panic was starting to bubble up in Kitty’s chest. Professor X had made everything seem so hopeful, like people were generally good and could be trusted. Now the world seemed a lot more dangerous than it had just a few hours ago.

“A chance is precisely what we do have, and I do not intend on wasting it. A fight is coming, Katherine, and whether you like it or not, whether you are ready or not, you will be drawn into it. As will we all.” Magnus turned from the state route onto a larger highway, he seemed not to be looking at the signs at all, just navigating by pure instinct. “Do you know why our people celebrate Hanukkah?”

Kitty was a little taken off guard by the question. “The oil in the lamp at the temple was supposed to burn only one day, but lasted for eight instead.”

“Yes, that is why we light the candles, but why is the holiday celebrated?” Magnus had a way about him that made Kitty think he’d have made a good teacher in another life.

“Um,” Kitty struggled to remember what she’d learned in the religious education classes she’d had to attend before her bat mitzvah, “the Romans, or um, maybe it was the Greeks, they tried to make us stop practicing our religion and took over the temple and when we got it back there was only the one thing of oil.” Kitty cringed internally, she could just see her parents’ disappointment at her lame explanation. She glanced over at Magnus to see if he was similarly disappointed.

Instead of disapproval he was giving her the smallest of smiles. “I never had much of a head for the details of all the stories either. I suppose that’s why we have rabbis. However, the salient points are clear even in your telling. We were attacked by outsiders, oppressed and defiled. That which was most holy was desecrated. Oppressors benefited from our subjugation and had no reason to protect or help us. We had the choice to either fight back, or die.”

Kitty could see where Magnus was going with this analogy. “That was a long time ago.” Even as she said it, the phrase seemed hollow. The future was suddenly very dark.

“Those who don’t learn their history are doomed to repeat it, Katherine. I’ve learned my history, I hope you have too.” Magnus’ tone was fierce and chilled Kitty to her core.

“So, what can we do?” Kitty wasn’t prone to nihilism, but the thought of facing increasing oppression and subjugation for the rest of her life made everything seem so bleak.

“We fight, and we never stop. Not even for a second.” Magnus’ voice was firm, but his expression softened when he looked at Kitty. Apparently her fear was showing on her face. “It seems that I can’t talk to you about this without frightening you. What does Charles say when discussing the state of the world?”

Kitty blinked, thrown for yet another loop. “Charles?”

“You thought I was unaware of your affiliation with Charles Xavier?” Magnus sounded a little confused.

“I, uh,” Kitty didn’t want to admit to anything, but it seemed that the jig was up. “If you knew who I was, why did you help me?”

“I bear no ill will against you, or Charles, or any of the so-called X-Men. I fight for all of Mutant-kind, I do not bear petty grudges over past skirmishes. We must band together if we are to survive. In many ways we are more alike than we are different, child. Someday that will be clear.” Magnus gave her a hesitant look. “I hope you can forgive me for hurting you in our last altercation. It has grieved me these many months thinking that I had harmed you.”

Kitty could hear the regret in his words. She wasn’t sure what she thought anymore. “I’m not sure,” she said truthfully, “Storm said I was as close to death as she’d ever seen. It’s only ‘cause she took care of me that I was able to get better like I did.”

“I am truly sorry. I wish I could make it up to you somehow.” Kitty believed him. Magnus really did feel bad about attacking her all those months ago.

“I suppose saving my life was a good start. I think we might be even now.”

Magnus gave her a small, warm smile. “I can see Charles’ influence on you. You are far more forgiving than I would have been.”

Kitty wasn’t sure quite what to do with that. She was glad that Magnus could see that she was a real X-Man, someone Professor X had taught well. Forgiving wasn’t always easy or in her nature, but she kept trying to remember what Professor X might say. She was trying so hard to be a real hero and have people take her seriously, it seemed like maybe she was getting there.

Traffic around them was thickening up. Kitty caught sight of one of the highway signs and realized Chicago wasn’t too far away anymore. “Hey,” she said “that’s pretty neat, we’re almost home.” As she said that, her original worries from the train came back to her. How was she gonna get through this holiday knowing that her family was all broken apart. Sitting back in her seat she wrapped her arms around herself. She wished Ororo was here to make her feel better.

“Is something wrong, Katherine?” Magnus asked. “Aren’t you happy to be going home?” She guessed her moodiness was obvious.

“It’s not gonna be the same. My parents are getting divorced and it’s just not gonna be the same ever again. It’s like I’m gonna have two separate families instead of one. I don’t know why they can’t just stick together. It can’t be that bad.” Kitty knew Magnus probably didn’t care about her little family problems, but she wanted to tell someone. She was so embarrassed that her parents were splitting up. Why were they being so dumb about this anyway? Couldn’t they just come to their senses and stay together.

“That must be very difficult.” Magnus’ voice was empathetic but shifted into a firm resolve as he said, “But you must be brave in the face of this adversity. You will come through this stronger than steel.”

It wasn’t exactly the sort of pep talk Ororo would have given, but somehow it did make her feel a little better.

“And also,” Magneto added a moment later, his voice softer, “hold on to your family, Katherine. Take not one day with them for granted. Hold them close and don’t be angry at them if you can help it.”

Kitty swallowed. She suddenly wanted to hug her parents tight. Gulping, she asked the question that had been bothering her since her parents told her of the separation. “Do you think they’re gonna blame me for pulling them apart? They used to be so happy together.”

Magnus took the exit for Chicago. All the traffic slowed down as they came into the city proper. “No,” he said. “Your parents must be good people to raise a girl as bright and kind as yourself. Such people would never blame an innocent child for their own incompatibilities.”

His words made Kitty feel a little bit better. She had been worrying about this for what seemed like forever now. She also glowed at the compliments. It wasn’t every day that someone who almost killed you said nice things about you. “It’s gonna be weird, though,” she said at last.

Magnus nodded. “You will have to find a path forward with your parents and yourself. As long as you remember to love and respect each other you will surmount this obstacle and come through this stronger. You are not losing your family, Katherine, it is just growing in a new direction. Growing can be painful, but it is what all living things must do.”

Kitty shook her head to clear it. Those words sounded like they could have come from Professor X himself. Maybe the Prof was right and the difference between the X-Men and Magneto wasn’t all that big after all.

“Where do you live?” Magnus asked, distracting Kitty from her musings.

“Oh, uh,” Kitty looked out the window to try and catch one of the signs they were driving past. “I live in Deerfield, it’s more North of here and not too far from the lake.”

Magnus nodded. “Are there any large metal structures near your house?”

Kitty thought about it. “There’s a TV station not too far away, they have a lot of big antennas there.”

Magnus closed his eyes and seemed to be feeling for something.

“Hey,” said Kitty, “keep your eyes on the road!” She reached out as if to grab the wheel.

“I’m well aware of my surroundings, Katherine. Fear not.” Magnus seemed to be concentrating.

Kitty held her breath, they were going to die. She looked out her window and saw all the cars jostling for space around them. She gulped, clinging to the door handle and wondering if she should put on her seat belt. This close to home and she buys the farm because some guy thinks he can drive with his eyes closed.

Magnus’ eyes snapped open and soon enough he was merging through several lanes of traffic apparently knowing exactly where he was going.

“You’re kinda crazy, you know that?” Kitty didn’t release her grip on the door.

“So I have been told.” Magnus’ voice held a hint of dry humor. “You should not worry, I am in complete control of every particle of metal in my surroundings. Nothing I don’t want can happen.” Kitty believed him, but it still seemed kind of crazy.

Finally, they came into sight of the TV antennas from the station. Kitty knew how to get back to her house from here. “Go left,” she gestured. She stopped and looked at her watch wondering if her parents were at the train station waiting for her. She saw that her watch wasn’t working. It must have gotten fried by the water in that ravine. And it was her new digital watch too. Bummer. She glanced at the dashboard but there was no clock there. “Do you know what time it is?”

Magnus thought for a minute. “Chicago is in the Central Time Zone, is it not?”

“Yeah.” Kitty nodded.

“Then it is about seven o’clock at night.” Magnus thought for a moment longer. “Perhaps closer to a quarter till.”

“How’d you know that?” If he was right then her parents hadn’t left for Union Station yet, her train wasn’t supposed to arrive till closer to nine. Kitty was glad. She was ready to be home and get into some clean clothes and give her mom and dad a hug.

“My powers let me feel the rotation of the Earth, I can approximate time from there.” Magnus shrugged. “Our abilities can let us do so much more than we might realize, all we must do is have a little imagination.”

Again, there he was, sounding like the Professor. Kitty indicated that he should turn right into her neighborhood. “Turn here, my house is at the end of the street.”

Outside her house, Kitty could see a bunch of cars in the driveway and on the street. She saw her grandma’s car and her aunt’s station wagon. That meant the cousins were there too. She bet everyone was having a great time and she could almost taste the doughnuts and latkes.

Magnus pulled the car onto the edge of the street right in front of the house. Shifting the car into park he exited and came around the car to open her door. “As promised, young one, I have delivered you safe to your home.”

Kitty slid out of her seat and shut the door as she exited the car. She was so happy and relieved to be home again her worries seemed to melt away. Mom and Dad and her were going to figure this out and she didn’t know exactly what would happen but she knew it was going to be all right. Her happiness bubbled over and flinging her arms around Magnus’ neck she gave him the type of enthusiastic hugs she usually reserved for her friends. “Thank you so much for helping me.”

Magnus seemed stunned by her effusiveness. Kitty smiled as he relaxed and gave her a brief embrace. He really isn’t so different from the Professor, she thought, it’s too bad he won’t just join us X-Men and fight on our team.

Kitty stepped back, still smiling. “Where are you going to go now?”

Magnus gestured in a general direction away from the city. “I will go where I am needed most to defend Mutant-kind.”

Kitty nodded. She was glad he’d been there tonight to help her. She was pretty sure she’d be a goner if he hadn’t shown up when he did. She glanced at her house. Warm light spilled out the windows filtered by the gauzy curtains in the living room. In the center of the big window stood a lit menorah, the glowing candlelight beckoning her inside. Looking back at Magnus a thought started to grow in her. After everything she’d learned about Magneto tonight, everything they’d talked about, it seemed kind of wrong to just say goodbye out here in the snow. It was Hanukkah, after all, he should have someone to celebrate with.

Reaching out, Kitty took Magnus’ hand. “Come on inside,” she said, “there’s enough latkes for everyone.”