[A/N]: This chapter was heavy to write, so if it hit you, share it with others. Let's start the week with full power, drop those stones and comments, and blast our way up the ranks! š
The hot water burned against Jay's adamantium skin, running pink down the drain. Logan's blood came off easy enough, but chunks of brain tissue needed serious scrubbing.
The metal form held heat from the drilling, making even the scalding shower feel barely warm. Steam completely fogged up the guest bathroom mirror.
When he finally felt clean enough, Jay shifted back to normal. The sudden weight change almost made him stumble, like stepping off a boat after being at sea for weeks. His clothes were spotless, naturally. One of the better perks of this whole deal.
The deformed bullet sat on the counter, catching the fluorescent light. Jay picked up the adamantium fragment and rolled it between his fingers. Years of Logan's life, all compressed into this tiny piece of metal. Worth more than vibranium, really. Wakanda had mountains of that stuff, same with Talokan. But genuine adamantium? You couldn't just dig that up without having androids and mechas playing gods at your ass.
He slipped it into his pocket. Fair payment for services rendered.
The hallways stretched quiet and empty as Jay headed back toward the main hall. He was already thinking about coffee, about pretending this had been just another normal day with Fury and Coulson, when a voice cut through the silence.
"You lied to me."
Jay stopped dead. A man stood there with the most forgettable features imaginable. Brown hair, average height, the kind of face you'd lose even while looking straight at it. But the hurt in his eyes mixed with desperate hope made Jay's chest tighten up.
For a second, Jay's eyes wanted to slide right past him, his brain trying to dismiss the guy as background noise. But his Mind-Shield kicked in hard, and suddenly the man's name surfaced through whatever fog had been clouding his thoughts.
"Ah, Xabi," Jay said carefully. "I finally found you. I nearly forgotā¦."
"Of course you forgot," ForgetMeNot cut him off, bitterness dripping from every word like poison. "Nobody remembers. That's my power, right? To be forgotten by everyone I meet. But you..." His voice cracked like breaking glass. "You promised you could help with that. All this time, you've been going around fixing people who didn't even want their powers removed, people who had families and friends and lives. But you didn't even remember me while I did your dirty work, while you basically blackmailed me with my family forgetting me, despite all your promises."
Footsteps echoed down the hall. Kitty phased through the wall first, followed by Warren and Piotr. They found Jay talking to some complete stranger who somehow felt familiar in a way that made their heads hurt.
They'd obviously heard the raised voices, but their faces showed nothing but confusion as they stared at this person they should have known but didn't.
"What's going on here?" Kitty asked, looking back and forth between Jay and the unfamiliar man. Something about him nagged at her, like having a word right on the tip of her tongue.
Jay ignored her completely, focusing on ForgetMeNot instead. "What do you want then?" His voice got softer. "For me to take your powers away and have everyone forget you permanently? And look, I didn't forget our deal. Can't you see it's only been three days since all the Doom crap happened at once?"
ForgetMeNot's face just crumpled like wet paper. "So that's it? You can help everyone else but not me? I've been here for years, helping the X-Men, saving their lives, and they don't even know I exist!" His voice completely shattered. "Do you have any idea what that's like? Being alone even when you're surrounded by people? Watching your own mother thank some stranger for help and then forget you existed the second you walk away?"
Warren stepped forward, wings rustling with agitation. "I don't understand what's happening, but..."
"You wouldn't," ForgetMeNot said bitterly. "You can't. That's the whole point."
Jay's expression softened, and something twisted hard in his chest. The man was right. He'd gotten so caught up in everything else, he'd nearly forgotten his promise. Just like everyone else forgot Xabi.
"If it's about tweaking your power instead of removing it completely..." Jay moved before ForgetMeNot could react, placing his hand firmly on the young man's shoulder. "Hold still."
"Wait, what are you..."
Power flowed through Jay's fingertips, way more complex and delicate than his usual suppressions. He could feel the mutation's structure, how it hijacked memory formation and recall in other people, forcing them to forget. With surgical precision, he added what basically amounted to a mental switch, a conscious control mechanism that would let ForgetMeNot turn his ability on and off whenever he wanted.
"There," Jay said, stepping back and flexing his fingers. "You should be able to control it now. But I'd suggest waiting until we get to the main hall to turn it off completely. You'll want witnesses for that reunion."
ForgetMeNot stared at him in absolute wonder, tears streaming freely down his face as he tentatively reached for the new sensation in his mind. It was like finding a light switch in a room where you'd lived in total darkness for years.
"I can feel it," he whispered. "I can actually feel the control."
"The main hall?" Kitty asked, still confused but sensing something huge was about to happen. "Why the main hall?"
"You'll see," Jay said simply. "Trust me, you'll want everyone there for this."
They walked together in this weird procession. ForgetMeNot flanked by three X-Men who kept glancing at him with frustrated confusion, trying desperately to grab onto memories that slipped away like water through their fingers. Every few steps, one of them would start to say something, then stop as the thought just evaporated.
The main hall buzzed with quiet conversation when they entered.
Fury still sat in his wingback chair, discussing something quietly with Coulson. Steve stood by the windows, looking way less haunted now that Logan remembered their shared past. The X-Men were scattered around in various states of exhaustion after the day's revelations.
"Everyone," Jay called out, getting their attention. "You're going to want to see this."
"See what?" Scott asked, adjusting his visor as he turned toward them. His gaze passed right over ForgetMeNot without stopping.
Jay looked at Xabi. "Ready?"
ForgetMeNot nodded, already crying harder. His whole body shook as he reached for that mental switch, the moment he'd been dreaming about for years. He took a deep breath, looked around the room at all the people who'd been his family without knowing it, and flipped the switch.
The change was immediate and absolutely devastating.
"XABI!"
Jubilee's shriek could've shattered every window in the mansion. She launched herself across the room, trailing multicolored sparks like a comet, and tackled him in a flying hug that sent them both stumbling backward. "Oh my God, where have you been? I've been so worried, and I couldn't remember why, and that was driving me absolutely crazy!"
"ForgetMeNot?" Scott's voice came out thick with dawning horror. His hand went automatically to his visor as memories flooded back like a broken dam. "You've been here the whole time. Fighting with us. Saving our lives." His voice broke completely. "How could we forget you?"
Storm rose from her chair with that fluid grace she was known for, but her face looked stricken. "The Friends of Humanity attack last month. You were there. You saved Kurt when those Sentinels had him cornered." Lightning flickered briefly in her eyes, responding to her emotional state. "We never even thanked you."
A BAMF of sulfur smoke announced Kurt's arrival directly in front of ForgetMeNot. His yellow eyes were wide with anguish as he reached out with a three-fingered hand, hesitated, then pulled Xabi into a fierce hug.
"Mein Gott. You have been our brother in arms, und ve..." He pulled back, gesturing helplessly with both hands. "Ach, how does vun apologize for somezing zey cannot even remember doing?"
The room exploded into chaos as memories crashed back like a tsunami. Years of interactions, battles fought side by side, quiet moments of friendship, all suddenly vivid and real and painful. The collective guilt was overwhelming. These were people who prided themselves on being family, on never leaving anyone behind.
Jean pressed both hands hard against her temples, psychic feedback from everyone's returning memories hitting her in overwhelming waves. "Even the Phoenix couldn't hold onto you completely. There were flashes, moments, brief glimpses, but never the full picture."
Xavier wheeled forward slowly, his face pale as parchment. "I had mental alarms. Reminders programmed to trigger at regular intervals. But I would still forget you for weeks at a time." His voice barely rose above a whisper. "The isolation you must have endured..."
"It wasn't your fault," ForgetMeNot managed through his tears, completely overwhelmed by suddenly being surrounded by people who could truly see him, remember him, know him. "None of you could help it. It was just my mutation."
But the guilt was written across every single face in that room. To forget a family member, even involuntarily, violated everything the X-Men stood for.
But even as the emotional reunion continued, the practical implications started hitting everyone like aftershocks from a massive earthquake. Scott suddenly realized that three years of mission reports would need complete revision. How many times had their "lucky breaks" actually been Xabi's intervention?
Fury stood up from his chair, the gears turning in his tactical mind. 'A perfect invisible agent, someone who could walk into any facility and be forgotten the instant he left. The possibilities were endless.'
"I should get going," Jay announced into the emotional chaos. He'd done what he'd promised.
He moved toward the exit, then paused beside Xavier's wheelchair. Leaning down, he whispered just loud enough for the professor to hear. "Oh, Professor. That Dr. Sinister I mentioned earlier?"
Xavier looked up, struggling to focus despite the reunion exploding around him. "Yes?"
"He was Hydra's partner during the war. He's the one who gave Shaw his energy absorption powers through artificial X-gene enhancement." Jay let that bomb detonate in Xavier's mind. "This isn't just about protecting mutants anymore. It's deeply personal, so I want you to give it your all."
The implications hit like a physical blow to the gut. Shaw, who'd murdered Erik's mother in cold blood, tortured Erik as a child, nearly triggered World War III over Cuba, had gotten his powers from the same monster.
Xavier's knuckles went white as he gripped his wheelchair's armrests. "You're absolutely certain?"
"Dead certain."
Jay didn't wait for any response. He walked out into the fading daylight, leaving behind a room full of people grappling with recovered memories and earth-shattering revelations.
Behind him, he could hear ForgetMeNot's voice, stronger and clearer than it had been in years:
"I need to call my mother. She's going to remember me this time. Actually, remember me."
For once in his life, someone would.
[A/N]: I write across multiple fandoms. Support my writing and get early access to 45+ chapters, exclusive content, and bonus material at myĀ P@treonĀ - Max_Striker.