When the famed Reed Richards and Susan Storm had finally announced that they would be having a child much of the world sat up and took notice. The expectations were high even then, when he was barely a few million cells. None had higher expectations than the famed Mr. Fantastic however. His first true interaction with his father was when the man had, with the aid of some of the best bio-chemists in the trade - had pierced his mother's womb and taken some of his DNA. It was not the last time. Theorizing over his potential powers ran rampant, and it was clear - even then - that something special was brewing within the ever-more irritant Susan Storm. She called for an end to the tests by the sixth month. She rarely saw her husband after that as he set about decoding and predicting the development of their son, and planning a life path ahead.

When Nate showed up, his father could not be more pleased. His X-Gene activated within the first few months of his life, and flourished in such a violent level of incontrollable reality warping that they had to call in favors from magic users and heroes of the highest caliber. Even then, only when creating an extra dimensional room for him to grow up in, did things turn towards some sense of calm. His father was ecstatic. His mother less so. He could recall those first few years still. Told to sit up. Told to be quiet. Told to be perfectly pliant. Encouraged to be greedy to see if spontaneous creation could happen. Encouraged to be angry to inspire the opposite. Toys were sensors. His room always monitored. His parents often replaced by psychologists and strangers.

He wanted more. He was given more. It was never right. Never enough. He felt guilty because of that. He was taught to feel guilty. He found solace in school and his father enjoyed his keen mind. But soon enough he ran out of school to enjoy, and then again he was surrounded by old men and women in lab coats to inform his questions until he no longer felt the need to ask questions.

By the age of ten he hated them. By the age of twelve he wished to leave. They would not let him - using all of their power to keep him there. Bribing him with attention and care. And then they let him out. Sure he had been with hundreds of people through his life, and he had seen the world as they travelled all over - but when they let him just be a child for the first time, in the hopes of keeping him close - he saw the one thing he could not make. The one thing he craved. He saw life outside of the Baxter. It ruined him.

At least in the eyes of his father.

By the age of 12 he was one of the smartest young men on the planet. He had finished schooling long since. He was in his own rooms when his father finally broke and confronted him on the absence of cooperation. His denial of his 'godhood'. The conversation had been harsh and he recalled still every word of it. AND THEN HE DID IT. He was no longer a god. He denied his father. He denied the world their savior. He denied morality. He was selfish. He was... human.

His father nearly disowned him. They rarely speak anymore. His mother was proud that he did what he felt was right. They speak sometimes. His powers and skills are paltry compared to before. Now as normal as he can be, Nathan works quietly, away from the world, trying to better it in a decidedly mortal way. Every time something being different confronts him, realizing the phantom shadow of an alternative self, who exists in some other way, and who he could never hope to live up to.