Chapter Text
The world flashes.
Scott Summers is standing in his office, his eyes closed.
Ever since Xavier left, he's been put in charge of the school. And it hasn't been easy, far from it. Taking care of super-powered children is a hard task -- one he's dealt with a single time, in the distant future -- and one that tends to get harder as time goes on. Taking care of so many mutant children is a harrowing experience. He's not sure how he can sleep, worried about Sentinels, or Ord, the Shadow King, Magneto, a brand new group of maniacs wishing to annihilate not just him, but kids who can barely defend themselves, from existence.
Scott Summers is standing in his office, his eyes closed. He grips his visor so hard his hands start shaking. He was just a teen when all of this began.
"NOOOOOOO!!! SOMEBODY, PLEASE!!!!"
He puts the visor back on. They're all teens too.
The hallways are packed. Everyone seems to be crying. Some of the students lie on the floor. He knows what this is, and he also knows a leader can't falter. The students can't see him like this. He puts on a straight face as he runs to the main room. Kitty is trying to calm the students down, but fails. Emma is dangerously close to hyperventilating as she realizes what's happening. Peter is speechless. Kurt bamfs into the room. Hank looks at them from the upper floor balcony.
"'No more mutants.' She said, 'no more mutants!'"
The X-Men look at each other. Henry rubs his blue fur. Katherine phases her hand through the ground. Emma turns her arm into diamond. Kurt wags his tail. Piotr turns his body into steel. Scott adjusts his visor. There's someone missing.
"Logan!" Scott shouts.
Kurt stands up. "Ze adamantium! I'll look for him!"
As he bamfs away, Emma rushes to the lower floor. Scott and Henry follow her. Two of the original members, who've been here from the very beginning. He still remembers the day he truly became Beast, the day he left to join the Avengers, the times he returned to his original team when they needed him more than anyone. Warren distanced himself, but he came back, too. Bobby was always up for heroics. Jean-- Jean isn't here anymore.
Cerebra flares up. He sees the globe, reactionless as only a few blue dots emerge over it. He knows what this is. He can't bring himself to come close to Emma, to tell her they'll get through this. She knows as well as he does that those are meaningless words, especially coming from him. He follows her back upstairs, knowing Xavier wasn't one of those little dots, and neither was Wanda. If she was paying attention, she'd also notice that specific room had one dot missing from it.
He feels immense relief as Logan stands with the rest of the team, but his jaw soon drops when Bobby walks out, covered in water. He's no longer Iceman. "Oh, Bobby... Not you too."
Kitty grasps her own hair. "What are we gonna do? Do we-- do we know where she is?"
Logan's claws jump out from his hands. "Genosha. Our old pal's gotta know."
"Leave Magneto alone", Scott commands. "If Cerebra couldn't find Wanda, he can't, either. We have to... protect our students."
Emma shakes her head. "You mean, send them back home."
The next hours are nothing short of depressing. Every student that's confirmed depowered and whose parents have reached out pack their things. David Alleyne is the only depowered student left, at Scott's personal request. All the kids are going home in the next few weeks. They're evacuating them, putting them in two school buses, and they're driving them to their homes, no matter how far away. Some of them will go back home knowing that their parents' love is, above all else, conditional. Others will go back knowing that the friends they've made -- the sense of connection created in those halls -- won't ever come back to them.
The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning has less than thirty mutant students. The X-Men's backup members are still trying to sort things out. Everyone's nervous when Scott calls a team meeting.
"Today has been... one of the hardest days this school has ever lived through. And I'm afraid it's not over yet."
He closes his eyes and takes his visor off. Emma has an idea of what this is. Henry and Logan, too, have figured it out. Kurt, Katherine and Piotr know what he'll say next, but wish they could pretend not to hear it.
Scott Summers is standing in his office, his eyes closed. He grips his visor so hard his hands start shaking. He was just a teen when all of this began. If he'd known this would be happening, would he have come back to the X-Men?
"This is the second time the X-Men have a depowered mutant commanding the team." He opens his eyes, which now sport red irises, a side effect of prolonged exposure to the ruby quartz. "And I'm as lost as all of you right now." Tears form around his eyes, but they don't flow down.
After a few moments of silence, Logan is the first to say something. "Well, 'Ro was the leader and she did just fine, Slim." A classic Wolverine response. Comforting in its own way. It gives Scott courage. Half of this team followed her into the Australian Outback, and he knows they would follow him to the North Pole if need be.
Emma opens her mouth after him. "And only you could be the leader. None of us have super-hero leadership experience."
He sighs. "I still have to tell the other members... I have to... I have to call Ororo, I need to check on Madrox..."
"We'll be there with you!" Kitty exclaims, trying to lighten the mood. Kurt follows her lead: "Ja! We'll get through this!"
"...Thank you, everyone." Scott smiles. He knew they would support him, but it's good to hear them say it out loud. He needs them to know he still matters.
The sweet moment is cut short by agitated knocking on the door. Scott looks at the visor, still in his hand. Should he let the rest of the staff see him like this?
There's no point in hiding it, he thinks, and gently places his old gear on his desk. "Come in."
Karma barges into the room, out of breath. "Scott, please! Dani's things are gone, and I can't find h--" Her frantic cry for help is replaced by shock. "Where... where are your glasses?"
He smirks. "I don't need them anymore, but this school still needs Dani. Emma -- can you find her?"
Scott finds Danielle Moonstar sitting on the floor of an older section of the attic. This school has been destroyed time and time again, but this piece of it still holds some memories. As he approaches, she sighs.
"This is where Professor Xavier hid our... graduation costumes. We all had matching uniforms back then, and when we found these, we were just so happy. All of us, we put these on and walked around in secret, acting like the big superheroes... at the end of that night, we put them back in this chest. We didn't deserve them then."
She turns to him, and just like his own mere minutes ago, her eyes are full of tears, yet they don't flow down. "And I'll never be worthy of them now. Oh..."
He sits right next to her, lightly smiling. "Mutant teams and depowered leaders, huh?"
"Mutant teams and depowered leaders. I don't think I can do this any more. Can you?"
"Between you and me? I don't know. But everyone wants me to be the leader. It's the one thing I've known my whole life."
"It's a part of you, huh." She looks out the window.
"It isn't to you?"
"I... I like leading. I enjoy being a leader. Inspiring our team and charging on ahead, fighting for the good causes. It's just that it gets... overwhelming. The Professor convinced me to leave my grandfather and join a team of kids like me. Now they're... not here."
"You're not sure about the world and your place in it."
She smiles. "I'm not sure about anything."
Scott slowly stands up, instinctively moving his hand to adjust his visor. It's not there anymore, and he sighs. "I'm not sure about the world either, but I can tell you right now, your place is here, Danielle. We need you now more than ever. Please."
"I..." A single tear flows down her cheek. "I'll... think about it. No promises."
"That's good enough for me."
The Office of National Emergency reforms as the president attempts to shift national focus away from his actions overseas. Though initially planning to deploy Sentinels around the Xavier Institute, the O.N.E. chooses to aid the X-Men on a purely financial basis and leaves them alone. Mutants affected by M-Day enter the school grounds as refugees, and housing is built for all of them in a joint effort by Forge, Polaris, Marvel Girl and Iceman -- who hadn't lost his powers after all. Scott manages to reach Cable and calls for a family reunion between the Summers family. It's time to break the news.
"How have you been, Nathan?"
"Could be worse. Rachel?"
"Could be worse."
Scott turns his back to them. "I've got bad news, and no, it can't be fixed. Henry's already tried."
Nathan raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Rachel?"
Rachel already knows what this is about, and her brother realizes she does. Still, she lets her father be the one to tell him.
"I'm afraid I'm no longer mutant," he says, taking off his red glasses. "I just stand behind my desk now."
His son pauses for a moment. "This wasn't supposed to happen."
"Nate, I know this isn't good, but--"
"Sorry, I'm not talking to you. I'll figure something out. Bodyslide--"
And just like that, Cable vanishes, leaving Marvel Girl and Cyclops confused.
"Sorry, dad. Maybe he has--"
Before Rachel can finish saying "something urgent to take care of", her brother reappears, accompanied by Deadpool. She quickly encases the merc with a mouth in a telekinetic bubble.
"Thanks, Ray."
"No problem, Nate."
Nathan hands a metallic lance over to his father. "This should keep you safe."
He cautiously holds it in his hands. It's surprisingly light. "Your psimitar?"
It looks even more polished than the one his son used to carry back in the day, somehow. Its cylindrical shaft seamlessly gives way to the spearhead, which is a very thin strip of metal, nothing more than a millimeter. It looks too fragile to be used for anything, but when he tries bending the tip, it doesn't budge. It's as tall as Cable, which makes it bigger than him. He feels compelled to swing it around, though being in his office makes him pass up on the opportunity.
Cable clarifies: "A modified version. Keyed to your DNA, and it has some new features. Had to get rid of the old tools, though."
Rachel raises an eyebrow. "New features?"
"Force field generation, for one."
"And how would I activate that?" Scott says, admiring the weapon. "I don't exactly put the 'psi' in 'psimitar', do I."
"You're not psychic, but it is. You can help him with it, Rachel. His DNA is yours as well."
Scott walks over to his son, tightly embracing him. Rachel notices the opportunity and joins in on the hug.
"Thank you, son. Truly."
"Dad, if you need anything..."
"I'll call you. I promise."
"And if you need anything, call us too, Nate."
Cable wasn't kidding about the psimitar being psychic. As soon as Rachel attempted to use her chronoskimming on it, she was able to access a manual of sorts. The psimitar is powered by psychic energy, and while it can be recharged by any telepath or telekinetic, only those with the Summers DNA can issue mental commands to it, which allow the spear to generate force fields, fire small telekinetic orbs, and remotely control it from up to five kilometers. Once fully charged, it takes about a year of constant, everyday use to run out of energy, at which point it'll work like any other spear.
Rachel also discovered it has a "diary" feature, in a way. It dynamically logs the wielder's thoughts, both conscious and subconscious, though only the person whose thoughts are being recorded can access them. He enjoys being able to talk to it. To share his life with something that can't judge him, talk back to him, question his decisions. He's surprised he hasn't thought of keeping a diary or journal before. And in the coming days, he'd really need something to vent his frustrations to.
//LOG C1065B1 ⊗ GREY'S END
Haven't the Shi'ar taken enough?
They're all dead. John, Elaine -- after all these years, we don't even know where Sara is. And Jean... she'd be devastated. Rachel reminds me of her so much. Both of them have been through so much, and they've learned that empathy is their biggest weapon. But after this? There's no going back.
After what happened, she'll be praying for an opportunity to approach Shi'ar space and kill the Death Commandos. If she still had the Phoenix, she would've killed them on that day. I don't even want to think about what Jean might do.
Might've done. What Jean might've done. Sorry.
But if it's what Rachel wants, I won't stop her.
//LOG C1065B3 ⊗ CHILDHOOD'S END
I don't know what's happening to Emma.
Never mind. I know what's happening to her, I just don't know why she can't talk to me about things.
Making all the remaining students fight for a place in her new team? We need to protect these children, not thrust them into action. They absolutely need to be trained, of course, they're the last members of mutantkind. And I would have agreed with her. Does she think I would have said "no"?
I learned from the students that she was the one who suggested Danielle should leave the school. "She'd be an easy target" and all that. I asked her if she thought I should leave as well. She worries too much. Not that this isn't a worrying situation to be in, but she's trying to do everything all at once, and it will break her if she continues. Which is why I'll be training the new team of X-Men from now on.
It's a good team: X-23, Rockslide, Hellion, Mercury, Dust, Elixir and Surge as the leader. She was reluctant to have Laura on the team and tried to remove her from the board, so I stepped in. I know why she keeps tormenting her, trying to make her leave. Emma wants to drive her away from combat, from constant clashes that tend to become more dangerous as time goes by. But I put her on the team anyway. Right now, we can't afford to neglect such a strong combatant like X-23.
>> UPDATE
The information got out somehow. They're all dead. We tried to evacuate all those kids and we got them killed instead.
Being with Emma is still so strange. Jean would support my plan to evacuate them through the Morlock tunnels, would take on part of the blame herself by saying she allowed me to continue. She would reassure me endlessly. Take every opportunity to tell me this isn't my fault. Look me in the eyes and say that we'll make those responsible pay.
But right now, as I pace restlessly in our bedroom, Emma just lays there, in diamond form, immobile. She knows as well as I do that this is our fault. We came up with this stupid plan, and we won't talk about it. One more cross to bear. I can't imagine what's going through her head, can't accept how she always finds herself in this situation. Her Hellions were murdered for sport by a maniac from a different universe. She was buried in rubble in Genosha surrounded by all of her students and sixteen million other people. And now this.
It just feels so... cruel, even more so because I can't do anything. I'm powerless now, I know I'm powerless because I open my eyes and the world isn't made of different shades of red. But having it thrown in my face like this is brutal. I can't even imagine what the children are thinking. Forty-seven of their friends are dead. Because we got them killed.
..."I can't do anything", huh? Would it be better if I still had my optic blasts? Would I feel as useless as I do now? I need to stop making excuses and be ready for what happens next. I need to train. The kids need to train, too. Because this is just the beginning.
From inside the Danger Room control center, Emma gives her orders.
"This is a simple exercise. All you have to do is knock Cyclops down."
//LOG C1065B4 ⊗ CRUSADE
I'm gripping my psimitar like my life depends on it. I have high hopes for this team, but not as they are now.
"Rockslide! Mercury!" Surge commands. He charges towards him. She extends her body around him to prevent an aerial escape. The leader herself runs behind Rockslide.
Good formation.
"Good formation," he says, "but you don't know what I can do."
Aiming the spear upwards, a telekinetic blast staggers Mercury, causing her to reduce her body to its normal size. Activating the force field between his feet and the ground launches him up, from where he can safely avoid Rockslide's charge. Surge is ready to catch him in mid-air, but encasing himself in the field and quickly trapping her inside it means she's out for now.
"What's your next orders, leader?" Scott questions as Santo slams into the metal wall.
Noriko groans as she uses her electricity in an attempt to destabilize the field. "X-23! Dust!"
Sooraya traps him in the middle of a sand cyclone, intentionally leaving certain spots open so that Laura can jump through them.
They have good strategies, but their execution is nowhere near good enough.
"You can't fight against my power set", he says, shooting another TK blast as Laura pounces on him. Sooraya closes in herself as her teammate goes down, but just like with Noriko, he encases himself in a field and quickly traps her instead. "Two are out. Is this all you can do?"
Elixir lunges at him with a steel beam in hand, but he swings the shaft across the ground to trip him up and TK blasts the beam away. Rockslide charges once again and he delivers a fully-powered blast to his body, disintegrating him. "You have planned moves, but no coordination beyond that."
He feels the force field imprisoning Surge oscillate. She's close to breaking through it. "Hellion, we can do this!"
Julian scoffs. "Yeah, you're doing a real bang-up job, 'captain'."
"Julian-- look, you may not like it, but we're in this together. Now follow my lead!"
Hellion is a problematic component. He's bitter about not being the leader, when in reality, he doesn't have leadership skills. He came this far because his team was strong: there's a reason Emma put four of the Hellions Squad members on this team, besides favoritism. Surge is more of a leader than him, but not by much. The real leader of this team, he doesn't have a place here yet.
"The Hellions don't need you, Ashida. Mercury! Dust!"
Wait, Dust is--
Scott glances at the force field caging Sooraya. It's empty. The grains from Rockslide's body quickly rise and close down on him. He puts up a field to keep her away and plan his next move.
That's smart. She made her grains as fine as possible in order to escape, and then added Rockslide's mass to herself. Even when he's down, he's still collaborating with the team. I don't know if it was intentional, but this team has a lot of natural synergy.
Mercury's body soon wraps around him, obscuring his vision. "Hi, mister Summers," she says, trying to compress his barrier and shatter it. "Hi, Cecily," he replies. "Sorry, sir, nothing personal. JULIAN! NOW!"
At her signal, Hellion rips Cyclops' barrier off the ground. Mercury lets it fly through her like a giant bullet as Dust now tries to destroy his field while falling to the ground. It's not enough, and a telekinetic slash disrupts her formation and knocks her out. As his field finally breaks, Surge manages to break free.
I'm in the air and I don't have enough time to maneuver. Hellion could coordinate a plethora of attacks with Surge to knock me down, but he wants the glory of doing it on his own. I'll give him the opportunity.
Scott aims another fully-powered blast near Surge, knocking her over before she can react. Mercury tries to envelop him in the air, but he slashes her hands, taking her out as well. Hellion is the last one standing. The psimitar suddenly flies from the headmaster's hands, thrown to the side via telekinesis.
"You're going down."
Julian thinks he can be the leader, and he won't accept that he's thoroughly unfit for the role until he himself realizes it.
He lands on his feet as Hellion powers up. Julian could do a hundred different things with his telekinesis: lift him off the ground, throw him, blast him off balance, wrap him around a barrier so his teammates can take advantage. Instead, as he prepares to launch the headmaster through the wall, the spear's shaft smacks him on the back of his head, knocking him out.
Emma walks into the room, disgruntled. "This exercise is over. You are all dead. Thank you, Scott."
"No problem," he affirms as the psimitar slowly floats back into his hands. "I don't want to lose any more students."
Someone tries to sneak up behind him. Instinctively, he elbows them in the face before blasting them away. Elixir, with that same steel beam in hand.
Trying to get back up as tears stream down his face, he screams. "Then why didn't you save them?! I saved your team's life! Why couldn't you save theirs?!"
"None of us could save them, Josh. You don't think that's all I keep thinking about? Evacuating the students was my idea."
»Our idea, dear.« Emma, telepathically. Sharing the burden.
"We have to do this so you don't end up like them. I won't let any more of you die."
Emma looks at him, curling up on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. "I should take you off the team for even attempting such a thing, Elixir... but we need you all to be ready for whatever comes next."
Xavier sent us on our first mission against Magneto, the same one who stripped Logan of his adamantium, because he knew Magneto could not ever murder a child. That is the only reason why we ever beat him. We were children and he wasn't a psychopathic killer. There's no way in Hell I'm sending them against whoever these bastards are. What guarantee do I have that they won't be killed?
"Rest up. And be ready. We'll do another training exercise tomorrow."
Stryker. I should have known.
They came too well-prepared this time. Logan got hit first, by a vibranium bullet through the window -- sniper rifle. Sam was badly hurt when his blast field was temporarily disabled. One of his mercenaries had a vibranium knife that cut right through Emma's diamond form. A lot of the students got hurt, too. But they'll come through. They have to.
I was perplexed by what Elixir did, though. He apparently overheard that the Purifiers' highest-priority target was Wallflower, and killed Stryker with his touch. He's in the med bay still, in a catatonic state with his skin turned pitch-black. Laurie's been at his side for hours. I think these kids just got one hell of a wake-up call.
This won't happen again. Some of the Purifiers escaped, but I'm positive Logan will be glad to hunt them down.
It's well past midnight when Carol Danvers enters the school. As the students flock to the windows to catch a glimpse of the Avenger, he runs to his bedroom, searching for his casual glasses. He can't let the other superheroes see him like this, not yet.
"Carol!" The two heroes hug.
"Scott! It's good to see you again. I was worried you might have left for Storm's wedding already."
He'd almost forgotten about the wedding. Too many things happening all at once. "Not yet. We probably won't leave for Wakanda until the day of. It's been... well, you know..."
Carol drops the smile. "Scott... I wish... I... We should talk in private."
Inside their office, Carol sighs, slowly sharing the information she has. Local police were called to a church, and they called in the Avengers. Strange technology, dead bodies. An energy trail. He already knows this is about the Purifiers, and with his head already bursting with information, he only passively listens.
"And one of the bodies... oh, I'm so sorry, Scott... I'm so sorry... the body belonged to Joshua Guthrie."
Joshua is dead? No. No, surely he wouldn't--
"They shot him in the head. I-- I'm, so, so sorry."
Another dead kid. Another body in the pile. Another cross to bear.
»I'll take care of this, darling,« he hears inside his head. Emma walks into the room. He stays quiet.
"Still chasing that fantasy life of yours, Carol darling? Tell us... are you the world's greatest super hero yet? Have you done any day-time talk shows lately?"
"Emma..." Carol whimpers.
"I've already read your mind, you know. The second you arrived at the school. Has Carol told you why she's really here? Because it isn't to tell us about Jay." Frost walks around the room, restless. She is absolutely pissed.
He raises an eyebrow. "Carol?"
"I didn't want you to receive this information from the military, but I... also wanted to talk to you about the Registration Act."
More information being shoved in his head.
More information being shoved in my head.
The headmistress scoffs. "It would appear the 'no' I gave Tony Stark didn't convince Ms. Marvel. Because of course, she and the X-Men are so very close.
Danvers turns to Summers. "Scott... I know that mutants have been persecuted--"
He finally stands up. "I don't want to hear it, Carol. I'm glad you came here to break the news to us, but we do not support the Superhuman Registration Act, and I'm baffled that you considered attempting to recruit us."
»Let me take care of her, dear.«
He sighs internally. »Do it.«
And take care of her is exactly what she does. Emma bombards Carol with scenes of the last few days. The bus wreck. The funeral. She forces Carol to watch the Guthrie household. She puts her in the same body bag Joshua is being carried in right now. Emma screams in her mind. "Where were you? ... Where were you? ... Where were you?"
"That is what happens when people know where to find mutants, Ms. Danvers. So unless you want to grab a shovel and help us dig Jay Guthrie's grave, we have no more business to discuss."
Ms. Marvel is clearly taken aback. "This... this isn't what I intended. I just wanted to ask... I just wanted to help."
"Thank you, but you're a little late."
She looks at Cyclops. "Scott--"
He doesn't look back. "You know the way out."
Carol is absolutely pissed as well, no doubt about it, but the situation she's placed herself in doesn't allow her to say anything about it. And so, she leaves without raising objections.
Emma sighs. She could fall to her knees and cry right now, but Scott gets out of his seat to embrace her. "It's okay. We'll get through this."
"I know we'll get through it," she says, tears welling up inside of her, "but I don't enjoy this journey one bit."
She wipes her tears in his uniform, then makes sure she still looks impeccable. "If I'm forced to hear another little speech about this SRA, I might launch myself through a wall."
"Ororo's wedding is in two days. Please don't launch yourself through anything here or in Wakanda."
After making every single student at the Xavier Institute promise not to leave school grounds (except if a meteor was about to hit the campus), the X-Men depart to Wakanda aboard the Blackbird. Scott isn't sure if this is a good idea, having lost one more student so recently, but he hopes that nothing out of the ordinary will happen.
As they leave the plane, a familiar figure stands near them.
"Scott."
His eyes widen. "Professor? You're..."
Professor Xavier is standing, right in front of them.
The new headmaster takes off his glasses. "Professor... I..."
Xavier gasps as he sees no optic blasts fly away. "Scott?"
Emma "Don't worry, Charles dear. He's fine."
//LOG C1065B6 ⊗ ROYAL WEDDING
I am anything but fine.
I'm still mad at him for everything involving Danger, but he's basically a father to me. We would love to have him back at the school. But every time I think about talking to him, I feel like I'm going to scream.
It's okay. It's fine. I'm fine. Just breathe. I got this.
"How have you been, sir?" He smiles, as naturally as he possibly can. "How can you..." He vaguely gestures towards the Professor's legs. The rest of the team soon exits the jet, as perplexed as their leader.
"I... believe it was the Scarlet Witch's doing. But..."
Kitty gasps. "Not you too, Professor..."
He somberly smiles. "It came at a price."
Almost instinctively, the entire team surrounds the Professor with a hug. Logan keeps his distance but smiles at the scene. As they break formation, Xavier looks at his sucessor. "Ororo wants to see you, Scott, and you too, Kitty. But I think it's best if you go first."
"Roger that."
Wakanda is a beautiful country. Mutantkind would be lucky to have a place like this in the world. Even with dwindling numbers... a place for all of them to call home. I think that's my dream. The Professor's right -- we need humanity's acceptance, now more than ever -- but I just keep thinking about it, sometimes. Is this really the path we should be taking? Integration over preservation?
I know it's important that we ally ourselves with as many people as possible, but sooner or later, we're going to need Ororo's help, and I'm worried she won't come to our aid.
Ororo leans against the balcony, her silk robe and long hair swaying with the breeze of the jungle that stretches out as far as the eye can see. She turns to him. "Scott."
The two hug. "It's so good to see you, Ororo."
They talk for a while -- about everything that's happened since M-Day. He tries not to bombard her with bad news, but there's not many good news to share. He mentions Rogue and her own team of X-Men, Cable's psimitar and how Logan's dealing with having all of his memories back.
It's her wedding day. She doesn't need to hear about Stryker.
She takes a sip from a glass of water. "And are the students well?"
His lip quivers. His voice cracks: "With time, they will be."
>> LOG C1065B6 ⊗ SUBCONSCIOUS MODE
>>
>>
>> change the subject drop the topic don't ask for details i don't want you to see how i'm failing these kids over and over god i sound like emma right now god we both keep failing them please don't ask don't don't i don't want to talk about it please ignore the discomfort in my voice just let this go i'm begging you let it go please
She notices how on edge he is, how he's still wearing his ruby quartz glasses when they serve no purpose. There's a lot she still wants to ask him: "How are the students in my squad doing?" "What did you do to the depowered students?" "Why won't you involve yourself in the ongoing Civil War?" But, as a leader herself, she knows this isn't the time or place to ask any of those questions, especially because Scott is in a deplorable state. And yet he will still lead. That's what a leader does.
"I'm glad to have seen you, Scott. I can't promise to be at your disposal at all times... but the X-Men are my family. And I will forever be loyal to all of you."
After another hug, he turns to leave, rejoining the party. Kitty runs to meet with the bride, and he watches the wedding with the rest of his team. Xavier stands with them. He misses his presence, they all do. But right now, they'll have to do this on their own.
The wedding goes on, the celebration continues, and for once, he lets himself breathe in deeply, and leave his worries behind.
As the team boards the Blackbird, ready to leave Wakanda, Emma's eyes widen. "Scott."
"Is something wrong?"
"I... the New X-Men are missing."