March 30, 1975

Lorna picked her way through the main street, Alex close beside her. The buildings were crumbling. He could see where the forest was starting to reclaim lost territory. There were cracks in the concrete where grass was starting to grow up again. Moss grew on the sidewalks, and trees were in need of a pruning. There were a few cars left in the streets, twisted and rusting. Alex knew that cars didn't get that way from a car crash.

Street lights had also crunched inwards, some plunging into the sidewalk. Alex noted where manhole covers had flown off and metal signs had twisted around themselves. Even metal frames for windows were crunched inwards.

He looked at Lorna. She had a soft expression on her face. He had never seen her with that expression before. He'd been surprised when she'd tentatively invited him to come with her. Alex had asked her if she'd been sure she wanted him with her. He didn't know exactly what had happened in Fall River after all.

She'd just laughed, looking sad.

"You've come this far," she said.

"Yeah, but-" Alex had said.

"Look, I've never been back alone," Lorna said, her voice strained, "It's probably not a good idea for me to try it out."

So he walked next to her through the crumbling town. She pointed to a small drugstore a few blocks down.

"My mom got her paychecks once a month," Lorna said, "And every month she would take me to the drugstore and let me pick out one candy bar. Anything I wanted. It was my special treat."

She walked up to the drugstore and ran her hand against the doorframe. Alex could see that the window had been smashed open. Inside there were dusty shelves and a lunch counter. There were a few things still on the shelves and Alex could see a few glasses that had been left on the counter.

Whatever had happened, it had caused people to leave fast. Lorna's ominous words had yet to be explained, but Alex knew that he couldn't push her. She leaned against the doorframe.

"My mom was special like that," she said.

He nodded, although he felt hesitant about the situation. Back when he hadn't known Lorna he'd discussed her presence with Sean and Hank. They had all figured out that her mother had been human: Magneto had told Charles that he hadn't known any mutants before Charles. He also would have mentioned Lorna if he'd known about her. Back then there hadn't been any reason to hide things.

Alex had always figured that Lorna's mother had done something to make her hate her. Why else would she join Magneto's crusade against humanity? Once he had met Lorna the thought had been put on the backburner in consideration of other, more pressing concerns. Now he wondered if the truth was more complicated.

Still, he had the feeling that she would tell him in her own time.

"My mom used to do stuff like that for Cyclops and me," he said, "Little things that let us know she was paying attention."

Lorna smiled.

"Yeah," she said.

She crossed her arms, letting her full weight lean against the doorframe.

"Tell me something good from your childhood," she said.

Alex managed a faulty grin.

"I'm not sure-" he said.

"Come on," she said, "Share."

Alex sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Alright," he said, "I grew up in Juno. Alaska. There's a lot of water, a lot of trees, and not that much else. So…"

He smiled at the memory.

"So we talked my Dad into building us a tree house," he said, "Well, I did all the talking, my brother was pretty little. He said that I was really helping him when we built it, but I think I was more of a nuisance than anything."

Lorna continued to smile at him and Alex closed his eyes for a moment.

"I still remember that rickety old tree house," he said, "Spent a lot of nights up there camping with my brother."

He opened his eyes. Lorna had detached herself from the doorframe.

"What happened to it?" she asked.

The question made Alex pause. He had never thought much about anything of his childhood in Alaska surviving.

"It's probably still there," he said, "Unless whoever bought the house after us decided to be a dick and tear it down."

"You don't know?" Lorna asked.

"I never went back," Alex said, "I just…never saw a need to after my parents died. I didn't have control of my life for a couple of years, and then the Professor took me in. Westchester became my home."

Lorna nodded in understanding. She tapped the doorframe of the drugstore.

"To be honest, I wouldn't have come back if I didn't have to," Lorna said.

"Why did you have to?" Alex said.

Lorna let go of the doorframe. She glanced at the drugstore over her shoulder.

"You know this is where I met Angel?" she said.

"Really?" Alex said.

She nodded and continued walking. Alex fell into step alongside her. He knew she had dodged the question, but he knew there must be a reason for that.

"She was undercover spying on some military official or other," she said, "He liked to vacation up here. She worked at the drugstore for a bit as part of her cover."

She made a gesture with her hand.

"Something like that," she said.

Lorna looked further up the street.

"I used to run down the street when school let out," she said, "Just like all the other kids. On the last day of the school it was like a marathon."

"How far did you get before you collapsed from exhaustion?" he asked.

"Pretty far," Lorna said, "I can run fast."

"I've seen that," Alex said.

She smiled and pointed to a large brick building.

"That was the library," she said, "I was too young for a library card, so I had to use my mother's. I would go there after school and wait until she was off her shift. I read a lot of books that way."

"Did you put them back in their places?" he asked.

She grinned.

"Mrs. Thomas, the librarian, said I was her little helper," Lorna said.

Her face suddenly closed off.

"It didn't matter to her when it came to it though," she said.

"What?" Alex asked.

Lorna paused and then sighed.

"Nothing," she said.

"Nothing?" Alex asked.

Lorna bit her lip.

"Alex, a lot of things happened in this town," she said, "And a lot of the good memories of my first eleven years here are tainted by my last few days."

He shifted, feeling uncomfortable and awkward. He'd always let Charles handle it when students needed to talk. Now he wished that he'd paid more attention.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

Lorna didn't answer. He ached, wishing he could help. He swallowed and reached out for her shoulder. She didn't stiffen this time.

"Listen, we're both closed off people," Alex said, "We're not the kind to share what we're feeling, to tell people if something's wrong. Because we always know that we can handle it."

She didn't look at him. He wished she would.

"But…sometimes we can't," Alex said.

He thought of Sean, of the way that his friend had tried to reach out to him and he'd brushed him off. Alex could only sigh: he'd have to apologize soon.

"You let me come with you for a reason Lorna," he said, "And I think that you want to tell me, or you want to tell someone."

He looked around at the ruin of the town.

"You came here looking for answers to some question or another," Alex said, "Maybe I can help you."

She turned to him then, her face tired and defeated. He hated seeing that look in her eyes and he felt a burning hatred towards Magneto. He was the one who'd put it there. As he watched he saw a flicker of the familiar light that had drawn him in. She swallowed and looked at the rest of the town.

"Come on," Lorna said, "They should be in bloom by now."

Alex took his hand off her shoulder as she walked forwards. He followed her as she turned into a meadow. Yellow flowers covered the meadow, reaching towards the sky. A slight breeze made them waver. In the distance he saw a rusted playground next to a rundown school, more ruins of Lorna's childhood.

She knelt down and fingered a stalk of the flowers.

"Forsythia," she said, "They bloom in March: someone planted a lot here before I was born. They're just a wildflower, not even native to Connecticut I think, nothing fancy, but they're quite pretty in their own right."

She reached out and began to gather the flowers. Alex knelt down too and began to help her. After a moment Lorna straightened. He followed and she took his flowers from him. She walked back to the main road. He saw her take a ribbon out of her pocket and she started to put the flowers into a kind of a bouquet.

"I want to start by saying that I thought this town was a good place," Lorna said, "My mom came in here as an unmarried, teenage mother. She had to work all sorts of bad hours. We weren't rich, but we had a little put by for an emergency. By the time I was old enough to remember most people had gotten over their prejudices though."

She moved some of the flowers.

"Most of them anyway," she said, "Now that I'm older I remember that there were a few times when I heard people say something or give her a look. I just understand them now."

Lorna began wrapping the flowers with the ribbon, still moving. Alex noticed that they were moving away from the main street, towards the residential areas.

"It wasn't a bad life," she said.

Her voice vacillated between a whisper and a level tone. Alex knew she was struggling.

"But one day we were heading towards the drugstore to get that candy bar I told you about. That and some other things," she said, "And there was this car. It was careening out of control, speeding towards me and my mom. There was no time to move, so she just covered me and braced for impact."

They moved past the nicer houses, towards ones that were ramshackle and run down. Alex could see mailboxes that had gone through windows and bikes that had been twisted. He saw charred wood and other signs that a fire had swept through the area. Lorna stared straight ahead.

"Mutants manifest their powers around puberty, or so I'm told," Lorna said, "Times of extreme stress are supposed to help with that."

"I've heard that too," Alex said.

She fingered the blossoms.

"I pushed the car away from my mom and me," she said, "It was so simple, even if it left me exhausted afterwards. I went overboard: a few street lamps went hay wire and some street signs went flying. My hair turned green on the spot. All in front of a crowded street."

Her voice became choked and her step faltered. Alex hurried to her side, but she shook her head when he reached for her.

"I'm fine," she said.

Alex didn't believe her, but once again he didn't want to push it.

"Immediately after it happened people started talking and staring. My mom picked me up and took me home," Lorna said, "I was scared, but my mom told me that everything was going to be alright. And I think she really thought that, until she went back into the town to get some groceries. She had me stay at the house for a bit, and whatever she saw in town convinced her that no, it wouldn't be alright."

Lorna shook her head.

"I did something to this town," she said, "The presence of the first mutant they had ever seen flipped some sort of switch inside them, made them scared. Everyone except my mother."

She closed her eyes and stopped before opening them and continuing walking.

"When she came home she began packing, knew that she was worried," Lorna said, "It was too late though."

They walked up to a skeleton of a house, blackened from fire. Alex could feel something like anger and sadness pressing in on him. The ground was covered with soot and Alex could see a broken fence. Lorna ran her hand alongside what remained of the fence as she walked around the house.

"I told you once that someone decided that I was more precious than they were," Lorna said, "And because of that, I lost them."

She let go of the fence and continued walking. Alex followed her. Beneath a small group of trees he saw a grassy hillock covered in wild flowers. A small marker marked the place and Alex clenched his hand into a fist. Lorna knelt in front of the hillock and placed the forsythia bouquet there, moving an older one out of the way.

"She told me to run, that she'd distract them and catch up with me. While she pleaded with the people who came to my house with guns and club I ran into the woods as fast as I could go," Lorna said, "My mother wouldn't bring me out, went back into the house. I think she tried to go out the back. But they thought I was inside, so they set the place on fire."

Alex looked away.

"I saw the smoke from where I was, and I kept running," Lorna said, her voice distant, "Because she said she'd catch up with me. I could hear them coming after me though, knew it was going to end."

Her voice trailed off.

"And then?" Alex managed.

She smiled sadly.

"And then my father came," she said.