Que woke the next morning feeling a little more physically rested that she had in awhile, but she felt completely drained of energy. Plus, her entire body ached from the fall the previous afternoon. She hadn't even bothered to change clothes when she got back from meeting with Professor Xavier. She managed to painstakingly take off her boots, flop onto her bed, and that was it.
Que laid completely still for a few more moments before remembering she had promised to actually go to class today. Ugh, why had she made that promise? She could hardly motivate herself to get out of bed, let alone go attempt to be social for the next five or so hours.
Begrudgingly, Que finally got up after another ten minutes of internal debate on the pros and cons of doing nothing. It was fifteen minutes until 8:00 AM, and she decided the clothes she had on would have to be fresh enough if she wanted to get any breakfast. She quickly brushed her teeth and hair and headed down stairs.
The kitchen was bustling with activity. Everyone's first class was at 8:15 AM, and it was already 8:05. Doug and Roberto were quickly scarfing down their last bits of frozen waffles, eggs, and toast, Amaya was cleaning off her and Tracy's plates to be put in the dishwasher, Sam was rushing out the door saying something about a book, and Peter was grabbing a few plastic cups from the cupboard, assumingly for the art class he taught. No other adults were bustling about the kitchen like most of the kids did. They were all probably in their respective rooms, ready, or getting ready, for a day full of classes.
Well, it was too late for her to back out now, Que thought. Avoiding the swarm of other pupils, she grabbed a jar of peanut butter out of side cupboard, some spare pieces of hopefully clean toast from a plate, and paper towels and a spoon off the counter. She shoved all the items in her packet, and headed to her first class of the day.
This semester Que had some of the same classes, but also some new ones. First period was biology with Hank, and second was training with Raven. Then she had thirty minute break which she usually used to either have some extra time on the grounds or continue sparing with the shapeshifter. At 11:00 AM, Que had a new class, art with Peter. The Professor had added it to her schedule last night and hoped it would be a good "self expression" outlet. It replaced her Spanish class that she had only been to maybe twice since January. She didn't see the point of attending a class when she had super computer that could translate almost any language, written or spoken, in real time. Art class was now followed by a brief lunch and an engineering elective run by Hank. This class was really in her wheelhouse and was probably the only one she attended somewhat regularly before. Hank was good at providing Que with a challenge, even when the other students were working on more minor, mundane projects. He had even let her make some improvements on the X-Jet. Lastly, Que had literature with Professor Xavier.
So, she had five classes this semester, not that the number really mattered since she and Aasir had skipped most of them before. She only shared two classes with Aasir this term too, biology and training. His schedule had been rearranged as well. He was moved into a more advanced group of students for literature, or maybe Que was moved lower. Plus, he still had to mathematics courses and was currently in Geometry. Aasir absolutely hated math, and it was the first class he more than willingly skipped to hang out with Que. She knew she'd have to help him get caught up though. Math was easy to her, like breathing or the way literature was for Aasir.
When she arrived in the Biology lab, she spotted Aasir about midway back shuffling through a stack of papers on his desk. There was a stack equally as thick adjacent to him, so Que headed toward that seat in hopes that he might have forgotten the whole incident of last night.
"Morning Aasir," Que said quietly as she slid into the adjacent desk.
"Morning," he replied still half trying to organize the mess on his desk. "Those are the notes and topics we have missed. Mr. McCoy was kind enough to make us copies of just the important sections, so we won't have to go back too far."
He still hadn't looked at her, so she figured he was still a bit peeved.
"Hey, so I'm real sorry about… last night you know," she said awkwardly.
He finally threw her a side glance, so she continued.
"I was mean. I didn't mean what I said and I'm sorry. I do need you. You are my best friend. Probably my only friend, so there I said it. Okay? Can things go back to normal?"
"Normal is not a common term for anything around here," Aasir finally said. "But I guess we can go on with some semblance of normalcy. For the children's sake." He crossed his hand on his chest in an exaggerated fashion at this last part.
Que took it as a good sign. "Great, so what are we even covering in here?"
The class continued on as if nothing had changed. Que knew she didn't deserve a friend like Aasir. He was always beyond kind and forgiving to her, and she was pretty sure if it wasn't for him, she would either be dead or out on the road somewhere alone.
As the class ended and the pair packed up their thing, Que gingerly got to her feet.
"By the way, how are you feeling today?" Aasir asked.
"Eh like I've been run over, but I'll live. I think I may have some bruised ribs, and my ankle isn't quite as puffy. I'll be fine in training if that's what you're worried about. Don't you dare go easy Aasir!"
The pair laughed and headed down to the danger room.
Raven was already cleaned up from her last session and looked like she was ready for some real action when Aasir and Que's group came in. The training class consisted of Que, Aasir, Paige, Alisa, Manuel, and Jonas.
Raven centered herself in the danger room and motioned for the young mutants to join her. "Okay you guys. Today, our objective is to travel as a group from point A to point B. We have run this simulation a few times with little success, and as some of you have noticed, and we have some new players in this simulation. There are not many things playing in our favor today, but either way, situations such as this will never be ideal. Your biggest strength and way to accomplish your task will be to rely on each other. Using one another's strengths and abilities to the benefit of the team. Are there any questions?"
Most everyone shook their heads, and the other four who had done this before looked less than enthused Que noticed. Que didn't know a whole lot about her teammates, considering she'd only trained with them a limited amount of time and usually without powers. She didn't have a clue how they were all supposed to work with one another without at least establishing what each of them could do.
The room shimmered as the holographic panels shifted into rocky terrain and the group of six were suddenly standing on the edge of a mountain face. Ropes and an assortment of climbing gear for each member of the team appeared. Suddenly, voice echoed against the mountain face "You must reach the top together. If only one of you makes it, you lose. If half the group makes it, you lose. If all but one make it, you lose. You all must make to to the top together."
Paige was the first one to speak "Alight you guys. We need to start climbing." She sounded all but enthused.
Aasir glanced at the original team of four. "Why are you guys so bummed? We're just climbing a rock. What more is there to it?" he asked them.
Jonas responded this time "Something always goes wrong. You'll see." he said in a raspy, dreary voice. As the team hooked themselves up Que watched the other intently.
"You guys are not strapping in properly," she said to the others. They all stared at her blankly, even Aasir. "This is how we do it for rock climbing at the…" Manuel started before cut in again. "That doesn't matter. This is a fairly sheer, rock face. It is different. I think the easiest way, since most of you don't have a lot of experience is to set up an anchor maybe 10ft up at a time. I can start us up with an anchors, and we can go in pairs. Paige, once I set it you will come next and join me then I'll go set the next one while Manual starts up. Once he reaches you, then you join me and he waits on Alisa, and then up an on after Jonas and Aasir. You guys have to make sure you jam your feet and hands into the crevasse the best you can to stay on. Your teammate can stop you from falling too far if you slip, but it still is not a pleasant experience," Que instructed.
"You're talking to us like we haven't done this repeatedly for weeks, while you guys have been galavanting off from class! We know what falling is like, and I told you regardless of what we do, something always goes wrong," Jonas said testily.
"Hey, I'm just trying to…" Que started angrily before Aasir cut in.
"Well, we will just have to try our best regardless. Is everybody harnessed in and all the ropes are tight? Maybe we should check each others just to make sure?" He stepped in between Jonas and Que for good measure and checked Que's harness, and she checked his.
"You could always just fly to the top Aasir," Que commented.
"I could, but we are supposed to go together and, even though I can turn into some fairly large birds, I wouldn't be able to help a whole lot if someone fell. Besides, we all need a partner. Also, why did you put me last?" he asked.
"Because you can fly the rest of the way if needed," Que said smirking.
With that Que started up the rocky face with the climbing equipment. It had been a while since she had done this sort of thing and found her arms a bit shaky as she put in the first anchor. She blinked and suddenly Que was no longer on a dust rock face with her comrades fifteen feet below, but on a sheer ice slope with what looked like nothing but hundreds of feet of snowy blurr below. Que gasped, blinked again, and she was back with her friends.
Manuel, who hadn't said a word and looked somewhat sick since Que and Aasir had come in, was the only one who noticed Que's pause. "Why'd you stop?"
"I… Umm… I was just catching my breath. Gotta be ready for the rest of the way. Paige I'm ready for you to join me. Just try to use the same holds I did. They are not too difficult to get to." Que called down.
Paige started up and met Que without a problem, and Que headed up the face as the others made their way up too. Manuel seemed to be the only one struggling to climb the cliff, and ended up needing assistance from Jonas to continue on. Que kept going but had to pause and grip the wall tight every now and then, as the high wail from the icy cliff face winds echoed through her brain growing louder and louder as she climbed. She had broken out into a cold sweat and her arms ached as she approached the last twenty feet of their climb.
The others were beginning to look worse for ware. Paige had peeled her hands, revealing a grey, thick, callused skin. Jonas and Alisa were still going fairly strong, but they glistened with the sweat of their effort. Aasir ended up trading positions with Jonas to help Manuel, who looked more than a little green as he approached the third anchor.
As Que put in the second to last anchor, the mountain side rumbled.
"Look out you guys! This is what happened last time too! We got close, and Jonas and Alisa fell because of the rumble, and we had to stop."
The shaking continued, and it took everything for Aasir and Manuel to stay on the rock. Que, on the other hand, was no longer there.