Alex leaned up against the stairs, tugging irritably at his tie. He knew that he should keep it on, at least for the rest of the day, but it was too stifling. All he wanted to do was get rid of it, get rid of the whole damn black suit.

Hank glanced at him and shook his head. He knew that Hank wanted to talk about the funeral. Sean probably did too. Alex could read it in their eyes. Sean was fiddling with the sleeve of his black sports coat. It hung loose over his shoulder so that it didn't interfere with his broken arm.

He wished Lorna was there, that he could find somewhere private to hold her and tell her what he was feeling. Despite his exhaustion, they hadn't slept too long in front of Hank's computer. When he'd woken up he still had several hours before he had to go and get ready. He doubted that Lorna had slept more than a few hours herself.

He'd told her everything that had been going on his head from the moment Moira had died.

"He let her die Lorna," Alex had said, "Magneto. He...you didn't know him back then, and I've known that he wasn't the same for a long time, but he decided to let her die. I can understand killing someone in a fight, I don't like it but I can wrap my head around it, but...just choosing to let someone die..."

She'd leaned over and kissed him then, one of her hands caressing his cheek.

"It's unforgiveable," she'd said.

He'd been glad that she'd understood. He told her of his feelings of failure, and she told him about what it felt like to lose the woman who'd given her a new life. It had felt good to get it off his chest, and he'd held her close the entire night.

Morning had come though, and they'd had to go get ready. When he walked out of the lab he knew that he wasn't allowed to be weak anymore. Everyone else needed him to be strong too much.

Right before he'd left she'd kissed his cheek.

"Don't try to shut me out again," she'd whispered.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

He stuffed his tie into one of his pockets and unbuttoned his collar. He still felt stifled there, almost trapped. He'd managed to find his brother and give him what comfort he could. Scott was with his friends now, and Alex hoped that they would be able to comfort each other. He knew that he was out of words.

"Alex..." Hank said.

"Yes?" Alex said.

Hank slumped.

"What happens now?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"I mean...once she's been buried," Hank said.

Alex leaned his head back until it touched the wall.

"We continue," he said.

"You keep saying that," Hank said, "And I get it but, the X-men. What do we do?"

He answered without any hesitation.

"Investigate the data we got from the compound: see where it leads," he said, "And if we can find a way to deal some damage to the Brotherhood that won't heal, well, that would be a nice bonus."

Light footsteps padded down the stairs. He knew without turning that it was Lorna.

"Have you seen Rahne?" she asked.

He turned then, frowning.

"I thought she was with you," he said.

"She wanted to be alone with her mother for a minute," Lorna said, "I couldn't say no-"

A scream filled the air. Alex whipped around. It had come from outside, probably the front porch. Without pausing he ran towards the front door. The sound of feet told him that the others were running too.

He shoved the doors open. Rahne was there, pushing at the ground and trying to scramble away. Her eyes were wild: those of an animal. He remembered the day that he'd first seen her, pushed up against a wall and alone. He gritted his teeth. She might still be up against a wall, but she damn well wasn't alone anymore.

Alex stepped in front of her. Lorna moved behind him, wrapping her arms around Rahne and pulling her away. Once he was satisfied that she was safe his eyes snapped ahead of him. It was only then that he realized just who it was that was standing there.

He splayed out his fingers, letting his powers burn through his veins, letting the light wrap around him. A low growl behind him alerted him that Hank was there, and he could hear Sean's breath become heavy and angry.

"What the hell are you all doing here?" Alex hissed.

Magneto cocked his head. Mystique looked nervous, and he saw that the man with the choppy brown hair was there as well. Alex could only feel satisfaction that half of his face had been bandaged up.

"We didn't hurt the child," he said.

"You don't have to do anything: just you being here is enough," Alex said, "Now what are you doing here?"

"Obviously we wouldn't be here if we didn't need to be," Magneto said.

"I don't have the damn time for your word games," Alex snapped, "So just tell me what the hell you're doing here so you can go away."

Magneto raised his eyebrows.

"As you wish," he said, "Fetch Charles."

"He's busy right now," Alex said.

"What with?"

"As if you don't know," Alex said, "Say what you want, and then get out. I have half a mind to burn all of your faces off just for coming here. So hurry up and spit it out."

Magneto's eyebrows stayed raised.

"We managed to gather some data from the compound during our last...encounter," Magneto said, "From what we have decoded we found that there were some rather strange laboratories in this state, which only proves what I've-"

"Yeah, what about them?" Alex snapped.

There were a few whispers amongst the Brotherhood. Magneto frowned.

"You knew about them?" he asked.

"Saw em, went inside, stole their shit, freed the prisoners, blew em to hell," Alex said.

"So, like Havok said," Sean said, his voice cold, "What about them?"

Magneto looked caught off-guard. Alex laughed.

"You all were that far behind?" he asked, "Let me catch you up to speed. There were three labs being operated by an independent contractor who managed to hide his info on a government server. Nice little hacking job there. We destroyed them, freed some of our people, and then went to wipe the last of their files off the face of the earth."

It wasn't the exact truth, but he wasn't going to let Magneto know everything about Stryker and whoever 'Nathaniel' was. The last thing he wanted to do was involve him in their investigation. He also wasn't going to start a war by letting him know that a government official had been involved.

"And what happens when we try to take care of it?" Alex said.

He took a step forward. His eyes were level with Magneto's now: he'd grown tall enough to look at him on an even footing.

"You and your team of assholes comes in and, because of that, we nearly lose everything," Alex said, "So, yeah, we'll take care of things. Go back to sending your 'messages' and get the hell off of this campus."

Magneto narrowed his eyes.

"Have a care Summers," he said.

Alex stared back at him.

"I'm not afraid of you," he said.

"And you really think that I'm afraid of you?" Magneto said, "You look like you're going to a job interview Summers."

Alex snarled.

"It's a funeral asshole," he said.

Magneto paused.

"Who died?"


"Hey, Scott?" Warren said, "I think that's your brother."

Scott walked over to where Warren was. His friend had stood in front of the big window in the library, just staring out it. Scott often wondered what he saw when he did that. Was he picturing himself flying over everything, away from the misery in his home, the misery that had now spread to the Institute?

When Scott reached him, he realized just what it was that had Warren concerned. His brother was standing with the rest of the X-men in front of the entrance to the school. Scott had never seen the other people on the lawn before, but he knew enough about the X-men to make a pretty good guess about who they were.

"What's going on?" Ororo said, peeking over Scott's shoulder.

"They're dressed strangely," Clarice said.

Scott swallowed. Anger was clogging his throat, making it difficult to breathe. How dare the Brotherhood show up at Moira's funeral? How dare they come?

"Is that Rahne down there?" Warren asked.

He felt his jaw drop. Rahne was there, right behind Lorna. Sweat beaded on his forehead. Alex would keep her safe though: he was sure of it. Nonetheless, his heartbeat increased.


The words made Alex's heart stop beating. He didn't know. He honestly did not know that Moira had died. That meant that Mystique didn't either. How could they not know? Mystique had stabbed her, Alex had fought Magneto and the Brotherhood so that they could get through to help her.

The gears clicked. They didn't know because they hadn't cared enough to connect the dots. Moira wasn't important to them. They hadn't thought of the far-reaching consequences of what they had done. Their minds hadn't dwelled on the situation enough to realize that Moira was dead.

When he spoke again, his voice was low, the words grated out through clenched teeth.

"When I said..." Alex said, "that Moira was bleeding to death, did you think I was joking?"

He caught Magneto's expression, a mixture of confusion and surprise.

"When I begged you to let us get her medical attention, to just leave well enough alone, did you think I was lying?" Alex said, his voice rising on every syllable.

He stepped forward until he was inches away from Magneto. It was a dumb idea, but all he could see was red. All he could hear was the stupid, heartless question that Magneto had asked.

"So yeah, the Professor's busy right now," Alex said.

His eyes roved over to Mystique. She was blinking at him, and he wondered if she was finally realizing what she'd done.

"Congratulations Mystique," he said, "You never liked Moira, now you've killed her."

He turned to Magneto.

"And you," he said.

He laughed and lowered his voice, thinking of the little girl who stood only a few feet away from him.

"Congratulations on finishing your metamorphosis," he said, "Congratulations on finally becoming Shaw."

Alex didn't have time to react before one of the metal handrails came undone and shoved him to the ground. He sent out a blast at Magneto, but he dodged it. Hank leapt forward, heading for Magneto. The man with the choppy brown hair tackled him before he reached him.

Sean covered Rahne's ears and began screaming. The world was filled with a haze and Alex struggled to protect his own ears. Magneto stumbled and Alex forced himself to sit up enough to send out a blast. This one hit Magneto and pushed him back.

Immediately the handrail that was wrapped around his throat tightened. He struggled against it, trying to breath, but dark spots began dancing in front of his eyes. He gasped, fighting for air.

Suddenly, it loosened slightly. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lorna running forward, her hands outstretched and her eyes glowing green. He gathered more light into his hands, ready for another blow-

ENOUGH!

The metal band around Alex's throat didn't loosen immediately, but the man with the choppy brown hair let go of Hank. Sean stopped screaming. Alex saw now that Mystique had been moving towards him. She stopped in her tracks, clutching her head.

The band finally released him. Alex got to his feet as the Professor wheeled out of the Institute, Levine behind him.

"Enough," the Professor hissed.