Chapter 20 – Epilogue
Three months later.
Westchester, New York.
The School's landscape had become white, a thick layer of snow covering the estate's grounds as far as the eye could see. It was late January, and the mansion had gone through significant remodeling in the previous months under Jean's supervision. It didn't look old and pretentious anymore; the house was repainted in lighter colors and most of its pricey furniture and decor were replaced by more practical, contemporary gear. It was supposed to be a school, after all, and God knows that children don't usually behave around expensive items. Furthermore, Jean wanted to make sure that no one would ever feel intimidated under that roof again.
Professor X's former studio gave place to a state-of-the-art conference room; there was a big round wooden table in the middle, with enough sits for everyone. Beast's lab was turned into a cozy theater room, allowing the redhead to finally feel comfortable inside of the mansion's basement. Some of the previously underused rooms on the ground floor were converted into high-tech classrooms and library, and a spacious cafeteria was currently being built outside the main building.
All the bedrooms on the second floor were refurbished to accommodate the new mutant students – they were expecting to start receiving applications very soon, from children of all ages, but mostly teenagers. The remaining bedrooms, located on the third floor, belonged to the School's staff and the X-Men.
Dr. Cecilia Reyes had accepted a position as the School's permanent doctor, having personally taken care of the infirmary's modernization project. She'd also agreed to start training with the team in order to gain control over her long-time ignored mutant powers – force field creation.
Upgrades were also made to the Danger Room, where they hoped there would be two groups of mutants practicing soon – the X-Men and the New Mutants. That would be the name of the new team, comprised by the oldest mutant kids – they would be taught how to use their powers in a responsible way. Cyclops was glad to resume his role as the first team's field commander, while Storm agreed to be in charge of the latter.
Ororo, Kurt, Peter, Remy and Kitty had just returned from Muir Island, where they had spent the past months under the good care of Dr. Moira MacTaggert. After a lot of research and effort, the doctor was able to safely revert the molecular enhancement process, regressing their mutant skills to their previous levels. Unfortunately, Warren's genetic transformation was deeper encoded, and the Scottish geneticist had been unable to restore his molecular pattern so far.
Every X-Man was expected to have a new role at the upcoming School. Ororo had agreed to teach Botany; Kurt was going to be responsible for German and Religious Studies; Peter would teach Art; Scott was in charge of Math and Physics; despite being only eighteen, Kitty was a true tech genius – she was very excited about helping the younger kids to decipher the mysteries of advanced computing during her time off from college; Cecilia had agreed to Biology and Chemistry; after her previous successful experience with Dr. Reyes in the infirmary, Rogue had decided to attend Nursing School – she knew how often kids managed to get hurt, plus it was the kind of job that allowed her to wear gloves all the time; and Remy – well, Remy was still trying to figure out how he could help – he didn't understand why Jean thought that learning how to climb up walls and pick up locks shouldn't be part of the School's program; Bobby, now fully recovered, had planned to go back to college – he was only two years away from receiving his accountant's degree, and considered that his experience with Accountability would certainly come in handy to assist Jean with the School's finances.
Finally, there was Logan. Jean had suggested that he taught History and self-defense, but he bluntly refused, arguing that he was no teacher and had no patience with kids. Logan hadn't been in a good mood for the past months; still, the redhead was able to convince him to stay at the mansion at least until Laura had become more adapted to the newer, healthier environment. Despite her aggressive temperament, the former child-weapon proved to be a fast learner, having already learned how to read and speak in English, French and Japanese. Logan, of course, was acting as her private teacher, but the feral man had made it clear that he wanted to go back to his cabin in Cold Lake as soon as possible.
Scott had just finished talking to Warren on the phone when Jean entered their newly renovated bedroom – Xavier's old, huge suite was unrecognizable, not one hint of the man's decadent taste to be remembered. There was a pale green comforter and some white and orange patterned cushions over the king-size bed, and white nightstands with dark green lamps and picture frames at each side; under the double windows, covered now by light colored curtains, a decent size desk with Scott's computer and Jean's books was positioned; at the other side of the room, there was a small dressing table with a big mirror and two comfortable armchairs laying side by side.
"Hi honey, how's Warr?" Jean asked her boyfriend, who was currently sitting on the bed with a coy grin.
"Well, you know… He was kind of depressed because Dr. MacTaggert is struggling to revert his secondary mutation…," Scott told her, standing up from the bed to pull the redhead closer to him.
"And…?"
"And apparently, his humor has improved a lot lately… It appears that Moira has hired a new assistant. Her name's Elizabeth Braddock, she's from England. She's also a mutant – a telepath – and Warren just can't stop babbling about her."
Jean laughed. "Really? A cherub in love? That's some news," her words trailed off as Scott started planting light kisses on her neck. "Stop this, mister. I've got something important to show you," the telepath scolded him, failing miserably to sound annoyed.
The X-Men's leader gave a frustrated groan; nonetheless, he picked up his winter coat and followed Jean out of the room. They went down the stairs hand in hand and exited through the mansion's front door, walking down the entire front yard until they had finally reached the estate's gateway.
"Close your eyes," Cyclops did as he was ordered and let his girlfriend guide him to the other side of the gate. She turned him around and he heard her saying "You can look now." As his eyelids opened, Scott saw a carved wooden sign reading 'Alex Summers School for Higher Learning'. He froze on the spot, becoming instantly speechless.
"I wasn't there for you when Alex died. I'm so, so sorry…," she ashamedly admitted, but Scott kept quiet. "He was a good kid, and I wanted to pay my respects to him." Still, not a single word was uttered by the man beside her. Jean started panicking and moved in front of him to have a better look at his face. "Scott? Are you all right?" Jean noticed that he couldn't speak because he was silently crying. "Oh, Scott… I'm sorry. That was so stupid of me, I didn't think it would make you so upset..."
He wrapped his arms around her thin waist and kissed the top of her head, tenderly. "I love it. Thank you."
"You do? Oh God! For a moment you scared the life out of me. I thought you'd hated it," she hugged him back tightly.
"I love you, Jean Grey."
"And I love you, Scott Summers."
XXXXXXXXXX
"Hello, Jean," Hank was hanging upside down from his prison cell ceiling, a brand-new book in his big hands.
"Hi, Hank. How's it going?"
He spun in the air and landed graciously on his feet, simultaneously closing the book. "I can't complain."
"Good. Have you heard the news? Magneto got released from prison today; he was put on probation," the telepath informed him.
"Lucky him, huh? Getting away with professor X's murder this easily."
"Well, Erik claimed that he was defending me from Xavier's abuses, and I did confirm that in court," Jean explained. "In a way, I guess he was really protecting me… and all of us, for that matter. Things would have turned out very differently for the mutants if the Registration Act had passed."
"I don't concur with assassination, young lady, although I can't argue with you in regard to the most likely negative outcomes of said act for our kind."
She nodded, glancing down at the thick book in his blue furry hands. "So, fourteen years and seven months, huh? That's a hell lot of reading time, Hank."
"Yes, it is indeed, my dear. Nonetheless, my sentence could have been – should have been, I may say – far longer. And I should acknowledge you for that, Ms. Grey," he admitted, looking somewhat embarrassed. "Can I… ask you something personal, Jean?"
"Yes, of course."
"Why… why do you keep visiting me here? After everything I have done to you and the others, why do you still care?"
The redhead stared at her opposite straight in the eyes. "I was granted with second chances in life, Hank. I believe that everybody deserves the same."
XXXXXXXXXX
It was Friday afternoon and the X-Men where all gathered in the new conference room. Today they were discussing the last steps for the opening of the 'Alex Summers School for Higher Learning' to the general public. Even Logan had joined the meeting.
"So, we've received eight applications to the School so far, one being from Peter's little sister, Illyana, and another from Dr. MacTaggert's daughter, Rahne. Jean and I considered it would be a good idea to open our gates tomorrow for a family visiting tour," Ororo informed them.
"Yes, we think that if the parents and the students get to see our campus now, beautiful as it is, they might be more willing to join us when the school year begins," Jean explained. "Of course, Peter, your sister is welcomed to start her schooling here at any time. We already have Laura taking some classes, and I'm sure Lorna would love the extra company."
"Spaceeba, my friend. Illyana was very excited with the perspective of moving to America. I'll talk to her again in the morning," the Russian mutant said.
"So, who are the other six kids?" Logan asked, showing some interest towards the School's initiative for the first time.
Ororo went through the list of names. "Their names and birth places are Samuel Guthrie, from Kentucky; Douglas Ramsay, from Illinois; Danielle Moonstar, from Colorado; Amara Aquila, from Nova Roma; Roberto da Costa, from Brazil; Xi'an Coy Mahn, from Vietnam."
"Wow. That's a good bunch of international students. This School sounds really promising," Anna Marie admired.
"Anyway, I'd like to remind you that we're still lacking staff, including an English and a P.E. teacher," Scott remembered them. "Does any of you have any candidates in mind?"
They all suggested names of trustworthy mutant acquaintances with decent resumes; Jean noted them down and agreed to give some of them a call later that day.
"Oh, before we wrap this meeting up, there's one more thing I'd like to let you know. I know that this whole School's idea was mine and that I agreed to be the headmistress. Still, I feel that I'm absolutely underqualified to occupy that position. And since none of you is willing to take on the job, I've decided to enroll in a couple of night classes in a community college nearby, so I can better prepare for the post; I'm going to try Psychology and Business, see how that works. Scott's enrolling too, he's taking Engineering classes."
A small commotion followed the announcement, everyone in the room being more than pleased by the young couple's decision.
"I think that's an excellent idea, guys," Bobby told them enthusiastically. "You could get an associate degree in no time and then apply to some high league College in the State."
Scott and Jean exchanged glances. 'Why not?' They send into each other's head at the same time and smiled. For once, the young mutant couple could perceive a bright future just ahead of them. All they had to do was reach out to it.
The End.
A/N: So folks, that's the end of my story. Once again, the characters aren't mine and I don't make any profits out of them.
I've tried to stay true to their personalities, since Hickman and the rest of the people who currently work at Marvel/Disney apparently can't do it. Yes, I'm actually saving the X-Men here! LOL
Obviously, my version of Beast is a mix between the actual friendly Hank McCoy and Dark Beast.
For those of you who are wondering why I brought Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson into this story - I stole Stan Lee's and Gary Friedrich's idea. Foggy is the lawyer who reads Xavier's will in Uncanny X-Men 46 (1968), when the world and the X-Men think that he is dead. Told you I'm old school!
I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Please review and tell me if I should write a sequel someday.