Chapter 3:

Cairo, Egypt

"I've never met someone like me before," Ororo cried as she burst through the doorway of the small, meager home that she shared with many others, the mysterious man following slowly behind her. "Heard of, yes, but never seen or met." He lingered in the front entryway, taking in everything, as though in curiosity, in awe. Ororo watched him closely, watching as his gaze slowly passed over everything as though in wonder, in fascination, and sometimes even in confusion. His eyes then fell upon a small poster baring a picture of a blue-skinned young woman with bright red hair and sharp yellow eyes.

"Great fighter. She is my hero, I want to be like her," Ororo explained proudly. If only Raven knew. "She's like us, too."

But he continued to stare around the small space in silence, his face almost expressionless, almost, eyes narrowed, hood still hanging over his already shadowed face. Ororo stepped out of the way as he moved past her and further into the room. His attention was drawn to the small television set sitting in the corner on the floor, on and broadcasting the news. He seemed immediately drawn to it, hypnotized almost, and knelt down before the screen, assessing it.

She continued to watch him. "It's a television, welcome to the '80s," she said half-jokingly, but he appeared to pay no attention to her and what she said. Instead, he placed both hands on each side of the TV and closed his eyes. The picture began to grow warped and fuzzy.

"What are you doing?" she asked. "Don't ruin our TV!"

"L-lear-ning..." Him finally speaking, let alone in English, startled her. His voice was low, deep and raspy. Then his eyes flicked open and the screen flashed back to the picture, the news broadcast. Now he continued to stare at it. It was showing a picture of a man in a purple suit and helmet standing before the Whitehouse, the words Ten Years, 1973-1983 flashing across the screen below him.

"That's the news," Ororo explained. "The ten year anniversary of the world finding out about us." The screen had frozen on a picture of the man in purple, two other men, one fuzzy and blue and the other in a wheelchair trapped beneath a large piece of rubble, the blue-skinned woman, Ororo's hero, and another young woman. The image was fuzzy, but still distinguishable.

"Ni-na," he said suddenly, so softly she barely heard him.

"What?"

He didn't answer, but instead brushed a finger over the picture of the young woman on the screen, not the blue-skinned woman, but the other one, the one with long, fiery red hair and who was wearing a black and purple suit with an X across the front, and who was casting purple energy around herself. The action of him touching her picture was affectionate almost.

"Nina," he said again, this time softer.

"Who is that? You know her?" Again, she received no answer. She eyed him curiously. "I am Ororo, Ororo Munroe. Who are you?"

Slowly, he turned to face her, finally ripping his gaze away from the TV screen and moving to stare down at her from where he towered high above "I am En Sabah Nur."

"Like the ledged. They say he was an ancient ruler of Egypt, one with extraordinary powers-"

"Who say?" he cut in.

"People... Some say he was a god-" She paused, her words trailing off as she eyed him. Unless-

Unless... But that was impossible, wasn't it?

Nina wasted no time in transported them to the school via a portal, Kurt explaining that his powers were of teleportation as well, only to places he had seen or been to, though.

He was in instant awe of the school, and was introduced to the other students his age, including Jean, Scott, and Jubilee.

"Raven," cried Hank when he saw her, and Nina left the two to have a moment - Raven's sudden departure from the X-Men had broken everyone's hearts in different ways.

"Nina, where were you?" Charles asked, wheeling over.

"I was - out..." She hated lying to him, she really did, but Raven had long ago sworn her to secrecy.

"Well I'm glad you're back - Jean had another nightmare, worse this time," he explained. "And I sensed something happened to you, as well."

"Yes, I had a - reaction..." That was certainly one way to put it.

"It was awfully strange - with Jean I sensed visions - but with you I sense memories..."

"That is strange."

"But that makes no," he mused. "Not really." He eyed her, sensing something was off. "Nina, what's going on?"

"I-I don't know," she answered truthfully. "Let's try and investigate further, maybe try Cerebro - Hank, fire up Cerebro!" she called before Charles could question her any further.

He agreed but she could tell he wasn't going to let the matter drop so easily.

She and Hank went with him down to where Cerebro was kept.

"Her nightmares were different this time."

"It could account for something I saw when I was in my lab earlier," Hank suggested. "There was some kind of tremor, like an energy sure."

"We felt that," Nina informed.

"You did?"

"Yeah."

"I picked it up on one of my meters."

"You're saying Jean created it?" asked Charles in astonishment.

"No, I'm saying something else did. Maybe you were both reacting to it."

"Maybe..." That sounded about right, a reaction of some kind.

"But the epicenter was halfway around the world."

"Halfway around the world?"

"Yeah, in Egypt."

Something struck Nina deep within. "Egypt?"

"Yeah. That's why I was hoping Charles could take a look."

"Let's see what we can find," Charles agreed, sounding determined.

"Welcome, Professor," said an automated voice as the door scanned him and unlocked.

"Okay, the source came from Cairo," Hank said, handing Charles the Cerebro helmet. "I'll put in the coordinates."

A few moments later, Charles began to smile.

"What? What is it?" Hank asked, noting Charles's little smile.

"It's her."

"Who?"

"Yeah, got to be a bit more specific, Love," Nina requested.

"Moira."

"Moira MacTaggart?" cried Hank. "Huh. Well, give us the details."

"She looks amazing - she's barely aged a day-"

"No, I meant what is she doing there? What does the CIA want with this?" Hank specified.

"It must be pretty big if they're getting involved," Nina agreed.

"She's going back to Langley to deliver a report," Charles explained. "I'm going to go there, see if she knows anything about this mysterious tremor."

Hank nodded, now wearing a little grin of his own. "And you want to see Moira."

"I'm going to check her out - check out the situation." He cleared his throat awkwardly.

Hank nodded in disbelief. "Moira MacTaggart."

Now Charles appeared distant. "It's like a ghost from the past."

Nina was inclined to agree - lots of ghosts from the past it would seem.

The past is coming back to haunt them, that's for sure!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)