Sunday evening came and went, and then another typical Monday morning erupted at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters.
Basically, pure havoc.
One by one they started to wake up, shower, dress and make their way downstairs. Logan was already up and in his customary seat in the kitchen on the window ledge, drinking his coffee and reading the morning paper. The other students filed in quietly. Ororo finished off her bagel and traveled up to the loft, to visit her plants. Smiling, she stretched out her hand to summon a miniature rain cloud to water them for the day, relieved when she actually managed to pull it off this time, and watered her plants, giving them a little extra water because of their long, thirsty weekend. Like her, they preferred fresh rainwater.
Rogue was up and about, a smile playing on her lips as she amiably helped out at breakfast, passing things around and generally being so happy that Logan half-suspected she'd been taking something other than aspirin. Still, a quick sniff confirmed no such scent around her, so he largely ignored her, chalking up her happy attitude to his usual explanation for weird things at the Institute. Kids being kids.
"Hey Bobby," whispered Ray, nudging his companion discreetly. "Is it just me or is Rogue showing more skin than usual?"
"Ain't just you... but what're we to complain?" replied Bobby with a smirk, settling back to watch Rogue, who was wearing only one layer of make-up and actually left her arms bare today, though her customary black gloves were still in place.
The breakfast continued with its usual fast pace as the students finished their meals, grabbed their packs and headed towards the bus stop or those privileged few to ride with Jean (since Scott's convertible was still undergoing repairs).
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Kurt Wagner lay in his room, on his bed, sobbing into his pillow.
Life wasn't fair! He'd finally been normal! And now he was a freak again... cursed unable to ever be accepted back into society without that verddamit holowatch shackled to his wrist!
A knocking at the door interrupted his misery and he raised his eyes, bleary red with tears at the sound.
"Hey Kurt come on, you're gonna be late... we like, only got a week left you know, we might as well put in an appearance."
"Go away!" he grumbled, slamming his head down against his pillow once more.
"Kurt? Kurt, come on, what's wrong with you?" asked Kitty as she phased through the door and into the room. Seeing her friend she immediately froze, then crept over to the bed and sat down on the side, laying a reassuring hand on the poor elf's shoulder.
"Kurt come on... this has been hard on all of us..."
"Nobody has any idea what I've gone through..." he grumbled back up at her, his voice muffled from the fabric of his pillow.
"Kurt..." she said comfortingly. "There are mutants that've gone through worse... I mean look at Rogue. Now she's..."
"You don't understand!" he all but shouted at Kitty, who leapt off the bed in shock. "I was normal! I was human! Nobody was pointing and screaming, demon, burn it, kill it! Even you screamed when you first saw me! For the first time... I... fit... in..." he said, slowly descending back into sobs. Kitty hesitated, unsure of what to do. She was no psychologist, and Kurt was right, she'd never been through the sorts of things he had. But there had to be a way to cheer him up... there was. Kitty grimaced, knowing she was likely to regret saying this.
"Amanda didn't scream," she said. Kurt's sobbing paused, as he lifted his head. "And she's waiting for you at school... are you really going to disappoint her, you fuzzy elf?" she asked with a smile, which Kurt returned. It wasn't his pointed-ear-to-pointed-ear grin but it was a sincere smile, and Kitty was glad she could help him.
"Alright alright I'm coming... but I guess I'll just 'port directly to school, save Jean the trouble of finding more space in her SUV."
"Better teleport behind the gym," added Kitty, as she started to phase her way back out of the room. "I think Duncan had plans to beat up some kids in that alley you prefer, best avoid them."
"Ja... thanks Kitty," he said, as she left and he gathered his things for his last week of school.
With his liebchen, Amanda.
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Scott and Jean sat in the convertible as they waited for everyone else to arrive, stealing glances at one another but trying not to look to obvious. As a result, they looked more obvious than ever. Finally, Scott broke the silence.
"Well, we, uh... certainly had an interesting weekend..."
"Yeah," replied Jean. "You must be upset though."
"Why's that?" Scott asked.
"Well now you still need to wear your sunglasses... it must've been nice not to need them, even for a while," she said. Scott chuckled lightly.
"Actually, I never felt more nervous in my life... I'm just... so much more used to dealing with this. Its part of who I am, Jean," he added quietly, knowing she'd understood. And to his relief, she did. She smiled back at him gently.
"But there is one thing I'm glad happened this weekend," he stated quietly.
"What's that?" she asked.
"I finally got to find out what color your hair is," he said with a smile, reaching out to run a hand through her crimson, silky locks, as she blushed softly and smiled.
"And I finally found out what color your eyes were," she replied, tapping the rim of his ever-present sunglasses.
The tender moment was interrupted as Kitty and Rogue came running up the driveway towards the SUV and Scott and Jean jerked away, still unused to public displays of affection, as they immediately looked away from one another and found other, much more interesting things. To their disappointment.
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Beast was up and at 'em in the main hallway, handing out backpacks as the New Recruits stumbled, ice slid, or propelled themselves down the stairway and out the door to make it to the bus, finally finishing the very last one, Amara, and then knuckling his way to the elevator to return to his work. True, he no longer was called upon to investigate the strange phenomenon that had nullified mutant powers, but he was still a very busy mutant. He had to continue his investigations into the third key that Mesmero was searching for.
Beast sighed, like everyone here, he'd been at least a little glad when his powers had vanished and he'd been normal, but he'd come to accept who and what he was. Kitty had shown him being a mutant with his particular physical changes didn't make him a beast, or a monster, it was simply part of who he was. He was who he was meant to be.
Quoting some vague Shakespeare, he returned to the lab, archived the files on mutant nullification in the Institute's records, and then called up the Mesmero file to delve a little deeper into that. He seemed to recall something about a third key being known as 'formless and malleable, able to mimic pure power' and wonder what that could be.
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The Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters opened its door as its students filed out to return to Bayville High for their education. On their way a certain blue car being driven by a certain blonde-haired jock raced past them, as the passengers threw some empty soda cans at Jean's SUV, then sped off laughing. Scott, sitting in the passengers side, was not particularily shocked to see his old buddy Paul and even Taryn riding with Duncan. Though it was a pity those two hung out with the low-life. The mutant passengers, though irritated beyond measure, kept their cool as they parked at Bayville High and made their way back to classes for the final week of school.
None had ever been more happy to be both mutants, and X-Men.
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Authors Notes:
This chapter and the next are the epilogue, so they're decidedly short, and just tie up a lot of loose ends before Dark Horizons.
Emerald Lightning Goddess: Sorry, Sabertooth can't keep 'em. If he wants more he has to get them on the Evo show. Glad you liked the Spyke-is-Marrow two-hearts thingie and the Rogue-Remy kiss, that was my favorite too.
Wylk: Oh ye of little faith. But yes, I agree with you. I used to hate Evan, but this new version of him is frickin' awesome. Probably because there's no skateboard anywhere near him.
Jenny08: Sure, I'll let you walk it on the weekends, how's that sound?
Todd fan: Of course I wouldn't kill him off. He's turned frickin' awesome in Uprising. I actually like his character now. More Spyke!
Mousy188 or Calicat: Yeah, but when I made that I hated Jean. Plus, she's not -dark- enough to be Trinity.
Mayra: Dorian was Leech, as near as I can tell. Yes I had bo staff, I gave it away to my brother when I lost interest in staves and got more into swords. I dunno, I rather like what Spyke's become. He's the hardened warrior-type now, like Wolverine. About Scott's eyes, like in the Cauldron, I suspect they're dark because nobody bothers to zoom in and get a better look. The episode was called 'Uprising' because it dealt with human troubles as much as it did with Spyke. Spidey's next episode for his dramatic five-second return. You can see him then.
Elisabeth Braddock-Grey: Not over yet. One chapter left, mostly with wrap-up. Your fav character Psylocke makes a brief appearance. It is not over until the fat mutant sings! *glances around for Freddy, but thankfully he's still in rehearsal*
Gyuumajo: As I keep telling everyone, next chapter is last. Enjoy.
Glaivester: Thanks for the input, let me see if I can clear things up a bit. One, I made some errors with that chapter, Leech went home with Fury and his SHIELD team. Before I saw Uprising, I'd planned on having my own Evo Leech join the Morlocks. He wasn't suppressing anyone's powers after he was removed from the machine because he was unconscious, and still developing. His powers haven't manifested like in Uprising, they were being amplified by the device Trask and Wraith built (based on Magneto's enhancement chamber technology). As for Trask and his Sentinels, if he ever gets the chance in a story of mine, yes of course he'll upgrade the suckers. But you saw how hard that prototype was to take down.