The next morning came far too early, as far as the students were concerned. All of them clung to their pillows and blankets, begging whatever divine beings they thought might listen to have storm clouds roll in and blanket the ground with snow for at least the next six years.
No such luck.
Thus it was that the grumbling kids found themselves either hauled out of bed under their own power or given a gentle but still unsettling flash rainstorm above their heads to convince them to prepare for another day at school. They grabbed their packs, gulped down their breakfast, and made their way out the door in the typical disorganized manner normally only seen on a Monday morning. They were just thankful Logan hadn't sprung a 'surprise Danger Room session' on them. He had a knack for doing it at four am or earlier. A time that most of the New Recruits hadn't even known existed, before coming to the Institute.
Kurt and Sam were still in bed, and Ororo visited them both with some orange juice and some more medicine, since they both were starting to look positively dreadful. Jamie was also sick, and Ororo had found him curled up in his covers, shivering and coughing. She decided to report this to Professor X. Something was seriously wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kids needed to get to school. And the Institute needed food.
They flipped, Scott called tails. He always called tails.
He lost.
Jean took her SUV to the nearby Food Lion, the windows rolled up and the heater on to keep her warm in the chill air of early February. She had the list, though it was almost the length of her arm. She wondered sometimes if Scott got the easy deal taking the kids instead of dealing with groceries. Ah well.
Thus it was that Jean Grey, arguably one of the most powerful telepathic mutants on the face of the earth, was pushing a shopping cart down between aisles and loading it up with all manner of foodstuffs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kids needed to get to school. And the Institute needed food.
Jean flipped the coin and Scott called tails, like he always did.
He lost.
Thus it was that Scott found himself in a crowded red convertible, transporting Roberto, Ray, Amara and Tabitha to school in the backseat, as well as Jubes in the front with him. The rest were riding with Kitty in her new forester. She'd gotten it at the start of the school year, after finally managing to pass the drivers test on her third try. Needless to say, no one was still particularly eager to drive with her.
"Hey Scott switch the station... this is depressing," remarked Tabby, reaching forward over the seat and taking her own advice, flipping around until she could locate something she liked.
"Hey Tabby sit down!" he shouted over his shoulder at her, trying to concentrate on the road. "And put your seat belt on!"
"Yes, sir," she said with a mock salute. "I'd love to sir, but as you can clearly see, there isn't one. I've had to sit in Amara's lap the last five trips."
"Not like you were complaining," remarked Roberto, leaning against the window and watching the cars pass by.
"Awwww, is cutsie Sunspot jealous?" asked Tabby with a mock pout.
"Just sit down," said Scott back at her, knowing it was useless to argue with Tabby about this. He rubbed his forehead in frustration as they came to a red light. He just wanted to drop off the little hellions at Bayville High and leave. He'd come back for them in the afternoon. Why on earth, he sometimes wondered, couldn't they just take the bus?
Because the bus was full of anti-mutant bigots and general pain-in-the-rear-ends, said a voice in the back of his mind. So until humanity learned to accepts us (doubtful) they're riding with either you or Jean. Wonderful, he thought. And double wonderful, he grumbled in his mind. Now I'm talking to myself. I must be going crazy.
So it was that Scott drew his car up the front of Bayville High and unloaded his passengers, all but speeding off as soon as possible.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
School was quieter this year than it had been the previous year, since Rogue and Lance had graduated. Kelly had officially moved into the office of the Mayor of Bayville, and the school board had replaced him with a slightly quieter, less active individual. He made no trouble for the mutants in his school, though he also did not go out of his way to protect the mutants from harassing students or troublesome teachers.
Kitty was enjoying her new life as a senior, since she'd taken some extra courses over the summer and intended to graduate this year, be done with High school as soon as possible. She wasn't entirely sure what to do after school, none of the Xavier Institute students had been, but worst case scenario she figured she could become an assistant teacher at the Institute like Jean, Scott, and now Rogue.
Ray Crisp made his way down the halls, his face in a permanent glare-mode he always adopted when he was in public. That and his body posture tended to keep people away. He didn't want trouble, his stance seemed to say. So don't mess with me.
However, as he opened his locker all his self-righteous dignity faded as he reached his locker. It was partially ajar, and he recalled very distinctly he'd shut it hard last time he was there. Frustration about some frickin' test or other he'd failed. Oh damn, not again, he thought, opening the locker... and was sent hurling back, waving away the foul stench that had accumulated within.
"Aww bloody son of a..." he cursed profanely, waving the air to try and dissipate the stench a little. No such luck. Reluctantly he peered into his locker, hoping against hope that it was salvageable. No such luck. It was an utter mess. Some really sick bastard had certainly gone out of their way to target him, and the paper stuck to the inside of his locker door spelled it out for him. Angrily he ripped it off, reading it aloud.
"Get Lost, Mutant," he hissed out. Then crumbled the paper and angrily threw it into the nearest garbage can. Not surprisingly he lost, further souring his mood.
One day he was going to live up to his name and go postal on Bayville High.
For today, he swallowed his anger, storing it away for his next Danger Room session, and went to class. His locker was unsalvageable, and thus he'd have to carry all his heavy books all day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the Xavier Institute, things were to say the least quiet. Only the occasional cough from the sick students broke the noise. Ororo was upstairs, watering her plants, Hank McCoy was down in the lab. And Professor Charles Xavier found himself enjoying the relative peace and quiet of his study.
Now if only he could rid himself of this oh-so-troubling headache that seemed to be plaguing him all morning. He had taken medication, and even avoided using Cerebro today (as was his custom, at least once a day to update the mutant profiles) but it refused to go away.
"Perhaps I'll retire early today," he stated, finishing his latest work and filing it away on the laptop on his desk. Then he shut it down and wheeled out of the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amara was a good student. She was an eager student. Since she'd left Nova Roma, she'd been determined to learn as much as she could about the modern world, its sciences, its fine arts and its technologies. But there was one class she simply loathed with a vengeance that rivaled that of one of Ares' grudges.
Gym class.
And today, after changing into her gym shorts and shirt uniform, Amara found out it got worse. She and her fellow Bayville students were doomed to a game of friendly dodge ball. Normal friendly, at least.
Predictably, Amara and Roberto (the only other Institute kid present) were placed onto the teams last, after their captain's choices. And this was -after- the fat kids, kids with asthma, kids with glasses, and anyone else labeled an outcast by the general population of the school. Before being exposed, Amara and Roberto, both very active students, would've been the first two snapped up. Now, of course, things had changed. And it was dodge ball. Which meant in all likelihood that Amara and Roberto, the mutants, would be walking home with a whole lot of bruises from balls being thrown 'accidentally' too hard.
As if being sick wasn't bad enough.
Stifling her coughs, sure her teammates would be even more annoyed if they thought she was sick with 'mutie germs,' Amara took up position towards the back of her teams half of the gym. She wanted to keep out of the way if possible, let the others do the work. Anything she did might be blamed on her powers, so better not do anything at all. Most of the other Institute kids practiced similar techniques. She'd even heard that Jean, during her last year at school, hadn't bothered to answer questions because some kids had claimed she was reading the teacher's mind.
"Jerks," she muttered, quietly cursing them in her native language.
"And... begin!" shouted their teacher, blowing her whistle.
Dodge balls immediately began to fly.
She was going pretty well, all things considered. Amara wasn't the most physical member of the Institute, but no one was much of a slacker when you had a daily routine of Danger Room sessions. Thus, she found little difficulty in dodging the rubber balls that went more of than not hurling in her direction, determined to bring her down.
She caught one such ball and passed it to Jarod, one of the kids on her team. He seemed a bit surprised, but took a shot, bringing down Roberto. With a dejected sigh he made his way to the bleachers with those others who'd been cut down. Amara mouthed a 'sorry' to him as he did, but he shrugged nonchalantly.
Suddenly a coughing fit seized Amara, and despite her best intentions to muffle it, there seemed to be no end. She felt like she was choking. Suddenly a pounding came on her back. She looked up, and dimly recognized through tear-filled eyes that it was the teacher, Mrs. Fry.
"Aquilla, you alright?" she asked when Amara's coughing had stopped. She didn't look overly concerned, but Amara knew she wasn't totally heartless. She'd helped her, at least.
"Fine, just..." and she coughed again, stifling it before adding "Not feeling too well."
"Head to the Nurse's office," ordered Mrs. Fry. "DeCosta! You go with her!"
"Sure thing teach!" said Roberto, all but leaping up to escort Amara out.
Thankfully the coughing had passed, but she still felt downright miserable. She felt hotter too... like she was burning up. She checked her hands quickly, making sure she hadn't subconsciously switched to her magma form, but she hadn't.
Behind the closed doors, in the gym, the game continued.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the Food Lion, Jean had finally managed to accumulate the appropriate foodstuffs, though her cart was now filled to overflowing. And she was just downright exhausted. Dimly she placed her hand against her forehead, alarmed to note she was burning up. Must've caught whatever Kurt had, she thought dimly.
Not trusting herself to lift and manage all the food on the self check-out counters that were rapidly becoming a part of the food story industry, Jean elected to get help from one of the regular check-out lanes. Even if it would mean dealing with overly perky or downright grumpy cashiers and more tabloids and weird mutations worldwide.
"Huh... never would've guessed that Michael Jackson could be a mutant," remarked Jean with fake curiosity, browsing one of the many titles as she unloaded her purchases onto the conveyer belt, allowing her cashier, a short, matronly woman, to check them out and bag them.
"Oh these mutants, everywhere they seem to be sometimes," she stated, checking the price tag on some canned soup. "Could be anyone these days. You, me, everybody. Who cares, I say," she added with a final flourish, finishing off Jean's purchases and placing them into the bags.
Jean fished into her wallet, pulling out her credit card. Xavier had issued one to her, Scott and Rogue upon their completion of high school, though he had suggested they not tell their fellow students about them. Jean had seen the wisdom in his decision, and handled her newfound responsibility maturely.
As she swiped the card a brief wave of disiness overcame her, and she clutched her head gently, even as the machine beeped at her.
"You alright, dearie?" asked the cashier.
"Yeah sure, fine..." replied Jean, smiling wanly. "Just, uh, finished," she added, tapping in the final code and paying for everything, then putting her card away.
"I can send someone with you if you need help carrying things," she added, smiling gently.
"No thank you," replied Jean, equally courteous. It would not do to offend the old lady, she was just being nice after all. But Jean could manage. "I'll be fine."
"Have a nice day then."
Jean managed to push the shopping cart out of the store and to her SUV, though she nearly dented it when her vision blurred and her body stumbled. Grimacing through the sudden lethargy she found herself wrapped in, she opened the door to the driver's side, sliding into the seat and lying down. She tilted her head back, eyes closed, and damn near passed out. Gently, conscious of her breathing, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone, auto-dialing a number she knew by heart.
"Yes, Jean?" came Xavier's voice, on the other line.
"Xavier, something's wrong... I need pick-up. I'm at... at the grocery store," she said, breathing heavily.
"Stay put Jean," replied Xavier, without even thinking. He trusted her completely, after all. "I'll send Ororo to pick you up."
"Thanks," she said, turning off the cell-phone and letting it fall from her nerveless fingers to the passenger's side seat. A cough gripped her, making her head throb with pain, as she lay back and tried to wait until Ororo arrived.
She hoped it would be soon.
Author's Notes:
And it begins to spread. Gradual build-up being my specialty, of course, so I'll keep teasing you with glimpses of what you're dealing with. I leave it all to you to determine what you think is going on. For clarification, this is one year after the end of Ascension, middle of February. Thus, Scott, Jean and Rogue have all graduated from Bayville High, all the other students still go there (except Jamie, who's still home schooled for now). Amara Aquilla is, in the comics-verse, a royal from the somewhat primitive lands of Nova Roma, a colony of the Roman Empire or some such. I can never find exact details, so I prefer to leave any references to it vague. I am so sorry I poked fun at Michael Jackson but I simply couldn't resist. Those tabloids are ridiculous though, aren't they?
Todd fan: Too obvious was I? Darn. Ah well, live and learn. Don't worry Todd fan, I'll include all your favorite characters, just like way back in Nullification. *tips over your seat*
Faith Darkholme: I know, I should buy the rights to XME and write episodes for season five myself! Only, who would draw the characters? Darn. Ah well, more for you to enjoy soon to come, as always.
Elrohirthewriter: Okay, definitely toning down my hints from blatant to more mysterious. And its decimate, but yes you've got the general idea of what's to come. Sinister, eh? Oooh, you wanna see Sinister? Maybe Stryfe too? And Ilyana and Pyro and maybe Colossus all sick.
Snitter in Rivendell: Well glad you like it enough to put it on the list. Plenty more to come that will make you feel your choice was a good one. I like that snow angels thing myself. Because its just not something you'd expect Wanda to do! Hehehehe.
Foxglove33: Well glad you like it so much, and especially the Todd/Wanda scene I added in. Their house isn't all that bad though these days, they did have it fixed up during their brief status as heroes. More to come, hope you like the rest.
Sandoz: You like my work! I must be doing good if someone as talented as you likes it. Trust me, you'll like even more what I do with your favorite characters. Well, then again... maybe you won't. Maybe I'll be mean to them. Muwahahahahaha!
The Rogue Witch: You'll just have to wait and see. And although, like Marvel, I'm not big on killing people... you never know. I never did like Gambit, after all... As for the plot, you'll see soon enough.
Kiki Cabou: Certainly more, oh cutely named one. Plenty more of all your fav characters, 'specially Kurt.
Abaiisiia: Bitte, Fraulein. Nah, Rogue's better than any Romy. But of course more of our favorite goth girl! She will show up soon enough, believe you me. Just gotta build things up first.
Aro: Wonderful news, you'll likely understand and/or recognize elements of my story Nullification in this. Enjoy.
Comet-hime: Alright, Comet-hime! I will write many much more, as you request. In exchange for your pretty piccies. You know ho much I love them so.
Rogue14: Certainly, as you wish. You keep writing more as well for your wonderful 'When you Wish up a Devil' story. Scott/Rogue Forever!
Nessie6: That's it, I am definently giving out less hints in the future! Of course Pyro will show up. I love the little psycho. Enjoy what is to come and hopefully my other stories as well.
