A/N: Special thanks to whitegoddess, MoonlightPhoenix3, punkcatwitissues, and Lucas'sgirl for your reviews of the last chapter.
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A new day had dawned on Muir Island, Scotland and its inhabitants were up early, preparing for an excursion that could only be described in two words:
"Road Trip!!!" Kitty happily exclaimed, as she, Peter, Theresa, and a new addition to their group, walked out of the research facility through an entrance near a lower-level loading dock.
"We know we're going on a trip, ye don't have to yell it like some mental patient out on a weekend pass." Theresa said, as she replied to Kitty.
"Siryn, I'm just trying to get everyone in a good mood, before we go to 'Castle Dracmoor'." Kitty taunted, as she and Theresa continued their long-running verbal duel with one another.
"It's called Cassidy Keep. Don't make me remind you again." Theresa said in a serious voice, as she made a fist with her hand and looked at Kitty.
"I'm sure she just made a mistake." A young girl, with short red hair said timidly.
"Maybe you two should lay off for a while." Peter said to Kitty and Theresa, as the entire group stood around a dark blue SUV that had been parked outside, "Rahne is going to start thinking you two are serious."
Rahne Sinclair had been staying at Muir Island, under the care of Moira MacTaggert, for the last six months. She had been under Dr. MacTaggert's charge ever since the night when her mutant powers manifested themselves, giving her the ability to shape-shift herself into the form of a wolf. The local townspeople had thought that some demonic force had possessed the twelve-year old girl, and a mob gathered together to hunt her down and kill her. They chased Rahne into the surrounding countryside, where Moira MacTaggert fortunately happened upon her.
"Peter, it appears that you have replaced me as referee between those two." Ororo stated, as she now exited the research facility, along with Dr. MacTaggert and Professor Xavier.
"I trust that all of my students will be on their best behavior during your visit to Theresa's home." Professor Xavier said, as the students understood his subtle hint.
Ororo then motioned for Kitty, Peter, Theresa, and Rahne to take their seats in the vehicle.
"I call shotgun." Theresa said, as she got into the front passenger's seat, "No way am I gonna be sittin' in the back next to Kitty and Peter, especially with the way that they're always all over each other."
"We are not!" Kitty protested, as she responded to Theresa's comment.
Peter nudged Kitty along into the SUV, in an attempt to put a quick end to their conversation. Meanwhile, as Peter closed the car door behind him, Rahne stood on the other side of the SUV. She slightly blushed at the talk of boys and girls being romantic with one another. As Rahne herself was about to get into the vehicle, Moira walked over to her with a leather shoulder bag in her hand.
"Here you go." Moira said as she handed the bag to Rahne, "These are some books that I think you might enjoy on your long trip. I also included a few other surprises in there for you too."
"Thank you, Miss Moira!" Rahne said, as she leapt up and gave Moira a huge hug for the thoughtful gesture.
"You're welcome, Poppet." Moira replied, as she called Rahne by a very special nickname that expressed how much she had come to care for the young girl. Rahne then went back and took her place within the vehicle.
"Just take this road here down to the shoreline. You can drive this vehicle on board the ferry, and it'll take all of ye across the water channel to the mainland. Once you get off of the ferry, head west on the main road from Stornoway. After a few miles, you'll run into the highway that takes you south." Moira said, as she gave Ororo instructions on how to navigate the first leg of their trip to Ireland.
"Don't worry, I remember the area quite well." Ororo said, reassuring her, "Everything will be all right."
"I'm glad ye're feeling so optimistic. But, you're gonna be stuck in an auto with four teenagers for a good majority of the day." Moira told her.
"I've survived worse." Ororo, replied with a smile.
"Well, I'm still going to say a small prayer for ye." Moira said jokingly, as Ororo climbed into the SUV.
"I'll tell you if it worked, when we return in a few days." Ororo told her, as she closed her door. Then she, and her four passengers departed.
The sports utility vehicle headed down the small road that ran from the research facility towards the shoreline where the ferry docked, quickly disappearing from the Professor and the Doctor's view. The pair then turned and went back inside of the research facility.
"I must say that Rahne is an exceptional girl. It's not hard to understand why you are so fond of her." Charles said, as he and Moira moved together down a corridor. The corridor ended at an elevator shaft, which went back upstairs to the main laboratory.
"Aye, she is. Which makes my decision all the more difficult." Moira replied, as the elevator doors closed.
"What decision?" Charles asked her, as the elevator moved up.
"You're the mind reader. I figured you'd just pull the answer out on yuir own." Moira answered.
"You know me better than that." Charles quickly stated, as the elevator doors opened.
"I know, and I admire you for the self-constraint you exert. It must be exhausting to have t'constantly shut the rest of the world out of your own head." Moira said, as they started down the corridor to the main lab, "It's just that it would make what I have to ask ye a whole lot easier, if I didn't have to say the words myself."
"I assume that you are referring to 'the matter of great personal importance' that you said we needed to discuss in person, when you called me a few weeks ago." Charles said, as the lab's doors opened in front of them.
Moira and Charles went inside, where Moira pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Charles.
"It has to do with Rahne." Moira began, "I've come to love her as if she were mah own flesh and blood. She's been staying here with me ever since that night I rescued her. After Reverend Craig and some of the townspeople tried to kill her, I didn't dare send her back to her regular school. So, she spends the first part of every day studying in the research library here, and the rest of the day with me. Rahne's been such a darlin' to be around, and she's given me the second chance to be the mother that I wish I could have been to Kevin."
Moira was referring to her son Kevin MacTaggert, the mutant known as Proteus. Proteus' mutant powers were so tremendous and awesome when they emerged, that not even his own body could not contain or properly control them. Moira hid Kevin from the world, while she worked diligently to find a way to help him. But before she could devise a solution, Proteus emerged from the holding cell that Moira had built for him underneath Muir Island. He threatened to unleash his awesome capabilities against the entire planet. He ultimately forced the X-Men to ally themselves with their arch-nemesis Magneto, all of them finally working together in a joint effort to stop him. In the end, they were left with no choice but to destroy Proteus in their tragic confrontation. (A/N: I've been thinking of eventually doing a X-Men: The Early Years type of story set in the movie-verse, where all of this would be explained in better detail.)
"Do you believe her powers pose a threat of that degree?" Charles asked her, as he reminisced on the battle with Proteus that nearly destroyed them all.
"Och, of course not." Moira quickly answered, "It's just that I can give her all of the love and attention that a child needs, but there are some things that only you can show her."
"You mean in regards to her powers?" Charles guessed.
"And you didn't have to reach into my mind to figure that one out." Moira confirmed, "A part of me has always regretted hiding my son from the world. I think that if I had told you about him sooner, that maybe things would have turned out differently. Perhaps you and your X-Men wouldn't have been put in such a terrible position in having to fight him."
"You did what you thought was best at the time, second-guessing yourself won't change any of it." Charles said as he wheeled closer to her. He reached out, gently holding one of her hands.
"Ye might be right, but at least I've learned from my mistakes. I've seen the difference in Rahne, in just the short amount of time that you and your other students have been here. I know it must be awful lonesome for her, there's no one else her own age here on Muir Island. As much as I know it will pain, both me and her, I think that when you return home to your school, I think Rahne should go with ye." Moira said resolutely.
Charles could see by her facial expression that this was a decision that Moira had been pondering for quite some time.
"How does Rahne feel about this?" Charles asked her.
Moira paused for a moment before answering.
"I haven't told her yet, I wanted t'be sure that you would be able to take her on first. I know that things have been topsy-turvy back home, ever since Jean died." Moira told him.
"Taking Rahne on as a student is no problem. It has been difficult these last few months, but we have managed to carry on." Charles told her.
"Then I'll have a sit-down with Rahne, when she and the others return. I just hope I can find the strength to tell her that the one person she has come to depend on like a mother, is planning on sending her away." Moira said, as she fought back tears. She tried to think of a way to convince Rahne, and herself, that such a separation would be a good thing in the long run.
"She's been through so much Charles, I don't know if I can do that to her." Moira paused, "But deep down, I know it's the right thing."
As Charles and Moira sat and talked, something on a nearby terminal caught his attention.
"Moira, why is Jean's file pulled up on this monitor?" Charles asked very curiously, as he saw Jean Grey's name displayed on the computer.
"Oh that. I've been so busy with everything else around here, I'm just now getting around to gathering all of the data that I've collected on Jean over the years. I'm preparing to place them in permanent archival storage. I think that deep down I was just putting it off, in some kind of foolish attempt to pretend that she really isn't gone." Moira started, as she began to reminisce on one of Charles Xavier's first students.
"It seems like only yesterday that you brought Scott, Ororo, and Jean here. Scott was such a sad sight. The poor lad was virtually blind, unable to open his eyes for fear of destroying everything around him. You came here desperately searching for a way to help him control those optic blasts of his."
"Jean was catatonic, still reeling from the after effects of using her powers for the first time. You told me that when a car had hit Jean's best friend, that Jean reached out with her telepathy to try and comfort her. It must've been horrible for her to unknowingly go into her best friend's mind, as she lay dying right in front of her. It's hard enough to simply watch another person die. But to experience a psionic death knell first-hand, I don't think I can even begin to imagine that."
"And then there was Ororo, the teenaged weather goddess. She was still trying to learn how to use her powers, without wiping the lot of us clean off of the face of the planet. I remember I nearly keeled over laughing when you said that those three children were going to be Earth's greatest protection, and against Magneto of all people. Looking back, I guess I'm lucky that I didn't wager you on the fact."
"I think that it was as much luck, as it was planning on my part, that we even survived that first battle with Magneto." Charles admitted.
Moira then got up from her chair and went over to the computer terminal, cuing up the information database about Jean on the larger computer screen in the room.
"I wanted to show you something, before I put all of this into storage." Moira began, "Jean had asked me not to tell anybody about this, at least until we could make more sense of it."
"What are you talking about?" Charles asked, unaware that Jean had secretly gone to Moira for help.
"Look at these readings from the initial tests that I ran on Jean when you first brought her to me all of those years ago." Moira said, as she showed him the information on the monitor, "These readings show a near Omega-class Psi, in the body of a teenage girl. It's no small wonder that she was catatonic at the time. On top of hearing her best friend die, she was struggling with having such an immense amount of power suddenly thrust upon her. She had basically shut down most of her mind as a result, placing herself in a state of semi-suspended animation. She seemed like a walking zombie when I first saw her. Her only relief was the fact that you were able to telepathically place mental blocks on her power, bringing them down to a more manageable level that she could begin to handle."
"Now look at these." Moira said, as she cued up a second set of power readings from Jean, "These are results that Jean sent to me from Westchester, after she returned from helping to stop Magneto on Liberty Island. The first chart shows her power levels when she's not using them. They are virtually identical to her chart as a child. But this is what had her, and me, worried."
Moira cued up another graphic, and Professor Charles Xavier could not believe what he was seeing with his own two eyes.
"Good Lord!" Charles exclaimed, "Those readings run straight off of the chart."
"Indeed, this second graphic shows Jean pushing her telepathic and telekinetic powers beyond the normal boundaries that she usually stayed within. The mental blocks on her powers that you had placed in her mind all of those years ago were still there, helping her to control her abilities. But the blocks had started to erode, and while they still allowed her to maintain her focus while using her powers, her powers themselves were increasing exponentially. She desperately wanted to know why she was losing control. She told me that she feared she was a walking nuclear explosion, just waiting to happen." Moira finished informing him.
"Why did she keep this a secret from the rest of us?" Charles inquired.
"She wanted to be sure about the facts, before she upset the rest of ye. If your mental blocks were'nae working anymore, she didn't know how she was going to maintain control much longer. But, that whole mess at Alkali Lake happened before I had the chance to confirm with her what she believed." Moira replied.
"And what is your confirmation?" Charles asked.
"That given enough time, Jean may have had access to unimaginable power, the likes of which no mutant has ever possessed before." Moira said as she took off her glasses and looked at Charles, who was sitting and still looking at the read-outs on the monitor.
Professor Xavier realized, for the first time, the desperation that Jean must have been feeling inside. He better understood the decision that she made on that fateful day at Alkali Lake. It was a decision to protect those that Jean loved, more than life itself, from the danger that she believed her powers were beginning to pose…
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Decisions Part II coming soon…