Ororo pulled her thin, black hoodie closer to her lithe frame as she stepped into the chill of late October in New York. She inhaled a breath of air that carried with it the sensuous fragrance of burning leaves. Although leaf burning was illegal in their county, the headmistress of the Xavier School would never call the police on anyone who participated in the activity, simply because she loved the thick, intoxicating aroma. In any case, the human police had pretty much stopped responding to the calls placed to them from inside the mansion.

"They're mutants; chances are they can handle anything that comes their way. Anyhow, we probably aren't equipped to deal with whatever kind of messes they might get into anyway." Ororo could just picture the fat deputies sitting at their desks eating donuts and uttering those very words, and it made her blood boil. At times, she couldn't help but think that perhaps, as warped as his actions and methods may have been, Magneto's general opinion about the human race was a fairly accurate one. When she got ideas like this, Ororo panicked.

"I'm the headmistress of a school founded by a man who wanted to teach people like himself to control their powers and use them to co-exist with and assist mankind," she reminded herself, "The same man who practically raised me and taught me almost everything that I know. I'm trying to be his legacy, to teach these children as he did. I shouldn't have opinions that clash so greatly with his."

She sighed and bit her lower lip. Her goal had been to head towards the cemetery and lay on the ground in front of Charles's grave; as she did every time that she'd had an incredibly stressful day and felt that she wanted to give it all up. She liked to think that, by meditating near his grave, she would absorb some of his strength of spirit, but now, she couldn't face him, so she turned the other way, deciding to take a stroll through the gardens instead.

Ororo thought that she should spend some time in the gardens, anyway. It would be winter soon, and all of the flowers would wither and die. The fountains would freeze, the grass would turn brown and be covered with snow, and there'd be nothing at all to see. Might as well enjoy it while it lasted.

She just hoped that she wouldn't find any students in there participating in…non-school-approved "extracurricular activities." Ororo liked to think that the school was not so much a breeding grounds for teen sex and various other illegal activities now that her generation of students were grown and had gotten up the nerve to share with the Professor all of the things that they used to do while under his tutelage. He'd laughed at most of their exploits, remembering his teenage days, but still, he'd encouraged the teachers to watch more closely, and, on the whole, they had been amazed at all of the things that they had caught when actually watching for them.

Ororo had never been able to bring herself to tell Charles of what she and Hank had done together. Of course, he knew that the two had been a couple for a brief period of time, but, somehow, she blushed every time she thought of telling her father figure that she had blown any boy, much less the valedictorian of their graduating class, right there behind the hedges that she was currently walking past.

The only person that Ororo had ever told of her early sexual exploits had been Jean, after the other woman had confessed to sleeping with Scott. She was sure that Jean had told her boyfriend at one point or another, but neither of them had ever told anyone else, that she knew of, and Jean only mentioned it in jest.

"Hank," she thought of him with affection, shaking her head as she passed what used to be "their bench." The bench where the two would come to smoke and make out in the middle of the night, or just be together and talk…the bench where she had let him go right before graduation, told him that it would be best if they would no longer see each other. The bench upon which he had slapped her right across the face after getting enraged at her refusal to take him back, and where he'd held her for nearly an hour after their graduation ceremony the following day, apologizing over and over again for his bout of anger and mistreatment of her.

"You loved me so dearly, Hank, and I broke your heart right in half," thought Ororo, "I deserved to be slapped for the way that I treated you." She knew that this was the truth, but also that breaking up with him had been right, if not for herself, then for him. Hank had never truly needed her; he'd only believed so.

"I'd like to have him over for Christmas," she thought, remembering so much of the past; the holidays that they used to spend together at the school. Another memory came flooding back to her all too suddenly. The first time they'd seen each other since graduation day; four years later when he'd returned to New York from college. She had been sitting with Professor Xavier and Scott in his office, the two former students having a talk with their mentor about the events of the days to come. Ororo's left hand, clasped nervously in Scott's right one, had been shaking because the Xavier Institute's school year started again in only two days, and, for the first time, she and Scott would both be in front of their respective classes instead of behind desks.

Hank had been welcomed at first, shaking hands with both Scott and the Professor, but ignoring Ororo completely. His actions had disheartened her so much that she'd moved away from the three men and taken Charles's window seat; anything to get as far away from him as she could. Still, she paid close attention to their conversation. She listened raptly as Hank explained to his former teacher that, although he still felt a deep connection to the school, and, yes, while he had undergone X-Men training, he thought that his skills would be put to better use if he were to become a doctor, specifically, a geneticist.

Oh, the men had been furious. Charles had buried his face in his hands, lamenting upon how direly Hank was needed as a part of the group, how he had trained all of them to be a team, and now the team was being broken up. On the other hand, Scott had been enraged, yelling violently at his former roommate and getting up from his chair with balled fists.

"Oh, my friend, you do not want to get into this with me," Hank had warned, but this only provoked Scott to move forward as the other man's mutation came through, his brown hair turning blue and his handsome features changing to those of a fearsome beast. Before Scott's fist could make contact with Hank's face, he grabbed it and twisted it, then let out a mighty roar and yelled, "I don't have to deal with this!" before exiting the office.

Ororo followed, running after him as he stalked through the halls like an animal on the prowl. She called his name over and over again, until finally he turned around, revealing to her the fact that he was changing back into human form.

"What the Hell do you want?" he asked gruffly, provoking tears to spring to her eyes.

"I…I just wanted to say that…I'm happy for you," she replied sadly, "That I think that the path you've chosen is the right one for you, the one that I always wanted to see you go down. I'm proud of you, Hank."

He had leapt forward to pull her into his arms, and she sighed deeply against his chest as he pressed her into his body.

"Thank you. It means a lot to me that at least one of you isn't infuriated at my decision," he said.

"Charles and Scott? They'll come around. We'll all learn to adapt to not having you as part of the team, and, eventually, they will learn to be as proud of you and your accomplishments as I am. Just give them time," she assured him.

"I hope so," he sighed, "This place has become my only home; I don't know how I'll hold up knowing that I can't come back here."

"You'll come back. We X-Men…it's what we do. You were an X-Man once; this place is part of your soul," she told him, and he nodded.

"You're right," Hank admitted, "So take care of it for me, Ororo. But most importantly, take care of yourself." He let her go and began to walk away, towards the staircase leading to the front door.

"You, too, Hank," she shouted back after him, "You, too."

A voice shouting her name brought Ororo back to the present day with a start. She turned to see Kitty Pryde running towards her, waving her hands.

"Ms. Munroe," she said urgently when she reached the headmistress.

"Kitty, what are you doing out without a coat?" Ororo asked, "You'll freeze!"

"Oh, I'm going back inside in just a minute. Anyway, Logan told me to get out here and find you as soon as I could. He's in your office, said he had something really important to talk to you about…and…uhh…" the girl hesitated at the last part.

"What else did he tell you, Kitty?" demanded Ororo.

"He said to tell you that he's serious and you need to come quick, 'cause 'I ain't bullshittin' her,'" said Kitty, imitating Logan's accent on the last part. The headmistress stifled a giggle, keeping her face a smooth and serene mask.

"All right, then, I suppose I'll rush to my office to see what's so urgent that he has to interrupt my afternoon relaxation hour," she said in annoyance, "Now, you get back inside, and find a jacket next time you come out."

"OK, Ms. Munroe," the girl replied, walking off.

xXx

Logan paced the floor of Ororo's office, slapping the note held in his right hand against the palm of his left. "Oh, for Christ sakes, what's taking her so long?" he asked himself. Just then, he heard the door open, and turned to see Ororo walking through it, dressed more casually than he'd ever seen her before, in a pair of bootcut jeans, a black hoodie, and black Chuck Taylors, her hair slightly rumpled from the autumn breeze. Along with her usual scent of sandalwood and vanilla, the headmistress carried with her the wild tang of the outdoors, and Logan's nostrils flared as the mingled smells assaulted his nose.

"Logan, what's so important that you had to interrupt my free time?" she asked, her tone carrying with it only the slightest hint of anger, "Goddess, when Kitty came to me, she was practically panicking! What's going on?"

"Read this," he said, thrusting the neatly folded piece of paper that he held towards her, "A group of ninth graders found it about an hour ago taped to the front door. They looked like they were about to have a heart attack when they brought it to me. Take a look at it and you'll see why."

Ororo gave him a look of confusion, but opened the note and scanned it. Her eyes grew wide and she looked up at Logan, who nodded.

"Oh, Goddess," she whispered, her eyes growing wide and her hands losing their grip on the note, which fluttered to the floor, landing face up so that it's message was in plain sight:

Mutants are a blemish on the face of the earth; a plague. This school is a breeding grounds for corruption, and it is time to cleanse the world of your evil.