There was no time for pain
No energy for anger
The sightlessness of hatred
slips away
Walking through winter streets
alone
He stops and take a breath
With confidence and self-
control

Ororo Munroe had gone for a late wander round the extensive grounds of the mansion. Sometimes, when she couldn't sleep, she tended to her gardens. More recently, she had talked to the Professor, Jean and Scott. Such great listeners they were. Then again, a granite headstone and an eternal lamp shouldn't be expected to speak.

I look at the world and see no
understanding
I'm waiting to find some sense
of strength
I'm begging you from the
bottom of my heart to show
me understanding

She had been waiting, and begging, until she had given up on both, and made her own way in the world. She had found no strength, except for that which she didn't know she possessed. Understanding for mutants was in pitifully short supply. Then she had met the Professor, and suddenly, it hadn't seemed too bad.

I need to live life
Like some people never will
So find me kindness
Find me beauty
Find me truth
When temptation brings me to
my knees
And I lay here drained of
strength
Show me kindness
Show me beauty
Show me truth

The Professor had risen to the challenge magnificently. His kindness: Sponsoring her to go to a teaching college, then giving her a teaching job at the mansion, imparting his dreams, wisdom and knowledge to the younger generations.

Beauty: horticulture. The gardens and grounds were hers to do with as she pleased. She had reveled in the freedom granted to her by the plants. Her abilities as a weather witch allowed her to make the greenery flourish.

Lastly, and most importantly, Truth. His truth that mutants would one day be accepted, respected and cherished for their gifts. It was still a long way off, but she had seen enough small miracles in her time at the Institute to put off her doubts. Take, for instance, Logan. The feral Canadian had been rescued from Sabertooth, and everyone thought that he was just a pain in the proverbial for the next few days while he healed. But then Rogue had disappeared, and he had been the one to find her, and try to bring her back. He'd given her his healing ability to bring her back from the edge of death on top of the Statue of Liberty.

The way your heart sounds
makes all the difference
It's what decides if you'll endure
the pain that we all feel
The way your heart beats
makes all the difference
In learning to live
Here before me is my soul
I'm learning to live
I won't give up
Till I've no more to give

She had made that promise to the Professor, the day Hank had visited the Institute with the news of the "cure". He had said that he wanted her to carry on his dream when he was gone. She had protested, knowing full well that she was the second in command to Scott, not just in the X-Men, but also in the school's hierarchy. He had explained his decision, and his faith in her was deeply touching.

Listening to the city
Whispering its violence
I set out watching from above
The Nineties bring new questions
New solutions to be found
I fell in love to be let down

Post-human? Mutant? What was the correct term in this politically-correct world? It wasn't just the Nineties, though, but carrying on through to the new millennium. The Professor had tried to provide a solution to the many people who needed one, even if it was just a roof over their heads and warm food on the table. Anyone with a mutant ability, young and old, rich or poor, male or female, it didn't matter.

Once again we dance in the
crowd
At times a step away
From a common fear that's all
spread out
It won't listen to what you say
Once you're touched you stand
alone
To face the bitter fight
Once I reached for love
And now I reach for life

She had first hand knowledge of the fear. As soon as she revealed herself to be a mutant to non-mutants, there had been the difference. It had ranged from slight, verbal digs and pokes, to the overt, physical aggression.

She knew people who had had to deal with this kind of behavior on more than one level. Bobby had come to her, a few days after Alkali lake, and asked her why people hated differences. She had first thought he had been talking about Stryker at Alkali Lake, but then he told her about his parents and brother in Boston, and what had happened. They would not welcome him home again soon. It was this kind of treatment that really saddened her.

Another chance to lift my life
Free the sensation in my heart
To ride the wings of dreams
into changing horizons
It brings inner peace within my
mind,
As I'm lifted from where I've
spilt my life
I hear an innocent voice
I hear kindness, beauty and
truth

Kurt. There was another one who was innocent in all this. The attack on the last President could not be counted because he was the unwilling pawn of Stryker, hoping to engineer a war between human and mutant. She had had many talks with him after the Lake, and she had found him to be an anodyne. He would listen to her, debate with her, and then, when she thought she had won, he offered a totally new point of view that always left her thinking for at least an hour afterwards. In his own way, he too was kindness, truth and beauty.

The way your heart sounds
makes all the difference
It's what decides if you'll endure
the pain that we all feel
The way your heart beats
makes all the difference
In learning to live
Spread before you is your soul
So forever hold the dreams
within our hearts
Through nature's inflexible
grace
I'm learning to live

And that was what it came down to, in the end. Nature giving them gifts, and then making them adjust to the gifts, and the response to these gifts from everyone else. They all had to learn to live with these gifts, and there was no way that she would deny others the right to learn, especially when she had the tall granite column in the garden to remind her of what she had learned.

No, Ororo Munroe would keep the school open, and damn the doubters.