X-Men: Fate

Stardust Crusader

She remembered dying. At least, she thought she did.

She was there. She existed one minute, and then the next, she was gone.

!

"I can't believe you're leaving," Aimi had said.

"When your family's in the military," she had told her, matter-of-factly, "your life is full of goodbyes."

She and Aimi had hugged. Aimi had been in tears.

!

She felt she lived many lives. She moved here and there. Every time she began again.

!

"I can show you around if you'd like," Reth had said. "If not, I can be that friendly face in the crowd. I'll be here for you."

"Why?" She had curiously asked him "Just because I'm new?"

"Yeah," Reth had said. "No one should be alone. I've been there before. In a new place."

"Who are you?" She had asked him.

"I'm Reth," he had introduced himself. "And you are?'

!

She asked herself that question on so many occasions. Who am I. I am…

Christian or Muslim.

Gay or Straight.

Lover or Friend.

Human or Mutant.

!

"I'm Tess," she had introduced herself.

!

After she died, Tess decided, vowed, that if she ever got a second chance, she'd be whatever, whoever, she wanted to be.

She didn't die. She got a second chance.

!

"This isn't goodbye," Aimi had told Tess. "I promise. We'll see each other again." She had smiled after wiping away her tears.

"Tess," Reth had said. "I like it. I hope, from this day forward, you consider me someone you can rely on."

!

"Renegade! Obsidian!" A voice called out to them. This voice, while unfamiliar to everyone else, drew Renegade and Obsidian's attention. They both recognized it. "You both need to take your teams and leave. Now." The stranger, standing overhead masked and uniformed, looked upon them.

"Who is this bitch," Nova demanded of no one in particular.

"Leave," Sparrow questioned no one in particular. "Why would we do that?"

"Sounds like she wouldn't have said it if she didn't think they'd listen," Tenebrae said.

"She knows them," Phantom said. "More importantly, they do know her."

Reth shook his head while he stared at her. Aimi held her hand to her chest while she began to cry.

A woman in red, scarlet to be exact, stepped up behind her.

"Stardust," the woman called her this.

"They'll listen," Stardust said. "Just wait." She removed her mask.

"Tess…" Reth breathed.

"Oh shit," Adrian said, looking from Reth to Tess. "That's her?"

"Tess…" Aimi whispered.

"You're fucking kidding me," Lupita shouted, looking from Aimi to Tess back to Aimi. "She's alive?"

"Go," Tess instructed. "Now. I'll meet with you again. Soon. I'll explain myself."

"We are not leaving," Reva told Tess.

"We are," Reth said. He didn't take his eyes off Tess.

"Vote," Reva said, turning her attention on him before she turned it on Adrian. "And don't vote with him just because you two are together."

"I wouldn't," Adrian said, "but I'm voting with him on this one. Because of who's with her. Scarlet Witch."

Reth and Tess' eyes met for a brief moment.

"She's not someone we want as an enemy," Adrian said.

"And if she's with Tess," Reth said, "we have space and time to maneuver. Let's go."

Reva was lost, but she saw the impact Scarlet Witch had on Adrian and Stardust had on Reth. They needed to regroup. She nodded in agreement.

"All right," Reva said. Where were Shadowcat and Gambit? She didn't want to admit it, but Scarlet Witch probably wasn't someone they could face on their own in their current state.

"We're not going," Lupita said directly too Tess, "anywhere."

"I think we're done here," Leon told Lupita. "Even if you aren't, she is."

Lupita looked back to Leon, and they looked to Aimi. Aimi looked a mix of relieved and distraught: not in a state to fight or try to contain a former Brotherhood member and her unknown companion.

"We'll let Mistress know," Leon said, "and she'll tell us what she wants us to do."

"All that matters is that she isn't dead," Aimi said. "Mistress isn't here, witnessing this. She might need our support." Psylocke was probably engaged in battle with a veteran X-Men member.

Tess watched both teams leave: Reth pulled away by Tenebrae and Aimi moved from the area by Phantom.

"I know you wouldn't lie to me," Scarlet Witch said, "but I am surprised. I didn't expect them to leave: just like that at your word."

"They loved me," Tess said. "They still do."

"Are they going to be a problem?" Scarlet Witch asked her.

"Yes," Tess said, "but we want them to be."