Even as one generation of students were gathered together on the grass, the previous generation had also grouped together and were preparing to head off back towards the school.

"Just a minute, you guys," they heard Cyclops' voice from behind them.

The teenagers turned, and the headmaster surveyed the group for a second. Atlas, his hair hanging wild and unkempt around his shoulders, had his arm gently round the slim waist of Gemini: Pyro's foster daughter, with blue eyes and her dark hair reaching her waist, wearing as usual her light blue summer dress, her hand touching Atlas' shoulder and playing with his hair. Vertigo, who kept his hair cropped close to his skull, standing in his usual slouching stance, if indeed it was possible to slouch against thin air. Beside him, adopting much the same posture, stood Chronos: small, red-haired, pale-faced, his eyes on Gemini.

"I'd like to see all of you in my office some time this evening," said Scott. "There's something I'd like to ask you."

"What?" asked Gemini.

"You'll find out this evening."

Scott left them, and the teenagers exchanged a few glances.

"Hey, a mystery," said Vertigo sarcastically. "How exciting…"

He wasn't sure whether or not Cyclops was fully out of earshot – nor did he particularly care.

"What do you think it's about?" said Chronos.

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No."

"He's going to ask us to become X-Men."

Gemini blinked, "Are you serious?"

"Yes. This is my serious face."

"How do you know he's going to ask that?"

"I overheard him and Storm talking. Besides, they're not going to let us hang around here as students forever, are they?"

"Are you sure that's what he wants to ask us?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I dunno…I just thought my dad might have said something, if that was what Cyclops had in mind."

Vertigo shrugged, "Well, for me it'll be probably be a case of 'Join up or shove off"."

"Why do you say that?" asked Chronos.

Gemini answered, "Because he's 19 now, hasn't attended a class in over a year, and doesn't even do anything useful to justify getting free food and lodging."

"Hey, I teach the kids self defence…sometimes…occasionally…" Vertigo reminded her.

"Yeah, like, when you can be bothered."

"True. And Cyclops has complained to me before that I don't do enough to earn my keep. I get the feeling I can't smooth-talk my way out of it much longer."

"So if you don't join them, they're gonna kick you out?" Chronos asked.

Gemini snorted, "Can you blame them?"

"What are you going to do?"

"Dunno," said Vertigo. "I haven't really thought about it. It's just – oh, I dunno – I just can't see it. I mean, me joining the X-Men. You know what I mean?"

"Well…"

"He means he has problems with words like: dedication; responsibility; commitment…" Gemini said.

"She's right, I don't even know what those words mean…" said Vertigo lazily. "I don't want Cyclops to offer me something using words I don't know the meaning of."

"What about us?" said Chronos. "Will we get kicked out too?"

"Nah," said Atlas. "We're not 18 yet. I think that's the cut-off point. Vertigo's managed to drag it out an extra year, somehow."

"Yeah," said Vertigo. "You guys can at least fob him off for another year. Or two, in Chronos' case."

"Maybe we don't want to fob him off," Gemini retorted. "Maybe we'll accept his offer."

"I bet your dad would love that…"

She bristled, "My dad will respect any decision I make concerning my own life!"

"Oh, sure. Pyro will be absolutely ecstatic to see his pretty little daughter all dressed in black and out there fighting against the forces of evil, to save the humans…"

"Why should that bother him? He doesn't hate the humans any more."

"I refuse to believe that."

"Believe it," the girl said. "Ask him yourself."

"So what about the Brotherhood?"

"The Brotherhood's over, man," Atlas said.

"I won't believe that either."

Gemini laughed, "Like I said, ask my dad. He'll tell you himself. The Brotherhood is over. He doesn't care any more."

"Why not?" said Chronos.

"Because he's realised there are more important things in life. And I've finally found a boyfriend he approves of…"

Atlas smiled and gave Gemini a gentle and affectionate squeeze. Vertigo looked at them, his arms folded, his face unreadable as always, and drawled, "So you think the Brotherhood's dead just because Pyro doesn't want to lead it any more?"

"Uh-huh," said Gemini. "Well, that and the fact that it has, like, no members, no base, no objectives…need I go on? It's in the past. We've moved on now, all of us."

"Yeah, none of us hates the humans any more," said Atlas.

"Really? After everything they've done?" Vertigo asked.

"There is such a thing as forgiveness," Gemini answered. "You can't hate a person forever just because of something they did years ago."

She looked Vertigo straight in the eye as she said this, and his eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. Neither Atlas nor Chronos noticed, but even if they had, neither of them would have realised the significance. Everyone knew there was history between Vertigo and Gemini, but nobody except the girl's father knew exactly what it was.

"Forgiveness? You've been reading the Bible again, haven't you?" was his eventual response.

Any reply Gemini might have made was forestalled by the sudden arrival of the five children. Aged between eight and ten, the youngsters appeared on the scene without warning, all talking at once and clamouring for the teenagers' attention. Each of them was excitedly describing their experiences of the stealth exercise in the forest, and the thread of the original conversation was lost. Soon Gemini was being dragged off towards the school by the three young girls, who wanted to show her something they'd found in a magazine. Then the two boys – Turtle and Icarus – began dragging Atlas away in the opposite direction. They'd discovered a patch of weird-looking mushrooms, and they wanted to know whether or not they were poisonous. Vertigo and Chronos found themselves alone.

"What you said just then," said the red-haired Scottish boy. "You really think someone might restart the Brotherhood?"

Vertigo shrugged, "Dunno. Nothing's impossible."

"Gemini did have a point, you know. There's nothing left from the old days."

"How would you know? You weren't even there."

"I know I wasn't. But still – you have to agree that's a problem."

Vertigo said nothing, and Chronos sensed that the conversation was over. The older boy started walking back to the school, and Chronos followed him.

"You can't stop looking at Gemini, can you?" Vertigo said suddenly.

Chronos gave a start, and tried to hide his surprise, "Wh – what are you talking about?"

"Come on. You spend half your life staring at her."

"I do not."

A sigh, "You really don't know how to lie convincingly, do you?"

"You're trying to say you don't fancy her?" Chronos tried to rally.

A laugh, "No, I burnt that bridge a long time ago."

"But you stare at her too. I've seen you."

"There's nothing wrong with appreciating beauty…" came Vertigo's lazy response. "Even if it only exists on the surface…"