Alex had finally woken up forty-five minutes after they took off. Hank assured Lorna that he'd be fine. The needles had penetrated deep into his muscles though. He'd be sore for days and probably not walk right for a few months. The same time table had been given for the full use of his powers. Still, it was better than him being dead.
They'd called on the way to the school. Moira had answered and then ran over to get Scott. Alex's little brother had been beside himself for the days that they'd been gone. Lorna was holding his hand so she had been there for the whole conversation. The plane was also rather small and there wasn't anywhere else to go.
Charles had taken the plane's phone and put it next to Alex so he could be better understood.
"Hey boy scout," Alex had rasped into the phone.
"Alex, they told me you were missing!" said Scott.
"Just some bad guys with some attitude problems," said Alex, "Nothing to worry about. It was kind of like James Bond."
Lorna had snorted. Alex's false show of bravado was just as endearing as it was irritating. It was okay to be weak sometimes, as he'd shown in the kitchen. There was nothing wrong with that. Still, he had obviously decided that he was going to be Scott's rock. Heaven knew he needed one.
"Let me on the phone!" she heard Rahne say.
"Wait your turn!" Scott snapped.
"Well I wanna talk to Lorna!" insisted Rahne, "You've already talked to Alex. It's my turn."
"Hey," Lorna said, "One at a time okay?"
"You're fine Lorna!" sang Rahne.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Good, you know she's fine. Now I get to talk to Alex!"
"Both of you need to go to bed," came Moira's voice, "It's nearly eleven. I'll wake you up when they get here if you go to sleep now."
"Awww!" they both chorused.
"Night Lorna," Rahne said.
"Night Rahne."
"You hang in there boy scout," Alex said, "I'm coming home."
"I'll be waiting for you," said Scott.
Charles pushed himself over and took the phone. He started murmuring into it as he wheeled away. Lorna looked at the other side of the ship where Erik sat with Azazel and Mystique. She smiled tentatively at him and he returned the gesture. For the first twenty minutes of thier voyage he'd held her shaking form, stroking her hair. It was only going to make things more difficult. As soon as they landed she knew that he was going to have to leave. She also knew that he was going to want her to go with him.
The way he'd held her after she rushed into his arms left no doubt in her mind that he loved her. Lorna had never been one to turn her back on love. With her mother dead she had no family other than the man across from her on the plane. There was so much she could learn from him and she was sure that she could teach him some things too. What's more she was sure that they could actually be a family.
At the same time he was going to try to destroy the world order. He'd called the good humans pinpricks of light. It was one or the other. There was no such thing as coexistence. Who was it going to be; them or him? There wasn't another option to him. She didn't know if she believed that.
"We're touching down outside of the school," said Hank.
The moment she'd been dreading arrived. They touched down and Hank went over to assist Alex. She waved off any offers of assistance for herself. What happened next was going to be between her and her father. Lorna didn't want anybody intruding on that small sphere because she needed help standing. No one was going to be embarrassed because they were included in conversations they shouldn't have to be.
Together X-men and members of the Brotherhood walked off the plane. Lorna knew that they weren't going to walk back onto it. Soon they separated. She noticed how the X-men and the Brotherhood seemed to form lines. Even she had subonciously done it; standing between the Professor and Alex. Vaguely she was reminded of chess pieces, each lining up before the game began.
She stepped forward. Her father did too, allowing them to meet in the middle. She swallowed tears and smiled at him.
"Thank you for coming for me," said Lorna, "I…to see you there after everything…you have no idea what that meant."
"You're my daughter," he said, "Of course I came for you."
He put his hand on her shoulder. Lorna dipped her head, allowing her green hair to cover her face briefly. Erik put a hand under her chin and lifted it up.
"Lorna, I'm going to have to go now," he said, "My place is not at the mansion, not at this school. It's not with this fantasy of coexistence."
She nodded.
"I thought that might be the case," she said, "I know you and the Professor don't see eye to eye."
"We did once," said Erik, "But time goes by."
Lorna nodded again.
"Lorna," he said, "A few days ago you told me that you would come with me. I don't hold you to that. I lied to you."
Erik sighed.
"I lied because I thought you might leave," he said, "But now you know the truth. Know also that I still wish for you to come with me. You're my daughter; no matter what I want you by my side."
"I know that," said Lorna, feeling the tears build up in her eyes, "I…I don't blame you. And I still love you."
Erik smiled and kissed her on the forehead.
"Thank you for your understanding and forgiveness," he said, "I wish I didn't have to pressure you into a decision, but there isn't much choice at the moment. I'm leaving now, and I need to know if you're coming with me."
Lorna bit her lip. She looked behind her. Standing behind her she saw Sean who could fly and fight but was too scared to tell the girl he loved that he was a mutant. His awkwardness was something she was sure he'd grow out of, but his lack of confidence was troubling. Deep down she felt that he'd have to find some soon. Even if she ended up leaving him then it would be Maeve, who seemed like a good girl, who lost. And she felt Maeve was too smart to let Sean go.
Next to him was Hank. Hank, who had tried to cure himself. Instead he had enhanced his mutation. The price of learning to accept himself had been paid for dearly. Yet, he tried to make sure that no one else had to pay that same price. He was a scientific genius who wanted to spread his wings, yet stay in the shadows. In many ways he was just as insecure as Sean. In others he had left them all behind, including the Professor.
Leaning on him was Alex. She thought she might love him, there was no way to know for sure at seventeen. He looked at her with bleary blue eyes that had undergone so much with her. Though he was young he had taken responsibility for his brother. He'd undergone torture and experimentation, and remained unbroken. For his age he was the strongest boy she'd ever seen. Lorna had no doubt that he'd grow into the strongest man she'd ever know in a few years.
Then there was the spot that she herself had vacated. In her mind flashed the day when she first came to the school, sitting next to Rahne the whole way, curious about Hank but too polite to ask. Lorna remembered looking up at Alex through the haze of the pool, being measured for her uniform as an X-man. There were the days when she couldn't understand calculus, and when the others had helped her learn to control her powers.
And at the end of the line was Charles, the Professor. His understanding nature and compassion were remarkable. He had taken in Lorna and Rahne without a glimmer of hesitation. Charles was, in a way, family. Moira wasn't just Rahne's family after all. By proxy she was also Lorna's family. She had snatched her out of the jaws of Stryker and into the safety of the school. It was there that she'd found acceptance and her ability to change the world.
Charles saw her looking and gave a sad smile.
"Whatever you do," he said, "Don't stay because you feel obligated."
Lorna turned to her father. She took his hands in hers and looked him straight in the eyes.
"Dad, you've helped me understand so much about myself," she said, "And I want us to be a family."
He gave her an even look. Lorna didn't dare look behind her at that moment.
"When I asked you why you and my mother didn't stay together," she said, "you told me that it was because the two of you were going down different roads."
Swallowing she forced herself to continue to look at his eyes.
"And, no matter what either you or I want, the same is happening with us," said Lorna, "Dad, I love you. But I can't follow you. Not down the path you've chosen."
The shock and hurt on his face made her want to take her words back. Yet, she couldn't. She had meant them. It just made it that much harder to let go of his hands. Still looking him in the eyes she stepped back so that she filled in the gap in the line she'd left when she went to him.
Erik watched her. Beneath his cape she saw one of his hands clench into a fist.
"They tortured you so they could take his energy!" he said.
"Yes," she said, her voice low, "but so many more haven't."
He glared up at the sky, his face contorted.
"So this is where you stand?" asked Erik, "Protecting those that fear you?"
Lorna nodded. He put his fist up to his mouth and she thought she saw tears in his eyes.
"Then you've made your decision," he said.
She watched as he turned around and stood by Mystique. Tears were flowing freely down her face as he joined hands with her and Azazel. There was a flash of black smoke and he was gone. Lorna sank to her knees and sobbed openly. Hands were placed on her back, those of Charles, Hank, Alex, and Sean. They were the path she'd chosen, and they stood by her. Despite the compassion that flowed from the gesture, it didn't ease the pain.