I was comfortable. The warm soft sheets snuggled around my body. My eyes cracked open for a moment, but after seeing that the sun wasn't even awake yet, I rolled back over and closed them again. Quickly I fell back asleep in the peace of the early morning.

But sadly, that peace didn't last, at all.

My bedroom door swung open with a loud BANG! And the sound of excited thumping little feet ran straight over to my bed. That was when I realized I wasn't going to get anymore sleep.

"Bucky! Bucky! Get up! Get up!" Squealed the young high-pitched voice of Shawnen, as he jumped up and down on my bed.

"Shawnen!" I called out trying not get crushed, "Shawnen! Stop!"

Like the little rascal that the young boy was, he did stop jumping surprisingly, but in doing so he landed right on top of me, and stayed there. A cheeky smile painted across his face.

I groaned deeply upon his impact with the rest of me, before taking a deep breath, "What time is it? The sun isn't even up?"

"5:00," Shawnen said, as he thankfully got off of me.

"5:00? What are you doing up at five?" I rolled myself up.

"It's Opening Day we got a lot to do! So, come on!" He started yanking on my arm.

I laughed, "Okay, okay, just let me put on my arm!"

I attached my arm on (I found that sleeping with it detached was more comfortable) and secured it with the harness, that went across my shoulders. I barely had the time to get dressed (blue jeans, and a red green t-shirt), before Shawnen dragged me out of the room. The over energic boy had taken a liking to me. I guess I could understand why, though. While, Shawnen had many siblings, his brothers and sisters didn't really have the same energy or interests as he did. Not to mention, three of them were now working adults. So, the boy kind of latched on to me, as an honorary brother.

We tumbled down the stairs, and the first floor was practically in chaos. Music was playing and people were rushing around. Though it was clear that they were separated into too different groups.

Christin, Sable and Arrow were working in the kitchen. Clearly not just cooking breakfast, but enough for a feast, if Arrow's state was anything to judge by. The mutant girl had one black caste iron pan on her head, two more in her hands, and finally one on the upper knee of her crossed legs. I had a hard time stifling a laugh at the sight.

Arrow caught me and turned her head, "Don't laugh, we needed an extra stove!"

"Row! Don't move! You've got a pot of boiling oil on your head!" Christin nearly shouted.

The second group, consisted of Kate and the rest of Christin's brood. They were all crowded around the dining table, which was covered in decorations, and honestly, they looked like they were going over battle plans to me.

Kate looked up at me, "Bucky you're with us for today," she said.

I nodded before joining them. We were the decorating and set up crew. Our job that morning was to make sure everything was prepped for the party, and Kate took this very, seriously. She had all of our jobs and tasks planned down the step. And honestly, I didn't think we would get everything done. Christin's property was huge, room for large orchards, crop fields, camp grounds, and even some space of just normal forest.

But once again, these guys had a few tricks up their sleeves. Jenette made putting up the decorations look easy with her shape shifting. As an eagle, she could fly back and forth to pin up streamers in seconds. And with the weird posts that they were setting up with the help of a small hook on a string, she could place those were needed too.

Shawnen was on deliveries of supplies or anything else that needed to get done. The reason as to why was pretty self-explanatory. The kid could practically run around the entire property with in a quarter of an hour. Kate had given him a small headset, that allowed anyone to connected him if needed.

Taiga's powers were stronger than I had previously thought. He managed to decorate the entire, house, and yard in beautiful jet black and sea blue flowers. All he needed was a hand full of seeds and his abilities.

Honestly, I was kind of super at this point too. My prosthetic was just like Mara Jean had said 'quite a bit stronger'. I didn't realize how much stronger she had meant. Even with the harness (a strap that crossed over my torso and clipped around my opposite shoulder), which lowered my mobility, I could do things that hadn't been able too before (the number of apples I had squished was slowly climbing). Sure, I really shouldn't have been pushing myself, but I knew that Taiga would step in if he thought I was going too far.

Speaking of the young doctor, I was hammering in a post, when he came over.

"Alright! That's in deep enough," Taiga said, pulling out some seeds from his pocket.

He sprinkled a few seeds around the base of the post. Taiga practically snapped his fingers, and the vines began to grow up the post. The green strings twisted up the wood, while broad leaves and round flowers popped into existence. Once the poll was consumed the vines reached out and attached themselves to the other flower covered post.

I gently shook my head and disbelief, "I still can't believe that's real."

"Our color choices or my chlorokinesis?" Taiga asked.

"Your powers," I nearly deadpanned, "What would colors have to do with this?"

Taiga tilted his head, "Well, I was under the impression that black was considered a mournful color in the outside world. So, I thought you would think it to be an odd choice for a celebration."

"Well, I haven't been in the outside for a few decades, so you can't really trust my judgement, but it was usually used at funerals. But if you don't mind me asking, if black is supposed to be a 'mournful' color, why pick it?"

"Well, black in mutant culture, doesn't mean sorrow like in most other cultures."

"So, what does it mean then?"

"Black means safety. Our people had hidden in the shadows for generations. The darkness is like a second home. So, black isn't much of a bad thing. Fal'inica, the word of black in chosen tongue, its direct translation into English, is 'the dark shield'."

"So, what about the blue? Even though were technically in USA territory I don't think you guys are too into doing anything too show your appreciation for this country."

Taiga raised a finger, "Whoa, first off don't judge our opinion on the USA, sure the politics and economics aren't the best on the planet, but wait until 4 of July, dad goes all out."

I chuckled.

"As for your question, blue is the color of the ocean, and a long time ago, much like Nexus, our capital city rested on an island. In fact, the word for blue in chosen tongue, casean'lan, is also means 'the sea'. After all of the pain that the outer world inflicted on us, it was our fresh start. It is a color of hope and rebirth.

"Another Part of its meaning comes from deep within our history. Our first queen, the one to unite our people under the first Counseling and established the Mask code, wore a blue dress to her coronation to mark our people's fresh start. So, even today, when we celebrate the start of a good thing, like the birth of a baby or the start of the camp, we use blue."

"That's beautiful."

"Many legends are."

"So, is there any chance I'll get to see this capital?"

Taiga shook his head, "No. No one here has seen it. It's been gone for centuries."

I furrowed my brows, "What happened?"

Taiga shrugged, "Empires fall and raise, it's part of history, and our golden age has long passed."

"I'm sorry," I said.

"It's alright, you had nothing to do with it, and the stories live on."

My walkie-talkie (Kate called them that, but they just looked like small radios to me) started acting up. I grabbed the thing, and fiddled with it for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer. Taiga tried to help me, but the tech was old for him so honestly it took us a few moments. But eventually, we got a screech from the device that made us both flinch.

"Bucky?" came the crackling voice of Kate.

"I'm here," I said.

"I need you down in the ice shed, ASAP."

"Roger that, Bucky out," I cut the call.

Taiga raised a brow.

"What? Old habit," I said.


I found the ice shed easily enough. It was a small brick square shack, resting in a shady spot underneath many of the orchard's trees; probably only one room. No windows what so ever, and only one pale wooden door. Kate was leaning against the wall next to the door.

"About time you got here, I can't move this frozen rock by myself, you know," she said opening the door and gesturing me in.

I followed her inside. The internals of the building were dark, no light other than the sun coming from the open-door way, and the temperature noticeably dropped. Wall to wall were of piles of hay, or some kind of straw. I tilted my head.

"You alright?" Kate asked.

"Uhm, when you said ice shed, I thought…I didn't expect to see a bunch of straw."

Kate laughed, "Well, like everything here things…"

"Aren't always what they seem?"

"Atta boy, you're catching on," she walked up the straw and brushed off some of the golden strands, reveal a cold block of hardened water.

"What?" I asked.

"Yep, every year, we harvest the frozen bits from the lakes on nexus and store it here for our use in case of a power outage and the fridge can't make any. Or for a big event like this. The silver roof reflects light and heat, and the straw insulates the ice."

"You use straw?"

"Yep. Now help me dig this thing out."

I reached out towards the straw, clearing away the strands, "You know, I felt like this place would have like some magical future tech in order to keep this cold, not straw."

She chuckled, "You'd think that wouldn't you, but I've been told that this old shed has been here since Christin's daddy was a little boy. At the time Nexus was still new and didn't have its science division yet, so they had to keep this place cold the old-fashioned way."

"They must have needed a lot of ice for the camps back then."

"No, this wasn't for the camp; it didn't exist yet. Christin and Alice were the ones to start the camp, after they adopted Taiga."

"Then what was this place for? They couldn't possibly need this much ice."

"This was for Christin's daddy, he was a Cryopath, or could control ice and snow. I heard that the summers here were hard on him, so this place was built as a space where he could cool off."

I nodded. Honestly, I could understand that, the heat just continued to worse the longer the summer went on. I couldn't imagine someone with ice powers being comfortable out here.

Eventually, we finished digging the ice block out. It was about three feet, by three feet, by three feet. Kate had me drag it away from the others, but still keep it inside the room.

"Alright, now back up and cover your ears," Kate said, and I obeyed.

The mutant woman stepped behind the ice block and removed her glasses, stuffing them in to her back pocket. Then she screamed. It wasn't loud, per say, but I could still hear it through my hand and servo. It was high pitched and pierced my eardrums. It hurt. But all the pain was forgotten the moment the ice shattered. The glassy material split and cracked, until it was a pile of small, almost identical in shape and size, four-point three-dimensional stars.

My eyes widened.

Kate had stopped screaming, and replaced her glasses, when she gestured for me to uncover my ears.

"Alright, I left a wheel barrel, just out side the door, go grab that for me. I'll answer any of your questions while we load it up," Kate stated.

I nodded quickly and fetched the wheel barrel. The barrel part was covered in some kind of plastic. There wasn't a step on the door, so it was easy for me to roll it in. Me and Kate started to pick up the small stars of ice.

"So, what questions do you have?" Kate chuckled.

"Well, what exactly was that?"

"The range of my vocal cords are much further than the average person's. Allowing me the ability to scream at any volume or pitch I want," She smirked, "I can also sing every song on this whole planet, exactly how the artist did. One the main reasons why I always got the main role in drama class."

"You were an actress?"

"Once upon a time. I love being on the stage. The lights, the music, the rush from getting on the stage. I never had more fun doing anything else."

"Did you perform in Nexus?"

"Oh no, I didn't even know Nexus was a thing until I got Alice's Wedding invitation."

"Then where did you preform?"

"Oh a few little places in the state I grew up in. Mostly in college and high school, and was even my career for a few years."

"High school and College. So, your family was living on the outside?"

"Oh yeah, far away from here actually. Me and Alice were bayou babies. Louisiana."

"So, your clan was part of another Counseling, down there?"

"Oh no, we didn't have a counseling, heck we didn't have a clan. Our family might have had one long ago, but it fell apart. Me and my sister were a special case. A mutant family line completely living on its own, without any sort of Counseling. Clan people call us rogues."

"That name doesn't sound like a complement."

"It's not. Because families like mine, we don't have a counseling, or a way to govern ourselves, so don't usually follow the mask code or don't know about it general."

"Which made you dangerous to them?"

She smirked, and raised a brow, "Now, whose been taking political lessons behind my back?"

"Taiga explained it to me."

"Boy is smart and he loves to talk, just like his mom. To answer your question, yeah, they tend to be wary of us, and our reputation isn't exactly helping."

"Reputation?"

"Most families like mine, eventually, bleed out into the populace. Mutants fall in love with non-mutants, have babies, and in a few generations, whether the next who is kid born has powers or not is as random as reality itself. By then they have lost the family secrets on how to train their kids to cope and accept their powers. Then those kids feel shunned. A lot of them get pick up by crime gangs, or worse get trapped in the system. Doesn't end well for them."

I nodded.

"I should consider myself lucky. My family has managed to only fall in love with other mutants, so far. We haven't lost our secrets, yet."

We finished scooping the ice. This time she manned the wheel barrel, as we headed back to the house. Taiga and everyone else seemed to have finished the decorating. The gardens close to the house were stunning to say the least. Taiga, clearly made all of the flowers shine, somehow, and there were a number of unlit torches that we would probably use later.

Inside of the house, Arrow, Sable and Christin were still working in the kitchen, though now breakfast was finally ready. Of course, there was still a lot of work to do, so breakfast needed to be something quick and portable. Thankfully, Christin has the answer to this, in the form of freshly baked, giant, apricot scones.

"Alright so, Kate what's left on your check list!" Christin asked.

"All decorations and games set up, the only things we haven't done is the buffet set up, and the rest of cabin safety checks. How things on your end?" Kate answered.

"Everything is cooked; the only things that aren't done are the ones that need to freeze or be grilled. Have you heard from Nico yet?"

"Not a peep, but you know him, he won't call unless there's a problem. So, it probably means that the orchards are safe."

"Safe? Safe from what?" I leaned over to Arrow who was sitting next to me.

She swallowed a bite of her scone, "We've had a problem with wild snakes these past couple years."

"Snakes?" I felt my eyes widen.

She nodded, "Copperheads to be exact. With the warming weather they're getting worse every year. In fact, last year we had to postpone the start of camp for a month because we found a nest underneath cabin six."

"So, Nico's has been out there checking for snakes?"

"Or anything else that might pose a problem, but yeah," she took another bite of her scone, and suddenly creased her brows, "Dad! We got people at our door!"

The bell rang throughout the house, "No one, is supposed show up for another two hours. How many?" Christin asked, heading for the front door.

"Three," Arrow said.

"How did you do that?" I asked.

"I sense air pressure. I thought I told you," Arrow answered.

"I didn't really understand what you meant by it."

"It's sort of like echolocation, you know finding things with sound. I just feel, everything that displaces the atmosphere around me. I can literarily feel everyone's breath."

"Sounds over whelming."

"You get used to it."

"Hello everybody!" Sang a feminine voice in cased in a southern accent.

In came walking the McClain clan. Dr. McClain, Mara Jean and Cari, they all came into the room, dressed up in Mutant clothing, and smiles on their faces. Mara Jean seemed partially happy when she greeted Jenette, and Jenette even smiled; it kind of freaked me out.

"Not that's it's not nice to see you Amelia, but why are you here? The party won't start for a while," Christin asked.

"Oh, can't we be early to help out a friend. By the way what do you have to your brother doing?"

"Looking for snakes, why?"

"Are you sure, he ain't looking for children? Because I watched him poke around the cabbage patch," She chuckled.

Christin, rolled his eyes, "You're a better medic than comedian. You know how Nico feels about babies."

"Yeah, it's really weird, considering he had two little rascals of his own once upon a time."

"That was a long time ago, you know how it affected him."

"Alright, alright, I won't make anymore jokes. Now let's get started with this. Girls! Get on the cabin safety checks! Cari with Arrow on the even numbers! Bucky and Mara Jean on the odds! Taiga take your little brothers and sister to get dressed! Jenette go find your uncle! Everyone else with me!" Dr. McClain nearly shouted.


"You see anything?" Mara jean asked.

"No," I placed the mattress covering back on to the cabin bed.

"You sure? Bedbugs can be hard to miss."

"Yep," I paused, "You guys get bed bugs?"

"Not usually, but can't be too careful," She said in singsongy voice, "Those guys are nasty! Got to protect the campers."

"Yeah, I'm sure spraying this place with poison, wouldn't be a good look on you guys."

"Pretty much, but we wouldn't poison the place, we'd burn it down."

I froze, and stared at her. Burn the whole building down? Sure, the cabin was only two rooms, a small bathroom and a main room with two bunkbeds; it was small. An infestation would be that hard to spray for. Burning it down? That seemed extensive.

Mara Jean laughed, "Don't be shocked, we like being dramatic. Besides pesticides don't really work on bedbugs."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"So, how do you get rid of them?"

"Heat. Most effective way to get rid of them."

"Would have been nice to know that," I grumbled, remembering a base that me and Cap were stationed at that had a serious infestation, "How do you use heat?"

"We-well Arrow-warm the room up like an oven and cook them out."

My brows furrowed, "So, if you just heat the room, then why did you say burn the place down?"

"To see your reaction."

There was manic pounding on the cabin's door. I put down the pillow I was checking and walked over to the door. Opening it, I found Shawnen jumping up and down on the doorstep.

"Hey, Shawnen what's…" I didn't get to finish.

"They're here! They're here!" Shawnen shouted, pointing towards the farm house.

I looked up towards the farm house. Cars of every color, yellow and orange buses, and even a large futuristic jet was landing nearby. This event must have been an even bigger than I thought.

"Whoa," I whispered.

Mara Jean came up from behind me, "Look at that! The professor decided to come in style this year."

"Professor?" I turned to her.

"Professor X. He works closely with Uncle Christin, running a school for mutant kids who don't have counselings. Brings his kids over here every summer."


I ended up working on checking people into the camp, once all the safety checks were done with. I was given a clear glass tablet that had list of names on it. All I had to do was ask for people's names and mark them off as here. Which wasn't really that hard, after Mara Jean showed me how.

"So how is it spelled?" I asked.

"Jerigates. j. e. r. i. g. a. t. e. s." the middle-aged man with going grey blond hair.

"Yeah, I got it right here. You're here to drop of your daughter, right?"

"Yes."

"Kid's name is Dawn and she has chromokinesis? Or the ability to control colors…" I raised a brow, what that a real thing?

"Correct. Is this really necessary?"

"Uhm, I'm sorry sir, I've been told this is standard."

"Been told?!"

"Look sir, I'm sorry, I'm new here, and I'm just doing what I was told."

The man huffed, "Well, are we signed in?"

"Yeah."

He walked off.

I sighed, and looked down at the screen. A lot of the parents or teachers that were here weren't in the best mood. I had no idea why. I just tried not to roll my eyes at their rudeness, and get their information.

Suddenly something bumped into my leg, and grabbed it. I stumbled slightly and looked down. Something…no…someone was clinging to the lower half of my leg. A mop of black hair swiveled up, and black doe eyes locked with my blue.

"Black Sheep?" I said in surprise.

A small smile spread across his scarred face, answered my question. Black Sheep then returned to nuzzling my leg. I was confused for a moment or two. But then someone started shouting in our direction.

"Adam! Adam!"

I looked up to see a young woman, maybe a few years my senor. Long ginger curls, coco complexion, and clothed in a pale lilac dress and mask. She ran towards us, still screaming the name. Black Sheep clutched my leg tighter.

"Adam, what are you doing?" She said, "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine. Uhm, who are you?" I asked, noticing Black Sheep shift to stand behind me.

"I'm Adam's Carrier, Amira," she held out her hand.

"Adam?" I raised a brow and shook her hand.

"The little one now clinging to your leg. Which is odd…Actually, now that I think about it, he hasn't really reacted to anyone…Were you on his rescue team?"

"Uh…yeah, but I wasn't really a rescuer."

"Oh," She nodded, and continued to look at Black Sheep confusedly.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No, nothing is wrong. It's just I haven't seen Adam react to someone like this."

"What do you mean?"

"As his carrier it was my job to find his family, or if I couldn't, like in his case, place him with one. He hasn't really reacted to any of the families that are open for adoption right now, so it's been hard to place him," She hummed, "Would you be open to taking him?"

"I'm sorry, what?" I stuttered.

Black Sheep squeaked. I looked down seeing that he was reaching for me. I don't know why, but I reached down and picked him up. He wrapped him arms around my neck, leaned his hand on my shoulder.

"I know that it might be sudden and quite shocking, but he's comfortable enough to smile with you. It's honestly something I haven't seen him do with anyone. We do try to put kids in a home that they feel safe in. Adam seems to feel safe with you."

"I'm not technically a citizen of Nexus."

"Well, considering that you're close with Clan Leader Striker, I'm sure he'd make an exception."

"I'm…"

"You know, just think about it. I'll be here all day, showing him around trying to get some of the families to take interest."

"You're doing that?"

"Well, I've exhausted all other options with him, and, while he could stay with us. It would better for him to be raised in a real home."

"I'm not really a real home. I'm currently living off of Christin's charity."

"Well, once you get stable, I'll look for you again."

"Why are you so, insistent?"

"Well, Adam does have mental based powers. Trusting his intuition feels like the right move."

"Why do you call him Adam?"

"Well, that's the name we assigned to him, I'm sure he was called by something else on his return trip."

"Yeah, Black sheep."

"Barnes!" I turned around, seeing Jenette walk over to us, "Dad wants to see you."

"Jenette," Amira said, with a smile.

"Amira," Jenette said with a glare.

Amira chuckled, and reached for Black Sheep, "Well, nice talking, let me know if you want him."

Black Sheep squeaked again, about being handing over to her. His black eyes looking over to me, worry in them. I gave a smile to him, and he relaxed slightly. But he kept staring at me as she walked away.

"Hey! earth to Barnes," Jenette suddenly said.

"What?" I looked over to her.

"You zoned out," Jenette said.

"Well, you got my attention now."

Jenette rolled her eyes, and started towards the house "Come on, Dad wants you to meet the Professor."

"Really?" I asked following her, "Why?"

"Don't ask me, half the things that he does I don't understand."

I nodded.

"So, what was with the baby?" Jenette asked.

"You don't remember Black Sheep?"

"Was he a kid that we brought in along with you?"

I nodded.

"Sorry, I not really good with kid faces. So, why did you have him?"

"Amira was here showing him around…"

"Trying to find him a family?"

"Yeah."

"Hopefully it doesn't last long for him."

"What makes you say that?"

"I was carted around like that as a kid before mom and dad took me in. It's not fun."

"You were a rescue?"

She glared at me.

"Sorry, I forgot. Didn't mean to pry."

"Don't let it happen again."

"You mind if I ask what happened between you and Amira?"

"What did I just say?"

"Sorry," I looked down at the ground.

She sighed heavily, "If you must know, we dated once in training. It didn't end well."

I froze. Jenette had dated Amira? A woman? Was that a thing now? Was this why she smiled to Mara Jean?

Jenette side eyed me, "It's called being a lesbian, or gay. We're a nation based on equality, homosexuality has been legal and accepted for a long time. Don't think about it too hard, just let people love who they want."

We walked up to the house's steps, and entered through the front. There was a long hall from the front entrance before you got the living room, kitchen, and stairs to the second floor. So, I could vaguely hear the conversation happening in the living room. The voices became clearer as we approached.

"You seem to be doing well," I heard Christin say.

"Yes, those extra books you sent me on the subject of other matter users, I found them quite helpful," said an older unknown voice, "Uh, Now, could you please tell me what was so urgent that you phone me about a few weeks ago?"

"Yeah, and why did you want me here?" That voice…I knew that voice.

I turned walked out of the hall, and my eyes went straight to the living room. There was clearly a meeting happening in the room. Christin, Nico and Arrow were present, they were sitting on the sofa at one end of the coffee table. But there were two other people in the room, people who were at the opposite end of the table. A chrome dome man in a wheelchair, and…

"Logan," I whispered.

He looked different. He was dressed in modern clothes; his hair was different. But it was him. Logan Howlett, the soldier, the howling commando, the grump who called every one 'bub'. It took him a moment, but eventually, his own dark eyes sparked with recognition.

"Kid?" his gruff voice sounded surprised.

That was it for me. I ran over to him and threw my arms around him, a few tears pricking at my eyes. He seemed startled, but eventually he hugged me back. I could hear the others talking, and then leave the room, but I didn't care. Sure, I hadn't been as close to Logan as I was to Cap, Peggy or Jack, but he was still a friend. A friend that was still here. A friend who wasn't…

"Kid?" Logan said.

I pulled away just far enough for him to see my face.

"Don't pull those water works on me," he huffed a sigh, "How are you here? They told us that…"

I sniffed, "I got lucky. Christin thinks that the plating I was on stayed together just enough to shield me from the explosion," I swallowed, "I survived, but not unharmed," I raised my prosthesis.

Logan took my metal hand in his, turning it over, "Then what happened?"

"I fell into the ocean."

"You should have drowned."

"But I didn't. I froze instead."

"Cap always said you were a survivor, but I didn't think he meant this."

"I always surprised everyone. How are you here? I asked Arrow look up what happened to everyone, but…" I choked a sob, "They're gone. They're all gone."

"Hey, hey," He put his hands on my shoulders, "Don't dwell on them. They…Look, you found good people here. They may be annoying people, but they're good people. And if you don't want to stay here, I'll talk to the Prof. and you can bunk with me."

I sniffed, "Jeez Logan, I didn't know you cared so much."

"I don't, not usually, but I know Cap would hate me if I left you hanging," He paused, "Do you know if he…?"

I shook my head, "No, they only found me. And with the constant changes of the ice caps, finding him would be nearly impossible, and even if we did, extracting and reviving him…he might not live through it. I got lucky, and he didn't."

Logan nodded solemnly, "The good ones always get taken first."

I swallowed, "So, how are you here? I mean, you shouldn't be alive. I mean if you were, you'd be…old-notthatyoulookold- but you should be way past your prime."

He sighed, and raised his hand. Making a fist, three long sharp blade shot out of his knuckles. I felt my eyes widen.

"It's a long story," He retracted the claws, "But for now, let's just say, I'm not normal anymore either."


The rest of the formalities of the day came and went. Everyone was checked in, and all of the cabins were assigned.

Me and Logan talked over the day. Apparently, he was always a mutant, it was just in the war he was a dormant, or a mutant whose powers didn't manifest. He learned about them later, and then went through, a program called Project Weapon X (he wouldn't tell me about the details thought). Eventually he ended up in a mutant group known as the X-men. There he did missions for them, and also worked as a teacher.

Logan as a teacher. That shocked me almost as much as him still being alive. Logan was great soldier, but he was never really the best with kids. Always had the tough-guy attitude. Him being a teacher, was never something I thought he would be doing. But it was real, I even got to meet some of his students.

By evening it was just a very large back yard party. Food was spread on a long table, many of them the Farm House's delicacies; tofu and peas fried in sesame oil, garlic and rosemary roasted chicken breast, and almost burnt sweet potatoes. Children played together, and adults conversed over drinks (fruit punch and soda). Even a band was setting up for some late music.

Eventually the sunset came, and Christin went to give address the crowd. The Clan Leader, crossed over and stood in the middle of what I would soon learn was a dancefloor.

"Hello everyone!" He addressed the crowd, "Are we all having a good time?"

Everyone cheered.

"Okay, good. Now, I know we got a lot of people here who are one their second or more year of being here, but we also got new folks, that I have to address. So, you'll have to go through this speech again I'm sorry."

The crowd laughed.

"I'm sure, everyone knows why we're here. We're here to learn. Not just how to accept the incredible gifts that so many here have been given, but to learn about the community that you are now of. To learn about yourself," He smirked and clapped his hands, "To learn about who we are, and to do that I usually start with telling a little story, but considering this year, might just be her last, I let. Arrow, come give your old man a hand, will you?"

Arrow walked out towards her father dressed in Mutant clothing. She was wearing a bright blue body suit. The top of it was high collared, with flared sleeves that were tight to the middle of her forearms before going frilly. A golden band wrapped her waist, and flaring from it was short skirt that barely when the middle of her thighs. Her pants were of a paler blue, and her boots and mask were of a honey gold. All of it embroidered with orange- and honey-colored rhinestones in the patterns of flames.

Father and daughter shared a nod. Arrow stepped forward, and the band started with a low note.

"It was an era that time forgot," Arrow snapped her fingers, and every torch burst into flames, "or one that we let it forget."

The flames plucked themselves up from their posts and zipped over to her, floating around her body.

"But we will never forget."

She whirled around, allowing the flames to collect into her palm. Slowly shrinking them until they were nothing but a pulsing speck. She stared into her palm.

"It started with a spark. A spark of pain, torment, and confusion. How we began? No one truly knows, but what happened next was another story."

She clenched her fist and threw the speck to the ground, causing the soil to erupt in flames.

"Like many things in society the dominate side controlled everything, mankind all over the world watched us, and judged us. In some places our judgement was more positive than others, such as with the Greeks."

The fire whirled creating the scene of Zeus throwing a lightning bolt.

"Whom saw us the gods fallen from the heavens."

The blaze danced again, the god twisting away, and melting into a witch being burned on the pyre. Her screams silent, and forever unheard, "While to others…we were the demons."

"The fire of hate, grew too wild, so we fled, finding safety in the deep ocean blue," a ship crafted of embers began to sail the sea of fire.

"She saw all of this," a young woman, bouncing thick curly hair, in a long flowing dress, standing on a burning shore.

"She saw all of our struggles, all of our pain, our past, present, and our future. Her blinded eyes saw all of it. What was then, what is now, and what will be. Under her gentle hand, and loving gaze, did we thrive. She didn't no only see our rise, but our fall as well."

The woman's eyes began to gleam, and she exploded into tiny falling sparks. Arrow reached out, her palm cradling a single ember, "Our golden era lost to time, for no history book to remember," she clenched her hand into a fist, snuffing the ember, "She watched it until the last."

She snapped her fingers once again, and the torches relit, "Now it is our turn. Our turn to walk in the paths she saw for us. Our turn to carry on mantles new and old, our turn to step on to the battle field, and defend those we love! Are you ready to walk this road with us?"

Applauses and cheers came from the crowd. Arrow's words had clearly inspired them. The mutant girl took a bow, and walked off the dance floor.

Jenette (she was sitting next to me) clapped slowly, as Arrow walked over to us, "Great performance, I was very moved," her voice dripping in sarcasm.

"No one asked you," Arrow said.

"It was good," I said.

"Thank you," Arrow said, "I was honestly a little nervus. Dad always gave that speech."

"First time he's let any one of the kids do it," Jenette said, taking a sip of her soda pop.

"Don't tell me you're jealous, Jet," Arrow said.

"Me? Wanting to talk in front of a crowd? Lost queen, no," Jenette said, "And that's not because I freeze up in the spot light-that's Taiga's thing-I just find the shadows easier. Why did you think I want into assassinations?"

Arrow rolled her eyes, "I thought it was because you didn't want to go into field work."

"I don't like kids; never have and never will. Besides, this way I will be allowed to intern underneath Uncle Nico and possibly take over his place in the Nexus Army when he retires," Jenette explained.

"Uncle Nico retiring?" Arrow raised a brow, "Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen ever."

"What do you mean?" I asked, finally joining the conversation.

"Uncle Nico, is loyal to three things," Jenette said, "His country, his work, and his wards. In that order."

"Wards?" I asked.

"Those who under his protection and tutelage, basically our younger siblings, and any new recruits to his ranks," Arrow said.

"Why only your younger siblings? Shouldn't you all be included?" I asked.

"You'd think that, wouldn't you," Jenette said.

"Shush," Arrow shot her sister a glance, "The reason why, we're not included anymore is because, me, Jenette and Taiga are all adults. We no longer need the protection of our elders, officially. Some like Dad tend to hold on and give support afterward…"

"While others, like Uncle Nico, just completely ditch," Jenette interjected.

"And you'd be any different?" Arrow asked, "You two are really similar."

Jenette shrugged.


The party, only picked up after that. The dance floor opened, and the band was in full swing. By the time the moon was showing its face, Kate had pulled out the dessert table. I hadn't had a rich fudgy brownie in so long, and these guys knew how to make them.

I finally got to see Cari and Taiga interact. And boy those two clashed! Right off the bat, they were debating over who had a more meaningful role in medicine (Taiga worked in emergency medicine, while Cari was a surgeon), and it quickly got heated. I had honestly never seen Taiga get so irritated; he was always a very calm person. Eventually, Mara Jean started a betting pool, that by the end of the night they would either kill each other or start dating (I didn't participate).

At some point, Arrow ended up on the dance floor. Doing a duet with Junia. I didn't even realize the warper was here, until I heard the band switch songs, and they stole the show. They danced in a way I had never seen before, and that was saying something as I saw a lot of strange dances throughout the night. It was foreign and passionate, but at the same time showing the innocent of young love. Arrow twisted and spun to the music in ways I didn't think she could do; she was an amazing dancer.

Black Sheep, or Adam, found me again. He turned out not to be the only child Amira had in her care today, so the moment she took her eyes off him, he darted into the crowd, apparently looking for me. The little guy found me while I was sitting down and talking with Logan, and Professor X. I let him crawl up into my lap, while we waited for Amira to find us. Yeah, that was an interesting thing to explain to Logan.

Later in the night, I sort of strayed away from the party. It was fun but, after everything, it was a lot. I stole a little of the frozen almond chocolate toffee, and just sat on the front porch, looking at the stars. At least they hadn't changed over the 70 years I slept. I remember a number of times in the war, when I was on watch, that I would just take a few moments, and looked at the night sky. Out in the field when we were far away from any civilization, the night sky was practically as bright as the day. Thankfully, Christin's property, was far enough from any city to have a starry sky. Sometimes after a nightmare, I would open my window, and look out at the sky.

"Room for one more?"

I turned around seeing Arrow walking up to me, "Yeah, plenty."

She smiled and sat down next to me, "So, what are we thinking about?"

"Nothing, much just thinking about what happened today."

"Yeah, I'm sure Mr. Logan was a surprise."

"Did you know he was coming?"

"Dad told me he asked Mr. Logan to come this year, but he didn't tell me why."

"Does he not usually come?"

"No, he's not really a big fan of us and our happy family friendly shindig, he prefers to have his summers off. To go out and do what he does best, whatever that is."

"He's not going to stay the whole summer. He told me that, but he gave me his number so we can stay in touch."

"Dad, will have to get you a phone then. It shouldn't be too hard."

"I don't really know what I'll do with it."

"I'll teach you," She stole a piece of my toffee.

"Hey," I furrowed my brows at her.

"What, I like it, and we only make it for this and Christmas. Besides it's just going to melt if you don't eat it," she said through a mouthful of toffee.

I chuckled and offered the plate. We split the last piece.

"So, I saw you dance with Junia. Quite a show," I said.

"Yeah. He's going to take me to dinner when I get back from my mission."

"So, you're his girl now?"

She rolled her eyes, "First, Mutants don't date like that, we are equal in a relationship; I won't be called his, and his won't be called mine. Second, if the dinner goes well, I might consider courting. He's a sweet guy, and if it works out, I'll score an amazing mother-in-law."

I sniggered, "You'd marry a guy for the mother-in-law?"

"Well, no! All I'm saying it be a bonus. And I'm not ready to get married."

"You sure?"

"We're going to a restaurant, not a chapel. Even if I can legally get married now, I'm not one to rush things. I want to work for a few years, before I start a family. I want adventure. I want to take risks. I want to get a few more scars."

I laughed, "Never did I think I would ever hear a girl say that she wanted to get scars."

"I am from a different culture my friend. I am not one of those old-timey girls, with curls and rose red lips. I am a badass."

I laughed again, "How much chocolate did you have tonight?"

"Far too much."

We both laughed.

She hummed and stood up, "Come on there's something I want to show you."

I followed her, for curiosity's sake if nothing else. Arrow lead me past the party and into the orchards behind the house. The small dirt path was worn, but the soil was still soft. The trees were now full with leaves, meaning that the dim ivory starlight was now with patched with shadows. The night summer air was warm. Crickets played their symphonies, as the fireflies danced around us. I just took to enjoying the scenery of our walk. Until something caught my eye.

"Hey, what's that?" I asked looking down a split off from the path.

Arrow looked where I was looking, her face turning solemn, "That leads to the family grave yard."

"Oh," I didn't say anything else. Judging by Arrow's face, it wasn't something to pursue.

We continued through the orchards, until we found a break in the trees. Through the break, was the most beautiful cliffside view of the ocean I had ever seen. The stars and moon gleamed a top of the water's navy-to-black surface.

"Wow," I said.

"Pretty isn't it," Arrow said.

"Yeah."

She pointed to the left, "Over there, not to far, is a lagoon. We use it to teach water rescues. I use to work those."

"You a good swimmer?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't the rescuer. I was the victim."

"What?"

"I apparently fake drown very well."

I laughed.

She looked out into the ocean, her smile fading to a frown, "Mom, first took me here when I was a little girl. It's where she taught me to fly."

I looked at her confused, "What?"

She smirked, and started running for the cliff edge. My eye's widened and my heart jumped not my throat. What was she doing!?

"No! Arrow! No!" I shouted as I watched her flip off the edge.

I almost ran of the edge myself when I dashed forward to see where she fell. But to my shock, something came up the cliff wall, and a large gust of wind knocked me down. I fell on to my back, gasping for air. I curled back up seeing…Arrow…Flying around the cliff side. Eventually she floated over to the cliff's edge, and I could finally see her up close. Her hair and clothes were whipping around the in the wind. Her eyes were glowing a bright milky white that enveloped her pupils and irises. And her skin…

It was glowing. It wasn't bright, and it wasn't a full glow. It was small dim crackling blush to white strands, like the plasma in a crystal ball, that travelled through her skin. If it wasn't for the darkness, I would have never noticed them. She smiled.

I huffed a bewildered laugh, "You can fly?!"

She started laughing, "You sound surprised."

"I am."

"I control the wind; I'd be an idiot if I didn't learn to use it as transport."

"I guess that's true."

She floated closer to me, and held out her hand, "Take my hand."

"What?"

"Take my hand," she repeated.

I glanced down the cliff edge. A wave of vertigo, made my stomach churn and vision swim. After the rocket, I hadn't been all that comfortable with being high up. I swallowed; my throat felt dry.

"I won't drop you, I promise," Arrow said, as if reading my mind.

Hesitantly I reached out, and took her hand. Even through the metal of my servo I could felt her hand's warmth. She pulled me up, and wrapped her arms around my torso. My eyes shut tight. Then I felt the wind on my face.

"Open up your eyes!" Arrow shouted.

I cracked one eye open, and looked around. My arms were wrapped around her neck, and she had flipped on to her back, using her body to act a barrier between me and falling. My breathing started to pick up as I looked around, memorized at the sight. Wind whipped my hair, as I started laughing.

Arrow smiled, "Want to go faster?"

I nodded, and she started to laugh. We spent the next 30 minutes flying around over the ocean. Arrow doing twist turned that made me scream, and her laugh. But eventually we had to stop as her arms were getting tired, and it was getting late. The party was wrapping up by the time we got back. I was exhausted and Christin ordered me to bed.


Sadly, we had to get up before dawn the next day as well. Arrow was being shipped off at the underground docks at Nexus, and her ship left early. We were all there to send her off. Christin was holding back tears; many of them were. It was a combination of pride and fear, that settled in the air. I could feel it, even Zappy the little bird was probably feeling it.

Arrow looked different too. Somehow, she had cut and dyed her hair since last night. It was clipped even shorter: her hair had gone to her shoulders before, but now it went to her mouth. Ruby red streaks now went through her dark brown locks, like flames in a dark forest.

Her mission suit was something different then the last one she was in. A navy high-collared long-sleeve jacket that didn't show its zipper; it's collar ringed in white. Black leather pants, and mask, with a pair of white boots and white gloves. Two curved silver swords were strapped to her back.

It didn't take long for all goodbyes to be said, and she was on her ride. She left, and we all felt like something was missing.


A/N:

Oh, this took way too long to write! Hopefully the next chapter will be shorter.

Reference to the dance between Junia and Arrow - watch?v=b50Gb3bPNI8

Chlorokinesis- the ability to manipulate plants

I had to look that up. There are a lot of named (something)-kinesis. Even one about eggs!