Sean Cassidy had a tendency to approach most problems with logic and facts. His background with Interpol had certainly relied on such skills, and even now, that mindset was one he didn't stray far from.
He walked back through the timeline of events as he remembered them, from the early morning hours when Madelyne Pryor had come banging on the door of the Keep, demanding he put some clothes on and come with her to New York.
The discovery that his daughter had been imprisoned at Graymalkin had left him no choice but to comply with haste.
He remembered walking through the portal she created and stepping onto the grounds of what had once been Xavier's School. The mansion that had been home to so many, a refuge, a place where they were all accepted.
Stepping foot inside the mansion had been a harrowing wake-up call that this was no longer home. This was no longer a safe place. This was a prison, a place where they were corralled like animals, deemed unworthy by society.
But nothing could have prepared him for the sight of his own daughter, shackled and muzzled, being used like a hound dog.
It had filled him with an anger he couldn't put into words, the righteous anger of a father who wanted to lay waste to whoever had done this to her.
He remembered getting her free, her mind being controlled by the collar around her neck, and once he had managed to break it off of her, she had no memory of her actions during the time it was active.
He remembered coming into the main room of the prison, and watching as Cyclops carried the lifeless body of Magneto as the rest of the prisoners looked on in shock.
He had been just as much a prisoner as the rest of them, the circumstances of such unknown yet, as the only person alive who knew what happened was currently passed out from emotional exhaustion.
That's when things got confusing. He remembered the Warden, the woman who was not at all remorseful of her actions, who seemed gleeful that she had imprisoned and tortured their people. He remembered Xavier trying to explain himself, as if any explanation would suffice, why he had imprisoned the mutants he had spent his life trying to protect.
Then, it was as if he blacked out. The next thing he remembered, he was on his back, waking up in a pile of rubble as Madelyne Pryor's face came into view, telling him that it was over, that she was taking him to his daughter.
"So, you have no memory of anything that happened after that?" Madelyne asked as she handed him a cup of tea.
"None. Do ya care to fill in the blanks for me?" His tone was not harsh, but she could hear the weariness in his voice.
She sat across from him at the table, most of the house quiet. Having a warm bed, a hot shower and fresh clothes had done wonders for most of their house companions, and the morning would be the time to figure out their next steps for everyone. But for now, she could tell him what she knew.
"Mr Cassidy, what do you know about the Spirit of Variance?" She asked him.
He raised a brow. "Not much anymore. I'm told that the Spirit and I were tied to each other in a previous timeline that was erased, but the memories of such were removed from my backups the last time I was resurrected."
She tried not to make a face. "So….the memories were removed, but the Spirit is still there."
"Be beggin' yer pardon?" He asked.
"That blackout? That was the Spirit. He…they? Took over for a while."
"The Spirit is still bonded to me?"
She nodded. "Apparently, your righteous anger was strong enough to pull him out of dormancy."
"Oh for fuck's sake…" He muttered under his breath. "If you're about ta tell me-"
"That you killed someone? No. You didn't." She interrupted.
"Oh. Well." He sighed in relief. "My apologies. This is…."
"Not how you wanted the day to go?" She supplied, with a slight smile.
"That's puttin' it lightly." He took a sip of the tea in his hands. "So, what did happen?"
"Nothing. At least where you're concerned. When you blacked out and the Spirit made himself known, Cyclops evacuated the prison so I could talk to him, figure out what we were dealing with."
"And what are we dealin' with?"
"The Spirit seems to have no interest in making your life miserable, Mr Cassidy. For now, I think he won't be an issue, as long as you don't get that angry. Although, I can't say I blame you."
He nodded, remembering the emotions he had felt. "What she did to Terry….to our friends…."
"She won't ever hurt anyone ever again."
"So you're telling me that Xavier killed the Warden? Sounds a little too convenient." Scott's condescending tone made Madelyne's eyes narrow. She had a long talk with Sean Cassidy, who had a lot of questions about what had happened, and she had told the same story to Scott she had told Banshee: that Xavier had killed the Warden, before his body disintegrated, taking the prison with him in the blast.
"Are you insinuating that Sage and I are both lying to you?" Madelyne tilted her head.
"The only people who were left at the prison were you, Sage, Omega Red, and Banshee, who was possessed with this…"
"Spirit of Variance." She supplied.
"Yeah. That. You tell me how that looks, Madelyne."
"Well, it certainly sounds like you don't trust me to tell you the truth, Scott."
"Look, if Sage or you were involved somehow, just tell me now-"
"Scott. I am telling you the truth." She firmly stated. "And if that is not enough for you, feel free to call Jean down here."
He stopped at that request. "Okay, that is not fair."
"Why not? Are you the only one who gets to toss around Jean's name like a threat? Must have missed that memo."
He sighed. "Fine. Let's say you're telling the truth. You do realize that this is going to be hard to explain-"
Madelyne laughed. "Really? Because I think what's going to be harder to explain is how you deliberately ignored this place for months and did nothing."
"Watch it, Madelyne."
"No. I came to you, when Krakoa fell, and I told you that Limbo was at your disposal. That if there was anything I could do to help, I would do it. And what was your response? You told me to back off."
"That's not-"
"Important right now? Yeah. Sure. Explain that to Sean Cassidy. Explain to him how you knew that his daughter was locked up in that god-forsaken prison and you didn't do shit. And don't think I didn't notice how you weren't the least bit phased by Xavier's presence there."
"Madelyne." He warned.
"Did you know about Magneto too?" She kept going.
"No, dammit!" He barked.
"Funny. I don't believe you." She turned his words around on him, fully in his face now.
"Believe what you want, Madelyne. I have my reasons."
"Reasons that I'm not allowed to know about, right?" They were in each other's faces now, and before Scott could utter a word, a voice interrupted.
"Enough! Both of you!" A figure in the shape of the symbol of the Phoenix appeared in the room.
"Jean-" Scott started.
"Scott, that is enough. Madelyne is telling the truth. Xavier's demise, and that of the Warden, was his own doing."
"Thank you." Madelyne acknowledged.
"Fighting like this will solve nothing. Please. Scott….you have to trust her. If for nothing else, because I do."
Scott took a deep, long breath. "Fine." He finally said.
The Phoenix figure disappeared, and Madelyne was unusually quiet for a long minute.
"You can't do this by yourself, Scott. I get what you are trying to do, believe me. It's the same thing that ended our marriage. The X-Men are everything to you. But this is too much for one person."
"It's not that simple, Madelyne." He muttered.
"It never is." She paused, and walked toward the door. "But just know, that if the roles were reversed, and it had been Nathan in that prison, you and I both know I would tear that place apart without a second's hesitation."
The truth in her words hung in the air as she left the room, leaving him to his thoughts.