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Issue #6 |
"New Beginnings" Written By Tom Moses |
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The air is cold, though his wet hair more than contributed to the feeling. His breath was slow, as he concentrates on halting the chattering of his teeth. Combining several cracks of his knuckles to his hands that rub together, Alex Summers tries to get a handle of the feeling. The cold is something he does not welcome, a feeling that surrounded him for nearly for two years. Alex always hated the cold, perhaps it was a reason why he didn't particularly care for one of the persons in this mansion he's come to live in, actually a little confident the girl he had dated during one point of his tenure at Xavier's estate had something more to do with that particular feeling. Life has changed so much, and so often, for Alex that he wasn't sure if he was even alive at times. Life seemed to be somewhat of a dream as of late, floating in a space of nothingness for god knows how long.
But that was all over and now he is finally home. Alex is no longer a being that simply existed without an anchor to hold him to anyplace, nor was he a member of the Six in some out of this world plane. He is still Havok, always a member of the X-Men, and he has returned to a place he'd thought forgotten. The spacious Xavier Mansion, the home of the X-Men, the home of the Dream. Something of a legacy within his family, his brother as well as he had been leaders of the several splinter groups encompassing this dream of Xavier, not to mention the nephew time displaced into maturity.
Stretching his arms above his head, wishing that he had stayed in the warmth of his borrowed bed, the blond haired mutant tries to shake the sleepiness from his mind. The bed had been inviting, though painfully empty, as his thoughts drifted to a woman who made it blatantly clear never wanted to see him again. A noise coming from his stomach, all too familiar, told him a meal might take away the thoughts his thoughts, which sprouted without much warning. Slipping a long robe over the running shorts he wore, he'd let the air dry his hair.
Alex hoped it to be a breakfast alone, though the noise outside his door told him that it probably would be otherwise. The hallway is mostly empty, save the decorations that covered the walls and tables adjacent to almost every room. An odd sight to see Bobby awake at this hour, as Iceman had always been the kind of person to sleep until noon no matter when he'd fallen asleep, and beating repeatedly on the door belonging to Warren didn't seem normal either. Alex smirks his way passed the maker of cold, hoping not to engage the younger man in any kind of conversation. He definitely needed to change the location of his room, and soon.
A slow spiral down to the ground level of the building stood before him, and Alex stays at the base looking down at the site below him. It was amazing to actually look down at the objects below and see the little things that had changed since he'd been away. Humorous as many times the mansion had been destroyed it was rebuilt the same way. Every stick of furniture placed in just the exact place it had been before, Charles Xavier was indeed a creature of habit.
Seventeen steps down and he was at ground level, only a few rooms to the kitchen at the rear of the building and his breakfast would be at hand. Drake could still be heard one floor below, however beyond his beating on Warren's door the entire house was silent. The multitude of people living here should have made the silence impossibility; the unlikelihood was welcome. Passing the television area, and the dining room Alex came upon the very room he sought finding it less empty than he hoped it would be.
A beauty of a redhead sat staring into the bowl of cereal in front of her with something of a concerned look upon her face. Her spoon tapped repeatedly on the table's surface, she looked like she was waiting for someone, anyone, to wake up. "Something the matter Jean?" Alex asked, walking ahead to the counter above and just left of the stovetop.
"I'm not sure Alex," his brother's wife answered. "Is this really the most healthy thing I could eat?"
A box of cereal is crammed in the crook of his arm, silverware hangs from his fingers and Alex balances a bowl in his teeth, "I'm sure there are more healthy things than processed wheat and corn. Why?"
"I just don't know if I should be eating this, or should I make something else, or if I should wait and see what Scott thinks," his sister-in-law said to him.
Plopping down in a seat in front of the woman, Alex poured himself a bowl of cereal from the blue faced box decorated with that of an orange tiger. "Jean, why on earth are you worried about eating something healthy, haven't you had the same figure since you started dating Scott?"
"It's the whole pregnancy thing, Alex," Jean replied, smiling at his blatant compliment. "What am I doing?"
He and Scott had been awake for hours talking over the concept of fatherhood, neither brother sure they could ever handle the task, both having been raised in something of an untraditional family separate from each other. Living apart for the majority of their lives, due to the impossibilities that he could only explain in his own mind as weird, Alex and Scott were oddly close. Alex was likely one of a few within the handful of people living in the spacious house who was aware of the news, this identical worry between husband and wife was almost enough to make him worry.
"Why ask me?" he asked, "I think I'm the opposite gender to be able to relate to that."
Jean Grey-Summers gave a small laugh at her brother-in-law. "I don't even know who to ask for advice, I am so hopelessly lost here Alex."
"Jean, it's just cereal, I'm sure you'll be fine." Alex said. "Besides how hard can it really be at this early stage?"
"Alex, I've flown around the galaxy, I've seen things that many people wouldn't care to acknowledge. I've been to deaths door, he says hi by the way, and this scares me more than all of that ever excited me," Jean said, her eyes staring into the cereal bowl stirring it endlessly.
"Jeannie," Alex said, "You're one of the strongest women I've ever known. There isn't a doubt in my mind that you will be a great mother."
"Well," a sigh escaped the woman with hair colored of fire. "The truth be told, Alex, I'm not really worried about the pregnancy."
"See, I told you," Alex said, his mouth partially full of soggy flakes of corn. "You're not?"
"Not completely," she told him. "I am, but I have countless friends to lean on to help me through this."
"That you do," Alex said.
Jean continues to stir the soggy cereal and milk in her bowl, wrestling with telling Alex what is on her mind. "I guess I just don't want to be here anymore."
"The mansion?" he asked.
"Yes. I've lived here almost my entire life, I've seen so much, and I don't think I want my child growing up exposed to all this."
Alex nearly chokes as a thought comes to mind. "You don't want your kid growing up like Scott's first one don't ya?"
"Well, that's part of it I guess," Jean can't help but smile at the comment, "but we raised Nathan in his environment and I think he came out quite well."
"All things considered," the younger brother-in-law said trying his best to deflect a spoon from impacting his face. "Hey, it's not my fault my nephew turned out to be a walking, talking, gun-toting weapon against the a force of evil or whatever he used to call himself."
"You're a big help you know that?" Jean said pulling her spoon to her hand with no physical effort. "Wait until I talk to him, he's a lot different now you'd be surprised."
"I've heard, he asks questions first then shoots."
"Very funny," Jean said rising from her seat and placing her bowl in the sink. "I need to talk to Scott about a few things, I'll see you later."
"Bye Jeannie," Alex said with another mouthful of breakfast.
Jean Grey-Summers, the wife of Alex's older brother, took her leave from the kitchen, departing through the back way to the former pool house where the married couple has lived for going on forever. Jean had been one of the oldest friends Alex could remember, along with the original members of Xavier's X-Men. She talked with him many times when she and Scott had started dating, though he was far from any confidant he'd always been a good friend to her.
Alex finished his breakfast in the peace he wanted to continue. The past week had been a long one; his reunion with the loved ones he'd left years before overshadowed by the fight between many people he thought would have been his friends even beyond death. Combined with Jean's pregnancy, things were becoming close to being to much to bear. At least he was partially right about the remark about friends, as he remembered Jamie in the infirmary trying to deal with the weakness he felt after he'd lost control of many of his duplicates. Some friends are inseparable, and Jaime Madrox is definitely counted among those.
Dropping his bowl alongside the one Jean had placed into the sink moments before, Alex couldn't help but continue his thoughts about the events surrounding this so-called X-Corps. Bishop was a man that Alex never could say he liked, he was brash, did what he thought was needed and cared little of the outcome. Now he is a killer, of one of his oldest friends no less, at large and no way to track him down in the foreseeable future left Alex with an empty feeling in his stomach. Bishop is a foe unlike most, he'd been an X-Man and was now a murderous traitor. The danger alone was very real and frighteningly close to home.
Bishops' involvement in this entire X-Corps fiasco was more than a normal threat, combined with Sam and Kitty; there was something deeper below the root of this problem, but it would take time to discover exactly who was pulling the strings there. Bishop's betrayal wasn't hard to fathom, but Sam and Kitty were two very unpredictable traitors. Both had been unwavering followers of the dream almost as much as the first mutants brought into the fold, much stronger believers than he'd ever been. The entire thing didn't make sense, it was much unlike either of them.
Taking with him a half-filled mug of coffee, Alex walked into the television room. Arriving to see Bobby Drake has already taken control of the remote control. "You couldn't find anything decent to watch could you?" Alex said to the young man ready to be elsewhere.
"Sorry, ol' fearless part two, this is the best I can do," Drake told him. "Unless of course you want to watch Martha Stuart."
Alex rolled his eyes at the younger man, his ever-present smile annoying at this early in the morning. "That's alright Bob, I'll pass."
Bobby's eyes shift from left and right. "Who the hell you callin' Bob?"
"Sorry Bobby, force of habit," Alex said. "Isn't it still your bedtime?"
"Look Alex, I tried to tell Hank not to make us go until the afternoon sometime, but he was persistent in making us go for a brunch thing." Bobby says, "It was hell just making sure Warren was awake enough to go."
"Right." Alex said as he sipped from the porcelain mug in his hand. "Hope you all have fun, see you around Bobby."
Alex retreated from the room, turning to the stairs and making his way to the room he was set up in for the temporary. His clothes lie out on the bed just as they had been an hour before. Dressing in khaki slacks and a red button down shirt, Alex once again sprouts from his room lost in ideas of what he could do now that he was free from Forge's supervision.
The house maintained it's eerie clam even after Bobby had quieted down from earlier and the TV had gone silent as well. Both things meant only one: Drake was not in the mansion. It was funny how little people changed from time, or even different planes of existence. Bobby and Hank seem to remain friends whatever existence they hail, or at least the two he'd seen. Everything else during his stint with the Six was nearly a direct opposite of everything he'd known, minus that detail and few others. Taking a seat on the black leather couch only a few feet from the television, Alex drapes his arm across the back, leaning back and started to flip through the channels.
It seemed early on that the house was a little more than just empty. The questions Jean brought forth with her pregnancy plague his mind as he tries to relax in the quiet house. Scott was not always the luckiest guy with marriage and family, his first wife a clone of more than likely his first girlfriend, and having to send his son into the future would give anyone doubts about what fate held for them. Jean's concerns were much greater than she let on, he knew that. If she voiced her opinions about leaving the mansion, would Scott take her? The questions of his own are many; he liked to think he knew most of the answers, though he knew deep down he wasn't any closer to knowing any of the answers Jean searched for.
Giving up on the television, Saturday afternoon was never a good day for it, Alex turned his attention to the scenery outside. It would be cold out there, but a little tweak of his powers would solve that problem, the heat he generated would make that feeling null.
The breeze was slow, barely catching the attention of his skin but enough to make the leaves dance on their branches. An aroma of a storm filled the air, the clouds showing him the rain would soon come. Xavier's property in New York is almost as unbelievable as it is vast. The blue lake shimmered in the dying sunlight; the bank across from him surrounded by scores of shedding trees flooded his vision, almost as untouched as it was when it had been born.
"What's on your mind, little brother?" a familiar voice said behind Alex.
"I'm just enjoying the moment, Scott," Alex replied. "What about yours?"
"Just waiting to join the others at Harry's, Hank calls these meetings only so often, and I missed the last one."
"Sounds like fun," Alex said. "No chance for me to come along huh?"
"Things have changed a lot since you left," Scott said. "Have you seen Charles yet?"
"Things change all the time really, nobody really notices them until they're drastic enough to hit you in the gut," Alex answered, "And I've been kind of avoiding Xavier actually."
Scott placed a hand on his younger brother's shoulder, "Alex, you're going to notice a lot, soon enough," Scott said, "We'll talk later, I have to get going."
"I love the questions you leave me with," Alex said to his departing brother. "You do know I'm not that far from you all as membership goes, I'd like to come along next time if you don't mind putting a bug in Hank's ear."
"We'll see about that Alex," Scott said, "Don't be surprised if that isn't the only thing that changes around here."
Stepping into the house from the rear door, Alex shakes off the excess heat he generated to keep himself comfortable. Watching his brother drive off into Westchester, Alex sighs as he pins his arms against his back. "How different do you plan on making it Scott?" Alex whispered to no one in particular.
The cold starts to seep through the window, though the look of the late morning would look otherwise. Alex could only wonder what his brother was speaking about, though speculation was never one of his strong points.
"A penny for your thoughts," yet another familiar voice asked behind Alex.
His gaze continues unabated, "Like you're one to ask what I'm thinking, Charles."
"I can understand you are upset with me for keeping you away from your friends and family," Charles Xavier said, quick to confess. "But I think you know I had everyone's best interest in mind when I did so."
"I know Charles," Alex replied. "The shock of me appearing out of nowhere really could have done more harm than good. I realize that now, but a little of an explanation would have gone a long way."
Xavier pushed his wheelchair to line himself alongside Alex Summers. "There had been a great many things that have gone on while you were missing, I didn't think it fair to expose you to everything at once and at the same time give everyone else more reason for excitement."
Alex took a deep breath inward, sighing a release of slight frustration. "Professor, it's too little and far too late for explanations and apologies. I screwed up, but I'm glad I did what I did. I learned a lot while I was.where I was.and you're going to have to accept everything just as I am."
Xavier looked up to the younger brother of his first X-Man and shook his head as he laughed. "I can see why Scott chose you now," he said. "I must admit I'm a little skeptical, but we'll just have to see won't we?"
Turning his wheelchair away, Charles started to move away. He wasn't able to go far before Alex grabbed the handles on the back of the chair. "What are you talking Charles?" he asked. "What do you mean about Scott choosing me, what's going on?"
"You'll find out soon enough Alex." Xavier said, moving forward once again, "Everyone will."
<End>
