"Is the knowledge gained, worth the price of the pain?"

[ororo_munroe]

It was a somber ride back to Westchester on the Blackbird until the plane finally descends to the hangar deck and the VTOL thrusters are switched off.  Minor scrapes and bruises were tended to courtesy of the plane's medkits.  Those with more serious injuries will be helped with the aid of Elixir and soon by Beast, waiting on them in the Medlab

Comments

[ororo_munroe]

She hadn't made it to the woods before her temper got the better of her. The Professor will find her instead on the wooden dock leading out and over the lake bordering the nearby grounds of the school.

Her lightning races across the waters, her winds churning the surface, and the thunder rumbles what she feels from the heavens. A perfect reflection of her mental state.

[x_professor_x]

As much as Xavier doesn't like being around water, he does like the shorter roll. The tempest surrounding Storm causes Charlies...for a weak moment, a bit of envy. So many of his students have harmless ways to vent through the use of their powers...to just let go, to emote in that most primal of fashions. It's always been a temptation for Xavier.

But he's trapped his students inside his nightmares before; the thought of what an unfocused conscious use of his power would do has been a nightmare sceneario for Professor X since nearly the beginning. And, most importantly, he's not here to feel sorry for himself. He's here to help. He's not a cripple.

"Do you want to talk about it, Ororo?" Xavier's voice manages a deceptive amount of composure as he waits, patiently, for his student to share her pain.

[ororo_munroe]

She registers the squeak of his chair on the dock's wooden boards first. A tightened fist unclenches in a summon to the lightning to stop its dance across the waters in a gesture toward the Professor's safety. But Ororo doesn't answer for a moment and he's left waiting until a slow hiss of painfully held breath escapes her.

"I do not know. What is there to say that has not been discussed before? X-Men go to battle, none come back the same. At times, none come back. The choices made in the past; made by you, Scott, and myself have brought this school and the X-Men where we are today. You made us teachers of the next generation of mutants to impart the lesson that mutants and humans can coexist peacefully and the consequences -though we've accepted them- have occasionally been high."

"I would ask you why I cannot stop the realization that we keep failing our students, Professor. But that is not something you can answer, is it?"

[x_professor_x]

"Becides the problem that's weighing on the front of your mind?" Xavier asks, lightly, in response to Ororo's inital argument. "There is little I can say to make you feel better. I could, if you wished, stimulate the pleasure centers of your brain to allow you a pleasent night's sleep

[ororo_munroe]

"Ah, but there's the moral dilemma. These children chose a difficult line of work? Absolutely. But who are we to accept that? Goddess, I remember... I fought to have Kitty remain with us, fighting with us at a younger age than the students who survived today. I left the New Mutants to fend for themselves, while taking the X-Men into hiding. In the past our students have been treated as adults." She shakes her head thinking about her past decisions, not really wanting to face them at all

[x_professor_x]

The Professor's eyes flash, his hand shakes, the vein on his forehead pulses. "Finish your sentence, Ororo. And you wish to join Forge in serving the tyrant, it is not as if I can do much to stop you."

Yeah. She hit a nerve. She hit /all the nerves/.

[ororo_munroe]

Her head lowers. Defeat, remorse and regret, all are mixed into her body language. "I did not mean that, Professor."

I didn't... did I?

The rumbling thunder dies, the wind deflating as well. It makes the air between them seem all the more tense as a result.

[x_professor_x]

"I'm sorry." Xavier immediately says, shaking his head. "It's...been a very long night. A long week, even. And if I am honest with myself, I have yet to entierly digest Forge's change in alligence. That was unfair of me."

[ororo_munroe]

"I am sorry as well. This week has been fair to none and you... have been nothing but in dealing with all of this. Despite my own perspective and despite what Logan said, I do believe you should be proud of your students. They fought for each other, for their allies, and they fought well." It's the only thing she has left to offer that won't polarize them further.

[x_professor_x]

The Professor smiles, a little, hoping that it keeps them on an even keel rather than devolving into a fight. She's going to take a leave of absence soon-Xavier had been expecting it for some time, and has already been making contingencies to cover Storm's time off.

But first.

"Would you like to tell me what it is that's pressing so terribly on your mind, Ororo?" Xavier asks, not unkindly.

[ororo_munroe]

The subject of their argument directed her gaze toward the family cemetary plot located in a remote corner of the mansion's grounds.

John. Doug. The alien Warlock. Illyana.

The memorials that had belonged to Piotr and Angelo when all had thought them in the afterlife too.

Were those ever taken down?

Lastly, Jean's memorial. She hasn't brought herself to see what Scott did -if he did anything- for his wife when they'd returned from space.

There's a quiet internal sigh. X-Men get better. Sometimes.

"You have gleaned the first half. The second is this: Madelyne Pryor is alive."

[x_professor_x]

...oooooh. That's why with the...

"Oh God." Is the first thing Professor Xavier can say as he feels the squeezing in his chest. Even in a world where death can often be...imperminant as theirs is...God. Is she sane? Is she still with the Hellfire Club? Is she coming to kill us all? God, poor Scott. "Does Scott know?"

[ororo_munroe]

Her hopes sink just a little. For the Professor to ask that question, would mean Scott either hasn't confided in him yet, or honestly wasn't aware. Neither bodes well.

"I am not sure. She was not sure. Madelyne appears to be fully psi-active again. She said Scott might have sensed her while she was in telepathic communication with Nathan. She... was considerably upset when we'd come upon each other."

[x_professor_x]

Professor X's thoughts mirror Storm's, and the mental master lets out a quiet sigh.

"I see." Xavier murmurs, steepling his fingers in front of his chest. "How...stable...did she seem?" Read: Is she in supervillain territory?

[ororo_munroe]

"Pretty shaken and overwhelmed. She said she'd just encountered Alex just before and I assume it did not go pleasantly. But... goddess, Charles, she seemed sane. Remorseful. Unhappy about the things she'd done in her former life. Maddy said she woke up in Sinister's laboratory, unsure how much time had passed," Ororo represses shudder at the thought it. "Nathan was the one to rescue her from there."

[x_professor_x]

"Cable?" Oh, that can't be good. Xaview sighs, rubbing his forehead. "Well, we should be happy...and greatful...that she seems to have returned to some sense of sanity."

A frown remains on Xavier's face, however. "Sinister's laboratrory, you say? Still, that maniac obsesses with anyone related to Scott and Jean..."