The Life of Brian (New Mutants 1.2, Chapter 2)
Title: The Life of Brian (New Mutants 1.2, Chapter 2)
Author: kanedax
Spoiilers: X3, Previous Chapters
Rating: PG
Summary: Moira introduces the mysterious new visitor
Notes: This is moving faster than expected. I think it helps that the chapters are so blinking short.
Original chapter can be found here.
I don't own these characters. They belong to Marvel, Disney (huh), and 20th Century Fox.
Ororo's Class / Previous Chapters / Show & Tell
The gathering ended soon after, with Ororo giving the typical information that every class in every school hears at the beginning of a new year: where you eat, where you sleep, where you are or aren’t allowed without supervision. She then asked Bobby and Kitty to escort the new students to their rooms, while the returning mutants were dismissed with the rest of the day to themselves. The new faculty followed suit, but as they left the stage Storm took Moira’s arm and pulled her aside.
“I’m glad you accepted our offer to join us, Moira,” she said quietly, “but as the new headmaster I have to question your decision to bring strangers onto the grounds without prior approval.”
“Ye don’t recognize him?” Moira asked, her Scottish accent barely noticeable after her years at Muir Island. She looked at the mysterious man, who had wandered off to the side and was now gazing dreamily at the sky, at the mansion, at the grounds, at nothing in particular, and pursed her lips. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t. He was used in Charles’s class, not any of yours…”
Ororo blinked. “He knew Charles?”
“Well…” Moira paused, crossing her arms and trying to find the right words. “We think… We think he is Charles.”
Ororo took a step back, her mouth hanging open. “What?” Her head spun to look at the man, and she started walking towards him.
Moira grabbed her. “We think it’s him. Ororo, please let me explain before you do anything drastic.”
“Drastic?”
Moira looked around the lawn, seeing a few pairs of eyes turned towards them. “Can we find somewhere quieter to discuss this?" she asked, leaning in to speak to Ororo. "Right now, the fewer people who are aware of the situation, the safer it will be for everyone.”
"Safer for everyone?" Ororo hissed, but relented in allowing Moira to guide her back into the mansion. “McTaggert, with everything that’s happened in this school the last few years, the last thing I want is to leave these children behind with someone who’s dangerous…”
Moira sighed as they turned a corner into Ororo’s office. “I misspoke,” she replied, closing the door behind them. “What I meant to say is… well… let me just start at the beginning. This man, who’s calling himself Brian, was a patient of mine at Muir Island. He was at the facility because Cerebro pegged him as a man of extraordinary abilities. Unfortunately, he was also catatonic from birth. No brain functions, no motor functions, nothing. In purely unscientific terms, he was a vegetable.”
Ororo nodded as she sat down behind her desk. This also sounded familiar, an example Charles often brought up in philosophical discussions between himself, Jean, and Henry back in the old days. Sometimes Emma had gotten in on them, too. When she took it upon herself to socialize, that is.
“A few months ago,” Moira said, “a few days after… well, after Charles’s death, Brian gained consciousness. I was checking on his vitals, he turned his head to the right, and said ‘Moira.’ The way he said it… he sounded so much like Charles… I thought maybe…”
Moira realized that her eyes had drifted to Charles’ chair, and shook her head, clearing her thoughts. “For being someone who had never moved, or spoken, the man who was calling himself ‘Brian’ picked up on rehabilitation extremely quickly. Almost like he was someone else, downloaded into the body.”
“Like the ethical question Charles talked about…” Ororo said. “But Charles wouldn’t… I mean, I know that he used the example a lot. But he always spoke about consciousness transfer as something to be done in dire emergencies, or when the person involved had a family. He would never consciously choose this, would he? It would be like... like..."
"Squatting?" Moira sighed. “Considering the things Logan told me before he left, it’s difficult to say if we really knew the real Charles. How he treated Jean, what he did to her to keep the Phoenix from manifesting… That was so unlike him…"
"But... he wouldn’t do this, would he?”
“I can't say," Moira admitted. "But if Brian is Charles, he doesn’t remember. After that one word, Brian acted as though he had never heard of a Charles Xavier, had never been to New York, let alone Xavier Academy. His brainwave patterns are somewhat similar to Charles, but it’s difficult to tell now…”
“What do you mean?”
“Charles was a telepath,” Moira explained. “His psychic powers affected his brainwaves, his thought patterns, everything. But his abilities were genetic. If Charles passed himself over to a new body, then his telepathy would stay behind. It was as much a part of his physical being as his paralysis and his male pattern baldness.
“Brian’s patterns, on the other hand," she continued, "are those of a normal man, mutant or not. There are similarities to Charles in them, aye, but not much more than there would be to you or I.”
“So why are we keeping it secret?” Ororo asked. “And why is he here?”
“Because I want him to heal,” Moira said. “I want Brian to learn about the world outside of the hospital room. And if he should one day remember who he is, I want it to be on his own terms, at his own speed. If it is Charles in there, what’s left of him has to be fairly well beaten up. Between the sabotage of Cerebro, the incident at Alkali Lake, and his eventual battle with Phoenix… If he comes to the knowledge of who he was too quickly, it might collapse his sanity forever. That’s why this knowledge never goes past us, do ye ken? There are only three of us who know about what’s going on. Emma’s the only psychic around here, so she picked up my thoughts, and probably his, but she’s been through enough to be trusted, would you agree?”
Ororo begrudgingly nodded. Emma had been through a lot, had been on both sides of the conflict in the past, but had come out the other end as a changed woman. She was safe. Besides, if Emma was going to stay on as deputy headmistress, she would have to know.
“Alright,” Ororo said, standing, “He can stay, but if anything, and I mean anything, starts getting suspicious, if anything starts making you nervous, you contact me, or you get him off the property. Do you ken?”
Moira nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
Ororo paused, and then shook her head, chuckling. “And please don’t call me ma’am. That’s my mother’s name.”
Moira laughed. “Yes, ma’am.”
As they moved towards the door, Ororo froze. Her eyes caught a frame on the wall, one that she had seen for years. Decades, even. So long that she had forgotten it even existed. It was a framed news clipping, yellowed with age.They were laughing and heading towards the hallway when Ororo paused, her eyes catching a frame on the wall. It was a news clipping, yellowed with age:
LOCAL BOY RECEIVES FULL SCHOLARSHIP
Charles Xavier, Valedictorian of Westchester’s most recent graduating class, was recently rewarded for his high honors with a full scientific scholarship at Oxford University in Oxford, England. He has also been offered scholarships for Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as universities in France, Berlin, and New Delhi.
At 15, Charles, the son of Brian and Sharon Xavier, is the youngest valedictorian in Westchester history. At Oxford, he hopes to study…
Ororo turned to Moira. "I think you might be right, Moira. It might actually be Charles.
“Brian is the name of Charles’ father."
Ororo's Class / Previous Chapters / Show & Tell
Author: kanedax
Spoiilers: X3, Previous Chapters
Rating: PG
Summary: Moira introduces the mysterious new visitor
Notes: This is moving faster than expected. I think it helps that the chapters are so blinking short.
Original chapter can be found here.
I don't own these characters. They belong to Marvel, Disney (huh), and 20th Century Fox.
Ororo's Class / Previous Chapters / Show & Tell
The gathering ended soon after, with Ororo giving the typical information that every class in every school hears at the beginning of a new year: where you eat, where you sleep, where you are or aren’t allowed without supervision. She then asked Bobby and Kitty to escort the new students to their rooms, while the returning mutants were dismissed with the rest of the day to themselves. The new faculty followed suit, but as they left the stage Storm took Moira’s arm and pulled her aside.
“I’m glad you accepted our offer to join us, Moira,” she said quietly, “but as the new headmaster I have to question your decision to bring strangers onto the grounds without prior approval.”
“Ye don’t recognize him?” Moira asked, her Scottish accent barely noticeable after her years at Muir Island. She looked at the mysterious man, who had wandered off to the side and was now gazing dreamily at the sky, at the mansion, at the grounds, at nothing in particular, and pursed her lips. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t. He was used in Charles’s class, not any of yours…”
Ororo blinked. “He knew Charles?”
“Well…” Moira paused, crossing her arms and trying to find the right words. “We think… We think he is Charles.”
Ororo took a step back, her mouth hanging open. “What?” Her head spun to look at the man, and she started walking towards him.
Moira grabbed her. “We think it’s him. Ororo, please let me explain before you do anything drastic.”
“Drastic?”
Moira looked around the lawn, seeing a few pairs of eyes turned towards them. “Can we find somewhere quieter to discuss this?" she asked, leaning in to speak to Ororo. "Right now, the fewer people who are aware of the situation, the safer it will be for everyone.”
"Safer for everyone?" Ororo hissed, but relented in allowing Moira to guide her back into the mansion. “McTaggert, with everything that’s happened in this school the last few years, the last thing I want is to leave these children behind with someone who’s dangerous…”
Moira sighed as they turned a corner into Ororo’s office. “I misspoke,” she replied, closing the door behind them. “What I meant to say is… well… let me just start at the beginning. This man, who’s calling himself Brian, was a patient of mine at Muir Island. He was at the facility because Cerebro pegged him as a man of extraordinary abilities. Unfortunately, he was also catatonic from birth. No brain functions, no motor functions, nothing. In purely unscientific terms, he was a vegetable.”
Ororo nodded as she sat down behind her desk. This also sounded familiar, an example Charles often brought up in philosophical discussions between himself, Jean, and Henry back in the old days. Sometimes Emma had gotten in on them, too. When she took it upon herself to socialize, that is.
“A few months ago,” Moira said, “a few days after… well, after Charles’s death, Brian gained consciousness. I was checking on his vitals, he turned his head to the right, and said ‘Moira.’ The way he said it… he sounded so much like Charles… I thought maybe…”
Moira realized that her eyes had drifted to Charles’ chair, and shook her head, clearing her thoughts. “For being someone who had never moved, or spoken, the man who was calling himself ‘Brian’ picked up on rehabilitation extremely quickly. Almost like he was someone else, downloaded into the body.”
“Like the ethical question Charles talked about…” Ororo said. “But Charles wouldn’t… I mean, I know that he used the example a lot. But he always spoke about consciousness transfer as something to be done in dire emergencies, or when the person involved had a family. He would never consciously choose this, would he? It would be like... like..."
"Squatting?" Moira sighed. “Considering the things Logan told me before he left, it’s difficult to say if we really knew the real Charles. How he treated Jean, what he did to her to keep the Phoenix from manifesting… That was so unlike him…"
"But... he wouldn’t do this, would he?”
“I can't say," Moira admitted. "But if Brian is Charles, he doesn’t remember. After that one word, Brian acted as though he had never heard of a Charles Xavier, had never been to New York, let alone Xavier Academy. His brainwave patterns are somewhat similar to Charles, but it’s difficult to tell now…”
“What do you mean?”
“Charles was a telepath,” Moira explained. “His psychic powers affected his brainwaves, his thought patterns, everything. But his abilities were genetic. If Charles passed himself over to a new body, then his telepathy would stay behind. It was as much a part of his physical being as his paralysis and his male pattern baldness.
“Brian’s patterns, on the other hand," she continued, "are those of a normal man, mutant or not. There are similarities to Charles in them, aye, but not much more than there would be to you or I.”
“So why are we keeping it secret?” Ororo asked. “And why is he here?”
“Because I want him to heal,” Moira said. “I want Brian to learn about the world outside of the hospital room. And if he should one day remember who he is, I want it to be on his own terms, at his own speed. If it is Charles in there, what’s left of him has to be fairly well beaten up. Between the sabotage of Cerebro, the incident at Alkali Lake, and his eventual battle with Phoenix… If he comes to the knowledge of who he was too quickly, it might collapse his sanity forever. That’s why this knowledge never goes past us, do ye ken? There are only three of us who know about what’s going on. Emma’s the only psychic around here, so she picked up my thoughts, and probably his, but she’s been through enough to be trusted, would you agree?”
Ororo begrudgingly nodded. Emma had been through a lot, had been on both sides of the conflict in the past, but had come out the other end as a changed woman. She was safe. Besides, if Emma was going to stay on as deputy headmistress, she would have to know.
“Alright,” Ororo said, standing, “He can stay, but if anything, and I mean anything, starts getting suspicious, if anything starts making you nervous, you contact me, or you get him off the property. Do you ken?”
Moira nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
Ororo paused, and then shook her head, chuckling. “And please don’t call me ma’am. That’s my mother’s name.”
Moira laughed. “Yes, ma’am.”
As they moved towards the door, Ororo froze. Her eyes caught a frame on the wall, one that she had seen for years. Decades, even. So long that she had forgotten it even existed. It was a framed news clipping, yellowed with age.They were laughing and heading towards the hallway when Ororo paused, her eyes catching a frame on the wall. It was a news clipping, yellowed with age:
LOCAL BOY RECEIVES FULL SCHOLARSHIP
Charles Xavier, Valedictorian of Westchester’s most recent graduating class, was recently rewarded for his high honors with a full scientific scholarship at Oxford University in Oxford, England. He has also been offered scholarships for Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as universities in France, Berlin, and New Delhi.
At 15, Charles, the son of Brian and Sharon Xavier, is the youngest valedictorian in Westchester history. At Oxford, he hopes to study…
Ororo turned to Moira. "I think you might be right, Moira. It might actually be Charles.
“Brian is the name of Charles’ father."
Ororo's Class / Previous Chapters / Show & Tell