Editor’s Note: This takes place before the events of Astonishing X-Men #8.

The Xavier Institute

His decision to stay on the grounds of the Xavier Institute seemed to have allowed his mind to drift back into a world that had once been so comfortable. Horrors could have lain in every shadow around the glorious estate and yet he had managed to make it to adulthood. His friends had done the same. Well, nearly all of them. In his young years, Sam Guthrie had buried more than just the old and he had mourned twice as long as he had ever been happy. It was the life of a hero. It was the life of a southern gentleman who had dedicated his every breathing moment to fighting for a cause that he had believed in so adamantly. He would never forget the gangly and awkward Kentuckian he had once been but that boy was behind him. A man that could not be taken or demeaned stood in his place. His siblings had followed him and their lives rested solely in his hands. That was his definition of family. Josh, the most recent of the mutant brood, had been taken in the midst of a war on the school.

Even his happiest moments had been plagued with doubts and the shadows were constant. Sometimes they seeped into the reality of their world. It was a cliché to think that they were hated and despised any more than any other minority had ever been. Sam understood this hatred. He had faced enough of the evil mutants that humanity feared so absolutely. He knew monsters were born not made, and now the same could be said for weapons. It was a scary thought. It all stood in stark contrast to the plush office that he sat in. Its oaken table and duck feathered chairs allotting him comforts he wasn’t sure he deserved. Paige had laughed and smiled when he’d given her the tour. It was the reward for years of trauma. However, even amidst their rivalry and banter neither of them was able to forget that their brother was still missing. It plagued their every moment.

Sam had been offered a reprieve but he still dealt with the matter on his own. He might not be able to go into the field but the X-Men looked after their own and the Guthrie’s were certainly members of their clan. He rubbed at his eyes as the early morning sun began to sliver through the windows. It was a large room and it would require a lot more light before it could be considered bright. There was an air of stuffiness. Paperwork had taken over his life. He had gone from being an Avenger to duty administrative duty in one fell swoop, but he wouldn’t have given up the opportunity to return to his roots. He was corn fed through and through. His home would always be his home and outside of Kentucky, that was the Institute.

Knuckles rapped at the door.

“C’mon in,” Sam’s voice was groggy from sleep deprivation. It was hard to sleep when a sibling was missing. It was the gentle, svelte figure of his sister that sashayed through the half opened doorway and into the murky darkness of the room. She was the wholesome southern belle that the archetype required. He remembered her as the cautious and logical member of the family but she had been known for her headstrong and foolhardy tendencies. He sometimes wished he had been as capable when he had been her age. Sam had undergone a serious learning curve in the years that followed puberty and the reveal of his powers.

She paused.

“This is goodbye then?”

Paige nodded. “I was only back temporarily. Jean and Scott are here and someone has to hold the fort in Genosha. There is a world beyond this school, as I’m sure you’ve come to realise, big brother.” She wasn’t as fragile as he had once thought of her. Sam now saw her for the strength she possessed but there was an isolated expression clear in her face. He had once made a joke that she was the girl crushing hearts with stone hands but he had never thought her own had suffered. Paige held her own. She didn’t show emotions.

“I don’t know what ah’ll do without y’,” he joked. She had been his rock for the last week as he settled into his new position. “All this way and y’ don’t even go home to see momma and the kids.”

“If only I had the time.”

“Yer for Genosha then? Pickin’ up where y’ left off as if nothin’ has happened here?”

“I have plans in Paris before I reach Genosha,” Paige murmured. Her doe-eyed gaze was cloudy and as cold as ice. “We will find him and we will take him home, Sam. The bastard that did this to us will hang for his crimes.” There was a harsh quality to husky voice that he found disturbingly unfamiliar. He had always known that war could affect people in dark ways. It had made him stronger but his sister seemed to have shielded herself from the pain by becoming colder.

“How can y’ not care?” He chastised.

Paige sighed dismissively. “I do care, Sam. What do you want from me? The X-Men are doing all they can. We have to sit back and be strong. Life goes on in the meantime.”

“He’s our brother, Paige. He’s a kid.”

She laughed angrily. “We’re all kids. This is war. In war we make sacrifices. I want Josh home and I want him safe but nothing but patience and searching is going to do that. We don’t know where the Marauders took him or why. You falling apart is helping no one, least of all the students under your protection.”

Sam sighed.

“I have a jet to catch,” she informed him. “Stay safe, Sam.”

He watched as she disappeared back into the hallways and out his life again.

I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE

By Gavin McMahon

“Nothing goes as planned, everything will break, people say goodbye in their own special way. All that you rely on, and all that you could fake, will leave you in the morning…”

Noriko closed her eyes and prayed. She wasn’t a religious individual. In fact, she wasn’t sure there anything in any of the numerous teachings of faith that she had encountered in her turbulent life since leaving Japan but she had to do something. Tears welled in the electric blue haired woman’s eyes as she leaned over the toilet to be sick. Her breathing was heavy. It sounded like she was panting as she pushed herself out of the toilet basin only to fall back against it. Her hands reached through her hair as she pulled. Noriko was almost sure she had drawn blood amidst the panic attack. Sooraya pottered around in the room next to the en suite. She tried to be quiet but it was difficult when she found that her world was crashing in around her. Noriko had made an improvement in her life. She wasn’t the teenage girl living out of a rucksack and scavenging in bins anymore. She had made a life for herself, and her powers were finally under some semblance of control. It seemed just when everything was going right, she screwed it up.

Gauntlets had been created to contain and moderate the release of her electricity manipulation until such times as she could master it on her own. It was a slow learning curve for the tomboy.

Sooraya tapped lightly. “Noriko, are you quite alright?”

“Fine,” Noriko heaved.

“Would you perhaps like a glass of water?” Sooraya’s helpfulness was starting to irk the Japanese woman. She ignored her and the Saudi Arabian successfully interpreted the silence. It was a conflict of personalities. Noriko was a free spirit who took no nonsense from anyone and stood her ground when challenged. Sooraya was a submissive dreamer’s whose very ability enabled her to escape from the reality of any situation. She could not be contained by anything but her faith and so they differed. Unlike Noriko though, Sooraya had the good grace to remain cordially polite.

It was bad enough that she had been almost killed by those so-called Plague Dogs less than two weeks ago. It was a never ending battle to stay alive as it was. She didn’t see the reason for her body to start challenging her to. Vibrations surged across her leg as she reached for her cell phone. It was the third time in less than ten minutes and her temper was already flared. David met her eyes as she looked at the screen and she screeched as if she had just been stabbed. Her phone was thrown blindly across the floor as she continued to sob uncontrollably. Noriko had landed herself in a situation that she couldn’t get out of and she couldn’t turn to anyone, especially not David or Laurie and she realistically saw that they were the only two people she had left in her life that mattered to her.Pity you couldn’t have remembered that sooner, she seethed.

“Noriko–“

She snapped. “Sooraya, fuck off!”

Silence allowed her tears to run freely as the young woman turned her eyes back towards the source of her pain. It was a single positive pregnancy test. Her predicament wounded her but it was her guilt that ate away at her from the inside, especially as she saw David’s name once again light up the screen of her cell phone from across the small bathroom. It was her sins come back to haunt her, and she couldn’t cope with the truth.

“No answer.”

Laurie offered comfort but her smile was subtly broken. Her powers were tied to her emotions and it took her every effort not to leave the Institute in a current state of suicide. Her worst nightmares had come true and she was recovery in the only way she knew how. Problems were easiest ignored when they remained bottled up. “She’s probably still sleeping. I mean, you know, it’s Nori.”

David shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s me calling.”

“She’s been dealing with a lot lately. I mean, even before the whole incident with those dogs and … Josh. Joshua F and Julian disappeared and Sofía’s gone. It used to be just us against the world and now everything’s different. Maybe she’s just having trouble adjusting to the way things are,” Laure affirmed. “I tried speaking to her but she doesn’t trust me in that way. My abilities make it hard for anyone to open up to me.” She pulled the long sleek waves of blonde hair across her right shoulder and began to lazily braid it as they waited. She noticed as he checked his watch for the hundredth time in the last five minutes.

The students at the Xavier Institute seemed to have managed to overcome the traumas of the last few weeks. David seemed to have been perfectly accustomed to it by now. He acted as if it was just a bad dream. It had been his idea to get together and relax away from the school. Now, he found himself worrying that he was pushing Noriko further than her emotions would allow. He wanted to race through the halls and fall by her side. David had been an academic all of his life. Long before his powers had allowed him to absorb and retain the information known to those around him. He had been destined for the honours roll. The Chicago native processed life in a way that others couldn’t comprehend. He had never known love until he had met the rambunctious young Japanese woman that he could now call his girlfriend.

Laurie offered him a tragic smile. Josh was still missing. Hope was still recovering from the attacks. No one had survived the ordeal intact. It was silly to think they had. Life had been thrown back in their faces and forced them to feel even weaker than they already did. The X-Men had proved themselves time and time again, but the students they trained were still learning who they were and, more importantly, what they were capable of. Kevin Ford looked more desolate than before the Plague Dogs. She had known him for almost two years and she had watched his descent into a seemingly endless self-pity. For someone so young, the weight was squared across his broad shoulders. Laurie lost track of herself as she watched him fidget across the foyer.

“Laurie?” David snapped her back to reality.

“These things are never easy. Just look at the Cuckoos,” Laurie whispered sympathetically. “It’s not like they ever recovered properly from the death of Esme last year. They sit around in silence communicating with only their minds.”

Their gaze met as they looked towards the four sisters. Blonde hair fell to their shoulders and each of them looked like they had just stepped from the pages ofTattler Magazine. Hailing from England, the Cuckoos as they had quickly become known, spoke with the crisp accents when spoken to but otherwise they sat in silence. It was presumed that they communicated with each other telepathically. David had always found them unnerving to be around, even before Esme had died. There was something so isolated about them that he couldn’t comprehend them as individuals. His ability meant that he could absorb knowledge and even without their powers, the Cuckoos were some of the brightest students at the Institute. David was both in awe and frightened of them and what they were capable of. He just didn’t understand Laurie’s analogy.

David shrugged. “What’s your point?”

“We’re the lucky ones, David. Never forget it.”

Hope groaned.

Her vision was somewhat hazy as the luminescent lights of the medical ward woke her from her sleep. It was a moment of relief to feel the nothingness but as sensation and pain drilled through her body, the nightmares returned in full force. Doctor Reyes had told her that pain was good. It meant there was something to heal. Hope wished that for once she wasn’t just the victim. She felt that she was the subplot in someone else’s story and this pain was forced on her by external sources she had never wanted. It was a step down from the world of privilege and high society that the young Bostonian was accustomed to. She had been at the Institute for eleven months and in that time she had almost died twice and now she found herself unable to walk. Regardless of how long her recovery would take, Hope wasn’t sure she could overcome the emotional effects of the attack. Harpoon plagued her dreams. She saw him in every reflective surface in the sterile medical bay.

She had run. She had begged for her life. Hope was adamant that he would have killed her without a moment’s notice despite all of her efforts. Monsters were a very real part of what her world now entailed and it was a stress the brunette beauty had never expected. She brushed her fingers through the fallen ringlets of her hair, messily tied back from her face, and attempted to move her left leg. It didn’t work. She had expected that but it didn’t hurt any less. There was sensation returning but the journey was slow and even Hope’s patience had been tested. In the first few days of her recovery students she had never even heard of came to check on her. The God Squad still checked in from time to time with news of their prayers. Born and raised a WASP, Hope had a religious background but her faith was very much tested now. Idie Okonkwo’s piety wasn’t helping her at all.

“Miss Abbott,” cooed the smooth southern drawl of Sam, the student liaison. He was her only regular visitor beyond the God Squad. Her sentiments towards him where varied. In some ways she appreciated his interest in her but she couldn’t help but wonder what if he had arrived sooner? She blamed a lot of people, herself included, and from the weary expression on his masculine features she could tell that he blamed himself. If she could reassure him it wasn’t his fault, she would have done. Hope wasn’t sure if that was a lie. He had been their guardian, one of them, and he’d failed her. She looked up at him with cold blue eyes. “How are we this evenin’?”

She was curt. “As well as can be expected given the circumstances.”

Sam nodded. “Cecelia–” He corrected himself. “Doctor Reyes thinks it would be good for you to get off the medical bay for a bit. Ah was thinkin’ that we might start some physical therapy and see if we can’t get you back onto your feet.”

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

He was shocked at her bluntness. Sam had been gone for a long time. His years as an Avenger had meant the school was almost entirely different when he returned. Still, he had heard high praises about the gracious and elegant concert pianist. She was purported as an exemplary tale of child rearing but he honestly found her to be increasingly difficult and jaded with every visit. Hope’s growing despondency to treatment worried him but there was a team of highly trained clinical medical practitioners on her case. He had no reason to doubt their judgements as sound. She was wealthy and pampered, unequipped for the difficulties faced in the world of war, and Sam would force her to recover if it’s what he had to do. He had failed her once and he wouldn’t allow himself to do so again.

“I’m tellin’ y’, Hope.”

She shrugged as she turned her back to him, lying with one had under the pillow against her face. “Well then, I suppose that’s decided.”

Sam sighed.

“Roedd yn braf i siarad. Rwyf wrth fy modd i chi, daddy,” she chirped down the phone before settling it back on the handset. Her eyes sat wide and bright as she exhaled heavily. It constantly brought a sense of pain to her face and posture when she contacted her family. Wales seemed light years away from the grandiose ball room where she now sat. It would take more than a bit of getting used to. There was a thrill and excitement to living amongst the X-Men, the air practically buzzed with it, but she missed the sleepy, sweeping valleys that had raised her almost as much as her parents had done. Megan was what people from her side of the world knew as a ‘home bird’, and she was lost and lonely when taken from those familiar surroundings. The Xavier Institute had made her more than welcome but it was about more than that. She adjusted the baby blue hair band in her pale pink hair as she turned back to the mirror. In many ways, she felt her spritely appearance was apt.

Rumours of faeries and elves were frequent back home. Old men regaled audiences with ancient tales of the land before humanity. At least, they did in Aberystwyth. Megan wasn’t stupid enough to believe the entire country of Wales was as quaint as the town that she had lived in for sixteen years. Her dark black eyes watched back at her eerily, she seemed more sinister than she could ever imagine being. It was an effect of her mutation. Her bright wings were more traditionally like those pictured on the modern interpretation of faeries. She considered herself to be pretty, she was wholesome at the very least and somewhat innocent. Megan was often thought of as dull or stupid but she was neither. In all honesty, she was the product of her sheltered upbringing. Tussling at her shoulder length locks, she turned towards the riotous sound of Santo’s laughter. It could have toppled mountains.

Victor, however, looked less amused.

She had become friendly with the Chicagoan since arriving at the school slightly over a month beforehand. Megan had learned what he was capable of when they had stormed the layer of Pandemic to free their fellow students. It was one of the most exhilarating experiences the valley girl was sure she would ever have. This closeness was why she looked on at the scene in such disdain. Santo laid the bait and Victor constantly rose to it. She wasn’t sure she’d ever met anyone quite so high strung as the reptilian boy that now screamed abuse at the rock behemoth. Megan moved forward to intercede but all hell broke loose before she could even act. Victor pounced with the astounding agility and the sheer force of his jump toppled Santo over the back of the couch he’d been leaning on only moments before. Megan physically slapped her head as the other students laughed hysterically.

“You’re dead!”

Megan skipped forward as Santo slammed the couch into the wall behind him. Her face was surprisingly stern as she held a hand to halt him. “I think that’s far enough.” Victor moved forward and his friend turned on him too. “No. You’ve had your fun. I don’t think the two of you need to spend any more time in Mister McCoy’s office than you already have this semester. Do you?”

Victor frowned. “If he would just stay out of my way we wouldn’t have a problem. He’s a jerk and he’s going to get what’s coming to him sooner or later.”

“That a threat, slug boy,” chortled Santo.

Victor threw an unseemly hand gesture. “A slug isn’t a lizard, you jackass.” With all of the theatricality she had come to expect from him, Victor stormed from the room without looking back. She watched as he disappeared through the doorway. Tempted to follow but knowing his temper, she refrained. Her eyes now rested fairly on Santo as the other students moved about their personal business.

“Was there really any need?” She groaned.

“It’s a bit of fun.”

Megan sighed. “For you, maybe.”

“Are you alright?”

Victor looked up from where he sat hunched against the wall of the hallway. Warm hazel eyes were the first thing he noticed about the boy that stood above him. He’d never seen him before but in a school as large as the Xavier Institute that wasn’t surprising. It was also entirely possible he had another form that Victor would recognise, at least visually. It was hard to remember so many faces when there were shapeshifters roaming the halls, especially when they were mischievous. Still, there was something about the boy that instinctively drew him to him. He wore a loose fitting purple shirt that exposed the top of his chest. He had the general appearance of an All-American athlete. His blond hair was stylishly messy and his square jaw line and muscular body made him more rugged than a boy his age should have been. His smile was crooked.

“Hello?”

He snapped out of his daze. “Oh, yeah. I’m sweet. I’m just taking a bit of a break.” It sounded so stupid when he said it aloud. He dropped his eyes to focus on the carpet afraid that he’d been staring. It was strange. This boy was different from anyone he’d met before, or maybe it was just Victor’s perception of the situation.

“Are you sure, dude? It looked pretty rough in there.”

“You saw then.”

Victor tugged at the waist line of his sweat pants that had been temporarily drawn to his ankles by Santo. It was the repercussion from a stream of jokes that had gone too far. It had been unnecessary and left the sophomore feeling exposed and slightly violated. Still, the boy didn’t seem unnerved nor did he act like he pitied him. Victor wasn’t the kind of guy who distributed random acts of compassion and he couldn’t understand why anyone would want to listen to the problems of a complete stranger. It wasn’t something that ever would have appealed to him but there was a peculiar thought in the back of his head. Victor wasn’t sure if he wanted this boy to be a stranger. He bit at his lip as he looked at the boy. He found him desirable.

He offered his hand. “I’m Dallas.”

“Victor,” replied the reptilian mutant as he was hoisted back onto his feet.

“I wouldn’t worry Victor. I’ve been here two years. Something else will happen in the next hour and the rumour mill will spin on,” smiled the youth. “It’s best to just ride out the storm.”

“That’s easier said than done.”

Dallas shrugged. “Not if you put your mind to it.” He gave another crooked smile. “Enjoy the rest of your day, Victor.”

Alani felt like she was about to be reprimanded and it wasn’t a feeling she appreciated having been at the school for such a short period already. There had always been the opinion that she was difficult with a penchant for fighting against authority but she would have disputed all of those claims. Alani had no problem with authority. She had always just lacked respect for those throwing demands at her. She looked around the office with an air of caution. Her gaze partly shadowed by her thick fringe. Authority had never played much of a role in her life, nor had structure. Lazy days spent beside the ocean had been Alani’s chief concern for the last sixteen years. It was what she missed most about Hawai’i. Furrowing her brows as she waited on her mentor to address her, Alani had an opportunity to evaluate the man before her.

Teacher. X-Man. Avenger. Sam Guthrie had led quite an extravagant life but Alani wasn’t sure if that meant he had earned her respect. Truthfully, the only thing he had ever done to please her was to rush to the aid of the kidnapped students. His own brother had been taken amidst the fray. Alani appreciated that he fought through adversity and sacrifice to be the man that so many students needed him to be. She was sure it was a common trait amongst the X-Men but Alani had less experience with them. Classes hadn’t even officially started. Drawing a dark strand of hair behind her ear, the surfer manoeuvred her foot awkwardly and almost toppled over the desk ahead of her with a thud. Alani managed to steady herself but she caught his gaze in a moment of weakness.

Sam smiled. “Ah’ve heard great things about y’, Miss Ryan. Y’ do yer state proud. This school could do with a few more like y’.”

“Truthfully, I haven’t set out to make my state proud,” Alani shrugged. “I’m still getting my bearings. I feel like a small fish in an ocean compared to the small lake that I always knew. It’s nothing really.”

He seemed to return to his paperwork. Alani was irked that he would have called her to his office for a simply progress report. She didn’t need his verification to live her life, no more than she required anyone else’s. Her dark eyes fluttered as she realised that the reports on his desk read her name. It must have been the notes that had been made when the X-Men had originally travelled to her island home to offer her training. She was a mutant with a beautiful mutation across her skin but her actual abilities were somewhat more dangerous. Alani liked to describe it was swimming through objects but the molecular structure of what she was passed through was always broken, irrevocably. She had spoken with Shadowcat so that she could better control herself. Her powers could be unpredictable when startled. She’d already destroyed a cafeteria table, a door and an antique vase in the few months she had been at the Institute.

He nodded. “I wanna take y’ on an exercise. Really test yer strengths.”

It was a struggle not to smirk. Her heart raced with a sense of relief. Praise was always more highly appreciated to the young woman, not that she was overly prideful. She allowed herself a moment of thought but there was a thrill in the unknown that immediately swept over her. Alani grinned broadly.

“I’m ready for anything.”

NEXT: As the semester finally begins, the New X-Men must settle into academics and training as one of their own makes a diplomatic visit to the sunny shores of Brazil!