ʀᴇʙᴏʀɴ.

     She didn't know what compelled her to come back to this long forgotten place. Days had turned into months that turned into years without a single thought of this past that she barely remembered.

     As she stood facing her childhood home now, though, she took in all the details that suddenly seemed so familiar: the porch she'd spent so many summers sitting with her mother on, the kitchen window she'd accidentally broken with her father's baseball, the garden she'd planted all her favourite flowers in every spring. It was all in front of her now and it was like she'd never left, but yet it seemed like it was a lifetime ago she'd last been here.

     So much had changed since those days and as a result Jean had also changed so much. At times, she couldn't even recall what her childhood was remotely like, what she herself was like as a child-- that is, if she even happened to spare the topic a moment's thought.

     Turning around in her spot, she gazed at the empty street bathing in the midday sunlight. The asphalt was a faded grey, various cracks and potholes decorating the surface. As she was musing over when was the last time the weathered road had been tended to, Jean felt a sudden pulsing in her temple. She winced and lifted a hand to press against the side of her head, she felt a weird sensation, as if there was a wall. It was the same sensation as when she'd tried to use her telepathy several times in the past, before she'd found her new strength. Gently rubbing at her temple in annoyance, Jean took a deep breath and turned around to face the house again. She'd ask the Professor about this later.

     Just as she was thinking of giving herself a tour of the empty home, she sensed a presence behind her, an unbelievably strong one. It was approaching her silently, moving at a slow and leisurely pace. Emitting from them was a strong level of power, a power she'd come to recognize easily after having fought them with her team countless times before. She didn't need to turn around to know who it was, to know it was him. His energy level was unmistakable for any other.

     Jean couldn’t even begin to count how many meetings with the government, which always started out diplomatic thanks to the Professor and Hank, had turned out like this. For some reason, no matter how many times the Professor had tried to bridge the gap, mutants and humans could never go long without a full-blown battle breaking out between them.

     Of course, it wasn’t like either side was any less guilty than the other, but every time Jean found herself either fighting or fleeing for her life, she couldn’t help but wonder if there would ever be peace.

     They were crouching behind a boulder, probably a fragment of what used to be a wall, to avoid all the gunfire and bombs being aimed at them. When she heard Sunyoung’s voice coming from beside her, her heart couldn’t help but ache. The way they — her friends, her students, her family — constantly lived in either fear or hostility just for being what they were, it broke her heart.

     The Professor always vouched for the humans, always assured all of them that they just needed explaining to, that they should never use their powers on them, and Jean always respected his word. But there was no way she’d let any harm come to any of them if she could help it.

     ”Never. Not even over my dead body.”