Professor K.

Calvin wasn’t certain if his offer would be accepted nor even considered but when he saw Kitty, he immediately lowered to the ground. His wings keeping the constant flow in a great distance so he could easily ascend. He analyzed her, sweeping his eyes over her entirety before securing her hand in his. His fingers interlocked as the sound of the familiar voice and the known, friendly face was all he needed. He was taken from the vivid phantom pains of the past and was placed in the security of his present. 

“I am…” Cal said as he eased his free hand into hers, locking fingers partially at the wrist. He sealed and immediately ascended. Within a few moments, Katherine was hoisted from the ground and immediately suspended in the air. His arms eased beneath her knees and cradled her just as easy as a babe. He snickered softly as cleared the ceiling and like a beautiful bird, he took flight. The beautiful white wings gleaming with the radiance of the sun against his feathers. He couldn’t help but greet her with a smile. 

“…I am glad to see you. I wasn’t certain as to whom extended residence but I’m here. After all…I’m not safe alone and I’m just as much of a danger to them as I am to myself.” Cal admitted, most shamed that even at his age, he was still developing. He wasn’t a mutant, per say. Technically, he was still classified as a mutate, simply due to his genetics being ‘human’ by birth and powered by experimentation. But, that was neither important nor the pending topic of discussion- thankfully. He kept her close, enveloping her in a small layer of telekinetic fields to keep the air from causing any harm. 

“Are you…”

Cal mumbled, trying to muster the strength to really ask about her well-being. Though he could’ve forced the thoughts, it was unethical. At least, that is what Xavier had taught him and he still struggled accepting the differences between real-life and the life that was created within that lab and Weapon X. He swallowed hard. Though Unity; all included, had their host of issues, he had to deal with his own demons to fight. “Are you alright? A smile is sometimes all we have to cover up and bandage the hurt.” He rambled off, allowing the thought to slip past his lips and his command of thought. “I am concerned, is all. I hope you don’t mind a view atop the tallest building. I just need to really clear my head.” 

He gazed down at her. “What happened?” 

“I thought it was time that everyone came home.”

That was Kitty’s key reasoning for extending offers of residency to all the former members of Xavier’s. These walls had been their home, their safe haven and yes, they may have been humans within these walls now too but it was still home. It was still somewhere they could be around their kind and feel safe. Though, she wasn’t so sure about how safe people were feeling lately considering the HYDRA attack that occurred while she was away on a rescue mission.

She hadn’t even considered the aspect of ‘oh they’re dangerous, they should be somewhere we can keep an eye on them’. She wasn’t like SHIELD, she didn’t want her school to run the same way SHIELD’s had. No, she wanted people to be here out of choice and she wanted what was best for each individual student. “Well, you’ll be safe here. With us. Have you run into any other members of the old team yet? There was a couple left here while the rest of us were away.”

The opportunity to take to the air had been too good to resist and her good arm hooked around his neck as he carried her. Being in Limbo for so long had made her miss the feeling of fresh air, the way wind would whip her hair. There was a certain feeling of freedom that came with flying through the air that venturing through Limbo had negated entirely. That place was a Hellhole, a trap that you couldn’t escape. They had been lucky that they had been successful; there had been no guarantee that they would have been.

A faint smile formed on her lips as Cal showed concern for her wellbeing. Sometimes she forgot people actually cared even though she acted like superwoman and pretend nothing affected her. There was Leah and of course, Bobby who regularly showed concern about her but outside of that her relationships with most people were a little odd. She was close to them but a lot of people still held her at an arm’s distance.

“I don’t mind a view at all,” she replied, it would be nice to see a view after so long of demons and crumbled ruins that had once been Illyana’s well built kingdom. She hesitated for a few seconds, trying to figure out the best way to say what had happened but she supposed the truth was the best policy.

Taking the invitation, Leah opened the door gently and peered in. “Kitty?” she called in as she stepped through the doorway, closing the door just as gently behind her. Quietly, the goddess made her way to the bedside where she found her friend. Without actually putting any weight upon the bed, Leah sat on the edge beside Kitty and offered a sad smile.

“I see the rumors of the dangers of your mission were not exaggerated,” she spoke in hushed tones. A feather light touch with a hand both warm and healing, Leah gently brushed the hair back from Kitty’s eyes. She wouldn’t heal her all at once, as most Midgardians found such a feat unsettling, the goddess did ofter some small relief to the sharp pains that spread throughout Kitty’s body.

“I wish you had asked me along. It pains me to see you so injured,” she continued, her voice still barely more than a whisper. “Were you at least successful?”

The touch was welcoming and having her hair brushed from her face reminded her strongly of times she’d be curled up and Storm would have come to check on her. It was soothing, a familiar gesture that she associated with something positive and it was rare for Kitty to think positive these days.

“Limbo never ends well for the X-Men,” she grumbled, her muscles visibly relaxing as Leah negated some of the pain Kitty was experiencing. And to top it all off, now they had Magneto in the school too, though Kitty had put him in the holding cells.

“Would have asked you but you have a little one to look after,” Kitty murmured, tilting her head slightly so she was able to look up at Leah through half-closed eyelids. “Yeah, we got her...Just don’t know the extent of the damage done to her yet...”

Natasha had spent much of the time while the headmistress was away handling the school’s business. She’d vetted several new students and processed their admissions. She’d handled the Hydra attack and aftermath as best as she could. She’d got classes started back up and handled substitutes for the courses that were possible to carry on in their professors absences. Really, she’d gone above and beyond, despite her lack of support from what remained of SHIELD.

Still, this wasn’t her job and so, when the headmistress returned to her office, the Widow couldn’t help the sigh of relief. “It’s good to see you back,” Natasha greeted, getting up from Kitty’s chair. “I kept it warm for you. Kept the school in one piece too… mostly.” Certainly, Kitty had heard of Hyrda’s attack, but either way, Natasha had a report ready for her in hand.

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When she entered her office, she’d expected to find Bobby in her chair, not Natasha. Seeing the other woman there caused Kitty to freeze in the doorway and kink her eyebrow as if to ask what Natasha was doing in here but she got her answer quickly enough without having to verbally ask. “Where’s Bobby?” was the first question to leave Kitty’s lips. Not that she didn’t appreciate Natasha’s help and all that she’d evidently done in Kitty’s absence but she’d left her teammate in charge...He should of been the one to tell her this stuff.

“Mostly,” she repeated the word back and there was slight amusement in it. This school had been broken and rebuilt so many times that Kitty had lost count. The building could be fixed but the trauma the students had experienced would take a lot longer. “I don’t know all that happened but I know enough to say that no-one outside of these walls knows the Danger Room programme runs throughout the whole school. Have you any idea how it happened?”

Kitty wasn’t a spy, she didn’t know intel, her connections were not as vast as Natasha’s were and so any information she could get, she would take.

“And thank you. Thank you for looking after my students in my absence.”

Hela knew the instant everyone was back from Limbo. Of course she knew. She had felt their multiple presences return to the land of the living. Part of her, the part that was Leah and whom considered Kitty Pryde to be one of her best friends, wanted to will herself to the spot where they had returned but she waited. It was clear that they’d all suffered dearly for their journey through Limbo and though they’d returned with Illyana in tow, they would all need rest and time to heal.

And so, the goddess of the dead waited, patiently as ever, until Kitty returned to her room and was finally alone, before willing herself to the door. Certainly, she could have skipped the door entirely but such things were considered rude in Midgard. Instead, Leah knocked gently on Kitty’s door and hoped her friend would grant her a moment’s time before collapsing for the evening.

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Kitty had only been back for an hour tops and after making sure Illyana was comfortable, she had retreated to her room in order to tend to her own injuries. She didn’t want to sit in the infirmary, even though she had no qualms with hospitals. All she really wanted was her bed and it wasn’t until she looked at her phone that she realised they’d been gone for a month. God, the time differences in Limbo really did fuck with a person but she’d worry about that later. For the time being, she just wanted to lie down. 

So, she did.

She collapsed onto her bed, her uniform torn and bloodied as she tried to get comfortable. Her injured arm was draped over her stomach as it was the only position she could find where the pain wasn't excruciating. Usually, when she heard a knock on the door, she’d have gotten up and answered it but she had no energy left and so she just let out a quiet groan.

“Come in,” she called, not even bothering to move from the position she’d adopted.

Calvin stood at the balcony, looking out into the busy of the staff about noon. It was fascinating just watching them move about like little ants. Their duties clear but for once, Cal was able to just rest. He tried to retrieve some files from archives but all systems were secured. He huffed, gripping the wooden banister. His index finger began to tap, picking at the coated grain only to fail. He continued, strumming as he went along. He felt the kinetic energy surge and be stored as potential. Like all natural things, it wanted to be stored as strain energy but it was absorbed by the braces and support beams. He hummed, finally gaining the courage to step down from his bird-eye perch.  As he took each step. His wings began to bud from his back. The prefabricated slits in his clothing allowed them to freely form without any added pain or discomfort. The bony spine stemmed cartilage branches and feathers began to sprout. Flight was always an intriguing ability to have but the process of gaining wings always caught everyone by surprise. He was familiar with the one that called Angel, he even felt the slight depressive classification of being considered a knock-off or a second best when it came to him. However, he’d never really engaged with them. Being in these halls made him feel, oddly, at the one place he considered home- even if it wasn’t as it once was. 

Keep reading

Kitty had just returned from Limbo. It certainly hadn’t been an easy mission but it had been well worth it to bring Illyana back home.

Of course, she was suffering from injuries after going up against a hoard of demons but it was nothing she hadn’t endured before and it was certainly not something that would put her out of action. In her time away, she’d missed so much. An apparent HYDRA attack and the arrival of several new students – both ones she’d never met before and even some familiar faces. It was her duty as Headmistress to catch up on all that she’d missed and later on, she had planned meetings with Natasha and then one with Leah but for the time being, she was walking – or rather hobbling – around the school to see how much damage had truly been caused.

She couldn’t help but flinch a little as she noticed walls had been caved in. The Hulk, she thought. It had been an inevitability that eventually Bruce’s angrier side would surface and cause some property damage. She wasn’t even mad. At least she knew the school could defend itself and stay standing in the event of an attack. It had with stood what Armour had been unable to withstand and Kitty was lucky that the staff members that she had left behind had been as capable in a crisis as they were. She was lucky that she had such a good team. She might have gotten on well with all of them but at the end of the day, she knew she could trust them with her students and that’s what mattered the most to her; the students.

As she walked the halls, she adjusted the sling that her arm was in. She’d received a nasty slash from one of the demons and while her arm wasn’t broken, it was incredibly painful to move it and so she had opted to keep it immobilised until it healed. Sometimes she wished she had Logan’s healing factor but then at the same time, she liked her pain. It was a reminder that she was still human, that she wasn’t Wonder Woman and that even if she tried to do everything by herself, a team was necessary. It helped her remember that Xavier wanted people to stand together and if they hadn’t been standing together as they had been in Limbo, her injuries would have been far worse than they currently were.

Passing through one of the corridors, she noticed a set of wings in her peripheral vision as she walked by. Instantly, she doubled back thinking it would be Warren and that she could catch up with her friend. First he’d been away and then when he’d gotten back, she’d been away but alas, it wasn’t and the face she was greeted to surprised her ever so slightly.

I need to go airborne. Wanna come?

“Calvin?”

There was surprise in her voice. She’d been away for an entire month and she had left Bobby in charge of everything – that included student admittances. Sure, Kitty had reached out to all former X-Men and New Mutants when she’d first started up Unity but as time progressed, she began to think that less of them would show up. She was surprised he was there but in a good way. Even the people she hadn’t been particularly close to in the past were people she had grown to like now – her relationship with Emma was a perfect example. Once they’d despised each other but now they worked together like a well-oiled machine.

After a moment’s deliberation, she took hold of his hand and a faint smile tugged at the corner of her lips.