Beneath the dazzling glow filling the sky, Fenris gave his radiant wings a light beat, and his figure vanished from sight, only to reappear an instant later just in time to catch Jean as she fell from the air.
"My God, that…"
"That's too beautiful."
As Fenris streaked across the sky from the distance, trailing shimmering streams of light, everyone inside the Blackbird caught their breath and let out stunned murmurs.
"Fenris turned from a giant lizard into a butterfly."
Watching him fly closer and closer, Ororo stared in open amazement and sighed in admiration. "He's absolutely gorgeous."
"I knew it. His abilities were never that simple."
Seeing Fenris survive the Phoenix's grasp, cheat death, and emerge reborn from the cocoon, Professor Xavier nodded with deep relief, genuinely happy for him.
There were quite a few powers in the world that could evade his telepathy, but Fenris was the only one who could make even him feel a faint sense of fear.
"This kid… he really did grow wings."
Back when Logan had seen Fenris wrap himself in that cocoon, he had already had a feeling. He just had not expected that absurd guess to actually come true.
His gaze slid over the light wings on Fenris's back, then shifted to Jean Grey, unconscious in Fenris's arms. The tension that had gripped Logan's face finally eased. The corner of his mouth twitched upward slightly.
"Show-off."
"Jean!"
The moment Fenris drew near, Scott yanked the controls, dropped the boarding ladder, and bolted for the rear of the cabin.
"How is she?"
"She's fine. And for a while, she won't lose control again."
Fenris stepped into the cabin. The huge wings behind him quietly dissolved into countless glittering motes of light, and the colorful patterns across his body slowly faded until he looked normal again.
But compared to before, there was now something different about him, a more singular kind of presence.
Fenris gently placed Jean in Scott's arms. "Let her rest for a while, and she'll be fine."
"Thank you. Fenris, thank you!"
Scott took his beloved girlfriend into his arms and carefully covered her with a jacket. The terror of almost losing her, mixed with the overwhelming joy of getting her back, surged through his chest so fiercely that his whole body began trembling uncontrollably.
"If it weren't for you, I really don't know what I…"
"That's enough, Scott. We're friends."
Smiling, Fenris patted Scott on the shoulder, then looked over at everyone else staring at him.
Professor Xavier, as always, sat alone at the back of the group, quietly watching him.
Just like the second time they had met, Ororo walked right up and gave Fenris a long, openhearted hug.
Rogue, Iceman, the newly joined Nightcrawler, and even Pyro, who usually refused to admire anyone, all gave him thumbs-ups full of respect.
Logan did not turn around. He simply kept staring out the window, looking completely unconcerned.
Seeing that, Fenris grinned.
"I'm back."
...
Once the shadow of the battle at Alkali Lake had finally passed and they returned to the mansion, the tension Fenris had been carrying at last eased, and life settled into a long-lost peace.
The morning bell rang from the clock tower through drifting mist, sending the white doves perched on its spire fluttering into the air.
After soaking up radiation all night and enjoying the satisfying fullness spreading through his body, Fenris strolled leisurely toward the broad training grounds behind the school.
After they got back, Professor Xavier had arranged a teaching position for him.
Most days, he did not actually have any classes to teach, so it was more of a title than anything else. But whenever Fenris got tired of sleeping, or just felt restless, he could head over to the training grounds anytime and spar with the X-Men or the students.
He was quite satisfied with the arrangement.
Between familiarizing himself with his new power and spending his days buried in magic notes, or occasionally opening a door to another dimension to steal a little energy, life really had become a bit too dull. Getting out once in a while to move around was not a bad idea.
The Ancient One had once told him that energy from different dimensions would have different effects on him. So far, though, Fenris had not really felt that at all.
If anything, stealing too much of Dormammu's energy just made him pause for a split second whenever he transformed into Godzilla. Fortunately, the effect was minor and would fade on its own after a while.
Thanks to the brilliance he had displayed in the last battle, along with the fact that he had nearly saved the entire school by himself, and because he normally kept such a low profile, Fenris had without question become the most popular teacher at the mansion. Among the kids, stories about him had already reached near-mythic proportions.
"I'm telling you, back then, the scene was insane…"
As he passed through the castle hall, a burst of noisy chatter drifted into his ears, making Fenris stop with amused curiosity.
"That army was like a swarm of locusts. They were just about to flatten the whole school, but then our teacher Fenris stepped up in the middle of the crisis. One man against a million soldiers, and he wasn't scared at all!"
"But we were hiding in the tunnels the whole time. How would you know?" another voice challenged.
"Ahem…"
"Let's talk about something else. Back then, the dam at Alkali Lake had already collapsed. The scene was unbelievable. The storm clouds were hanging lower than the school building, and raindrops the size of bullets were coming down. The flood was just about to hit, and then our teacher Fenris came in walking on seven-colored light, with wings behind him brighter than the sun…"
"He went whoosh, whoosh, whoosh all over the place and split the flood apart like it was nothing. But then Magneto showed up, and teacher Fenris stood all by himself in front of teacher Ororo and the others. Then there was all this bang-bang laser stuff, and he beat them so badly they ran off with their heads down…"
"But I heard teacher Fenris actually fought with teacher Jean."
"That's nonsense. Why would teacher Jean fight teacher Fenris?"
"Exactly…"
The chatter and argument went on nonstop. Watching Ryan, the little porcupine boy, passionately defending him with all the logic he could muster, Fenris could not help smiling. He listened with great interest for a while, then turned and left without interrupting them.
Inside the training grounds.
Within a thick bank of mist created by Storm, Logan and Colossus, Piotr, were in the middle of an intense slugfest.
Kitty Pryde had Rogue and Nightcrawler with her, and the three of them were weaving through the complex terrain while dodging Scott's optic blasts whenever they suddenly came lancing through.
At the edge of the field, Pyro, John, and Iceman, Bobby, were locked in a grim standoff, hurling fire and frost at each other from their hands.
But as time passed, Pyro began to get pushed back little by little. As his flames were gradually snuffed out and a wave of ice rushed toward him, he quickly called a stop to the match.
"You win."
John left the field in a foul mood and sat down somewhere at random.
"What's wrong?"
"One loss, and you're already sinking into self-pity?"
A gentle voice suddenly sounded beside John, making him turn toward the newcomer without thinking.
"Teacher Fenris?"
(End of Chapter)
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