"Oh! Geez, Laura. You scared me for a second. Sorry for almost knocking into you."

"Eh, it's no big deal. Anyways, I just finished decrypting her logs, like you wanted, Simon. They were pretty tough… antiquated data encryption techniques, old enough where I sort of had to re-learn them. They're all in the server on her desk, though, if you want to glance through them."

"Well, that's what I came in here for. Aren't you going out onto the grounds to celebrate with Nathan and the rest because of the demolition and more modern re-building of the Institute, and all that? I'm heading there after I take a look at the archives."

Laura shrugged. "Maybe for a little bit. I don't know, Jamie is getting to bed pretty early these days—you know how he's getting, lately. I think I might pop in and help him get ready for bed before I head over."

"He is one lucky guy to have you," Simon said over his back as he and Laura exchanged places, he walking further into the room while she exited.

"And doesn't he know it," Laura said, winking back at Simon. "See you later, Simon."

"Yeah," Simon said, giving a little wave good-bye. "See you—and thanks again. This… this is important to me."

"Just make sure you back it all up on the Cerebro server if you want anything saved," Laura said over her shoulder. "The system's all going down tomorrow at noon for the 7.0 upgrade before the construction crews come in."

"Yeah, yeah, I know…" Simon replied, mostly to himself at this point as Laura had closed the door and walked back down the stripped-bare hallway outside the room—though with her senses, Simon guessed she caught what he had just said anyways.

He slowly walked up to the empty desk in one corner of the room, taking a seat in the creaky, padded wooden chair facing it. It was odd—though the room was still carpeted, everything else except the computer desk had been gutted in preparation for the demolition—and even that was only kept here because of his request.

It was a bit spooky, honestly. Especially given who had called this room hers for so long.

Simon cracked his knuckles and brought up the virtual interface. There were lots of entries—far more than he expected.

Maybe I should just read the first few entries for tonight… Let's see here, first entry…

4/03/01

Dear Mom and Dad,

Today started out just like all the other school days—with everyone feeling a little… crowded. (Me included!) Especially with a roommate like Rogue…

Simon shook his head. 2001… it was hard for him to even imagine living that long ago—before Apocalypse had even come in. They still had pyramids in Egypt, Antarctica was larger, the sea levels were higher… Did they even have the Internet back then? He honestly couldn't remember. He KNEW they hadn't even gotten smartphones at that point yet, much less VIs and the Extranet.

Regardless, this wasn't what he looking for. Letters to Mom and Dad, that kind of day-to-day stuff; he knew she was a prolific writer, but he wasn't interested in that, at least not now. He wanted more of the "big strokes" stuff.

Interacting again with the interface, Simon ordered the screen to display only the entries deemed "High Importance"—which removed the vast majority of them. The dates were still a bit earlier than he had wanted, though, so he again changed the criteria for entries displayed, adding in the qualifier that they were written by someone with "Headmaster/Headmistress status".

THERE it was—the first entry he had been looking for. Settling back into the creaky chair, Simon began to read again.

8/25/04

This feels weird.

I mean, first off, I'm not fond of the "Headmistress" title I've been given. (The "mistress" part, I mean. Not fond of the connotations of that… I guess I'm looking too far into that word, but still…)

Anyways, that's pretty trivial compared to the fact that I'm now running the Xavier Institute for Criminal Investigation—before I'm even twenty, on top of that.

I thought either Scott or Jean would get the honor, but they're busy with another Xavier Institute.

I mean, that's another thing—there's more than one Institute, now. This one's been built in Bayville over the ruins of the older one, but there's plenty of other ones in the country. A lot of us are split up, now, and though the rebuilt Xavier Mansion is a bit smaller than the previous one, it still feels a little lonely here. Danielle's stayed, as have Kurt, Cessily, and Rahne. Sunspot's left, having completed high school and just wanting to get on with his life—not that I can blame him, but Rahne was heartbroken. But me—after everything that's happened, I can't give up on this place. Especially with Xavier, well… no longer with us. That's another thing that feels bizarre, even though it's been the better part of a year since he died.

But anyways, everyone else has moved to other Institutes across the nation as well, thanks to the agreement we made with the U.S. government and S.H.I.E.L.D. a couple months back.

For my Institute (still feels weird typing that…), we're going to be focusing on Mutants who want to get involved in law enforcement, but don't want to necessarily become soldiers—particularly those with powers that could be used in investigating crimes and tracking down criminals. Hence why I'm heading it, with Kurt my "second-in-command". Jean would also have fit well here, but of course she wants to be with Scott.

And speaking of Scott, he and Jean are heading the more military-focused Institute near Richmond, Virginia. For that place, not much is changing compared to how the X-Men were originally founded, what with focusing on training the new students' powers primarily for combat. The main difference is, when students sign up here, they know what they're getting into—something I knew Xavier regretted doing to us 'til the day he died. (As much as I hate to admit it, he was right regretting it… but at least he realized things needed to change near the end.) Laura has also transferred there for obvious reasons, along with Paige and Jamie.

On the outskirts of St. Louis, Piotr and Warren are heading an Institute dedicated to those Mutants who want to use their powers to simply help out others—the Institute for Disaster Relief and… something or other. I forget the full name; it's too long, honestly. I hope Warren considers shortening it one of these days. The central location in the U.S. allows them to get to places in the country that need their help in the shortest reasonable amount of time. Bobby and Jubilee are serving as "administrators" there, as is Hisako. (Speaking of Hisako, she's really learned English fast. She's definitely quite bright, though still extremely shy.)

In Denver, Hank is heading (of course) an Institute dedicated to intellectual pursuits and Mutant research. He's got a few "normal" human doctors already lined up to enter that Institute, Webber Torque among them (yeah, he's not technically a doctor, but he's aiming to become one). The hope is that future Mutants with "brain powers" that make them smarter in some way or another will favor enrolling at that Institute. I overheard Colonel Fury talking with Hank a few weeks ago about some of the former Acolytes getting out in a few more years "on good behavior", and Fury was thinking of letting Prodigy off even earlier if the former Genoshan joined.

Finally, on the outskirts of Los Angeles, Ororo's heading an Institute dedicated wholly to Mutants who just want to learn how to control their powers and get on with their lives, like what Ray and Roberto did—they don't want their powers to become the basis for their whole life, and I can totally understand that. Lucid's an "employee in training", as he's still getting used to not having to duck into a sewer every time a person walks past him, poor guy. Rogue's helping out there too as an administrator (and of course, where she goes, Gambit follows—though Ororo's watching him closely). M seems to be getting along with her "host" better now—I think their shared experience with Apocalypse made them realize just how much they benefit from each other, though M's made it clear she still wants "out" when someone figures out a way to do it.

Despite how different the new Institutes' aims may be, we still have a few core principles that we keep in mind. First, unless it's absolutely necessary, every attendee that's of school age will go to the nearest public school. After all, if we ostracize ourselves from society, all that'll do is give people more of a reason to see Mutants as "them" and demonize us more effectively, as well as visa versa. Any enrollees can also leave or transfer to another Institute at any time—we don't want them to feel like they're making a decision that will set the course for the rest of their lives, after all. We also won't accept any government funding; we don't want to be beholden to any institution besides ourselves. I am grateful that they and S.H.I.E.L.D. helped find the perfect locations for the new Institutes, though.

It does feel a bit lonely here in Bayville, given that it's still about a week before the first new students move in, and I've gotten used to being around so many others under the same roof.

For any big-time disasters that may threaten humankind in the future, though, all of us are still X-Men if need be—no matter where we are in the country, that's not going to change for us, not after all we've been through. Luckily, things seem to be quiet for now—though who knows how long that'll last. I mean, Mayor Kelly's poll numbers are looking up, in spite of everything that's happened… we'll definitely have to keep an eye on him.

11/10/06

The good news: I think I'm finally getting used to this whole "Headmistress" thing. Now entering our third academic year, we're all starting to get into the swing of things here. The Institutes seem to be getting more enrollees every year, which is hardly surprising given how quickly the population of Mutants across the world is exploding (relatively), but we've gotten administration down to a science here.

The bad news: former Mayor Kelly won his election bid. He's now a Senator. Ugh. It was close, but I think that accident with a Mutant training exercise in L.A. in the spring edged the public over to his side. (Thank goodness no one was seriously hurt, but it was pretty scary to watch on the news—that was a lot of destruction. It seems that Ororo and Lucid have that student's powers firmly under control now, though.)

Honestly though? I think Cessily might be right. The Mutant Registration Act might have been an unexpected boon to us. It can easily lead to a slippery slope—a slope that Kelly's going to be all too eager to exploit—but it's helped us find and contact Mutants more quickly without needing Jean and/or Cerebro all the time. It also helps with our school's criminal investigations, as any mysterious crimes that definitely involve Mutant powers are a lot easier to solve with a national Mutant database.

Speaking of which, we're getting some troubling patterns of Mutant crimes around the world—focused in Japan, specifically. They're more organized than I'd like. I hope I'm just looking at things the wrong way… but S.H.I.E.L.D. HAS released a fair number of former Acolyte prisoners from their cells, now. Most of them seem to have stayed on the good side of the law, but… I don't know…

Oh, and one last thing—I'm really getting concerned about Kurt lately. His guilt over the whole "Apocalypse" thing—you know, being indirectly responsible for bringing him back—it's really taken his toll on him in the last couple years. I hate to say this because it's an overused cliché, but he's using religion as a crutch. He's retreating into his Christianity and spending more and more time elsewhere and less and less time here at the Institute helping out the students. I'm glad that he's devoted, I guess, but still... He worries me.

3/3/09

Squeee! First X-Baby!

Jean and Scott had a kid! I traveled down to Richmond to see the little bundle of joy with my own eyes. Such a precious little guy! A bit of a large baby too, I can tell he's gonna be a big kid. They named him Nathan. He has an active X-gene, though at this point we won't know what powers he has. The new parents are positively beaming, and I don't blame them. Talk about something that's been a long time coming!

Oh, and it's happened. It's not much yet… a relatively minor attack here, some trouble-causing stuff there… but ideas, no matter how flawed, never stay dead. An organization calling itself the "New Brotherhood" has started attacking people, because of their "inferiority". Intel has that some guy who goes by "Sunfire" is running it. (And of course, Senator Kelly's capitalizing on it, even though most of the attacks so far have on the other side of the world and not in the U.S.)

Needless to say, the "old Brotherhood" members aren't too happy about it. I spoke to Lance a while back about it, when X-Force was given a rare week off. He calls them "pretenders". I'm glad he's with a team that's doing good now, I really am, but… does he remember what the "old Brotherhood" used to do, Mystique in particular? The New Brotherhood is more organized and apparently has a slightly bigger roster at the moment, but they're doing the same kind of stuff that Lance and his friends did when Mystique was in charge of them. I wonder if Lance has actually rewritten what he did in the Brotherhood in his head and really believes it, or if he just refuses to confront it… either way, it breaks my heart. He's so close, in so many ways… but he disappoints me just enough over and over again where I can't take him seriously sometimes.

5/11/13

I am absolutely on cloud nine right now.

Married! Me! I can't say I'm all that fond of my new last name—"Kitty Huntsman" just doesn't have the same ring to it—but it's easy to do for Sean.

I mean, we had been dating for a couple of years—we hit it off a bit when I traveled to Denver for a few months to visit with Hank, as Sean had been a dedicated enrollee to the point where he had become Hank's assistant, so it was bit impossible NOT to get a little familiar with him then. Either he's traveled here or I've traveled there more and more often as the months have gone on, but still…when he asked me to marry him nine months ago (has it only been nine months since then, really?!), I pretty much melted. Jewish, smart, well-mannered, pretty hot… guy's got it all. Some of the students around here give me a bit of rubbing because he's "just a human", but I shut that down pretty quick. We're not better than "regular humans", and that kind of attitude's what started the Acolytes way back when (and now the New Brotherhood).

In fact, we've got to come up with a better name for them. Calling them "humans"—and then calling US something else—just muddies the waters unnecessarily, for both of us. I'll have to talk it over with Hank one of these days.

Anyways, I'm taking a few months off—the honeymoon starts tomorrow, and we're going to the Bahamas! Wooo!

6/13/15

Wow, never thought I'd type the following sentence:

Forge. Is. BACK.

Just for a few days, he said. No warning, he just… appeared… outside our Institute's grounds one day. He doesn't look much older than when I last saw him… wow, over a decade ago now. Time sure flies when you're in charge of a school full of Mutants, let me tell you.

He insisted—absolutely INSISTED—that we not tell anyone outside of those we trust most, just the "old gang" from back when there was only one Xavier Institute. He didn't want word of him being back getting out, particularly to those who might want to "interrogate" him about the future.

He mostly asks how we're doing—won't reveal much of anything about how HE'S been the year or two that's passed for him since he last saw us.

"It's mostly because of my fear of the Butterfly Effect," he keeps saying.

The old gang flew in yesterday—and not for long, as early tomorrow he's insisting he's going back to what he now calls his "home time" before too much attention is called to his presence.

I have to say, though, I'm glad he's come back, and not just because I'm so glad to see him again; he's given a lot of people closure. Closure that they definitely needed.

First, the big stuff: No, he didn't perish in the seconds after he time-traveled Atlantis, himself, Apocalypse, and all those guardians nine-thousand-plus years into the future. Apparently by that time, it's well-known among everybody that that year (11895… man, it feels so out there just typing it) is the year the Apocalypse returns… something that's nearly a prophecy by that point in time. The people then were ready, and as soon as the Atlantis station appeared in the Atlantic Ocean, Forge says they fired some kind of "immobilizing ray" at it. He and Apocalypse were perfectly aware, but they were stuck. Couldn't move, couldn't do anything. They carefully extracted Forge, and built a coffin around Apocalypse made of a material so strong that even HE couldn't break out of it.

And then they flung it into the sun.

Yup, that did it, apparently. It only took thirteen thousand years, but that psychotic mass murderer is (will be?) finally dead.

(On a side note, I'm so glad that the "A.A." dating movement—a movement to reset the year 2004 A.D. to 0 A.A., for "After Apocalypse"—finally failed after it was put to a vote last year. No reason to give that power-hungry nutcase any kind of recognition akin to changing our whole dating system around him.)

Anyways. Back to Forge. From what little else he's said about the far future, it's definitely clear that he's happy there. There's so much to learn, even for him, he says—and, with tech so advanced at that point that it's, for all practical purposes, the same as biology, he says he doesn't have the same issues "messing with things" he wants to mess with (I don't know how I feel about that… but then again, I also don't know the specifics).

He also says that, contrary to the future that Rama Tut and his fellow thieves came from, the future he and Apocalypse were transported to had plenty of both humans and Mutants. The X-Men were still around in some form, he said, but he also said that an awful lot changes in nine thousand years. When Kurt pressed him for more info, he stopped right there. Maybe he thought he had already said too much, I don't know.

Bobby asked for some generalities. He wanted to know "how awesome" the far future is. With all the tech, of course, there's got to be practically no death, no disease… and with Mutants and humans still living amongst each other for nine thousand or so years, they have to be getting along. So he assumed it had to be some sort of paradise.

Forge just chuckled. "History doesn't work like that," he said. There's wonderful, incredible things going on in 11895, he said—and some horrible things that would make us ill if he told us. I was glad didn't go into any more detail than that.

I, personally, was more curious about why he chose now to come back. I mean, it's been over ten years—surely he could've stopped by soon after he left, just to reassure us that he's okay? Forge simply replied that now was a "good time" and that he didn't want to come back too early or "people" (I'm guessing he means S.H.I.E.L.D.) might be keeping too close of an eye out for him.

Although he didn't say so directly, I think he also chose this time because of his parents. Keep in mind that they're old enough where they had a kid in high school in 1978—his father's practically on his death bed now, and his mom isn't doing that much better. He spent a good amount of a day with them, saying what I assume were his final goodbyes. (We left him alone for that—I'm sure he didn't want a crowd.)

As for closure—it just did Kurt a world of good to find out that Forge was okay and Apocalypse was not. That had been eating him up inside for so many years, and now he's walking around like a huge weight's been lifted from him. He's actually sounding upbeat again—something I haven't seen from him in far too long.

Forge also had a disc for Hank. On it was detailed information on—get this—not only how to cure Bobby's extremely low body temperature so he wouldn't have to cover himself with ice all the time, but it ALSO has information on how to separate Rogue's consciousness from M and put the latter's body into some kind of robot or cyborg. Apparently Rogue will keep her Mutant abilities AND M's and M will lose them, but after sharing a head for so long, I don't think M will mind—she's absolutely ecstatic about finally "getting out" soon. According to Hank, the information was carefully pruned so that these could only be applied to Bobby and Rogue/M; I think Forge has learned his lesson about trying to tamper too much with things he shouldn't (at least, I'm hopeful that he has). Hank thanked him profusely for the info, but Forge said that the information was easy to come by—what Hank should be thanking him for was finding an electronic storage method nine-thousand-plus years in the future that was compatible with the tech we had today—THAT, he said, was the hard part. He also had to do a lot of convincing to get his "superiors" (whomever they are) to allow him to use the normally-forbidden time travel tech one last time.

Finally, Forge also had something to tell Paige. He told it to her in private, but when I asked Paige what he had said, she said it was about Sam. She didn't go into too much detail about it, but I could tell that she had been crying (out of joy) when she had been talking to Forge. Sam's death mattered, she said—he had been remembered, even that far in the future. "Guthrie" is an honored last name for thousands of years, with so many Mutants having that last name (apparently it IS one of the bloodlines that has the highest percentage of Mutants, going further into the future). Sam was the first of them, he said, and he and Paige are remembered for a long, long time. So finally, Paige's worries about Sam's death "being for nothing" seem to have been put at rest.

Like I said, closure.

5/9/16

Jodie Carmen Huntsman, born May 7th, 2016. 8 pounds, 5 ounces.

Yep, Sean and I are parents now! I'm taking a bit of time off as Headmistress—a couple of months—while Kurt takes temporary control over the Institute.

Having a kid really does change everything. Suddenly the focus of your whole world is changed—I mean, I had "kids" before, by which I mean my students, but this is just on a whole other level. To know that it's your kid… it's just… there aren't words to describe my happiness right now.

(Plus, I don't think I've ever been happier that I was a Mutant. With my powers, delivering a baby is really, really easy.)

7/10/17

Aaaand baby number two! Jennifer Amara Huntsman (yes, her middle name is after one of the finest X-Men I knew—and who "got it" quite some time before I did). Another girl, which I'm excited about—Sean admittedly not so much, as he definitely was rooting for a boy this time, but of course he still loves her to bits.

Born July 5th, 2017, at 8 pounds, 2 ounces. Unlike with Jodie, her X-gene is active; it'll be interesting to see what powers she eventually manifests.

2/3/20

In case anyone ever tells you that "people don't change", I will forever cite today as proof that they do.

Earlier today, Laura and Jamie announced that they were planning on getting married. Yes, that's right—Laura, Talon, formerly X-23—engaged. It's taken her many years, but over the last several she's finally started acting like a more "normal" individual—in terms of her language, in terms of how she interacts with others, even (it would seem) in terms of her thinking processes. It's taken a lot of work from both her and Jamie (who has a unique perspective, given his… experiences… with H.Y.D.R.A.), but she finally seems to have normalized into society. And to think, shortly after she joined the Institute back in the day, I wanted her gone… I'm so ashamed of that. Never again. She's become a wonderful individual, and Jamie's fun-loving personality and sense of humor has won her over. They complement each other quite well and I'm sure will make a great couple.

I mean, we've definitely had our share of weddings in the past few years—Jubilee and Bobby, Rahne and Brett, as well as Kurt and Amanda—but this is just… I',m so happy for Laura. Beyond words, really.

(I did ask Rogue a few months ago if she and Gambit were ever going to tie the knot, they've been together for so long—and M's out of the picture now, anyways. Rogue said she "ain't the marryin' type", which… different strokes, I guess.)

6/30/22

I still just… I can't believe it.

After everything that Jean's done for us, how much she's done for Scott, for her child…

All of it, gone.

It had been so many years since that weird "flare up" brought about by Apocalypse, most of us had all but forgotten about Jean's "uncontrollable" side. But a few months ago, she began to "flare up" again… and she didn't stop.

By the time we had taken down what called itself "the Phoenix"—her on-again off-again codename-half of Virginia had been scorched clean in the process. So many deaths… so much destruction- poor Hank among them. A fair number of the student body at the Institute she and Scott had headed had died within the first few moments of the Phoenix taking over, too.

I'll never understand why this had to happen. Why such a wonderful person had to die because of her uncontrollable powers. And she's left behind a desperately grieving husband and a thirteen-year old kid who's just starting to understand his own powers.

I just… why, God? Why?

4/5/23

*TOP-LEVEL ENCRYPTION*

Just when you think your heart can't break any more, it does.

We laid Scott to rest yesterday. After Jean died, it just… it killed something inside of him. He continued to do his job, his duties… but you could tell he was just going through the motions. His heart wasn't in it—but he did it for his students, and his son.

He's always had to show that he's the emotionally stable one, even though stable people still need someone to lean on sometimes. He's refused any help, and now…

Well, a moment of weakness is all it takes.

Most of us "combat-ready" X-Men were fighting the New Brotherhood in Hawaii last week—it was a rather heated battle, but we won in the end. I honestly barely even remember what it was about, though. I just keep seeing Scott's face, over and over again…

He was about to take a shot at Blockbuster, who was hurtling towards him. I was near him at the time, and… for just a second, he put his hand down. Away from his visor.

I saw his face when he put his arm down. It was so full of hurt, regret… it was clear he had just given up. And then right before Blockbuster laid into him, Scott seemed to regain his courage again—but it was too late. When someone like Blockbuster lays into you, unless you've got some kind of special endurance power, you don't last more than a punch or two.

Poor Nate. Both his parents gone, in less than a year. I know I've got a third on the way, but Sean and I adopted him. He needs a family to call his own, especially at this point in his life… and he needs to be away from where his parents worked in Richmond. Too many bad memories for him there.

I didn't tell anybody about how exactly Scott died, though. I think it's best that he went out a hero, fighting the New Brotherhood. I know it's lying, but… I don't think it's a truth that needs to be told. Especially to Nate.

8/29/23

And baby number three has arrived (a bit of late pregnancy for me, but luckily everything went off without a hitch).

We decided to name him Simon. (Yep, it's a boy, at last—Sean was so happy.) 8 pounds, 11 ounces. His X-gene is active, too, so he's going to have powers just like one of his older sisters.

Nate is getting along well enough with our family, but he's got scars that I don't know will ever heal. He's still a bit more distant than I'd like, but I think part of that's just his personality.

If I sound less enthusiastic about Simon than the birth of my previous two kids, well…. it's not Simon. Not at all.

Things just seem to be going downhill lately. Due to the whole… Phoenix… thing, anti-Mutant hysteria is on the rise once again, and we've had to triple down on security at all of our Institutes. Senator Kelly's gaining in the polls once again, and I'm afraid something more invasive than the Mutant Registration Act will finally pass.

What kind of world are my children going to grow up into…?

Regardless, I'm officially retiring from being an active X-Man at the end of the year. I need to spend more time with my kids, and I'm nearly forty. I know that's not technically old, but it's sort of like having a career in professional sports, being an X-Man, only moreso—I can't quite physically exert myself to the extent that I used to, and I've pushed my body to the limit enough during all the combat I've seen that I'm really starting to feel it now. It's time for the younger generations to take over combat (not that I'd wish it on them, but it's necessary, with the New Brotherhood and now the Hellfire Club out there). I'm still going to be Headmistress, but I I'm done with the rigors of combat. I've got enough PTSD for a dozen people, anyways (pretty much all of us that were X-Men before the Institute split up have that).

(On a side note, it's really starting to get weird with a few of my old friends—it's really getting obvious the difference in appearance between those of us who age normally like me, and those who still look like they're in their twenties due to their accelerated healing factors [Laura] or those who don't seem to age at all, period [Cessily]. I just can't get used to it.)

11/9/24

Argh.

That, by itself, should pretty much sum up my feelings at this point.

President-Elect Kelly.

I want to just scream at the top of my lungs.

This is going to be a rough four years, at the very least (please, God, don't let it be eight!).

People get the government they deserve, I guess.

If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go bang my head against the wall for a couple of hours.

6/2/27

You know, it's amazing how often people will seem to have everything, but end up stabbing themselves in the back due to their own personal grab for greed and power.

President Kelly had pretty much everything he wanted—like-minded majorities in both the House and Senate who would rubber-stamp anything he wanted to pass, Mutants nearly back into hiding due to all the new restrictions placed upon us, many Mutant criminals imprisoned for nothing at all besides being Mutants (I don't think I was far from getting thrown into jail, myself)…

And then, in the last week or so he shot himself in the foot. Repeatedly.

Some member of the press found that the Secretary of State who had recently died in a plane crash had some small remnants of tech on him—tech that matches that found with Apocalypse.

A quick investigation was launched, and it turned out that nearly half of those highest up in the Kelly administration had traces of that tech on them, too. It turns out that Kelly had been mentally manipulating his Cabinet—and several members in the House and the Senate—this whole time!

He probably could have gotten almost as much done for his cause if he had just let things play out—public opinion was solidly on his side, and not EVERYONE in the government on his side was being manipulated. But no, he had to be "sure", and somehow spread the tech Apocalypse had given him to others, apparently just by touching them.

So impeachment proceedings should be happening any day. Now THAT'S going to be interesting to watch…

2/27/29

The Xavier Institute has gone international!

Hisako's gone out and started up a branch in Japan. We're already going through the paperwork and red tape to open up Institutes in Canada and several European countries, as well.

Honestly, we would have done so considerably sooner, except then… well… the last decade or so happened, with the Phoenix, and President Kelly (thank God THAT'S over) and all that.

Many of the more blatantly unconstitutional laws have been repealed, though we've still got work to do on some of the borderline stuff. Still, we're getting there. I'm glad we're large enough now to have a substantial legal division (and not just made of Mutants, either). David Alleyne, of all people—aka, "Prodigy"—is the head of that little sub-section of the McCoy Institute in Denver.

It's been a rough several years, but things are finally starting to really look up. (I hope I didn't just jinx things by typing that…) I mean, things aren't perfect—we've still got the various incarnations of the New Brotherhood to deal with, whose ranks swelled during the Kelly administration, as well as the Hellfire Club, but at least I'm not actively dreading the future anymore.

6/14/42

Oh, my gosh.

Has it really been that long since my last entry?

Let's see, according to the database it's been over five years since my last entry, and (wow) more than thirteen years since my last "High Importance" entry.

I honestly forgot I had this journal database for a while, things have just been so busy.

It's been a "good" busy, though. I mean, you've got the three kids (who have now all graduated—time sure flies), plus Nate, who's taken up running the Institute his parents used to head (I protested, but he insists he can handle it). You've got all my students… year in, year out, and all the responsibilities of being a Headmistress of a department of an organization that's been so rapidly expanding. We've now got at least some presence in over 100 countries. Sean's pitched in and helped, of course, but still… so much to do.

Not everything's been great, of course. My mom died about four years ago from cancer, Ororo shortly thereafter from old age. I'm sad to see them both go, but they lived long lives. In this business, that's about as good as it can get—and it's nice to see that some of us have actually made it to old age. (Well…. semi-old. The aches and pains for Sean and I are more persistent these days, but I don't consider us that old yet!)

Lance also died a little over a year ago. The result of some X-Force op gone wrong. I hadn't really talked to him for a long, long time. More than a decade, easily. He was still kind of angry individual the last time I saw him—I hope he found what he was looking for before he died (same with the rest of the "old" Brotherhood, though at least most of them are still alive).

I think a large part of why I forgot about this whole "journal" thing was the VI upgrade we did in '35… or was it '36? I can't remember. It took me forever to get used to this whole "motions in the air" thing. I don't know, maybe it's just me "sticking in the past", but I prefer solid interfaces you can physically touch compared to holographic displays. The voice commands also still screw up now and then, too.

And now you've got this whole "Extranet" thing due out by the end of the year… oy. And I used to be good at this kind of stuff!

8/2/51

Well, here it is.

My final entry as Headmistress of the Xavier Institute for Criminal Investigation.

My son Simon's taking over the Institute for me after I retire, when the upcoming school year starts. He takes after me in a lot of areas, but is more up-to-date with the current tech, so I think he'll be a great Headmaster.

I mean, with the victory we had a few months ago that all but destroyed the Hellfire Club, I figured it was a good time for the Institute to change hands. Better now than when I really get too old to handle things anymore, but have things be in one of those "chaotic" periods like in the '20s or the People's Brotherhood rebellion of '45—which, looking back, I hadn't covered in my journal because of the injuries I sustained to my hands when they attacked this Institute. (That was a very uncomfortable couple of months, waiting for those bones to heal…)

We also hit a milestone—the proportion of the human population possessing an active X-gene has now gone over 0.01%. Yes, it's still relatively tiny, but back when my powers manifested there was a one-in-ten-million chance that you had an active X-gene, so… that's quite an increase. Especially when you consider how much 0.01% of the population of the world is.

Will the Mutant population continue to grow this much? I remember way back when Forge visited, he said that Mutants AND those without an X-gene lived together in peace—so assuming we haven't changed our trajectory from THAT future, I don't expect us to replace those without an active X-gene. It'll be curious to see how much more we grow.

Hard to believe I've been an X-Man for over fifty years, now.

Oh, Xavier, if you could see how much your influence has spread… I think I've done a good enough job to make you proud. (I hope I have, at least.)

Simon sighed as he finished reading the last entry. It was always great to see his mother's perspective on things—especially when she was basically writing for an audience consisting of just herself—but he had already known about ninety percent of the stuff he had just read. After all, it had all been titled "High Importance" for a reason; it was just the bare-bone basics of all this Institute had gone through.

He hadn't seen what he was looking for, though. It's possible that it could be in the regular journal entries, which looked like they had been submitted either weekly or monthly for the most part, aside from that five-year gap… but for what he was looking for, he imagined his mom would have tagged it "High Importance".

He was just about to shut down the journal application when he noticed that there were two more entries—in small type, since they didn't fit his criteria as entries when his mom was Headmistress, though they still were labeled "High Importance".

He sure hoped what he was looking for was in there.

Motioning with his arms and hands, he interacted with the Virtual Interface once again and opened up the remaining two entries.

5/2/78

It just occurred to me today—I'm the last one left.

Of the "original" X-Men, I mean—those who signed up with Xavier that first year, the year that changed everything for me—the 2000-2001 school year.

I admit, it took me a few days to realize it after we laid Rogue to rest. It's been so, so long since that time when we were all X-Men, going to high school, training, fighting the (original) Brotherhood… I just haven't "thought" in those terms for a while. I've thought in terms of "my" Institute (well, Simon's Institute now, but Sean and I still live here)—the students here, our mission aimed at criminal and police procedures and investigation… and we're prospering quite wildly (as are the rest of the Institutes across the world—except for the Middle East and parts of Africa, where we're running into some issues, but you'll never have everything perfect. That's just the way it goes). So many students, so many faces, so many powers have passed through these halls year after year after year—through four different building expansions, even! (The core building's starting to look mighty old in comparison.)

But I'm rambling. Back to the original point. Of course, several of us "originals" died a long time ago. Logan was the first to go, Spyke and Professor Xavier shortly after. (It's such a tragedy, Spyke—he never even made it out of his teenage years. I still get a bit teary whenever I see that old, rusty spiked skateboard we used for his gravestone… since who knows where in the universe his actual body ended up. If there's any justice in the universe, Blink is still paying for that in the afterlife.)

Then in that tumultuous period of the '20s came the Phoenix, of course, and with it went Jean and Scott. Luckily, that was the last of the particularly tragic deaths. Ororo lived to a fairly old age. Kurt—dear Kurt—passed about twenty years ago—a bit young by today's standards, but his body had been manipulated quite a bit by Magneto when he was a baby. He has different "weak points" than most people, and a different center of balance. Put all that together—along with furniture and the like aimed at people with a normal stance, five fingers, and five toes—and all the action we saw back in the day, and you get complications relatively earlier. Still, he lived to his '70s. That's pretty good for us.

And, then, of course, just a few days ago, it was Rogue—mostly normal, old-age stuff. Doesn't matter how strong you are on the outside, if one of your vital organs gives out, and we can't pierce your skin to do a transplant… well, there you go.

I think I'm going to stop writing, now. For the first time in a long, long time—and despite being in an Institute full of others—I'm feeling lonely.

12/31/84

Everyone is downstairs, getting ready to celebrate the New Year. I'll try to join them in a short while, but I wanted to write this, first.

It's hard to believe that soon it'll be 2085—and soon afterwards, my 100th birthday. It's not as old as it used to be, but even with all the scientific advances we've made over the years, particularly with the help of those at the McCoy Institute… it's pretty old. I need help getting around now… and I have to rely Simon and on my students more than I'm comfortable with, now. (Sean, I miss you so much…. I know it's only been two years since you passed, but I hope we get to see each other again. No, cut that out, Kitty—you will. You'll both see each other again. Have faith.)

I honestly get so nervous during New Years' countdowns, anyway. Ever since Apocalypse… well… you know.

But that brings me around to the point of this entry. With me being close to 100, it's more apparent to me every day that my clock is winding down—my time on this Earth is just about done. I know that Simon's awfully busy with his job as Headmaster (to think that he's going to retire from the position soon… wow), as is Nate with the Virginia Institute, and Jennifer and Jodie have gone on their own different paths as well. So I wanted to get this point across in case I didn't get to say it in person, or have an opportune time to have a chat with them about it. (Yes, it only just occurred to me that they might unearth my journal entries one day and look back at them, if they so choose. Talk about embarrassing! Some of my early entries I have an urge to delete, but… no. I'll leave them as is.)

Up until recently—very recently—I had thought that, on the whole, the existence of Mutants on Earth was a bad thing. Don't get me wrong, I'll fight for our right to exist with every breath I have. We're here, and we're not going away, so we'd best make the best of it.

But with all the disasters that have happened—all the violence when Mutants' existence was first made public, the Jamie "invasion", Apocalypse's two attempts at world domination, the Phoenix saga, the New Brotherhood and People's Brotherhood attacks, the Hellfire assaults of the '40s, random attacks by individual Mutants (intentional or unintentional) that claimed so many lives… I mean, things would have been so much better if there had just never been such a thing as an X-gene, right? It seemed patently obvious.

But lately, I look at all we've accomplished. All the advancements in science and the understanding of our universe Mutants and Mutant physiology have given, all the lives we've saved in the past decades… I mean, pretty much even the most heart-hardened Mutant showed up to help out during the Great Quake of '72 that practically ripped the West Coast off the continental U.S.

We've got healers, detectives, policemen, soldiers, scientists, intellectuals, helpers, people trained to help others in dire situations as a matter of a career, all doing things that those without X-genes just couldn't manage to do without powers.

So I look back, I see how far we've come, how the balance has shifted so much from the older days when the existence of Mutants caused a net gain in suffering for the world and the human race—and I now see that, for the first time, the world is better off because of the existence of Mutants, and specifically because of the existence of the Xavier Institute and its progeny.

And I'm glad—so glad—I had a hand in that. I almost quit once, but I came back. I didn't let fear rule my future, and neither should anyone reading this. You're doing good; keep it up.

Some people go through life, wondering if they're making a real difference. We don't have to wonder; we know. We made a difference. A huge difference.

And even through all that I've experienced over the years—what Professor Xavier once called that which is both "terrible" and "wondrous"—I am happy and at peace because of this difference.

Simon had tears streaming down his face as he finished his mother's last entry. She had died of an aneurysm just a few months after writing that—and he had been away on business at the time. He had never gotten to have any real last words with her—in fact, ever since he had taken over as Headmaster, he had never had as much time to talk with his mother as he used to.

He had been well aware of her opinion about the overall negative impact of Mutant existence—something she had confessed to him and a few others close to her, during times of particularly intense grief. Sometimes he had wondered whether what they were doing was worth it, or if it was just a band-aid covering up a hideous scar on the face of the world because of what the existence of Mutants had done to it.

And now he knew. Deep down, he thought, he had known for some time, but it took reading that entry to bring it out of him, to bring it to the forefront of his mind.

He was shaken out of his thoughts as the door to his mother's nearly barren room abruptly opened up—a tall, white haired man was standing on the other side, old and in his mid-70s but very strong and sturdy-looking for his age. One of his arms was cybernetic—not an uncommon occurrence, for X-Men who had fought in battle as much as he had.

"Hey, Simon—you coming out or not? Some of the party goers are already leaving, and—hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah… yeah, I'm okay, Cable," Simon said, wiping the tears from his eyes and closing down the VI screen, making sure to send the journal entries to the central Cerebro server so they wouldn't get lost when the demolition began. "Just… reading something Mom wrote. I'll… share it with you later."

Not the stuff about his father's death, though. I think Mom was right… he doesn't need to know that.

"Alright, well—c'mon, then," Nathan said, gesturing Simon to follow him before he closed the door. "We've got goodbyes to say."

"That we do," Simon said softly to himself. Slowly, he got up and made his way to the door.

He put his hand up to the light motion sensor, but he had one last urge to look around at his mother's mostly empty room—her place of relative solitude for so long. It still had a faint scent of the perfume she had liked to wear...

To commemorate his mother, they were renaming the Institute the Pryde-Huntsman Institute come next school year. There was also being erected a statue of her and the rest of the original X-Men members in their "prime" in the front courtyard.

She would have hated that… but you deserve it, Mom. You all do.

You did good, Mom, you and the others… you took the first steps, even when death and a million other terrifying things stared you in the face, and in so doing, you changed the world, and demonstrably for the better. You're the example practically everyone here looks up to, when they think about the kind of mark they want to leave on the world.

Simon wiped one last stubborn tear out of his eye, then swiped off the light panel in the room for the last time, phasing out through the door after he did so.

THE END (AND A NEW BEGINNING)

X-MEN: EVOLUTION SERIES

FIN
 

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