Chapter 5

"I call myself Ginnungagap. It's not my real name obviously, it's a name from Norse myth that refers to the primordial abyss from which all of Creation once came. Yeah, it's probably a little overblown, but considering there's a mutant running around calling himself Exodus, I think I can be forgiven for a bit of dramatics.

.....

"No, I'm not from Genosha, I hadn't even been here before this week. Had I lived here, or atleast had my powers, two years ago, I might have been able to stop the attack. As it is, I had to rebuild when I could instead."

...

"No, I don't work for them either, how could I have worked for them? A few days ago they were all dead. However, Genosha is currently under my protection and any aggression towards the island or it's inhabitants will be met with unpleasant consequences. Do not test me on this."

...

"Why? Because the loss of an entire nation was completely unacceptable, and one of the two greatest injustices ever perpetrated against mutantkind. That's why I decided it had to be reversed now that I had the power to do so."

...

"Alright, for those of you who don't know, the person behind the attack that destroyed Genosha was a mass murderer named Cassandra Nova. She's a powerful psychic, but she isn't a mutant, I'm not sure what she is exactly other than some sort of psychic parasite that had to steal someone elses DNA just to get a physical body. The X-Men destroyed her shortly after the attack, so she's out of the picture for now atleast. She used a weapon she called a Wild Sentinel, constructed from leftover Sentinel parts Bolivar Trask had constructed before he died. The Brotherhood Of Mutants turned one of them into a memorial on the island before I repaired it, I saved the monument in case you guys still want it."

...

I give a brief demonstration of my powers. I turn an apple to solid gold and back to a regular apple and take a bite out of it to prove it was real. I conjure a swarm of butterflies out of thin air. I change the hostess skin color from blue to red to yellow and back to blue. I disassemble and reassemble a clock in mid-air. It's nothing a skilled illusionist couldn't do, but it's TV, they could claim I could fake anything I did anyway.

...

"No, I have absolutely no interest in being the next Magneto. I'm not here to be the next "mutant messiah" or whatever, and I'm sure as hell not here to overthrow mankind in favor of mutantkind. Don't bother trying to attack humans in my name either, because that is a crime and I'll hand you right over to the authorities myself when I find out about it."

.....

"I'm not a genie, I'm not going to change every single thing someone asks of me. If I happen to be in a good mood when I hear about a problem, I might step in, but this is charity on my part. I am not at the beck and call for Genosha or anyone else and I am not here to solve everyone's problems. As far as I'm concerned, my duty ended with Regenesis and reversing M-Day."

....

"I'm sorry, what? Who am I DATING?! Who approved these questions?!"

....

I sigh as I walk through the door to the hotel suite the Head Magistrate was kind enough to arrange for me, my clothes changing back to my usual jeans and t-shirt as I pop out of the studio, leaving the borrowed suit jacket neatly folded in the dressing room. Ellie is already there, having gone ahead after the interview started, which she's currently watching on the suite's big screen TV. She looks up as she hears the door open.

"You should probably have checked the questions before you agreed to appear on the show, they got weirdly personal near the end."

I grunt and walk over to the minibar. I could really use some monstrously overpriced candy and stupid tiny liquor bottles right about now. "Apparently the program manager thought some more causual questions would "humanize me" and the PR guy agreed. Even if I was dating someone, did they really expect me to reveal their identity?" I twist the cap off a tiny bottle of vodka and take a drink, grimacing at the burn.

"Does that even do anything to you?"

"It does if I want it to. I've made myself immune to poisons and drugs in general, but I specifically gave myself a loophole for recreational use. Because even reality warpers like to get fucked up every now and then." Not to mention that screening anything I drink or eat is easy enough, just to make sure no one is trying to either kill me or control me. Which is probably going to be a concern for a while.

Ellie is quiet for a moment, then she asks "Hey, do you remember what you said before? About bringing me to the X-Mansion?"

I pause from rifling through the bar and look up "Yeah? Why, you change your mind already?"

She shakes her head "Not exactly, but... I think I'd really like to see Miss Frost again. And since you said you'd be leaving Genosha soon, I thought I should ask before you were gone."

I walk over to the couch with an armful of snacks and sit down next to her, watching myself on TV. "I wasn't planning on leaving right this second, but sure, I can bring you over there if you want. I still haven't really made any concrete plans on what to do from here, but meeting with the X-Men is as good an idea as any other, I guess."

I offer her one of the candy bars from the fridge and she accepts it.

"I do kind of like Genosha though, I'll have to look into getting a vacation place here or something. Maybe a studio apartment or something."

"Seriously? You'd settle for some one-room sweatbox? You could probably just walk up the royal palace and ask for the keys and they'd hand them right over." Ellie says between bites of her candy.

"Not my style. Also, a studio apartment is easier to clean."

"You're a reality warper! You can just will the dust away! Or just make it so that it can never get dirty in the first place."

"Ellie, I'm a man, it's the principle of the thing."

We sit in silence for a while "We can head out tomorrow if you want. I'll give my goodbyes to the Magistrate, and we'll be off to the U.S before you can blink."

"Tomorrow it is"

....

The next morning I bring Ellie to the beach where I had first brought her back to life. Magistrate Anderson had been a bit disappointed that my stay on the island was going to be so brief, but accepted my decision, though I politely declined his offer of replacing the Sentinel memorial with a statue of me. Before I left, I gave him a plain steel ring I had conjured up that would serve as an emergency beacon in case someone didn't take the hint and Genosha came under attack by a threat they couldn't defeat themselves, though I made sure to make it clear that it was for serious emergencies only, not a magic spell to summon me whenever they had a stubbed toe.

On the beach, I threw up a veil to prevent any of the occasional beach visitors from spotting us as I prepared a few last-minute wards as a parting gift for Genosha.

Ellie looks at me in confusion "What are you doing?"

"Putting up a few protections so no one gets any ideas about going after the island just because I'm not here. I didn't tell Anderson about it but it's just some low-key defences. Attackers will lose agression, weapons have a high chance of failure, that sort of thing. Not total protection, and it will just look like luck to the observer." I finish up my work and look over to her, noticing her single backpack "That's all the luggage you have?"

She shrugs "I never had a lot of stuff. And you're one to talk! You don't even have anything except for the stuff in your pockets!"

"I don't need luggage, I can just make anything I need out of thin air!" I roll my eyes "Nevermind, let's get out of here already. Next stop, New York!" There's a small burst of sand as we disappear, unnoticed by the beachgoers.

...

The bright, sunny beach vanishes in a blink, and the next thing we know, we're standing on the sidewalk in front of a barred iron gate, decorated with twin X's on each side. Beyond the gate, a cobblestoned driveway leads up to an elaborate, Gilded-Age mansion, a massive green lawn sprawled in front. Even from here, I can see a few children running around outside despite the grey, overcast sky.

Ellie looks around "Why did you drop us off out here? Couldn't you basically walk right into their living room if you wanted?"

"Yes, but trust me, those kind of first meetings between superhumans never go well. It's easier if we just do things the boring way." There's an old-fashioned intercom attached to the brick wall at the side of the gate, and I press the button underneath the speaker. It crackles to life, and a voice on the other end responds.

"Xavier Mansion. What is your business here?"

"Uh, yeah, could you inform Emma Frost that Ellie Phimister is here to see her?"

There's a pause "And you are?"

I look back at Ellie who shrugs "Uh, I guess temporary adult guardian?"

The intercom goes silent, but eventually the locks inside the gate click loudly and the doors creak open, letting us through. We begin walking up towards the mansion, and I notice that the kids have stopped playing on the lawn, and are watching us approach. The massive front doors open, and a beautiful woman with blonde hair, dressed in a white uniform, walks out in a hurry. She freezes as she sees us approach, her eyes locked on Ellie.

"Ellie?! How?!"

Ellie smiles and walks up to her former teacher "A friend of mine gave me a ride. It really cuts down on travel time."

Several other people have finally reached the doors as well, and there's really no mistaking the X-Men for anyone else. Charles Xavier doesn't look nearly as much as Patrick Stewart as I expected, he actually looks rather unassuming considering how powerful he really is. Pushing his wheelchair is a tall, handsome man with dark hair, wearing a pair of red sunglasses, and next to him is a short, unshaved man with a mane of shaggy black hair. Behind them, I can just about make out an attractive, dark-skinned woman with white hair. Frost is still preoccupied with the surprise reunion with her favorite student, but the rest of the present X-Men are giving me wary looks.

I clear my throat, trying not to sound nervous "Professor Xavier? Sorry to just show up without calling first, but my friend here requested I drop her off for a visit. I hope I didn't interupt anything important."