ISSUE # 47

A day later.

Ian stayed with Logan the entire night, but once morning came, Nick fury quickly dismissed him and had him returned to the institue.

Things were silent and quiet. The place seemed to have lost so much happiness in just one night and rightfully so. One of their own was murdered by another one of their own.

In the auditorium, Emma and Scott were addressing the rest of the school on the events that had happened the night before.

" Thank you all for coming today. I'm afraid Mr. Summers and I have terrible news." Emma stated.

" As most of you know, last night the institute was attacked by one of our own. But he was under the influence of a group called Hydra. Mr. Logan was apprehended, and we are hopeful that he will recover, but it came at a terrible cost. Jean-Paul Beaubier, one of our teachers and the X-man known as NorthStar has died." Scott explained to the students and staff.

" There will be a memorial this weekend for Mr. Beaubier, which we hope you will all attend. And your advisors are here to help you deal with the tragic loss. I urge you to talk to them. There will be no classes this week, but after the memorial classes will resume. We will finish the semester, we will have finals, the year-end dance, and prize giving. We must. Life must go on, and the institute must function as a school. That is what Jean-Paul Beaubier would have wanted. That is all." Emma explained. She and Scott stepped down from the podium and released the students to themselves.

The rest of the day was quiet, no school, no activities, even lunch was quieter than it had ever been.

Two days later.

Ian stood in front of his mirror, dressed in a black and white suit, and was trying to fix his tie when a knock came at his door.

" It's open, you can come in." Ian spoke. He didn't care who it was. Whether it be Josh, or Julian or Dani, or Scott. Today wasn't the day to hold a grudge, and even if he wanted to, Ian just couldn't find the energy in his body to do so. In such a short amount of time he lost two of the closest people he had to family.

" Ian.... Are you doing alright?" Megan asked as she entered the room.

Of all the people, Ian had expected it to be, Megan was the last. She was one of Rahne's students.

" I'm fine. Just need a moment to fix this stupid tie. I'll be down in a moment." Ian replied.

Megan walked up to Ian and grabbed his tie from him.

" Here let me help." She spoke. She crossed the two ends of the tie and folded them over one another over and over until finally sliding the smaller bit through the loop she made. " There, perfect."

Ian looked in the mirror and took note of perfect it looked.

" Thanks, I've... Uh. I've been struggling with that for a few minutes." Ian told the girl.

" Yeah." Megan replied.

There was an awkward silence between the two. Neither of them knew what to say to the other.

" So, how are you holding up?" Megan asked again.

" I told you already, I'm fine." Ian told the girl.

" No, I mean really. I know you and Mr. Logan were so close and now... Well, you know." Megan spoke.

" I'm uh... I'm... I'm fine, Megan. I just need time. I need time to heal, to rest, I need time to get my mind straight." Ian exclaimed. He sat down on his bed and took a deep breath. " With everything that's happened and now this... The way everyone looks at me, like I committed some great sin. Half those people never even spoke to me before I got my powers. Only you, and Cessily ever talked to me. And Logan, well..."

" It seems hard." Megan replied.

" You can't even imagine. Everyone loves you, Megan. They always have. But me? No one did. No one but Rahne. And this school took her from me. And now, Logan's gone too. I've got nothing left. I've got no one. And I just don't know if I can stay here anymore." Ian told the girl. He got up from his bed and left the room, leaving Megan behind alone.

The time had come for NorthStar's ceremony to begin.

" I'm so glad so many of you decided to come here today." Emma spoke. " The loss of a teacher is one of the hardest things a student ever had to face. We wish we could shield you from such things. Jean-Paul Beaubier chose to be a great many things. Things we should all admire him for. He chose to be a hero. He chose to be a member of Alpha Flight. He chose to be an X-man. He chose to be a role model. And recently he chose to be a teacher. He could have stayed on an X-squad, but he knew that helping you was so important, it needed to be his full-time take." Emma explained. Scott walked up behind her and pulled the robe off of his statue, revealing it to everyone present. " We honor him today for all those choices." Emma explained.

She stepped down and a number of the X-men came up to give speeches for their fallen friend.

" I served with NorthStar on his first team, Alpha Flight. And let me tell you, there was never a haughtier, more full of him-self guy in the world. But when I heard he became a teacher, it didn't surprise me. Because underneath all that attitude, he had a heart as big as the Canadian wilderness. I know he would want to speak for him today, so I shall, and I hope you all listen. " If I should go before the rest of you, break not a flower, nor inscribe a stone... Nor when I'm gone speak in a Sunday voice. But be the usual selves that I have known..." Hank spoke.

Ian never knew NorthStar personally, but he had known from how he was talked about that his students and his friends loved him dearly, and this couldn't be more so truthful when Ian spotted Julian, the single student who supposedly hated NorthStar more than anyone, hiding behind trees and crying as he watched the ceremony.

Up next to speak was Scott.

" NorthStar was a speedster, so strategically he was always on point. But to him it was more than that. He had to be the first to face danger. So, no one else would have to." Scott explained.

Following him was one of his closest friends Xi'an Manh, aka Karma.

" There was nothing Jean-Paul cared about more than you, his students. I've seen the faces of Alpha Squadron and I know the impact he had. Miss frost is right. He was a true role model in every way." Xi'an explained. " Those of us who taught full-time had a special bond. And I know Jean-Paul felt Kinship with us. Which is why he would have been happy to have the final words in today's memorial delivered by Danielle Moonstar." Xi'an explained.

Dani got up from her seat and walked up to the statue, watched along the way by her students.

" The world we live in... Well, life is just one part of the journey for us. I keep thinking, hoping, that I'll see Jean-Paul again. I'm sure many of us are. But I know that's not what he would want. He would want me to tell you that it will be all right. That we will go on with our lives. So, I end today with words that I grew up with. An assurance for the departed. Go into the light and do not look back. We will care for everything here." Dani spoke.

Her words rang out clear as the statue of Jean-Paul looked on into the setting sun.