CHAPTER 120

First of all, sorry for not posting yesterday. I had the time but I just completely forgot. Yesterday's paper, which was Programming, completely blacked me out.

I might drop another chapter tomorrow as compensation and apology. So... Forgiven?

Oh and happy new month y'all. Don't know about everyone else but I'm not exactly psyched up for the upcoming holidays.

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[The X Mansion – Ororo Munroe POV]

The day had been pretty entertaining for Ororo so much that mere hours later and she still felt nostalgic. When was the last time she did something like that? It was probably when Jean was around.

Even now, a year past, she still misses her best friend. Though Jean was younger, the two had been able to form a bond that Ororo had never formed with anyone. 

Her death had been the impetus for a change that spurned inside Ororo. She had been thinking since then about what she could do. What type of change she wanted to see. 

And then came the death of John. 

She had never been so broken and frustrated at not being able to show how she really felt at that moment due to her abilities. She wanted to cry, she wanted to rage, she wanted to freely be able to express the agony she felt at her friend's death… but she couldn't, so she kept it in. 

Everyone thought she was putting up a strong front but she really wasn't. She just couldn't grieve like they do, not without risking a natural disaster. It had always been like this for as long as she could remember. 

Her people first, then her. Always the ideal leader and strong voice. 

It was also at that point that she saw just how flawed the Professor's vision was. 

The Professor wasn't just being passive and naïve, no… he was a dreamer. His was of an ideal place and time where everything could be settled if both parties sat besides a table and talked it out. It was the psychologist in him and his naiveté that formed his ideals. 

Even now after Jean and John's death, even after the Sentinel Massacre, even after the Christmas battle, and now, even with the kidnappings, he still refused to see the world for what it truly was. He still tried to appeal to the good in humans, fully ignoring the fact that none of those in places of real power were virtuous. 

Sure they were those who would sympathize with metahumans, but compared to those who wished to exploit them, they were negligible in numbers. 

'No I'm saying you should grow a spine.' 

That was something Draul had said the last time he came to the Mansion and it was something that struck a chord in her. Since when has she been so passive? Back then, all those years ago, when she was but a little girl, everything she had and was able to get, she fought tooth and nail for. Her food down to the little pieces of clothing she had on her were proof of a fight she had won, one way or the other. 

Why now, when the stakes were higher, did she choose to sit back and let the government council decide how dangerous they were and how they should leave if they wanted to be a part of their society? 

Thinking back at it now, it was when the Professor had found her. It was the promise of somewhere free, a place where she could be herself without the name-calling and finger-pointing. It was something she strove for every night she went to sleep on top slabs of wood and hay. To the child version of her, it was something straight out of a fairy tale…!! 

'Something straight out of a fairy tale huh?' 

She had been so enamored by what Charles had told her that she agreed, no one in her shoes would give up the chance of attaining sanctuary. 

With Charles, she had grown so accustomed to everything around her because he had said so. The simple words of 'that's just how it is' were enough for her to accept it as a norm and move on. Since when had she been so passive? 

Looking back at it now, it felt as if she had been content and comfortable with the status quo and would only react when something or someone threatened it, because she believed in the Professor's ideals. She had taken his ideas as the only way they could be saved, simply because she thought there could be no other way. It wasn't a bad belief to have, but it wasn't the right one either. 

She could feel the strain in the relationship between the teachers and the Professor that cracked into the open after their first confrontation with Draul on the school grounds that night. Rather than a battle of good and bad, it was a battle of morality. It all started from there, the broken trust. 

And now a year later, all she could see were mistakes and flaws of what the Professor taught. He wasn't a bad person, that was a point she wholly agreed on, in fact he was one of the nicest people Ororo had ever met, so nice that he dedicated his life to helping out others like him and the less fortunate. 

But what he was doing had long left the realms of charity and into leadership. Charles Xavier was a failure as a leader and only recently had she begun to accept that fact. 

Time and time again she questioned when the change that Charles was hoping for would come but, looking back at it now, no one was fighting for the change. Even humans sometimes riot and destroy properties when they've been oppressed by the actions of their government, but they who prided themselves as the protectors of metahumans, did nothing. 

Maybe Draul was right, maybe she really needed to look beyond the walls of the Mansion. Who knows? Maybe there would be a surprise there, a helping hand they really needed. Draul had made it pretty clear of how selfish he was and how he wasn't going to fight for the metahumans, but he did say he would help if he could so there was that. 

She thought the reason why Draul didn't want to help was because he thought everyone was doing it wrong and he didn't want to be the first or the spearheader of change. Whatever his reason might be, she was sure she could get his help but only if what she was doing was working and showing results. 

She thought back to the teachers and couldn't help but sigh. Something really was wrong.

Now it was only her, Logan, Piotr and the Professor. Scott… Scott had drowned himself in guilt that he was hardly at the Mansion nowadays. Though he seemed to be coming out of his shell as the days went by, he even trained in the Danger Room a few days ago according to Kurt. 

If anything, this proves that they really needed help, and not the one they could get from anyone within the Mansion, especially not the Professor. 

"Hmm, Da Costa did say something about Draul destroying the Hellfire Club. The only notable figures in it should be the two Queens. Since no one has any idea who the Black Queen might be, maybe I can talk to the White Queen. She could be reasoned with if Da Costa's words are to be given credit."

This could be the start of a solution and the White Queen of the Hellfire Club was the first step. She needed not just the overwhelming strength of the metahuman race but also connections and political/business prowess. She was sure she could count on Draul when the time came and if she succeeded in her talk with Emma Frost, then that was two major players in the real world who were both powerful businessmen and metas. 

No one was foolish enough to not see that Draul's chain company and its app were taking over the social media platforms by storm. Draul even freely made his company stand in the side of metahumans and sponsored some campaigns. 

He had made it pretty clear that he couldn't care less about the metahumans who faced injustice everyday but also made it open that he would at least be willing to help them out if they were to help themselves. 

It felt like she just woke up from some dream, as if some intricately woven spell that had been cast over her eyes were broken. 

"Was this why he said that it's good to have fun every once in a while?" She thought.

Turns out she really needed something to take her mind off everything else, even if only for a single day. 

"You still up, 'Ro?" She heard Logan's gruff voice behind her. 

"Just having some thoughts. Couldn't sleep without getting them out of my head."

"Yeah, I can tell. Beer?" He brought with him his six pack, the one every kid in the Mansion knew to stay away from. A late night drink wouldn't be bad so she accepted. "So what's on your mind that you can't sleep."

"I've been thinking about us. The metahumans, the Mansion… all of it." She started. 

"I don't think that it's such a wise decision to have those types of heavy thoughts hours after you've had your first real fun experience in years." The elderly man who was easily the oldest person she knew stopped her. 

"And why is that? I'm not trying to sound arrogant but you know it's not really working, don't you?" She asked in a low voice. 

Logan looked at his beer, then at the night sky before sighing. Why did they always have to make drinking time so serious? "Maybe we just aren't doing it right?"

"Or maybe we are doing it wrong?" Ororo countered. 

"And what's the difference between the two?" The beer all of a sudden tasted heavy, much more than he remembered what he was sure it tasted like. 

"I think the first would be that we think we are correct in our actions and believe that all we need are just a few tweaks to make it work seamlessly. While the other would be a complete overhaul." Ororo said as she opened her beer to take a sip. She was not a fan of alcohol of any kind but she did endeavor to take a sip once in a while. 

"Don't you think you are reading too much into it? I've been alive for a long time that I've forgotten what my first memories were like, 'Ro. But one thing I can tell you is that change takes time, so much so for a lasting one. You can't force a revolution.."

"But you can fight for one, right?" She cut him off. 

"Isn't that what we are doing? A revolution? Isn't that what we've been fighting for for years? This Mansion is proof of our fights. The fact that there are children that are running around, laughing freely, is a testament to our winning streak. We just ha-" 

"Have to continue doing what we are doing right? How is anything going to change that way? We promised ourselves that they would experience a better future, and yet we are content with the status quo. Content with letting them stay within these walls. Most of them can't even go shopping or into the city to hang out because of a hidden stigma or how they look. While it is mostly true that they are happier here than they were out there, it still doesn't change the fact that we are chaining them to the boundaries of the very walls we used to protect them. When you look at it like this, it really isn't a nice thing, is it?"

Logan just stood there and contemplated on what she said. Even though he knew she was right, it still doesn't change the fact that the kind of change that they wanted wasn't one they could force, definitely not on others. They weren't perfect by any means but that did not in any way mean that they weren't trying their damned hardest for it to change. He wouldn't let anyone, not even Ororo, say that all that they've done didn't matter. "Just what are you trying to say, Storm?" Gone was the rascal vibe he always wore around him like a cloak and what stood there was a man that had fought more wars than any human alive on the planet.

Seemingly not noticing his change in attitude, or maybe she did but she didn't care, she answered him. "I'm saying that maybe it's time for us to grow beyond these walls we use in holding ourselves down. Why are we afraid of what they'll think of us when we are our own people? What I'm saying is that, maybe it's high time we took a stand. It's our life after all, if we can't even fight for it at every turn, then who would?" She drained the last sip from the can and smiled at Logan. "It's high time we did that, isn't it?"

Logan bawled out in laughter, a pure hearty one, even as he clutched his sides but Ororo didn't seem the least bit offended. "I see that you've been listening too much to Draul."

"Well he isn't wrong for the most part, is he?"

"No, he isn't… No, he isn't. Chucks ain't gon be too happy, you know?"

"It doesn't matter if he isn't." She said. 

The smile on Logan's face faded away as he asked Ororo a final question. "Are you sure about this? This isn't about you, you know?"

"I'm very sure. And contrary to what you think , this is very much about me. I just added it to the very small list of things I care about."

And the beginning of change started from the night talk on a balcony. 

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