It was painfully bright. The sun's rays hit the white pages of her novel, sending a blinding glare into her eyes that inhibited her from reading about how the mage was going to use the dragon's powers to save the kingdom. Important stuff. With a frustrated sigh, Thea moved from her seat by the outdoor fountain to a bench in the shade of some oak trees. She liked reading outside where the noise from children playing in the backyard of Xavier's School for the Gifted was in the background.
With the funeral services for Professor X just a few days ago, the school was still rather quiet because the children didn't know if it was appropriate to laugh and play when their headmaster was gone. Ororo Munroe, the new headmaster, had assured the children that it was alright to do normal things, but the noises Thea heard were hampered by sadness.
Regardless, Thea welcomed this little bit of time to be swept up in her fantasy novel when her real life was chaotic. She loved fantasy stories because she was able to delve into a world where being different often meant you would save the world rather than hide in it.
She felt the other side of the bench creak with the addition of another person and internally groaned with annoyance at the interruption. The only redeeming fact was that the intruder was her closest friend.
"So there's a new guy here," Kitty Pryde said in a gossipy voice.
Thea closed the book, knowing Kitty would not be happy until she divulged all the info she knew about this new guy. Kitty had been feeling quite homesick, and Professor X's death hit her very hard too. Looking at her friend, Thea noticed Kitty's demeanor had brightened.
So, Thea was glad to see her friend excited about something. Plus, Thea was mildly intrigued because Kitty has said "guy" rather than "kid," meaning this new person must have been older than say…eighteen. Granted Thea was not interested in dating and granted eighteen was a bit young for her, but some new eye candy would always be welcomed.
"Who is he?" Thea asked.
"All I could catch it that his name is Warren. Thea, he's so gorgeous! Blond hair, nice face, great body…well, I imagine he has a great body. He was wearing a tan trench coat, so I couldn't see. But he just reeked of sexy," Kitty said happily.
"Reeked of sexy?" Thea repeated amusedly with a large amount of skepticism in her voice.
"Okay, so that sounded weird. But it's true."
"What's his thing?" Thea asked.
Kitty's face lit up at her friend's interest. She leaned towards Thea, and Thea leaned towards Kitty as well.
"Wings," Kitty whispered.
Thea's right eyebrow quirked as it always did when something struck her as interesting.
"Wings? Like bat wings or bird wings or flying squirrel wings?"
Kitty giggled. "Bird wings," Kitty replied, her eyes bright.
Thea sat back against her bench so that to any onlookers, it no longer appeared like she and Kitty were about to make out. While bat wings would have been gross and flying squirrel wings most unfortunate, bird wings were…intriguing.
"How big are they?" Thea asked.
Kitty shrugged. "I don't know, but big enough for him to fly. That's how he got here, he flew."
"I wonder what from," Thea mumbled to herself.
"You should ask him that," Kitty encouraged not too subtly.
Thea humored Kitty with an amused grin. "You are not setting me up with him before I even know what color his wings are," Thea jested.
Kitty laughed heartily, and Thea resumed reading her book since she thought the gossip was over.
"White," Kitty said.
"Huh?"
"His wings are white. Saw a bit under the coat when he was walking. So, now can I set you two up?" Kitty asked conspiratorially.
Thea laughed and shook her head. "Too bad they aren't black. That would have 'reeked of sexy'."
Kitty giggled and punched Thea lightly in the shoulder for making fun of her yet again.
"Here's your room. I'm sorry it's so small," Ororo Munroe, better known as Storm, said, leading Warren Worthington III into his accommodations.
Warren looked around the room. The walls were a warm cream color and the curtains to the window were a rich blue. There was a full sized bed, a small wooden desk, a lamp, a chair, and a chest of drawers. It was quite different from his luxury apartment in San Francisco that had his bedroom, a study room, a guest room, a full kitchen, and a spacious living room. But that life was over.
"It's fine," he replied with a small smile at the woman with snow white hair. He was finally used to the hair. In the past hour of walking around the mansion, he observed more weird things than he had imagined. There was a kid with a lizard tongue, a girl who ran through walls, and oh, let's not forget the kid who could walk on water. Then again, none of them had wings sprouting out from their back. So, honestly, who was the weird one?
"You're welcomed to stay here as long as you like. The kitchen is down stairs, the lounges are down there as well, bathroom is down the hall to the right…" Storm trailed off as she looked around uncomfortably.
"Great."
"Anything else I can do?" Storm asked.
"No, no, this is…great. Thanks. I appreciate it. Especially, you know, my father…" Warren said, fidgeting under Storm's gaze.
Storm's eyes darkened and swirled for just a moment before she collected herself. "Your father is not very supportive of mutants, but that does not mean we would deny you our help. You aren't him. You proved that today."
Warren smiled sheepishly. "Thanks."
"I'm assuming you won't need to take classes?"
Warren shook his head. "Graduated from college last year. Economics major."
Storm's demeanor brightened. "Would you be interested in teaching economics to some of the older students? We're so understaffed at the moment. We've had so many…losses."
"Uh…"
"I'm so sorry. You've only just arrived and I'm bombarding you with questions about teaching. That was inappropriate of me," Storm said, slowly stepping out of the room.
"That's alright. I just…I didn't expect that. But let me sleep on it."
"Absolutely. You must be tired. If you need anything, you can ask the older students or one of the professors."
"Thanks."
Storm smiled and left Warren's room, closing the door behind her.
Warren dropped his black leather bag unceremoniously on the ground and took off his trench coat. He extended his wings delicately to their full span. He sat down on the edge of the bed and rotated his sore and tense shoulders. Inhaling deeply, he tried to calm his body after the day's events. What had he done? Turned away from his father, decided to keep his wings, jumped out of a window, flew back home to grab some clothes and money, flew across the country to the only mutant sanctuary he knew of, and now was sitting in his new room. And all before six o'clock in the evening.
Exhaling, he fluffed his pillows and flopped onto his stomach, falling asleep immediately.
Thea walked into the TV room munching on a turkey sandwich, and Jubilee shifted over on the couch to make room for her.
"Jones! Go back, go back! I want to see that story about the guy jumping out of the window," Jubilee said, annoyed at the younger mutant's incessant changing of the television stations with his blinking.
"Sorry," Jones replied, blinking to go back to the late night news story Jubilee wanted to watch.
"…of the window, swooping down towards the crowd of mutants waiting in line for the cure, with his wings fully extended. When asked to comment about his son's behavior, Dr. Worthington declined to speak to the media." The image was first of a mutant bursting through a window and then of a distressed looking Dr. Worthington. Thea cringed and averted her eyes at the mere sight of that bastard. That new Warren guy was his son?
The newscaster went on to other stories.
"Wow!" Jubilee said admiringly. "That was amazing."
"Flashy," Thea commented with a bit of disdain, tucking some of her dark purple hair behind her ear. Warren the winged-dude had a flare for the dramatic.
"You would think that," Jubilee mumbled.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Thea snapped.
Jubilee and Thea were not friends though they did not hate each other nor spread bad things about each other. And although they were usually respectful of one another, occasionally they got into fights that Jubilee would always start and Thea would never walk away from. Thea respected Jubilee's ability to be cheerful when the younger girl had lost her parents tragically and had been a runaway before coming to Xavier's School, but that was the extent of Thea's positive thoughts regarding Jubilee. Jubilee often got swept up in the glamour of things, perhaps it was a result of being raised in Beverly Hills, and that kind of bubbly excitement over such superficial matters grated on Thea's nerves.
Others said the indifference between the two young women was because Jubilee and Thea were exact opposites. While Jubilee and Thea were both Asian Americans, well, technically Thea was half-Asian American, half-nondescript White, the similarities between the two girls ended there. Jubilee was bright and happy despite the hardships she endured, but Thea was withdrawn and had a hard time getting over things and moving on. Jubilee dressed with a punk flare, was friends with everyone, and craved attention that people willingly gave her. Thea's sense of style was limited to basic tank tops and shorts in the hot weather and sweatshirts and jeans in the cold weather. She had few friends because most people got too frustrated with her closed off nature to bother to get beneath it or wonder why it existed in the first place. Thea was well aware that Jubilee was more well-liked than her, and though Thea tried to convince herself that she didn't care, part of her did. Part of her wanted to be social and cheerful and more like Jubilee. But she just couldn't, which was perhaps the most frustrating thing.
"You always manage to criticize everything," Jubilee said with a frown.
"Why couldn't he just leave the way he came?" Thea asked.
"Because…"
"He needed to jump out a window? That's a bit drastic. Where did all that shattered glass go? They don't bother reporting if people got hurt by it," Thea replied passionately.
Jubilee looked at Thea with disgust as she began her tirade. "You are so unbelievable…"
"I wasn't thinking," someone said softly from behind them.
Thea's head turned swiftly to the voice and Jubilee's did as well. A few feet away from the couch stood a man with blond hair wearing a tan trench coat. Warren.
"When you're strapped down with a woman hovering around you ready to inject you with something you realize you don't want, you panic. All I could think about was getting away as quickly as I could," he said.
Thea looked down at the remaining part of her sandwich. She was no longer hungry. His words were too relatable. She shifted uncomfortably and got up from the couch to go to the kitchen.
"So you're Warren Worthington III?" Jubilee asked excitedly.
"Unfortunately," Warren replied wryly.
"What's it like to fly?" Jubilee asked, seemingly oblivious to Warren's discomfort. The rest of the group that had been watching the news now shifted their attention to Warren.
"Uh…well…" Warren began.
Thea walked away without bothering to hear what he had to say, already annoyed with Jubilee's attentions to this guy and embarrassed that he had heard her tirade. After washing up her plate at the sink, Thea turned around to leave the kitchen, only to find Warren standing in her way.
"What you said…you have a point."
"Forget it," Thea mumbled.
"I'm Warren," Warren said, sticking out his hand.
Thea looked at his hand and frowned. She grabbed it, her hold gentle but firm. "Did this happen when you broke through the window glass?" she asked as she looked at his hands that were red with deep fresh wounds that were scabbing over on his fingers and knuckles.
"Oh, yeah," Warren said, trying to remove his hand from her grasp with embarrassment.
"You didn't have it checked out when you got here?" Thea asked.
"No, Ms. Munroe just showed me my room," he replied. "They have a hospital in the mansion?"
"Yeah, there's a hospital. She probably just had so much on her mind since everything went to shit," Thea mumbled, picking up his other hand with the same gentle grasp. It was as torn up as the other.
"It's fine, I didn't even really think about it," Warren replied.
"Adrenaline," Thea replied dismissively.
"Listen, can you let go of my hands?" Warren asked uneasily.
"Hold on," Thea replied.
Warren felt a tingly sensation coming from his hands and looked down to watch the scabs fall off as fresh skin regenerated under them. He gasped as he admired his newly healed hand. The only thing that indicated there were injuries there at all were the pink patches of skin that stood out from the rest that was a darker shade.
"There," Thea said, dropping his hands unceremoniously.
"Wha…my God," Warren said in amazement.
Thea smirked. "You flatter me," she replied dryly.
Warren chuckled as his cheeks reddened.
Thea walked around him to leave the kitchen.
"Wait," Warren said.
She didn't need to do as he requested, but she did.
"Your name. You never told me."
She looked at him, truly looked at him for the first time. He had lovely blue eyes. She could see why Kitty had said he reeked of sexy. He would be better looking if he didn't hunch his shoulders though…
She snapped out of it.
"Althea," she replied.
"Althea? Interesting name. It is your real name?"
"It's the important name. People usually call me Thea," she replied.
"People? Well, haven't you been watching the news, Althea? I'm part bird," he said with a confident smile.
She rolled her eyes. "Does your part also include the small brain?" she asked, looking at his head.
Warren laughed and watched Thea leave without saying anything more.
Author's Note: Hi everyone! This story has been in my head ever since I saw The Last Stand, so I figured I should write it out. I'm really excited to be writing this story, and I hope you enjoy it. If you've read my Lord of the Rings story and are expecting the sequel, don't worry, I haven't abandoned it! I just really wanted to write out this idea. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!