Voices. Voices were speaking. To her? Maybe.
Emma Frost, otherwise known as the White Queen, listened to the sounds. Laughter, she heard, and shouting. Eventually she realized whom the voices belonged to: the Hellions. *Her* Hellions. Students whom she _knew_ were dead, but their joyful laughing sounded so real. she doubted.
Their happiness began to make her feel happy. They weren't dead after all! But then where were they? Emma desperately needed to see them, to know that they were alive and well.
And she saw them, right in front of her, laughing as they played in an emerald meadow. They looked so happy, Emma wanted to hug them, but she didn't; her body was frozen on the spot like a statue.
So she contented herself with watching and listening.
The pleasant scene shifted before her eyes to one of horror. The laughter abruptly changed to screams of terror. Sentinels were everywhere! Looming over the small group like humans over ants, ants that you would kill with one step. The Hellions fought bravely, but futilely. Emma couldn't scream or move; just stared as the mechanical monsters butchered each of her students. Her soul died a little at each passing. Then the robots left, and ashes fell softly to the ground.
Everyone was gone. No one was there. She did her best to keep from crying, the rest of the world didn't matter, and her students did.
Her students, her Hellions. Gone. The cruel universe had taken away her world and all she really loved. She was left alone. So very much alone.
And she blamed herself.
***
Monet St. Croix awoke to a fierce headache.
'Why me?' she silently asked herself. Once in a rare while her telepathic powers would accidentally invade another sleeper's mind in the middle of the night while she was sleeping herself. In Layman's term: she would unintentionally share a dream with someone else.
As Monet laid in bed she thought about the dream, and about how curious it was. Her teacher had never shown any outward emotion other than contempt and superiority, but the White Queen's inner demons could have driven any sane person over the proverbial edge.
Of course, M could make good a case against that sanity using all the times Ms. Frost had made choices that were clearly insane. Like, for example, allowing Jubilee into Generation X.
It must have been terrible to lose her students in that way. How guilty Ms. Frost must feel, and so lonely that no one knew of her pain. But as horrible as that dream was Monet didn't feel much for her teacher. She would get over it.
Getting up to take a shower, Monet felt a tiny but noticeable drop of liquid on her face. 'Tears?' she frowned, and wiped it away with one perfectly damning finger.
***
That day was a Thursday and Emma had scheduled it for more training in the Biosphere. It was a perfectly clear morning and Generation X was anxious to get it over with and go into the nearby town.
"Why do we have to do this when we could be going down to the mall?" Jubilee complained.
"Settle down, children." The White Queen ordered. She then gave an overview on what they were to do.
Monet closely examined her teacher as she spoke. She saw that her eyes had a barely visible darkness under them, and was a bit fatigued. A heavy weight seemed to be permanently fixed to her spirit. Emma Frost had loved all her students and lost them all in a moment of meaningless violence. She would never let that happen again.
Monet looked at the normally stoic person. and felt sympathy.
Emma came to a finish, "You have your instructions, now go."
The group fled into the dense foliage, but Monet calmly kept her place and stayed behind.
"What is it, M?" the White Queen asked, giving her a stern look. "Do you have a question?"
"No," Monet responded. "Nothing. I'm. sorry."
The White Queen acknowledged it and nodded impatiently.
Without another word she flew to join with the others in combat training. Just another day.
The End