A Nocturne's Tale

• Writer - James Calafiore
• Penciler - James Calafiore
• Cover Art - James Calafiore
• Inker - eric cannon
• Colorist - Transparency Digital
• Lettering - Dave Sharpe
• Ass't Editor - Cory Sedlmeier
• Ass't Editor - Stephannie Moore
• Editor - Mike Marts
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

Summary

  (T.J. reminisces about her universe:)

  The X-Men are in downtown Manhattan fighting Apocalypse again. Fortunately, his son Armageddon has switched sides: Phoenix is trapped by a power dampener, and the rest of the team doesn't have that kind of power and provide no more than a nuisance. Armageddon and T.J. each get slammed; Wolverine calls in to order Kitty to get to Apocalypse's chronal disruptor, and she is able to phase through its force field; Phoenix burns out the dampener and attacks: boom! Wolverine reports Kitty was still in the machine and is now missing. The team looks for her but finds her younger self. Wolverine says the police will show up soon and has everyone return to the mansion.

  (Background: the Phoenix force took over Colossus's body after he sacrificed himself trying to save his sister in Limbo. Wolverine was possessed by the Shadow King and killed Xavier, but was himself crippled in the attack. He runs the school; Nightcrawler runs the team.)

  Kitty has evidently been shifted in time by the chronal disruptor, and since she's not around, older, there's no telling where she went. Her younger self is from just after she joined the team; Wolverine wants Moira to check and make sure it's her.

  The TV reports: the X-Men smashed up Manhattan; the Avengers repelling an alien invasion in South America; Cyclops led a prison escape and maybe starting a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Nightcrawler thinks wells of the Scarlet Witch and wishes the media would be kinder to Cyclops.

  T.J. takes Kitty to the lab; they see Lucien in his radiation chamber playing with a model Blackbird. He has the power to take away people's diseases, but when he took Legacy Virus from the whole world, he wasn't able to purge it, and now he's a radioactive skeleton. Moira wasn't able to help him and has moved onto other things. (She never was able to help Kitty, and they never found the older version.)

  Armageddon has been given a room, but he's too big for the bed and seems out of place. Nightcrawler visits; they're not sure they could really have killed Apocalypse, and Armageddon feels bad about betraying him. Nightcrawler says everyone on the team came there feeling lost, but he can find a family here.

  Thunderbird walks down the hall wrapped in a towel, having taken a shower in the locker room. Kitty scopes out his butt, but T.J. angrily claims she's never noticed. (They weren't dating yet; he had a lot of anger in him, and T.J. was attracted to the danger.)

  The X-kids are roughhousing in their common room; T.J. walks past and shows Kitty to her room. There she finally breaks down and hugs T.J., saying she wants to go home.

  Wolverine has a nightmare about killing Xavier; Phoenix enters his room, reading his thoughts. He tells her to leave, but she misses dreams, no longer having a conscious human host. She offers again to make him whole again and asks when his penance will end. He orders her out.

  Next day, T.J. works out in the Danger Room; Nightcrawler is perpetually annoyed at her recklessness; she yells at him, saying she's not him and his constant reprimands just hurt. She storms out, and Kitty goes with her, driving away from the mansion.

  Nightcrawler talks about it with Wolverine; he's been trying to train her, but Wolverine thinks he's been pushing too hard when she just wants to please him. She's even been wearing his old costume. The room explodes: Cyclops has arrived with his new Brotherhood.

  Note: see X-Men Millennial Visions 2001 for most of the background.