Passages

• Writer - Chris Claremont
• Penciler - Salvador Larroca
• Lettering - Tom Orzechowski
• Colorist - Liquid!
• Ass't Editor - Lynne Yoshii
• Editor - Andrew Lis
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

Summary

  The X-Men celebrate their victory in the New Orleans mansion Rogue has inherited from Mystique. Jean and Hank bake a cake saying "Welcome Home X-Men"; Jean uses TK and telepathy to cut just enough for each, and they toast dead friends.

  Kitty is all grown up, attending college and tending bar. Sage doesn't come; Heather also feels out of place, but Lucas says she's earned it. Hank wants to hear about the harem; the boys (and Jean) pretend to also want Ororo as their queen; Kitty pretends she's really Ororo, and that their minds were switched, and everyone has a laugh.

  Jean invites Ororo's team to return to the mansion, recently destroyed and in need of more staff to handle the influx of students. She shows them an image of themselves together as teachers. A bit overbearing, and when she refers to "mutants and humans" and vows to prevent another Genosha, Kitty reminds her mutants are humans, too, and runs off in a huff. Ororo explains that Kitty's father was killed in Genosha (Kitty saw the tape in X-Men Unlimited 36). Hank tells Ororo that Xorn can heal her wounds (she's in a wheelchair); Jean asks Lucas to convince her to return to the mansion, but he says she's the boss.

  Neal finds Heather on the roof and says she looks magnificent; she needs room to spread her wings, which are already second nature to her. She wonders if Davey was right to call her a monster, since she sees everyone as prey now. She worries about him now that Sage forced his latent mutancy and decides to track him down. Neal offers to help.

  Hank finds Remy and checks the scar on his chest, nearly healed after nanobot surgery. Suddenly he attacks him, Remy sidesteps and pulls cards, and Hank backs down, satisfied that Remy is in superb shape and not wanting to wreck Rogue's new mansion. He doesn't notice Remy didn't charge the cards.

  Ororo finds Kitty packing to leave and regretting she ever came. Ororo flashes lightning and demands to know why she's so angry; Kitty explains she has seen too many loved ones die, and her way of dealing is to cut the X-Men out of her life. Ororo understands, having lost her own parents, but Kitty says she's building her own life now. They hug.

  Lucas finds Sage in her room, typing on a holographic keyboard. He gives her cake; she says she's been keeping out of sight because she makes the others nervous. Lucas says they'll get used to her, and he wonders if they should return to Xavier's, since the fate foretold in Destiny's diaries has been broken. Sage looks at a display of Xavier and Nova (X-Men II:126) and says the mansion is now a bigger target, and the three greatest telepaths together could be a great threat. She gazes below upon the baseline humans and suggests they need champions, too.

  Rogue finds Remy tossing cards in a pond; he can't charge them. Rogue offers him consolation: her power is gone, too, and they can touch and maybe start fresh; he makes no promises but embraces her, dropping his cards including the queen and jack of hearts.

  Dawn rises; Jean and Ororo have spent the night talking in the kitchen, using their powers to clean up. Ororo has decided to heal naturally.

  Kitty leaves, wanting to get back to her classes, but says they can call if they need her; Jean wishes her luck trying to leave the X-Men. Remy and Rogue hug everyone and leave by motorcycle, since they can't be superheroes, anyway. Neal and Heather are leaving to find Davey. Logan decides to stay for a while, till Ororo recuperates. Jean says the offer's still open to teach at the mansion and leaves.

  Lucas asks Ororo if they should go home, since their job is done, but Ororo says it's barely begun.