Getting to know you

Posted on Sat May 27th, 2023 @ 2:08pm by Scott Summers & Aurora Summers

2,504 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 2: Northern X-Posure
Location: Xavier’s School
Timeline: August 7th, 1990

Her meeting with Xavier over, Aurora headed outside into the grounds of the mansion. She wanted to explore and enjoy her new surroundings, now that she felt safe to do so. She hadn’t gotten far when she spotted Cyclops, she had a memory of him calling her Jean and she was curious as to why. She smiled as she approached him.

“Excuse me, you’re Scott right? They call you Cyclops, I remember that.”

Clad in a polo shirt and khaki shorts, Scott turned his head away from the horizon and set his gaze onto Aurora. As always, his ruby-quartz sunglasses hid his eyes and whatever emotion they held. "That's right. You've got a good memory, Aurora." They hadn't spoken after the Blackbird returned to the Mansion and Aurora hadn't been in the best shape when it did. Combat fatigue and adrenaline tended to do a number on the nerves and short-term memory. That Aurora looked none the worse for wear now spoke to a quiet inner strength. "I take it you've talked to the Professor by now." Whatever else he might have planned to say was held back.

Aurora nodded. “We talked, he showed me some things.” She didn’t elaborate. “As for my memory, that’s one thing that’s never failed me. “I remember you called me...” she paused. “Jean? ... that’s right, Jean. Is she another student here?”

The question made Scott visibly turn rigid, particularly the mention of that name. "She is," he said at length. "She was. She went missing on a mission." His mouth opened but no words came out. Letting out a sigh, he recentered himself. "We went to Canada to investigate reports of a mutant trafficking ring. I was hoping my missing friends would be there. Bobby was. I'd hoped you were Jean." After a half second of self-pity, he realized how that must have sounded. "I'm glad we got you out of there. It's just..." He looked away at the horizon again. "I can't sleep. Not knowing they're out there somewhere and that..." He braced himself to admit the haunting truth that kept him awake at night. "... it's my fault."

Aurora gave Scott an understanding look. “I haven’t known you very long, but you don’t put me in mind as being someone who’d let anything happen to his team mates. Especially not to a woman the you obviously care about very much.” She paused. “If there’s anything I can do to help you, please ask. I know I’m new here, and I don’t have the mastery of my abilities that you do, but I know the streets and I know certain people that might be useful where information is required.”

Typically Scott kept his cards close to his chest, but the more Aurora went on with her attempts at niceties, the more disturbed he looked. When she offered to use her street smarts to find the missing First Class, though, the entire frame shifted for him. Rather than clamp down on his grief, Scott actually chuckled. And once that dam burst, the floodwaters came. Scott actually let out a laugh for the first time in... well, in recent memory.

"I'm sorry," he said once his laughter had died back down to a manageable chuckle. "I don't mean to laugh at your offer to help. It's... it's much appreciated. My friends didn't get kidnapped like you did. Truthfully it was a longshot that we even found Bobby." He trailed off a bit as he gathered his thoughts. "We went on a mission awhile back. We don't know where. We don't know why. Something is wrong with our memories. The Blackbird's flight logs were scrambled. If it wasn't for autopilot, I wouldn't have made it back. The Professor had to stick me in the secret autodocs downstairs for a day just to get me to wake up." Shaking his head in discouragement, he said, "I don't know why I made it back and they didn't. I just know they didn't."

“So the Professor hasn’t been able to help you regain your memory of events?” Aurora looked at Scott curiously. “Whoever took your friends must have had knowledge of your Blackbird’s systems to scramble the logs, plus for you not to remember a telepath must be involved, either that or they used drugs to scramble your memory.”

Scott gave a shrug, his mirth melting back into his pragmatic melancholy. "You aren't wrong. And we haven't given up. It's just... taking a while." He forced his frown into a grim, thin-lined neutral expression. Avoidant-attachment initialized and deployed. "Hey, I wanted to thank you for looking after Bobby. It doesn't look like he will recover mentally any time soon, but at least he is safe. If there's ever anything you need, just ask."

Aurora nodded. “You’re the leader of the team here, aren’t you? Once I learn to control my abilities better I want to join the team.” She held out her hand a small flame appearing in her hand, for a few moments it danced merrily and calmly before it suddenly flared up violently causing Aurora to extinguish it. “I’ve been practicing a little, but I can’t keep it stable.” She sighed. “It’s obvious you cared for Jean, what abilities did she have?”

"That... that's a lot to unpack..." Scott chuckled and shook his head again in thought. "I was the leader, yeah. The Professor and I agreed that I need a break. A sabbatical, he called it. After Jean and the others went missing, I... I snapped." Sighing and exhaling, he said, "I volunteered as bait in order to find the base where we found you, and from there I guess experience kicked in. For now, Cameron is leading the team out in the field. I'm just... backup?" A thought occurred to him. "Kind of like Jean was, now that I think about it. She never questioned me on a mission, but she always seemed to know what to do. Telepathy, telekinesis, and who knows what else were only her mutant powers. Her abilities were courage... compassion..." And that's when Scott took his first hard look at Aurora. While she wasn't a strong resemblance to Jean, there was a definite likeness. The comparison threw Scott for a loop. "I... I need to sit down." He half stooped, half fell to a sitting position.

Aurora looked alarmed at Scott’s sudden change. “Are you alright!? I...I’m sorry I didn’t mean to...” she sat down beside him worried that he was going to pass out or something. “I didn’t realise that I was so much like her. My being here must be torture for you.” She put a respectful distance between them. “Maybe I should go? Let you have some time alone.”

"I'll be fine," Scott lied. "I just felt dizzy." Far be it for him to make anyone feel unwelcome in the only sanctuary for mutants not run by a madman. "If you're anything like Jean, then we're better for having you around." There. That was fair to say. "I grew up in an orphanage. This place is the closest thing to home I've ever known. It will make you better too."

Aurora nodded. “I hope so, I don’t have anywhere else to go.” She offered a smile. “I’ve got a name now too, you can call me Enigma if it helps. The Professor says that’s what I am, an Enigma, so the name fits.”

"Enigma..." Scott laughed again, releasing his spiked tension and rocked back to lean on his hands. "I wonder if he has a big book of codenames somewhere that he pulls from whenever he needs one." He returned Aurora's sunny smile with a rueful one of his own. "Enigma, huh? It suits you. I'd need a new codename if I ever switched to a binocular visor."

“The Professor didn’t give me this name, I chose my own.” Aurora smiled. “So a binocular visor? One with a strip I’m guessing?” She paused. “It would give you two big eyes more or less, maybe you could make a name out of that in some way.”

"Nah, not worth it either way," Scott said. "My visor helps focus my blasts. Splitting the beam would defeat the point. I'll be Cyclops forever." Even though it was just small talk, it felt good. Most people were looking for Scott to figure something out, be a leader, be a role model. Some of the newer students regarded him as a legend, an impression he did not want to foster. Even if Aurora might share some of those things, she didn't burden him with them. Right now, they were just two people chatting on a normal afternoon. That felt... relieving. "Have you seen much of the Mansion yet?"

Aurora shook her head. “Not yet. The Professor told me to choose myself a room, I’m not sure where to start. I don’t want to tread on any toes, so-to-speak. Any ideas which room would be best to choose?”

"Can't help much there," Scott said. "I haven't been in the girl's dormitory much. But I'm sure you'd be welcome. We're all here for the same reasons."

Aurora nodded. “Ohh separate dorms! of course!” She blushed embarrassed that she’d made such a faux pas. “The grounds here are beautiful, I plan to get around them I like to find myself a private, quiet place where I can be alone sometimes. As for the Mansion, I still need to learn my way around.”

Looking up and away, Scott looked as if he was deliberating. He wasn't one for impulse. In the end, though, his mouth ticked up in a half smile. "Come on. I'll show you the place you want."

“Really?” Aurora hadn’t been expecting that. “That would be lovely, thank you Scott.”

The walk across the green grounds wasn't far, but the memories it evoked from Scott were bittersweet. The sight of a well-worn footpath through the grass was hard to miss. He had taken these steps many times, whether as a young man playing with his friends, wandering hand in hand with his first love, or running solo from the anger and despair of being an orphan survivor. So many turgid feelings rumbled beneath the surface of his proverbial icy pond, but he kept them clamped down.

"Right there," he said, pointing to a lone tree on a small overlook that offered an elevated view of the Mansion, Breakstone Lake, and even the edges of nearby Salem Center on a sunny day. "A lot of us come out here, so it's not exactly a secret, but the view..." He let it seize his gaze and steal his breath away beneath the shade of the tree. "It's hard to beat."

Aurora nodded. “It most certainly is, I think I’ll be spending a lot of my time here.” She smiled warmly as she stopped talking to simply stand and admire the beauty before her.

Though Scott stood rigid and still without so much as a quiver from his jaw, a lone tear shed from beneath his glasses. He turned away to wipe it dry, hoping Aurora wouldn't notice.

Aurora did indeed notice, she cautiously reached out her hand and touched Scott’s arm. “You don’t have to hide your emotions around me, Scott. Who says grown men don’t cry!” She offered a warm smile. “I won’t tell anyone, that’s a promise.”

"I'm fine." Despite his reassurances, he still couldn't look at her. "It's just... one night, years ago, Jean and I snuck away from our rooms and met outside. It was a full moon, so we hid here under the shadow of this tree. We... it was our first time." His face contorted in pain. "I failed her. She's gone and I can't bring her back and it's all my fault!"

“Scott, stop it!” Aurora looked at Scott in a way more akin to a telling off from Jean. “Do you think she’d want you blaming yourself? That Jean would want you to be in eternal torment because of her?” She shook her head. “If I had someone who cared for me, like you do for her I wouldn’t want them suffering because of me. She knew the risks the same as you, who's to say you won’t see Jean again, don’t give up.”

Scott shook his head. "If I don't suffer for her, who will?" He stared off over the gentle waters of Breakstone Lake. "If I can't rescue her, then the least I can do is make sure she is never forgotten."

“She won’t be forgotten, Scott, as long as she’s remembered by you and others who know her, Jean will never be forgotten. She might yet be found.”

"Hard to argue with that," Scott said. "Thank you."

Aurora nodded and smiled. “My pleasure, besides I should be thanking you, you’re the one who saved me when you came for Bobby. I wouldn’t be here now if you and the others hadn’t gotten us out of there.” She paused. “Scott, will you tell me about Jean? What abilities did she have?”

"Like I said before, she had a powerful mind... both telepathic and telekinetic," Scott said. "She always shied away from using her powers because the lack of control made her afraid. Jean and the Professor had frequent sessions that usually lasted awhile. She saved all our skins a time or two, though, controlled or not."

“So she was a lot like me in more ways than one” Aurora nodded. “I need to get to know the others here, especially Connor, he saved my life aboard the Blackbird he could have been killed.”

The expression on Scott's face was a pained one. "You have similarities... yes..." he admitted. But he blew past it quickly. "Connor is a handful," he said, a smile returning. "Watch out for him. He's likely either to ignore you or toy with you."

“Really?” Aurora nodded. “I’ll remember that, thanks Scott.” She smiled warmly. “If there’s ever anything you need, or you just want to sit and talk feel free to come find me.”

"That's very kind..." Scott fell silent again. "It was good getting to know you better, Aurora. I should probably go."

Aurora nodded. “Of course, I’ll head back in a few minutes I just want to take in this view for a little longer.”

"I don't blame you." Scott's hand twitched as he resisted the impulse to take her hand and join her in beholding the beautiful vista. She isn't Jean, he scolded himself. Damned muscle memories... "See you around."

Aurora nodded. “Likewise, Scott. It’s been nice talking to you.”

Without another word, Scott wandered away in a daze of confusion and grief that he stuffed down deep inside.

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