A black, foggy cloud dissipated within a couple seconds. We were in a cold room, deep below the earth. The walls were stone, reflecting yellow lights buzzing above us. Littered around the room were metal trays, surgical instruments, chemicals and rubbing alcohol. But in the center, was a titanium box, emitting an aggressive energy that radiated my fingertips.

We all turned our heads curiously toward it.

"There's some kind of animal in there," Scott guessed, all of us taking a few steps closer.

From an emotional standpoint, he was right. The energy was primitive, not far complex enough to compare to any human, or mutant for that matter. Whatever the box contained was nothing beyond a ticking timebomb of anger, ready to combust under the next ounce of pressure.

I suppose on a mental state it was more complicated than that. Jean stepped forward, listening to the mind of the beast awaiting behind those sheets of metal,

"It's no animal. It's a man."

My curiosity would have eaten me whole if it weren't for a familiar feeling that presented itself in my chest. It pulled me away, wandering my feet off into the corridor. My cheeks fluttered like a flock of birds. Peter.

I told them as I followed the energy into the hall,

"I just got a hold of an energy signature. It's them; I'm going to figure out which direction they are," I glanced back to the box and added

"And you may not want to bother whatever's in there."

I let Peter's energy lead me down the corridor. I bent down to the floor, feeling it seep up from the ground. They were on a floor lower than us. My hand traced the surrounding walls, searching for a direction. East. North. South. West. My fingertips twinged in response. He was somewhere along the west corridor.

A barrage of footsteps echoed out from behind me. A group of guards stared into the whites of my eyes,

"Hey! Stop right there!"

They grew closer to me, and I felt my muscles tense into thick bundles as they approached. And then something happened. They stopped.

A screech of their shoes against the floor echoed in the corridor. My legs collapsed inward, bringing me to the floor. I lied there paralyzed, writhing in pain. The darkness had returned.

And Charles's voice flooded the inside of my brain:

Hear me, inhabitants of this world

This is a message, a message to every man, woman, and mutant...

My blood began to boil. My skin turned a rich scarlet as it burned like a raging fire.

You have lost your way

But I have returned

The heat flashed away. What followed was a numbing cold, like pure ice. Cold like the dark vacuum of space filled with endless seas of black matter.

Your day of reckoning is here

For there is nothing you can do

In the icy touch of the coldness, a million daggers stabbed themselves throughout my very being, pounding my head as the message played on.

This message is for one reason alone

To tell the strongest among you

Those with the greatest power...

Relief. A single breath circulated in and out of my lungs.

Protect those without.

When the professor's voice vanished, the paralysis ceased. I slowly pushed myself off the ground, gripping the wall to steady myself as I returned to my feet. I peered down at my hands, dipped opaque black with dark energy. They vibrated uncontrollably like tectonic plates.

"She's a mutant!" one of guards proclaimed.

Another shouted as they stared at my hands in confusion, "She had something to do with that message! Get her!"

The flock of guards began rushing toward me again, and the darkness consuming my hands begins to grow, eating up to my elbows.

"Wait! Stop!" I warned.

They ignored my warning and proceeded, practically steps away when...

A blast sent them against the walls, smoking with the remains of the darkness that had just poured out from my body. My arms throbbed with a sharp sting. I stumbled backwards and scampered away, back from where I had come.

The three were still there when I return, staring at each other in confusion. I tried to shake the past ten minutes from my mind.

"Jean, do you have any idea as to what that was? It sounded like Charles."

She rubbed her temple, making me assume the message took a toll on her as well, "It was the professor. But somebody else was speaking through him."

"Do you know who?" I questioned.

She shook her head, the red locks pulled back from her face swaying, "No. But the professor embedded something in the message. He said we need to find him. He's in trouble."

Scott adjusted his frames,

"Well, first thing's first. We gotta get out of this place."

"They're along the west wing. Lower floor. I detected their energy signatures," I stated.

"Okay. Easy. So we just follow Firefly until we find—"

A crunching of static sounded through a speaker system. I sensed a crowd rushing toward us a the intercom alerted,

"We have intruders on the second floor, third quadrant. May be armed or mutant."

Kurt's eyes grew wide,

"What do we do?"

My gaze scans the room for something, desperately searching for a weapon to get us out of here easily. My eyes stopped when they landed on the titanium box.

"Jean, open the box," I told her, fully serious.

"You want her to what?" Scott exclaimed.

"Open the box," I repeated.

Two fingers went to her temple, and a soft scrapping sound resulted from the latch of the box, slowly inching, further and further open.

Footsteps grew closer, turning around the corner. And just as the army of guards arrived at the edge of the room...

...our weapon was released.

Author's Note:

Hey amazing people,

Thank you so much again, just for all of your support and your patience.

I'm feeling much better now, thanks for the get well wishes. I know I've been slow with the content but I promise I have so much up and coming for you beautiful people.

Things I'm currently working on:

- a manuscript of an original novel (coming soon)

-a website (release date this summer) where you guys can access original content earlier, and even be featured

-a writing contest for you fellow writers to be published and featured on my website

-maybe YouTube content??

-and most excitingly...

Designing merch for this story and others to be available soon:

So again, thank you all again for being amazing people. Please comment if any of this excites you, especially if you'd be interested in submitting content to be featured on my website.

Love you guys!

-thecatgurl =^._.^=

PS: ALSO DARK PHOENIX COMES OUT TOMORROW!!! 🎉🎉