With the DJs both back, some life returned to the house.

As soon as she could, Shine was up and making her rounds with everybody.

Of course they told her to take it easy.

To which she said, "I know, but this is what I do. You gotta let me do it."

Emma was in a better mood noticeably since settling things with Scott more officially, and beginning to slow down just a little and actually not feel as pressed to do things.

But she was still pondering what to do when she went back, and so was Scott.

"Perhaps it's not fair to ask this after the harrowing week, but I don't suppose there's any final guidance you have on this matter?" Emma asked Shine over breakfast the day after she'd woken up.

Shine was more alert and seemed able to walk fine. She said that the sleep was less about physical energy than spiritual and emotional energy.

"Wally told me not to try to counsel people yet," Shine said wryly.

Emma nodded. "Of course."

"But you're going away, so you can be the one exception," Shine said. "Anyway, it's not that stressful for me--I won't be there. What are you wondering about exactly?"

"We've worked out that I should stay on the right path," Emma said. "Whatever that means. But there's problems there, ones that the X-men will be anxious to solve. I'm not sure I can endorse their methods now, though."

"Why not?" Shine asked. "You have to recall, I haven't really seen it."

"It's difficult to describe the difference," Emma said. "I suppose the best way to put it is they are very desperate and in a hurry to solve things. No patience. Even I executed my plans more carefully than them."

"So there you go," Shine interrupted. "You take your time. That's a difference you see right there. And you believe their method of problem solving isn't working?"

"Think about it, all Xavier's directives from the future required immediate action," Emma said. "Even to involving the President, which now looks like a risky move. Supposing it doesn't backfire further, we still need a better plan than waiting for Charles's instructions. Wolverine has no plan beyond that. We did nothing in between those messages except wait. I've gathered that you both had a plan when you came here--you put it into action."

"We assessed first," Shine said. "And my plan was a compilation of ideas from others that I believed would work because it worked for them. Not everything worked exactly the same."

She took some paper and a pen. "It pays at times to be intentional, Emma. Your goal here is you don't want your world's future to be that totalitarian nightmare that we saw. Humans and mutants will keep fighting for power from each other, but even without mutants, humans would do it to themselves, and I think we saw that, without humans, so would mutants. So, my friend, tell me, what did that teach you?"

Emma studied her for a long moment. "That the problem is not race, or biology, if you will. It's with us. It's our lust for power and control. And it could swing either way."

"So make a note of that." Shine handed her the pen.

Emma did so. "How will this help?"

"It will, trust me," Shine said. "See, I can't tell you what to do, Emma, but I can help you understand what you think already. That's the most help I can give you. And this experiment will do so."

"Fair enough. Go on." Emma waved at her.

"Given that you no longer see the problem as between mutants and humans, can you find your main issue with the X-men's approach, and for that matter, the other mutant groups also?" Shine asked.

"Easily: They think it's just the humans," Emma said.

"Looking at Wally and I, what did we teach the X-men first and foremost when we started here?" Shine asked.

Emma had heard and read enough of their thoughts to know the answer to this.

"From the beginning, you taught them about the problems they had within themselves," she answered readily. "With each other, with their own prejudices, and fears, and hatreds. And you focused on how to overcome that. Very little of your time was spent blaming humans...or even caring, from what I could see. And you are a human, but that's not the reason. Though I daresay that took some convincing."

"Did it ever," Shine recalled. She shuddered. "Those days were ugly. But it's in the past now. How much do you think your X-men blame humans?"

"The trouble is we're isolated," Emma said, tapping the pen on the table. "No humans come over to play football--or soccer, as you Americans call it. We don't go to church groups or meetings with them. If we meet them, it's in court. The MRD has made it hard to come out at all."

"I understand," Shine said. "But Kelly knows some of the truth now. He compromised once. You want to change the laws? You might be able to. But will that change the rest?"

"No, all it would take is someone else being in power who didn't like mutants," Emma said.

"The MRD can't exist everywhere," Shine pointed out. "There must be countries that don't care about it, ones that don't care as much about controlling mutants. It's true you want America to be safe also. But I wouldn't make the mistake of limiting things to one country. There's a whole world out there. And we can work with people from anywhere, any background, any culture. The principles that apply to our conflicts apply to all conflicts."

Emma studied her. "What are you getting at?"

Shine gestured widely. "I've said this to Xavier, and he didn't get it, but I'll try you with more confidence: Mutants offer defense to humans, that's it. They're going to treat you like bodyguards. Here, Hank at least is a doctor. But the other mostly just stays inside.... We got them involved in charity, but we could do more than that. One can't live in a hole in the ground and expect people to think of you as like them. I believe our friends here are going to branch out. I've seen them take steps. Will yours?"

"I can't see it," Emma said. "It wouldn't be easy anyway."

"There will always be bigots, Emma. That's a fact," Shine said. "And we know it. But there's always going to be all kinds of evil until this world finally ends for the better one. That's no reason to let it stop us from doing what we should be doing. I want you to think about what you should be doing. What did you always want to do? The best thing I could tell you is to do it. 'The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.' — Frederick Buechner."

"That's a good quote," Emma noted, writing it down. "I should remember that. So your advice is to do what I wanted to do?"

"It seems to me, Emma, your life went wrong where you left off that and went after other things." Shine shrugged. "So go back to it. Another saying goes, 'Bloom where you're planted.' I believe that if your purpose and calling in life is one thing, you'll find yourself doing it no matter where you are. Me? I teach and I counsel. No matter where I am, or who I'm with, I do that. I can't help it. I've worked many different jobs in many different worlds, and I do all right with superheroes--I get them. Wally is just that way with being a hero and a servant, in the more intentional sense. He'd do that no matter what he did. Logan? He's a fighter. He'll always fight for something, whether it's people, or rights, or whatever. You can modify your gifts to fit situations and people, but you can't change what they are. And I see no need for you to try. If you do what you're meant to do, wherever you are at the moment, Emma, then you'll find the way to help. Trust me on this."

She smiled.

Emma thought. "No...that's good advice," she decided. "Not very specific though. Your other suggestions were helpful though."

"There's ideas, but I want you to use your wonderful brain to figure it out," Shine said. "I always pray also. But no one can see the world through your eyes but you, Emma, as cheesy as that sounds, but when you go back, look at it your way. We all have things we think people need. You'll figure it out."

She shrugged. "I believe in you. I believe in God more. But, then, I don't think all this happened by accident either."

Emma smiled faintly. "Yes...a pity you can't visit us, though."

"I'm not meant to." Shine shrugged. "I knew that when I saw them. I knew it when I met you and Scott also. I could help you two along, but we don't have the same connection. I think you know that. I wouldn't fit there. And they don't need me or Wally, they need you and Scott. I think you came here partially for that reason. Sure, the bad guys instigated it, but God uses that too. I believe that. You're a bright student, and Scott is--well, he's hard working. Slower to get the point, but, once he gets it, he commits to that course of action. As far as I'm concerned, those are the best people to start something. I think you compliment each other as far as that goes. That's partly why I thought you should go back."

Emma pursed her lips. "But you didn't say it."

"I wanted you realizing it for yourself," Shine said. "Have you?"

"I have started to think it might just be my job," Emma said. "Actually, Domino of all people might have help with that. She was talking in the future, about how she saw things differently now. I started thinking about how all of us made that problem. We can't just change the events, we have to change ourselves, somehow. But that's the catch. You know all about that--I don't."

"Emma, I have many days when I wonder if I've changed at all," Shine said. "You think I don't still have fears? Worries? You know, I think we're blinded to our own progress sometimes just so we won't think we've arrived. C. S. Lewis believed that all that mattered was the choice we made in the moment. I think it's all right to see you've changed, but it's never okay to think that you don't have more to improve on. I guarantee you, if you try, you're not going to feel like you're succeeding for a long time. It'll be like beating your head on a brick wall...but years from now, you'll look back and see a bunch of walls that have been broken through behind you. More than you'll even remember hitting by then. Just don't give up. You give up too easily."

"I give up too easily?" Emma said with some ire, but then she nodded. "Well, perhaps I have...before."

"And don't expect to start a revolution or anything," Shine said. "I don't expect it myself. If it happens when I'm not looking, then fine. As Lewis also said, we can't be careful to think of our own impact too little. You do your best by the people around you, and it'll turn into a crowd when you're not looking. But even if no one ever remembers you, it does matter. History only keeps track of the minority of important people, after all. That's why we can't rely on it for everything. I study it, sure, but I study people too. I know you already do that. But don't stop--even if you gain more power someday, don't stop. The trick is to always look at each person you meet as important, and you can't get such a big head, no matter what happens."

"Like Professor Xavier," Emma said.

"For all our differences, I can say that is one thing I did like about him," Shine said. "My issue is it tends to extend mostly to mutants now. But perhaps that's just a habit. You know I mean humans also, right? For goodness sake, Emma, you need to have human friends. It's no use preaching acceptance or equal value if you don't live it yourself. You can't be like the other X-men, or I think we'll have to find a way to come to your world and hit you with our lesson plans."

"Duly noted," Emma said dryly. "I gather from all this that I won't know what to do till I get back."

"Likely," Shine said. "But you will know what to do, when you need to, Emma. So trust it. We always know when we have to. But asking advice was a good idea also, so remember that too. Solomon said to ask for wise counsel."

She shrugged. "But maybe not just mine. Why don't you ask all the X-men around here what messages they'd pass on to their other selves if they could?"

"Actually...that's not a bad idea," Emma said. "They probably have more insight than I could into what their other selves would feel about all this.... You know, Shine, thank you."

"Here to help," Shine said. "And now I better quit before my husband catches me giving someone advice. I'm going to go chill for a while. If Scott looks for me to ask me the same thing, I'll just send him to you, all right?"

"Sure." Emma was only half listening.

Getting a notebook, she decided to act on the advice immediately.

* * *

"So ya want me to give the other Wolverine a message?" Logan said, in a weird tone.

Emma tapped her pen to her notebook. "I can't hope to have them listen to me just on my own...but there's things we could learn from each other."

"I don't think he'd like me actin' like I know better than 'im," Logan said.

"Perhaps not, but he'd listen," Emma said. "I'd say that much for him."

Logan chewed on a cigar. "I ain't that smart yet. I'm still just learnin'...but I guess if I could tell him one thing about stoppin' that future we saw from happenin', it's that I think we have to give people more chances than we feel like they deserve. I hate to say it, but a lot of the people who helped the most there were the people the X-men thought of as screw-ups first. We owe 'em. And if we hadn't learned how to help each other recover more, Gambit might not be here. All that came from givin' people second chances...or third or fourth. Even the DJs are people we had to learn to work with. And that saved us in the end. It sounds like he's kind of quick to dismiss people after they make a mistake or two, and that could be a bad thing for the future. Don't take that as me endorsin' ya, by the way. I think ya should have to speak fer yerself."

"Yes, I didn't think you were," Emma said flatly. "Touching, really. Thanks."

"I ain't got no problem with ya, myself, Frost." Logan shrugged. "But I ain't the one ya hurt. Ya want them to take ya back? Ya can fight, sure. Ya might even be smart. But they want to know ya care about them deeper than that. And not just Scottie either. All of them. au convince them of that, and ya can do what ya want in the team."

"That's...not bad." Emma was surprised. "In fact, you may be right, and that's exactly what I have a hard time doing, it would seem."

"Then work on it," Logan said.

"Coming from you," Emma said. "Well, I suppose if you can, I should take that as encouragement.... Thank you, I might be able to use this."

She walked off.

"Weird way to treat the whole thing," Logan muttered to himself. "What, is she doin' a school project?"

* * *

"A message?" Storm was trimming her garden. "I don't know, Emma. I'm not sure I'm qualified."

"It's just a matter of what might be useful, Storm," Emma said.

"I can't imagine we're really that much better than them," Storm said.

"No, perhaps, but different experiences..." Emma said. "Didn't you learn anything from hearing about ours?"

"Yes...I suppose I did, from our Scott's descriptions also," Storm admitted. "Well...if I had to tell myself something?... I think...there's so much one could say. I think I would tell her that as much as we may doubt our abilities to speak to certain things, it's important to try, because we learn by trying also."

Emma nodded. "I'm not sure I'll actually be telling them this, but it's useful to hear it. Like a study of sorts. If that helps."

"In that case, Emma, I may have something more useful to say," Storm said, with more purpose. "I don't know that I'd say it to her directly, but one of my personal struggles is needing to be more than human when it comes to serving others. I thought it was selfless at one time. But it's not. When we allow others to do things instead of ourselves, or choose to refrain from helping as much as we could, someone else can grow. I think it's not enough to be strong on our own. Everyone should be as strong as they can be. It messed with my head to neglect that. I don't know that this other Storm will ever speak to you of this matter, but if she does, I hope you keep that in mind."

"I think I relate to it," Emma said, with more frankness than usual for her--but then, Storm and her had an understanding.

"I know you do." Storm didn't miss it. "But I think you learned better, as I did."

"Yes...out of curiosity, what made you reconsider that?" Emma asked. "I couldn't read your mind before to know the answer to that, but I take it you didn't fall apart."

"Why not read my mind now?" Storm asked, noticing that it was an odd thing that she even asked at all.

"Perhaps I've gotten used to having to actually ask someone what they think," Emma mused, only realizing it herself right then. "It's more work that way, but I find that just reading their minds isn't the whole story. What people think, it can change based on what they are willing to say."

"That is true," Storm said. "And if a telepath is telling me that, it's more true than I realize.... Well, I will answer your questions, then. Shine and I spoke of the matter some time ago...not long after they arrived. We are alike in that way. You notice Shine tries to do a lot."

"Yes, but somehow she actually does it," Emma said.

"You've not known her quite as long as us, and trust me, Shine has her faults, at least in her own mind. We always want more than what we can do," Storm said. "But just speaking of it at all set me to thinking about it. That's what changed my mind. Also watching her. After she taught us a thing, she allowed us to enact it ourselves, sharing those conferences that we put on, as well as other duties. It was a stark contrast to how I used to be. I learned a little on the X-men about it, but seeing it in action taught me more. You see, I think Shine could do all those things on her own and handle it, and so could Wally, if he chose to. But you can't picture him even trying, and if Shine would be tempted, she'd refuse it. They know that their job is to help us do these things for ourselves...which is why they intend to go away, so that we will do them ourselves."

Emma listened to this somberly. "I do believe there is a time for a teacher to step back.... In my own attempts, I was never sure when that time was."

"Well, Emma, I suspect it's different for each student," Storm said.

"I wonder, then, that they can be sure all of you are ready at the same time," Emma said.

"They expect those of us who learned more to guide those who didn't," Storm said.

"I see," Emma said. "But, Storm...even so, there's nothing left for them to do here? It seems to me that there's a life of one's own to have, not just making other people ready. It's all right to do things for your own reasons also."

"I'd think so, Emma, but they follow their rules, and we know they have reasons, now more than ever," Storm said. "They couldn't stay here as World Walkers forever, could they? They'd be a part of our reality, then, not their own."

"Morph did," Emma said. "It's possible."

"But why do you care?" Storm said. "You won't be staying."

"No, and I'm aware I don't have that connection with this place now," Emma said. "I see the difference. I like you all well enough, but you don't need me here."

"And Scott does," Storm surmised.

Emma blushed and looked put off. 

"As well as your team," Storm said.

"Yes, but perhaps that's why I wonder a little," Emma said. "I see that I don't have it, but Morph does, I can tell. And I'd swear they did too. They seem to belong here, to me. Perhaps it's a DJ effect, but I don't even think they want to go home. That's what I don't understand. Why do they have to?"

"Well, do we always do what we want?" Storm said.

"Not always, but once in a while," Emma said. "Surely they've sacrificed enough on this mission to get what they want."

"Emma, I sympathize with your empathy for them, but it's simply not our place," Storm said. 

"Well, Storm, I think you could afford to show you want something a little." Emma was suddenly an expert on this after successfully doing it once. [We all know that person--we've all been that person.]

Storm gazed at her strangely. "I wouldn't want to make it harder on them," she said quietly.

"Ironically from me, but I might as well say it anyway: I think it might be better to be honest than to try to make it easier," Emma said. "They wouldn't let you change their mind if they knew it was wrong, but they might like to know it'd matter anyway."

"I don't want them to worry about us, however," Storm said.

"I doubt that can be prevented," Emma muttered.

She was right there.... Who wouldn't have worried about leaving the X-men to their own devices? 

* * *

Not many of the other members had much to say to their other selves. Kitty's only advice was that her other self shouldn't give up on her dreams if she didn't want to just be an X-men, because she, this Kitty, intended to follow through on hers.

Emma was actually glad to hear this. As an impartial observer, she thought it'd have been a waste for Kitty to throw away her old wish of completing her formal education just because the X-men was more exciting.

Turns out Kitty had decided this after seeing the future.

"I mean, I wanted to anyway, but I have to after all that. We have to be smarter than those people," she said. "I have to learn all I can, too, about history and politics, so I can make sure that doesn't happen again."

"Well, you're a one-woman army, but you know that's not as easy as it sounds." Emma was a little worried she was getting too carried away, if anything.

"Oh, I know." Kitty sobered. "But we have to try, don't we? Fifty years from now, don't you think it should be better for mutants and humans both, not just one or the other?"

"Well, you just keep a level head, Kitty, and I think you'll do fine." Emma shrugged. "I agree with you, but I wouldn't broadcast that wish till it's the right time."

"Sure, sure," Kitty said. "Is the other Shadowcat as smart as me?"

"I saw no sign of it." Emma was rather brutally honest--good thing that Shadowcat wasn't there to hear her.

"Huh, I guess there are differences between us." Kitty wasn't really hiding that she was smug about that. She had no wish to be a carbon copy.

[Or copy cat? Eh...right....]

Kurt didn't want to try to give insight. He said he thought it was too different. His only tip was that, if that Nightcrawler chose to pursue knowledge about his mother, he should try to be understanding and not take all her words and actions at face value.

Typical of him to be more concerned about someone else than his own well being.

Emma got the most interesting feedback from Rogue, as it turned out.

"I'm actually real glad ya asked me," she said. "I wanted to talk to 'er, the other me, I mean, about stuff, but we got separated back to our worlds, and I never got the chance. She's a little snippy, ain't she?"

"Only on a day that ends in 'y'," Emma said.

"I wanted to tell 'er 'bout how I got more of a handle on my powers." Rogue looked somber and folded her arms. "Y'know...just 'cause. No one should have to feel like I did before then."

Emma, now that she could read her mind, could confirm that it was very different. This Rogue's mind was not a mess of other people's psyches anymore, it was clear. Perhaps she'd never be the most organized person mentally, but she had her own voice. That was enough.

"Remarkably, I don't even sense traces of Gambit's mind in yours after what you pulled to save him," she remarked.

"Hey, don't poke around in there," Rogue said feistily. But then she shrugged. "I shoved it back out.... I dunno how exactly I learned it. I'd been tryin' some stuff Shine told me about, and it just clicked all of the sudden. It was real strange.... Even touchin' after that didn't...pick up anythin'."

"Which one might dare to call miraculous, even the Professor could not have suppressed your power," Emma said.

"That's just it, Emma, I don't think it's suppressed," Rogue said thoughtfully. "It's more like it's changed...or expanded? Shine once said she thought I could learn to give and take at will if I got past the fear and stuff. It seemed like that. I can turn it off and on. I can give back energy as well as take it."

"So you've become a conduit more than a sponge," Emma paraphrased. "That's fascinating."

"Sure..." Rogue said. "If I can keep it up--well, I guess that's the old fear and doubt talkin' right there. Gonna have to work on that. But the point is, even gettin' this far was somethin' we all thought was impossible. I dunno if yer friend can imitate me without someone there to help 'er the same way. But if she could, she should. Maybe ya can tell her how. Didn't ya learn the same trick?"

"I learned something." Emma put her hand to her chin. "But my power and yours are not the same.... I can try to help her, but it's unlikely she'd even let me. Someone once tried to help her a long time ago, I believe. It didn't work. She won't trust it."

"She might if she knew it worked fer me," Rogue said. "Who could be more similar to 'er than me?"

"She's not like you, though," Emma said. "Not as trusting."

"Shoot, I didn't think I was that trustin'," Rogue said. "I guess by comparisons.... Eh, well, if she's had any of my life, I see why. But ya gotta try to have friends again anyway. Life ain't worth it if you're alone all the time, or runnin'. Someone ought to smack 'er too fer ditchin' 'er team with no explanation like y'all mentioned."

"That someone would not be me," Emma said.

"Well, Scottie, then," Rogue said. "By the way, think that name'll stick?"

"No," Emma said.

"Yeah, figures.... But still, tell 'er okay?"

"I promise I will try," Emma said. "I can't promise she'll listen."

"Yeah...I know," Rogue sighed. "One more thing: Tell 'er not to trust that Gambit. I don't like 'im. He's slippery."

"I don't believe they've really met that officially," Emma said.

"Well, I don't trust 'em anyway," Rogue said. "I dunno how two people can be so different if they're supposed to be the same person, basically."

"I found myself wondering the same thing about my evil twin," Emma said, "who survived...surprisingly. But disappeared with all those other villains once we got back. I don't expect you'll ever hear from her again."

"Nah, I don't expect so," Rogue said. "And if we did, we'd never be able to take 'er serious after all that. The fool. But I get it...havin' someone else in yer head is the worst feelin'.... Say, ya gonna be okay after that, Sugar?"

Emma could not believe she was being called Sugar and it sounded normal coming from this Rogue.

"It's an unpleasant memory," she said slowly. "But it could be worse. I had help ousting her.... That is comforting in one way. I feel I'm the same person, so that is a relief. But does one ever forget that? I doubt it."

"I don't think we do," Rogue said. "But, I think rememberin' it, after a while, it's nothin', really. Just like rememberin' anythin' else bad. If ya ain't scared of it, it don't bother ya none. I hope I get that with all the things that bother me." She looked a bit wistful.

"I don't know," Emma said. "I would hope that also. I suppose all either of us can do is move forward and see."

"Yeah, y'know, Imma miss ya a little," Rogue said. "But I'm bettin' we're gonna be real busy around here, so we won't get much of a chance to mope. Y'all better not be slackin' off now. Yer world's gonna need a lot of lookin' after."

"Oh, yes...it should be interesting," Emma commented, staring at her notes.