Charlotte Xavier - A Thousand Years

Funeral

"We live in an age of darkness, a world full of fear, hate, and intolerance. But in every age, there are those who fight against it." Storm said solemnly, fighting down the urge to break down and cry. She couldn't. The students and teachers and everyone else were counting on her now, to step up in the Professor's place.

Ororo wasn't sure she'd ever be prepared for that.

Students—current and past, some Storm hadn't seen in decades—filled the rows. Dr MacTaggert was at the end of the front row Storm had met her several times before; the former CIA operative had changed careers after the Cuban Missile Crisis, according to the Professor beside Hank. Scott's older brother Alex was in the back, lingering distantly, looking incredibly worn and aggrieved as he stood near a vaguely familiar redheaded man she thought might be Sean.

Slightly to their left was a small party from some government group that the Professor helped. Ororo only vaguely recognized them. Their boss wore black leather everything and a grim expression that pinched his severe face. An average-looking man and a brunette woman were at his right, looking solemn and saddened, though thoroughly professional. Slightly apart from them was a quintet—a confident-looking man with a neat goatee and an expensive suit, a well-dressed blond man with a military bearing, a guy with a quietly nervous demeanor in a suit that'd seen better days but he had the look of a scientist that made Storm think he, Hank, and the Professor must have gotten along famously, and a couple that stood close together: the woman redhead and subtly vigilant, the man openly watching the others in attendance with a keen eye.

'SHIELD.' Ororo remembered quickly. That was the name. The Professor had mentioned them several times before.

Kurt Wagner sat in the second row, holding a rosary as he listened. Logan watched distantly, though attentively. Kitty, Bobby, and Rogue sat in the front row beside the twins.

The twins...

In the front row, Wanda and Pietro sat. Wanda stared at her mother's grave numbly, not yet completely understanding her mother's passing or not yet wanting to, while Quicksilver glared furiously at the sky, fighting angry tears.

Ororo looked down to the stone marker sadly. She should not be the one to give the Professor her final goodbye, but she seemed to be the only one holding it together and not in shock. Wanda looked shattered and utterly lost; Pietro seemed murderous in his grief. Worse still was the fact that the twins had always been a secret from the world; for their safety, Charlotte had made sure they were little known. 'I have too many enemies, Storm, who would jump at the opportunity of using my biological children against me. This is safer for me, the school, and ultimately them if no one easily recognizes them as my blood. Even more so about their father. They would be larger targets than Erik and I combined if certain people were to learn that.'

Beside the professor's headstone was a smaller one, slightly weathered from age. Anya Xavier, it read simply. There had always been flowers left there, as far back as Ororo could remember. By the professor herself, by various students through the years, and maybe even by Magneto if Storm suspected correctly; the little Xavier child was never forgotten.

Storm's heart ached for the Professor and her children and students.

"Charlotte Xavier was born to a world divided, a world she tried to heal: a mission she never saw accomplished. It seems the destiny of great men and women to see their goals unfulfilled." Storm continues.

"Charlotte was more than a leader, more than a teacher. She was a friend. She was a mother. When we were afraid, she gave us strength. When we did not know what to do, she gave us guidance. When we had nowhere to go, she gave us a home. And when we were alone, she gave us a family." Storm's voice cracked loudly.