Anno Venusae: Conclusion/Secondus Scholae Prologue

by Phil Hartman

9/19/2020: Landing Point, Venus:

It was really just a tremor, at first - a flicker in the collective gravitational field of the solar system.

#But it's wrong,# Venusian High Councilor Franklin Richards thought, looking up at the transparent dome of the Venusian Congress building. #Something from -#

He cursed, as the ripple became a tidalwave.

#Farsense, NOW -#

Frank went ashen, the weight of his 33 years plunging down upon his heart as his ESP locked in on the source of the disturbance.

Earth had finally died.

The motherworld splintered, crumbled before Frank's gaze, its structural integrity devastated 20 years before in order to save mankind from the Celestial growing inside it.

#I caused this, I led the New Mutants to incinerate the damned thing -#

As Earth shattered, its death throes lashed out, creating a gravity ripple across the solar system.

#Resonance wave - oh my GOD, what have we done -#

The wave struck Venus's outer atmosphere, undoing all the precious terraforming which had made it habitable.

The sky turned to flame.

#Ray - Aidan, Beth, Con, Dana, Eamon - my family, I KILLED them, just delayed - damnit, there has to be something, ANYTHING -#

And as his body froze, Franklin Richards' last conscious act was to cast his thoughts backward.

9/19/2000: Boys' Dorm, Massachusetts Academy, Snow Valley, Mass., U.S.A., Earth: 05:00 hrs EDT:

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!"

His scream was cut off, abruptly, as he awoke.

#Jesus God what WAS that ... ?#

13-year-old Franklin Richards stumbled from his bed, running fingers across his buzzed blond hair, and bit back a curse as he stubbed a toe in the dark.

#Mailbags ... I've gotta figure out what to do about this fanmail,# the Olympic gold medalist swimmer thought, wiping sweat from his brow as he scrounged for his swim gear. #What WAS that dream ...?#

He sat at his desk, acutely aware of how empty the room was.

#No one could bring themselves to room with me,# Frank thought, sighing. #They were all too wowed by the media hype ...#

#Or maybe they know I'm a monster.#

"You're not being fair to yourself, Frank," he whispered, finding his swimsuit, towel and goggles on the dresser. "Go practice, relax, and deal with your adoring public later."

He rose, slipping into his sandals, and grabbed his room key before leaving to find the access tunnel to the athletics complex.

#Would they adore me if they knew I could remake reality ?# Frank pondered. #I'm TOO powerful -#

He shuddered, memory hitting him, and leaned hard against a wall.

#Oh. My. GOD. That was a precog flash.#

The images flickered through his mind -

#- memories - of an older ME -#

- and he swallowed hard.

#A Celestial. In Earth's core. Growing. And we destroyed it, but we did it the wrong way, Earth died later, and when it did -#

Frank screwed his eyes shut and bit back a sob.

#Oh. My. GOD.#

***

He finished getting changed for his swim practice, but stared at himself in the mirror in the locker room.

#Mr. Champion. Mr. Fool,# Frank thought, shaking visibly. #What am I gonna do ? The Celestial has to go, but if we mess up ...#

#I led them to it. Or I WILL have - so that means I can't involve the rest of the crew.#

He removed his swim goggles and took a deep breath.

#I can do this. I'm Frank Richards,# he reminded himself, letting his power flow freely for the first time since his medal win at Sydney. #I won the gold, I kept from frying everyone in Australia, I can get rid of one unwanted Celestial.#

#I'm 13, I'm arrogant, I'm SCARED ... shut up.#

#Just. Do. It.#

He cast his dreamself into the heart of the world, and looked into Hell's heart.

Unfathomable amounts of iron, nickel and other metals coruscated about Frank's dreamself, seeping inward, falling into something still hidden.

#There.#

It was only 500 feet high, as of yet, with exposed circuits and seething energies, its pulse dictating that of the magnetosphere.

Frank's dreamself flickered back to his body, and the united whole teleported into the worldheart.

#This is ... I've ADAPTED to survive in here !# Frank realized, amazed. His flesh had gone metallic, and he refocused upon his target.

#The Celestial is transmuting metal from the core to make up its body - that means I have to read what its makeup is, then destroy it ...#

#And precisely duplicate what I vape, without the life-spark of the Celestial.#

He froze, thinking.

#'Without the life-spark of the Celestial' ... this is murder. But what do I do ? It's us or the Celestial...#

Frank shivered, then swallowed hard once more.

~Someone, anyone ... I can't decide alone. I can't let myself start being a god ...~

***

Almost 4,000 miles above, Rachel Summers stirred.

~Scrap ?~ she sent telepathically, noting her cousin Gailyn Bailey's mumbled waking. ~Frank, what's wrong ?~

~Ray - I - an't - kill - stial - hel - me -~

"Some kind of psi-static - Frank !?" Ray called aloud, looking apologetically at Gail as the pyrotic girl awoke fully. "Frank's in some kind of trouble, but the psi-link's all staticy !"

"Wake the others," Gail said, leaping from bed. "If Frank's in trouble, we've all got a problem."

***

He floated, balled up into a fetal position, and saved his strength.

~Frank !? Where ARE you !?~

~Ray !~ Frank sent, trying to smile. ~Scan me - it's hard to explain -~

He arched an eyebrow at the multitude of mental gasps coming back across the link.

~We group-linked to boost the signal - Frosty's got the Cerebro room locked up,~ Ray explained. ~If it's us versus the Celestial, fry that thing ! Earth for Earthlings, darnit !~

~But it's alive,~ Frank replied, spread-eagling himself in the molten metal of the core. ~And if I start deciding the fate of the world ...~

Something jumped between boyfriend and girlfriend, and Ray replied, ~You've got our support. We know you're not gonna turn into some kind of psycho god-head. I know that. Frank, please, trust us - trust YOU - that Celestial is a threat to us all !~

~They did use us. They're using our planet,~ Frank agreed, finally. ~Thanks, Red. Thank the others.~

He tried to ignore the hurt in Ray's mind as he shut off the psi-link, and reached out with his power.

And the world shook.

***

In the Danger Room complex, Chuck Lehnsherr gasped and went ashen.

"The Earth's magnetic field - it -" he panted, leaning on Tom and Bill Shade.

"It - HICCUPED !"

***

Lorna Dane awoke, screaming.

Erik Magnus Lehnsherr clutched his head, and sat up in bed in orbit.

Rogue shrieked, falling from her cot.

And for a moment, the continents stopped.

Then, the world shook, and the power came back on.

***

And the New Mutants cried out when a scorched, half-naked, organic form fell at their feet from midair.

"I'm OK !" Frank insisted, stumbling when the others helped him up. "I think it worked - we gotta check the sensors -"

Tom's eyes flickered, and the computer sprang to life. Finally, as Ray helped Frank dust himself off, the cyberkinetic turned back to his friends.

"The Earth's magnetic field is back to normal, and there's no sign of earthquakes or other disasters," Tom said, starting to grin.

His face fell when he looked at Frank.

"There's something ... in orbit ..." Tom began, going pale.

"I couldn't murder it," Frank whispered, meeting the others' eyes. "I replaced the missing mass in Earth's core, at the right chemical proportions - I hope - but I couldn't just kill the Celestial.

"So I sent it somewhere else."

***

Space bent, folding, around the unfathomable "child" in Earth orbit.

Two giant hands took the creature, gently, into the unknown.

Another hand, red, appeared ...

... and gave Earth a thumbs-up sign before vanishing.

***

"You - you -"

"What did you WANT me to do, commit murder !?" Frank shouted - now dressed in a robe - as his father, Captain America, and Charles Xavier looked at him with expressions of shock.

Reed drew a long, shuddering breath, while Frank said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. But the Celestial had to be sent away somehow, and ..."

"And you didn't want blood on your hands," Captain America said. "I understand your hesitation, Franklin. But where will the Celestials go now ?"

Frank looked at the men, and Emma as she entered the room, with fear.

Finally, Emma said, "Perhaps Franklin demonstrated something to them they never saw before - something we can hope the Celestials will carry over to their next world-altering experience."

"And what, pray tell, would that be ?" Xavier queried without anger.

Emma cocked an eyebrow and said, "Mercy."

***

Somewhere in the void, a silvery shape took its first step among giants.

They surveyed the world beneath them, turning, their sight fixed upon the life-forms below.

The smaller Celestial looked at its fellows, watching.

Finally, the tallest among them turned to another world in the star system, and pointed.

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