Avengers: Vengeance

Krakoa

Sunlight slipped through the curtains of the open balcony doors and gradually crept across the bedroom with each passing moment. Soon, the morning rays reached Kyle's face, stirring him from sleep. Salty sea air drifted in on a breeze and he opened his eyes and stretched. Distant gulls squawked as they passed in the skies overhead. The sensations brought a smile to Kyle's face. Rising up from the comfort of his bed, he walked across the large bedroom and onto the balcony where a spectacular view of the distant sea greeted him.

He stared out into the horizon where ocean and sky collided and could almost fool himself into believing that the distant world was intact. He so often forgot what the world was like beyond the island he and the other mutants lived on. Being surrounded by such a bountiful paradise, it was hard for him to imagine that the rest of the planet could be so uninhabitable. But it was true. The rest of earth had been ravaged by nuclear war long ago.

Thinking about all of the unlucky ones who had perished in the nuclear fallout sent a chill through him that didn't leave him as he ventured out of his room. The castle opened before him, a vast and ornate structure that invoked a sense of grandeur and power from the high ceilings to the elaborate furnishings. As he ambled down the hall toward the stairwell, he thought about his life from before. He'd been a street urchin after his mother abandoned him. Afraid, alone. He never dreamed he could live in such opulence.

"That's why we must be grateful for our home," Magneto said over breakfast when Kyle explained his distant expression. "Tony Stark's weapons destroyed the earth. The fact that this island remains is miraculous. We don't have to worry about the hazards of the world outside."

"And we don't have to worry about hiding ourselves from anyone," Kyle added as he speared some fresh fruit with his fork. "Because there's no one to hide from anymore."

Magneto noted Kyle's somber tone and smiled. "Do you need anyone else? Think about your life before I took you in, son. Think about how ugly the outside world became. This island and all its inhabitants are all the world any of us needs."

Kyle wasn't Magneto's biological son, but he was as close as one could be. After being abandoned by his mother, Magneto had taken him in and eventually adopted him. Of course he'd taken so many young mutants in. That was his way. Kyle smiled at his father and was reminded once again of the man's reputation of benevolence. The entirety of Krakoa- an island nation made up of nothing but mutants- revered him as the savior of mutant-kind. Had it not been for him relocating them, they would have died in the nuclear catastrophe as well. All around the island, one could find statues built in Magneto's honor. People sang his praises and treated him as if he were some sort of messiah. And, Kyle supposed, he was.

But there was another side to Magneto. A secretive one that whispered behind closed doors. Kyle smiled softly, an attempt to mask the growing concern within his heart. Just the night before, Kyle had been plagued with insomnia and found himself wandering the castle. It was then that he had heard the whispering. But this time it was more easily understood.

"We're doing the best we can, Mystique. But there's just no way to create a total utopia. Each attempt was full of complications. This was the best we could come up with."

"What are we supposed to do?"

"We make certain that no one finds the tunnels. We keep them guarded."

"What are you thinking about, son?" Magneto asked, pulling Kyle from the memory.

"Just that I hope I'm half the man you are someday," Kyle said. It was a common thing for him to say. Only now, he wasn't sure he meant it.

Magneto looked over at the massive bank of windows that faced the sea and smiled indulgently as he reached for his coffee. Every mutant he crossed paths with on Krakoa adored him. This was what he had always craved- a nation where mutants reigned, with him as their adored leader. In that way, things had turned out.