New X-Men (Marvel Omega)

New X-Men #7 - "A Mhaighdean Bhan Uasal"

Then
Aberystwyth, Wales

Megan Gwynn smiled at the sight of the sweeping valleys that lay before her, high above the town that had always been her closest step towards civilization. In the misty moors lay the small farmlands that had belonged to her family for almost six generations. There was a dreamer in her that wished for shining lights and large cities but Megan would never forget the place that had raised her almost as much as her parents had. It would always be her home. It had been seven days since her bright red locks had transformed into their current pale shade of pink and her eyes sunk into darkness against her alabaster skin. She had taken on the form of the sprites she had once chased around her fields alongside her cousins. They had searched under every bush and fen in search of the mysterious Fenodyree or the faeries of Welsh legend. Now, she stood as a beacon and a reminder to her childhood.

Silently, she remembered the solemn expression that had crossed her mother's face all those days ago. It was a physical mutation that couldn't have been hidden if she had tried. Large wings, colourful and attractive, had sprouted from just beneath her shoulder blades and further emphasised her spritely appearance. She tucked a stray piece of cotton candy hair behind her elfin ear and she wrapped her arms around her legs. It was cold but memories kept her from her home. Bronwyn Gwynn's love was unconditional, her only child knew that, but the pain now present in her eyes was too much for the youth to fully comprehend without feeling isolated and hurt. The Gwynn's were like all families in the small region, close-knit and loving. It was through their combined strength that their farm had been so prosperous.

She tried not to cry. Megan was a firm believer that crying solved nothing. She hid her pain beneath the cheerful exterior she presented to most and when she could contain herself no more, she took the cold hills to sit with her thoughts. She was afraid to be leaving it all around. The Xavier Institute had extended an invitation for her to join the ranks of the school to be trained in an environment of relative safety but she could think of nowhere she would rather be than the misty valleys she had always known. It was barely 5am and early autumn which had always been her favourite of the four seasons. Leaves were stained with the hues of death but there was a sense of renewal all around her. Winter would claim them and she found the poetry appealing. It was the same with her current predicament. Her life was about to change irrevocably.

"Now, child," hummed the gentle whisper of her father. He rested his rugged hand on her shoulder as his faced beamed with pride. His own fiery mane flung widely to wind and his think beard shielding the smile he bore. "Cryin' has never solved anythin' of much consequence. Not when eager ears are ready to listen to your woes."*

*Speech is translated from Welsh

Megan sighed. "Some woes aren't the listenin'."

Rab Gwynn shuffled his large body. He was a heavyset man who had spent all of his life preparing to take over the farm that he now owned wholly. His body was everything that would have been expected of such a man. Rab's face held a weary quality that the harsh seasons had left him. His daughter was the only family he had procreated and she meant the world to him in ways she would never understand. He knew the same would be said of his wife. "Yours are always worth listenin', my cherub."

"It's so far away, papa."

Rab's face became slightly grimmer as he recalled what his child spoke of. He would be losing her to the wild world as he had always feared that he would. Megan was destined for a life beyond the boundaries of sleepy Aberystwyth and no matter how much that disdained and worried the man. He would never stand in her way. He knew it was one of the subjects that rested heavily on her mind but it was not what worried him most. She was the first of the Gwynn's in three generations to leave Aberystwyth. Her mother was what he wanted to deal with. Bronwyn was just a woman set in her old ways. "Distance can't break a family."