X-Warriors: Mutant Evolution

Guardian Archangel

-Inspired by {On Angel's Wings}-

Fire engines blared as a crowd had gathered outside of a burning building. Among those watching, was a teenage girl who was desperately trying to head back in.

"Please, my mother's in there!" She sobbed. "You have to save her!"

"I'm sorry, miss. But we can't let anyone in." The fireman was saying. "Please, step back-"

"My mum's in there!" The girl was sobbing. "You have to save her!"

"Look!" Someone shouted before a winged silhouette passed over them. The fireman and the girl looked up to see a blonde figure with a pair of large, feathered wings flew in through a window of the burning building, returning with an elderly woman in his arms. He dropped her off to an ambulance nearby and flew away.

"Mom!" The girl immediately rushed towards the coughing woman. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"I was saved by a real angel." The woman managed to say. "It's a Christmas miracle."

==============

At the Xavier Institute, a Christmas party was in full swing. Some were busy diving into the pile of cookies and milk, while others were exchanging gifts. A few of them decided to have some fun, though. 

"Kurt." Kitty warily noticed the former acrobat who had donned a Christmas elf costume and was holding a mistletoe above her head. "What is that?"

"All in the holiday spirit!" Kurt puckered his lips as he closed the distance, only for Kitty to stand up and run through him in mock disgust. "Come on, Kitty! Just one little kiss? Pleeaase?"

"...I zink not." Kurt suddenly found himself faceplanted into Piotr's chest, who simply picked him back up to his feet. "It vould be unvise forrr you to kontinue."

"Ahh... to be young again." Charles smiled, who was slipping a cup of hot chocolate as he oversaw the activities.

"Yeah... glad that's over." Logan begrudgingly formed a rare visible smile. "And time for me to head out."

"You know, you're welcome to stay here, Logan." Charles turned at the older mutant. "We're not going to be like before."

"Sorry, hard pass." Logan put his hands in his pockets. "It's been awhile - too long, in fact - for me to even remember the Christmas cheer."

While Charles continued to try and persuade Logan, Marcus was sitting on the stairs that were barely visible from the living room, staring wistfully at the party inside. In spite of his attempts to befriend the New Mutants, they were rather cold towards him, Illyana in particular; the Russian blonde seemed to have made it her mission to defy everything he had devoted to - so for he had found his church robes riddled with mud, his Awesome Mix mixtape battered to pieces and worst of all his precious bible filled with...lewd drawings and odd fluids. Even Rahne, the least hostile of the group, was rather distant when he tried to strike a conversation. 

As he pondered over what had gone wrong, he caught sight of Ella coming over and his heart warmed a little. Ever since she had came over, he had finally found someone like him that he could confide some of his thoughts to and not be rejected. 

"Merry Christmas, Marcus." Ella said shyly. "It might be fun with just the two of us, along with the Professor and Dr. McCoy for the holidays." She added, looking over to the room to see Jean squeal in delight as Scott opened his gift and embraced her, a subtle jealousy and envy on her face.

"Ella." Her attention was quickly diverted back to Marcus, who had unwrapped her gift and was now holding a cross-shaped locket in his hands. "This is..."