---

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

—Winnie the Pooh, [The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh]

---

"Wait, you are going away? You can't, not right now. I mean, we need you right now. The X-men need you You can't go away to some fairy land to learn magic whenever you feel like it. It doesn't work that way." Ororo had tears in the corner of her eyes after Rudeus called her into the Genosha consulate room the next day and told her about him leaving soon.

"You are making it sound like I am leaving forever or something. I am just leaving the dimension temporarily for training. I can always come back whenever I want. I'll just be a boom tube away. The only thing I'll not be able to attend is these boring consulate sessions in Genosha which I am glad for by the way." Rudeus joked with Ororo to ease her worries.

"I-I guess. But the children will probably miss you a lot. I'll miss you as well After Scott was found in a coma that day, it has been quite difficult for the students to be normal. He has been on life support ever since. We couldn't even find out what exactly happened to him. We are trying to heal him but his body is completely fine, it's his mind that is in pieces. The professor is working on it but it will take time. The kids miss their friends... Plus you didn't meet quite a lot of our new intakes. They are the next generation of metahumans. All of them have quite a good potential, I have to admit." Ororo tried to hide her sadness.

"Oh please. I know who will miss me the most." Rudeus said with a teasing smile as he flicked a lock of hair from Ororo's face and cupped her left cheek with his hand. "And as for Scott, I think his mind can be cured eventually with some magic. I am sure there is some spell out there that can cure mind breaks. Although, I have to admit I will enjoy the calm that I will have without hearing his annoying voice for a few days. Also, I want to meet the new recruits too. I never officially introduced myself to the girl that I rescued that day after all."

"You aren't thinking of trying to woo another one of our students right? Because half the school already has an open crush on you while the other half is either jealous or has a secret crush on you." Ororo giggled.

"Hah hah, very funny. Anyways, let's go to the School and meet the new students. I need to leave within the next three days so I don't have much time. Also, I wanna take you to that date we planned before I leave." Rudeus smiled as he opened a boom tube to the School for the gifted, leaving Ororo who was giddy from happiness quickly follow behind.

As they got out of their boom tube directly inside the school faculty room, they were immediately noticed by Beast who almost had a mini heart attack thinking they were being attacked again.

"God! Can you guys not surprise me like that? I guess I have to place new updated security measures in the school to prevent people from entering and leaving the school just like that whenever they wish." Hank muttered to himself as he went ahead to prepare some designs of new security systems since this was a lunch break and he had some free time now.

"By the way, what happened to the professor? Is he still grounded in his room? Or did you guys already forgive them for his crimes of mind rape?" Rudeus asked Ororo ignoring Hank as he suddenly remembered about Xavier.

"Ah, he has been removed from the school board and from his official principal position. Right now, we are still allowing him to teach the kids since he is actually a good teacher but he is on thin ice. The moment we get a third strike against him, he will be removed from his teacher position as well. That is why he has been behaving quite well recently.

Also, Selene has been helping put mental shields to protect my mind so I will know the moment he tries anything, since according to Selene, I am a natural at protecting my mind against telepaths." Ororo said while smiling proudly.

"Yes, I agree that you are quite special and talented Miss Munroe. I do have an eye for unique people after all. It isn't a surprise that I am so attracted to you." Rudeus flirted with the white-haired goddess.

"Anyways, let's go to the cafeteria. The kids are probably all there enjoying their break." Ororo said blushing as Rudeus just smiled and followed her out of the room.

Ororo was quite straightforward in making her emotions and feelings towards others cleared and that was exactly what she was doing with Rudeus before but the moment Rudeus too began to actively flirt with her, it was like she transformed into an awkward inexperienced teenage girl again.

The cafeteria was mostly full since half the students of the school were here chilling. It was just like the cafeteria of any other school as students were talking amongst each other, flirting, arguing or just enjoying their time.

Rudeus quite liked the atmosphere, it somehow gave him a nostalgic feeling, probably from his previous life.

'Maybe I was a social butterfly or a jock in my previous life. I bet I was popular with the ladies.' He thought nostalgically in a narcissistic manner.

Of course, there was nobody there to tell him that he wasn't at all popular. He was a geek. But it was still good for him since if he if wasn't a geek then he probably wouldn't be able to have such in-depth knowledge about the Marvel world. So he was actually extremely lucky that he was not popular in his previous life.

"Hey Miss Munroe, I didn't see you. Oh, Rudeus you are here too. I thought you have forgotten about all of us." Kitty said with a mock-hurt expression as she noticed Ororo and Rudeus approaching her table.

"How could I forget our sweet kitty? I was just a little busy with something important for the last few days. Anyways, how are you guys doing?" Rudeus asked.

Kitty wasn't the only one sitting at the table. There were also Bobby, Wanda, Pietro, Anna, and another green-haired girl sitting there.

"We are alright Rudeus. There hasn't been an attack on the school for an entire week and that's something new. We almost feel blessed by now. Are you sure you didn't bless us or anything oh Almighty Rudeus?" Bobby joked.

"Maybe I did. Who knows?" Rudeus laughed alongside the entire table.

"An-angel?" Wanda muttered to herself in a low voice. She wasn't in the mood to laugh because right now she was seeing something that she didn't think possible. She couldn't believe her own eyes. She was seeing the same guardian angel who had saved her, the angel that she had thought was the figment of her imagination since she didn't think that someone that... beautiful could exist in the world.

"Oh I guess, you haven't met Rudeus huh? This is the god we were talking about. The one that protects our entire race now. He is ALL of our guardian angels, Rudeus Greyheart. Although people also call him by his godly name, Atem" Kitty quickly introduced Rudeus after noticing the stares of the new people and Wanda's muttering.

"Hi, I am Lorna Dane. I am the new magnetic chick but you might already know that since the teachers told me that your umm, ai assistant was the one who found me. Thanks for that, I really needed help at the moment since, turns out even your parents aren't that loving and supportive when they see their daughter throwing around knives with her mind with no control." The green-haired girl looking like a punk wearing a leather jacket spoke up.

"Also, are you single? I am just asking for a friend by the way." Lorna asked without a single shred of shyness on her face.

"Far from it my magnetic friend, far from it," Kitty answered in a sagely voice.

"But you can always get in line," Bobby advised as he himself looked at Rudeus for some sort of confirmation.

The confirmation or approval or whatever the ice boy was waiting for, of course never came. Rudeus had completely ignored his advances. He had finally made up his mind to tell Bobby later that he wasn't interested in a same-sex relationship. It would probably break the guy's icy heart but at least he would be able to search for someone else to go out with instead of relying on a false hope.

"It's okay Lorna. It's my duty as the new guardian of metahumans all around the world to help them whenever they need help. But I did have something important to tell you about your family. You should meet me later about that. I think you will want to know the information I tell you." Rudeus told Lorna in a sympathetic way.

He wanted to make stuff clear about her real father's identity early on so that nobody could take advantage of her later.

"Umm okay." Lorna not understanding what this was about just simply agreed to meet Rudeus later alone.

"And as for you Wanda, it's my pleasure to meet you again. I see that you have already found out about your brother. Congratulations and also sorry for not being able to rescue you earlier. I cannot imagine how much you might have suffered alone." Rudeus gave Wanda a small smile to show her that he cared.

This made Wanda really happy.

"It wasn't your fault Mr. Ange... uhh, Rudeus. I am just glad that you were able to rescue me when you did. Thank you. Also, I like my dorky new brother as well. he might be a little bit of a geek but he is good enough." Wanda happily joked at which she got elbow pushed by her brother Pietro sitting beside her.

"By the way Rudeus, it was me who revealed to them that they were siblings. I didn't wait for you to be there because it looked like she was really sad and I thought finding out that she had a blood-related brother would be good for her since she would have a living relative to bond with. Also, it seems even Pietro's new adopting parents are ready to adopt Wanda as they are not metahuman haters and also don't want to separate the two siblings." Ororo whispered to Rudeus.

"It's okay Ororo. I trust in your judgment. You did well." Rudues told her with a smile as he placed his hand on her shoulder in an encouraging manner.

"Hey look at who suddenly turned up, if it isn't the God of sudden disappearances." A gruff masculine voice suddenly rang from behind Rudeus.

---

Don't forget to comment and 'favorite' this chapter if you like it.

Also, you can check out my Pat reøn page to read ahead or to support your fantastic author. 

(My Pat-reon uses the new billing method which means if you pledge on the 15th of this month, you will have to pay again on the day you pledged, ie, the 15th of the next month. So whenever you subscribe, you will get a whole month.)

pátreon.com/God_Doom

(replace the á with a)