16 Tough Love

Julian woke up, feeling pain all over his body. He looked around and saw that the rest of the New X-Men were on the ground while Nick was standing in the same spot he had been at the entire time.

It was then that memories came flooding back.

After James had taken him down the first time, he got back up a few minutes later to see Noriko firing a blast of electricity at Nick while Santo tried to sneak up on him. He remembered hearing the Cuckoos screaming out in pain before they stopped. He turned to see all of them on the ground while Laura was fighting James.

Noriko and Santo's attacks were blocked by an invisible barrier. Santo's body was then morphed from its normal shape into a boulder while Noriko was struck by another blast of telepathic electricity.

Julian was about to get up and try to get back into the fight when he felt a heavy blow hit him from behind and knock him out once again.

He wasn't sure how long he had been out the second time but he immediately stood up after the memories hit him. He checked behind him to make sure that no one else got him from behind but he saw that there was no one there. Julian then looked off to the side to see James smiling at him, mocking him about how he had taken him out so easily.

'I'll get him back later. I need to focus on that bastard first,' Julian turned to Nick, his eyes already glowing green while several large pieces of earth were surrounded by the same green energy. But as much as Julian tried to lift them, he couldn't make them move an inch.

Nick looked at Julian struggling and felt some praise for the teen.

'He's giving it his all. But he needs to know what it's like to face an overwhelming opponent.'

"Is that all you got, Julian? Your powers are much weaker than mine. You also make it pretty obvious when you use them and what you are using them on," Nick taunted Julian, wanting to see if the younger man had anything left in him.

Julian let out a scream of rage but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't overpower Nick's telekinesis. So he changed his target. Instead of trying to use the ground around him, he unleashed a giant blast of green telekinetic energy at Nick. Before the energy could reach him, it collided with an invisible wall.

Julian collapsed to the ground, unsure of what to do. His eyes were no longer glowing as he had stopped trying to use his powers. He had given it his all. His team was defeated. Nick was just too powerful for him.

Nick saw that he was ready to give up as well.

'I'm sorry, Julian. I can't let you do that. At most, the others got up once. You got up twice. You learned from each time you went down. Noriko has spunk but you have the spark that only leaders have. You may hate me but I will make you surpass even Summers. You will lead the X-Men next,' Nick could see the potential in Julian. He understood why Emma allowed him to take up the name of her old team.

"Are you going to give up?"

Julian looked up and saw that Nick was looking at him like he was dirt. As much as he didn't like it, he wasn't in any position to complain.

"Is this all you can do? You were the leader of the Hellions Training Squad and Emma's pride and joy. Did she put her faith in the wrong person?"

'Maybe she did,' Julian thought to himself

"You wanted to become the next leader of this team, right? Show Scott, he made a mistake putting Noriko in charge?"

'Did he though? Can I really lead them?'

Those watching saw the pain and doubt in Julian. They wanted to stop Nick and comfort the child but a telepathic message from Emma stopped them. She was watching. She saw what was going on and what was about to happen.

Nick began to doubt himself as he saw that Julian still wasn't hurt yet. He was planning on saying something else but stopped himself. But Emma reached out to him.

[It's ok, Nicholas. It will be painful for you and him but this will help in the future. He needs this but it is something I can't give him. I didn't have the strength for it. I'm sorry to put it on you]

Nick apologized to Julian once again. What he was about to say was something that opened up his own scars.

"It was your fault that Brian died. All of their deaths were. You were too careless. You kept talking about how proud you are to be a mutant but you abandoned your classmates. You let them get on the bus but you didn't try to protect them because they were no longer mutants. What 'mutant pride'? I see nothing but a..."

Julian roared in anger, not letting Nick finish what he wanted to say. A green aura surrounded Julian before it began to expand and expand. Nick made sure to move the unconscious members of the New X-Men further away so they wouldn't be hurt by the pressure. His aura was so powerful that it sent waves toward the mansion, shattering several windows.

Nick had truly touched a sore spot. When M-Day happened, of all the students that were at the school, only about 25 of the 130 kept their powers. Thinking that the school was no longer safe, Scott arranged for them to be escorted off the school grounds but the buses those children on were ambushed, killing 47 of them.

Brian was Julian's teammate and the only member of the Hellions Training Squad that did not keep his powers. He was also one of the students that died on one of the buses.

Julian released all of his rage in one blast toward Nick. When it struck a massive cloud of smoke covered the field but when it cleared, the massive blast destroyed most of the training grounds.

But that was only up until he spot where Nick stood. He and the area behind him were completely unharmed.

Julain saw that he still hadn't harmed Nick. He lift his hand to attack again but before he could, he collapsed on the ground. Before his face touched the ground, Nick caught him before letting him gently land.

Alex and Logan rushed up to confront Nick while Lorna went over to check on Julian.

"What was that, you bastard!?!? That was unnecessary!" Alex was already charging up, ready to put Nick in the ground.

"It wasn't though. He needed that because he has so much potential. But that potential was held down by fear. And the best thing for fear is..."

"Anger?" Lorna asked interrupting him, angry at what he had done to Julian

"No. Anger is third. The first is hope. But I'm not good with hope. So I went with the second best and the one I know best. Pain. And you saw what that brought out of him, something none of you have ever seen before," Nick explained his reasoning but it didn't make him feel any better about what he had just done.

"You're an asshole. Hate it," Logan told him before turning around and walking away

Nick looked down at the ground and shook his head.

"I know. I hate myself too."