A few days later, the halls of the Jean Grey School echoed with footsteps and clashing voices. Dante walked alongside Owen, Kid Gladiator, Quentin Quire, Genesis, Broo, Warbird, Idie, and Angel—though lately, he went by Warren again. It was a strange group, united by something none of them seemed fully able to explain. And judging by the tension hanging in the air, not everyone was on the same page.
"I know where you're going," Quentin muttered with a smirk, turning to walk beside Warren. His tone oozed sarcasm.
"Good," Warren replied, his expression sharp and resolute. "Because I do not."
Quentin rolled his eyes, annoyed. "Reading your mind makes me want to kill myself. How do you stand having thoughts so incessantly… decent?"
Dante glanced at the two from the side. This was his first time seeing them interact this closely, and it was somehow worse than he imagined. He didn't know whether to laugh or shake his head.
"Do not try to stop me, fellow student," Warren said, stepping ahead with a determined pace. "I am on a mission from God."
Quentin raised an eyebrow, clearly unfazed. "For what you're planning, you're gonna need to skip class, steal a spaceship, and likely spark an intergalactic incident. Who said anything about stopping you? I just want in."
Broo, jogging to catch up with the group, looked flustered. "Um, friend Quentin, you did not say this off-campus excursion was to be unsupervised."
"I believe what I said to you, Broo, was, 'Go away and die, alien pogue,'" Quentin replied, not even looking at him.
"Yes, but… you say that to me constantly," Broo said, blinking behind his glasses. "I had assumed it was some sort of involuntary verbal tic."
Dante held back a laugh. He wasn't sure if Broo was serious or just playing along.
Owen, however, wasn't as entertained. His voice snapped like a whip. "Quentin, can you just shut the hell up already? Everyone here is tired of your attitude."
Quentin slowly turned, the smirk on his face sharpening into a sneer. "How about you shut the hell up and go sit in the background with the rest of the supporting cast?"
That did it. Owen stepped forward, fists clenched and teeth gritted. The two locked eyes, the tension practically sparking in the air.
Warbird, walking behind Kid Gladiator, shifted uneasily. "This is a bad idea, my lord. I must protest."
Kid Gladiator didn't even look back. His fists were already twitching in anticipation. "I haven't punched anyone in anger in almost three whole days, Warbird! Would you have Kid Gladiator waste away until he becomes an utterly worthless weakling? Like this Genesis guy!?"
Evan, walking with his arms folded, just narrowed his eyes at the jab. He didn't rise to it.
Meanwhile, Idie kept pace beside them, calm as ever. Her voice was dry. "If God really talks to you, would you perhaps speak to Him on my behalf?"
Dante watched all of this unfold with a kind of amused disbelief. It had only been a couple weeks, but somehow this chaotic, dysfunctional mess of personalities had become familiar. He hadn't planned to be part of this group, but at this point, it felt like fate.
The group finally reached the hangar bay. A massive spacecraft stood before them, humming softly with energy and waiting like a beast ready to be unleashed.
"So wait a minute…" Idie said, glancing around as they filed in. "Where are we headed again?"
Warren didn't hesitate. "To the very edge of heaven. Where our faith will be rewarded… or our lives made utterly meaningless."
There was a long pause.
"Trust me," Quentin said, striding up the ramp. "It's a lot cooler than he makes it sound."
And with that, the doors closed behind them, the engines lit, and the hangar slowly began to open.
The spaceship shuddered gently as it broke through the last layer of Earth's atmosphere. Stars began to shine like diamonds in the endless black beyond. Dante leaned toward the window, the edge of his hand pressing against the glass as his eyes widened in awe. The sight never got old, even if he tried to act cool about it.
Owen, sitting next to him, let out a loud gasp, face practically glued to the window. "Holy shit—we're actually going to space!"
Dante chuckled, barely turning his head. "You look like you're about to cry."
"I might!" Owen exclaimed, then blinked at him. "Wait… why aren't you freaking out? Aren't you excited?"
Dante tilted his head with a casual shrug, lips pulling into a small, teasing smirk. "I mean, this isn't my first time."
Owen blinked. "…What the hell do you mean it's not your first time?!"
"I've been to space before," Dante replied, stretching lazily. "Me, Quentin, and Headmaster Logan went to a space casino once. We cleaned them out for some quick cash to help the school, and then—surprise—they accused us of cheating and sicced everyone in the place on us."
"WHAT?!" Owen shouted. "Dan, why have you never told me this?! I would've killed to be part of something that cool!"
Before Dante could answer, Owen smacked him lightly on the back of the head. "Fighting off angry space guards in a cosmic casino sounds like a dream come true!"
Rubbing his head with an exaggerated wince, Dante only grinned wider. "Hey, we're in space now, aren't we? Stop being so whiny. You're finally getting your turn."
"Oh, don't worry," Owen muttered with a grin. "I plan to milk this for everything it's worth."
The two kept bickering and laughing as the ship drifted toward its destination, their voices filling the cabin alongside the chatter of other students.
Then—
"We're here," Warren announced from the pilot's seat.
Before anyone could ask what he meant, he leapt out of the ship at full speed, his wings flaring out like a comet of light. The rest of the students scrambled after him in a chaotic wave of excitement and confusion.
"Warren, wait—!" someone called out.
But as one student tried to grab his arm, Warren simply shoved him aside, unintentionally knocking him out cold in the process. A few gasps echoed through the group.
"Hey! You can't just—"
Boom!
Warren punched the protester mid-sentence and kept flying.
Dante and Owen stepped out together onto the rocky terrain of the alien world. The sky above was violet, with three suns dimly glowing on the horizon.
"This place… is insane," Owen muttered.
"Planet Sin," Dante confirmed, taking in the view with a nostalgic sigh. "I told you about it—the gambling planet. It's where the casino was. I think I know why we're here."
Before Owen could respond, movement at the edge of the landing zone caught their attention. A squad of armored guards emerged from the shadows—alien mercs armed with high-tech blasters. No questions, no hesitation. Just weapons raised.
"Everyone get ready!" someone shouted.
The first shot rang out—and the fight began.
Dante immediately summoned Ray, his electric sword, and unleashed a crackling arc of lightning that sliced through the first line of guards. Electricity crackled around his body as he spun the weapon with practiced ease, firing from the hip and switching to handguns mid-spin.
But a giant alien guard managed to sneak up behind him. Dante didn't see it until the very last second.
Wham!
A foot slammed into the alien's face, sending it flying back into a wall with a heavy thud. Owen hovered in the air where the guard had just been, both of his feet glowing with black dots beneath his soles, propelling him like rocket thrusters.
"You can fly now?!" Dante called out in surprise, dodging a shot and ducking behind a rock.
"Damn right I can!" Owen shouted, doing a quick barrel roll midair. "You should've told me we were fighting—I would've shown up in my custom suit instead of this boring school uniform!"
"Dude—I'm still in uniform!"
"Then we both got screwed!" Owen laughed, launching into a spinning kick that looked clumsy but powerful, smashing into another guard and knocking him across the battlefield.
Dante smirked. "You're a wreck in the air, but somehow it works."
"Shut up and keep zapping people!"
The two launched into the chaos—Dante firing bursts of electricity with each swing, arcs of blue lightning dancing around him, while Owen zipped through the air with black energy flaring under his feet. For their first time fighting together, they moved like natural partners. Improvised teamwork. Unspoken coordination.
Dante would distract, Owen would strike. Owen would knock someone into the air, and Dante would catch them mid-fall with a shot or a blade of lightning. It was messy, wild, and weirdly beautiful.
Eventually, Warren's voice called out from overhead. "We're done! Everyone back to the ship! Now!"
The students regrouped, breathless and blood-pumping from the fight, racing back into the spaceship and taking off as the last of the guards scrambled to recover behind them.
⸻
When they landed back at the Jean Grey School, the energy had shifted. The students slowed as they entered the main hall… and immediately saw the faculty lined up, waiting. At the center sat Headmaster Logan—arms folded, wheelchair facing the door.
His glare was sharp enough to cut steel.
"I hope you kids had fun," Logan said, voice low and gravelly. "Because you're all spending the rest of your lives in detention."
The room went dead silent.
Warren stepped forward without hesitation. "Don't blame them. That was my idea, sir."
Logan narrowed his eyes. "Mind telling me what the hell you thought you were doing up there, Angel?"
"All I wanted…" Warren said slowly, pulling something out from behind his back, "was for you to believe."
He held out a glowing lantern—one Dante instantly recognized. Logan's eyes widened, a rare crack in his hardened expression. That lantern had been used once before, in a moment no one forgot… the same one that weakened Logan's adamantium and cracked it clean.
"I didn't just want you to believe in me," Warren said, stepping back. "I wanted you to believe in all of us."
Then, without waiting for a reply, he unfurled his wings and soared out through the open roof.
Everyone stared in silence as Warren disappeared into the sky, his voice lingering in their minds.
"Believe in all of us."