Luv stood frozen beside the Ancient One's prone form, his small body rigid with confusion and growing distress.
"Dad?" His voice came out small and trembling, blue eyes fixed on the unconscious woman. "Why is the old lady sleeping on the floor? Is she gonna wake up?"
Jay knelt beside his son while simultaneously trying to address multiple crises unfolding around him. Calming Luv required gentle hands on small shoulders. "She's okay, buddy. She just got a surprise and needed to rest for a minute. See? Everything's fine."
Meanwhile, extracting the Staff of the Living Tribunal from Luv's other hand without triggering the artifact's defensive protocols demanded delicate precision. The staff still pulsed with golden light. Jay wrapped his Supernatural Scrambling around it carefully, to sever the connection between artifact and wielder without causing feedback.
Mordo caught the staff as Jay passed it over, the master's hands trembling as he held his own artifact that had just responded to a five-year-old with more power than fifteen years of dedicated service had ever earned him.
Wong stood beside his fellow sorcerer, both men's faces cycling through shock and concern as they hovered near their unconscious teacher as they've never seen the Ancient One vulnerable before.
"She'll be fine," Jay said while his own hands glowed with soft green light as Healing Aura spread from his palms to check the Ancient One's vital signs. "It's just shock, Her heart rate's elevated but stable, She'll come around soon."
When the Ancient One finally came to, her eyes fluttered open slowly, taking in her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was Jay's head, still covered in that ridiculous loose and lumpy beanie he'd been wearing since arriving.
Her gaze shifted to Mordo and Wong, both inspecting the Staff of the Living Tribunal with concern, running their hands over the artifact to ensure it hadn't been damaged by a five-year-old's enthusiastic wielding.
Finally, she saw the child. Hiding behind Jay, peeking out to glance at her with those innocent blue eyes, but immediately ducking back behind Jay's legs the moment their gazes met.
The Ancient One remembered everything that had happened in a rush that made her head spin. Yesterday's apocalyptic events, Jay's increasingly escalating revelations delivered with casual disregard for her sanity, and finally seeing this child burst through her wards like they were tissue paper, spinning one of Kamar-Taj's most powerful artifacts like a toy.
She sat up quickly, centering herself with a mental mantra she'd learned centuries ago, trying to regain some of her lost composure while her heart still hammered against her ribs. Everything that had happened was all too much for her poor heart.
Wong, ever attentive to his teacher's needs, produced a glass of water from nowhere, offering it with both hands and a worried expression.
The Ancient One drank deeply, the cool liquid helping ground her.
Jay's Healing Aura finally faded "Master, you're getting old. Please think of your age and start preparing for retirement," Jay said, his tone carrying genuine worry beneath the teasing.
The Ancient One's eye twitched dangerously. Her hand shot out, grabbing Jay's ear with surprising strength for someone who'd just fainted. "And who, precisely, bears responsibility for this shock?" She twisted slightly, making Jay wince. "My idiot student goes around doing stupid things, then escalates his antics one after another!"
She produced her most dreaded weapon from thin air, a rolled-up newspaper that had terrorized generations of Kamar-Taj students, raising it threateningly.
Jay's eyes widened with genuine panic, and he bowed his head in supplication. "Master, please, not in front of the kid! What would he think of his father?"
That finally stopped the Ancient One mid-swing. She glanced at the child peeking out from behind Jay, then back at Jay's bowed head with that loose beanie. The ridiculous headwear irritated her more with each passing second.
She lowered the newspaper, then reached out and yanked at the beanie with exasperation. "Take that ridiculous thing off! You're my student, for Vishanti's sake. At least present yourself properly when..."
The beanie came off, and she froze.
Jay's hair looked like it had been through a personal war. Some sections stuck straight up as if he'd just been electrocuted. Others bent at odd angles, refusing to lie flat no matter how hard gravity tried. A few strands were tangled into small knots, like he'd been wrestling with static all morning and lost. It looked like a bird had decided to make her nest on Jay's scalp.
"What... what manner of…..?" The Ancient One's voice came out strangled in disbelief. "At minimum, child, you could have groomed yourself properly before presenting yourself before your teacher! This is..."
She reached out, trying to use her fingers to untangle the disaster that was Jay's current hairstyle, but the knots resisted her efforts with surprising stubbornness.
Jay teleported across the hall in a flash of blue light, putting distance between himself and his Master's styling attempts. When he spoke, his voice carried absolute seriousness mixed with pleading vulnerability. "Please, Master, this is the first hairdo my son has done, and he was so proud when he finished. I want to keep it as it is for as long as possible."
The Ancient One paused, truly looking at her student's expression for the first time since waking. The desperate sincerity in his eyes, the way his entire body language screamed protective parent and finally the genuine emotion bleeding through his usual irreverent facade.
She couldn't believe her most powerful student, The PowerBroker who'd gone toe to toe with Lady death was reduced to a child-obsessed parent.
She sighed deeply, the fight draining from her as maternal understanding replaced irritation. She returned to her seat, settling into the familiar meditation position while her mind worked to process everything.
Her expression shifted, becoming deadly serious that made even Mordo and Wong take involuntary steps backward.
"Explain everything."
Wong started to speak, concern evident in his tone. "Ancient One, the child..."
But the Ancient One raised one hand in a sharp gesture, cutting him off mid-sentence. Her gaze fixed on Jay. "Only you speak. And keep it brief."
Jay gulped visibly, recognizing that expression from past lectures that had left him questioning his life choices. He nodded, then gently guided Luv into his lap.
He placed his hands carefully over the child's ears to avoid him hearing anything Jay didn't want him to process yet.
"Master, you must have sensed the explosion in the Atlantic yesterday?" Jay's voice came out carefully controlled.
The Ancient One nodded once. "Yes, I remember. Especially the high-order energy releasing in waves. I was about to investigate when I found out you supposedly 'dealt' with it." She made air quotes with her fingers, the gesture carrying heavy sarcasm. "Though your definition of 'dealing' with problems has proven increasingly concerning."
Jay nodded, his eyes shaking slightly as his breathing approached panic while his hands remained firmly over Luv's ears. "Well, it was actually Sinister and his Cabal who caused the explosion. They'd collected genetic samples from both Franklin Richards and Nathan Summers, trying to combine them and create the ultimate weapon."
He looked down at Luv, his expression crumbling as emotion threatened to overwhelm him, all while the child just looked around the hall with innocent curiosity, completely unaware of the heavy conversation happening above his head.
Seeing Jay's distress, the Ancient One felt dread settling in her stomach, but Jay continued before she could speak.
"I knew Sinister wouldn't leave genetics from the most powerful mutants ever born alone." His jaw clenched hard enough to make muscle jump in his cheek "So when I delivered both babies, I prepared contingencies. I planted a trigger in their genetic code that would destabilize any cloning attempts. But Sinister somehow partially bypassed it by combining both genetic samples into one organism. After my broadcast, revealed their plan's failure, they must have activated the clone in desperation. The genetic code, multiplied by combining two omega-level powersets and fuelled by vast cosmic and psychic energy, triggered catastrophically. Hence, the nuclear level explosion."
The Ancient One, Mordo, and Wong froze now, the full realization of what Jay was describing slowly dawning on them.
Jay continued, his voice dropping to barely above a whisper despite Luv's covered ears. "When Domino and I went to investigate on the explosion despite our exhaustion, we saw the clone still at the epicentre, fighting for his life. Domino, after tremendous effort, managed to bring the clone's soul back from the spiritual plane, finally breathing life into the innocent child."
He kissed Luv's head affectionately, the gesture carrying protective love that made the Ancient One's fists relax.
The Ancient One stood up again, both Wong and Mordo still reeling from the revelation, staring at the child in front of them with new understanding.
Despite seeing her reaction, Jay pressed on. "After we brought him home and caught our breath, after we'd had time to really look at him properly, we understood what we had. An innocent child, completely blameless for every sin committed to create him. After a lot of soul-searching and emotional discussions, we knew what we needed to do. We decided to adopt him."
The Ancient One moved to stand directly in front of Jay, her expression completely blank, which somehow felt more terrifying than anger. "So this child carries the combined potential of both Nathan Summers and Franklin Richards? Both children whose power I don't dare fathom because I'm scared of what they might achieve? And this child now carries both their potential and powers?"
Jay nodded slowly. "Well, we haven't checked the power as I've been constantly running my null field to suppress any sudden outbursts."
The Ancient One processed this information for several long moments, then knelt in front of Jay to match her eye level with the child's as Jay removed his hands from Luv's ears. "Child, what is your name?"
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