The Scott and Jean Archives
Months ago, the crew of a ship rescues a stranger who they nicknamed “Aucai" (which translates to ‘Slim’). Aucai has been plagued by dreams of Alexander the Great’s Macedonian invasion on Egypt. A warrior fights the invaders, but turns back on his own people as well. His reflection reveals that of Apocalypse: “I fight simply to fight. Where there is death, so there is me."
Aucai: “Every night. They’re horrible -- Like Memories I don’t remember having. It’s like they’re chasing me...Like they’re trying to pull me down with them.”
The whole crew, especially the towering Salleh, harbours great disdain for this mysterious man who awakens them in the middle of the night with his screams and cries. Aucai only has a friend in a fellow crew, Achmed. One night, Salleh challenges Aucai; Achmed steps in to break the pair up. In the distance, a lone, mysterious figure spies on the ship.
In the Danger Room of the Xavier Institute, Jean Grey aka Phoenix replays the scenario where her husband, Scott Summers, makes the ultimate sacrifice in a final attempt to break Apocalypse’s union with Nate Grey, which would make Apocalypse invincible. Jean knows there was nothing she could have done as she watches on helplessly as “the man [she] loved ceased to be”.
In an abandoned building in New York City, Nathan Christopher Summers aka Cable takes out his frustrations on a holographic projection of Apocalypse. He commends his mentor, Blaquesmith, on the workmanship of the projection. Blaquesmith meanwhile has a few words of advice for Cable.
Blaquesmith: “You’ve moved on in life. Why spend your time here in this safehouse, dredging up the past?”
Cable: “Because Apocalypse took my father from me. Because it should have been me.”
The next day, the ship calls at the port of El Jadida, Morocco. Aucai confides in Achmed regarding his dreams as the pair wander through the marketplace. When the former is alone, his instinct tells him he’s “supposed to be somewhere”, but he doesn’t know where that is. He remembers nothing about himself and why he’s here. He also feels “a scratching behind [his] eyes” like he’s “just waiting for the right moment to blow”. His voice trails off when he is drawn to a mysterious and beautiful woman in the crowd, who promptly vanishes. Aucai browses at the stand in front of him and picks up a mirror. His reflection startles him; he drops it and runs.
The mysterious lady, Anais, finds him in an alley. She appears to know his secrets, and offers to take him away with her. She also tells Aucai he is not safe out in the open, that he is being hunted. And because of him, his friends, the crew of the ship will die.
Aucai hurriedly makes his way back to the ship to try and save his friends. The masked hunter is spotted and Aucai draws the hunter’s fire onto him, away from the crew. Aucai climbs the mast, and undoing the ropes, he uses the pole holding a sail in place to knock the hunter off balance and into the water.
Saving the lives of the crew, Aucai has earned their trust. Compelled to find out more about his past, Aucai bids farewell to the ship’s crew in search of Anais.
Aucai: “I know...there’s a darkness inside me. Sometimes it whispers gently in my ear, and sometimes it howls inside of my skull.”
Salleh: “All me have two sides, Aucai. It is their ability to wrestle with the darker urges that makes them strong...or weak.”