BIOGRAPHY: Page 5
Still not knowing what happened to Threnody, Nate would have been surprised by the events in New York over the past months. Shortly after her body had been brought to the morgue, the corpse rose and Threnody walked out. In her wake, several dead reanimated themselves too, following Threnody and chanting her name. She made her way to the loft that she and Nate had lived in and kept track of Nate’s activities through the news. Over time, her appearance slightly changed as her belly grew from pregnancy. [X-Man #29, 32, 51-52, 55]
Left alone, Nate visited his ”parents,“ Scott and Jean, who were at the time recuperating in 
Alaska, for some quality time. That, however, didn’t last, as all of a sudden a chunk of one of the AoA’s seawalls appeared in the Alaska mountains. Working as a team with his family for the first time, the three Summerses went to investigate and managed to destroy that piece, along with the Infinite soldiers on it, but didn’t get any explanation. Others too were interested in this event, namely the two guardians of the M’Kraan crystal Jahf and Modt.
They suspected Nate was the reason for the shift in reality and secretly made him undergo a test to see whether he used his immense power at a whim. Nate showed responsibility and passed, a result the guardian Jahf wasn’t willing to accept, leading to his being demoted by the other guardian Modt, who was satisfied with the result. Before Nate left the Summerses, Scott presented him with a gift, as his clothes were tattered Cyclops gave him one of his old X-Factor uniforms, which Nate was happy to wear. [X-Man #53-55]
The strength of the newly forged bonds between Nate and his “parents” was shown when, soon after, as the X-Men had been disbanded, Nate (alongside Archangel, Wolverine and Cable) was one of the few people Jean and Scott called for help, as they needed to defend the new race “the Mannites” from the mysterious “Death.” When this new villain killed Wolverine the X-Men reunited only to discover that the Logan who had died was a Skrull imposter and Death actually was the real Wolverine, brainwashed to serve Apocalypse. With the team back together, Nate’s services were no longer needed [Astonishing X-Men (2nd series) #1-3, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #375]
Shortly afterwards, Nate found himself in a place named Greyville, which seemed to be all his dreams come true. All the people he had come to love in his short life (Forge, Jean, Cable, Maddie, Threnody and Spider-Man) were there as part of his family or his circle of friends. Not surprisingly, Greyville turned out to be an illusion, apparently perpetrated on Nate as a revenge scheme by the Purple Man. This, however, didn’t prove true either and, as Nate stripped away layer after layer of illusion, he learned the identity of the true culprit - Mysterio, who wanted to use Nate, among other things, to finally learn the secret identity of Spider-man. Nate actually managed to turn illusions against the master illusionist himself by locking him in a fantasy, where he believed himself victorious. As a result of this adventure, Nate’s telepathy fully kicked back in. Satisfied, Nate wanted to leave, but then collapsed in front of the pregnant-looking Threnody and her army of the dead. [X-Man #56-57]
Nate woke a week later, with a now svelte Threnody at his side. He finally learned that Madelyne had killed her but due to her death power, she didn’t stay that way. She revealed that she was addicted to death-energy and these zombies had in turn become addicted to her. Nate transported Threnody to a nearby church and locked her in with him. However, the zombies caught up with them. Nate wanted her to go cold-turkey on the death energies she was addicted to and the plan seemed to work. Threnody bluntly told Nate she had to leave him, as she was still feeding on his immensely powerful death energies, which were mixed up with his life energies. She claimed that those energies were what drew her to him in the first place, though she clearly was lying and only wanted to protect Nate from the army of zombies still on her trail. Threnody returned to her newborn baby, which Nate knew nothing about, hoping to get rid of her trackers once and for all. [X-Man #58]
Still seeking a solution to the threat his powers posed, Nate visited the Fantastic Four so Reed Richards could run some tests. Although Reed failed to provide concrete answers, Nate cherished the opportunity to bond with the Fantastic Four who he respected after the team's sacrifice to defeat Onslaught. He also became fast friends with young Franklin Richards as the two shared a lot in common. Nate felt envious of the Fantastic Four's famlial ties and began to wonder what was holding him back from experiencing stronger relationships with his biological parents and the X-Men.
Although Reed Richards didn't find what he was looking for, his tests on Nate were productive for another person interested in Nate - the man he despised and feared most - Apocalypse. Having hacked the Fantastic Four's computer mainframe, Apocalypse deemed that Nate was the ideal mutant he needed for his plans. Just as he left the Fantastic Four, Nate was targeted as a victim of Pestilence, formerly known as Caliban. Injected with his poison, Nate lived through a brief illusion, where all his nightmares seemed to come through. Upon waking up, he realized that his worst nightmare was just beginning - he was the prisoner of his archenemy, Apocalypse. [X-Man #59-60]
Apocalypse has set plans in motion to turn himself into a living god. For that he needed The Twelve, powerful mutants, whose energies would help him accomplish that goal and a vessel to contain these unlimited energies and his own essence - that role was assigned to Nate. As Apocalypse prepared to take over Nate, Cyclops interjected by pushing Nate aside and sacrificing himself for the boy; a plan that didn’t quite have the desired result, Nate surmised. Cyclops had nowhere near Nate’s powers and, therefore, wasn’t an ideal vessel, but he was a Summers and therefore an adequate one. The newly merged being of Cyclops/Apocalypse left after several fruitless attempts to yet gain the energies of the Twelve and, with the exception of Jean Grey, the X-Men were convinced that Cyclops was dead. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #377-378, X-Men (2nd series) #97-98]
Nate was unsure what to do in the wake of Scott’s sacrifice. He felt responsible but Jean tried to snap him out of his guilt complex. She told him to stop acting like a child and to make Scott’s sacrifice count - by finally earning the right to deserve being called “X-Man.” [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #379]