WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for New Mutants #18 by Vita Ayala, Rod Reis, VC's Travis Lanham, and Tom Muller, on sale now.
The X-Men and the other mutants of Krakoa lead particularly complicated lives, but their ability to resurrect almost any mutant has simplified some complex situations. With the powers of The Five and the technology of Cerebro basically giving second chances at life, Xi'an Coy Manh, the New Mutant Karma, has decided that this is her opportunity to reunite with a brother she hasn't seen in decades.
On a recent trip to Otherworld, Karma and Dani Moonstar found more than just the young mutant they had been searching for, at least the former did. Their journey brought them to Merlyn's court and across Otherworld to meet with his daughter Roma, with a white rabbit hopping along beside them most of the way. Though it might seem like nothing more than another fantastical element of Otherworld's charm, the symbolic hare held a much deeper meaning for Karma. Upon her return she asked Dani to be her partner in the Crucible, where she could be ritually killed and have her and her late brother's minds untangled from one another.
Tran Coy Manh, like his sister Xi'an, was a powerful psychic with the power of possession. Unlike his sister, however, Tran was far more open with his abilities, boasting about them when Karma would hide her powers. This led Tran into their uncle's criminal enterprises where Tran thrived, using his mutant abilities to further those seedy endeavors. It was after their uncle had blackmailed Karma into working for him that things would come to a head in lethal fashion, after Tran took control of the Fantastic Four and pitted them against Spider-Man. The heroes had been trying to save Xi'an and Tran's younger siblings who had been kidnapped by their uncle, but when Karma realized she had been betrayed so thoroughly, she turned on her family. In a stunning display of her powers, Karma seemingly killed Tran by absorbing his life essence at the end of his first appearance in Chris Claremont and John Byrne's Marvel Team-Up #100.
This was hardly the end of him, as Tran's essence continued to exist inside of Karma, even influencing her own actions and freeing his spirit for a time. When the separation proved to be detrimental to Karma herself, she forced Tran's spirit back into merging with her own, and the two were never truly been able to stand as individuals.
With Dani in the Crucible with her, Karma finally has a chance to die and be reborn as herself, with no other spirits or life forces hanging on. Similarly, this will give Tran his first shot at having a body of his own since the two became entwined over 40 years ago, though there is no telling what he might do with his newfound independence whenever he gets it. It's incredible to think that in all this time, the two have been coexisting on such a deep level, even if Tran's presence wasn't always prominent or felt.
But now, Tran seems astounded and confused by the prospects that the Crucible provides. The fact that after so much time these two could be free of one another is just another testament to how much mutantkind has accomplished on Krakoa, and how its full possibilities are still being explored.