Reunion

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters there within.

She was swallowed into the utter darkness, Logan's embrace only a moment before now seemed so far away. She felt afraid, alone in the vast space. The fury of her powers still burned fiercely at the fringes of her mind and her head ached. But even that fell away. She seemed to float for an eternity, deeming her isolation to be a just punishment for all the harrowing crimes she had committed. She deserved this. She deserved to die every death she had caused.

She sighed into the surrounding darkness, not really feeling the need to breathe, or move unnecessarily. Silent.

Suddenly, when she had surrendered herself to her fate, the blackness began to fizz away to reveal a blinding whiteness underneath. She covered her eyes and wanted to cry out, but the scream caught in her throat as a sudden forceful gravity pulled haphazardly on her body. She shut her eyes to the sudden floor that came rushing up to meet her, waiting to collide with the ground, but she opened her eyes with surprise when her feet lightly touched alabaster tiles. She was in a great, high vaulted hall constructed entirely of marble and alabaster. The sight was breathtaking. Her eyes were drawn by the lines in the hallway to a large rich mahogany door. The double doors seemed half the size of the room. She felt drawn to them. A warm feeling seemed to emit from the doors.

She placed one hand on a large, elegant bronze handle and pulled. The door was surprisingly light for its size and she had no trouble entering into the room beyond.

And there, before a small fountain, she saw a man. He was studying the fountain with his hands clasped behind his back. He wore a handsome black suit and seemed to be waiting for someone. Waiting for her?

"Hello, Jean."

She felt her throat constrict at the all too familiar voice. It's deepness a soothing caress on her mind as so many memories flashed in a lightening quick succession through it.

"Charles." Her voice was thick with emotion. He turned slowly to face her; turned on two sturdy, long legs to greet her. His face was just as she remembered it; perhaps a few years younger, those same crinkles around his eyes when he smiled were present now. She did not realize how tall of a man he was.

He seemed to be surveying her with just as much interest.

"Charles…Charles, you're standing." She said breathlessly.

"Yes, Jean. I believe I reacted in the same manner as you when I first realized it myself." He chuckled before smiling at her sadly. "I am sad to see you here, Jean."

She let his words sink in, staring dumbly for a few moments.

"I am sorry to have forced you here at all."

Charles shook his head.

"It was my fault. I should not have tried to intervene. I never thought it fair to manipulate people with my abilities. I was such a hypocrite. But you had such power, such power; I feared an uprising of it when we discovered you in your youth would destroy you and countless others. I should have taught you how to control that magnificent ability of yours, but…I feared it, hiding it away instead. By hindering the power, I only crippled you farther down the road and for that I am sorry."

Jean felt at a loss for words. Here was Charles Xavier, mentor and friend, apologizing to her like he had committed the worst of sins. She approached him with a grace she did not know she possessed and placed her hand on his shoulder. He looked down into her eyes, so melancholy, Jean thought her heart might burst, body or no.

"You were protecting me," she said softly. "Protecting me from myself, as a true friend should. I am sorry for what happened…" Charles looked as though to stop her, not needing an apology, but she shook her head for him to be silent and continued. "The power had control over me and the small space I had left for myself was fighting to break free. But those barriers were put up," Charles flinched slightly, "set by my own mind. I was a prisoner of my own mind. And when…when I could not control my thoughts, I could only watch you struggle…" Jean felt as though she were drowning as she said it and could not continue; Charles pulled her into a hug. She clung to him, sobbing, but no tears came, though her eyes ached for them. She could see Charles again in her mind's eye, trying to withstand her wicked fury and his last whispered words.

Do not let it destroy you.

"Charles," she choked, "I am so sorry."

Charles only held her tighter, a physical protection she needed from herself, just to hide in his arms. He stroked her hair in an effort to calm her and she did somewhat.

"I have already told you, there is no need to apologize." Charles said lightly.

"But I—" she began, but Charles interjected.

"You are safe now."

Jean felt reassured and instead cast her gaze around the room. It was actually a library, built of two floors. Why had she not noticed it before?

"What is this place, Charles?" she asked, walking tentatively from him as though the entire area would collapse at too loud a footstep.

"Limbo."

Jean turned to face him abruptly, all interest in the books fading.

"A place of judgment."

"Am…Am I to be judged?" Jean asked, now frightened, but trying not to appear alarmed. Charles shook his head. "I don't understand." She said, her reassurance all but gone.

Charles turned so she could only see his profile. His chest rose steeply in a long inhale, as though he could not breathe properly.

"Your judgment has already been passed."

Jean gaped at him. Charles continued uninterrupted into the silence.

"With your past actions in these last few days, they have invariably judged you to be guilty. They will admit no one who has committed murders into the Beyond."

Jean dropped her head, a war within her. It was not her fault that the imprisoned side of her powers had forced her to perform those crimes, yet it was entirely her fault for not fighting more passionately to regain absolute control. Some part of her, some wicked, twisted part of her human existence had wanted to see mankind fall. To watch mankind suffer for their crimes against the mutant race. That part of her had enjoyed the death and destruction. But the other side was absolutely terrified by the acts; she had tried so hard in life to act with reason so that everyone might live in harmony. She had devoted her life to finding the peace, did that mean nothing? Was it just she did not get the chance to argue her position?

She wished those tears would come, but her eyes refused to water.

She did not notice as Charles came forward and pulled her once again into his embrace.

"I did not think it fair either," he murmured into her long red hair, "and that is why I am here."

Jean pulled away from him bewildered.

"Charles?"

"I have been waiting for you, Jean. And now that you are here, I will take the burden of your sentence."

Jean's eyes widened.

"It is the least I can do for you, as repentance."

Jean was shaking her head, trembling now in Charles grasp.

"No, no Charles, I won't let you!"

He cupped her face in his hands.

"For you, Jean, my brilliant pupil; I will pay any price. Even the rest of the afterlife." He disentangled himself gently, but firmly from her fists, which had gripped at his suit with shaking white knuckles. With grim determination, he turned his back to her and strode purposefully toward the ebony doors at the back of the library. They opened for him, revealing only darkness beyond. The same Jean seemed to have been drifting endlessly in only moments ago.

Jean moved to stop him, but the same gravity that called her from the blackness before, now held her rooted to the spot. All she could do was sink to her knees. Charles' image blurred in the water spilling from the fountain.

"I could not forgive myself if another innocent soul was sent out here unjustly." He spoke without turning; without seeing Jean's sorrow as he stepped forward into the darkness and drifted out into infinity. The doors behind him began to close with a sorrowful groan and the water fountain was steadily losing its life.

"I could not either…" Jean whispered to the empty room, feeling as empty as the dark infinity beyond.

The door closed with a resounding, solemn boom. It was not a loud noise, but it might as well have been thunder in Jean's ears.

Time seemed to stretch for an eternity when the fountain had completely stopped its spouting of water and the gravity that had held Jean was lifted.

Charles was gone.

And it was her fault.

"No," Jean whispered as she shakily got to her feet. "No!"

She rushed at the door and pounded on it with clenched fists.

"Give him back! Give him back! I deserve my sentence, let me serve it and set him free!" she was sobbing again, but the tears simply would not come. She slid down the ebony door, clutching her arms to herself; the embodiment of grief. A faint voice issued in the very depths of her mind, so quaking soft, Jean had to bite her lip to silence herself and listen.

There is another who awaits you, Jean. An extended pause followed, so long in fact, that Jean thought the voice had vanished completely, but it returned even softer than it had come. Go to him.

Then the voice was no more, she felt its finality like an icy weight within her chest. The room as still and deathly silent as ever. Jean nodded her understanding, moving shakily to stand, her fingertips the last to fall from the door panels. She would honor Charles for his gift to her, though she still thought it all terribly unfair and moved slowly forward to find the other.

A man with a name that suggested he only had one eye.

Author's Note: My apologies for taking so long to post this. I had the idea since I first saw the movie and I finally complete it when the movie comes out on DVD. It's sort of an odd thing that bore me ever forward on this one though--a good friend of mine passed away around the time I finally hand wrote this a few weeks back. Timed it almost perfectly. That's nuts. Times like these I feel like some greater power is communicating to me, through me. That, or I'm just crazy!

I didn't intend Charles to sound like he was hitting on Jean, he's more a fatherly figure to her in my eyes and reacted as such. I love my bittersweet endings. I'm torn on continuing this story, but I suppose I will if this one is popular. Otherwise, I have other fics to attend to.

Please review and tell me what you thought of it!

Blackfire 18

In Memory of Terrence Smith