Chapter 1: Livin' a Normal Life
By: Galadeidre
A/N: This story happens within a few weeks or so after Jean dies in X2.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Xmen that you all recognize. I do, though, own the ones you don't recognize (duh!!) I hope you like this story! If possible, please review and tell me what you think about it!! Thanks!
Galadeidre
A young man with short brown hair and a strange-looking visor grunts. "Come on!"
"Oh, no, we've lost the power," says a woman with smooth brown skin and pure white hair.
Suddenly, something erupts from behind the jet that they are in, and only another young woman with short red hair senses it.
The young man with the visor continues to speak, not knowing what the redhead is sensing. "There's power in the fuel cells, we're just not connecting."
The white-haired woman continues to talk, but the redhead doesn't hear her. She turns her head around to the back of the jet and gasps quietly to herself as she stares out through the open hatch.
"Scott, the engine control system is shot. All of it."
The redhead looks back to the front as the white-haired woman says this. She notices the other two that are watching the young man and white-haired woman as they struggle to get the aircraft up into the sky. Both are men. One has black hair that comes to two points on each side of his head. The other is blue, with markings all over his face and no doubt all over his body. As the two people that are piloting the jet continue to speak, the red-haired woman limps outside.
A few moments later, only one other notices her disappearance. An old man sitting down mutters, "Jean?"
The black-haired man turns around. "Wait, where's Jean?" At this, the young man at the control panel with the strange visor turns around.
The old man sighs and closes his eyes. "She's outside," he mutters wearily.
The brown-haired man gets up out of his chair and runs to the open hatch in the back of the jet.
The redhead, now known as Jean, limps onward through the snow. She senses the man running to the hatch and turns around. She holds out her arm and the hatch closes. With that same arm held out, she stares in the direction of the jet and starts to power up the engine. The engine goes back online, making the jet come alive.
The young man with the visor yells from the back end of the jet. "No, we're not leaving! Lower the ramp!"
From outside, a few hundred feet away from the jet, there comes a sound of cracking and crumbling. A dam has broken and is pouring out water in the jet's direction in angry torrents.
Back inside the jet, the young man yells, "Storm, lower it!"
The white-haired woman tries, but to no avail. She, now known as Storm, looks helplessly at the control panels. "I can't."
The water from the broken dam comes rushing straight at the jet. Jean takes one look at the water and immediately holds out her other arm, splitting the flood of water so it rushes on either side of her and the jet.
The others feel the impact inside and struggle to keep their balance as the water rushes outside on either side of them.
Storm yells to the others as she spots Jean from outside the front windows. "She's controlling the jet." The black-haired man looks out the window as well, followed by the brown-haired man.
Suddenly, the black-haired man turns around to the blue guy. "You! Get her, now!"
The blue man closes his eyes, but opens them again. "She's not letting me." Horrified, the black-haired man looks back through the window as the man with the visor swears.
All of a sudden, the old man, his eyes closed, speaks out in a soft voice.
"I know what I'm doing." The men turn around. "This is the only way."
Realizing, that Jean is talking through the old man, the brown-haired man kneels in front of him.
"Jean," he starts, "listen to me. Don't do this."
All the old man does is smile and whisper, "Good-bye…"
The brown and black-headed men start to mutter, "No". The old man's eyes open, and he looks away, a pained expression on his face.
The jet starts to lift and they all watch through the window to see what the woman, Jean, is doing.
A fiery aura surrounds Jean and her eyes look as if a fire burns within them. The old man closes his eyes just as Jean drops her hand that was blocking the water and also closes her eyes. The minute her hand drops, the water engulfs her, and she is gone from view.
The others are stunned at what they see.
The black-haired man is the first to speak, but his words are of little comfort to the others. "She's gone. She's gone."
The other man wearing the visor pushes him backwards, gripping his arms in the process and shaking him. "Don't you say that!" His voice breaks. "We gotta go back."
The black-haired man continues to mutter the same words. "She's gone."
"No! No." The man with the visor stares at the black-haired man for a moment before he begins to sob. There are several kids on the jet, and they sadly watch as they start to realize that one of them will not be coming back with them. Storm and the old man are quiet, but are close to crying. The blue man looks on sadly.
The black-haired man, too, is on the verge of tears as he repeats the only two words that have come out of his mouth ever since she disappeared. His eyes are open, but they are empty and stare at nothing in particular.
The blue man pulls out a cross on a thin chain and starts to recite, his German accent thick, "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil…for thou art with me."
As he recites this, the old man looks up at him and away, as he slowly comes to realize that all is not the same…
A young girl opened up her eyes and jerked up out of bed. Her breath was ragged and uneven as she clutched the front of her nightshirt. The visions were still so very vivid. The image of the redhead being engulfed in water and disappearing from the surface haunted her mind. She clutched her head. "It was only a dream. Only a dream…"
Yet…she didn't believe herself. It had felt all too real. And something inside of her was telling her that it wasn't just a dream.
Suddenly, her alarm went off, making her jerk up and give a slight scream. Once she realized that it was just her alarm, she quickly turned it off and lay back in bed, thinking of her dream. She gave a smirk. Oh, if Conner finds out, he'll be so worried again. I'd best not tell him. Then again, he'll find out by himself, for sure. Giving another smirk, she dozed off into a dreamless sleep.
After about a half hour, she jerked open her eyes and slowly climbed out of bed with a yawn. She opened her door and trudged to the bathroom, closing it after her. She rinsed her mouth and washed her face. As she finished drying it off, she stared at herself through the mirror and smiled. She was proud of her appearance and wouldn't have it any other way. She loved her shoulder-length red hair. It curled slightly outwards and had a glossy shine to it. Her face was a soft peach complexion and her cheeks were a natural soft pink. She hardly put on makeup, but was satisfied with what she looked like. Her lips were a soft dark pink and her nose…well, yes, it could have been tweaked a little bit more, for it was her least favorite part of her face, but it would have to do. Besides, it wasn't that bad. Her favorite part of her face, though, was her eyes. They were a pure emerald green. Her parents had told her before that only one other person in their family had had jewel green eyes like hers. That had been her great grandmother on her father's side. She would love to stare into the mirror and just look straight into her eyes, amazed at how bright green they were.
Her face reminded her slightly of that Jean woman in her dreams and her frown returned.
She was in the bathroom longer than she had realized, for she soon heard a small knock on the door.
"Len? Is that you in there?" a small voice chirped.
She gave a smile as she answered back. "Yeah, San. It's me."
"Are you changing or something?"
"No."
"Okay."
"Why? Do you need the bathroom?"
No reply.
"Sanny? You still there?"
Still no reply.
Len smiled and shook her head. She loved her little brother to death. He was so adorable. He had dark red, almost brown, hair that had been cut slightly longer than a mushroom cut. His face was dotted with cute, faded freckles and his eyes were the same emerald green as hers, which was rare. That made three of them out of her entire family line.
Suddenly, she heard the doorknob of the bathroom twist open – somebody had unlocked it from the outside. She whirled around and gave a scream as it opened, only to find a young man appear through the open door, his gray eyes twinkling and a grin from one ear to the other. His brown hair was slightly naturally messy, which gave him a boyish look, for he never gelled it or anything. His face was tan and he had clean white teeth. He looked about eighteen or so, about the same age as Len.
Len let out her breath and gave a glare at the intruder. "Conner! Geez, what made you scare me like that? And why are you here this early in the morning?"
The young man, now known as Conner, cocked one eyebrow and gave a smirk. "You call this early?" He looked at his watch and tapped it. "My clock says eight. If you don't hurry, you're gonna be late, making me late."
Len smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Good morning to you, too."
Conner gave a sigh and closed his eyes. "That felt nice. Y'mind giving my other cheek a kiss, too?"
Len shook her head and smiled, but kissed him anyway. "C'mon. I gotta change still." She walked out of the bathroom and into her bedroom, Conner following her.
As he closed the door behind him, Conner asked with a grin, "You don't mind if I'm in here, too, right?"
"Is there any stopping you?"
Conner chuckled. "No, I guess not."
"Just as long as you don't peek." She started to take off her nightshirt and Conner turned around. Of course, his head didn't stay turned around for long.
Len had a hunch that she was being watched and gave a smile. "Conner…" she warned.
Conner's head turned back around with a grin. "Sorry. Couldn't help it."
"So I realized." She finished putting her belt on her slightly baggy pants and gave him a hug around his back. "You can turn around now, though."
Conner immediately spun around and pinned her onto her bed. "Good…" He closed his eyes and leaned down, his lips parting slightly.
Len on instinct put her finger on his lips before they touched hers. "Ah, ah, ah. Not yet, Conner."
Conner made a face. "You're playing hard-to-get again."
"I always do. C'mon now. We had better get downstairs to breakfast before my folks start getting ideas."
"Don't you think they already have?" But he stood up, helping Len up. Len just gave a smile and started to put her textbooks in her backpack.
A woman's voice called from down the stairs. "Len? Conner? What are you two doing up there?"
"Nothing, Mom!" Len called back, giving Conner a look that clearly said, I told you so. "I'm just packing up my school stuff!"
"Well, you two had better hurry! You're going to be late, otherwise! Conner, I hope you like bacon omelets."
"Oh, do I ever!" Conner replied as his stomach, as if on cue, started to growl. "Thanks, Mrs. Terace!"
"Sure!"
Conner gave a glance at Len. "You almost ready?"
"Yeah, give me one more sec. I need to fix my bed." She started to flatten out the covers when her dream that she had just had came flooding back into her mind.
She must have made a shocked expression, for Conner noticed. "Len? You okay?"
Len immediately snapped out of her thoughts and gave a smile. "Yeah. I'm okay. Don't worry about me."
Conner, though, didn't let the matter subside. He had a hunch at what was wrong. "It's your dreams, isn't it? They're getting worse. C'mon, Len. You had better tell me. I can help you." His hand slowly began to lift up to her head.
Len, though, stepped backwards. "No, Conner. Not here. I'll be fine really."
"Len…"
"Please, Conner. If my folks find out what you are, they're never gonna let us see each other again."
"But you need my help right now. You're agitated, Len…"
"Yeah, agitated from you right at this moment!" She gave a sigh. "I'll tell you in the car on the way to school. Promise. Just don't use your mutant powers here. Please?" She gave him a pleading look.
Conner didn't like the idea, but he sighed and slowly nodded. "Fine. But you had better let me help you when we go to school."
"You're a doll, Conner." She kissed him on the cheek and grabbed her bag. "Let's go, then!" She grabbed his arm and ran down the steps and into the dining room where the rest of her family was.
Her mother had short, auburn hair and soft brown eyes. She had an apron on top of her work clothes as she set the rest of the breakfast meal on the table. Her father was flipping through the articles in the newspaper. Len had inherited her glossy red hair from him. There were some hairs of his that were starting to turn grayish-silver, a stunning contrast to the bright red of the rest of his head. His eyes were brown in color and very stern. He had a neatly trimmed mustache and wore small business-like glasses. Her little seven-year old brother, Sanny, was still in his pajamas and was struggling to keep hold of the ketchup bottle as his slightly chubby arms squeezed globs of ketchup onto his omelet. The front of his nightshirt was stained with ketchup and what looked like his orange juice.
Messy or no, Len came up to her baby brother and squeezed the stuffing out of him. "Hey, squirts!"
Sanny tried to wriggle out of her grasp, but to no avail. "You're squeezing me, Len!"
"That's the point." She gave him a kiss on the top of his head before she sat down. San swiped at his head as if to try to wipe off the kiss that she had just planted on his head. Conner sat down in the vacant chair next to Len.
"Well, it's about time you two decided to come down," Len's father remarked over his newspaper. "We were beginning to wonder…"
"Dad!!" She gave him a slight slap on the shoulder. "Really, Dad!"
Mr. Terace smiled. "Just stating what I thought." He went back to reading his newspaper while Len and Conner quickly ate their meal. They soon finished their meal and said their goodbyes to the family. Just as they were about to walk out the front door, they heard Mr. Terace remark to his wife about an article in the newspaper.
"Can you believe that dam up in Alkali Lake ruptured like that? And they're still fixing it. Look at what they say here, Nita. What do you suppose happened?"
"Who knows. It may have been…those people."
"Honestly, mutants are getting more dangerous as the years progress. I think the president's being too soft for his own good. He should reintroduce the Mutant Registration Act."
"Do you think that would even work, Sam? I mean, these mutants…who knows what kind of powers they can possess."
That was all the two teenagers heard. They quickly glanced at each other and walked out of the house and into Conner's car.
Conner was silent as he backed up out of the driveway and drove towards their school. Len knew that he was thinking about what her parents had just said about mutants. She was the only person in her family that knew that Conner was a mutant. She knew him for what he truly was and she didn't think of him any less. Len's parents had always disliked mutants for no particular reason, but that they just did. They tried to be in almost every group possible that tried to expose mutants to the real world. Len's views about mutants, oddly enough, were nothing like what her parents thought. She wanted to give mutants a chance to live the life that they so badly wanted – a life of freedom. Unfortunately, she still was her parents' daughter, and no matter how opposite her views were of mutants with her parents, there still was a tiny part of her that feared a mutant's touch.
She knew, though, that this was no time for her to be afraid. She took a silent breath and started to speak, knowing exactly what she needed to do to get her boyfriend out of his state of sadness, for she hated seeing him upset. "It was the same dream as always. This time, though, it played the whole thing. And you know what, Conner? It…it seems all so real…"
Conner was silently listening and the minute she stopped talking, he spoke up. "You can tell me, Len."
Len closed her eyes. "For a few weeks now I've been having these dreams. You know the one with that woman with white hair and the guy with the strange visor."
"Yeah, and with the woman that looks like an older version of you."
"Yeah…well…I dreamed the whole thing last night. Beginning to end."
"Starting with their problems with that jet, right?"
"Yeah. This time, though…this time…that girl…the…the one that looks like me…she dies, Conner…she dies…"
Conner didn't speak after this for a while. His silence bugged Len.
"C'mon, Conner. I…I need you to say something…"
"Well, the woman that dies, for sure isn't you." Len looked up into his face. "She doesn't have your eyes. You told me that. And besides, she seems like a mutant, too, I mean, considering that there's a blue guy there in the jet, right?"
"Yeah, that's true. But do you think that I'm dreaming something that happened or will happen?"
"I can't tell you that for sure. Maybe I can talk to a friend of mine I met over the Internet. He's a mutant, too. He lives with a bunch of other mutants at a school for our kind. The head of the school is pretty wise and has telepathy as his powers. He may know what to do."
"That'd be great if you could find that our for me."
"In the mean time, I can help soothe your mind a bit."
"Conner, you shouldn't do that so much. What if it has side effects?"
"Doubtful. C'mon, Len. You're stressed. Let me help you. Just this once."
So she wouldn't see him sad again, she gave a small smile and held out her hand. He took it in his and started his healing treatment. Len closed her eyes as she felt his healing power come into her. No matter how much she was afraid of his mutant abilities and other mutants' abilities, she liked his healing power. He sent visions of happy times into her mind. Childhood memories came flooding into her brain as well as pictures of both of them just enjoying each other's company at the park, in the moonlight, by the lake…
"Feeling better now?" Conner asked gently.
Len opened her eyes as she noticed that he was in the school parking lot. She smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Much." They both got out of the car and walked towards the school doors.
"Len, do you need a ride after school?"
Len shook her head. "Thanks, though."
"Well, if you need me, I'll have my pager on. I'm helping set up the stage for the matinee this whole day, so I won't see you during school. And the school's also got an evening performance tonight also. You can call me, though, 'kay? I'll come and get you if you need me."
"Aw, that's so sweet, Conner!" she gave him a hug.
Conner grinned. "Get used to it. That's how I'm gonna treat you for the rest of our days." This time, he kissed her on the cheek and said goodbye as they went their separate ways as the school day started.
