For My Beloved, In Remembrance
"Scott!" Jean cries out in her sleep. She awakes rather abruptly out of her restless sleep, to the dreaded reality that her husband is gone. The monstrous Apocalypse had possessed Scott's body. In the process, her beloved's mind had seemingly been destroyed.
"Jean? I heard you cry out. Are you all right?" A quite concerned Ororo asks, rushing into Jean's bedroom.
"All right? I guess so," Jean remarks sharply. "I'm sorry, Ororo. I'm at a lost about what to do right now. Despite what Charles said, I still can't believe that Scott is really gone. That there isn't any hope that he could be saved by wrenching that monster out of his body. There has to be something we can do? It can't end like this! After all we've been through!"
"Jean, dearest sister of my heart. I understand how you must feel." Ororo says, her voice filled with sorrow. She sits down at the foot of the bed that Jean and Scott had shared.
"Do you?" Jean practically yells. "Oh God, Ororo. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean."
"Don't worry. I understand where you are coming from. You want to believe so badly," Ororo remarks sadly, putting her hand on Jean's shoulder. "But there is no possibility. Charles would have moved heaven and earth to have saved Scott. But, by the Goddess, Jean, it just isn't possible."
An awkward silence follows. Neither woman knowing what to say. Both wishing that this had been some sort of nightmare that they would wake up from. That Scott would come waltzing through that door, chiding them for holding up a danger room session with their girl talk.
"I miss him," Jean says, tears starting to stream down her porcelain face. She glances down upon the comforter that she had picked out with her husband. "You know, we had a little argument about this bedspread. He wanted the royal blue one. But I wanted emerald. So we, so we flipped for it. Silly, huh?"
"No," Ororo says, brushing away her own tears, in light of her friend's pained laughter.
"We wanted to start a family. Scott never had the opportunity to raise Nathan, due to...."Jean shakes her head in fury. "That monster. Because of him we lost so much! Dear Lord, I never thought it was possible to hate someone this much!"
"It's understandable," Ororo says, wishing there was something she could due to ease her friend's pain.
"We argued about possible names for the baby. He wanted to name the baby after his parents. Katherine, if it was a girl, and Christopher, if it was a boy," Jean says, attempting a half smile.
"But, Cable was named after Christopher." Ororo remarks, somewhat stunned.
"Yes, that's what I said as well. But Nathan has always gone by the name that Madeline had picked out. Sinister's old moniker. Scott wanted to honor his father, by naming another son after him. I chided him about it. I told him that I didn't want any Roman numerals after our children's names. That I wanted them to have their own identity."
"Jean are you?" Ororo asks, somewhat fearfully.
"Yes," Jean cries out, bursting into tears.
"By the Goddess, Jean! Words cannot express how sorry I am that you have to suffer through this!" Ororo says, embracing Jean. Wishing to the Bright Goddess that there was a way she could erase the past few weeks.
"How am I supposed to tell this baby about her father? Huh? What am I supposed to say? I'm sorry honey, but your Daddy's been possessed by a monster that we should have killed when we had the chance!" Jean states chillingly.
"Jean!" Ororo says, a bit horrified by how bloodthirsty Jean's voice sounds. "You can't let Apocalypse change you! Then he wins!"
"Don't you think I know that, Ororo?" Jean states abruptly. "I've said that a million times before in the past. When Magneto hurt Logan so badly. When Rusty was killed by Holocaust. But I'm beginning to wonder, if we need to take a harder line."
"Jean, you have always been the most compassionate of souls. Don't let him win!" Ororo states pleadingly. "Look at Sarah, I thought I had killed her months ago. I thought that there had been no other solution to save the endangered innocents. But I was wrong. She's now a valued member of our team. Working to make amends for all the harm she had done. By taking the hard line, you would be eliminating the possibility for reformation. For redemption. Something that you have always fervently believed in!"
"Ororo, I'm so tired of this. I just want to feel Scott's soul pouring through our psychic link. To hear his laughter again," Jean says, noticing Ororo's slightly disbelieving look. "Yes, he did indeed laugh at times. He wasn't always so somber. Especially when we were living in Alaska. Being free of his role as the leader of the X-Men, he could relax and unwind more."
"Yes, I can understand how he must have felt. Relinquishing leadership has lifted an enormous weight off my shoulders, so to speak," Ororo remarks frankly. Almost ashamed to admit it.
"I just wish. I wish he was here. In my arms, right now. Arguing about the baby's name. Arguing about the bedspread. Arguing about Charles leaving. Arguing about, anything!" Jean cries out in anguish.
"Jean....." Ororo whispers sadly. But there is nothing she can do, but hold her dear friend until the sobbing stops.