D'Ken sneers at me, the eerie lighting inside the crystal highlights his tight jaw and gives the appearance that his eyes are popping from his head. I had disintegrated his sister without a second thought, but in the short seconds that had just passed, he became one with the crystal. It'll take more than just a thought to kill was the final battle. If I fail, then the entire universe falls to his power.
Only with the Phoenix can I succeed. I just pray it's not too late.
The surface of the crystal was smooth, with only one tiny crack on the side. The Breech. I didn't realize it would be so literal.
D'Ken jumps me. His hands grasping for my throat. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't do anything. But the Phoenix could. I flip him, landing hard on his chest and knocking the wind from his lungs. He recovers almost instantly, throwing me against the slick wall.
I slide down as he steps towards me. I taste blood as I scramble to my feet and plant a hard kick to his shin, which seems to give more pain to my toes than to his leg.
He rips a dagger from his belt and presses the point to my throat. There is a sharp pain and a warm trickle of blood runs down. For the first time in the entire situation, I'm scared.
There are two things I can do here. Flight or fight.
I choose the latter of the two.
I knock the blade out of his with telekinesis and it slides across the ground, stopping with a clink against the wall.
Now we are on level ground. That is if he wasn't connected to the crystal in such a way that made this his terrain. Soon tendrils of energy start forcing themselves from the walls and towards me. I dodge them as D'Ken laughs.
I can almost control them with telekinesis. But their power is too strong for me to compare. As one tendril wraps itself around my wrist, a searing pain shoots up my arm. I gasp and try to free myself, but like quicksand, the more I fight the tighter it becomes until I'm sure it's breaking the bone.
The glint of the dagger catches my eye and with a quick swipe of my powers, it flies into my hand. I don't hesitate to slice the tentacle.
"Arrrrg!" If felt like an electric current went through me as the metal hits the energy. However, it shrivels away, leaving dark streaks on my arm from where it was wrapped.
After that, I manage to stay free from the tendrils for the most part. But now it was time for the main performance. D'Ken.
"You are not matched for me." He spits. The ground below him begins to rise like a sort of pedestal.
"I am the Daughter of the Crystal," my voice is not my own, "you are simply mortal. I am power incarnate!"
The same fire that teleported us to space surrounds us. It gives me strength but appears to drain him of his power. Soon he falls to his knees. With such ease, the Phoenix yanks him off of his tendril pedestal and he collapses with his face at my feet.
"Come on," I say, grabbing onto him above the collarbone and the Phoenix fire teleports us out of the M'Kraan crystal.
As the light clears out, so does my strength. My legs wobble underneath me as I hover the knife above D'Ken's neck. After their rule, it is a tradition to behead the emperors. And since after this has ended completely, the chances of him being emperor are almost too slim to compute, I think it only reasonable to at least threaten him.
He lets out a whimper and Lilandra comes to my side, holding a blade of her own. "Thank you," She says softly. She takes her brother from me and with a swift swing of her knife, D'Ken is dead.
The Guards take his bloody body away from Lilandra and I lose all strength. I fall to the ground, pain eating away at my wrist.
Scott kneels beside me, "I've got you," he says, carefully lifting me into more of an upright position. Then he embraces me, "you're okay. I'm so glad." His voice is breathy like he was the one fighting.
"About that," I mumble. I look down at the still glowing crystal on the floor. How do I explain to him that the only way to guarantee the retirement of the crystal is to put it in a place where no one will be able to get it.
No, that's the easy part. The impossible part is that after the crystal is completely healed, the Phoenix will not be needed anymore. It'll die. Which means after the crystal is placed. I will be dead as well.
"Jean, what is it?" Scott asks, pressing his face into my hair.
"I…" I pause, trying to choose my words wisely. Then everything spills out, starting from what happened in the crystal, to now, "the only place where life cannot get to it is the center of the sun." I take a deep breath before continuing, "but the Phoenix won't live. Which means I won't be able to survive."
"No, " he says immediately, "I'm not letting you throw your life away."
"I'm not!" I argue,"if a mission must result with a casualty for the rest of the team to escape than that's what we do. Scott, we've known this since we were kids." Technically speaking I had already died once for the team. "I guess I have a tendency to die when it comes to cosmic forces," I add.
Scott holds me tighter. His fingers run through my hair as lie my head on his chest. I listen to his steady heartbeat and rattling breath.
"I love you." I say, "and I'm sorry it has to be like this."
He sighs, "don't do this."
I shut my eyes, trying to keep the tears back, "I have to or else the crystal will destroy everything. Everyone will die."
"What about me? Without you, I'll won't last a week."
"You have to."
"Jean please." This was his last attempt. After this, he must realize that the argument was a lost cause because he holds me tighter than ever. We were both fighting back tears now.
"I love you so much," he whispers, kissing my forehead.
I raise my chin and press my lips against his. He firmly kisses me back. Then I rise to my feet and Ororo embraces me. My vision is masked by bushy white hair for a moment. "Take care," I whisper.
"you too." She says softly. "Or..."
I manage a weak smile, "Thanks, Ororo."
Then I pick up the crystal from the floor and close my fingers around it. I look at Scott. "Goodbye, Cyke," I say. He nods and mouths, goodbye.
The final urge to cry washes over me. My breath catches in my lungs as I'm engulfed in flames and the planet fades away. This was it. The only thing surrounding me was space. Vast, terrifying, space.
Finally, with only a quadrillions stars surrounding me, I feel the last wisp of life leave my system.
To be continued...
Author's notes: what do you think? I really wanted to make this chapter heartbreaking, but I'm not quite sure I suceeded. it is really hard to right something sad, but nevertheless I hope this was not boring and that all my lovely readers are excited for the dark phoenix part of the story. The next chapter will be in Scott's PoV, and will sort of be a break from the Phoenix stuff. but hopefully still will be suspenceful and such. anyway, I'm off to watch some Harry Potter. See you all later!
