Disclaimer: All X-Men and related characters are property of Stan Lee and Marvel. I claim nothing over them except avid fascination.

As a slave to the Wolverine, I found myself forced to write this story. It's short and abrasive, but it helped a bit. He's still there though, so don't be surprised at the story's content. It's rated Mature for Language and Innuendo.

Displacement- Jean didn't die at Alkali Lake because another was there to take the burden from her shoulders. But, what happens when the two women find themselves victim to the same entity? LoganOC

Chapter Thirteen- Knowing

(Eryana)

"I didn't even know that we had any suits in there," Shadowcat spoke up as I passed her in the hall. "I thought that they made them specifically for members, not that they just had extras laying around," she smiled at me.

I glanced down at myself and shrugged. My outfit was exactly like everyone else's except for the fact that it had a halter top with gloves exactly like the ones I preferred to wear that reached up just above my elbow. It exposed a great deal of my skin, but my skin was my greatest weapon. It was all black, except for the inseams. They were the exact color of my hair. "Well, Xavier said that when I left, he had this designed this with the hope that when I returned, I would need it," I shrugged my shoulders indifferently. It wasn't something that I would prefer to wear, but I wanted everyone to know what side I was on. I never even thought I'd make it out of the base, let alone be fighting against the bad guys, I thought to myself as I proceeded to walk down the hall. I'd pulled my hair back tightly so that it was out of my face, but a few strands fell down into my eyes as I walked into the hangar where the others were waiting.

Wolverine's eyes met mine and for a moment I just stared at him. Shaking it off, I glanced over at Storm and nodded my head. "Are you sure that you're going to be okay coming in with the smaller jet?" even though Xavier had assured everyone that I was, she still had her doubts. "I could fly you and me in and everything would still be fine."

"Magneto plans on using Jean as his main weapon," Xavier spoke up serenely. "But, Jean is really no longer herself. I haven't been able to reach her telepathically for quite some time, so there are no doubts in my mind as to whether or not she's there. She is not. Phoenix is, however, and from what she exhibited last night, it's going to take more than we're prepared for to stop her."

Not if I have anything to say about it, I thought to myself as I flexed my fingers. "So we're ready to head out then?" I glanced around at the group of people. "You know, it would be helpful if we had that one blue guy that poofed everywhere."

"He went to Germany," Shadowcat spoke up softly. "He went to join the priesthood."

Couldn't he have waited until after we kicked some asses? I thought to myself as I nodded my head in understanding. "Well, then I can see why he's not around. Everyone has their positions, right? Good, lets get going," the six of them quickly boarded the large jet that sat in the center of the hangar while I stood beside Xavier and watched them liftoff without any problems whatsoever.

"There's our ride, darlin," Wolverine chuckled as the room shifted with the flick of a switch, a large conveyer belt of sorts moving and a jet that was almost an exact replica of the larger one appeared. "Not much room in there, though," he shook his head as he sized it up.

"I refueled it and calibrated it," my eyes darted to the side as Scott walked sullenly into the hangar. He was still pretty upset that he wasn't going on the mission, but he was at least trying to accept it. "It's ready for the trip across country, but I'm not sure how fast you'll want to travel. The Blackbird is capable of flying ten times faster than this one, so I suggest you knock it up to full speed. You probably won't get to the location until almost forty-five minutes after the others. It doesn't sound like that much time, but it's a lot when we're talking about a big battle," the ramp lowered on the small jet and he stood beside it. "Scarlet," he cringed when he used my name, "The Professor is putting a lot of faith in you, and I guess I'm going to, too," he held out his hand.

Grinning, I stepped up and shook his hand quickly, without pulling anything from him. I had absorbed enough from Storm to last me a good five hours, but it had almost been too much. She had been a bit shaky, but she was fine. "Thanks Cyclops. That actually means a lot to me," and it did for some unknown reason. I glanced down at Xavier and he nodded his head serenely. I'd felt his gentle throbbing in the back of my mind since the meeting had commenced, but I wasn't sure whether or not he'd been able to penetrate my mind at all. "Charles, I want to say I'm sorry. I should have said sorry to everybody, but I'm too damned stubborn. I was wrong for acting the way I did all those months ago. I was a fool, but I worked things out. I did the right thing, but I didn't do it in the right way."

"Thank you for apologizing," he nodded his head slowly. "I am the one that should be sorry, however. I should never have forced you to stay here, expecting that you would come to accept living here. It was my mistake, my dear, and I'm sorry," he smiled. I listened when you asked about Phoenix. You are the reason I suspected something was awry in the first place. But, it was too late, Eryana. I know that your will is stronger than Jean's, and I pray that it will be enough, his strong voice echoed in my mind.

If what everyone says is true, then we're going to have to take them down. And hard. I was trained for this sort of stuff, Charles. Though I may not want to admit it, Stryker gave me a purpose in life that I had been desperately searching for. It may not have been the best purpose, but dammit, at least I have one now, I thought loudly, knowing that he would hear. "You sure you're up for this, Logan?"I glanced up at him as he threw his cigar on the ground and put it out with his foot. He had been extremely quiet the last few hours, and it was unnerving.

"Lets get this show on the road, darlin," he slapped Scott on the shoulder as he passed him. He quickly boarded the jet and I followed. He sat down in the co-pilot's chair while I sat down in the pilot's chair. I quickly slid the communication device on, the earphones covering my ears and the small microphone adjusted. "You sure you know how t'fly this thing?" he asked me as I started the pre-flight procedure.

Smiling, I lifted the jet into the air quickly, sailing through the open-aired hangar at a rapid speed. We were flying through the air, just above the trees. "Is that good enough for ya, old man?" I glanced over at him and he was smirking.

"Well, lets see if you can land this thing better than Cyke. He likes to make things bumpy," he chuckled lightly as he shook his head. "Storm though, she's got a nice steady hand on the gears. I sure don't mind when she flies 'cause she can take care of some of the turbulence, too."

I could only smile as I set the autopilot and leaned back in the chair, stretching my arms over my head. His eyes were wide the moment I took my hands off of the controls, and a bit of anger shone in his eyes. "What's the point if you have autopilot?" I shrugged my shoulders. "Don't worry, once we get about twenty-five miles out I'll take back over. This is the boring stuff though. Radar will let me know if we get too close to anything," white fluffy clouds were all around us. "I was afraid Scott would try to stow away or something. He isn't at all happy about staying at the School with Xavier, is he?"

"Nope," he answered gruffly as he pushed a lever on his chair and it turned to face mine. He leaned back comfortably, crossing his hands behind his head as he continued to stare at me. "I don't reckon he's t'all happy 'bout staying with Chuck. Damn, he almost died today, do you realize that? Well 'course you do since ya dragged him back to life, but I don't think he realizes it. But, Jean is his, after all," the admittance seemed to pain him a bit as he shook his head.

"So what is it about the redhead, eh?" I grinned at him, but quickly cleared my throat when his eyes glinted in anger. "From what little I've picked up, she's been with ol' Scott for some time, but the moment she met you there was a lot of friction. I can see her point though," I turned my chair so that I was facing him, crossed my legs and rested my feet on top of his. "Scott is like the perfect boyfriend though, isn't he? He's caring, understanding, got a nice tight butt, he's clean shaven, and he's at her beck and call. Now personally, I don't find many of those attributes very attractive, but I can understand her reasonings, ya know? But you," I shook my head as I gave him a once over. "All she can think about when you're near her is all predatory-like and such. Her mind goes blank and her tongue grows heavy and she wants you. It's not much more than that though, or at least from what I can tell."

"Is she still there?" he asked roughly as he pointed at his head. "She still in there talking to you?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Not so much her as it is this Phoenix bullshit. From what I can figure out though, it's more like the primal side of Jean's mind. So I can really buy into the idea of a split personality. One minute it's calm and collected, and the next I have to fight to push it back because it wants to take over my body."

"What the hell for?" he crinkled up his nose in confusion. "Why would the psyche thing want to take over your body?"

"Well, put it together, big boy. If the psyche had complete control over my body, it wouldn't just be part of my mind. Its personality would be the main personality, and I would no longer be in control. Something like that happened in the beginning right after Conner died," it still hurt inside to mention him. "It almost killed me forcing him back into a small little room in my mind, but I did. He loves me still, but he doesn't like being stuck in my mind. The whole time I was at the base he hid, feared for my well being and kept out of the way. The telepaths there found him interesting though, so he usually didn't get too much peace. He's barely there now though, and I don't really understand why. But I think it has a lot to do with this Phoenix thing. It's so demanding sometimes, but I've fought it this long."

His eyes were glazed over as he stared at me, a look of wonder in them. "So it's like a daily battle then? Fighting to remain the alpha?"

"I guess you could say something like that," I glanced down at my fingers and shrugged my shoulders. "Some days I can almost forget that they're even there, but others it's bad enough so that I'm close to giving up. But, I think having this Phoenix thing in my head puts me on equal footing with Jean, at least for now. Because I know what's going on."

"You do?" he raised one brow as he pulled a cigar out of nowhere and slid it into his mouth, never lighting it. It was evident that the taste alone was enough to calm his nerves. "And you couldn't find time to tell us this before because..."

"I haven't gained your trust yet, anyone's trust for that matter, so I didn't think I had a right to speak up," I let out a soft sigh. Sure I had voiced my opinion, but it hadn't been my place to fill in the blanks. "Look, whatever this thing is has taken over Jean. She's gone. Caput. It's like this dark mass of evil swirling around in my brain, and if it's anything like what she's dealing with, it's strong. It feeds off of pain, and if what Xavier said was true, it drained Jean dry. She was hurting, both physically and mentally when she was holding back that water, Logan. I think that when she strained herself, she made herself too weak to fight back."

"And you? You weren't too weak to fight it back?" he asked softly.

"No, I wasn't too weak. I'm not too weak. I'll keep fighting this thing as long as it's in my damned head because I have no other choice. Jean accepted her death before all of this, so I'm not surprised that she didn't fight it a bit harder. I'll go down swinging, but Jean," I shook my head in disgust, "She went down without so much as a sissy punch."

He was quiet for a moment before he spoke up again. "So if part of this thing is in your mind, does that make you as strong as she is? The others aren't exactly heavyweights, but they got their ass's kicked by her and her alone. I don't even know how the hell we're gonna take 'er down."

"I don't know, Logan," I gulped loudly and shook my head before glancing down at the monitors and then back at him. "But we're going to find out."

A/N: There are only three chapters left, everyone. Thanks for reading and be sure to review!