Disclaimer: X-Men is not mine, but Angel, Ian, Kendra, Ms. Simmons, and Maria are mine.
Chapter 14 - Astral Conversations: Over the next two weeks, pretty much everyone avoided Angel. The blonde was extremely edgy, and liable to explode if anyone so much as looked at her funny. No one except for Ian and Kendra knew why, and they were also the only ones who were safe from her new behavior.
One night, Angel was sleeping, and having a very weird dream about some movie she'd seen that day, when it was interrupted. Suddenly, she was standing on a flat plain. There seemed to be nothing there. She looked up to see a sky that was pale violet instead of pale blue. The clouds were silver. "What the Hell?" she muttered.
"This is the Astral Plane, Angel," said a female voice behind her. Angel whirled to see the woman she knew as Phoenix. The redhead must have guessed what she was thinking, because she hastened to reassure Angel.
"I'm not Phoenix. I'm the real Jean Grey. Phoenix lied; she didn't get rid of me. But she does control my body, and this is the only way I can speak to people."
Angel stared at her. "Then why don't you just bring the Professor here?" Jean smiled sadly.
"She would expect that, and is on guard for it. Tapping you, on the other hand, is not something she would expect."
"But what am I supposed to do? I'm not interested in any more deals. I'm sick of playing games."
Jean sighed. "Angel, you and I are the only ones who know about this. Unfortunately, no one is quite suspicious enough to go to the Professor." Angel cringed. She'd helped with that situation.
"I don't blame you. Phoenix is a master manipulator. She knew just what to use to enlist your help. But now I need your help."
Angel stared at her. She felt bad about what she'd done to help Phoenix. "What is she going to do?" she asked Jean, who looked saddened by the question.
"Kill as many of the people here as possible. It's her usual pattern, from what I can tell. She possesses someone, and then kills everyone her host cares about so the original owner of the body won't have a reason to fight." Angel shuddered. That was sick.
"So what do you want from me?" she asked.
"I want you to watch her. And if Phoenix does something... I'm afraid that she'll trick them, and they won't hurt her for fear of killing me. You won't have that problem, because you and I hardly know each other. You're the type who is willing to do exactly what is needed, and damn the consequences." Angel couldn't argue. It was something she'd learned over the years in foster care.
"If she tries something, and it seems I'll be proven right, I'm asking you to do whatever you can to stop her yourself." Angel's eyes widened.
"What if that means killing you?"
"Then do it. I don't want Phoenix to win. Do you?" Angel shook her head and was about to say something when her vision blurred. Jean and the Astral Plane faded away, and her eyes snapped open to reveal her darkened bedroom. Listening to her roommates' breathing, Angel wondered what she'd gotten herself into this time.
A/N: OK, about the Astral Plane, I have no idea what it's supposed to look like,so I just made something up.R&R!