Title: Stormy Forecast

Author: Viral

Author's Notes: Presumably, the last chapter. Thank you to everyone who has faithfully read and reviewed throughout this entire story. It's taken over five months, but it's done! Aren't you happy? But with all earnestness, I thank you and am so glad that you deemed the story good enough to "donate" time from your life reading what I've written.

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Dark clouds and a mournful atmosphere accompanied Logan's funeral on a chilly Saturday morning. Just about everyone he had ever come in contact with was there, which made for a large crowd. The Avengers, the Fantastic Four, X-Factor, the remnant of the Morlocks, and even the Acolytes had shown up. Despite the fact that they were sworn enemies with the X-Men, the evil mutants were still very much human, and a tragic death was to be mourned respectfully.

Ororo stood by Miguel's side as a soloist rendered a selection. The actual funeral service and viewing were done and over with, not it was time to bury him. Logan had stayed alive for years, decades, perhaps even close to a millennium. After countless battles against Sabretooth, Magneto, Unus, and even Apocalypse, Ororo had been the one to finally take him down. She had been the one, after all these years, to take his life. Misery and guilt found sanctuary on her countenance as thoughts of sadness and the days ahead filled her mind. How would she be able to stay with her family after this? Would it be possible for them to live and love Ororo the same way without looking at her strangely? She was a murderer -- of course not by her own will, but it happened through her body and made her liable.

As she listened to the soloist's beautiful soprano tone, she held her head down. Her emotions were beginning to flare within her as her eyes heated and her nose began to get stuffy. Was it possible that Ororo Munroe, the relentless and emotionless queen, was going to cry? She closed her eyes to stop the tears. 'It has been years since I have cried,' she deliberated to and with herself. 'No! I cannot think about my past. If I think of my past, I must remember my parents. If I think of my present, I will only be able to see Logan's lifeless body. If I attempt to predict my future, I see sadness away from my family. Is there no escape?' She instinctively pulled herself closer to Miguel, seeking protection from herself and her thoughts. Miguel pulled her closer, his bulky bicep resting on her back as his hand pushed her closer into his chest.

When Ororo finally lifted her head and opened her eyes to look at the scene, she saw a blanket of snow covering the ground, the mansion, and umbrellas. Apparently, her immunity to the cold had kept her oblivious to the falling snow. The falling snow and lifeless wind made for a true moment of silence as Logan's coffin was finally confined to its gravesite.

Ororo's heart began to beat hard as the earth was shoveled over the immaculately designed coffin. She breathed heavily, trying to hold in the tears that threatened to pour from her eyes. She looked to the grieving face of Xavier, who caught her eye at the same time. He attempted to contact her telepathically, tried to probe her mind to see what was wrong, but she didn't want him in her head. Not at that time. She turned from his worried face to see Magneto, not dressed in a purple and red cape, but dressed in a suit and tie. Amazingly he was no longer the master of magnetism, but so very human in nature. She rested her eyes on Callisto, a woman she despised, but whom at this time, seemed perfect compared to a murderer.

Yes, I am a murderer, Ororo thought to herself. An innocent and wonderful man is being buried because of you, Ororo! She wanted to torture herself, to just die at that very moment. As the last collection of dirt was placed over Logan's flat gravesite, Ororo couldn't take it any longer. The winds intensified and pushed Miguel from her side. She flew into the air, her sandal-like heels falling to the ground as she gained altitude. The snow began to fall heavier and the clouds deepened, even darker than before. Thunder roared and in a minute's time, almost a foot of snow was covering the ground in its cold texture.

The mourning participants of Logan's burial fled into the mansion, all except Jean and Miguel.

"She's hurting," Jean said with her green eyes peeled to the sky. It was hard to catch a glimpse of Ororo's body as it tossed and flipped in the air. She had seen Ororo do this many times, as if she were on an invisible roller coaster, just flying aimlessly while thinking.

"Yeah," Miguel responded, his brown eyes looking down at the snow as he constantly kicked the piles of falling snow off of his feet. "I know she is. She has such a defined meaning of responsibility that she becomes to hard on herself. Can you help her?"

"I can understand her," Jean said, her red hair blowing in her face as the wind began to howl. "When I was possessed by the Dark Phoenix, I did some crazy things that I never wanted to do, including destroying an entire galaxy. I nearly killed all my friends and I wondered whether or not I could stay. I wondered if my team would look at me different or consider me as a killer."

"So what made you make up your mind to stay?" Miguel asked, curious.

"I had --," Jean paused as she reconstructed her thoughts and reworded her sentence. "Love is perhaps the most craziest thing to understand, you know? After my entire cosmic-entity-dark-power-days were over, I was worried about ever coming back to his place. But Scott was relentless. He was always by my side, always supporting me, and always reassuring me that I was loved not only by the team, but also by him. Love did the thinking for me. I knew that I still loved every person in this mansion as my brother, sister, father, or mother – and with Scott there to support me, I found the courage within myself to say. And it turns out, they treated me no different." Jean paused again, turning her face from the sky as she looked at Miguel. Her cheeks were red, her nose was a resemblance of a pointy beet, and her lips were dry and stale, but she persisted. "Can you be the man for Ororo that Scott was for me? She's my sister – but I can't love her like you can," Jean said, and then a question popped into her head. "Do you love her?"

"We've only known each other for a few days, but after all of this," he said. "Soy I bastante seguro la amo y nunca podré perder mi amor para ella." Jean smiled, as she telepathically was able to understand every word. I am pretty sure I love her and will never be able to lose my love for her.

"You need to talk to talk to her now before we get buried in the mansion for the rest of the week," Jean smiled, trying her best to chuckle under the morbid conditions. She telekinetically grabbed Ororo's body out of the air and began to pull her down. Lightning flared in Ororo's eyes, and Jean let go of her grasp with her hands out as a sign of peace, "Sorry! Sorry!"

Ororo hovered slightly above the two, her blue eyes covered in white and not a tear in sight. Perhaps that time alone in the sky had given her the ability to postpone her tears for all these years. Perhaps there was just something about riding the wind. Jean spoke, as Miguel remained silent and still amazed at Ororo's abilities and beauty, "Ororo... how are you holding up?"

Jean's question hung in the air before Ororo finally breathed in deeply and landed on the ground. She was an inch or so taller than Jean and a few inches shorter than Miguel, making for a perfect staircase arrangement if placed in the right order. "I am... concerned about my future here."

"Ororo, this is your home," Jean smiled as she embraced her sister before heading towards the mansion.

Miguel and Ororo shared odd looks in the falling snow before Miguel bent down on one knee, put his hands behind his back and looked up at Ororo, "Never before have I met a woman so gorgeous. I'm ready to do anything it takes to make you happy. So if you will..."

Ororo gasped, thinking to herself, 'Could this be a proposal?' Her blue eyes studied his serious face and submissive position. 'After only a few days?' Much to Ororo's surprise, as Miguel pulled his hands from behind his back; her stomach was met with a soft snowball. Miguel chuckled as he tackled Ororo and the two fell in the snow.

Ororo was on her back before she knew it. Miguel was over her, supporting himself up by his knees and arms, creating only a bit of distance between his body and Ororo's. "Would you dare begin a snow fight with one who controls not only the snow but the wind?" Ororo said, nearly smiling. Was Miguel able to alleviate her stress that easily? Apparently.

"Mi jinete hermoso del viento," my beautiful windrider, Miguel said, almost growling as he enticingly spoke to Ororo. "I love you." He placed a gentle kiss with his cold lips on Ororo's forehead as she laid in the snow, looking up to him with sad yet happy eyes.

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"Sounds like a storm's coming," Miguel said as he approached Ororo and Remy, who were sitting in working clothes at Logan's gravesite. The winter season had passed and summer was well into its hot days and torrential thunderstorms.

"I regret to inform you, yet again, that the weatherman is wrong," Ororo smiled as she adorned Logan's grave with flowers. It had become apart of her garden and apart of her memories. She took good care of the gravesite, as well as nurturing her friendships throughout the mansion.

Things had most definitely changed. Everett was now in the X-Men's ranks, Remy had finally let go of his protective watch over Ororo, and Miguel was given the okay by the Professor to come and go as he pleased.

"De storm still be comin Miguel," Remy snickered. "Wit' dis belle around, de forecast is always stormy." Ororo glared at Remy with a smile in her ever-so-serious eyes as Miguel sat by her side and the three enjoyed the kiss of the sunlight and songs of the birds for a little while longer.

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