Tragedy

This is even worse than the romance one.  I think…yes, I think we tried to make this one nauseating.  Yeah…we definitely did.  Even though this would potentially be a very sad story, I can't help but laugh when I'm reading or writing it.

"Two lines…?" Jean gasped to herself.  "What am I going to do?  I'm only eighteen years old.  I'm not ready…"

Jean's life was just starting to get good.  Her relationship with Pietro was better that both her relationships with Scott and Duncan put together.  However, it did create a tense atmosphere in the Xavier Institute among her fellow X-Men.  They had come to accept Kitty's relationship with St. John, but for some reason could not find themselves to understand why Jean had left Scott for someone like Pietro.

But no one knew Pietro like she did, but now, she was about to make his reputation with her even worse.  She would eventually have to tell everyone, and she wanted to do it before she started to show.

"Here's where I come in." said Professor Xavier.  "I'll play the evil professor.  Maybe I can even hit her!"

"No, throw something at her face!" said Beast.  "Blind her in one eye!  Make it permanent!  That way, it'll be more tragic."

"Good idea." Said Professor Xavier as he vigorously started typing.

"Professor…" Jean said nervously.

"Yes, Jean?" Professor Xavier asked innocently as he turned around and smiled at her with a sparkle in his teeth.

"I have something very important to tell you." Jean said.

"Of course, my child." Said the professor wisely.  "You know you can tell me anything you wish.  Have a seat."

"Yes…" said Jean as she sat down.  "Well, I know how you feel about Pietro and I…"

The Professor closed his eyes and nodded.

"And what I'm about to say to you will shock you…"

"Silence, Jean!" said the professor.  "I just read your mind!  I know all about your little frenzies that you have nearly every day!  It's no surprise that you would get pregnant sooner or later!  And frankly, I'm glad it did!  Maybe it'll teach you a lesson not to allow boys to stick things where they don't belong!"

"It's not like that!" Jean said, standing up.  "I love him!  He loves me!  I can't control my heart!"

"But you can control your sex drive!" the professor roared angrily.

Jean broke down into tears.  "I thought you would understand!"

"Jean, I accepted you into my home." The professor said.  "Of all my students, I expected the most out of you.  You were extremely powerful, intelligent and beautiful.  You had enormous potential.  But you've thrown all that away.  You were like a daughter to me.  But now, as far as I'm concerned, I don't even know you anymore.  The daughter I knew would never cross over."

"Pietro is a good man!" Jean yelled.  "I love him and I'll continue seeing him!  He will take care of me and the unborn child!"

"Get out of my office, stranger!" Professor Xavier yelled.

"But Professor!" Jean cried.

"GET OUT!!!" The Professor yelled at he hurled a vase at Jean that hit her square in the eye, shattering on impact.  Jean fell to the floor, blood dripping from her face, staining the floor.

"My eye!" Jean screamed, running out of the room, clutching her face.

The Professor sighed, turned around and looked out the window.  He buried his face in his hands and broke down into tears.  "What have I done?" he muttered to himself.

"That was incredible, Charles." Said Beast.  "I have goose bumps."

"Thank you, Hank." Said Professor Xavier.

"Can I be evil too?" Beast requested.

"Hm…how about we make you her father in this story?"

"Me?  Jean's father?  Sounds good…"

Jean spent most of her time following her confrontation with the Professor in her room alone.  She could no longer see out of her injured eye which made life very hard for her.  Falling behind her studies, she thought that she might just have to drop out of school.

Night fell and suddenly, she heard something light strike her window.  She opened the window and looked down to the ground to see Pietro waving to her.

"Come down!" he called.  "Let's go!"

"Pietro, I have something to tell you." Jean said, jumping out the window and allowing herself to float to the ground.

"What happened to your eye?" Pietro asked, putting his hand to her cheek and stroking it.

"It's nothing." Jean said, unable to look at her true love.  "Pietro…I have something to tell you.  I…I'm pregnant."

"Is it…mine?" Pietro asked, grabbing her hands.

"Yes." Said Jean.  "It's…ours."

"Then I will do the thing I've been waiting to do for two months." Said Pietro, getting on one knee.  "I was waiting for the right time to ask this.  And now's a good a time as ever.  Jean…will you marry me?"

"Wait!" said Beast.  "This isn't tragic!  I'm getting happy tears, not sad tears!  They're getting married!"

"I know, Hank." Said Professor Xavier.  "We're going to build it up and then crash it down."

"You're good." Said Beast with a wink.  "You're sly."

"I will, Pietro!" said Jean, tears streaming from her face.  "Nothing would make me happier!"

Just then, Scott emerged from the shadows.  "I heard the whole thing." He said.

"Scott." Jean gasped.  "We've talked about this.  We're through.  I love Pietro."

"I know." Said Scott, cracking his knuckles.  "That's why this is going to be even more satisfying."  Without warning, Scott punched Pietro so hard it knocked him into a tree, scraping up his face and causing him to bleed, staining the silver hair that crowned his head.

"No!" said Jean dramatically, running over to Scott and grabbing his arm.

"Keep out of this, Jean!" said Scott, pushing her to the ground.  Then he turned back to Pietro who was only regaining his balance.  "This is where your journey ends, Maximoff." He said as he began to lift up his sunglasses.

"No one hits Jean while I'm still alive!" Pietro yelled, running up next to Scott at super speeds and punching him against the wall of the Xavier Institute.  Scott crashed against it and fell limp to the ground, unconscious.  Pietro grabbed Jean's hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Pietro…" Jean said, hugging him.  "Your face…"

"Love is a rocky road." Pietro answered, stroking her hair.  "We now share the wounds of our love."

"Where can we go now?" Jean asked.  "I can't go back to the institute and I can't go to the Brotherhood either."

"We'll have to go far away." Pietro answered.  "We'll start anew.  I know we will be able to do it.  With you there, I can do anything.  I'll go to the ends of the earth for you, Jean."

"Oh Pietro…" said Jean.

"Wait." Said Beast.  "Pietro isn't like that.  I swear."

"So?" said Professor Xavier.  "If you are Jean's father, then Pietro can act like this and have muscles."

"Oh all right." Said Beast.

Seven months later, Pietro had finally managed to scrounge up enough money at his minimum wage construction job working twenty hours a day at super speed in the hot sun.  They had both dropped out of school, and Pietro had bought a small trailer that he was planning on surprising Jean with after the wedding by carrying her across the threshold.

"It was a beautiful wedding." Jean said as Pietro carried her up the walkway.  "Soon we'll be a family!  The baby will be here any day now." She patted her bulging stomach.  "I'm just sorry my father didn't make it to the wedding…"

"It's all right." Said Pietro.  "My father didn't come either."

"Yes but…" Jean said, wiping her eyes.  "It's always been my dream to have him walk down the isle with me."

"We have each other, Jean." Said Pietro.  "And that's all that's important."

"Are you all right carrying me and the baby with your leg in that condition?" Jean asked.

"It's been feeling better." Pietro said, leaning over and opening the rickety door to the trailer. 

"I just didn't think you'd heal so fast after having a steal beam dropped on your leg from twenty-five stories up…" Jean said.

"Are you ready to enter our new home?" Pietro asked.

"I am!" Jean exclaimed.  But then she paused and clutched her stomach.  "I think the baby is coming!  It's time!  We're going to be a family!"

"We have to hurry to the hospital!" Pietro said, closing the door and carrying Jean.  "I'll have to carry you across the threshold later.  It's too bad we don't have a car…but I can't drive anyway…"

"The baby!" Jean said.

"I'll take you!" Pietro said, carrying Jean.  He carried Jean forty miles semi-super speed to the nearest hospital.  With the injury in his leg and carrying Jean in her pregnant state, it proved to be very difficult to him, but they finally reached the hospital and got Jean into delivery.

Pietro waited outside the room when a doctor came out looking grief stricken.  "Are you the husband?" he asked.

"Is the baby okay?" Pietro demanded, leaping to his feet.

"Only time will tell." The doctor replied sadly.  "But unfortunately, your wife has an eighty percent chance of not making it through the delivery."

"No." whispered Pietro.  "It can't be."

"You should say your last goodbyes to her." The doctor said, holding back his tears.

"While she's giving birth?" Pietro questioned.

"It may be the last time you see her." Said the doctor.  "Alive."

Pietro solemnly entered the delivery room and approached Jean who was drenched in sweat.  "Pietro, the baby's almost here!" she said weakly.

"I know, Jean." Said Pietro, grabbing her hand.  "You're going to be okay!  The baby will too.  We'll be a family."

"No, Pietro." Said Jean.  "I'm not going to make it.  I need you to be strong for the baby."

"Don't say that, Jean." Said Pietro.

"My only regret is that I'll never get to see the house you managed to buy for our family." Jean continued.

"Mrs. Maximoff, I need you to give one final push." Said the doctor.

"You're going to be okay, Jean!" Pietro said, grabbing her hand tighter.

"I won't make it Pietro." Said Jean.  "I must tell you.  The baby…I must tell you the truth about the baby…"

"Mrs. Maximoff…" said the doctor.  "That push…anytime now…"

"One moment." Said Jean, looking back at Pietro.  "The baby…it's not yours."

"Not mine?!" Pietro asked dramatically.  "Whose is it?!"

"It belongs to…" Jean started but she gave a mighty push and the baby emerged into the world.  Tears formed in Jean's eyes.  "I love you Pietro." And then her eyes closed, breathed her last breath and then drifted into an eternal sleep.

"Jean…" Pietro said.  "You're all right…you'll be okay…NO!!"

"Mr. Maximoff." Said the doctor, holding a bundle of pink blankets.  "Would you like to see your new daughter?"

Pietro took a deep breath and let go of Jean, reaching out for the baby.  The doctor handed her to him and he looked into her eyes.  He sighed and stroked her head lovingly.

"This baby…" he said.  "She is not mine.  But, I will love her like she was my own.  I have no other place to go, so I will search for her true father.  I shall name her…Kastarry."

"Oh Charles!" Beast wailed, blowing his nose.  The Professor wiped his eyes on his sleeve.  "I can't handle anymore tragedy!  It's just too…tragic!  Why did she have to die?!"

"I don't know…" the Professor said, taking a tissue and wiping his face.

"No more tragedy." Beast said.  "Pietro has suffered enough!  I'm starting to feel bad for him!  The next time I see him in real life I'm going to burst into tears!"

"All right…what kind of story should we make it then?" asked Professor Xavier.

There was a pause.

"Let's write a slash." Said Beast.

"Between who?" Professor Xavier asked in an intrigued tone.

"Pietro and Kastarry's real father!" Beast said, jumping up and down.

"But Jean JUST died!" Professor X said, sounding appalled.

"That would make it even JUICIER!" Beast said.  "That way, he can randomly feel guilty!"

"But who is Kastarry's real father…?" Professor Xavier wondered.  "Oh!  How about Remy?"

"So that her name will be Kastarry LeBeau?  Charles, is it just me or are you inserting your original character into our story?" Beast asked, putting his hands on his hips.  "I said no original characters."

"She's already born!" Professor Xavier argued.  "Besides, my original character is Remy's twin sister, not his daughter."

"So Remy has a sister and a daughter with the exact same name?" Beast said, raising his eyebrow.

"Yes." Said the professor.  "That would make it more insane when he finally finds his sister.  He would exclaim something like, 'It's fate that my daughter would be named the same as my sister!'"

"We're not bringing the sister in." Beast said.  "It's bad enough we have ONE original character named Kastarry."

"I like Kastarry." Said Professor Xavier.

"So…a slash between Remy and Pietro?" Beast said, trying to get off the subject of Kastarry.

"Sure!" said Professor Xavier.