This is the third and final dream. It will make sense only if you read it through.
Fantasies
Dream Three
By Maria Cline
In the world of dreams, dreams remain separate in the mind, apart from other dreams, private. Dreams reveal a person's inner being, inner desires. What if the dreams collide and twisted those desires? Would it be the ultimate dream? Or the ultimate nightmare?
*****
Annie hummed to herself as she brushed her hair and looking at her reflection. Right now, she was asleep and dreaming of this dream but that doesn't really matter. She loves these dreams, even if it's proof that she is really lonely and crazy for a man she doesn't really know.
She sighed as she thought back over the months. The dreams after that first marvelous dream had been wonderful, so real and yet she know it was a fantasy. She hasn't told a soul about these dreams, not even to her new friends, the X-Men. There were whispers and rumors about her feelings to Alex and some think she was just insane to love a 'warm corpse'.
In many ways, she didn't blame them. She thought she was crazy about this whole fantasy thing. Especially since Alex have a girlfriend. She will deal with this problem after Alex is awake and the dreams stop.
*****
Alex watched from behind as Annie finished her preparations. He loved these dreams; they were a pleasant change from the constant darkness he was in. He didn't know for certain if the woman standing before him was a real woman, a figment of his imagination, or a supervillianess in disguise but he liked her.
Annie turned around and looked at him. "Oh! You're here."
Alex's lips quirked at that look in Annie's eyes, they were so gentle and yet have a great strength in them. She had such beautiful eyes. "Where else would I be?" He quipped, "Ready for our date?"
Annie smiled as she nodded. "Where do you want to go today? Hawaii? Paris? Rome?"
"Hmmm... how about the Empire State Building? We can take a tour there and have some dinner." Alex said as he held out his elbow and Annie laced her arm around it.
"Sounds wonderful." Annie sighed as she held his hand.
Alex gasped as he felt her hand on his. She had such strong hands. "Good."
The two walked down the hallway and out of the door. Alex glanced down her. She was so beautiful and so strong; it was so hard to believe that she is a figment of his imagination.
Annie gazed upward at him and blinked. "What?"
"Nothing." Alex chuckled, "You are so cute."
Annie blushed as she looked down. "Let's just go to our date."
"Of course."
*****
Alex and Annie went down the street. It was filled with various people but they did not have distinct faces. They started appearing after several dreams. They were strange but they kept them company. At least it was far better than the bleak void he floated in day in and day out.
Suddenly, the ground shook and buildings crumbled around them. Annie screamed as she looked around frantically. "What is going on?! This never happened before!"
"I don't know but stay close to me. This may not be physically real but in here you can still get killed or worse. I don't want you to get hurt." Alex warned as he charged up his power. The familiar energy flowed through his body and his hands glowed brightly.
"Of course." Annie nodded as she stared at Alex's hands. The rumbling stopped and silence filled the air. The two stood frozen on the ground waiting for something to happen. Finally, Annie asked, "Is it over?"
"No." Alex held his head as his eyes glowed faintly. Something was going on in this world, in his mind and he didn't know what. He didn't really train to fight or use his power in so long in this void, now he would have to use his rusty skills to save Annie.
Then, the world started to vanish into a huge wall of light, like it was being consumed into oblivion. Alex focused his energies and let loose a massive barrage of plasma blasts, enough to destroy a small planet, only to watch the blasts fly harmlessly into the wall. "Annie, run!" Alex screamed as he picked up his girlfriend and ran down the street. The 'wall' rushed after them mercilessly. Alex's heart pounded as he carried the woman as fast as his legs could carry him. Unfortunately, the wall was far faster than he was. Alex kept on running, even as he felt like he was being absorbed into the wall, he had to save Annie. The last thought that came through his mind was 'Shit'.
*****
Alex slowly opened his eyes. The first thought that came to his mind was the fact that he was still alive. Then, he realized that everything was in a shade of red. He rose his hands and felt a familiar visor over his face and then he looked down at his outfit. Instead of his business suit, he was clad in Scott's blue and yellow uniform. He had somehow ended up in the mansion again.
"Alex?"
Alex looked behind to see a woman sitting on the floor stunned. She was dressed in a pilot's jumpsuit. Her hair was different but he recognized her face. "Annie?"
"Alex, what is going on? Why are you wearing that? What am I wearing? I'm a nurse not a pilot!" Annie rambled as she ran her hand through her hair.
"I don't know." Alex said as he sat down. "The previous dreams had us able to somewhat control what we wear and where we go but this is different. I hope it's not the shadow king."
"Shadow who?" Annie asked as she got up.
"A super evil telepath that resides in the Astral Plain, I thought the X-Men defeated him but I can be wrong." Alex explained calmly. Annie froze and stared at him. The man realized that while he was somewhat used to stuff like this, Annie didn't like the idea of some weird mental monster tampering with their minds. "Or it can be a glitch. Don't worry, everything will be okay." **I just have to believe that myself.**
Suddenly, a woman's scream came out of one of the closed rooms. "Oh no." Alex said as he gestured to Annie. "Stay here. This could get messy."
"No way, if that woman's hurt, I have to help her, I am still a nurse." Annie firmly said as she marched up and opened the door.
Alex followed her and quickly pulled her to the side. The sight before them was horrifying. Chained on the bed, dressed in a Dark Phoenix outfit, was Jean being pawed at by Havok, dressed in his last costume before he was 'killed' in the airplane explosion. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"
Havok turned around stunned and stared at him. "Well... you are an interesting figment of my imagination. That outfit is just awful, yellow underwear?"
It was bizarre, like looking in some distorted carnival mirror, this man looks like him but he was different. He had that aura of evil, of pure chaos. Maybe it was his darker side or some supervillian. He had to find out by pretending to be his older brother. "Hey! Everything I see is red! Is it my fault I'm color blind?" Alex asked as he tensed up.
"You have always been blind, older brother." Havok said as he chuckled. "I will enjoy crushing your skull in and drinking your blood."
**I never said anything like that, did I? I gotta save Jean and figure out what the hell is going on.** Alex thought as he straighten up even more. "You will have to kill me first!" He screamed as he lunged at the imposter.
"Hey!" Havok exclaimed as he dodged to the side. "I was supposed to do that! It's my role?"
"Role?" Alex grunted in shock as he chased after him. "What do you mean role? The real Havok isn't like this."
"Who cares? The real Havok is a brain dead vegetable with a psycho nurse in love with him." Havok chuckled. "While he is drooling in his biomed bed, I can be him and I know that he would want you dead, dear brother."
Alex's face paled as he stared at him. Someone or something had sent him and Annie to this strange place and altered their faces to face this imposter. He glared at Jean who seemed almost chuckling at the scene. Was she really Jean or some evil side of her that had once destroyed an entire solar system?
"He would never want that!"
The three looked at the door to see Annie standing there shaking with rage. "Alex would never want his own brother dead." The woman said as she marched up to Havok. Alex noticed that Annie's features vanished and was replaced by Madelyne Pryor's face. It was getting weird, even by his standards.
"Madelyne?" Havok whispered in shock and then looked her over. "Nice suit, but I prefer the Goblin Queen outfit."
"Madelyne? Goblin Queen?" Annie asked as she looked at Havok and then at Alex.
"Long story." Alex growled as he grabbed Havok by the shoulder. "Don't you dare hurt her."
"I won't hurt her, maybe fuck her good and hard." Havok taunted.
Annie gasped as she stepped back. This man was nothing like Alex, he was frightening to even look at. Alex saw the fear and snarled. He lunged at Havok and punched him in the eye.
"Hey!!!" Havok rubbed his face and stared at him. "You're not supposed to do that! You're the goodie two shoes boy scout! You're not supposed to do that!"
Alex smirked as he cracked his knuckles. "I have something to tell you, little bro, I'm not what you think I am!" He screamed as he rushed at the other man.
Havok ducked the blow and did a powerful upper cut at his jaw. Alex recoiled and then dodged the other blow. It was strange, almost symbolic to fight against this evil psycho while in the disguise of the ultimate hero, Scott Summers. Maybe he was his inner demon and he had to fight him but why was he stuck with Scott's face? He can't think about it now. He had to fight him. He had to save Annie.
Lighting flashed across the room as the two brawled. They were evenly matched, almost too evenly matched. Alex was getting frustrated and had to get the fight away from Annie. Saying a quick prayer, he placed his hand onto his visor and blasted Havok off of him and into the wall. "Ouch." Havok squeaked as he looked up from the other side of the wall through the hole he just made.
Alex rushed after him through the wall. He glanced around to see he was in another bedroom with a huge mirror next to the bed. In the reflection, was his own true image dressed in the clothes he had on before this bizarre fantasy happened. He tilted his head as he stared at the reflection, almost in awe of it. Behind him, he saw Scott standing behind him just as stunned. Alex spun on his heel and stared face to face with Havok. Everything made sense at that moment. "Scott?"
Havok blinked and then stared at the reflection and then at Alex. "Alex?"
At that moment, everything vanished and Alex found himself in his own form at the mansion. Annie, back to her old self with the nurse's outfit included, was shaking in the corner. Scott was looking around confused and dressed in some black and yellow uniform he had never seen before. Emma was lounging on a couch dressed in some white outfit that left little to the imagination. "What just happened?" Annie asked.
"Emma." Scott glared at the woman. "I thought he was your doing."
"I was just as surprised as you are." Emma replied as she sipped on some wine. "Do you think that I would involve other people into our little therapy sessions? I am a one-on-one sex therapist."
"Back up, back up." Alex waved hands. "Sex Therapist? Scott? Were you dressed up as me and making out with Em- ma..." His face paled as he sat down. Memories of the last few minutes overwhelmed his mind and then he screamed, "YOU HATE ME!"
"That's not true." Scott shook his head almost scared. "I would never think badly of you."
"You pretended to be me." Alex whispered, "You called me a vegetable and Annie 'psycho'. You were acting like me like I was some kind of maniac who would kill at a moment's notice and drink your blood. Is that what you really think of me? You thought... you bastard... and this!" Alex gestured toward Emma. "Where's Jean? You were making out with Emma... YOU WERE HAVING AN PSYCHIC AFFAIR! YOU SICK BASTARD! YOU BETRAYED JEAN! YOU BETRAYED YOUR WIFE!"
"No! Not at all!" Scott argued, "They are just thoughts. Nothing happened between us physically."
"Uh huh... I hate to break it to you but what goes on in the mind might as well happen in the real world." Alex said as he crossed his arms. "You of all people should know. What is real? This is real for me because I'm stuck in a coma."
"Alex..." Scott winced, "I just wanted to be 'bad'. I'm sick of being the 'boy scout'. This is just therapy for me."
Alex's head hurt as he tried to sort out the details. So many questions were unanswered, he had to ask them. He had to know what happened after that phone call before his 'death'. "What happened to you that would make you go to Emma? What happened between you and Jean?"
"Alex?" Annie interrupted, "I hope you are really Alex. I hate to break this up but... WHAT IN THE HOLY FATHER'S NAME IS GOING ON HERE?!"
"Simple." Emma got up. "We had a psychic version of signals mixup. My therapy sessions somehow got intercepted by you two and got caught up in our little fantasy. Scott wanted to be the 'bad brother' and so he became a twisted version of Havok and somehow Alex became the 'good brother' and hence became Cyclops. A simple reversal of roles, for a Summers of course."
Alex glared at Scott. He couldn't understand fully what just happened. Why did Scott want to be in this place, dressed up like him? He can understand his need step beyond his boundaries but this was too far. "You changed. The Scott Summers I know wouldn't be caught dead having an affair of any type with another woman and he would never take such fun in playing the bad guy, especially if that bad guy is me."
"I changed." Scott sighed as he rubbed his head. "After Apocalypse, I just changed and no one except for Emma understand that."
"Apocalypse?" Alex repeated, what happened to Scott? "Were you captured? Were you turned into one of the Horsemen like Warren?"
"I was Apocalypse and he was me." Scott explained as he tensed up. "I was one with his thoughts and become forever tainted by his memories. I loved that feeling of evil, of creating pure havoc, forgive the pun."
Annie spoke up after hearing the story. "Scott, I know that I am new to this sort of thing and this may sound naïve but you need professional help."
"I hear that all the time. It's annoying. I have not lost my mind! I just became sane after all these years of insanity!" Scott explained to the woman.
"Oh yeah, he needs help." Alex confirmed.
"He's seeing me." Emma said as she looked at the two. "Alex, you are a warm corpse, who cannot be rescued by any telepath, not even Charles. Annie, you are a Human who cannot comprehend what just happened but still... this session is private." She waved her hand and Alex found the room vanishing around him and then the memories of the events slipped away into darkness.
*****
Scott stared at the empty space in front of him. "Why did you do that? I could've helped him!" He demanded. He missed his brother so much and he knew that Alex was lonely in the darkness. He didn't even get a chance to find out what happened after the explosion.
"Our secret must remain between us." Emma answered as she tapped his lips with her slender finger. "That nurse Annie would blab it to Charles and Jean and what would happen next? That vegetable brother of yours can't stay in that coma as well. He would kill you the second he wakes up. They're not hurt. I just rewrote their memories. It's better this way. Trust me."
"We should stop this." Scott said as he pulled away. "This is getting out of control. This is too dangerous; the best thing to do is stop while we are still able."
Emma pouted as she changed into her Dark Phoenix outfit. "You don't want to be with me, Scott?"
"No, Jean." Scott whispered as he took off his jacket. "Let's get on with the session."
*****
"Alex?" Annie asked as she shook his shoulder.
Alex blinked and realized he was staring over the vast landscape over the Empire State Building. How did he end up here? Everything went by in a blur. "Sorry, I was just thinking."
"About what?"
Alex chuckled, "I don't know why but I was just wondering about what Scott was doing while I was trapped in here."
"I don't really know myself, they wouldn't tell me." Annie confessed, "But he seemed like a very good man."
"He's the best." Alex agreed as he leaned over the side.
The End... of the dream.
Fantasies
Dream Three
By Maria Cline
In the world of dreams, dreams remain separate in the mind, apart from other dreams, private. Dreams reveal a person's inner being, inner desires. What if the dreams collide and twisted those desires? Would it be the ultimate dream? Or the ultimate nightmare?
*****
Annie hummed to herself as she brushed her hair and looking at her reflection. Right now, she was asleep and dreaming of this dream but that doesn't really matter. She loves these dreams, even if it's proof that she is really lonely and crazy for a man she doesn't really know.
She sighed as she thought back over the months. The dreams after that first marvelous dream had been wonderful, so real and yet she know it was a fantasy. She hasn't told a soul about these dreams, not even to her new friends, the X-Men. There were whispers and rumors about her feelings to Alex and some think she was just insane to love a 'warm corpse'.
In many ways, she didn't blame them. She thought she was crazy about this whole fantasy thing. Especially since Alex have a girlfriend. She will deal with this problem after Alex is awake and the dreams stop.
*****
Alex watched from behind as Annie finished her preparations. He loved these dreams; they were a pleasant change from the constant darkness he was in. He didn't know for certain if the woman standing before him was a real woman, a figment of his imagination, or a supervillianess in disguise but he liked her.
Annie turned around and looked at him. "Oh! You're here."
Alex's lips quirked at that look in Annie's eyes, they were so gentle and yet have a great strength in them. She had such beautiful eyes. "Where else would I be?" He quipped, "Ready for our date?"
Annie smiled as she nodded. "Where do you want to go today? Hawaii? Paris? Rome?"
"Hmmm... how about the Empire State Building? We can take a tour there and have some dinner." Alex said as he held out his elbow and Annie laced her arm around it.
"Sounds wonderful." Annie sighed as she held his hand.
Alex gasped as he felt her hand on his. She had such strong hands. "Good."
The two walked down the hallway and out of the door. Alex glanced down her. She was so beautiful and so strong; it was so hard to believe that she is a figment of his imagination.
Annie gazed upward at him and blinked. "What?"
"Nothing." Alex chuckled, "You are so cute."
Annie blushed as she looked down. "Let's just go to our date."
"Of course."
*****
Alex and Annie went down the street. It was filled with various people but they did not have distinct faces. They started appearing after several dreams. They were strange but they kept them company. At least it was far better than the bleak void he floated in day in and day out.
Suddenly, the ground shook and buildings crumbled around them. Annie screamed as she looked around frantically. "What is going on?! This never happened before!"
"I don't know but stay close to me. This may not be physically real but in here you can still get killed or worse. I don't want you to get hurt." Alex warned as he charged up his power. The familiar energy flowed through his body and his hands glowed brightly.
"Of course." Annie nodded as she stared at Alex's hands. The rumbling stopped and silence filled the air. The two stood frozen on the ground waiting for something to happen. Finally, Annie asked, "Is it over?"
"No." Alex held his head as his eyes glowed faintly. Something was going on in this world, in his mind and he didn't know what. He didn't really train to fight or use his power in so long in this void, now he would have to use his rusty skills to save Annie.
Then, the world started to vanish into a huge wall of light, like it was being consumed into oblivion. Alex focused his energies and let loose a massive barrage of plasma blasts, enough to destroy a small planet, only to watch the blasts fly harmlessly into the wall. "Annie, run!" Alex screamed as he picked up his girlfriend and ran down the street. The 'wall' rushed after them mercilessly. Alex's heart pounded as he carried the woman as fast as his legs could carry him. Unfortunately, the wall was far faster than he was. Alex kept on running, even as he felt like he was being absorbed into the wall, he had to save Annie. The last thought that came through his mind was 'Shit'.
*****
Alex slowly opened his eyes. The first thought that came to his mind was the fact that he was still alive. Then, he realized that everything was in a shade of red. He rose his hands and felt a familiar visor over his face and then he looked down at his outfit. Instead of his business suit, he was clad in Scott's blue and yellow uniform. He had somehow ended up in the mansion again.
"Alex?"
Alex looked behind to see a woman sitting on the floor stunned. She was dressed in a pilot's jumpsuit. Her hair was different but he recognized her face. "Annie?"
"Alex, what is going on? Why are you wearing that? What am I wearing? I'm a nurse not a pilot!" Annie rambled as she ran her hand through her hair.
"I don't know." Alex said as he sat down. "The previous dreams had us able to somewhat control what we wear and where we go but this is different. I hope it's not the shadow king."
"Shadow who?" Annie asked as she got up.
"A super evil telepath that resides in the Astral Plain, I thought the X-Men defeated him but I can be wrong." Alex explained calmly. Annie froze and stared at him. The man realized that while he was somewhat used to stuff like this, Annie didn't like the idea of some weird mental monster tampering with their minds. "Or it can be a glitch. Don't worry, everything will be okay." **I just have to believe that myself.**
Suddenly, a woman's scream came out of one of the closed rooms. "Oh no." Alex said as he gestured to Annie. "Stay here. This could get messy."
"No way, if that woman's hurt, I have to help her, I am still a nurse." Annie firmly said as she marched up and opened the door.
Alex followed her and quickly pulled her to the side. The sight before them was horrifying. Chained on the bed, dressed in a Dark Phoenix outfit, was Jean being pawed at by Havok, dressed in his last costume before he was 'killed' in the airplane explosion. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"
Havok turned around stunned and stared at him. "Well... you are an interesting figment of my imagination. That outfit is just awful, yellow underwear?"
It was bizarre, like looking in some distorted carnival mirror, this man looks like him but he was different. He had that aura of evil, of pure chaos. Maybe it was his darker side or some supervillian. He had to find out by pretending to be his older brother. "Hey! Everything I see is red! Is it my fault I'm color blind?" Alex asked as he tensed up.
"You have always been blind, older brother." Havok said as he chuckled. "I will enjoy crushing your skull in and drinking your blood."
**I never said anything like that, did I? I gotta save Jean and figure out what the hell is going on.** Alex thought as he straighten up even more. "You will have to kill me first!" He screamed as he lunged at the imposter.
"Hey!" Havok exclaimed as he dodged to the side. "I was supposed to do that! It's my role?"
"Role?" Alex grunted in shock as he chased after him. "What do you mean role? The real Havok isn't like this."
"Who cares? The real Havok is a brain dead vegetable with a psycho nurse in love with him." Havok chuckled. "While he is drooling in his biomed bed, I can be him and I know that he would want you dead, dear brother."
Alex's face paled as he stared at him. Someone or something had sent him and Annie to this strange place and altered their faces to face this imposter. He glared at Jean who seemed almost chuckling at the scene. Was she really Jean or some evil side of her that had once destroyed an entire solar system?
"He would never want that!"
The three looked at the door to see Annie standing there shaking with rage. "Alex would never want his own brother dead." The woman said as she marched up to Havok. Alex noticed that Annie's features vanished and was replaced by Madelyne Pryor's face. It was getting weird, even by his standards.
"Madelyne?" Havok whispered in shock and then looked her over. "Nice suit, but I prefer the Goblin Queen outfit."
"Madelyne? Goblin Queen?" Annie asked as she looked at Havok and then at Alex.
"Long story." Alex growled as he grabbed Havok by the shoulder. "Don't you dare hurt her."
"I won't hurt her, maybe fuck her good and hard." Havok taunted.
Annie gasped as she stepped back. This man was nothing like Alex, he was frightening to even look at. Alex saw the fear and snarled. He lunged at Havok and punched him in the eye.
"Hey!!!" Havok rubbed his face and stared at him. "You're not supposed to do that! You're the goodie two shoes boy scout! You're not supposed to do that!"
Alex smirked as he cracked his knuckles. "I have something to tell you, little bro, I'm not what you think I am!" He screamed as he rushed at the other man.
Havok ducked the blow and did a powerful upper cut at his jaw. Alex recoiled and then dodged the other blow. It was strange, almost symbolic to fight against this evil psycho while in the disguise of the ultimate hero, Scott Summers. Maybe he was his inner demon and he had to fight him but why was he stuck with Scott's face? He can't think about it now. He had to fight him. He had to save Annie.
Lighting flashed across the room as the two brawled. They were evenly matched, almost too evenly matched. Alex was getting frustrated and had to get the fight away from Annie. Saying a quick prayer, he placed his hand onto his visor and blasted Havok off of him and into the wall. "Ouch." Havok squeaked as he looked up from the other side of the wall through the hole he just made.
Alex rushed after him through the wall. He glanced around to see he was in another bedroom with a huge mirror next to the bed. In the reflection, was his own true image dressed in the clothes he had on before this bizarre fantasy happened. He tilted his head as he stared at the reflection, almost in awe of it. Behind him, he saw Scott standing behind him just as stunned. Alex spun on his heel and stared face to face with Havok. Everything made sense at that moment. "Scott?"
Havok blinked and then stared at the reflection and then at Alex. "Alex?"
At that moment, everything vanished and Alex found himself in his own form at the mansion. Annie, back to her old self with the nurse's outfit included, was shaking in the corner. Scott was looking around confused and dressed in some black and yellow uniform he had never seen before. Emma was lounging on a couch dressed in some white outfit that left little to the imagination. "What just happened?" Annie asked.
"Emma." Scott glared at the woman. "I thought he was your doing."
"I was just as surprised as you are." Emma replied as she sipped on some wine. "Do you think that I would involve other people into our little therapy sessions? I am a one-on-one sex therapist."
"Back up, back up." Alex waved hands. "Sex Therapist? Scott? Were you dressed up as me and making out with Em- ma..." His face paled as he sat down. Memories of the last few minutes overwhelmed his mind and then he screamed, "YOU HATE ME!"
"That's not true." Scott shook his head almost scared. "I would never think badly of you."
"You pretended to be me." Alex whispered, "You called me a vegetable and Annie 'psycho'. You were acting like me like I was some kind of maniac who would kill at a moment's notice and drink your blood. Is that what you really think of me? You thought... you bastard... and this!" Alex gestured toward Emma. "Where's Jean? You were making out with Emma... YOU WERE HAVING AN PSYCHIC AFFAIR! YOU SICK BASTARD! YOU BETRAYED JEAN! YOU BETRAYED YOUR WIFE!"
"No! Not at all!" Scott argued, "They are just thoughts. Nothing happened between us physically."
"Uh huh... I hate to break it to you but what goes on in the mind might as well happen in the real world." Alex said as he crossed his arms. "You of all people should know. What is real? This is real for me because I'm stuck in a coma."
"Alex..." Scott winced, "I just wanted to be 'bad'. I'm sick of being the 'boy scout'. This is just therapy for me."
Alex's head hurt as he tried to sort out the details. So many questions were unanswered, he had to ask them. He had to know what happened after that phone call before his 'death'. "What happened to you that would make you go to Emma? What happened between you and Jean?"
"Alex?" Annie interrupted, "I hope you are really Alex. I hate to break this up but... WHAT IN THE HOLY FATHER'S NAME IS GOING ON HERE?!"
"Simple." Emma got up. "We had a psychic version of signals mixup. My therapy sessions somehow got intercepted by you two and got caught up in our little fantasy. Scott wanted to be the 'bad brother' and so he became a twisted version of Havok and somehow Alex became the 'good brother' and hence became Cyclops. A simple reversal of roles, for a Summers of course."
Alex glared at Scott. He couldn't understand fully what just happened. Why did Scott want to be in this place, dressed up like him? He can understand his need step beyond his boundaries but this was too far. "You changed. The Scott Summers I know wouldn't be caught dead having an affair of any type with another woman and he would never take such fun in playing the bad guy, especially if that bad guy is me."
"I changed." Scott sighed as he rubbed his head. "After Apocalypse, I just changed and no one except for Emma understand that."
"Apocalypse?" Alex repeated, what happened to Scott? "Were you captured? Were you turned into one of the Horsemen like Warren?"
"I was Apocalypse and he was me." Scott explained as he tensed up. "I was one with his thoughts and become forever tainted by his memories. I loved that feeling of evil, of creating pure havoc, forgive the pun."
Annie spoke up after hearing the story. "Scott, I know that I am new to this sort of thing and this may sound naïve but you need professional help."
"I hear that all the time. It's annoying. I have not lost my mind! I just became sane after all these years of insanity!" Scott explained to the woman.
"Oh yeah, he needs help." Alex confirmed.
"He's seeing me." Emma said as she looked at the two. "Alex, you are a warm corpse, who cannot be rescued by any telepath, not even Charles. Annie, you are a Human who cannot comprehend what just happened but still... this session is private." She waved her hand and Alex found the room vanishing around him and then the memories of the events slipped away into darkness.
*****
Scott stared at the empty space in front of him. "Why did you do that? I could've helped him!" He demanded. He missed his brother so much and he knew that Alex was lonely in the darkness. He didn't even get a chance to find out what happened after the explosion.
"Our secret must remain between us." Emma answered as she tapped his lips with her slender finger. "That nurse Annie would blab it to Charles and Jean and what would happen next? That vegetable brother of yours can't stay in that coma as well. He would kill you the second he wakes up. They're not hurt. I just rewrote their memories. It's better this way. Trust me."
"We should stop this." Scott said as he pulled away. "This is getting out of control. This is too dangerous; the best thing to do is stop while we are still able."
Emma pouted as she changed into her Dark Phoenix outfit. "You don't want to be with me, Scott?"
"No, Jean." Scott whispered as he took off his jacket. "Let's get on with the session."
*****
"Alex?" Annie asked as she shook his shoulder.
Alex blinked and realized he was staring over the vast landscape over the Empire State Building. How did he end up here? Everything went by in a blur. "Sorry, I was just thinking."
"About what?"
Alex chuckled, "I don't know why but I was just wondering about what Scott was doing while I was trapped in here."
"I don't really know myself, they wouldn't tell me." Annie confessed, "But he seemed like a very good man."
"He's the best." Alex agreed as he leaned over the side.
The End... of the dream.
