Prologue 9:
"Where's Jean?" Logan said urgently, suddenly noticing that she no longer stood at the back of the jet. Almost instinctively, everyone looked toward the professor for an answer.
Xavier's eyes were hazy and sad. Outwardly, he looked solemn and composed but his mind was still reeling at what had happened in the Dark Cerebro. He had almost killed billions of people and his conscience was tearing him apart with guilt.
Now, as his mind tried to link with Jean, he realized he was about to watch one of his students die...and he was helpless to stop it. All his power, and there was nothing he could do.
"She's outside," he said softly, before he closed his eyes.
Before anyone else could react, Scott lunged towards the back of the jet. The ramp was still open, and he could see Jean's small footprints in the snow.
As he approached, the ramp began to rise.
No...No, Jean...stop! he thought loudly, hoping she would hear him, but the only reply he received was the loud clang as the ramp closed.
"Open it!" he screamed to Storm, digging his fingers into the back wall through his gloves. He suddenly wished he had Logan claws to tear his way out.
"She's controlling the jet!" he heard Storm call back. Scott drove a fist into the wall and rushed back to the front console. He slammed down into the co-pilot's seat and began pounding on the controls. He would make that ramp open. There was no way he would allow Jean to die without a fight.
Vaguely, he heard Logan tell the new mutant (he thought Storm had called him Kurt) to try and teleport Jean back into the jet.
"She won't let me," Kurt said with distress, gripping his rosary tightly.
Scott ground his teeth together. Logan, what the hell was Logan asking the teleporter for? Why didn't he just tear apart the back wall like Scott had wanted to do?
He paused, and frowned, his brow furrowing against his visor.
If I can't rip the back apart...I'll blow it apart, he thought.
"I know what I'm doing..." he suddenly heard the professor say, "This is the only way."
Scott froze. Those were not the professor's words.
Scott, he suddenly heard in his mind, Jean's soft voice filled with so much sadness, so much love.
Moving quickly out of his chair, Scott knelt before the professor, whose eyes were closed as Jean spoke through him.
"Jean..." he began, his voice breaking, "Jean...don't do this..."
I love you... he heard in him mind and at the same moment the professor spoke again.
"Goodbye."
Scott choked and turned away.
No...No... he thought, waves of rage and sorrow rolling through him. He could not move, overwhelmed by loss. He searched the faces of the others for help. Someone had to be able to save her. They were the X-Men, for God's sake. They were trained for this, trained to be strong. Why couldn't they do anything?
Beneath him, the jet began to rise from the ground. Scott could hear the water roaring around them. He wanted so much to look out and see Jean, his love, his wife, one last time.
But he knew he would not see the blue water. He would only see in red, as he stared through the ruby quartz in his visor. The water would be red, red as blood, and Jean's would spilled to save them. He looked upward, and stared at a red sky as the jet rose above the raging flood.
After a few moments, he heard someone sob. He would never be sure who exactly it was, but the sound brought him painfully back into reality.
Around him, everyone sat in cold shock, and Logan was the first to speak.
"She's gone."
