Title: Maybe
Author: Viral
Chapter Genre: Romance/Semi-Action
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Jean Grey narrates:
"Why does everything always have to revolve around that conceited weather witch?" Emma frowned as she stood on the main balcony of the institute with Hank McCoy. Her hands were on her hips, the wind was blowing her short blond hair in her face, and attitude was evident in her voice. "It's always about her! This is supposed to be Shadowkitty's special day and Ms. Wanna-be goddess has to attract all the attention and dramatically leave the room."
"I don't think Ororo purposely meant to take attention away from Katherine's happiness," Hank sighed. "Perhaps there is something bothering her?"
"Yeah," Emma smirked. "The fact that she's so beautiful yet she can never find a man. The woman has serious issues."
"I suppose you brought me out here to express your hatred for Ororo?" Hank asked. "Is there any way we can discuss something else? After all, you would rather Ororo not be in the spotlight."
"I'm sorry," Emma sighed as her facial expression softened. "I guess I have been ruining the mood for tonight with my banter. It's just, I get so frustrated."
"Maybe Ororo's not the only one who needs a man," Hank said, his blue eyes deeply focusing on Emma's face. She turned to look at him with a smile of her own as she took Hank's big, furry hand in her own and almost fell into his arms.
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I floated telekinetically, following the frequent puffs of smoke that Kurt left behind every time he teleported. I was following Kurt, he was following Ororo, and I think all of us were searching for answers. We were approaching a secluded valley within a mountain range. It showed no signs of human development... but the sight was tragic. There were uprooted trees, flooded banks, and several misplaced boulders. It looked as if the place had suffered a tantrum of natural disasters.
I hid behind a large cliff as I noticed Kurt hiding behind another cliff. Was this the place Ororo had finally stopped at? Just then a loud roll of thunder overtook the entire valley as the rocks shook on the ground and the sky immediately darkened. Indeed, this was Ororo's work. A warm, light drizzle began to fall on my head. I looked around the cliff to see exactly what was happening in the valley. I imagine my green eyes widened to their fullest size at the view.
In the center of the valley a tornado was ripping trees from their roots. Outside of the tornado hail was falling and the ground was covered in ice. Then, creating a circumference around the icy area there was a completely clear space. There were no clouds, no wild weather, and it was unaffected by everything that was going on – including the lightning storm that was tearing at the skies. Although it was an amazing sight to behold, it was frightening.
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Ororo narrates:
I was completely wrapped up in the atmosphere, in the weather, in the feeling of freedom. At this altitude, at this level of power, I was unable to be mentally overtaken by emotions, the constant bickering within myself that I would forever remain alone, and lonely thoughts. Perhaps this is why I had become addicted to this valley. Ever since Piotr and Katherine made-up after the battle with Sabretooth, I had been drawn to this place. There I could let my mind roam free, my emotions take charge, and allow the tempest inside me to let loose – if only for a little while, and no one would get hurt. My blue eyes were completely white as I reveled in the elements. The white strands of my hair danced in small filaments across my face like the clouds move across a boundless sky.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fly? To be free of constraints and safety measures and just to float on the clouds without the worry of falling, crashing, or any fear of heights at all... haven't you ever wanted to touch the clouds and see how they feel? Are you not bewildered when you see a bird floating across the clear blue sky and you wonder how high it is and how close to the limits of space it has reached. Flight has introduced me to a world without limits and without restrictions. The ability to soar alone is worth the frustration of being alone and hiding my emotions... sometimes. But not even the endless freedom and liberty granted by the heavens is worth being alone. As they say, "It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all." I believe with all my heart that this statement is indefinitely and uncontrovertibly true.
I continued to play in the rain, to soar across the dark clouds, and to juggle the lightning in my hands. I planned to stop shortly afterwards, before the weather was able to begin to control me. In the past, when I had allowed myself to lose my common sense when playing with my powers, I had lost complete control. But it felt so good to let it all out! It was my only means of expressing what I felt and I just couldn't stop. Perhaps I had measured the emotional strain too leniently for I began to find myself lost in the presence of nature. Soon everything was out of my hands. It was as if I was possessed – I could see what I was doing, but I knew I wanted to stop and I knew I was at the mercy of the elements.
I turned my face, looking at a sturdy and aged Evergreen Tree, and the next thing I knew, a gale force wind had completely ripped it up. A large rock: crushed by a descending lightning bolt. Green grass: frozen by baseball-sized hail. Something blue: a harsh lightning bolt --- something blue? I shook my head and was released from the trance as my eyes focused to see Kurt standing there, too frightened to move, with his yellow eyes wide and staring as the lightning bolt fell towards his body.
"Ach!" I grunted as pulled my hands upward and the lightning bolt completely bent and turned backwards at my will. It charged through the air bringing heat and static as it crashed into my body. I channeled the electricity through my body like a lightning rod and dispersed it in the sky as forked lightning. As the rest of the storms that once raged in the valley began to calm I hovered down towards Kurt, my white eyes obviously relating anger. "What are you doing here?" I shouted, demanding an answer right before I landed on the ground. He stood there, seemingly dumbfounded to silence. Just then I felt a sudden shift in the air and felt a slight movement within the jet stream psionically. I turned slightly right to catch a glimpse of Jean's face. Our eyes met. She knew I was aware of her presence, but I was too busy with Kurt now. "Well? Will you speak?" I must have seemed quite the witch at that time, seeing as I was acting very out of character. I was stressed, my emotions torn, and he was the person that I wanted most not to see... yet the one who I needed to know was worried.
"I admit, I vas following you, Ororo," he said, his demon-like face soft and compassionate. "I vas vorried about you, after you left zhe mansion I figured I vould make sure you vere all right."
"What do you want from me?" I asked, turning away from him. "If I tell you I am alright, you will not believe me! If I do not answer at all, you want an answer. And if I dared to tell you the truth you would not be satisfied until I am completely happy."
"I vorry for you because I care for you," he said, placing his deformed hand on my shoulder. At this point I was not even thinking like myself. Kurt was – is a beautiful person, both inside and out, but I was completely stressed out. I wanted to know who he thought he was – a deformed freak, a mutant like me, but he was so much a mutant that he did not even look normal. How could he have the audacity to dare approach a beauty like myself? I stopped myself there. I was allowing the brainwashing my village had done to me to take over. The goddess status that they had given me was beginning to control my thinking. But I realized that Kurt didn't even consider me a goddess or a deity of any sort. He saw me as a human... much like him, and that gave him the courage to care. Perhaps it was the humility at that very moment that made my heart begin to race.
"Kurt, I am alright," I said, my voice softened and my head hanging down.
"If you are alright," he began, his hand more firm on my shoulder, "Vhy must you cause so much havoc?" I looked up to see what he was talking about. I had completely destroyed the valley. It was a disaster. Did I have that much anger and loneliness inside of me? If so, then trouble was brewing, for I had even more pent up emotions inside myself.
"Kurt," I said, as I turned to face him. I looked dead into his eyes. I guess this deep eye contact made him very uncomfortable because he began to get jittery but he was never able to take his eyes off of mine. "I have heard, and I believe, that the eyes are the windows to the soul. What do you see when you look into the windows of my soul?"
He stopped moving as he watched by eyes with his blank, yellow eye sockets. I could feel myself almost crying as my emotions began to burn inside of me. "I see..." he began as he put his soft, furry hand on my check, "Loneliness, sadness, and heavyheartedness."
"That is why I cause so much havoc," I said, as I removed his hand from my face and turned away from him again.
"Ororo, I—," he began but was cut off by the Professor's telepathic message.
:X-Men, report to the War Room immediately, all physically-capable X-Men who can hear my voice are required to report to the War Room, immediately!:
"Vould you like a trip?" Kurt asked. He put his hand on my shoulder. Once again I resisted his grasp and flew into the sky without answering him. I was too confused about our entire conversation. Had we gotten anywhere... at all? I headed towards the mansion in a confused frenzy, leaving a forsaken valley and a nosey Jean Grey behind. I could not be Ororo at this moment – there was business to handle. For now, I would have to be Storm.
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The War Room chairs were all occupied within three minutes of the Professor's urgent notice. The circular table was seated accordingly: the Professor, Cyclops, Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Jean, Colossus, Shadowcat, Jubilee, Beast, White Queen, the Bishop, and me. There was quite a large audience in the room for just one mission. Gratefully the urgency in Xavier's thoughts had not been misleading, otherwise I am sure that anger would have ensued.
"X-Men, we have quite the crisis on our hands," the Professor began as a hologram monitor appeared in the center of the table. "Apparently a number of our old enemies have joined forces including the Hellfire Club, the Acolytes, Apocalypse and his horsemen, with the exception of Archangel... even Eye Scream has showed up. They are protecting a government run agency, apparently from us, which holds the controls to an invaluable weapon." The hologram changed from the live video feed of our enemies and the government building to a view of outer space where a large meteor was falling. "Believe your eyes – what you are seeing is a live feed a radioactive space station plummeting towards the Earth. The only weapon that can stop it is inside that agency and the space station has an approximate impact time of two hours. It has enough radioactive material to wipe out both Europe and Asia. It cannot be allowed to touch down!"
"Professor, I don't get it," Cyclops said. "Won't the radioactive material harm our enemies too? Why would they want to pollute an entire continent with its contents?"
"They must have taken chemical precautions to assure the ineffectiveness of the material to their bodies," Xavier hypothesized.
Beast interjected as he took his glasses from his face, "Chemical counterparts such as the aforementioned are very possible to make with today's advancing technology. If this radioactive material begins to taint our soil and water supply it would create devastation worldwide and would be the perfect setup for each of our enemies' goals."
"Dun' worry mes amis," Gambit smiled as he shuffled his cards. "Gambit got somethin' real nice for de space station. Just get me close enough."
"Are you completely stupid or do you have an excuse?" Emma said from across the room. "Would you like the material to be spilt airborne?"
"I can try and teleport the space station to a different course if I can see a live video of its travels," Kurt said, not sounding too confident.
"Kurt, there is simply no physical way you could do such a thing," Jean said. "You wouldn't be able to hold your breath long enough if you're teleporting in outer space and we don't have enough time or equipment to get you an oxygen-containment suit."
"Maybe Ah can absorb ol' Magnus and be able to move the ship off course?" Rogue recommended.
"Like you'll ever get close to 'im," Wolverine laughed. "You got southern charm but no brain, bub. I can't even get close to the guy. What makes you think you can?"
"You cocky--," Rogue began.
"Enough with the bickering!" the Professor shouted. "We have spent enough time discussing this. Board the jet immediately and get en route."
"We don't even have a strategy Professor!" Cyclops complained.
"You don't need a strategy to lead a team!" the Professor said, apparently frustrated. "If you need tactics to lead then this mission is not for you to lead. Storm will be first in command, Cyclops will be in second."
I raised my eyes, my first time actually looking around the table. I could see who had faith in me to lead and who didn't. I stood up and crossed my arms, not willing to go through the debates. "Suit up and be on board the jet in five... no, three minutes. If you are not there, you will be left behind. I am positive there is another that will be able to handle the load of anyone who is tardy. Professor, is the jet already being prepared by one of the students?"
"Yes, Storm" the Professor said as he pulled down his Cerebro helmet.
"Then suit up!" I ordered, and surprisingly, the room completely emptied, except for a slow and angry Cyclops. I exited the room and was on the jet within the next three minutes with the entire team. Now on schedule, the jet screamed off of the hidden runway in the mountains and into the sky.
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