Thanks to:
X-BeypokeDigifan – Jean bad or not? Hmm, I think she's still pretty evil but she's learned a few lessons now. Thanks for the reviews!
LadyEvils – The best thing about fanfic is that you get to change the prog to the way it should have been, complete with casualties. I had fun injuring everyone! There might be another sequel at some point in the future but not for a while, I'm trying to get all my ongoing fics finished before Xmas and I'm starting a big, sprawling end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it type fic in the New Year, hope you'll check it out when it goes up. Thanks for all the great reviews!
X00001 – Wow, an hour to read it? It did take up about 23 pages and took me four days to write, so I guess that would be about right! Thanks for all the reviews; I'm glad you liked the fic!
XX-Goth-Gal – Caliban does look like Mr Hyde, I never thought of that before! And I love Tonda, poor little Toady with all his unrequited love, so I thought I'd give him a break – not much of a break huh? Pyro and Jean as a crime-fighting team's a pretty scary thought but I bet they'd be good at it. I hope you like the final chapter as much as the others and thanks for all the excellent reviews (you give PB a swelled head every time!).
DemonRogue13 – I would have loved to see some of that at the end of season 4 too, make life interesting if the Prof had knocked off a few of his students under Apocalypse's influence…thanks for all the reviews!
Furygrrl – Manifesting the Phoenix was great fun, I've never written Jean/Phoenix before and I kept having to refer back to the encyclopaedia but I think I got it right in the end. Pyro being all in love with Jean was something I never really planned on happening, it just caught my imagination after the chapter in 'Manipulating'. There might be a sequel – I dunno how I'm gonna get by at work without having Evil Jean schemes to dream up! But it gives me more time to work on 'Unpredictable' and finish 'WWGU' (I haven't done any work on that in an age) and my end of the world fic will be up in January (still tentatively entitled 'and I feel fine). Toronto just kinda occurred to me while I was trying to think of places around the world to put in the chapter. And no worries about me going on a Jott kick, I find that particular couple dull beyond belief, I think I've been converted to Jeance now! Thanks for the excellent reviews and the recommendations on Evo-over 18!
Disclaimer: If I owned, I'd have made the Age of Apocalypse longer. But I don't, so it wasn't.
Author Note: This isn't the original epilogue I had in mind. But the other didn't wanna be written and this occurred to me a few minutes ago so I substituted. Maybe the other one was a prob because I set myself on fire while writing it – don't ask. I've really enjoyed writing this story and although I've no immediate ideas for a sequel, I never say never – Evil Jean is so much fun to write, she's my hero! I have a Lance/ Jean (good Jean!) fic on the go at the moment and an 'end of the world' fic that should be up in the New Year. I hope you'll check some of them out. Again, thanks for the support of this fic and of 'Manipulating Evolution', without all the good reviews they would never have been written.
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It's been a while.
Jean stood on the crest of the hill, the Xavier Institute in sight in the distance. It had been months since she'd been in Bayville; too busy getting over her experiences as Apocalypse's horseman to worry about what her old foes and teammates were getting up to. Her hair blew in the breeze as she observed the scene, too far away to really see what was going on.
"St John, I'm going to see what's happening. Stay here."
"Are you sure that's wise?" Pyro looked worried. "I don't think they'll be too happy to know we're back."
"Nobody's going to see me. Just wait here, I might be a while." She paused for a moment, wondering how to explain herself, a part of her wondering if she even should. "I've seen the future in the mind of Apocalypse and I've been dwelling on it too much. I need to get back in touch with the present."
"Well, if you're sure," said Pyro, returning to the notebook he was writing in. Jean thought the story of their lives would never find a publisher – who'd believe them? – but if it made him happy, then she was willing to overlook it.
Jean took to the air and flew over toward the mansion. There was a training session going on in the grounds. She could see Hank McCoy trying to avoid the New Recruits, all of them seemingly enjoying themselves way too much for them to be preparing for a fight. Ray Crisp was watching them, still unable to take part, but he looked healthy. Jean was neither glad nor sorry.
The New Recruits as the X-Men beta team, out on missions, doing their part to keep the dream of peace alive, their team leader Sam Guthrie…
Down below her, she saw Evan exit the gates and walk over to the nearest manhole. He pried off the cover and jumped in, sliding the cover back over as though it had never been removed. Jean figured it was frequently used though; he'd had no problems with it. She wondered vaguely how Caliban was doing after his experiences as a horseman, if any of the Morlocks had been fighting him. Allowing her curiosity to take over, she did a quick scan of Evan's mind. Callisto had been into a regular hospital, the medical knowledge in the Institute not up to repairing her crushed arm. She'd had metal pins and plates attached to the bones, and then 'mysteriously disappeared' an hour after being wheeled into recovery. Evan and Torpid had been in to get her, neither of them trusting the humans not to turn them in to the authorities. Caliban had returned with the Morlocks, remorseful over his part in the injuries of his teammates and people who'd never harmed him but realising he'd been used.
The Morlocks hiding, crying, begging, as guns punched through flesh, claws separated skin from bone, a lone voice crying out for them to stop as the massacre continued…
Briefly she wondered how Warren was doing. She imagined that Professor Xavier had given him an image inducer, but it was going to be hard for him to get through life with blue skin and metallic wings, transforming him from the handsome Angel into some kind of freak. His parents were probably dragging him to every plastic surgeon in America, throwing money at the problem and hoping it would go away. She knew it was her fault that he looked the way he did now, but she couldn't bring herself to be sorry. She didn't care what happened to him either way.
Jean soared above the Institute, heading toward the Brotherhood house, the first place in Bayville she'd ever lived, the place she'd learned how her powers could be used. A faint blur of silver told her that Pietro was heading home and she wondered briefly how they were doing after the knowledge that Mystique had held Forge back from the fight against Apocalypse so that he could infiltrate the minimal security of a SHIELD facility and steal a little-known metal alloy reputed to be as tough as adamantium and half the cost. She doubted Mystique had been back to the house since.
She saw Wanda walking from the building, the ever-adoring Toad hopping along beside her, no trace of his wounds evident. Wanda seemed to be listening to him rather than losing her temper, her body language speaking of both affection and irritation. Jean, who spent most of her time with Pyro, understood.
Wanda and Tabby side by side, walking into the SHIELD facility, the boys gathering around them, all of them older and wiser and using their powers to help people…
She flew away from the Brotherhood house, knowing that part of her life was done long before and there were no answers for her there. She headed toward Bayville High, not expecting to find anyone there on a Saturday but noticing the jeep in the parking lot outside the library and knowing that some one had been getting books out to help them with their studies.
Lance and Kitty walked out of the library, Lance carrying most of the books although Jean doubted they were his. He threw them nonchalantly in the back of the jeep and paused a moment to take Kitty into his arms, leaning down to catch her lips in his.
Avalanche unsure of his place in the X-Men, Kitty wanting to study at College, both of them leaving so that Lance could get a job and Kitty could do a course in Genetics and still staying together in spite of everything, returning to the Institute together…
Jean smirked, knowing it was thanks to her that the two were together. She followed the jeep from above, wondering where they were going although the direction suggested the mall. Sure enough, they went into the parking lot and got out of the jeep, Lance stealing another kiss before they entered the building.
New trick!
Jean walked calmly into the mall, her mental powers changing her appearance to the casual onlookers. Anyone that looked at her saw an attractive brunette four inches shorter than Jean, wearing casual clothes that were a million miles away from anything she would have chosen to wear but complimented the person she had chosen to be. Hopefully, no one would notice that she wasn't what she appeared.
After five minutes or so she saw Lance and Kitty by the food court, Kitty ordering the drinks and Lance wrinkling his nose at her choice. Jean watched casually and was rewarded two minutes later by the arrival of Scott and Rogue.
Jean tried to stay out of the way, knowing that Rogue might be able to breech her disguise, having no way of knowing whether or not Rogue had retained her telepathy as well as her telekinesis. But none of the four seemed to even see her as they sat at a table nearby, drinks in hand.
Scott took Rogue's hand, neither of them having a barrier between their skin and yet not seeming to mind. There were no ill effects on either of them.
Jean could make Rogue come over to her right now, make the others feel the need to go window-shopping at a clothes shop or something – but she didn't want to. Rogue would learn the truth when it happened.
Trying to decide between her childhood sweetheart and the charming Remy LeBeau, struggling for months between loyalty and lust, Scott going missing on one of their missions, presumed dead – and then coming back…
Why would Jean want to interrupt the fun?
She turned and left, knowing that the future she'd seen in the mind of Apocalypse would come to pass and knowing that she would play a key role in the future of mutantkind. But let them have their normal lives for now. She'd be back.
Wings of fire…
And she thought that maybe they'd earned the right to whatever happiness they could get.
Maybe she was getting soft. But she knew what was coming and that none of the X-Men were ready for it. When the time came, she'd be ready to take her place.
She walked out of the mall, back to Pyro, to what the future had to hold.
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Author Note: As I said, this isn't the ending I had in mind; I'd actually envisioned Jean telling Rogue about what she'd seen in the mind of Apocalypse. But this is what wanted to be written, so I've gone with it. I hope you enjoyed this and you'll check out what I do in the future.