And Then There Were Four
Chapter Nine: Emergence
(full-time college work do not time... r/r, it keeps me finding it!)
Emma Frost's heart hardened along with her exterior. She concentrated hard, vying with all of her might to disguise herfear, having shown too much of it to her adversary in the past.
Her crystal eyes shifted, meeting the green pair before her. "Don't you ever stay dead? It's a joke, really."
The redhead smiled, raising her left hand to eye level. Frost nearly watched—blocking her panic with rage; her anxiety with hate. With a sickening grin, Jean Grey took a step forward, Emma a step back… and as she snapped her fingers, the vast blackness around the two women slowly shifted.
Egypt.
Jean Grey, a battered and broken Cyclops in her arms, caressed her husband's shirtless chest… Nathan Summers stood behind them, ripping his father's visor from his costume's chest piece and throwing it to Jean.
Placing it over his eyes, she whimpered as she channeled her strength. Apocalypse was dead—her dear love was alive. "Shh… It's over, Scott. It's all over… I have you."
A flash of white – snow falling in every direction…
Anchorage, Alaska.
A small log cabin Emma could only call quaint—littered with pictures of family, friends. No costumes, no visors, no duties.
Husband and wife – nestled together beside a fire in matching sweaters and gripping hot tea. "If we go back," Jean whispers, "then I don't know if we'll ever be able to come back to this."
A comforting smile, a delicate kiss—the woman found it enough comfort as tokens of forever.
Bells… everywhere, bells…
A wedding.
The wedding of Jean Grey and Scott Summers – years ago, countless X-Men present; some no longer living, others no longer associated with the X. All drawn together in celebration.
"I do."
"That's enough. What in the hell are you playing at? If you wish to kill me, you're welcome to try – but let's get to it!"
Fire circled around the former White Queen, Jean Grey nowhere to be found. Darkness covered the rest of the area once more – the only light the fire. Through the flame walked a figure…
"…my God," Northstar murmured as he looked over the darkened body of Lorna Dane. "Can't you reach Beast, Iceman?"
"Don't you think I've been trying?"
"Boys," Annie barked, "now is not the time. These are very serious burns… I don't have the supplies I need..."
The nurse bit her lip, carefully prying a piece of shattered window from Lorna's shoulder. "A few inches over," she said to herself, surveying the damage. She and Lorna hadn't always seen eye to eye—an understatement in the least—but she was a physician first and foremost. Ripping a piece of her shirt, she did her best to cover the wound.
"The medical lab is certainly off limits now," Jean Paul stated the obvious.
"Which is why we need to head west," Bobby said firmly. "Hopefully Hank's lab is still in good standing."
Annie helped Lorna into Northstar's arms, arranging her as safely as possible. "Get her there, Jean Paul."
"We'll do our best to keep up," Iceman said, grabbing Annie and creating an ice slide as the Canadian X-Man sped into the distance.
"She was completely disoriented," Kitty Pryde began, her eyes darting across Cyclops, Beast, Storm, and Havok. "I woke up wishing she'd just turn the light back off and found her absolutely hysterical… she'd had a dream…"
"A dream?"
"Something, Ororo," Kitty answered. Her thoughts jumped through the events of the night as she tried to stay calm. "About you, Cyclops."
Scott looked up from his observation of Emma, his interest already perked. "What about me?"
"She'd been having these dreams about Jean… about Jean dying." Kitty hesitated, doing her best to remember what Rachel had told her. "She said it was like she was there… she felt her pain, her everything… and she said – I think – 'Scott... my best friend.. All I've—"
"—ever done is die on you," Cyclops finished slowly, horror dripping from his face.
"Scott?" Storm turned, looking at her longtime friend.
"…it was the last thing Jean said to me," he struggled to say, fighting back tears. He had to be strong for his team.
Kitty continued after a moment, "That wasn't it, though. She said she was suddenly somewhere else – and she smiles… and tells you something."
"Tells me something?" Scott stood, leaving Emma's hand to fall limp to the side of the table. "Tell me what?"
"...I don't know," Kitty admitted. "Ray was about to tell me when you knocked on our door that night. But when she woke up tonight – in all of the confusion, she seemed terrified… she kept saying that she hadn't told me what she'd said.—what Jean had said…
…and then she told me she was sorry."
"Sorry, Kitten?"
Kitty's hand went to her face, wiping back tears. "She literally burst into flame with our room, Ororo… she said she couldn't stop it, I don't know what she meant… I haven't seen her like that in ages, even through everything that happened with Elias Bogan."
Storm's mind thought back to an attack on her team by Bogan recently – before they'd returned to the Institute. Rachel had been held hostage, her life thrown into captivity for far from the first time. She was nearly in shambles.
A sudden thud alerted the X-Men that they were no longer alone.
"Sitting ducks," Lucas Bishop moaned, running his hand across his large gun. He pulled a pair of red sunglasses to his face—the primary communicator for those who'd called themselves the 'X-Treme X-Men' in the recent past. "Sage? Sage, you there?"
Bishop sighed; nothing.
"I haven't heard from Sage in some time, Herr Bishop," Kurt said as he gracefully walked to his friend. "You are worried about her."
"She can take care of herself – she's proven that several times... but I always thought Psylocke could, too."
"We are all human," Kurt nodded solemnly. "Super computer mind or not… and if we are truly dealing with the Phoenix Force, we're truly dealing with a force to be reckoned with."
Bishop winced. "You think Jean's alive, then?"
Kurt's face twisted in a bizarre display of horrifying and painful memories. "I've been through this before… I've been asked that question before – and each time, the answer is harder to give.
Jean was – is? – a strong woman. Stronger than most I have ever known. But I wonder, if it is Jean, if there is anything left of her to truly be alive. Imagine, Bishop – and look around you, it shouldn't be hard… how can one truly live when blindly killing everything they once held dear?"
Bishop jumped from his makeshift seat, Kurt instinctively following suit. "Nightcrawler – get out of here!"
"Glad to see you, Jean Paul," Beast said as he carefully took Lorna and placed her beside Emma on an observation table. Alex stood next to him, looking down at his former love with a pained expression.
Jean Paul nodded with a smile, his eyes turning to Havok. "Annie is on her way, you know."
Hank cleared his throat, all eyes turning towards him. "I'm not a fan of awkward silences," he said, a small grin on his face.
"There are times you shouldn't make jokes," Iceman said upon entering the room, Annie in tow. Annie ran to Alex, falling into his arms.
"Back in the day, Robert," Hank quipped, "you'd be the last to say such a thing."
"Back in the day, Hank, we weren't dealing with what we're dealing with now."
"Not entirely tru—"
The sound of a large explosion rang through their ears, the room shuddering in its wake.
"What was that?!" Cyclops demanded, turning towards Hank.
McCoy was already on it, flipping on the screens revealing what was left of the school.
"Oh dear…"
"Henry…?" Storm's eyes widened.
"…the dormitories…"
Brick – glass – bodies.
Children's bodies.
Everywhere.
Kurt Wagner pushed himself from the ground, crawling towards a young woman in what was left of a yellow trench coat. He winced, pushing debris from her upper half. "Jub… ilation?"
"Dead, Nightcrawler. You know, I'm rather impressed you survived."
Wagner struggled to turn, looking up at the redhaired woman before him. "How .. could you do this…?"
From afar, a horrified X-Man watched – had he only leapt into action a few moments before… if he'd only known…
There wasn't time for any more of that, Logan gathered, diving from above and tackling his love to the ground.
A laugh erupted from her lips as she gripped his wrists, claws extended. "Goodbye, Kurt," she snarled, slamming Wolverine's claws into the X-Man.
Popping his Adamantium-laced wrist from its socket, she turned Wolverine's claws in his direction.
"Goodbye, Logan."
A gasp resounded in an otherwise silent room, the woman known as Callisto jumping at the intrusion. "Chuck?"
Eyes now open, Charles Xavier wiped the sweat from his brow.
"I have to get to Westchester."