And Then There Were Four Conclusion (1 of 2)
Chapter Ten: Silence
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No one spoke.
Through his red tint, Cyclops only gazed at the screen in front of him – the screen he'd just instructed Hank McCoy to turn on, giving them some sort of idea as to what had just happened.
Instinctively, he knew. He usually did, having led the X-Men for so long. That sickening shudder… that horrible explosion…
But he didn't really expect to see the newly rebuilt Institute crippled the way he did… or if he did, he wouldn't let himself think it for even a second. He couldn't.
He was stunned – not something that happens very often.
From just outside of the school grounds, a tiny camera captured the chaos… captured the pain, the suffering, the sudden realization…
The children were dead.
Scott Summers clenched his teeth, Ororo Munroe wrapped her arms around Kitty Pryde, Robert Drake fell back against the wall, Alex Summers held his lover tight as she realized her son was dead, and Hank McCoy finally turned the monitor off.
No one spoke.
Logan shuddered as he retracted his claws – blood spurting from his neck as he did so. His other hand immediately covered the wounds, even as they began to heal, and he began to stagger upward amidst rubble.
His eyes darted to Kurt Wagner's lifeless body and he tried to speak – crimson bubbles his only song.
"Rrrr," he growled, finally picking himself up. Fire sprang up in patches all around him – anything that could burn lit the area – from chunks of desk to what remained of some of the students.
Walking forward, the disoriented soldier soon met the ground again – tripping over one of the countless piles of brick, ash, fire, and body. Pulling himself up yet again, his eyes met Lucas Bishop's. Wolverine pulled a hand from his throat, now more or less healed, and shut the man's eyes. It was the best he could do for him right now.
"Rrrr," he choked out – his throat only mostly healed. "Rrrr---"
"—achel Grey, what in the hell are you doing?!"
"A little bit of cleaning, Emma," Rachel spoke, standing before her nemesis in a ring of fire. "It's time I took care of you."
Frost winced, her left hand at her temple. "My God… what have you done to the children?"
"It's a small price."
Diamond-hard, Frost pounced—slamming into Grey and falling hard on the ground which suddenly appeared from nowhere as they left the fire.
SHE WILL RISE AGAIN
…was eye level with the former White Queen, a deep hole beside her.
"So Jean has in fact not returned, I see," Emma barked as she made her way to her feet. "Her amateur daughter from another timeline has simply attempted to wield the cosmic entity which inherently sent the woman to her grave."
Rachel's eyes burnt with delight, fire erupting from both of them. "You're so naïve, Frost."
The former Phoenix leapt into Emma, tackling her into the six-foot hole. Her telekinetically-charged fist repeatedly slammed into Frost's jaw, a silvery blood swinging from her lips.
Emma poised to strike, but found her fist slicing through air.
She was gone.
Emma stood, her white heels atop a wooden casket. "Why?"
"In one way or another… why can't you just stay—"
"Dead," Henry McCoy said solemnly, his furry, large blue hand running over Lorna Dane's eyes.
"Everyone's dead," Annie choked, violently shaking in Alex's arms as the words left her mouth.
"Why are we still in here?" Iceman growled, his eyes focused on Cyclops.
The X-Man said nothing.
"Scott."
Nothing.
"Scott Summers, what in the hell are we doing in here?"
"…where's Emma?"
"What?" Iceman asked, turning to find the observation table which had held Frost empty.
"I hate you, you know?" Emma Frost said aloud. "I hate you for everything you've ever done to me – I hate you for everything you've ever stolen from me… I hate you for what's happened here tonight…"
Frost winced. She could practically feel the heat from the Institute, and she couldn't avoid the illumination– the graveyard just outside of the main grounds.
"And I hate you for saving my life."
Emma's thoughts turned backward – she had been, in a sense, murdered. Though here she stood, heels atop Jean Grey's grave… resisting all temptations to dance. She'd been shattered while in her diamond form courtesy of a specialized bullet, pieced together again by Beast, and resurrected by the power of the Phoenix – put together again by Jean Grey.
"I've always known, so don't think you're terribly smart… pieces of you, of your nature, your will… inside of me – from that very moment you pulled me back from oblivion. That's how you did it… and you let me know, didn't you? You let me know so that I'd always wonder…"
Emma bit her lip. "Wonder if that's why he was with me. Pieces of Jean bloody Grey."
The ex-White Queen pulled herself from the grave, wincing from various pains courtesy of her recent battles. She sat, legs crossed and dangling over the miniature cliff. She closed her eyes, calling upon every ounce of training she'd ever had – turning hatred into fuel, passion into power.
A tear fell from her face. It was time. "Come back, Jean."
"Come back."
"She just disappeared? We have to find her."
"Oh, now you want to go out there? Forget you, Summers – you disgust me."
"Back off, Drake," Alex interjected.
"There's more to this than meets your narrow-minded eye, Iceman," Cyclops charged forward. "So you'd better listen to my brother."
"Listen to your brother? Scott—"
"Robert… please," Hank spoke up, stepping between the two men. "We don't have the time or resources for this. You very well may be looking at the only X-Men left standing… and we have quite the battle before us."
Rachel Grey grinned as she stared at the grass below her – with a thought, she ripped the grass from the ground… Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Storm, Havok, Shadowcat, and Annie meeting her twisted face. "You have no idea."
"…Ray?" Shadowcat gasped. "Rachel, you can't… what are you…"
"Oh, give me a break," Grey rolled her eyes, fire lunging through the hole and into the laboratory.
The X-Men scattered, diving left and right – various experiments exploding and giving way to more fire. Iceman created an ice slide, moving upward rapidly at the Phoenix.
Ice slammed into Grey from all directions, Drake pulling from what was left of the air's moisture. She fell to the ground, Storm lifting Cyclops, Shadowcat and Havok from the lab below to the fiery front lawn of the Institute, Hank leaping up behind them.
"Beast, stay on your toes; Havok, get ready to strike in unison with me – just do your best and for what it's worth, fire everything you have; Storm – strike with every bit of energy Mother Nature can spare – Bobby's ice won't hold her lon—"
Cyclops and the other X-Men flew back as Drake's temporary containment shattered, fire engulfing the immediate area. Grey lunged forward, tackling an already stifled Ororo Munroe and pinning her to the ground, her hands wrapped around her throat.
Storm grimaced, mustering her strength as Rachel began to talk. "Feeling a little—mmmph!"
Munroe's eyes followed Grey as she flew through the air, a tattered and broken Wolverine having slammed into her only seconds ago. "Logan!"
"No time t'talk, Ro!" Wolverine growled, slamming his claws in Rachel's chest. Grey flew upward, Logan and his claws attached, fire surrounding the two of them.
Wolverine's limp body fell to the ground yet again next to Shadowcat. "Logan?!"
What one might call a wink… had their been the majority of an eyelid… was her only solace as she, along with the other X-Men, watched Rachel ascend nearly out of their sight.
Storm began to fly upward but was pulled backwards, Cyclops having grabbed her wrist. "No. We can't fight her… not like this."
"I know someone who can," a voice called from behind the two X-Leaders.
"Emma?" Scott turned, the eyes beneath his visor growing large at the sight before him.
His heart stopped…
Beside Emma stood Jean Grey.