Author's Note Hey everybody! Sorry I took so long to update. With all this Christmas shopping and last minute schoolwork, it's hard to find time for yourself. I won't leave out the laziness the vacation is bringing. There was actually this one day where I sat and watched movies all day! Hehe. Anyways, read, read, read!!! And don't forget to review!

Chapter 3

"Red Eyes?"

She took a moment to step back and adore her work. What a beautiful painting it was now that she was going to add the finishing touches. Her silky blond hair flowed across her shoulders as her brown eyes took in a sharp stare at the man with the visor. She smiled as she grabbed her paintbrush and dipped it in clear paint. She reached her delicate fingers forward to trace the paintbrush across the edges of his visor. Then she filled in the middle with hungry eyes.

"A man with no eyes," she purred in a whisper. "Interesting. Intriguing."

She squinted her brown eyes so the depths of mischief and obsession were hidden. Making sure everything in the blood filled picture was just right, she reached her slender arms forward to trace the tips of her fingers across the white that filled the place where his visor was drawn. She dipped the paintbrush in black paint and dabbed the painting a little at first. The she followed the tip of the paintbrush and circled around. "Perfect," she said as she admired the perfect circle. She filled in the depths of his eyes making it as black as coal. "I paint the truth."

She leaned in forward to add one last thing. Her signature at the bottom right hand corner of the painting. It read: Pyrexia.

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Storm finally finished patching Jean's stomach up. No deep injuries. Only because Scott's beams did not come out at full force. They had discovered that his beams were dying slowly. Why, they did not know. That is what made him a mutant and a part of this family. What would happen if his powers just disappeared? And why would his powers just disappear? There was no logical explanation for that. There was no logical explanation to what he had done in the clinic. Storm would have thought that Jean knew what was going on because of her and Scott's psychic bond, but she looked extremely confused. "What happened back there?" Jean asked as she looked around the bluish gray infirmary. She knew what she was doing down here but she did not know how. How could Scott do something like this? And especially to her. Everything had been going fine a couple of weeks before. The past two days were like a sudden slap in the face. "Where's Scott?"

"He's in your room Jean," Storm spoke calmly, reassuring her friend that nothing was wrong with him. But the truth was something was wrong with him. Something unexplainable. Without hesitation, Jean shot up from the infirmary's table and scurried out of the lower levels. She felt healing pain. But that was nothing compared to the mental pain she felt when she did not feel Scott's presence in her mind. At this moment she hoped for both. If she could read his mind then she could figure out what was happening. If she could not read his mind, then she could be freed from an overwhelming feeling. She did not want to feel what he was feeling or thinking when he destroyed her office. But she did want to know what he was thinking when he could have killed her if his powers had not been wearing themselves out.

She knew that there was only one way to find out even the slightest information. And more importantly, to make sure everything was alright. She hurried up the long steps of the mansion that were carpeted with red and ran into the room that they both shared. She walked over to their bed and bent down on her knees. She took his hand in hers and looked upon her lying husband. He was stiff, but his breathing was normal. Sweat dripped from his face and Jean wished she could wipe away that sweat and everything would be okay. She did not know if he was dreaming or not. She could not feel anything.

Her fingers ran through his stringy hair as she caressed the skin on his forehead with the tips of her fingers. "Tell me what's happening, Scott. I can't feel it anymore," Jean whispered as her wide open eyes fell upon his chest and her face was buried in his skin. She did not feel as if his abusive or violent behavior was something small. Scott had never been like that for as long as she'd known him, which was almost all their lives. He might have been serious ninety five percent of the time, but he would never deliberately hurt someone.

Jean placed her hand on his forehead and found him to be extremely hot. She looked at him with a sad gleam in her eyes and tightened her grip on his hands. This was the time to be the courageous Jean Grey, but at this very moment she felt otherwise. She spoke softly through a tight throat, "Everything will be alright."

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"I just got off the phone with the Professor," Storm said as the rest of the X-men listened for hope. "He is not able to make it down here right now. But he encourages us all to hang on."

"Listen, we can't tell Jean," Logan said gruffly, eyeing everyone in the room where they usually had their meetings. There was a glass window that led to the garden Storm had tended to so well. Their were just enough chairs in the brown painted walls of the room for the X-men to sit cozily in. Two of those chairs were empty and they did not intend on keeping it that way. "Not right now at least."

"I agree. She already has enough to worry about," Bobby noted afterwards with a worried expression. "She's already worrying about Scott. We can't just tell her that the clinic is being protested against by anti-mutants."

"What's worse is we can't tell her they are closing down her hopes and dreams," Storm said with worry lines formed on her forehead.

"Ah hope that everything with the clinic will pass over and Scott will be ok. Ah'm really worried about 'im," Rogue said as she swallowed the stale saliva sitting in her mouth.

"Yeah, well things aren't that easy in real life kid," Logan said gruffly.

"Ja, ve don't even know vhat's going on vith Scott. And za clinic vill not open again any time in za near future," Kurt said with slight sadness in his eyes. He knew the pain of being rejected and unable to pursue a life of happiness in the world out there. Not when he looked blue. He felt the soft skin of Ororo's hands caress his tenderly. Many people did not believe mutants had the ability to love and to have happiness. For this, he would sometimes look into his yellow eyes in the reflection of a mirror for long moments. He would wonder if those eyes had a soul within them. He knew it was a sin to think of such a thing, because everyone had souls, starting their life out with a good one. But the thoughts crept into his mind when he slept.

Silence rung through the still air of the gentle, honey brown room. That's when Bobby had heard it. He had heard the voice that somehow made his bones shudder with fear. Was it a voice? Or was it the sound of a shadow creeping against the floor and windows? It reminded him of the fear that he felt when he dreamt of him hearing and feeling everything, but not being able to see anything. He looked to Rogue who seemed to be in deep thought. Maybe if he did not see her he would not have the desire that he had for her. Maybe he would not have to think about touching her. If he could not see her, maybe he would be able to ignore the fear of never being able to touch her creep in his bones. He looked to everyone else in wonder. He wondered if they had heard what he did. It seemed loud enough. "Did you hear that?" he asked as everyone looked at him curiously. As if he had been talking about hearing a shadow.

"Hear what, Bobby?" Logan asked gruffly as he unsheathed his claws. That's weird. If anybody would have heard it, it would have been Logan with his keen ability of hearing. But he felt a twinge of trying to block something out that he knew was there.

"Bobby, are you okay?" Rogue asked with concern. Bobby just shook his head with a recovering look and got up from his black chair.

"I'm fine," Bobby said. "I just need some fresh air."

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Scott's eyeballs raced beneath his eyelids. Left, right, left, right. His eyebrows knitted, his face dripping with sweat. He tried to shut his eyes but he could not. But was he not sleeping?

He could not shut his eyes. He could not shut his eyes from the images he was seeing like flashes of powerful lightning. Images that were so familiar to him. Images of his past. Images of his hand slipping farther and farther away from his brother in mid-air as they had jumped out of the plane. Images of his beams shooting out and hurting many around him just because he had wanted to see the world around him. Images of his beams shooting the roof of the train station and injuring many under the rubble. Along with those images, he felt his ultimate fear of hurting Jean. The image of hurting her had seemed to become more intense, for he had remembered what he had done at the clinic. His mind began to think unconsciously between images. Was it his powers he could not control or was it himself he could not control?

"Scott," he heard Jean's voice whisper. But he knew it sounded distant. As if he could not reach her.

Flash.

"Your eyes?"

A woman stood there watching him. He knew she was watching him, although his eyes were closed. She looked at him intensely with mesmerizing brown eyes. But Scott could not open his own eyes.

He remembered his eyes being blue. Or green. He tried hard to remember the color of his eyes.

"Black," the seductive voice spoke. "Beady black."

"What?" was all Scott's image could manage to say. He could not open his eyes. He did not want to open his eyes for fear of hurting whoever was in front of him or near him in any way.

"Consuming. Un-merciful. Evil."

Scott stepped up to the woman who was speaking, as if he could see. He had to open his eyes. He had to see the blond woman who's voice and presence drove his mind and body with desire. He opened his eyes to see the blond woman with alluring brown eyes. Wait…no red beams had shot out of his eyes.

She looked at him with a hungry gleam in her eyes and handed him a mirror. Scott's shaky hand reached for it nervously. He looked at the back of the mirror for what seemed like long moments.

"Go ahead, look," she spoke as Scott looked at her with entrancement. He turned the mirror over slowly…

"Scott," Jean whispered. His whole body shook lightly. But it seemed as if there had just been an earthquake. His eyes shot open to be met with beautiful brown ones that seemed to be sad. He sat up right and looked at Jean. He waited until she spilled what she seemed to want to say. She held his arm firmly. But he jolted it away from her without notice and with annoyance.

"Scott?"

"Jean, it was just a dream."

"I can't even feel it Scott. I can't."

"Jean……"

"Tell me Scott."

"Tell you about what? It's nothing."

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Scott had gotten away to clear his mind and get something to drink. He did not want to talk to anyone. Not after all of his vague memories of the destruction of Jean's office flooded over him rapidly. He peered into the refrigerator to grab a water bottle and gulp down the water that quenched his thirst. That was when he heard it. He heard the entrancing presence coming from the front door. So he pursued his curiosity.

He walked to the door and opened it before the bell even rung. And there stood a blond haired woman with a strapless black dress that pumped cleavage and flowed down to her ankles. Scott fumbled with his words as he looked her over. Then he looked at her brown eyes through his visor. He looked upon her well-built cheek bones and plump red lips. Where had he seen this woman before? She looked so familiar. "Have we met?" Scott finally asked after trying to find the right words.

"You must be imagining things," the blond woman said with a seductive smile. "I wish your words were true. Any woman would like to lay her eyes on such a handsome man." Scott's eyebrows shot up with surprise. She was very flattering. He held he hand as she extended it for an introduction. "I'm Pyrexia." She shook his hand lightly as she slid away from him, caressing his skin in the process. Her eyes were fixated on his own through the glinting of light that shone upon his glasses. "Nice sunglasses," she said as she looked at the night sky.

"Bad eye condition," Scott said quickly. He did not want her to think that he was some kind of freak.

"It's you," Jean said in a slightly unmannered way. She did not want to deal with her at the moment. But she still wondered what she was doing here.

"Hello, Dr. Grey," she said as Scott finally understood who she was here for.

"You can call me Dr. Summers now," Jean smiled in a fake manner, trying to be polite about it. But it was hard when an attractive woman was standing at the doorway calling her by her maiden name. Especially while her husband was almost drooling. Jean's heart sank at that, but she chose to ignore it.

"About that. I just wanted to return your wedding ring." She handed her the ring as Jean accepted it, expressionless. She watched the girl leave and she watched her husband watch her leave. She held her wedding ring in the palm of her hand for a few seconds and then looked to her left hand. Her ring finger was empty. She had thought it was there. How could it have slipped out without her noticing? She slipped the wedding ring back into her ring finger as Scott shut the door and looked to Jean with annoyance. Jean looked up, completely confused at his angry expression. Why should he be angry?

"How could you just lose your wedding ring?!?" Scott exclaimed as he looked to Jean irritably.

"Scott it was an accident," Jean said as her anger rose. "It's not as if I intended to lose it."

"How do I know that you're not lying?" Scott questioned unbelievably.

"What is wrong with you?" Jean asked with a surprised voice. Scott usually never acted this way. He might express his concerns in a calm fashion. But now he was just losing his cool for no apparent reason. "Why are you acting like this?"

"I'm acting like this because I think that was a very inappropriate way to treat a guest," Scott said as his strong jaw line cringed tightly. "Pyrexia did you a very kind favor and you didn't even have the heart to say thank you."

He looked to Jean with his arms crossed over his chest. Jean felt as if she had just been slapped in the face, hard. She could not even feel her heart beating anymore. It's as if it just stopped. Her knees grew weak and her stomach felt empty. Her head seemed to sway and her eyes grew weary. "Pyrexia," she whispered ever so lightly. Scott just looked at her with confusion. Unbelievable! She just spun on her heel to cover the tears in her eyes and almost raced to the nearest exit. Not even having to push Scott back so he would not follow her.

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Jean moved her eyes in an uncomfortable state behind her closed eyelids and pulled the white sheets along with the red flower covered comforter over her slightly revealing pajamas. She felt a chill go up her spine and up to her neck as goose bumps crept through her entire body as if she had just been shocked by lightning. It was not a good feeling, but nonetheless, it was a feeling. Jean's heart leapt for that one little moment.

But then she looked to her left to find an empty space. He had taken the couch for sleep tonight. Why was he doing this? Jean was going to find out tomorrow if it was the last thing she had to do, pushing Pyrexia aside. She had cried herself to sleep that night with sorrow. She swallowed the lump in her throat that was threatening to burst. She did not want to lose the old Scott but she was not so sure about the new one.

She tucked her tangled red hair behind her ear as she sank her head deep into her pillow. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. This had reminded her of the times when they had started sharing a room together. Scott would often leave the room in the middle of the night because of his fear. His fear of harming her with his powerful red beams on accident when he was sleeping. She would always tell him that it would be alright because she knew he made sure that it was always on securely. Even when he did that, his fear had still haunted him and drove him crazy.

Jean felt it a few times. She felt his overwhelming fear. She felt his wonder of how it would feel to not see everything through his red-tinted glasses. She always told him that she loved him with or without his glasses. But she also wondered how his eyes looked. The eyes are the window to a person's soul, and sometimes it was hard to get through to Scott. She always could, she wanted to and knew how. She loved him. But recent doubts that he felt the same way were proven to be facts now.

Jean tried to make sense of everything and work it all out in her head, but it had been impossible. Everything was jumbled together confusingly. It did not make one bit of sense. She could not get her mind to think straight. So she closed her eyes as she felt emptiness for one second. A tear slipped down her cheek slowly as she brushed it away and felt insomnia creeping into her system.

Jean looked at her wedding ring in the dark room that shone with a hint of light from the crescent shaped moon outside. The light spoke of peace, but that was the last thing she felt. She twirled it around her finger to make sure it was not damaged. And it was not. It was shining brightly with cleanliness. But something was definitely missing. Her eyes were so watery, she did not know what. So she wiped the tears from her face and squinted her eyes at the ring curiously. It's beautiful engraving that Jean and Scott had chosen together was gone. It was simply gone. But she knew this was her wedding ring. How could this have possibly happened? She slipped the wedding ring out to look inside of it. In it was Scott's name still deeply and firmly engraved. She sighed with slight relief as she slipped it back in. She sat up in her bed with knitted eyebrows and fear of losing love, and life.

She thought of the woman, who's name was Pyrexia, coming to the mansion to give her the ring. She had mysteriously disappeared from the clinic. Maybe she had done something to it. But how? Was she a mutant?

Maybe Scott would understand. Jean shot out of bed and wore her robe and slippers. She raced down the steps and into the living room of the very large, yet cozy mansion. She had made her way in the dark and had entered the living room without turning the lights on.

She went to the window where Scott's shadow seemed to appear and stared blankly at his back. He was just staring out the window. Was he saddened by any of this? A spark of hope gleamed in Jean's eyes. "Scott?" Jean asked just to make sure he was here with his mind. He was so silent and still that she could not even hear him breathe.

She felt the shadows as if they were dancing to eerie music. She felt them as if they were hiding something from her and laughing at the fact that she did not know what the words of the music meant.

Scott turned to her, covering the shadow of the moon's light. He opened his closed eyelids as Jean stepped back with a gasp. What was he doing?

But after a moment she knew. He was looking at her through uncovered eyes. Jean squinted her eyes in disbelief. Now she was the most confused and unknowing person in the universe. She was like a baby coming out of it's mother. What the hell was going on here?

"They're blue," Scott said softly in a lower octave than his usual solemn voice. Jean turned on the light switch with her telekinesis. She approached Scott and ran her long fingers over his open eyes. They really were blue. Jean stepped forward to look at them closer. She suddenly got a feeling that made her feel as if she was about to have an emotional break-down. It was not a feeling through their vanished physic bond but a feeling of worry and surprise. A feeling of being lost. For in those blue eyes that she looked back at right this moment, there was emptiness looking back. No spark of life, no spark of love.

No spark of a soul.

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ALL SHALL REVEAL ITSELF IN DUE COURSE! AND I PROMISE THAT EVERYTHING WHICH IS CONFUSING YOU WILL ALSO REVEAL ITSELF! MORE TO COME SOON! BUT ONLY IF YOU REVIEW!!!