DISCLAIMER: I do not own the X-men.
Jubilee was not happy with the news that was reported to her.
"She WHAT?"
"Jus' what Remy said. She absorbed de Phoenix. Den she went crazy an' ran off to her room. Wouldn't let anyone near her. Said she had de Phoenix in her head or somet'ing."
"And the Phoenix is who exactly?"
Nightcrawler piped up. "Ms. Grey."
"I thought she was dead." She turned around and shouted across the room. "Bobby? Isn't Jean Grey dead?"
He was a bit startled. "Uh, last I checked."
"See? She's dead."
"Den who was de 'Jean' dat de Professor was talkin' about?"
"Crap. She's supposed to be dead. And why's she calling herself the Phoenix?"
Kurt again stepped up to answer the question. "She's alive. The Phoenix is a bird, common in many religions. When it nears death, it bursts into flame and is reborn from the ashes. Ms. Grey, when she died… the water was orange, as if it were on fire... I thought that I was the only one who saw it."
"I'm going upstairs." she turned and looked for her friend, then gave up and yelled. "KITTY! We're going upstairs!" Moments later, Kitty appeared at her side.
"Who's going to stay with the kids?"
"Bobby, the Elf, and Gambit."
"You sure that's safe?"
"I don't really care. Rogue absorbed the thing… whatever it was."
"She WHAT?"
"Exactly." They both took off towards the elevator.
The professor was having a lot of trouble sorting through Jean's mind and finding her. There were all kinds of things in there that didn't make any sense at all, memories that he knew for a fact, did not belong to her. It looked quite similar to a swamp, and each time he thought he was getting closer to finding her, he would get caught up on a piece of seaweed. Every now and then, though, he would stumble (quite literally) upon a memory that he knew was hers. Something about her childhood that she had told him, something that he had witnessed. But the purely Jean memories were quite hard to come by. He located a memory of Alkali Lake. Just as the water rushed over her body, into her lungs, something else did as well. He felt a burning sensation course through his throat, and into his heart. It spread out across his body, moving through pathways that he knew did not exist. That answered one question. It wasn't simply the ingested water. Seconds later, he felt the water being forced back out of her lungs, as she was pulled deeper beneath the surface. The memory ended, which most likely meant that she blacked out. He blinked once, releasing his hold on her mind. Scott noticed this action, as well as the flinching and contorted looks of pain that he had expressed during the reading.
"What happened?"
"Something saved her. Something came into her body and saved her."
"What?"
"I'm not sure."
Scott stood up and started pacing. He was generally calm, except when it came to Jean. He had barely stepped foot out of their bedroom for the first few months after her death.
"Scott. We will find out what happened, I assure you. It will just take time."
Scott didn't want it to take time. He had lost enough time with her already. He had thought that he had lost all time, and now that he knew it wasn't so, he intended to make up for it.
When Jubilee and Kitty had reached their room, Rogue was out on the balcony, leaning heavily on the railing. Jubilee walked over to her and joined her against the railing, while Kitty went into the bathroom to get an aspirin and a warm washcloth. Jubilee cleared her throat, and Rogue jumped a little.
"Sorry, chica. Hot Cajun told us what happened. You ok?"
Rogue closed her eyes and a pained look came over her face. Jubilee winced herself. She knew that whenever Rogue absorbed anyone, she had their voices and memories in her head for some time. Generally, it gave her bad headaches and identity "issues" for a number of days. Sometimes, they would walk into their room after a class or a meal or something and find Rogue wearing flannel and smoking a cigar, residual tendencies from when she absorbed Logan. Other times, she would suddenly lapse into fluent German, which she picked up from absorbing Kurt. Jubilee had joked that because of her powers, she now spoke more languages than everyone in the mansion except for the Professor. She was technically now fluent in not only English and French, which she had known before, but also German, Russian, Polish, and Japanese depending on which psyche was present. Generally though, she had it all under control. As she opened her eyes and looked back at her friend, though, Jubilee could tell that that control was shattered. Rogue's eyes had taken on the coldness that they only had when the personality of Magneto was surfacing. And that hadn't happened since just after she had absorbed him.
"Great." She turned back to the room. "Kitty? Hurrying it up here?"
Kitty fell through the wall to the left of the doors, carrying a glass of water and a bottle of pills.
"Sorry. I couldn't find the aspirin... who filled all of the bottles with candy?"
"Uhhh, doesn't matter, here." She took the bottle and shook two of the pills out, handing them to Rogue. Kitty offered the glass of water, and Rogue gulped down the pills, nodding. Jubilee put her and on Rogue's shoulder.
"They're all coming back, aren't they?"
Rogue nodded, and Kitty's face grew concerned. "All of them?"
Rogue could only nod again. Kitty put her hand on Rogue's arm. "Maybe you should come in and lie down..."
Rogue's response was a muttered "Just leave me alone." Before Jubilee could console her, she morphed into a bird and flew away.
"What the hell just happened?!"
"I don't know... She's never done that before."
"No shit."
"When did she absorb a shapeshifter?"
"I don't even think she's ever met one."
"Then where is she getting that from?"
"Don't ask me. But I know it ain't hers."
"We should go tell the professor."
"We should go tell the professor," Jubilee sing-songed back. "Why don't we just let her have some time alone?"
Kitty sighed. "Fine. But if she isn't back in two hours, I'm going to Xavier."
"Deal."
Jubilee went into the room and started to dig through Rogue's CD's.
"Look on the bright side. We can listen to her music while she's gone."
"You listen to her music even when she's here."
"Shut up, you." A CD case flew in Kitty's direction. Kitty phased through it, of course, and it flew over the balcony and into the trees.
"Ow." Kitty backed up slightly, before leaning over the railing again to find the source of the voice. Sitting in the tree, Remy rubbed his head.
"Dat hurt, chere."
"Remy!" Kitty hadn't expected to see him there.
Jubilee heard his name and came out onto the balcony, flipping through a magazine.
"Do you always hang out in trees outside of women's bedrooms?"
"Sometimes." He swung up and landed on the balcony, peering inside. "Is she ok?"
"We don't know. She turned into a little bird and flew away."
"Din' know she could do dat."
Jubilee smiled, turning the page. "SHE can't."
Thoroughly confused, Gambit just nodded slowly. "Right."
Jubilee laughed and headed back into the room, plopping herself down on her bed.
"She probably absorbed a shape-shifter. We think she's using someone else's powers somehow," Kitty clarified.
"She can do dat? Just use people's powers whenever she wants?"
"No. She can't, usually. Most of the time, she only has the person's powers for a short amount of time, basically until they come out of their little comas. She still has their voices in her head, but she stops being able to use their powers."
"It's like living with a Schizophrenic." Jubilee piped up. "Rogue, why did you rearrange the closet? 'Aw, th' voices told me to, sugah!'"
Gambit raised an eyebrow. "Your accent could use a little work, mon ami."
"Yeah, well..." She went back to the magazine, losing interest in the conversation.
Kitty rolled her eyes. "She loses track of time right after she absorbs things sometimes. It's like she doesn't realize where she's been or what she's done. Magneto almost took over once. Probably would have if Logan wasn't in there too."
"Magneto?"
"Old creepy guy. Kidnapped her about two years ago. Used her to power this big machine, but Logan stopped him and saved her life by letting her absorb him or something... I don't really know all of the details, you'll have to ask her."
"I'll do dat. T'anks for all de info." He hopped back into the tree, and started to climb up towards the roof, leaving Kitty standing on the balcony, staring in amazement. Before he jumped onto the roof, he heard Jubilee yell from inside.
"And stop sneaking around outside our room!"
A/N:It's a little short, I know... but the next chapter should be longer. The line thingy isnt working, so you'll have to deal with imagining them in there... Sorry.
Oh, and review :)