Disclaimer: X-Men is property of Marvel, and the story is only made for entertainment value.
Jean sat on the end of her bed, concentrating on blocking the voices out. They were always there. Sometimes they were a gentle hum, but lately they'd been getting worse. Xavier had been gone for a while, and she always had a hard time when he wasn't around to mentor her. She'd been at the Xavier Institute for a little over a year now, she supposed. She was brought by… an accident. The one where the little girl died. She couldn't take it. It had spurred her powers… made her think she was insane for a while, but she knew now that it was all going as it was meant to.
A knock at the door disturbed the silence of the room, and Jean stood to answer it, greeted by familiar faces, and one unfamiliar. She stared inquisitively down at the face framed by a mousy-colored bob and a silly little white hat.
"Jean," the woman said, "Jean, your sister, brother in law, and husband have come to visit you. Isn't that exciting." She kept her voice quiet, as though scared to stimulate Jean too much. Jean looked past her, though, and focused on the tall brown haired man behind her who was wearing a pair of sunglasses.
"Scott," Jean breathed, taking his hand and leading him into the room. He smiled, seeming to be looking at someone behind her, but still obviously overjoyed to hear her voice.
"Careful now, Jean," a redheaded woman said, entering the room.
Jean's eyes narrowed until they were practically slits as she took in the form of the woman who looked so much like her, but was so obviously different. "Madelyn," she hissed.
"Oh good!" Madelyn laughed harshly, taking the hand of the blonde man with her. "At least she's not calling me the 'Goblin Queen' today. Remember, Alex?" she said, turning to her companion. "She was convinced that I was some evil clone of her, ignoring the fact that I'm her biological twin sister. Last time our father was here she was so confused. Half the time she doted on him, and the other half she called him sinister and accused him of trying to mix the Grey and the Summers blood, forgetting that we've been practically betrothed since we were all children! It's ridiculous, really…" Madelyn trailed off, turning her attention back to Jean, who was still glaring at her angrily. Alex just looked at his sister in law pityingly, and turned away, suggesting to his wife that they give his brother and Jean a little time together alone.
"Don't hurt him, you hear me?" Madelyn said before turning toward the door.
"He's my husband! Not yours! Mine!" Jean shouted at the door as it closed, but they didn't come back in. Alex held his wife back, knowing that it would do no good to confront Jean when she was in this type of condition.
"Jean…" It was Scott's pleading use of her name that called Jean back to him… and back to reality, for the moment.
"Oh, Scott. Do your eyes hurt? Are they?…" she trailed off, reaching up to take the sunglasses off, revealing red, scarred, closed eyes. "That fire ruined our life, didn't it? It was all perfect… and then…"
Scott looked away, groping in Jean's hands for the sunglasses and putting them back on. "It's going to be Rachel's birthday tomorrow," he said finally, almost choking on the words. "Her second since…" He couldn't see it, but Jean's eyes were practically shining with happiness, and her voice betrayed the inappropriate emotion.
"Then it will all work out, Scott. It's perfect. I know Rachel, she'd want to come back on her birthday. She'll come back-"
"No!" Scott cut her off, his jaw set was restrained rage that deteriorated into a sob immediately after he spoke against his wife. "No, Jean. She's not coming back. She's dead."
"No! She's the Pheonix, don't you understand? She's going to come back. It's how it works." She had grown defiant now, slipping fully back into her fantasy world, and angry that Scott, her won Cyclops, was denying what was true, what had to be true.
"Jean… no…" Scott said quietly. He reached out, and put his hand on her cheek, feeling her melt at his touch. She couldn't be mad at him, not when he came to visit so rarely, not when-
"Are you done?" Madelyn called from the door, knocking.
Jeans neck snapped around, out of Scott's hand. "You bitch! You stole him! He's mine! You think you're me, you think you deserve him?! You don't!"
Scott stood silently as she continued to yell, and left the room. She was oblivious to him now; he knew there was nothing he could do to get her attention back.
Madelyn raised her finger and opened her mouth to retaliate against the sister who she felt had always been favored, but was silenced by a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Why don't you take Scott to the waiting room?" Alex offered. "I'd like to talk to Jean." Looking at Jean, then back to Alex, Madelyn decided to just let it go, and left, taking Scott by the hand. Jean, who had become silent, whimpered slightly when she saw Scott take Madelyn's hand in so trusting a manner, but she didn't say anything. It never seemed to help when she did.
Sighing, Alex stepped into the room. Looking around and the photographs on the walls. There was Scott and Jean at their wedding. There was an empty space next to it. That was where the picture of Alex and Madelyn at their wedding was supposed to go, but Jean had taken it down long ago. A lot of the pictures were of a baby who slowly matured into a little girl. Rachel, before…
Turning away, Alex noted that Jean was crying, fidgeting where she sat. She always seemed to get more upset when they visited her; it upset her world, not matter how happy she was to see Scott. Alex was crying himself, but he wouldn't show it. He had known Jean since she was a little girl, though she wouldn't admit it. Maybe she sincerely didn't believe it anymore.
Looking down at her desk, Alex spotted her diary, open to today's entry:
Xavier is still gone. The Institute is never the same without him, and the voices… I think Gambit is planning to-
Alex stopped reading, picking up the book. "Gambit?" he asked Jean, sitting at the bed and looking at her, showing her the diary.
"Remy…" she answered, smiling softly. "Remy Lebeau. He lives in one of the rooms down the hall. Xavier recruited him not to long ago from the bayou in Louisiana." Alex smiled too, glad at the apparent truth, so far, even if she used the word 'recruited.' He motioned for her to continue. "You remember Gambit, though. He's the one with the playing cards and the staff. He can charge the cards and…" Alex let her keep going, but his smile slowly faded. He knew Remy, of course, but no Gambit. Remy did indeed live just down the hall. He did have cards; he carried them with him wherever he went, seemingly playing a never ending game of Solitaire. He couldn't charge the cards, though, and he had no staff, only a cane. Alex racked his brain, and surprised himself by remembering why he had that cane: he had lost the end of one of his legs to a crocodile before he had found his was up to New York. He was a nutcase.
As Jean continued to talk, Alex looked through past entries. She mentioned so many strange characters: Beast, Iceman, Rogue… Alex could only guess at who they really were. He knew a few, of course. She had called him Havok enough times to realize that was his consistent identity, while Scott was Cyclops. Madelyn was either the Goblin Queen, or Madelyn Pryor, a new last name that Jean had plucked from her imagination.
Sighing, he put down the book, too depressed by miniscule amount of improvement his sister in law had shown over the months. Silencing her with a finger to her lips, he gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek, then stood to leave.
Stopping at the door, he turned to her. "Just don't make too much trouble, ok?" he asked, a forced smile on his lips. Then he was gone, and Jean was alone again. Alone? No. Concentrating, Jean tried to block out the voices…
Author's Note: I plan on doing just a series of one-shots based off of the idea that the X-Men do not exist, but are products of Jean's imagination. The next character I'll focus on will most likely be Rogue.
