Authoress's note: yay, I didn't get stoned to death for my twist on Phoenix! :::dances::: People actually liked it! :::walks around handing Wolverine-shaped cookies::: So, here's part two of Resurrection. Enjoy!!

Reviewers' Response:

Pyro Lady – hehe. Did I get him IC?

chelsey-pudge – you'll see what they want her for right here... go read!

the littlest weasley – you like the twist. YAY! Updating.

xImmortalx – Oh, I didn't realize you're new. Welcome to Fanfiction . Net. Don't worry about it; I was registered for almost a year before I actually figured it out and started posting. Glad you liked my idea :)

Chapter 12: Resurrection:

Part II: Unfreeze.

From last time:

Back at the camp, Magneto and Mystique both put down whatever they were doing and headed out onto the ice. The pillar of fire disappeared as they reached the hole and proceeded to climb down into it. Pyro looked up at them and said, "I think I've found her."

"Let's see," said Magneto, stepping down into the icy pit and walking into the tunnel. He studied the hand carefully, then peered into the ice, looking for the figure's face. "Melt some more of the ice around her," he told Pyro. "Be very careful. We do not want to harm her."

Pyro frowned. I know that, he thought to himself, but a look from Mystique reminded him that his task was not yet finished. He'd found her; he still had to get her out. Moving in front of Magneto, he concentrated on his flame. Throwing one hand out, he released a thin beam of concentrated fire, delicately cutting out the frozen form, still in a cube of ice. He nearly laughed at the cartoonish thought; then he remembered Magneto and Mystique were still watching him. He carefully brought out the packed ice and looked at it for a moment, pondering how to go about this. He settled for forming a flat shield-like tongue of fire and moving it slowly across the surface of the ice, melting it as carefully as he could. He made sure to vaporize the water that came to their feet, keeping it from freezing their feet in place.

After nearly an hour of melting the ice-cube – neither Magneto or Mystique rushed him; they knew he was going about it subtly, and admired it – the last of the ice was gone, save for a thin frost-like layer still on the standing figure, whose limbs were gradually softening and bending. Pyro could see quite clearly now that it was indeed Jean, his old teacher. It had been three years since he'd last seen her, and while he knew he had changed much, grown and evolved, she looked to be exactly the same. The same red-orange hair that reached her chin, those same warm brown eyes, now frozen. Even the necklace and bracelet Scott had given her a year before that were still there, frozen to her flesh.

"Well done, Pyro. Come."

Pyro looked away from Jean, at Magneto. Mystique looped her arms around Jean's figure and started to haul her out of the tunnel and up the stairs. Pyro reached out to help, half expecting Mystique to slap him away; to his surprise, she let him help. Together, they carried Jean out of the hole and to the camp, where Magneto restocked the fire and Pyro built it up with intense flames, while Mystique wrapped Jean in a blanket and set her close to the fire. The last layer of frost had melted away, and Jean's limbs started to warm and relax. Soon her eyes fell closed, and she lapsed into unconsciousness.

-X-

Eleven hours later, Jean Grey woke up, wrapped in a somewhat wet blanket but close to a warm fire. More than a bit disoriented, she looked around. Where was she? Some kind of camp, it seemed. There were three tents on the ground around her and the fire; a large number of metal crates stood behind the tents, and behind them, she thought she could see a silvery jet.

"Jean?"

She twisted around, and came face-to-face with a young man, who was halfway out of his tent. "You – you're awake!"

"Yes, I'm awake," she said slowly, her voice hoarse. It hadn't been used in three years after all. But she did not know that.

"Magneto, Mystique!" the man yelled. Jean frowned. Who was he? Who were these people he had called, Magneto and Mystique?

Said two people each came out of their tents: an elderly man dressed in black trousers and a long fur-lined coat, and a woman, completely naked but covered in bright blue scales. She narrowed her eyes. Mutants.

Wait.

How had she known they were mutants? What was going on?

"Good morning, Miss Grey," said the elderly man. "My name is Eric Lensherr. I am otherwise known as Magneto. How are you feeling?"

"Damp," she replied, and tried to stand up. Her body was still weak, though, and she wobbled unsteadily. The young man helped her stand straight and untangle herself from the damp blankets.

"Sorry about that," he apologized – even though he hadn't been the one to wrap her in the blankets; that had been Mystique.

"Well, sit by the fire, warm up," said Magneto. "This is Mystique, and this is John Allerdyce, who is also known as Pyro." He gestured at each in turn. Then he sat down on a crate and looked her over. "Do you remember anything?"

"No," she replied, her face blank. "Where are we?"

"We are somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, near an old abandoned military base, called Alkali Lake. Does that sound familiar?"

"Vaguely. Thank you," she said as Mystique handed her a cup of coffee. "What did you say my name is?"

"Your name is Jean Grey," he said. "Drink up, get warm."

"Jean Grey," she tried it out, "that sounds right enough." She took a sip of the hot brew. "So who are you all?"

"I have already told you our names," Magneto replied.

"A name doesn't tell you much about a person when you first meet them," she retorted.

He chuckled. "True. Very well, I shall tell you. We are mutants."

"Mm, I knew that, somehow." Her brow furrowed suddenly. "Am – am I a mutant, too?"

"Yes, you are. You possess telepathic and telekinetic gifts. Very powerful ones."

"How do you know this?"

"I have known you for a long time, my dear Jean. You are a part of a group I am leading, a mutant group called the Brotherhood of Mutants."

Pyro's head snapped up. Magneto was lying to her – he wanted her on their side. He hesitated; he didn't like to lie. But he did not like to meddle in Magneto's plans either. So he let them be, but listened carefully so that he would know what Jean was being told and not say something that would seem suspicious to her.

"The Brotherhood of Mutants?" Jean said. "That sounds familiar too."

"Well, it would," said Magneto smoothly. "You have been a strong member of the Brotherhood for a long time. You are a smart young woman, Jean, and should be proud to be with us."

"Mm. You said I was a telepath?"

"And a telekinetic."

"Right... And what am I doing here?"

"We had an accident here, around a year ago. You saved us, by stopping a very strong flood that came our way. But you were caught in the flood, and we had no choice but to leave and come back later, when we could get you out."

"Get me out?"

"You were frozen in the ice of the lake. Pyro got you out."

Jean turned to Pyro with a hesitant smile. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," he said uneasily.

"So..." Jean turned back to Magneto, "what do I do now?"

"You come with us," he replied. "We will get you some clothes, and take you back to the island."

"Island?" she raised and eyebrow.

"We found an old base on an island and have set up our headquarters there."

"I see... And what exactly do you – the Brotherhood – do?"

"We are mutants, but we are not the only group. There is another, a group of mutants who call themselves The X-Men."

Jean frowned. "That sounds familiar too."

"We are not on very good terms with them. They run a school, a school for training mutants, and they constantly meddle in our plans, simply to attack us in public and cause panic between the normal humans. They have encouraged a new law to be passed: the Mutant Registration Law. If this law is passed, mutants everywhere will be hunted and arrested, simply for being different."

"But that's awful!" Jean cried.

"Yes, it is," Magneto said, smooth as silk. "We want to put a stop to it."

"Well, I'm helping," Jean said firmly.

Magneto smiled. Pyro's eyes narrowed. So that was Magneto's plan. Jean had fallen right into place.

-X-

Jean was given her own tent, and provided with clothes and fed until she was strong enough to stand up alone. Magneto would talk to her for long times, 'filling her in' as he put it, telling her about the X-Men and their school, describing each of its members as best as he could and assuring her that they would all try to get her on their side, as they had been since Magneto had set up the Brotherhood.

Jean took all this in willingly, believing every word Magneto uttered. She developed somewhat of a hatred for the X-Men, though she did not remember them at all. She talked to Pyro, trying to learn how she had used her powers before the flood. Pyro, knowing nothing whatsoever of telepathy or telekinesis, simply told her she needed to try and get the feel of her powers, and try and harness them.

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.

"Well, you know what your powers are, right?" he said.

"Yes, I know I'm telepathic and telekinetic."

"Well, you know how telepathy and telekinesis work, don't you? Try and figure it out. Understand how you can control your powers, how you can control objects and make them move, for example. Here, try with this," he put down his cup of soup. "Make the cup move."

Jean stared at the cup. Something stirred in her mind. She knew how to do this. Move, she said to the cup. And it moved.

"Cool. See, you can do it," he said as she set the cup down and said, "Well, what about the telepathy?"

"I dunno... don't think I can help you there. 'Fraid you'll have to work that one out yourself."

She sighed. "Well, thanks."

-X-

The flight to the island was shorter for Pyro now that he had someone to talk to. Jean asked him about his pyretic powers and asked him to demonstrate his flame-throwing. He gladly showed off, even though he knew Magneto would scold him for using his fire inside the jet.

When they landed, Mystique led Jean to one of the rooms in the base, where she told her she could settle in, but be ready to go whenever they called her. After that Pyro took her to meet the other mutants on the island.

"This is Loreyn," he said, pointing at a woman younger than Jean, around twenty-five years old, who had black hair and, quite alarmingly, black eyes as well. She wore black leather, which creaked slightly when she moved but looked comfortable enough. "She goes by the codename Misery; she prefers to be called that."

"Misery?"

"She has telepathic powers, but she connects to a person's pain. Ergo, Misery. Why don't you ask her about the telepathy? I'm sure she could help. Try and catch her in a good mood, though; she can get a bit cranky at times." Next Pyro pointed out a younger man, who also wore black, but not necessarily leather. His hair was a dirty-blond colour, and pulled back into a ponytail. "That's Matt. A.k.a. Shadowcaster."

"What's his gift?" Jean asked.

"Well. He, um, casts shadows, I suppose you could say. Show her, Shadow."

Matt promptly cupped his hands; within seconds, a dark cloud-like shadow had formed in his hands and was running down to the stone floor like thick steam. Jean looked at him with wide eyes. Matt grinned at her and spread his shadows further, until they enveloped him completely. When the shadows dissolved, he was gone.

"How does he do that?" she asked Pyro, who shrugged.

"Even he's not sure. He just kind of melts into his shadow. He's probably still somewhere around us; there are plenty of places you could find shadows here. Oh, this is Kelly."

Kelly was around Pyro's age, a pretty blue-eyed blonde, with bluish tinges to her short hair. "Kelly Telsia," she said, shaking Jean's hand.

"Nice to meet you. What are your powers?"

Kelly smiled, and then she seemed to ... melt. Jean's eyes widened again.

Pyro said, "She's a water mutant. We call her Aqua," he shrugged. "She just kind of melts whenever she feels like it, and she can create floods. Ah, and here are the twins."

Jean turned to see two men around Pyro's age coming towards them. They were unmistakably twin brothers: both had dark hair and pale blue eyes.

"These are Brian and Rick. Don't ask me who's who; I still don't know."

The twin with the longer hair rolled his eyes. "I'm Brian," he said, running a hand through his hair. "Remember by the hair, mine's longer."

Pyro grinned sheepishly. "Oh. Yeah. Right."

"What are your powers?" Jean asked them.

"He's Copycat," said Rick, the one with the shorter hair. "Literally. He copies other mutants' powers."

"And he's Amp," said Brian. "He amplifies other mutants' powers."

"I see." Jean took a good look at the pair of them, so she could see which was which and remember. "Okay, long hair is Brian, short hair is Rick. Who's the older?"

"I am," said Rick.

"And he never lets me forget it," said Brian.

-X-

"So, everybody has codenames, huh?"

Kelly nodded. "They come with the powers. You know, John's Pyro, and Matt is Shadowcaster..."

"Yes, I see."

"What about you?"

"Me? Oh." Jean frowned. "I suppose I should also think of something, yes..."

"How about... Phoenix?"

Jean cocked her head to the side. "Phoenix?"

"Yeah – you know, they burst into flame when they die –"

"– and are reborn from the ashes," finished Jean. "Right!"

"And, well, you were pretty dead back in that lake. And fire did bring you back to life, in a way."

"Yes, you're right," said Jean. "Phoenix," she tried it out. It seemed to fit... "All right. I am Phoenix."

IMPORTANT AUTHORESS'S NOTE: yeah, so, as you've all figured out already, I've taken a different approach to the idea of Phoenix than the comics. Instead of being some alien Phoenix Force, I've had her (her, it... whatever) simply come out as an alter-ego of Jean's. She's lost her memory... Magneto took advantage of that ... and Kelly's suggestion of the codename 'Phoenix' was purely incidental. ;D

(Review!!!)