After the Fact 3
So it continues. It will now no longer be totally in Jean's POV, but rather in varying POVs with each chapter. Most likely, they will seldom be first-point from here on out.
I don't own the X-men; just like to write about them.
"After the Fact" will now begin to merge with my previously thought of "Three For The Road." Still post X3. And for all of you who have been reviewing and asking why Scott's not in the fic yet…perhaps you should just wait and let the plot unfold… :)
Where the…where the hell? Where am I?
"We don't even know who he is!" The woman paused. "Didn't someone say he had a bag or something on him?"
"Yeah…if the motorcycle was his, then he had a backpack," a male chimed in.
"Then go through it…" The woman stated.
God…feels like I was hit by a bus… Not that I really know what that feels like…but whatever..
"Okay… We've got water…some food…" the man sifted through the bag. "A phone… Wow…some nice sunglasses here…"
"Driver's licsence? Cell phone? Anything?" The woman insisted.
"Err…here's a phone!" He replied.
Oh god…water… I don't ever want to be near water. Not Ever.
"It says S. Summers," the man replied.
"Okay… Mr. Summers. That's a start," the woman stated.
Jean. Oh god…Jean… That wasn't you, was it? You just like to haunt me.
"Alright…keep looking… I'll start checking the situation out here."
No…I was probably dreaming. Or something. I hit my head…I think.
"Well…it seems that he had a minor concussion at some point," the woman stated.
But you were real, weren't you? I touched you…we kissed… But something happened; you weren't Jean, and I wasn't me then.
"Any damage?" The man asked, still going through the bag.
"Seems part of his brain is heavily damaged…but I don't see how that would be possible…there's no indentation on the skull."
She came back, didn't she?
"Well now that's odd…" the man stated; getting up and coming closer.
"See?" The monitor flashed with images of the man's skull and brain, and there was noticeable stress over one area in particular.
He dug through the bag again. "Oh…you might want to take a look at this…"
She held the blast back.
"Xavier's Institute? That's the mutant school," the woman confirmed. Both doctors eyed the man on the table. "He's a mutant?" she added in disbelief.
"That's what I would say… Oh and this says his name is Scott," the man concluded.
"Scott Summers. Hm. Do we have any mutant stuff on database?" The female asked, hesitant on where to go from here.
"No."
Red. I hate it. But it looks good on you… But you showed me color after all these years… It was blinding.
"Well I ought to check the blood pressure and heart beat and whatnot… Then the ears, eyes, and mouth…just enough of the basics to get the general information. Then we'll let them decide what they want to do with this mutant."
What happened to me?
I began to groan weakly and shift on the table. The woman had already checked my heart and blood. She'd reported they were slightly erratic, but overall rather normal for a human.
"You think we ought to try to contact someone for him?" The man stated, holding the phone.
"Like who?" The woman said, tilting the man's head to the side, checking one ear, then the other.
"Well there's one that says 'Xavier's,' try that?" the man questioned.
"Sure. Sounds good…especially if he works there," the woman said. She took the ear piece off the small flashlight. Her fingertips fell on his left eyelid.
Don't… However, I couldn't speak.
The optic blast exploded from behind my previously closed eyes. The touch had awoken me nearly to the point of full consciousness, and when I realized that I'd just given the room a new sunroof, I snapped my eyes together in fear.
"Damn it," I breathed, propping himself up with his elbows. I was shaking as I heard a body fall to the left of me.
"Oh my god…" the man choked, holding the cell phone that was now ringing.
Back at the mansion, the phone rang loudly in the hallway. Logan's eyebrows arched curiously, and he reached for it. "Xavier's Institute for Gifted kids," Logan added his own spin on the title. "How may I help you today?" he added, amusing only himself.
"Yes…uh…" the man stammered, his voice fading shortly thereafter.
"Yeah?" Logan inquired.
"Sir, do you know a man…b-by the name of Scott S-Summers?"
Silence greeted the receiver. "Yeah?" Logan reluctantly replied.
"He's at the F-Florance Hospital in Canada. Just off o-of Alkali Lake. Please come retrieve him."
Logan's brow sharpened in perplexity. One-Eye's supposed to be dead. "Okay…I'll send someone."
"Sir, please come now," the man demanded.
Logan listened for a few seconds, and could hear Scott yelling in the background. Yep, that's him.
"And sir…I have to ask… Is it….normal for him to have lasers shooting from his eyes?"
"Perfectly normal, doc. Perfectly normal."
---
So, I was alive. How wonderful for me, right? I'd been left in the darkness of a "coma-like" state for close to four days now. I gather that wasn't too terribly bad, but it still ticked me off. And waking up in a hospital was my least favorite place to blow a hole in the wall at. No telling whether or not I would have actually been released…except for my continuous yelling and Storm insisting I was delusional and needed help from my "personal doctor," who of course was located at the mansion.
When I got outside, I laughed at her. Delusion? No. I was far from it. Yet, the whole while I seemed to be submerged to my neck in it. Jean had tried to kill me, or rather Phoenix had. I'd seen her before, and we'd spoken in small bits in the past. She didn't exactly fancy me, or so I believed; she was all about rebellion and going against Jean's morals to get power and to get the answer to her lustful cravings. Extreme difference, no? However, I could see the similarities in the two; this was only logical due to Phoenix being in Jean's body for god only knows how long. Both Jean and Phoenix seemed to share the same sense of logic and intelligence, and both needed love to complete them. This was something that no matter what bribe, I would never offer to Phoenix, but it seemed to be the only thing that would pull Jean back to reality after Phoenix took hold.
Now I sat in the co-pilot's spot in the massive interior of the Blackbird, but Storm had made a strict point of forbidding me from touching anything. That was rather hard to comply with, due to my slight obsessive-compulsiveness about how to fly the jet. I'd taught Ororo, however she had her own ways of going about things that simply made my teeth cringe. Nevertheless, I placed full trust in her piloting skills, she had been trained by the best. And I smirked at that thought.
"You wanna tell me what happened?" Her voice cut the air like a knife. I was pulled back to reality upon the question, and the answer took its time in my mind.
I bit my lip at first, but then began slowly, "I..went to Alkali." Hmm. Not all the words had formed to legit sentences yet. I struggled again, now biting the inside of my mouth.
"No kidding," Storm breathed, flashing a dangerous glare at me.
I returned the glare from behind the glasses. Lucky for me, I'd taken the only other pair of the ruby-quartz glasses with me when I'd made the trip to the lake. When I'd decided finally to leave, something inside me told me not to return to the mansion, no matter what exactly I found at the lake. I guess that's why I took the glasses? However, my mind burned strongly for me not to go at the same time. Jean's voice and thoughts crossed into my own field of thoughts far too many times for it to be ignored though; I had to get to the lake to stop the torture. I had to physically prove to myself she was dead if I was going to consciously stop allowing her to torture me.
"Guess I got angry… I remember pulling off the glasses and the blast going into the lake, then a massive headache. And after that…the water was moving unnaturally and I was thrown back. I think I blacked out for a while, but when I got up again Jean was there. Talked to her for a few seconds, then she wanted to see my eyes; she held back the blast and then we kissed…" my voice broke off as I fell back into my own memories. Jean had that effect on me.
"That's it?" Storm stated after a moment.
"And I woke up in the damn hospital." I shrugged my shoulders. What else was there to tell? Anyone other than me probably knew more on the situation.
The jet titled down ever so slightly, and I could see the mansion a ways below us as Storm continued to dive into the open air.
"There's gotta be more," she insisted.
I gave a skeptical look and then clicked my tongue against my teeth before answering nonchalantly, "Nope."
She sighed as the basketball court ruptured into two even flats. "When we went to Alkali, there was an enormous energy everywhere. Fog clouded everything. Stuff was floating everywhere, Scott. Jean was knocked out on the ground unconscious. Logan hadn't told me you left, so we didn't stay to look for you," she explained with her tone rising with each progressing sentence. The jet sank beneath ground level.
What could I say to that? I'd been knocked dead cold…although I didn't know why or how I'd gotten that way after Phoenix. Maybe she managed to somehow suck my soul or consciousness out. The only thing I distinctly remembered after the kiss was an extreme, burning heat, and then an unearthly cold. I missed Jean, but returning to her was something I was leery of. No. It wasn't returning to her. It was returning to feasibly face Phoenix again that sent shudders through my spine.
The back fell out of the jet, and Storm began powering-down the jets. She finally muttered, "Well it's a good thing you had another pair of those things, huh?" Her fingers briefly motioned to my glasses. I nodded in response. We could sense each other's hesitating demeanors. I hated this feeling; I knew I had to get up and get back into the regular swing of things, but the hesitation made me second guess my decisions. But Jean was worth it, right?
---
Silently Logan was brooding over the man's return. Scott had immediately been dragged off to the infirmary; Storm had asked Logan to call Hank and get him over as fast as possible. The blue-furred mutant had been more than willing to retire for the day from his government duties, not that there was anything extreme going on at the moment anyways.
However, with his return, Logan was going to yet again be shoved to the side, because surviving "death" was something that for sure would give Summers quite a bit of attention. Not that Logan particularly cared, but the attention he would receive would have a main source: Jean. Even in the short week that Jean had been alone, and Scott claimed dead, Logan had felt that he and the red-haired woman had grown slightly closer.
So here he was; the Wolverine standing alone within the confines of the massive library deep within the mansion, contemplating another disappearing act and staying to watch potential trouble enfold the mansion. At the consideration of the second, he arched an eyebrow. Perhaps staying could have its potential advantages, he thought, giving a smirk as he tromped out of the quiet sanctuary.
My apologizes for such a short chapter. The next bit that is coming up works best in third-person perspective, so I've saved it for the next installment.