Part 3: Hope

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"You are certain it was Jean?" the Professor asked, looking at his student.

Scott had dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep and he was exhausted beyond measure. But Charles could see nothing of the quiet desperation and crushing depression that had afflicted his surrogate son these last few months. There was a glimmer of hope to be seen behind his ruby-red glasses and his words were firm.

"I felt her, professor. I would recognize that feeling anywhere. It was Jean."

Charles sighed, rubbing his bald head. There was so much conviction in his voice and he wanted to believe it so badly, but...

"Scott, son. I hate to crush your hopes, but I have strained my powers to the utmost to detect any sign of Jean. There was nothing. And you... you are not a telepath. How could..."

"I don't need to be a telepath," Scott interrupted him. "Years ago, when Jean and I first fell in love, she used her powers to create a psychic bond between us. From that moment on I could hear her voice whenever she sent to me and vice versa, no matter the distance. Stryker's pet mutant suppressed it so I couldn't warn her, but apart from that we've always been able to contact the other. And she is contacting me now, asking for my help."

Charles thought on what he had just heard. The creation of a permanent psychic bond... it was not unheard of, but it required a level of psychic power Jean hadn't previously displayed. He knew her powers had grown ever since she'd been forced to use Cerebro, had felt it first-hand when she had used him to convey her final message to Scott at Alkali Lake, but to think that she displayed that much power so early...

Better than any other person alive he knew how potentially powerful Jean had been... or was, actually, if Scott was right. He had seen her potential when she had been but a child, had watched it grow under his careful tutelage. Looking at it objectively, it was certainly possible. And somehow that realisation frightened him quite a bit.

"Scott, let's say you are right. If Jean is really alive... then she has spent the better part of a year suspended by her own powers, held in a stasis induced by her own mind. Her powers were growing exponentially even before that."

"What are you saying?" Scott asked, getting impatient.

"Just that we need to be careful, Scott. If Jean is alive, then there is no telling her state of mind. We need to approach this rationally and with extreme caution."

Scott was about to protest, but then his training kicked in. The X-Men's primary mission was to help and, if necessary, to stop mutants who couldn't or wouldn't control their superhuman abilities. The thought that Jean might now be one of them... it boggled the mind.

But he had seen the level of power she had displayed at Alkali Lake, had seen how she had stopped his powerful optic blasts with a wave of her hand. Well, not quite that easily, but she should have been vaporised. He flinched. Not one of his favourite memories. If Stryker hadn't been dead already...

"Very well, Professor. How do you want to handle this?"

Charles nodded at him, proud of his level of control. He was glad to see that the old Scott was back among them at last, not the broken wreck of a man he had been these last few months.

"Go to Alkali Lake, Scott. Take Logan and Ororo with you."

"Logan?" Scott exploded. "Why would I...?"

"Scott," Charles interrupted him, motioning for him to sit back down. After a moment he did, forcing himself to be calm. "I know you and Logan have never quite seen eye to eye, especially when it comes to Jean. But if Jean is alive, then she needs to be helped by the people she trusts the most. And that is you, Ororo, and, like it or not, Logan."

"Why not you?" Scott asked, a little calmer but still upset. "Jean trusts you with her life."

The Professor's face darkened for a moment, his memories returning to a day a quarter century past. Something he'd done back then, something he was not proud of. Something that he suspected just might come back to haunt him now.

"Jean might react negatively to the presence of another powerful telepath," he said, the lie slipping easily across his lips. "It's better if I am not there for the initial encounter. If necessary I will be there telepathically."

Transmitting his thoughts across half the country was not something he could do at leisure, but it was possible. He'd need to use Cerebro. Ever since the incident with Stryker he'd been somewhat uneasy whenever he used the machine that boosted his mutant powers. Still, he'd do what needed to be done.

"Very well," Scott finally said, rising from his seat. "I'll tell the others and prep the jet."

"Scott," the Professor said, making him pause. Looking at his mentor, Scott saw the hope shining in his eyes. "Bring her home, son."

Scott smiled at him. "I will."

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Logan was running as fast as his legs would carry him, putting on his black uniform as he went. The telepathic message he had received from the Professor... could it really be true? Was Jean alive? God, he hoped it was so. He had prayed for it every night since Alkali Lake.

When he had first met the pretty redhead he had felt an instant attraction. How could he not have? She'd been a looker, that much was certain, and she hadn't been intimidated by him. Not much anyway. He flinched as he remembered how he had first woken up in her care and held his claws to her throat in confusion. Not one of his finer moments.

After getting to know her that attraction had bloomed into love. A love she did not return, he knew that by now. Oh, she was attracted to him as well, she had never denied that, but her heart belonged to Scott. She had told him so before Alkali Lake and he had understood. He hadn't liked it, but understood. One couldn't choose where one's heart went.

These last few months he had walked around as if in a daze, the loss of Jean a crushing weight on his soul. He had seen what it had done to Scott, too. So when he arrived in the underground hangar that held the X-Men's jet and saw Scott in uniform, standing tall and looking eager, he couldn't help but smile a little.

It was true, he figured. Scott wouldn't look like that unless it was true.

"We going?" Logan asked as he climbed up the entrance ramp.

"Yes," Scott simply answered. For a moment the two men locked eyes. Scott's were hard to see through his red-tinted glasses, but Logan had learned to read the man despite this impediment. Yes, this was the old Scott Summers. And even though he obviously didn't like having Logan along, he went with it because it was the logical choice for the job at hand. That was Scott in a nutshell.

Logan didn't like him much, either, but he respected him.

"Then let's go, dick," he said, grinning.

"Sure thing, ugly."

Ororo stormed past them, the chocolate-skinned weather goddess brimming with impatience. The two men might both be in love with Jean, but to her Jean was like a sister and best friend all rolled into one. Losing her had been as bad for her as for them and the prospect of getting her back had her rolling ahead at full steam.

"If you are done with the male posturing, can we get this bird in the air?"

"Yes, ma'am," Logan said teasingly, taking his seat. It was a miracle how the mere hope that Jean might still be alive picked up their spirits.

Flight prep took but another minute and then the sleek modified SR-71 Blackbird rose on its VTOL jets and easily slid through the access shaft that was hidden beneath the school's basketball court. Rising into the air, Storm keyed the engines and the plane thundered forward.

Logan closed his eyes, allowing his thoughts to wander free. Three hours to Alkali Lake. Three hours until... what? Jean was alive, somehow he didn't doubt that. Scott sure didn't. But they knew nothing beyond that. What kind of state was she in? How had she survived this long? Would she still be the woman they remembered?

Well, just one way to find out.

"This is going to be a long flight," he muttered, unconsciously unsheathing his claws as his high spirits plummeted slightly with the thought of what might be ahead.

End Part 3