First of all, thank you so much for the nice
reviews! I am glad that you like
it.
I have already pre-written 35 pages by now, but I still have
to type them. Hope you will like this chapter here too. And to answer
your questions: Rogue will play a bigger role, but till the point I
have written, she's not something you can call a major character.
But I have already made plans for her. ;) And Scott will come back,
but not so soon. So, thanks again and I hope you will review on this
one, too. ;)
Changes Chapter 5
In the meanwhile, Logan gently laid the still shaking Jean down onto his bed. He realized that he was staring at her… He still believed that his mind was playing games with him, thought that the Professor might have knocked him out completely and he was now captured in his self-made dream world…
Still, her watered green eyes, which were looking at him, seemed so real. He frowned and slowly sat down on the edge of the bed. An uncomfortable silence filled the room and both of them just stared at the other.
"They'll never forgive me…", she finally said, barely audible.
"Of course they will…"
She shook her head. "If you hadn't intervened…I would have killed them…" Again tears filled her eyes.
"Jean…"
Suddenly, Jean sat up, grabbed his face and stared into his eyes. Logan saw the despair in then, but also a weird, nearly crazy expression… His heart began to beat triple rhythms again. "Don't…", was everything he said while shaking his head and touching her hands with his.
"Please", she begged and tears were running down her face. "I can't control her…she's too powerful and I don't want to hurt or kill anyone of you again…"
"No…", Logan said sincerely, causing her to bend forward and start to sob even harder. He sighted frustrated and took her face into his hands. "Look at me!" Gently he pulled her head up and looked into her wet eyes. "You beat her down there, Jeannie. And you can do it again, I know that!"
Again she shook her heard with closed eyes causing more tears to wet her cheeks.
"Yes you can!", said Logan louder and wiped them away.
Angry she opened her eyes. "I know what I am capable of when I lose control, Logan! I know what I did. To Scott, the Professor, to you…"
He closed his eyes and sighted again.
"I can still see it when I close my eyes. See how I destroyed them, the joy of it, even how much you suffered…"
"And I still see you dying…", he angrily gave back before he could stop himself.
Jeans eyes widened in shock and she looked at him, watched his head turning away from her. "I'm sorry…"
"Do you really remember everything?", he cut her off and was now looking at her again.
She nodded and watched her hand taking hold of his. "Everything…"
He stood up and immediately felt her tense. He gently pushed her down. "You should sleep now."
Jean watched him tucking her in and her heart started to race as he turned around. She instinctively grabbed his arm. "Don't go!" She was scared to death, afraid that she would immediately lose control if she was alone.
Logan looked down at her smiling. "I'm not leaving, Red. I only wanted to turn the lights off. So no reason to be scared…" He quickly squeezed her hand and she let go, but still watched every step of him.
After the light was turned off, Logan took the second pillow and another blanket. He put both things to the ground. As he laid down, he took one of her into his. "Everything will be alright. You'll see, Jeannie."
Jean rolled over to the side where he was, keeping her hand in his, feeling that it helped her to calm herself. "Thank you…", she whispered.
"If anything's wrong, wake me!", Logan said. Before he allowed himself for the first time in weeks to sleep, he made sure that she was already sleeping. Hoping for both of them to have a dreamless night…
It was in the middle of the night when Storm woke up. First, she blinked, but them her eyes widened in shock as she realized that the whole room was shaking. Within less than a second she was at the door and looked down the corridor. She saw many students standing in their door, too, looking around. Some confused, some in fear.
"Another earthquake?" Rogue came towards her.
"And I wonder who s responsible for it…", Storm said knowing while raising an eyebrow.
"Do you think he's okay?", the girl asked worried. "I mean…he's alone wit her…" Rogue looked towards Logan's door at the end of the corridor.
Storm nodded. "If anyone can handle her than him. She can't kill him. At least that's what the Professor said."
Nevertheless, Rogue could see that she was also worried. "Don't you think we should check on him?"
Storm thought about it for a few seconds, before she finally nodded. "Would do no harm…"
In contrast to Ororo, Logan had been rudely awoken immediately after the room had started to shake violently- He had found Jean shaken all over and huddled in a corner of the room. With a jump he had been at her side and had immediately pulled her into his arms. Since then he tried to calm her and kept on at her. "Come on, Jean…concentrate! Calm down!", Logan said and pulled her even closer as her body started to tense violently. "Please, Jeannie. Everything's alright. Fight her! You're stronger than her!"
Her daemonic, veined face shot up and black eyes starred into his. "No, she's not!"
Logan backed away a bit, being surprised that the Phoenix had already taken over. He heard his door open and smelled Rogue and Storm.
"Logan, are you alright?", Storm was able to ask before the Phoenix mentally threw her backwards against the wall on the corridor. Groaning she fell to the ground, causing the students who watched the scene to scream in panic.
"Get out, Rogue!", Logan yelled at the younger woman before something would happen to her too. "I said go!"
Rogue nodded and closed the door again, while he turned his head again to face the Phoenix. "And now back to you!"
She smiled at him self-assured. "You can't save her!", she hissed, while her eyes blackened even more.
Violently Logan grabbed her shoulders and pushed her against the wall. "Get out of her head!"
"Why should I", Phoenix hissed and grabbed his arms in return. "You can do nothing against me!"
"Oh really?", he said smiling. "I can kill you, remember that?"
She snorted. "No you can't. Killing me means killing her!"
"Oh, I think she would be glad getting rid off you!"
Rapidly, she widened her eyes, causing him to fly backwards, too. But Logan had been faster and had grabbed her arm tightly, pulling her with him. Both crashed hard against his door, causing it to burst and both hit the opposite wall as Storm had done before. Students were screaming again and some ran, others backed off. Storm, who was holding her arm, and Rogue were standing aside, watching the whole scenery and also the Professor had already arrived.
Angrily, Logan got up, facing his now furious opposite. "Surprised, eh?", he asked, preparing himself for her next attack.
"I should have killed you!", she hissed, gritting her teeth.
"Too bad, luv. You can't kill me!", he gave back shrugging. With a jump he threw her to the ground, using his weight to keep her from moving. "Come on, Jean. Talk to me!"
The Phoenix screamed underneath him, fighting physically against Logan who had to use his whole strength to steady her. Storm turned around and looked anxiously at the Professor who tried to talk to Jean mentally. Soon, he shook his head. "She doesn't let me in."
"We must do something!", she answered and turned around as she heard Logan yell in pain. She saw that he was pressed against the wall, arms and legs spread away from his body. He clenched his teeth, while the Phoenix stood in front of him.
"Let him go!", Rogue screamed and wanted to help him as Bobby hold her back.
"Don't!"
The eyes of the Phoenix were still on Logan who thought that his body was torn apart. The wall behind him began to crumble as she pushed him stronger against it. "You forgot that I can still squash your body…" She mentally sent a wave towards him, ripping off the skin of his bones, exposing his adamantium skeleton again. In joy she watched him groaning as her wave hit him, watched as his healing factor rebuilt his skin again.
"Damn it, do something!", Rogue screamed and hid her face at Bobby's shoulder.
"Don't even try!", Phoenix hissed as she felt the Professor in her mind. With a wave she sent his wheelchair backwards.
"Please…Jean…talk to me!", Logan tried it again, fighting against the pain.
"She can't hear you!"
Bobby was standing in front of Rogue now and concentrated on the Phoenix, trying hard not to think so that she would be warned by his actions. As quickly as he could he shot an ice beam towards her, making her lose control for a second. Before she could react again, Logan had pulled himself together and extracted his claws on one hand. This time he pushed her against the wall.
"Kill her!", he heard Ororo scream. "Do it, Logan!"
"Sorry, Jean!", Logan said and pushed his claws into her shoulder, causing the Phoenix to scream in pain. Her grabbed her shoulders again and started to shake her. "Come on, Jean, fight her!", he yelled at her, bringing his hands to her face and made her look at him. "You have to fight her! Think about something, Red. Something happy! Something which is important to you!"
Tears started to flow down her face again. He could see her fighting, saw how much she suffered.
"Please, Jeannie…", he now begged, grabbing her face even stronger. "I need you! Fight her! You're stronger than her. You can make it. I'll help you! Please!" Logan was aware that everyone was watching them, but he didn't care. He didn't care what the others were thinking, didn't care that he showed his feelings openly right now. All he cared about was her. He couldn't lose her again…
Unaware that she had read his mind, he began to stroke her face gently, gave her a quick kiss in the forehead before he pulled her close. Slowly her wet eyes turned green again and her body collapsed. She sank to her knees, pulling him with her and began to sob heavily.
Relieved, the Professor passed his hand over his face. He watched Logan pulling Jean even closer to him, letting her cry loudly on his shoulder.
"Please…", they heard her saying. "Please, kill me! Please!" Jean clung to him as if she was drowning.
He buried his face into her neck, sighting. The more Phoenix had hurt him before, the more it hurt him to hear her pleas. He sat down on the ground so that she was on his lap now.
"Please…", she begged again and buried her face even deeper into his shoulder.
Storm looked at the Professor and even if he immediately knew what she was thinking, he shook his head. "We talk about this later!", he said. "Everyone! Go back to sleep. The day will come soon and we do not want you to fall asleep during class". He smiled at the students who obeyed and walked away to their rooms. Still, the Professor was thankful that they couldn't read his mind just now or feel his inner turmoil. "The three of you should leave now too!", he said to Rogue, Bobby and Storm, who glanced at Logan and Jean, before they nodded and disappeared.
Prof X waited until everyone was gone before he came closer. Logan who had finally managed to calm Jean looked up at him exhausted.
"Take her to the lab and take care of her shoulder. Then go back to sleep."
Logan nodded and helped Jean to her feet. Gently he laid one arm around her and walked with her down the corridor towards the elevators. With a worried and thoughtful face the Professor watched them leave.
Logan had helped Jean to sit on the table in the lab, while he looked for bandages and something to disinfect the wound. As he turned around again, he noticed that she was more than a complete mess. Powerless and with red eyes from crying she starred at something imaginable before her, completely unaware of her surroundings. Logan frowned and began to examine her wound carefully. He hadn't cut her deep just as much as wanted to get her attention and even the bleeding had already stopped. Slowly, he pulled the shirt aside which she wore and took the disinfectant. "This could burn a bit", he warned her calmly and poured a bit of the liquid onto a wad of cotton wool. Gently, he dabbed her wound, noticing that she didn't move a bit. After Logan finished treating her shoulder, he turned around just to find her starring at him. She really is a mess, he thought.
"Why can't you just do it?", she asked with a monotone voice, looking at him with completely empty eyes.
Logan sighted again and leaned against the table. "Because I can't, Jean…"
"That's no answer."
"It's the answer I give you…"
"I lost it again…", she said. "Next time, someone might die. Is that what you want?"
He folded his arms. "Of course not!"
"Then do it!", she demanded.
"I won't…"
"Why?"
Logan leaned forward, placed his hands beside her legs and looked directly into her eyes. "Because I have faith in you, Jean!"
She backed off a little.
"Because I know that you are stronger than her. Damn it, Jean, you're the strongest woman I've ever met. And as long as you do not believe in yourself, she will always come back…" He watched how her head sunk. He could only guess how tired she was or what it looked like within her. Gently he laid one hand on hers. "Come on. We go back to sleep."
Logan helped her getting off the table and lead her back to the elevator. In it Jean leaned against the wall, feeling no power left within her. She felt completely empty…as if the Phoenix had taken all her power away as she disappeared. She could feel her go week at the knees, but couldn't do anything against it.
"Hey!", Jean heard Logan say as he caught her. She rested her head on his shoulder. She felt too tired… Logan pulled her up into his arms and carried her back towards his room. As he laid her down again, he grabbed his pillow and the blanket from the ground and laid both down next to her on the bed, remembering that he had let go off her hand before she had freaked out. This time, Logan laid down next to her and gently pulled her into his arms. Within less than a minute, he too, was asleep.
