Scott shifted. He'd heard Bobby's voice.
A dream. It had to be a dream, Bobby was gone, he'd been taken. There was nothing he could do for him right now.
Scott lay still, on his back, eyes shut, just listening. Just in case. It was probably… what? Two AM? Everyone would be in bed, except possibly Jones.
There was nothing he could do for Bobby, or Rogue. They were waiting on Cerebro, specifically The Professor, to find them. Jean had tried, but, strong as she was now, it had hurt her. He'd been sitting outside Cerebro, like a man outside a maternity ward, so he'd heard her cry. She'd been shaken. She'd seemed okay, but it had shaken her.
He heard her breath catch beside him. Was she awake too? He turned his head to her, eyes still closed. Her breath caught again, but this time she held it. After a couple of seconds, Scott rolled over to face her. He laid his hand on her waist.
,
What happened next happened so suddenly that Scott didn't even cry out.
,
He flew backwards through the air, as though pulled by a rope around his chest. He hit the wall without slowing down, back then head. Pain broke across his back and he gasped as he fell to the floor.
Eyes. He tried to bring his right arm up to cover them, but it didn't move right and it hurt so much to move it. The back of his head was throbbing. It hurt to breathe. Left arm. He pressed his eyes in to the crook of his elbow.
"Jean-"
"Don't. Ever. Touch me."
"Jean-"
"Don't even speak to me."
This wasn't – this was Jean's voice, but… but it wasn't Jean. It hurt to breathe. Something was wrong inside him. Something major. And Jean had… Somehow it was her voice, her body, but… not her.
"Jean-"
"Run away." She said. "Get up, little man, and run away, while you still can."
"Jean-"
Her power hit him again and threw him back up against the wall, pain tore through his chest again. He yelled, his voice cracked with pain. He couldn't bear to draw breath again.
Without thinking, pinned there, unable to move, unable to breathe, pain taking up almost all his awareness, Scott did the unthinkable. He opened his eyes. Jean was standing on the bed, one hand outstretched towards him, she was barely more than a silhouette in the dark, but she was staring at him. But there was no beam. Nothing came from his eyes. What was she doing? Every inch of her… she just looked wrong. This was a nightmare. Surely he was going to wake up in a moment. Surely this wasn't real.
"Did you think you could kill me, Cyclops?"
He closed his eyes again. She dropped him like a stone. He tried to bring his arms up to save himself, he only just made it. The impact of landing sent new pain tearing through his back.
"Get up," She said softly. "and run." Scott had no idea what to do. He didn't think he could stand, he was completely in her hands. He should have killed her just then when he'd – but she could – "Run!" She shouted.
Somehow, Scott got up. Eyes tight shut, right arm pulled across his body, he staggered forwards, towards the door, past her. Every step jarred pain through his back. She could kill him. And part of him thought she would.
Somehow he found the door, he nearly bounced off it. That impact hurt too. He stumbled out in to the corridor and fell to his knees, crying in pain again as he did, eyes still tight shut. He heard the door slam behind him. He'd got out alive. But from what? What was happening?
He heard another door open, then footsteps.
"Scott!" That was Storm. "Scott, are you okay?" He felt, as much as heard, her kneel down beside him. "What happened? Where's Jean?"
"She's-" He could hardly breathe. "It was-" Storm put an arm under him, encouraging him upright. It did hurt slightly less if he was straighter. "It was Jean, she-"
"Jean attacked you?" Storm asked. "Why?"
Scott pulled his left arm across his eyes. "I don't know. I'm not-"
"What's happening?" That was Logan. "I heard someone scream."
"That was Scott." Storm said. "Jean attacked him."
"What? Was it an accident or..?"
There was a silence.
"She's not out here making sure you're okay." Storm said quietly. "Oh God, Scott, did she… She did it on purpose, didn't she?" She had. She'd thrown him, dropped him, then picked him up and held him there, then told him to run. That wasn't an accidental flare, that wasn't making something float or eavesdropping. "She's lost control." Storm said. Scott could hear the terror in her voice.
"What?" Logan said.
"Scott, what the hell do we do?" Storm asked.
"I don't know." Scott breathed. He couldn't stand. He couldn't move. He couldn't see. And Jean had done that to him. Quite clearly on purpose.
"Okay, how bad are you hurt?" Storm asked. Scott hesitated. "Can you get up?"
Scott set his jaw, closed his eyes tight and reached for Storm's arm. She guessed what he was going to do and let him lean on her. He could not keep quiet as he got up.
"Right." Logan said, before Scott was ready to think again. "Storm, get him out of here. I'll deal with her."
"Logan-"
"I can take more hits from her than anyone else can."
There was a pause. Scott had problems with that plan. A lot of problems, but he couldn't-
"Okay." Storm said
He couldn't think straight enough to articulate any of them, or come up with a better plan. He let Storm lead him away.
,
Logan padded towards Jean and Scott's door, right fist clenched. He could imagine how someone could hurt Scott out of just… being annoyed with him, but Jean? She'd been sleeping with him for years, she had the patience of a saint. What if it had been a genuine accident and Scott had just panicked? Or some sort of… Mystique? Something impersonating Jean?
Logan breathed out slowly. He didn't know what he was facing. He could survive anything. He opened the door.
The room didn't smell like he'd expected it to, there was no smell of musk, Scott's or Jean's. It smelled of house, his smell mixed with hers, but on top of that was fear. Very fresh fear. Jean was curled up in the middle of the bed, face down, panting. He took two paces towards her, then stopped. If she was going to jump him-
"Logan." She knew he was there. She didn't sound aggressive. She hadn't moved. She took two more breaths. "Logan, you have to kill me."
Logan stopped. Whatever he'd been expecting, it wasn't that. "Jean?"
She uncurled enough to look at him. Her eyes were shining with tears. "Logan, please." Her voice was heavy and shaking. "Before I kill someone. I can't… I can't stop this now. She's too strong." She reached out a hand to him.
He took a step closer. "Jean, calm down. Scott's fine. He's just shaken. You're not going to kill anyone."
She shook her head. "I felt what I did to him. I broke ribs. I know I did. Haemothorax is a very real risk. He needs to see Hank, within the hour. I thought I was going to kill him. I couldn't stop her. It's only going to get worse. Please. Let me die before I've killed everyone I love."
This didn't make sense. None of it made sense. Who was this 'she' Jean was on about? Logan wasn't the one to figure this out.
"I'm not killing you." He said. "I'm gonna shut you in downstairs and call Xavier."
"Logan-" He ignored her. He covered the remaining distance between them in two strides and threw the blanket she was kneeling on over her head and folded her in it. She didn't fight. She just sat there, shaking and crying. She was tall, but she was slight. He could carry her easily. He gathered her up in his arms and almost ran towards the Danger Room. If she was going to explode anywhere, better it was there. If she was going to throw anyone around like a rag doll, better it was him. He was hard to break.