Chapter Thirteen: Escape/The Only Way
And here's Chapter Thirteen! I just had to combine these two scenes. You know what's gonna happen...
TieDyeJackson: (This was actually for the last chapter of the previous story) I'm glad you finished it, and I'm happy you like how I did! It is nice to see Wolverine and Cyclops not at each other's throats over Jean for once, isn't it?
Cellorules: Thank you for your constructive criticism! It seems that I'm having a hard time conveying all the emotions present in certain scenes. I'll try to do better in the future! As for your other note... Well, there is actually a reason as to why Jean sacrificed herself, refusing the help of the others. And just to remind you, telepathy is the ability to read people's minds/hear their thoughts; what you meant is telekinesis, the ability to move things with one's mind. And it may surprise some people, but Rogue actually HASN'T taken Jean's power. Yet. ;)
genbo: Thanks! And yes, go Rogue!
Born to be alone: Thanks! Yes, this chapter will be pretty sad, especially with how I altered it.
Despite how sad this chapter's gonna be, I hope y'all have a happy Mother's Day! And I'll be posting the last two chapters together next Sunday, which means I'll finally begin posting chapters for X-Men: The Last Stand (Scogue Version) at the end of the month!
Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men.
Now that they were out of Stryker's Cerebro, they all began running through the halls.
"We have to get out through the spillway!" Storm shouted as she and Nightcrawler ran with Xavier's arms around their shoulders.
When they found another tunnel, Wolverine came running in. Seeing them, he quickly shut the giant doors leading to the tunnel. They all stared at him, and he said, "You don't want to go that way. Trust me."
They backed away as water began spraying through the doors.
"Come on!" Wolverine shouted at them. "There's another way out of here!"
He led them to the door he escaped from all those years ago, to where he left Stryker and the helicopter. As they scrambled out onto a snowy hill, Artie Maddicks slipped. Wolverine quickly picked him up and carried him to the rest of the group. He stood in front of them, only to see more snow.
"The helicopter was right here!" he shouted.
Just when everything looked more and more bleak, they all heard a familiar rumbling. They looked up to see the X-Jet flying towards them.
Inside the Jet, Rogue was screaming, not in fear, but in joy. Even though she was relatively new at flying the Jet, with Scott's psyche guiding her, she was having the time of her life.
"This is FUN!" she yelled out.
Bobby, holding onto a seat, almost looked concerned for her sanity. When she landed the Jet surprisingly gently, she let out an exhilarated laugh.
"Okay, I know you had fun," he said shakily, "but we need to get serious now."
Quickly sobering up, she nodded. "Yeah. Sorry."
Nodding back, Bobby got up and left the Jet to help the others inside.
Rogue then heard a bamf!, and turned to see Nightcrawler placing Xavier onto a seat.
"Kurt!" She got up and hugged him, to his surprise. "Are you all right?"
Hugging her back, he said, "I'm fine, Schwester."
They pulled back and smiled at each other. Even though their mother happened to be one of the most evil mutants in the world, they were glad to have found each other.
Rogue then helped everyone else in. When Storm entered, she asked her, "That was you, wasn't it?"
"Yeah," said Rogue almost giddily. "It was fun!"
Storm smiled weakly. "I'm glad you're okay."
Then Cyclops and Jean entered the Jet.
"Scott!" Rogue exclaimed.
"Rogue," Cyclops breathed, relieved to see that she was okay. He looked at Jean, who assured him that she would be fine, before running to her and throwing his arms around her. "Are you all right, angel?" he asked softly.
This confused the students. But neither Rogue nor Cyclops cared about their secret anymore; they were just relieved to have each other back.
"Yeah," she assured him, kissing his shoulder. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise," he whispered.
She gave a small chuckle. "You promised that you would come back to me. And you did, just later than sooner, but you did."
While they had their reunion, Jean realized that Wolverine had yet to join them. As Cyclops and Storm prepared the Jet for take off, Charles said gravely, "Scott, we've got to get to Washington. I fear this has gone beyond Alkali Lake."
After too many worrying minutes, Wolverine finally appeared with Artie. He had found Stryker chained to the outer wall of the dam and left him to die, along with his dog tag. He handed the boy to Bobby before running to Jean.
"You okay?" she asked at once. She caught a glimpse of Stryker yelling after Wolverine in his mind, but chose not to mention it, in case he didn't want to talk about it.
He sighed. "I am now," was all he said before giving her a kiss.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, staring into his eyes.
He could tell that she saw into his mind a little. He only nodded. He briefly stroked her face before heading to the front of the Jet. "What's wrong?"
"Vertical thrusters are off-line," said Cyclops.
"So fix 'em," said Wolverine impatiently.
"I'm trying," Cyclops snapped.
"Oh no, I didn't wreck it, did I?" Rogue asked worriedly from her seat behind Storm. "I thought I landed it fine."
"No, you didn't damage it," Cyclops assured her. "I don't know why, but it's just not cooperating –"
"Wait, has anyone seen John?" Rogue interrupted, suddenly remembering John's departure and seeing that he didn't return.
"Pyro?" Wolverine called out. He didn't get a response. "Where the hell is he?"
Jean had a sad, disappointed look on her face. "He's with Magneto."
Wolverine, Rogue, and Bobby all shared a commiserating glance.
"They're functioning," Storm was telling Cyclops, "but I don't know how long they're going to last."
"I'm trying to override," Cyclops replied to her. "It's not responding." He let out a frustrated yell.
"Oh, no," Storm gasped, "we've lost the power."
Behind the Jet, the dam had fully busted open, and water was flowing out.
While the others were either panicking or trying to get the Jet to work, Jean had a sudden realization. Remembering what happened at the museum, and her little moment in the Jet with Storm, she quickly realized that maybe she's responsible for the Jet failing, due to her powers growing more and more out of her control. But something was telling her that she could use this power to get the Jet out of the way of the incoming flood. She looked at everyone sadly, from Wolverine to Rogue and Cyclops, making her decision and knowing what the end result would be. But she also knew that this decision would protect them; whatever yielded this power within her was dangerous, and could hurt or even kill the ones she loved. It was better this way. Silently wishing them goodbye, she quietly exited the Jet. She limped a few feet in front of it.
Charles was the only one to notice her leave. "Jean?"
Hearing him, Wolverine looked around. "Wait, where's Jean?"
"She's outside," said Xavier, looking distant.
"What?" Rogue gasped. She also had telepathy, how could she have missed her leaving?
Immediately, Cyclops got out of his seat and ran for the hatch, but Jean just telekinetically closed it. Then she mentally turned the engines on. Now that she distanced herself from the Jet, the engines would work fine.
"No, we're not leaving!" Cyclops shouted hysterically. "Lower the ramp!"
But before Storm could try to lower the ramp, she watched the handles move by themselves. "I can't!"
With a telekinetic hold on the X-Jet, Jean held her other hand towards the flood, parting it around herself and the Jet. She began lifting the Jet into the air.
"She's controlling the Jet!" Storm cried.
She, Wolverine, Cyclops, and Nightcrawler watched Jean through the windshield. Charles looked to his left and saw Rogue closing her eyes tightly.
"You, get her, now!" Wolverine ordered Nightcrawler.
He tried to teleport out, but he didn't leave. "She's not letting me!" he exclaimed.
As they watched her in horror, they heard someone else speak.
"I know what I'm doing." Everyone turned to Rogue, whose eyes were still closed. "This is the only way."
They all knew who was really telling them that.
Wolverine stared at her in disbelief, and Cyclops immediately ran to kneel before her. "Jean, listen to me," he begged, his voice breaking. "Don't do this! I can't lose you!"
They had been through so much together, faced many battles. Though his heart now belonged to Rogue, he still felt love for Jean, his best friend. He couldn't lose her, not like this...
Rogue's lips curled into a smile. "You have her, Scott," Jean whispered through her. "Goodbye."
"Oh, no! No!" Wolverine yelled, turning around to look at Jean through the windshield. He had half a mind to attempt to slice through the windshield, pick her up, and jump back into the Jet. She didn't have to do this!
When Cyclops ran back to look through the windshield as well, Rogue's eyes snapped open. Tearing up, she turned to the professor, who only nodded sadly.
What did Jean mean, this was the only way? Why couldn't she let them help her? Tears streaming down her face, Rogue weakly tried to connect with her again, but to no avail. She unbuckled her seat belt and stood beside Cyclops to watch Jean.
With the X-Jet hovering in the air, the X-Men could just barely see unworldly flames surround her body and her eyes flashing with similar flames. Behind them, Charles closed his eyes, knowing what was going to happen. Jean then closed her eyes as well, letting her arms fall to her sides, and the water came crashing down around her.
Everyone was silent.
"She's gone," Wolverine murmured, feeling his whole world stop. "She's gone."
Cyclops couldn't bring himself to speak, and his body was shaking. Rogue quickly turned to hug him, and he cried into her shoulder. She broke down sobbing as well.
The mutants couldn't believe what had happened. Jean Grey, their sweet doctor, their most trusted friend and motherly figure, sacrificed herself to save them from the flood.
Wolverine tried so hard not to cry, but he couldn't help the tears that escaped. He had just witnessed the love of his life leave the face of the Earth. And to think, they had talked about going on their first date last night...
"She's gone..."
As Storm reluctantly flew the Jet away, Nightcrawler whispered a new prayer.
"The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of the death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me."
And there's Chapter Thirteen. How do you feel about me having Jean speak through Rogue instead of Charles? I was inspired by the X-Men: Evolution episode Power Surge, when Jean spoke blindly through Rogue, calling for Scott. I thought that doing something like that would make it more emotional for the both of them.
On the other hand, some believe that Jean sacrificing herself was NOT the only way to get them away from the flood. Even Doug Walker had something to say about it in his X2 Nostalgia Critic video:
NC: Iceman couldn't have frozen the water?
Jean: This is the only way.
NC: Storm couldn't have stopped the water?
Jean: This is the only way.
NC: Xavier couldn't have lifted the plane from inside?
Jean: This is the only way.
NC: SHE couldn't have lifted the plane from inside?!
Jean: This is the only way.
Apparently, in the novelization and/or the original script, she DID lift the plane (Jet) from the inside; the former's case was 'cause they didn't want to spoil the actual ending. But nah, there's no other way to foreshadow the Phoenix saga than by killing her off but not for real. Yeah, I know, neither Iceman nor Storm realistically couldn't have stopped the flood for various reasons, and Xavier wouldn't be able to lift the Jet because he doesn't have telekinesis, but this was still pretty funny.
Also, I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering why this movie featured flames to demonstrate the power of the Phoenix, but The Last Stand didn't, instead putting more focus on her mental capabilities.