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The Cry of the Phoenix
Chapter 9: The reunion
There was almost a bitter silence as the X-men flew back to Westchester. Jean sat on her own, her thoughts occupied by her reunion with Scott and Nathan, instead of her mutant zero suit she wore the grey shirt and trousers that she had worn before her death. All of the previous New X-men were wearing the personal uniforms they had worn after M-day, while the cuckoos, Anole and Pixie wore their squad uniforms. The old New Mutants sat together, each one of them thinking about their dead teammate. Emma also sat on her own, thinking of the betrayal she had experienced, the lie that she had lived. Sieg at first was on his own, his body was back to normal and he now wore his jacket.
"Hey handsome!" Sieg looked up to see Celeste standing over him.
"I guess I can't think about things on my own then" Sieg said.
"There's not much you can hide from a telepath Sieg, I just wanted you to know that your "death" upset me greatly" Celeste said.
Sieg looked at the girl as she sat next to him, her eyes beginning to well up.
"I'm just not used to all these emotions running through my head, even when my sisters and I had our hive mind we were distant, I'm afraid that you'll get hurt yet at the same time I'm happy when I'm around you, your so good that its sickening yet at the same time, it makes me want to be better as well" Celeste explained, laying her hand on Sieg's shoulder. "I know we've just met but I could tell you were attracted to me and I you, and that kiss that we shared in your heroes realm…did it mean anything to you?" she asked.
Sieg widened his eyes for a moment before he answered the question "Of course it meant something to me, I've never really thought about girls before, but when you and your sisters told me about how your emotions were taken I felt obligated to help you, to save you…and then when we were training, the way you moved was so elegant, no your beautiful, you and your sisters encouraged me to intensify my training yet you were also concerned about me…and then when we kissed each other it felt right, I like you and I want to see where this relationship leads us, I don't want to be like other people whose relationships go nowhere, and I wont be like Scott and Jean, always losing one another, I'll protect you but I'll also keep myself alive so you don't cry" he explained, tracing a hand across Celeste's cheek.
"I just wanted to hear you say it" Celeste said with a smile as she and Sieg kissed one another.
"I never really got Graymalkin, to be honest I found his talk of witchcraft a little annoying, but when it counted he would pull through" Ink said to his young X-men team mates, who each nodded their heads.
"I just can't believe they're gone" Josh said, his thoughts going back to Rahne.
"How are you holding up Josh?" Noriko asked the golden boy.
"I'm dealing with it, I just wish Alani was here, it's a bit hard seeing the woman I had an affair with dying without my girlfriend being here"
"How are you and her doing anyway?"
"Well, it was a little hard explaining to her where I'd been over the past few months with X-force, especially when the Cuckoos had erased my memory of the team, she didn't want to come back but I did, I felt that I could help" Josh explained.
"Damn right you could help, if you weren't here Laura would probably be dead right now" Julian said, sitting with X-23 quite close to his chest.
"I gotta agree with Julian Josh, you could do so much with your powers why spend your days making out with your girlfriend?" Anole asked.
"Yeah, but it couldn't help Graymalkin cause there was nothing left of him to heal, and Rahne was too far gone by the time we fished her out of the sea" Josh said, lowering his head over his powers limitations.
"We're approaching the mansion now" Havok said from his place on the pilots seat.
"I don't believe it, I'm finally going to get to see my older brother" Gabriel said eagerly.
The Black bird landed right in the middle of the ruined school grounds where Cable was waiting.
"You guys got here just in time, Scott's woken up and has been muttering Jean's name in his sleep" Cable explained as he led the team to the subbasement.
Rogue and Gambit were in the corridor, playing with the baby. Upon seeing the Cajun, some of the team gave him a cold look; he did after all join the Marauders at one time. Soldier stepped in between Gambit and Wolverine, who was ready to pop his claws.
"That's enough, all of you, a lot has happened and a lot of things have changed, the past is the past forget the bad and remember the good, remember that the Gambit standing here is an X-man now and forever" Soldier explained.
"And what gives you the right to decide whose and X-man bub, you aint even on the team" Logan said aggressively.
"True, but lets just say I know quite a bit about doing bad things for a greater good…even if those things are a little misguided" The masked man said, motioning his head at a door to his right.
Wolverine and Storm approached the door and opened it, they saw laid out on the old infirmary table a body bag, with Bishop inside.
"When push came to shove, he took a bullet for his team mate" Soldier said as he walked past the team.
Jean, Emma, Havok and Gabriel immediately ran into the war room, to see Slayer standing with an unconscious Scott. The warrior looked at Jean, who was crying at the sight of her husband. He slapped himself, knowing that Jean couldn't truly react to the situation unless she was reunited with her happiness. Emma's reaction was much clear, as she immediately ran over to the body, laid her head on his chest and cried her eyes out. Slayer supposed that she was one part crying over what she could have had, while also crying that the man she loved was alive.
"I think its time we finished reuniting Jean with her fragments" Slayer said as Sieg and Celeste entered the room.
Sieg nodded his head and called Cable into the room.
"Whose that?" Gabriel asked Alex.
"Our nephew"
"That's weird, I thought that people started out small and got bigger until their skin went wrinkly, does that mean I'm the older brother?" Gabriel asked, causing Alex to laugh while Cable shook his head.
'I'm getting real tired of the old guy jokes' he thought.
Soldier soon entered the room carrying the baby in his arms.
"Okay guys here's how things will work, Jean and Cable will reach into Scott's mind and help reactivate his consciousness, I meanwhile will cast the reuniting spell, in theory Jean and Nathan's love will pull Scott to the surface, and in turn the love that Scott has for Jean will activate the spell and unite happiness with the rest of the fragments" Slayer explained.
Slayer sat in a meditation pose, with Cable and Jean quickly joining him. While Emma left the room, Slayer's eye began glowing as Jean reached into Scott's mind with her telepathy. Soldier laid the baby down in the circle that Slayer had made and walked out of the room. He sniffed the air and walked up to the surface, where Emma was sitting on her own.
"You're a strong woman Frost, you've lost students and now a lover, I'm surprised you haven't snapped" he said.
"Suicide can come in stages" Emma muttered.
"Your not going to kill yourself, it would be understandable but your not going to kill yourself"
"You have no idea what I've been through, your just a good old soldier hiding behind a mask" Emma snapped.
"You know for a qualified therapist your bad at figuring people out without your telepathy"
"And are you so much better?" She asked coldly.
"I'm not qualified but I do come up with decent enough ways of living, the love you had was a lie, at least from his end, but you know what…your going to get over it, cause your Emma Frost, no cause that's the only way your going to be able to live on, your cold, ruthless…yet you care, for your students and anyone else who you let get close, when they're hurt you take responsibility for your mistakes and that's a rare thing…but you cant let your failures hang over you, no one would have been able to see that that Scott was a Skrull, so your going to get over it and live on…or you could have another telepath erase your experiences with "Scott", but that's a cowards way out and your not a coward, which is why after you shed your tears you will get over it, live on and quite possibly seduce someone else, because your Emma Frost…if that's who you want yourself to be"
Emma looked at the masked man, his words making at least some small sense. She could never just forget that she loved Scott, but she could accept the fact that Scott never had those feelings for her. So she got up off the floor and ran a hand through her hair.
"You know darling there was something you got wrong, I'm a qualified sex therapist" She said playfully.
Soldier grunted as he walked away "Like I'd ever go out with a woman like you" He said coldly while Emma merely smiled.
Emma wiped the tears out of her eyes and laughed, deciding that she would live on.
A strange occurrence had happened in the deep reaches of Shiar space. One moment a part of space was empty, and then a planet had appeared. It was at least half the size of the earth, but was baron and rocky, with not a single trace of water. Numerous ships under the Shiar empress Lilandra flew towards the planet, Rachel was in the flagship with Lilandra, who with Death bird dead recovered her kingdom.
Rachel looked down on the planet, and faced great shock when suddenly one Shiar ship was blown apart
"Strange Phoenix raptors are guarding the outside of the planet Empress, we cant get any close" One of the ships crew members said.
"We must stop the Phoenix no matter the cost" Lilandra said sternly.
"Wait, Lilandra, please allow me to go down to the planet alone, I want to scout it out, see for myself what is going on" Rachel said.
Lilandra reluctantly nodded her head, knowing that Rachel had the right to do what she wanted, considering the part the empire played in the massacre of the Grey genome. Marvel Girl travelled down to the airlock put on a space suit and opened the airlock door. She used her telekinesis to fly in space, sneaking past the Phoenix raptors. Once she had reached the surface of the planet she looked around, astonished by the baron wasteland the planet was. She landed slowly thanks to her telekinesis; Rachel slowly removed her helmet and breathed in the fresh air.
'Well people can at least breathe on the planet, but everything's dead, the planet was never here before…could the power of the phoenix have created it?' Rachel wondered.
The daughter of Jean Grey turned to a stone pillar in the distance. She noticed the top of the pillar give off a pink shine as members of the Phoenix corps began to gather round it.
Meanwhile in Westchester, Slayer began the ritual. The runes beneath him gave off an intense orange shine as Jean's eyes glowed. She and Cable reached into Scott's mind and began their search. Jack, Gabriel and Alex could do nothing but wait, neither one of them moved as the son and wife of Scott Summers reached out to him. In the depths of Scott's mind, the astral forms of Nathan and Jean stood at the gate of the mansion. It was different, more similar to what it was when Xavier started the X-men. They walked straight through the gate like ghosts, walking through the school grounds until they reached the door. When Cable opened the door, they heard tearful moans all around them.
"Scott!" Jean called.
"Scott…dad!" Cable called out in the corridors of the mansion.
The two of them searched for what seemed like hours, searching Scott's room, any room that they thought the sound might have originated from.
"Scott…please come back to me" Jean whispered.
That's when they felt it; the two of them immediately ran down to the subbasement, through the corridors and to the room that contained Cerebro. Cable tore the door down, looking inside to see a brown haired man crouched on the floor, looking down with tears running down his eyes, which were covered by a bandage. Both Jean and Cable rushed to Scott's side, shaking him in order to snap him out of his trance.
"Scott, Scott please look at me" Jean said, tearing off the bandage on Scott's eyes.
Suddenly the light of the Phoenix consumed the war room. Jean's whole body shined as the baby merged with her. Scott immediately burst awake.
"JEAN!!" Scott yelled, grabbing the helmet covering his face.
The shine of the Phoenix dazzled all who looked into it. Jack looked to Scott, noticing his bony body beginning to turn back to normal, and some strands of his long hair fall off. Cable suddenly began yelling out in pain as he rolled across the floor.
"NATHAN!!" Scott yelled as he tore the helmet off.
Scott's eyes glowed a red colour as the power of the phoenix held back his optic blasts.
"FATHER FORGET ME!!" Cable yelled.
Scott looked to the shining Jean and immediately ran at her, grabbing her seemingly naked body in his arms. Her light intensified and even Jack had to put a hand to his eyes to block out the light. The other X-men opened the door, but found themselves blinded by the light.
"JEAN…I CAN SEE YOU I CAN SEE YOU!!" Scott yelled in happiness as he looked upon his wife.
While everything was chaotic to the X-men, everything was peaceful for the two lovers as they looked into each other's eyes.
"Oh Scott, I cant tell you how long I've wanted to look at you, to see your eyes" Jean said with tears rolling down her elegant face.
"Jean…your what kept me alive, that cruel Skrull wanted to torment me so he kept me alive, all's I ever thought about was you, I love you so much that it hurts me, you're the only one who can see my real eyes, the only one who I want to spend the rest of my life with" Scott explained, trailing a finger across Jean's face.
"Scott, I love you too, more than you could ever imagine…please, I've wanted it for so long, kiss me!" Jean begged.
Scott smiled as he lowered his head and gently kissed his wife. He then threw all things aside and hugged Jean tighter, putting more passion into the kiss. The two lovers embraced one another as the light faded; yet their passion didn't as they kissed one another. Separated for years, the two of them were finally reunited. Scott kept his eyes closed as he separated his mouth from Jean's.
'Are you still in my head Jean?' he wondered.
"Always my love, from this moment I'll always be with you" Jean sent.
While Scott crouched on the floor with his eyes closed, Emma walked up to Jean, holding a spare visor for Scott. The two women looked at one another as Emma gave Jean the visor. Words didn't need to be exchanged; it was the thoughts that mattered. And Emma's thoughts were accepting. Jean grasped Scott's face and slid the visor onto his face. Scott looked towards the X-men and then at Jean. The woman had tears in her eyes, but not tears of sorrow or rage, but tears of joy. Both of them embraced one another while the X-men looked on, Celeste getting close to Sieg as the two smiled at the moment.
"Never thought I'd say this bub, but its good to see you Scott"
The original X-men were the first, followed by the second generation and then the rest. Scott hugged Warren, and Hank and Bobby and anyone else he could get his hands on. Alex and Gabriel walked through the crowd to see their brother. Scott first hugged Alex, then looked down at the nervous Gabriel.
"What are you waiting for baby? Hug your baby brother" Jean sent with a smile.
Scott looked down at Gabriel astonished. He touched Gabriel's cheek gently to see if he was actually real.
"I have a brother?" Scott wondered out loud, his memories drifting back to the time Sinister hinted at a third brother.
Before Gabriel knew what was happening, Scott grabbed the boy and lifted him above the ground.
"Gabriel, the third summers Brother, my brother!" Scott said with tears in his eyes as he hugged the boy close.
Jack smiled at the moment before he looked at where the baby once slept, and found much to his surprise that the child was still there.
"God what happened?" Cable wondered as he got up off the floor, he paused, "What the, what happened to my voice?" He asked.
The X-men looked at Cable in shock while Jack burst into honest laughter.
"I guess you don't need to worry about old guy jokes anymore" He said and the others soon joined in.
Cable looked at the reflective wall, and to his astonishment he saw that he was now a lot younger. Though his hair was still white, his clothes were a lot larger, at least for him, because he his age had been reversed to the point when he was no longer the battle hardened man in his fifties or sixties, he was now at least seventeen or eighteen years old. Nathan took a moment to look at himself before he turned to his father with a smile. He rushed towards Jean and Scott hugging them both tightly as James picked up the baby.
"Well amigo's it seems now that we have the problem of Jean sorted out, we can get onto more pressing matters" James said.
"He's got a point what are we going to do?" Hellion asked.
"I've been monitoring the progress of the Black Phoenix's, that's why I had Rogue absorb my powers so that she could focus on one thing while I concentrated on another, another planet has formed on the border of Shiar space closest to the Earth, this planet is baron and is being used as some kind of station for the Phoenix egg, at one point on this planet is a pillar and there's something on tops of it…oh god!" Slayer paused as he widened his eyes.
On the baron planet that Slayer spoke of, Rachel watched in pure shock as the object on top of the skyscraper sized grew until it was clearly visible. This supposed heart of reality, was the M'Kran crystal.
"The Phoenix blade and a fragment from every sun in the universe, this is all the power we need to shatter the M'Kran crystal, and with that gone we shall have our peace" The Black Phoenix said as he and the other members of the corps formed a ring around the crystal and began the ritual that would shatter it.
Rachel could only look on and pray.
"They're going to shatter the M'Kran crystal and trigger an explosion that will destroy the universe" Slayer said to the shocked team.
"If that's the case then we need to get over there" Cyclops said.
"But Scott, you just recovered your strength" Bobby said.
"And I think that right now we need everybody to fight this thing" Scott said, looking to his team mates, though he hadn't seen what the former students had been up to, he had faith that they were at least capable of putting up a good fight.
"Yeah but there's a problem, Megan doesn't have the strength or quite frankly the concentration to get us all the way into Shiar space, Rogue's already recovering from absorbing my memories and that of a Skrull trooper, and it'll take too much time for me to gather the energy needed to teleport us all the way to that planet" Slayer explained.
The X-men all looked down, Scott grinded his teeth over the current predicament. It was then that James stepped forward with a cocky expression on his face.
"If that's the case then I'll fly you over their myself, you might as well go in style" He said.
"What are you talking about?" Surge asked.
"He's talking about the giant ship that's currently floating over the mansion" A voice said from the doorway.
Looks of shock crossed the faces of most the X-men, excluding Gambit and James, who merely smiled. Standing at the doorway, was the man who started it all, Charles Xavier, walking tall with a kind expression on his face. Scott was the first to walk towards the man, touching his shoulder to see if he was real.
"Scott, about Gabriel…" Xavier began, but was cut off as Scott hugged his father figure.
The rest of the X-men followed while the new comers stayed behind. Eventually Sieg worked up the courage to walk up to Xavier.
"Charles Xavier, it's a real honour to meet you sir, I'm Siegfried, or Sieg if you want" he said nervously.
"Siegfried, oh, I have heard of you" Charles said, placing a hand to his chin.
"How sir?"
"Let's just say a group of people I worked with were quite interested in you"
"Before they threw the Hulk into space" Emma smirked.
"Is anyone curious about this ship of James's or is that just me?" Slayer asked.
"It certainly is a colourful ship" Xavier said plainly while James laughed.
James led the team up to the surface, as soon as they laid eyes upon the ship they gasped. It was twice the size of the Black Bird and shaped in a dynamic style. The wings were thick, with rockets built into them; there were also rockets behind the base of the ship, the glass of the cockpit was coloured a yellow colour while the ship itself was a grey and red colour. When Slayer and Jean looked at the ship, they both shared visions of an armoured hero baring the same colour scheme as he clashed with a black armoured warrior.
"Take a good look people at my pride and joy, the Ultimatum!" James said as he clicked a button on his watch.
A hatch opened beneath the ship, and a set of stairs slid onto the grass. James was the first to walk up, practically skipping to the single pilot seat. Beast jumped onto the seat headrest closest to James, looking at the controls in interest. The members of the X-men began strapping themselves into seats, minus Jean and Scott.
"I don't know about you guys, but I don't think we're properly equipped for a fight" Scott said.
"Ah I can fix that" Beast said as he hopped off his seat and ran back to the mansion.
The X-men waited for a moment before Hank returned with a bag.
"When I cleared out the mansion I found something that I figured could stay here, but now that your both back I cant think of anything more right to wear" Beast said as he unzipped the bag and removed two costumes from it.
They were both the gold and blue costumes that Jean and Scott wore after their days in X-factor, the costumes they wore when the X-men were split into two squads. Both Jean and Scott looked at the clothes and then one another.
"Hey James, do you have a bathroom on this ship?" Jean asked, never taking her eyes off Scott.
"Sure its out the back…wait a second why do you need to know?" James asked, but the two lovers were already gone.
He shrugged his shoulders as he began preparing the ship for flight. The Cuckoos walked off the ship, Mindee holding the baby while Celeste lingered in Sieg's arms. Both of them looked at one another before sharing a goodbye kiss.
"Come back to me!" Celeste said.
"I promise I'll be back, then we could ask you out on a real date...dinner and a movie maybe" Sieg said with a grin.
"I'd like that!" Celeste smiled before she kissed Sieg on the cheek and walked away.
Sieg ran back onto the ship and strapped himself in. The X-men braced themselves, but much to their surprise the ship wasn't going fast on the inside. But on the outside is was already in Mach four as it flew into the air.
"This things pretty fast but how are we going to get to that planet on time?" Slayer asked.
"Very simple, I activate my light wings"
Plates on the ships wings slid open and the ship gradually began to increase speed as it left a trail of red energy behind it. As the ship moved into light speed, James activated the autopilot and the ships warp generator activated.
"Wow, now I feel like I'm in Star Trek!" Hellion said, looking outside at a scenery that could only be described as something similar to a picture from a sci-fi movie.
"And how long will it take for us to reach Shiar space?" Soldier asked.
"About an hour, probably less than that" James said as he walked towards some chambers. "That should give me enough time to put my battle gear on"
"You're fighting too?" Sieg asked.
"Hey kid you didn't think I would fly you guys here and just sit back and watch the greatest battle in cosmic history did you?" James asked as he stepped in front of his white and red battle armour.
James put on the bulky chest plate, which had the gauntlets and shoulder guards attached to the sleeves of the black shirt underneath it. He then put on the boots and helmet, which covered his entire head with his face being covered by a red screen.
"Impressive look, one question, why do the colours of your suit and ship seem so familiar and how did you get your hands on the materials?" Soldier asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
"I'm just as rich as Tony Stark and getting richer by the day, I tend to move in and out of America and Spain so I avoid Stark's influence, I'm also considerably more intelligent than him, I don't like to brag but I'd say I'm smarter than even Reed Richards…who I must admit has become very stupid recently…I mean blowing the Hulk into space…"
"James you're ranting again!" Sieg said quickly.
"Sorry, I could go on for days about how much of an asshole Tony Stark is as well as how secretly dumb Richards is, I once heard him pronounce Nuclear the wrong way"
"James shut up!" Sieg growled.
"One more question, how's this ship going to survive once we reach the planet?" Jean asked from the doorway.
The team turned around to see Jean and Scott in their old costumes, holding one another's hands tightly. Emma frowned at the sight but contained herself as James explained his plan.
"Okay, here's my plan, Xavier it's true that your telepathy has been increased right?" James asked.
"Yes it is true, but what are you getting at young man?" Charles asked.
"It's quite simple really, you, Jean and the woman with the big tits whose name I keep forgetting will combine your telepathic abilities and distract the Black Phoenix on the Astral plane, once you hit him with your combined powers in theory this should cause a backlash that will disorientate him and the rest of the Phoenix corps, giving us enough time to arrive at the planet without the ship sustaining any threatening damage" James explained.
"That seems like a good idea on paper, but since we're a lot closer to the planet and we can see it wont it be easier for Slayer and Megan to teleport us to the planet with her teleportation spell?" Sieg asked.
"Yes that's the perfect idea, I just wanted a chance to establish how little I respect Mrs Frost!"
"Its Miss Frost darling make sure you remember it otherwise…"
"You'll make me puke every time I hear a particular word or become sexually obsessed with the works of an artist…really Frost don't you get tired of empty threats?"
"I'd hate to interrupt a Frost bashing session but don't we have a universe to save?" Wolverine asked.
The other X-men nodded their heads while James smiled sheepishly.
"This is it, we're gonna pick a fight with the most powerful being in the universe" Cable said.
"We'll steal the crystal before they shatter it, blast any Phoenix corp. member that gets in our way and save the day right?" Sieg asked.
"Unfortunately I have a feeling that we'll end up having to sacrifice something" Soldier said silently, his eyes creeping towards Scott and Jean.
Next Chapter 10: The Impossible battle
The X-men go up against the phoenix corp., though drained of some of their power in an effort to shatter the crystal they are still formidable foes. Mother and daughter share a short reunion and as the situation gets worse and Jean is faced with the hardest choice she will ever make.
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter!
Feel free to say whether you think James is a Mary Sue, he's an OC that's already appeared in two fics of mine, or rather the person who will eventually become James has appeared in two fics already. Two or three chapters left, hope everyone's enjoying the fic.