Changes Sequel – I. Darkness Part 2
The engine of the Blackbird was roaring, mixing its sound with the loud beep of the systems. Cold air was gathering in the interior like a gigantic suction; sucking everything to the exterior that wasn't secured. In quick circled the jet was rapidly pulled down to the ground. Barely able to hold onto the seats, since the whole bird was vibrating and shaking violently, Logan turned his head and watched with widened eyes how the jet was torn apart constantly by the immense powers. His feet and legs shook heavily, sending shocking waved through his entire skeleton, while his hands had grabbed the armrest hard. Frightened, his hazel eyes turned to the two men who desperately tried to steady the jet again. Just as they'd finally managed to stop the bird from spinning, Logan cocked an eyebrow as he felt how his body slowly bent forward without him being able to do anything against it. Looking out of the cockpit when he heard another loud roar, he saw how the nose of the jet kept on lowering itself until he was pressed against his seat and had to watch hoe the ground came steadily closer.
"Pull her up, damn it! Pull her up!" he shouted and heard the loud crack as his seat couldn't withstand the immense pressure of the cool air which poured into the cabin. Within less than a second he was sucked to the large gap in the Blackbird.
"No, Logan!" Sunfire yelled in shock and watched how their leader extracted his claws quickly to bury them into the first thing he was able to reach. Holding onto the floor, Logan got rid off the seat, heard how it was sucked to the outside.
"Pull her up!" he barked again since his sharp claws were slicing the ground open while he was slowly pulled backwards. Panting, he desperately tried to stop his movement, but it was useless. The power was too strong…
Thunderbird and Sunfire grabbed the joystick together and pulled it backwards with all their strength; watching with widened eyes that the ground came quickly closer. Hearing the sound of the warning beep of all systems becoming louder, while it mixed with the roar of the winds and the scratching sound of Logan's claws, it suddenly stopped. "No…," Sunfire gasped and gave Thunderbird a frightened look. Quickly, he pushed buttons and pulled on every lever he could see.
Gritting his teeth and holding onto the ground as strong as he could, Logan looked up with a cocked eyebrow; sweat running from his face. "What now!"
"The engine's down," Sunfire cried panicky. "All systems are down!"
"What!" Logan asked in shock and felt how the Blackbird began to spin uncontrollably again, while its nose still pointed to the ground.
Thunderbird pressed his head against the seat and grabbed the armrest tight. "That's it…," he gasped and panted in fear. His eyes were fixed on the approaching ground.
Groaning, Logan was pulled back forcefully as his claws kept on slicing through the metal of the Blackbird. The wind roared in his ears while he, too, was heavily breathing in panic. Meeting the eyes of Sunfire, who looked at him scared to death, Logan closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, his hazel eyes widened in shock. Frowning, Sunfire turned his head again and screamed; covering his face with his arms. Hearing his comrades screams, Logan closed his eyes tightly when the Blackbird was dashed to pieces as it hit the ground; sending a huge fireball into the air…
Shrieking, Jean sat up heavily breathing. With widened eyes she stared at the wardrobe which was opposite of her bed. Cold sweat was visible on her forehead, while she was quaking. Swallowing hard, she laid a hand on her chest, feeling her heart hammering against it. She was completely unable to think straight, or even think at all…
Spreading from her chest, fear radiated into every part of her shaking body. Running a hand through her face, she noticed that she must have been crying. Her eyes caught the sight of the display of her digital watch on the bedside table. It was 2:45 at night. Heaving a deep breath, Jean leant back again; one hand resting on her forehead while the other laid on her abdomen. Closing her eyes, she listened to the overwhelming silence that filled the room. Not even the tiniest sound could be heard. Even on the outside everything was calm…
Running her hand through her face once more, she got up slowly and walked through the living room towards a door. As silently as possible, Jean opened it and looked at the two beds; watching the twins sleeping. Standing there for a moment, she lowered her gaze until she left the room again. After checking on Rachel, too, she entered the bathroom next to the bedroom and squirted cool water into her face; hoping that it would help her to calm down again.
After she'd dried her face, Jean looked into the mirror with a blank expression. Frowning, she turned around all of a sudden. Looking at a black shirt Logan had left on the bathtub, she slowly reached her hand out and took it into it; stroking over the fabric lost in thoughts.
Walking back to the bedroom, Jean laid down again; holding the shirt tight while she buried her face into it. Catching his scent on it, she couldn't hold back her tears anymore and began to sob silently while she pulled her legs close.
He was gone for a few hours only, but somehow she was restless. She couldn't tell what was bothering her so much. It wasn't the first time that she was alone. He'd been on missions before, so had she. Quivering again, Jean closed her eyes and took deep breaths. She knew she acted childish. She was like a small kid that was alone at home while its parents were out for dinner. But that was exactly how she felt… Scared and lonely. She never slept well if he wasn't around, not even if he was somewhere in the mansion and came to bed a bit later. She was just too used to his presence, to him holding her at night…
"Mommy?"
Wiping away her tears, Jean looked up and put the light on. "What's wrong, honey?" she asked her son worriedly, who stood in the doorway and was looking at her. She could tell by a simple look into his hazel eyes that he was scared.
"I'd a bad dream," Jack replied barely audible. "Can I sleep here?"
Smiling softly at him despite her own inner turmoil, she pulled the sheets aside. "Sure. Come here." With quick footsteps, the boy was at her side and cuddled up to her. Concentrating, Jean looked at the door briefly, while she stroked through Jack's dark, unruly hair. "You can come in, too," she said calmly and it didn't take long for Lily and Rachel to show up. "Had a bad dream, too?" Jean asked them and watched them laying down next to their brother, while they nodded. Gently, the red head tucked them in and placed a kiss on each child's forehead, before she switched off the light. She heard them yawning tiredly and closed her eyes once more; hoping that their presence would help her to find sleep again, too.
"Mommy?" Jack asked her calmly and turned towards her.
"Hm?"
"Daddy's fine, isn't he?" the boy went on barely audible and she noticed the fear in his voice.
"Yeah, he is," Jean replied and heard him sigh in relief. Nevertheless, her hands pulled the black shirt tight again…
On the next morning, while Lily and Jack already had classes and Rachel was still sleeping, Jean stood in the kitchen. Leaning against the counter with a cup in her hand, she had one arm wrapped around her waist and stared at the fridge lost in thoughts. She didn't realize her surroundings anymore, not even when Scott waved a hand in front of her eyes.
"Jean?" he asked her for the third time by now and nudged her a bit. "Jean!" Wincing, the red head stared at him in confusion. "Gosh, where have you been?" Scott asked her worriedly. "Are you alright?"
Blinking, she stared at his glassed briefly before she turned around and put the cup on the counter. "Yeah," she replied in a whisper and buried her face in her hands while she leant over the counter.
Frowning, he gave her a suspicious look. He knew her better and could tell that something bothered her. Gently, Scott laid a hand on her back and stroked over it. "Jean, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," she waved off and tried to give him a convincing smile, but he shook his head and grabbed her arms gently.
"I know you and you're lying, Jean." Worriedly, he noticed her tired eyes and raised a hand to touch her cheeks. "At least you're not sick," Scott mumbled and searched in her eyes for an answer. "What's wrong? Come on, you know you can tell me…"
Jean stepped back a bit and sat down on a stool. Staring at the counter, she began to play with her shirt absently. "I had a bad dream and didn't sleep well… That's all."
He nodded in understanding and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He didn't have to ask who she was thinking about since it was more than obvious to him. Standing next to her in silence, he watched her closely. "You're worried, right?" She nodded slowly. "Jean," he said reassuringly and stepped closer. "He's fine."
"Did he call?" she asked hopefully, but saw that he shook his head. Sighing she ran a hand through her face.
"No, but you know Logan," Scott went on and laid a hand on her shoulder. "He might have a knack for trouble, but he can take care of himself. You know that…" She only nodded and looked at her cup in thoughts. It was easy for him to say it. He hadn't had three children to take care of if anything happened. "Just because he hadn't called, yet, doesn't mean that something happened, okay?"
"Yeah…" She gave him a brief, sad smile while he squeezed her shoulder; smiling at her encouragingly.
"He'll be back tomorrow. You'll se!" Scott briefly glanced over at the watch on the wall. "I've got to go, sorry! If I hear anything, I'll let you know, okay?" Jean nodded and watched him walking towards the door. "See you later!"
Taking a deep breath, the red head swallowed the last bit of her coffee before she stared at the empty cup. Despite her tiredness, she still felt worried like hell. Her ears were concentrating on the telephone with maximum attention. She wanted to hear his voice so badly…
Looking up quickly, she frowned as all of a sudden the phone on the corridor rang. As if she had been set on fire, Jean jumped off the stool and ran towards it; taking it in her hand impatiently. "Yeah?" she asked and felt how her heart beat kicked into high gear.
"Jean?"
Closing her eyes, the red head leant back against the wall. "Yeah, Marie, it's me…"
"Hi! Sorry for the interruption," the young woman said on the other side and sounded rather stressed out. "I'm at work right now and only wanted to ask if Isa is fine. And if she behaves, of course! She's not making trouble, is she?"
Jean opened her eyes a bit again and ran a hand through her face sighing. "No, she's fine…"
"Good," she heard Rogue saying, noticing the relieved undertone. "Is something wrong? You sound pretty tensed."
"I'm waiting for Logan to call," Jean explained briefly. "He's on a mission for two days…"
"Oh," the other woman replied. "I'll hang up then. Say hi to Isa and tell her I call later again, okay? Oh, and greet Logan and the others of course. If it's not too late later, I come around after work."
"Okay…"
"Bye, Jean!"
"Yeah, bye," Jean replied and hung up. Sighing, she shook her head and looked at her watch. Noticing how late it already was, she began to walk towards her room door again. By now Rachel was probably awake and wanted to have breakfast. Climbing up the stairs to the upper level, Jean entered the large living room and walked towards her daughter's room door…
In the meanwhile, Mystique was working on the mission computer in the basement. She was glad that she finally got rid off Emma Frost who had gone on her nerves nearly all day so far. She couldn't tell what she rather wanted to do. Scraping out her eyes or turning into Logan to slice her into pieces. She didn't like her and that was obvious. But as far as she knew no other women in this building liked her a lot.
Typing in some commands, she waited for the screen to display a large card. Her yellow eyes quickly scanned over the area before she typed in another command. Frowning, Mystique stared at the error message the screen displayed suddenly. Trying it again, the message was the same. Confused, the woman tilted her head a bit. Slowly, she turned her head to another screen which projected the latest mission the X-Men were on. Switching to the main computer again, she slowly began to type in the code for the jet's black box, just to push a button in the next second. Hearing a beep, she bent over to the small microphone. "Charles, you should come down and look at this…"
Upstairs, Scott was standing in front of his math class and wrote down some exercises on the board; paying attention not to make mistakes again. It had been hard enough to excuse to Jack in the morning, especially because the boy had given him the same look Logan always did when he beat him in the Dangerroom or in the self defense course. He couldn't believe how much Jack was a small copy of his father. Isabella was a mixture of both her parents, the same went for TJ, but Logan's and Jean's children couldn't be more different. The twins were the mini Wolverine's, while Rachel was looking like the red head but neither had her mother's nor her father's personality yet. Still, the twins and the girl were completely different, not only by their looks…
Checking what he had written down once more, Scott turned towards the class again. "Okay, you have 15 minutes for this. If you can't solve anything or have questions, just ask." He checked his watch briefly. "Start…now!" Laying down the book on his table, he watched them working as suddenly the door opened.
"Scott," the Professor said and every student in the room looked up. "Get every X-Men except Jean together and come down to the Conference Room immediately!"
Before Scott was able to ask any further questions, Charles was gone again. Perplexed, he stood at the front and felt how every eye was watching him. "Uhm,…do it as homework," he told them in confusion. "Class dismissed!"
About 20 minutes later, everyone was gathered in the Conference Room and looked at the Professor, hoping that he would explain the situation soon.
"What happened! And why did you want me to get everyone except Jean?" Scott asked him still not understanding anything. All he knew was that if the Professor interrupted classes, it was because of something important.
"Did something happen to Logan and the others!" Ororo asked and watched how Charles was sitting like a statue at the head of the table. He had his arms supported on the armrest, while his hands were folded in front of his mouth; his eyes stared on the table.
"I'm afraid so…," he replied completely serious and finally gave them a stern look.
Scott sat up a bit; looking at him with wrinkled brows. "What!"
"What happened to them?" Hank asked and bent forward to have a better look at Charles, who was running a hand through his face. If there was a tensed feeling in this room before, it had become unbearable now. Everyone waited for him to tell them more, to let them now what happened to their friends.
"I don't know," the Professor explained. "Mystique gave me a call since she was monitoring the mission files. I, too, became worried earlier because they didn't call, so I used Cerebro early this morning to find them…" All eyes switched to Mystique who was standing next to him and looked at the X-Men with her yellow eyes. She, too, was completely serious while she held a file in her hand.
Ororo shook her head and raised her hand briefly. "And? Where are they?"
Charles sighed and looked at Mystique briefly. "She had to track down the signal of the Blackbird."
"You couldn't find them?" Scott asked him in confusion and exchanged glances with the others. "But…" he didn't know what to say.
Charles nodded at the blue woman who turned around and pushed a button. Soon, a large screen became visible and she typed something in. Pushing the Enter button, the computer began to work. "The only signal we got," he said and waited for the screen to project the image he waited for. "…were those…"
The other stared at the screen with widened eyes, seeing the flat lines on it. They knew that the new uniforms monitored the heart beat and were even capable of collecting information on wounds or any other status the wearer was in. They had tested them on missions and in the Dangerroom before after Hank had managed to get rid off the last error messages. Since then, the chip in the uniforms had never given false information. It was a completely reliable source to know which status the X-Men were in if they were on a mission. It even gave information on how much they eat and drank.
"Oh God…," Ororo gasped in shock and covered her mouth with her right hand while her eyes were fixed on the screen.
Scott shook his head in denial. "You don't really believe that they are dead… I mean…we're talking about Logan here. It is possible that they are not wearing their uniforms right now or that…that the chip is broken…"
Charles shook his head. "Unfortunately I am sure, Scott. I tried everything to locate or contact them…but I don't receive any answer."
"I also tried to read the black box and the main computer's chip," Mystique added and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Nothing. We even tried to call the Blackbird back, but the jet isn't responding either…"
Hank ran a hand through his fur. "This can't be true. I mean…the black box can't be destroyed that easily…"
"Only if the jet was destroyed," the woman replied. "And that's most likely from what we know."
Scott still shook his head and gave Kurt, who bent over to Ororo while she was staring on the table in shock, a brief look. "Who is responsible for that? This mission…you said it was a complete safe one… How could something like this happen then!"
Charles shrugged. "I don't know…"
Suddenly, Ororo stood up. Turning their hands to her in surprise, they noticed that the woman was not with it. Kurt looked at his wife worriedly and tried to reach out, but Ororo stepped aside. "Jean…," she gasped and gave the others a frightened look. Shaking her head, she walked over to the door being completely in shock. "I'll tell her…"
Also Scott got up with a stern look on his face. "Is the new jet ready?" he asked and Mystique nodded. "Hank, Kurt get dressed!" he only said and turned around.
Upstairs, Jean was helping Rachel to dress as it suddenly knocked on the door. "Yeah?" she asked aloud before she straightened the hair of her daughter smiling. "Okay, sweetheart. There you go." Placing a kiss on her cheek, she looked up just to see Ororo standing at the door.
"Ray, why don't you go to TJ and play?" the woman asked and saw the girl nodding. She waited until Rachel had grabbed her favorite stuffed animal and was out of the room. When Ororo met Jean's gaze again, the red head's smile immediately faded.
Feeling how her heart kicked into high gear, Jean took notice of her friend's strange look and that she was holding back tears. Slowly, she began to shake her hand and backed off. "No…," she said barely audible and looked at her opposite warningly.
Ororo swallowed hard and suppressed a sob. "Jean…," she began calmly but she didn't know what to say. Heaving a deep breath she bit her lip.
"No!" Jean said again louder and her eyes widened a bit. She knew what her friend was about to say, knew that she didn't want to hear it. She felt a pressure spreading from her chest into every part of her body while she had to quiver in fear.
The white haired woman broke eye contact and shook her head being completely lost. Shrugging, she pulled a face. "I'm so sorry…," she whispered when her voice broke and she had to sob loudly.
Jean only stared at her in shock. Unable to move or think while her heart nearly broke in her chest, she barely noticed that Ororo was coming closer to embrace her. "Get out!"
Looking at her in confusion, her opposite frowned. "But…"
"I said get out!" the red head yelled at her and pointed towards the door.
Pausing for a brief moment, Ororo didn't know what to do. Running a hand through her tear strained face, she finally nodded. "Ill take care of the kids…," she said calmly and turned around. Jean closed the white door behind her quickly and stared at it with widened eyes. Her mind still hasn't realized it, denied to realize what her heart already knew. Slowly, she turned around and leant back against the door, before she slowly glided down to the ground. Her green eyes just stared into emptiness, while tears gathered in them. Pulling her legs closer, she shook her head in denial before she began to sob heavily. Burying her face in one hand, Jean cried heartrendingly as she was finally able to understand completely what Ororo had wanted her to say. "No!" she yelled aloud and slammed her fist against the door in despair.
On the other side, Ororo heard her crying, knowing that she can't help her. Covering her mouth when she had to sob again, she quickly ran down the stairs towards her own room where she dropped to the ground crying; sharing her friend's deep pain…
Thanks for the reviews so far! I'm glad that you liked the first chapter. It will take a bit before I post the third because I still have an exam to go and I only have two scene s written so far. I wrote a lot different scenes which take place sometime later, but I still have to come up with a whole story for Chapter 3. So, please forgive me, if it takes a bit longer. ; ) I'll start typing it after posting this one here. Maybe a good idea hits me during it. LOL So, see ya and please let me know what you thing! It's always important to me to read what you like and don't like. I mean…well, I don't like Emma either. That's why she plays a role here. LOL