Chapter 18 (Remy)
It seems that time slows to a standstill as Nori is engulfed in flames and falls to the ground. Phoenix-Jean smiles and floats back to Mesmero. Logan screams with rage and flies at Phoenix. I go to Nori and shake her.
"Nori? Cher?" She doesn't respond. She's not breathing. I bring my fingers to her throat and feel for a pulse. There is none. She's not burnt, but she's... she's not there anymore.
I sob and collapse against her. "Nori, you have to wake up, you have to, si vous plait, cherie." She knew this would happen, she knew it somehow, but I guess we've known all along that the Phoenix was terrible. Oh, my brave girl, why did she come? What did she die for? I think we are all going to die.
Cyclops is trying to talk to me but there's a rushing sound in my ears. Anyway, there is nothing useful he could say to me. Logan comes over and shakes Nori. He sniffs her. He's crying, too.
Now Mesmero is talking, or something, but I still can't make out any sounds. "Leave us alone!" I say.
Phoenix-Jean circles the room, flying and screaming. She comes back over to us. "Fine, Jean, you want me? Take me too," I say. She puts her fiery hands on my face and I look into her eyes. Abruptly, she stops. She returns to regular human form.
"No!" she says. "NO!"
I don't know what to say.
"Jean," Mesmero coaxes. "Jean, won't you help us?"
"NO!" Jean says.
Sinister shrugs. "I am very tired of this," he says.
"This isn't a game!" Jean cries.
She turns back to her fire form and looks at us. "She is more than this," she says. She puts her hands on Nori's face and I watch as Nori is once again engulfed with fire. Well, she'd always said she wanted to be cremated. To my horror, I start laughing at the thought. I laugh and laugh and cry.
"Stop it!" Pyro cries. I glance at him. I think he's trying to stop Jean, but her fire is more than fire. He has no control over it.
Abruptly, Jean pulls away from Nori. She turns on Mesmero and Sinister, engulfing them in flames. They fall to the ground, and Jean returns to normal.
"Did it work?" she asks.
I sob. Yes, it worked. Why is she asking? Is she gloating? Oh, God, I am filled with an intense hatred for Jean Grey. I try to choke it back. Then a soft hand reaches up and strokes my cheek. I focus my eyes and recoil. I must be seeing things, hallucinating from grief.
Nori's sitting up and looking at me. "Hey, love, it's okay," she says.
I narrow my eyes. "Mystique?" I ask. I know she's a bitch, but this is ridiculously cruel.
"Not me," Mystique says. I turn my head and see her standing next to Magneto, in her usual blue form.
I turn back and whisper, unable to believe it, "Nori?"
"Well, who else?" she replies, giving me a wide smile.
I tug her against my chest and cry harder. I feel the touch of her empathy, sweet and loving and confused.
"Je t'aime," I say.
"Of course you do," she says. "I love you too."
Scott clears his throat. "Um, I hate to interrupt, but... what the hell happened?"
An ashen Jean says, "I... I killed her. And then I... brought her back."
"Wait, you what?" Nori says.
"I'm so sorry, Nori, I didn't mean to, I... " She reaches out with her hand and telekinetically calls a syringe from Nightcrawler's pocket over to her hand. She squirts it into the air, and before anyone can react, she plunges it into her own arm.
"Jean!" Scott cries. Jean falls to her knees and grimaces in pain. Scott drops beside her and tries to hold her.
Nori rests her head against my chest and I stroke her hair. Logan squats next to us. He smells her hair and strokes her shoulders.
"You're alive," he whispers.
"Yeah," she says. "How about that?" She tips her face up and kisses me, and then she kisses Logan. The three of us awkwardly cuddle on the gleaming metal floor of Sinister's lab.
We watch as Jean recovers. She stands up, blinking and disoriented. Kurt gives the remaining syringes to Jean, and she gives a dose of cure to Mesmero, and one to Sinister as well. It occurs to me that Sinister has probably vaccinated himself, and perhaps Mesmero, but we can deal with that later. Magneto and Mystique pace around the lab, investigating.
Scott has his arm around Jean, who's trembling.
Nori says, "Hey... Jean, uh, you just cured yourself, right?"
"It was the only way," she says. "I didn't want to hurt anyone again."
Nori shrugs and says, "Well, I mean, since we're here... I know... this is where, um, where Sinister gave me my telepathy. A-and it isn't very strong, you know, just like, regular. So, maybe if you could find his... notes, or whatever, you could... you could give them back to yourself. If you want."
Jean nods. Logan, Nori, and I make no move to get up off the floor, and no one asks us to. I sit in a dreamy state, occasionally moving my hand up and down Nori's arm, just reassuring myself that she's still there.
"Are you okay, cher? How do you feel?" I ask anxiously.
"Fine, Remy. More than fine. I feel really great," she says. She seems alert and happy. It seems too good to be true, but I decide not to question it.
"I'm... it's good to have you back, ma mie."
She tilts her head and murmurs, "Does this mean I get to start my own religion?"
Logan snorts. "I'd join."
I kiss the top of her head. "Me, too."
"You guys can be popes if you want."
"I would be an excellent pope, me," I say. Nori giggles, and I feel my eyes tearing up again. God, I would have missed her ridiculous flights of whimsy. She sends me a telepathic image of myself wearing one of my usual outfits, topped by a pope hat. "Mon dieu, I love you," I say.
"I love you too," she says, beaming.
Scott, Jean, Magneto, and Mystique are having some kind of intense conversation. I watch for a moment, but it doesn't look like a fight. I decide to sit back and let them save the world.
Scott says, kindly, "Gambit, Wolverine, Echo-why don't you go wait in the next room?"
We glance at each other and nod. "Sure, Cyke," I say. Under almost any other circumstances, I'd be pissed to be excluded. Today? I'm delighted.
We stand up and leave the lab. Nori guides us to Sinister's kitchen. I sit down on a chair, and Nori sits on my lap. I'm quite sure I have a ridiculously besotted look on my face, but I'm allowed that, aren't I? The woman I love has come back from the dead, and that doesn't happen every day. She smiles and caresses my cheeks. Her hands feel so soft and smooth. She takes her hands off my face and look at them wonderingly.
"My hands," she says. "They're so smooth."
I raise my eyebrows. "Side effect of being raised from the dead?" I ask.
"Motherfucker," she says. "Do you have any idea how long it takes to build up good guitar calluses?"
I laugh and squeeze her silky-smooth hands. "You've got all the time in the world to get them back, cher."
She reaches a hand up to the back of her neck. "On the bright side, it feels like my scars are gone, too."
"Let me see," I say. She tips her head forward and I sweep her ponytail to one side. She's right. "Do you-do you still have your memories?" I ask.
She purses her lips thoughtfully. "Let me see-what was your name again?"
"Hey, cher, it's a valid question."
She laughs. "Sorry, Remy, I guess you're right. I don't know. It feels like I still have my memories."
"Hmm," I say. "Do you remember how we met?"
"Yeah," she says. "You and Mystique talked your way into my hotel room in DC."
"That was a good night," I say with a smile.
"Do you remember how we met?" Logan asks.
"You came and crashed me and Remy's beach vacation. And yet, you claim to hate the beach," she says, grinning madly. "My turn," she says. "Remy, do you remember the first time we went to Brazil?"
I look at her askance. "Cherie, we have never been to Brazil."
"I know," she says, still grinning. "That was a test. But I have always wanted to go there."
"Then we'll go," I say. "Let's take the jet and go right now."
She giggles. "Maybe like tomorrow. I need to pack. I'd look ridiculous showing up in all black."
"You'd look beautiful," I say. I can't believe how normal she seems. Well, normal for her.
She looks at Logan. "What about you, Logan? You want to go to Brazil?"
"Anywhere with you, darlin'. Even the beach."
"Oh, no, I don't want to go to the beach. I want to go to the rainforest! Before it's all destroyed."
He smiles. "Well, that sounds nice."
We sit together, feeling ridiculously happy. Nori sings to us, and we're watching her when Cyclops comes out into the kitchen. He listens and smiles for a moment, and then he says, "We're done here. We can go."
"We're done here?" Logan asks.
"We've... taken care of the lab. Sinister and Mesmero's plan can no longer be carried out."
"What was their plan?" I ask.
"As far as we can tell, they... planned to release the cure around the world. They planned to force the cure on all mutants."
"But-" Nori starts, and Cyke cuts her off.
"Sorry, Nori, but let's talk about this when we get out of here," he says.
She smiles. "Yeah, okay." She hops off my lap and we leave Sinister's base. I'm unbelievably happy to be leaving Antarctica.
Nori says, wistfully, "We never did see a penguin."
I bend down and kiss her. "We can go to the aquarium, cherie."
She purses her lips. "That would be okay, I guess."
"And I'll buy you a stuffed penguin."
She smiles. "Okay."
Hank and Ororo fly us back. Jean keeps staring at Nori in a way that makes me slightly uncomfortable. Nori seems unaware, or at least pretends not to notice. Back at the mansion we change out of our jumpsuits and reconvene in the Sit Room. Scott hesitantly explains the situation to those who had remained at the mansion-Xavier, Cecilia, Marrow, and Amara. Everyone stares at Nori, who shrugs and looks adorably sheepish.
"You can bring people back from the dead?" Marrow asks Jean.
"No, not anymore," Jean says. "I-I no longer have any mutant powers."
"Hmm," Marrow says.
Hank says, "I... believe that Sinister's plan has been thwarted. Just to be safe, I'd like to vaccinate everyone here against the cure. Assuming you'd like to be vaccinated, of course."
"I don't understand," Nori says. "Why would Sinister want to cure all the mutants?"
"I think that was what Mesmero wanted," Mystique says.
"Oh," Nori says. "Well, why would he want that?"
"If he's the only mutant, who could stand against him?" Magneto says.
Nori makes a disgusted face and says, "That is fucked up."
"I completely agree," Magneto says, straight-faced.
"And Sinister allied with him because he wanted Mesmero to control me," Jean says, horrified.
"But the cure is destroyed?" Logan asks. "And-the-samples from you and Scott?"
Scott's face tenses. "Yes. Those have been destroyed. As to the cure-all of it that Sinister had accumulated has been destroyed, as is his equipment. Of course, Worthington Enterprises still has their own supply of the cure."
Magneto narrows his eyes, but says nothing.
We discuss a few more logistical details, including when the Brotherhood will leave (as soon as possible) and then Hank escorts Nori down to the medbay. Logan and I follow and watch as he examines her. She sadly shows him that her calluses, tattoos, and scars have disappeared. He does a full body scan and finds that her old brain injuries are still the same.
"Apparently, Jean reconstructed your skin when she revived you, but none of your bones or internal organs."
"Hmm," Nori says. "Well, I'm not going to argue with her methods, I guess."
"But-she's okay?" I ask anxiously. "I mean-I mean-"
"As far as I can tell, yes, Nori is just fine," Hank says. "I've checked everything I can think of and I can see no lingering signs of Jean's attack."
"Yay," Nori says. She squeezes Hank's hand and says, "Thanks, Hank. You should go get some sleep, now. You were working so hard on the vaccine, and everything."
He smiles. "I assure you, Nori, I am fine. And you are welcome."
We leave the medbay. Magneto, Mystique, and Pyro are in the hallway, walking toward the elevator. I don't want to share the elevator with them, but I also don't want them to think that I don't. Damn.
Guilelessly, Nori strides into the elevator. She's smiling. Logan and I trail behind her.
Pyro says, "Hey, Echo."
"Hey, Pyro," Nori says, still smiling. I try to keep a neutral expression.
"I, um. I'm glad you didn't die," he says.
"Thanks, Pyro. Me, too." He nods. The three of them step out of the elevator on the first floor and disappear. We continue up to the third floor and back to our bedroom.
Nori stares at herself in the full-length mirror. "You guys," she says. "I need to find a new tattoo parlor."
I laugh and pick her up. She gives a little shriek of surprise. I kiss her, and she happily returns the kiss. I set her down on the bed and continue to kiss her. She reaches up and rubs her hands up and down my back. "I love you so much," she says.
I slip in another yearning kiss before saying, "Mon dieu, I love you."
I feel Nori open our telepathic link. Logan, come here, she says.
He hesitates for a moment before coming to join us on the bed. Nori reaches out and kisses him.
"Logan, I love you too," she says.
He nods. "Darlin'-I-" he exhales. Telepathically, he sends out a wave of feelings. Nori blinks and sorts through it.
Oh, Logan, I know. It must be so hard for you, to-to outlive everyone. But-you still have a long time with me and Remy. You might as well enjoy it.
"Yeah," he says. "I will." He kisses her, nibbling and licking at her hungrily. She lets out a little moan, and he carefully removes her shirt.
I'm watching Logan play with her nipples when Nori abruptly says, "Hey, uh, do you guys think my hymen would have grown back, too?"
Logan and I exchange glances, and I say, "Uh... don't know, cher. I mean, I guess there's only one way to find out."
She grimaces and slips her hand down her panties. Then she makes a relieved face and says, "Nope, it's cool. I guess it's not technically skin?"
I smile and kiss her. "You mean to tell me you've done this before?"
She bats her eyelashes. "Oh, once or twice."
The three of us gently make love, slowly feeling and exploring each other. Everything feels new and wonderful. After we finish, we lie together lazily.
"I must be the luckiest man alive," I say.
Nori laughs. "You're not lucky, you stack the deck."
Logan snorts at that, and I say, "Ain't nothin' wrong with makin' your own luck."
"I'll drink to that," she says. "Speaking of which, let's please have some drinks."
"Great idea, darlin'," Logan says. He dresses and slips next door to grab beer from the mini-fridge in his room. The three of us are a little bit drunk when we head down to dinner, but no one says anything about it, not even Scott. Improbably, today is our day, and we make the most of it.