The Phoenix's Amend

Scott accepted the Phoenix's amend and he was rejuvenated and transported by a light along with Jean, appearing both in the room she occupied at Xavier's mansion before the mythological animal possessed her.

Thoughts that Lead to Sorrow

They both froze as the door opened, completely blushed with embarrassment and wishing they would have left the argument for later on and spent those minutes they had alone getting Jean some clothes from her wardrobe, but it was late for that and two pairs of eyes were fixed in the door. Then, emerald met ruby as the looked at each other trying to find a way out that situation.

Jean's mind, always working fast and efficient as a piece of Swiss clockwork, quickly set holographic clothes that appeared on her body as she closed her eyes for a couple of seconds. With that, she would not need to worry about covering her figure with her hands. The embarrassment was huge as to look at the three people standing at the door, so she kept her gaze aiming at the floor.

"We did not mean to interrupt" Beast said apologizing for the interruption and turning his face away so that he would not be disrespectful to her teammate by looking at her in that condition. Yet he remained there standing in the corridor out of curiosity. He wanted to hear and make sure that everything was ok.

"Yah better start fixin' to talk real quick, sugah, I ain't never lettin' you do nothin' to Jean" Rouge said rudely breaking the ice as she stepped into the room, worried by the sad expression and the trail of tears on her usually happy friend's face.

After Marvel Girl's clothes appeared, Storm entered the dorm too and placed a warm friendly hand on Jean's shoulder as she examined her face with a concerned look in her own.

"Jean, are you all right? What happened, my friend?" Ororo asked eagerly to the red-haired woman. Outside, the sky turned cloudy as the Egyptian's concern developed.

Scott's mood was bad enough as to stay there enduring his mate's disapproval looks and comments as if he had done anything wrong! He was the one who should be comforted, he thought. He wasn't the one who modified someone else's mind without even asking! He hated the fact that if there was a crying woman next to a man, everybody would assume the crying was the man's fault… and then they said it was a male-centered world! Cyclops felt he was going to yell or hit whoever dared to talk to him; he had to leave that room until things were calmer. He looked at Jean once more.

"How am I supposed to trust you after what you have done? You've disappointed me, Jean." The words just flowed out of his mouth before he left the room with a serious severe expression and walked away through the corridor, ignoring Hank's attempts to call his attention or talk it over. Yet, the blue guy followed Scott to Cyclops's dorm, where he locked himself, claming that he wanted to be alone.

As he walked away from her, Jean got a flash of Scott's thoughts and what she heard there was not encouraging her to feel better.

"I've been sleeping by her side all of those years, who knows how many times she might have manipulated my mind so I would do whatever she wanted or even be with her… Why not? I have always been eager to grant all of her wishes and I always did anything for her, even the most unbelievable things, how else could someone explain that? And then, as she got tired of me, she attached me to someone else and everything solved…I can't forgive that…"

Perhaps having a second chance to be with her and still loving her did not imply that he would stop feeling betrayed and hurt. Perhaps there was no way to fix what had been broken, especially if one of the parts could not even know if he really loved the other one or was just brainwashed to do so.

Jean understood that for a person with no telepathic abilities, the paranoia about being manipulated by a mutant that had that gift was almost a natural thing, but her own husband doubting about his feelings towards her was an idea too painful to assimilate. The fact was she did make him fond of Emma betraying his trust, she had to give him that, but yet, she couldn't understand why he accepted the Phoenix's amend if he was going to make her scenes like that… revenge perhaps? She preferred to stop thinking for a while, in order to avoid getting a headache.

Before Slim completely left the room, Storm tried to stop him, but Ms Grey stopped her telepathically.

Jean just shocked her head slightly, still looking downwards. "It's ok Ro, let him go."

"Are you sure?" the white haired one asked unsure about resigning the idea of chasing after Scott. Jean nodded.

"He's right, Storm. I really screwed it up and betrayed his trust" said starting to cry again. "Yet he's overreacting and being selfish…" She had to talk to the Professor, but her story was really difficult to believe, even for someone like the Professor. One of her hands rose to her face and slid down, as if it would clear her mind. The feeling of a horrid migraine could be felt by her at her temples since she appeared to fail at preventing the pain from starting.

Marvel Girl felt she was about to faint as the feelings and the incipient headache overwhelmed her, so she sent a telepathic request for help directed to nobody in particular.

"He don't look no happy with yah" Rogue asked also coming closer to her when she noticed her friend's skin becoming paler. "Wha' happen', sugah?"

Ororo made Rogue a gesture over Jean's shoulder indicating that it would be better if she stopped questioning Redd about the argument and the southern girl nodded in agreement.

In that moment, any attempt of conversation was stopped by the telepathic announcement made by Professor Xavier.

"Professor Xavier to all the students, please report to the control room in your uniforms immediately"

The question in everybody's mind was the same old question for those who lived at the School for Gifted Youngsters in Winchester, New York "Oh… and now what?"

TO BE CONTINUED...

Thanks to Stinkhabel, IluvJott and CykePhoenixSummers for the wonderful reviews and for making me keep on writing as well as supporting me on this fic that started as a personal daydream.

I want to thank too to my personal Cyke for making this weekend magic after all we've been through lately. We'll raise from our ashes just like the Phoenix, my love. I promise.

Note of the Author: I know this chapter might be perhaps less interesting than the previous one, but It was all I could come up with to connect the 3rd chapter with the ideas I got for the next ones. I also had to investigate a lot about Southern American English so I could characterize Rogue better, but English is not my mother language, so if you find that there's any correction I should do to her speech or the fic in general, please let me know. Hope you liked it anyway.