What can I say? I took a long vacation from writing, but inspiration just wouldn't come until recently when I joined an RPG as Jean...still I feel writing this is not as easy to me as it was last year, but I'll put extra effort in this chapter in order to keep the original seven's style. I don't like the way I wrote last chapter, that's why I want this to be the best I can.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, names, etc; I don't even own the clothes I'm wearing, OK? What else can I say? It was a rough year... but 2008 is promisingly good so far.
The Phoenix's Amend
Jean and Scott have talked their differences but even after that, the tension among the pair is still almost tangible. In spite of that, they have to keep training together for another nine days, but the lights go out and they have to go out for dinner together to continue the synchronization program Xavier set up for them.
Through Your Eyes
They rode for another fifteen minutes before Jean began to recognize the neighborhood they were in, or at least that was what she thought, but she couldn't fully believe it. That couldn't be happening, it was just too good to be true and her heart skipped a beat the moment she realized they were just a couple of blocks away from the restaurant where they celebrated their engagement ages ago. Of course in this... reality? there were still a few years to pass before they got to that point. The Phoenix had really taken them back in time quite a lot, but if that meant more time for them to make up things, we wouldn't hear her complain not once. She wondered if the place was still... she meant already there in that year, but she dared not to ask him. After all, even if Scott was a man to whom details like that mattered, that made nothing certain, it could only be just an unlucky guess of hers and he could be taking her someplace else. Jean didn't want to think of that possibility, disappointment would be so great she knew she wouldn't be able to refrain her tears and she didn't want to cry in front of him again. She knew how much it hurt him to see her cry, even when they were in the middle of an argument, and she loved him deeply, so she was not giving him any more pain than she already had if she could avoid it.
While her mind was lost in this kind of thoughts and speculations, he took the turn in the place she expected him to and reduced the speed, suddenly they were in a zone full of Chinese laundry stores and such, but there was no sign of the fancy restaurant they both expected to be there. It seemed the neighborhood became respected and safe later on the time line of that reality.
Scott couldn't hide his disappointment, least of all from someone who knew him that well, and Jean felt sorry for him almost forgetting her own feelings. The calm atmosphere broke as he sped up again, trying to think of another place for them to go and then the silence between them turned uncomfortable again. He felt stupid for not thinking about the possibility of the place not being there yet and she knew exactly how he would be feeling and felt in the dire need of an idea that would make him feel better, but had none, so she didn't speak. She just sat next to him shrinking her brain searching for the right words, she had always been the best of them two at that, but now Jean's mind was completely blank. She would have told him to stop the car in a commanding voice and then kissed him but she didn't have the courage. He might have been his husband but for some reason it felt now, and even more everyday since that night they connected, like it was a thousand years ago and just didn't feel right.
She sat in an uncomfortable silence for the rest of the trip, pretending to listen to the radio and giving his pride the option to remain intact. It was really unbelievable sometimes that a man who could be such a great leader became a total teenager when it came to the woman he loved.
Finally, he found another place he thought was okay as to compensate the closed one, but at the same time not as expensive as for her to begin asking questions about it. Anyway, it was easy for Charles Xavier's students to forget soon after their arrival at the mansion how money used to condition life before they could have access to the Professor's money to cover their expenses.
Scott parked the car and they both got off it, slowly walking into the place as if they wanted to postpone the moment of the talk as much as possible, but for reasons that had nothing to do with why they wanted the ride to last longer. Now the atmosphere was not only as tense as before but it was even worse, since now, Scott's feeling of discourage was really evident, as well as the disappointment in his face. Jean still felt terrible for him and she would have wished earth would engulf her so she'd save him the uncomfortable moment.
Trying to make him feel better, she placed her hand at his shoulder once again and was about to say something when the waitress talked to them and Jean had to save whatever she was going to say for later. Even a warm hearted person such as herself would give the evil eye to a woman that had nothing to do with her problems if they interrupted her trying to be sweet to that special someone. The girl looked at her a little scared, making Scott glance at Jean too, only to find her face muscles relaxed, as she quickly changed her expression. "So... where can we sit?" she brought back the whole point of the intruder being involved in the conversation. The woman blushed and apologized before leading them to a table where a puzzled Cyclops sat in front of her, who was looking at the menu.
Even after they ordered, none of them spoke, each one wondering what the other one thought about them. They both knew eventually they'd have to come to talk about things, but as none of them wanted to argue and feared for the other's reaction... they were pretty much where they've been in the beginning, when Scott had to gather courage for over a year and a half to ask her out to the movies.
"Jean, I..." he began to say in an apologetically voice, but she warmly smiled at him and gently took his hand over the table. "I know, Scott, and I really appreciate it. It was a nice gesture, you don't have to worry about it" she said kindly as she finally recognized her husband in the man sitting across her in the table, for the first time in weeks. At least that was until she said that and he turned red. He was trying to talk about a whole different subject than the restaurant not being there, which he was actually trying to forget. "I know" he just said, getting back to normal. "Anyway Jean, I wanted to..."
"Professor Xavier to all available X-Men..." it echoed inside their heads. Disappointed was suddenly written all over their faces. "Great timing, huh?" she asked him telepathically with a resigned smile to cheer him up as he rose from his chair. "We better get going" he said reluctantly.
Jean was about to take his hand while leaving when she felt his strong hand in her shoulder. The contact made her feel as if a light bolt had just ran through her entire body, catching her off guard. Apparently, she hadn't done things worse by mentioning the place that was not there yet after all. It seemed to have given him a nice amount of confidence after the first uncomfortable moment, or at least it seemed to make him realize she was not resentful anymore. She smiled at that thought and looked at him for a second, but he appeared to already have switched his mind from human being to team leader judging by the determinate look in his face. She had always known she had lost him for a while when he made that face.
The battle zone was already a complete mess when they arrived. The debris covering two thirds of the floor were as high as them or even higher, and it looked just like a giant's playground after he finished playing. They looked at the place searching for their allies, but they couldn't find them at first.
Jean used her powers to locate Rogue and Storm, who were behind a huge pile of debris that once had been a coffee shop. It seemed they were the first to arrive, since they both could fly. The girls looked relaxed enough as for them to deduce they had arrived too late, when the fight was already over, so they calmly walked to them and greeted the pair.
"What's the situation here, Storm?" Scott asked her with a confident smile. He was just teasing her as the place looked calm. "It's under control" she replied smiling back. "I think that big boy over there finally found something harder than his head" Rogue said pointing to the pile of debris next to them, under which they had confined the mutant they had been confronting. "What was he like?" Jean asked out of curiosity. "It was like blending Rogue with Colossus" Storm stated. "What do you mean by that?" Scott asked confused, beginning to worry. He didn't think it was a good idea to be so relaxed if the guy was somehow like Colossus, even if he had several tons of concrete on top of him.
In that precise moment, two hands came out of the debris pile and grabbed Jean's and Cyclops' ankles, absorbing both of their powers, as the other two X-Men were out of reach for him.
After that, everything happened too fast for any of them to really understand what was going on until it was too late. They felt a dead grip holding their ankles and their strength being dragged out of their body at an incredible speed. Next second Jean screamed nonstop as optic blasts came out of her eyes uncontrollably. She was not able to close her eyes. Scott fell to his knees while holding his head, trying to stop the headache and feeling he was driving crazy as he could hear the thoughts of every single agonizing person in a range of many miles echoing at the same time inside his head, not being able to block them.