Confused [Open]

[Jean Grey]

Nobody saw her leave the jet as she lowered the hatch by herself, limping down the stairs with her shattered leg. It burned, but she pushed that out of her mind as she focused on the task ahead of her. She sank down in the snow several inches as she walked, limping toward a certain spot.

The sound of the water rushing came to her ears as she focused on the jet, raising it's hatch teleknetically and flipping the switches, realigning the engine that had been knocked out of balance. Another hand in front of her branced the incoming water as she lifted the jet into the air, pushing her powers to the limits. The water rushed around her, swirling over the spot where the jet had just been. It was now hovering in the air, and she let it go into Storm's control.

Facing the wall of water in front of her head on, her hand dropped and she allowed to to consume her.

She woke up screaming, jerking upright in bed. Her eyes were wide, glowing even as things in the bedroom levitated. The things on top of the dresser flew across the room, landing in various places as her bedside lamp went sailing toward the door, smashing into pieces upon impact. She was shaking, not knowing what the hell was going on.

It was only then she realized her bed was levitating in the middle of the room.

"Stop it!" She screamed and the bed fell back to the floor, nearly bouncing her out of it. But things were still shattering and flying around her. She couldn't control it. She shut her eyes, pressing her hands against them in an attempt to stop it all.

I'm sorry Scott - it's the only way.

Jean! No!

Goodbye....

Her eyes snapped back open as she screamed again and everything was laying in pieces or just strewn across the room, having finally stopped moving. Her breathing was heavy, almost strained as she uncurled her hands, fingernail marks across her plams where they had been clenched so tightly. She stared blankly at the wall, still shaking slightly.

"Scott...." She whispered and she was hit by a flood, a flood of memories that just wouldn't stop. She stumbled out of bed, holding her head tightly. It was pounding, but somehow she managed to grab the doorknob, pulling the door open with such a large force, she ended up nearly ripping it off its hinges.

"Scott!" She called again, louder still, ignoring the fact that it was the middle of the night, and most people were asleep. She didn't care. She didn't want to care. Let them hear here.

"SCOTT!"

[Scott Summers]

It never worked. He would lay down, get to the edge of sleep, and then it would start. Sometimes, it was just a whisper, making him smile through his tears. Other times, it was a scream, cutting through his brain like a red-hot knife.

As he pulled the pillow over his head, he pressed it down onto him as he sighed out. "Stop it." he whispered harshly. This wasn't going to happen again. Not tonight.

Scott...

"Stop. Stop it."

He couldn't let this happen. Not again. He threw the pillow off, and clenched his eyes shut. He had walls. He had mental blocks he knew he could easily place. He'd just have to forget. Forget about it and it would be gone. Out of sight, out of mind.

"SCOTT!"

The scream was so loud, so real, that Scott's eyes snapped open, glowing a faint red for only a brief second before he snapped up.

Well, the rational part of his mind said, he was finally going crazy.

Jerking up from the bed, he wrenched open the door of his now new room (he couldn't sleep in their old bedroom. Not anymore.) and rushed out into the hallway. The scream again, and as he rushed down the hall, he pointed at one of the students that had poked their heads out.

"Back inside!" he said harshly. "Get back inside, NOW."

Turning a corner, his eyes locked on the woman with dark red hair, and instantly, a seering pain hit his head and brought him to his knees. His hands instantly clutched his head. He was reminded of the time when Psylocke had hit him with a psy-bolt in the Danger Room. It felt as if his entire skull was exploding.

[Jean Grey]

She was tired, and her head pounded as if her brain was just going to leap out and start running down the hallway. Focus stupid, focus, she told herself mentally as she spotted Scott coming around the corner.

And then he was on his knees, and it made her wonder if it was her doing. She all but ran toward him, ignoring the carpet burn as she landed on her knees beside him. Her hands fell on both sides of his face, making him look at her.

"Scott, can you hear me?" She whispered, noticing was seemed to be the fleck of red behind his eyes. A frown briefly crossed her face, but it went away as she spoke again.

"Scott, its me....It's Jean."

[Scott Summers]

The pain lessened slightly to a dull ache, leaving his head stinging and eyes burning. Hands came to his face, bringing his head up, and his eyes focused on the woman in front of him.

"Scott, can you hear me?"

Almost as if through water, her voice filtered in, and he clenched his eyes shut for a moment, managing a slight nod. Until, that is...she spoke once again.

"Scott, it's me...it's Jean."

Eyes shot open, and instantly, anger brewed inside of Scott. Who...how dare she! What sort of..

Scott's mind was spinning faster than he could focus on, until he jerked away from the woman's grasp. "Stop it."

The words were a seethe, both from the anger of the woman saying Jean's name, and the pain in his head. His eyes for a moment seemed to glow with his anger. "Stop."

[Jean Grey]

She dropped her hands as he jerked away, frowning. Why wouldn't he believe her? He had never acted like this before, as long as she had known him.

Oh, right she was supposed to be dead.

"I'm not doing anything." She told him carefully. "I'm being dead serious Scott. I'm Jean, so why the hell can't you understand that?" She said, frustrated as to why he wouldn't listen to her. She stared at him for a moment, worried.

Something was wrong.

"How can I prove it to you?" She asked after a moment, throwin her hands up in the air in defeat, having nothing else to say. It was cliche, she knew, but the only thing she could think of. Maybe if she could prove to him that she was real, he'd be convinced it was really her.

[Scott Summers]

"My wife is DEAD."

Maybe it was just the fact that she was so insistant, or maybe it was just the fact that he was finally realising it once again that she was gone, but his voice rose sharply as he spoke. "She's...she's dead, okay? I had to watch the entire thing, helpless to stop it, so please. Please don't do this."

"How can I prove it to you?"

"You--" he started, confused, frustrated as his brows narrowed. "You don't even look like Jean. You--You're--" Why the hell was he still talking to her? Why wasn't throwing her out of the mansion, no matter what Xavier said. "You can't prove it to me...because you're not her. I watched her die."

Sure, there wasn't a body, but that didn't mean anything. They hadn't found his parents bodies all those years ago, but they were dead. Scott wasn't sure how he knew. Then again, the voices...he never heard voices of his parents. Then again, his parents hadn't been telepathic. They hadn't left an imprint on Scott's mind as strong as Jean had.

[Jean Grey]

She stared at him for a moment, green eyes narrowed slightly in frustration in anger. She just wanted to slap him right across the face, but she refrained from doing so because she figured it'd tick him off further.

When he said she didn't look like Jean, she frowned slightly, and glanced to her left, in the reflection of a metal doorknob of one of the dorm room doors. She couldn't really tell, but as far as she knew, she honestly didn't look like Jean. What the hell? She focused her attention on something distant, her eyes glazing over slightly as she tried to search her mind, for a reason as to why she didn't look like herself. And she literally ran into a mental block.

Apparently, something in her mind didn't want her to know something.

But she turned her attention back to Scott, a determined look now on her face.

"Your name is Scott Summers. You grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, with your brother Alexander Summers, and your father was USAF major Christopher Summers. Your parents suposedly died in a plane crash. You spent most of your childhood in an orphanage in Omaha, Nebraska. You were one of the first students of Xavier's, and one of the first X-Men, where you met me, Jean Grey." She said quickly, in very few breaths. She stared at him for a moment.

"Would you like me to continue? Or would you prefer me to recite my history? Or maybe Storm's, the Professors? Hank's?" She question, folding her arms over her chest.

Or are you going to believe me? Don't you understand I've been the voice inside your head?

[Scott Summers]

"You grew up in Anchorage, Alaska--"

--Keep your eyes closed. And no scanning, that's cheating! My father built this house for my mother, I think it's only fair that I bring my wife--I can tell when you're scanning, Jean, stop it--

"Your parents supposedly died in a plane crash--"

--Hang on, Scotty. Hang on to your brother, alright? You need to be brave--

"You spent most of your childhood in an Orphanage in Omaha. You were one of the first students of Xavier's--"

--My name is Charles Xavier, my son, and I'm here to take you home--

"Where you met me, Jean Grey--"

--Jean, I uh...I was wondering...would you marry me?--

Or are you going to believe me? Don't you understand I've been the voice inside your head?

Scott could feel the stinging burn of tears hit the back of his eyes as he looked at the woman that claimed to be Jean. His head spun, and he found himself sliding down to his butt in silent shock as he stared at the woman. "Jean?" The word was almost a whisper as his brows narrowed, tears dripping from his uncovered eyes. His mouth opened slowly, chin quivering slightly.

"I saw you die."

[Jean Grey]

She remained silent, allowing him to absorb what she had just shot out at him - it was pretty much a summary of his life - or what she could remember him telling her.

Jean gingerly reached out, brushing his cheek slightly and gently rubbing off the tears that were beginning to roll down his cheeks. It was an odd situation - she had just remembered her entire life, she was sitting here with Scott, who was crying, in the middle of the hallway where a student was probably going to stumble over them any minute. But surprisingly, she really didn't give a damn.

"I did die, Scott." She whispered in a quiet tone. "But I don't know how I'm sitting here, in front of you, right now." It confused herself. The last thing she remembered was being hit with thousands of tons of water, and then blackness. Then she was suddenly laying across the rocks, still in her X-Suit, herh air longer than she had ever let it grow. When she finally got back here, well, it was when she had started to remember things.

She blinked at him a moment, her hand still resting on his cheek as if to give them both confirmation that she was really there, and not some fake astral projection or something of the sort, that would disappear in a few seconds. She sat like that for a moment, frozen.

And then she began to cry, tears of her own rolling down her face as she suddenly threw herself into Scott's arms, not caring if he got to his feet and ran just as hard as he could in the opposite direction. She had missed him - she was pretty sure words couldn't even describe just how much she had wanted to be back in his arms again.

[Scott Summers]

"I did die, Scott."

It almost hurt to even hear it, let alone think it. His world had quickly toppled onto him like the rushing water that had toppled over Jean. In many ways, he couldn't find the air to breath, either. However, when she touched his cheek, he flinched in shock. It was true. Well, as much as he could see, it was true. Maybe this was what going mad felt like.

And then, Scott felt strong arms wrap around him, heard sobs, and instantly, he wrapped his arms tightly around her, clenching his eyes shut. "It's okay," he found himself saying, voice thick with tears as he held onto her, the way he had held onto her after almost killing her at Alkali Lake. The way that said he would never let anything happen to her, and yet, he had. He could have easily blasted the door of the Blackbird open, could have easily rushed out there and grabbed Jean. Maybe he would have died, but he would have died in her arms.

"I-I'm sorry." he found himself gasping out through his tears. "Storm she--she could have taken command, I should have rushed out there to you, I--" he knew she would have never let him. She could have instantly put him into a coma if she had wanted to that day. "I'll never forgive myself for not being out there with you."

Wasn't that what a leader was supposed to do? Sure, what could he have done? He didn't have telepathic powers. He couldn't have lifted the Blackbird from the bottom of the lake...but he could have tried something. She shouldn't have died. She shouldn't have died alone.

Pulling her back from him slightly, he pressed his forehead against hers, sniffing in as he watched her with brown eyes. "You do anything like that again and I'm kicking you off the team." he said through a watery smile.

[Jean Grey]

She wanted to say no, it wasn't okay. She had died. She should be at the bottom of a lake, drowned, and decaying away. But Jean wasn't.

Normally people didn't do that - well, they did, but they didn't somehow magically come back to life, like she had done.

Jean shook her head before he had even finished speaking. "No, you shouldn't have. You would have been killed - apparently unlike me. You can't get rid of me that easily." She said, the smallest of smiles playing at her lips. "But it's not your fault Scott - don't you ever, ever, blame yourself for it." She told him in the sternest of tones she could manage. It was rather hard to be serious when you were currently sobbing your eyes out - something she really didn't do often. But she didn't want Scott blaming himself. It had been her desicion, her sacrafice for the team. Not his.

She laughed softly - almost snorted in laughter - when he threatened to kick her off the team. "Yes sir. I'll try not to die next time." Jean told him in a serious tone. It took her a moment to notice that something seemed different.

"Your eyes...." She whispered. "I've never seen them before.....they're gorgeous......but, wait. Why don't you need your glasses?" Jean asked, concerned now. Had she missed something? Obviously, because there would be a large hole in her head from where he was looking at her.

"And...um...did you want to keep sitting here in the hallway? Or do you want to go somewhere else to talk?" She asked quietly, finally realizing again that they were sitting in the middle of the hallway.

[Scott Summers]

"Yes sir. I'll try not to die next time."

Scott couldn't help but laugh. Sure, it was a morbid topic, but it was something that he could say now that she was here. However, it felt so strange...she didn't look like Jean. The more he listened to her voice, the more she...sort of sounded like Jean, however it was still strange.

"Your eyes..."

Instantly, he found himself looking down. It was still strange, and while he had wanted nothing more than to see her in true colours, have her see what colour his eyes actually really were (or that he actually had eyes at all, he thought, remembering Bobby's comment) the nervousness and embarresment was still there. "Yeah," he said slowly, and glanced up at her. "When you were gone, Jean, they--there's a supposed cure. Magneto got ahold of it and--" Just thinking of what happened at Alkatraz made him frown. "Everyone that was on the team that day; Ororo, Robert, Katherine, Henry..." he trailed off. "We've lost everything. There's no signs of recovery." He looked up at her fully from the floor. "Magneto's taken over New York City, St. John Allerdyce has joined them. Washington's next. Parents are taking their children from the school in fear of anti-mutant attacks and Rogue's gone missing."

When she offered to go somewhere else, Scott nodded, standing and helping her to stand. He walked her to his room, shutting the door with a soft click after they had entered.

"Magneto has sentinals placed around New York. He's already murdered hundreds of humans...mutants that resisted were next."

[Jean Grey]

"I never realized that I hadn't seen your eyes before - their real color, I mean..." She murmured, tilting his head back up so that she could look at him, and his eyes. They almost facinated her.

But she listened, a worried look on her face. A cure? Since when the hell was there a cure to being a mutant? It wasn't some disease that they could just get rid of - it was a gift. "Your powers? They're all gone?" She asked, almost not believing it. But there would be no other explanation for it. She reached up to move her hair from her face, using the sleeve of her shirt to dry her face from where she had been crying.

"Well, we'll just have to stop him - again." Jean stated when he said Magneto had taken over New York City. She never thought it possible, but apparently the older man had done it. And frankly, it made Jean stiffen at the thought. "With or without powers."

She allowed him to herlp her up and she silently walked with him to his room. She sat down on the corner of the bed, merely glancing around the room for a moment before her gaze came back to rest on Scott as he spoke.

"Sentinels? I thought those robots were designed to work against humans, not mutants?" She murmured. "But it doesn't matter - what matters is the fact that what he's doing is wrong, and we're just going to have to figure out a way to stop him." She said, the worried look on her face replaced by one of determination.

"And since when did you change rooms?" She asked quietly after a moment's pause.

[Scott Summers]

"Somehow it took away our powers. Hank's working on it but..." he paused, shaking his head. "But I don't know. I don't know much right now. I've re-worked the danger room, done a few sessions without powers but--" he sighed out. "It's not the same. I've fought Storm without powers before, but Robert, Katherine--they've never fought without their powers."

When she spoke of Sentinels, Scott nodded. "That's what I thought too, but they seemed to be perfectly able to control anything, whether human or mutant." When the look of determination came upon her face, Scott frowned slightly. "I don't want Robert and Katherine on the next mission. I know they wont think it's fair, but I'm not putting anyone elses' life at risk. They're not trained like we are."

"When did you change rooms?"

Scott scoffed, though it wasn't humourfilled as he brought a hand up to rub at his face. "I, uh..." Scott started as he looked around the room. "After I destroyed the other room." Moving to sit in one of the chairs by the room, he leaned forward with a sigh. "The mirrors are gone. I couldn't sleep in the bed so I just--" He looked at his fists. "The Professor had to sedate me. I remember Hank saying he had to sew up both of my hands."

He shook his head slightly. "I just--we got back to the Mansion and I just--I just lost it. I didn't care about anything I just--I wanted to make it go away and the only way I know how to make anything go away is to destroy things. And I figured, if I destroyed everything in that room that reminded me of you that you'd--you'd stop haunting me. And then you didn't leave and every room that I went to, it didn't help. I think I've been to every empty room in the Mansion."

[Jean Grey]

"Maybe I can help?" She offered quietly. They weren't really the X-Men without their powers - and it felt kinda odd. If everyone else was without their powers, technically they weren'y mutants anymore. They were humans - or close to it. Which, Jean probably wasn't going to get used to that fact.

"I agree with you - about them not coming. It'd be way too dangerous. I mean, I might be able to help protect you and Storm, but I can't help too many or I'll start slipping and one of you will get hurt." She said quietly, leaning back on her hands for a moment.

She listened to hime speak - she couldn't believe that he would end up doing something like that, but then again, she had never really seen him when someone he really loved had died. Her gaze flickered to his hands that were balled into fists, and she almost thought she could see faint scars on them from where Hank would have had to sew Scott up.

Jean moved to him again, her arms snaking around his neck in a hug as she buried her face in his chest. "Scott - you shouldn't have done that." She sighed, her voiced muffled by his shirt. "You know I don't like it when you hurt yourself."

"But if I was haunting you, sorry." She said, looking back up at him. "I was dead - I can't really control things." She said and brushed her lips against his. "But I'm back now, so it'll all be okay. I promise."

After a moment, the corner of her mouth twitched upward into a wry smile.

"So you're telling me our entire room is destroyed now?"