Plurk paste

1. Logan had seemed the natural choice, between the healing beneath his skin and the fire in his soul, but he wasn't. Scott couldn't contain the Phoenix Force either, not this time - he's still too young, too rigid, too desperate for control.

Time rewinds, and in this strange form of retrospect it seems obvious: Ororo.

Jean had already loved her, but hadn't known her very well yet. This time, she's keenly aware of everything the Windrider has overcome and endured. She knows how much passion and control she balances every day; she know that her power extends to cosmic storms.

So instead of saying "It's me or none of us," Jean says, "Maybe, between the two of us..."

2. She directs Ororo from the safety of the life-cell, Scott a steady anchor to her consciousness as she sinks into the connection. Her future self has drifts back into the fabric of reality and she learns it all anew, everything from scrapping by on the streets to becoming a goddess. She sees the first time Ororo takes a life, and devote her life to preserving it however she can.

They're kindred spirits in so many ways, and as their power begins to falter both cry out for something greater, something that will help them do that very thing.

They call, desperate hope and overwhelming agony shared fully between them, and the Mother of Stars answers.

3. Jean feels Ororo changing as they hit the water, and isn't surprise when her friend triumphantly breaks the surface, resplendent in white and gold, eyes blazing with beautiful flames. She's too weak to rise up and meet her, but she stares up with loving awe as Scott keeps her head above water.

<i>Jean? X-Men?</i>

<I>Don't be afraid. You saved us, Ororo. You saved us all.</i>

Slowly, the fire fades from her eyes, and Ororo - Storm - Phoenix - drifts down into the water, so that they can embrace her.

4. Both of them pass out on the ride home, and their dreams intertwine in ways she doesn't quite remember upon waking but doesn't truly forget, either. She must whisper Ororo's name when she wakes because Scott - sitting at her bedside for who knows how long, gently clasping her hand, murmurs "She's okay, Jean".

She trusts him as much as she always has, but she still need to see for herself, and he seems to understand; she leans on him as they make their way up, up, up to the greenhouse. It was where she'd insisted on resting, apparently, which should seem absurd but it isn't. Of course she needs to be surrounded by vibrant growing things.

The moment they step through the threshold, Ororo looks up, eyelids flickering into wakefulness.

"Jean!"

With a flicker of power Ororo has flung herself right into Jean's arms, and without Scott's support they'd have toppled to the floor.

5. It isn't easy, after that. Ororo spends hours meditating with Jean, learning how to hone her new psychic abilities. Learning how to give herself a little more grace. Both of them are better at encouraging it in each other than themselves.

There's a gnawing sense, even as they grow in strength and comfort, even as they win more battles than they lose, that something isn't quite right. As the team huddles together in bitter cold winds after narrowly escaping Magneto's trap, Jean feels a pang of desperate relief that doesn't quite make sense.

It felt like they came within a hair's breadth to being separated from Phoenix, to Ororo being left grieving and alone, easy prey for a certain kind of predator.

Jean's embrace tightens, and she decides that she'll simply have to work harder to make sure that never, ever happens.