X-Writers is a non-profit organisation. Many of the characters and places featured in this story are copyright of Marvel Entertainment Group. <=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=> X-Men #58 - Family Reunion (or: Things To Do In Antarctica When You're Dead) ** this issue takes place after events ** ** in Generation X #19 ** Written for the X-Writers by Marty Blase Flashback to X-Men #50 written by Chris Delaney <=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=> === Sauron's Citadel, The Savage Land === === two months ago === Magneto watched as Jean turned away and faced the Shadow King. He could feel her mind spilling into his as it cocooned him from the dark power that sought him so desperately. He realised what she was doing too late to have a prayer of stopping it. She had never been completely free of the Phoenix Force and now she called it to herself. *NO! There has to be a better way!* *It's too late Magnus. You're all but dead and I can't keep this up... too much of me wants to go back... too much of me enjoyed being free and uninhibited... but it wasn't freedom... it was the worst form of slavery....* *We'll find another way.* Magneto struggled to gain his feet but his body felt leaden. The virus had almost completely run it's grim course and he had strained himself too much recently. He felt the power envelop her and was astounded at how powerful she really was. Then she struck. Helplessly, he tried to intervene, to lend her psionic support, to save what could be saved. The form of the Shadow King evaporated, boiled away by a telekinetic fury capable of destroying a sun. There was a dim wailing on the astral plane as the darkness that had shrouded it faded and it became light once again. There was a dim feeling of triumph in Jean. She had, beyond all hope, overcome her dark side and triumphed against the Shadow King. *JEAN!* He could feel her mind winking out as the burned out neurons failed, one by one. No mortal mind had ever been made to hold the power of the Phoenix, no mortal mind. The energy form of the Phoenix rose from Jean's mindless body and, just for a second, seemed to be looking, searching for something. Then it sped off into the distance. Lost to sight. <=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=> === Asteroid M, two hundred and fifty miles above the Earth === === this afternoon === "You mean, this was it?" Rachel Summers gently dropped a pair of duffel bags and a small cardboard box that she had been carrying telekinetically as she stepped out of the airlock. Asteroid M had it's advantages, she reflected, but transportation wasn't one of them. As its only resident capable of unaided spaceflight, she had volunteered to bring them and their luggage aboard rather than try and salvage a working shuttle from Asteroid M's docks for the task. Fortunately, the task had only taken two trips. Breathing deeply, she rubbed her short red hair vigorously with both hands. After all that, even recycled air smelled good. "That's it, Rach," Scott said as he shouldered the larger bag and lifted the smaller. Alex stood nearby to take the remaining box in both hands. "I was rather surprised myself, to be honest. I'd thought there would be more of my stuff left at the Mansion, but the battle damage didn't leave much to be recovered. I'm surprised we had this much." Alex tested the weight of to box he held. "I'm surprised myself, Scott. This was all you could find between the Mansion and the boathouse that you wanted to bring back?" "I didn't want to take anything from the Mansion. Seemed like graverobbing, somehow, after Charles' funeral. And I left most of... of *our* things in the boathouse. What you've got there is just mine." Solemnly, Scott walked on down the hall. If he expected his younger brother to follow him, he didn't say so; Alex stood where he was until Scott rounded the corner, then turned to Rachel. "He didn't want *anything* of Jean's with him up here?" he asked. "Apparently not. It looks like he's trying to put everything from his life at Xavier's behind him, and that includes his late wife." "Don't say 'late'. She's not dead yet, you know." "She's a body without a mind, Alex, kept on life support only for the sake of the baby she's carrying. That's dead, as far as I'm concerned." "No need to be so cold about it." "I'm not being cold. I've always been the practical type, you know that." "Tell me about it. Where's our latest houseguest, by the way? Didn't she come up with you?" "Skids, you mean? Sure, I brought her. I rendered her unconscious when we travelled through space, same as I did with you two. She's still in the back of the airlock...." "Ohhhhhhhhhh...." came a feminine voice from behind her. "...and it looks like she's recovering nicely. Excuse me." She turned around and raised her voice a little. "Skids? We're here. Come out and meet the gang." A young blonde-haired woman emerged from the airlock, rubbing her eye with one hand while gripping a backpack with the other. "What'd I miss?" "Well, I lied about the 'gang' part," Rachel answered. "There's just Alex here now, and you already met him...." Skids blinked hard and looked at Alex, then abruptly stopped still. "Um... well, I've seen him, at the funeral I mean, but I don't think we ever actually got introduced...." Rachel looked apologetic. "Didn't you? I'm sorry. Skids, this is Alex Summers, Scott's brother. Alex, meet Sally Blevins, better known as...." "Skids," she interrupted as she leaned forward to shake his hand. She smiled broadly as they made eye contact. "Just Skids, please. I haven't gone by Sally in years, and I'd like to keep it that way." "Fine by me," Alex said with a polite smile of his own. "Welcome to Magnus's own castle among the stars, the one and only Asteroid M." "I... I mean, thanks. It's nice to be here. I think. Um, where will I be staying? This is all the stuff I have, here in my bag, and I figured I'd just...." She laughed a little. "Well, wing it from there. Rachel said that everything I'd really need would be available up here, food, clothes, all that." Alex adjusted the box in his hands. "She tells the truth. C'mon, I'll show you where you can make your room. There's only six of us living here, and about ten times that much living space, so we've all set up in the same wing. It's right down this hall." He turned and proceeded in the same direction Scott had just gone. "Go on ahead," Rachel added. "He can show you the way just as easily as I can. I'll go ahead and tell Magnus you're here." "Thanks, Rach. I appreciate all of this." She watched Alex until he was out of earshot, and then whispered, "That's Scott's *brother*? How old is he?" "Alex? I dunno. Mid to late twenties, I think. Why?" "Well, he's kinda... well...." She bounced on one foot briefly. "*You* know." "What, tall? Blonde? Goofy? A little too partial to wearing black?" "No, I mean, he's really... kinda...." She winked, and smiled. Rachel screwed up her forehead. "Who, *him*?" <=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=> Marie Watson was keeping her own company just outside the Asteroid. She'd been spending a lot of time out here lately -- becoming an astral ghost after her body was killed by Sugarman meant that Magnus didn't have a lot of practical use for her. Sure, she didn't need to breathe or wear a pressure suit out here, and she could travel literally anywhere on the planet at the speed of thought. But not being able to pick up so much as a pencil or even give a farewell hug to her cousin had a way of tipping that scale back the other way. She was always something of a private personality, she reflected. So being out here while the others finished moving in wasn't all that awkward. They'd understand, after all. What could they possibly want her inside for right now? All she could do is talk and listen, and they'd just act like she was being in the way. Besides, it was so beautiful out here. When you're is restricted to using eyes to see, you get the light and that's it. Space looks big, but empty. But with her astral perceptions, every point of light and drifting atom of hydrogen created a crystalline pattern that filled all of reality. Solid objects were denser, more rigid, but the atmosphere of Earth could erupt in a kaleidoscope of natural and supernatural colors, just by subtly shifting her mental "view" of it. Look, there's Antarctica. Just as an example. Normally a dead and lifeless continent, but from her unique vantage point there was so much more to see.... <=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=> Alex and Skids, with Rachel following behind, finally arrived at the residential wing. Skids was expecting to see Scott there, but not the old man he was speaking to. Magneto? Chatting with Scott Summers of the X-Men? Skids shook her head -- she was being ridiculous. Scott had told her he'd been up here for a while, living on Avalon with Magnus and the others before Magnus had rebuilt it and rechristened it as Asteroid M. From all the things Magnus had said about Xavier's X-Men when she was an Acolyte, though, it was still rather unexpected. Just one more thing to get used to, she supposed. At least there wouldn't be any of the philosophical arguments she'd been awaiting with fear. "Skids," Magnus said to her as she approached. "It's good to see you again. I hope your return trip was a pleasant one." "I... yes, yes it was. Thank you, sir." She was taken a little aback by this sudden courteousness. Just one more change to get used to, she figured. But certainly one of the more unexpected ones. "Call me Magnus now, please. I may be your landlord, but that's the only relationship we'll have from now on. That is, unless you're willing to count me as a friend as well." Unexpected wasn't the half of it, Skids thought. "Well... yes, of course, sir. Magnus. Sorry." She smiled, despite herself. Magnus returned the smile politely. "Friends it is, then. And thank you." He looked at the others. "Well, then, since all your things are already here, I suppose I'll leave you to your moving in. I'll have dinner ready in the kitchen in, say, one hour?" "We'll be there," Scott answered. Magnus nodded and walked off. "It's going to take a while to get used to seeing him without his powers," Skids said to Rachel after he'd left. "And his pretentiousness?" Rachel added with a smirk. "I wasn't going to say that." "You didn't have to, it was written all over your face. That's okay, though. He *has* changed since you last saw him, quite a lot. I'll let you ask him about the details in your own turn. But give yourself enough time, there's a lot of ground he'll have to oohhhhhhhhhhhh...." Rachel swayed a little, holding her head. Skids tried to hold her steady. Scott and Alex put their things down as well. "What's wrong?" Skids asked. "Are you okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine." She stood up straight and opened her eyes again. "Just a... I don't know. It keeps nibbling at the corner of my telepathic senses, whatever it is. I'm not sure what it is. Every time I try to get a bead on it it drifts away again." "Something on the Asteroid?" Scott ventured. "Something outside, I think. It's like the Asteroid keeps drifting through it and back out again. I'll be fine, just need to buff up my tepe shields a little more to keep it out." "If you're sure, then," Scott said. "Hand me that box, Alex?" Alex gave it to him and they went into Scott's room together. Skids turned to look at Rachel again, and saw her with her eyes pinched shut in concentration. "Rach?" she asked. "What is it? What's going on?" "I just felt it again, in my head... like it was trying to grab on to something in my mind before it drifted off again...." Her brow furrowed as she concentrated harder. "Strange, it feels so... familiar... I think it's trying to bring up specific memories of... mine...." "What kind of memories?" "Don't know exactly, they keep fading... they're like images of fire, or light, or...." A long pause. "Or what, Rach?" Rachel's eyes snapped open. "The Phoenix...." she whispered. Skids looked confused for a second. "What phoenix?" Rachel didn't answer. An instant later a bird of fire erupted around her body and she was flying down the corridor, past the bedrooms and toward the airlock at maximum speed. "MOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!" <=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=> Two minutes later, Rachel Summers was swearing intensely at a computer panel. Unlocking the airlocks was normally easy enough for a telekinetic, but this time the Asteroid's computer was being less than cooperative. "Dammit, you stupid machine, just *open* already! Or I swear I'm going to go outside my own way and let you deal with the explosive decompression yourself...." "At least have the courtesy of giving it a chance to explain itself first," came a voice behind her. It was Scott, slightly out of breath after running halfway across the Asteroid after her. "I told the computer to lock down all the airlocks as soon as you flew out. Knowing some of your past... tantrums, I figured it would be best to get an explanation before letting you fly out there on your own." "Scott, I... I'm sorry." Rachel took a deep breath and powered down. This hadn't been a tantrum, she almost said. But it had been close.... "Look, I just needed to... check something. *Please* let me go out there. It might be too late...." "Rachel, we heard what you shouted as you flew down the corridor. Is it Jean? Did your telepathy pick up something from all the way down in New York?..." "Not New York, Scott. Below us, just now. In Antarctica." Scott was flabbergasted for a second. "You... you mean where she died?" Rachel took another slow breath and tried to explain herself. "I've been... feeling something from there, Scott. When I reclaimed my share of the Phoenix power, I took on some of its memories as well. I think that... something of Jean is still out there, over Antarctica, and she's trying to grab hold of the Phoenix in my mind." "But what for?" She shook her head. "I don't know. I haven't been detecting any thoughts from her, nothing coherent. Not even emotions or instincts, just a... sensation. I'm sorry, Scott, there aren't any adjectives to describe it. It just *feels* like her." Scott considered this. He knew that Rachel, besides being Jean's daughter from a future timeline, was a phenomenal psi in her own right. She had always been emotionally reactive where her family was concerned, but she wouldn't try something like this unless she was sure of what she was doing. Finally he said, "All right, you can go looking. But on two conditions." Rachel had been afraid of this. "All right, what are they?" she said, exasperated. "First, you're not flying around out there. Anything might happen to your body, and none of us have the power to save you if you get into trouble." "I flew two trips to Earth and back, Scott, I can handle...." "And second, I'm coming with you." Rachel blinked. "Excuse me?" "Those are my conditions," Scott said simply. "You have more than enough psi power to go out there with your mind only, on the astral plane, and keep your body safe back here. And I also know you have enough power to bring me with you." "Scott, I... I'm not sure I can protect two of us on the astral plane if anything...." "Rachel!" Scott cut her off sharply. Rachel's mouth remained open for a second before she closed it. She said nothing, indicated nothing. She simply glared at him. After taking a deep, calming breath, he continued. "Rachel, if it is Jean out there, somehow holding on after her own death, then I want to go out there to see her, too." Scott met her eyes and held his breath. "She may be your mother, but she was my wife. Please, Rachel." It was the first time Rachel had ever heard Scott say "please" for anything. And suddenly she realized he was right. Besides, arguing about this would take far too long, and their orbit was moving further away from Antarctica every minute. "Fine, you've got a deal. You ready to leave now?" "Just as soon as you are." Suddenly Alex and Skids came jogging around the corner, stopping short when they saw the two of them talking calmly. "Well?" Alex asked. "Is everything all right now?" Scott and Rachel looked at each other. They looked at him. "Alex," Scott said, "would you mind if we asked you to watch something of ours for a little while?" <=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=> Marie Watson saw the two of them as they slipped free of the Asteroid and drifted through space toward the Earth below them. She saw, but she didn't move toward them. She could tell even from this distance who it was, and she assumed it was a family issue that she should stay clear of anyways. Although, she did finally concede, they were probably getting a better look at the lightshow over Antarctica than she could from here. Darkness and light, flowing in and out, in fragmented patterns like she had never even seen.... <=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=> "Can you pick up anything more, Rachel?" "I'm picking it... her, up more often, Scott. But not really more *of* her. It's like a drizzle of rain that's gotten just a little bit denser, but it's still drizzle." The two of them had been drifting far above the Antarctic landscape in their astral forms, slowly spiraling closer to the sky over the Savage Land. Scott had already suggested descending to the surface, but Rachel said she had a better sense of Jean up here. "It's like an explosion of psionic energy had gone off far below," she had told him. The astral plane was just as beautiful as he remembered it, from the few times he had been here before. It looked to him like the two of them were flying through the middle of an aurora borealis. He could see colored clouds of light flashing past just beyond his line of sight, the glowing beacons of sentient minds in the cities far over the horizon. But somehow, it all seemed like so much dull distraction this time, like a movie a friend wants to watch with you for the one-hundred-and-first time in a row. Scott clipped off that train of thought quickly. Thinking negatively wasn't going to accomplish anything now. He was feeling irritable, he admitted to himself, but that was primarily out of boredom. He didn't realize until now just how much work Rachel had to do to get even the vague glimpses of Jean that she had felt. He didn't know why he had gotten his hopes up. Face reality for once in your life, he told himself. Jean was gone, she was dead, and from the look of things even her astral self was too scattered to even be called.... "Scott." He didn't look around. "Find anything yet, Rachel?" "No, Scott," she repeated, "that wasn't me." He turned around very, very slowly. "Jean?..." Rachel shook her head. "I mean.... yes, it was *me*, but I wasn't... Scott, I think that was what Jean said to me. Your name." Scott tried hard to keep his hopes in check. It took nearly everything he had in him. "You mean... you can...." "I've been trying something a little different, Scott. When I was aboard the Asteroid, it felt like the... the 'particles' of Jean's mind were being attracted to the Phoenix's memories in my own head. I've been letting them come as we descend, and gently... carefully, holding them in." "I don't think I understand." "I'm sorry, Scott. It's hard to describe. Think of the Phoenix itself is a kind of glue, something that the pieces of Jean's mind can hold onto. More of them are coming together now, and faster than before, like a star building up gravity...." <=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=> Marie moved a little further away from the station to get a better look at what was happening below her. Before it had just been the colors, flowing like jetstreams in the clouds, but now they were spiraling together toward a common center, getting brigher as they flowed inwards. It was centered, she noticed, very close to the area where Rachel and Scott had vanished from sight. Over Antarctica. But Marie knew Rachel could control the colors, no problem. Whatever she was doing, she was an experienced enough psi to know how to go about it. No, that wasn't what was concerning her. It was the darkness.... <=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=> "It's beautiful...." Scott couldn't think of anything else to say. He watched entranced as a phoenix firebird blossomed up from Rachel's open palm, and then as the points of light began to appear around it and drew themselves toward it. The firebird wasn't growing visibly, but it glittered all over as one after another the points of Jean's consciousness came in contact with it. Rachel had been worried that Jean's mind might try to reestablish itself inside of her own, so she removed a fragment of the Phoenix force from herself and placed it outside of her own astral body. As they watched, the drifting fragments of Jean's mind passed by it, and seemed to catch fire, before falling into the firebird like meteors in the atmosphere. They were approaching infrequently, now, but steadily. "I just hope this works the way I think it will," Rachel said uncertainly. "You know I've never tried anything like this before, Scott." "I doubt anyone has, Rachel. Just keep doing what you're doing. I trust you." "Yeah, well, that makes one of us." Scott didn't want to make her nervous, but he thought it prudent to make one more suggestion. "Do you think we should move around to try and catch more of the drift, Rachel?" "I don't think we'll have to. I can feel the growth of her 'self' increasing now -- I think that the part of her that's been collected so far is calling out to the rest of the fragments, somehow, and drawing them in toward her." "So she'll be whole again?" "I didn't say that. Just that she'd be recollected. Whether she'll be coherent is...." I... am.... Scott froze. "Did you hear that?" "I think so...." Yes you... did... I am... here.... Scott looked at Rachel. Rachel looked back at Scott. Neither one wanted to say a word or even make a move. Finally Scott moved down, carefully, trying to peer inside the firebird in Rachel's hand in hopes of seeing something, anything, there. "Jean, can you hear me?" I... can... hard to... listen... or think... I... can't.... "Then don't say anything, Jean. Just keep trying to pull yourself together." He held his breath and glanced up at Rachel again. "Will she get better?" he whispered. Rachel shrugged. "I don't know," she mouthed back. Scott frowned, then turned his attention back to the firebird. Reassuringly he began to speak to Jean, praying that she was able to understand him. "There's plenty of time for talk later, Jean. Everything's going fine. Just keep doing what you're doing for now." Another deep breath. Keep talking. "It'll be okay, Jean. It'll all be okay...." <=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=> Marie allowed herself to drift downward a little faster now, but kept her distance cautiously. Not out of respect or privacy anymore, that was already forgotten. Now, it was out of fear. Couldn't they see the shadows?... <=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=> To be continued....