Entry tags:

phoenix

Time has passed her by, a year
Who: Dr. Jean Grey
When: April 9th 2009
Where: Alkali Lake
What: Jean awakens
Status: complete
Rating: G

There wasn't much in the vicinity of Alkali Lake, not as far as human habitation goes. So of course the few humans that were in the area simply attributed the strange sensation that they could feel someone softly breathing on their neck as a reaction to being in a new place. It never occurred to any of them that there might be someone actually doing the breathing. No one at all.

Jean had shut down, becoming nothing more than a body. Her heartbeat had continued on strong and she breathed as one sleeping, hidden away as she was by the waters that had covered the area after the bursting of the dam. It wasn't to say that she was brain dead, though in her current state there wasn't much difference, but rather her mind had gone dormant. Seeking to recuperate from the massive exhaustion of not only holding back the waters of a dam, but also from the near unbelievable increase that her powers had gone through in what seemed to be the matter of moments. That she had potential, incredible potential, had never been something she disputed. Though it had been something that she feared. The idea that her powers might someday consume her had been something she worked against, and even to a degree handicapped herself with for years.

Then came that moment when she realized that everyone that she cared for, everyone who was important to her, was probably going to die if she didn't do something. Her family. The people that she had come to love and depend on. Scott. Ororo. Logan. Bobby. The Professor. All of them could die if she sat back and did nothing.

No matter what her fear of her powers, the fear of being alone or letting them down was so very much worse. That was what had spurred her to get out of the chair. To leave whatever dubious safety that there was behind and put herself between her family and imminent destruction. It seemed at first that she had only doomed herself to die before them. Maybe she wouldn't be strong enough to do what was needed. Maybe she wouldn't be capable of saving them.

No. She would be capable. Even if it did kill her. Jean was not about to let them all down. Not her family. Not her mentor. Not the love of her life. She wasn't going to let them down. With that thought in her mind and feeling in her heart, she had pushed against the growing waves, feeling every second as if her heart would burst until suddenly and without warning, it seemed as if the weight began to lighten.

Then the Blackbird lifted off, leaving her behind. She had done it. They would survive. The water came crashing in. God, that water was so cold. The weight drove her down, threatening to swamp her all too fragile frame. After that, darkness. Weightless, starless yet night-like, darkness. So Jean slept, her breath deep and even, heartbeat slow and steady and time passed her inexorably by.

Only those who visited the Alkali Lake area would tell the stories of the sleeping woman, the feeling that someone was breathing ever so lightly down the back of their neck with a lover-like caress. Yet if you turn, there is nothing there. If you turn, the world is empty and the breath, well, the breath is still behind you.

That changed the day she opened her eyes. The day she opened her eyes and her first words, said like a dreamer not quite awake, were:

Don't Leave Me. The sound of her voice would play through hundreds of minds, coupled with a longing to be found. A longing to reconnect and a feeling of utter, abject loss.