CHAPTER 70-ASHES AND REBIRTH
Inside the life cell, the air was light, the silence suffocating. Storm clutched the sides
of her seat, her lips moving in silent prayer.
Nightcrawler's tail coiled, flicking in nervous spasms. Banshee muttered curses under his breath, his eyes darting between the others.
And then Scott stirred. His head jerked, his visor flickering back to life. He sat up fast, confusion bleeding into panic.
"Jean?!" He staggered against the reinforced glass, pounding his fists. "Let me out! I have to get to her!"
"Scott" Storm tried, her voice low.
He slammed the glass harder, his visor
Colossus seized him, holding him back with arms of steel. "Nyet. You cannot."
glowing crimson. "She's out there ALONE! Open this damn thing before-"
"LET ME GO!" Scott's voice cracked, torn between rage and terror. "That's JEAN! She'll DIE out there!"
Tears welled in his eyes as he shoved uselessly against Colossus's immovable frame. The others turned away, guilt etching Into every face.
Then Nightcrawler's eyes narrowed. His nostrils flared. "Wait...".
"What?" Scott snapped.
"He's not here." Kurt's voice was grim, low.
"Wolverine. He's not in the cell."
The words hit like a hammer. Scott froze,
"He stayed outside," Storm whispered,
realization dawning in her eyes. "Oh goddess.....
he's with her."
The cockpit was a storm of fire and screams.
Jean clung to the controls, her shield
crackling around the ship. The flare battered her mind, each wave ripping at her skin, her soul.
And beneath her - Logan.
His body was a ruin. Flesh blistered away,
bone glowing raw before knitting back together. Each cycle left him weaker, slower.
His breath rattled, shallow. He held her once, shielded her with steel and flesh, but now even his healing couldn't keep pace.
His head slumped against her shoulder. His eyes fluttered shut. His claws retracted with a hiss.
And then he was still.
Jean's scream echoed in her mind.
'If I were stronger... if I were MORE... he
wouldn't have to suffer for me!'
The thought burned hotter than the sun
outside. Her heart cracked. Her mind shattered. And through the cracks poured fire
endless, eternal.
Her body glowed. Her hair lifted in flames. Her eyes became twin suns.
The flare itself bent around her. She rose from the pilot's chair, her voice layered with echoes,
ancient and vast.
"I AM PHOENIX. And I am reborn."
She spread her arms, and the shuttle obeyed like it was part of her. It plunged through the
firestorm, guided not by thrusters but by will.
The flare bent aside. The void yielded.
The Earth's curve rose below them. The
shuttle streaked downward, fire trailing in its
wake, and smashed into the sea with a
thunderous crash. Waves swallowed it whole.
Jean rose higher, floating above the shattered
ship, blazing like a goddess reborn. Her voice
rang across the sky, a whisper and a
thunderclap at once.
"I AM LIFE. I AM FIRE. I AM... PHOENIX."
But then-
Her eyes caught something below. A body. Bloodied. Broken. Floating.
Logan.
Her cosmic glow faltered. The fire wavered.
She dove. "LOGAN!"
She splashed into the waves, cradling his limp
form against her chest, her tears mingling with saltwater and blood. His chest still rose, barely, his flesh slowly knitting even as it bled
anew.
She sobbed, clinging to him. "You protected
me... you burned for me... and I let you suffer. It should have been me!"
others stumbled out onto the shore, coughing,
The life cell cracked open behind her. The
dragging Scott between them. They froze at the sight: Jean in the surf, cradling Logan, weeping waterfalls.
Storm's hand covered her mouth. "Great goddess..."
Colossus's eyes widened. "He... he lives. Look!"
Even through the blood and ruin, Logan's body Iwitched, the skin crawling as it healed. Slowly. Horribly. But alive.
Scott staggered forward, visor dim, his voice a
hollow rasp. He saw Jean holding Logan. Her
face buried in him. Her tears for him.
Something inside Scott withered.
'She was mine. Always mine. But he... he did what I couldn't. He bled for her. He burned.'
He clenched his fists until they shook, the taste of ash in his throat.
Jean rocked Logan against her chest, whispering like a vow. "Never again... I won't
let you suffer alone again."
And though she didn't see it yet, though she didn't admit it yet in her heart, the seed had
bloomed.
love.
The Phoenix had fire. But Logan had planted