CHAPTER 93 – THE LATTICE OF WORLDS
Jean dove headfirst into infinity.
The lattice stretched before her—an endless web of glowing lines holding back a storm of energy so vast it made galaxies look like dust. Cracks ran through it everywhere, pulsing red, every one of them widening with each heartbeat. The neutron galaxy pressed against the barrier, hungry to escape.
Her Phoenix fire blazed around her, wings burning wide. She threw herself into the cracks, weaving, patching, forcing her will into the broken strands. Light fused where she touched—but the gaps were endless. For every strand she mended, three more splintered.
"It's too much," she whispered, her voice raw. "Even for me."
And then—Storm's hand again, firm and steady. Her eyes glowed like dawn breaking through endless night.
"You are not alone, Jean. TAKE MY STRENGTH!"
Life-force poured from Ororo like a flood. Jean gasped, her fire surging, cracks sealing faster, brighter. But she felt the cost—Storm's body weakening, her heartbeat fading.
"No!" Jean cried. "Not like this!"
Storm smiled through the pain. "If my death saves the sky, then let it come."
Jean trembled. 'I can't do this at the cost of my friends… I need ALL of them.'
She opened her mind wide, voice booming across the void. "X-MEN! STARJAMMERS! IF THE UNIVERSE DIES, WE ALL DIE. LEND ME YOUR POWER!"
One by one, they appeared in the dark, pulled into her fire.
Colossus, steel fists clenched, his strength pouring into her hands.
Nightcrawler, faith steady even as his body trembled, his courage flowing like light.
Banshee, his throat raw but his spirit unbroken, giving her his last voice.
Thunderbird, pride and fury blazing, offering his warrior fire.
Sunfire, his plasma heart burning, his rage turned into fuel.
Storm, still holding on, giving even more of herself.
Hepzibah, snarling, her claws digging into Jean's arm as if to anchor her.
Raza, rage against machines transmuted into resolve.
Ch'od, steady as a mountain, his alien strength becoming part of the weave.
Even Corsair. He clutched the unconscious Scott to his chest, shaking. His voice cracked. "If she's right… if this boy is mine—then take what's left of me. Save him. Save them all."
The fire surged.
Jean cried out, her voice splitting stars. "TOGETHER!"
The Phoenix wings flared, pulling all their power into one blazing whole. She thrust it into the lattice, pouring out life, soul, fury, love, every shred of who they were.
The cracks mended faster now, strands sealing with light. The neutron galaxy screamed against its prison, but the web held. Jean's body shook, her fire eating itself alive.
Still she pushed. Still she burned.
"NOT ENOUGH!" she roared. "I NEED—EVERYTHING!"
Her mind reached deeper, into the very bonds that tied them together. She pulled Cyclops' strength even from his unconscious body. She pulled Xavier's love through Lilandra's mind-link. She pulled every heartbeat from every ally, weaving them into one.
And then—she surrendered herself completely.
Her body vanished. Only fire remained.
A bird of flame, vast as the cosmos, wings outstretched across infinity.
The Phoenix screamed.
And the lattice healed. Every crack sealed in white fire, every strand reforged, brighter, stronger. The neutron galaxy thrashed—but it was bound.
The universe shuddered once, then steadied. Time itself breathed again.
And the Phoenix burned, its cry echoing through eternity.
Then—silence.
The fire collapsed inward. The X-Men and Starjammers were flung back, tumbling through void, through light, through nothing—
And they crashed back onto the barren world outside the Crystal.
Dust stung their lungs, blood burned in their veins, but they were alive.
Logan coughed, dragging himself up, claws trembling. "She… she did it."
Storm knelt, tears streaking her face, whispering to the sky. "Jean…"
A figure staggered nearby. Emperor D'Ken. His eyes rolled, mouth foaming, his laughter now babble, his mind shredded by the visions inside the Crystal. He collapsed, giggling like a child.
The X-Men gathered in a ring, broken, battered, but standing. The Crystal pulsed behind them, quiet now.
The fight for the universe was done.
For now.