Before joining Iceman and Rogue in their confrontation with Dark Cyclops, Colossus and Shadowcat had seen to delivering the injured Nightcrawler and Wolverine to The Disaster Shelter.
Also here, thanks to Kurt and Logan prior to their face-off in the Danger Room, is Jean; now properly conscious.
She and Beast have finished treating them, the latter going to double check all the students are alright while Xavier and Jean survey all the injured.
Xavier: "Scott's mind clouded over completely when last I faced him. Even through Cerebro. . ." he falters, ". . .I could no longer locate him in his own mind."
Jean closes her eyes. ". . .I still can."
Disturbance gives way to resolution when she opens them again.
Xavier regards her with some awe.
Having seen her at the end of their prior encounter however, he must ask: "How do you intend to overcome him?"
". . .When I evolved with the Phoenix, it was from a choice*. I was allowed to return from another. . .This one will awaken the evolution again."
*my interpretation of the Phoenix following X2's end.
~Tra
Xavier watches her exit without another moment's delay.
Meanwhile, a collection of students are trying to figure out what's going on.
"Are they coming to get us again?!"
"It was Magneto! Why did the X-Men trust him?"
"No it wasn't! He's over there, too," they point to where Magneto
is recovering alongside the X-Men.
"I told you, it was Cyclops."
"No way!"
"Did you see him in the halls? He's the only one who wasn't there helping any of us!"
"I didn't see Storm or Jean there either."
"That's because he fought Storm! And Jean's here. Probably because of him, too."
"He would never."
"I saw him fighting Storm-"
"Where is she?"
"- and he's the one who blasted through the side of the mansion!"
"It was his optic blast that came through the ceiling when we were trying to get here!"
We see Holo turning away from all this, not sure where to look to collect her thoughts between the injured students, injured staff. . .She turns again in a daze, finding herself staring across to one of the walls, staring off into space as she so often can be found. Yet this time. .
. . no projected imaginings are forthcoming.
Out on the Grounds Shadowcat is by Rogue: "I'll keep her safe," she assures Iceman, who prepares to face-off against Dark Cyclops anew, now that Colossus is by his side.
Disaster Shelter
Xavier, strained but no less authoritative, puts an end to the students' discussion: "You should all know the truth. There is a dark entity which has been working inside Cyclops' consciousness, using him as a pawn for its destructive intentions."
Holo snaps to attention; one horrific reality giving way to another.
We continue to hear Xavier in V/O as we see the face-off continue.
"Magneto fought against him in my aid. The X-Men continue their efforts to overcome him."
But even as he says this we see Shadowcat go down to an optic blast unexpectedly ricocheted off Colossus' skin.
"Katya!!"
"To be clear, every one of the destructive actions made by Cyclops have not been by his own will. He, as well, is a victim in this."
It's hard to think so as we watch his domination continue -Iceman at his limit, barely able to maintain a shield around Rogue, Shadowcat and himself.
Dark Cyclops ignores him anyway.
Colossus posing a more interesting fight.
. . .but it isn't to be.
Jean is back in the fight.
A flash of concern crosses Dark Cyclops' face for only a moment.
Jean: "I have this. Take them to safety."
Colossus was poised to either charge Dark Cyclops or nail him with a tree, but he obeys.
Dark Cyclops discharges and splits an optic blast, intent on hitting the other X-Men -brazenly not playing by Jean's rules.
So she'll make him.
The optic blasts are arrested, reversed, coming back into one and getting pulled back into his eyes.
Dark Cyclops turns just as the heated blast is completely reabsorbed, and glares at Jean Grey.
Jean shakes her head. "I won't let you use his power to do any more harm."
She hurts for the manipulation she understands only all too well, what's been done to the others she loves, and for what it ultimately might mean.
Yet, Jean can feel the vestige of a struggle flashing in Cyclops' mind. . .for the merest moment physically, he seems paused, like a computer hanging.
Then a fiery shockwave is released
--rippling out from him in all directions.
Jean keeps it back from herself and contained past a certain radius with forcefields
"Why do you hold back for this one? I have brought his power closer to the level which attracted me, yet I recognize far higher in you. You could end this, yet, you stall. . ."
"I won't do what I don't have to."
"After all he's done?"
"He hasn't done them himself."
"Do you think him a prisoner of my will? You should know. . .I've only amplified what's already inside him!"
He sends out another shockwave, this time using his own telekinesis to deconstruct Jean's forcefields when she erects them --she endures the impact herself while she concentrates more on keeping the surrounding barrier up, unsure how far out it'll go out --Colossus and the others still within sight.
"You've degraded what's inside him!"
"Again I ask, why do you stall?! He's submitted to me!"
"No!"
'Look deeper, Jean Grey.'
'It's right, Jean!' we hear Scott's voice ahead of seeing him inside a mindscape; a kneeling Cyclops behind a wall of indigo fire in an otherwise dark space.
Though in the flesh he's in civilian clothes and sans any covering over his eyes, in the mindscape he's in his X-Men uniform, visor on.
'I can't fight this. . .I've tried. . .You have to end it!"
'It hasn't come to that.'
That concern from before flashes across Dark Cyclops' face again, swiftly covered over with something between a smirk and a sneer: "How about now?"
Dark Cyclops crosses his arms in front of himself then whips them back, releasing an actual wave of psionic fire --decimating the ground, burning straight through Jean's forcefields --the ground beyond, the trees even further out --Colossus shields the others.
Jean can't hold back a shout of pain from the burns--
"JEAN! Stop it!!"
Scott makes a last ditch effort against Dark Phoenix himself.
'She is a deceiving fool! You cannot cast me aside. We have walked too far forward. What's in our wake cannot be undone. It will undo you if you free yourself from me --do not listen to the echoes of the weak!'
Cue taken.
What echoes is the sound of fire and an avian warcry as a blinding beam descends from the outer atmosphere to meet with Jean Grey.
When next we can see her, it's as though within the Phoenix ~as though the cosmic entity is her Armour.
The cells damaged by Dark Phoenix' flames heal.
Then, standing with her feet together, Jean raises her arms as though wings
and becomes the Phoenix.
Their psionic energy working a strange compulsion on Dark Cyclops, he, too, "rises" --although his is incomplete; we see the body of Cyclops still as though within the form of Dark Phoenix.
As though magnetically attracted to each other, the distance now closes between the two combatants ~~fiery forms interlocking into an ascending pyre.
The clashing of orange-red and purple-blue flames give way to the indigo firewall, behind which Cyclops is trapped, as Jean enters the mindscape once more.
This time there's a break in the wall, like a parted curtain.
Cyclops' attention is downward.
Jean stands some distance away, as though an invisible barrier exists as well, keeping her from getting too close.
"Scott!. . ."
The sound of raging fire plays background to their conversation.
". . .There's still time."
He doesn't respond.
"What you've been feeling lately. . ."
He shifts, as if he'd thought he'd kept that to himself.
". . .it's what's allowing Dark Phoenix to win."
". . .I can't help it." It's an admittance.
He turns his head, "just let me go."
"It's not your time."
"What difference does it make? I'm obsolete."
These words don't sound completely his.
Tears form in Jean's eyes as she feels him slipping further away.
"I can't lose you."
"You were never back here for ever. . .you'd be losing me anyway," these ones are his again; not yearning, only stating the facts.
"Not like this. . .Even worlds away, I still feel your presence."
"And you always will. . .No matter what happens here."
An ominous tone accompanies this statement,
as the curtains close.
Outside of the mindscape, Dark Phoenix has had enough of this attachment ~~it tries to extricate itself from the other ~~but Jean/Phoenix holds fast, their combined psionic power winning out, the ascension continuing ever higher. . .
While Jean and Phoenix are one in body and mind, the Dark Phoenix has only taken hold of Cyclops. It's fiery power can shield his body from the icy temperatures of the higher atmosphere. . .but neither that nor its psionic capabilities can account for a body's need for oxygen.
While Dark Phoenix fights on,
in the mindscape, we see Scott weakening, the sound of rushing air mixing with the fire. . .until all sight and sound is null as Cyclops drops.
Jean takes this tactic as far as she dares -as far as she must to ensure Cyclops' mind has thoroughly shut down.
She needs the space Dark Phoenix exists in to be void. . .
. . .the wild synaptic firing slowing. . .dissipating. . .
before the point of no return, Jean/Phoenix pulls them back into oxygenated air. Psionic powers further used to ensure Cyclops' body breathes it in. . .
. . .and as his consciousness gradually flashes back on, it does so on the other side of the fiery curtain.
The sound of flames are far-removed from this space.
Lain on the "ground", he starts to push up. . .and there's Jean by his side.
He gets back on his knees, looking around; there's still the envelope of darkness, yet ". . .This doesn't feel the place I've been."
"We're in my mind."
Cyclops' expression creases like he expected something else, and indeed, when we see things from Jean's perspective, this space is much more than a void.
The most Scott manages to see are grey wisps. . .shadowed shapes. . .like a misted-over forest in the dead of night.
He knows it all ends here.
"I'm sorry. . .I've caused you to have to take me down. . ."
". . .You couldn't help it."
"Maybe I could've. . .I fought it enough to leave you in the attic. It was the only time I managed to stop it hurting anyone. . .but if you could've gotten through to me then-"
Jean touches his arm. "-I was down. If you hadn't made that choice, I wouldn't have you, now. . .I still have hope," she says emotionally.
Scott's breath catches. "How. . ? I no longer know who I am. . .Some of those things it did. . ." he speaks through clenched teeth, "they felt like me."
She shakes her head; he's not looking.
She grips his arm. "It thread itself through your mind, Scott. None of that was you."
He steadies, but with a negative declaration: "Nothing's left of me."
He misses the pain in her face.
"Just do what needs to be done, Jean. . .what purpose is there not to?"
". . .I don't think we come into this world with a purpose. . .
You don't need one to stay."
She's still not getting through, yet somehow Jean herself has regained a sense of composure. "Not a purpose, yet you impact this world from the moment you exist in it. . .
. . there's no removing you without something in your absence."
His attention still downward, he's listening. . .and his greyscale landscape shifts into a sea of images; depictions of what's transpired.
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, partially demolished. . .
The students; the faces of collateral damage. . .
Holo, shaken by her hero. . . We see her now trying to sketch something.
Storm, met again by Beast by the remains of Colbur's statue. . .
All of the X-Men who suffered, fighting for their family member. . .
Professor X, to say the least his mentor, so deeply troubled now by what's become of his first student.
The far off sound of fire is replaced by a growing sound of soft rain, as Jean watches his face while he processes all that matters to him. . .
". . .it may not've been by my will, but neither could I stop it."
Her hand brushes over the side of his visor, down to the (X) on the collar of his uniform. "It's not too late."
Finally he looks up. . .light dotting the darkness he sees around them.
Jean now sets her hands on each of his shoulders, holding him tenderly. . .bracingly.
. . .he raises his to take her arms in kind,
their heads bowing as Jean's eyes close. . .
. . .foreheads nearly touching as she lets his consciousness go,
and we come out of the mindscape.
The temperature of the Phoenixes having caused the frozen moisture in the atmosphere to fall as rain, we see them plummeting like drops themselves ~like stoops of birds of prey, the flames of both burning higher as the dive reaches termination point~-
An indescribable cacophony follows.
Colossus, Iceman, and a just-conscious Shadowcat watch in shock by the side of the school; Rogue still unconscious.
Beast, supporting Storm on their own way in, are likewise paused.
Xavier too, out from the Disaster Shelter, witnesses the end.
The corporeal flames become formless, burning skyward and burning away, leaving Jean Grey and Scott Summers separately collapsed on the charred ground.
Weakly yet steadily, Storm reaches towards the heavens, turning the rain into snow. . .
. . .it falls tenderly over their bodies.
Jean Grey: ". . .It's not over."
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