Jean Grey from Earth-811, aka Days of Future Past

[astraia]

I guess I can't fault you for taking me away from my family, if you're waiting until I die.

On the other hand, it's not like that stopped me last time. [Her smile is more wistful than amused.]

I keep telling myself that, if I'm careful, I can use this power to make a difference. To do good. If it didn't work on my world, well, maybe it'll work on this one.

[Still, her gaze is troubled.] I just wish you could find a way for me to protect Rachel and Scott. I've already failed my parents, I can't - I couldn't bear to see them killed, too. Or worse.

Comments

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

...Redd?

[If it looks like he's just seen a ghost - well, he more or less has.]

[astraia]

[She can feel that - the stunned awe, the quiet grief, the cautious joy. It's how she might feel, she thinks, if she suddenly saw her parents again.

So her smile is sad, as she disappoints him.]

I'm sorry, but I don't know you.

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

[It's simpler than asking - just brushing out to skim the surface of her mind. The familiar feel of the Phoenix, sharp and bright, and under that, thoughts of family. Of Rachel. Which means-]

• You're Rachel's Jean, aren't you.

[astraia]

[She feels the touch, but doesn't balk at it. It's completely benign, and it seems...familiar, somehow.

But none of that matters, because he said her daughter's name. She steps forward, and she can distantly feel her hair lifting behind her. It's her own hope that sits palpable between them, now.]

You know my daughter? [Can you tell me if she's all right. If she's safe. If she's going to make it.]

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

[He can feel that hope, and he knows it - it's the same feeling he gets every time he looks at his own daughter]

I do. She's grown up strong. Smart. Like you.

[astraia]

[He's telling the truth, and her shoulders sag in relief.

She grew up. That's - she wanted so much more than that, she wanted a stable home and a loving family and a peaceful world. But just surviving, well, that's a start.]

I always knew she would. [Her smile is soft, now, warm and proud.] That she would be the best of both of us.

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

She is. I'm... proud to call her 'sister'.

[astraia]

[Her eyes go wide, because his sincerity hasn't wavered. It's tempting to reach deeper, to find out exactly what he means - it would be so easy - but no, she's going to act like a person and ask.]

Do you mean that literally, or...

[Ororo, after all, is her sister as much as Sara.]

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

It's... a little of both. You and Scott are my parents [in all the ways that count, really - Redd is as much his mother as Maddie is] - but not in this world. Rachel came to our's, seeking help.

[astraia]

[Oh. That's - well, stranger things have happened.

Her smile, though, is a bleak one, even as she gazes at this man - at her son? - with a new warmth.]

Things get that bad?

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

Yeah. I never asked her too much about it - she did the same for me. [He drops his mental shields - hard to force himself to do, but this is Jean, and she should know] You can see for yourself, if you want.

[astraia]

[She feels it, when the shields fade, and oh - yes, this is her son. Scott's son.

And then she can see Rachel, standing tall in his mind. A teacher, and her heart swells -

- and then she can see the markings on her face, and she knows what they mean, and everything inside her screams.]

What did they do to her?

[It's her voice and her thoughts and her fire, blazing in her eyes and whipping up her hair and she's going to find them and destroy them all for taking her little girl's childhood away, she's going to -

No. Breathe, breathe - ]

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

[It's hard not to shy away from the Phoenix-presence, Jean's anger - but he knows it's important that he doesn't. This is harder for Jean than it is for him. He projects calm, caring, and pulls her into a gentle hug]

::I know. It's not right, and it's not fair. But not a lot in our lives is.::

[astraia]

[She's not sure what she expected, but this - it calms her immediately, even though anger and guilt and grief still rage in her chest. She rests her forehead against Nathan's shoulder, wraps her arms around his waist, and tries not to cry.]

No. That's what being a mutant means. [It shouldn't, it really shouldn't, but that's how the world is, and it's only going to get worse.] I wanted something better for her.

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

[And those words strike a chord in him, a sentiment he has only ever briefly shared with Scott, both of them too awkward and stubborn and busy to be the first to speak.]

::I... have a daughter. Sixteen. All her life's been fighting and running so far, and I don't want that for her. Not what Rachel had, or what I had. She deserves better.:: [They all deserve better, but for him, it's too late for that, now]

[astraia]

So do you. [The words are gentle and fond and a little chiding.

But then her lips curve against his shoulder.]

So we have a granddaughter. [And her life has been hard, but she's a survivor. There's always hope, when you survive.]

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

[He's not going to bother arguing with her, because honestly, he's too old to contemplate 'what-could-have-been's any more. It wasn't fair, but sometimes even a time traveller can't change the past - just look towards a better future]

*::Yes. I don't think Scott really knows what to do with her - he still blames himself too much for everything that's happened to me. And a lot was resting on her shoulders - that's done, though.::

[He shares a memory - when they first came back to the 21st century, of Hope's pure surprise and joy at the sheer ordinariness of a motel, of lights and running water on demand, of safety]

[starchilde_lost]

...Mom?

[astraia]

[Oh.

She's not sure what to do, at first. That's - it's her little girl, she knows that immediately, she wants to run forward and pull her in her arms, but should she?

What's happened, since she died?

Rachel lived. She lived, and she grew, and Jean's smile is joyful.]

You got tall.

[starchilde_lost]

[Oh, God, there are no words for how much this hurts, how deep this ache goes. With all the time travel and dimension hopping she can't even begin to figure out how long it's been.

But it doesn't matter. This isn't Jean, who she barely got to know before she was gone, this was her mother, the woman who sang her to sleep and soothed her nightmares away with a slightest of mental touches.]

Mommy.

[Propriety be damned, Rachel rushes to her mother and wraps her arms around, holding tight, as if she's afraid that she'll disappear as quickly as she appeared.]

[astraia]

[All at once, the years between them melt away, and she's holding her little girl to her chest, fierce and loving and a little desperate.]

Rachel.

[It's a soft murmur over her daughter's shoulder, awed and grateful. Whatever happened, she made it, she's strong and beautiful and alive.]

I'm so sorry. [These words are softer still, barely there at all.]