Chapter 169: Web of Lace
Jean writhed in Logan's arms, half-submerged in the steaming lake, her voice a broken whisper.
"Kill me… Logan, please… before she comes back."
His jaw clenched, claws twitching at his side, itching to strike and hating himself for it. "Ain't gonna happen, Jeannie. Not like this."
Then Xavier's presence hit them all — a silent storm in their heads, cold and overwhelming.
"Logan. Hold her steady."
Logan growled under his breath. Easy for you to say, Chuck. Ain't you the one safe in that chair while I'm sittin' on the nuke? But he obeyed, tightening his grip.
Jean's eyes flared gold, then red, then human again. "Charles—" she sobbed, "I can't—"
Xavier's voice was steel. "You will."
The Astral Plane cracked open around them, unseen by the rest but felt in the marrow of every bone. Logan's hackles rose though he couldn't see it; he smelled it, like ozone and burning paper.
Inside Jean's mind, Xavier wove — a fragile lattice of thought and will, threads like spider-silk spun across a chasm of fire. It looked delicate, but each strand carried his full force. A web of lace, stretching across the abyss where Phoenix clawed to be free.
Phoenix screamed. Not Jean — Phoenix. A raw, cosmic howl that made the trees shudder, made Cyclops drop to his knees clutching his visor. Storm gasped, wind dying in her throat. Colossus crossed himself quietly in Russian.
Logan muttered, "Hell, she's fightin' him tooth and nail." His claws clicked once, almost involuntarily.
Inside, Xavier strained, sweat dripping in the real world though his body sat motionless. You are power unchained, Jean… but you are not alone. You are mine to guide.
"YOURS?" Phoenix hissed, appearing as a woman made of flame, talons out, eyes blazing. She swiped — the web tore, frayed, burned at the edges. Xavier roared in silence, forced more of himself into the lattice.
Jean, listen to me!
For a flicker, Jean's human form appeared within, small, shaking, barefoot in the white void. She looked at Logan — or rather, at the memory of his words still echoing in her mind.
"You're still you to me."
Her tears fell, each drop quenching a thread of Phoenix's fire. She reached for Xavier's hand. "I want… to stay me."
Together, teacher and student pulled the net tight. The Phoenix form shrieked, wrapped, bound, forced into a cocoon of light. The void sealed. The screaming ceased.
Back in the lake, Jean collapsed, unconscious, body limp against Logan's chest.
Cyclops stumbled forward, ripping the visor-lock from his face, catching her just as Logan passed her over. His voice cracked. "Jean… no, stay with me. Please, stay."
Her lashes fluttered. She smiled faintly, weakly. "Scott… I heard you. Your thoughts. Your ring. Yes."
He froze. "Y-You mean—"
"Yes," she whispered. "I'll marry you." Then her eyes rolled shut again.
Scott cradled her like glass. His whole body shook, relief and terror mixing.
And then — wings. A shadow across the moon. Angel descended, landing lightly beside the group, his feathers ruffling in the night breeze.
"What the hell happened here?" Warren demanded, eyes darting between the battered team and Jean's unconscious form. "I leave you people alone for five minutes and this is what goes down?"
Logan spat lake water and a curse. "She went nuclear, featherbrain. You're late to the party."
Before Warren could retort, voices rang out behind them — Jean's parents, Sarah, stumbling forward onto the lawn, staring at the strange assembly of costumed warriors. Their eyes locked on Jean, pale in Scott's arms.
"Explain," her father demanded, fists clenched, voice cracking. "Explain what you've done to my daughter!"
Every X-Man looked at Xavier. Even Logan, still dripping wet, crossed his arms and waited.
Charles opened his mouth—
But before a word escaped, the world dissolved into light.
A blinding, searing flash. Gravity gone. Air stolen. A sense of being plucked clean off the Earth itself.
The X-Men vanished.
Only the faint ripple of displaced grass remained where they had stood.