I Give In

[everambient]

Characters: ALEX; JEAN
Date&Time: August 12th, night; during this and this
Setting: Anchorage Correctional Facility
Summary: stuck somewhere in between minds as he's tortured and emotionally giving up, Alex gets another visit from Jean
Rating: tbd.
Status: OPEN to Jean.

Comments

[everambient]

"I haven't seen you here," Alex realized suddenly, "but the newspapers..." How much should he tell her? "It's not important. Just, listen to me Jean, you need to tell the others--tell Hank and the Professor, they'll know what to do--but there is something inside of my head, something that connects me to--"

Alex paused, glancing past her to stare at the source of the voice he'd heard in his dreams so many times. The being spoke in thoughts. "Jean Grey, you are not supposed to be here."

"You're the reason this happened, aren't you!?" Alex accused, glaring at Uatu.

He simply shook his head, looking at Jean then back at Alex. "You were given the burden of the Nexus because I knew that I could trust you." Alex opened his mouth to ask what the stranger was talking about, but he answered before Alex could say a word. "The Nexus of realities connects all dimensions. This is the light you see that open doorways. Your mind perceives it as a literal portal, but it is so much more than that. Fallen into the wrong hands, reality as we know it could be in danger."

"And who the hell are you that you can just decide to make me carry it?" Alex demanded.

"I am Uatu, the Watcher. My people are ancient and far beyond your realm of understanding."

"Could you try watching with a little less hands on interaction please?" he snapped.

[reborninflames]

Jean nodded, more than willing to pass anything along that he asked of her. Her head throbbed; being stretched so thin was tearing her apart. She ignored it, would continue doing so until she was done. “You know me?” she blurted out, before she could stop herself. Who the hell was he? WHAT the hell was he?

Whoever he was, he was explaining how it was that Alex was able to go between worlds. And then he introduced himself, which was so nice of him. Quite frankly, this Uatu pissed her off.

“You should have ASKED him,” Jean snapped, getting up and walking forward to poke him hard in the chest. “You had no fucking right to do that to him without asking his PERMISSION. Who are you to play GOD, Watcher? Your people being 'ancient' doesn't give you the right to fuck with people. And how do you plan on getting him home. This is your fault... you need to fix it.”

[everambient]

"There was no time to ask," Uatu insisted. "The Beyonder sought its powers, and I had to make a decision quickly to hide it." Looking at Alex, the Watcher continued, "This is the real reason you can not give up, Alexander Summers. If your mind weakens, then any being can creep in and take the Nexus."

"I can't die, can I?" Alex realized quietly. "Every time I die I'd just wake up somewhere else..."

"An unfortunate side effect of carrying the burden of worlds," the Watcher replied, as if this were nothing out of the ordinary and in no way a big deal.

Looking at Jean, Alex told her quietly, "You should get back. You're in pain. I can feel it." It seemed their connection went both ways, and he could almost hear the distant voices of people trying to talk to her back in their world. "They'll find a way to bring me back."

[reborninflames]

“If for some reason you absolutely HAD to fucking hide it in him you should have had the courtesy to leave him a USERS manual.” Jean was downright seething now. Her fists were clenching and unclenching at her sides. “That is no real reason for giving up. That’s YOUR reason for not wanting him to give up, because if he does that then your efforts are all for naught. You don’t give a damn about him at all beyond that.”

She walked back over to Alex, reaching down and taking his hand again. “I’m not going yet. I’m not leaving you here alone. With him. I can take it, I promise.”

Letting go of his hand, she spun on her heels, stalking back over to Uatu. “You owe him whatever information we need to get him back.” She hauled off and slugged him as hard as she could in the face. “He’s keeping your precious NEXUS safe. You OWE him.”

[everambient]

Alex suddenly wondered if this was what Jay felt, if this was the reason she hated her immortality so much, because without an end you didn't know what you were working towards. It made existence sort of futile. He closed his eyes for a moment just to picture the redhead's face, then opened them again when Jean was talking to him.

When she punched Uatu, he hardly seemed affected by it, but he did disappear as quickly as he'd appeared.

Looking at Jean, Alex told her, "I'll find a way. I promise. Just go, get back and tell them what you know." He was wearing a mask now, a brave face he saved for those terrible times in his life when he had to brace himself and be sure of himself the way Scott always had been. He was emulating his big brother's heroics in an attempt to bring Jean some peace, because as unfair as it was for him to be thrown into another dimension, it was even worse that she had to experience it, in part, with him.

"It'll be okay, Jean," he told her, offering a weak smile to assure her that he wasn't giving up anymore. As if giving up would do him any good. No, this was his burden to carry now, whether he wanted it or not, and now that he understood it a little bit he was going to try to keep the weight of it off of anyone else's shoulders.

[reborninflames]

Uatu was a coward, and the fact that he couldn’t face up to what he’d done only frustrated Jean more. But once he was gone she tucked that away until she saw the bastard again.

She knew he was putting on a façade, that he was trying to put on a brave face for her. She smiled fondly at him; he was trying to get her to go, because he was worried; he thought that he shouldn’t share his burden with anyone else. “No, Alex. I’m staying with you for a bit longer. You shouldn’t have to go through all of this alone.”

She held out her hand.

[everambient]

He reached for her hand, bringing it over to kiss it gently before letting go and telling her, "I really do though. Goodbye, Jean." The light--which he now knew was the Nexus of all realities--gathered in the room and forced her back to the correct world. He hadn't realized he could do that, had been banking on a chance there, but when he saw that it had worked Alex was left wide-eyed and a little afraid. What the hell was he carrying in his head?