Hey, Miss J!

That is the main person I ever spend any physical time with.

I watch TV shows, attend meetings, read my Bible, eat, cook, clean, listen to music and sleep.

I also do a whole lot of brainstorming.

I’ve started working on Chapter 30 of NtC, working along with my notebook. The problem is that now I have more ideas for E&C (Rated M).

Open Arms is up for the next chapter after Chapter 30 of NtC.

Here is a sample:

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Pre-Disclaimer: After careful consideration, it’s been decided that this story will be revived and go on. My plans for it have changed – dramatically. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don’t own the X-Men, nor am I affiliated with any of their brands… partners or otherwise. I just really like a few of the comics I’ve read. I figured I’d give writing a fanfic for them a go. I’ve ready so many of them now. Please enjoy!

Warning: Might want to have tissues ready. I wasn’t ready.

Trigger: None.

Open Arms

By Juliette Lyst

Stay

Unknown

Four months. Four full months had passed. She could still easily recall all that had happened, as if merely hours had passed. At first, she had not feared the worst. His radio silence had coupled together with her own confusion. For days, she hadn’t been able to reach him through any of his old channels. Fear had become part of her waking reality back then. Life was so precarious in their line of work, and in consideration of their past and what he’d lost – she preferred it if he stayed in one place.

Then, time came for her to receive a communique. It was then that all of them learned… the precious time he had only in small quantities had finally run out. She’d been told tersely that she needed to come immediately to pick up his ‘remains’.

Nibbling on her bottom lip, the tall, white-haired leader of the X-Men sat quietly in the little patch of earth she claimed as her own. Her knees were propped up to her chin. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she sighed. The quiet was very welcome. She’d left her loft early in the morning, before the sun was even a promise in the sky.

A faint breeze kicked up. Feeling a tear trickling down her cheek, she wiped it away irritably. She was not able to stop the sniffle that immediately followed. Overhead, she heard a bird singing as it went about its day. The sound drew her gaze heavenwards. Tilting her head forward, she allowed her thoughts to drift.

In her early days with the team, she’d always seen flight as a way to cross long distances to fight foes or save allies. Before that… many years prior, she called the sky her home. For a long time, she was placed on a pedestal. At one point, she had even begun to believe what those around her told her – that she was a goddess.

The true purpose of her choice of flight over driving as obvious. She simply wasn’t easily traceable by air, unlike by car. She wanted to avoid other people just a little while… and the isolation made her feel better. It was easier to be out here, amongst nature than indoors.

Inside, she had to deal with lingering looks of pity from students and teammates.

She had not intentionally kept her relationship with him a secret. However, both of them had not forthright spoken to the team. Not that it mattered anymore.

Wasn’t there a phrase about doing far too little… too late?

Uncurling herself slowly from the position she’d been in, she stared down at her hands. Her hands had dealt with both life and death over the course of her lifetime. She had struggled so hard to understand herself when she was a younger woman – to the extent that she’d unwittingly descended into a darkness that she was at risk to revisit.

A bright point between then and now was – for a brief period everything was better. It had been, hadn’t it?

Her hands curled into fists, her teeth sinking into the soft flesh of her bottom lip. Swallowing hard once… then twice, she struggled to hold her bubbling emotions at  bay. It was not easy.

When would it ever be?

It was so hard – to fight the urge to cry. How she wanted to rage even more than she had before, to let out all of the pent-up frustration and anger that lurked deep inside. Her anger was twofold. She was furious with him… and with herself. Had she been any other woman, she would have been free to just – feel – as she saw fit.

However, Ororo Monroe was not just anyone. There was danger involved with fully unleashing her sorrow, as the core of her power was based in the primordial force of the planet. Her powers were heavily influenced by her emotions, and intense emotions were extremely dangerous. I have to keep it together… She struggled to remember, feeling her control quiver a smidgeon.

Thunder rumbled overhead, and lowering her eyes she drew in a measured breath. The need to maintain balance had more to do with the safety of the surrounding terrain… over any worry of what she’d do to herself. Despite herself, she sniffed again… a frown marring her features as she noticed the clouds gathering together in the sky.

“How could you do this?” She asked the open air, after a very extended period of silence. Were the mutant honest with herself, holding back her grief was comparable to trying to secure a dam during a torrent of rain. Eventually, something was going to have to give. The grass under her bare feet tickled more as she lightly stretched her toes. “How could you think to leave us like this?”

In response to her, the winds were beginning to pick up… as her fragile control slid through her fingers. The storm inside her heart churned, stirring and aching to break free.

A warning cry rent through the air from another bird. Maybe the animals of the sky felt her pain as well? Either that or they wisely feared the tempest she was surely about to unleash.

Another rumble was heard as she slowly rose to her feet. Her movements were slow and deliberate as she took a single step forward. “Was it really so bad?” Her questions would never receive an answer. The clouds were growing ever darker, blotting out the sun. As the light dwindled, her mood soured further.

“How could you leave me?” She continued; her tone accusatory… as if that had been his real intention. Her features tightened, a tell-tale prickling sensation forming behind her eyes. A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, lighting up the darkness. The weather, as always, was affected by her moods. She could not forget the images of his face, frozen in time. Tilting her head back and throwing her arms wide, she bared her teeth. “You told me you’d always be there!” She cried out, her voice cracking.

“You claimed that you wanted to set down roots!” He had too, while both of them had been visiting one of his favorite haunts. The hurt he felt had been palpable then, depression that stemmed from the loss of his most vital ability. His healing factor had been the only thing that had enabled him to survive for so long.

The loss was worse than losing a limb. She was certain that he would have preferred to lose his leg or arm – than his healing factor. Instead of addressing the matter for long, she’d enticed him into her bed. To what end now?

Reminiscing on the past only revealed that she’d made a terrible mistake. She never should have settled for being a very casual and occasional fling with him. They had just reconnected, for what she hoped would be longer… Now he was gone. She was bothered by more than the potential chances that were lost. If he never had died, would things have continued as they always had?

The white-haired mutant couldn’t understand why she’d allowed herself to warm his bed with no commitment for so long, knowing how she felt about him. He’d even gone and gotten married while they were on one of their extended ‘breaks’ from each other. She still had sought him out.

Pale blue eyes stared down at the grass underfoot, not at all from newfound interest in the ground. I am so very stupid… Lips downturned, she abruptly lifted her head to the sky. The white locks of her mohawk flew back from both the wind and her actions.

Her toes curled and uncurled in the grass. Give me what I will. The sky had turned black, nature heeding her call and very soon a light rain began to come down. Piercing white light emitted from her eyes as she fully activated her powers. The thunderstorm she’d churned up increased in intensity, the rain coming down in sheets. The irony was not lost on her.

She’d had what she truly wanted for so long – his love… that she had forgotten what it felt like to go without. Half closing her eyes, she slowly rolled her head back and forth on her shoulders.

Hugging herself, her face fixed in displeasure, she let the first sobs escape. At first, there was only a single tear. More followed until she allowed herself to double over and curl up on the ground. Her body shook from the strength of her pain. It hurt so much… the lance piercing so deeply, that her emotional agony had begun to feel physical.

It was as if her very heart was being squeezed inside her chest.

One hand balled up into a fist and she pounded the ground. It didn’t make any sense!

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Since I have notebooks for all of these stories now (and a roster with a Table of Contents), I’m going to start penning down ideas (that are dated, mind) and work subsequent chapters from them.

~J. Lyst