CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
COME BACK TO ME

AURELIA AND SCOTT STOOD THERE, watching as Charles sat at the end of Aurelia and Jean's shared bed, with a passed out Jean laying on top of the covers. She could see his eyebrows furrowing, whether it be in confusion or worry, she wasn't sure. So, she took a step towards him.

     "What is it? What do you see?" Aurelia eagerly asked.

      He shook his head. "Nothing." He left, going to the room where Cerebro was placed in hopes of being able to get in contact with Jean. Aurelia told Scott that she would grab him once the woman woke up, but until then she would sit there and patiently wait for Jean to wake up. She sat on the couch, a book in her hands though she was too worried about Jean to even focus on the words written on the page.

Aurelia was quick to shoot up at the sound of Jean's voice, talking to Charles before she abruptly sat up and yelled for Charles to get out of her head. Aurelia quickly threw the book aside, running out of the room to get Scott before the two ran back to look at the girl.

     "Jean, are you okay?" Scott asked, causing Jean to turn and look at the two.

     "What happened? We were outside and then. . ."

     "You had an accident." Aurelia softly answered her. "You blacked out." Jean's eyes then landed on her girlfriend who had a cut on her temple and a bruise on her cheek. Tears seemed to fill her eyes as she looked at Aurelia.

     "Did I. . . Did I do that to you?" Her voice sounded so broken as she asked the question, and Aurelia frowned before moving to sit on the bed, shaking her head.

     "It's alright." Aurelia assured. "Nothing that won't be healed by the end of the week."

     "No, it's not alright." Jean croaked, clenching her jaw. She had hurt the girl that she loved. Nothing about that was alright.

     "Jean, it was an accident." Aurelia told her, reaching to grab her hand. She didn't like to see Jean cry. It hurt her more than anything to see her cry.

     "I don't know what's happening to me." Jean's voice cracked. "I can't control it." She stood up and Aurelia did as well, walking back over towards Scott but meeting Jean halfway. "I can't stay here, Aria. I really. . . I need to go."

     "What are you talking about?" Aurelia asked, tears filling her own eyes.

     At the same time Scott asked, "Where are you going?"

     "I need to see my father." Jean answered.

     "Your father?" Aurelia frowned. "Jean, your father's―︎"

     "H-he's alive. He's alive. I can hear him."

     "Babe, he died in a car crash, remember?"

     Jean shook her head, going to push past Aurelia. "I'm sorry, Aria, I need to go."

     "Hang on, hang on." Scott tried, stepping in front Jean.

     "Scott, let me go, please." Jean begged.

     "Jean. . ." Aurelia whispered.

      "I can't control it." Jean shook her head, looking towards the blonde. "When it comes, I can't stop it. Okay? I could hurt you again."

     Aurelia stepped towards Jean, grabbing her hands and meeting her eyes. "I'll take that chance. I can't―︎don't leave me here. I would take that chance a thousand times over than allow you to walk away from me."

     Jean placed a hand on Aurelia's cheek, a sad smile falling on her lips as she nodded her head. "I know. I know." She then shook her head. "But I won't." And then, she used her powers to knock Aurelia out, doing the exact same thing to Scott.

     "Jean." Those were the first words that flew from her mouth when she came to. She looked around, noticed the girls absence and closed her eyes as she felt tears started to swell. She blinked, swallowing thickly before turning towards Scott, shaking him until he finally woke up. He sat up and looked at Aurelia before pulling her into a hug as she softly sobbed.

     "Come on, we have to tell Charles." Scott whispered before pulling the girl up and keeping hold of her hand as they walked through the halls till they made it to the lab where Hank, Charles, and Raven were all placed.

     "Jean's gone." Scott was the one to inform the three. "She left."

     "Gone where?" Raven frowned.

     Scott shrugged. "We don't know. Charles, you can track her with your mind."

     Charles grunted before shaking his head. "Not anymore. She's grown too powerful, even for me."

     "She said she was going to see her father." Aurelia softly spoke up. "That doesn't make any sense, right?"

     Charles looked at the blonde for a moment before a sigh fell from his lips. "Prepare the jet. We're going to bring her home."

     "Leave?" Raven shook her head. "Charles, you're in no condition."

     "Stop. . ." He whispered mostly to himself before looking at the others. "She's going to find. . . she's going to find nothing good there."

━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎

When they got on the jet, Aurelia couldn't help but make her knee bounce up and down. Scott was sitting beside of her, glancing at the female every so often to make sure that she was alright. But she wasn't. She was far from alright. All Aurelia wanted was to be able to bring Jean home, and she didn't know how she was going to be able to do that when Jean didn't want to come home. Her heart ached, her thoughts race, and all she wanted was to be able to hold her girlfriend in her arms and tell her everything was going to be alright.

     "How do you know where we're going, Charles?" Raven piped up. "If you can't track her how do you know where she is?"

     "You know how." Charles responded.

Aurelia ignored the two adults. Her head was pounding against her skull, and she had what seemed to be a permanent frown etched on her face. She kept her hands pressed together, her powers seeming to want to escape but she wouldn't let them, letting it echo over and over in her mind that Jean was okay, and that they were going to bring her home. They landed the jet, Kurt, Ororo, Raven, Charles, Hank, Peter, Scott, and Aurelia all exiting from it and standing there a few feet from Jean.

     "Jean." Aurelia tried. Jean looked at her and just shook her head, the words 'I'm sorry' popping up in her mind.

     "You shouldn't have come here." Her words were angry as she spat them at Charles.

     "Why is that?" Charles gently questioned. "We've only come here to bring you home, Jean."

     Jean clenched her jaw, shaking her head. "I don't have a home. You made sure of that."

     This made Aurelia frown, glancing towards Charles. What was Jean talking about? Charles looked at Jean before carefully saying, "Look, your father couldn't handle you and we took you in."

     "You told me my father was dead." Jean snapped. "And you used me for my powers."

     "Jean, we can help you. I can help you but you have to listen to me."

     "No. No I don't." She denied, shaking her head.

     "Aurelia." Charles ordered. She looked at him before looking back towards Jean.

     "He lied to me Aria, about everything." Jean took a few steps closer as Aurelia did the same. Aurelia shook her head.

     "I didn't know." Aurelia softly told her. "Jean, I swear to you if I had known I would have told you. We'll figure this out, alright? We'll figure it out together. Just come back to me, please? You promised you would always come back to me. Come back to me." That's when three police cars started making their way towards Jean. Aurelia looked at her girlfriend, calmly saying her name. "Jean."

     "Stay away from me." Jean whispered, orange veins filling her face. "Stay away from me!" She shouted, turning around and holding out her hand, destroying the three police cars, making them flip over. 

     "Stop her quickly."

     "Charles, wait!" Aurelia snapped at the man. But no one listened to her.

Jean lifted herself up in the air to fly away from them, but Kurt was quick to teleport to her grabbing onto her and teleporting back towards the ground and into her fathers home. Aurelia could hear the ruckus from out here before a part of the house exploded. Aurelia turned her head, watching as Scott quickly tackled Ororo as she attempted to hit Jean with a lightning bolt, knocking her to the ground. Raven and Aurelia had both been sent flying at the explosion, with Hank going to shoot the girl.

Peter ran at her, but Jean was faster, moving one of his stepping points so that he would fall instead of reach her. Ororo sent another lightning bolt towards her but Jean was quick to move it away from her and into the house. She used her powers, shoving Aurelia, Scott, and Ororo flying backwards.

     "Jean, stop!" Raven called to her.

     "I told you to stay away." Jean warned.

     "That's never going to happen." Raven shook her head.

     Tears welled in Jean's eyes as she lowered herself to the ground. "Please. Stop."

     "Not until I know you're gonna be okay."

     "Something's happening to me."

     "So come home." Raven begged. "Let me take care of you."

     "You can't. . . you don't know what it's like."

     "Then tell me."

     "'Cause when it comes. . . people get hurt." Jean's voice cracked.

     "I'm not afraid of you, Jean." Raven carefully stepped closer to her. "Look at me. Focus on my voice. We're going to get through this together. I'm not giving up on you, Jean. This is what family does. We take care of each other. You're my family, Jean."

     "Stop!" Jean yelled, sending Raven flying backwards, right into a sharp piece of a wood that went straight through her. Tears fell down her cheeks before Jean looked up and flew away. Aurelia stood there, covering her mouth with her hands as tears fell. Raven was dead. Jean had accidentally killed Raven.