*** DISCLAIMER: The X-MEN belong to Marvel Comics. They have been used
without permission. No profit has been made from this work. This story,
however, is copyrighted to me.

*** WARNING: This story may contain adult language, adult content, and
violence. If you're offended by these things, please don't read this.

*** NOTE: All previous parts of this story are being kindly archived at
the *Fonts of Wisdom* web page, which is at http://home.att.
net/~lubakmetyk/, and at the *Static Journal* web page, which can be
reached at http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/3169/.

BLACK LOVE (12/12)
By Jon Bartley

PART TWELVE: "Happy Endings"

Scott woke up.
     It was hardly three o'clock in the morning. Scott sensed that
everything about himself and his life was exactly the same as it had
been--everything except two things. He felt his soul burning brightly
within him. But he also felt his heart was gone, and in its place was
something cold and stone. Perhaps that would change.
     Scott looked at Jean sleeping beside him. She was dreaming
peacefully. It had to be done, he decided. He rolled over, went back to
sleep, and made another, last, very final wish. He dreamed of Jean's
destruction. In Scott's transgressing dream, Jean's body twisted and
mangled. Her soft and delicate features became hard and cracked; her
long, red locks were spider-webs. Jean became less than human--less than
insect. As her body turned to soulless, shelled nothingness, it was
destroyed by the uncontrolled wish-magicks she'd been born from. And
then--
     --*BANG*--
     --silence.
     Scott slept a quiet, dreamless sleep. When the sun rose high in the
morning sky the next day, he slept. Afternoon came, and Scott still
slept. He slept through the next evening, and into the following day. He
slept through that day, and the next. And finally, after one week had
passed, Scott's eyes fluttered open, well rested, and he felt alive
again.
     He got up, dressed, and went downstairs to see how many of his
wishes had been set right--the way they had been before he'd met Skuddly
. Everything *had* to be all right, he assured himself. Didn't it? Happy
Endings still happened, right?
     When Scott arrived in the kitchen, he'd discovered it empty. Odd,
he thought. The X-Men didn't all eat at the table like a big happy
family always, but there was at least one person in the kitchen during
the morning. He checked the lounging room. No one there, either. Scott
next checked the War Room, then the recreation hall, and finally the
individual bedrooms. The mansion appeared to be empty.
     Where was everyone? he had to find out.
     The Danger Room. Someone would definitely be there. In a mad dash,
Scott, fully dressed with shoulder-length hair and a beard growing,
threw himself down the halls of the mansion. He turned left here, right
there, took a short-cut through the X-Women's bathroom. Scott knew the
entire mansion like his own bedroom.
     He dashed down another hall, and stampered into the Danger Room. He
stopped. Empty. Only the echoes of his stomped entry filled the metallic
room. "Hello?" he called.
     The lights of the Danger Room sprang to life. Scott jerked his neck
up to the control room, which hung over the Danger Room's entrance. He
stared into the protected viewing glass, and saw a figure standing on
the other side. "Hello?" he called again, a little louder this time.
     The figure jumped through the glass, flipped and landed in front of
him. The glass didn't break. It took Scott a while to recognize the
figure, but as soon as he did, he smiled and was overjoyed. "Kitty," he
identified the figure as.
     "So you decided to join the rest of the world, huh?" she observed.
     "Pardon?"
     "You've been in your room for weeks now--despite my efforts. You've
been pretty anti-social since Jean... died. Good to see you're rejoining
humanity. Or at least attempting to."
     Scott nodded. He was beginning to understand. "Well, I guess I just
finally realized," he began, "that I can't very well hide in my room and
wish my problems away. Now can I?" He smiled. "Where is everyone?"
     "Around. Doing their own thing. I was just running an anti-virus
program. You know, it's just you and me. We can talk if you want... if
you need to."
     "I'd like that." he said and smiled.

It took Scott three cups of coffee to convince Kitty he'd come to terms
in the loss of Jean. Convincing himself, however, would take much more
caffeine. To him, Scott himself had killed Jean in an unforgivable way.
One day he would have to admit that to himself.
     After three hours of talking with Kitty, Scott had learned the
majority of his wishes--and their repercussions--had not been erased
with Jean's destruction. They'd only been altered. Pete Wisdom, while
trying to do an old friend a favor, was shot seven times, and was still
recovering. He'd only survived because Logan had offered to give some of
his blood to the British man. Soon after, Logan mysteriously disappeared
..
     Rogue was not the person he'd known, but instead a very dark woman,
who had unusually bonded with Mr. Wisdom. Emotionally affected by two of
his friends being gone to him, Warren Worthington III had gone up onto
the roof of the mansion one day, flew off into the skies, and never came
back.
     Most of his other wishes had simply readjusted. They'd had too much
an affect on reality, Scott supposed. The best thing to come out of the
situation was the absence of a visor of his brown eyes. Indeed, one day
he would have to admit to himself this was all his fault.
     As the two of them finished the last of the coffee pot, Scott
leaned back and rubbed his chin. "Do you think I should shave this or
let it grow?"
     "Let it grow. Grow your hair out too." Kitty replied.
     "Really? You think I should?"
     "Of course. No offense meant or anything, but you could do with a
little individuality. Put some life into your wardrobe. Redesign your
'Cyclops' uniform. Get a tattoo. Pierce your ear."
     "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Costume change, fine. Long hair would be sort of
nice, I think. A beard--no problem here. But I'm not getting a tattoo or
an ear ring."
     "Why not?" she purred.
     "Because I don't want to be someone I'm not. And tattoos and ear
rings just aren't the real 'me'."
     "And just who *is* the real 'you'?" Scott could have sworn he heard
Kitty say. Of course, she didn't say it. He looked off for a moment,
then turned back to her and said:
     "OK. An ear ring. But no tattoo."
     Kitty smiled. "Listen. I've got to finish up something. Are you
sure you don't need to talk anymore?"
     He shook his head. "I'm feeling the best I've felt in nearly a year
. I'm fine. Go on, finish up whatever it is."
     Five minutes after Kitty and he had parted company, Scott retreated
back to his bedroom. He took a long hard look at himself in the mirror,
and began fantasizing about his new look. It would be fun, he decided.
Scott glanced around his closet, and began wishing--wishing with the
certainty that the best wishes in life are those that cannot be granted
over night.
     The Happy Endings are still out there.

The End

* * * * * * * *

All in all, that was fun. And now I have to thank a few people for
contributing to Black Love being fun. Thanks to: Min and Suzie, for
having opinions; Higg, for pointing out to me that Scott's eyes are
brown; to Chris Dickinson, Luba Kmetyk, Twist and Other People. And
lastly, thanks to everyone who read this story. :)
--