From: "Lucinda Siverling" To: X-Fiction@yahoogroups.com Subject: [x-fiction] fic: Promises For Tomorrow (Something in Red 5, Madelyne/Scott) Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 16:33:50 +0000 Author: Lucinda Series: Something in Red. story # 5 rating: pg, pg 13 disclaimer: Nobody from Marvel belongs to me. distribution: Luba can have it, anyone else please ask first. Feedback: please. She had flown herself and Scott, along with his brother Alex, to Japan. She was looking forward to meeting all of his friends. It had almost felt like she knew them already, from listening to the stories Scott told, looking at the photographs with him. She knew their names, and their faces, some of their histories and hopes. When she had stepped into the room where of his friends were gathered, they had looked stunned. She had even felt the oddest thing, like a cool draft passing beside her, and a feeling of purple, and of butterflies. It seemed that Scott was not the only one who thought that she resembled this Jean person. Oddly enough, Scott hadn't shown her any pictures of Jean, only described her briefly; red hair, telepathic and telekinetic abilities, and pretty. The garden that the wedding would be held in was beautiful, colorful flowers all over gave the air a lovely fresh scent. Carefully raked gravel paths crossed the garden, nearing the pond, leading to a small bridge. There were small shrubs that formed elegantly twisting shapes bordering the area that had been prepared for the wedding. The weather was perfect, and Madelyne wondered if that was good fortune or perhaps something of a wedding gift from Storm. The wedding had gone well enough, although there had been a brief altercation when someone had tried to interrupt, making some nasty allegations about Clan Yoshida having political and monetary connections to various criminal elements. Logan had spoken to the man, and although she didn't know what was said, there was a brief conference with Logan, the interrupter, and the Lady Mariko. It had ended with several unhappy looking men taking the accuser away, and the wedding had continued. Mariko had been a beautiful bride, and Logan had looked so happy... Maddie had been trying to contain her tears, imagining the happy future that they might have, imagining that she were the lovely bride, that this was the wedding of herself and Scott. It had been a wonderful, joyful occasion, and everyone had been very happy for Logan and Mariko. There had been a reception, with delicious foods, and they had given the newlyweds gifts. She'd had the oddest feeing that some of Scott's friends were watching her, as if something about her made them uneasy. Apparently, the resemblance between herself and Jean was positively uncanny. Despite that minor note of awkwardness, the day went well. Alex had chosen to stay later, assuring Scott and Maddie that he would catch a ride home with the rest of the team. They had returned home to Anchorage, feeling fairly exhausted by the day's events. It had been a long, long, wonderful day, and they were so exhausted by everything that they simply fell asleep at Maddie's apartment,snuggled up together on her couch, a warm blanket draped over them. Eventually, they stirred. It wasn't with the rising of the sun, or the blaring of an alarm clock, but rather from the rumbling growls of empty stomachs. Maddie pulled herself away first, reluctantly standing up from her place, snuggled up with Scott. She went and freshened up, a quick shower, clean clothing. Feeling a bit better, she went to the kitchen, starting coffee and a breakfast of pancakes and bacon. The scent of the bacon woke Scott, and they had a lovely breakfast together, laughing slightly at the time. Things were going so wonderfully that neither Scott or Madelyne worried about looking for the shadow of their luck. Things were happy, life was good, why look for trouble? What they did not know was that Jason Wyndgard, called Mastermind, had found his way to Anchorage. He had tried to corrupt the Phoenix into becoming the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, and had blamed the X-Men, especially Scott Summers for the failure of that plan. He had vowed that he would take his revenge on each one of them, finding out what was the most important thing to each of them,and destroying it. Now, he had found Scott, and he was dating a woman that looked very similar to the powerful Phoenix. His revenge would be so easy... all he would need to do was push a little bit here, offer a hint of illusion there... Scott would destroy his own relationship with this other red-haired woman. Nobody would know of his involvement. Wyndgaurd gave a small smile, and began his efforts. He started first on the woman, Mad something, reading her feelings, looking for any doubts or insecurities that he could use against her, to use against Scott. To his delight, she was full of questions, of worries and concerns, and doubts. He couldn't tell exactly what it was that she worried about, or what she was doubting, but if he could intensify those feelings just a little bit... If he could make her a bit less easy about her whole life, then she would be more likely to become angry with Scott, to over-react to something that he said or did. If she became upset and threw him out, or even attacked him, it would be splendid for Wyndgaurd's plans. But only a fool would work at such a problem as his perfect revenge from one direction. After enhancing the woman's anxieties a bit, he turned his attention to Scott. He could feel a worry, a burning question in the X-Man's mind, and there was a faint impression of red connected to this concern. Smiling with wicked delight, Wyndgaurd nudged that just a bit, intensifying the concern. He took to lurking near one or the other of them often, and every chance he got, he would reach out and feed the assorted doubts and concerns that plagued the lives of the two. The woman was a pilot, and her concerns began to show in longer preflight checks, and she began inspecting her planes after every trip, as if searching for something. Perhaps she would loose faith in her skills, and her job would suffer, or even be lost. Scott was showing a few signs as well, although mostly a general state of thought and worry. Such a pity that when everything fell apart, he wouldn't be able to watch, but his presence might give away the game. Scott was finding himself noticing more and more things that Maddie did that were just like things that Jean had done. They even had similar tastes in music. She used the same gestures when speaking, had some of the same particular phrases that she used. She knew things about him that he hadn't told her, like how he took his coffee, and exactly how he liked his breakfast eggs. How could she know those things if she wasn't actually Jean? Who could she be if not Jean, given a second chance? Madelyne found herself worrying more as well. She didn't know what had caused the crash that had robbed her of her memory. She didn't know if she had relatives that mourned her disappearance and questioned the fate of their daughter. Had she had a boyfriend before? Had the crash been her fault? Had she somehow caused the accident that gave her vague dreams of falling and flames? Was it her fault that she couldn't remember? Was it really her that Scott wanted, or was it this woman Jean that he had cared for, the one that had died? How much of his interest was for herself, and how much was because when he looked at her, he saw Jean? Scott kept giving her strange glances, as if he were measuring her against something. She would find him staring at her hands as she talked about something, and had the oddest feeling that he wasn't really listening to her words. She felt as if he were looking through her, gazing in her direction and seeing something else, or perhaps someone else. "Madelyne, why don't you grow your hair out? I'm sure that you'd look lovely with long hair." Scott's words sounded just a bit off, as if he were not quite thinking of Madelyne when he spoke. She looked at him, trying to figure out what he was thinking, as if by will alone she could divine his thoughts. Long hair? Why would he want her to grow her hair out long? "It used to be long. I cut it. It kept getting in the way." "Long? Was it almost to your waist?" Scott had an odd intensity to his words, as if the answer was vitally important to him. The words were almost dragged from her by the sheer intensity of his words. She could almost feel his need to know, although it made no sense to her. "Yes. What does it matter?" He took a faltering step towards her, his whole body tense and oddly light, as if he were filled with hope. "Are you... you must be... are you Jean? Brought back for a second chance?" With a harsh gasp of breath, Madelyne felt the tears well up in her eyes. How could he... how could she have believed that he cared for her? For who she really was, instead of the image of the woman that had died? She slapped him across his cheek as hard as she could. "How dare you, Scott Summers. How dare you come here, wooing me, and all the time you just want her, the dead woman that I resemble? How dare you..." She spun on her foot, and ran out of the house, the small fragment of her mind still working causing her to grab her coat as she left, shrugging it on against the cold wind. She could feel hot, angry tears burning across her cheeks, tears of pain and rage and humiliation. She had trusted Scott, loved him with all that she was. And when he looked at her, all he saw was a dead woman who wore her face. Jason Wyndgaurd saw the redhead run out into the cold, felt her pain and rage burning like a beacon. Suddenly, a dark and wonderful plan blossomed in his mind. It would be perfect. He could hurt them all... and the one that they would blame would be this woman. He focused his power, and reached out for her mind, ensnaring her mind to his illusions. end Promises for Tomorrow.