AN: Regarding Jean's origin here, I'm mixing a bit of things so it might be different from what you all think. But mainly it's based on the Dark Phoenix movie since that's what I'm more familiar with.
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Chapter 62: Jean
“Oh right, before we start, did Charles tell you yet?”
“Tell what?”
“...I guess not.”
Benjamin sighed.
That damn Charles. I’m pretty sure I told him to tell her before anything bad happened.
Looking at Jean’s confused expression, Benjamin steeled himself and spoke.
“Well…I suppose I should tell you then.”
“What is it? You’re freaking out now…”
This was actually a bit risky.
Telling her the truth can either set her free or…well, completely backfire and she turns into Dark Phoenix…but it should be fine…probably…
I just need to soften the blow first.
Benjamin gave her a soft smile and spoke in a soft tone.
“Jean, you are old enough already…”
“...”
Jean swallowed a mouthful of saliva in her tense.
All this suspense is killing her!
She wanted to hurry Benjamin but was also afraid of what this thing may be so she could only wait.
Benjamin continued slowly.
“You see…when a man and woman want to have a baby…”
“...”
Jean was speechless.
Looking at her expression, Benjamin couldn’t hold it anymore and laughed.
“Hahaha! Look at your face!”
“You-!!!”
Jean flared.
She finally knew he was just teasing her to get back at her!
After a couple of playful punches, Benjamin stopped laughing and continued for real this ti.
Good, that should lessen the blow a bit…maybe…or I just made her angrier…
“Alright, I’ll continue seriously this ti.”
“You better! Now out with it!”
“First of all, although I know this is hard, but try not to uhh…hate Charles too much. I an, you can hate him but…you know, just don’t kill him and go on a rampage and all that.”
“...”
Jean was speechless again.
Why would I kill the Professor and even go on a rampage?
“I an it. Can you promise?”
Benjamin insisted.
“Alright, alright. I promise. Now tell already!”
“I’m not done. Also, after I tell you the truth…you must especially not hate yourself even more…do you understand?”
Benjamin spoke in an even more serious tone which made Jean surprised again.
Still, she nodded.
“I promise…”
“Alright…then, whatever happens next, you must rember that promise you made just now. If you go back on it, I’ll curse you to forever hit your toe at a table corner!”
Jean’s face paled.
That curse is too harsh!
After seeing Jean nod repeatedly, Benjamin sighed and started to explain.
“This matter is related to your uncontrollable power. You see, there exists a…force inside of you that is considered to be one of the oldest cosmic entities in this universe.”
“A force?”
“Yes.”
“Like…may the force be with you? That thing?”
“Uhh…”
Benjamin was a bit surprised at the sudden Star Wars reference.
Jean shrugged.
“Scott and Kurt once dragged and the others to marathon Star Wars. They even made fun of that ti since my powers seed similar to the Jedis.”
“Okay, enough about that Yoda, let’s return to the topic.”
“Oh, you did not just call Yoda.”
Jean was shocked.
There were plenty of Jedis but he had to call her the small green old wrinkly one instead!
“Do you an, ‘Just call Yoda, you did not’.”
Benjamin continued in a Yoda impression.
“Haha, stop it!”
The impression sounded so weird that Jean just laughed at him.
Benjamin smiled and continued.
“Anyway, the force inside you, as I said, is one of the oldest entities in the universe.”
“Is it Yoda? Is Yoda inside ?”
“Yes, you’re pregnant with a baby Yoda.”
“Oh, you must be the father then since you look like him.”
“...”
Benjamin was a bit speechless.
Jean seems to be joking a lot today…it seems she’s feeling a bit nervous about where this conversation is heading.
Benjamin let out a wry smile.
“Look, you don’t have to know about this if you don’t want to.”
Jean’s smile turned down a bit as she looked down.
“That obvious huh?”
“Well, I knew sothing was up when you didn’t seem to want to leave Yoda alone.”
Jean chuckled.
“I know, I just…I feel like sothing bad’s going to happen if I continue to listen…You even said that I might even go on a rampage earlier.”
“Well, that’s just the worst-case scenario. But even if that happens, I can pull you back out of that rampage.”
Jean looked up and saw that confident smile on Benjamin’s face.
Instantly, she felt a huge burden lift from her shoulders. As if she really believes that whatever happens after…Benjamin can help her.
She doesn’t know where this feeling is coming from, but she can feel that she can depend on him when she needs it.
This feeling…even Scott never gave her this much assurance when she was around him…
The instant she thought of that, she was shocked and quickly shook that thought away.
She then gave Benjamin a glare.
“You really are quite the playboy huh?”
“Uhh…”
Benjamin was stumped.
Wasn’t he just acting cool just now? Why did it suddenly turn into him being a playboy!?
Seeing his expression, Jean laughed and cald down.
After a while, she took a deep breath and looked Benjamin right in the eyes.
“Okay…I’m good now. You can continue.”
Benjamin looked at her for a while then nodded.
“Because of that powerful force inside you, your powers tend to spill out and go out of control. Think of it like, you are a bottle of water. And that force is the water inside the bottle. Basically, you as the bottle, are too small of a container for the massive amount of water inside, causing it to spill out.”
Jean nodded.
“What Charles did was…well, it was more of a stopgap really. He simply sealed that power temporarily so it won’t spill out and at the sa ti, train you to control your ntal abilities in order to grow you as a container…so that one day, hopefully, it will be big enough to contain that force when the seal is undone.”
Jean frowned.
She can sowhat understand that but…
“But why would I hate the Professor for it?”
“Well…for one thing, sealing that power ant also sealing a portion of your mories.”
“My mories…the Professor said he found in an orphanage because my parents abandoned …was this a lie?”
Jean suddenly had a bad feeling.
Benjamin sighed.
“Yes and no. It’s true that you were found in an orphanage. As for your parents…hmm, let’s leave that for later. I promise to tell you all that but I need you to keep listening first. Can you do that?”
“...Okay.”
Jean nodded.
Benjamin sighed in relief.
As expected, it’s a bit hard to suddenly say that she killed her parents accidentally…there’s just no easy way to say it so he can only delay it.
“Well, another reason why you might hate Charles is also because…what he did simply stopped your own potential. He also did a half-assed job at it which is why you’re able to hear everyone’s minds without being able to control it properly. You can even say that he made your life miserable.”
“...”
Jean was silent while Benjamin just shrugged.
“But at that ti, I’m sure he didn’t have much choice. If he hadn’t done that…things would be worse.”
Jean didn’t say anything again and simply nodded.
Benjamin looked at her for a mont then continued.
“This force inside of you…can be a force for good…but at the sa ti, it is easily corruptible by negative emotions. Just the slightest hate can snowball into a rage that will wipe out an entire city. Because Charles sealed that power, even just a bit, you are able to live a sowhat normal life…do you understand?”
“...I understand.”
Jean took a deep breath as she tried to stabilize her mind and nodded.
Benjamin thought for a mont and held out his hand.
“Lend your hands.”
Jean looked at his hand and place her palms on top of his.
Benjamin grabbed her soft hands and looked her in the eyes.
“Do you wish to see the mories that Charles had sealed in the past?”
“...Yes. I want to.”
“I’ll warn you now…it won’t be a pretty mory…”
Jean hesitated for a mont but still nodded.
“Do it.”
“Alright. Close your eyes and relax. It might hurt the first ti but I promise I’ll be gentle.”
“Pft-!”
Hearing Benjamin say that, Jean let out a chuckle unconsciously and kicked his leg.
“Ben! Did you have to make it sound so ambiguous!?”
“Haha, sorry. You seed too tense.”
Benjamin laughed while Jean just rolled her eyes.
Still, it did calm her down sowhat.
“Okay. Close your eyes and relax your mind.”
“Are you about to cum?”
“Jean, focus.”
“What? You started it…”
After a bit more joking, they finally continued for real and Benjamin was let inside Jean’s mind.
He then guided her own mind to that sealed mory.
Benjamin and Jean found themselves in the backseat of a car.
Between them was a little girl with red hair. It was Jean when she was a child.
In front, a woman with long red hair was driving while a blonde man sat in the other seat in front.
“Is this…my mories?”
The older Jean asked as she looked at the scene in surprise.
Benjamin nodded.
“Yes. This is you…and those are your parents.”
“I don’t rember this…”
“Like I said. This mory was sealed.”
“Why?”
“...You’ll see soon enough.”
Jean didn’t ask anymore and continued to watch.
Not long after, the young Jean asked her mother.
“Can we change stations?”
She referred to the music being played on the radio in the car.
Her mother simply smiled and answered.
“When the song’s over honey.”
“You said that two songs ago.”
Both parents chuckled and the father turned to her.
“You know this is a classic, right?”
The mother then said.
“Okay, how about I make you a promise? When you’re old enough to drive, you can listen to whatever music you want, deal?”
The young Jean was upset and didn’t answer.
She simply stared at the radio and suddenly, the dial spun on its own, changing the station!
The older Jean looked at the scene in surprise.
Turns out, she already developed this ability when she was this young!
Confused at the station changing, the mother turned to her husband but he was also confused.
“John?”
“Wasn’t .”
Since it wasn’t them, then it could only be Jean.
Looking at Jean from her rearview mirror, her mother asked.
“Jean was that…did you?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
Still upset and being a kid, the young Jean denied it.
The mother frowned and turned the dial back to the previous station but not long after, the dial turned on its own again.
The older Jean turned to look at her younger self.
Was she…this naughty when she was a kid?
She was a bit speechless.
The mother turned to Jean again.
“Jean, what are you…”
“I-I don’t know. It’s not !”
Now it seems that she was doing it unconsciously and didn’t know that it was her doing it.
In her confused state, her powers began to lose control and the volu dial started to turn up a lot louder.
Still confused and her mind not used to using her powers, plus the now loud volu she was hearing, she closed her eyes slowly as she mutters.
“Quiet…”
The two parents looked confused and turned to her but the noise seed to keep getting louder and louder in her ears.
She placed both hands on her ears and shouted.
“QUIET!”
An outburst of ntal power was unleashed from her and caused her mother who was driving to faint.
The wheels began to turn sideways, just in ti to et another car that was passing them by.
The older Jean was horrified.
“No!”
Alas, this was her mory and there was nothing she could do to interfere.
The car quickly flipped over and several shards flowed toward Jean but an invisible barrier seed to have appeared and no harm reached her at all.
Jean and Benjamin were also similarly unhard and could only watch the events unfold.
When the car finally landed on the ground, the young Jean finally opened her eyes and saw her mother’s lifeless eyes staring at her through the broken rearview mirror.
Jean snapped back to reality and quickly separated from holding Benjamin’s hand.
Her face was pale and her back was soaked in sweat.
“I…I ki-...I just kil-...”
Just as she was about to spiral out of control, she found herself inside a warm embrace.
She gripped Benjamin’s clothes and broke into tears.
Benjamin didn’t simply hug her to calm her down, but also to contain the ntal outburst that was about to erupt.
While doing so, he patted her back and spoke softly.
“Let it out…don’t worry, you won’t hurt anyone here…”
“Aaaaahhhhhh!!!”
As if being set free, Jean released her full power together with a loud cry.
Benjamin gritted his teeth and contained the release of her power with his own body.
His body was tough enough to deal with the shockwave while his mind was well protected enough with his own ntal abilities plus the System’s help so he didn’t faint from the ntal energy she released.
Outside the cave, no one knew that they have survived a calamity and were simply going about their own lives.
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