The Necklace
Jean doesn't return to her room after you leave. Instead, she wanders around the building, visiting spots where she feels the presence of Y/n so strongly until she ends up at the pool. She continues to play with her necklace as she lays beside the pool to remember the day they made it for her. She can almost feel Y/n lay next to her and cover her hand with theirs. She closes her eyes as the tears start to well up in her eyes. Jean knew this mission was going to be tough. She had no idea it was going to be this difficult.
“Happy anniversary,” Jean grins as she sneaks a quick kiss in the hall while the other students are moving from one class to the next. She has been waiting all morning to see you but it was tough when the two of you didn't have much crossover.
“H-Happy anniversary!” you stumble, having had no idea it was your anniversary already.
Jean’s smile drops but she isn't upset, more amused than anything. “You forgot?”
“Forgot? What? No! Of course not! I-I even have special arrangements for later,” you lie smoothly.
“Really?” Jean isn't buying it but she wants to give you the chance to pull off the improvised special date.
“Really,” you confirm.
“Okay, when should I meet you?” Jean asks sweetly.
“Lunch, but not in the cafeteria. Meet me by the pool.” You confidently state.
Jean shakes her head and you giggle as you ask her what's on her mind. “Nothing, I just didn't realize how cheesy and romantic you are until just now.”
“Mmm, is that a bad thing?”
“No,” she answers without a thought. “I like it,” the warning bell goes off and she kisses your cheek before she rushes off to go to class. Your body fills with relief and you look at your watch to decipher how much time you have to throw something together. You had one class before you had to meet up with Jean and have these so-called special arrangements ready.
You knew you were going to get in trouble for using your magic for things other than class but, this is important to Jean. It was worth the punishment you were bound to get.
Throughout the class, while the English literature professor is droning on and on about the importance of understanding the subtle and not so subtle foreshadowing in a novel, you are anxiously bouncing your leg and picking at the corner of your notebook. Your eyes are glued to the clock above the board instead of the board itself. It makes the time go slower but you couldn't remove them or think of anything else.
When the bell finally rings, you're the first one out the door. You go to a hidden corner of the building to flash yourself to the pool room in order to get there before Jean. “They’ll never know,” you convince yourself as you make a picnic blanket appear. Next a full basket and then two pillows for the two of you to sit on comfortably. You flash new swimsuits for the two of you just in case. And finally, a bouquet of flowers. Jean watches from the entrance as she shakes her head. She thought the magic made you a bit lazy but she knew how much you were risking in order to do this for her so she let it go.
Jean walks closer when you seem proud of yourself. Assuming you were finished with your set up. “Wow, you really thought of everything,” she says as she approaches you.
“Of course, only the best for my girl,” you grin.
“I like hearing that,” she says as she kisses your lips.
“I like saying it,” you sigh. “Come sit, we don't have a lot of time.”
“Okay, okay,” she says and she drops her book bag next to the pillow she chose to use. “What’d you prepare for us?”
“Your favorite, of course,” you say as you open the basket. You hold your breath, not certain your magic could be trusted to successfully prepare a meal. One time you tried to give yourself a snack in the middle of a class when a frog appeared in your hand and hopped around the classroom, earning you a week's detention. But, luckily there are two steaming hot plates full of food. “Oh thank goodness,” you feel relieved.
“What’s wrong?” Jean asks.
“Nothing, uh, eat up!” You hand her the plate and set yours in front of you. Unfortunately, when you take a bite, the food is frozen solid. “Damnit!” you grouch and stop Jean from breaking a tooth on hers. “I have to confess,” you sigh as you set the plates back into the basket.
“You forgot,” she states with a smirk.
You hang your head, “I don’t want to start lying to you, at least not more than I already have.” You look up at Jean when she reaches out for your hand. “I’m sorry, you deserve someone who remembers these kinds of things.”
“It’s okay, Y/n. Honestly, I’m glad you told me the truth even after going through all of this trouble. Besides, we don’t have to make a big deal of how long we’ve been together,” Jean moves closer.
“We don’t?”
Jean shakes her head, “No, because it’s not how long that matters. What truly matters is that we’re together.” She settles on your lap and weaves her fingers through your hair.
“You really are the best, you know that?” You gaze at her lovingly.
Jean lifts a shoulder with a smirk, “I try.”
You close the distance with a soft kiss. “I do want to give you something.”
“Okay,” Jean smiles as she moves off of your lap to sit in front of you. Lifting your hands to her neck, you concentrate hard and create a necklace with a pendant of one of your favorite mythical birds. A phoenix. “I love it,” she says as she admires the new piece of jewelry. She looks up at you and is certain of her next sentence. “I love you.”
Your face lights up, “I love you too.”
At the time, Y/n had no idea the significance the phoenix would hold in Jean’s life. She always thought they had the ability to see into the future. Though Y/n insisted time and time again that it was purely coincidental.
Jean reaches out beside her where she would have felt your hand at some point but feels nothing but the cool tile.
“I miss you,” she whispers to the air as she fiddles with the necklace. With a shaky breath, she continues to talk as if her dead partner was listening. “I hate that I’m doing this mission without you. I hate that she took you from me. I hate what she did to your legacy.” Jean sits up and wipes her tears as she looks into the water of the pool. “Everything I’ve been doing since I found out she was the reason I lost you, has been for you. I am going to lure her here soon. Then I am going to kill her for you,” she gets lost in the mental image of watching the life leave the Scarlet Witch’s eyes. “Even if it puts everyone else’s lives at risk. Even if it kills me.”
Jean’s emotional monologue is interrupted when Raven and Carol stumble into the pool area giggling and holding onto one another. Jean instantly makes herself invisible to them so she can sneak out without being noticed. Raven looked happy having the other blonde attached to her lips. She couldn’t take that away from her friend. Especially not when Raven has put her life on the line for this revenge mission. Jean hurries to her room as she notices other people exiting the main dining hall.
But as soon as she closes the door, she looks at her empty bed. Where Y/n used to be. Smiling at her or concentrating on a novel or making her feel things only they could. Then she could imagine them with their child. A child they never got to have. Y/n reading them bedtime stories and the two of them falling asleep in the same bed. She begins to see a whole life she wanted. An entire life that was taken from her.
It might’ve been the effects from the alcohol she consumed earlier. It might’ve been the overwhelming grief. It might even be the vengeance that has been poisoning her heart. But she couldn’t take it anymore, she couldn’t wait any longer. Jean sneaks into the meeting room and she finds the device that Vision made that was camouflaging everyone’s energy. He figured that with so many of them in one place it would bring the Scarlet Witch to them before they were prepared. Only three people knew about the device, they figured it was best that way. However, what Raven and Vision didn’t know at the time was that the Phoenix shouldn’t have been informed about the device. Jean, frustrated with not knowing a simple way to shut it down, smashed the device to the ground over and over until the low hum it was making stopped. She takes the evidence and stores it in a drawer.
Jean falls asleep peacefully, knowing that tomorrow might be her last day.