The Ruins of Tomorrow

[Rachel Grey]

 Rachel had wandered back to her old stomping ground while others had started to acclimate themselves to the new home of the X-Men. But this place was hard to move on from for Rachel.  As she gripped the necklace around her neck, the one given to her by her mom Jean in the Astral Plane, this place was the last moments Rachel got to spend with her before it happened.  There was a lot of sentimental attachment to this place.

 While it had seemed so many had in some ways move on, namely Scott (who she refused to ever call Dad), had moved on to that white temptress who Rachel still did not trust one bit.  But Rachel held out faith and hope, that one day jean would still return, that the embers of the Phoenix would once again burn bright inside her soul. And sparking that belief, was the arrival of a young girl named Hope, that seemed to bring about such a familiar spark about her. 

 Rachel knelt down to a pile of ashes and burned structural damage leftover from the remains of the Mansion. " Just like our namesake, we always find a way to rise from the ashes."  Rachel picked up some of the ash and let it sift through her fingers. " Just have to keep waiting for it to be your turn Mom, I wait every day."  

[blaze]

"Did Scott send you to find me?" a voice echoed out of one of the corners of the destroyed mansion. Aeryn made her way out of what was one of the classrooms and stood on a large piece of sandstone as she smiled at Rachel. "I hope not, because then I'll need to talk to a few people for ratting me out. Rachel, I'm sorry, but I can't sit in San Francisco and pretend things are OK. They aren't. Not for me anyway."

Aeryn made her way over to her sister, and it was easy to see that Blaze had been crying. She had rubbed her hands over her eyes, and there was now soot in circles under them. "Ugh. Figures I'd put my hand on something dirty and end up looking like Rocket Raccoon. I just can't sit there and go to the beach or the movies and pretend. I mean, Keiko is the only one who really understands how I feel, but she's been hanging out with her cousin now that we're in California.  I am not the biggest science geek, so I come here sometimes."

As she looked at the necklace around Rachel's neck, Aeryn finally smiled a bit. "Don't worry. Les MacFeorais is the one who drops me here and picks me up. He goes to see friends of his, and then we portal back. I am just so sick of being a fake, Rachel. And you, Jennifer and Jessie are about the only ones who understand. Paris doesn't because she's never had the Phoenix touch her. And with Ryan not here...I lose it sometimes. And everyone looks at us like freaks."

Aeryn sighed a bit and thought about what she said. "OK, I want to correct that. Some people look at us like freaks. Hayley doesn't, and most of her family doesn't. I can't speak for her grandmother. That lady scares me, and I trust her about as much as I trust Emma, and you know I don't trust her at all."

Blaze bit back her tears a bit more before hugging Rachel. "Tell me about Mom. I was too little to remember much. And I know my Mom and your Mom are totally the same Mom. But there has to be something they all share. Something we all share. Isn't there?"