"Oh, God..."

Jubilee looked at Monet in horror and angrily pushed her up from her.

"Are you nuts?" she said, annoyance in her voice and the tastes of Monet' lips in her mouth. "What are you doing?"

The two of them stared at each other, Monet looking down, her chest heaving with the deep breaths she was taking.

"I though it was obvious," said Monet, hurt in her voice but shock at the look on her friend's face. "I thought it was what you wanted."

"What? To come in to my bedroom and kiss me? To press yourself on me? Jesus, what could I have been thinking? I'll just take off my t-shirt and you can suckle on my breasts!"

"I thought you liked me..."

"I do, Monny, but I'm straight. I've never been interested in girls... It's... It's not right..." Her voice trailed off because she knew it wasn't right, it wasn't what she'd wanted but it had been her first real kiss, and she had liked it, but it wasn't what she wanted. "You've never shown an interest before either..." Her tone was defensive, perhaps more so than she wanted.

"That wasn't me," said Monet. "That was my sisters pretending to be me. I'm attracted to you, Jubilation... I have been for such a long time."

"No!" Jubilee said. "You can't be. Please..."

"I can't help what I feel," Monet said. "Try and understand..."

"I just..." Jubilee's voice faltered because as she looked up she could see the anguish on her friend's face and in that moment she wondered if it would be so bad after all. "It's not something I can give you..." she whispered. "I'm sorry."

"I see," said Monet. "I..." She paused, as if sensing that something was wrong and then she pressed herself down on Jubilee as hard as she could without hurting her.

"What the?" Jubilee said and then there was an almighty explosion and the room crashed down around them.

"Amara..."

Jared looked at her, not sure what to say, what to do. Something had obviously gone wrong with her, because as he understood it, the part of her that thought she was Amara had been a fiction that had been dispelled long ago. Somehow she had that back, and there was real anger to her and he could feel the heat through his force field.

"Hello, Jared," she said, her voice full of sweetness. "I should have known it would be you who found out first..."

"You know who I am?"

"I've been trapped inside her head," Amara said, coming over to him. "I like you, I like you a lot and if it weren't for her stuffiness she would as well."

"Okay," said Jared, knowing he was really in over his head and there was nothing he could do about it but his best, but he was sure it wasn't going to be good enough. "I want to talk to Allison. Can you let me speak with her?"

"You want that bitch as opposed to me?" Amara shoved him away, sweetness turning to spite. "Why should you have been different, to everyone else? It's always Allison they want - WELL NO MORE!"

"Power down," said Jared, getting worried as lava began to fill the Danger Room "You'll lose control..."

"Lose control? I've had control of my powers since long before you had them, so DON'T LECTURE ME!"

"Allison!" he said, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Fight her, dammit!"

"Allison is gone..." Amara's voice was filled with cold rage. "I'll show you. You could have had me, lover boy, BUT YOU'LL NEVER HAVE ANYONE AGAIN!" Her powers raged and then everything exploded about them, the geothermal energies underneath the mansion coming through and mixing with the underground power core that supplied the mansion with it's power and the whole building went up.

"Oh, this isn't good," Cerebro said, feeling the disruption to the internal power systems and, ensuring that Jacob was safe in his arms he headed for the emergency access hatches to the Morlock Tunnels, hoping he arrived in time.

Jean Grey Summers looked up, crawling from the wreckage of the Xavier Institute. The mansion had seen much damage in its time, but never had it been devastated on this scale. Even when Sinister had destroyed the mansion, the lower levels had remained in tact, but the explosion had come from there this time and the flames and smoke blew about them as she stood, coughing.

Her vision was blurred and she knew that she had been hurt and hurt badly. Where were the others, she wondered and reached out with her mind, only getting a sense of Jacob, who was safe with Cerebro in the Morlock tunnels and she was only able to do that because Cerebro was with him. Of the others she couldn't sense anything and she prayed that they were okay. It wasn't Scott's fault, he couldn't have known what was going on, but she knew he would blame himself for this and then she saw him, lying there amongst the bricks and rubble.

"Scott!" she shouted, stumbling across to him, hardly able to walk without a pain shooting up her leg and she almost collapsed beside him. He was still breathing, but he was very pale and she didn't like the look of him. Something was very wrong with him and she wasn't sure if she could move him. Hopefully Cerebro would get word to the others and they would come. "Oh, Scott," she said as she ran her hand through his ruffled and unruly hair.

"Oh, now that is impressive," said a voice and Jean turned and she could see the Grey King standing there, along with the rest of his Brotherhood and Emma Forst watching on the sidelines and she knew she was in trouble. "I thought after that you'd be dead on your feet, if not dead proper, but here you are comforting Cyclops."

"You'll find there's a lot more to being an X-Man than just powers," said Phoenix, using every inch of will power that she had to stand up, and call the firebird to life. Her head pounded but she knew she needed everything she had to take them on, and even then it might not be enough.

"We already know that, and the current X-Men simply don't deliver, do they? Or rather, they didn't..." Addison shrugged nonchalantly, and Phoenix's anger rose.

"Well, bub," she said, "if I'm going down, I'm taking some of you with me."

"And if you were Wolverine, I might believe that were true, but he's dead. And so are you."

Then they all attacked, and Phoenix fought back, redirecting the light attack from the Dazzler back at him with her telekinetics, while at the same time altering the thoughts of Mercury and Landslide so they struck at each other, but it did not keep her from being hit by a power blast by Chaos and Rapture swooped down at her and she knew she had to get her act together and quickly, but with her injuries it was going to be difficult.

"Jean," Cyclops muttered, stirring from fevered memories and seeing his wife under attack... "Jean..." he said again, before he once more lost consciousness, but as he did so his optic blast flared in one last desperate move to save his wife and Chaos was knocked across the main field of the estate, through the wall and away in to the distance.

"X-Men do seem to have to fight to the last," the Grey King muttered. This was not going the way he'd planned.

"You ain't seen nothing yet, bub," FX said, Monet standing next to her. They were covered in dust and still wearing their nightwear, but they were still standing. Then FX fired her blasts, and the Grey King was thrown back, his body charred from the heat and his chest ached from the concussive impact as Monet flew in to grab hold of Rapture and she threw the winged woman to the floor.

"Pick on someone your own size," she said as Rapture stood up.

"Rematch," Rapture replied but Monet was not in the mood. Her crush had rejected her and she was in a mood to hit something and the blue skinned woman was in the way. She wanted to glance over at Jubilee, but she knew it wasn't going to happen. She couldn't let herself - it hurt too much right now.

"Jubilee," said Jean as she looked at her. "How..."

"Monet shielded us with her body," Jubilee said. "Then she got us out of there."

"I see," Jean said, wondering what had gone on with them and how Monet had been in the right place to shield Jubilee in the first place. "LOOK OUT!" Jubilee turned and kicked out, her foot connecting with Landslide's jaw and it knocked him back, even if it didn't hurt him.

"Thanks," said FX, turning to see Mercury and Landslide coming towards her and she threw everything she could at them, making sure that she stopped them without killing them. It was not easy considering what was going on in her mind and her concentration was elsewhere but she knew she was fighting for her life. Had these people done this? She didn't know, but she wasn't going to let them finish the job.

It stank of betrayal and the two men were thrown up in the air as the ground beneath them exploded, sending dirt and rock flying like shrapnel. Landslide came off worst but Mercury managed to stand, his metallic control ensuring he was protected.

"Nice try, girly," he said. "Wanna try again?"

"She can't," said the Grey King, looking directly at her, his wounds slowing him down. "I just cancelled out her powers..."

"Uh oh," muttered Jubilee.

"I'll help," said Phoenix.

"Jean, you look like hell," said Jubilee. This was going to hurt and then on the sidelines she could see Emma, standing there and watching the battle and she knew who had betrayed them, and she promised that Mercury would not get her before she got to Frost. Ice was more like the White Queen of old, and that meant she was an enemy.

"I can still do this," Jean said and the firebird flared and she grabbed hold of Mercury and flung him up in the air with everything she had left and then Jean fell to the floor. "Not sure if I can do much more though..." Jean was exhausted, injured and she was worried about Scott.

"And that leaves two," said the Grey King.

"I was just thinking the same," said M as she hurled Rapture to the floor and the young woman hit the ground with a thud. "You and the half blind Dazzler..."

"You think I can't cancel your powers as well?" The Grey King looked at her.

"If I fight you," said Monet and she geared her psionic powers for the fight with the Grey King. "Do your worst."

"I intend to," said the Grey King after a moment, "but not today. I have enough from your files to rebuild the Brotherhood, a new Brotherhood that you won't be prepared for." Landslide was already picking himself up. "The X-Men have been destroyed today, and that's a good enough start."

"Dreams don't die," said Monet. "Remember that."

"Next time we meet, I'll remind you," the Grey King said and he lifted off in to the air and he was gone, leaving the Dazzler and Rapture to fend for themselves. They had disappointed him and he would not have that, and to ensure they did not betray him further he wiped their minds of any knowledge of him and the Brotherhood they'd had in their minds.

Emma Frost stood alone facing the two X-Men.

"I know what you're thinking," she said. "And you're right."

"You're a dead woman, Frost," Jubilee shouted. "Chaste be damned, I'll kill you like I should have done..."

"Yes, you should," Emma said. "However that will have to wait. You have injured to attend to and there's no facilities left. I'd also look and see where Jared and Allison are, because they've not resurfaced..."

"She's right," Monet said, her hand on Jubilee's shoulder, holding her back.

"It's not over, Frost," Jubilee shouted.

"Yes," Ice said. "It is. If you come after me, I'll reveal everything I know about the X-Men to the world and then we'll see how well you do then..."

"Damn you," whispered Jubilee as she turned to look at the others. Jean was almost comatose, Cyclops was certainly not in the best shape and the others were indeed missing. There was no choice and the two of them let Emma Frost walk away while they went to work.

Muir Isle, two days later.

Cerebro hadn't been idle while he'd been in the Morlock tunnels and he'd called for help from the various X-Men and allies in the area and the X-Men had been evacuated to Muir where Moira had treated them for their various injuries. Jared had been found holding Magma, his force field having somehow expanded to protect them both and they'd been dug out of what remained of the Danger Room. They were in a bad way, but they were alive. Magma had been sobbing telling them how sorry she was, and Jared had been holding her telling her it was okay and that they would get her help. It wasn't until everything had been sorted out that the full story had been told. The mansion though was destroyed - the lower levels had been ravaged and according to Hank McCoy there was nothing salvageable, but as he had sagely reminded them it could have been so much worse.

The X-Men knew that, because they had made it out alive, and with seemingly minimal injuries. Jean's leg was broken in two separate places and it was now in a cast, and Jubilee's powers had returned after a few hours. Monet was the one who had seemed to be safe, but the biggest concern was Cyclops. Scott's injuries had been the most severe and it had taken several days of tests to see what the outcome was and Jean sat next to her husband as Moira came in to the room.

"What's the result?" asked Jean, keeping a hold of Jacob while her hand was in that of Scott.

"It's nae good," said Moira, softly. "We knew the next few days would be crucial, but... the swelling on the spinal column has gone down, but there's no response in Scott's legs. No response to touch or sensations. I think we have to face the idea that Scott will never walk again unaided."

"Define unaided," Scott said, caution in his voice

"Bionic enhancement," said Moira. "It's the only way, otherwise..."

"I'll be wheelchair bound," said Scott and he shook his head and closed his eyes. Then he gave a laugh, as if to defy fate. "Damn it..."

"Are you sure there's nothing else we can do?" Jean said, unsure as to what her husband was feeling and thinking. "I mean... is it a final diagnosis?"

Moira looked at her and smiled. "If there's one thing I've learnt when dealing with mutant biology it's that nothing is ever a final diagnosis. We'll have to wait and see what happens."

"Thank you, Moira," Jean said and the doctor nodded.

"If there's anything you need," she said.

"What about the rest of the team?" said Scott, pushing aside his problems for the moment. His team was in a bad shape, and he blamed himself. He had brought in Emma, and he had allowed the Brotherhood to be formed. He had been an X-Man long enough to know when he was being played and he did not think the telepathic nudging by the Grey King was excuse enough for what had happened. "What's going on with Allison?"

"Has developed a schizophrenia of sorts," Moira said. "She seems to switch between Amara and Allison and I've given her some drugs to control it, it's similar to the problems we've seen in Rogue when she had Carol Danvers in her head, or at a more extreme level it's like Aurora and Jean-Marie Baubier of Alpha Flight. Jared's speaking with her at the moment to see what's going on."

"What of Jared?" Jean asked. "His powers have altered."

"I think it's a combination of things - nanites, snake venom, all worked and mutated his x-gene to another level. I'm doin' tests to see what happens next."

"That just leaves Jubilee and Monet," said Scott. "Though it looks as if the relationship is strained at best."

"They're avoidin' each other, aye," said Moira. "Whatever happened between them... it'll be somethin' they have t'work out themselves."

"Yes," said Jean. She had an idea of what had happened and it was not something any of them could speak with either girl about. Not yet anyway.

"We've also had word from SHIELD," Moira said. "Rapture had been turned loose, because they feel she's no longer a threat. The Grey King's mind wipe altered things so they think she'll be of more benefit back in society. I'm nae sure I agree, but Genesis said it was better that way. He also mentioned he had an upcoming project she might fit in to."

"What about the Dazzler?" said Scott.

"He's back in prison," said Moira. "Broke the terms of his parole and he's gone back to serve the remainder of his sentence, though he's in the Vault now."

"We'll deal with the other members of the Brotherhood later," Jean said to her husband who was now silent, musing on what had happened, what he had let happen in the X-Men's name. "They won't get away with this." Scott nodded but still stayed silent

"I'll leave ye be," said Moira. "I'm guessin' you've some decisions to make." Jean nodded.

"Thank you," she said and the doctor left. Scott looked at Jean, Jean looked at Scott and both of them started to cry.

This wasn't the way it was supposed to be.