A Brother in Need: Part One

by Maria Cline

Scott opened his eyes in a familiar setting. He was in his Alaskan home. He wondered. He tried to get up, but found his arms tied to the bed. The bands were loose but strong. He looked down to find his stomach completely healed. Then he looked up to find a strange woman asleep on a separate bed. "Miss?"

"Huh?" She stirred and saw him. "Oh good, you're awake." Burst rubbed the sleep from her eyes. They were a light shade of pink. "Alex! He's awake!" She yelled.

Then a blond hair man ran in and smiled. "Welcome back to the living." He greeted with a slightly somber tone.

"You're alive." Scott amazed stated. "Is it really you? Prove it!"

"Remember the cliff where the you stabbed yourself? The accident happened there when we were kids. I went there when I lost control of my powers. You came to me and we talked. Afterwards we went to a bar, got into a fight, you got off with barely a scratch while, I ended up with a black eye!" Alex reminisced.

"It is you!" Scott happily cried out.

"Yes, I'm alive and thanks to Burst you are too."

"Burst?"

"He means me." Burst said as she sat up on the bed.

"So Scott now that we established the fact of my existence, what is this?" Alex asked as he took out a note. He read:

"To anybody who found this note: I have no life. Please bury my body in an unmarked grave and tell no one about this. If anybody came around asking for Scott Summers tell him/her or them that I am dead and to forget me."

"My note to the authorities. I can't go on Alex." Scott bitterly said. "I tried to kill myself several times: poison, a gun, and the knife. But every time, something happens." "Why Scott? I mean you have friends, a family, and your wife Jean." Then his face lit with awareness. "It has something to do with Jean, right?"

"Right."

"Dead?"

"No, in some ways worst."

Alex looked at the knife that Scott had stabbed himself with. Jean and Logan is printed on it in fine print. He looked up and asked. "Jean and Logan?"

"Jean asked him. She lost her telepathy several months ago, due to the Psi Wars. I..we always had our psychic rapport. We lost that link. I tried so damn hard to express my emotions, but I can't. At least not as well as Logan. They did it and I heard them. I had to leave. The X-men have been betraying me so many times. The time when Colossus joined the Magneto and the Actocles. The time when Psylocke used her powers on me because she had this crush on me. The time when you pushed me out of that plane. And that time when the Professor himself became Onslaught. All those times, I had forgiven them and you. But when Jean and Logan did it, that was the final straw. I had to leave. I have no faith in me, in the X-men, now."

"You pushed Scott out of a plane?" Burst asked

"Yeah, but I was undercover and I knew a little thousand foot drop couldn't kill Scott."

"A THOUSAND FEET!"

"Hey it's the past."Alex said "Now we gotta talk about Jean and Logan's little affair." Burst got up and said "I better leave you two alone. This is way too personal for me."

"I can't go on without Jean. I can't face her again." "But," Alex commented "You had lived without Jean, before. Remember when we all thought that Jean died on the moon?"

"This is different. Back then, I had the belief that she loved me. That she will always love me even when she is "dead". Jean has no faith in my love, now. She chose Logan because he is so expressive."

"Oh, god." Alex muttered. When Alex and Burst found Scott in the snow, she immediately teleported the two to the cabin. There was no phones and the nearest hospital was miles away. Burst put her energies in Scott and healed him. It weakened her a great deal. With the dimensional jump, the healing and the teleport back to the house, Burst was too weak to teleport again for a while. So Alex placed the two in the bedroom in separate beds, he tied his brother's arms to the bedposts. Then he place the sunglasses back on Scott's head. At the time, he thought that a supervillain had attacked. But there was no sign of struggle and no sign of combat. Evidence suggested that is was a suicide attempt. The missing wedding ring, the note and the dagger. But he thought that it was a mistake, maybe he was possessed. Alex couldn't get hold of the authorities, not even the other X-men, yet.

"Alex?" Scott asked.

"Yea?"

"How did you get back from the dead?"

"It's a long story." Alex replied "At least he is not thinking about suicide." he thought. He explained about the alternate dimension, his adventures, and how he got back. He told about Burst's abilities, she could travel from one dimension to the next. She can heal others. The healing comes from the fact that she can alter biological matter and DNA. He tells about how they met.

"Interesting," Scott replied. "So now you're back, what are you going to do?"

"Get X-Factor together again. After I deal with a certain suicidal brother of mine."

"I have another plan that has nothing to do with suicide. But it will require Burst's help. Can she be trusted?"

"Yes, she can. She is an honest person." Alex wondered, "What are you planning?"

"A way to gain faith in myself, and maybe back in the x-men."

Alex called out, "Burst! Can you come here?"

"Yes?" Burst said as she entered the door.

"Burst," Scott said with determination, "I need your help in a plan, I have been thinking of for a while but I couldn't figure out a way to complete it, but now I think I can."

"What's your plan?" Alex and Burst asked simultaneously. Scott told them the full detail of his plan. Alex is shocked. "That's crazy! Please tell me this is a joke!" Scott stared at him. "It's not a joke." Alex realized. Burst sighed. "It's better than suicide." She logically stated. "Not much." Alex muttered. He thought to himself.

"So," Scott asked "Will you do it?"

Burst nodded "Ok, I'll do it."

[next part]

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