Work Text:
Jean wakes up and hears the moon calling.
She walks on silent feet down the corridors, the deep blue shadows around her shimmering and pulsing gently. Eddies in the air twinkle faintly, a pleasant murmur in her ears that makes her want to smile. As she reaches the door, she hesitates, pressing her palm to the wood to try and still her swirling thoughts.
It all feels dreamlike, surreal, but once she takes a step outside, her whole life will change, permanently. Professor X told them you only became moon-marked once you answered the call. She could still turn back, head back to her room and pretend nothing had happened, wait for someone else to heed the call of the blue moon - should anyone else hear it in her lifetime.
If she chooses to shoulder that burden she knows she will have to do so alone, but Jean has been alone for as long as she remembers. Even here, in the House of Selene, she stands ever so slightly apart from the other acolytes. They say she"s moon-cursed, and the mix of pity and envy that inspires isn"t conducive to forging bonds.
If she walks this path, at least her solitude will be of her own choosing, she reflects, and the moon sings so vibrantly, so beautifully outside. Jean has often dreamed about playing the strings of the tides, but even so she has to steel herself before she opens the door.
The air vibrates with life as she steps into the moonlight. Silver touches her skin and ignites it. She"s wreathed in cool fire and a myriad of stars dance around her, the night sky at her fingertips. She can feel the waves of power submerging her, white as bone and red as blood, and she shivers, and smiles a scream.
But she"s not alone. A solitary figure stands on the lawn, her face raised up to the sky.
"Can you hear her too?" she asks, voice filled with wonder.
"Yes," Jean says, voice caught between a sob and a laugh.
"Does that mean we"re triplets now?" Peter asks.
Jean hadn"t paid attention to the new arrivals, hadn"t even known they were twins but she sees the resemblance now as Wanda smiles and says, "Absolutely not."
"You"re just afraid she"ll like me better."
"She has better taste than that."
"I really don"t," Jean says, and is rewarded by Peter"s cackle of laughter.
"Which one of us will turn crazy first, do you think?" Wanda asks.
"Who says either one of you will?" Peter remarks, tone dry.
"Two witches. Twice the odds," Jean says.
Peter snorts, but doesn"t reply.
"This is it then," Jean says. "Ready?"
"No," Wanda says, and holds out her bloody hand. "You?"
Jean grabs her hand in a tight grip. "Never," she says with a smirk.