don't let me down: the chainsmokers
it's in my head, darling, i hope
that you'll be here when I need you the most
———
1990
The metal doors to the hangar as the six X-Men walked in, all dressed in yellow and dark cyan super suits. Max's long black hair was thrown over her shoulder, a little longer then in her teenage years. Charles had called them down for a mission so they went to the labs. Hank and Raven were already here, both blue and cramped into the same suits the others were wearing.
"It's a simple extraction. We go into space, we get the astronauts, we bring them home. Any questions?" Raven said simply like this was your run-of-the-mill mission. They had never done something like this before.
"Yeah, like a thousand." Scott said from beside Max, Jean on her other side.
"We don't have time for a thousand." Raven answered. Max could feel the nerves coming off of her and knew that Jean could feel them too.
"Zo ve're koing to sbace?" Kurt asked pointing up at the ceiling to make his point.
"Yes, Kurt, we are going into space."
"We're doing space missions now. Cool." Peter said nodding along with this plan.
"Will the X-Jet even get that high?" Scott asked, between curiosity and confusion.
"Well, technically, the-" Hank started but was cut off by Raven answering sharply, "It will get us there." Like she was trying to reassure herself that everything would be fine. "Let's go."
Everyone started walking towards the jet, Max slower than the others and Jean not moving at all. The black haired woman put a hand on Ravens shoulder, gave her a comforting smile and a squeezed her shoulder before jogging to catch up with the others.
***
The asphalt of the basketball court opened up straight down the middle as the jet rose from the ground. The engines revving as they rose into the air. Max sat in the first row, Hank in front of her piloting and Scott behind her. The plane tilted up slightly before shooting straight up into the air.
Max could feel her nerves start to get to her as they got higher and higher, above the clouds. The rumbling of the jet not helping at the moment. The thrusters accelerated immensely, forcing everyone to lean back in their chairs.
"I zink zis is not as much fun as I zought it vould pe." Max heard Kurt say from the back, his thick German accent giving him away.
The jet started to rattle, forcing everyone to hold onto something. Max's nail grew into claws on command, digging into the sides of her seat. Her eyes shut tightly trying to block out any sounds to calm herself down. Not wanting them to come back after years of pushing them down.
Scott, having sensed this, let his hand rest on her shoulder, his thumb rubbing back and fourth to calm her down. She pulled out her claws out from one side of the chair, while the other held on, letting her own hand clasp around his fingers before turning her head and placing a kiss on the top of his hand. It was comforting to know that her boyfriend was there.
They broke the Earths atmosphere and then everything stopped. The engines died down and the windshield was starting to freeze over at the corners. Through the windshield, they could see a small, from this far away at least, and something next to it. It was a large mass of fire like energy, swirling around itself. A solar flare.
"That's a solar flare?" Raven questioned, having none of them having ever seen one.
"I've never seen a reading like this." Hank said looking at the dashboard.
"Max?" Raven asked, turning her head slightly to the side to look at the black haired mutant, silently asking to see if she could do anything as energy was her expertise. She was already a step ahead of her. But Max only winced, closing her eyes tightly and placing the heel of her palm to her temple.
"Max, you alright?" Scott asked worriedly, leaned over to check on her.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I can't do anything about it though. Not from this far away at least." She said, first part to Scott, second part to Raven. The blue female nodded and the jet started moving again, tilting to the side and flying closer to the ship. The astronauts rocket ship was spinning around and around out of control. Debris and pieces of the rocket circled it as it spun uncontrollably.
"The orientation thruster's misfiring. That cabin won't hold for long." Hank said.
"Kurt, can you get in there?"
"It's sbinning too fast. I can't zee inzide zee vindow." He said from the back.
Raven turned her seat all the way around so she was looking at them. "Scott, I need you to blast that thruster, slow down the spin."
Wordlessly, he pushed a button on the wall next to him and his chair moved out to the aisle before lowering down into the laser gun station. The laser gun allowed him to fire at things with more precision, and in this case, not break the jet when he did.
They watched as one of his red beams shot from the bottom of the jet and hit the thruster, effectively stopping to spinning rocket ship.
"Kurt, take Peter. Go!" Raven commanded, making Kurt reach forward, grab Peters shoulder before they disappeared in a cloud of sulfur smoke.
Steam and air were coming from the missing spots of the ship, meaning the astronauts win lose oxygen soon.
"Storm, seal up those cracks."
She took a deep breath, her eyes turning white as ice froze over the cracks of the ship. There was another puff of smoke in the back, Peter, Kurt and the six astronauts that were once in their own rocket.
"Strap in, we're headed home." Raven said since they now had everyone.
"Wait. Our commander, he's not here. He was in the airlock working on the thruster." One of the astronauts said, her tone showing that they couldn't leave without him.
"The heat signatures rising fast." Hank said, turning his head to Raven, asking her what her next orders were.
"I can't hold it any longer." Storm said with her face scrunched up in concentration.
"We gotta get out of here. I said strap in." Raven shouted to the back, unsure of herself but knowing that she couldn't lose anyone on the team. Max could feel Charles in the blue woman's head but not what he was saying. She could guess though by how she answered, "I am not putting this team in more danger."
"Max can hold the solar flare off long enough for them to get the commander and Jean can hold the ship together. Can't you?" He said now in all three of their heads. Max looked to Jean, telepathically asking her if she could do this. When the redhead nodded back at her, Max answered for the both of them, "We can but, not from here. We would need to get inside."
"The heats spiking." Hank informed them. If they were going to do this, they had to do it now. "We've got less than a minute till those flares hit."
"She said they can do it." Scott said from his seat.
Max could practically feel Ravens inner battle of what to do before she said, "Thirty seconds. Max wrap energy around the ship in case Storm can't hold it long enough." Max nodded before feeling Kurts hand on her shoulder, his other on Jeans as Raven continued, "Count it down. Go."
With a cloud of smoke, they were they were inside the breaking down ship, alarms blaring. They were floating and Kurt was gone once again to look for the commander. Jean put her hands up, using the telekinesis to pull the ship back together as Max put her hands straight out to her sides, the ship soon covered in a red glow as her hair turned white with her eyes turning red.
She closed her eyes, focusing on holding the solar flare far enough so they had time before it hit. Max could feel it growing stronger by the second, as hearing a whisper, saying nothing she could understand but still there. It was like it was fighting against her.
"Maxine~" The voice said tauntingly in her ear, a voice she hadn't heard in over ten years. The voice that haunted her childhood when she lived on the streets. She gasped, losing her connection to the solar flare but still able to tap into Hanks mind to hear the countdown.
"Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.."
It hit. She felt herself be pushed back, her shield around the ship being shattered from impact. But Jean was upfront. Max could feel the affect the solar flare was having on her, the edges of her skin starting to burn, unable to moving anywhere as she felt her body start to fill with unwanted energy. Jean and the team were the only things on her mind, not herself.
She could feel part of the solar flare start to stray off towards the ship but all she could hear were the alarms going off and the labored breathing of Jean Grey.
"JEAN!" Max yelled over the loud sounds trying to get to her, helplessly watching as Jean put her head out. She was trying to redirect to solar flare to her. The mass of energy turned to her and merged with the other half. She continued yelling.
"JEAN!!" Max watched as Jean turned her head to her and lifted her other hand to her. She pushed Max back into the ship sharply, trying to protect her as much as she could.
Max's eyes widened in shock as she felt her back hit the wall. Her head hit something hard.
As her mind filled with darkness, her eyes drooping down, all she could hear was the sound of her best friend's screams of agony, and unable to do anything to stop them.
***
The team watched in horror as the ship exploded. Both of the woman's body's now floating in space, nothing moving. The The meaning energy from the solar flare sucked into both of their bodies, Jean much more than Max before everything was still.
No body made any movements.
A cloud of smoke appeared between them, zero-gravity pulling them together as they floated. Kurt grabbed before of them before teleporting back into the X-Jet.
Scott immediately floated/walked over and gently took Max from Kurts arms. His eyebrows were knitted together, his lips parted in shock as he held his unconscious girlfriend in his arms. Her dark eyes were closed, her hair turning back to black. Max always looked at peace when she was asleep.
Her eyes started to open, slowly blinking as she adjusted to the light of the jet. Her eyes faded from red and orange back to dark brown. "Is-is everyone safe? Where's Jean? Is she ok?"
If Scott wasn't in such shock of almost losing the love of his life, he would have chuckled at her selflessness. But instead, he only nodded, "Everyone's safe. Jeans fine, she's okay. You're okay." He said quietly before letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Max turned her slightly to see Jean being held by Kurt but she was starting to wake up as well.
He pulled her up slightly with her still floating on her back and leaned down to hug her tightly, whispering the words again more to reassure himself. Max lifted one of her to play with the brown hair on the back of his head while the other raked her fingers up and down his back softly.
"Then lets go home."
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