ax_main | Jean-Paul and Jeanne-Marie, October 2

Jean-Paul approaches Jeanne-Marie after the Professor's announcement. They have very different ideas about how things should go. It does not end well.

Jeanne-Marie stood slowly and left Simon's side, then wandered into the hallway, in the general direction of the front door. She needed to walk, maybe fly, and think things through... even though she was fairly sure her mind was made up.

Jean-Paul was at her side in an instant. "So. We're going to have to think of something."

She smiled at him softly. "What did you have in mind, precisely?" She had an idea. And it wasn't at all what she had in mind.

"This place isn't exactly going to be safe going forward."

"I think it will be safer than anywhere else we could go," Jeanne-Marie said with a pointed look. This was no time to be coy. She wanted him to know where she stood from the beginning. "And I don't intend to leave when we're needed most."

Jean-Paul shot her a shocked look. "You're going to trust this man with your life? Jeanne-Marie, he manipulated us into coming here!"

"I trust my friends here. I trust you. And... I don't entirely trust Xavier, but I trust him as much as I'd trust any adult," she said. "His lie was one of omission, but it was still a lie. I agree with you there.

"I want to be a part of what's happening, though. And he's offering us a way--a way with support we couldn't dream of anywhere else."

"He's using us." There was a hint of building anger in Jean-Paul's voice. "And we're more vulnerable than most, Jeanne-Marie. We don't have anyone in the outside world who will investigate if something happens to us."

"Plenty of students here do," she pointed out. "He's not forcing us to do anything. The school remains--and if anyone has the capability to protect a school full of mutants, it's the people here. The students themselves.

"So if we choose to join him, choose to publicly oppose cruel, violent methods that will turn public opinion against us even more, then why not?"

Jean-Paul shook his head. "I was right about him, bijou. We can't trust him."

"Who can we trust?" She reached for his hand, looking him in the eye. "I believe we can trust our friends here. Don't you?"

"Yes, but think on who has power here, Jeanne-Marie. It isn't us."

"You're right. And he metes out information like someone who knows it," she allowed. "But that's not enough reason to run from what I know is right."

Jean-Paul bit back his growing frustration. He knew it wasn't Jeanne-Marie he was upset with, and had just enough awareness to know that at least part of his anger was bitter disappointment turned outward. He'd wanted this to be everything it seemed. He hadn't wanted to be right.

But that didn't change the fact that he was.

"Think of the source," he said gently. "We're going to trust the man who lied to get us all here to know from 'right'? Just because this Brotherhood is in the wrong, that doesn't mean Xavier is going to do right by us. Or other mutants."

Jeanne-Marie felt like they were going in circles, even though they weren't. She hadn't made her point. "I know the source, and I know he needs to be watched. I would never take anything he says at face value again. I would always assume there was more to it. That's good sense.

"But looking into what he's offering doesn't mean accepting everything, either. If he does wrong, we go. If he does right, then we really can stand up. Together. All of us."

Jean-Paul shook his head. "You're dreaming. But I won't leave you here."

Jeanne-Marie narrowed her eyes, flushing. "I've earned the right to dream. And so have you.

"Why stay if you're only going to blame me? Will you stay to prove me wrong, or to rescue me when you do?"

"I don't blame you," Jean-Paul said sharply. "I blame Xavier. The entire reason I came here in the first place was so we wouldn't be alone. I'm not backing out on that now. But thank you. It's good to know you think so highly of me."

"What about how you think of me?" She shot back, taking a step away and crossing her arms over her ribs. "Saying over and over that we can't trust him--I know we can't. I know as well as you do what happens when your life is in the wrong hands. I'm telling you I mean to keep it in my own.

"Then you say you won't leave me here, even though I'm a fool? What should I think?"

"Your words, not mine." Jean-Paul stepped away. "But fine. You have made your decision. I suppose I have to make mine." He turned away and headed down the hall.

"No!" She grabbed his arm and tried to turn him around. She wanted to kick him in the backside on his way out, but he wasn't getting away with this. "Your words. Because you said 'dreaming' and not 'fool', you don't get to pretend it's all on me."

Sister or no, hands laid on him in anger provoked a primal reaction. Jean-Paul jerked away from her hold, fury in his eyes and an answering physical response only just kept in check.

"And don't you pretend like anything I had to say would have made a difference." The words were edged in a warning growl not to try that again. And he kept walking.

She flinched back, the look on his face unexpected and, for just a moment, terrifying. Her belly went tight, her face cold. She'd only wanted to stop him. To make him look at her. She wanted to shrink, to run, to cower.

But then her lip curled into a snarl of its own. She lit up, as if to fend off the metaphorical darkness, and disappeared in the opposite direction.