Jean fiddled nervously as she watched Shani ease Rogue into a chair, twisting her wedding band. When Shani turned, there was a laconic look to her. Her eyes were half-closed and her manner was surreal, although focused. "I suppose this means that you and I have to--"

"Yep. Sorry, Jean. Unless you want to--"

"Noooo...that's fine." Kissing she could handle, sleeping with Shani she could not. So she lunged for Shani before either of them could lose any more dignity.

There lips met, and at first it was like the feeling canceled itself out; both women were, obviously, used to the firmness of a man's lips against their own. And then the sensation surged ahead. They grew hot (like a bird of Fire), cold (like the hand of Death), weak (like the dead) and triumphant (like a twin spirit, rising above the blaze of human emotion).

A faint outline appeared around them both, the expected form of a bird. This was vague and delicate like spun sugar, but it was the Phoenix. The temperature of the room rose noticeably. The flames of which the guardian was made were faint, flickering, oddly hypnotic. But there was still the presence of the Phalian--this particular Phoenix had metal wings.

And then they were gone, a final parting cry splitting the air in their wake.

"Wait!" Ryu cried out as he realized what was happening. Sounding like a lost child, he said, "I wanted to tell her to be careful." The look on his face betrayed how much he wanted her back.

"She knows," Gambit told him, "She knows."





"Oh, God. Oh, God." The realization of what they were doing and the extent to which she had lied in order to get it done only hit Shani as she and Jean lay on the hard stone of the Gateway corridors.

"What's wrong?"

"We have to hurry."

Jean glanced at her, suspicious. Something in her tone indicated that it was a requirement rather than personal desire. "Why?"

Shani smirked humorlessly. "Come on, Jean. Can't you guess? A body without a soul dies. . ."

"Oh, my God." She hadn't thought. "Let's go."

They had until sunrise, as far as Shani could tell, to get their captive souls returned or there was going to be a mansion full of dead bodies and unanswered questions.





Jean and Shani split up then, figuring they could cover more ground if they worked separately.

Time lost all meaning, Shani called for all of them in turn, yelling the names of those she was looking for; John, Sin, Jordan, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel. She refused to call for Sin's father.

There was no answer, no direction was forthcoming, and soon Shani was sliding into the depths of despair. There were dead ends everywhere, nothing could make them disappear, the power had no effect.

Finally, Shani sank to her knees, covered her face with her hands, and cried. "Oh, God, please," she moaned. "I can't do this. And I can't not do this because I'll have everyone's blood on my hands. Please, I can't let Rogue die without being able to kiss Gambit and Logan can't die before he gets into those anger-management classes and Gambit can't die without putting his conscience to rest and Scott can't die without Jean and Jean can't live without Scott. . .Please, oh, God, please! I need HELP!" Her voice had risen to a wounded shriek.

"Ask and ye shall receive." Shani rose to her feet and spun around in the same movement, coming face-to-face with the blond bane of her existence. And she'd never been happier to see him.

"John!" She threw her arms around him. "Don't let me go. Don't ever let me go."

"You want me to carry you?" One eyebrow rose. "How undignified."

"Oh, blow m--" She cleared her throat, realizing she was automatically reverting to the adolescent behavior they used on each other. "Fine, let's go. Have you seen Jean?"

John nodded, his expression turning hard. "Briefly. She isn't holding up well."

"Show me."





"Not holding up well" was as polite a way as you cold say it. When they located Jean again, in the shadows of the hallway, she was laying huddled on the floor, trembling. When Shani reached out to touch her, she lashed out with a psychic bitch-slap that laid John, for all his celestial brilliance, flat on his ass.

It took several minutes to wrestle the other woman to an impasse, and she shrieked and howled throughout, unburdening her mind from the things she had faced. "Darkness! Complete darkness!...I was here, and then I wasn't...He told me I would face the consequences...His eyes! Oh, God!...Five billion people screaming...I didn't mean it! I swear I didn't mean to kill them! I'm SORRY! Oh, God, I'm so sorry..." Tears streamed down her face, her hair was wild with tangles, her clothing was ragged and dirty. She looked like she had been fighting for her life.

Shani gathered Jean into her arms and the other woman held on for dear life. "Tell me more." She had to get everything out, or it would fester inside her.

Jean took deep gasping breaths and choked out the rest. "Scott hated me! He said he knew I'd been with Logan...but I haven't! I haven't, I swear it! Not latel-" Her words ran into the brick wall of her secrets and shattered. "I haven't!" She repeated again, in a loud, anguished scream. "Madelyne came at me and...I killed her as well! I killed them all...Oh, God..." Finally, Jean subsided in a fit of hiccups and wet, slurpy crying noises.

The reason for Shani's gunslinger squint became obvious then. Unlike most people, who narrowed their eyes when they were angry, Shani opened hers wide.

John was pinned under the gaze of her eyes, hard like a stained glass window and just as complex. They burned with the power of the people whose souls she carried. She knew how to end it now, the other possibilities were a waste of precious time; she wasn't stupid enough to challenge anyone to mortal combat, because she wasn't good enough to win. She had no patience for mind games, and little information to play them with. Which only left one thing.

"John, can you get everyone together? Michael, Jordan, Sin?"

He looked skeptically at her. "How?"

"I don't care. Lie, steal, cheat, whatever. Can you do it?"

"Probably."

"Then go." He opened his mouth, "I said, GO!" Her eyes flared and he retreated.

She sat and rocked Jean in her arms, promising, "If we get out of this alive, you and I are going to waltz."





Michael smirked. "Am I to understand that you will resolve everything with a single move?"

"That's right, Michael. It ends now." While he appeared to think it over, Shani's eyes fell to her son, standing next to the Archangel. He was tall and lithe and blond, an unlikely description of one so young. He smiled at her, scrutinizing her looks and carriage. Shani sincerely hoped she measured up. He was tired, his face looked ravaged, his hair stood on end, but he was no longer torn by pain. The Phalian had left him as soon as she had found the principal avatar, the only one allowed to control the entity because she had become the entity.

Turning, she looked at Sin. He was equally exhausted and ragged-looking, but he did not seem physically hurt. She hoped that Sin's father had left his mind as untouched as his body. Belial was not present.

"All right. I accept. Exactly what are your terms?"

Shani took a small round object from her pocket. "Heads, I take everybody home and remain the Phalian. I will continue to serve the souls. Tails, I set the Phalian free, and everyone else can worry about putting it in a cage. And you can do what you want with me. Either way, Jean and my children leave and I never hear anything from either of you again. Ever."

Shani took a deep breath and flipped the coin into the air. The quarter flashed like a child's wish on a star. Shani's breath caught in her throat as it began to descend.





"What are they doing?"

"Dancing."

Jean and Shani pirouetted past the staring X-men, who were draped across the furniture and floors in various stages of collapse. The sun peeked above the horizon, an obelisk decorating the entrance of a new day.

"I believe it is a waltz," Beast added helpfully. "Jean's timing appears to be a half-beat behind Shani's."





Six months later, Jean and Shani were still dancing. . .at Shani's wedding. Jordan, the persistent little bugger, had refused to leave Shani, despite his father's loud and detailed complaints against New York City. Jordan had followed his mother around everywhere, insisting that if he was going to go halfway around the world, he was going to leave with the knowledge that he had a mother. Ryu had grudgingly accompanied them both, and soon he'd found himself forgetting all about his intention to go back to Japan.

He still referred to her as "Geijin," but now it was a pet name. Shani had found herself talking to Ryu about everything, answering his questions and comments without restraint. She knew him as well as she knew herself, and words were unnecessary. She had found her soulmate.

He had forgiven her for leaving Jordan, as he had said, if she hadn't, he wouldn't have had a reason to search her out and fall in love with his beautiful geijin.

Sin was fine. He still dealt with terrifying dreams and the innate knowledge of who he was, but he also knew now that he had control over his own destiny. His parentage had nothing to do with it. Ryu treated him almost as a younger brother, had even begun to train him in judo.

Jordan was ecstatic, although he had whined about the humiliation of being made ring-bearer for weeks before the ceremony, driving his mother to death threats.

Three days before the wedding, Shani received a manilla envelope shellacked with official-looking stamps and seals. It was stuffed with long-winded letters from lawyers. Her late father's lawyers, who stated that under the England's Married Women's Act, passed over a hundred years ago, Shani O'Rhian retained full rights and property dictated in her father's will. Shani was informed by the lawyer that it was recently discovered that Shani had been born on a vacation trip, in an inn just on the other side of the Scottish-English border. Shani was, by birth, an English citizen. Upon hearing that she was now a millionaire several times over, Shani had launched into a loud rendition of "God Save the Queen" that announced her happiness to the whole county.

The X-men suffered no ill will against her; Jean, who had most reason to resent her for what she had faced, agreed to be her Maid of Honor. Gambit agreed to walk her down the aisle. The rest of the X-men were bridesmaids and groomsmen, respectively.

During the reception, Shani stepped off to one side, sweeping her long, golden silk skirt to the side, and watched her new husband dancing with Storm. Logan took this as a opportunity not to be missed.

"Shani?"

She laughed. "Come on, Wolverine. You know I don't dance well."

"Ah, honey. You only live once."

That's right, Shani thought as she went into his arms. This was a storybook ending to a Stephen King novel. It was a happy ending she damn well deserved.

Life was good. And she was sure as hell going to try and keep it that way.