The Train Wreck Of Truth - Dark Phoenix Rewrite

The Beginning

Peter hadn't been fast enough, if only he had been careful. He had no idea that Jean would be able to see him coming, this new power of hers was unique. He had been tossed to one side like a rag doll, but his landing had been broken by a bouncy castle one of Jean's Father's neighbours had ordered for their child's birthday party. He had lost consciousness for a few seconds, when he finally came around he was surrounded by clown balloons and broken chairs. Luckily for Peter he hadn't been badly injured, he had a few scrapes and bruises forming on his face but he had managed to ignore his pain while he got to his feet. But when he returned to his teammates Jean had already gone and Raven had been injured, but something didn't feel right. At first Peter hadn't realized how badly injured Raven was until he saw the fence steak sticking through her chest, she was gasping for breath and her voice was filled with panic. Hank was with her, he was comforting her and trying his best to help her while she struggled to breath. He rested his forehead against Raven's forehead when her head fell to one side, she was gone. Raven had died from her injures and Jean was the one who caused their friend's death, Peter couldn't get his head around it. Hank had been inconsolable, he stayed by Raven's side until she had breathed her last breath. The mood was sombre, they had lost one of their own.

Charles had remained silent, he had his chance to stop Jean by letting Hank tranquilizer her but Charles had decided to let Raven speak with Jean. But the Professor's decision had been the wrong one, the cost of his failure was Raven's life. Hank was the one who had to pull Raven's lifeless body from the fence, Peter dared not look while Hank pulled her free. He didn't want to see Raven this way, she had been the heart of the X Men and now that heart wasn't beating anymore. 

They boarded the X Jet and Hank laid Raven's body on a stretcher, Storm had taken a white bed sheet from a washing line and covered Raven up with it. They took their normal seats and remained silent on the journey back to the school, they were all fighting back their tears for their fallen friend. After they had landed back in the Hanger they all walked in single file down the X Jet's ramp, Hank carried Raven in his arms and took her somewhere private so none of the students would see her. Charles had returned to his office, he planned on drowning his sorrows in the bottom of a bottle of scotch. Hank was furious with Charles, he had kept his distance from him on the X Jet and he refused to speak with him. It was up to Peter and the rest of his teammates to tell the students about Raven, they didn't know what to say to them since they had never really experience anything like this before since they had joined the X Men.

Hank had told them to met him in the teacher's kitchen in two hours time, he would run them through the school's grievance procedure. They decided first to get cleaned up and then arrange the school meeting in the main hallway or somewhere else around the school, they needed to gather all the students together first instead of telling them individually. Peter had lingered in his dorm room for over an hour, he was dreading leaving his room. He didn't want to face the students and break the news to them about Raven, she was a role model to all the students at the school. Sighing to himself Peter found the courage to leave his room, he closed the door behind him and spoke to a group of students at the end of the corridor. At first they asked him if Jean had returned to the school, but after a while they soon began to question him about his bruised and cut face.

" Are you okay Peter?" One of the students asked.

" I'm fine, I'll walk it off." Peter replied, he tried to act like his cheerful self. " But will you guys do me a favour? We've got a school meeting in the main hallway in two hours time, I need to you pass the message on for me to the rest of the students. Do you think you guys can do that for me?"

" What's the meeting about?" Another student asked.

" I can't discuss that with you right now." Peter replied. " But just pass the message on for me, okay?"