7489/The Nightmare Barrier: Tabitha

The Nightmare Barrier: Tabitha
Date of Scene:	22 August 2021
Location:	M'Kraan Crystal
Synopsis:	Inside the M'kraan crystal, Tabitha falls victim to the same nightmares that face all her teammates. She's confronted by a false vision of her ancient cosmic benefactor, leads the X-men into a horrible slaughter by the Sentinels, but ultimately makes contact with Xi'an and pushes off the nightmare, choosing her friends over fear.
Cast of Characters:	Jean Grey, Tabitha Smith

---

Jean Grey has posed:
A moment ago, Tabitha and the other X-Men were wandering the strange interior of the M'Kraan crystal. A billion light years from home, it was something far beyond what most of them had ever dealt with in their lives. Then again, it wasn't her first brush with powers alien, mysterious, and beyond the ken of human experience.

But then it all vanishes. The white city is good. Her friends are gone. Have they been swept to some stranger dimension still? Have they died?

The appears isolated in a desolate place, a piece of empty ground floating in space. At first she feels alone, but then she comes to feel a presence with her. The figure is familiar, his silhouette, his mannerism, although it's hard to fully see him, as he seems to stand in shadow, despite a lack of obvious light source in this place.

"Well, this is all screwed up. Kind of out of your league, don't you think? Alien Emperors, cosmic gods, and you're, what?" He smirks. "Oh right, you'll make a little bomb. That'll fix it."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith frowns instantly at the sense of a presence even though she turns toward it, hoping to find one of her fellow X-Men... "Nobody even knows what my league is yet!" She protests, "Not the first time I've met a cosmic god!" She backs off at the mention of her bombs, looking uncertain. How does he... Well of course whatever he is knows. She was just using them after all.

Jean Grey has posed:
"Well no kidding," the man replies, as she protests about her prior experience. "And better cosmic gods than they've got around here, if I do say so myself. What do you think I'm here for? You're not saying you don't remember your old friend?"

But of course, she can't exactly see him. His face is indistinct, hidden in the shadows, even if everything else feels familiar. It's like an echo of something once remembered. "Anyway, what say we blow this place,. Literally, I mean. You just said it, there's no telling just how much you can do, so why don't we see? I'll unlock your powers for you, and you blast this crystal prison apart."

He gestures outward, and in the distance of the strange island she floats on, she can see the shimmering, reflective edges of the crystal, as if they'd just been shrunk down and locked inside.

"Be the actual hero for once, not some tagalong. Go on. Just pick a side, and break it."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith frowns again but attempts to move closer to the figure in the shadows, "I'm too close. If you're him you know I'm not immune to my own powers like some mutants. And besides, Jim and Yana and Xi'an are here somewhere. I can't just blow it and leave without them. What kinda hero would that be?" She strides forward trying to get a better look at him to see if he's telling her the truth.

Jean Grey has posed:
Can she actually remember his face? The memory is pretty weird itself. But stepping closer, the shadows fade back, and the visage she sees-

Well, it's whatever she remembers.

"Oh come on. You think I'd have you blow yourself up? I could even just let you out myself. But what's the fun of that? You never let me give you anything, so I want to give you this. Aim for one of the points where all the facets meet, you see? You can use just enough to break it, but it won't kill you or anyone else. And the crystal will break."

However, it doesn't seem like the man is in a mood to beg to help her. "Or don't. I can find someone else, someone more entertaining. Call me if you need me, you know I always know. I know everything." And to show that this threat is very real, he vanishes. Leaving her alone on the floating rock. Utterly and completely.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith pulls a little plasma bomb and throws it toward the vanishing figure as he vanishes and shouts, "Don't leave me here! Come back! Help me find them!" Again she runs as though she could catch the one leaving her behind and fails. She drops down on her knees, "Don't leave me!" Tabby doesn't do well with alone. She's really not good company for herself. The feeling of being alone starts to eat at her and she summons another bomb as she stares at the corners. Would it really work?

Jean Grey has posed:
Her angry retort sails through his vanishing form, the bomb continues flying out into the cosmic nothingness, and eventually explodes. But it does seem to do so with a little more energy than what she might remember. She can see a flash of light reflect off the crystal surface a bit further out, and then die away. And after that?

Well, nothing at all.

The man keeps her promise, and she's left alone in the void. In the crystal, it's hard to really understand the flow of time. Do minutes pass? Hours? Days? Maybe she truly could end up being left out here like this, forever.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith screams out into the emptiness then whispers to herself, "Ten points... I win." How long has it been since she played that game for real? Not since Xavier's. Not really. She growls into the emptiness as she pushes off the ground. "Come back and get me out of HERE!" She throws the bomb in her hand then summons another her other hands and throws it as well. "Come." Bomb. "Back." Bomb. "Get." Bomb. "Me." Bomb. "Out." Bomb. "Of." Bomb. "HERE!" Bomb. She's angry now. Doesn't always think so well when she's angry. Each time she draws a bomb, it's a little bigger and thrown a little harder. She's got to get out of here and go find Jimmy. And Yana. And all the rest of them.

Jean Grey has posed:
"Hey, chillax," he says, suddenly standing next to her, just after she throws that last bomb. That's what the kids say, right? "But you've already got this. You see? They're getting stronger." He points at the last bomb flying toward the edge.

A moment later, it explodes. She can see the energy reflect against the crystal surface, and then watch as cracks begin to grow from that fault point, farther and farther...

When the crystal finally shatters, there's a flash, a sense of falling, and then she is back laying in the center of the research facility on the alien planet. The others are scattered around on the ground. She can see James and Illyana. Even Jean is with them, as well as Lilandra and another Shi'ar she doesn't immediately recognize. It won't be long before they all start recovering.

Her savior has vanished.

---

After that? A happy ending. Lilandra takes her brother into custody, and the X-Men are ferried back to Earth on her flagship. When they return, they find the rest of the fleet still in orbit, fighting with the Justice League, but Lilandra calls for them to stand down.

The X-men don't exactly get an official hero's welcome and parade, as the team still operates largely in secret. But at Xavier's, everyone is thrilled to see them. And Tabitha, of course, is celebrated for her part in freeing them. She's made a full X-Man.

Everything is wonderful.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith runs over and drops to her knees and drags Illyana and James into one armed embraces when she sees them. She's ready to embrace the whole thing. Relief. That's the feeling she's feeling at first. And then they're back at school. And everything's... good? Wasn't there something she was supposed to do? The longer it goes on, the more sus it all seems so she goes to find Jimmy again to tell him she feels like something's wrong so he can tell her she's being crazy.

Jean Grey has posed:
Happiness is seductive. It's true, there are strange things about this happy end. Is it too easy? Too perfect? And yet, try as she might, Tabitha can't find any obvious sign. James will only reassure her: she did good, why question it?

Time passes. How much? It's hard to tell, it slips away. What did she do, what did her life-

They're on a mission now, suddenly. And Tabitha, now a full-fledged X-Man, is leading one of the squads in the field. It feels familiar-

Genosha.

For a time, she'd lived there there, run away there. But things went terribly. After that, it was rebuilt. Lorna's done a wonderful job, the place is thriving, a paradise for mutantkind where-

It's the same old story. Anti-mutant hatred, Sentinels walking the streets. Around her, everything is on fire. And the team, the familiar, friendly faces, they look to her.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Happiness is seductive but it doesn't feel real. There are periods of acceptance but the times between doubts grow shorter and shorter and then finally Tabby snaps. No matter how much Jimmy tries to reassure her, it all feels wrong. It feels unreal. Something in the back of her mind keeps screaming at her. "Something's wrong. Something's very wrong with all of this!" She summons a great big bomb and throws it. Maybe if she breaks enough stuff, she'll find what she's missing.

Jean Grey has posed:
Bombs are a great solution to violent problems, although maybe less so to philosophical ones.

Still, in the moment, they're under attack. The response is instinctive and it seems to work: a plasma ball explodes at the knee of one of the stalking Sentinels, and its massive form falls-

Toward several of her teammates. There's nothing she can do. None of them are fast enough to get out of the way, and the massive weight of its metal body crushes them. And even as the first Sentinel falls, several more appear, their robotic faces leering down from above the outline of broken, burning buildings. The battlefield has become a nightmare.

"Boom-Boom, what do we do? You have to tell us what to do! You're in charge!"

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith shakes her head, "No. I'm not... No one would ever trust me this much. No one's ever..." She's paralyzed for a moment. She starts to turn and run away. That's what she's always done isn't it? Then she shakes her head. She looks to Jim and groans, "Help me get it off them. We'll use the fallen Sentinel as cover to attack the others! Where's Yana. She can get the wounded out of here."

Jean Grey has posed:
This version of James, whatever he is, does exactly as Tabitha demands. With his great strength, he walks up to the broken Sentinel and leverages its massive form-

-to reveal an overly grotesque image of her teammates crushed beneath, their bodies broken and bloody.

The approaching Sentinels loom over them both now, holding their hands forward.

"TARGETS IDENTIFIED. MUTANTS. TERMINATE." The robotic voice echoes, artificial and deafening.

Yet there's something, a very brief hint, underneath. "-hear me? Re-"

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith presses one hand to her head even as she summons a bomb to throw at the approaching Sentinel. This isn't right. How long has everything felt so wrong... Almost since... It slips and she attacks again then says, "It hasn't been right since we brought Jean back... That crystal. That's when it all started."

Jean Grey has posed:
Another explosion, as her bomb hits. The Sentinel reels back, but it doesn't fall. They seem stronger now, although perhaps its strange, if her bomb was strong enough to shatter their interdimensional prison but not a robot's armor. The hand keeps coming...

But it doesn't grab her. Instead, it seizes James, and lifts him. He strains against the massive robotic hand, yet for all his tremendous strength, he can't seem to break free. "TERMINATE."

"-reply if-" Again, there's a hint of a voice, from somewhere.

The horrible battle continues. Yet more and more, it's clearly turning into a rout, a slaughter. Wherever Tabitha goes, the Sentinels seem to follow. The mutant population is running for their lives, many being cut down as they flee.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith frowns. That voice. It doesn't belong in this battle and Tabitha desperately wants to be out of this battle. "Is there someone there? I can't hear you." She tries to focus on the voice that doesn't belong. To filter out the horror around her and find it. Focus is NOT Tabitha's strong suit. It's hard not to get distracted and just strike back again. Hard to listen but she tries. "Hello?"

Jean Grey has posed:
Listening is hard. The battlefield is all chaos, a cacophony of terrible sounds, explosions and screams. And yet, when Tabitha puts some effort to it, focuses and concentrates, she can catch on to it. Except, she'll realize, it isn't really a sound she's hearing.

It's a thought.

<<It is Xi'an -- I am listening!>>

And when she makes that contact, Tabitha can feel that it's different. The voice in her mind isn't like the others here. Like James', or even that of her mysterious benefactor from beyond, where something always seems a little off.

And yet, it's very distant. And around her, everything is still horror and madness. If it's all fake, how does she /leave/?

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith reaches out as tears stream down her cheeks. "Xi'an!" Both hands go to her head and she squeezes as if that might help her focus. "Xi'an how do I get out of here?!"

Jean Grey has posed:
It takes a moment for her to receive an answer, and even then, it feels distant. The contact, whatever contact Xi'an has managed from whatever part of this place she is... it is tenuous at best. <<Creature ... here ... feeds ... fear.>>

Beside her, a building collapses. The Sentinels loom over head. They're always close, but never seem to quite-

Except now, one reaches out, not for one of her friends, but for her.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith winces. She has to be... Not afraid? Great. That's not a challenge for Tabby at all. She is distracted from Xi'an by the sentinel that's reaching for her, but that is a fear reaction and that's exactly what she's not supposed to do. She thinks hard. <Show me how to get out of this, Xi'an.> She takes a deep breath and turns her back on the reaching Sentinel and forces herself to walk away slowly instead of running. One hand curls into a fist as she tries to focus. Xi'an. Think about Xi'an.

Jean Grey has posed:
There's no simple answer like that, unfortunately. She can feel Xi'an, feel the connection being pulled to its limit. <<...overcome ... representative .... your...>>

Tabitha turns from the Sentinel. In a way this works, breaks away from the story, the scene being played out in front of her. Yet it also proves that this reality isn't totally in her own eyes. With her back to it, the Sentinel's hand grasps her and lifts her into the air, forcing her back toward its face. But the expected robotic visage, the familiar yet artificial face the Sentinels all share is gone, replaced at first by a blank, black void... and then by a pair of glowing green eyes and an open, beast-like maw. It tosses her in like an afternoon snack.

And she falls, falls through pure darkness.

She lands on the front steps of Xavier's. But this isn't the 'happy ending' from before. She's younger. It's the first time she came here, just after she left.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith gasps when the hand grasps her. She's no stranger to being lifted by someone stronger than her, but before it's usually been someone familiar. She fights down the urge to yelp when she's tossed in. She squeezes her eyes shut a moment and then... Xavier's? In the past? Confusion's not fear right? Finally she says, "I'm done you know. I'm not buying what you're selling anymore."

Jean Grey has posed:
She speaks to nothing.

And nothing answers.

The figure is standing there again, as he did when this first began. "So what?" he laughs. "I meant every bit of what I said, and you know I'm right. You're not cut out for this. People reject you because you're not worth keeping. You're a broken girl, from a broken home, a ridiculous hero with silly powers. Out here? You're a liability."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith clears her throat and "You know nothing about me. I'm not that little girl anymore. I made my choice. I'm not running anymore."

Jean Grey has posed:
"Are you sure? Your first chance to get out of here, and it was the first thing you did. You said it yourself: you could have killed them all. How did you really know it would work?"

The figure folds his arms, still staring at her, his expression partly amused, but turning toward contemptuousness. "Ah... the things we could have done." And then he simply shrugs. "Enjoy your new-found confidence. Enjoy eternity. If you're not going to run now, it's only because you have nowhere to go."

And with that, he simply vanishes, leaving her alone there on the porch.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith whispers, "I do. I have Jimmy and Yana and Xi'an. They believe in me even when I forget to believe in me. I'll... " She swallows hard, "I'll always have somewhere to go back to. This is not a place I'm stuck in. This is where I want to be. Xavier's is my home." She closes her eyes and tries to find Xi'an again.

Jean Grey has posed:
The voices are gone. Both the taunting- well, whatever it is, and Xi'an's mental communication..

Yet perhaps not all is lost.

In that moment, Tabitha asserts where she truly belongs, her adopted family, her home. And while she cannot hear them, there is a feeling that comes back into focus: that they are here with her, that whatever the shape of this bizarre place, the rules of this crystal realm, they are here too. And perhaps not as far as everything would make it seem. And they too are struggling, facing terrors of their own-- but fighting back.

Behind her, the door back into the mansion opens.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith turns and walks into the mansion as she thinks of her friends and all the other X-Men... Hell even the Green Lantern she barely just met. She doesn't know the way out but she knows it rests with all of them overcoming this crap.

Jean Grey has posed:
Tabitha turns and walks through the door of the Xavier estate mansion...

But it's not the school she finds on the other side. Passing through the threshold, there is a flash of pure white light, and with it a feeling of warmth, the opposite to the horrible void she briefly experienced on her way here. And where she steps out, isn't into the familiar foyer, but somewhere quite unlike anywhere she has ever seen before. The others are there.

And so is their foe.