#marie blames herself partly for sebastian

[rypnami]

The metal is as cold as his skin was the last time she touched it

and as she lifts his silver urn

engraved with his name, ashes carefully sealed within

she realises

he is just as small

as the first time

she held him

—-

context

[thecorteztwins]

If there is one person Madelyne Pryor hates as much as Mr. Sinister, it’s Jean Grey. And she’s got good reason. Damn good reason. Now, Jean has never actually done anything to Madelyne. You can’t even blame her for “stealing” Scott, as she didn’t know Madelyne existed, let alone that Scott was married to her, at the time when she reunited with him. But Madelyne despises her, and while her reasons aren’t JUSTIFIED, they are UNDERSTANDABLE. Her entire tortured existence is owed to Jean, and everyone in her life, not just Scott but her own children and friends, chose Jean over her, and she’s only ever been desired or loved or wanted as a second-rate Jean. That’s enough to fuck anyone up and build some resentment. But not only does Jean not hate Madelyne, Jean actually has been the person to show the MOST compassion to her. During the massive battle during Inferno, when Madelyne has been twisted into the Goblyn Queen and is going to sacrifice her own baby and wreck the world all in vengeance for what was done to her, the X-Men still don’t know her origins. It’s Jean who she reveals it to. She psychically shares the horror, the revelation, of her origins to Jean via telepathy. Jean’s response is to apologize to Madelyne, to try to talk to her down, to reason with her. Jean says the things to her then that I wish I could say to her: “Madelyne, no! It doesn’t have to be like that! I’ve been with you. Inside your mind...as you’ve been inside mine. I know you. I...understand. I didn’t start what was done to you. But I’m partly responsible. So is Scott. So are we all. Even now, with all that’s passed between us, we can work things out. You have so much. You have life! And what I don’t have...what I may never have...Scott’s son. Don’t toss it all away. Please...we can offer you a safe haven, where you can adjust and grow and---” And that’s when Madelyne blasts her away. Probably shouldn’t have said the bit about having Scott’s son, I would not have done THAT part. But Jean keeps trying. When Madelyne fails to take everyone down with her, she decides she’ll settle for both herself and Jean. She links her mind to Jean so that Jean will be dragged down into death with her. Even then, Jean begs her, not for her own life for Maddy to spare herself--- “Madelyne, don’t do this! Live! Please!!”--but Madelyne replies “Not in the same world as you.” Jean ends up surviving. Madelyne does not. Madelyne would return to life in the 90s, and end up attaching herself to Nate Grey, who she was drawn to for reasons she didn’t know. They end up as romantic partners of a sort, and it grosses a lot of people out since he was created by Sinister in alternate reality by mixing Jean and Cyclop’s DNA, so Madelyne, being Jean’s clone, is genetically identical to his “mother” DNA...but neither of them KNEW this. So I don’t think they can be blamed.  Anyway, at one point, Jean meets Nate, and then Maddy shows up. And of course she attacks Jean. Despite his deep friendship with Maddy and having just met Jean, Nate chooses Jean over her in the fight, and Maddy is knocked unconscious. And that’s when Nate tries to kill her. See, Nate realized he was the one to bring her back to life, and he also realized WHY he did it---his subconscious was reaching out in search of a mother in this universe, so it was looking for the Jean Grey of his universe, and it latched on to Madelyne’s ghost on the astral plane and brought her back. He brought Maddy back to life...because he actually wanted Jean. So yet again, a man that Madelyne has grown to love and care about...actually wanted Jean all along. And when Nate realized this, he tried to KILL Madelyne. And it was actually Jean who stopped him! Maddy was unconscious for this iirc, but yeah, Madelyne is REPEATEDLY rejected not just by Scott, but by Cable and Nate too. And while with Cable I get it to a degree, as Jean was the one who raised him (partly) while Maddy tried to murder him (but while she was under demonic influence, she was a devoted mother before that, though he probably can’t remember it) with Nate it’s just...like not only does he reject her AFTER they’ve been friends-maybe-lovers-ick, after he’s known her as a person in her own right, once he realizes “oh I meant to reach Jean, not her” he then tries to UNMAKE HER BODY AND SEND HER BACK TO TO THE AFTERLIFE.  In total fairness, it’s done in a way that isn’t hateful or hostile, but out of a sense of pity and responsibility for her, feeling that since he brought her back to this life of pain then he should put her back. But it’s still taking her agency and treating her life as a choice he can make. So now Madelyne’s not only been treated like an object without agency by Sinister and the story itself, but a good guy too. And it’s JEAN who steps up and says NO, SHE’S A PERSON. Which, YEAH, SHE IS. You might have brought her to life by accident, but that doesn’t mean you should kill her now!  Maddy, of course, is not awake to hear this. And if she had been, I’m sure it would just make her hate Jean more. I think she loathes being shown kindness by Jean, I think it makes her sick when Jean is the saintly one because it just plays up all the more how Maddy is the monster, the bad one, the evil whore side of the Madonna/whore dichotomy (she even compares Jean to the Virgin Mary in the eyes of others)  So I don’t think that, despite the fact Jean was violated in a way too by Madelyne’s creation, or how Jean is probably the one person (besides Sebastian Shaw, weirdly enough---yeah, he and Maddy had a thing and he emphatically did not see her as Jean) who sees Maddy as a true individual whose life has value regardless of she came about it, that Maddy and Jean are ever going to be friends. Even if Maddy finally gets to stop being a villain, I don’t think she can ever be in the same room as Jean. It’d just be too painful. But I like that Jean kept trying.