I'd like to thank Silver, Mad Dog, and Rae for their excellent beta-reading and for giving me their much valued opinions on the story as I write it. You guys are great :)

An explanation of the story itself: Risen is half What If?, and half alternate dimension. Basically, it takes place in a retcon-free universe, where there's no such thing as a "Phoenix Force" or the Phoenix being a cosmic entity. Phoenix, the one who died on the moon of course, has always been far and away my favorite character; and the unbelievable way in which they completely and utterly destroyed the character and story of Jean Grey is a major sore spot with me. In my opinion, the best possible thing that Marvel could have done was to have left her dead, never brought Rachel back from DoFP, never created Maddie or CocoonWoman, etc; but, if they absolutely _had_ to bring her back, they could have at least done it the right way, without ruining anyone or anything. True, her death on the moon was extremely poignant and shouldn't be messed with; but I feel that if the ressurection were handled correctly, it could be pulled off without diminishing the impact of that tale too much. There are a few reasons why I chose to write this story instead of one where she simply stays dead. Firstly, I just like to write Jean the way I feel she should be written. I feel like smashing my head into a wall anytime I read fanfics portraying her as the shrill, meddling den mother; and I want to offer something to counter that image. My short stories are a start; but this will allow me more room to work with her character. Secondly, it would not be totally illogical to bring her back, seeing as that's what Phoenix's do, and she had already done it once before in UXM#100-101. After her death in UXM#137, there were many instances of various characters wondering if she would come back and more than a few hints that she would; and I was very disappointed that nothing ever came of them. Lastly, the quickness of her death has always struck me as wrong. Yes, that was part of what made it so excellent and shocking; but I've always wondered how she would have handled what she did to the D'Bari if she had had more time. How would she have felt about the Inner Circle? Would she have called Xavier on his failure to help her? Would she get help in controlling her powers? How would being dead for a long period of time change her personality and views on things? What would she have done with her life, and how would all this affect those around her? This is the result, the story of how I think things would have gone had they only adhered to the original Phoenix explanation, which was simply that while piloting the Starcore shuttle, Jean broke through the barriers Xavier had placed in her mind, achieved her full potential which was then further boosted by the solar flares, ressurected herself, and changed her name and costume to match the flashier powers. She then went insane mostly because of her failure to deal with her higher power levels and with more than a little help from Mastermind; and she eventually developed a split personality. Easy, huh? :)

I begin the story about three months after the events in God Loves, Man Kills; and everything that occured between UXM#1 and GL,MK in the 616 universe also happened here, with a few minor changes that do not really affect anything(ex: I changed Jean's college major to save time).

I changed the concept of Mr. Sinister, in that he's not Mr. Sinister, doesn't clone things, and could care less about the Summers'(or anyone else's) genes. Just go with it; it'll make sense :)

Science. I like science. I find it very interesting. I try really, really hard to learn it; but despite all my efforts, most of it does not make sense to me. So, the few scientific explanations I give for things probably won't make any sense at all to those in the know, and I apologize ahead of time. I'll do my best.

The timeline is the same as it was in the 80's before the deaging practice began, although the story does take place in the 90's. It's just that time has passed, it keeps on passing, and people get older instead of younger. For example, I put Scott at 26(what he was during the first Brood Saga), Kitty at 15, Ororo at 27, etc using things found in the comics(Jean joined when she was 17, died when she was 24; Kurt celebrated his 21st birthday when Kitty was 13, etc). This is probably more of a pet peeve than anything else; but I thought I'd mention it for those of you who noticed Scott's recent, rather bizzare statement that he's only 25 _now_ :)

I did not phonetically write out any accents because, for the most part, I find it exaggerated and stereotypical(although, truthfully, I'm probably just doing it to be perverse:). I don't think anyone's accent is that strong that it _has_ to be spelled out; and besides, if I did it for the Southern, Scottish, and Irish accents, I'd have to do it for all the New York, New England, Midwestern, German, and Russian ones. And I don't even want to _think_ about what the Shi'ar sound like :)

Lastly, some parts of this story might not be very pleasant or suitable for younger readers. I'll put individual warning labels on the sections that need it.

Well, I guess that's about it. Please, please, please give me feedback, it's always greatly appreciated :)