X-Men Darkest Days: Fire and Ice (XMDD Fan Fiction Story)

[Flex Lord Splash]

                             X-Men Darkest Days: Fire and Ice

 

The following is a Fan Fiction that Tyler gave me the idea to write today when he said he always wondered what if the Hellfire/Phoenix plot had played out. So what you have before you is an alternate universe from the XMDD RP. In this Universe things go pretty much exactly the same up to a certain point, which is towards the end of the X-Men's last great battle, Las Vegas. After that you will see where this universe starts to divulge a lot and go its own way.

 

Another change that happened earlier, before Vegas is that Jace never killed the Black Queen Katherine, so keep that in mind for future parts. I tried to write the characters featured here to the best of my ability, if anyone thinks some things need to be changed with their characters then I can edit. You'll see some characters you love and some you might hate. If your character is not featured its either because they didn't seem overall important to the plot I'm going for, I don't remember their powers or that I can't juggle too many characters, I'm going to do the best with the ones I've selected. That doesn't mean other characters from the RP who aren't in the first part won't appear in future parts.

 

So with that out of the way... enjoy the story and would love to hear what players of XMDD think about it! Discussion Thread

 

 

 

Part 1

 

 

"Ashlynn, it's okay. It's not a trick; it's me, Warren." She felt his hands pressing gently against her neck. His voice was calm and trusting… but Ash’s dark passenger, the Phoenix force that was now a part of her began to scream something else entirely.

 

“No… no… no NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!” Ashlynn Summers screamed as she threw both arms out and her head snapped upwards towards the sky. Warren went in for the kill, trying to twist Ash neck and snap it instantly but it was too late. Liquid fire exploded out of Ashlynn literally in every direction, Warren was thrown backwards like a rag-doll as the merciless Phoenix fire washed over him for the second time in his life…

 

It was over quickly. Ash now sat crouched on the skyscraper rooftop. She blinked her eyes, not truly understanding what had just happened. That she had lost herself for a second, taken over by that thing inside her.

 

“Warren?” she asked as she cast her ultra-green eyes around and then paused. Almost as far as she could see all she saw was ruin; burned; charred and desolate ruin. Entire buildings had been turned into burnt up husks.

 

“Oh… my god… no… I didn’t do that! I didn’t do that!” Ash said on the verge of a melt-down. No… I did. I had too; he was going to kill you Ashlynn. I saved you, we saved you. You can’t trust your friends; they don’t understand… they will try to kill you like Warren. A voice said within Ash’s mind. It wasn’t a voice per-say, more like a thousand voices stitched together.

 

“I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean to do this… I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.” Ash said as her tears fell against the charred concrete.

 

There was a blur of motion and then suddenly a man dressed in a black suit stood before Ashlynn. He had a sort of, old timey air about him. His hear was dark and pulled back behind his head, and a scruffy black beard coated either side of his face.

 

“Who are you?” Ashlynn’s voice cracked. “Are you here to kill me?” she added.

 

“No my dear, I am not here to kill you.” He started. His voice was eloquent and powerful. “My name is Sebastian Shaw. I have come here because I know what you are going through my dear. I’ve seen it before. With your mother, everyone will think you are a monster now. Your friends will turn into enemies and your enemies into friends. But to me, the Phoenix Force is beautiful. It can be controlled, I can teach you.” Shaw said.

 

He cast a hand at the burned ruins of Vegas that surrounded them.

 

“This… all of this… so much destruction and so many innocent lives lost. It can all be avoided Mrs. Summers. The Phoenix Force can be controlled, but to do this you must trust me. What happened with your mother 17 years ago can be avoided. We can save the world together; we can change it with your power. No one else has to die.” His words were so swaying, Ashlynn wanted to trust him but she’d heard that name before. She knew he was affiliated with Hellfire, even if she didn’t know much about them.

 

Something inside her, maybe it was the Phoenix told her, that she could trust Shaw. She slowly got to her feet; sniffling her nose and trying to be strong.

 

“Fine I will trust you. I will come with you. But if I decide that you’re not telling the truth, that you want to use me for your own selfish and evil goals then I will destroy you. You’ve seen what I can do.”

 

“There is no doubt in my mind that you can and you will. But I assure you it will not come to that. You are making a wise choice Mrs. Summers. Now let’s be off, shall we?”

****

 

John suddenly sat up and groaned. The last thing he remembered was that the X-Men still alive and able to move had made it to a small run down building for shelter from the assassin and Delta Squad threat. Then the whole place had exploded around him. He’d seen fire wash over everything through the windows and then everything had gone black.

 

He suddenly cast his eyes around him, first noticing that the roof of the building was now completely gone, burned away by something. John thought he knew what that something was; the same thing that had killed Jeremy Walker not an hour before, The Phoenix.

 

John suddenly glanced around, trying to see if everyone was okay. That was when he noticed Liliana. She was lying near John; half covered by rubble and badly burnt.

 

“Liliana?!” John shouted as he moved towards her. Her chest wasn’t rising and falling, he quickly checked for a pulse but found none. She was gone… “No… NO!” John shouted as rage and sadness overtook him. The one girl he had ever loved was lying dead before him and there was nothing he could do.

 

“Is anyone alive… anyone… please.” John sobbed; too busy crying to look around him. He heard some groans and movement  and looked up to see a few others rising from the ashes and rubble.

 

Nathan stood up, his wing still clearly broken. “I’m alive…” Nathan said, “And so is Jesika.” He added. Good the little girl is okay. John thought. He knew he had to be strong now; there wasn’t time for him to mourn.

 

“I’m okay,” Matt Summers chimed in. “What the ###### happened?”

 

“Looks like my sister blew the place up.” Zack said, John remembered he’d been shot, but it was good to know he was still kicking.

 

“I’m alive.” Julia said as she got to her feet, John was immensely happy that she was, especially after he lost control and their little fight.

 

“So am I…” Alec sat up and shook his head before dusting off his metal arm.

 

“I’m alright but my wheelchair is trashed.” Nero said, coughing from the dust.

 

“Resident shape-shifter is alive.” Chris said.

 

John slowly counted the names of the survivors off in his head, himself, Nathan, Jesika, Matt, Zack, Julia, Alec, Nero, Chris and Alex. He gulped when he thought about who they had lost.

 

“Not Jordan… no he can’t be gone.” Zack said, he seemed to be in shock.

 

“Poor Fauna…” Jesika said, John couldn’t imagine what the kid had seen today.

 

“We didn’t all make it,” the almost emotionless voice of Alex said now as he adjusted his glasses. “Blake, Scott, Spirit, Jordan, Tyrone and Fauna are all dead. I can’t see any body for Ultimate Chris but he is presumed dead or missing in action.” He said; John wasn’t sure how he was being so calm about that fact.

 

“Liliana is dead too.” John said.

 

“I’m sorry John.” Julia said. He cast his eyes on what was left of the X-Men; they all looked scared, burnt, injured but happy to be alive.

 

“We need to get out of the city. There is no telling if the Phoenix will strike again.” Alex said taking the lead.

 

“I agree with slim. We carry those who are too injured.” John said as he got to his feet. A few minutes later and the X-Men were slowly moving through the ruins of Las Vegas. It seemed that any assassin had been vaporized in the blast, there didn’t seem to be another human being alive in sight.

 

“Where did those giant Enforcer mechs go?” Matt said, referring to the ones he’d tried to blast earlier and had ended up getting Aleks very wounded. Rebekah had shown up before taking Aleks away from the scene and Christine had gone after both of them, he felt severely guilty.

 

Alec and Nathan were helping to carrying Nero, Jesika sticking close to Nathan.

 

“Gone, they were right over the city, no way they survived the explosion.” Alex said.

 

“Sorry to make you guys carry me, I would shift into my lycan form but I’m kinda out of juice.” Nero said.

 

“The Blackbird was shot down, and everything is destroyed, how are we supposed to get back to Westchester?” Chris asked.

 

“Zack needs medical attention; we have to find a way out.” Julia added.  “Too bad that Spirit guy’s dead, I sure could of used his healing powers.” Zack muttered, wincing from his gunshot wound. John looked at Zack and his eyes softened. The kid had gone through too much in one day, for one his sister had gone Phoenix and killed Jeremy, now she’d blown up half of the entire city killing Jordan too along with a lot of good other people and countless innocent, and some not so innocent lives.

 

Thirty minutes or so later of walking through the ruined city and John noticed some movement. There seemed to be someone running through the streets, with someone else slung over their back.

 

“Christine?!” John shouted. The person stopped and turned, it was her sure enough, bloody and covered in ash but her. The person on her back looked to be an injured, and unconscious Aleks.

 

“Ah followed Rebekah to a hospital… she left and Ah found Aleks then the whole place exploded.” Christine said breathing hard, it was clear she was happy to see the group.

 

“Where is everyone else?” Christine asked.

 

“Dead or missing,” Alex said.

She shook her head but said nothing. “Aleks is badly hurt; we have to get him out of the city. We have to get him some help.” Christine said.

 

“And we will. I promise.” Matt said. “We just have to keep going, there has to be an end to these blast ruins, there has to be a useable hospital somewhere up head.”

 

“Ah hope Rebekah got out of the city before this happened.” Christine added.

 

“I’m sure she’s fine, Rebekah doesn’t seem to be easily killed.” Alec said.

 

“Maybe we should try stealing a car.” Chris advised.

 

“There’s no cars’ left; they’ve all been melted down.” Join pointed out. “We just have to keep going and hope we can make it out of this.”

 

Another twenty minutes of walking and then the group of rag-tag X-Men survivors suddenly paused as they seemingly reached the end of the blast radius. Beyond that there seemed to be nothing but normal city.

 

“We made it…” Christine said with tears in her eyes.

 

“You guys see that? Is that what I think it is? Or am I hallucinating?” Zack asked squinting through his red glasses as he pointed at a large and familiar looking aircraft.

 

“The second Blackbird,” Alec whistled.

 

“What would it be doing here?” Chris wondered.

 

“I told you it’s going to be okay.” Nathan told Jesika. A few minutes later and the entire crew were inside, most of them sitting down or strapping in.

 

John watched as Christine tended to Aleks who was still out cold.

 

“There is no one in here.” John pointed out. Then they heard someone banging one of the lockers.

 

"What the ****?" Zack said.

 

Alex crouched down and opened the locker. It was none other then Alaric.

 

"Warren... where's Warren?" Ric asked.

 

 

 

****

 

Genosha was under attack. The Enforcers were here. Pietro stood at his window as he watched them bombard the force field protecting the mutant nation. It was only a matter of time before they broke through, before they killed them all.

Nate, Scorcher, Destruction, Shiloh and Magnitude all stood near Pietro watching the assault.

 

“We must leave.” Pietro said finally. There wasn’t time to save everyone; no he would only be able to save those close to hand. That was when Pietro got a call. He pulled out his cellphone and answered it.

 

“Hello?” Quicksilver asked.

 

“We are in position, should we move in? President Binder will be dead in minutes.” A crisp voice said over the line. Then Pietro suddenly remembered his assassination plans, the assassin squad he’d sent into DC to take the President out. This was the wrong time, completely. The Brotherhood was already on the verge if destruction of they moved forward the Enforcers would make sure they hunted them all down until the Brotherhood was extinct.

 

“Negative, back out, the operation is over.” Pietro commanded.

 

“But…”

 

“No, the operation is over if you do this you will be doing it alone. I will take no part.” Pietro then closed his phone.

 

“What was that about?” a voice said from behind him. Quicksilver glanced at the few assembled Brotherhood mutants who were in his chamber: Scorcher, Destruction, Magnitude, Abraham, Dominik, Shiloh, and Nate. The rest were either defending the force field attacking the Enforcers or Quicksilver didn’t have time to collect them.

 

“Never mind that.” He said before he raised both hands. Pietro had rebuilt Genosha out of scrap metal; that meant he could un-build it as well. The entire room crumbled and warped, forming into a massive metal ball surrounding the Brotherhood mutants inside. Pietro then focused his power over metal, the orb levitating into the air before taking off into the sky just as the force field dissolved.

 

****

 

Hank McCoy continued to work on the control panel for the Danger Room. It had gone haywire not long ago, throwing the entire mansion into chaos and turning it into a Danger Mansion. He was alone with Sarah and Francesca. Something didn’t feel… right. Call it intuition, call it whatever you want. But something made Hank McCoy turn around at the last second, and he was glad he did.

 

Francesca was holding a pistol now, aiming it towards Beast. “Pietro sends his regards.” She said coldly before she pulled the trigger several times.

 

Beast jumped to the left as the gun went off, using his enhanced reflexes to dodge most of the shots. One of the bullets pumped into Hank’s shoulder but he hardly had time to react instead he lunged forward, relying on his speed and strength. He knocked the gun away with one of his feet, his hands pressed against the ground. He then jumped to his feet, freeing his hands. He twisted Francesca’s arm once, forcing her to drop the gun before he kicked it away.

 

“A spy? You’ve been a spy this entire time!” Hank roared now, filling with rage. He’d trusted Francesca, he’d cared for her. She’d been a danger to him and the kids of the institute this entire time. The Danger Room malfunction had to be her, the time Beast had been shot before must have been her first attempt.

 

His big furry hands closed around her throat and he began to squeeze. Francesca struggled but it was over very quickly she suddenly went still her last breath leaving her as the life left her eyes.

 

Breathing heavily Hank slowly lowered Francesca’s body to the ground. He then pressed a hand over his injured shoulder and then turned back to the control panel to finish his work. He had to make sure the mansion was safe before he tended to himself.

                                  

TO BE CONTINUED….

Edited December 16, 2014 by Flex Likes Groot

[Flex Lord Splash]

Part 2

 

“Where is my father?” Ric sat up and pulled himself out of the locker. He’d looked better; he still looked like death even though life had just been breathed back into his body.

 

“What happened to you Ric?” John grunted.

 

“Warren and I flew out here, then he broke my neck, killed me instantly. He knew my ring would bring me back. He’s going after Ashlynn, we have to stop him.” Ric said as he got to his feet.

 

“Are you sure you should be walking, so soon?” Christine asked. She was currently running her hands through Aleks dirty blonde hair.

 

“I’m fine.” Ric said as he cracked his neck a few times.

 

“That explains it… what happened to the city. He set her off. Warren did.” Zack said, connecting the dots.

 

“What’re you talking about?” Ric asked.

 

“Look out the window and see for yourself. Most of the city is gone. Ashlynn went Phoenix and incinerated it.” Alex said, he was standing by the window dressed in his bloodied X-Men getup.

 

Ric approached the window and wished he hadn’t. “Holy ****…” he couldn’t believe Ashlynn would do this. Not the Ash he knew, she was sweet, kind and wanted to heal people.

 

“Warren must have got to her then, tried to kill her and she blew everything up.” Nathan said from his seat. Jesika was curled up next to him with her eyes closed, she was probably exhausted.

 

“She killed Jeremy man, before all this other **** went down.” John said.

 

“We have to find her and do something. She needs our help; we can’t leave her out there.” Ric said, torn on what to do.

 

“What are we supposed to do Alaric? You’ve seen what she’s done. She could kill us all in seconds if we set her off. How many lives do you think she took today? Half a million?” Alec’s voice was even as he tinkered with his metal arm doing some repairs.

 

“I hate to say it but Alec’s right. I want to help my cousin as much as you do Ric, but we need a plan before we end up getting someone hurt.” He glanced at Aleks and looked away.

 

“Maybe we could send in just John, Ric and Me to go her Ash. John and I would probably heal if she torched us partially, and we know Ric would come back.” Julia offered.

 

“Guys, there is no time!” Christine shouted now. “Look at Aleks! Look what those mech’s did to him! He needs medical attention now or he’s going to die! Just like everyone else!”

 

That was when Ric noticed that a lot of the X-Men that had been sent out were missing. He looked at Zack first noticing that Jordan was gone and then at John, he didn’t see Liliana. That meant John had lost his girlfriend, and they’d had plans to get married.

 

Promise me you’ll bring them all back. Those had been Hank’s parting words. Ric hadn’t kept his promise. He hadn’t brought them all back. But he could still save Aleks. He walked up to the pilots chair and sat down.

 

“You sure you should be flying this thing?” Chris asked from in the back.

 

“I’m fine Card.” Ric said before he started the Blackbird’s engines.

 

“Ah’m gonna call Rebekah, see if she’s okay.” Christine said, feeling bad that she hadn’t been able to find her when she’d found Aleks.

 

Things had gone bad so fast she hadn’t had the time.

She pulled out her phone and dialed Rebekah’s phone, it rang a few times before it picked up.

 

“Hello?” Rebekah asked.

 

“Rebekah its Christine; Ah just wanted to see if you were okay.”

 

“I’m fine, I’m with Brooklyn, is Aleks okay?”

 

“He’s alive, but not doing so good. Ah don’t know if you’ve seen the news, or if it’s even on the news yet but Ashlynn pretty much destroyed the whole city. Ah had to get Aleks out of the hospital before it collapsed on me.” Rebekah swore and apologized for leaving him alone.

 

“Do you need me to meet you guys?” Rebekah asked.

 

“No, it’s okay. Just say safe… don’t let Brooklyn out of your sight.” Christine said, knowing that there was something between the two girls before hanging up. Rebekah had been a weapon against her will and it had affected her more than any of the other mutants who had been in Weapon-X she deserved the peace, she deserved to be with someone she cared about. Christine just prayed that she wouldn’t have to bury the person she loved.

 

Ah love him? Ah’ve never thought that before… Christine thought as she looked down at Aleks face.

 

“Everyone buckle up, I’m getting us out of here.” Ric commanded before the jet began to roll forward. When it picked up speed the Blackbird tilted up and then shot into the air, he increased the altitude and sat back into the seat as they headed further up into the sky. Once level he hit the engines hard, pushing them as far as they could go as he flew them back towards Westchester.

 

He couldn’t get Ashlynn off his mind. He felt so helpless, he hadn’t wanted this. But ever since he’d learned how the original X-Men had died, he’d half expected something like this for years. Now that it had come true he didn’t know what to do.

 

Ashlynn are you out there? He sent a telepathic message, trying to lock onto the mind he knew so well. Ashlynn, I need to know if you are okay. I know what happened and I know it’s not your fault. He felt her… somewhere. He tried to lock on, to push into her mind but all he was met with was a massive wall. A wall stronger than one he’d ever faced before, a wall of fire. A bird made of flames flashed in Ric’s mind, breaking the contact and forcing him to wince from the mental push the Phoenix had given him. Just ****ing great…

 

Thirty minutes later and the X-Men were still flying over the countryside seemingly almost at the speed of light, bridging the distance between Vegas and New York.

 

John remembered that Cali had up and left shortly before this had all happened after burning his pile of weapons. Seeing what had gone down at Weapon-X had messed him up bad. He secretly wished Dallas had been with them during the fight, he felt like things would have gone differently. He missed his bestfriend more than anything else.

 

John pulled out his own cell-phone, by now he’d pulled off his black and white Wolverine mask and laid it on his lap. He pressed the phone to his ear and waited to see if Dallas answered.

 

“Yo, John how’s it hanging bro?” Dallas said with a classic answer.

 

“Not good, guess you haven’t seen the news. You might want to turn it on.” John said.

 

“I’m in Starbucks with Ashley, Nicole and Robin.” Dallas answered. “Hey are we allowed to change the station? Oh we are? Thanks.” John heard Dallas shout at a Starbuck barista. He heard some movement and then the TV playing.

 

“No way…” Dallas voice had lost its enthusiasm.

 

“We lost some people Cali. Warren tried to kill Ash, she went super-nova and you can see the damages.”

 

“Yeah…”

 

“We need you Cali, I need you. We have to do something. We have to stop her somehow.” John said.

 

“I don’t know… I left Westchester to get away from fighting. It I come back it looks like I’m going to be putting myself at risk of being turned into ashes by your red headed crush.”

 

“Dallas… come on man. If you’re going to die, wouldn’t you rather do it fighting to save lives and alongside your best friend?”

 

“**** it John. We’ll be back to Westchester as soon as I can get Nicole and Ashley to leave. I’ll even use some time shenanigans to speed up the process.”

 

“Thanks man… I’ll see you then.” John said before hanging up. “I got Dallas to come back, that’s a thing right?” he said. Something Dallas had said stuck with him. His read headed crush. Why wasn’t he more torn up about Liliana’s death? They were supposed to be getting married and now she was dead. John knew why, lately he hadn’t felt as strongly for her. It was like he’d figured out something. Yeah he’d loved Liliana, but part of him had never stopped loving Ashlynn Summers; the girl that had dropped him and friend-zoned him for Alaric, the girl who had now killed half a million people and some of John’s friends.

 

“My life is so ****ed up…” John muttered.

 

“Doesn’t anyone care that the Ultimate me is gone? Christopher? It’s like my twin just got killed or something.” Chris said suddenly.

 

“Not really,” Alec shrugged. “I mean there were two of you, at least we still have one.” He grinned, joking. “Besides the Ultimates’ never really fit in with us anyway; they were all *******.”

-****-

 

He was called the Incinerator because of the flamethrowers built into his power-armor. The Incinerator sat by his desk, watching the Las Vegas events on twelve massive monitors placed against the wall. Some of them were showing the last recorded footage of Delta Squad. He saw the mutant identified as Ashlynn Summers unleash a blast of flame, killing a fellow X-Man. Then she fled the scene and Delta Squad continued to rain fire down on the assassin mutants who had caused this entire mess.

 

Not long after that a huge shockwave of flame rolled through the city, burning everything in its sight, it looked like Delta Squad tried to flee before the flames got them and the feeds went blank. As a pyro Incinerator enjoyed the sight, it was truly beautiful. But as an Enforcer, a human sworn to keep mutants in check he knew this was the biggest event of his career. They’d all heard the stories about the Phoenix and how it had wiped out most of the mutants and Superhuman population 17 years ago. A lot of the Enforcers had thought the Phoenix had done them a favor. Now it was back and it was living inside the body of Jean Grey’s daughter; she’d killed half a million people with the blink of an eye. Delta Squad was gone, that was a major loss but the Enforcers had to stand strong.

 

They had to find Ashlynn Summers and they had to contain her. She couldn’t be killed. Not yet. She was the best weapon they had at wiping mutants off the face of the earth for good. No, Incinerator would use her first; then she would die.

 

He stood up and turned to the men standing in the room, waiting for instruction. “Deploy three squadrons to Westchester. Find Ashlynn Summers and bring her to me. She just killed almost a million civilians, that means’ we can kill as much muties as we want. Kill any mutant you find that isn’t her. That’s an order.” Incinerator said.

 

“If you see her tranq her before she can do anything.”

 

The men nodded and turned to leave. “Oh… and deploy four of our new Sentinel Line… it’s time we saw them in action.” Incinerator smiled behind his metal skull-mask. The new Sentinels’ had been finished only a few days ago.

 

The old Sentinel’s had been decommissioned after Quicksilver had taken control of them and turned them against DC. Now the Enforcers had merged the idea of mechs’ like in Delta Squad and the Sentinel’s. They’d placed live Enforcers into the Sentinel’s, turning them into mech’s. There was no way they could be reprogrammed again, they had no programming. They were controlled only by the Enforcer pilots in their chest.

 

“I need that girl…” Incinerator said to himself as he sat down and turned towards his screens.

 

-****-

 

 

 

 

“If I plug this in and push that…” Hank muttered to himself. “There that should do it.” The Danger Room panel showed that it suddenly rebooted. The mansion that a few minutes ago had been filled with the sounds of chaos and wicked traps now was silent.

 

Hank knew that most of the student body had been evacuated by now. He glanced over at Francesca’s lifeless body and his shoulders sagged. He would have to do something about her, but carrying her out in front of the youngsters was the wrong idea.

 

Instead Beast walked down the metal hall, turning right as he stepped into the medical bay. He then grabbed a first aid kit and walked over to the mirror. He checked out the wound, noticing that it had gone all the way through. That was good it meant he wouldn’t have to dig a bullet out. He patched himself up the best he could, stopping the bleeding on both sides before he left the medical bay and headed for the stairwell that lead to the first floor of the mansion.

 

Hank stepped out of the front door to see the student body standing in the lawn, most of them talking amongst themselves, the older students and a few newcomers standing amongst them, obviously there to protect the younger students.

 

“I fixed the Danger Room,” Beast announced. “The mansion is now safe to go back inside.” Hank said.

 

“I discovered what happened, my initial hypothesis was a meltdown of the systems, but upon further observation I discovered evidence of tampering.” Hank said before pointing to his bandaged shoulder.

 

“That was when Francesca shot me. Apparently she has been an assassin spy sent by Quicksilver, the leader of the Brotherhood. She was sent here to kill me and she almost got the job done.” Hank informed the students, some of the younger students looked scared, and they had reason too. Things seemed to be falling apart all around Beast. He’d gotten the call about Ashlynn going Phoenix and killing Jeremy, he knew his X-Men were in danger, and then the whole mansion had turned into a death trap.

 

“It’s going to be okay.” Hank said. He looked up as he saw something flying through the air. He squinted, unsure if it was the Blackbird. It turned out it was four unidentified craft and they were headed this way, and fast too.

 

Boom. Four massive indigo armored Sentinel’s crashed into the grounds before standing up at full height. The front gate to the school was then blasted off its hinges as three vans bearing the Enforcer emblem pulled up onto the grass, the doors falling open as Enforcers wearing their yellow and grey power-armor began to pour out, weapons ready.

 

“Kill them! Find Ashlynn Summers!” one of the men called and then for the second time that day everything went to HeII. Beams of energy burst from the Sentinel’s hands and flew into the crowd of students. Kids and teenagers alike screamed in fear as the Enforcers opened up fire as well, bullets flying as they began shooting at every mutant in sight.

 

Some of the older students turned to fight, attempting to use their mutant powers but it was already too late.

 

“NOOO!” Hank roared as he saw bodies begin to drop. He launched himself into the air, landing on the closest Enforcer. Hank tore the rifle from his grasp and then began to smash it into the Enforcer’s helmet.

 

“LEAVE. THE. KIDS. ALONE!” Hank yelled, already the Enforcer’s skull was crushed; Hank was forced to dive away as bullets exploded into the law around him, including a massive Sentinel laser beam. He turned to see Krystal and Tali running forward, the two X-Men girls attacking the Enforcers with Beast. Krystal leapt on one Enforcer and began to tear into him with her claws. There were other older students that joined the fray too.

 

Something else flew across the sky, dropping a shadow onto the ground. Hank looked up to see the Blackbird landing on the basketball court not far away. The door opened and X-Men began to jump out and they didn’t look happy.

 

“The Enforcers are killing children! Children!” John yelled as he raised his fists, adamantium claws popping out of his knuckles. He was overcome by his rage and rushed forward, cutting into the nearest Enforcer with his claws as he ran by, heading towards the closest Sentinel.

 

“And everyone gave me **** when I killed these guys before!” John said to himself before he threw himself at the first Sentinel, stabbing his claws into its leg before he began to climb up it.

 

Nathan lifted himself into the air on the wind, before he began bombarding Enforcers with powerful blasts of wind, knocking them off their feet with a single hit.

 

“Can’t we catch a break!” he shouted.

 

For the second time today Matt Summers was faced with giant robots. These Sentinels’ looked different than ones he’d seen before. Their chests were bulkier, more circular and armored, and he saw a blast-screen in the middle where the power core would usually be.

 

“They got Enforcers inside them! They’re Enforcer Mechs!” Matt shouted as he jumped to the right, one of the Sentinel’s laser beams just missing him.

 

“I hate Mechs!” Matt yelled as a massive beam of plasma burst from his chest, smashing into the chest of one of the Sentinel’s and burning right through it. The Sentinel stumbled forward and then fell backwards, useless.

 

 “Good shot!” Zack called to Matt before he lifted up his glasses unlashing twin beams of red kinetic energy, slamming it into the chest of another Sentinel. The Sentinel’s chest exploded, showering shrapnel over the Enforcer soldiers.

 

Julia watched as John continued to climb up one of the Sentinel’s, she ran towards an Enforcer, only to feel a bullet pump into her stomach. She winced but ignored the pain before throwing herself into the Enforcer soldier, cutting through his rifle before slashing her claws across her throat. She wouldn’t tolerate them killing students.

 

Alec transformed his arm into a hand-canon and then began unleashing blasts of energy into Enforcers. One of the Enforcers looked down as the energy blasted a hold in his chest. “No rest for the wicked!” Alec said as he continued taking out Enforcers.

 

“Hey! You guys left me in the Blackbird!” Nero shouted as he dragged himself to the platform that lead to the ground. He saw an Enforcer about to take a shot at Matt and raised his hand before unleashing a sonic attack into the Enforcer that sent him flying, probably popping both ear drums. “Screw this.” Nero said before he willed himself the change. His bones snapped and rearranged and soon he crouched in his lycan form before running forward and tearing into the Enforcers with his claws and teeth.

 

Chris stepped over a dead Enforcer and sneakily grabbed his fallen rifle. He then activated his shape-shifting powers, melding into an Enforcer wearing power armor. He then moved into the crowd of the Enforcers before turning his rifle on them and shooting one of them in the head.

 

Alex calmly walked out onto the battle field before slamming his invisible shield into the skull of an unwitting Enforcer. He picked up the Enforcer’s rifle before turning his sights on the armored mutant killers and firing upon them.

 

Christine hadn’t wanted to leave Aleks alone on the Blackbird so she was the last one off. She knew she couldn’t stand by while the Enforcers and Sentinel’s killed more of her friends however.

 

She ran forward, pulling off one of her purple gloves before tagging Zack on the back of his neck and absorbing his power. She then turned her sights on one of the two still operational Sentinel. Twin red beams burst from her eyes and slammed into the Sentinel blasting off its head. The Sentinel didn’t die however, it continued blasting innocent mutants even without its head.

 

“You got to hit it in the chest, there’s a pilot in there!” Zack called out to her as he began blasting the Enforcer’s trucks into scrap metal. She glanced at its chest and fired again, this time hitting her mark. She smirked as the Sentinel fell back destroyed.

 

Tali raised her hands, pulling two rifles away from Enforcers, she then turned them back on their owners, using her telekinesis to squeeze the triggers and fill both of them with lead.

 

Ric flew over the battle on his wings, before swooping down and grabbing an Enforcer by the shoulders. He flew up higher, freezing the Enforcer up with a telekinetic attack before he knocked the soldier’s gun from his hand, watching as it fell towards the ground below before he twisted the Enforcer’s head, snapping his neck, for an instant pretending it was Warren’s head he had been grasping. Breathing hard he let the body of the Enforcer fall to the ground below.

 

John finally reached the chest of the Sentinel. “Get out here!” he roared as he began cutting into the Sentinel’s armor with his claws. He then pried open the cock-pit, “Aha there you are!” he grinned at the alarmed Enforcer pilot. He raised his pistol and fired a shot into John’s forehead, snapping his head back. The shot would have been fatal if naught for John’s adamantium skeleton. He grinned at the Enforcer as he stabbed his claws into the Enforcer’s neck. He then grabbed him; tearing him out of his seat and throwing him out of the cock-pit. John climbed into the Sentinel and then grabbed the controls. He then began to laugh as he unleashed a laser blast into a group of Enforcer’s.

 

It wasn’t long before all of the Enforcers lay scattered dead, or severely injured. Alex acting as executioner walked around the grounds, putting rounds into the heads of any Enforcer who was still moving. He did it without blinking, without remorse. Julia walked up to him when he was done and dropped his rifle to the ground.

 

“Are you okay Alex?” Julia asked, worried about him ever since he’d gotten back from the Ultimate universe.

 

“I’m fine.” Alex said shortly.

 

“No you’re not, you’ve never been a good liar.” She pulled Alex too her and kissed him. Alex’s eyes widened as he grabbed the back of her head, kissing her back.

 

“Now you’re fine.” Julia said as she let go of Alex and then walked away with a wink.

 

Chris knelt by the body of Sarah Haley. He slowly closed her eyes before getting to his feet.

 

Alaric walked up to Hank who had his head in his hands; the blue giant appeared to be crying.

 

“Hank…” Ric squatted down and put a hand on his shoulder. Warren had been dead most of Ric’s life, the man before him had been his real father.

 

“I’m sorry, I broke my promise.” Ric said, hating to see Beast like this. “I didn’t bring them all back, but I brought back as many as I could.”

 

Hank didn’t say anything but he uncovered his face and wiped at his eyes. “They killed them, in cold blood.” Hank said motioning to the fallen teenagers and Institute children. There were many children who had escaped and survived, they now stood around the grounds like ghosts looking down at their fallen friends while the X-Men began to sort the dead. Even mutants who weren’t students and had come to the school had been gunned down. Ric noticed the body of Adrian a few feet away, and Spencer’s was laying somewhere else.

 

“Something else happened,” Ric said. “Back in Vegas, I wanted to tell you myself so you heard it from me first.” He paused. It was hard even saying the words. “Ashlynn went Phoenix again, after she killed Jeremy. We think my dad went to try to kill her; she blew up most of Vegas. It’s just gone… so many innocent people.”

 

“Oh god, oh god… this is all my fault. I should have done more.” Hank said, Ric knew he’d just made things worse for Beast.

 

“Listen Hank, we can mourn later. But for now we need to do something to secure this place or we need to leave. The Enforcers know where we are, it isn’t safe here anymore.” Ric said. “We need to be strong, we need you.”

 

Hank got to his feet and looked around at the grass that was now painted with blood. “So much death… for what?” Hank said.

 

“Take the bodies of our fallen friends and family and take them to the graveyard to be buried.” Hank commanded.

 

“Pile the Enforcer’s and burn them.” He said. “Once that is done, we must leave. Alaric is right; it is no longer safe here. Until this is over Westchester is no longer our home.”

 

“Wait…” Christine approached Hank with Aleks in her arms. “He’s hurt real bad… Ah need you to give him some medical attention before we leave. We have to make sure he’s alive… please.”

 

“Of course,” Hank nodded. “Follow me to the medical bay then.”

 

-****-

“I wonder why Shaw called us all to this meeting.” Katherine said as she lounged on a velvet couch. “Shaw’s meetings are always so boring.” She complained.

 

“I’m sure he didn’t bring us here to waste our time Kat.” Jace smiled, from his perch next to her. They were both dressed in white, their respective colors and White King and Queen.

 

“Sometimes I wonder why we need two courts. Hellfire would do much better if it was just me and you running things.” Katherine smiled at Jace.

 

“Hmm, wouldn’t that be something.” The vampire said to his maker.

The massive lizard humanoid Earl Greystone stood not far away from them and rolled his eyes.

 

Novocain, part cyborg after almost dying in the X-Men raid of Weapon-X, stood alone with his arms crossed.

 

“Why is he even here again? Isn’t he knew?” Katherine asked.

 

“Shaw likes him; he’s one of those mad doctor types.” Jace  said.

 

Novocain glared at Katherine but held his tongue.

 

“Where’s Romulus?” The being known as Super Malus; which was the fusion of Malus and Demon said.

 

“Who knows, away on some of his business. He has his own schemes.” Kat said.

 

“Who is he?” Katherine said before she pointed at Eric.

 

“You may call me Harbinger.” Eric said to Katherine, his eyes hidden by oval crimson glasses, the lower half of his face hidden by a black bandanna.

 

“I am the one responsible for defeating the X-Men and destroying Las Vegas.” He said darkly.

 

“Impressive.” Katherine smiled. “But not that impressive.”

 

“He’s coming…” Super Malus said.

 

Jace turned towards the second story to see Shaw stride out from one of the hallways before stopping at the banister and looking regal.

 

“Ladies and Gentlemen of the Hellfire Court,” Shaw began. “I present to you… your new Black Queen!”

 

A small gasp went around the room as a woman dressed in a black corset and black gown stepped out of the hallway to join Shaw. Her hair was bright crimson and her eyes a fiery emerald. Even if they had not officially met her, they all knew who she was.

 

“Ashlynn Summers! The Phoenix!” Shaw exclaimed.

 

Jace and Kat exchanged a look. “I think you were right Jace, things just got interesting.” Kat smiled.

Edited December 16, 2014 by Flex Likes Groot

[Flex Lord Splash]

Part 3

 

Rene Lebeau shuffled his worn deck of cards while he watched Showstopper sip from his cappuccino. He looked over at Angela but her eyes looked distant, she got this way when she was seeing things that were about to happen.

 

“We’re about to watch the TV,” Angela said cryptically. “I don’t think we’re going to like what we see.”

 

Okay, that was enough to peak Rene’s interests. He got to his feet, tucking his deck into his pocket as he approached the TV, grabbing the remote off the shelf underneath the screen before he walked back to the table and flipped it on.

 

“BREAKING NEWS! The world is reeling in shock after today’s events in Las Vegas. It appears half of the city has been destroyed by a shock-wave of flame. At first officials believed it to be a massive bomb set off by the terrorists, but further investigation of satellite imaging has confirmed this to be the work of a single mutant named Ashlynn Summers. She is believed to be incredibly dangerous and the Enforcers are working hard to find and detain her. The death toll is continuing to rise as relief efforts are being sent in. President Binder has yet to comment on the matter but we are expecting an official statement soon.” The screen showed an overview of the destruction and replayed scenes of the flames rolling through the city.

 

“Would you look at that…” Dallas said. “Looks like the goody two-shoe X-Men got more than they bargained for. Wonder if any of them survived that. I sure hope Christopher wasn’t with them.”

 

Rene didn’t have the words to express how he felt about what he’d just learned. The News Cast continued however.

 

“In other news… The Enforcers began their raid on the Brotherhood stronghold of Genosha this morning.” The screen now showed what was left of Genosha, which wasn’t much other than rubble.” As you can see Genosha is no more, it is unknown if Terrorist leader Pietro

 

Maximoff survived the blast, or any of his right hand Brotherhood members for that matter.” Rene turned the TV of now. Using his powers over kinetic energy he reversed the energy he’d spent on carrying the remote from the shelf, watching as it flickered up into the air before placing itself onto the shelf.

 

“Shiloh…” he said, hoping, no praying that she hadn’t been there when they’d blasted the place to bits. He pulled out his phone and quickly dialed his sisters number.

 

“Hello?” it was her voice, she was okay. Rene sighed in relief.

 

“Just making sure you were okay, I saw what happened to Genosha on the news.” Rene said.

 

“I’m fine; I’m with Pietro, Kane, Dom, Magnitude, Caden, Abraham and Nate. We’re floating around in some huge metal ball Pietro made; he got us out just in time.” She explained. Rene mentally counted the heads, there didn’t seem to be much of the Brotherhood left.

 

“I’m glad you’re fine,” he said evenly. “I’m in Starbucks with my friend Showstopper; he’s the Ultimate Dallas in case you didn’t know, and Angela, we’re in Pennsylvania.”

 

“Pietro says we can come to you. He says he can use you in what is to come.” Shiloh said, she didn’t sound too certain.

 

“And what is to come?” Rene asked.

 

“I don’t know Rene, but I want to see you.”

 

“Fine, I’ll text you the address once you’re off the phone. Stay safe and I’ll see you soon.” He said before hanging up.

 

“My sister is with the Brotherhood, they escaped Genosha and now they’re going to come here. I want to make sure Shiloh is okay.”

 

“Wait a darn minute,” Dallas said. “I didn’t come back to this universe to join murderous frat; I came back here to find my missing and sometimes-murderous-raptor teammate, Christopher.”

 

“He’s going to convince you.” Angela said.

 

“No he’s not.” Dallas shot back.

 

“Dallas, what if the Brotherhood knows where Christopher is? What if they can help us find him? And if you say no I’m still going, and that will mean you won’t get to look at me and enjoy my presence while you go and look for Christopher alone.”

Showstopper electric blue eyes didn’t look happy. “Fine, but I’m not joining the Brotherhood, plain and simple.”

 

“No one said you had too.”

-****-

 

“Why did they kill kids? Like me?” Jesika asked Nathan as she watched the X-Men finish up their mass burials.

 

“Because they are bad people Jes, that’s why.” Nathan said hugging the little girl closer to him. “I’m sorry you had to see this, it isn’t right.” He said softly.

 

Zack stood about twenty feet away, next to the pile of dead Enforcers. Beast had them strip them of their power armor, saying that the technology could come in handy and they would burn better without it on. Zack now raised both of his hands, focusing on the shard of Phoenix power he felt inside of him.

 

Flame burst from his hands and flew into the pile of bodies. He watched as they caught flame and the fire began to grow. He turned away not wanting to stick around and watch them burn. He watched Tali busy lowering bodies of fallen students and institute friends into the graves Beast had dug for them.

 

He wished they had been able to bury the dead X-Men they’d left behind in Vegas, instead they had just left them there in that destroyed building to rot and be found. He still couldn’t believe his sister had done this. Yes, they hadn’t been super close his entire life but she was still his sister… what if it was the other way around, what if the Phoenix had chosen him instead? What if it had been him that had destroyed Vegas and killed all those people? He didn’t like to think along those lines.

 

Alec walked up to Alex who was busy messing with the dead Sentinels. There was one in working order still, the one John had hijacked, the other three however had blasts through their chest, and one was missing a head.

 

“What you doing  Alex?” Alec inquired.

 

“Trying to fix these Sentinels and repurpose them. They could be an effective guard for wherever Beast is going to take us. Either that or we leave them behind here as decoys to distract the Enforcers when they come back while we escape.” He said, clearly busy doing his technopathic work.

 

“Ah, sounds like a good idea.” Alec said. “I’m going to see if there is any of their weapon systems I can acquire for my arm…” Alec said before investigating further.

 

“I found this inside a closet.” Krystal said as she moved over to Nero, who was currently laying down in the grass looking up at the sky. She was pushing a silver wheelchair with large X’s on the wheels.

 

“I think it used to belong to Xavier.” She said.

 

“That’ll work, thank you.” Nero said to his fellow lycan infected mutant. Krystal bent down and helped pull Nero into chair.

 

“Don’t mention it; we have to look after each other. Especially now.” She said.  

 

Inside the mansion, Christine and Matt stood vigilant next to Aleks still form. Christine was having a hard time looking at him with all the IV’s hooked up to him.

 

“Are you sure he’s going to be okay?” she asked.

 

“I’m sure.” Hank nodded from a few feet away. “I’m pumping him full of a healing serum designed from the cells of a healing factor mutant. It should speed up the healing process.” Beast informed.

 

His name was Aleksandr Belikov, but the people he knew and loved knew him as Aleksander English. Aleks eyes suddenly snapped open and he bolted upright breathing hard.

 

“Matt?! Christine?! Rebekah?!” he shouted before actually seeing where he was for the first time. He knew this place; it definitely wasn’t some random hospital in Vegas. He was back at the mansion he was home. He smiled at Christine and Matt and then turned to see Hank beaming at him.

 

“Glad to see that you’re awake Aleks; Matt and Christine refused to leave your side.” Hank said.

 

“They’re stubborn like that, but I’m lucky to have them.” Aleks said before he sat up with a cringe, he then immediately began pulling the tubes out of him, cursing in Russian while he did.

 

“Aleks you should really leave those in for a little longer…” Hank said but it was already too late.

 

“I’m fine,” Aleks said. “Whatever you did worked wonders on me doc, just feeling a bit sore."

 

"Where is Rebekah?" Aleks added.

 

"She's fine, she's with Brooklyn, somewhere." Christine said.

 

“I really am sorry,” Matt spoke up first. “For what happened to you it was all my fault, what I did was so stupid.”

 

“Don’t mention it tiger,” Aleks said. “I don’t think I’ve kept you around this long for your intellect.” He said with a wink, Matt’s face flushed.

 

Christine walked up to Aleks and then pressed her lips to his for the second time ever. Their first kiss in Vegas had been more in the moment, but Aleksander couldn’t complain about this one. When she pulled away he could tell her mascara was smeared from crying.

 

“Ah was so worried. Don’t you think you can go do something like that again you big idiot.” She said with a playful shove. Aleks wasn’t sure he was awake or still dreaming. All his time working for Weapon-X as an assassin, and working alone most of the time… he hadn’t felt this much love from two people in a very long time.

 

“I’ll try not too,” he said as he got to his feet. That was when he noticed he wasn’t wearing a shirt. He had a few freshly acquired scars and scabs but it could’ve been worse.

 

“Either one of you got a shirt?” he said looking to Christine first.

 

“I brought one for you.” Matt said as he handed Aleks a blue baseball style T. Aleks wrinkled his nose a bit but pulled it on. “That’ll do pig.” He said in a voice mocking Shiloh’s Web.

 

“Hey that’s mah favorite movie.” Christine said defiantly.

 

“Oh, I know.” Aleks grinned.

 

Ric Carisle sat next to John on the steps of the school, looking out over the field while other X-Men worked hard on damage control and as young kids who hadn’t been shot walked outside collecting their most important items in backpacks and other bags since Beast had told them they’d be moving on soon.

 

“Weird leaving behind the mansion hun?” John said as he sipped from the beer Ric had found inside.

 

“Yeah,” Ric said simply before taking a sip of his own.

 

“I’m sure we’ll be back.” Ric added. “That is if Ash doesn’t torch us all or something.”

 

“I know what you’re feeling man.” John said suddenly.

 

“You do?” Ric said before looking over at John like he was crazy.

 

“I know how you feel because I love her too. I always have. We both have, maybe its cause we were always trying to outshine each other when we were little, even though you were older than me I was always looking up to you.” John said.

 

“Maybe that’s why we both fell for her.”

 

“Either that or it’s just a sick twist of fate.” Ric said. “I still love her but I don’t know what to do John. I know she’s dangerous, I know she’s killed millions of people now but I still wish she was here. Everything seems empty without her.”

 

“I know man, I really do.” John nodded. “When it comes down to it, if we have too… do you think you could? Or even I could… you know… end it if we had too.” he knew his father had killed Jean, but John wasn’t sure he could do the same with Ash.

 

Ric gulped, he didn’t want to think along those lines. He was still furious at his father for trying to kill Ash.

 

“I don’t know John; I’d like to think one of us could if there was no other choice. But look what happened to my dad when he tried. People died. Everything I know just got turned upside down and I don’t have any answers.”

 

“Well, I learned one thing from your classes.” John said. “History tends to repeat itself. I guess that’s what we’re experiencing now, what our parents went through with Jean.” John drained the rest of his beer.

 

“Yeah, we should have been more prepared for this.” Ric said.

 

“There’s no preparing for something like this."

 

"Sorry about Liliana, that couldn't have been easy."

 

"Thanks, I feel like I should be more upset about that then I am." John admitted, he looked at the wedding band still on his finger and then pulled it off before tucking it into his pocket.

 

John then noticed a blue Mustang creeping up the drive before pulling up. It was Matt Summers car. He knew instantly who was behind the wheel.

 

“Cali!” John said as he jumped off the step and launched himself towards Matt’s car. The doors opened and Dallas climbed out along

with Nicole, Ashley and some dude John had never seen before who stood next to Nicole.

 

Dallas looked the same as ever, dirty blonde hair falling over his electric blue eyes, same sense of style and same grin on his face as John approached him.

 

“Glad you’re here man.” John said to Dallas.

 

“You didn’t really give me a choice.” Dallas said before he held up a brown paper bag. “I thought you might need this; its’ a little souvenir from our trip, some Cali tree.” John accepted the bag and tucked it away before embracing Dallas in a hug.

 

“Man I love you.” John said before pulling away. “No homo of course.” He added.

 

“Of course,” Dallas nodded. That was a first, hearing John say that, it had been unspoken up till now. Dallas cast his eyes around the school and his smile began to wane. He started to pick up on the emotions permeating around the place. So much confusion, over powering sadness and anger, it was a lot to bare. Dallas shrugged it off however, because he had too. He had to look strong in front of John and the others.

 

“What happened here?” Ashley said as she took a step forward. “The grass is telling me about terrible things… they were covered with blood, so much blood.” Ashley shivered.

 

“Enforcers showed up a few minutes before we got back from Vegas. Started gunning down kids and students alike. We got here in time to save a lot of them, but a lot of them didn’t make it either.” John said darkly. “They brought sentinels too.” He said before pointing at the massive robots Alex was working on, Julia was sitting on the leg of a Sentinel and talking with Alex.

 

“So what’s the plan then?” Dallas asked, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible. “Beast can’t expect it to be safe here after this right?”

 

“Right, he said something about us all relocating somewhere, the kids and students are packing up.” John nodded.

 

“Whose the new guy?” Chris trotted up to the group and then peered at Robin.

 

“His name is Robin and he’s like my boyfriend now.” Nicole said before she grabbed Robin’s hand. “He’s also way hot and half vampire.” She then glanced at Dallas to see if he was jealous but he didn’t seem to react at all.

 

“You brought a half vampire here Nicole? What the HeII, we’re all mutants this isn’t a vampire refugee group.” Chris said.

 

“If Cali thinks he’s okay, he’s okay Chris.” John said.

 

“He’s ight.” Dallas said, he honestly hadn’t known Robin for very long, though he couldn’t be completely sane to date Nicole.

 

“Maybe we should go grab a pair of new Sentinel Hands before we leave then.” Dallas said to John who broke out in a grin.

 

“I’m on it.” John said before racing off towards the Sentinels with his claws out.

It was then Dallas noticed Beast walk out of the school, followed by Christine, Aleks and Matt.

 

“Children and X-Men of Xaviers institute.” Beast began. “I know it is sad we must leave what has been our home for so long. But as long as the Enforcers know where we are we will never be safe.” Hank said sadly.

 

“I have decided to relocate us all to San Francisco.” Hank said then. “There is an old X-Men base there that is relatively unknown, it hasn’t been used in years and I doubt the Enforcers will know to look for us there. There is plenty of room for all of us.”

 

San Francisco, sounds promising. Dallas thought.

Edited December 17, 2014 by Flex Likes Groot

[Flex Lord Splash]

Part 4

 

Cleaning out his room had been strange. Matt Summers now carried his most precious belongings in his backpack as he headed towards the Blackbird along with everyone else who wasn’t already onboard. He walked passed his mustang as he went, running a hand over the hood as if one last goodbye. He was taking his keys with him but he wasn’t sure if he would ever see his baby again.

           

“Don’t worry about it Summers,” Aleks said from behind him, slapping him on the shoulder hard as he now moved in front of Matt. “If something happens to your car we’ll find a way to get you another one.”

           

“Thanks Aleks.” Matt said, not sure if that made him feel better or not. At least Aleks had noticed what was troubling him. He followed the Russian mutant up the ramp and onto the Blackbird. The place was packed. Actually that’s an understatement. Matt thought as he moved towards the crowd. The Blackbird hadn’t been designed to carry this many people, yes the student body had been cut down quite a bit after the Enforcer’s attempted genocide but it was still too many passengers to carry. Everyone was on their feet all bunched together with no personal space whatsoever.

           

Matt took a deep breath as he stood next to Aleks. There was some movement and then Christine and Chris shouldered there way next to them.

           

“There you two are,” Christine said before she leaned in and kissed Aleks on the cheek. “Ah was worryin you would take too long and get left behind.”

           

“You shouldn’t worry about me; you’ll just drive yourself crazy.” Aleks smiled.

 

“I think that’s everyone Hank,” Matt heard Ric say from upfront. He watched over the head of another student as Ric slid into the pilots’ seat. The ramp to the Blackbird slid shut as the engines came to life. Before he knew it the plane was in the air, Matt glanced at the window over Aleks shoulder as they lifted higher into the sky, the institute becoming smaller and smaller by the second.

           

Matt could feel Alek’s elbow poking into his ribs but he didn’t really mind. “This is going to be a long flight.” Chris said now, looking uncomfortable mashed in with everyone else. The shape-shifter then transformed into the shape of a midget, one that looked exactly like the midget from Jackass to Matt.

           

“There that’s better.” Chris said now that he had more room. Matt glanced at Aleks and then began to crack up laughing. The midget-Chris didn’t look amused however. He shifted into an exact replica of Matt next poking a finger at him.

           

“What’s so funny buddy?” he demanded in Matt’s voice.

           

“Hey, knock it off Chris.” Matt said as he stopped laughing. “It’s not cool to impersonate us.”

           

Chris changed back into his normal self and shrugged. “Just trying to make be a distraction.” He muttered. Christine put an arm on her brother and then laid her head on his shoulder.

           

“What do you guys think San Fran is going to be like?” Matt wondered.  

           

“Hopefully safer then Westchester,” Aleks said.

                                                                       

-****-
 

“I don’t like it,” Jace said now that he and Kat were in the privacy of their room. “Shaw would pull something like this, but she’s dangerous. Too powerful and too unstable, something goes wrong and she could kill us all.”

           

“I agree,” Kat said as she sat down onto the bed. “Plus until now I was the only read-head in the court, there can only be one.”

           

“That would be what bothers you.” Jace said as he followed Kat over onto the bed and sat down, crossing his legs.

           

“What do you think Shaw is planning?” Kat asked now. “I know he must have some endgame goal in using this girl.”

           

“Shaw wants power, even more power than he has. He will use her to force the world to their knees if he can.” Jace said darkly.

           

“Then how do we stop him from ****ing everything up?” Katherine asked her vampire progeny and lover.

           

“Very, carefully,” Jace said with a cunning smile.

                                                                 

-****-

 

Nate was silent as the Brotherhood floated over the earth in their metal ball. For a while now his allegiance to Pietro had been wavering. It was plain to see that Pietro was unstable, and his radical ideals’ on how mutants should take over was becoming a bit much for him. He’d often thought about putting an arrow in the back of Pietro’s skull, but for now he’d play along as if nothing was wrong. Genosha was destroyed, Pietro had saved them from that fate, but Nate couldn’t help but think that if Pietro had lead them differently then there never would have been that threat.

           

“Are you okay?” Shiloh asked him, looking worried. He glanced at her and nodded his head.

           

“I’m fine,” Nate said. It felt like the orb was descending now; Nate could feel the gravity shift. It seemingly touched down on the ground, and then one of the metal walls of the orb retracted. Nate got to his feet, pulling out his bow and knocking two arrows in case there were hostiles outside. He stepped out of the orb, to find that Pietro had landed them in the woods.

           

That was when Nate noticed three figures coming their way. He raised his bow, ready to unleash his arrows into their skulls if they proved to be a threat.

           

“It’s dark as ****.” Nate heard Kane mutter and then orange light was cast over the surrounding area. The three figures stopped as the light washed over them. Nate recognized one of them from the Brotherhood, the other two were strangers.

           

“Rene!” Shiloh shouted; Nate turned to see her walk towards him. These were the people Pietro had flew them out to collect. Nate lowered his bow.

           

“You must be the Ultimate Dallas Green.” Pietro said as he stepped out of the orb. Nate kept his finger on the bow, just in case.

           

“And you must be Quicksilver.” Showstopper said simply, it looked to Nate as if he didn’t want to be here.

           

“Nice giant metal ball; looks very discreet.” The female said.

           

“This is Angela, she’s an Ex-X-Man, and a precog. She’s with us.” Dallas added.

           

“And she is welcomed with open arms.” Pietro said. “Now come join the others. We must leave this place before we are found.”

           

Nate sighed, he didn’t want to go back into the giant metal ball so soon but he didn’t really have any other choice. He waited as the three newcomers stepped inside before being the last to walk into the orb. The metal wall reformed behind him, Nate took a seat in one of the metal chairs Pietro had erected on the floor of the orb, which was strangely level even though the shape of the orb was circular.

           

He could feel the orb now lifting back up into the sky.

           

“I know I have not been the best leader in the last few weeks,” Pietro said, his gaze trained on Nate’s face, as if he’d been reading his earlier thoughts. “I have made wrong choices that put the entire clan in danger; I have been blinded by my hate.” Quicksilver continued. “But that all stops now, I know my time may be short. I have many enemies, but until then I will be a better leader, I promise you this.”

           

Nate hadn’t expected this, but it still didn’t change his opinion of Pietro.

           

“And if I fall, I appoint Abraham to take my place.” Pietro said to the older mutant. Abraham said nothing but seemed to remain deep in thought.

 

“The Black King of the Hellfire club has sent us an invitation,” Quicksilver said now. “We have little options of places we can go, his message to me implied that we are welcome in the Hellfire mansion and that we will be protected.” Pietro added.

           

“Shaw informed me that Las Vegas has been destroyed by the Phoenix, and that he now possesses the power of the Phoenix for himself,” Nate watched as he cast his blue eyes over the faces of the Brotherhood survivors. “We will play Shaw’s game, and we will pretend to be with him, and then we will make our move. The Phoenix must be stopped; we can’t allow Shaw to use its power to enslave the globe.”

Nate didn’t like this; he knew almost nothing about the Hellfire club, the one thing he did know however was that he wouldn’t be able to trust any of them.

           

“A war is coming,” Pietro said. “We will appear to take Hellfire’s side, but know this. The Brotherhood will endure.”

                                                           

-****-

 

He had been summoned. Since Daken Akihiro had been nearly turned to ashes by Ashlynn Summers at the Weapon-X complex months ago he had been playing by his own rules. Now Romulus had finally sent for him. The man who had raised Daken, shaped him into what he was now. His muscular form rippled beneath the black fabric of his shirt as he lunged forward, grabbling himself down the side of the building before slipping through the window.

           

Romulus was inside, waiting for him. His massive form spilling out of the makeshift throne built from twisted metal and what appeared to be broken swords. Shadow played across Romulus face, hiding most of in shadow but it was a face Daken knew well. Romulus had taught Daken the truth, the truth about Logan.

           

“Father,” Daken said as he knelt before Romulus.

           

“Rise, my son,” Romulus growled. Daken did as he was told. “Do you know why I have sent for you?”

           

“There is someone you need me to kill,” Daken cocked his head.

           

“Not exactly,” Romulus now got to his feet. “The time has come to set my plan into motion. “Soon a new empire will rise on the bones of this modern society. This world will fall, and you will be the bearer of change. You will be the face of my plans, and you will command a great army.”

           

Daken listened, not exactly following all of Romulus words. Commander of a great army… That was something Daken could get behind. Maybe then I will be able to finally kill you father and be rid of you. He inwardly smiled.

           

“You shall come with me to awaken this power, the power of the Gods, the power of Fenrir the bringer of winter.”

[Flex Lord Splash]

Part 5

 

It hadn’t been a long flight for Dallas Green. Maybe it was because he was a bit excited to return back to the place of his origins: California. Not only was it California, it was San Fran which was only a bridge away from where he’d spent a lot of time in: Alameda. Or it was possible it was partly due to the fact that he'd sped up time around him; the flight seeming to go by almost in a few blinks of the eye. He’d plugged in his headphones and gotten lost in his tunes for most of the flight, until John had demanded to share the other ear and Dallas had reluctantly obliged before the two X-Men had both jammed along to the music in silence, blissfully staying away from dark thoughts.

 

Soon the skyline of San Francisco loomed into view outside the small ocular window near where the two teens were seated. “There’s the Golden Gate Bridge.” Dallas said as he grabbed John’s shoulder and gave him a short jolt, waking up the scruffy mutant who had fallen asleep about thirty minutes ago.

 

“Huh; what?” John rubbed his fists over dark blue eyes as he then looked over Dallas shoulder. “We’ll I’ll be. I always wanted to see this city.” He grunted.

 

“Yeah, I still don’t know how I forgot the X-Men used to have a base here.” Dallas commented as Ric lowered their altitude and they swooped low over the bridge before dropping down lower, now only thirty feet or so above the water.

 

Dallas felt the Blackbird go at a steady pace before it arced up over a rocky island, connected to the mainland only by a large bridge.

 

“We’re here.” Hank announced, though it was pretty obvious as Ric landed the jet onto a concrete pad. Dallas unbuckled his seat and then bolted upright before grabbing his suitcase; he turned to see John right on his heels as he pushed through the crowed of students and

 

X-Men alike so he could get up to the front. Dallas pressed the button on the panel and the door slid open as the ramp slid down to the ground. He then gracefully slid down the metal ramp, turning at the bottom as John jogged down it. He took in a deep breath of California air and exhaled with a smile on his face.

 

Now he could be with his family and be at home at the same time. Nothing made Dallas happier. Ashley came out next before rushing towards Dallas, he caught her in his arms, doing a small twirl with the petite green-haired girl before setting her down with a chuckle.

 

“Someone’s excited.” John grinned.

 

“You bet your *** I am,” Dallas said as he leaned in and kissed Ashley on the cheek.

 

“Brand new city, new nightlife, so much to show you guys.” Dallas said. He turned to see Beast and Alaric climb down the ramp next after then the students began to file out with their bags; stepping out onto the landing pad as they glanced around.

 

Dallas turned and took his first good look at the new place. It was giant and square shaped and seemed to be made of metal. The island itself was almost all rocky terrain; he noticed a few metal towers in different strategic points of the island.

 

"I can't wait to start a new garden here, this place needs some work." Ashley said still smiling from Dallas peck, the breeze catching her green hair and blowing it around her head like a willow's boughs.

 

“Welcome children of the X, to Utopia.” Hank said as he spread his arms theatrically. Utopia… Dallas mused. I’m not sure if that’s what I would call it, but it sure is something. His empathy powers kicked into gear as everyone stood their gawking at their new home. He could feel a single emotion rising above the rest; the emotions everyone had been feeling since he’d arrived, sadness, loss, anger, confusion, worry were now fading into the background as this new emotion began to spread like wild-fire. This new emotion, one that was bright and if he had to describe it reminded him of a sun rising above the waves. He felt hope.

 

****

 

His name was Christopher Marie, but sometimes he didn’t know who he was. The dark haired teen stood in front of a dusty mirror of his new room. He stared at his dark hair with green eyes burdened by dark bags; examining the white tuff of hair he’d inherited from his mother. He had identity problems sometimes because he could look like whoever he wanted.

 

Sometimes he even heard their voices, the people he’d tapped and absorbed their powers, Ashlynn had helped to work to lock them away, but now she was gone. She'd had killed a lot of people. More people then Chris wanted to think about, including possibly the alternate version of himself from the Ultimate universe.

 

Chris summoned his power and quickly morphed into a perfect replica of John Howlett. “Well I’m a ****’in ***hole.” He grinned as he mocked John before changing back to his normal self. He then turned into his sister, “Ah say Ah care about Chris but Ah don’t spend any time with him, ever. Too busy trying to get into Aleks pants.” He stifled a laugh before returning to his natural form. So this is what I’ve resorted too for entertainment. He thought bitterly.

 

There had been times he wanted to leave. He felt like he could slip out any minute and wouldn’t be missed. He’d been about too when Vegas had been blown up. He couldn’t leave. Not now, not after so many people had died and Ashlynn was still out there unpunished.

He turned around and abandoned the bathroom before walking into his new room. The rest of the surviving X-Men and Institute students were busy unpacking. The place sure was different then the school, it would take them all some getting used too. Not only that but it was covered in thick layers of dust.

 

“Knock, knock,” Chris turned to see Christine and Aleks come into the room. “How you holding up? Is your room okay?” Christine said as she sat down on his bed.

 

"Its fine, just going to take a while to clean." Chris shrugged.

 

“I’ve still hadn’t had the chance to check out the ventilation systems here, still deciding if I should make a room up there or settle for a real room. What do you think Chris?” Aleks said as he began to browse Chris’ things.

 

“I think you should do whatever you think is best,” Chris shook his head. He wasn’t sure what his sister saw in him sometimes, though he wasn’t an ***hole at least, she could do worse, he knew that.

 

“You two dating now? I saw you kiss.” Chris said flatly.

 

“Woah now,” Aleks looked alarmed. “I’m just happy to be alive right now; I almost bit it back there because of our blonde football enthusiast. I’m not in a hurry to put any labels on anything.”

 

Christine looked slightly hurt, “Yeah what Aleks said.” She smiled, recovering quickly. “Ah’m just as happy as you are that you’re okay." she said to the Russian X-Man. Get a room, seriously. Christopher thought, sighing heavily. He wished that Christine would spend a few minutes alone, without Aleks around.

 

“Hey Chris,” Christine said as she got to her feet. “Once we’re all settled in let’s go do something okay. Maybe grab a bite to eat, just you and me,” she winked at him as she headed for the door. Chris watched them go before dropping down onto his bed and staring up at the ceiling.

 

****

Death was always the same. It was dark, and it came directly after being incinerated by Phoenix flames. Warren suddenly sat upright as he took his first breath as new life filled his lungs. He quickly glanced around; expecting to see nothing but devastation, but what he saw instead was the interior of a clean house.

 

He was laying on an unfamiliar couch as he ran a hand through his golden hair, breaking out into a cold sweat when it all came back to him. He had been about to break Ashlynn’s neck; about to end her life, trading hers for millions of innocent people. But something had gone wrong. It had sensed his intentions. The Phoenix had taken control and she’d exploded. Fire everywhere, he knew so many people were gone because of him, because he’d failed. He allowed his face to press into his hands now, the burden of all the lives lost were now on his shoulders. That was when he noticed he was dressed in clean clothes. An old worn grey sweat-shirt that read Xavier’s Institute for Higher Learning, and a pair of faded woman's jeans.

 

“You did the best you could,” a familiar voice said. Warren froze. He hadn’t heard that voice in years. Not since the last Phoenix crisis where Jean had turned all his friends into ashes. It was like Jean knew what was going to happen when she named her daughter, irony my ***. He thought.

 

The figure stepped into the light and Warren’s pulse picked up. “Kitty? Is that really you?” he asked as he stood up, his wings unfurling. She looked the same as he’d last seen her, small, brunette, cute, but at the same time strong. She’d always been strong.

 

“It is me,” Kitty Pryde nodded her head. “I’m not that easy to kill, not when I can turn intangible, I don’t burn as easily as you Warren.” A small smile played across her lips. "You were in bad shape when I found you, there wasn't much left, but I knew that ring, and I knew those wings. So I brought you home, its taken you a while to come back." she explained.

 

Warren ignored the parts about him being found, still in shock about seeing an old friend. “Why? Why didn’t you come back? Why did you hide all these years?”

 

“Why did you?” Kitty shook her head. “I hid for the same reasons. Almost everyone was dead. I lost Pitor…” Warren could tell even after all these years she still missed him. “I wanted a life, a life where those I loved weren’t going to always be in danger of being burned up. I had a son, I made the life I wanted.” As she spoke now Warren could see that she had aged, they all had.

 

“But I still couldn’t run from it. Look what she’s done now. Half a city gone, it’s almost worse than Jean. I can’t sit back anymore; I can’t look away as millions of lives are being wiped away by that thing. It’s taken too much from us already. I’m going to help you Warren, I’m going to help you kill her, and destroy the Phoenix for good.”

[Flex Lord Splash]

Part 6

 

This wasn’t how things were supposed to be. Ashlynn Summers sat alone in her new room, staring at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a sleeveless black satin dress, which made her pale skin look even-more-so. Her scarlet hair combed to one side of her neck and her bright emerald eyes locked onto her own reflection. She didn’t recognize herself. She shouldn’t be here with these people. She knew she wasn’t Black Queen material. She was a healer, a nurse and a teacher.

 

Now she was a murderer. She saw their faces in her dreams. Jeremy, the faces of millions of innocent people the Phoenix had consumed in fire. The Phoenix, she felt it all the time. Like a new personality within her, a force of fire and destruction that waited beneath her flesh like a river of lava, poised like a serpent to spring on a moments’ notice and to deal out death.

 

She missed them. She missed her friends, John, Dallas, Ashley, Matt, Christine, and Ric. Especially Ric. She felt a pang of regret in her chest when she thought about Alaric. He’d been there since she could remember. She saw his face too in her dreams, she saw Warren wearing his face as he lunged in, trying to kill her.

 

What would Ric do if he saw her? How had he reacted to what happened in Vegas? Was he even still alive? Ashlynn had no clue. She wanted to know, she wanted to reach out to him. HeII, she’d tried. But the connection never went through, it was like some force was barring her from contacting him.

 

You can never go back to them… A voice whispered in Ashlynn’s head. As she looked in the mirror now she saw something else reflected in the glass. The head of a small, burning bird, coiling around her own neck as it leaned in to whisper into her ear.

 

They don’t understand… they will try to kill you… kill you like they killed your mother. They will always turn on you. Your friends will always try to kill you once you have reached your full potential… you are important Ashlynn Summers, this universe needs you. It needs us, can’t you see that?

 

Ashlynn’s eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment, the voice in her head had an unnatural sway to it. Suddenly the fire returned to her eyes.

 

“NO, I won’t listen to you! Shut up!” Ashlynn shouted as she threw her hand out. The glass cracked and shattered as the wood around the mirror began to burn away into ashes, the glass-shards melting down into slag from the heat. Then it was over, the mirror was gone and so was the voice. She sat there breathing hard for a moment, before she threw herself onto the bed and began to sob.

-****-

 

“This place isn’t bad,” John said as he sat at the bar next to Dallas. The two teens had shown their fake ID’s to the bartender before being served each a beer. Dallas raised his beer up and grinned at John.

 

“Cheers, to a fresh start. The X-Men have hit California!” John brought up his beer and clinked it against Dallas’ before pulling it to his lips and chugging.

 

“Cheers,” he said as he finished his sip and placed it down on the counter before he glanced around at the bar. It was dark inside; the air smelled of smoke and TV’s hanging from the roof all showed the current Football game.

 

“I admit, the girls in California aren’t bad,” John said as he glanced at a blonde bar-keep.

 

“Isn’t it a bit fast for you to be thinking about other girls? Didn’t your fiancé just die?” Dallas seemingly frowned.

 

“Yeah, you’re right Cali,” John nodded. “But beer can only distract me so much.” John’s smile deflated a bit. He didn’t want to think about her. Not right now, not when he was trying to be distracted. He didn’t want Cali to have to feel what he felt either.

 

“You know Cali; I thought she was going to be the one. I pictured us getting married, pictured us raising that deranged clone Novocain made from both of our DNA, Liam, maybe having a few natural kids of our own…” he shook his head before taking a big gulp.

 

“I was stupid,” he sighed. “Should have known I’ll never have something like that; it doesn’t work out like that for people like me.” He glanced over at Dallas. “So how’s your love life going bro?”

 

“Oh, it’s going. I think.” Dallas said as he took his own sip. “I really like Ashley; I think we may become an item soon.”

 

“Oooh, Matt’s ex. That won’t make him happy.” John grinned as he drained his beer. “Oh well, it’ll be interesting either way. Good for you man.”

 

-****-

 

Sebastian Shaw stood within the lower levels of the Hellfire mansion. The décor down here could be described as… medieval dungeon or perhaps a pagan temple. There was a large stone slab in the center of the circular stone room he stood in. Torchers were lit all around, casting the dungeon into an crude light.

 

Six robed figures stood around Sebastion. They were here to help him perform the ritual.

 

Shaw heard footsteps on the stairwell behind him and turned to see Ashlynn step down to the bottom, two black armored Knights standing behind her.

 

“What is this?” She asked as she glanced around with those bright green eyes.

 

“Why did you bring me down here Shaw?” Ashlynn asked, she looked worried, apprehensive.

 

“Do not be afraid my lady,” Shaw began cordially. “I have summoned you here to keep my word on a promise I made to you. I told you I would help you control what lays dormant inside you, and it is time that we began… please lay down on the slab.” He said as he gestured towards it.

 

Ashlynn didn’t look totally sure, but she wordlessly climbed onto the cold stone and then laid herself down.

 

He knew she could read his mind, look into his intentions if she wanted too, but the six extremely skilled telepaths wearing the cloaks helped to form a powerful block around his mind.

 

“Relax yourself Ashlynn,” Shaw said now. “Empty your mind and focus on my words… take a deep breath, and let it out.”

 

Shaw looked up and nodded to the robed figures. NOW. He said, thinking the signal so they’d pick up on it.

 

It was simple really, the task he’d given the telepaths. The Phoenix Force was a powerful and unruly force, but it was also damaged, it wasn’t complete.

 

Shaw told them to attack this weakness, to focus on breaking it further, to splinter the Phoenix force in two, into Dark and into Light. They would also strip away

Ashlynn Summers… she would be locked away deep inside her own body. Her personality would be trapped in a mental prison as this new Dark Phoenix took complete control.

 

“NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME!” Ashlynn shouted now as she began to twitch. Her eyes snapped open, a pure red now.

 

“NO! I DON’T WANT TO GO AWAY! PLEASE!” then Ashlynn’s voice was gone, replaced by a deeper inhuman voice that seemed to rise from deep within her chest.

 

“Splintering… splintering… noooooooooo!” There was a sudden flash of bright light as a massive bird of pure white flame suddenly burst from Ashlynn’s chest. It flew towards the ceiling, melting through it in an instant before it took to the sky and vanished. It had worked; The Phoenix had been split into two once again. The light had gone, now there was only darkness.

 

Ashlynn’s body suddenly sat up and she threw her hands to the left and right as dark-crimson flame burst from her hands bursting into the six arranged telepaths and turning them instantly into ashes.

 

She aimed her hand at Shaw next.

 

“What have you done to me?”

 

“Only what had to be done,” Shaw smiled. “I have released you my dark queen… the light is gone, now you are free to destroy as you see fit.”

 

“Then tell me why I shouldn’t destroy you?” The Dark Phoenix asked, all emotion gone from Ashlynn Summer’s face.

 

“Because you need me, because I will be your dark prince,” Shaw lowered himself to one knee. “Because I know how this world works and I know how to bring it to its knees, and I know how to make sure the light never merges with you again.”

 

The Dark Phoenix lowered her hand now as she rose from the slab. Her clothes melted away, replaced by the crimson and gold costume of the Dark Phoenix.

 

“Very well.”

 

 

-****-

He hadn't slept in what felt like days. Alaric had been too busy trying to form a plan. The others looked up to him, it was hos job to figure out how to fix this. How to find Ashlynn and make everything go back to the way they were. But everything can't be the same anymore, can it? He thought. He knew too much had happened. Too many friends had died. She'd killed some of them.

 

No, he wouldn't give up. He'd find where she was. He'd find a way to reason with her, find a way to get rid of the Phoenix inside her if it was the last thing he did. Even if he had to search the cosmos for an answer.

 

Ric's eyes grew heavy and eventually he slumped at his desk, where he'd been grading papers along with trying to come up with a solid lead. His face pressed against the desk as his eyes closed and he drifted off.

 

Ric saw darkness. In that darkness he saw a figure. They were far away, he started running towards them. It was a girl with bright red hair and emerald eyes. Ashlynn.

 

She turned towards him slowly, still far away. Her hand reaching for him.

 

NO! I DON’T WANT TO GO AWAY! PLEASE

 

Her voice rang out through the darkness.

 

RIC PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE! NO! I CAN'T FIGHT THEM ALL! I CAN'T LOOSE MYSELF PLEASE!

 

He ran towards her now, wings flapping as he flew towards her. He knew he had to reach her and never let go. "I'm coming Ash!" he shouted, but as fast as he flew she only seemed to be getting further away.

 

Her hand was still stretching towards him as she looked back at him. "I'm sorry Ric." she said and suddenly she was gone.

 

"NO!" Ric shouted as he suddenly sat up at his desk, his fists clinched. He'd been so close, she'd been in his mind, she was out there somewhere but something had happened to her... something terrible, and he'd been unable to stop it.

Edited February 12, 2015 by FleX-Man