X-Men:

Saying Goodbye

Warning the following fanfic contains spoilers from X-Force #27…so heads up! For those of you who have read the issue, this takes place when X-23 is sitting at Hellion's bedside after his hands got blown to hell. It was a great issue despite once again Hellion getting his ass handed to him. Anyway like I mentioned before this takes place in Utopia's Med Wing. Hellion's knocked the fuck out and X-23 is sitting by his bedside sad to see that her love interest looks like shit.

(101010101)

Ever since their first battle with Nimrod in Dallas, ever since he had risked it all to fly her all the way back to the Mansion to have Elixir heal, she has always been watching over him. Together they had faced incredible odds: they rescued Mercury from The Facility, battled Belasco in Hell, and fought the Purifiers.

Their battle with the Purifiers a year ago had ended with him getting stabbed from behind by Lady Deathstrike and her Reavers. They retreated to get him medical attention, and despite the critical injuries he lived. Despite that the image of Deathstrike's claws coming out of his chest lit a fire in her that fueled her to defeat Deathstrike in combat in Alaska.

After that she had barely saw him due to her tenure on X-Force, yet when he was captured alongside Surge and Boom-Boom by the Leper Queen and the Sapien League the mission became personal. She remembered getting sent to the future just as they reached them and despite their mission to bring Hope back to the present, she always remembered that once they returned to the present…she would save him…no matter the cost.

She then thought back to less than an hour ago during their fight on the bridge. He was holding his own fairly well, he and Psylocke were easily blasting the Nimrods apart with their TK. And then it happened. He had used his TK to launch Wolverine at a Nimrod and then she saw how his hands began to glow and then in a flash they were gone.

In her head she can still hear his scream of agony as both of his hands the majority of his rights forearm were gone. She still wasn't quite sure how it happened but she was willing to bet that somehow it was the Nimrod he was battling who did it. The other Nimrods were dealt with rather quickly and she recalled Surge's tears as she held his unconscious body. They quickly gathered their wounded and returned to Utopia to receive medical attention and come up with a plan. She had watched Beast as he removed his jacket and began on bandaging his ravaged arms as well as the burns on his chest and face.

The Med Wing was silent save for the beeping of the monitors and medical equipment that were attached to his chest and the stumps where his hands used to be. Her hand was on the bed right where his right hand would have been. She closed her eyes and with her enhanced hearing she began to listen to his shallow breathing.

She could never could quite understand why he brought out feelings and sensations she had never felt before. One of her earlier theories was because of his actions after their encounter with Nimrod in Dallas, but Elixir's actions when she was dangling over the container of molten steel were similar yet Elixir didn't cause her to experience the same emotions he caused her to feel.

She remembered overhearing Dr. Nemesis making the comment that he wanted to help rescue her from the Facility but Cyclops forbid him. She felt a warm sensation deep inside her when she heard this. It made her feel…good that he wanted to come and save her.

Her inner musings were interrupted by a groan of pain from him and the scent and the boot steps of Wolverine approaching from behind her.

"We're going to the future to shut down all the Nimrods," He said dressed in his Silver and Black X-Force uniform.

"All right," she said as she got up from her chair.

"There 'll be no way back home after this; so if you have something you wanna tell him...do it now," he said before he turned around to meet up with the rest of X-Force.

She turned around and walked up to his bed and lowered his oxygen mask and kissed him lightly on the lips and said softly, "Good bye Julian…" She then fixed his mask and left to join up with X-Force.

Had she lingered a moment longer she would have seen his eyes open slowly and hear his tired and raspy voice mutter softly, "Laura…"

(1232432)

Well folks that's it. Short sweet and to the point. No need to fret folks because both Laura and Julian will survive Second Coming what with Laura getting a solo book in September and Julian having a Legacy Arc this fall/winter.

Also at the rate he's getting maimed and mauled, Julian's going to be in a Darth Vaderesque suit before he turn's 21!