Finally Heaven:
The pyrokinetic man in front of them (fire mutant) held two fireballs in his hand as the four Mutant X rounded up on him in the basement of a building in the city. They had been chasing him for a day now. His name was Michael Waters. He was supposed to be with a blonde female mutant called Menora Jackes.
"Michael, please…we don't want to…" Emma said, edging closer towards him.
However, Michael grinned evilly as he did a circular motion and a circle of fire surrounded them. He stood there, watching the scenario before throwing another fireball and knocked a screaming Shalimar down. Jesse shouted then lay next to her as the second fireball caught him in the head, killing him.
From behind, the four Mutant X members, a petite woman with cropped blonde hair stepped out and fired a jet of water at Brennan, who yelled as it caused his powers to freak out. It caused an electrical disturbance and knocked him back. Menora smiled as she used her water powers to cut a quick path through the fire to her lover. Fire and water. Hot and cool. Dark and blonde. Opposites. Forever combined.
Brennan sent a ball of electricity out, that Michael blocked with a string of fire. He sent a low whip of flame that whipped them both to the ground, then focused all his energy into a huge ball then ran with the cropped blonde woman – hand-in-hand - and it blew up the entire first floors, killing Shalimar, Emma and Brennan.
Emma opened her blue eyes and saw a tree. A nice, big oak tree with gray-brown bark and red-yellow-orange leaves, like in fall. Hanging from the branches were a variety of assorted fruits; strawberries, apples, grapes, bananas, plums, cherries, melons…
"Grapes and strawberries on trees?"
Okay, I'm dead. Heaven. Nice.
She turned her head and saw the familiar skyline of New York City. But with differences. No beeping yellow taxicabs, just old-fashioned horse and carts. No loud noise, just gentle calm quiet. She was cross-legged on the grass and stood up as a child giggled as it ran past, its dark hair flapping.
A horse and cart clopped past and Emma saw the occupants; an elderly black woman laughing and a younger white man. They kissed gently, before drinking from a bottle of champagne at her feet.
She looked at her feet and saw that her toes were curling into the warm, soft green grass. It felt like walking on silk or fine linen. She saw other people. Men, women, children; families, elderly couples of every nationality and race.
She looked at herself and saw that she was wearing a sky blue pagan top (it was a top which cut off at the waist and covered the shoulders and had long wavy sleeves) and a light sky blue skirt. Her short, dark red hair was combed gently and a turquoise pendant hung from her neck, the colour matching and complementing her clothes and hair.
The strangest thing was the wings. A pair of eagle-like wings were sprouted out of her back, so they felt like a couple of extra arms and were about four feet in feet span. They were the palest blue and had thick heavy feathers, edged with pale gold. They gently moved in and out, instantly adapting if someone came past, so they folded in tightly to about 10cm either side.
She walked over to the street and saw free food and drinks stalls - hotdogs and burgers and ice cream and soft drinks and more. She took a Diet Coke, which instantly replaced itself, and Emma drank deeply, the delicious taste sliding down her throat. Everything in Heaven was more delicious than on Earth. More defined, more perfected, more…like it should be…
Emma decided to see what the sky in Heaven was like, since she was going to spend a hell load of time here. Eternity, actually.
One minute it was deep turquoise, then a pale amber, then a rose-violet color. Cream coloured clouds floated past.
She began to walk alone along the stone-paved sidewalks and after a while she saw a familiar blonde, curly-haired woman.
"Shalimar!" Emma called and her feral friend screamed in delight and they hugged like the world was going to end. Which Heaven never would.
They ate a couple of hotdogs and Emma took a proper look at her. Shalimar wore a pale gold pagan top (all the women in Heaven wore them, they were stylish, but warm always) and a pale gold skirt. Her wings were pale golden with pale green feathers with gold edging.
"This is amazing, isn't it?"
"Yeah. And finally we're free. No obligations. No enemies…"
"No war."
The two women smiled as they saw families playing; children running around, mothers and fathers laughing.
The two women found Jesse Kilmartin playing soccer with two teenage boys with dark hair and Latino skin and wearing Brazil Soccer tee shirts and shorts.
"Hey, Jesse! Eaten out the entire Heaven food stock, yet?"
The young molecular smiled and laughed as he hugged both Shalimar and Emma. He put an arm around his best friend and Emma happily walked away. Jesse had been wearing a shoulder-less red tee shirt and a pair of three-quarter sand-coloured jeans. His wings were pale crimson with black tipped feathers. A shark tooth's pendant hung around his neck and as he hugged Shalimar deeply, his arms around her body were stronger than on Earth.
Emma thought about the last member of the team that she had not seen. The strong, dark, brooding, sexy Brennan Mulwray. He was her best friend, her soul mate, her companion, and her partner-in-crime. Ever since they had met in that club, they had shared a strong relationship and had instantly bonded together, like glue.
She had secretly loved him, but then he had always flirted like hell with Shalimar. She was a man's dream; strong, smart, could eat a steak like any highway trucker, sexy, confident and had a body sent from Aphrodite herself.
Compared to her, Emma was a little scrap of a girl, weak, pathetic and ugly.
There was no chance in Hell…or Heaven for that matter that Brennan and her could ever be together.
She thought.
Emma was walking along a 1950s style Broadway with Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong and all of her jazz favourites playing in open-air clubs, including Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughn and Nina Simone.
It was night and it was warm and people were laughing and joking – even thought they were complete strangers. The neon lights were flashing insistently; primal red, mustard yellow, midnight blues, acid greens, magenta, cyan and purple and orange. They created pathways to unknown worlds. The smell of baking was in the air and Emma could see the waves roll in off the Heaven Atlantic Ocean. The moon was full, a deep symbol of feminism as the sun was of masculinity, curving and round like a pregnant belly and silver as ivory skin. Billions of stars smiled down upon her and the Statue of Liberty gleamed neon green in the moonlight. Its torch a blazing tribute to the sunset with fiery red, orange and yellow and gold lighting up the darkness of the night.
Various scents and smells hit her nasal senses; roasted chestnuts, beef burgers, cookies, bagels. Emma saw a pretzel stall: the twisted snacks dipped in sugar were gleaming like greasy stars against the painted crimson and ocean blue of the cardboard/stone.
Emma bumped into someone along the main streets and was in the middle of apologizing profoundly to the person in particular, when two strong, muscular, tanned arms wrapped around her waist and picked her up, as if she was made of feathers.
She opened her eyes and gazed in Brennan's chocolate brown ones. Her mouth opened in delight as he spun her around.
"Emma! I thought I was never going to find you." Brennan gazed down at the young psionic in his embrace. He wore a silver kaftan-like shirt, with a low neckline that showed off his muscled chest. He wore silver jeans and his dark, unruly hair was as usual spiked up everywhere.
Brennan grabbed an M&M cookie and they decided to have a proper meal.
The tall elemental let Emma choose where they would eat and Emma looked around. Heaven seemed to love jazz. And that really weird, but beautiful world music like Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
They decided to sit in at a small jazz club and restaurant called the Jazz Lagoon. They got a table towards the back and sat eating bread and chicken wings and drinking some bright blue cocktail called a 'Piece of Sky'. The young woman standing nervously at the microphone stand sang like an angel.
Emma got a chocolate fudge sundae and shared it with Brennan. It was symbolic – they used to eat them together, Emma in Brennan's lap as they watched a movie. When it was a 'Chocolate-Sundae' night, it was always something classic or tender. Emma used to snuggle into Brennan and feel his warmth, his essence, his scent of cedar-scented pages of poetry and beer.
The sundae was absolutely perfect – like everything in Heaven. It had layers of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, marshmallows, hot chocolate syrup and absolute piles of the most delicious double chocolate fudge brownies.
"I feel so sorry for Adam. He's alone now. He's probably buried our bodies already."
Emma whispered as Brennan shifted closer to her and a second singer stood on the podium. This one had olive skin, jet-black hair and a silver-white gown swinging gently off her hips.
"He's the one who got us involved, Em. Besides, he'll get over it." Brennan comforted her.
"It's amazing what you can do in Heaven, isn't it?"
"Yeah. So what will you and Shalimar be doing together?"
Brennan stared at her blankly and incredulously.
"Me and Shal? I'll be hanging out with all of you guys. Not just Shal. You in particular."
"But won't you want to do something couple-y?"
"Me and Shal? You think that Shal and I…?" Brennan broke in chuckles and Emma angrily glared at him.
"Emma…Emma, me and Shal aren't dating? I don't love her. Well, not like that, anyway."
Emma's mouth dropped as the words hit her; he didn't love Shalimar.
Stepping out of the club, Brennan casually wrapped an arm around Emma's shoulders. He directed her to a small park, directly in front of the Statue of Liberty. They saw people swimming naked in the ocean, but they were smiling cheerfully and relaxed.
"So, how's Jesse and Shal?"
"They're great."
""When's their first date?"
"What?"
"Shal and Jesse have been dating for a couple of months."
A second revelation.
"I guess that leaves you and me."
"Yeah. Actually, I'm in love with someone here." The words stabbed Emma in the heart like a bladed boot.
"Who is she?" She managed to squeak out.
"She's amazing. She's strong and sweet and reliable and kind and…everything I love."
Emma swallowed to stop the tears from flowing out of her eyes.
"What's her name?"
"You." The single word elevated Emma's heart to a plateau unknown to her before. The Mount Olympus of relationships. The Nirvana of Love.
"You mean as a friend, right?" Said Emma, not daring to hope.
Brennan silently responded by kissing her. It was beautiful and romantic and sweet and heavenly and passionate. His tongue gently probed her mouth for entrance and she gave in willingly. The two passionate muscles collided in a flurry of love that had both of them spinning, the neon lights around them flashing like exploding fireworks.
A million songs flew threw her mind; "You Drive Me Crazy" by Britney; "Heaven" by DJ Sammy; "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" by Belinda Carlisle; "Moonlight In Vermont" by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong; "Super Duper Love…" by Joss Stone; "Dreaming Wide Awake" by Lizz Wright…
They all ran and played all at once and Emma's head felt like TNT was going off every nanosecond. The love from Brennan pulsed through her body, her nerves went off like explosions, as if his electricity had set her body alive.
Brennan wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her closer to him, as to truly feel all of her. Emma did the same with her arms around his neck, gently pulling at the kaftan, so that one hand could run over his muscled chest. A finger ran over a scar, a painful reminder of the past that they had escaped from.
Brennan's hand subconsciously began to run invisible circles on the bottom of her back.
After a few minutes, they broke off for air. They breathed heavily, but pressed themselves together closer, if it were possible.
"God, Emma…I love you…" He said between swallowed breathes.
"I love you too."
They began to walk back to Broadway to hitch a ride to Heavenly Hills Hotel where they would get a room for the night.
Emma slipped a cautious arm around Brennan's waist and stroked his wings absent-mindedly. They were the most beautiful silvery-white-gray colour with pale blue edges.
"Do you really love me, Brennan?"
Brennan stared down into her blue eyes and she gazed up into his brown ones.
"In Heaven and Earth, I love you. For eternity." Emma smiled and kissed him again.
They found the hotel and checked into a room. As the doors of the elevator closed on them, the receptionist's soul-gazing eyes saw the two beams of light that connected them. They were soul mates, united forever and ever and ever.
Brennan opened the door to the room and carried a giggling Emma to the bed, where he put her down. He grabbed a bottle of champagne and two crystal champagne flutes.
Emma gazed at how beautiful and stylish and expensive and romantic the room was. Golden satin sheets covered a four-poster bed and a widescreen TV lay opposite them on the wall with a DVD and VHS. A stack of DVDs and VHSs lay there. An open drinks and snacks cabinet lay nearby. An oak bookcase was near the lounge - which was filled with cream colouredenormous sofas and plants - filled with books of new and old.
Heaven had seriously good style.
Emma reclined against the bed, her legs crossed seductively as Brennan poured the champagne. They both drank deeply
"Now, where were we?" Brennan said with a cheeky smile. He dropped the champagne and glasses to the padded carpet as they kissed once more and became one…finally.
"I love you, Bren."
"I love you too, my angel."
Capricornus152