Chapter Three – Tragic Revelations

The journey to the New York Slums was literally a mere flash of light. Thanks to the talents of a pair Acolyte-brothers who could teleport through light projections, Acolytes and refugees of the island could get to and from the mainland without so much as a blink of an eye. Gavin, one of the Light brothers, gave a concerned look at her tear stained face but gave her passage nonetheless. Marie wondered if he knew. If everyone knew. But she didn't dwindle on the thought as she felt the wheels of her motorcycle touch heavily onto solid ground again. She had never gotten used to travelling that way and preferred flying in the jet or the chopper to travelling by light projections. However, in the state she was in, she didn't want to ask her brother Kurt for a favour.

No sooner had she touched ground, the wheels turned at a screeching-fast pace and she was lost within the depths of the slums. Sunset was already approaching its end but she didn't care. The slums were precarious at night, especially for a lone mutant who didn't exactly have any powers to speak of. The thought crossed her mind and planted a seed of panic but she was quick to crush the thought and lose herself in the thrill of the drive once more. Life seemed endless and at the same time, unmoving with a motorcycle revving under her. The tears that had streamed like running water ceased and old tears dried as dusk turned quickly into night; time and scenery merged together. However, while the streets ran their maze and time dwindled with the come of nightfall, Marie felt her strength begin to slacken. Her arm muscles ached to rest as she held onto the handles in a sturdy grip and her legs ached to be straightened on solid ground. Even her eyes were aching with subdued tiredness. Marie had no choice but to heed her body's needs. She came to a careful, steady stop at the mouth of a wide quadrangle and pulled herself off the bike. Her legs wobbled on the spot as she clumsily stepped off the bike. A step or two later and she was suddenly merged to the ground with a painful thud.

That was all it took to set her off.

A rage-fuelled scream filtered the night air. The sound of panic-frenzied wings beating the air followed swiftly as the few scavenger birds in the area took flight. Marie's scream echoed across the court yard for a moment or two before the silence to charge again. Rage continued to pant through her chest in heavy breaths, new tears of hurt began to pool in her eyes. She blinked them back quickly in defiance. An angry groan escaped her lips as she clenched her teeth and wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt of self comfort. She leant against her motorcycle for support as muffled sobs racked through her body from the inside. It was in this state that Gus found her not ten minutes later.

Gus drove at a steady pace and parked some twenty feet away and dismounted it in a hurry. He let the machine fall on its side without so much as a second glance before jogging to her side, calling her name. Marie turned abruptly at his voice with a bewildered look. The expression didn't change even after he had enveloped her into his arms and kissed her forehead. He began murmuring relieved words of thanks and questions.

"God Marie, you can be pretty thick some tahmes. You know better than to come here at night! Jeez Marie! You scared me t' death you know?"

Marie felt herself grow numb as his words of concern and undoubted love washed over her. She didn't move, didn't dare wrap her arms around him, in fear that she might not be able to let go.

"What are you doing out here Marie?"

Gus pulled away to lock his eyes with hers for the first time. Marie found herself lost in those yellow embers as they glowed in the darkness around them. The tears she had been holding back began to tumble freely as she stared up at him. His brow furrowed with concern.

"What happened with your Dad?"

Gus had always had a way of working things out before she told him something important or troublesome. She just hoped he hadn't heard about the treaty agreement yet. No matter how much she wanted to curse them all for arranging it and not telling her about it all these years, she felt like she would rather die than have someone else tell Gus instead of her. He deserved much better than this. So much better…

Marie's silence put Gus on edge as he tried to get some sort of response out of her that didn't involve tears and sad, wide emerald eyes. She took a shaky inhale of breath, her hands slipped to rest against his chest as she kept her gaze locked with his. Only then, after a few moments, did she speak.

"Gus…something…something's happened and ah…ah need ya t' hear it from meh before anyone else tells ya-"

Her words were suddenly cut short when a thunderous sound erupted from behind them. In the distance stood a hill-side of cluttered looking buildings that were practically skeletal and bare of life. One major road emerged from the centre and eventually connected with the mouth of the courtyard that they stood in. Panic and sudden fear overturned the fragile nature of the previous moment as a blinding white light began to trail down the hill along the main road like a pair of pupil-less eyes...or headlights. The thunderous sound of engines rolling followed it in perfect unison.

Marie felt an unsettling chill run down her spine as her recklessness caught up with her.

"Oh gawd…"

She should have been more cautious with the precariousness of nightfall. The light and the loudening sound of engines and wind whistling moved closer with every moment they lost in lingering there. Without another word, Gus pulled Marie towards her bike and mounted it. There was no time for him to make a run for his, so he jumped on first and yelled for Marie to get on behind him. He made sure that she put on her helmet while he went without, his helmet discarded with his motorcycle. The light and thunder-not sound was merely a few metres away when he jumpstarted the engine and hurriedly began to tread dirt behind them. The sirens that began to strangle their ears as they sped down the narrows of the slums were proof that they had delayed too long.

A troop of Apocalypse's soldiers was tailing them.

Marie held onto Gus for dear life as they turned sharply at every corner and tried not to get caught by the assault of laser blasts that shot at their heels. They were followed by three hover-crafts that saddled two soldiers on each machine. Each was sleek and narrow, perfect for constricted spaces like the streets of the New York slums. Had they had wheels instead, they might have been mistaken as black motorcycles with blinding white headlights and protruding laser blasters on each side. Gus yelled something over the frenzy of noise but Marie couldn't hear him. She yelled her misunderstanding but it was no use as the clutter of noise and her closed helmet muted her efforts. Gus kept them moving side to side to dodge each laser blast as they sped down the ever going maze of turns and bends in the road. Despite this however, the enemy was getting closer to closing the gap between them. Marie heard Gus yell again only to catch parts of it that made no sense. A moment later, Gus turned around swiftly and quickly took his left hand off the handle bar to release a pulse-charge of blue-tinted energy from his finger tips. The blast hit the first machine, causing it to suddenly shut down and fall nose-first into the road with a clutter of heavy metal and broken gravel. The second machine was caught in the fall, causing it to hit the road in a similar fashion. Marie turned back to check only to realise too late that they were not out of danger yet. The third hover craft had survived the collision and gained speed with each passing second but Gus wasn't aware of that yet. They began to slow down a small fraction but that was all that was needed. The enemy fired a round of laser blasts, two of which managed to puncture the back wheel of the bike. Marie had barely had the chance to warn Gus before they were abruptly lurched forward into the road with a sickening crunch. They turned on one side with a horrible crash and continued to skid across the road at a speedy, reckless pace. Marie felt her grasp slip from around Gus's waist…

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The world twisted in darkness and silence for what felt like an age. However when Marie realised that there was a world to acknowledge, the sound of fire crackling and the smell of burning rock and…blood was the first things to engulf her senses. She jolted in panic but was not able to move as pain shot through her like a hot knife. Her eyes, so heavy and sore suddenly, struggled to open half way let alone all the way as she became aware of the pain that ruled her body. Though she ached all over it seemed there were certain pain points that stuck out more than others such as the pain on the side of her head. When she could open her eyes, she found her vision was blurred not by her own injury but by a thicket of smoke and ash that had polluted the air. Her throat began to throb with the urge to cough as she slowly began to push herself to a half-seated position. A horrible wince escaped her lips when she put weight on her left wrist, causing her to stop in her tracks and look over herself. Her wrist was dislocated, swelling by the moment and throbbing terribly. She touched the side of her head only to jolt it away with another wince on her lips. She was bleeding from the head too.

"Damn it what truck ran over meh- Oh gawd..."

It was then that a flood of memories began to assault her mind. Running away from Avalon. Driving to the New York Slums. Gus finding her. The Apoc squad chasing them… Her panicked thoughts turned silent as a realisation escaped her lips in a terrified whisper.

"Gus…"

Marie managed to pull herself to her feet with that encouragement despite the pattern of scrapes and dirt-caked cuts that ran from her right mid-calf and all the way up to her hip. She continued to wince as she managed to limp away from where she had landed. The smoke and ash in the air made her cough and distorted her vision but she continued onwards. When she found nothing after a few minutes an impatient sob escaped her lips and she stopped on the spot. In this moment of desperation and impatience was where she found a beckon of hope; the flare of flames. The fire was small, no larger than a standard camp fire but it was something. She made her way towards it with hope kindled in her eyes and the beginnings of a relieved smile across her dirt-smudged face.

That hope dwindled dangerously when the smoke began to clear.

"Oh mah gawd…"

Marie's limp turned to a hindered jog as the display appeared before her with the clearing of the smoke. Her motorcycle laid in broken portions of metal, engine parts and fire but the main portion of the engine, seat and skeleton lay crushed into a street wall…and a body lay buried beneath it.

"Gus!"

Marie stumbled to her knees as soon as she reached Gus's broken and half-buried body. Sobs and half-stuttered words escaped her lips as she tried to revive him. He stirred slightly but didn't wake. Tears mingled with dirt and sweat as she struggled to push the machine off him but to no triumph. The wreckage of the bike came up to his waist. His legs were broken, bleeding and from what she could tell, they twisted at sickeningly odd angles beneath the butchered metal skeleton of her bike. She felt bile rise at the back of her throat but she held down the nausea as she tried to use her injured left hand to aid the right to lift the wreckage off of him. As expected, her pained cry echoed through the smoke and walls as she jerked her damaged hand away. Sobs continued to wreck her to the core as she sat in defeat. However her defeat was short lived. Carefully, Marie tucked her feet under the seat of the bike and with a painful but determined yelp, she managed to lift and push the wreckage off of Gus's legs. It tumbled with a stomach-churning clutter against the ground but Marie didn't take notice. As soon as it was moved, she turned to Gus and cupped his face with her uninjured trembling hand.

"G-Gus-? Pl-please- please wake up! You- y-you're gonna beh- beh jus' fine. Jus' a c-couple of broken bones and cuts r-raght? Ah'll get help- We'll,"

She gulped back a sob and put on a trembling, feeble smile as she continued to stutter. Less for him, more for her it seemed to be. His once handsome and perfectly shaped face was distorted with cuts and bruises of all kinds. His body was mercilessly broken. Marie's hand trembled horribly as his blood stained her fingertips and she continued to mutter words of reassurance.

"We'll get ya h-home. Hank will get ya all- all sorted out. You'll- you'll see darlin'. You'll see…"

After what felt like an age of fear and panic, Gus's eyes opened half-way. His eyes however, were not the eyes she knew. They were dull, almost a light brown with the lack of their usual yellow glow. It unsettled her and made her shiver involuntarily as she continued to urge that all would be well. Though his eyes didn't quite carry their usual spark, Marie heaved a shaken sob of relief and whispered gently.

"Thank gawd, ya awake. You- you're gonna beh okay darlin'. Ah- ah'll try an' contact home jus'- jus' hang in there okay-"

"No Marie."

Marie had made to grasp her communicator device from her belt but stopped at his words in mid-action. She turned her anxious gaze to meet his eyes. A frown of confusion and concern spread across her face as she spoke up.

"W-what do ya mean? Ah have t' get help-"

She felt his warm hands envelope her good-hand in a gentle hold before he spoke. His voice was barely above a whisper. Somehow he managed to remain calm despite the pain that was evident across his face as he spoke.

"You're gonna be okay. You're gonna get out of here and- and you're gonna call…You're family will come for you-"

Realisation set into her widened eyes as she gasped in retort.

"No Gus-"

"My body's broken, Marie. I can't feel my legs and…"

Marie felt her heart pound like a crazed animal against her chest as panic and fear began to twist her fragile state further into distortion. Cracked sobs racked through her body as she managed to stutter in sobbed-rasps.

"No- no! Ya- ya can't- Not lahke this! Not this way Gus, no…"

She could barely contain herself as she began to shake her head. She refused to accept this as his fate. He deserved so much better than this. He deserved to die ripe with age and experience, with a wife and a lifetime of love and happiness in his memories before the last moment. Not this. She leant closer to him so that they were face to face by mere inches. She grasped his now-unmoving hand in a firm hold and kissed it desperately as she continued to blubber her words between sobs and sniffles.

"Gus don't ya dare le- leave meh here. Don't-"

"You'll be okay. Nothin' ever kept you d-down. You- you didn't let anything stop you. You're a real Rogue, Marie. Always were."

He forced a chuckle but it was barely the sound of a small cough. His smile didn't even pretend to meet his eyes as his marred face slackened. Tears spilled from her eyes like running water again as Marie continued to shake her head and sob that he was wrong.

"Ah'm- ah'm not gonna leave ya he- here! Ah- ah can'te leave ya here…"

He tried to smile again before he spoke. His voice was close to gone as the words rasped out of his mouth.

"Nothin' you can do now darlin'…time t' let…"

"Freeze! Make no sudden movements or I will shoot you're head off!"

Marie didn't even turn at the sudden, harsh-toned voice or the feel of metal against the top of her head. She just continued to watch as the dimmed light in Gus's eyes diminished completely and he took his last, silent breath of life. She felt the cold rim of the gun at her head nudge a little harder as the Apoc soldier, as her kind had so fondly dubbed them, barked at her to stand up and put her hands up where he could see them. Ignoring the soldier still, Marie blinked back new tears as she slowly turned her gaze away from Gus's lifeless face. Her eyes travelled over the scorched ground only to land upon a rod of broken piping.

"I said stand up and put your hands up where I can see them! I won't ask again!"

This time, Marie did as told but took caution as she silently picked up the pipe and slowly rose to her feet. Purposely, she faltered on the spot causing the soldier a moment of off-guardedness. She took the advantage of the moment and turned swiftly to slam the pipe into the soldier's jaw. He doubled back in pain but was still conscious as he cried out. She followed the first blow with a kick to the face that knocked him out cold on the ground.

Marie's laboured breathing echoed loudly, followed by the clutter of the metal pipe as it slipped from her fingers. A moment or two later, she knelt at Gus's side. Ever so gently, she shifted to sit behind his head and carefully adjusted him so that his head rested in her lap. Her trembling fingers smoothed over his prickly-blonde hair as she let a half-choked sigh escape her lips. Tears began their routine down her cheeks once more as she hunched over him and gave into her misery. A little while later, between sobs and tears, she managed to say one last thing.

"Ah'm not gonna leave you…."

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Okay I may not particularly like Gus either but I have to admit this is really sad for me to write. Getting a little teary eyed here!

REVIEW!

-Gams