X-Men Evolution: The Ripple in Man and Mutant kind
Italic= Flashback
Bold=Demon Voice
AN: Sorry this chapter took so long to post; I had a really large writer's block and a loss of ability to type because of my computer and its internet. But now I have some new chapters in the making and I finally finished this one. So without any further ado, here's chapter seven.
Chapter 7: A child's retribution part 3
There was nothing but black all over the place. All he remembered is that Jean was in danger, and that Josh, a gay little boy trying to escape his homophobic father, was killed by him. "Bastard, how could he do that to his own son for being different?" Cyclops said to himself. Just then he saw a bright light and it looked like it was a way out. He rushed eagerly towards the light and heard Jean Grey screaming. "Jean!" He shouted, forcing himself awake. He looked all around and saw the giant Carl holding Jean in his hand, both of them staring at a bright light. He looked to where Josh's body was supposed to be, and it wasn't there. He looked right upwards and there was Ripley, engulfed in a bright dark blue fire. His eyes glowing a luminescent blue, which slowly consumed his head. "Josh… is Ripley?" Cyclops thought
(Flashback)
It was an average day at school, and Duncan was beating on Ripley, both physically and verbally, and no one had the bravado or the decency to stop and help. Just then out of the blue, Scott Summers appeared and pulled Duncan off of Ripley.
"Mathews, what the hell is wrong with you?!" Scott shouted.
"This little queer has been talking back to me, so I thought I would roughen him up a bit to make him think about the next time he decides to give me lip." Duncan said.
"You can't do that Duncan. You can't 'discipline' people whenever they tell you to back off." Scott said.
Duncan started walking towards Ripley, but then Scott stepped in front of him.
"Get out of my way Summers." Duncan said.
"That's enough Duncan. I 'm not letting you anywhere near him." Scott said.
"Move, or get a face full of knuckle sandwiches." Duncan said.
"What is going on here?" A voice called out. Everyone turned and there was principal Darkholme with her arms crossed. "Well? I'm awaiting an explanation."
"Nothing was going on here ma'am. Just teaching Ripley here a few wrestling moves." Duncan said.
Darkholme looked over at Ripley and noticed his torn lip.
"All the way out here in the hallway, outside of class?" She said with a raised brow.
"It was just a fun little activity to get Ripley prepared for class." Duncan said. Principal Darkholme walked over to Ripley and grabbed his shoulders, helping him up.
"It must be an intense gym class if Coach Mccoy is allowing you to shed blood from other classmates. And outside of class as well." Darkholme said.
"He isn't, he's a cool guy. He doesn't work us too hard." He said
"Well then, please explain to me why poor Ripley here has a torn and bleeding lip." She said with her hands on Ripley's shoulders.
"Get off me." Ripley said shoving her hands off and standing up abruptly. "I don't need help, nor do I want it. At first I did, but everyone is too concerned with whatever sport the school's team is playing to pay any attention to the victim of systematic abuse by the biggest douche of a quarterback, so everyone can just leave me the hell alone and Duncan…"
Duncan looked sharply at Ripley and vice versa.
"I sincerely hope that one day you wind up under a bridge somewhere, cold, miserable, and rotting away into less than the nothing you are now, and live just a bit longer to feel the pain of it all."
He rushed speedily out of the building.
"Mathews." Darkholme said. "Detention, two weeks."
"Come one principal Darkholme, I have practice before and after school."
"Not for the next two weeks you don't, now get to class, all of you."
(Current events)
"Now I understand why our powers aren't working, why Kurt looks the way he does, we're inside Ripley's mind, and we're seeing ourselves as see we see ourselves in our mind. But why did Ripley call himself Josh and appear as a small boy?" Cyclops said.
(Ripley's P.O.V.)
I didn't know what the hell was going on, who I was or what I've been doing. I remember nothing, but a glassy haze, and suddenly someone, a girl, was shouting a name at me, the name I was born with. "Josh, Josh, Josh" her voice kept saying, but that isn't my name, I hate that name, but hearing it made the blur go away and I was bursting with power, that power now clearly seen was making the strangers in the room, these X-Men gaze in awe, and making my abusive father look about ready to shit himself. And in that moment I said my true name aloud so that no one, not even me could ever forget it.
"You shut your mouth you little queer." Carl said.
"No, you can't make me, not anymore Carl." I said.
"What did you say?" Carl shouted.
"You heard me, you wanna make something of it fat ass?" I shouted back.
Carl gave a mighty roar of anger before chucking Jean at me. I raised my hand and she stopped in midair. I slowly put my hand down and Jean followed where my hand went, with Jean landing on the ground slowly and gently.
"Run, now." I said. Jean did as I told and ran towards Cyclops and Nightcrawler.
Carl charged off at me and swung a fist at me.
"I'll show you some respect." He shouted. I dodged the fist and flew around behind him.
"Oh, like the respect you showed me?" I said. Carl turned around and threw a whole bunch of rapid punches at me. I dodged them all as fast as I could. "Calling me names, beating me up, leaving me alone by myself to rot? That's your idea of respect? You obscene ass, you don't know the meaning of the word." I said.
"Shut up!" Carl shouted. He swung his arm at me and it hit me. I was flung violently to the ground, but strangely it didn't hurt.
"You have no power over me Carl. All this time I thought you did, but now I just realized something delicious, I have the power over you, you're terrified of me. And that is the greatest revelation I, or anyone else, could ever have. "I said. Carl punched me, and I was expecting it to hurt like all the other times, but again I felt nothing and call me crazy, but it looked like he was shrinking.
(Flashback)
I was walking home from school Duncan had beaten me up again and split my lip open. I couldn't stand to think of what crappy insult Carl would give me for getting in a fight, and losing. "Hey Ripley, wait up!" Someone called out. I turned around and there was Scott Summers running towards me.
"What do you want Summers?" I asked.
"I just wanted to make sure that you were okay, you got beat up pretty bad." He said.
"Hm, it seems you're the first to care." I asked.
"I also wanted to tell you that Mathews just got two weeks of detention, but Principal Darkholme also gave you a few days of detention for ditching. I also heard she's going to keep a sharper eye on his actions." He answered.
"It won't make a difference; he'll just keep beating on me no matter what happens. This is just fuel for his little fire." I said.
"It would make a difference if maybe you actually tried." Scott said. I looked him square in the eye.
"What do you think I haven't? Where the hell have you been? I have tried, many times I tried to be humane and decent enough to make him stop, I told my father about this, but he just hits me and tells me to fight back. And even if I could, if I had the ability or the balls to, I don't think I could. Sometimes I'm a little bold in my words, but I can't fight, I won't." I said.
"Why? If you could fight, then why would you not want to? You could show Mathews that you aren't weak, show your dad that you can fight back?" Scott asked.
"One: I don't believe violence solves things, two: I know that I am strong because I choose not to fight, and I don't care what my dad thinks of me, I'll always be nothing more than the stupid, worthless faggot to him no matter what I do." I said.
"But you're not gay, are you?" Scott said. I looked at Scott with a look of content, I wanted to tell him the truth, but he wouldn't have understood, and I feared that he would spur and reject me like everyone else has my entire life. I looked behind me and there was my house.
"Well here we are, home sweet home." I said walking with haste towards the door.
"Ripley..." Scott said. I turned around and for a brief moment, I thought I could see his eyes through those red shades of his. "It's okay to be who you are, don't let anyone tell you that who you are, is wrong. You are you, and no one can tell you otherwise. "He said. When he said those words I felt my body tremble and tears started forming in my eyes. I quickly wiped them away so he wouldn't see them. I walked up to the door and turned around.
"Scott." I shouted. He turned around and I looked into those red shades of his. "Thank you." Suddenly the door opened behind me and there was Carl with an angry look on his face. "Get in here." Carl said grabbing me and forcing me in the door.
(Current events)
"I don't know why I let you treat me like your bitch for all this time Carl, because the way that I 'm feeling right now, made me realize a few things." I said punching him away, he shrunk a little bit more.
"I will not take this from you, you faggot!" He shouted jumping back to his feet and running towards me.
"Ooooohhh, faggot, how original. You should get an academy award for that one. An award for the most less original and crappy insults in the book award next to Bette Davis, and I have no idea who that is. Did you know your pathetic insults mean nothing to me anymore? It just shows how insecure you are. Tell me Carl did you bully other kids to make yourself seem like the biggest dick? Were you abused as well?" I asked. Carl held up a fist and was about to hit me, but I flew swiftly out of the way and he hit the ground instead.
"I told you to shut the fuck up!" He shouted.
"Well technically you only said 'shut up' and the word `faggot' but I really don't really care how you said it, I refuse to comply. I will not do anything you tell me ever again!" I said tossing blue fire at Carl's face. He screamed in pain before running into my fist with his face.
"I'M BLIND!" Carl screamed, shrinking a lot more. He was about four or maybe five feet taller than me now, still pretty tall, but not as tall as he was before. Even though he still towered over me like he has done my whole life to this point, he looked rather pathetic.
"Aw, poor baby. Pathetic weakling pounded into submission and shoved into lockers, turned drunken blunt simpleton, now blind. How amusing" I said mockingly. "Why don't I put you out of your misery." I began pounding on Carl with every amount of fury that was locked in my soul. At the same time flashes of the past kept bombarding me, most of referring to Carl's sadistic hold over me.
"This is for the beatings!" I shouted punching him rapidly, flashes of Carl beating me up flashed at me.
"This is for the names you graciously gave me." I said burning the skin on his limbs, more flashes of Carl and me, him shouting at me and me crying.
"And this..."I said, my fingers shifting into a large claw "...is for my sad, angry little misfit life. You scum sucking son of a bitch."
"Please Josh, don't do this. Please forgive me for being a shitty father!" Carl begged. He was now a couple of feet shorter than me. If I thought he looked pathetic before, he now looked lower than the dirt vermin crawl through.
"Aw, begging, how touching. Reminds me of the other times you showed me mercy when you didn't beat me, oh wait..."I said grabbing him by the throat. "...you did nothing of the sort!" I shouted readying my claws for the final blow.
"Ripley! "Cyclops shouted. I looked behind me and there was Cyclops taking off his visor, revealing to me the face of Scott Summers. "You don't have to do this. He's powerless and weak, you won."
"No Scott, it won't be over until I see him die." I said.
"Why? You have beaten him down and stood up for yourself, you can stop." He said.
"I can't. Until he's gone and out of my life for good, I can't ever stop."
"Just walk away Ripley; you're better than this guy. You can prove that right now that his hateful influence didn't affect you permanently, that you can walk away and not be even worse to him or anyone else then he was to you. I know you can do that."
I turned back towards Carl and looked at his pathetic little face. He looked so frightened, so beautifully scared of impending doom. It was the exact same look I had on my face when I was younger. My arm with my claws began shaking, I wanting to charge them into something, into someone, but Summer's words were still ringing around in my head like a bee. I screamed once and lunged my claws to the ground besides him. I looked to him, and he had a look of confusion, fear, and relief in his eyes. Inside my heart I still felt deep hatred, but at the same time a feeling of despair. I remembered what had happened to him, what I had already done to him, what I almost did to him just now. I knelt down to face Carl.
"You were already dead to me the moment you struck me the first time, but I know better now to remember that you really are dead, and you know that too don't you?" I said. He hesitated for a moment before nodding slightly. "Carl, what you did to me was beyond forgivable, and I will never ever forgive you for the things you have done to me." The fire blazing from my body died down and disappeared as I looked deep into his eyes. "But I am sorry for what I did to you, and for what I was about to do to you. I honestly didn't want this to happen to you, I thought I did, but it wouldn't have happened, not on purpose or by my hand, it wasn't my choice about your fate. I couldn't spare your life, but I can spare your soul the same pain."
"Does this mean…" Carl said.
"Not by a fucking longshot. I forgive the world for not listening to me, but I will never forgive you for what you've done to me all those years. Maybe one day I will be able to, but for the moment, I just can't."
Carl looked down at the ground. "Who would blame you? I treated you like shit, I ignored you, and I beat you." He said with tears welling in his eyes. "I know my words probably don't mean much, but I just want you to know that… I'm sorry Josh. I'm really, really sorry."
Suddenly a bright light appeared behind Carl. I covered my eyes at first, but then the light dimmed down a bit so that everyone could see it. It had the shape of what appeared to be a large door made out of light. I then realized that this was most likely Carl's door to paradise. He got up and looked at it and turned to look at me.
"Is this…" He said.
"It could be, but honestly there is only one way to find out." I said with a shrug.
Carl walked cautiously towards the door of light before abruptly stopping.
"I just realized something." He said. I looked at him waiting for him to say what he had to say. "I just realized that from the moment you were born, I hardly held you. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever had. Josh, will you come here for a minute?" I couldn't move. My abusive father actually wanted to hug me? "Please?" I strongly hesitated and looked back at the X-Men and Scott nodded his head assuring me to go ahead. I moved slowly towards Carl until I was really close to him. He then grabbed me, pulled me towards him, and wrapped his arms around me in a large hug. I then felt tears wanting to leave my eyes, I tried forcing them back, but they broke through and I felt myself begin to cry. I wrapped my arms around my large father and hugged him back as my emotions got the best of me.
"What're you crying for, huh?" Carl said with tears flowing down his own face. I couldn't answer, I was sobbing too much to answer, not that I had an answer, I couldn't really explain it. He was my constant tormenter and I hated him for as long as I could remember, but at the same time I couldn't help but feel even a bit of love for him. I didn't know how to tell him or express that because he didn't do that for me. I don't know if it was vindication or if I had just forgotten how to show him I still loved him, even though he treated me horribly, I still loved him because he was my father, in his own twisted and messed up way, and I couldn't help, but loving him. After a couple of minutes of hugging and crying, we finally separated and walked in separate directions with me going towards the X-Men, and Carl going to the door.
"Hey Carl?" I said. He turned around to face me. "When you get there, tell mom I said 'hi', and good luck." He nodded and he entered the door. The door's light then flashed really bright and flooded the entire area with a brilliant flash.
"Vat's going on?" Nightcrawler said.
"I don't know." Scott said.
"Scott where are you, I can't see you."
"I can't either, everyone don't get separated."
I felt really strange, but I knew that feeling. It felt like I was about to wake up from a bad dream.
"Everyone calm down. Just close your eyes, it will be okay." I said closing my own eyes, the light still penetrating my eye lids. I then felt myself getting whisked away by some sort of wind, and then there was nothing but darkness, and a powerful feeling of something serene and pure, peace, real, divine peace.
End of Chapter Seven.
AN: Next chapter Ripley meets Professor Xavier and the rest of the X-men, and will he join them? And what of Ripley's love Kyle? Read the next chapter and find out.
