Eternal Synergy

"Love remembered and consecrated by grief belongs, more clearly than the happy intercourse of friends, to the eternal world; it has proved itself stronger than death." - Dean Inge

"Now, how about a small party?"

Charles was right, that was exactly what we needed after all of that shit we went through. It was a time to celebrate. He permanently blocked Sydney's telepathic abilities which meant he couldn't really do any more harm as a shapeshifter. No more mind control, no more antics, well- my antics were still perfectly legal. Most of the time. No more Changeling antics, how about that.

There was pizza, some beers, some leftover balloons and streamers from someone's birthday a couple of months beforehand, we were all having a grand old time. Even Gabe stuck around. He had even more Max stories to tell and the others all ate it up. Nothing like embarrassing the big sis to get back into the flow of things. I was a bit worried about how the others would treat Gabe, but they all welcomed him. For the time being at least. Once the cheer diminished there was no telling what could happen. He joked around with Alex and Scott, acquainting himself with his little brother and the rest of the mutants. Him and Sean even managed to empty a sack of flour on Hank, coating his blue fur and causing him to laugh jovially.

Alison pulled out some weird thing she got from Japan. It was a karaoke machine? I don't know, I haven't heard of them since so she could've called it an alien transmitter and I wouldn't know the difference. There were a lot of songs in Japanese on it, but also some in English that Alison actually wrote herself! We hooked it up and me and her, we sang all night practically. Gabe and the others heckled us from the back, to which I chucked a shoe at him.

"No comments from the peanut gallery!" I half-yelled, half-laughed at them.

After that, Jean and Lorna joined in and they were just as awful as me. It was refreshing, but we were having fun as we did it. Then Sean decided to give it a whirl, sauntering up to us in his usual fashion and wrapped his arms around Jean and me. He then proceeded to hog the mic and sing until he was blue in the face, then he would just laugh and eat something he had tucked away in his shirt pocket. Something brown and all too familiar. I got a little bit of deja vu but ended up elbowing him in the ribs even if it was just to stop his cat-like yowling. The boy could scream like a banshee, and sing like a canary that'd just been hit by a train. Hey, no one's perfect.

Over in the peanut gallery, Gabe and Scott were still gabbing away like old friends so I dropped by the civilized section to visit Charles, Warren, and Hank. They were all talking in a very animated fashion, making me smile. It was good to see them all so lively after everything that'd happened. I quickly leapt out and clung to Hank's arm, giggling happily and receiving a pat on the head.

"Fantastic party, Charles." I complimented sincerely, smiling all the while. I was almost high, being so happy.

He chuckled lightly. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. It's thanks to you that we all came out of this almost completely unscathed."

"True." I agreed with a laugh. "Raven helped, though. Gabe too."

"Raven did?" He asked, truly intrigued. "So she's doing well?"

"Oh, more than well!" I beamed. "She's happily-"

"Max, get over here! These guys think they're stronger than you!" Gabe called, motioning me over to them.

Oh hell no. I thought as I ran over to them, completely cutting off my conversation with Charles. "Which one of you bitches think they can best me in strength?"

Alex was the one who casually raised his hand. Not worried in the slightest. "You saw how much I can bench press, I could take you on no problem."

Grinning deviously and rolling up my sleeves, I knew he'd regret those words. "Let's see, pretty boy."

With a thud, I placed my elbow on the table with my hand raised in the air. Arm wrestling match time.

And of course, Alex was defeated shamelessly. There was no way he was a match for my naturally enhanced strength. He grumbled quietly to himself while Lorna comforted him quietly, stiffling a couple of laughs as she did. She received a couple of glares but they weren't malicious at all. It was all in good fun. But once that was done with, Gabe and I engaged in a good old fashioned Dugan wrestling match. It's been a long while, and Gabe said he was actually out of commission for a couple of months, so even he was older than me. It wasn't fair. I was suddenly the baby of the family. And he sure could wrestle with the best of them. He wasn't out of practice in the slightest.

God, everything was perfect. Eventually Hank and I found ourselves cuddling on a sofa telling stupid little jokes to each other and swapping some spit occasionally. The good stuff. We watched everyone make fools of themselves, stuff their faces with pizza, guzzle some soda down, it was great. And all we could do was smile at each other and enjoy what was in front of us.

But then, suddenly, the power went out. The music stopped, and we couldn't see a damn thing.

"Well shit." Sean laughed. "That's one way to end a party!"

"Maxine, provide a bit of light will you and find the radio." Charles instructed from somewhere in the darkness.

I nodded, not that he could see. "Sure thing, momma!"

He chuckled quietly at his old nickname and I went scouring for a radio while giving some of the nearby lights some life, leaving the rest of them in darkness but I'd get back to that. Just needed to turn on that gizmo. And it wasn't hard to find, it was sitting on a table in the parlor as it always did. I quickly clicked in on and we got a full report of the situation.

"A gas line exploded just near the subway station, power's down across the tri-state area. It's unclear when the damage will be fixed, but the New York Fire Department is on route-"

'Help.'

I had no idea who said that, but then I realized that it was a telepathic message and that it was more than likely Charles.

"Charles, are you okay-" Hank started to ask before he was suddenly cut off.

"Okay, what the heck's going on?" I asked, rolling my eyes and wondering what sort of tomfoolery they were all up to. I pumped some juice into the lights and I wasn't at all amused by what I saw.

It was Gabe. And he had a knife to Charles's throat.

"I was going to wait til you all fell asleep, but this seemed like as good a time as any." He chuckled, a dark light overcoming his eyes. Gabe was still not okay, not in the slightest. How could I have been so foolish!

"G-Gabe!" I gasped, inching forward to try and stop him when he wagged a finger at me.

"Ah ah ah!" He chastised. "Be careful, you have no idea what's going to happen to your friends."

He gestured broadly to the others, and I felt like crying. I covered my mouth with my hands as I tried to hold back a gasp. There was smoke billowing all around Scott, Alex, Hank. They were lifted off of the ground slightly, and they were clawing at the smoke tightening around their necks.

"Gabe!" I yelled, tears burning my eyes. "If this is one of your sick tricks you better knock it off!"

He erupted with laughter at that. "Oh, no. This isn't me playing around. I've wanted this asshole dead since I was 9 years old and I was forced back into that fucking experiment. The Black Womb Project." He leered at me, coursing fear through me like never before. "Yeah, you managed to get away from them. When I died and came apart, they found me when I came back together again."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, it couldn't be true! "You can't blame Charles for what happened to us, Gabe! He was just as much a kid as we were!"

"He stopped us!" Gabe screamed, pressing the knife deeper into Charles's throat and drawing blood. "If he had just let us go when we tried to run, then I wouldn't've died! I wouldn't even be like this!" He cried. "Do you think I like how I am? Do you think I like taking pleasure in watching people suffer! I didn't have a choice! There was nothing else for me! Just endless torment once they figured out that I could use my mutation to teleport!"

"Gabe, please!" I tried to plead with him. "You can have a normal life now! Just let everyone go! Hank and the others haven't done anything to you!"

He let out a loud and humorless laugh. "Oh yes they have. They took you away from me!"

Now I knew he was completely nuts. "Gabe, what the hell are you talking about! You're my brother!"

"So are they now, aren't they!" He yelled, pointing to Alex and Scott. "When I died you didn't even bother looking for me! You just replaced me with these two idiots and that's all you really needed! Because you're just a selfish brat that can't stand being alone!"

What the hell is he even saying! "How the hell was I supposed to even know you were alive! Mom and Dad said you were dead and I had no reason to believe otherwise! I couldn't remember the project, you know this!"

"You still replaced me with them!" He screamed, taking the knife off of Charles and pointing it at Scott and Alex.

With Charles out of the fire, I jumped at Gabe, tackling him to the ground and punching him in the face. "You're my little brother you idiot! I could never replace you! Why can't you get it through your thick head!"

Charles rolled out of the way, getting safely behind Sean and Angel. "Maxine, I don't know if you can reason with him-"

"Shut your fucking mouth you bastard!" Gabe continued to scream, reaching out for him. "I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill you!"

I quickly wrenched the knife out of Gabe's hand and chucked it into a wall across the room. I needed to get him calmed down so I punched him in the face again. "And what about Hank? What's he ever done to you!"

"You love him so much, you barely even pay attention to me anymore!" He yelled, sounding more and more delirious with each word out of his mouth. "I used to be the most important person to you. Me! But you don't care about me! You never did!"

"Gabe!" I cried, grabbing his collar and shaking him. "Do you know how crazy you sound! You need to snap out of it! I love you! You're my baby brother and no one can take that away from you!"

Blinking up at me, Gabe finally seemed to calm down. He inhaled, exhaled, and nodded slowly. "I-I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me."

Behind me, the others dropped to the ground, gasping for breath. At least they were alright.

"I really am sorry, Max. I shouldn't've attacked the others." He apologized, bringing my attention back to him. "No. I really just should've attacked you!"

Suddenly I was swarmed with Gabe's smoke as he rolled us both over and squeezed his hands around my neck. As the others tried to intervene the smoke lashed out and knocked everyone back. Gabe wasn't letting them near us. He was going to kill me.

"G-Ga-!" I choked out, trying to say his name and clawing at his hands.

"If I can't be the most important person to you in life, then we'll die together!" He laughed maniacally, his grip tightening at every syllable.

I had no idea where it all went wrong. Where Gabe finally snapped. He was really good at pretending, at hiding how he really felt deep down. And I saw every deranged emotion cross over his face. All of the anger, the fear, the torment, the pain, I could see all of it in his haunting blue eyes. I could see everything he went through. Being strapped down and experimented on, just like me. I saw a boy who'd given up, who resigned himself to the fact that he'd never go home. That no one would come and save him.

Not even his big sister.

Watching our life together play out through his eyes was heartwrenching. It made me wish for every moment we missed, all of the years we were apart. It made every part of me ache to hold onto him and never let him out of my sight. To protect him when no one else would. To make sure he knew he was never forgotten. That no one could ever take the spot of my devilish little brother. That he was irreplaceable. It was killing me inside, literally and figuratively. Looking up at him as he tried his hardest to kill me.

Finally, realizing that I had to do something even more awful than the rest of it to fix it, I electrocuted him. Causing him to spasm and release me. He recovered quickly, his smoke never diminishing and roaring, stronger than ever. I didn't let it phase me. I lunged at him with everything I had, electricity stemming off of me like his smoke. Rolling around on the floor and taking punch after punch to my face, I tried desperately to get the upper hand. I quickly kicked him off and scrambled over to him, fast as I could. Then I grabbed him in a choke hold. Kicking and clawing at me, I put pressure on his carotid. I was going to give my brother the one thing I could give him.

Peace.

Holding him in my arms and feeling every ounce of life leave him, I was bawling like a small child. There was nothing more I could do for him and it ripped me apart. For so long I wished I could see him again, be brother and sister again. This isn't what I wanted. Not in the least. I had no clue what happened to him. And if Charles had opened his mouth, if he had opened his goddamn mouth and told me about my past, I would've realized that Gabe was still out there somewhere and I would've found him within seconds. I really would've.

As each tear drop fell on my arms, on him, he struggled less and less. He made several gurgling sounds and I knew it wouldn't be much longer. His smoke particles came back to him, and he finally fell limp. Still, I kept the pressure. A few more seconds, and Gabe would no longer feel all of this pain. All of this fear and anger deep inside of him. This was the only way I could ease it for him. I just knew that nothing I said or gave him would fix him. There was nothing left to fix. There were too many pieces to him, and so many of them had been lost along the way. Taken by the Black Womb Project and shattered.

I checked his pulse. He was gone.

Minutes later I was still clinging to him as everyone else was trying to tear me away. I was wailing louder than I ever had before, rocking my dead baby brother in my arms and whispering his name whenever I could. His sweet black curls, his devilish grin, God, those innocent blue eyes as they looked up at you and you couldn't help but bend to their whim. I'd never see them again. I just cried harder and harder, knowing that I couldn't have done anything else. That I killed my brother and I was still cradling his corpse in my arms. I pressed my forehead into his chest and I just- snapped.

There was too many people calling my name. And I couldn't hear them. Minutes after that and I finally let him go. I stood up, nothing on my face. I was emotionally drained. Emotionally dead. I ran for my room, tossing everything around and trying to think straight. I had to get out of there. I couldn't think, that place was suffocating me! I could feel it, I could feel the energy of my dead brother lingering in the air. I pushed my hair out of my face, and then I just got pissed at it. I grabbed a pair of scissors and lopped it all off. Black locks slowly fell to the floor and I kept going. I threw everything I could into the bag I brought with me and I stormed down the stairs. Still, people tried to stop me and I completely ignore them. I was done. I was done with the whole mutant charade. My life had been nothing but hell since I joined them.

So I left.

The End