A/N: SONG CHAPTER- "the mark has been made"-Nine Inch Nails (awesome song, entirely instrumental...)
(Volume: 2 Arc: "God Given" 5 Issue: 1/4 )
Chapter 50: the mark has been made
" Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit." Julian cradled his head in his hands and rocked back and forth on the bed. " Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit."
"I think he's having a breakdown or something," Laura said, on the phone with her mother. "He keeps saying 'oh, shit' over and over, and rocking
back and forth like a bum. Is it really that bad? I mean, come on, one for each…"
Julian let out a dry sob.
"I think he's going into convulsions," Laura said. "I should go. Bye, mom." She sat on the bed and poked him tentatively.
He curled away from her.
"Don't touch me! You'll just steal more sperm."
" Ha, ha," Laura said. "Last thing I want is more Shrimps. Should we call them Thing 1 and Thing 2?"
" How are we going to deal with this, Laura?" he asked lying on his back and flinging his arm across his face.
"I don't have the answers to everything, Julian," she sighed. " Angel and Bohusk seem to handle six just fine, though admittedly Angel looks a bit worn out.
What else can we do but deal?"
Julian closed his eyes. " We can't afford two kids right now," he said. "We can't even afford one."
" Well, there's my mom, if things get bad…and Logan…and the school…between everyone, I don't think we'll starve…if that's what you're worried about."
" I think we need to be together, soon. I'm going to talk to Mrs. Grey-Summers about that house tomorrow. And Laura…we should talk about what we're doing…you
know, in the future."
"We are talking," Laura said uncomfortably.
" Between us," Julian said, wrapping an arm around her waist and catching her eyes. "Laura…I love you…I think we should, um, make it official."
She sat up. "No. No. I don't think we should, at all."
" We're having twins…" Julian winced. "We've shared the same horrible abduction. We even have some sort of weird past-life experience, or something…together.
How much more involved can we get? Seriously? Are you waiting for us to get fused at the hip or something before you admit that you care about me, too?"
Laura got to her feet. "This conversation is over, Keller."
Julian laid in bed the rest of the day, holding his face in his hands. Twins.
…
He left the office, feeling a little lighter. Mrs. Grey-Summers had promised she'd construct something for them—she said she had been thinking
about making a little row of units for mutant family housing; and she told him that she would put a rush on it, and have it ready in about two
months. Logan and Emma Frost, of all people, had offered to finance the small unit.
…
" Laura! I've been looking for you all day. I have good news," Julian said, catching her by his elbows, out on the patio, at night. It was a cold February night,
and there was still snow on the ground. "They're going to take care of us…Frost and Logan are paying to make us a small place. It won't be much…"
She looked down.
"Keller…I still think it's a bad idea. What we have…if anything…is fragile and we shouldn't press it too much."
"Like you said, Laura, it's time to grow up," Julian said, his eyes narrowing. "I don't want to press you…believe me…but the pair…you're going to need my help.
Look…we'll work something out, okay? I promise…I won't get in your space. You can have your own little room or something to go and sulk in."
Laura smiled a little. "Well…" Julian noticed she was shivering, and shrugged off his jacket.
"Stupid thing," he said affectionately, wrapping it around her shoulders. "I love you anyways," he said, a little softer as he pulled her closer. She leaned forwards Paf.
and upwards to meet his lips; she stopped halfway, frowning. "Why is there a red dot on your—"
Laura covered her mouth as Julian grabbed her shoulders, his eyes wide. There was now a round hole in his forehead, and the white snow was red. He exhaled,
then began to fall. "Oh, don't you dare," Laura said, her voice strained.
Julian was too heavy for her to carry. So she screamed. "HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP!" she screamed, as loud as she could, like somebody was being murdered.
Which was pretty accurate. Students leaned out of their windows; in moments the teachers barged through the door.
Emma glared at the woods. " Gone," she said, looking for the perpetrator.
Logan was lifting up Julian, examining the round wound, his face grim.
"Best get him to Elixir, stat. Where is he anyhow?"
The students looked at each other, shrugging. Finally the blond haired girl spoke up. Wallflower. "Umm…he's at a bar or something, I think. The Cloverdale."
"He's not breathing." At this point, Laura wasn't sure who. She held out her hand to Logan, who brandished the keys to his bike. "Be careful, kid," he said.
" Somebody don't like you guys much."
…
Laura jumped off the bike, letting it fall on its side, and stomped in past the bouncer, who tried to ID her.
"JOSHUA FOLEY!" she shouted. The activity ground to a halt. There, in the corner…with Alleyne and another boy…she recognized his golden skin. Her eyes narrowed
on him; she moved over to him and grabbed him by the back of his red and white X-jacket.
"What the—Kinney? What the hell?" Foley asked. " I'm trying to blend in here. Gee, thanks, bye. After what you did to Keller…"
"Julian Keller is dead," she said robotically. " He has been shot, by an unidentified assailant. The bullet is lodged in the frontal lobe of his brain."
Foley put down his mug. "Fuck! Jay, fly me there! Where is he?!"
"The mansion," Laura said. She sat down, trembling. " I do not know if you can do anything."
The boys rushed outside. Alleyne put a hand on Laura's shoulder. " Are you okay? You're covered in blood. You look like you're in shock. How did you get here?"
Laura let him lead her outside, to the fallen bike.
…
Laura sat outside the room, unable to watch. There was a team of eight mutants working on Julian; Elixir had healed the wound, but she'd been right, he wasn't
able to make Julian breathe. They had tried everything in a very short period—both Wolverine's and Laura's blood had been drawn and injected, Surge had shocked
him, and Emma had tried revitalizing him telepathically, all to no avail. Something was keeping him dead, something in the bullet. And they couldn't find it.
They'd searched every square inch of his head, but something had been released that was preventing anything from working.
They had contact Jean Grey in Hong Kong; she was on her way back, but it wouldn't be fast enough. Laura listened with deaf ears as they told her there was nothing
more they could do. She still waited outside the door, unblinking.
…
The clock across the hall finally moved its arm to 12:00. Midnight.
BANG!The doors at the end of the hallway opened violently, and Jean walked in, her hair on fire. What will you give me?
humanoid form. Laura was dimly aware this was happening only in her mind.
"Everything," she said.
Phoenix glared at her, its nose seemingly sharper. Like a beak. Like Beak. How odd to think of Barnell Bohusk at this moment. It was like a bird, a big horrible bird
with piercing eyes. Laura wanted to blink now, but she was unable to move.
"Everything," she said again, her voice stronger. "Everything I have."
Phoenix tilted her head, then she reached out and touched her forehead. It hurt, more than anything she'd ever felt. She might have cried out, she wasn't sure.
…
Laura sat up, from where she'd fallen on her side, her eyes still open. She walked stiffly through the doors into the room; it was empty now.
How much time had passed?
It didn't matter.
She ripped the sheet off his body violently; he looked pale, too pale. Dead. She touched his smooth forehead with the same finger the Phoenix had used on her.
Was it her finger? It was a million fingers, all on fire. Flaming fingers. They coursed through her, transferred, pulling, pushing; Julian arched off the bed in a seizure.
The bullet reformed and reversed its trajectory, slowly sucked out; the wound closed, he then gasped for air and sat up.
" Laura?" he asked, very confused.
With shaking hands, she held his face and kissed him, unbothered that his mouth was still full of blood and other fluids from what the bullet had done inside his head.
" I love you, too," she said, then turned and left.