Part 20 - The Undead
When people speak of an afterlife, it is normally in the context of doubt. People question it, wonder if it exists, and what it's like if it does. Others say, there is no life after death. You are just simply gone. Others, speak of reincarnation. The possibility that one's soul is created as another form after death, enabling them to walk the earth once again. All of these factors are unexplainable, and are still unable to be proved or denied. There have been many situations of near death experiences as well, and simply, people who are believed dead, but really aren't.
A situation occurred related to this not an hour after John and Kari fell from the roof of Dr. McCoy's building. Immediately assuming death, the X-Men began to mourn before the two teenagers had even fallen twenty stories. Though they suffered probably unrecoverable injuries, they weren't not in fact, dead.
"Impossible," Jean whispered in awe after they had been taken into the building. Scott carried John while Logan carried Kari so delicately that Scott was in a stage of disbelief that Logan could even show an emotion not equivalent to anger. They had been set on two metal tables similar to ones you would keep in a morgue.
"How can you tell they're alive? They're not showing any signs of physical life." Storm was holding John's wrist in hopes for a pulse.
"They're minds are still here, I can feel them…it's amazing…" Jean had her hands placed very lightly on both sides of John's head.
"Then what's happened to them?" Storm asked quietly.
"I don't know," Jean answered in the same awe-filled tone. The answer was indeed impossible to reveal. Though it was as simple as this.
During their fall from the roof, Kari had regained control of her body, and had a quick realization that she was doomed for death. Of course, still not wanting any harm upon John, she knew she was unable to physically save him from the fall. Without knowing she had the extent of power, she had somehow grasped John's mind in time. Before he hit the ground, his mind was detached from the body, enabling it to continue living. Physically, he was dead. Mentally, he was not. It had been the same with her. By grasping his mind, she had taken her own as well, and they were now trapped in some dimension unknown to anyone. It was much like a dreamland. They would just live in a very long dream for a very long time.
After a day or so, Professor Xavier had discovered this, through much channeling and tracking down any traces of John or Kari's minds. They had each been put into a testing room, transformed into a room where they were wired to monitors again, this time monitoring their heart rates and what not again. The only difference was, they had no heartbeats. They were basically corpses, attached to machines. Professor Xavier hoped that maybe, over a bit of time, John and Kari would return to their bodies, but he was not certain it was possible. As for any body decomposition, none had occurred. It was as if they were dead and alive. The undead, so to speak.
For the next few days, much research was done. Dr. McCoy's office had not been touched since Kari had left it for the testing. Kitty and Rogue altered visits by Bobby's room, and the room holding John and Kari. Storm and Jean were doing everything they could to understand and help the situation with the two teenagers, and Dr. McCoy was still working on a cure for Bobby and Mystique.
As for Magneto, everyone assumed he was lurking about. No one really fussed over it. "Eric will be Eric," as Professor Xavier had said.
All in all, the building was a mournful place, full of silence, an occasional exchange of progress information, and the sighing voices of unhopeful minds. It wasn't until two weeks later that John had woken up.
While Jean was doing her usual rounds for the day, checking the status of all of the patients in the building (which had increased due to other mutants fleeing their homes in search of shelter from the virus), when she came into the presence of a wide-awake John. He had managed to get himself out of the bed, and was attempting to walk over to Kari when Jean rushed in a led him back to the bed.
"What happened to her," John mumbled. He was obviously very exhausted, and his back had begun bleeding from the scrapes he obtained from being thrown across the roof.
"You need to relax, I have to go get the professor, stay here." Jean leaned him back on the bed and rushed back out of the room. His throat was dry and his eyes were sore. It was five minutes later when Jean, Storm, and Xavier appeared.
"My god," he said, suddenly at a loss of breath. He went over to John slowly. John responded by blinking tiredly and mumbling again.
"What happened to Kari?"
"We're not sure, please try to relax, and don't move. Jean, get him a bandage, will you?" Xavier went around the bed and looked John up and down.
"Incredible," Storm said.
"Is she okay?" John asked, his eyes half open.
"Sit up," Jean instructed, helping him sit up so she could clean the scrapes on his back. When he had "died", the wounds had simply stopped bleeding, they had never healed, but now that he was awake, they were bleeding quite freely. After a long moment of cleaning and John flinching from the pain, Jean wrapped a bandage around him almost from his collarbone down to his waist.
"Will he be all right?" Storm asked.
"I'm not sure, this is quite unusual, but —"
"What happened to Kari," John said loudly, making them all stop and look at him. Xavier sighed.
"We're not exactly sure, nor are we sure when or if she will wake up."
John turned his head and looked at Kari, still lying silently on the bed/table on the other side of the room.
"Don't worry, we'll try to help her. Jean, we need to move him into another room for Dr. McCoy."
"I'm not leaving," John muttered flatly.
"John —" Xavier started.
"I'm not leaving," he repeated.
"Very well then," the professor said after a pause, "Storm, get him an IV, please."
"For what, I'm fine." John put his legs over the side of the bed in an attempt to get up.
"You fell off of a sixty-two story building, I hardly believe you're fine." Jean pushed him back onto the bed.
"Let him be," said a voice.
As everyone turned Magneto stepped into the room. Jean gave him a half glare.
"I hardly believe he's capable of getting up after a fall like that," she insisted.
"And I hardly believe your accusations are always correct," Magneto shot back. He turned his head towards John, who was leaning forward on the side of the bed as though he were about to puke. Jean made to respond before Xavier interrupted.
"What brings you here, Eric?" he asked.
"I have received a warning from a friend. The military moves to attack this building inside the hour." Everyone gaped.
"And which friend, might I ask, is this?" Xavier asked calmly.
"My dear boy, who else but Nightcrawler?" Magneto retorted.
"Kurt? How did he find that out?" Storm asked.
"Not to mention the fact of how he contacted you," Jean added.
"Are you all blind to the fact of how many mutants are seeking refuge here? Kurt himself fled from his home when the military began attacking his area, which was easy for him due to his power."
Just as Magneto finished his explanation, there was a loud bamf and everyone jumped, including John, as a tall man covered in thin blue fur materialized in a puff of blue smoke.
"Kurt!" Storm said, surprised.
"They're here," the mutant said with his perfect German accent.
"Did they follow you?" Xavier asked.
"I am not sure, but I tried to get to you as fast as I could." Kurt looked at Magneto, who gave them all an "I told you so" glance.
"Get everyone out. NOW!" Xavier demanded.
"I want all patients possible loaded onto the jet as quickly as you can. Get Dr. McCoy to evacuate!" Jean yelled as everyone started rushing out of the room. John cocked his head as he heard a helicopter motor over the ceiling. Everyone but Magneto had left the room. John looked at him.
"Make a choice, my boy. You're better off without them." Magneto made a sort of motion with his head at Kari. John stared at her, lying there completely still.
"How am I supposed to just leave?" John asked, looking up at the man. Magneto shrugged, looking at him with a hope for an answer.
"I want to go, but I can't just forget. I hate them all, but I can't just LEAVE them." As John said this he could already tell that something was going to happen that he didn't want. Taking heed of this feeling, he stood up and took a slow walk over to Kari. He felt his pocket as his hands dropped to his side, and felt the outline of his lighter. How did that get there? John didn't know Logan had kept it and when he was brought back into the building he put it in John's pocket, feeling it was necessary for him to have it, even if he was "dead". Everyone believed the lighter was as much part of him as his soul. He pulled it from his pocket an studied it.
"What is it, boy?" Magneto asked. John set the lighter down on the table by Kari's hand with his hand still on top of it. He left it there and looked at the elder man.
"Do you really think I have to leave them? I...I can't..." John shook his head lightly, then looked back up. "No."
"I hope you can forgive me for this," Magneto said with a great sigh. Such petulance for a boy so young.
He walked over to the monitor John was wired to, and he had almost forgot he was. Magneto placed his hands over the wires and suddenly John screamed and fell onto the floor, shaking as though he were being electrocuted. The wires and the monitor shot off sparks from a blowing fuse, and John fell limp.
"I'm sorry, but you are of use to me."
The man picked up the teenager and walked out of the room, leaving Kari's limp body still in the room, and John's lighter at her fingertips. As Magneto fled with John, hoards of mutants were flooding the hallways, trying to get out.
"STORM!" some one yelled suddenly. It was Logan. He was carrying Bobby and Kurt was helping Storm evacuate several other rooms. "WHERE'S KARI?"
"Kari?" Kurt repeated.
"Get her, please, she's in the room with John!" Storm yelled, picking up a small boy who was unconscious, having previously been infected with the virus. There was a large explosion and Kurt was thrown against the wall as he attempted to reach Kari's room. With loud bamf he teleported down to the doorway and ran into the room, where the wall had been blown open and Kari had been slammed against the wall. Several wires were hanging from the ceiling, sparking like mad, and a helicopter was circling the building. It stopped in mid air, turning sideways, its doors opening to drop off soldiers.
"STORM, GET OUT OF HERE!" Kurt yelled through the doorway. He felt a dart hit his should just as he picked up Kari. There was another explosion and unknown to Kurt, Kari's eyes snapped open in a loud gasp and she looked around frantically. She saw a glint of silver and picked up John's lighter, which had been thrown across the room along with her. She looked up and saw Kurt. His eyes were shut tightly in agony. With another explosion, which hit the same room they were in, Kurt screamed just as he spontaneously bamfed. When he reappeared, Kari was no longer with him, and he was lying on the ground in the hallway down stairs. Just as he opened his eyes, the ceiling collapsed and everything went black.