Disclaimer: Not mine, just taking them out for exercise.
AN: I'm sorry for the LONG delay between updates. Life got in the way and I forgot where this was going. I recently re-read it and along with my fic Weapon X2 I'm starting to work my way to the end, which is daunting with this fic considering how much there is to wrap up. But I WILL finish it. Thank you everyone for sticking with me on this. This chapter, a tease, is for you.
Chapter 37
Clouds darkened the already night sky, thunder rolled over the sandy dunes and lightning striking repeatedly was the only light—that and the ruby beams that could been seen just over the rise. The group by the temple gathered by their fallen and looked on with apprehension, the static air thick around them, all wondering, all hoping that everything and everyone over the hill still standing would make it out of this alive.
"So," Kitty asked as they looked on in silence, "What do we do now."
Lorna didn't tear her eyes away from the battle, "We wait."
"For them to come back?"
"If we're lucky," was all that the older mutant said. That was all that she had to say for them to understand. They were lucky to be alive. But Shadowking still lived, the temple was still exposed, and the others were still fighting. No one knew when their luck would be running out. No one knew who would be next coming over the hill.
Lorna, Gambit and Bobby took up positions surrounding the remaining X-Men, ready to protect their own, whatever came next.
~x~
Had he ever hated anyone as much as he did him? Only himself, Logan was certain. There was something about Sabertooth that made him want to bleed him dry, despite liking the challenge.
They were both getting tired, and the sting of his healing factor was growing into a steady hum in the foreground of his mind that threatened to push out everything else around him. Everything but Sabertooth.
A year ago that wouldn't have bothered him.
A year ago he never really considered himself a real X-Man.
Now he was housebroken. Now he belonged. Now he wanted to know that everyone else would be alright. Even if it meant stopping his own battle short. He needed to know that everyone else was alright. He needed to know that his family was alright.
Growling, clenching his jaw against the stinging of his eyes and skin from the wind that danced at his goddess's command, he lunged and laughed thickly at the feel of his blades sinking deep into his opponent's heart, revelling in the sound of it stopping.
Sabertooth sagged into him. It was the moment. The window of opportunity. His one chance of success. Sometimes knowing his own weaknesses allowed him strength over others. He chuckled in the back of his throat as he plunged his second set of claws into the feral mutant's chest and together, flicked his wrists.
~x~
Emma stood in diamond form watching Shadowking carefully, monitoring his mind as much as she could in her armor, but she could see him weakening. She smiled, no one could resist attacks from both land and air, from lasers that could pound their way through mountains AND from the full force of the power that earned Storm her name. Not even the dreaded Shadowking.
Her smile grew when, finally, with both mutants weakening, the smouldering body that the Shadowking had crawled into fell from the sky, crashing to the unforgiving sand in a useless lump of pulverized bones.
An eyebrow rose as she reverted to her natural form, looking at the other two who were then joining her, "I believe that was overkill."
Storm looked at her with a frown, "You wanted him to come out. Now he doesn't have much of a choice."
Emma sensed just how right they really were. Behind her, she registered Logan winning his fight. "Get back, go with the others. When he comes out, he's going to be looking for a new body."
"Then how can you fight him?"
She smiled again as she looked at Scott, marvelling at how much of their world Jean and the Professor had hid, "Out of body," she told him simply. "Go!"
She waited for them to leave before looking to Logan, "Is he dead?"
"I'm hoping. I cut his fucking heart out. What's the plan?"
"I'm going to fight the Shadowking; you are going to take my body back to the others. Beast is in the jet with Rogue, take them with you."
"How can you fight him without a body?"
"Hopefully," she told him just before her eyes rolled back into her head and her body went limp in his arms, "Not alone."
At the mention of Rogue, Logan's mind was pulled out of his own concerns. He listened hard for a heartbeat, for the one that he knew to be hers. Silence. He was then aware of Emma falling. Blood covered hands caught her. And he knew that she would be mad for him getting her dirty. But that's what she got for wearing white on a battlefield.
Picking her up, he went to the Jet and slowly walked up the ramp, seeing Hank sitting, dirty from battle, hair in matted clusters, deep in thought next to the pale body that was far too still.
"Hank!"
"She's dead. She almost came back, but, I couldn't save her."
"Come on," he grumbled, not looking at the girl he long ago swore to protect. "Queeny wants us to take them to the others."
"And do what?" The blue genus asked, gingerly picking up his charge, understanding Logan's feelings when the feral man could not bring himself to look at her.
"Wait."
~x~
Emma closed her eyes and felt herself fall away from her body—correction, felt her body fall away from her. She frowned as she saw her body fall, and be caught by Logan, her new uniform soiled by the blood of his enemy. Before she could pursue her own thoughts on the matter, the white light she was awaiting surrounded her: the doorway to the Astral Plane. There, leaning against a wall of her own imagining was Rogue, arms crossed, impatiently looking at the White Queen.
"Took you long enough."
Emma smiled, marveling at the ease to which the youth was adjusting, "You found your way I see."
"No thanks to you," Rogue told her, standing straight, "I should thank you, as always, for your detailed explanation."
"You had other things to do."
"A hero's work is never done." Rogue mused looking to the Astral Plane, a blank, graying land that shifted and spun its landscape to the will of those who were there. In the distance she could see the Shadow King, in his true form of darkness, thick armour making him appear twice the size she knew he should be in the "real world".
"He ain't very pretty."
"He's the nightmares of man and mutants giving life and form. He isn't meant to be pretty." Closing her eyes again, Emma built around herself her own psychic armour, "Well then, shall we?"
Rogue shook her head as Emma stepped past her, grumbling as she followed behind, quickly searching for the information that again, Emma had neglected to share with her. "We really have to work on your communication skills Em; how'd you do that?"
~x~
There was silence. Had they won? The clouds that had blocked out the skies had cleared, allowing the mutants that had gathered, those who could only watch, to see who was joining them over the rise. First was Storm and Cyclops, with the fallen body of Wanda, knowing that anyone left living near the battle could easily be taken over.
They moved as quickly as their tired bodies could to where the others were, looking after the injured, Gambit and Bobby standing guard as Lorna and Kitty tended to the wounded as best they could.
"How'd you do?" Scott asked Bobby, looking around.
"Survived for the most part," he told him honestly, with a shrug, "We've rounded up the bad guys, all except Avalanche who is MIA."
They exchanged a brief look, both understanding the potential for harm that still existed with a mutant of such skill not being accounted for. But they had enough to worry about in that moment for either to want to add more. "Hopefully Emma can track him when she..." Scott fell silent when he saw her. Emma Frost, in the arms of Logan, coming over the hill, her body limp and face pale. "What happened?"
Logan grunted when he eased her to the ground, "Dunno. She just, left her body."
Storm met his eye, "She's gone to the Astral Plane to fight him."
"So there's nothing we can do?" Kitty asked, looking around.
"There is one thing," Hank told them in a solum tone, as he joined them, his burden heavy in his arms, but bearing it bravely, knowing the respect that they all owed her. He hugged her to him, knowing that he may have to break a promise to Moira and hating himself for failing her, for failing them all. "We can mourn."
~x~
More to come. Pinky swear.
Please R&R.