(A/N) Hey guys, as promised we're back with another update to make up for missing last Thursday's update. For those only getting to the party now, just letting you know that there was a Peter Parker update yesterday, so make sure you've read it before moving on to this one. And don't worry, we'll have our normal Tuesday update tomorrow for you all, and it's gonna be a good one. Of course, a lot of that's because this one right here – by the amazing Canuckle and featuring the equally amazing Wade Wilson (who's got his own freakin' movie coming out, for crying out loud!) – is also fantastic, so without further ado, I'm gonna leave you to it.

Big thanks to musicalocelot and sailorraven34 for their reviews, as always – you guys rock!

Enjoy!


Chapter Fifty-Two – Down the Rabbit Hole

Nightfall, Day Two

Wade Wilson of District One

Written by Canucklehead Cowgirl


"I've reached the point where I hardly care whether I live or die. The world will keep on turning without me, I can't do anything to change events anyway."

– Anne Frank


"Don't touch it," Elektra said, her tone testy. "You're making it worse."

But I like to touch it. Heh.

Don't think that's what she's talking about.

Wade chuckled and poked at the wound in his right shoulder. It hadn't gone clean through…and in spite of the fact that they had plenty of medical supplies, there wasn't a damn thing about it that was clean. Feverish and in pain, things had started to truly go downhill for our wayward hero within hours.

No, that wasn't right. Things had gone downhill from the moment he'd stepped into the arena.


Wade was teamed up with Thor, their mighty leader. The two had been valiantly fighting against Eleven and the Marvel dream boat from Five when he saw her. The babe in the purple cloak. What a time to make an appearance. She seemed to have simply materialized over Eleven's shoulder.

Oh my God. It's the mystery woman. Holy shit. I mean …. that is her right? I'm not seeing things?

No, we're seeing things…if we weren't we wouldn't see her at all. She's not real, remember?

"No way, she's real. I know it. We're just the only ones that can see her. It means we're on the right track," Wade mumbled to himself.

"Cosmic Abomination," She purred out as he fought alongside his blonde teammate, "You've been seeking me out in entirely the wrong way."

I really hate to be the party pooper here, but...reality check. Are you sure we can trust this woman?

Of course we can. She's very pretty.

Beauty is a fine measure of trustworthiness.

"Hey babe. Couldn't keep away from me, huh?"

Before he realized it, there was a dagger sticking out of his right shoulder. Sucker went all the way in to the hilt. The pain and the realization that it had likely just barely grazed at least one bone jerked him back into the moment, the woman in purple lost in the haze of the bloodbath.


"Wilson, hold still, damnit," Elektra said firmly, through from the look on her face, the last thing she really wanted to do was work on his stupid wound. "It's been hours. I have to check it."

She just wants to get us naked.

"All ya gotta do is ask, princess. I'd do just about anything for you," Wade answered with a 'Grrawr' added in for effect.

"Ugh, eew no…just, no."

Wade, you can't talk to her like that. She's our nursemaid.

"I know, I know…" he grumbled out, though Elektra didn't seem to notice that it wasn't directed at her. He avoided her disapproving expression by looking out from the Tesseract into the buildings and alleyways around them as the last of daylight was fading. "Place is creepier than shit as it gets dark."

He caught her smirking out of the corner of his eye, but before he could monopolize on it, he returned to watching the gigantic rabbits frolic.

Then he saw her in the shadows of an alleyway.

His sharp intake of breath had Elektra apologizing as she continued to try and clean his wound. He watched the purple cloaked figure slowly slip from the alley toward the Tesseract, only for her to disappear into thin air when she hit the light again.

"It's her," he breathed out, causing both Elektra and Loki to stop a moment and watch him as for once in his life, Wade W. Wilson was totally still and silent.

Who is she? Why does she keep popping up like this? Years of no-show and today, it's almost like she's flirting.

You know who she is, Wade. You've always known who she is. Of course she's going to be here.

"But that would mean..."

"Wade, what the hell is wrong with you? I mean, you are above and beyond even your psychotic version of normal," Elektra said, stepping in front of him and blocking his view of where he'd just seen the purple clad goddess, forcing him to look her in the eyes. "Get it together, man." He refocused on Elektra then looked toward Loki, whose expression was so funny to him, he couldn't help but break down laughing.

"He is completely cracked," Loki drawled out as Wade kept laughing from his spot on the ground near the centre of the Tesseract.

"He's been cracked for as long as I've known him, but yeah…it seems worse," Elektra said carefully. "What are you seeing now, Wade? Is there someone out there?"

"Oh, you know. The new norm. Apparently it's a barbarian bunny bonanza in my brain pan and I'm the only one invited," he chuckled as he watched two fluffy white rabbits fight over a bloodied patch of grass poking up between the ancient busted up concrete.

"Barbarian bunny…what was on that dagger?" Loki asked as Elektra looked more concerned.

Within hours of the injury, it had been apparent that it was no normal wound. Before anyone had even the opportunity to clean it, it already looked far too raw. At first, they chalked it up to Wade's distorted skin.

Wade on the other hand, didn't seem to be too terribly bothered by the wound – at least as long as his focus was on the giant rabbits that he had thought were mutts. Fluffy, white mutts that hopped around sniffing the splashes of blood left behind from the various injuries inflicted. He had chased after one and tried to decapitate it after the Tesseract cleared of all but the career pack.

As a result, his teammates took his sword away as he proved to his comrades in arms he was certifiably crazy. It also proved to himself that he was the only one that saw the massive almost cartoon like monster bunnies.

Case in point? If they were mutts, why weren't they going after any of them, and more importantly, why hadn't anyone else seen them? He had quickly chalked it up to just another figment of his vivid imagination and rapidly deteriorating mind, though the fact that they were ever present unnerved him. Why rabbits? Was there some mysterious symbolism that he just didn't get? Who the hell hallucinated bloodthirsty rabbits? Another notch in his belt that showed he truly had completely lost his marbles.

Honestly, he didn't care too terribly much. And he did get to see the babe in purple again. It was better than listening to Loki talk as if he wasn't even there while the rest of the pack was off hunting.

Doesn't he realize we're crazy – not deaf?

The voices in his head were far more interesting than what was going on around him. It had helped to draw his mind from the growing, throbbing pain that had encompassed his right arm and was spreading across his chest and into his neck. As the pain spread, he lost interest in everyone around him, actually losing the ability to interact with them as his mental condition continued to deteriorate.

Can we please go lookin' for victims? Sittin' around with the little princess and the geeky kid are startin' to get on my nerves. I didn't realize the games were going to be so … boring. It's supposed to be fighty time! Fighty, fighty, blood, blood blood!

Maybe we can dispatch the greasy kid. The blondes will be mad, but it would be worth it.

"No can do, boys … the boss lady took my blade. Just as well, I can't even pick up my arm. Shit," Wade said as he tried and failed again to raise the afflicted limb. "Though I'd love to give it a try …. stab a few of those rabbits with the big sharp pointy teeth. Oh hey …. some of 'em can fly. Whadda ya know."

"We have to keep this raving lunatic alive? Why? He's clearly going to die anyhow. Why not just do him a favour and…" Loki said smoothly, his voice like silk as he gestured cutting his throat. "It would be best for all of us, him especially. How is he going to keep up…and what happens once we get far enough into this? He's going to die anyhow. We should be more careful with our resources. This is like throwing pearls after swine."

The way that guy talks, I almost wanna agree with him.

Did he just call us swine?

But, no smart-alec commentary came from Wade as his infection seemed to be seeping directly into his brain. He started to drift in and out of his consciousness for who knows how long, ignoring what little snippets of conversation he heard between Elektra and Loki.

When he was out it the rabbits no longer plagued his vision, though the woman he'd longed to see for so long became clearer in focus and seemed to get closer. To him, that was progress. He could hear her more clearly…feel her cold touch, smell the lingering scent of flowers, fresh dirt and something…old.

"It won't be too long now, darling," The purple cloaked woman said as she had seemed to materialize out of nowhere, gently stroking his cheek.

"Hey babe…are you real, or did these hallucinations just move a step further into the Twilight Zone," Wade asked. "I mean, they already got my vertical and horizontal on the fritz…don't really want 'em messin' with my tactile too, and I could swear I could feel your bony fingers on my cheek."

"Of course I'm real, you lunatic," Elektra said as she looked down at him, clearly exasperated by his decline in spite of her work. "I've been trying to keep those damned wounds clean. What the hell are you doing to make them worse anyhow?"

"Don't mind her, sugar lips. Apparently she's the jealous type," Wade cooed to the smiling cloaked woman just past Elektra's shoulder.

"Sugar…listen you masked freak, get up," Natasha all but barked out, trying to force him to his feet. "If you can't get up and around on your own, you're dead weight."

"Tasha, come on. He's wounded," Clint countered, trying to calm her down.

"NO. We aren't all coming out of this alive anyhow – he's already dead, he just doesn't know it yet." She glared down at him.

"I'm not the only one," Wade chuckled. Natasha looked irritated as she huffed, stepping back a few paces as the masked wonder groaned. Trying to move into the upright was proving more painful than Wade had anticipated.

"Come, Wade. You must get up. See if you can stand alone," Brunhilde said kindly, as Thor offered to do all he could to help him upright, wrapping his arms around his masked compatriot and effortlessly lifting him to his feet.

Not the hot blonde I had in mind, but he does have the prettiest hair I've ever seen.

I think the fever's getting to you.

"Darling, really – the little redhead is right. Just relax, let it take over," The purple cloaked woman said sweetly. "I promise I'll be gentle."

"I'd love to, but I don't even know your name," Wade said, a strain to his voice as Thor set him on his feet, his head spinning madly.

"How do you not know my name, Wilson?" Thor looked confused, having apparently missed much of Wade's inside conversations.

"Please, kill him now," Loki interjected. "He's talking to himself. Er…more." Thor seemed more stressed at the comment and directed Wade to stand on his own, trying to help him balance. The group as a whole held their breath as he stood, visibly shaking, his arms slightly out to help with his balance.

"That's a start," Elektra said quietly. "But is he mobile? He's been festering in spite of all we've done." The whole of the Career pack watched, all of them wary though for decidedly different reasons.

"Take a few steps, Wilson," Barton said clearly, his arms crossed and watching the lunatic carefully.

"Oh, no problem my friend, I've been doin' this since I was in diapers," Wade joked.

As soon as he was under his own steam, not even three steps in, his knees buckled and pain shot down his leg and up his entire right side as he crumpled to the ground. Gasping for breath, half screaming, half cursing as the rest of them began to fight in earnest over his fate.

"I told you, it's spreading, it's just a matter of time," the cloaked woman said urgently. "Don't fight it, just close your eyes and let go."

"Seriously, what do I call you? I mean... who are you, exactly?" Wade asked, largely ignored by his team now as the debate over his fate became overly heated, raised voices and all.

"You know who I am, darling. I am the Mistress Death."

"It's not a matter of honour! It's a matter of survival! If you won't let us kill him, at least use him to lure in some of the other tributes!" Natasha shouted, openly advocating dropping the dead weight.

Hey! Pay attention, jackass. They're talking about us over there.

"So, I'm going to die?" Wade mumbled, staring into the glowing green orbs of Death, flatly ignoring the voices that liked to bicker in his own head.

"Everyone in this arena will. Eventually. Some far sooner than others. No one escapes death," she replied.

"Repellent though he is, he is still one of us! I will not have you treat him as some low beast to be offered up as sacrifice!" Brunhilde was not one to change her decision based on anyone else's opinion, except perhaps Thor, who looked incapable of making the call, clearly torn on what to do as they turned to him for guidance.

The rest of their gang was openly starting to choose sides. Clint alone seemed to be remaining in neutral territory while the others moved to stand behind who they supported…some backing Thor and Brunhilde, others Natasha. As the two of them argued a bit more, Wade simply passed out. Not only was he listening to the women bickering, but the two voices in his head that generally gave him much entertainment and someone to talk to were also arguing about the woman in purple.

I think we should just do what she says.

You would. You'd follow a pretty face into a fire ball.

"Fireball…no. We've done that once before. That's how I got stuck with you two."

We were there before, you just weren't listening. I say maybe just listen to the purple lady.

She's trouble. Forget her. Kill the mouthy kid from Twelve…that's gotta be worth a little medicine. Don't forget, Al is watching.

Al is not watching. She's listening, at best. And to what? You talking to yourself? Crazy doesn't win sponsors. Especially when we haven't even killed anyone.

With no escape from both arguments, he simply succumbed to the pain, getting lost in the sensation of it washing over him.

Of all the tributes that were supposed to be in their alliance, Elektra was the only one to go to Wade's side. She just watched him for a while as he continued to converse to an invisible entity that only he could see.

At first his eyes seemed dull as he prattled on. The subject of his internal conversation was something that she was not entirely sure of. He was mumbling pretty thickly after all.

While the others tried to discuss his fate, she steeled herself and took a closer look at the festering, angry wound on his shoulder.

On closer examination than what she'd forced herself to do earlier, she found that the pebbled, angry red skin that was normal for him…looked a lot worse around the wound. Since the last time she'd cleaned it, not four hours before, it had blackened and lines of purple extended up his neck and over his chest across his heart.

She gently placed her hand on his neck and Wade's uninjured hand drifted up to cover hers as she tried to gauge how badly out of control his fever was. Burning up was putting it lightly.

More alarming than that was that finally, she realized what it was about him that she thought smelled so badly. The lingering smell of death warmed over was oozing from him, growing thicker and more obvious as time marched on. It seemed their decision was being made for them, all but how to handle it.


Very suddenly, Wade found himself in the old training room…but it looked different than he was used to. Perfect, clean white walls and the whole place stocked with fresh, unblemished training dummies. Looking down, he realized he held both of his katana – razor sharp and shining in the morning sun. He dropped them at once when he realized the skin on his exposed arms was smooth, tanned and frankly...perfect.

He spun on the spot to look in the mirrors that covered one entire wall of the training room, wrenching the mask from his face to expose a very handsome young man with no reason whatsoever to hide. He stared at himself for a moment, wide eyed.

He'd forgotten what he was supposed to look like.

"Perhaps this is truly where it should have ended," Death told him as she materialized next to him. "It's where it would have ended for anyone else if not for those damned doctors."

"My scars..."

"Scars don't follow you into the hereafter if you don't want them to. Come with me, Wade. Make it easier on yourself."

"How?"

"Make your choice, my love … either take up the katana and make that spark again, perhaps buy yourself a few more days of excruciating agony as that infection takes you over completely or, you can give me a single kiss and end this piteous existence."


"Wade, can you hear me? Are you … are you in there?" Elektra asked hesitantly.

"Sweetheart …. of course I'll kiss you. R-rabbits won't matter … swirly," he mumbled as she frowned at him.

"Guys," Elektra said quietly at first.

"NO. I won't let you drag me down over this!" Natasha had officially lost her cool, openly challenging Thor on his decision to stand by Brunhilde.

"GUYS!"

"None of us want to be murderers in cold blood! He does not affect our survival – he's no threat to anyone in his state!" Brunhilde argued.

"There's only one thing we can do, no choice in it really," Elektra said as they continued to bicker, no one actually looking anywhere near the man in question. As she pulled out the sai tied into her sash, Wade seemed to come around, his focus clearly on his district partner.

"Come on, Princess. I got a hot date I'm late for already," Wade said clearly.

She stared at him open mouthed and watched as his eyes glazed over again and he began simply moaning, apparently incapable of speech once again and very clearly in pain. She closed her eyes and steeled herself.

With one quick rough motion, the sai in her hand had sunk in deeply under his chin, up into his skull with a sickening crunch.

The bickering ceased entirely and all eyes fell on Elektra as his head fell backwards when she pulled the sai out again to the sound of a cannon.

Thanks, murder princess. Wade said clearly as he looked over the scene below, once again whole and smooth, arm in arm with the Mistress Death as he gladly welcomed her cold embrace.


Fatalities (In Order)

24: T'Challa, District Eleven Male – Killed by Thor Odinson.

23: Anna Marie Adler, District Eight Female – Killed by Clint Barton.

22: Raven Darkholme, District Ten Female – Killed by James Howlett.

21: Pepper Potts, District Three Female – Killed by Cletus Kasady.

20: Wade Wilson, District One Male – Killed by Elektra Natchios.