I don't own Jubilee, Sabretooth, the X-Men, or Generation X. I'm borrowing them for my own nefarious devices. Marvel owns them and tortures them (and their readers) more than I ever could.
I don't own Asher or any characters within the Anita Blake universe. I humbly bow down before the almighty Laurell K Hamilton, for she is a goddess.
I don't own Methos or any characters within the Highlander universe, I believe Rysher does. Rysher scares me, so I wouldn't dare infringe upon their copyrights.
The idea behind the links is a concept adapted from L.J. Smith's Dark Visions Trilogy. L.J. Smith is a goddess among writers for young adult fiction. I bow down before her.
Kora is an original character, so I do own her. Please don't use her unless you ask and recieve permission. (By me, people. Don't get smart.) Not that any of you would want to borrow her. Sheesh.
Timelines: (And pay attention, this gets weird.)
Jubilee and Creed - After Ev's death and Gambit's return from Antarctica, before Moira and Cyclops die. I have aged Jubilee because I'm annoyed at her being thirteen for six years. (That's worse than my mom being 39, again. For the seventh time.)
Asher - After a modified Blue Moon. Assume Anita's still dating both of her boys but is still pouting because Asher got into Anita's mind when she fed him. (Asher's timeline is the most confusing to those who've read the series.)
Methos - After The Four Horsemen and Revelations, before the movie.
Title of Series: The Web - Borne Of The Fall
PG-15 For language.
Part Two
"Yes, The World Is Bloody Nuts"
JUBILEE
Creed's place.
Christ on a crutch, the guy must be rich. Well duh, Lee. He's an assassin for hire and older than Logan ta boot. A century plus of acquiring shit n' killin' people must lead to a fat pocket book. This house is just a tad on the small side to be considered a mansion. The neighborhood's posh as fuck. Land is huge and the neighbors are an acre away. Knowing him, he probably just wants the privacy. At least, that's what the security system seems to imply. Never seen spikes attached to heat sensors before. Must get icky when strays hop in.
"Will someone bloody tell me what's going on? Now!?"
Yeek. He should calm down before he bursts something. "Dude, Methos, take a chill pill."
Whoa, someone turned on the death-ray. "Don't call me that. In public and private, it's Adam Pierson."
*And what about here, Methie?* I'm taunting him. I know I shouldn't, but it's just too much fun.
*"STOP THAT!"*
I wince when the scream echoes in my head, lightning flashing behind my eyes. I can't help but continue. *Ooooh, someone's having a temper tantrum.*
"Lady Jubilation, please stop aggravating him."
It's the use of my full name compounded with the title that actually gets to me. No one's ever called me a lady before. I turn to Asher, noting how pale he is. He's probably always pale, though. He never sees the sun 'cuz he's a fuckin' vampire. Maybe suckin' is a better adjective.
Asher is afraid, 'though you'd never know it to look at him. He's sitting on one of the tall backed chairs lookin' all calm and collected. He's definitely elegant, I'll give him that much. Clothes all designer, posture almost textbook. Why he isn't flippin' out is beyond me. Maybe psychic bonds are common with the vamps.
"Sorry. Must be the beer." I shrug and grin, giving them all my best 'I'm cute and potty-trained' look. Creed doesn't buy it, but I'm not sure why. He's been treating me with a twisted sort of respect tonight. It's disconcertin'. Everything about this night has been disconcertin'. Like, freaky-weird has got nothin' on this.
Met-, I mean Adam, sighs and slouches into a chair. *Would have been better off in Paris.*
"Yeah, well. Frying pan, fire, does it really matter? All turns up the same in the end." I reach into my pocket and pull out gum. Ah, the sweet, sweet taste of Juicy Fruit.
"On that happy note, why don' we have the frail here explain herself." Creed walks over to the table and stands behind Kora, his hands going to her shoulders. Oh yeah, info by intimidation. Frost lessons 101.
METHOS
Kora is watching us all.
She's a tiny thing, really. Wide blue eyes take up all her face surrounded by skin almost as pale as Asher's. She hasn't said a word out loud at all. It's almost like she's afraid to talk, but she's not afraid to touch. Her hands haven't really stayed still. Anything within reach has been fingered and categorized. Even now she's examining Creed's hands, touching the claws with interest.
"Kora!" Her head snaps up at me, eyes going even larger. I'm sorry I yelled, but it's just been a bloody long night. "What did you do to us?"
*I got hungry.* Windchimes. That's what she sounds like. Very matter-of-fact windchimes.
"Right. Hungry." I press my face into my hands. A quick check of my watch says almost midnight. At the rate things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if the time was actually 13:47pm Eastern Standard Time, beep. None of the other laws of nature are being adhered to today.
"My guess is she went to feed on ol' Vic and found that his healin' factor pumped a crap load of energy out. She's like a vamp, ya know. 'Cept she feeds on energy instead o' blood." Jubilee pops her gum, her face completely straight. I don't think I could have said that without cracking up. The fact that I just heard it makes me feel like I'm cracking up.
Asher gets an interested look on his face. "An energy vampire? There's never been anything like that in the community."
"She's a mutant. The extreme mutations like this have only been happenin' in the past century. You wouldn't have seen it much earlier than that." Another bubble pops.
"Yeah. Alpha levels have only started showin' up in the past fifty years." Creed nods like he understands what the hell is going on. Mutants. Mutations. Is this what the mortals felt like when I explained my immortality and the Game to them? Hell. I'm sorry I was always so bloody impatient.
"What we gotta know is whether she's like Rogue, with no control over her power, or if she can start it and stop it at will. It'd hella suck to not be able to touch her, skin ta skin." Jubilee nods at Creed's hands and raises an eyebrow. Creed looks like he just considered the possibility that touching her might be a bad idea. This whole bloody thing happened because he touched her!
"Answer her, frail." His hands tighten on Kora's shoulders, but she doesn't wince. She was watching Jubilee blow bubbles as though she'd never seen anything like it.
*The power comes out at certain points. Palm, mouth, center of forehead. When I'm hungry, then I feed.*
It's a roundabout answer. Fingers to her cheek wouldn't open whatever 'portal' to the energy, but Creed's palm on her skin would and that's only when she's hungry. "Would your palm on them make it so you can feed?"
Her nod is my only answer. Interesting.
ASHER
"What do you normally do to stop... this?" A slight wave of my hand indicates the connection I can almost see between us. I can certainly feel the pull.
*This doesn't normally happen.* Her attention has wandered to me.
Her frank stare at the scars unnerves me. I fight to keep from flinching from her when she reaches across the table to touch them. I've stood in the Vampire Council as a lapdog to my mistress, Beautiful Death, for centuries. I can handle one small girl touching me. I can. "Then what does normally happen?"
*The ones I feed on die.* She just keeps stroking my cheek as though memorizing the texture.
I will keep my face blank. She will not see what this is doing to me. "Why don't you talk aloud?"
She's startled. She pulls back her hand and drops into her chair, her eyes wide. *I hurt my throat. It was a long time ago.*
**Screaming. Loud, continuous wails for as long as a breath will hold, then an inhale to fuel the screams anew. Terror. Loneliness. Screaming, on and on. The screams echoing along with the pounding of fists into the walls.**
I find myself holding onto the wooden arms of the chair so hard that it cracks. Well, I successfully deflected her attention from my scars. Next time, I'll remind myself not to bother.
"What the hell was that?" Victor is shaking his head as though the screams were still echoing for him. Maybe they were.
Adam is rubbing his arms as though he's cold. "Is there something we can do about this link? Someone we can talk to who might be able to break it? No offense, but I don't know anything about you people and I'd rather get on with my life as soon as possible."
"Well, yeah. I know a few people who can take a look at it." Jubilee and Victor exchange a look. They aren't relishing the idea of turning to these people, that much is apparent.
**Rage. How dare they imprison me!? Bastards, all of them! They'll all bleed when I'm free.**
**Tears. Tears for the dead, tears for the living, tears for myself. Tears of salt and tears of blood. Guilt-laden rage. Bitter isolation.**
"Shit. Sorry. I'm leaking. Lemme just... There. Better?" Jubilee has a look of intense concentration, then the alien feelings recede. "The connection's intensifyin'. It's getting harder for me to hold up so many shields."
CREED
"Drop mine. I've got some fairly strong ones from dealin' with Cueball." As soon as I say it, I almost wish I could take it back. The frail was holdin' back some pretty impressive waves. "When'd you go all psi-sensative? Last I saw, you were just a punk-ass, firecrackin' kid."
"You obviously haven't been around in awhile. Incase you haven't noticed, I've grown up a bit."
**Cigar smoke. The word 'kid' echoing in increasing volume.**
If I had less control, and if I didn't known any better, I would put my hands to my ears to try and block out the voice. "You're leaking again."
The echoes disappear in an instant. "Sorry. You know how it is with strong emotion."
Yeah, I knew. The more you feel the less you concentrate and the more slips out. "Ol' Wolverine really pissed ya off but good, huh?"
*We aren't going to talk about that, Creed. Drop it.* I look to see if the others notice the tight words, but they don't even blink.
"As for your question earlier? Frost's been training me for a few years. I've learned some good shields, good enough to keep me from Cerebro, but I don't know how much of what just happened got out." The frail looks tired, like she's suddenly older. Thinkin' back on how long I've been fighting her, I realize nearly five years have passed. Eighteen years old and she's got the eyes of a seasoned mercenary. Poor kid.
"Spit it out, frail. Whatcha tryin' ta say?"
She glares at me. I shrug it off. Gotten a lot worse in my day. "If the X's have bothered to notice that I'm gone, they'll be lookin' for me. If my shield slipped or is slipping now, then they'll know where I am. I'm using too much of myself trying to keep everyone else's shit to themselves so I don't know how much of me is gettin' out. Got it?"
"Why don't we just put some distance between us? If we all go our separate ways, maybe the link will fade." Pierson's grasping at straws. The boy don't know nothin' 'bout telepaths.
"Maybe, but it's doubtful. If this thing is using my telepathy along with whatever energy Kora's put into this, then it's got some pretty good distance on it. Like, right now, I could reach Frost in Massachusetts. Even worse, with bonded pairs like with Summers and Grey, they could hear each other from New York to Alaska."
"Within my... community," A pause from Asher. He doesn't know how much we know about his blood-suckin' habits. "There are bonded pairs, infrequently trimulatives. They'll last any distance and only sever when one of the pairs is dead."
**Unimaginable pain. A woman, a beloved, screaming in agony. Latin chanting.**
"Fuck." A fine sheen of sweat coats Jubilee's face. Her jaw's clenched so tight I can see the pulse beating in her temple. "Okay, you guys. Yer all gettin' a lesson in shields, 'cuz I'm not going to be able to hold you all indefinitely."
KORA
There's so much around me that's unfamiliar.
I've never seen anyone like Jubilee up close before. Her eyes are different shaped, more like the almonds that had once been on a birthday cake when I was little.
Asher's got strange marks on his face, and those marks make him very sad. I wonder why? They're very interesting. They feel slippery against my fingers.
Victor has claws on his fingers. Puffy, my kitty, had claws. I remember them being sharp. I haven't seen Puffy in a very long time. I wonder what happened to her.
Adam is scared of what's happening. I didn't mean to do it. I don't even know what I did. I think it's interesting. I can feel his fear like it's my own. I wonder if I could feel it if he's happy?
Oh, Victor's moving me to the floor. Hmm. The carpet is like it was in my rooms, except this is dark blue and the one in my room was browner. Jubilee's on the floor now and Asher is sitting between her and me. Victor sits on my other side.
Everyone is looking at Adam now. He hasn't moved from his chair. He's complaining about something. I'm not really paying attention to what. Victor growls next to me. When I put my fingers on his chest, he slaps them off. His chest vibrated with his growl. It tickled.
Adam is moving to sit between Jubilee and Victor. Oh, we're in a circle, all cross-legged and facing each other. Hmm. I think my legs are going to fall asleep if I stay like this. When I move to straighten out my legs, Victor puts his hand on me. I think that's his signal to stop moving, so I do.
Everyone closes their eyes. I do what they do. Hold still, keep my eyes closed. Easy.
Power crashes over me. I'm not hungry, so I just let it roll around like a ball, bouncing from wall to wall. Something happens. It's like the walls are falling down and now I can feel Asher, Adam, and Jubilee much better. A moment later, another wall crumbles and I feel Victor.
So much life between them, so many emotions. I hold on to all I can, living in the moment of their memories.
CREED
Never felt anything like this before.
Everything is hyper-sensitive, I'm feeling it from five different angles. I know that the carpet is somewhat scratchy against Jubilee's legs and Pierson is cold beneath his thin sweater. From Asher, I know how it feels to have to force air into lungs that don't breathe and from Kora, I learn how to revel in each sensation.
They're all sifting through each other's memories. I can feel Jubilee trying to control the rampant curiosity, but no one's paying any attention to her urgings for some privacy. Most telepaths find it rude to go through another person's mind like this, but the rest of us have no such qualms. The unfamiliar territory was begging to be explored and the others didn't know it was considered bad form.
**The pain of the knife sliding through the flesh of our arms. The blood spilling from the wound easily as we slide deeper into the warm water, the bath tile cool against our skin.**
**The feeling of drinking deeply from a necromancer. Her blood incredible on our tongue. Her power calling ours to life, calling our bodies to life.**
**Our brother swinging a battle axe. The adrenaline racing through our systems fast as quickening. Thought flees and millennia of instinct honed to razor-sharpness come to the fore.**
**The sensation of our claws ripping through flesh. The scent of blood and fear riding the air, calling the bloodlust and tinting our vision red.**
**The first feeding that took our Nanny away. The terror on Mommy's face when she had seen poor Nanny fall to the ground in a heap. Daddy's hand on our wrist tightening to the point of pain.**
**The humiliation of waking up knowing of our failure. Everything hurting, inside and out. Our teacher talking in her always cold voice about going home. The knowledge that home isn't a place that really exists and our family is really a lie.**
**The necromancer's horror at her own pleasure. The fear filling the face that had been our only chance of acceptance, of love. The power rolling through our veins like a heady mead. The cold understanding that the power won't take away the aching loneliness.**
**The feel of our sword meeting, and parting, heavy flesh. The loss of a loved one at our own hands. The power of lightning slamming into us as we shriek our hatred of life, of fate, and of the gods. The power doubling as another brother loses his head. The sensation of two souls completely joining with each other for one shining moment.**
**The utter freedom of completely giving ourselves over to the beast. The acknowledgment of pain and reveling in it, because to feel pain means to feel life.**
**The harsh pain in our wrist as we are thrown into our rooms. The closing and locking of the door as we realize that daddy meant this to be forever and the sheer panic that realization brings. Our voice crying out for mercy, for forgiveness. We'll be good! We promise!**
**The patronizing voices following us through the mansion. The pitying looks from so-called friends. The kid gloves to handle the kid. The humiliation of never being pushed to succeed because we obviously aren't powerful or good enough. The fear of living only to see more death or feel more pain.**
**The absolute need to get away from the necromancer's horror. The desperate rush to pack the necessary belongings and get to neutral territory, away from the council, away from St. Louis, away from the memories.**
**The light of hope we'd known for the first time in two centuries dying when MacLeod saves us from death only to turn from our past in disgust. The knowledge that no matter how many centuries we put between us and our past, we can never escape who we are.**
**The ghosts of our past rising up to choke us. Our memories jumble and twine together, all three sets of them. The burning need for the glow coupled with the maddening understanding that we would never feel the glow again.**
**The screaming that didn't end until our voice was lost and all that came from our throats was blood. The miserable loneliness of seeing no one's face, not even our own, for over a decade.**
ASHER
Mon dieu. There are tears on my face, shiny and red tinted, and I can't bring myself to brush them away. Not only do I have the memories of my hardest times, I have theirs as well. May I have the strength to walk with them.
Jubilee has finally gotten control of everyone and is redirecting us. She shows us how to veil our thoughts so that we know something is happening behind the curtain, but we cannot tell what. She tries to show us how to put up thicker walls, but that becomes painful, both in the sense that we finally have a place to belong completely after being so alone and in the more immediate physical sense. When the walls first came up, we all began to ache just behind our eyes. As the walls continue to remain, the more intense the pain becomes. Jubilee drops the walls between us in favor of building walls around us to keep other psychics, or telepaths, out. The veils between us remain in place with each of us curtaining ourselves with relative ease.
Victor is helping Jubilee put the walls in place as though each thought were a brick to lay. I can feel where Jubilee has placed the wall and where Victor is filling in gaps or reinforcing weaker areas. It's almost as though they're building a fortress. I help in the only way I can.
Into the wall, I add a sense for magic, whatever magics I possess as a vampire. There's no hiding what I am, they've been in my mind. At least now, when they meet other vampires, they'll know it immediately and be able to defend themselves. If there's any magic in the area, be it lycanthrope, blood, sex, or spell, they'll feel it. At this point, I realize that we are bound as intimately as a servant to their vampire master. I don't need to lay down the marks to follow them into death should something happen to them.
Adam senses what I do and adds his lightning to our shield. *You'll be able to feel other immortals with this, but they'll also be able to feel me through you. My years and quickenings have widened my warning area a bit, so you'll know they're there before they feel you. Take it for the early warning system it is. Get the hell out of the area as quickly as you can so you don't get challenged.* We acknowledge his words with a slight hum of approval.
Kora's presence flares brightly as she pours her own energy into the wall. It glows pink, flashy to all sensitive to it. When she fades back down, there's a sensation of solidity. In fact, the wall almost seems to pulsate beneath our mental fingertips like a self-sustained living thing.
Jubilee's low mental whistle brushes through our minds. *That thing is as strong as it's gonna get. It's got a lot of energy in it and it ain't comin' down unless we want it to.*
METHOS
The closest thing I've ever felt to this link is the double quickening I shared with MacLeod when we slew Silas and Kronos, but that one was over the moment the quickening ended. This link, this web of power, burns with vitality. It doesn't seem to be fading at all.
I should have been more scared. Two kids are tied to me. The vampire and the mass murderer I don't need to worry about, one's immortal and the other can't seem to die. Those girls are as mortal as they come. Who knows what would happen to me if one of them dies.
I quieter part of me wonders what would happen if I lost to the Game. It's quiet because I try not to tempt fate, even in my head. But is it really my head still? After that... melding, I'm just not sure anymore. I know I'm still thinking these thoughts, but all a thought is, is based on interpretations of the world at large, and interpretations of the world are determined by personal experiences. If I suddenly have other people's experience-based interpretations, then am I still me? Am I still thinking like me? Or have the become a part of me? If that's the case, then am I a part of four other people? Can the world handle five Methoses? Or is that Methosi?
Bugger it. I've bloody cracked. I haven't had enough beer to deal with tonight and this is what I get. I need some bloody sleep.
JUBILEE
Whoa, the troops look tired. I should ask Creed if we can stay here tonight.
Might as well work on the control a bit. *Hey, Vic.* The thought is successfully sent to only Creed.
Aw, he looks like a kitten when he scrunches his nose to concentrate. *What?*
Everyone else turns to look at him. Oops. *No, man. Think of us like we're each connected to individual strings, and each string is a different color. Like, picture this in your head, okay?*
Another nose scrunch and he nods. The dude should be more careful, he's losing his badass image.
*Now, think of how everyone's been talkin' like they've been holding all those strings up to their lips when they need to say somethin'. What you need to do is hold up only one of the strings connected to just one person.*
He frowns as he imagines this. *Like this?*
*Yeah! Just like that. See, it's easier to do this stuff if you have a mental picture of what you want to happen. At least, that's how Frosty always taught me. Don't worry, it gets easier with practice. We'll be doing it instinctively eventually.*
Creed looks thoughtful and a little proud of his accomplishment. Adam and Asher just look confused. I briefly wonder if they can sense us talking. I know they can't "hear" us, but they may be able to pick up on something happening. *Anyway, I wanted to know if we could crash here for the night.*
I see the knowledge of why I left the mansion in his eyes. He knows I have no place to go just as I know Kora's been sleeping on park benches for the past three days. Adam has a bed at a no-tell motel and Asher has a flat he just bought, but Kora and I have nowhere to go. *Yeah, fra- Jubilee. You guys can stay here. There's a room you n' Kora can stay in upstairs and to the right. It's got a shower in it. Go ahead and go. I'll ask them if they want to stay and tell 'em about the string thing.*
I know I've said it before, but the statement bears repeating. Creed being nice, just because, is disconcertin'. But I think I can learn to deal with it.
I nod my thanks as I get up and gather my backpack. I expect to hear voices, either aloud or in my head, but I don't. I walk up the stairs thinking that he must be concentrating on three of the strings instead of all four. Cool. I hadn't thought of that.
I get to the top of the first flight of stairs and turn right. There's only one door, so I go in. Again, I'm astounded by the sense of wealth the place has. It's very masculine, with heavy lines and dark colors, but tastefully done. He had to have had an interior decorator.
I'm just getting in the shower when Asher gives the equivalent to a telepathic knock. *Yes?*
*Adam and I have decided to stay over. I'll be up for awhile yet, and when the sun rises, I probably won't be able to wake up. Please keep the shades to my room drawn. I'll be in the far room on the left.*
I'm impressed and I let him feel it. He was a little shaky, but he managed to get the whole message through on a private line. *No prob. See ya tomorrow. And don't set off any of Creed's security systems.*
*I won't. Sleep well.*
*Yeah, you too.*
When I'm washing my hair, carefully one-handed because of the bandages on my left wrist, I hear Adam's goodnight. It's a general message and makes me wonder if he can send to just one person. We'll need to get him to practice it after we've all slept. It's just not practical to make everyone listen to you talkin' when you only need to say it to one person.
A quick rinse and I'm out of the shower. I toss on some shorts and a shirt and head into the bedroom where I see Kora already buried under the thick covers, asleep. The bed's big enough for the two of us, a king size. The whole damn room is king size. I begin to wonder if Creed set us up in the master bedroom.
*Jubilee?*
Think of the devil. *Yeah, Vic?*
*My room's up on the third floor. Don't wake me up before noon. If you want food, you'll need to go out for it. Money's in the freezer by the peas dated '92. Disarm the security system under the staircase before leaving the house. 36942. Got it?* He pauses, waiting for me to send an affirmative.
I think I'm in shock. The man just gave me, in essence, all I'd ever need to bring him down if he ever stayed in this house again. Of course, it'd be easy to just change the combo number later on. I wonder how much is in the freezer. Who the fuck keeps money in a freezer by the peas? The man really is psychotic. *Thanks.*
*Oh, there're bandages in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. You're gonna need to re-wrap your arm. I think you popped a stitch at the bar. I smelled blood. G'night.*
*Um, thanks again. Night.*
This has got to be one of the weirdest nights of my life. I unwrap the slightly damp bandages around my wrist and find that one of the five stitches had come mostly out. Clenching my jaw, I pull it out the rest of the way, causing it to bleed. I go to the bathroom, rinse the wound, and re-wrap it with the bandages from the cabinet.