Well, here's the (not so) long-awaited final chapter of Dark Rising: Call Of The Night! R+R please folks!
Chapter Ten
Scott stopped in the infirmary late the next night. He kissed Jean and glanced at Bobby, who was still sitting by Raptor's bed, holding her left hand in both of his. The dark-haired girl was connected to machines monitoring her heart, pulse, breathing and brainwaves. She had IVs in both arms. She was breathing on her own, but she hadn't moved a muscle since they'd brought the mutants back from Damien's facility.
Jean followed Scott's gaze and sighed. "He hasn't left here at all. I can understand that he's worried; we all are. Logan comes and goes, and Jubilee was in here until an hour ago, watching over Raptor and Dreamer, until I sent her to bed. But Bobby refuses to leave."
"Do you know when she's going to wake up?" Scott asked. Jean shook her head. "Scott, I don't even know if she will wake up. Her heartrate and pulse are slower than normal and her brainwaves indicate that she's not braindead but I haven't seen a change. It's like her body's empty."
"How's he holding out?" Scott asked softly, indicating Bobby. Jean sighed. "He hasn't spoken to anyone since we got back, not even Rogue or Jubilee. He just sits there and refuses to leave."
"Let him stay. They were close. He'll need time to come to terms with this," Scott said. Jean nodded and said, "Bobby? Scott and I are going to bed. Are you going to be okay?"
Bobby didn't answer. Jean sighed and left with Scott.
Bobby listened to them go and allowed the tears that had been building up spill over. He buried his face in his hands and sobbed.
((How could this happen? Why? She doesn't deserve something like this!))
He smoothed the blanket over her chest, rising and falling with each breath she took. She looked so fragile and ethereal, lying there connected to so many machines. It was as if everything that made her Raptor had somehow been sucked out of her body, leaving it an empty shell.
Bobby heard footsteps and struggled to contain his tears. Logan came in and sat down beside the bed. He didn't speak for a while, and Bobby thought that the older man might have forgotten he was there. Then Logan said, "it's hard, I know. Seeing her there makes you want to rail at anything that comes by and hurt everything until it brings her back. That's how I felt when she was injured by that metal bitch. Like I wanted to kill everything in sight if it meant there was the slightest chance she might wake up.
"It doesn't work, lashing out. Just hurts more people. But she came back once before and she can do it again."
"Why did this happen to her?" Bobby asked, not really caring that Logan had scared the hell out of him when he'd been at the mansion before. "Why to Raptor? What did she do to deserve this?"
"It doesn't work that way. Bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people. Not everything is fair. But she knew what she was doing, Bobby. She knew that touching Rogue was dangerous. She wanted to help another person, give them another shot at life. Don't blame Rogue for this."
Bobby was shocked by that suggestion. "I don't! This isn't her fault. Remy and I, we warned Raptor that something like this might happen. She still wanted to do it."
He smiled wearily. "She's so stubborn. I think that's one of the things I love about her."
"What are you telling me for?" Logan asked. "Tell her."
"She can hear me?"
"I don't know. Maybe. There's no harm in trying, is there? Talk to her. Maybe it'll bring her back."
Bobby turned and noticed Logan's stuffed duffel bag for the first time. Logan followed his gaze and nodded. "I'm going. Got a lot of stuff to work out."
"You'll be back for the wedding won't you?" Bobby asked. Logan grinned. "Wouldn't miss it for the world, kid. I'll see you both then."
"Good luck, Logan."
"You too, kid."
@ @ @
Sabrina Hunter stalked through the corridors of Damien's facility like a princess in her domain. She entered Damien's quarters and sat down on the chair by the bed, facing the older mutant.
"What can I do for you, Miss Hunter?"
"For one, you can call me Sabrina. For another, you can tell me why you aren't furious that those mutants escaped. If it were me I'd be destroying whoever had failed me," Sabrina said, her voice full of venom. Damien laughed. "Patience, my friend. I have plenty of time to carry out my plans. It was a shame I couldn't use my Augmentator on them, but I have other plans for them. Now, do you have the files on the X-Men?"
Sabrina handed him a stack of manila folders. "This is all I could think of on such short notice. Most of it is from memory. There should be enough there to help Discordia."
Damien took the stack of folders. "Good girl. I knew I wouldn't regret having you here."
"What about the surveillance? Was it any help?" Sabrina asked. Damien picked up what looked like a remote control and clicked a button. The heavy velvet curtain on one wall slid away, revealing a wall of television screens, all showing different views of the facility. He pressed another button and the words "Surveillance Tapes For Study" appeared on the screens.
An image of Storm, Logan and Scott appeared on-screen. They were standing outside the padlocked door, discussing how to enter. Logan suddenly said, "fuck this. I got an easier way," and proceeded to slice through with his claws. Several other scenes appeared: Dreamer and Jubilee making out at the swimming pool; Kurt and Kitty eating breakfast in the city; Storm, Scott, Jean, Logan, Rogue and Bobby celebrating the fact that Jean was pregnant; several shots from the celebration the X-Men had on the night the others were captured. Kitty and Kurt making out on a park bench, Bobby and Raptor sitting together in the school grounds; Aura and some other girls playing basketball.
Sabrina grinned. "They don't even suspect that they were being monitored, do they?"
"As far as we can tell they don't. But the surveillance Discordia and Prowler did for me can only tell me so much. I'm relying on you to tell me anything else I need to know."
"Of course."
@ @ @
Bobby Drake sat by Anastasia "Raptor" Hawke's bed for close to seven days, leaving only when Jean or Jubilee persuaded him to get some sleep or something to eat. On the seventh day, he kissed Raptor's forehead and said softly, "I promised I'd find your parents, and I will. Whatever it takes, I'll keep that promise."
To Be Continued in Dark Rising 2: The Devil You Know.
Well, what did you think? Should I continue or should I leave you all hanging? Review me please and tell me what you think. Does everyone hate Sabrina yet? (I do. I hate my own character… how messed up is that…)
Two things. First, no flames for making Logan leave, please. I love Logan, and he'll be back in DR2: TDYK. I promise!
Second, it occurred to me that Sabrina and Kylie were my only Australian characters and that they both turned evil. That's not me trying to say all Aussies are evil. I'm Australian so I'm allowed to have my Aussie characters turn evil. Plus there'll be more Australian characters in DR2: TDYK.
So tell me if I should even write the sequel. Not that you'll be able to stop me. It's already in my head, begging to get out. If I don't let it, soon it's gonna explode ;p
Thanks to all the peeps who reviewed. Not gonna write a list, they know who they are. But special thanks to The Cat, who reviewed almost all of my chapters. =)
So, tell me where you think I should go with the sequel. I'll take all suggestions into consideration.
Thanks for reading. I hope you like the sequel as much as you seemed to like this story.
-Ares