Disclaimer's: Don't own them. I know you all hate me, but... THE END OF WORLD IS COMING!
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A scream shattered the peaceful night air.
Logan jumped out of bed, audibly cursing. Rogue sat up in his bed and looked around. He was pulling on a pair of jeans and Rogue quickly pulled her nightgown over her head. They dashed out into the hall where the other X-Men were standing in confusion.
"What's going on?" Jubilee asked.
"Where's Nikki?" Gambit said.
Everyone exchanged a look and made a break for Nikki's room. Logan threw the door open to reveal a terrifying sight.
Nikki was sitting up in bed, all color drained from her face. Her hands twisted the covers into knots. Gambit flew over to her bed and sat down. She didn't respond.
Gambit took her hands in his and said, "Nikki, what do you see? What's happening, angel?"
Nikki didn't respond. Tears were rolling down her face.
Jean walked over and laid her hand on Nikki's forehead. Her entire body stiffened and then she was thrown backwards!
Scott leapt towards her, "Jean!"
She sat up, "I'm OK. It just won't let me view her flash."
All of a sudden Nikki screamed, "THE BIRDS!" and fell over, nearly flying off the bed. Gambit grabbed her and said, "Nikki?"
Her eyes flew open "Daddy?"
"It's OK," Gambit said, "You're safe here."
"What did you see?" Scott asked, "What are we dealing with?"
Everyone shot him a look, "The girl's just been, like, traumatized or something," Jubilee said, "Lay off!"
"What birds?" Scott asked.
Nikki looked at him and said, "Sparrows."
"The world is going to end by sparrows?" Scott asked, "I don't think birds could cause the end of the world."
"Why don't you tell us about the flash?" The Professor said, "Maybe it will mean something to one of us."
"It was a continuation of the other flash," Nikki said, "The one with the tidal wave of blood. When I walked outside, I told you everything except the mansions lay in ruins. But now, something had changed."
"What?" Scott asked. Jean kicked him.
"I thought that no living creatures could survive the tidal wave, but I was wrong," Nikki said, "Above all the ruins, perched on every pile of rubble, were sparrows. They were all looking at me. They scared me."
"Why?" Gambit said, "They were just birds."
"But why sparrows?" Nikki said, "They were all sparrows. I suppose if the birds had flown high enough, they could've escaped the blood, but why just sparrows? Why weren't there any other birds? Why sparrows?"
"Maybe the mutant we're up against can talk to birds or his code name is Sparrow," Jubilee ventured.
"Sparrows," Jean said, "I remember something about sparrows. Something about..."
"Psychopomps," Rogue said.
"Yes." jean said, looking at her, "All birds sparrows especially are psychopomps!"
"How about in plain English for the rest of the class?" Logan said, "What is a psychopomp?"
"Well, a psychopomp is anything that has a direct connection between the Unseen World, the Dead World, and the Living or Waking World," Jean said.
"Um, still not coming through," Jubilee said.
"Well," Rogue said, "Psychopomps can travel between 3 places: Dreams or psychic flashes, the Afterlife, and here, the Living or Waking World. They guide souls to the Afterlife, supposedly."
"Yes," Jean said, "How do you know all of that?"
"I read a lot," Rogue said.
"Why sparrows?" Logan asked.
"I'm not sure," Jean said, "You'd think any bird would do because of the wings. I would think a vulture would be better suited to the job."
"No," Rogue said, "It has to be a small, inconspicuous bird. One that's common, so no one would remark on it being there. If vultures flew around every dead body, people would start to notice."
"Well," Scott said, "As much as we loved the lesson on psychopomps, what does this tell us about the end of the world?"
Everyone looked at each other and shrugged.
"Nikki," Rogue asked, "How many sparrows were there?"
"I, there were billions," Nikki said, "Every available surface was covered. I couldn't see the sky at all. They were flying so thick! I was afraid to move because I might step on them. They covered the ground."
"Well," Scott asked again, more impatiently, "What does that have to do with anything?"
"One sparrow for each soul," Rogue murmured.
"What?" Logan asked.
"One sparrow for each soul," Rogue said, "Nikki thought there were billions, all at once. Everyone in the world will die, around the same time as each other. The end of the world isn't something we can hope to stop. It's going to happen worldwide."
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Well, that little discussion now had everyone completely awake at 3:43 in the morning, so everyone went to get dressed and came down to eat a silent breakfast. Then they gathered in the living room.
"If we can't help," Jubilee said, "Then why did it bother to tell you to come find us?"
"We have to be able to help!" Scott said.
"We can't solve everything," Jean said, "Maybe this was just to bring us all back together before the end."
"But what could kill so many people at once?" Jubilee asked.
"God," Rogue said.
Everyone looked at her, but she wasn't joking.
"Well, then," Scott said, "That ruins the psychopomp theory. I would think God would use angels to take us to the Afterlife."
"God doesn't forget even the sparrows," Nikki quoted under her breath, "Says so in the Bible."
"You guys can't mean to say Judgment Day is coming?" Scott said.
"Why not?" Nikki said.
"It's just not right!" Scott said, "God wouldn't tell you when Judgment Day is coming! No one is supposed to know that!"
"OK," Logan said, holding up his hands, "We don't need to get into a moral debate. We still don't know what will cause the end of the world. but apparently it's going to be big enough to do it almost all at once. What we need to focus on is if we can stop it, how are we going to do it?"
Everyone quieted down.
"This is pathetic," Logan said, "I shouldn't have to be the voice of reason. Red, why didn't you stop them?"
"You were doing such a nice job," Jean said, "I didn't want to spoil the moment."
Everyone laughed, but then sobered down quickly.
"Sparrows and psychopomps, what next?" Scott asked, "A bolt of lightning from a Greek God?"
A change went over Nikki's face briefly then went away.
Jean swiftly kicked Scott in the ankles. The lightning bolt thing had probably reminded Nikki if Storm.
"So....," Jubilee said, "How about we all go get drunk?"
"Not old enough to drink," Nikki said.
"I think we make an exception this once," Gambit said.
Everyone got up and headed for the dining room.
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So, what do you think? Should the end of the world be coming in the next chapter? I think I have an idea on how the world is going to end, but it might be stupid, so I need to think about it some more. Any suggestions there would be greatly appreciated. Don't worry, I won't make it religious. I threw that in for some controversy. The X-Men don't talk too much about God, but you'd think with all the death and destruction they've seen that they'd pray to someone. ANYWAY, please review and inspire me! Keep reading! Thanks, Cayla.