~Love is Death~

Chapter 2: Hard to let Go

"That's impossible." Lance stated, voicing Evan's thoughts. Evan stood apart from his friends as they tried to convince the Brotherhood that their friend, roommate, sister, was dead. But Evan couldn't convince them, because he wasn't convinced himself. So now he stood on the side, shivering in the cold as the snow drifted in the run down neighborhood.

"We don't have time to take this type of shit from you X-freaks." Tabitha snapped, turning with the others to go inside.

"Wait," Jean called. Fred gave an exasperated sigh and turned back around, blocking the other's entrance into the dilapidated house.

"Fuck. Fred! Move!" Lance demanded, trying to move the large boy. But he crossed his arms and stood unmoving. Lance was about to use his powers to knock him over when Jean cried out.

"I've got evidence!" All the Brotherhood members turned to her. In her hand she held the girl's records. Lance refused to look at them, but Todd, Fred and Tabitha were intrigued by it.

"Lance, yo, this looks real!" Todd said, fear hinted in his voice.

"Says here, she died a year ago. Just like they said." Fred added. With a growl of frustration Lance marched forward, grabbed the paper and ripped it into tiny pieces.

"Can't you see!? It's all some computer shit! They're lying." he said. But Jean didn't give up.

"Lance! Look up past newspaper articles! It's true!" Lance cast her a glare.

"Get off our property." he menaced. Reluctantly they left. Except for Evan.

"What's the matter spike-boy? Can't you hear!?" Lance shouted. But Evan stood his ground.

"I want to go with you to the library. To search for those articles. I don't believe this either, so we'll find out together." Lance stared at him, but Evan didn't budge. With a sigh Lance nodded.

*

Girl found brutally murdered, family devastated.... Evan's stomach twisted into knots as he read the article.

'Jonathan Bailey was going for his routine jog when he stumbled upon a barely recognizable body. After tests were conducted, the body was identified as a young immigrant from Russia named Jascha Nadya Sharansky.

Her father and brother who just moved to Bayville with Jascha a week ago were devastated. Jascha had run away the night before and returned dead. She was so badly beaten, there was no bone not cracked.

Witnesses recalled the scene as a bloody puddle. Jascha's body parts were not all found. Her eyes were missing, the blood had been drained from her body, her arms were found-" Evan shoved the paper aside, unable to read anymore. He felt like puking. But there was so much still missing.

"Man found dead, death mysterious." Lance read aloud. Evan looked up from his thoughts.

"What's so unusual about that?" he asked. Lance held up a finger for patience and began to read.

"43-year-old Peter Sharansky was found dead in his bathtub." Todd's eyes widened.

"That's, or, uh, was, Jascha's father yo!" he exclaimed.

"His death was very mysterious," Lance continued. "Tests show that had died of an electrical shock in the water, but there were no electrical appliances found near the bathtub and the closest electrical outlet was six feet away." Evan felt his heart skip a beat. Jascha's powers were electricity. Tabitha held up her own article.

"22-year-old Ivan Sharansky was struck by lightning and killed in last night's storm. The strange thing was it was only a light rainstorm and no other lightning was recorded..." There was a chilling silence as Tabitha's voice trailed off.

"Jascha's brother..." Fred finally whispered.

*

Pietro sat uneasily next to the girl on the park bench. He had finally worked up the nerve to ask her to a picnic in the park after a movie. He had been ever so tempted to hold her hand in the darkened theater, but he had not wanted to push his luck. It had been a hell of a miracle when she had actually said 'yes', especially after her emotional 'men are asses' speech.

A light breeze passed by, unhooking her bangs from behind her ears, and letting them stream across her face. Her eyes were closed, enjoying the peace as he took in her beauty. Suddenly, it dawned on him. That nagging feeling in the back of his mind, the yearning pulling at his heart had been identified. He suddenly realized, he truly, deeply, sincerely loved her...

She opened her eyes and blushed under his gaze. He moved in slightly, not too much to put her on guard, but closer. When she still did not flinch he reached out and brushed the brown bangs from her face as he had been longing to do since he set eyes on her, tracing her face with the tips of his fingers, feeling the smooth skin beneath his fingers.

"Jascha, can I... kiss you?" he asked. She gazed deep into his pools of blue before nodding. He leaned in and their lips met. He ran his long slender fingers through her hair and let the moment last. Finally, they pulled apart. But he didn't want to let her go. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, resting her head on his chest, letting their hearts beat in unison. He gently kissed the top of her head.

"I love you..." he whispered, squeezing her tightly. But the feeling of liquid on his sweater caused him to look at the girl he loved. Fresh tears streamed down her cheeks. He reached out to wipe them away, but she shied from his touch.

"Jascha, what's wrong?" he asked. She looked up at him with those wet, hazel orbs which were now filled with tortured emotional pain. He wanted to hold her, to protect her from whatever was hurting her, but he knew she wouldn't allow him to.

"I.... can't love you..." she finally whispered through her tears. Pietro felt as if someone had just driven a nail through his heart. He gazed at her baffled.

"Wh, why? I... love you Jascha!" he exclaimed, desperately. More tears sprung into her eyes.

"That's just it Pietro... you can't. I can't." she wailed.

"What? I don't understand!" he cried.

"Please, don't make it harder... just let me die in peace." she pleaded and ran away, leaving Pietro stunned and heartbroken.

*

"He's coming!" Todd announced from the window. He turned to his friends who were gathered around the kitchen table. The weary, stressed looks on their faces expressed their emotions. They had spent the whole afternoon at the library researching Jascha's death. Her killer had never been found, and within six months after her death, both her father and brother had been killed mysteriously. Each death linked to electric shock.

Under different circumstances they might have laughed about how they had actually done research in an actual library. But things were different now. The sound of the door opening and closing sounded. But instead of the usual blur of color, heavy footsteps could be heard from the hallway before the milk-white haired head of the usual speedy mutant appeared. His eyes were red-rimmed and swollen, his face long and sorrowful.

"Where's Jascha?" Lance asked, pausing at the name. Pietro looked up slowly.

"She left." he said. There was an unbearable silence. Todd looked anxiously from face to face, wanting one of them to tell the poor boy the truth, but they all kept their eyes down and averted from him. I mean, how do you tell a guy the girl you love is acutally.... dead?

Todd sucked in a deep breath, then began.

"Pietro; there's something we need to tell you..."

*

"Jascha! Wait!" Scott called. The girl stopped and turned to him. Red circles outlined her eyes and stained her nose. The only color he had seen in her pale face. He stopped short of her, Jean, Kitty, Kurt and Rogue behind him.

"Jascha, what's wrong?" he asked. she nearly smirked at him.

"I know you know." she whispered. Scott was stunned. He hadn't expected her to know.

"Then let us help you." Jean said. Jascha narrowed her swollen eyes at the red-headed mutant.

"Miss Perfect Jean Grey stooping to my level. Isn't that news?" Jascha snapped. Jean was taken aback at her hostility.

"Please, let us help you." Scott said. The younger girl turned on him.

"Help me!? Help me from what!? You can't help me! I don't want your fucking help! I'm dead! Remember!?" she screamed. There was silence as she spun around and set off.

"Who did it? Who killed you Jascha?" Jean called. Jascha turned around with an almost insane smirk on her face.

"Wouldn't you like to know? You may be psychic, but you can't read a dead person's mind, can you?" With that she left.

"Just a thought, but like, how can she be dead; yet alive?" Kitty asked. Rogue shivered in fear.

"It's so hard to believe, yet there she was. Like a phantom." she whispered, a chilling hand gripping her heart and traveling up her spine.

"Back for revenge?" Kurt suggested.

"Or maybe she just wants to live a life..." Scott said, turning in the opposite direction of where the girl had gone.

*

Jascha stomped through the snow laden sidewalk, feeling her depression grow. she felt weak and tired. As she always had, but now she had a splitting headache and her hands burned and ached. She looked down at her hands and saw they were engulfed in electricity. She sighed and sat down on the steps to someone's front door. This only happened when she was extremely depressed.

She grasped her aching wrists with her hand, feeling the electricity surge through her body. She ripped off her gloves and dug her nails into the sides of her wrist to try lessen the flow of electricity with the physical feeling of pain. But it didn't seem to be working. His face was still planted firmly in her mind, his words still echoing through her head.

She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth shoving her nails in as deep as she could, feeling the blood rise up her fingernails. Slowly, the electricity began to weaken and Jascha loosened her grip, feeling the pain burn in her hands. But suddenly, a voice called out.

"Jascha!" she opened her eyes and saw Lance standing in front of her. His face was flushed from running, his breath appearing in vapor clouds.

"Jascha, you need to come back, Pietro needs you-" he stopped and looked down at her bloody fingers.

"What are you doing!?" he exclaimed, grabbing her wrist to stop her. She jerked her arms away from him.

"No! You don't understand! I have to do this or else my powers will go haywire!" He stopped, but continued to look at her. Finally he took a seat next to her.

"I... told Pietro." Lance whispered. The girls' knuckles turned white as her fingers dug deeper and the blood trickled down her arm.

"Jascha, stop!" Lance pleaded, grabbing her arm. But she paid no heed to him, her eyes closed in frustration. Lance stiffened as the jolts of electricity passed through his body when he touched her, and fell back.

"Why couldn't you just leave me alone!? Why can't anyone leave me alone!? Just stay out of my fucking life! Just let me DIE!" she bellowed, falling to her knees as he powers engulfed her. Then she looked to the still figure lying in the snow next to her.

"Lance? Lance!" she exclaimed, scrambling to his side. His eyes were rolled upward, and the color was slowly draining from his face. She reached out and touched his neck. It was still warm, but there was no pulse. She jerked back in the snow as if shocked by electricity.

"I... I killed him." she whispered, her heart pounding. Then she narrowed her eyes and brought her knees to her chest, wrapping her bloody arms around her legs.

"Why couldn't I be normal? Why couldn't my father not have killed me? Why couldn't they leave me alone? Why couldn't I not have met Pietro!?" she wailed, rocking in her misery, hugging her legs to her chest, unaware of the ball of electricity building up around her and in her. She continued to mutter her miseries until the power of her depression and mutant powers overcame her and began to shock her.

"WHHHYYY!?!?!?!?" she screamed to the sky in frustration and pain, before falling to the snow. The lights in a ten-mile radius flickered as the voltage charged through the wires, then blacked out, leaving the town in the dark.

*

Pietro grasped the collar of his sweater, as if it would save his life. He just couldn't accept it, yet there was the articles on the table in front of him as if slapping his face and telling him to accept the inevitable.

"Hey, yo! Check out the news!" Todd called. They all gathered into the living room where there was a news flash. The attractive blond female anchor reported the news.

"The west side of Bayville was pitched into darkness after an unexpected power surge. The source is yet unknown." Pietro let go of his sweater.

"Jascha..." in a flash Pietro was out the door.

*

Pietro sped through the town, searching for the girl he loved. He sped into a run down part of the town and stopped short at the sight of two bodies partially covered by the falling snow.

"JASCHA!" he cried running to the fallen figures.

"Oh my God..." he whispered. He dropped to the snow and held the pale girl in his arms. A tear was frozen on her cheek, but she was not breathing. He clutched her to his chest, perhaps hoping his embrace would bring her to back to life; again. But she remained unmoving.

He kissed her frozen lips and laid her back onto the snow and let the tears flow from his eyes as he knelt before the dead bodies of his brother and lover.

*

End of Chapter 2...

Note: Sorry for the dreary ending, go to the 3rd chapter for the finale!