A/N: Whoa, looooong time!! SORRY!!! I was stranded from my computer (don't ask!) and couldn't type! Ack. Ugh. Ack-ugh. Ugh-ack. ANYWAYS here's the chapter. Probably last one. As of now I don't know. If it is, it's gonna be long sucker. But you don't mind do you? br
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I was so swept up into my thoughts that I didn't hear Scott's cries of pain until they were loud enough to wake the dead it seemed. But no one else awoke, not just yet. I looked at Scott's wound on his side. He was burnt rather bad.br
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"Lance, help!" I said.br
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"What can I do?" He said, looking actually worried about the severity of the wound.br
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"Repeat me. Time three." I said. He just nodded. "I need lot strength. Cannot alone. Ye help." br
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Slowly, I began chanting, and Lance joined in, doing the best he could with the Gaelic. br
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i*Wrap thee in cottonbr
Bind thee with lovebr
Protection from painbr
Surrounds like a glovebr
Brightest of blessingsbr
Surround thee this nightbr
For thou art cared forbr
Healing thoughts sent in flight*/ibr
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We repeated it three times. Almost immediately Scott's cries subsided. He looked at me in relief. He tried to talk, but I shushed him. He needed rest. We all did. I had to figure what Kiro meant, if anything, and figure out how to get out of here.br
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"Lance?" A sleepy voice said. It was Todd. He was curled up in the corner. His eyes were still closed. "Lance?!" His voice was becoming more and more urgent sounding. He started thrashing around.br
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"Breisleach!" ('nightmare!') I said. Lance went over and shook Todd until he opened his eyes. br
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"LANCE!" He said. "You're not dead!"br
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"No, no! It was a nightmare, that's all Todd." Todd seemed confused. br
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"It was real, Lance! I saw you die! Magneto took you and put you into some sort of machine and it killed you! I could hear you scream....." Todd started shaking and Lance immediately took him into a bear hug. I had never seen any affection from Lance to Todd, but this was no ordinary occasion.br
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"Todd, I know hard, but tell me all ye see." I said. Todd took a couple of deep breaths.br
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"I... I.... I saw us being taken by the warriors..... They took us to him.... H-h-he had Lance thrown into this machine... It.... It looked like the power enhancer from Asteroid M.... I-I-I couldn't watch. I heard you scream.... Then I woke up."br
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"It was just a nightmare. After that battle I'm not surprised." Lance said.br
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"Lance, me talk to ye a minute?" I gestured that he leave Todd. He stood up and followed me to the other end of the cell. "That no nightmare. No breisleach. It vision. It monney!" ('premonition')br
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"Are you sure?" He asked, sounding unsure.br
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"Eadh! Yes! He have breisleach before?"br
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"Well.... No, not... whatever you said." He paused. "But, now that ya mention it, he does kinda seem, well, sort of psychic, but not like Jean or the Prof. More like... uh... premonitions or something. Like, he always knows when the phone rings, and... he knew that you were coming by the house. He said 'Jeriko's coming'. But ya know, we don't usually pay him any attention."br
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"Think ye should start." I told him. He guiltily nodded. "If vision, then we get out!"br
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"Have you figured out what Kiro meant?" Lance asked. I lapsed into thought, and shook my head. "Now, I ain't no Wiccan and the only kind of magick I know is what a magician does, but..... a time spell would stop time, right? Would it stop the ones that surround this cell?"br
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"Dar an ben jee!" ('By the Goddess!') I said, and I set my mind in motion. He was right! If time was stopped, the spells would not have effect, for to attack they would need time to move from one place to another! It was a complicated mess, but I knew it to be true!br
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"I'm hopin' that's a good thing." Lance said. I gave him an incredulous look.br
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"Dat's a damn good thing, yo!" I said. He shook his head.br
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"You have been around Todd waaaay too long."br
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First thing we did was wake everyone up, and if they were in pain, repeated the spell that we placed on Scott. Finally, everyone was ready. They were completely silent as I focused all my magick on the spell. Quietly I began to chant:br
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i*Time is the essencebr
Time cannot breakbr
Let thy time bendbr
For my sakebr
Stop thy timebr
Let it flow notbr
Pause while I speak thy rhymebr
And let thy rules be forgot!*/i (I suck @ writing spells, don't I?)br
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"GO! NOW!" I shouted, not letting my concentration waver. A minute later I heard someone say they were all out. I shimmered myself out, then stopped my concentration. br
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i*Let thy timebr
Flow once morebr
Thy rules back in linebr
Close thy door!*/ibr
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I fell to my knees, weak from the concentration. Time spells were very powerful, I will admit I am surprised I was able to do it at all. Kiro had been trained well beyond my level. How did he know that I could do it? And why did he help me? He is the enemy, isn't he? All these thoughts made my head dizzy. I let myself fall over and lean against the wall for support. I glanced up to see everyone looking at me, worried.br
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"I fine. Ye go now. Leave. Get out!" I said, trying to sound forceful, but my voice came out a loud whisper.br
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"No, we're not leavin' ya, Jeriko." Evan said. Dried blood was streaked on his face. He had been slashed on the side of his head. He would be scarred for life.br
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"Go! Find Mystique. Find Logan. I fine! GO!" I used all of my energy to pull myself up. When they didn't budge, I shot witch fire above them. That got them going. They began running down the hall. Lance stopped halfway and looked back.br
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"Give 'em hell, Nightshade." He said, before continuing after the others. I am not called Nightshade for nothing. Hasn't he heard of deadly nightshade? br
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I pushed the arrogance out of my mind. I started to cast out my senses, but thought better of it. Kiro would sense me, and I still wasn't sure what side he was on. Good, bad, or was he playing two parts against the middle? I started stumbling down the opposite end of the hall, thanking the God and Goddess for the stealth rune/spell I put on this outfit. I followed the passage to it's end, and arrived only seconds before some of Magneto's warriors. I ducted as quickly as I could behind some sort of equipment. br
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"Master is ready. Retrieve the prisoners and bring them to the laboratory." A voice said, I heard clicking noise, the sound of two other warriors clicking the heels of their boots together (do ya get it? Magneto was in WWII and the Gestapo [Hitler's secret police] did that.) and going down the passage I had just come from. Following my instinct and a wild hunch, I followed the one who spoke, hoping he would lead me to the laboratory. br
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I followed as closely as I dared, slipping through the shadows that plagued the area. He never glanced back, never gave any indication he saw or heard me, still I was on full alert, or as much as I could be, considering I was still weak from the time spell. Finally, I saw the warrior, a boy no older than the ones at the mansion, reach a wall. He pushed a button to the side and hidden doors opened. No sirens had gone off yet. I wonder the other two warriors had discovered our disappearance.br
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~Why are you still here?!~ I heard Kiro's voice in my head. I turned around, and came face to face with him. (They're talkin' in Gaelic too as they do this.)br
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~To find you, my brother~ I told him. We could communicate psychically? Many a new development lately. ~Why did you leave that clue?~br
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~To get you out of here and away from Magneto!~br
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~Last time we met you were about ready to kill me!~ I reminded him.br
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~Things have changed. At first Magneto was just going to capture you and force you to join him. He said I would be the Captain of the regiment, and I foolishly believed him and helped him. I thought I had the upper hand, and revenge was on the top of my list. But after the battle Magneto revealed his true intentions. He is going to do something to you that scared the hell out of the darkest witch!~br
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~And what is that?~ I said. He gulped, and hesitated.br
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~He's got this machine. You go in it normal, and you come out utterly destroyed, but alive. It's like you're dead and alive at the same time. He controls your every move, your every thought, your every feeling! You're still in there in your mind completely aware of it but you can't do anything about it. You can't fight. It's the ultimate prison.~br
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~Did he tell you this?~br
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~No. He didn't have to. I saw it being done.~ I looked into his eyes, the gateway to his soul. Only.... there was no soul. His eyes were empty, barren. I had an idea why, but I did not let the thought form in my mind yet. I would go along with him. I had too.br
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~Alright. Tell me what to do.~br
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A/N: Well, guess not last chapter. Next to last. Goody. Ugh, I'll try to hurry up and finish this. TRY, mind you. I know how ya feel, I hate waitin' myself, but plz try to cut me some slack okay? Go ahead and flame if ya want, but that ticks me off, and I'll refuse to write. Soooooo it's in your best interest to wait. (Pwetty pwease?)br