XIII
It was a sunny day.
Sarah couldn't see the sunlight, but everyone else could. It was afternoon, and the New Recruits were out in the yard, playing no-power Frisbee and, of course, cheating badly. Rogue was up on the balcony, reading her favorite novel in quiet serenity. Jean had returned the previous night, shortly before the team returned from Russia, and she and Scott were enjoying one another's company at the gazebo. Sarah was deep asleep in the medical lab. Though all of her physical wounds had healed, she was exhausted from her battle. And her weary body left her mind naked and vulnerable to all sorts of dark images while she slept uneasily. Logan would have kept watch over her, but he'd been sent to see Fury again for more details concerning the mop-up of Hydra.
Sarah's nightmares were dark and troubled indeed. In the courtyard of a Hydra facility, slick with rainwater, she faced them. Her siblings. Her brothers and sisters. X24 and others like him. Only they were dead and not dead, more than death. Many crawled forward, their legs not functional, having died as babies or even younger than babies, as unborn fetuses. Some sprouted adamantium claws and misshapen bones, poking through flesh that ran like mud in the rain.
They swarmed her, every one of her zombie brethren, and Sarah was overwhelmed, unable to fight back, unable to scream.
But she screamed anyway.
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Sarah regained consciousness at four am.
And her awareness perhaps a half hour later.
The entire med lab was in shambles. What was once straight was now sliced and diced into a number of unrecognizable pieces of metal and wood. Her bed had been torn open, the stuffing flown everywhere, only to settle after her monstrous, dangerous berserker rage. She'd lost control again, she realized. Badly.
"I can't stay here," she whispered softly.
Sarah made up her mind, straightened out what little of the mess she could and made her way upstairs to her room. She was still dressed in uniform from the former night's events, so she stripped it off and reached into her drawer, pulling out her old one. It had been repaired shortly after her return, in a gesture of good faith. As Logan had put it, she could put it on and walk out after she was healed and not come back if she didn't want to. And now she had to do just that. She could've taken her newfound clothes and things with her, but her own sense of honor forbade her. It seemed she'd inherited more from Logan than his temper and stubbornness.
Sarah put on her dark clothes, leaving her uniform unzipped, as she made her way to the private office of Professor Xavier, where she knew he would be found at this time of day, just before dinner.
As she suspected, he lay within, sitting in his wheelchair behind his desk. He'd been reading, but he smiled and closed his book as he spotted her, beckoning the dark-haired girl within.
"Ah, Ms. Howlett... please come in," he added, placing his book to one side on his desk as he turned to greet her. His expression softened when he saw her expression, and he did not need to be the most powerful telepath on the planet to know something was up. Her expression spoke volumes.
"Professor Xavier," she started politely. "I... I feel that I am... that... I must leave your school," she managed to choke out.
"May I ask why you feel this?" he asked, with a quiet, fatherly tone.
"I... do not misunderstand me, sir. I am happy here, I have enjoyed every moment and I am thankful for everything you and the others have done for me. But... it does not feel right for me to be here. I feel my presence would be... dangerous."
"Do you require further anger training sessions with Logan?" he asked, tilting his head. "I am sure perhaps he or Ororo..."
"No," she stated, cutting him off. Then, more politely, she added "I need to sort this out on my own," she added, her voice deathly quiet.
Professor X steepled his fingers, casting a curious eye at the young woman who stood before him. Barely fifteen, but already with eyes seemed far older. Eyes that had seen too much suffering, too much pain. She was a woman now, capable of making her own decisions for herself.
"Where will you go?" Xavier asked.
"Back to the forest, I think... for a while. I... I may come back, if you will let me," she added, her eyes downcast. He smiled, rolling his wheelchair around the desk so he could place a hand on her shoulder gently.
"You are always welcome here, Sarah," he said. She smiled a little at this. Then, slightly more seriously, he asked "Do you wish to bid them all good-bye before you go?"
Sarah nodded, once.
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They were all there. Scott, Rogue, Kitty, Kurt, Ororo, Logan. All the now-not-so-New Recruits, even Jamie. The people Sarah had come to regard as family. All standing, waiting, and watching. They knew something was up from the Professors telepathic summons, but they yet had no idea.
No, not entirely true. Logan knew. He could tell. And perhaps Ororo as well. During her time at the Institute the weather witch had been one of the best at judging Sarah's moods.
Sarah steeled herself as she would for battle, looking each and every person in the eyes before taking a deep breath and saying the words that she dreaded to, but that needed to be said.
"I am sorry, everyone, but... I must leave the Institute. I don't know for how long."
She braced herself, expecting a torrent of questions or worse, someone trying to stop her. She felt her iron resolve start to crack, when she realized that not one of them had said a single thing. Now she was doubly confused. Should she be insulted? That they never wanted her around in the first place?
Scott Summers finally cleared her confusion, as he stood and gently offer her a hand. "We'll miss you Sarah," he'd said, in that voice that always made her stomach do flip-flops.
Then she'd broken down and, despite her intentions not to, hugged Scott. And not just him. Everyone, all her friends, all her family, each and every student and teacher at the Xavier Institute who'd been a part of her life. Logan managed to escape with a brief squeeze of the shoulders, and no one watching dared remark what a cute scene it looked like with him and his daughter. They were all caught up in the moment. One of their own, leaving. Tabitha was on her way out tomorrow, and Rahne and Jubilee soon after. Their close-knit family was starting to get smaller. Though hopefully they'd come back in time.
Sarah hesitated at the door, turning back to face Logan briefly. There was one more thing she needed to take care of.
"I need to leave behind my name too," she said softly. "Its… just not a good fit. I need to a find a name that really fits me before I can come back."
Logan nodded. He understood, better than most, the quirks and unusual circumstances that led her to such strange decisions. "Your room will be here if... when..." he amended. "You come home."
X23 opened the door, as the sun set on the horizon. Bidding one last farewell wave to the others, she started her long trek to the bus stop. From there... she had the whole horizon ahead of her.
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Author's Notes:
And -that's- a wrap! This ending presumes that there is a fifth season of X-Men Evolution (fingers crossed) and that X23 will join the X-Men at some later date. None of my story ever "officially" happened. The second ending (to be added shortly) will be of X23 remaining with the X-Men as if fifth season did not occur, including glimpses into the future scenes from the end of Ascension, part II. Two endings for the price of one. Enjoy.
Scorpion: No guarantees. I don't know enough about Lady Deathstrike, let alone a clone of her. And I'm not a sequel man.
Glaivester: The scream echoed after he died. He's dead. Vaporized, sir. Yes, bodies can vaporize. I confess I don't know much about Hydra either, so I just bring to mind most evil Bond organizations when I think about it.
A.M.bookworm247: Sequel, we'll see... I'm not much of a sequel man. But more stories to come, as always.
DoWriter12: Thanks. But there are more endings to come. No one, not two, not three... but... oh wait, it was two. Two.
Comet-hime: If you liked that, you'll like the second ending even better, you silly little fan authoress you. As always, keep the artwork coming. You know how much I love it.
Kinomi: Your endless toiling is doing better than my quick and shoddy work. Glad you like it though.
Elrohirthewriter: Yeah, poor thing. She has it even worse off than Logan, whom I had previously considered the mutant-with-the-second-most-horrible-past. The first of course being poor Kurt.
The Rogue Witch: I knew somebody besides me would like that runt comment. I mean, who else would say it? Hehe. Yeah, poor X24. He was just a soldier, after all.
Steven P.P: Well now you can have your cake AND eat it. Two endings for the price of one, so we win either way!
Faith Darkholme: No promises on a sequel. Poor you, living in England. I know what its like. Enjoy. You keep writing your own stories, we've missed your great work.
Zoken: Oh, there will be more... much more. Muwahahahahahaha...!
Ultimate R-Man: There's one, another epilogue to come. Enjoy both, and thanks for many frequent and meaningful reviews.
Risty: Yeah, I know... I always feel that way when I'm done too. But, more stories to come...
X00001: I will. And if you liked this, check out my other works. They're at least half as good as this was.