Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to Marvel and/or 20th Century Fox. Any others jockey for position in my head.

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Arioch 8: Dead, Dead, Dead Indeed

When a soft tapping rattled the door, Toad snapped awake. In spite of his resolve he'd slept, and silently berated himself for it. The hard-backed chair he'd remained in was unforgiving as well, and his neck cracked in protest as he lifted it.

Arioch hadn't moved.

The tap came again. Anxiously Toad watched to see if the noise would awaken her. When it didn't, he muzzled a moan and sat back in his chair.

The gentle knock didn't come again; instead, the door opened and Beast entered.

"How is she?" he asked without preliminaries. He walked to the foot of the bed.

"You tell me," Toad spit back, "you're the genius. Why hasn't she woken up yet? What's wrong with her? What did the tests say?"

Beast pursed his lips and took a moment before replying. "The testing is inconclusive, Mr. Toynbee."

"What? What does that mean?" Panic crept near the edges of Toad's voice.

"It means that I haven't discovered why Quinn is unconscious. According to every piece of equipment, there is nothing wrong with her. Her heart rate is regular, her blood pressure is normal. Her MRI revealed nothing abnormal. Technically, she is fit."

"Then why won't she wake up?!"

For that, Beast had no answer.

Eventually, after taking another pulse and respiration count, Beast left. Again Toad sat alone, silently watching Arioch. He willed her to open her eyes.

She didn't.

~~~~~

Later, bearing food, the Professor knocked on the door. When he received no answer, he pushed the door open without invitation.

At the sight, he quickly set the serving tray down and maneuvered into the room, calling telepathically for Beast.

The sheets and blankets covering Arioch were soaked with blood. A small puddle was forming near the bed, dripping down from saturated fabric.

Toad sat stoned beside the bed.

"More keeps coming," he said aloud, dazed.

Charles saw a red blossom form spontaneously on Arioch's cheek. Fresh blood flowed from it, making a rivulet to the pillow.

Beast rushed into the room and allowed his medical knowledge and training to take over; automatically he stripped away the sodden blankets to assess the unconscious woman. Like the night before, there were no wounds on her body. The blood oozed from the pores on her skin.

"Quick—she needs relocated to the wet table," Beast ordered. "She can be washed down and a transfusion can be started."

Charles mentally called for members of the team to help.

Toad still sat immobile, watching. There was no emotion on his face.

Beast shouldered him aside roughly to reach Arioch. The second he lay his hands on her, she seizured.

Struggling to hold the convulsing body, realizing it was imperative to get to the lab, Beast roared,

"Charles, move!"

The Professor barely moved his hover chair out of the way before the blue mutant shoved passed him, through the door. The blood still poured from her body, leaving a trail behind them. Arioch was still in the throes of a grand mal seizure when she was placed on the wet table.

The first X-man to arrive was Rogue, looking shocked at the carnage.

"Rogue! Help me!" commanded Beast. "Grab that emergency kit and come here! Hold her while I get the diazepam—"

Rogue, still looking stunned, complied. She took Arioch's arms and forced her down. "What about her tongue? What if she swallows it—"

"That doesn't happen!" Beast snapped, preoccupied with the vial and syringe. "Don't hold her too tight, Rogue—you're too strong and you can fracture her—"

There was the unmistakable wet crack of bone breaking as Arioch continued to seize.

"—arms," he finished.

"Oh my god!" Rogue cried. "Ah broke her arm! Oh my god!"

"We'll deal with it later. Later! Rogue—look at me. You can't let go. I'm going to give her an injection. Okay? Rogue, don't let go."

Rogue dropped her head but nodded, trying not to feel the grinding sensation of bone on bone under her gloved hand. She felt ready to vomit.

Uttering a silent prayer that he had had the foresight to leave Arioch's intravenous catheter in, Beast injected the drug. Almost immediately, Arioch's convulsions slowed, and then stopped.

In the sudden quiet, the monotonous drip-drip-drip of still flowing blood seemed loud.

Rogue dropped Arioch's arms quickly, and Beast heaved a sigh of relief.

Arioch trembled. Her eyelids fluttered. Without warning, she retched clotted blood from her mouth and nose. It merged with the gore on her body and in her hair. She was suddenly still.

Beast watched for half a second, then scrambled for the stethoscope at the end of the table. Holding the bell to her chest, his eyes widened. He heard no heart beat.

"Rogue—pull over the oxygen cart right now!"

But she stood stunned, even as Beast started CPR. Each push forced more blood from her mouth. How much more could possibly be in there? Beast thought morbidly. He continued automatically, five pumps, pause, two breaths, pause, five pumps, pause, two breaths, pause, five pumps—

"She's dead."

The soft voice startled him. His rhythm broken, he looked over.

Toad stood with hunched shoulders, taking everything in with hooded eyes. Charles moved to place a hand on him, but he flinched away.

"She's dead," he repeated.

Unsure if his words were a question, Beast flicked a glance at the Professor, then said quietly, "Yes. She is."

Beast realized his hands were still in position on her chest. He pulled them away quickly as Toad shuffled to the table. Rogue was very quietly weeping.

His hands hanging limply at his sides, Toad looked down on the body. Her broken arm hung at an awkward angle off the edge of the table. He picked it up, unnerved by the unresponsiveness, and moved it beside her. He ran two fingers down her face, leaving clean trails through the blood behind.

He felt nothing.

Standing and staring at her, he gradually became aware that the Professor was speaking. His voice sounded far away, muffled. He spoke of cleaning Quinn, of arranging for burial, of cremation, of the pain of loss, of sympathy and comfort—

He felt nothing.

—of trying to discover what happened in that dark room, of autopsies, of testing, of support—

He felt nothing.

Eventually the voice faded even softer. Toad stared at her body, etching the image into his memory until it blotted out all the others. Once again his fingers traced her jaw. His eyes felt hot.

Toad pushed himself back from the table, a parody of the night before. His legs felt leaden, but he forced himself away. Ignoring Professor Xavier, and Beast, and Rogue, he stumbled to the doors.

He found his way to the foyer and outside, leaving the mansion behind.

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Author's note:

This is for everyone who has written and asked me for more on Arioch, or wanted more explanation about the ending.

I sincerely thank everyone who enjoyed this story. It was great fun for me to write (I got to try out different things with it), and Quinn/Arioch became one of my favorite characters too.

Apologies are in order for the abruptness of the end, and the unanswered questions it posed. I won't go into the reasons for it—and trust me, there were some—but I personally liked the idea of Toad wandering off in a shocked haze. Disappointment, depression, hatred, and confusion are (unfortunately) what Mortimer is all about. Having him stumble away leaves everyone to come up with their own 'true' ending, and I promise nothing I could have written afterward can compare with what you've come up with.

(See? It's an exercise in imagination!)

That being said, because I liked Quinn quite a lot, I wanted to use her more. So I did.

She was resurrected from the dead (actually, there is no mention of any ritual or involvement with the X-men) and has been put to use in another story posted on this site, entitled, "Oddly Enough."

It focuses mainly on her, includes Toad, and to make things interesting, the Lone Gunmen from X-files play a large role too. I believe it makes her character more well-rounded, plus gives a bit more background.

Again, thank you thank you thank you everyone for all your support and your obvious enjoyment. There's nothing that makes me happier than to know someone else had a good time.

humbly yours,

Hoodoo