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The wind whipped around the old farmhouse making it shudder and moan. Inside the darkened house Nicky stirred restlessly in his sleep, a soft whimper escaped his lips.
In his nightmares a dark, evil-looking monkey loomed threatening over him. Nicky ducked under the monkey's arm and scrambled beneath a desk. The monkey hissed and chased after him. Small and limber, Nicky squeezed through the space beneath the desk and kept running. He shoved open a window and jumped outside.
His daddy's equipment shed was just across the driveway. He wasn't supposed to go there by himself but it was full of nooks and crannies where he could hide. The monkey was right behind him as Nicky raced into the shed and scurried up onto a harvester. He jumped on to the conveyer belt and clambered down into the guts of the machine.
A hand clamped around Nicky's ankle and he screamed. Nicky kicked and fought as he tried to break free. He kept shrieking.
"Nicky, wake up baby." Rachael said as she picked up her son. "It's just a bad dream."
"Lance!" Nicky yelled. "Lance, come save me!"
"It's okay, baby. You're safe. You're home. Nothing bad is going to happen."
"I want Lance." Nicky cried.
Rachael glanced toward the doorway where Jeremy stood. "We'll ask Grandma and Grandpa for his school's number." She promised. "You can call Lance in the morning."
Nicky nodded. Jeremy frowned. "How about you go back to sleep now?" Rachael asked.
"Leave the light on." Nicky said.
Rachael nodded and touched him back into bed.
As they headed back to their room Jeremy quietly said. "You shouldn't have promised that."
Rachael glanced down. "It can't do any harm to just let him talk to Lance."
"No. God no, it's not that." Jeremy said. "Pop, hasn't heard anything. If Lance were back safe at his school someone would have called. It's been over a week Rach. How can I be angry with him? Everyday it looks more like Lance traded his life for Nicky's."
******* ****** ******
Stars sparkled like glitter in the pitch-black sky. The lights of Chicago were a warm glow cast up into the night from behind a hill. The grass was cool and soft against his bare feet. His fingers were just barely big enough to clasp his mother's hand securely.
"Do you know the name of that one, Missy?" His father asked.
"Orion!" His big sister answered promptly.
He felt safe, happy and loved.
It felt like a nightmare. He hurt. He felt sick. His throat felt raw. His stomach muscles ached. His head was spinning. His wrists hurt. His ankles hurt. His eyes felt gritty. His hands hurt.
He didn't remember. Everything was foggy. He'd done this before. He knew he'd done this before. He didn't want to do this.
He knew where he was: Bayville, near the High School. There was noise. People cheering, fireworks, music, it was a real party.
He could taste tears on his lips.
There was blood on the wall of the school. This time it wasn't his. Evan lay sprawled across the steps. He knelt beside Evan. When he touched the other boy the body was cold.
Lance was gagging as he staggered through the doors into the school. He collapsed just inside the hall and vomited. A wet hacking cough pulled him to his feet. Lance almost missed Kurt lying huddled in the shadows. The fur around his mouth looked black from the blood he'd coughed up. Lance helped the younger mutant to sit up in hopes that it would help him breath.
"I begged them to leave her alone." Kurt whispered. "Why did they hurt her? She was human."
"Is there anyone left?" Lance asked, but the light went out of Kurt's eyes before he could answer. Lance gently closed his eyes then laid the body aside.
He stared up at the sky and his hand tightened fearfully on his mother's "Why is it dark? Where did the stars go?" He asked.
"It's just a shadow sweetie. Nothing to worry about." His mother said.
A little further on Lance started finding other bodies. Not his friends. The wall were scared by explosions, dented and battered. A grim sort of hope rose in him. His friends were fighting back; maybe someone was still alive.
He followed the trail of corpses to the boiler room stairs that led beneath the school. The air was foul. It smelled of noxious chemicals that brought tears to his eyes and made him gag. Lance torn off a piece of is shirt and held it over his mouth and nose. At some level he knew the fumes had been dissipating for some time. He knew that breathable air was only now beginning to make its way down into this hellhole. He still had to see what had happened with his own eyes.
He found them in the furthest corner of the basement. They were strewn about the floor, still, blue lipped, dead. Fred, Scott, Forge and Tabby, all dead.
They'd punched through the wall before succumbing, but they hadn't found an escape on the other side, just bedrock. Scott's hand had clenched around his shades so tightly they'd broken. Fred was still upright, his fist buried to the elbow in the dirt that had blocked their escape.
Lance glanced at Tabby then quickly looked away. The ripped clothes, bruises and blood told their story too clearly and he knew what had gotten Scott angry enough to kill.
He walked back to Fred's side and put a hand on his friend's arm. Lance bit his lip to hold back sobs. His vision blurred. For a moment he was someplace else, in a cold metal room with an ugly monkey of a man leaning over him. Then he was back in the basement and Fred's flesh was cold and stiff beneath his hand.
Lance screamed and the earth echoed his grief. A gapping chasm opened, it split the school apart.
He shivered. The night was cold and awful. The stars were all gone and so was the city's glow. Everything that had been beautiful or warm was gone from the world. "Mommy? Daddy? Missy?" He called. Echoes twisted his voice and mockingly sent it back to him.
The sound of jeers and cruel laughter drifted down to him along with the dust. Lance scrambled out of the basement. He followed the sounds to a mob. They were throwing stones and bottles. Jean's voice rose over the mob's laughter. "You were my friends. Why are you doing this? We're not your enemies. We just want to get along."
Lance's eyes rolled back and he stamped his foot. The earth swallowed the better part of the mob. The survivors ran off screaming in terror. There was blood covering Jean's face, at least one of her attackers had been able to catch her by surprise. "You just killed all those people." She said sounding like she was in shock.
"They're killing us." Lance yelled as he grabbed her arm. "Is anyone else alive?"
Jean looked confused. Her eyes weren't really focusing and Lance wondered how much damage the blow to her head had done. "Where's Scott?" She asked. "I can't sense him."
"Scott's dead." Lance said harshly. "They killed him. They killed Fred, Tabby, Evan, Kurt, Forge and maybe Amanda too. Who's left? You have to tell me, who's still alive?"
"I… I'm trying." Jean said as she closed her eyes.
A sharp crack startled both of them. Blood blossomed in the center of Jean's chest. Lance caught her as she collapsed. Her body shuddered and she was gone; dead in seconds.
The ground was rocky and treacherous. He slipped and fell, tumbled down the steep hill. Sharp edged branches lashed at him with vindictive purpose.
It was so dark. He couldn't see the car anywhere. He was afraid his family had left without him; that they had left him alone in this dark, hostile, awful place.
Lance turned in the direction the shot had come from. He sent a tidal wave of earth after the shooter. Then he started running toward the mansion.
Four sentinels towered over the ruins of the Institute. The top of the front gate had been ripped away and the heads of the students and instructors had been impaled on the bars. Another wave of nausea left Lance on his knees in front of the gate retching helplessly. He forced himself to really look at the heads. He forced himself to identify them, his murdered friends: Jamie, Rahne, Sam, Ray, Amara, Bobby, Logan, Ororo, Moira, Xavier… "Ahh Todd, no." Lance moaned.
"No! This isn't real. This isn't real!" Lance sat beneath the gate, he choked on his sobs.
It was dark. It was always dark and he was always alone.
Safety, happiness and love were nothing more than will-o'-wisps dancing just out of reach.
The cold had numbed him. Things didn't hurt so much anymore. He didn't hope anymore. He almost didn't recognize warmth when it finally touched him again.
Kitty, Pietro and Rogue weren't there. They weren't accounted for Lance reminded himself. There were still people to fight for. There was still a reason to hold himself together.
Lance forced himself to get up, to keep moving. He didn't know where to go, but his feet turned toward the boarding house without his conscious decision. The flames were visible long before the house itself.
A few tremors scattered the crowds watching the boarding house burn. Lance didn't know what to do after that. He stood outside his home frozen with fear and indecision. Big fires didn't crackle, they roared. He could already feel the heat beating against him. He could smell flesh burning. Lance didn't know if the smells came from his memories or if they were real. He heard a scream.
He couldn't go in there, he just couldn't. The fire had been a mistake. He'd just wanted Mom and Dad to come back. If he was bad enough they'd make his parents come and take him home, that was all he wanted. Fire was the worst thing he knew of. It got so big, so fast. He couldn't think, couldn't move. He could hear Missy screaming. He could see her burning. He would have died there, trapped in memories he normally forced himself to forget, but a fireman had found him and carried him to safety.
The fire department wasn't going to come this time. They had probably helped to set the fire in the first place. Lance focused on the feel of the vibrations beneath the street, the rush of water through the pipes. He reached out with his powers and made he earth shift enough to split those pipes and send water gushing into the house.
Another scream pierced the night. Lance's fists clenched. He felt blood welling up around his nails as they cut into his palms. He took a deep breath then charged into the house.
Kitty was stumbling down the stairs. She was coughing and choking on the smoke. "They're all dead." She said as Lance picked her up and ran back outside. Kitty's voice was dull, flat with shock, hoarse from the smoke.
"Pietro? Rogue?" Lance asked. He used a corner of his shirt to wipe the ash and soot from her face.
"Everyone's gone. All dead." Kitty repeated then she was racked by a fit of coughing. Lance lifted her up so she was leaning against his chest. "They burned up. Everyone's dead. There's no one left. Just you. We're all alone. And they'll keep coming 'till we're gone too. They killed them all."
Lance held Kitty tightly as she cried. He tried to ignore the harsh coughs ripping her apart and the rasping sound of her breath. He held her as if he could make her stay with him as long as he held on tightly enough.
Kitty cried, grieved for her lost friends even as she joined them. Lance had no tears left. When her coughing gave way to an unnatural stillness Lance picked her up. Cradling her lifeless body in his arms he started walking toward the center of town, toward the center of the party.
****** ****** ******
The boy was slumped against his restraints, emotionally and physically wrung out. Blood slowly dripped from his fingertips, adding to the spatter on the floor. Occasionally dry heaves shook his body. A faint tremor shook the base. The boy's head came up. His face was streaked with tears. His eyes stared through Mastermind and into hell.
"Enough." Magneto ordered. He fought against the whispers that urged him to put Lance through the scenario just one more time.
//Necessary. Has to be done. For the best.// Magneto had given in to their demands, but the dark edge of satisfaction that had crept into their tone as the boy was tortured sickened him.
Charles had taken everything from him, his followers, his children, everything. This boy would expose Charles' dream for the fool's paradise that it was. He would take the one thing that Charles prized above all else and in the same stroke show the world's mutants the truth: There would be no peace, no co-existence with humans. To hope for such a world was to delude one's self to reality.
He took no pleasure in what he did. Magneto's thought was a spear aimed at the smirking shadows surrounding his mind. He didn't like what was being done to the boy but the sacrifice of one child to save the rest was worth it.
Magneto used his powers to grab the iron in Lance's blood. He halted its flow until Lance slipped into unconscious. "Let him sleep off the drugs then I will return him to Bayville." Magneto told Mastermind. The other mutant nodded and set to removing Lance's restraints.
Magneto left the room and found Colossus waiting in the hall. The metal wall was crumpled where the big Russian had punched it. Colossus stared at Magneto with horror and disgust in his eyes.
"Yes?" Magneto asked impatiently when Colossus didn't move out of his way.
"I did as you asked." Colossus spat. "You swore you would tell me of my sister."
Magneto stared at him coldly. "Your sister's abilities manifested early. She was a teleporter. I assume she is where ever she wants to be."
"You… All this time you have lied to me." Colossus exclaimed.
"I don't have time for this." Magneto said. With a flick of his power he sent the armored mutant flying and stalked to his office.
****** ****** ******
"Why do I have to come? I should be looking for Lance." Todd complained. "They just asked for Scott and Kitty."
"For the pre-trial, and I never managed to serve Kitty. Scott's statements led to an additional line of questioning, which is why you were asked to testify." Matt explained patiently.
"Told, not asked." Todd argued.
"Please stop fussing with your tie."
Todd's hand dropped guiltily. "I gotta know how he knows stuff like that." He muttered.
"Shh." Rahne said.
"No further questions." The prosecutor said and Kitty left the stand.
"I did what they wanted, can I go now?" Kitty demanded.
"Wait and let Scott drive us all back." Matt said.
"The defense calls Mr. Scott Summers." Scott got up and was sworn in.
"Would you describe the shooting at Bayville High School on May twentieth of this year?"
"Greg walked into the 300 Hall. He saw Kitty and I then started shooting at us." Scott said.
"Did he aim at you?"
"He saw us and started shooting." Scott repeated.
"Were his eyes open?"
"No."
"Had Mr. Samual ever harassed you or Ms. Pryde prior to the Juggernaut's rampage on March twelfth?"
"Everyone found out mutants existed on March ninth." Scott snapped. "It's not like he had the chance."
"So you believe his reason for attacking the two of you was because you were mutants?"
"Of course, Greg, Duncan and the rest of them were trying to kill all the mutants at school."
"Your witness." The defense lawyer said as he turned to his counterpart.
"Mr. Summers, did Mr. Samual ever give you reason to think he was afraid of you."
"He's a bully. He threatened and attacked us, not the other way around. He was always a bully."
"Always? You said he didn't bother either you or Ms. Pryde until after his father was killed by the Juggernaut."
"I got in a fight with him, Matthews and Owen during this year's first football game. They were going to beat up Todd, but before everyone found out we were all mutants they didn't have an excuse for targeting Kitty or I, so they picked on other people."
"Thank you, Mr. Summers. That will be all."
"The Defense calls Rahne Sinclair…"
"… Ms. Sinclair, don't you mean Greg broke your foreleg? Not your arm?" The defense attorney asked.
Rahne shrugged. "My arm's what the doctor put a cast on."
"But you were in your other form when Greg struck you. Would you mind showing the court how you appeared when you were injured?"
Rahne glanced at Scott questioningly. "Please, go ahead." The judge said and Scott nodded.
Rahne stepped off the stand and transformed. In wolf-form she stared up at the jurors and wagged her tail. A moment later she transformed back.
"Hey, how'd your cloths change with you?" One juror yelled.
The judge frowned disapprovingly. Rahne looked scandalized. "It'd be terribly embarrassing if they didna." She replied seriously. More than one person chuckled at that.
"You said you weren't threatening Greg, just the other boys."
"I didna want them to hurt Todd anymore." Rahne protested.
"Why weren't you worried about Greg?"
Rahne shrugged. "He smelled scared. I didna think he'd attack us."
"But he did attack you. He was so scared he picked up a metal pole and struck you with it. Just like he was so afraid of attending school with mutants like the Juggernaut that he fired a gun at them."
"Objection, this is speculation." The prosecutor said.
"Withdrawn. No further questions."
The prosecutor stood up. "Ms. Sinclair, how did the altercation at the ice cream shop begin?"
"Duncan Matthews, Greg Samual and several other seniors came over and started threatening Todd. He tried to get them to leave us alone."
"By trying to scare them?"
Rahne nodded.
"How did they respond?"
"Duncan said if Todd could have hurt anyone he'd have done it a long time ago."
"So they recognized that even though Todd was a mutant he wasn't particularly dangerous to them?"
"Objection, Mr. Matthews' state of mind is irrelevant to this proceeding." The defense lawyer said.
"Sustained." The judge said. "Did Mr. Samual say or do anything that would indicate agreement with Mr. Matthews?"
"He didna disagree." Rahne said.
The prosecutor sighed. "No further questions."
"… The prosecution calls Todd Tolensky."
"…Yo, you try to keep straight which fists go with which bruises when a bunch of guy are pummeling you. He was one of Matthews' jerk friends, they've been beating up on me since grade school."
"Mr. Summers specifically placed Greg at the fight you had with Mr. Matthews and his friends at the football game on September sixth of last year. They're attack on you at that time wasn't random, it was because you were stealing people's wallets correct?"
"I plead the fifth."
"Mr. Tolensky, no one is charging you with anything." The judge sighed. "Please answer the question."
"They weren't their wallets; there wasn't any reason for them to be making such a fuss. 'Sides Summers said the money was still there, the wallets were still there, if I just gave it back there was no reason to be hurting anyone. They didn't like that idea."
"But that particular incident was precipitated by your thefts; it wasn't just them picking on you?" The defense lawyer clarified.
Todd shrugged.
"You referred to the students involved as 'Matthews' jerk friends'. Would you say all of Mr. Matthews' associates were involved in harassing you since grade school?"
"Don't know any of them that ever missed a chance."
"So in your opinion if you saw someone with Duncan Matthews it was reasonable to assume they would bully you?"
"Yo."
"Did you know Greg Samual moved to Bayville as a High School Freshman? No further questions."