Leigh's Fanfiction Archive Stormkeeper's Fanfiction Freedom Chapter 26
Freedom
By Stormkeeper
Chapter 26
Here is the final chapter of my fanfic "Freedom." Please read the notes at the end of this chapter.
Oh, before we get to the chapter, I gotta share this. Remember last chapter I gave a bunch of tongue-in-cheek ideas for a name for this series? One fan wrote me with two that I just loved, and I've added them onto the bottom of my list from last time:
1) Looking for Dilithium
2) Love Scenes Unlimited
3) Bobby Whining
4) Deep and Weighty Issues Discussed Here!
5) One Author Practices Writing Sex Scenes
6) Star Trek: The X Generation
7) Scenic Vacation Spots
8) Hangin' in the Rec Room, Bridge and Sick Bay
9) No Sabretooth in this Fic
10) Well, it's Better than the Movie….
11) Earth Sucks, How About Space?
12) Everyone Gets Laid
(Except Professor X or Jubilee. Or Cannonball. Or Jeanne-Marie, Moonstar, Marrow, or Mark.)
And now, back on a serious note to the final chapter of the story:
One year ago, had someone asked the former FOH soldier Mark Burroughs if he knew what his life would have looked like in twelve month's time, never would he have made a correct guess. One year ago, Mark had been miserable as an FOH member working at the camps and desperately wanted a way out. But he never would have predicted the shape his escape took or that he would find himself on board a starship with over a dozen mutants, sailing through space.
Up until his accident in engineering, he had felt his acceptance among the group slowly building. In addition to Hector, there were a handful of others he would consider….maybe not a "friend" but at least on amicable terms with. There were those he felt were okay with his presence, would sit with him during meals and talk to him, or invite him to join in during their games in the rec room. Of course the only ones who had been openly hostile to him before were Rogue and Jeanne-Marie. Others, like Wolverine, merely disliked him.
After the explosion, Mark lost so much of the trust he'd built up. Please mistrusted him. Some didn't want to sit next to him during meals. And he was barred from the bridge and engineering as if a criminal.
Hundreds of times, over and over again, Mark replayed the accident in his mind. He remained baffled by his stupidity, remembering the wrong buttons he'd pressed, the voice in the back of his mind—which he had ignored--- telling him to stop and ask Nightcrawler for help. If only he had listened!
At least it wasn't as bad as it could have been. There were still several, aside from Hector, who were very kind to him---Scott, Jean, Hank, Bobby, Nightcrawler. And he was still allowed to play with and babysit the three children. Charlotte, in particular, liked him---he could tell. And if he had to live with the guilt of his mistake on board Freedom at least he no longer had to live with the guilt he'd endured day in and day out as an FOH soldier.
And as Bobby had once said to him, "Hey, everything turned out okay in the end." Fortunately Freedom continued to warp towards a moon which the X-men said was uninhabited and filled with precious dilithium. In just a few days, they would reach the moon and head back for An'zhina. Once at the moon, Mark planned to talk to Cyclops and ask for guidance – could he better help the X-men on Freedom or should he remain on An'zhina? He would take whatever direction Cyclops gave him.
Before we'd left An'zhina this last time, we took along several board games. Much as we all liked to play cards, we knew we'd need some variety on our journey. (And I was sure getting sick of cards; I wasn't the only one.) So just as the Endarians had allowed us to select several books each, they also allowed us to pick out some board games to play to help pass the time. A few of the games were somewhat incomprehensible to us, being that they were created by and for aliens. (As much as the Endarians looked like us and somehow could speak our language, they were inhabitants of a different planet, different star system. Every now and then we'd get reminders that they were alien.)
But there was one particular board game that many of us really took a liking to, and in general our differences from the Endarians didn't prohibit us from playing it. The way the game worked was that, basically, you move around the board and ask each other questions about themselves --- their pasts, their preferences, their dreams, etc. The other players all have to guess how you'll answer. The game's a riot even though there are some people here who don't want to open up. (I'll leave out their names; we know who all the culprits are.)
But me, I don't have a problem with talking about myself; not anymore. Neither does Jubilee.
She drew the question, "In what position are you when you're having the most enjoyable moments of your life?" Lots of hoots and hollering followed when it was read aloud, for obvious reasons. Rogue even interjected, apparently her own answer, "On top!"
It was a multiple choice question, and her options were: a) laying down, b) sitting down, and c) standing up.
I don't even remember how she answered, though I really recall her trying to mask the chagrined look on her face. Normally she had no problem talking about herself but this question posed a little problem for her. Like, she wanted to be able to go along with all the racy jests that the question brought to mind (and that we were snickering over), but everyone knew she really couldn't since she didn't have the fun experiences "laying down" that basically everyone else in the room had had.
At that moment, I really felt bad for her. We didn't talk about it much anymore---I think she was tired of beating a dead horse---but she was hurting over the fact that she hadn't had a real relationship yet or met the love of her life like so many others had.
"Look, there are three single guys on board this ship. Well, that is not counting guys who are Catholic priests. Do any of them interest you?"
I posed the question to Jubilee a while after the game, when she and I went back to her room to talk, as we often did. It was late and little Aurora was asleep.
"And," I then added, before she could answer, "defining single' as having no significant other' not as in 'not married', which rules me and Northstar and the Wolverine out."
"I'm glad he and Storm are really together now," Jubilee said.
"Me too," I nodded, hoping Jubilee's declaration was sincere. I remembered the proposal she had made some time ago, when Storm had asked—with Jubes's blessing--- Wolverine to consider sleeping with Jubilee. Jubilee later told me that, in hindsight, she was glad he had refused
Jubilee was quiet for a bit, so I pursued, "Well….do any of the three single guys here interest you?"
She shrugged. "Apparently none of 'em are interested in me," she said.
"Why do you say that?"
"None of them have made a move or even indicated that they like know I'm female."
I thought about it. I think that since things were going so well with Jean-Paul, I loved to play matchmaker. "Well, Mark's been not very talkative with anyone since his big mess-up. He always looks like he's afraid someone's gonna smack him. And Hector obviously's gonna be real shy around girls since you gotta bet he's thinking anyone would be put off by his appearance. And I think Sam's just plain shy, period. I think that's basically just the way he is." I paused, "But the question is---are you interested in any of them?"
Jubilee smiled and shook her head, smirking. "What?" I asked.
"You're such a trip, Bobby Drake. Sheesh, you should have your own talk show. Or advice column in the paper. Or maybe we should just dub you the official matchmaker of the X-men."
"Yeah, whatever. Weeelll?" I persisted, wanting an answer to my question.
Jubilee shrugged again. "I dunno. I'm not all that interested in Mark. Or Hector. Sam seems kinda cool but he's never given me the time of day. And I'm not really interested in going and chasing after anyone. Not after what happened with Lisman. Or Yunfei before him. I haven't had much luck doin' the pursuing." She took a deep breath. "Besides, I'm okay with being single, believe it or not. It would be nice to have a boyfriend but it's not the end of the world if I don't have one, you know?"
Jubilee then changed the subject. Rory soon woke up, and Jubilee went over to comfort her and coo her back to sleep.
"I can't wait for the day she's potty trained," Jubilee muttered, once her daughter was asleep again. "I mean, I love her but these shitty diapers are getting tiresome, you know? And here's betting that Charlotte is potty trained before Aurora."
"Jubes," I said gently. "C'mon. What's the point of comparing the two? Rory's progressing just fine and you know it."
I soon left her quarters for my own, and we didn't get a chance to talk about her love life anymore. And I know she pretty much said she thought I had my nose in other people's business too much and that she was okay with the single thing, but I really just wanted her to be happy. And then I, of course, starting playing back bits of our discussion. She kinda said she was attracted to Sam Guthrie. I was sure that Cannonball was just real shy. I wondered what would happen if he took the lead and made a move?
"…and so, we'd like to ask you to officiate at our wedding."
The words were spoken to Professor Xavier, by a mutant woman who the X-men had rescued from the camp in England during their first ever mission back to earth. The mutant woman and her betrothed---also a rescuee from the same camp--- had approached Charles one afternoon. After profusely thanking him for everything that he and the other X-men had done--- freeing them from the FOH hell and using their other skills to assist their emotional recovery from the traumatic experiences---the couple asked the Professor to perform their wedding.
Charles smiled and said he would be honored to preside over the ceremony.
"We want to wait until Jean and Scott are back from the mission," the male half of the couple added. "They, too, did so much to help both of us."
When the engaged couple departed, Charles smiled wistfully. He hoped that Jean, Scott, and the other X-men would not be much longer. Although he gained a tremenduous amount of satisfaction from working with the mutants on An'zhina, the Professor couldn't help but to miss his X-men.
Lately he had found himself providing almost daily reassurances to John and Elaine Grey. "It's always hard to estimate how long a mission like this will take," Xavier had said last time. "The journey to and from earth takes five weeks at maximum speed. It has been longer than that now since the team departed, but that is probably because the X-men spent several days hovering in proximity to earth as Jean did her work."
"But didn't you say that Jean could do a lot of her work from a distance---that the starship doesn't need to be right there at earth?" John had persisted. "If that's the case and she did some work from a distance, then it still could take them only ten weeks total to return here."
"Yes," Charles said. "But remember, the work that Jean is doing—or has done---might take several days. Perhaps even several weeks. Telepathic work is quite detailed, complex and often time-consuming. Jean and the others are there with the express purpose of changing the minds of the leaders of the Friends of Humanity. This could turn out to be a monumentally difficult task, even for a skilled telepath as your daughter."
"I just hope they'll be alright," Elaine said, specifically referring to Jean, the grandchildren, and Scott.
Charles continued to reassure the couple. He spent so much time trying to hearten them that he did not frequently step back and examine his own thoughts on the absense of the X-men. He certainly believed every word he told the Greys. But he also knew that any number of tragic events could be causing a delay as well.
No use worrying. Worry is non-productive. My X-men are trained well, and can deal with whatever circumstances have come their way. I must let it go,' he told himself.
Letting go. That was the hardest thing. The X-men were his surrogate children, and Charles itched to be with them, as much as he enjoyed the sunny days on An'zhina. The weather on the Endarian moon had turned balmy and bright. Soon the moon's citizens would be unrolling beach towels and basking in the sun.
Still, it was no replacement for being with his X-men.
Charles then turned his thoughts to more pleasant subjects. Overall, the mutants on An'zhina were doing well. At least as well as could be expected for those who had lived through such immense trauma. The upcoming marriage he'd been asked to preside over was one example of mutants recovering and moving on with their lives.
Though nothing could replace the thrill of working with his X-men, helping their community on An'zhina grow and evolve was immensely fulfilling for him too. Xavier found himself becoming rejuvinated, feeling more alive and excited. And while his dream of peace on earth had now been placed on hold, this colony of mutants functioned as a decent substitute. For the time being, at least. His original dream might be on hold but it was not gone.
Charles had another bright spot in his life too, helping his sense of revitalization. His friendship with Moira MacTaggert was being rekindled. Not that the two had ever ceased their friendship—not at all---, but when Moira's husband had been found to be alive, it had caused a strain between them. But no longer. He and Moira had resumed their morning breakfast ritual together. (Banshee was not a morning person and, more to the point, he understood now that he had nothing to fear so he usually did not join them. But Banshee knew that Moira would never betray him; Charles would never do so either, and that was that.)
Breakfast was a one-on-one occasion for Charles and Moira. His other meals, Charles usually took with Moira, Banshee, and Banshee's daughter Siryn. They were often joined by John and Elaine Grey, their grandchildren, Sarah Grey, and Angel. Evenings were frequently spent with the older adults----the Greys, Moira, and Banshee---sipping tea on one of the porches and talking. Together they bonded, and waited for the X-men's return.
"Dat little Rory be a handful," Gambit breathed. He and Rogue returned to their quarters after babysitting Jubilee's daughter in the rec room. The child, now over two years old, burst with energy.
"Some day we'll have our own," Rogue said, collapsing onto the plush chair. Although Rogue did not experience fatigue the way a normal human did, she knew she was not invincible either. Somehow tending to a toddler was more exhausting than a Danger Room session. The chair that she relaxed in was brought from An'zhina as the utilitarian accommodations on board this ship which used to belong to FOH did not include wide, cushiony seats.
"Dat will be a good day, when we be parents," Gambit said as he removed his duster and tossed it to the side. He then seated himself on the chair, along with Rogue. They embraced each other.
"Maybe someday soon it's time for me to stop taking those pills and see what happens," Rogue said.
"Gambit t'ink dat a good idea."
Rogue then rested her head on his shoulder. In a reflective mood all of a sudden, she took some time to think back. She had had an amazing last few years. So many milestones had been passed. Some words that Hank McCoy had once spoken crept back into Rogue's mind. Hank had said, "Prior to the invention of the telescope, human beings were limited to gazing at the universe with the naked human eye. Saturn was the last visible planet, and its orbit created what early astronomers referred to as the ring-pass-not.' It is now an antiquated term, but upon occasion the phrase ring-pass-not' is used to refer to the limits of the known world at any given time." Hank had then paused and added, "I believe that we X-men often have gone beyond our own ring-pass-nots."
It was the first time Rogue had heard of the phrase. "Ring-pass-not." She liked it. And Rogue knew that Hank, when he'd brought the subject up, had to have been thinking of his own "ring-pass-not"s that he had surpassed recently. Rogue had gone beyond quite a few herself, especially in the last few years. She never dreamed that she would've been able to face her past and control her powers. And yet here she was.
And if I can do that, I can forget about Remy's past too,' she realized.
"What you t'inking bout, chere?" Remy asked.
Rogue smiled and told him she'd been recalling the struggles she had triumphed over. Gambit listened, appreciative of everything she had indeed overcome. He held her closer. And he wondered whether he might get through some of his own ring-pass-nots as well.
Wolverine tossed and turned in his sleep, finally shaking off the nightmare du jour and waking up. As soon as he regained consciousness, as always, the contents of the nightmare evaporated and he could not grasp them even if he'd wanted to.
Wolverine got up from the bed, moving quietly so as to not wake Storm. He tried to shake the disturbing feelings from his head. After using the bathroom, he returned to the bed. His eyes having easily adjusted to the darkness, he glanced at Storm's white locks, flaring out across the pillow. He reached a hand to her shoulder and, for a moment, gently rested it there. His heart pulsed with feeling for her.
Settling back down next to her on the bed, he realized that perhaps his most challenging battle ever lay ahead of him.
When we arrived at the moon, two things happened that would change my life forever. The first one was that we discovered the moon no longer had any dilithium.
We shocked X-men stood around the bridge, checking and re-checking the coordinates to make sure we had the right moon, running diagnostics on our sensors, and debating what to do next. I looked around, feeling the tension and fear in the room begin to build. Or maybe it was my own growing panic that I felt. None of us had planned for or expected this. We had no contingency plan. The moon had had so much dilithium last time we were here.
"We are not the only people in the galaxy who use dilithium," Cyclops said. "Apparently someone else has discovered this moon too."
"I bet the FOH bastards took it all," Wolverine grumbled.
"Might be someone else, too, for all we know," Rogue said. "We know there are other planets and other beings who use warp drive."
"Maybe it was those Cetians, that group of people we fought to get you guys back," Cyke said, looking at Gambit, Wolverine and I. "This is far from their home planet but since they have warp drive, it's not a lengthy trip for them to get here."
"The Endarians might've even taken it," Jubilee said. "They use dilithium too. They have a lot of it on their home planet, but they're not too far from here so maybe they stock up here sometimes too."
"But why would they take all the dilithium?" Jean asked quietly. Our scans showed that there truly was nothing left of the formerly plentiful supply. It had been completed ravished.
"It could have been another planet, another species, who took the dilithium," Storm speculated. "One that we have not previously encountered. Who knows how many warp-capable civilizations are out there."
"At this point, the identity of the group which procured all the dilithium is not important," Hank began. "The fact is, no more dilithium remains on this moon. The question has now become: where do we go from here."
The fear in the room continued to grow, it seemed. Traces of dilithium actually were left on the planet, but our scans showed that the energy output of beaming the raw dilithium onto Freedom and processing it would be greater than the amount of energy we would receive from the trace dilithium.
Hank ran another assessment of how much dilithium remained aboard Freedom and it was not an encouraging story. If we continued as we had been, there remained roughly 50 hours left before we would need to shut down life support. Obviously we had to avoid closing down life support at all costs. We needed to be able to breathe. The warp drive and the cloaking device were the biggest culprits in terms of gobbling up dilithium. If we shut down the warp engines and moved only at impulse power, the amount of time we could continue to produce such luxury items as oxygen and food increased exponentially.
But moving at impulse power and removing our cloak would both be very risky, especially if we were to get attacked. That's why we decided we had to keep our cloaking device on. In space distance terms, we were not far from An'zhina and as far as we knew, FOH still had vessels patrolling the outer mists of An'zhina. We absolutely could not un-cloak and risk a confrontation; discharging any weaponry was another huge drain on the dilithium.
Jean did bring up the point that if we had to, we could un-cloak and if we were to encounter any FOH vessels, she could use her powers to persuade them to turn away from a fight. But that was such a risky strategy, especially if we were to be attacked by more than one ship. That would mean a lot of minds for Jean to commandeer. So we held to our decision to keep the cloaking device up.
Hank sat at the captain's chair, running additional scans. He found something then that placed us in an even more awkward situation.
"There is a planet," he began, his fingers speedily typing away as he looked at his monitor, "which contains dilithium. It also contains an ample supply of trilithium, which can be used much as we use dilithium. I would estimate that we could reach this planet within 47 hours."
"That's great!" I exclaimed. I then added, seeing a decidedly unenthusiastic look on Hank's face, "Right?"
"What is it, Hank?" Storm asked.
"The planet is inhabited," Hank answered. "Both the dilithium and trilithium are located in heavily populated areas."
We all exchanged concerned looks with each other. All of us were crowded on the bridge, which was awkward; the bridge was not even large enough for us to stand in a circle. So it was a bit chaotic when a few people began talking at once. (And the three kids were in the room, milling about as well.) Cyclops then spoke loudly, "I wish we could all take this discussion into a conference room so we can sit down and really talk this through."
"But you cannot as we must now conserve every last bit of energy," Hank finished for him. The main and largest conference room was in an area of the ship that had been "shut down" in order to save dilithium.
So we finished our discussion on the bridge, with everyone just standing around.
"What happen if we don't get no more dilit'ium?" Gambit asked. "We jus' drift back to An'zhina?"
"If we don't encounter any FOH ships on the way," Wolverine said.
"We might have enough dilithium left to drift back to An'zhina," Storm said. "But it would be an extremely risky—and long---journey. For us to make it all the way back to An'zhina, we would definitely need to take the cloak off."
"How long might it take for us to get back to An'zhina at impulse power?" I asked.
"I estimate 15-17 weeks," Hank said.
Ugh', I thought.
"That's like four months," Jubilee said.
"Our life support and ability to replicate food might last that long," Cyclops said. "But if we encounter any FOH ships, we will not even have the ability to fire phasers or photons at them." He looked at Jean. "Could you use your powers to turn them away?"
Jean spoke slowly. "It would be a big gamble. If we are attacked by multiple FOH starships….it will be very difficult for me to control so many minds at once. It's possible but it would be very risky."
"One shot by an FOH blast could hit a part of the ship that Jean was in," Storm said. "If she were to knocked unconscious, our ability to fight back using that method is gone."
"And if we can't use any phasers or photons, we're about outta options," Wolverine said.
"We cannot risk getting captured again!" Northstar added.
"Maybe we oughtta think bout takin' some of the dilithium from that planet you talked about, Hank," Rogue said.
Hank's eyes were on his screen. "It is quite a quandary," he said, turning his gaze towards Cyclops. "The planet is inhabited. We face another moral dilemma."
"We took dilithium from the Paradise planet," Jubilee began, "and it had people on it."
"We really gotta go through this again?" Wolverine asked. "We ain't gonna know if we did the right thing on the Paradise planet or not, but we made the decision and we're done with it."
"The main difference between then and now," Cyclops began, "was that the area on the Paradise planet that we took the dilithium from was not inhabited."
As Wolverine gave Cyke a dirty look, Hank went on, "The sensors indicate a dense population in all the areas that contain dilithium. If we were closer to the planet, I could provide more specifics. However, the sensors also indicate that this planet has similar magnetic field storms as the Paradise planet."
"Is there any chance that we might synchronize orbit with the planet, drop our shields, and beam up some of their dilithium?" Storm asked.
"We just need enough to get back to An'zhina," Jean added. "We wouldn't need to take all of it."
"It is unlikely that we will not be noticed," Hank said. "From this vantage point, the indications are that the inhabitants of the planet are fairly highly evolved. Additionally, by the time we reach the planet, we might not have enough dilithium left to even use the transporters."
"We need some other options, then," Cyclops said. "Let's think it through. What others are there?"
There was silence for a bit. I kept turning over ideas in my head, ultimately rejecting all of them as unworkable. I think everyone was doing the same. We started to talk it through.
Someone came up with the idea of sending a distress call to An'zhina and hoping Angel or someone might arrive in a shuttle with some dilithium reserves that Queen Marina might be generous enough to give us. But that was incredibly risky---given Marina's current attitude towards us, we might never get that dilithium. And you never knew who might be listening on subspace to our distress call. The message could easily be intercepted by FOH---especially if they were still patrolling Endaria. All they'd have to do would be trace it to us, and we'd be in serious trouble.
Another idea arose: have a couple of us take a shuttle to An'zhina. But the shuttle would still require warp power and a cloak and we didn't have enough for that journey. Plus there was again the fact that we had no guarantee that Queen Marina would just hand over excess dilithium to us.
Psylocke and Marrow weren't around to bail us out again either. Jean said she could not telepathically sense either one. She could sense no minds within her range, other than distant echoes from that inhabited planet.
No matter what options we came up with, we were stuck with two: drift on impulse towards An'zhina and pray we made it, or take dilithium from the inhabited planet. We discussed them both over and over again. I eventually tuned it all out. I knew what we needed to do, had heard all the arguments before, knew what we'd ultimately decide, and was getting really impatient. We finally got to the point where Storm asked everyone for their opinion.
The majority of us agreed with the idea of taking the dilithium.
I mean, really what choice did we have? Setting Freedom adrift was far too treacherous. We might never make it. Impulse power was pretty wimpy (for lack of a better term)---for all we knew, we could get pulled into a black hole or something. And we'd be totally helpless if FOH had again developed a way to detect our cloak or if we willingly decloaked and they attacked. We'd face capture and torture at their hands again and I'm sure this time they'd kill us all quickly. We had to save our own skins.
Although now that I think about it, I wonder how much of our decision was governed by our personalities. I mean, we were a bunch of take-charge, make-action type people. Of course we'd prefer to go somewhere and take rather than float defenselessly through space. I knew what our outcome would be before we began the pointless debating, and I wondered why we were even wasting our time discussing it.
Many people's arguments mentioned the fact that we had three children on board the ship, and we needed to take the dilithium for their sake. The argument was made that we had to do whatever necessary to protect them.
So that was that; we decided to use our remaining warp drive to head for the inhabited planet with dilithium. To squeeze the last bit out of our remaining dilithium, we closed down almost everything. The rec room and the gym were shut down. All personnel quarters were closed off---we evacuated whatever personal items and toiletries we needed from them, took our blankets and pillows as well as cots and sleeping bags from the supply room and brought everything into the mess hall. The large room would be our new group sleeping hall. I helped Jubilee pile little Aurora's toys into baskets and we mournfully brought them to the mess hall, Rory in tears at the commotion.
Jean-Paul and I went through our room, selecting which items to bring with us to the mess hall. I packed a few books from Endaria into my duffle bag, along with our clothing and assorted toiletries. Jean-Paul opened the drawer on the nightstand and gestured at the condoms and lube, but I shook my head. Given our new group sleeping quarters, we wouldn't be getting a chance to use that stuff anytime soon.
Aside from our new group sleeping room, only the bridge, engineering, and sick bay would remain open. (As well as, obviously, the hallway that connected them.)
My greenhouse also escaped being shut down. I remember walking past it with Jean-Paul, Storm, Panda, and Hank as we went about the ship, carrying our things to the mess hall. I looked longingly into the clear window of my greenhouse. "There are some good veggies in there," I said wistfully.
"Perhaps we should not shut down the greenhouse," Storm said. "We could someday use the food in there." I shuddered at the thought of us becoming so desperate. I must admit there were a few butterflies in my stomach at that time; our future was so up in the air. And if it ever really came to that, the veggies inside the greenhouse would not sustain a group of our size for too long.
"The greenhouse does not use a great deal of dilithium anyway," Hank said. "And it stems off the corridor leading to the mess hall. Therefore keeping it open would not pose a significant drain on our systems."
So the greenhouse stayed up.
The ship temperature was dropped another ten degrees; we all went about with coats, hats, gloves, scarves, etc. Because of the nature of my mutant powers, cold generally doesn't bother me that much---but it can get to me after a while. So even I found my nose and fingers feeling unpleasantly frosty. I know the others were pretty uncomfortable most of the time, too. I had blurry but beloved memories of the happy sun on An'zhina and warm sand on my toes. It might be a while before I saw that again, I knew.
I forgot to mention----we obviously had to have one bathroom open too. The bathroom nearest to the dining room was a ways down the hall. It had been an old locker room, and it contained about seven closed stalls, seven urinals, and group showers. We decided that during the daytime, this place would have to function as a unisex bathroom. In the mornings, we would have to shower in shifts---all the men at one time, all the women at another. (And yes, that's right----the locker room had group showers with no curtains. I was suddenly back in high school hell.)
"At least it's better than all having to piss into a bucket," I said, as I stood next to Gambit. Wolverine was also within earshot. I just had to bring back that lovely memory of the time the three of us had been prisoners of FOH, during our transport to the planet Ceti III to work as slave laborers. Remy laughed at my dark humor. Wolverine just gave me a sour look.
It was at that point that I decided to stop being so gloomy. I mean, shit --- this was a lot better than being captives of FOH, subjected to their abuse every day, being transported across the galaxy to work as a slave in a hellish mine. Things could always be a lot worse. Episodes that we had survived before made this look like a day at the beach.
So I got in kind of a joking mood. As we were all unloading supplies and personal items in the mess hall, I kidded that we should build a fire and sing a few songs. "Can we build a fire in here, Cyke? I asked. He shot me a strange look back but Charlotte smiled at least. And Jean picked up on my vibe.
"We can tolerate anything if we know it's going to be for a limited period of time," she said. "In two day's time, we'll be at this planet and we can stock up enough dilithium to get back to Endarian space."
But Wolverine always had to put a damper on things. "If we don't run into any trouble gettin' the dilithium," he muttered. What a sourpuss.
"I think if we turn the temperature down anymore, we gonna be able to see our breath," Rogue said during dinner that day. She was eating her meal wearing gloves, she and Gambit practically sitting on each other's laps. Gambit appreciated the warmth from Rogue's body. Rogue took another bite of the replicated fish, which had been seasoned with hot spices to try to warm the team's insides.
"Too bad we don't have any snow and we can't build snowmen with the kids," Jubilee mumbled. In order to eat her dinner, she had grudgingly removed the scarf that she had wrapped around her nose and mouth. She looked enviously at Bobby. "I wish I was the Iceman."
"I gotta admit that even I am cold," Bobby said. "This hot chocolate's helping though," he added.
Jubilee smiled a half-smile. Bobby had been in an oddly perky mood the past few hours. Sitting next to Jubilee, "Uncle Bobby" had volunteered to get little Aurora's food into her mouth and not all over the girl's hands, clothes and face. Bobby would occasionally pick up a spoon and direct the food towards Rory's mouth, making animated sound effects as he did so. Aurora was especially bundled up; her little head enveloped by a pink fluffy hat, but she giggled at "Uncle Bobby's" antics.
"Being cold like this reminds me of Christmas, back on earth," Jubilee said. When she was a child, the holidays had been a painful time for her, bereft of a home and genuine family. However, ever since joining the X-men, the holidays had taken on a special glow and become a truly festive time. "I miss celebrating it," she added.
"Remember the last time we celebrated Christmas?" Bobby asked. "It was not too long after we…we were all living on this ship."
"It couldn't have been too long ago," Jubilee said. "I remember, I was pregnant at the time. I loved our gift exchange," she added, remembering how each X-man had drawn the name of a fellow X-man and had been responsible for procuring a gift for them.
"Dat was a fun time," Gambit said, a special twinkle in his eye. He fondly remembered how Rogue had drawn his name. His only request of her was that he be permitted to give her a massage. He'd desperately wanted to give her the chance to experience touch in a pleasurable way, to associate some positive feelings with it after the trauma she'd lived through. His idea had worked. He remembered his fevered temperature at touching her bare skin, his delight at the fact that she was brave enough to try it and that she enjoyed it. During dinner that evening, Gambit was finding that the cold now bothered him less.
Gambit turned his head and caught Rogue's eye. She winked at him. Remy felt his heart fluttering at the look from her. But moments later, his joy slowly began to turn into dismay. All the X-men obviously had to sleep inside the mess hall that night, and the large room offered nothing in the way of privacy. The wheels of his mind began to turn, rapidly turning over options.
Bobby was giggling at another memory from the X-men's last Christmas celebration. "I loved what you asked the Professor for, Rogue."
"Oh yeah," she said, her thoughts switching gears. "It had been a while since I laughed that hard." The Professor had drawn Rogue's name. For his gift to her, Rogue had requested that Xavier sing a bawdy song at the top of his lungs in front of the group. To her eternal shock (and slight embarrassment), he had actually agreed. Most of the X-men had laughed until their sides ached that evening, witnessing the spectacle.
"We oughtta go back to celebrating Christmas," Jubilee said. "I mean, once we get our dilithium back and all. If not for our sakes, then for the kids. Rory and Charlotte are old enough to enjoy gifts now."
"That's a great idea, sugar!" Rogue said. "Bring it up at our next meeting."
"I will."
After dinner, various groups of the X-men could be seen huddling together inside the mess hall. Jubilee and her daughter had snuggled themselves up against Panda, who was generously sharing the warmth of her fur. Scott and Jean were cuddled together with their children, reading quietly to them. Meanwhile, Gambit, Rogue, Bobby, Jean-Paul, Jeanne-Marie, Moonstar and Cannonball were sitting in a circle on the floor, Gambit telling the group an outrageous tale.
Storm and Wolverine were sitting together in a far end of the cafeteria. They had a blanket wrapped around them, close enough to feel the warmth but not constricting so it did not trigger Storm's fear of enclosed spaces. Wolverine knew she was already a bit edgy, with so much of the ship closed down. But she was handling it admirably well.
Despite everything that was going on with the X-men, Wolverine was feeling a measure of relief too. Storm had just told him that her latest test result was negative. (Ever since her last assault by the FOH, Storm – as Northstar---was being tested regularly for sexually transmitted diseases.)
"You nervous?" Wolverine asked. He held one of her hands between his. Her hand was brown, long, slender, and mostly hairless inside his white, hairy hands with short, stubby fingers. Storm looked down at their hands, intrigued by the contrast. Beautiful,' she thought, looking at the difference.
"Perhaps just a little," she replied quietly. "We don't know what we'll encounter at this planet, and we might not be successful in gaining any dilithium from them. There are so many unknowns. If we do not manage to procure any dilithium, we might very well have to drift in the direction of An'zhina and hope that we make it. But we X-men have encountered so much and survived it. This will be no different. Whatever obstacles we encounter, we will triumph over. I am sure of it." She paused. "What do you think?"
Wolverine gave a brief reply, indicating agreement. Storm was intrigued again, this time by the workings of her lover's mind. She wondered if deep down he perhaps felt a twinge of fear. Maybe by asking Storm to talk through the situation and her emotions, it helped to assuage his own fears since Logan certainly did not like talking about his own feelings. Perhaps he vicariously worked through whatever anxiety he might possess that way. That is,' she speculated, 'if he truly does feel any fear. He might not. He has lived through so much.' Storm knew that the ins and outs of Logan's minds might remain a mystery to her always---but she also was alright with that, to a degree.
Later that night, many of the X-men were asleep. Sleeping bags, pillows, and blankets had been strewn across the floor of the mess hall, as all the tables now had been moved to one side of the room.
Jubilee tossed and turned, trying to get used to sleeping on the floor again. Her daughter was slumbering soundly, but Jubilee couldn't get used to being deprived of a matress. She remembered sleeping inside tents as the X-men had on the Paradise planet, years ago. Back then she had been seven months pregnant and her back ached, but she had managed to fall into a peaceful sleep. Yeah, well then we were on vacation and I was so totally relaxed. It was warm and pleasant on that planet, not the icebox that this ship is now.'
Jubilee heard noises to her left and wondered what was going on. Oh, of course.' Rogue and Gambit's sleeping bag was nearer to her than anyone else's. Jubilee had wondered what all the couples would do now, since privacy was non-existent. Guess they found the answer---wait till everyone's asleep,' she grudgingly thought. Jubilee rolled her eyes, reached for her second pillow and put it over her ears.
Meanwhile, Gambit and Rogue lay on their sides together, Gambit behind Rogue. His fingers had found her sweet spot automatically, and he rubbed her through her clothing. As he worked her, Gambit quietly nibbled the back of her neck and ear, loving the heat emanating off her body. Rogue gyrated her hips back at his insistent hand, fondly remembering the days before she had mastered her powers. They had made love much as they were now. She was putting a great deal of effort into muffling the sounds she would normally make so close to orgasm.
After her climax, they slowly shifted position, Gambit glad his hand would be getting a rest. Rogue then reached a hand down his sweat pants, grasped his thick member, and pumped. Gambit closed his eyes and just enjoyed the sensations. Somehow being in the same room with everyone made it all the more illicit and exciting for Remy, and secretly he wished that Rogue had failed in her attempt to stifle the sounds of her climax. He was already quite close. Remy had wisely brought a few paper towels with him, into which he eagerly released.
Some point later on that night, Jubilee woke up, needing to use the restroom. She felt a split second of disorientation, wondering why she was laying on a mattress over a hard floor, wrapped in a sleeping bag. Then it came back to her. It would also explain why her nose and ears were cold and her hands encased in mittens. I drank a bunch of hot chocolate -- decaffeinated---before I went to bed, trying to warm me up,' she remembered. It also made her need to use the washroom now.
Jubilee slowly got to her feet. The mess hall was very dark with the lights shut off, though a small nightlight had been left on for the benefit of the children. She checked her daughter, noting that for once Rory's diaper would not need to be changed. (A table had been wheeled into the bathroom that the team all now shared, to serve as a changing table. The Friends of Humanity, obviously, had not installed diaper changing stations inside their washrooms.) Jubilee groggily found her fluffy slippers and exited the dining room, making her way down the hall towards the group bathroom. She found herself wishing for her own little room on the ship, with her own bathroom annexed. The hallway was dark, though small nightlights---not unlike the ones in movie theaters back on earth---helped illuminate the walls.
Jubilee entered the bathroom, squinting at the bright lights. As she rubbed her eyes, shuffling towards one of the stalls, she noted that the door to one of the stalls was closed. Great,' she muttered to herself. As Jubilee went about her business, she got the distinct impression that the washroom was being used now for purposes other than the usual one. Jubilee put her fingers over her ears.
Storm and Wolverine had been unable to restrain themselves. They had headed for the bathroom, seeking a private place to hug and kiss, both suspecting that it might lead to more that night.
It had. Though it was not the most comfortable of positions, Wolverine held onto Storm as she was backed against one of the walls, her legs wrapped around his waist, her hands gripping his shoulders. He plunged into her standing up. The physical discomfort afforded by this position was outweighed by the enjoyment rushing to other parts of their anatomy. Storm and Wolverine's groans and grunts were un-suppressed, as they both had been thinking they were alone. Dimly, Logan was aware that they were alone no longer, but he could not have cared less.
Jubilee washed her hands and scrambled out of the bathroom as quickly as she could. Unbeknowst to her, the bathroom had been the site of lovemaking for another pair, earlier in the night. Bobby and Northstar had also failed in attempting to hold back. It had started back in the mess hall as they tried to fall asleep, when a very cold Northstar had tried to warm up his hands by placing them inside Bobby's clothes. That had succeeded in warming both men up, in more ways than one.
So off to the bathroom they had headed. If someone had entered the washroom then and peeked underneath the door to their stall, they would have seen Northstar kneeling in front of Bobby, taking him inside his mouth. Bobby had leaned back against the wall, letting Northstar's lips and tongue drive him into bliss. As much as he'd been liking it, Bobby also couldn't wait to reciprocate. His mouth got wet at the thought of what he'd soon be doing.
When Jubilee reached her sleeping bag, she shook her head, wondering why in the hell people couldn't wait a day or two. Jubilee wouldn't even know that later on that night, Panda would lead Hank to engineering for a tryst. The large sized couple would gasp with shock when Cyclops and Jean walked in on them. (Jean's own lust had distracted her from sensing that others were using their would-be site for their lovemaking.)
I woke up to a pain in my back from sleeping on the floor and to Jean-Paul gently shaking me. "Bon jour, amour," he said, whispering. "It is time to get up and shower."
I quietly groaned. "Now? It's so early."
"It is the same time as usual. Come on. Cyclops has decided that the men are going to take our group shower now since most of us are up. The ladies will go afterwards when more of them wake up." I could hear the hustle and bustle of people getting up, putting on bathrobes, and quietly talking. Fresh coffee scents wafted through the air and the lighting in the mess hall had been moderately turned up. Charlotte and Rory were already chasing each other and heading for the playpen.
I basically moaned and groaned some more and said something about not feeling well. I muttered that I could just take my shower when the "ladies" were finished with theirs.
"But by then anyone can walk in!" Jean-Paul noted.
"It's okay," I said. It wasn't like the showers were directly in front of the toilets anyway; they were further back inside the bathroom. Besides, no argument that Jean-Paul (or anyone) could make would convince me to partake in showering at the same time as a bunch of straight men, in open showers without curtains. The horrors from high school! The fear that everyone's watching you; the fear that everyone's freaked that you're there and you might be watching them; the fear that you might actually not be able to refrain from stealing a glance and then get caught looking. I mean I know the X-men are cool and they're my family and all, but I just didn't want that kind of stress. No thank you.
So Jean-Paul scampered off and I remained in my sleeping bag, tossing and turning, seeking a comfortable position. My back and knees were sore from what Jean-Paul and I did the night before in the bathroom. I usually perform the oral stuff on him while laying on my stomach, him on his back. Or him sitting on the edge of the bed, me kneeling into him from the floor. The whole standing-kneeling in front thing is kinda sexy in concept but I hate holding that position for more than five minutes. I'm getting old.
Jubilee asked me why I wasn't showering with the rest of the guys and I said something about not feeling well. After not too long, the guys finished their shower shift and the bathroom was then made women-only so that the girls could take their showers.
Jean-Paul headed right back for me. "You missed something good," he taunted, though still keeping his voice low.
"I did?" I sat up now. "What?"
"Well…let me just say that Gambit has a damn sexy ass," Jean-Paul had quite the twinkle in his eye.
"Jean-Paul! You didn't! You didn't look, did you?!" I asked, mortified at the thought that Remy would know he'd been watched.
"Sure I did. Do not worry, amour. I can be subtle."
I shook my head. "Gambit's aware of everything. I'm sure he knows you looked! You're just lucky he's not homophobic."
"Calm down, Robere. I did not stare at him. I just sneaked in a look. Or two. And, ah….what a site it was. It was worth it."
A twinge of jealousy chipped away at my fear of Jean-Paul's voyeurism being detected. "Oh really? Better than mine?"
"Hmmmmmm…." he said, pretending (I think) to mull over the question.
"Jean-Paul!"
"Amour, amour---of course it was not better than yours. You know that."
"Thank you. I'm glad to hear my ass is number one in your book."
"It always will be."
That issue having been settled, I then proceeded to sit around in my pajamas, waiting for the women to finish their showers. And I do hate to say it, but they took forever; easily twice as long as the guys. I'm not even sure what the delay was due to; few of the girls ever wore make-up, or when they did, they just had it on really light. They do have longer hair though but I can't imagine it would take that long to dry. When the last female finally returned from the bathroom, I suddenly was feeling well enough to take my shower and headed for the bathroom.
I really hoped we'd get more dilithium soon and could return to having our own rooms again.
It happened only a few hours after breakfast. Jean-Paul and I were in the greenhouse, with Jean Grey and little Charlotte. The girl was taking an interest in the plants and I was pointing them out to her, Charlotte eagerly touching everything. Her mom had to keep her from tasting a few of the plant leaves too.
Jean-Paul's communicator beeped.
"Northstar, it's Beast. Can you report sick bay now?"
There was something wrong with Hank's voice. I picked up on it right away. Jean-Paul replied, "Yeah, I'll be right there."
"Is Bobby with you?" Hank asked.
"Yes."
"Bobby, can you come with as well?"
So we left Jean and her daughter in the greenhouse and headed down the hallway towards the infirmary. Jean-Paul and I didn't speak at all during our walk to the lab. My stomach was tittering with fear.
Breathe,' I told myself. It's nothing. It's probably nothing. It can't be that. It's something else.'
But with each step I took, the dread built. I tried to think of other reasons Hank might call us to sick bay but could come up with none. I reminded myself to breathe but it didn't help. I looked up at Jean-Paul's face once during our endless walk and I just could not read his expression.
We passed Panda on the way to sick bay. She was leaving the infirmary (with so many areas of the ship closed off, there wasn't anywhere else she could've come from.) She said a brief hello to us, and then quickly turned her eyes towards the floor.
We got to sick bay, and Hank was inside the lab, as usual, sitting at his desk. Jean-Paul and I entered the lab, and the door slid closed behind us.
As soon as I saw Hank's face, I knew.
"Please, sit down," he said. Jean-Paul and I took seats facing Hank, my hands shaking as I reached for the chair's back.
"What is wrong?" Jean-Paul asked. The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach was expanding to my lungs, making it difficult to breathe. My mouth was dry as dust.
"I am afraid that I have some bad news," Hank began, looking at Jean-Paul.
"What is it?" Jean-Paul asked, his voice almost snapping like a whip. I knew he wanted to hear it and hear it as soon as possible. He hated when people beat around the bush, especially over painful stuff.
"I have the results of the HIV test you took a few days ago," Hank began grimly.
"No," I said quietly, in anguish, gripping my chest with one hand. There was no longer any doubt as to what Hank was going to tell us.
"The test result is positive," Hank said.
That's all I can remember of that part. My next memory has Jean-Paul and I standing inside the lab, Hank apparently having left at some point. Jean-Paul and I were alone. He was pacing the lab, looking angry as I shook with terror. I don't know how much time had passed from the time Hank gave us the diagnosis.
"This cannot be! I am a mutant!" Jean-Paul bellowed.
He went on and on like that, disbelieving and angry. I fought my tears and my alarm, attempting to appear calm and collected for Jean-Paul. I felt anything but calm and cool but wanted to try to project that anyway. "We are mutants but we're human too," I said. "Anything can happen to us. We're susceptible to any sort of disease."
"Not me," he breathed quietly and vehemently, still sounding furious.
I tried to answer that, but my tongue was stuck. We might be mutants, might be X-men but that didn't save us from being captured and tortured by FOH, didn't stop Jubilee from getting pregnant as a result of the attacks. We were as vulnerable as anyone else. However, saying all this to Jean-Paul wasn't going to help much then, I judged.
"We'll make it to An'zhina," I said, grasping at straws. "We'll get the dilithium at this planet and we'll make it back to An'zhina. I'm sure Queen Marina has a cure. She helped you before-----she got you the arm replacement. She'll help you with this too."
I don't know how many times I repeated that, like a mantra. But Jean-Paul wasn't buying any of it.
"Joanne died of AIDS!" he said at one point. Joanne was the baby girl he had adopted, years ago.
"She was a newborn. She couldn't fight it," I said, attempting to sound firm and resolute. I have no idea if my voice was quivering or not. "But you're strong. You don't have AIDS yet, you just have the virus. You can fight it off." I dimly recalled that Hank had given us a bunch of information on things Jean-Paul could do to keep his immune system strong, to fend off full-fledged AIDS. I had a bunch of papers in my hands.
"Hank will help us," I said. I knew I had said those words many times that day. "He has all his records from the research he did when that Chinese girl---Lu----was sick with AIDS. He's picking up his research again. He's brilliant. He can find a cure."
I remember at some point I was crying and Jean-Paul was holding me. At another point, he cried and I held him. I still don't know quite how much time passed.
"Oh my god," he said at one point. "I have to tell Jeanne-Marie!" He said this as if he just realized it -- and this thought sent him into a frenzy. "I cannot! Dear god, she has lost so much. She has seen so much pain. Bobby, I can't tell her this! It will push her over the edge. This will be it for her! She'll go crazy again!"
For a while, Jean-Paul made the case that he should attempt to hide this from his sister. But we both knew there was no way he could carry on such a farce, not with all of us living in such close quarters, not with how much he and I were emotionally coming undone. So I tried to calm him down and have him understand that Jeanne-Marie would need to know. And I tried to make the argument that she would be strong enough to handle the news, though I doubted it.
So at one point, I remember Jeanne-Marie entering the lab. Her maelstrom of emotions made Jean-Paul and I seem calm in comparison. She threw a fit, she had a tantrum, she screamed and yelled so loud that I'm sure the rest of the ship heard us.
"It is not fair!" she screamed. "You were raped by those soldiers! You got the disease from them! You didn't do anything to deserve it!"
"I know, ma soeur," Jean-Paul said. His voice was calm though throaty now from having been crying so much. Jeanne-Marie's hysteria seemed to compel him into calming down. "I know. I haven't been with anyone except Bobby---and Phillippe before him---for the past…god, I don't know, for the past six or seven years. Phillippe and I were tested when we were together and neither of us had it."
"So that means you had to have gotten it from the soldiers!" she exclaimed, and resumed wailing. "That is so unfair! I hate those FOH bastards! They took my son, they did this to you, they tortured and killed all of Alpha Flight! How they have ruined my life!" Jeanne-Marie then went on and on, at the top of her lungs. She even proclaimed her wish to join with Psylocke and Marrow.
As she continued her rant, my thoughts raced. I never questioned that the attack from the FOH soldiers was where Jean-Paul contracted HIV. We all knew the soldiers were repeatedly raping their prisoners – hundreds of them---, and the mutant women we rescued from the camps virtually all had some sort of sexually transmitted disease. Though Lu had been the only one with AIDS that we knew of, there had to be others. And the soldiers had to be carriers of a host of STDs, if they didn't have them themselves. I remember the X-women talking about the assaults that they endured…..the soldiers had been instructed to use condoms but they didn't all the time.
And it couldn't have been me who Jean-Paul contracted the virus from. I dimly recall Hank telling me that all my STD test results were clean again, and handing me some printed information on performing safe sex when one partner has HIV. They must've been in the stack of papers I held in my hands.
Was I worried that I, too, would test positive for HIV down the road? I was free of disease now according to Hank, but since HIV can take months to show up on a test, did I worry about later? Honestly, the thought hadn't crossed my mind. Ever since the assault, Jean-Paul and I had been diligent about using condoms. Well, we didn't use them for oral sex but that was supposed to be a relatively low-risk activity….I had swallowed his semen though, which we probably should not have done. But Jean-Paul was the only person I'd had sex with for years---minus that misguided fling on Ceti III. I truly didn't even think that I might have it myself; all my care and my worry was over Jean-Paul. Concern about myself was the farthest thing from my mind.
I think that now it's time for me to end this. I've written a lot about the X-men's---and my own---journeys over the last several years. I need to take a break from my story now and collect my thoughts.
I remember that last time I ended a long story, I reflected on all the positive things in my life at the time, how much I'd grown and matured, and how much the rest of the X-men had too. Jean-Paul and I had recently gotten together at the time I last wrote an ending. I was full of hope, full of joy and optimism about the future.
I have no such happiness to write about today. I'm still feeling the same kind of shocked numbness you feel when you stub your toe---every nerve is just tensed waiting for the real pain to hit. It hasn't hit me yet. I'm waiting for the shock to settle in. And I don't where to go to from here.
Bobby Drake
THE END
Author's Notes:
Thank you for taking the time to read my writing and I hope you enjoyed "Freedom." I greatly appreciate each and every email I receive, and each and every review posted on fanfiction.net. Your comments and feedback truly help inspire me, as well as provide me with suggestions and feedback. I read, save, and print all of the feedback.
I have one request, similar to the request I made at the end of the first book in this series. Please either email me (Stormkprusa.net) or post on fanfiction.net the answer to either of the two questions below:
1. Tell me about one thing you hope to see in the sequel and one thing you hope not to see in the sequel. (Your answer can be as specific as "a great lovescene between Jean and Scott" or as vague as "more dialog")
2. Or, tell me what your favorite and least favorite part of "Freedom" was. (And again, be as specific or vague as you want.)
I wish to thank Leigh -– without you, Leigh, there simply would have been no "Freedom." You read each and every chapter before it was posted and offered an abundance of great ideas. The story is so much better than it would have been without you. You helped me learn how to breathe more life into the characters and remember the important details. Thank you for everything you've done and please, please keep on writing since your own work is so amazing! I learn from you every time I read something of yours.
And a final thank you to Ann for sticking with this from the start and providing me lots of good laughs and inspiration throughout.
Btw, did you know that if you read both my fics – "X-men: Friends of Humanity" and "Freedom", that all totaled you have read 840 pages? That's 397 pages of "Freedom" plus 443 of "Friends of Humanity"---typed and single-spaced in Word. Wow.
I'll close with some good news! A sequel will be coming your way shortly----stay tuned. If you would like to be notified when the first chapter of the sequel is released, please send me an email (stormkprusa.net) and I'll be sure to drop you a note when the sequel hits the stands.
Stormkeeper
Chapter 25
To Be Continued in The Heavens Open