Chapter 10-Dance of the Dreamscape

Legal Disclaimer-A long, long time ago, a gent named Stanley Leiber started a comic book company and these characters are his. Kari is mine.

Author's Note-Gelf, cringe now, he's still here, and he's not going anywhere in this chapter, just getting even more slimy. For my reviewers, thank you. Thank you, and thank you. You keep me writing and I appreciate it.

Here you go, Chapter 10-

Kari Spiritwalker was in more trouble than she dared believe. It was just supposed to be a simple mission, go in, find out about this guy, and pull out for a later fight. She knew this was one of those situations she would have to go through in life, but she couldn't help feeling that she was really screwed.

She sat up in the main cave room that was filled with pillows, trying to put her plan into action. When Jesse disappeared, she had to take a minute to figure out if Jesse was real or not real. She knew that he was by his attitude, his feelings that were projecting toward her, and the actual phasing that he did. When she saw him use his powers they were by instinct. As were hers.

She closed her eyes and thought about her situation. Gabriel Ashlocke had her over a barrel, he had better control of the dreamscape. He was a spirit, but the thought was how to get him to use his powers and lose the control he had over her situation. She was trying to figure it out when he came in.

He was dressed in a simple following shirt and the same dark pants. He looked at her with a smile.

"So, you get some rest, Kari?" he asked, sitting next to her, "I know that spending time here is beginning to tire you out."

Kari didn't reply. She didn't like that this spirit could read her mind. It was a little unnerving.

"It's okay, my love," he smiled and turned from the room, "You'll join me soon enough."

Kari turned away from him then closed her eyes.

'Darth Vader you aren't,' she thought to herself, bringing up the image of her favorite of the Star Wars movies.

She took a second and thought of Jesse. It was hard to believe that Gabriel banished him, but somehow she knew that Jesse would fight to get her back to the conscious world. She just needed to conserve her energy. She tried to relax and sleep.

Back in the med lab, Jesse was trying everything he could to get her back. He stared at the screen monitoring her vital signs, noticing her sleep patterns changing slightly. She slept on. He didn't know what else he could do. He went in not knowing everything that he could do to help her, since it was such a sudden rush to go in. He knew she needed help, knew that Gabriel had gotten more dangerous in the spirit realm, and he knew that she was losing her grip on this world. He could feel that. Not sure how he felt it, but something was fraying his nerves.

Kari, on the other hand, knew that she could do many things in the dreamscape. She could summon spirits, she could change the location, she could mirror powers of others, but something here just wasn't right.

She stood up and walked toward the doorway to the cavern. She knew that she had to get there, but she expected Ashlocke to greet her. Her surprise was that Jesse was standing there.

"Kari, you have got to get out of here," he said, taking her hands in his, "Ashlocke wants you to stay, and your body can't take it for much longer."

Jesse was right, all this time in the dreamscape was bad for her body. You can only sleep too much. Xavier had taught her that.

"I want to Jesse, but I can't," she said, looking up into his eyes, "I think Ashlocke has figured out a way to block me, and I don't know a way around it."

"You'll have to find one, we want you back, you know," Jesse said, brushing the top of her hair with his hand, "Staying here only makes you weaker. I can't stand watching that."

Something wasn't right. Kari could feel that this wasn't the Jesse she knew. She smiled for a second then slapped him as hard as she could.

Ashlocke laughed. His face changed from Jesse's to his own.

"I told you, half-breed, I control this world, you only think that you do," he caressed her face, "You'll stay with me yet."

In the conscious world, Brennan surveyed the scene, watching the room and watching Jesse. He knew that something was horribly wrong with Kari, she would usually come out of it just after Jesse would in their past didn't this time. Her readings still went up and down, but, she wasn't there. You could open an eyelid and she wasn't even responding to light. It was almost like her body was there, but her essence was elsewhere. He had never seen it before and it was terrifying.

Shalimar felt pretty much the same way. She knew how slimy and surefooted Gabriel Ashlocke could be. She also knew that even though Jesse wasn't admitting it, he loved Kari. That was obvious to her. She also knew that it was obvious to Lexa, who was being kind to him.

She walked up to Jesse and put an arm around his shoulders. Jesse put his hand on hers and never took his eyes off the screen.

"She's stuck in there with him, Shal," Jesse said softly, "I don't know how to get her out of there. He's got such control over it, we should have never sent her in there in the first place."

"She offered to go in there Jesse, there's nothing you can do when you face someone that strong," Lexa rubbed his shoulders, "She would have gone after him without your monitors. You know that."

Jesse nodded. Kari was a strong willed woman who with or without powers was the most of all loyal to her friends. Her powers were still being studied, his time with her being too short for a situation such as this. He needed help.

Brennan and Lexa came into the lab and stopped. She wasn't alone.

"What has she gone and done now?" the man with her asked.

Jesse turned at the sound of his voice. It was way too familiar.

"Logan?" he asked, shocked to see the man there, "What are you doing here?"

"We found him upstairs when the alarms went off," Lexa began, "Said he needed to see Kari immediately."

"She called me in a dream," Logan replied, looking Jesse in the eye, seeing how emotionally drained the younger man was, "I see she did the same to you."

"No, Jesse went in on his own," Brennan interrupted, "She's been like this since Ashlocke pushed him out."

"Pushed you out?" Logan watched the meters that Jesse had pulled up, "Who is this guy, and how are we going to stop him?"

Brennan raised an eyebrow as Jesse turned to look back at the legendary X-Man. It felt like the cavalry had arrived.