Ah, the last chap was kinda whacked out, huh? Well, here's a little clue as to what happened last time – "It was all in his head" 'nuff said ;)!!! Read on and I hope you like this continuation D!!!!
Chapter 75: A nightmare you can never wake up from
He kissed her so passionately, so lovingly, and Karen kissed him back. She placed her hands on the sides of his head and she held his face closer to hers as they kissed each other. She held his face so close as if she didn't want to let him go.
Then Stryker's eyes suddenly shot wide open with fear.
/"No."/ He thought to himself.
As he kissed her, he suddenly saw blood slowly flowing down her face. It spread all over her face, slowly covering her with its thick, liquid redness.
/"No! This can't be happening."/
And the blood continued to flow, until it covered her entire visage. He could see Karen's face in front of him, slowly being covered by the crimson liquid that tricked down from her forehead, to her eyes, to her cheeks, down to her chin. And now, he found his lips locked against bloodstained lips. He could even taste the iron from her blood. Then as the blood continued to flow, Karen's eyes slowly became lifeless in the same way that they did when she bore the power drill into her head.
He tried to pull away from the blood-covered kiss, but Karen wouldn't let him. She was still holding his lips so close to hers. He tried to struggle, but he couldn't. Her hands continued to hold him so close to her, and he was forced to look at her blood-covered lifeless face that was less than an inch away from his. And it pained him, it tortured him to look straight into those bloodshot lifeless eyes as he was forced to kiss her tainted lips. Stryker felt trapped inside this nightmare. And his eyes were wide with fear as he looked at the face before him. Then as his lips continued to press against hers, he slowly felt tears running down his cheeks. Karen was dead. She was dead.
No matter how much he denied that fact, it was true. No matter how much he wanted her back in his life, he couldn't, for she was gone. She died on that night when she bore the power drill into her temple. He saw it happen in front of his own two eyes in his vision, and he's now seeing it again as he helplessly kissed her lifeless form.
/"She's dead, William."/ Said the voice in his head. It was the voice of the younger Stryker again. /"She's dead and you know it. We saw her die. We were there when she took her own life. And you know as well as I do --- that we could never bring her back. No one can. Not even the death of a billion mutants will ever bring her back to us. Accept that fact, William. Embrace it. She's gone --- forever." The last sentence echoed in Stryker's brain as he continued to look at the bloody face before him.
She's gone forever...never to return...and the night of her death was the night of his birth. He was reborn as the mutant-hating monster known as William Stryker.
Stryker closed his eyes tight, and then he used all of his strength to pull away from the woman in the bathtub. She was not Karen. That figure in the bathtub who called out to him was never her. It was never her. She was just an illusion --- a lingering image of Karen in his brain that he himself had conjured up to deny the fact that she was dead. It was him who brought this ghost alive. It was him who made her bleed. It was him who made himself believe that she was still alive, when in fact, she was long dead.
He cried out as he pulled away from her, and as he did, he fall back on the far end of the bathtub, almost hitting the back of his head against its edge. He could still feel his cheeks wet from the tears that he shed when he saw her bleeding right in front of his very eyes. Then he opened his eyes and found himself alone in the bathroom. The ghost of Karen was now gone, leaving him alone to reflect on what he had just seen. He could still feel the horror of seeing her face bleed to death as he kissed her.
As he looked at the empty space in the bathtub, he could still recall how she lay there, naked and waiting for him. He could still remember the ghostly, hollow sound of her voice as she asked him to make love to her. He remembered her empty smile and the curves of her form. But what he remembered the most --- was the look on her face and the lifelessness in her eyes as the bled to death as he kissed her. He saw her die all over again. He brought her back to life just so that he could see her die a second time.
Then his eyes suddenly opened wide and his body tensed up as he felt his mind being split open. He felt as if his mind was going to explode. He suddenly cried out and clutched on his head as so many images and thoughts and memories started to flood his brain. There were so many memories filling up his mind that his brain felt like a balloon that was about to burst. He could hear so many voices and see so many images and feel so many emotions all at the same time as he lay there in the bathtub, cringing in pain as his mind tried to accommodate all of those memories.
He gritted his teeth and clutched his head so tightly, that he was almost clawing his head off. There were just so many images and noises and voices, all at once, that he wanted to squeeze them out of his skull. He was starting to remember. He was starting to remember everything and he knew it. He saw images of his childhood and his parents and high school and Code7 and his friends and families, Yuriko and Logan and Karen and Jason. He saw all of his pains and happiness and sufferings and joy, all at once. And it was too much. It was too much for his normal human mind to handle.
He tried to stand up from the bathtub, while he continued to clutch his head in agony. He could barely control his own body, for his mind was too busy processing all of his forgotten memories. He gritted his teeth harder as he tried to fight off the images. He wanted to control them, he wanted to stop them, but they kept on coming. Memories continued to flood his mind, like the wild waters that broke through the dam in Alkali Lake. And he knew that it would never stop until he remembered everything.
He could feel his knees shaking as he stood on the bathtub. He wanted to find Yuriko. She was now the only one he had left. Karen was gone, and so was his son. Yuriko was the only one who could help him now. She was now the only one who could rid him of his misery. She was now the only one left to give him the comfort that he needed...even if that meant that she would have to take his life to stop him from reverting back in the mutant-hating monster that fate had forced him to become.
His hands continued to squeeze his head tightly as he struggled to get a solid footing. But before, he could step off the bathtub. He staggered sideways and found himself leaning against the wall. Grunts of pain escaped from his lips as he felt more memories squeezing through his brain. The pain was just so much. He wanted it to stop. He suddenly moved his head away from the wall, and then he rammed it back against it, causing his forehead to leave a bloody mark on the white tiles of the bathroom. He would do anything to make it stop. His mind couldn't take it anymore.
So many images...so many voices...so many memories, all making their way into his mind at the same time. He felt as if they were all being forced into his little human brain. His vision slowly started to turn red as the blood that oozed from his forehead trickled over his eyes. He pulled his head back again, ready to ram it against the solid wall. The pain didn't even bother him anymore. He just wanted it all to end. Then as he swiftly moved his head forward, he suddenly stopped an inch away from the wall of the bathroom. Then he stood there, looking at the wall with empty eyes.
The expression of pain and agitation on his face slowly started to drift away as if life itself was being drained from his body. His hands, which were still clutching his head, slowly loosened their grip on his skull...and then they slowly slipped off the side of his face and fell limply down on his sides. His mind seemed to have shut down. And right now, at this moment, he could neither hear or feel or do anything anymore...for his brain was now too busy processing all of the images that were resurfacing from his forgotten memories.
Then his lifeless head bobbed towards the wall and pressed against it. There was neither movement nor life in his eyes. He was as good as the living dead. As his forehead pressed against the wall, his body started to weaken and his legs started to falter. His forehead slowly slid down the wall, leaving a vertical trail of fresh crimson blood, as his body slowly collapsed on the bathtub. Then he lay there --- in the bathtub, unmoving, like a wooden puppet whose strings have been cut. The only part of him that moved was his chest as he breathed. He didn't even blink...his fingers didn't even twitch. He didn't even wipe the red liquid that burned his blue eyes. He just lay there, with his eyes wide open, filled with nothing but emptiness, as he lifelessly stared at the ceiling above him.
A happy sigh escaped from Rogue's lips as she shifted on her bed. Her eyes remained closed as she felt the soft cover wrap around her svelte figure. The cool morning breeze that made its way into her room added to the comfort that she was feeling at the moment. And the soft sunlight that shone through her room's window touched her eyes, which made her realize that it was already morning. She happily sighed again and shifted on the bed so that she was laying down flat on her back.
Then she opened her eyes and smiled to herself. She couldn't wait to get on her feet and spend the rest of the day with Bobby. After everything that had happened for the past few days, she and Bobby decided to spend this day together to have fun, and just forget about all the pains that the past week had caused them.
When their amnesiac enemy-turned-guest left the kitchen last night, they were able to spend more time alone together, and they made some plans for today. They deserved to have a free day for themselves after everything that they've just gone through. It's just quite unfortunate that John wasn't here anymore to 'hang out' with them.
A gentle smile curled up her lips as she exhaled. Then she sat up on the bed and swiftly threw the covers off of her. She actually wasn't sure if Bobby was already awake, but if he wasn't, then she'll probably have to storm into his room and wake him up. She didn't want to waste another second of this free day.
Then her eyes wandered on the gloves that lay on top of the table beside her bed. She knew she would have to put those on first before she went anywhere. No matter how much she hated having them around her hands all the time, she had no choice...She didn't want to hurt Bobby again. She could still remember the fearful look on his eyes when she slowly drained the life from him when they kissed in his room...and she didn't want such a thing to happen again.
She was about to reach out for her gloves, then she stopped and smiled to herself. She realized that she didn't really need them at the moment. She was going to freshen herself up first with a good morning bath, before heading off into the day, and she doubted that she would need those gloves in the bathroom. After all, the only person she was going to touch while taking a bath and washing her face was herself.
She breathed in the fresh morning air and stood up from the bed with a wide smile on her face. She and Bobby were so excited when they were planning for it last night, and she wanted to start the day perfectly. She glanced at her digital clock to see what time it was, and saw that it was only six thirty five in the morning. Looks like she woke up earlier than expected...but that was fine, considering that she couldn't for this day anyway.
She stretched her arms up over her head and breathed in. Then she let her arms fall back down on her sides and she flexed her neck and shoulders. She definitely had a good sleep too. At least last night's encounter with the currently confused Stryker didn't ruin her sleep or night with Bobby. Though until now, she still couldn't forget the awkward feeling in her gut when they were dining with him. It just felt so awkward, dining with a man who had just tried to kill them --- the man who was responsible for Jean's death.
She just hoped that she wouldn't run into him again today. She knew that Stryker was now a 'good' man, in a way that he didn't hate mutants anymore, but she still wasn't his biggest fan. And seeing him was the last thing she needed this morning.
She walked out the door of her room, still dressed in her sleeping gown. Then she made her way down the hallway to the bathroom. First, she was going to have a nice, long, warm bubble bath to jumpstart the day. And since it wasn't even close to seven in the morning, she'll have enough time to ready herself before she meets up with Bobby. They agreed to be ready by seven thirty, so that meant she had enough time to sit back, relax and enjoy the bathtub. And at least, by the time she meets up with him, she would already be all dressed-up, refreshed and ready to go.
Rogue soon reached the door to the bathroom, and then she opened it and stepped inside. She could already feel the warm water wrapping around her body as she imagined herself in the bathtub. Perhaps it was a really good thing that she woke up early enough to have the bathroom to herself. And since classes were out and most of the children were sent home, meant that she definitely wouldn't have to worry about someone knocking on the door, asking her to hurry up. The mansion did have a number of bathrooms on the second floor, but this was the one closest to most of the living quarters.
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