WHOA O.O!!! I haven't updated this fanfic for more than a week O.O! To those who reviewed the last chapter, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! You people keep me going, despite all the work that's been keeping me away from writing this story ). I luv ya' all :D!!!

Chapter 81: The dead never listen

Rogue noticed the sudden change in Yuriko's state. Yuriko looked like she was about to break down and cry. But Rogue couldn't stop now. She had to end what she had started. It was inevitable. "And there was blood everywhere." She could now feel her own lips shaking as she talked. She couldn't help but feel affected by the sadness that emanated from Yuriko's eyes. "I don't know what happened to him," She continued. "But his face was covered with blood, and --- and there was so much blood on the wall. It was everywhere. It --- it was so horrible. It was so horrible…that ---"

"No…" Yuriko whispered. She stepped back, away from Logan and Rogue and shook her head from side to side.

She couldn't believe this was happening. This couldn't be happening --- not now that she had finally decided to set both her and Stryker free from the past. She finally had their future planned out…and now this? Was this fate's way of telling her that she could never have everything she wanted? Was this fate's way of imposing to her that dead friends stay 'dead', and that the past will always catch up with the present?

Logan turned towards Yuriko and took a step closer to her. "Yuriko…" He said in a concerned manner as he reached out to her. He wanted to comfort her. He wanted her to know that no matter what happened, he would always be there for her.

Yuriko suddenly clenched her hands into tight fists and cried out. "No!!!" She cried out, her face filled with so much pain and agony. She cried out as if she wanted the entire world to hear her pain. She shouted as if that would be her last cry. Then without saying another word, she suddenly stormed out of Logan's room.

"Yuriko, wait!" Logan tried to grab her, but she had already run out of the room before he could even touch her skin. He didn't expect her to run off like that.

Then Logan and Rogue immediately looked at each other. They both knew where she was headed. She was going to see Stryker with her own two eyes.

Yuriko ran down the hallway as fast as she could. She let her legs fly with each and every step. The only thing in her mind right now was the man named William Stryker…'her' William Stryker. She had to see him for herself. She needed to see him again, no matter how horrible the scenario was.

She could feel tears starting to form in her eyes again, as she remembered how Rogue described what she saw. She saw him, laying down in the bathtub, unmoving, with empty widened eyes, and a blood-covered face. Yuriko wanted to scream out loud. What happened to Stryker? Was he attacked? Why couldn't she have been there for him? Why didn't he call out to her? She could have been there for him if he did.

And aside from the blood, the description of Stryker's face made him seem as if he was in a state of shock. She couldn't think of any possible reasons that would render him into such a state…unless if he saw something…something…Was it his past? Did he see something in his past that had put him into that state of shock? Or maybe…he was starting to remember…he was starting to remember everything…

Yuriko could hear her quickened breaths as her eyes remained focused on the door at the end of the hallway. That was the door to the bathroom. That was where he saw her naked last night. And now, that was where he was…waiting for her with his empty eyes and blood-stained face. That was how she was going to see him for the last time --- and the thought alone was enough to make her cry. She didn't want to see her friend go like this. And she didn't know what she would do once she sees him for real.

She soon reached the door and she quickly grabbed onto its doorknob. In the blink of an eye, she hurriedly pushed the door open, and the sight that fell before her made her knees weaken and her chest tighten. She gasped with shock as she saw the still figure of Stryker in the bathtub. The sight was everything that Rogue described it. It was horrible. She felt as if she was looking at a living dead. His eyes were open, but he was looking at nothingness, as if he was looking at something that only he could see. His chest moved as he breathed, but he had no life left in him. He was as good as dead.

There was blood everywhere...the bathroom reeked with the smell of dry blood, and the smell made Yuriko want to puke. Her eyes wandered at the dark red fluid that ran down the white tiles on the wall beside the bathtub. The blood looked like Stryker had painted it there with his own bloody forehead. There was also blood smudged on the edges of the tub. She couldn't stand the sight anymore. It was too much.

Yuriko placed her hand over her mouth as she gasped again. The sight was too much for her bear. It pained her to see him like this. She leaned against the doorway and felt her tears starting to stream down her cheeks. Then sobs started to escape from her lips as she continued to look at him. She couldn't contain her sadness any longer. She had to cry. She had to let it all out. She couldn't accept why it had to end like this between them.

Why did she have to see her old friend again, only to lose him like this? Why like this, of all the ways? It hurt her so much, that she had found him again after a decade of losing him, only to find him laying in the bathtub like a slaughtered animal. She knew he didn't deserve any pity. She knew that the William Stryker who had enslaved her didn't deserve anyone to cry over them. But that man wasn't the William Stryker who had enslaved her. That man was her friend, and she loved him like a brother.

"William." She called out his name as she sobbed and cried her tears out. She could barely speak as her own sobs blocked the back of her throat. "William…" She called out again. She would do anything to see him react to her.

Then she pushed herself off the doorway and slowly walked towards him. The closer she got to, the more her tears flowed. It was terrible enough to see him like that when she was standing by the door way…and it was even worse now that she was seeing him so close. She fell on her knees beside the bathtub. She continued to cry as she looked down at his still face. What was going on in his head? What happened to him?

"Will?" She asked, sobbing. Her shoulders shook as she cried. It was the first time in her decade of existence that she had cried this hard. She never thought crying could hurt so much. It hurt more than being stabbed a thousand times…and she would rather go through so much physical pain, than endure another second of the pain that she was experiencing right now. So this was what it was like to be human. This was what it was like to be alive --- to feel pain and sorrow, and bear each and every ounce of it.

"William?" She asked again. The tears that streamed down from her cheeks trickled to the side of the tub. It rolled down and mixed with the blood that was smudged there.

But Stryker never responded. His empty eyes continued to look up into eternity.

Uncontrollable sobs continued to escape from her parted lips. And her tears showed no signs of ceasing. "William, please…Don't do this to me…please…" She begged.

Then she slowly climbed onto the bathtub and moved on top of him. She was on her knees on the tub, with her legs on either side of his. She never thought she'd see the day when she would beg for Stryker to come back into her life. Because right now, she would do anything to hear him speak her name, or look at her direction.

She couldn't really believe anything that was happening at the moment. For the past decade of her life, this man had tortured her. He controlled her…he tamed her as if she was his puppet. He treated her like his slave, as if she was nothing but his mindless doll --- his toy --- his 'thing'. And she hated him for it. She detested him for it. Every day that she spent with him, she wanted nothing more but to torture him and make him feel the pain she had felt ten times more. She wanted to carve her name on his chest and make him suffer for what he did to her. And when she first found him by the lake, half-dead and wounded, that hate burned strong than it ever did.

And now, two days later after the incident that reunited them, there she was, crying over him as if he was her long lost friend. There she was, on top of him, desiring nothing but to have him back in her life again. Life truly had its own twisted ways of playing out each person's role. In life, you don't know where you're going to be a second from now. Life surprises you…throws things at you that you don't expect. And most of all, life could be so cruel. It was to both her --- and him. Life made them meet, made them fight, made them love, and now it was going to tear them apart again.

She leaned down towards him and looked at his lifeless face. Her hands lay atop his chest as her face hovered above his. "You can't go like this, Will." She whispered. "You can't leave me like this, you understand?"

She gripped the front end of his shirt as she talked to him. "You can't just leave me like you did so many years ago. You can't just abandon me again." The word 'again' passed through her gritted teeth so imposingly. "…Because our story's not yet over. You hear me? It's not yet over. It's just begun, William, and you can't just go halfway before it even ends. Stories don't work that way. Characters don't just leave before their role is through. And your role in my life is not yet done. It's not yet done."

She could hear her voice mixing with her sobs and tears as she talked to her silent listener. Despite her words, she got nothing from him…Not a move of a finger or a blink of an eye, or a simple whisper to tell her that he heard her…nothing. He just lay there, as if he never heard a single word she just said. He lay still like a dreaming statue…a man who would forever dream dreams that only he would understand.

The tears that flowed from her eyes, tricked down his bloody face, and dampened the dry blood that smeared down his forehead.

She gently placed her hands on the side of his head, and slightly tilted his head up, so that his face was looking at her direction. Then she moved her face closer to him and pressed her forehead against his. Her eyes looked deep into his empty blue eyes, wishing to see a sign that he was still there --- listening to her, hearing her voice.

"Please, William…wake up." She whispered again. "I need you back --- so…so that I could tell you the good news." She forced a smile upon her lips as she looked into his barren eyes. "…Because I'm finally saying 'yes' to your request." She whispered.

"Remember last night when you asked me to set you free? Remember when you wanted to live a new life without a memory of your past? And then I said 'no'? I said no because I was thinking of no one but myself. I was thinking of only what I wanted. Well now I'm saying yes. I'm letting you go, Will. I'm saying yes! I'm giving you the new life you want. That's why I want you back --- so that I could give it to you myself." The tears from her eyes flowed harder as he continued to remain still in her hands. She knew he could hear nothing of what she was saying, and that tortured her.

"And I know that it's going to make you happy because it's what you want. It's what you want, right? You wanted me to say 'yes'…and I'm saying it now. Yes, Will! Yes, I'm going to give you the new life you deserve." She could feel her hands pressing against the side of his head so firmly. "Just…just talk to me. Anything, please...say my name…just say my name!" She shouted through gritted teeth.

She couldn't take this any longer. She felt like she was talking to lifeless object. She felt so powerless, pouring her soul out on someone who couldn't hear her. Why didn't she just let him go last night? If she did, then none of this would have happened. They could both be living their new lives by now, free from the shackles of the past that haunted them both. If only she had realized this sooner. If only.

But it was too late for that now…for time waits for no one. Last night, she had the time to set him free, but that time had already passed…and now was now the time for her to accept the present. He was now slipping away from her and it was all her fault. When she said no to him last night, she became the villain in the story --- she became the dictator of his fate, the puppeteer of his life, just like he was to her before.