"Vhat da…" Kurt looked around.

The lighthouse was in ruins.

The phoenix battle and Brian's rescue effort continued.

Small fires dotted the lighthouse in places and Kurt searched for Lucy, Forge, Alistaire or Kitty.

Where could they… But Kurt suddenly stopped when his eyes fell upon… His body.

The explosion had blown dust in to his open eyes and he could see a thick coat of dust that had adhered to them in the blast.

Oh, no… He felt an un-natural terror seize him. I'm dead…

He cast his eyes back to the battle between Rachael and Jean.

She killed me. Jean did it… I can see now – it was no accident she arrived here tonight. This reeks of Watts! If only…

If only.

He grimaced. Is there anything I can do from here?

"I'm not sure myself yet." Came the reply.

Kurt spun in place. "Wilson!"

Wilson smiled sadly. "I went right after you."

Kurt's eyes went wide with sorrow. "I'm so sorry we should have protected you we're…"

But Wilson held up his hand. "It's okay. Really. My life, my responsibility."

Kurt dropped his eyes and Wilson clasped him on the shoulder. "Really." Wilson told him.

Kurt nodded and raised his head slowly, his eyes widening in shock.

"Tell me about it." Lucy replied to Kurt's expression. "She killed me too."

She cast her eyes to the rubble. "Forge is under there… Under… Me." She swallowed, her eyes stinging in regret. "And after all the times I …" She began to cry and her voice trailed off. "… I thought he'd go first… and leave me."

"This is so wrong." Wilson shook his head. "All of it." He reached over and casually wiped a tear from Lucy's cheek and smiled at her consolingly.

"T-thank.. you." She said, realizing she was crying and wiping her other eye herself while her face knotted from fighting back the tears.

"No problem." He shrugged.

Kurt was staring at the battle and an explosion flared in silver across the sky. It was so bright that Kurt, Lucy and Wilson looked away and shielded their eyes against the flare.

It was a huge sphere of shifting colored light in the sky that roared like the surface of a star.

"What just happened?" Brian looked hesitantly around his hand and then blocked the image again.

"Someone just won." Betsy said, not looking away from the blast and only squinting against it.

Emma, still freeing Brian had not looked up until now.

Her eyes met the glow and she could see nothing but gold…

That happens when you stare directly in to the telekinetic blast that was aimed right at you.

Emma's head snapped back and to the right. Her neck crumbled under the pressure and the blast tore open her skull, blowing off an eye and some of her brain.

She hit the floor on her back, her head propped part under her shoulder and looking away with it's one good eye – that could see the blood that must have come out her face seeping away from her across the floor.

And Emma felt her heart beat – six and one half more times.

"Ahhh!" Emma sat up quickly and looked around in a panic.

Kurt smiled in apology for having gotten her killed. She jumped up.

"I'm dead." She said looking down at her body. "I died."

"Join the club." Lucy said bitterly.

And suddenly the shadows began to shift around the room and black lightning began to impact around them.

"What the?" Wilson held out his hand as if checking for rain.

And then a bolt slammed down in the middle of them and they each had to dive for cover – but Emma had been the target.

"It's after me!" She said, feeling the lightning as though it were trying to claw a message out of her chest to tell the lightning where to strike.

"What?" Kurt peeked out from behind a rock.

And another bold landed just where Emma had leapt from an instant before.

She tore over to the edge and drew up short, her arms flailing to keep her balance as she wondered if the fall would kill her.

And another bolt of the black lightning struck the lighthouse just below her feet.

"Eep!" She squeaked in a high pitched tone.

"Whoa." Lucy's eyes opened wide. "It's after her!"

Kurt teleported and snatched her back from the edge, then teleported again, bringing her to the bottom of the tower.

"They'll be back." Lucy crossed her arms.

"Probably." Wilson nodded. "What… Ummm…"

"Evil." Lucy nodded. "Nice enough, really, but… Evil."

Wilson nodded in understanding. "Pretty though."

Lucy crossed her arms tighter across her chest and pouted slightly.

Wilson was watching Jean swoop in for another attack. And didn't notice. "But really, her breasts are too big… Or she should wear more. She looks like a trollop that way."

Lucy smiled, beamed really, her arms swinging down to her sides, her thumbs catching on her pockets and her demeanor relaxing completely. "Thank – YOU!" She shook her head and rolled her eyes while gesturing with her right hand. "This is all I'm saying."

Kurt teleported to the mainland and then in a string of Bamfs – each one followed by multiple bolts of the black lightning.

Emma watched it following them.

She licked her lips nervously and spun on Kurt.

She kissed him hard and slipped her tongue playfully in to his mouth to say good-bye…

And then she pushed off him as he went to teleport and he vanished, a surprised and shocked look upon his face.

She threw back her arms and her head, raised her eyes to the sky. "Come get me." She whispered without thinking and the bolt ran through her in an instant.

Kurt's head whipped towards it as he appeared, the bolt already striking. "NOOOOOOOOOO!" He shouted. "No." He said more softly, reaching for her… "No." He said again, this time as though in agreement. "I guess not." He said softly, realizing he had dropped to his knees.

He looked down and realized his hand was no longer reaching but now on his heart.

I should have tried harder the first time around… She could have changed sides earlier, done more good, if only…

A flickering passed over him and congealed in to Wilson. He looked concerned. "I saw." He admitted. "And I'm sorry." He offered Kurt his hand and Kurt swallowed once in grief and then took it.

"Me too." He sighed, his eyes wet with glowing tears.

Kurt began walking towards where it happened.

Wilson looked nervous – as though he was worried about Kurt's emotional state as well as what they might see when they get there.

Lucy stared up in wonder. When the explosion had finished it had left a million tiny specks of light stretched out along the horizon.

One by one they had began to move together towards a central point.

They swirled like a great golden version of a black hole and they took form in the center – the form of a giant golden bird – that cradled one of it's claws in the other – and in the other was astral, glowing form of Rachael Grey.