A/N: Okay. A new chapter for those of you who still care for this story. Enjoy. Its very close to the end.

CHAPTER 62 – Fired End

Tristian awoke groggily and was aware of the booming and crashing noises around him. For a moment he forgot where he was and then it all came rushing back to him. Frost. The basement. Bobby and Rogue…Jean. Tristian snapped back up to his feet quicker than he should have. He staggered against the wall he had earlier crashed against as the nauseating dizziness washed over him. He brought a hand to his head to try and steady the rattling in it and came back with blood on his fingertips.

Brushing the cut aside for now he searched the basement for Jean, trying to catch her scent. Anything that would lead him to her. He heard blasts coming from different sides, saw Stryfe get taken down by Wolverine's claws, no match to them in the end. But he had no sign of Jean.

He followed to a block of shelves and spotted her fifty feet away. He let out a sigh of relief to find her unharmed until he heard the haggard breathing in the dark, saw the giant shadow of the creature that lurked closer to her in hunger.

"JEAN!" He yelled her name. Startled she spun around and stared at him, her eyes widened.

"Behind you!" she yelled at him.

It should have been him warning her to look behind, not the other way around. He glanced behind him to get hit with Frost's psychic blast. He hit the wall to his left and slid down in a daze. Somewhere in the fog he heard Jean's startled gasp as she found what stood behind her. He twisted his head to see Emplate banging on her shield that she had drawn up, wincing with each blow. She was strong, but he was hungry and nothing came between him and his hunger, Tristian knew that from experience.

Tristian got to his feet and started to move to Jean, but didn't make it three steps, much less fifty feet. Frost threw him back. "Ah, ah, you're not going anywhere," she traced her finger down his cheek, wiping some of the blood clear. "You are going to stay right here and watch the show with me as another one of the girl's you love dies. You'll watch her die just as you watched you're little red headed Bonnie die. You'll feel that pain again as it rips through you then you'll be mine. Nothing will stop us."

Tristian watched helplessly as Emplate kept banging down Jean's shield, closer and closer to getting his hands on her and doing what he had done to Bonnie so many years ago. He felt the defeat run through him, felt the helplessness wash through every pore of him.

He closed his eyes and saw Bonnie in his mind, saw her lifeless body as the life faded from her green eyes. And then he felt it. The same rage filled pain that had caused him to kill so many, felt it wash through. This time when he opened his eyes they were black with silver centers. Shadow Fire was back, but Tristian was in control of this other half when he had been so lost to its power before.

He shifted those eyes to Frost and saw hers flicker with fear. He smiled and broke loose of her psychic hold. She held her hand out, stopping him. Tristian pushed past her barriers, slipping through one step at a time. Frost pushed harder and he took a step back and summoned his energy, thrusting it out with enough force to send her staggering back against the very wall she had thrown him into. She let out a gasp as he slipped his hand around her throat and pulled her closer to his dark eyes.

"We will never be together because I am so much stronger than you will ever wish to be. My power will never be yours," he spoke quietly but still menacing enough to draw the fear into her.

She smiled to his surprise. "You're power will never be mine, but I still win." Jean's scream emphasized this point.

Tristian turned his head to see Emplate with his hand around Jean's throat, the glow surrounding him as he mutated her DNA. Emplate let out a shrieky scream of his own that Tristian had never heard, but he wasn't focusing on the creature. He was focused on Jean struggling, getting weaker.

He was thrown off balance by Frost's sudden burst of power. He rolled on his side and saw her running in the other direction. With a growl he sprang after her, tackling her down. Another hand grabbed him from behind and he turned, flipping the other over his shoulder. It was Caliban. Before her pet could do anything more, Tristian wrapped his hands around his neck and jerked it, snapping the bones with grace and ease. Caliban fell face first, dead.

Frost let out a low moan as Tristian grabbed her by her throat. "For everything you caused me. For everything you've done to so many people. For Bonnie…for Jean…for me," with those words he let his power flow into her, let the fire burn. Frost opened her mouth and screamed as she began to burn from the inside out, as his fire liquefied her insides, starting with the less vital to the more excruciating.

She went limp beneath him as her scream died and he let her go, let her lifeless form fall to the ground next to her loyal pet. She looked as beautiful in death as she had in life, she was just no longer a threat now. Everyone she had ever hurt or killed or tortured was free of the painful memory. But he still felt no relief for Bonnie. She was still dead, nothing could change that.

Tristian blinked a few times, eyes going back to their natural blue as he turned around and headed back the way he came. To where Jean's screams no longer reigned.