Sorry for the extremely late update, but I've been thinking about this for a while now, and am planning for this to be the last chapter. If there are requests, I may plan to write a sequel about what happens after the story ends. Once again, I say thank you to all the people who have stayed by my side these times and encouraged me to keep writing, and you have Frankie to thank for this update. Here ya go, Frank.
Chapter 7
Death turned to face Rogue and Kurt now. There was a flame of white-hot fury and evil and cruelty burning in her eyes that Kurt had never seen before.
"Your friend is dead." She told them amusedly.
"No no no no no…" Rogue whispered frantically. "This ain't happenin'…" She was extremely upset. The woman who had raised her most of her life was now dead. Death began to step towards them.
"Mother, don't do this…" Kurt pleaded. Cyclops ran out of the jet while Logan yelled behind him to stop.
"Back off, lady!" Cyclops yelled as he blasted at Mystique.
"Scott!" Kurt yelled. They all watched as the smoke cleared to reveal Death was no longer there.
"Where'd she go?" Scott asked, searching around with his eyes. Suddenly, there was a noise behind Scott, and he whirled around and blasted aimlessly on instinct. It hit nothing but an old bulldozer, which flew backwards on impact.
"Sc-Scott! Look out!" Rogue yelled, but it was too late. Death knocked Scott out effortlessly, as Jean watched horrifyingly on.
"Scott!" She cried, flying out of the jet while Logan yelled for her to stop also.
"DON'T DO IT, JEAN!" Logan roared, but to no avail. Jean sailed down to Scott's unconscious body, and used her gift to throw Death across the construction site. She held Scott's limp body up and gently kissed his cheek.
"Jean, get Scott out of here! Take the X-Jet and regroup at the Mansion!" Rogue ordered. Jean hesitated.
"We can't just leave you!" Jean told them. Kurt shook his head insistently.
"Go! Me and Rogue can handle ourselves!" Kurt urged. Jean nodded sadly and flew herself and Scott back up to the now hovering X-Jet. Kurt helped Rogue up, who had since wiped away her tears. They nodded to each other, sister and brother, partners in crime, and faced their mother as the X-Jet roared away.
"So, you're all that's left now, eh?" Death cackled. "Don't you dare think…that this will be easy (1)." She flew at them at top speed.
High above this, the unknown watcher known as Marko Wagner wrestled with his conscience.
"No, you vill not go save those two mutants. He is not your son." He told himself, watching the two mutants far below being completely overwhelmed by his ex-wife's body, not mind. "Ach, Wagner, you are too soft." And with that, Marko drew two swords from behind his back (2) and teleported down into the fray.
Kurt was surprised when he saw a red man with two swords appear in smoke and light between him, his sister, and his mother out of nowhere.
"Who are you?" He tried to ask, but he found his mouth was too dry.
Death did not like the glare the man was sending her. She had stopped dead in her tracks.
"Move, demon." She hissed.
"Ve vill see who the demon is vhen you die, Raven." Marko merely said and he threw the swords back into their place, grabbed the shoulders of both confused teenagers, and used his more advanced teleporting abilities to transport them away. Death's hand, now in the form of a knife, stabbed nothing but purple and black smoke as she struck a jiffy too late (3). She screamed an inhuman shriek into the dying sunlight.
She turned to stare angrily at the setting sun. The wind ruffled gently through her fiery mane of hair.
"My master calls me…" She said into the silence as she continued her journey to Egypt.
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Kurt and Rogue found themselves in Kurt's room in the mansion, a strange man behind them. Rogue was the first to speak.
"Who are you?" She whirled around to see the red devil with dark eyes.
"You vish to know?" Marko whispered quietly.
Rogue stared into Marko's face and hair and every feature she could see, and saw Kurt in every aspect.
"You're Kurt's father, aren't you?" Rogue asked warily.
Kurt was shocked. He jumped back as he studied the resemblances.
"Ja, I am Kurt's father." Marko put a sickened stress on the last word.
"You are my father? Vhere vere you all these years? Vhy have you forgotten me?" Kurt had a landslide of questions to ask, but Marko's expression made it clear that this was not the time to talk about it. They ran to find the Professor, neither Kurt nor Rogue wondered how Marko knew his way around the mansion. They found Xavier, Jean, and Logan caring for Scott in the Infirmary.
"Is he going to be okay?" Kitty asked hurriedly as she phased in with a wet, steaming cloth.
"Yes, Kitty, he'll be fine." The Professor told her calmly. He noticed Rogue, Kurt and the stranger walk in.
"Welcome Marko." Xavier greeted coldly.
"Alvays good to meet old friends, right, Xavier?" Marko grunted.
"Hardly." Xavier and Marko glared across at each other.
"You two know each other?" Rogue asked, confused.
"You could say that, Fraulein." Marko muttered.
"You knew he vas my father and you never told me!" Kurt turned on the Professor.
"Kurt, this is not the time. The final battle is approaching and we must be ready." The Professor gave the last word. "Go prepare yourselves."
Kurt and Rogue still stayed together, stomping off to find something to do. They walked off into the Danger Room, finding no one there. Marko suddenly appeared in front of Kurt and Rogue.
"Vhat do you vant?" Kurt asked sourly.
"Number one, who is this Fraulein you keep going around vith, son?" Marko asked.
"You have no right to call me son. And she is my sister." Kurt angrily responded. Marko nodded. "Now answer my question." Kurt insisted.
"Vell, the fight against Raven approaches, and I vish for my son to not make a fool of himself trying to fight blindly." Marko answered.
"He doesn't fight blindly. He fights like an X-Man, but ya'll wouldn't know that, now would ya?" Rogue said.
"I vant to teach you the art of sword fighting, son." Marko said to Kurt, ignoring Rogue.
"Don't call me son." Kurt hissed again.
"Fine." Marko agreed. "But allow me to teach you the art of swords." Kurt thought about this, and reluctantly nodded. He turned to look at Kurt's Goth sister. "I suppose your sister can learn too." He said.
"Nah thanks. Ah got mah own way ta fight." Rogue refused. Kurt teleported himself and Marko down into the Danger Room while Rogue watched on from the Observation Deck. Marko handed Kurt his two precious swords, and Rogue watched as they performed what looked as a graceful sword dance.
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"You ready, brothah?" Rogue asked Kurt, who stood beside her in front of the X-Jet's front window.
"Of course." Kurt murmured. He had his right hand loosely feeling one of the swords attached to his belt.
"We're approaching now." Scott's voice rang out through the flying aircraft. The only occupants were Kurt, Rogue, Scott, and Logan. It would be too dangerous to bring many other people. Kurt looked out the window to see endless sand, constantly shifting. Rogue pointed out a huge Pyramid that stood out in the approaching wasteland.
"That must be it!" Rogue cried. Scott took the jet down at Logan's command. They landed a mile away, with the pyramid still in their view.
"Vhy are ve landing here?" Kurt asked.
"If we get too close Apocalypse will know we're here. Easier to take him by surprise." Logan grunted. Everyone held onto Kurt's shoulders as he teleported them up closer. His heart pumped hard. His revenge was close, his mother's salvation mere moments away. Logan eventually found the entrance, and they carefully stalked into the dark chambers.
The pyramid was different than others, though. I had one huge chamber instead of many little ones in a maze. This one huge chamber had test tubes and strange machines none of them had ever seen before. Suddenly, something pounced onto Wolverine and proceeded to smash him into a wall.
"Wolverine!" Scott tried to yell, but Kurt quickly wrapped a hand over his mouth, the fur tickling Scott's lips.
"Shh!" Kurt hissed.
"Oh, do not worry, Nightcrawler. I knew you were here." A booming laugh came out of the darkness as Apocalypse stepped out of the shadows.
"YOU!" Kurt and Rogue bellowed. Rogue tried to jump on him and attack his head, but Apocalypse threw her off. Kurt took this chance to grab his swords. He spun them expertly and hit Apocalypse against a wall while Scott and Rogue dealt with Death. Rogue quickly tried to absorb Apocalypse, but it only weakened him.
"You cannot beat me!" Apocalypse boomed.
Rogue and Kurt nodded to one another and both did jump kicks to Apocalypse's mid-section, flinging him efficiently through a column. Apocalypse rasped as his weakened body began to exhaust. Kurt threw a sword to Rogue. Together, they screamed loud and drove the weapons into Apocalypse, ending his life forever.
The mental link to Apocalypse broken, Death faded away and Mystique came to. She collapsed into Logan arms.
"It's over." Kurt said aloud.
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Back in the Mansion, Rogue and Kurt sat beside Mystique's bed for two days straight, different mutants bringing them food at regular intervals.
On the third day, Mystique arose.
"Wha-what happened?" She groaned as she rubbed her blue forehead. She saw Rogue and Kurt, tears in their eyes, crouched beside her bed.
"We love you, Mama." Rogue cooed as her and Kurt leaned over for a hug. Mystique's eyes leaked horribly, her golden eyes shining brightly.
"I-I love you too…" She mumbled, ruffling both their hair at once. She thought carefully about everything she could remember, and stared into her children's eyes.
"Would you two like to live with me?" Mystique asked carefully. "I know it's a big step, but we could be a family…"
Kurt and Rogue smiled to each other. Their dreams weren't impossible after all.
The mismatched family of mutants sat together on the small white medical bed, all crying and hugging. Rogue realised something. She dreaded telling her.
"Mama…Irene's…dead." She murmured. Mystique's gasp of shock said it all.
"No…" Mystique cried tears of sadness now.
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Epilogue
Mystique, Rogue, and Kurt sat on the edge of the cliff overlooking the body of water around the Mansion. Mystique scattered the ashes to the winds and they shared a moment of silence for Mystique's comrade who died at her own hands. They walked together, off into the Mansion, through the setting sun. The Professor's made a deal with Mystique. Mystique managed to get her job back as acting Principal of Bayville High, so the family all went to the school. Mystique bought a house near the Institute, so that after school Rogue and Kurt would come for two hour training and hanging out, and lived at Mystique's new house. Mystique still took care of the Brotherhood Boys; she had to. But her children had changed her way of life. She became a Spy for the X-Men. And the family of mutants who were once ripped apart by hate and anger was brought together by a tragedy.
The End
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(1)-Oooh, a Soul Calibur 3 Setsuka quote.
(2)-Comic Kurt used double swords for weapons, and now his dad shal teach him how to use them!
(3)-Believe it or not, but a jiffy is an actual unit of measuring time, meaning a hundredth of a second.
Well, -sniff- that's my first fic done. I thank all of you again for all the nice reviews youve given me.