500 Miles Hellfire 2
By Princess Alexandria
Raven didn't manage to sleep at all. The alarm went off in her darkened bedroom and she just rolled out of bed, grateful for the end of the night. She dressed, double checked her bag for everything she wanted to bring, and slipped out the door.
It took effort to think about the painting and what she was going to work on this morning. It would be the third morning she'd spent with Emma, and she didn't dread it like she had in the beginning. She didn't look forward to it in any way, but Raven was relatively sure that she'd be leaving unharmed now. She didn't wonder about that. Now Emma, on the other hand, might just get injured one of these times.
The doorman didn't even stop her when Raven walked up to the building, he just waved her past. She didn't know how she felt about that. She didn't want to be such a regular part of Emma's life that she was expected. She didn't want to be a part of that woman's life at all.
She pushed the button for the elevator and stared at the closed doors. Ellie was going to come to her today and Raven had to find an answer, to solve this problem. She didn't want to run, which was one solution to the problem, to take the people she cared about and run. This country, with all its flaws, was still the safest one she'd found. Her eyes glowed openly and no one tried to kill her for it. Ellie had to be wrong. She was young, inexperienced, she could make a mistake. Raven sighed and stepped into the elevator when it opened. She really wanted to believe that, but the nervous shaky feeling inside of her wouldn't let it go.
Emma opened the door wearing a robe and Raven eyed the woman suspiciously for a moment. "I slept in." Emma moved into the apartment, leaving Raven to close the door. "Give me a few minutes and I'll be ready."
"I'll just set up." Raven looked at the short robe and blinked just a little as Emma reached up in a cupboard to pull some of her coffee down. The woman's robe almost rose up a bit too high. Raven turned and busied herself with pulling out her paints and brushes.
"Waking up at this hour doesn't get any easier with practice." Emma said while Raven could hear the woman pouring the water into the coffee maker. "Of course, you dear take it to a new level." Emma's voice seemed closer and Raven looked up to see Emma staring at her. "You move like you haven't slept in years. Problems?" The blonde actually asked. Raven just stared at her for a moment, her mind just a little too fuzzy to come up with a quick response.
"Just change. I want to get this damned painting over with." Raven turned back to her canvas and took in the way the subject, which was Emma, was nearly done. The background was barely filled in, only in places where Emma touched it.
"Grumpy, but then again you always are grumpy. Perhaps nothing has changed." The sounds of the coffee grinder filled the room as Emma returned her attention to her task.
Emma was Ellie's teacher, Raven thought for a moment and stared at the paints she'd set out for the day. God, she hated this, but this was more important than Raven and Emma's past. "Ellie told me something last night." Raven spoke while turning around to face Emma again.
"Oh, so she did tell you." Emma pulled out two coffee cups, again having to stretch and Raven shook her head. The woman really needed to buy a longer robe. That one did nothing to protect the woman's nonexistent modesty. "The end of the world." Emma just shook her head, as if the girl had said something truly stupid. "I'm sorry, but even I am not that unlucky."
Raven ground her teeth for a moment. Her words were tense and slow. "Ellie said everyone was going to die."
"And the last time I checked this city wasn't named Pompeii. We don't even have a volcano, and while I don't particularly like the man, Magneto is the most powerful mutant in the world. There are few that would tempt fate by going against him now."
"He isn't a god." Raven sighed. "And Ellie is pretty powerful herself."
"She's still a child learning her powers."
"She may be learning telepathy, but her precog abilities are already good." Raven looked toward the coffee pot, her eyes seeing her first meeting with Ellie. "She knew my real name was Christine right away. She knew I'd get the job at the gym. She's good Emma, really good." And why didn't Emma know this?
"There is a big difference between predicting a job opening and a huge unnamed disaster. She has few details and I'm inclined to think it's nightmares." Emma really didn't care. Raven stared at her, somehow still managing to be shocked by the woman and her ability to be in denial. There would be no help here. Raven turned back to her painting, dismissing Emma from her attention, rather than go into a rant. What did she expect the blonde to help? That was ridiculous.
Raven took the cup of coffee Emma offered her and took a careful sip of the hot drink as she stared out the window at the sun just starting to peek over the water. "I'll work on the background while you get ready."
"You do that." Emma took her own cup and sipped at it when Raven looked over at her. "Would you mind if I watched you paint from here for a little bit?"
"Fine, whatever." Raven muttered and started to mix her paints. She wanted to be ready to capture the waters outside of the window once the sun broke free of the horizon. The ocean was a very intriguing subject for Raven, so intriguing that she'd been spending a lot of time staring at it lately. Once the sun did rise Raven forgot she had an audience completely.
Raven was working on creating the glint of the sun on the waters and was very focused as she used her small brush. Emma's voice almost startled her and Raven glanced over to see the blonde dressed in white pants and a halter top. It showed off the muscle definition in her arms. "I noticed you were a bit absorbed in your work, so I just got ready for work. I have a meeting in a half hour anyhow." Emma smiled just a little and glanced at the canvas. "You are so intense when you paint." The woman moved closer and looked at the canvas. Raven was a little embarrassed at how she'd forgotten Emma was there. Emma's subtle perfume was the same she used to wear, Raven thought distractedly as the telepath studied the canvas. "You have real talent Raven." The blonde's hand rested on Raven's back as Emma looked at her work and Raven's back tensed up instantly.
"Don't touch me." Her voice was cold.
Emma took a step back and stared at Raven, her smile quickly gone. "I was going to leave, but if you wanted you could stay and paint for a while." Emma crossed her arms in front of her. "I'll leave the key with you so you can lock up when you go." Raven felt a bit of apprehension at being left in Emma's place alone. It hinted to a level of trust that just wasn't there. "I can pick it up when I work out."
"I'm not working today." Raven glanced down at the key Emma was holding out for her. Access to this place without Emma there would mean Raven could finish this painting up faster, she realized suddenly and reached out to take the key. "Can I drop it off at your work?" She could finish the window view which would really speed up her work. The sun should be in view a while longer.
"My classroom is 436. Just bring it right in." Emma smiled and Raven could feel the trap in it, but pocketed the key anyhow.
"What are you planning?" She just asked, rather than worry.
"I teach telepathy for the first two periods of the day and if you could drop by I could show my students an example of an unreadable." Raven felt the brush of a mind against her shield, a touch she hadn't felt since Christy and her escaped that hellhole. "It is a rare power to be completely unreadable. Even Christy wasn't as shielded as you are."
"She could have been." Raven's eyes fell from Emma's just a little as she remembered the one time Christy had lowered that shield, the reason Emma would say Christy's shield was different.
"You know I tried don't you?" Emma spoke very quietly. "I kept trying to pull two of you out of there but she was the only one that I could."
"I don't want to talk about this." Raven's hand gripped at the paintbrush so tightly it wouldn't surprise her if it broke. "Never, and never with you."
"And who else could even begin to understand?" Emma asked and Raven raised her head and glared at her, hatred evident on her face. "Fine, bring me the keys before nine." Emma stepped back and grabbed a coat as she walked toward the door. "But you need to realize that glaring and snipping at me isn't very attractive. I'm actually willing to help you Raven. That was the mistake I made the first time, not helping, and I won't make that mistake again."
"I don't want your help." Raven watched the telepath grab her purse.
"Well," Emma's smile was cold. "It's a good thing I'm not the type to ask permission then isn't it?" Raven's jaw dropped, stunned as she heard those words. Emma had the front door opened before Raven could actually speak.
"You fucking bitch."
"Nine O'clock Raven." Emma didn't even look at her. "Or I'll be dropping by your place to visit. I know you don't want that."
Raven stared after the woman and almost marched out of the apartment herself, just leaving her painting half done, but Emma would show up at her place if she tried to avoid her and Ellie needed Raven to stick around right now. Raven wanted to scream her frustration, but instead she grabbed her coffee cup and threw it into the kitchen, hearing it shatter.
She tried. She put in a serious effort, but it wasn't an hour until she gave up. Emma pissed her off too much and her painting now would ruin rather than finish this work. Raven kicked the remains of the coffee cup out of her way as she stepped into the kitchen to clean up. If it bounced off the wall and shattered more, well, it would be more shards that could hopefully find their way into Emma's bare feet, Raven thought viciously.
Fifteen minutes later Raven had her hand in her pocket, gripping that damned key in her fist, as she walked toward the High School. She could see a few students straggling in the same direction, and Raven took a few breaths to try and calm down as she looked at them. Marching into the school and yelling at Emma would be nice, if Raven could guarantee that Emma wouldn't turn it around and completely humiliate Raven, but she would. If Raven went in there for battle, Emma would completely disembowel her verbally and Raven knew it. There was no way Raven wanted witnesses to that. No, Raven would wait and the next time she had Emma alone, Raven's thoughts became violent as she fantasized about walking into Emma's apartment and slamming that woman up against a wall hard enough to stun her into silence. Raven took the stairs two at a time as her mind filled in Emma's shocked expression as Raven slammed her into the wall again. Raven's breathing was a little faster as she ran her mental tape faster, seeing Emma fall to her knees, with Raven's fist tangled in her hair, hurting her. Raven shoved the high school doors opened and moved toward the elevator.
It was the same fantasy she'd had a few times already, but never so vividly.
The elevator was filled with a few stragglers wanting to go to class and Raven did her best to calm down as she stood still waiting for the right floor.
She was still marching a little too fast down the hall when she heard it, Ellie's voice coming from a classroom. Raven slowed down as she approached room 436, suddenly unsure. She hadn't even considered that Ellie would be in there. She didn't want to worry Ellie, the girl had enough worries right now. Raven took a moment to take a deep breath as she listened to her friend talk.
"Ms. Frost, you think everything is just a joke." Ellie sounded irritated with her teacher. Raven smiled just a little at Ellie taking Emma to task and Raven moved to be able to look in the door to see this. "But I had the same 'nightmare' fifty times last night." The amusement left Raven's face and she stepped into the room. A few students looked over at her but Emma and Ellie were too busy looking at each other. "And I'm having it right now." Ellie turned to look at Raven and her eyes were so sad. Her voice softened. "Don't scream in small spaces Raven. I'm so sorry. I'm having that dream right now."
"Ellie." Raven ignored Emma's slight surprise at her being there now and the kids looking at her and Ellie.
"Everybody's gonna die," Raven felt a jolt from her powers and her eyes widened. She started forward quickly as the jolt kept hitting her. The explosion tossed Raven backwards, her eyes seeing glass flying through the room and she could see a hand on the floor as she hit the wall. Her vision went dark and Raven fought it as hard as she could. Ellie needed her, her mind screamed, but she didn't.
The whimpers pulled her out of the darkness.
"Not again, not again. Not again."
"My hands."
"Raven, pull it in." Ellie's raspy voice sounded strained, but it called to Raven. "use your powers, please. Please, Raven use your powers." Raven was already being bombarded by death, but she lowered her shields just moments before blackness hit her again.
There was a soft glow to the room. Raven opened her eyes and wished she could just wake up from the nightmare. Christy was broken in front of her, dried blood on the ground beside her. Raven looked away and saw arms, legs, scattered around the room. She looked back and stared at Christy. No. Raven's eyebrows drew together as she took in subtle details in the strange glow of the room. The hair was too long, and Christy's body looked like it was just skin, a suit dropped after being worn. An insane giggle escaped her lips as she stared. A Christy suit, some random movie quote ran through her mind. Movie. She'd seen that movie with Terrance. Will Smith was cool.
Waves of death continued to batter at Raven's already fragile mind and she shook with each one.
"No, oh god no." A whispered plea drew Raven's eyes slowly to the left and she stared blankly at the glistening woman staring with horror at the room. The beams of the building pinned the woman to the wall, unable to move. "No, no, no." Emma sounded so quiet. Raven turned slowly and looked at the rest of the room.
Ellie lay in the middle of the room, draped over the remains of desks and Raven took a shaky step toward her, falling slowly to her knees beside the girl, but she didn't touch. She just stared blankly at the large pieces of glass and blood. No. Emma's whimpers only served to increase Raven's panic and she whimpered as she lowered her head onto Ellie's chest, being careful to not touch the glass.
"No." Raven muttered. "No." She leaned back and opened her mouth, but she stopped and shook violently as she fought the urge to scream out her denial. Death hit her, so much death.
What the hell was happening?
Ellie took in a rasping breath and Raven's eyes widened in shock. Alive. It forced Raven to stop staring and to reach up to touch Ellie's throat. Alive. Maybe. Raven looked at the blood under Ellie and felt real fear threaten to leave her in a crying ball.
"Raven, is that you?" Emma's voice sounded just as stunned as Raven was. Raven turned to look at Emma, taking in the shimmer to Emma's skin. "Kneeling, you kneel like that, but you're dead." Raven saw Emma glance over at the wall where Raven could see a body suit body. Raven giggled again at the thought, knowing it wasn't funny but unable to control herself. Raven looked down at her own arm and noticed the white glow. Her giggles stopped as she held up her arm and stared.
"Bright lady." She whispered so quietly she barely heard it herself as Ellie's other vision came true. The bright lady, Raven looked over at the shimmer on Emma's skin, and the shiny one. Raven looked around at the bodies and the blood and realized that she was the only light in the room. Raven started to giggle again, but it took just seconds to turn into racking sobs. Her body shook with the effort to do it all silently.
……………
"Raven." Emma's voice called to her and Raven just curled up into herself more. "Raven." Emma's voice was more commanding. "Ellie is calling for you."
"Ellie?" Her voice was a raspy whisper and Raven lifted her head to look toward the girl. Ellie's hand was moving just a little, reaching toward Raven. Raven crawled over broken wood and other things she refused to notice to kneel beside Ellie again. "Ellie." She reached a shaking hand out to touch the girl.
"Raven," Ellie had tears in her eyes. "I'm scared." And it felt like water had been dropped over Raven's body. She forced herself to look at the girl as if there were no shards sticking out of her. The feel of Ellie's blood on the floor was ignored as Raven struggled to pull herself together.
"I'm here." She whispered and leaned down to lightly brush her lips over Ellie's. "I won't leave you."
"You look so different." Ellie touched Raven's hand. "So bright." Her voice was soft, quiet, sad.
"Glass," Ellie looked around at the glass on the ground near her, her tone was one of someone piecing together a mystery. Raven could still feel death hitting her and she tried, she really tried to block it out, but her shield couldn't do it. Her body shook as she gently brushed some hair out of Ellie's face.
"Raven," Emma's voice seemed so loud in the room and Raven felt like she was being shaken out of a dream. "Stop staring and do something. If you can't, get over here and help me."
Raven stared at Ellie helplessly. She knew no one would be coming to help them. She could feel everyone else dying, and there was no way, no way, to save this girl that meant so much to her.
"Raven." Emma's voice became firm, commanding. "Come." Raven slowly turned her head to look at the wall that Emma had been pinned to. "Come." Emma said again.
Raven's mouth opened for a moment, but no words came to her. She stared at Emma blankly.
"Raven, don't make me punish you." Emma spoke with a hint of cruelty and flashes of memories played in Raven's mind. Her body slowly started to move, to stand. "That's it, come here."
Raven moved to stand in front of Emma and looked down, before realizing what she was doing and then Raven looked up into Emma's eyes. "I'm not a slave." Her voice was soft but firm.
"No, but you are standing around helplessly." Emma glanced at the beam holding her down. Her voice softened and became a whisper, while Emma glanced toward Ellie. "You have to be brave for her, like you were for Christy. You can do it." Emma struggled against the weight pinning her to reach out a hand to touch Raven's skin. It caused beams of light to litter the walls, being reflected off of Emma. Raven just blinked at the touch. "See if you can stop the bleeding."
Raven nodded and glanced at the beam holding Emma still. The weight of it should have crushed the blondes chest, killed her. She didn't bother commenting on it as she turned around and took a deep breath. It felt like she hadn't been breathing until that moment, and the taste of blood in the air was thick. Raven glanced around at bodies in the corners, piled in the back, and she could see someone twitching. God, they weren't all dead yet. She moved toward the boy and could see his blank eyes, but he was breathing and clutching is hands to his body with his stumps of arms as if they would save him. His body was in parts and he held them together to him like they were a teddy bear.
"Oh god, sweetheart." She whispered and started to kneel beside him, but she heard Ellie cough and it drew her attention back to Ellie. She couldn't do this alone. She couldn't keep them both company while they died.
Ellie's wounds weren't anything Raven could fix. She couldn't remove the glass or it might kill her, and she couldn't bandage the bleeding with the glass there. There really was nothing she could do but try and make Ellie as comfortable as possible. Raven could see a jacket on the floor and she picked it up, folding it so the bloody side was down, and put it gently under Ellie's head. Ellie flinched at the movement so Raven didn't try to do anything more. She had to stop herself from staring or looking too hard so she didn't fall back into doing nothing. "I'm here." She caressed Ellie's hair again. "You won't be alone."
"Raven," Ellie sounded so tired.
"I need to help the boy, but I'm still right here." She didn't want to move from Ellie's side, but she could do something for him.
"Emma." Raven muttered while moving towards Emma. "I need help." She stared at the blonde willing the woman to be strong enough to slip out of her prison.
"I'll help you as much as I can," Emma tried to shift her position, but couldn't "but you have to do it, I can't move." It wasn't what she wanted to hear, but Raven couldn't see a way around it. Not yet. "You need to stop the bleeding as much as you can."
Raven nodded and took another deep breath. Visions of her short life as a nurse's aide filled her head and she started to look around for something to stop the boy's bleeding. With him it would be easier, since it was his arms. She felt sickened as she removed a belt from a torso in the corner of the room, feeling the dead flesh, but she took it and moved to the boy. "Sweetheart." She whispered softly as she moved to touch one of his ruined arms.
He flinched and he screamed as she tightened the belt, but she didn't stop until the bleeding slowed. He'd passed out by that point. That was one arm, and his other wasn't any better.
"I have a belt." Emma called out as Raven looked around the room for another body with a belt. Raven glanced at the pants in question, Emma's skin tight white pants and moved closer.
"Those pants are tight enough." She muttered as she hesitantly moved her hands closer to that belt. Her hand brushed up against shiny hardened skin as she tried to unfasten Emma's belt. Raven finally got the belt unfastened. It took a lot of work since there was no give in Emma's skin anymore, Raven had been forced to rip it a little to get it loose. Emma was like a moving statue. The white belt was easy to pull through the pants and was soon in her hand. Raven just stared at Emma for a moment with it in her hand.
"Go." Emma motioned with her head toward the other side of the room.
His blood looked very red on the white belt and the size of the puddle of blood under him worried her, but Raven had slowed it down. Hopefully it would help. With him unconscious and the bleeding stopped Raven finally felt she could move back to Ellie's side.
"See, still here." Raven spoke gently as she looked down into Ellie's face.
"I'm cold." Ellie spoke and Raven felt herself panicking a little. That wasn't a good sign.
"I don't have a blanket." Raven started to look around the room again, her eyes only skimming over bodies, but looking for clothes or anything she could use. Robbing the dead must be built into her genes, Raven thought distractedly as she looked at and dismissed some dead girl's jacket. It was too small and still wrapped around the girl.
"I couldn't stop it Raven. No one could." Ellie's eyes were pleading and pained. "Sometimes its just Destiny and every road leads to hell."
"I should have taken you out of here this morning on the first boat out." Raven's voice cracked and the light from her body flared a bit, before calming back down.
"It wouldn't have been enough. The first boat out wouldn't have left yet." Ellie's eyes softened and the girl just stared at her. Her eyes started to unfocus in a scary way, making it seem like Ellie was losing the battle.
Raven stared back, and decided that there was no time like now. "I love you."
"Really?" Ellie sounded so insecure and young. It broke Raven's heart. Raven leaned down slowly and kissed Ellie so softly on the lips.
"If I were ten years younger, you'd already be my girlfriend." If her life were different, Raven really could have seen a future with a girl like Ellie.
"You aren't lying?" Ellie asked and her eyes focused on Raven again. She was more there.
"No." Raven's body shook as she fought the urge to cry. "I tend to fall for strong women, and you're very strong." Part of her mind registered the sound of Emma struggling to free herself, or that the struggles were getting more frantic. She chose to ignore it.
"You kiss really nice." Ellie whispered and her eyes closed. Raven felt herself panicking, but she stayed still and waited. She didn't feel a nearby death just yet.
"So do you." Raven whispered to Ellie, not sure Ellie was hearing anything anymore. A loud crash interrupted her helpless staring and Raven glanced up to see Emma bending at the waist trying to catch her breath and the beam that had held her down on the ground. Dust filled the air, well more than had been there before.
"Raven," Ellie's voice was so quiet Raven leaned closer and noticed the girl's eyes open again. Raven's shaky hand moved to caress Ellie's hair and it felt like her heart was burning in pain. "I'm not afraid." Ellie whispered weakly and someone was crying softly behind her but Raven ignored it. Ellie's head tilted just a little, and then her eyes unfocused. Raven felt the moment she lost her friend and her own body was racked in shaking as she tried to not scream, tried so hard to keep the pain inside.
Raven felt the gentle touch to her shoulder as she cried into Ellie's shirt and when she didn't respond she felt herself being pulled away and the hard unyielding body of the blonde enveloped her in a hug. "Someone is going to dig us out." Emma whispered and Raven almost pulled away from her, almost told Emma how wrong she was, but there was something so vulnerable in the telepaths voice as she attempted to comfort Raven.
"Can you hear anyone?" Raven whispered. The feel of death was fading, just a few trickled in now, but so much had hit her that Raven really didn't know if anyone else had survived. She doubted anyone out there was doing anything other than dying.
"My telepathy is on the blink." Emma sounded bitter and tired. "But this is a school. Someone has to try and get to us." Raven leaned her head onto Emma's stone hard shoulder and sighed. Emma really didn't know how bad it really was. "Fredrick is not doing so well, they better hurry or we're going to lose another one."
Raven stayed quiet and didn't volunteer any information. She just sighed and stayed leaning against Emma, lost in her own thoughts. A small part of her mind protested the proximity to the White Queen, but Raven couldn't sit there staring down at Ellie's body and say that she had any energy left to fight. At least she wasn't alone, Raven hated being alone. If they were going to die here, her eyes drifted over to what she now realized had been her body, she'd already died here in a way. She wasn't like Christy though; Christy never talked about glowing like this.
It was Emma that ended the closeness by getting up slowly and checking on the boy, Fredrick, again. "He's still alive." Raven spoke as she noticed Emma checking his pulse.
"Oh, that's your power isn't it?" Emma glanced at her, and then back down at the boy. Emma's frustrated pain was clear on her face as she stared at him. "Can you," Emma looked toward her. "I need light. I want to check on him."
Raven's mind took a moment before she remembered why Emma would be bothering her about that. Raven got up slowly and moved closer, so that the light that made up her body would shine on what Emma needed it to. She didn't bother talking, she just moved closer and stood still, her own arms wrapped around herself, while Emma worked on seeing if Fredrick's bleeding was under control. He looked too pale and wasn't waking up. Raven stared into his face, taking in the youth and pain, and knew it wouldn't be long.
Emma caressed his forehead and the telepath's hands shook as she did it. "Just hang on Fredrick. Help is on the way, you just need to hold on." Emma spoke softly, soothingly, and Raven looked away towards Ellie feeling bad about the lie Emma didn't know she was telling. Raven knew she should tell Emma, but maybe it would be best to wait until the boy died before saying it. She didn't know.
She'd kept information from Emma before, Raven thought guiltily. "Emma." Her voice was a whisper, she had to keep it a whisper or the power she felt swirling in her body might call a portal.
"What is it?" Emma barely glanced at her, as she was too focused on checking Fredrick's breathing.
"No one is going to save us. They all died."
"Don't be so pessimistic dear." Emma glared at her and Raven held her arms out to her sides to illustrate her glowing body.
"I would know. It's what I am, a giant death detector and I was hit with so much, I don't think anyone is out there." She glanced at Ellie. "She told you, she knew. Ellie had to live with knowing." Her voice shook a little in horror and pain.
"No." Emma's voice was a commanding clip and then the teacher turned to her last living student in the class. "No." Raven didn't bother to argue it, knowing a desperate denial when she heard it and knowing that in another minute Emma would believe. The light from Raven's body light up the room, leaving shadows and darkness that made it feel like a tomb and Raven looked at all the dead already there. This was a tomb.
Raven had no idea how long she stood still, near the feet of the dying boy, so that Emma could see him. At some point that was the only reason she stood there, for Emma, and Raven didn't begrudge the woman this even as the power flowing in her body made it so hard to stand still. She swore she felt an urge, a physical need, to scream and let some of the power out. It felt like needing to go to the bathroom desperately, or needing to sneeze, something you knew was something you might be able to delay, but not for long. It started to really worry her, but she stayed quiet and tried not to cry when she heard the motherly soothing words Emma spoke to the boy. When she felt his death Raven took a step closer and hesitantly put her hand on Emma's shoulder. Emma seemed to sag under the weight of her hand, and Raven felt some shuddering, but heard no more tears. They sat like that for a little longer, still not talking.
Emma really did love her students. Her attitude may cover it but she did and Raven didn't know what to say, how to make it hurt less, because there was nothing that would.
"I don't want to die in here." Emma finally spoke, and her body sat up straight. Raven took her hand back and took a step back as she watched the body language of the woman switch to something more like the White Queen. "I don't think you want to either."
Raven glanced toward her body for a moment then looked back at Emma. "No, not really."
"If no one is going to dig us out, we need to do it ourselves." Emma stood up and glanced around the room, her shoulders slumping a little again. "That light you have is a mixed blessing. There are some things I would have preferred to have never seen, but the thought of being in the dark here isn't pleasant either."
Raven opened her mouth to just agree, when she stopped mid first word and then started again. "I can't hold this much power forever."
"So we'll be in the dark?"
"No, I'm like a bomb waiting to go off." Raven whispered it feeling a little guilty about yet another problem they had to face, because she was going to lose the battle eventually and she knew it.
"Well, that's just lovely." Emma gave a disgusted sigh.
……………….
Time really didn't mean anything. Raven moved mechanically, pulling wood, rock, drywall and other things away from the door and piling it behind them. Emma worked just as hard next to her as they worked in one direction, hoping that they'd run into another pocket, perhaps other people in the school that had survived that would be able to help them dig. The more they worked the more strange it felt that Emma's classroom had survived at all, because it seemed like nothing else had. It felt like they were buried in the only room the school had, under who knows how much rubble.
Raven was walking back to grab more when she lost her balance. Before she could fall she felt Emma's hand wrapped around her arm. "I'd hate for you to break your neck now." Emma spoke as she helped Raven regain her balance. Raven just stared at her for a moment, then back at the ground littered with far too much.
"Thanks." She whispered before moving to get back to work. They wanted to clear a way to the elevators and see if the shaft was clear. She worked quietly while Emma's words played in her mind. Break her neck. Could she even do that anymore? Christy couldn't. Raven took a break and stared at her arms again, at the swirl of light.
"Everything okay or are you about to blow?" Emma moved closer to her and the shimmer off of the blonde made Raven's light much more festive. Raven gave her a weak smile, as she considered that strange thought.
Her smile faded a little before she spoke. "Emma," Her voice was low and quiet and serious. "I, I don't want you dead." Ellie's words about her killing the woman haunted her. "Maybe we should split up."
Emma stood a little taller as she faced Raven, and Raven saw a hint of a smile on her lips. "Well, who would have thought after all the sniping and growling, you actually like me."
"No," Raven spoke slowly, "I just don't want you dead."
"Well, that's still progress." Emma leaned against the wall and crossed her arms in front of her as she seemed to study Raven. Raven fidgeted under the stare for a moment. "Raven," The telepath looked very serious, "I'm getting you out of here. I can't do that if we split up."
"It's getting hard."
"I'm getting you out of here. Not everyone is going to die, not you." Emma looked away. "You hold on as long as you can, and if you can't hold on any more, well I can't blame you for trying. Look on the bright side, you'll at least take one of us out." Her voice became wry, "Well another one. You did kill that one man, but I'm sure you must have been aiming at Sebastian."
Raven's eyes fell to the floor as she considered that. "You aren't one I would have wanted to kill. There are a lot of people I want dead, but not you." She was going to kill Emma, she was sure of it, and it didn't sit well with her.
Emma's voice grew cold, "Yes, well we all have a list don't we?" Emma moved to start working again. "I'm sorry your list is so large and that I contributed to it."
"I'm sorry about your students." Raven swallowed hard, thinking of more than the ones in the classroom.
"Yes, well, that is bad luck isn't it?" Emma's body shuddered for a moment before her back went rigid again. "I'm almost getting used to this."
"Yes." Raven spoke softly and moved closer to Emma, starting to help her with something a bit heavier. "And I'm sorry."
"It isn't like you didn't lose anything precious today." Emma tugged violently on the large piece of cement.
"Like you said, I'm getting used to it." Raven felt bitter. "Everyone leaves me in one way or another. It's my curse."
"And I thought we had so little in common." Emma tugged again and they got the cement loose, tossing it onto the ground. Raven moved to shove it to the side so they could continue to work. They worked in silence for a while longer, until Raven couldn't be silent any longer. A squeak escaped her and the lights swirled a little. Raven fought the urge to let the loosened power out and moved away from the work to slowly sink to the ground as she fought it.
"You can do this Raven. You can take this, control this. You're stronger than this." Emma moved closer, rather than further away. Raven tried to wave her away, but felt Emma's hand on her wrist. Raven couldn't risk talking right now, so she tried to push Emma away with one hand, but Emma didn't budge. "You are a very strong woman, strong willed, it's why you never broke and this won't break you either. I'm not worried, because I know that if you want to protect someone you will go through anything to do it and for some strange reason you're protecting me now." Raven gritted her teeth and fought the power back into submission, and had to acknowledge that Emma's words had helped. She nodded as she got it back into control and Emma just patted her arm and moved to go back to work. "Did you need a break? You've more than earned one."
Raven decided she needed to give up talking altogether now, so she just nodded and sat still as she heard Emma work for a while. She stretched an arm out to the side and paid attention to how she was lighting Emma's work, rather than think about how often her efforts to protect people ended badly.
She watched Emma bend and grapple with things, and thought about how the White Queen at least wasn't afraid of real work. There were worse people to be trapped with, Raven allowed the thought, as she watched Emma struggle under the weight of something, before getting up to help the blonde with it. Someone who panicked would be worse. Someone Raven was willing to panic over was worse, she knew that. Sometimes maybe an enemy is just what you need, she shook her head at her own strange thoughts and moved to work on the small opening they had developing. It was probably only a small gap in the rubble, but every air pocket like this saved them time.
"Raven?" Emma's words broke the silence they worked in again. Raven looked up and noticed the woman waving her over. "I can't feel much. My skin," Emma held up a hand and stared at it, looking a little baffled by it. "Can you put your hand in the hole and see if you feel air moving. I thought maybe, but I can't tell." Raven glanced at a dark hole that had broken in the area Emma had been working on. She nodded and moved to kneel by it, her hand moved into the opening, but it was small so there was no way to see much in the darkness around it. A light flutter on her hand made Raven smile. This hole lead to something. "Did we find the shaft?" Emma asked and Raven turned to answer, but then stopped herself. She shrugged in an exaggerated way and Emma gave her a strange look for a moment. "Do you feel air?" To that Raven could nod. "You're afraid to talk. I thought maybe…" Emma's words trailed off. "That bad?" Raven nodded yes again. "Okay, well lets clear this and see if we can climb up." They started to work on widening the hole and it was dark on the other side. Once it was wide enough Raven stood staring at it. One of them had to go through, and Emma wouldn't be able to see if she did it, but she'd have to leave Emma in the dark to go herself. Sometimes it really sucked to be the one with the useful power, not something she'd ever considered before. She'd never once been that one. Crawling into a darkened hole didn't bother her as much as it would Storm but she really didn't like it.
When Raven got in to take a look she felt disoriented. It took her a moment to realize she wasn't tilted, the shaft was. It was twisted and warped, but Raven could see it still angled up. Raven figured that up had to be good. "Raven?" Emma's voice called out from the behind her and Raven backed out, crawling, to return to Emma's side. She couldn't crawl in all the way, because there was a drop. Her mind played with how they'd manage to climb up as she got out and turned to see the blonde.
It would have been nice to be able to talk and tell Emma what she saw. It would have been helpful to be able to plan. Raven did all she could and gave Emma a thumbs up and knew that Emma would see the problems when she got in there. The telepath gave her a small smile. Raven pointed at herself and the hole, trying to tell Emma that she had to go in first. If Emma went in there in the dark she wouldn't be able to see well enough to get out of Raven's way.
Fifteen minutes later Raven was climbing up slowly. A piece of rock dislodged under her foot and Raven looked down to see it bounce off of Emma. "That's three." Emma grumbled and Raven gave her a guilty smile. "Bet you love being first." There was no way to respond to that, so Raven just focused on her climb again. They'd almost reached as high as the shaft went, and hopefully they'd find something there. She tried to envision what had happened to the building that would leave a classroom semi intact and this shaft warped and clearly had fallen onto its side a bit.
When she couldn't go up further, Raven braced herself against the wall and waited. There were the doors to the top floor in front of her, but they were closed and there was no telling what was on the other side. She stared at it apprehensively, imagining a scene like the classroom they'd escaped from.
It was her body that made the decision for her. Raven felt the urge again, and she almost fell from her perch as she curled in on herself shaking with her effort to hold it back. Before Emma could finish her climb Raven shoved her fingers in between the doors and shoved. Rocks started to fall and Emma made some noise in alarm, but Raven growled silently and pushed harder. She needed out now. "Wait." Emma yelled at her, but Raven only stopped long enough for Emma to get out of the way of things that fell through the slowly growing opening. A squeak escaped her lips and the light around them flared. Out. Out now, Raven's mind muttered in a panic as she pushed harder and the mess falling in nearly knocked her down, but she gripped the door harder. Out. She started to smell fire and dust, and sea air. A light not of her own making crept into the shaft and Raven launched herself at it, digging at the small hole to make it larger and whimpering as the effort to not scream grew painful.
"A live one." Someone screamed. "We've got a live one." Raven was shoveling her way through quickly, but the mess seemed to keep filling the opening she was trying to make. Suddenly an arm darted into the hole towards her and started to pull bricks away. "Hold on Darlin' I'll get you out." A deeper male voice spoke and Raven stared in shock as the arm came back with three sharp knives coming out of the man's knuckles, slicing away at a twisted pipe in her way. Logan, her mind stared at his arm in shock as the hole opened up and her own arm was grabbed as he pulled her up.
Once she was clear she just stared at the rubble, the disaster that had been her city, and took a shaky step, then another in her attempt to get away. "Darlin' you okay?" She turned to see him looking at her, but there was no recognition there. She could seem him scenting the air and turning back to the hole, where a shiny arm was reaching up. As Logan moved to grab that arm Raven moved, stumbled, across the ruins of the high school toward the water, her voice only held back by her gritted teeth as she fell. Some people looked her way a few started to move, but Raven just moved faster.
Her scream was torn from her pain and amplified by power. A loud thunderous roar answered her and Raven fell to her knees as a swirling disk of light grew in front of her, growing, growing, to a size she and any bus could pass through. Tentacles of the portal lashed around angrily, knocking against rubble and sand.
"Stand back." Another familiar voice yelled out and Raven just slumped her shoulders as she knelt in front of it, Jean coming up behind her.
"She isn't a threat." Emma yelled out and Raven slowly raised her head to look over at where the woman was making her way down to her. "She's been holding that in as long as she could." Raven's eyes caught the men in some sort of radiation gear staring at her then, and the gun aimed at her. "She is not a threat. Put your gun down." Emma commanded him.
"Oh my god, it's a sentinel." The man with the gun turned toward Emma, but a wave of Jean's hand had his gun floating away from him. Raven just stared at the scene from a new eye she'd never seen with before, she could actually SEE out of the portal, see what happened behind her.
"She's one of us." Jean's voice was a bit cold, but it softened when Emma fell to her own knees, exhausted looking from their climb and everything else. "Emma, what happened to you? Your skin?"
"It grew hard." Was all Emma said and then Raven could see Emma looking at her back. Raven stared into the portal and could see herself, from it. She took in her wild hair and pale, nearly glowing skin, but it wasn't nearly as bright in the daylight or it had faded as she used the power she'd been storing. She took in pained eyes and her defeated posture, before she noticed Jean walking up behind her with a compassionate expression on her face.
"And your friend?"
Raven turned her head to look at Emma, her glowing eyes pleading for Emma to not say anything. "If you can find a way out of this, go ahead, but I don't see it." Emma spoke directly to her and Raven turned toward her portal again to stare at it. Christy's portal had been smaller and less violent. Raven sighed as she willed it to close. Her tension, her need, faded with its creation and now she was just so very tired.
"Are you okay?" Jean was right next to her and Raven bowed her head down as tears came to her eyes. She loved Jean like a sister.
"I crawled out of death." Raven whispered and looked over the water, glistening with the sun. "I crawled out of me." Jean looked a little nervous with her crazy sounding words, so Raven looked away from her again. Irene had told her she could stop running now, but it wasn't that so much as she had nothing left in her so she could run.
"Are you hurt." Jean reached out and Raven looked up to see someone talking with Emma, but Emma's eyes stayed on her, clearly waiting for the moment her teammate noticed who she was talking to. With little else to do Raven finally faced Jean completely and looked into her eyes. She watched Jean's green eyes widen a little and could see the moment she was recognized. "Raven?" Jean whispered in shock.
"Jean." Raven whispered again and swallowed hard.
"Oh my god." Jean glanced toward Logan and Hank, before moving to reach out and hesitantly touch Raven's hair. "Raven?"
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