Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High.
Another few weeks passed, the beginning of June had finally come. Graduation in seven days, their looming battle sooner than that. Spencer, the telepath from Florida had come to Maxville, warning Ivy that they were running out of time. A small group made one last sweep of the Absolute's location to see they were gone, and Ivy knew that time was up, so she went to Holy Names Cathedral one last time.
She hadn't even stepped one foot inside the gate when she felt him behind her. She stopped and turned, a long coat keeping her warm in his cold presence.
"I've been waiting for you to come back here." Dylan stepped in towards her. "I've been waiting for you to find me."
"Why." She stared at his cold green eyes as they began to fold into his wolf's.
His voice grew hoarse and hollow as he circled her like prey. "Join us. We can kill them all. We're superior. We're above them. We, Ivy, are Absolute." He traced his finger along her cheek.
"Why." She didn't move, didn't flinch, didn't breathe.
"Because you're stronger than us. You're something special. Something that's supposed to bring the rest of us to our knees. We bow to no one. They should bow to us. You should be on your knees in front of us, begging us to spare your life. You cannot win, you know that." He leaned in closer, lips barely brushing her cheek. "Join me." She still didn't move and he snarled. "You will lose." He stepped away from her.
"Maybe I will. But if I die, you're coming with me." She threw off the coat and erupted into her snarling, white panther in one swift movement, X-Men, Sky High students, Spencer, The Commander, Jetstream and countless adults and heroes came from all angles as Dylan merely smiled and finished his own change into the wolf.
Over a hundred Absolutes blocked the Heroes in, all scouting their targets. Layla fought to keep her composure as she looked up at the huge animals before her. Her mother stood next to her, bracing herself and trying to communicate with the bear before her. She remembered quickly that Absolutes are not mentally connected to the humans stuck within them, and she calmly asked the bear to leave and not return for months to come. The bear bowed its head and returned to a naked man in front her, who looked down at his hands then up at Mrs. Williams. Ivy smiled within her panther and returned her focus to Dylan's wolf.
"Let's do this." The two ran at each other, the rest of the mutants, supers and Absolutes launched at each other all the same. Layla called a wooden army, raising herself into the air, twisting and contorting the ground beneath her, creating canyons that swallowed the nearby Absolutes. Jetstream, Will and Angel took to the sky with Spencer's hawk, fighting off the numerous birds who threatened to pick their comrades off one by one. Warren and Piotr were cornered off to a side, Piotr doing more damage than was probably necessary as his metal alter-ego Colossus, Zach and Ethan worked with Kitty as she phased in and out of the Absolutes, dragging their bodies into solid objects and leaving them there, Logan tearing into some of the bigger Absolutes, ignoring Scott's reminder that they were still humans inside.
Jean and Lash, Bobby and Taylor, The Commander... They showed as minimal amounts of mercy as possible as they watched their friends bleed and bruise. Dara's canine jumped in time to save Trent from a fatal attack, and he in turn shot electric waves at the beast that had gone for him. Rogue took a page from the Incredible Hulk's book and smashed anything and everything, her super strength proving more than useful against the Absolutes. Gambit's bow staff collided with fur, scales and flesh. Storm and Beast, too, were rough in their assaults, but after everyone had had contact with Ivy and Dara, they knew how strong Absolutes could be, especially taking into account how many there would be.
Hours of screaming and tackling, Magenta taking their forms, Rogue taking their energy, what probably amounted to gallons of blood spilled and staining the consecrated ground the church stood on, most Absolutes injured until they unwillingly returned to human, some dead altogether, the X-Men on their last leg, the Sky High group broken and losing consciousness, Ivy and Dylan still tore at each other in the very center of the battle, neither willing to give up until the other backed down.
The wolf launched at Ivy's panther one last time before she had had enough. The panther bore it's teeth and ripped the wolf's throat in one fowl swoop, all Ivy's friends slowly gathering, all Ivy's friends watching her tear the wolf apart. The panther stood over the wolf's still body and watched it change into a mutilated human being.
Ivy finally had a chance to breathe, and she turned the panthers head down to look at her paws beneath her. They had been stained red, and she knew there was no washing his blood off her skin. She struggled to walk towards her friends, the adrenaline having slowed so much that she felt every cut, every scrape, every drip of blood. She took another step and hissed, collapsing into her human body, all the adrenaline that had kept her going immediately disappearing.
Warren limped the few feet between them before he fell to her side. Surrounding them, her friends and allies gathered, most following Warren's example and falling to the ground, others leaning against each other. Warren looked down at his girlfriend and the pool of blood that collected beneath her. He pressed his hand against the huge gash across her chest, trying his hardest to stop the bleeding, yet somehow knowing that there were too many cuts and she had already lost too much blood.
She looked up at him and did her best to smile through her bloodstained mouth. He, too, tried to smile back and wiped the blood off her face. He maneuvered so her head rest in his lap, covering her body as best he could, and he sat with her. No one spoke, no one moved. A tear slid down Warren's filthy, sweat-ridden cheek and he stroked her own cheek with his thumb.
He craned his neck so his forehead was pressed against hers, and whispered softly against her lips. "I love you, Ivy."
"I love you, too." Her voice was barely there, and he knew she forced the last bit of her energy into speaking. He straighted himself a bit as she turned to look at Professor Xavier one more time.
"Am I going to die, Xavier?" She didn't move a muscle, but asked him with her mind as her heart sank, knowing the answer he was going to give.
"Yes." Xavier watched her as the wind tickled the grass beneath his wheelchair.
"The Seer told you. The same one that-" Her face never faltered, but he felt the pang inside her body grow.
"Yes." Xavier's mind was strong, but his heart couldn't bare knowing the girl he'd helped raise was coming to her end.
"Ok." Ivy didn't know what else to say. She stood and returned to the bus as Xavier called after her.
"Ivy-" She turned to look at him one last time, smiled knowing he would take care of her friends, and she boarded the bus.
Warren stood, holding Ivy's stiff body, her white hair slowly dripping into its strawberry blonde it had forsaken so many years ago. His leather coat draped over her naked form, he carried her back to the street, all the mutants, supers and allies in tow behind him.
The remaining Absolutes – Dylan's – joined the procession, knowing their cause was lost, knowing they would pay for the destruction and harm they'd caused. And they walked. Some crying, some silent, all bleeding.
No need for nasty language, FlyingSolo! =)
I've had this ending planned since before I wrote chapter one so if you're disappointed, I'm sorry. There is a reason for it, which I'll explain at the end of the next chapter - which is NOT meant as an epilogue, contrary to how it may feel. And I definitely apologise for the lack of descriptive fighting, minimal amounts of kick-ass stuff I can write ok, but big battles baffle me.
I'll post the final Chapter 50 tomorrow or the next day, I promise.