DISCLAIMER: You know the drill. I don't own the quotes or Ultimate Spider-Man. I do own my OC's and the idea.
Chapter 26: Suddenly
"You never know the last time you'll see a place.
Or a person."
-Unknown
Afterward, I cannot stop repeating his words in my head. Over and over again. So real. So honest. So true.
And it means that I will be your İlk ve Tek Aşk, your Dünya Tutun.
It almost makes me cry. From happiness and heartbreak. He just called me, a dying girl, his first and only love. He just told me that he will be my Dünya Tutun, my Earth-Hold while I am in Uzun Uyku, the Eternal Sleep.
I know I can't do Uzun Uyku. I won't. Yet Danny won't give up. I have given up on myself, but he won't.
Suddenly, my com begins beeping. Ava's face appears on the screen. "Hurry up! Ugh, the Wrecking Crew are destroying the same block the Frightful Four just did a few days ago!"
Stupid. I slip into my uniform as quickly as I can, hurrying to the scene. Pretty basic. Normal mission.
The Wrecking Crew are doing their usual sort of thing. Flipping cars, smashing stuff—you get the idea. The rest of my friends were already in the midst of the fight, so I joined right in.
Sam blasts debris out of the air, saving the terrified people around us. Luke catches a few cars, throwing them back at one of the bad guys—I can't see who because of the dust in the air. After that, though, I stop paying attention to what the others are doing, instead focusing on the task at hand. I run over to the Wrecker, where Peter is already taunting him.
"Hey, Wrecker, couldn't you come up with a more original name? You deserve to go to jail for just that- and your smell, phew!" For extra effect, he pinches his nose shut and waves his hand in front of his face.
The Wrecker gives an enormous grunt, and starts running toward a building, but I- carefully- breath in. He halts in his tracks, looking around dazedly, and Peter doesn't hesitate to bind him up in his webs, insulting him with his 'humor'.
Within a few minutes, we have them all captured. As Peter dusts his hands together and says, "Well that was easy-", a cold laugh echos through the city.
"Stupid heroes," Wizard boasts as the Frightful Four materialize before us.
Trapster pounds his fist, grinning, and cracks his knuckles. "This is a-"
Peter interrupts him. "Yeah, we know, we know, a trap."
His grin widens at Peter's words. Wizard says, "Oh, dear, heroes, you think you have only us to contend with?"
The Sinister Six step forward, backing up the Frightful Four.
"Hmm, let me guess, the Terrifying Ten?" Peter scoffs. "Make that the Terrible Ten!" Ava rolls her eyes at his joke, and elbows him. Peter's jaw drops. Dr. Doom laughs mechanically.
"Doom has arrived."
"Oh, so you've got Doctor Dumb too?" Peter tries to make light of it, but his words are hollow, and his voice quivers nervously.
Then we fight.
Eleven bad guys to the six of us? They have nearly twice our number.
I quickly lose track of who I'm fighting, what I'm doing. I just do it. Jab, duck, uppercut, flying side kick, fall, jump back up, get ready to fight the next guy. Eventually I manage to decapitate the Rhino.
"How on earth" -Peter pauses, ducking to avoid a blow from Kraven- "did these guys escape?"
"Some things are better left unanswered, and some questions are better left unsaid," Danny shouts back, over the racket of Electro's maniacal screaming.
"Well, I thought you guys said that you never actually captured the Lizard!" I counter.
Peter swings over to Danny, tripping Kraven in the process. "I never told you that!"
"Oops, well, guess I Dreamed it!" The words slip from my mouth before I can stop them, and I angrily punch Electro. A warm buzzing spreads through my body and I feel unbelievably powerful.
"Where did you go?" Peter exclaims.
I think I'm shaking. Really fast. "IDON'TKNOW!"
I have to get rid of this somehow. I touch Peter's arm, and he jumps up, landing on a wall. Probably not the best choice, I realize, as his web-shooters start malfunctioning. At least he manages to direct them towards Trapster, and I manage to calm down.
"Hey! All my webbing's gone! Thanks a lot, Em."
"Sorry," I shrug. "I didn't-"
A cold, icy feeling spreads throughout my back, and, as if in slow motion, I fall forward, onto my face. Bitter laughter echoes overhead. "Weak," Flame hisses in my ear, and a burning sensation spreads over my back as I lay there, helpless, screaming. Pain. Roaring pain. Then blood. Choking blood.
Dark tunnel. An end? Maybe? A light. Crawl. To that light. Peace.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB BBBBBBBBBBBB
Ava's POV
Today, Emmaline died. Today, Danny cried. I am numb. Once you think somebody's died a few times, you half expect them to jump back up and yell, "JK! I'm alive! Haha, cruel joke, sorry." Then you punch them in the arms, try not to cry, and go back to life.
I turned around in time to see Flame stab her. Then I blinked, and Flame disappeared. I didn't really think it could be happening, but she screamed. I'd never heard somebody scream. Not like that. Doc Ock's videos had been the worst, I'd thought, but this was a hundred times as bad. Like watching Kraven murder him.
Danny's head whipped around, and he stumbled to her, kneeling by her, and holding her hand. I think he must have been crying, saying something, but wherever she is, she can't hear us. Not anymore.
Now he's dropping her hand, his head drooping. Luke walks over to him, and checks her wrist for a pulse. Nothing. He shakes his head, and drapes an arm around Danny's shaking shoulders.
Sam takes off his helmet, something I have never seen him do before. His head is bowed, and when I see his face, his eyes are red. Sam quickly turns away so I can't see his tears. I won't cry. No. I have to be strong.
This shouldn't have happened. I mean, what the hell? The girl had nine months to live, and her nut job sister came and robbed her of that time. Anger bubbles up inside, and the claws come out. All of the other times, there wasn't any hope, but Danny was strong. He must have still had this little place inside of him that believed in her.
If he thought she was dead, then she must be. All of the other times, we never physically felt her pulse fade away, her heart cease to beat. I don't want to see her dead. If she's dead, then she's gone. Nothing I can do. I could have stopped it, you know? It's too late, though, she's gone. Dead is gone. I seriously need to learn to accept that.
Whatever people in books and movies say, death isn't graceful. Dying is pitiful, and drawn-out. It's messy, sweaty, horrible. A detestable thing that everybody tries to avoid. It's one thing to see dead prey before you, completely different to have an enemy's blood or a friend's end.
I turn away. There's still this whole mess to clean up. These bad guys to beat. Then I see that they;re not laughing. Dr. Doom is gone. Fuck. I just let him escape! Snarling, I turn to the rest of these guys, and before I can register the deed, they're all beat up in a pile. Stupid. You know, it's stupid. To be this aggravated over the death of the dying. It's only a bit earlier. Nine months, that's nothing!
The rest of the team is standing there, still. "Come on," I bark at them. "Tricarrier's waiting." Their heads jerk up, and Sam slips his helmet back on. Slowly, Luke stands up, but Danny stays where he is. At last, Luke picks up the body and starts carrying it back to HQ, leaving Danny behind.
I snarl, "Get your ass up, Fortune Cookie. Come on, say something all wise and stuff that doesn't mean anything. I don't care, just get your shit together and move!"
He doesn't say anything for a minute, then responds in an even tone, "It hurt."
Danny stands up, and the rest of us follow. I hate him for saying that. What kind of crappy meaning is that? It hurt? Then it hits me like the weight of the world. It hurt to die. Somehow, it wasn't supposed to hurt?!
Yeah, right. Life hurts, why shouldn't death?
His words are rather accusing, I realize. Like it's our fault for not being there. Well, it is. I mean, it was a trap! Kind of obvious, we should have realized something like this would happen.
Fury starts yelling at me once I get back. "What the hell happened back there?! Nobody's saying anything except Danny, and it was just crap about it hurting!"
"Oh," I say, my words bitter and angry. "So Luke didn't show you the body?"
"BODY?!"
"She's dead. Emmaline. You idiot, Fury." I shake my head. "Didn't think about this, I suppose?"
"Get. Power Man. And. Iron Fist. Back. Here. NOW. Ayala." Fury mutters through clenched teeth.
Stupid. Why did I lose my temper? I have to keep my cool! Stupid. Stupid.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB BBBBBBBBBBBB
Heavy breathing. Long sigh. Open my eyes. Danny. Luke.
Blood. I cough, and spit out more blood. "Bandage?" I sputter.
Luke drops me, and a moan escapes my lips. "YOU'RE DEAD!"
"Not," I cough.
"What the-? EMMA!" Danny drops down, his breathing fast, and I manage a faint smile, my lips cracking. What happened? Why does my back feel numb? My body aches. Why does Luke think I'm dead? I close my eyes, struggling to ignore the pounding in my head.
"Uh..." I groan. "Help?"
"Crud, Danny, we gotta get her to a doctor!" He picks me back up, and I hate the bumpy feeling. Luke sets me down on a bed. Soft sheets.
More swearing. Yelling. Lots of racket. Everything fades in and out. When I finally manage to catch myself starting to wake up, I struggle to find something to hold onto, to keep my head above the drowning darkness.
I'm laying in the infirmary. I feel like my head was emptied and stuffed with cotton. Blinking, I hear a voice, talking.
"You should not be alive."
"Yeah?" I sputter, my tongue swollen with unsaid things.
Danny's grinning face hovers over mine. "You died."
"Ta da? Not ready, yet. Not leaving. Too soon."
"Headache?"
I want to nod, but my neck feels too stiff. "Happened? Don't remember."
He carefully closes my lids. "Shh. Rest. Sleep."
"Tell me."
"Flame stabbed you. You died. You lived. You're here."
I try to wrap my head around his words, but I cannot, and I drift back into sleep.
One week later...
Things finally start to make sense when they let me leave the infirmary. I still cannot remember what happened. I can't remember what it was like to die. I think it must have been peaceful. Really, though, I wonder why I lived.
Some say my mutation. Actually, that is what everybody tells me. How that happened, though, nobody wants to explain. Ava was really mad at me for a day or two. She said that I seriously need to stop almost dying, and make up my mind—in a joking way, of course, but the words still make me think.
It does not make any sense at all, really. Until I think of my mom's curse. Then it starts to make sense: ölüm konuşun. Death Speak. If I felt like it, I could ask Danny. This is one more thing that I really need to stop. If Bryan did this, then I really owe him something. He bought me another nine months or so.
I think it was Bryan. I do not want to talk to him again, though. That's one of the last things I want to do. How many people want to speak with a dead man? But a dead man who saved your life- sort of- well, there's not much choice. Ignoring that would be extraordinarily rude.
I guess that I am extraordinarily rude, then.
-..-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-..-.-. .-.-.-.-.-.-.-..-.-.-.-.-..-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- .-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
June passes quickly.
In July, Danny mentions Uzun Uyku again.
"No," I told him.
"Okay, Em," Ava said, snapping her book shut with a sense of finality. The entire team was in the lounge room together. The exact reason that Danny brought that up at the time. "What is Uzun Uyku?"
I shifted uncertainly. "Basically, it's a magical sleep. You're in a kind of elevated state of, uh..."
"Consciousness," Danny supplied.
"Yeah. Your consciousness is sort of out on the astroplane, you know? Uh, you don't..." I trailed off at their confused faces. "Just think of an alternate reality, except it's actually apart of this reality. And, you're floating around there while your body sleeps. One or more people 'bind' you to earth. If people didn't, erm... bind you, then you'd just, well... float away... you'd be alive, but... yeah. Really bad stuff can happen if the person who binds you doesn't do it right. When you want to wake up, the 'binder' brings you back, and that's usually the hard part. Both people have to be really talented. It usually fails. Really badly. So, yeah. It can last thousands of years, because it usually either kills the Earth-Hold or gives them a really long life. Yeah. Pretty much at least one person dies every time."
"Wow," Peter said at last. "That's... wow. Magic?"
"To the most basic point," Danny supplied. He turned to me. "You still refuse to trust me."
"I trust you! I just don't trust myself."
"Wait." Ava paused. "So you- Danny- want Em to do this sleep thing with you as her Earth-Hold?"
"Yes."
She shook her head in disbelief. "Woa. Em, I don't blame you. That's... yeah."
"And that settles it," I said, and walk away.
August. September. October. November. December. February.
One more month.
That's all I have.
Well, technically, I had a month. Now it's a week. One week to live. Rather desolute, yes. But it's been the best year of my life. I've had a lot of fun. Just... living.
Yeah. Living.
Joking with Peter.
Cooking with Sam.
Getting to know Luke.
Hanging out with Ava.
And doing Yoga with Danny. (Plus kissing. A lot. My reasoning: I have to fit a lifetime into a year. And being with Danny in that sort of way just feels right.)
Yes. The best year of my life.
This week crept up on me. Unexpected. I was so enthralled with life. Danny only just brought it up. We're leaving Sunday, March second. Today is February 24th. A Sunday. He says that I need to decide what I'm going to do. It's true; I have been putting this off. Death arrangements. Yuck.
"Tomorrow, you should likely prepare your will and funeral arangements," he suggests. We are sitting in the easy pose across from each other in the living room. We were doing Yoga before this came up.
I wrinkle my nose. "Funeral? I don't want all that sad stuff. Plus, I'll be in K'un L'un, not here."
"True."
Shrugging, I say, "Just do what they did for that one famous person. You know, release a bunch of balloons into the sky in celebration. That's way happier than a depressing funeral."
"In K'un L'un, you will have the burial of a true queen. My queen."
I manage a wan smile. "Sure. If you want." It is rather odd to be discussing my death yet again. "As for a will, I don't exactly own much. Nothing of much worth. Kind of diaries and stuff that won't matter when I'm gone. I'll just bring them to K'un L'un and you can either burn them or keep them; I don't care. You should really burn them, though," I add hastily. No need for him to see some of that, although a bit of it might be helpful.
"Okay. What would you like to do this week?"
In the end, it's easy. Monday, I'm going to do stuff with Peter.
Tuesday, I'm going to cook with Sam.
Wednesday I'm going to spend with Luke.
Thursday, I'll spend with Ava.
Friday, we'll fly to a tropical place. I'm not well suited to travel at this point, but I'm so close to the end, I know I can hold it together throughout the flight. Plus I haven't ever been anywhere tropical (not in person anyway).
Saturday, I'm going to the park to do Kundalini for a day. Everybody's coming. Even Nick and Coulsen. Then we'll go out to dinner.
Then, Sunday, Danny and I will leave.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB BBBBBBBBBBBB
A/N: No, the next chapter will not be the last chapter. Don't worry. ;-D
Sorry if this is a tad choppy. The next one will be better, I promise! This was just my least favorite to write, so...
-FFS
PS
Thanks for the reviews:
TheOnyxDragon12: Yes and yes.
: He is still blind (sorry about that- see TheOnyxDragon's review, she's correct), and no, they surgically removed it; at least as far as he knows!
Nerdy-Tomboy: I made it up.