Hi, guys! How's it going? Hope you all had a good couple of weeks, and sorry that this took so long. Enjoy!
Laurien blinked as her eyes slowly focused in on the air mask hanging in front of her face, her head pounding as Alex let out soft groan to her right. She made to turn her head towards him, but cried out quietly as her neck throbbed painfully from the violent force of the crash. She flinched as an array of sparks exploded to her left from a broken circuit board, feeling the blood rushing to her head as the straps of her seat dug sharply into her shoulders as gravity pulled her down.
"Laurien!" She heard Erik calling her from far away, his voice echoing as if they were on either ends of a tunnel.
"Yeah?" She managed from behind gritted teeth, clasping her chest in relief as the wave of pain eventually subsided to a bearable amount.
She felt his hand on her arm as he tried to free her from the straps, gently lowering her down to what appeared to be the roof of the plane. "Are you all right?" He asked worriedly as he helped her to her feet, grabbing her arm quickly when she lost her balance and stumbled backwards.
"Never better." She joked, rubbing the back of her sore neck gingerly as she steadied herself against the dented wall of the plane. "But I am never flying again, mark my words."
After carefully undoing Alex's seat belt with her powers and helping him to get right side up, she joined the others as they crowded around the windows facing out towards the familiar mutants exiting an utterly wrecked submarine. Laurien glanced anxiously over to where Charles was staring out his window, fingers against his temple as he surveyed the minds beyond the confines of the plane.
"Shaw's somewhere in there." He said. "I can't quite touch his mind, but he's there, Erik. Beast, Havok, Poltergeist, back him up."
Poltergeist. Laurien sighed inwardly as she remembered the nickname. Honestly, she'd lied when she'd said that she liked it back when they were still at the CIA base. Every time that she ran the word through her head, she couldn't help but be reminded of the word 'upholstery', but now, she guessed that she was stuck with it.
She shrugged to herself as she moved towards the gaping hole in the hull of the plane, but was held back by a hand that had wrapped itself securely around her upper arm. "You be careful out there." Erik urged, his blue eyes serious as he gazed down at her.
"I could say the same to you." She countered, raising an uncertain eyebrow at him, wondering what was going on inside his head as she could sense intense waves of morbid excitement rolling off of him, before he pulled her in and kissed her hard on the mouth.
Her body stiffened suddenly when their lips met, his conflicting emotions overwhelming her before she broke away from him sharply. He glanced questioningly down at her, but she only shook her head. "You'd better get going." She murmured, keeping her eyes glued to the floor as she raised a hand and ripped a section of the submarine out, feeling the corner of her mouth quirk as she heard the definitive bang of the metal colliding with the blue suited mutant who had been standing in front of it.
He gave her a small nod, giving her arm a quick squeeze before he released her and sprinted towards the direction of the submarine. She watched him leave with a heavy heart, grimacing as she felt something shift uncomfortably inside her.
She shook it off with difficulty before striding towards Hank and Alex out in the exposed area of the beach, joining them as they stared down the two remaining members of Shaw's brotherhood. Upon spotting the red demon of a man who stood beside Angel, Laurien had to quell the sensation of fear pulling at her chest, exchanging it with a steadfast hatred, as she remembered all the agents that the mutant had slaughtered that night at the CIA base.
Alex stepped forward, releasing a spurt of red energy from his chest at the mutants before Azazel suddenly vanished and reappeared behind them. His sharp nails narrowly missed Laurien's eye as he slashed her face before he grabbed onto Hank and wrapped his tail tightly around Alex's neck. Quickly recovering, Laurien stretched out her arm for her powers to grab the nearest blunt item, but before she could, they had disappeared.
Feeling the warm rush of blood spill out from where he'd hit her cheekbone, she raised a hand to clutch her face; only to bring it back smothered in the thick red liquid. She spun around towards Angel, who was already in the air, spitting viciously at her. Laurien dodged the onslaught as best she could, all the while reaching out with her powers to see if she could take control of the liquid-like projectiles, but soon found that it was beyond the current scope of her abilities. Changing tactics, Laurien summoned a piece of debris to hover before her, shielding her from Angel's acid.
Uncertainty roiled in Laurien's stomach, exacerbated by the pumping adrenaline coursing through her veins. She truly didn't want to hurt Angel, but since Shaw's plans for the world sounded frightfully similar to those of a previous genocidal dictator, Laurien would likely have to make some difficult decisions.
A wad of acid snuck past her defenses and hit her shoulder, melting through the protective fabric of her suit and making contact with her skin, sending a blazing pain through her. Cursing loudly, Laurien lost her patience and let the piece of debris fall as she instead latched onto Angel's belt with her powers. She yanked her down towards the sand, feeling a shameful pang of satisfaction when she heard a subtle crack when the other girl hit the ground.
Angel soon got back to her feet, clutching her right arm that was sticking out at an odd angle, before extending her wings and fluttering back to the submarine. Stubbornly, Laurien sprinted towards the broken piece of the plane that had landed on an incline towards the summit of the submarine and recklessly dashed up the narrow strip of metal, following after the retreating Angel.
"Laurien!"
She gasped as Charles' urgent voice rang painfully through her head, causing her to lose her footing and tumble off the metal beam. She fell with a hard thump onto the sand, the impact pushing all the air out of her lungs.
"Charles?" She wheezed, annoyance dancing on the edge of her voice as she rolled onto her stomach and lifted herself up with difficulty, her aching muscles screaming all the while. Her irritation quickly faded away as she sensed the panic plaguing the presence in her head, only to be replaced by a torrent of anxiety as she waited for his next words. When they didn't come, her stomach plummeted. "Charles, what is it?"
"Erik's in trouble, he's about to do something he'll sorely regret." He blurted out before she heard him groan, as if he were straining desperately against something, but finally, he continued, his words spilling out like water from an overturned glass. "I need you to go into the submarine and remove the helmet from his head. I can't convince him otherwise."
Laurien frowned, not completely understanding what he meant, but she nodded all the same and quickly headed towards the submarine, stepping over the man in blue as she dashed through the opening. She looked to both sides of the inside hull, before following the trail of doors wrenched off of their hinges, assuming that they were left that way in Erik's wake.
As she entered what seemed to be a lounge, she slowed to a stop as she stared at her surroundings, seeing absolutely no one but herself in the reflection of the mirror to her left. "Charles, there's no one here." She stated plainly, confusion and frustration rising in her chest as she wondered if this was some sort of trick.
"They're in a room hidden behind the far wall." He said quickly, desperation rising tumultuously in his voice with each passing word. "Please, Laurien, hurry!"
She grabbed onto the wall with her powers, tearing at the heavy layers savagely until she saw the faintest hints of a blue hued room. Breathing heavily and without a moment to lose, she sprinted forward and threw her body into the remaining few parts of the wall as it gave way, crashing into whoever was on the other side as they fell into a dusty heap on the floor.
Laurien groaned as she felt her shoulder spark up in pain from the impact, before coughing arduously as small particles from the wall entered her lungs and threatened to choke her. "Fuck." She managed through gritted teeth as she popped her shoulder back into place with her powers. Today was just not her day.
She noticed something in the corner of her eye and almost jumped out of her skin when she saw Shaw standing still to her left with an outstretched arm raised before him. Wondering just what the hell had been going on, a small noise to her right reminded her of her mission and she quickly rolled onto her stomach and lifted herself onto the figure, effectively pinning him beneath her. She saw the familiar glint of Erik's steely blue eyes from behind the shadow of the helmet, but as his lips parted in an effort to say her name, her hands gripped the helmet before she ripped it off of his head. She gasped as she was suddenly jerked backwards by the metal clasps of her jumpsuit and thrown across the room.
Laurien slammed into the broken wall and collapsed onto the ground, wincing as she landed in a large pile of shattered glass. She tried to right herself, but with each movement of her hands on the ground beneath her, she could feel several sharp twinges as pieces of glass pierced and slid against the skin of her palms.
"Laurien…" Erik breathed as he got to his feet, the soft gleam of sweat on his forehead mixing with blood from the wound just below his hairline. "What are you doing?"
"I'm stopping you from doing something you'll regret." She grumbled bitterly as she bit her lip hard when she shifted the position of her body, realizing a shard of glass had broken through the material of her suit and was sticking shallowly into her side as she struggled to get up.
"Laurien, give it back." He said, each syllable icier than the last as he moved towards her, but he stopped when she retreated sharply away from him, her back slamming into the smooth surface of the mirror behind her.
"I can't give this to you." She whispered, unconsciously tightening her bloody grip on the helmet. "I can't let you do this, Erik. I don't know exactly what's going on with you right now, but you need to talk to Charles and sort this out."
He frowned at the mention of his friend's name. "So, this is Charles' doing." He advanced daringly, making her extend her free hand towards him as she felt the icy pulsation of her powers in her veins heighten with every threatening step that he took.
"Stop, please." She pleaded, holding the helmet tightly against her stomach as she willed Charles to arrive and take control. "Please, just take a step back and consider what you are doing. Killing this man won't bring you or your mother peace."
"That's what Charles said as well." Erik snarled, his lip curling menacingly. "But what would you two know about revenge? Have you ever seen someone you loved being ripped away right in front of you?"
She stared at him, her hands curling into fists as she tried to subdue the angry tears that threatened to spill over. He had no idea what she'd seen, what she'd felt, the pain that she'd endured over the years. Then again, she knew the monstrous temptation that overtook you when you were standing in front of the person you'd wanted dead for years, and how it was too strong to resist, but she had to at least try.
"Well?" He challenged again.
"Yes, I have." Laurien choked out, her chest seizing agonizingly as the familiar flashes of red burned against her eyes. "I swear, Erik, I have. I have done this all before, the whole revenge spiel, and I can tell you that it doesn't amount to anything." She continued, gesturing to Shaw with a grimace. "This has become a piece of you after all these years and nothing can replace it after it's done. You've spent your whole life looking for him and you might feel redeemed if you finally kill him today, but I can assure you that you'll be looking for someone else to fill his spot tomorrow."
He stared at Shaw's body with conflicted eyes before he looked over to her, his steely stare slowly morphing into a morose gaze that made her heart ache as he nodded sorrowfully. "You're probably right." He whispered, a single tear streaming down his face as she felt her feet unconsciously carrying her over to him.
She raised her free hand to the side of his face, wiping away the tears as he had just yesterday evening as they danced to the soundtrack of Casablanca, before his forehead bent down to rest gently against hers.
"I'm so sorry." He murmured as his fingers softly moved a strand of her caramel hair behind her ear. "But I have to, and you've left me no choice."
Her eyes widened as he raised his hand, summoning a large beam from above that smashed unexpectedly into her side. She was sent crashing into an adjoining mirror by the metal beam and collapsed to the ground in a shower of broken glass. Unable to cushion her fall with her hands, her head smacked hard against the ground, and everything suddenly went black.
Pain was the first thing that registered in Laurien's mind as she returned to consciousness. Her head throbbed horribly, and she struggled to catch her breath. Her eyes fluttered open, slowly taking in the room of mirrors for a moment before it finally dawned on her that both Erik and Shaw were gone. She made to move, but suddenly went rigid, barely holding back a scream of agony as a wave of fire engulfed her side. Shallow breaths rasped in her throat as she desperately tried to regain her bearings, knowing that she couldn't simply stay in this submarine.
She gritted her teeth hard and was about to try to get up again when she heard the sound of running footsteps from the hole leading to the lounge and before she knew it, Charles was in the doorway.
"Oh my God." He gasped before rushing to her side and grasping her hand tightly in his. "Laurien, are you all right?"
"What took you so long?" She groaned, trying to keep her voice as light the best she could as she felt tears coming to her eyes when another bout of agony overtook her.
Charles looked her over quickly with wide eyes, his hand hovering unsurely over her body before he held the side of her face. "Where are you hurt?"
"Ribs and head, most likely." Laurien ground out, every movement ripping the breath from her lungs as it jostled her ribs. She didn't want to even fathom the idea of trying to get up, when suddenly the pain throughout her body ebbed to a bearable amount.
She opened her mouth in surprise, but Charles interrupted her. "I can block the pain temporarily, but believe me when I say that it's going to hurt like hell later."
Laurien nodded, just grateful that she could get some relief for the time being with Charles' help. She slowly got to her feet, careful not to cause any more damage, and steadied herself against Charles.
He held a hand to her bleeding cheek. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea that he was going to do this."
"None of us did." She replied, grasping his wrist reassuringly as she felt the guilt rolling off of him. "He killed Shaw, didn't he?"
Charles nodded, his eyes becoming hazy for a moment before a shudder ran through his body. She winced as all the horrendous possibilities of how Erik could have killed Shaw raced through her mind as Charles guided her towards the exit of the submarine. She was then suddenly aware of Erik's voice booming from outside the submarine, loud for all the mutants on the beach to hear.
"Today, our fighting stops."
"Oh, Christ." She grimaced, wondered whether Erik was really going to do the whole embarrassing 'speech on a soap box' act.
"Take off your blinders, brothers and sisters. The real enemy is out there." He declared, pointing out to where the ships lay waiting in the distance. "I feel their guns moving in the water, their metal targeting us. Americans, Soviets, humans, united in their fear of the unknown." He paused when he saw Charles and Laurien emerge from the submarine. "The Neanderthal is running scared, my fellow mutants."
Charles helped Laurien over to the others, who were similarly propping each other up, all having sustained some kind of injury. Laurien took Hank's offered arm gratefully, nodding wordlessly when both he and Raven gently asked her if she was alright.
"Go ahead, Charles." Erik said, beckoning the other man with a small twitch of his fingers. "Tell me I'm wrong."
Charles looked back at Laurien and the others, foreboding deeply set in his eyes as he turned towards the battle ships and raised his fingers to his temple. After a moment, he looked to Moira and nodded solemnly, prompting her to run and disappear into the ruins of the airplane.
Suddenly, a soft boom erupted from the ships, then another followed, and before long, the recognizable whistling of missiles could be heard hurtling towards them, from Soviet and American ship alike. Laurien swallowed with difficulty, the pain slowly seeping back into her bloodstream as Charles' presence faded, though in her mind, it didn't quite matter. She wouldn't be hurting for much longer it seemed. She might even see her family; she thought, feeling utterly conflicted as she saw the missiles nearing rapidly, though suddenly wishing that it wouldn't all end like this.
The missiles came unbearably close before Erik suddenly raised his hand, halting the explosives dead in their path. With a slow rotation of his hand, the missiles turned around and pointed straight back at the military ships.
"Erik, you said yourself, we're the better men. This is the time to prove it." Charles pleaded from beside Erik. "There are thousands of men on those ships, good, honest, innocent men. They're just following orders."
"I've been at the mercy of men just following orders." Erik said, as he turned to face him, soft venom lacing the edges of the condemning words. "Never again."
So... The X-Men: Apocalypse trailer came out a couple of days ago... I flipped out. I got really excited, but then after watching it a couple of times, I got really sad, and I have no idea why, because it looks completely epic. Magneto just breaks my heart in the trailer. May 27th 2016 cannot come soon enough. Please let me know what you think of this chapter and review! Thanks!