Thanx: to Soar, for waisting time editing my work, when you could be studing. As well, to those who archive my stuff: Mooke (Or Apoc, whatever you go by now- a- days.) Christine, Raven and of course Darqstar. And finally, to anyone who actually waists time reading the disclaimers, ect. when they could be reading the story. I know that personally I don't.

What the Future Holds
Part Ten
By CRIM§ON

The silence was deafening in the space between the portals. As he fell, Angel had the sensation of flying. As the gravity crushed his body inward he felt as if he was being torn apart. Left was up, right was down. By all logic, this sort of world should not have been able to exist, and yet he could feel it all around. He was completely sure Sinister had gone through with him, but his senses screamed of a lonely oblivion, in which time, space and matter were equally jests of some past life that he couldn't quite remember, nor could he forget.

And then, as quickly as it had begun, it ended. Warren looked up to see Marrow barely conscious on the other side of the room. It appeared to him that she had been trying to reach a door that was located a few feet away from her.

His mind reeled at the thought of what could have disorientated her so much, that she would have given up her goal. She looked at him with a question in her eyes, then turned her gaze upwards to something behind him. That was when Angel remembered Sinister.

"...shit..." He muttered as he felt someone, probably Sinister, pick him up and carry him over to the now unconscious Marrow. The movement made his head spin, and he figured out why she was so weak. The portal had taken a lot out of him, and he prayed to any God that would listen, that his sickness wouldn't last.

"It appears your fellow X-Man has left you alone for the moment," Sinister gloated as he set Warren down next to Sarah. "Not to worry. You will be having company soon enough."

A sudden noise from the direction of the portal caught both of their attention, and the two looked in it's direction. They were rewarded with the sight of Gambit who had fallen through the portal on to the metallic floor. He rolled and came to his feet showing only the slightest signs of being affected by the portal.

Sinister stood strongly with a hard look in his eyes. Gambit for the most part looked completely defiant, fists balled, and eyes glaring, showing no signs of backing down from the man who could destroy him in an instant.

Remy was the first to break the spell. "Let dem go Essex," he hissed. A deeply angered scowl was on his face, as the glowing disk vanished behind him. The effect of the sight made his words seem to have even more strength, as the eery glow of the portal disappeared, only to be replaced by an even eerier glow in his eyes.

"Ah. You have misunderstood me Gambit. I did not say I would spare them if you came. You assume too much."

Gambit showed no signs of reacting to these words, but Angel could almost feel the anger emanating from him. He grated his words in perfectly articulated english as if to make sure Sinister would understand, "If you hurt them I will kill you."

"No. You will do nothing but surrender. Or else, the only people to die here today, will be them." In order to illustrate his point, he took aim at the two fallen X-Men with his illuminated left hand. He didn't move his attention from Gambit for an instant, didn't even risk a glance at them, but Angel knew that if he decided to fire, he would not miss.

For a moment it appeared that Gambit would argue, would try to fight the inevitable just one more time. That he would attempt to cheat fate yet again. To fight an end he knew was coming just once more. But he was so tired of fighting. The past few weeks had taken their told on him. The battles, the sacrifices, the injuries and hardships, the losses and always, always the fighting. He was just so tired.

Angel watched in terror as Gambit lowered his arms and let the tension drop from his body. For a moment their eyes met and locked, the resigned look in Gambit's made tears form in Warrens. Then Gambit's gaze turned away from Angel's and met Sinister's.

Essex dropped his arm to his side. "Excellent," he whispered evilly to himself.

It was clearly a victory for him, and Gambit knew that that meant it was a loss for him. He closed his eyes, only slightly aware of what would follow. Sinister once again took aim at Gambit, but this time Angel could not find the strength to call out a warning; Could not find it within himself to defend the man who was giving everything he had ever fought for, to save him.

Tears were now streaming down his face, as he did everything he could to fight off his own oblivion. Part of him wanted the peaceful slumber to come, but the other wanted to be there for this man; Wanted to witness his sacrifice. Horror filled him as he watched Sinister fire.

The blast struck Gambit in the chest and abdomen, and sent him backwards into the wall with a vengeance, only for him to come to rest, finally, on the cold, hard floor. As he drifted off, Angel took comfort in knowing that Gambit had probably been unconscious before he had hit the wall.

Angel awoke to the sound of singing. It was a beautiful song, sung by someone with a beautiful voice. If he didn't miss his guess, it was a religious song. Even though it wasn't in English, it had that certain lilt that made it made it belong more in the vast expanse of a church hall.

He was becoming lost in the melody, when someone cut her off. "Don't you know anything besides that Catholic crap?" A male voice asked.

"It is NOT 'crap'! It's beautiful music about hope and faith and love and if you don' like it, you can blow it out yer arse!" Another feminine voice said sharply.

"Hope and faith and love," The male spat. "Things like that have no place in a Hell like this!"

Angel decided to put in his own opinion. He spoke without opening his eyes. "I like the music," He whispered with only a little difficulty.

"Angel?" A raspy voice whispered back from somewhere to his right.

Tentatively he opened one eye and turned his head slowly in the direction of the voice. "Marrow."

"Welcome Back."

"Are you alright?"

"How do you feel?"

Angel opened both his eyes to find out who was speaking to him. He found himself in what appeared to be a rather large test tube in a dark room. It was about a metre in diameter and about two metres high. His wings felt awkward in the small space, but he supposed it could be worse. The room was about three or four metres wide, and lined on both sides by similar tubes. To his right was Marrow.

To the right of her was a boy of about 17 or 18, leaning casually against the side of the tube. He was wearing forest green pants and a midnight blue shirt. His boots were looked like they had been requisitioned from an army reject shop, but they were a faded yellow and green. The boy's black hair and blue and brown eyes reminded him of the Phantom of the Opera, except that his face was far from grotesque. In fact the only flaw he could see in the boy that couldn't be fixed by a hot meal, shave and shower were the green circles under his eyes.

Across from him was another boy of about the same age, maybe older. He was crouched down with his elbows on his knees, hands folded under his chin. His hair was long and red, and his face showed that he had been there for a considerable time. The circles under his eyes were black, and it appeared he hadn't shaved in months. His sleeveless soft brown shirt and black pants seemed about two sizes too big for his scrawny body. His soft brown eyes matched his slightly baggy shirt perfectly.

To his right was a young girl of about 18 or 19 who had the same regal beauty of Storm, despite her youth. She stood with one hand on her hip, the other hanging at her side, holding something tight, and her chin poised to show strength. Her mahogany hair was about three or four feet long, tied back by two braids that came back from behind her ears. Her bangs fell in front of a set of eyes that had what appeared to be liquid silver swirling around the dark green irises. From the edge of her left eye brow a dark scar proceeded back behind her ear and disappeared behind her hair. Her clothes were normal American blue jeans and a dark green T-shirt with red, black and white suede Adidas sneakers. Though she was just as caged as the rest of them was she held a certain air about her that said she was not trapped.

Next was a female teenager who seemed the girl's exact opposite. She sat with her legs tucked up arms folded on them and head hiding in them. She seemed to be quite frightened of the predicament she found herself in, as she looked at him with eyes too old for her age. Her hair too was tied back in a pony tail, but it was rather messy, with strands hanging out all over as if she couldn't decide whether she wanted it up or down. Even the colour of her hair seemed to be indecisive. It had extremely dark red strands as well as chestnut brown and black, but the addition of blond and brown made it appear to be more light than dark. Her eyes were sapphire blue, as was her shirt. Her jeans were faded and baggy and she wore a pair of black boots with thick rubber souls.

Crouched to her right was a tiny girl, probably about 8 or 9 years of age. She sat with her legs pulled up to her stomach and her arms wrapped around them, chin resting on her knees, as she stared at him in awe. Her eyes were large, green and innocent. She was dressed in a red and white pants outfit that had a tank top for a shirt. It looked like something straight out of the 60's, but that sort of thing was normal for today's style. She had on a pair of white Velcro sneakers that had a little Spiderman heads on the sides.

On the right of this child was a dangerous looking girl staring at him, hands on hips as if to try and intimidate. She appeared to be 15 or 16 going on 40. Her lavender eyes and lips set off her long silver hair perfectly. Her tight lavender and black outfit showed that despite her not so great height of 5'3" she would be able to take on any attackers. The only thing she needed to complete her look was a set of swords to go in her black gloved hands.

Across from her the cannister was empty. But to the right of that, and left of Angel, was the ninth and final captive. He was a boy around 16 or 17, showing the least amount of wear. His hair was long and blond. He had on dressy black pants, and a white sleeveless shirt. Around his neck on a black cord was a quarter-sized medallion with something engraved on it.

As Angel caught his light blue eyes, the boy decided to speak. "Hi," He said in a low voice with a smile on his face. "Name's Blaze," He gestured with his head to the dangerous girl, "That's Kristine."

She nodded to him, crossing her arms. "Hello," She articulated sharply.

Blaze, continued down the line. "Next is Casey, my little sister."

The little girl smiled brightly at him, but didn't say anything.

"Then the diva we call Pix," She smiled distantly, but it did not reach her frightened eyes, and she turned away quickly, as if making the amount of eye contact that she did had burned her eyes. Blaze continued with a playful smile, "My lovely, Hope Darcenaux," She opened her mouth to say something, but he wasn't finished. "We all call her Darcey. Mostly 'cause it pisses the Hell out of her."

She shot him a slightly annoyed look, that Warren was sure he had seen before, as Blaze quickly continued. "The Veteran, Donald," then pointing to the end he said "Brian, and I believe you already know the quick tempered woman."

Angel nodded to each as he said their names. Then he looked pointedly at the empty canaster. "Who's missing?" He asked, figuring that it was there for Gambit.

"Actually three of us were taken out earlier this morning. A guy we call Bull, Celeste, and Miranda. You guys are probably next on his experimental hit list," Blaze replied in sad humour.

Angel stood up as best he could and leaned against the back of the tube. Crossing his arms over his chest, he looked at the bottom of the glass, and spoke quietly to himself, "Figure he'll be too busy with Gambit."

"What?!?" Marrow, Pix and Hope exclaimed in unison.

Surprised by the question coming in stereo, Angel's head bounced up. He had only meant to have to break the news to Marrow and didn't really think that the others would have any difference either way.

"Did... Did you say Gambit?" Donald stuttered, sadness written all over his face.

"A- As in Remy?" Pix asked, the fear in her eyes masked by sadness, as both she and Hope came forward behind the glass to hear what he had to say.

"...Yes. How do you know him?"

Pix fell back hard, but didn't look as if she felt it much. Her eyes fixed forward and again she started to sing. Hope turned on her knees and faced Pix. She held a deep concern in her manner as she raised a hand to the glass then turned and sat down herself, putting her head in her hands.

"We all know him. He was one of us for a while, before Fury sprung him. He was our best chance of getting out," Donald said almost under his breath.

"What do you mean one of you?" Angel asked out of curiosity.

"We're all connected. It's like telepathy, only not. I think it has something to do with Casey's powers," Replied Donald, half-heartedly.

"Casey's powers?" Angel baited.

Blaze sighed. "We can all see things. Call it a spatial awareness, or empathy, or whatever you want, but we see things. Apart from Remy, it's strongest in Casey, to the point that she can actually see through the eyes of another person. A long time ago, when Nick came for Remy, he reached out to us to try to find us, to try to help us. Casey did the same to him as she saw something through his eyes that frightened her. When he touched Casey's mind, their powers interwove and an odd sort of awareness hit us all."

"It's like we're all connected," Brian continued.

"We know what each other is thinking," added Kristine.

"We know what each other is feeling," Donald concurred.

"And we know what each other is seeing," Brian finished.

"But it's more then that. When none of us are trying to block it, and when none of our powers are being blocked, we don't just know what they're thinking or seeing. We don't just know, but we actually see, we hear, we feel, and at the strongest of times, we even think exactly what the others are doing."

Donald's words came quietly, "We lost Remy for so long, that most of us started to believe that he was..."

"It's strongest between some of us more then others," Brian stated in order to stop the subject from going in that direction. "Me and Kristine, Pix and Hope, Casey and Blaze, Bull and Celeste, and Miranda and Donald. It's like we were paired of for some sort of greater purpose."

"Don't get going on that 'Greater Purpose' crap again," Kristine stated with an exasperated expression on her face. "The only thing Sinister has planned for us is to be his experiments until we snap. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Explain Remy then," Marrow muttered under her breath, so subtly that Angel wasn't sure whether or not he had heard her right.

Angel looked at her, hoping that she would explain, but she just stared back without opening her mouth. It was at that point that something else that had been bothering him since Remy had returned. "What Is it between you two?" He blurted out from apparently nowhere.

Marrow looked away from him, to the bottom of the cylinder as all eyes fell upon her and the singing stopped. "What do you mean?" She asked innocently, as if she really didn't know what he was talking about.

"You know exactly what I mean. Ever since you showed up with Bobby you've been little miss tough ass bitch. You're bitter, I understand that, but the X-Men did every thing in their power to help you, and STILL you hate us! Why? Why do you hate us and love him, when it's not OUR fault that they're dead, IT'S HIS!!!" By this point Angel was yelling, but he didn't care. Everything that had been built up inside of him since Gambit's trial was coming out now and he wanted answers.

"That man did everything in his power to destroy you and to destroy the X-Men. WE did everything in our power to stop him. The traitor--"

"Shut your mouth," Came quietly from across the way. "Y' have no CLUE what de Hell you're talkin' 'bout. So I'm tellin' you winged man Shut. YOUR. Mouth. Or I'll make it so dat you never fly 'gain."

"I know what you tried to do for me Angel. But you were too late. I had a Guardian Angel that day, and it wasn't you. You tried to come out of your mansion to help the lesser people from an unbeatable force. You people always did enjoy fighting for the underdogs," Marrow was barely speaking now as tears streamed down her face.

"Remy got me out. He was hurt, but he ran on. He kept saying he was so sorry, as he ran and stumbled down the tunnel. He brought me to a tunnel where Calisto was helping some Morlocks run from the Marauders. He was in so much pain that he could barely stand. He passed me to Calisto, still chanting how sorry he was, and turned to go back for more. But there was an explosion. We were all thrown to the ground. I fell under some debris and was too scared to cry out to him." Her eyes were fixed, and all those in the room appeared, to Angel, to be reliving what she was describing with her.

"I could see him trying to pick himself up, to help us... he was spitting up so much blood... He had his back to them... One of them shoved a... a knife through his back... They told him that Essex was going to kill his daughter... I was too scared to cry as he fell... I was too scared to cry as I watched the Marauders kill my family, and my friends... Too scared as I saw Calisto fall over Remy, to try to protect him from the flames all around him... I was even too scared of the one-eyed man that shot and killed the Marauder that had killed my Angel.

"I watched as he walked past the fallen and the wounded, ignoring the ones crying out for his help. He walked right up to him and Calisto. He helped Calisto sit up noticing her burns, but quickly turned his attention to the semi conscious man. 'Oh God... I'm sorry... just hang in there,' he had said putting a hand to his shoulder.

"'My... my...' Remy had gasped.

"'I know...' he replied. Then Remy's eyes went so sad, then pained and remorseful and then suddenly unreadable, almost cold. I wanted to go to him so I started climbing out of my hiding place. He was the only person who noticed me coming. 'Rest Remy. It's all right now. I'm getting you out, now you just gotta hold on a little longer. You have to keep on fighting.'

Remy let out a little grunt of pain and his head fell into the other man's lap. 'A'wa's fightin'...' Then he looked to me, 'Wa's y' name girl?' he asked me, the sadness in his eyes again. I told him my name was Sarah, as I knelt down beside them. ''m so s'ry S'rah. So... so...' Then he passed out again.

"I looked up at the other man and asked him why he was sorry. He told me something I'll never forget. He said that Remy thought what happened was his fault, and that he would never be allowed to know the truth. Then he looked down at his friend and back at me. He told me that he wanted me to promise something. Fury told me everything that had happened to him, his entire life and that it was never his fault. I didn't understand all of what he said then, but I still understood the point. Remy was not to blame. Then he said the oddest thing I had ever heard. He said that Remy needed to be forgiven so that he could go to Heaven. And that only I could give him the forgiveness he needed.

"I thought Remy was dead at that point. That the blade had killed him, after Creed's claws had failed. He needed to forgive himself, but he didn't even know that he had done nothing wrong, apart from trying to protect his daughter. Every time he liked someone, they were taken away from him, every time he was happy, it was taken away from him. His story was so sad, and none of it was his fault. I promised never to hold anything against this man as long as I lived, and I promised to always keep what he had told me a secret.

"I still have never told the story he had told me to anyone else. And to this day, Remy LeBeau is the only person I've ever forgiven. Then I found out he was alive, only to find out that the X-Woman he loved had left him to die. I was so angry... Just so So... angry... It was NEVER his fault, and he doesn't even know it..." Her voice drifted off into quiet sobs.

"I... I understand," Angel stuttered, trying to hide a tear which was falling down his blue face.

A sudden explosion rocked the building, and as the lights went out, Psylocke appeared in the middle of the room with a fully iced man. "Hello my luv'."

"Da, da- da, da- da, da- da, da- daaaaaa! CALVAR-- Ack!" Bobby's not-so-witty banter was cut short by a bright flash of light that sent Psylocke flying into him, and knocked them both out.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Sinister lectured as he walked into the room, "You should never make an attack with your calvary, unless it's backed up by the artillery. Didn't you learn anything from Napoleon?"

"YOU HEARTLESS SON OF A BITCH! Why can't you just LEAVE US ALONE?!?" Pix yelled, dropping the frightened child appearance, and doing her best to use her powers through the dampeners in the cylinder.

"If I cannot have you, then no one can." Sinister told her as he walked towards the controls on the opposite side of the room.

"Oh my God! What are you doing?" Kristine asked as he started pushing buttons on the panel.

"You have all out lived your usefulness to me. I have my prize, and I cannot take all of you, and him as well. You will keep the remaining X-Men busy while I escape with LeBeau."

"NOOOOOO!!!" A few of the captives yelled in unison. It was Pix's voice, however, that was heard over all.

As the others looked on, a bright light encompassed Sinister, and seemingly picked him up off the ground, and threw him against the panel. The impact wasn't enough to seriously injure him, but the controls were toast. An electrical fire started to break out.

As Sinister picked himself up, he surveyed the damage. "Fine. You've made this mess. You deal with it." He hissed making for an exit.

The controls were going up, and as far as any of them knew, no one had ever been able to break through the glass, with or with out powers. Then different lights started going on above the cannisters. The one above Kristine read release, as did Casey's. Pix's, Hope's and Brian's said extraction, and Donald's had both extraction and dampeners off. The two X-Men's read dampeners off and Blaze's said enhancement.

Next to him, Angel watched helplessly as Blaze burst in flames, screaming in agony as they burned his skin. Casey jumped quickly from her cage as the door opened, and ran to her brother. As soon as her foot hit the floor she opened her mouth in a silent scream. Her big brother was dying, and she not only knew it, but she could feel it.

Kristine went to the two unconscious X-Men, and tried to revive them. If they were going to get out of here they would need the pro's.

The four cylinders which had read extraction were now blazing with a bright blue light. It crossed Angel's mind that in order to extract his experiments, without them fighting back, he would release a shock into their cage, and knock them out. This light was blazing in brilliance though, which meant that it wasn't just some light shock.

Inside these cylinders, Pix, Brian and Donald were all yelling to Hope to do something. Hope, however was just standing there, staring wide- eyed at Blaze, and at Casey who was screaming silently and pounding her fists on her brother's glass. It looked as if she hadn't even really noticed the electrical current running through her body.

She watched his flesh melt away, as he stopped screaming and looked to her. She had the distinct feeling that he hadn't stopped screaming based on the fact that the pain had gone away. She saw the complete and utter love he had for her written in his soft blue eyes. Then his eyes moved to her right. She followed his gaze, even as the flames charred his bones, and gasped at what she saw.

Drawing all her strength, she sucked all of the electrical current from their tubes into her own. It was a tremendous effort without her powers, but she was determined to not let anymore of her friends die this night.

Closing her eyes tight and holding her broken locket to her heart, she turned off the outside world. The electricity filled her, and played around her. As it did, she became part of it, and it part of her. Out of the corner of her mind something registered that the man she loved had died, and as he did part of her died with him. She fell to her knees and let out a sob, but continued to hold on.

"Briannnn... get... them... out..." She whispered in a desperate attempt to save the rest of her 'team'.

"I can't! I don't have my powers!"

She opened her eye lids and snapped her head up at Brian, drilling a hole into him with her eyes. As she spoke, her voice sounded like static personified, "GET... THEM...OUT!!!"

"Don'try... DO!"

"...I... Alright..."