Disclaimer: I didn’t make the assorted X-Peoples, nor any else in the Marvel
Universe. I merely took what they had and did it my way. The only people
that are mine are Andre, Hiatus, and Collate. Oh, and don’t sue me. Not
that you would. Just don’t.
Just Like The Old Times
Part 5: Remorse
I will remember you,
Will you remember me?
Don’t let your life
Pass you by
Weep not for
The memories….
Will You Remember Me? by Sarah McLachlin
All ready, Excalibur had met resistance on all sorts of levels. Kitty Pryde
was gone, some of them didn’t really completely fight off the Acolytes
without any personal harm, but now Excalibur faced the greatest challenge of
the night. Exodus.
Pete reacted instinctively. Complete unaware of his girlfriend’s recent
disappearance, he was quick to throw as many hot knives as he could at the
man standing in front of him.
Exodus laughed them off and they fell to the ground, doing no harm.
Wolfsbane, tired of losing and wanting revenge, jumped on him, only to be
thrown yards away with a squeal and a yelp. She was unconscious before she
hit the tree, and Douglock ran to her to investigate. Exodus again laughed.
"Let’s see if you find this so funny, asshole!" Illyana shouted. New to
this sort of adventure, but no less harmful because of that deficiency, she
threw any sort of energy spell she could think of at him immediately. Before
he knew it, he was thrown about in a tornado of fire, and being blasted with
light and energy all around him.
Illyana, with much strain, managed to keep this up for awhile, but not for
long. Exodus only watched her get more weak, until he was ready to
retaliate. He knew Illyana was a threat, perhaps a definite one, and did not
want any threats left dangling around to kill him later. He threw a psionic
bolt in her direction big enough to kill Galactus, but, unused to these sort
of actions and unsuspecting of danger, Illyana did not notice it.
Illyana’s return had been a candle that had lit up Peter Rasputin’s life.
She had become the light in his dark and tortured soul, even if she wasn’t
the little sister he knew. Despite the fact they hardly even knew each
other, and that he hardly ever spoke to her, Peter longed for her and loved
her.
For a long time, Peter had felt empty inside. Others suspected him of
penting up his anger too much, or that maybe one day he would release it all
dangerously. Illyana saved him from that, so it was only natural for him to
act they way he did.
Peter ran in front Illyana, shoving her aside, and being hit by the blast,
nearly immovable in his metal form.
In what seemed like tortuous slow motion, Peter collapsed. Silently,
quickly, and surely. He fell to the ground, and Illyana, shouting, turned
around and saw him. Her biggest chance for a familiar and friendly anchor in
this new world was just knocked off the playing board.
It has been theorized before that time enslaves man, but perhaps that is not
the case. Perhaps man slaves time, or at least attempts to. For there have
been moments that have passed by so quickly that they will never be measured
by computers or minds. And there have been moments that couldn’t possibly
have lived up to their namesake, that lasted far beyond any limits we put on
time. So, let it be theorized that maybe man is trying to enslave time, and
in doing so has taken upon an impossible task, for time will do as it
pleases.
The moment Piotr Rasputin died, time stopped.
Illyana cried over his body and shed enough tears to start her own river,
possible named after the man who just sacrificed his life for hers.
Meggan noticed the pretty way the leaves were falling off the trees, and
then realized that someone’s whole world had suddenly crumbled.
Douglock and Rahne didn’t even notice the event since Rahne was being tended
to.
Kitty Pryde, miles away, will always wonder why she knew something was
happening at that moment in time, and will always remember how she suddenly
burst into tears, alone in a foreign land.
Pete Wisdom had seen people die. He had killed plenty of them himself. He
had seen sacrifice, but would never forget this one. The man he had even
hated for a while died, quickly and suddenly, without any healing words or
suprising revelations. Pete Wisdom would never forget Piotr Rasputin for the
rest of his life.
For Piotr Rasputin, it was the last moment of his life, and he used it up to
its fullest. He wondered if the people he loved would be taken care of. He
wondered what his other friends were doing at this moment in time. He
wondered why he didn’t do all the things he wanted to.
And then he remembered.
Piotr Rasputin realized he had finally done the thing he could never do
before.
Piotr Rasputin died, but he saved his sister. His eyes slowly shut and a
faint grin spread across his face, and with nothing more than a gentle and
inaudible murmur, he died.
And the leaves kept falling, and the tears kept coming, and the hate never
stopped growing. But somewhere someone’s life had been indeterminably
changed, and in the end result, that was all that mattered.
But this was still to be a night of sacrifices.
Exodus barely noticed the mist surrounding him. Meggan saw with a lock of
shock and realization upon her face what was happening, and screamed. "No,
AMANDA! Don’t you do it, too!"
And with that, Amanda Voght, one of the people who had admitted to never
wanting to be an X-Man, to not wanting to have to sacrifice her life, to
running from her problems, used her mutant powers more powerfully then she’d
ever done before. Straining to break through all of Exodus’ barriers, and
concentrating on the destination, she teleported Exodus to the sun, but to do
so, brought herself with him.
The mist slowly disappeared, and all that was left in their little world
were sobs and tears.
To Be Continued
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