The Funeral
The X-Men are the property of Marvel Comics.
Here it is the final chapter in the Hotshot Series!
The rain fell in sheets in the mountains of
Vermont. It fit everyone's mood perfectly.
It had been expected that he would be buried in the
same cemetery as other fallen X-Men such as Doug Ramsey
or Morph. But at his grandparent's insistence, he was
being buried in the family cemetery near their tree
farm. His parents' and sister's bodies had been
transferred earlier.
Jubilee looked around at the gathering of people.
They were people who had known him, the X-Men,
Wolfsbane. Even some from other teams were there.
Though they hadn't known him, they had come to bury one
of their own.
But what amazed Jubilee was the amount of family
that Will had had. Several Aunts and Uncles, and a
whole lot of cousins stood gathered in tiny groups. The
fact that they had even known he was still alive said
volumes about how much Will and his Grandparents trusted
them.
Jubilee started when she felt a hand on her
shoulder.
"How're ya holdin' up kid?" a familiar voice asked.
"Wolvie?" she turned, hardly daring to believe it
was him.
"Hi kid." he said quietly.
"You came!" she said gratefully, hugging him
fiercely.
"Wish I coulda come at a happier time."
"Oh Wolvie, he's gone." she began to cry for the
hundredth time in the two days since Will's death. "I
can't believe he's gone. I keep expecting to see him
walking around with a big smile on his face-" she broke
off, her sobbing choking off any further words.
"Dr. McCoy," Will's Grand Father said quietly.
"You don't need to have your image inducer here. You
and your friends are perfectly safe."
"Are you certain?" Hank asked.
Will's Grandfather smiled reassuringly. "Half of
our family are mutants Dr." he said. He pointed out one
of Will's cousins, a large boy with the body of a star
football player and the expression of a college
professor. "Genius level IQ and the ability to
psionically program computers." He next indicated
the boy's sister. "She can control the length, and
color of anyone's hair. She can also control hair, like
telekinesis only more specific."
"Indeed?" Hank was amazed, why had Will not told
them of this? Hank disengaged his image inducer and
encouraged Kurt and Douglock to do so also. Will's
Grandfather continued to point out the mutants in the
family.
Rahne sat on a bench a little away from the group.
Her head was down, and she was shivering from the rain.
"Excuse me," a voice said. Rahne looked up and saw
one of Will's aunts standing before her.
"Aye?" Rahne had deliberately separated herself
from the rest. She did not want to face Will's family.
"I understand you were there when my nephew died."
Rahne sighed. It seemed there was no escaping it.
She tensed waiting for the barrage of anger that was
sure to come. "Aye."
"Thank you." the woman said.
"What?" Rahne could not believe what she had heard.
"Thank you. For trying to save my nephew."
"But I didn't save him!" Rahne cried, finally
releasing all the guilt and self reproach that had been
pent up in her since Will's death. "I was there, and I
couldn't save him!"
"But you tried." Will's aunt insisted. She sat on
the bench next to Rahne. "Believe it or not, I know
what you're going through."
"Do ye?"
"Yes. I'm a nurse in the ER I've lost my share of
patients so I can tell you, you can't save them all."
"It never gets any easier does it?"
"No," she said sadly. "No it doesn't."
When the Funeral started, Jubilee was amazed yet
again. She had expected there to be a clear separation
between Will's family and the X-Men. But instead, the
two groups merged into one.
Jubilee found herself standing next to one of
Will's many cousins.
"You were Will's girlfriend weren't you?" she
asked.
"Yes," Jubilee answered. "How did you know that?
Are you a telepath?"
"Yes but I didn't read your mind." she replied.
"Will used to write us."
"Really?"
"He didn't tell you about us?"
"We never really talked about our family. It was
kind of a sensitive topic."
"You guys were family to him. All of you. He
loved you Jubilee."
Jubilee smiled through her tears. "Thanks."
"Mr. Logan," Will's Grandfather asked. "We could
use an extra pall bearer."
"Right behind ya bub." Logan followed the other
pallbearers to the hearse that contained Will's coffin.
Though he'd never admit it, Logan was hit hard by
Will's death. He'd seen many people die in his
lifetime, many of them friends. But it never did get
any easier.
As they lowered the coffin into the ground, Jubilee
turned on the stereo she had brought with her. Will's
favorite song, their song as she had jokingly called it,
I Remember You by Skid Row began to play. Will had
always wanted to hear it echo from the mountain peaks of
his native Vermont.
Since everyone had already said their memories of
him, there was nothing more to be done, but fill in the
hole. With every shovel full of dirt, Jubilee felt
herself die a little inside. As if they were burying
her with him.
Jubilee was the last to go. Everyone else had gone
back to the farm. She was oblivious to the rain and the
wet ground as she knelt before his headstone. She
smiled slightly as she read the inscription, "And now I
lay me down to sleep, I pray the lord my soul to keep,
if I should die before I wake...Oh, nevermind."
Jubilee reached out tentatively and rested her
hand on the stone.
"Good-bye Will." she said.
The End
Unofficial soundtrack(music I listened to while writing
this.)
Queen-Who Wants to Live Forever, We are the Champions.
Tori Amos-Winter, Little Earthquakes
Cranberries-Ode to My Family
Hair-Flesh Failures/Let the Sunshine In
Les Miserables-Empty Chairs and Empty Tables
Sheryl Crow- On the Outside
Skid Row-I Remember You
Tell Me on a Sunday
Leader of the Pack
"Lord what fools these mortals be!"
Puck Robin Goodfellow
"A Midsummer's Night Dream"
William Shakespeare
"I aM ToRgO. I lOoK aFtEr tHe pLaCe wHiLe tHe MaStEr iS
aWaY."
Torgo
"Manos the Hands of Fate"
MST3K
"Where is that dratted spoon?"
Tasslehoff Burrfoot
"Dragons of Summer Flame"
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman