X-Men Legacy 52
X-Men Legacy
Legend: Thoughts = <>
Stray thoughts = ()
Flashback **
Com links []
Ok, guys, all the disclaimers apply, that means all thanks goes to Marvel
For the X-Men, I'm just making the story. And I do read all the other
Stories and they're great, keep up the good work. They inspire me!
Chapter 52: Scar-Shaped Tattoo
Song in the background: [All Around Me by Flyleaf]
I stood, looking at the clothes on my bed. The clothes were my old costume and I felt as if I should be out there trying to find Magneto's group and...This anger isn't good. It's my enemy. This anger could kill me! There is nothing good about this feeling! I kept telling myself that it wasn't my place to sentence him. I wasn't a superhero, not anymore. I'm a regular guy. Just a regular guy.
Song gets quieter.
"You're not just a regular guy." Dark me...not me, the Hollow, said, "You are, for all intents and purposes, a fool if you believe that. We are too strong to fight. We are the end, only to be the beginning. We are everything and nothing."
"We cannot kill." I said, "We don't have the right to judge."
"Judge? My poor, innocent Pane, We are the judge, jury and executioner." The Hollow said, "We are the right, the law."
"You knew this would happen?" I asked.
"We both knew that this end would come. We saw it coming." The Hollow said.
Song ends.
I shook my head, "You knew, I...I..." I sobbed, "He can't be gone."
"He is." The Hollow said, "Daddy's home."
"What?" I asked.
Just then, the door opened and Mom walked in. She looked so sympathetic and innocent and I couldn't help but completely admire her. She looked around the room, trying to see who I was talking to, but when she saw no one was there, she looked at me, "Have you been taking your medicine?" she asked.
"Something you needed?" I asked coldly.
"Sweetie." She said, putting her arms out, as if to hug me.
"I can't," I said, not hugging her and wrapping my arms around me, "They're here?"
"Yes." Mother said, "I could tell them..."
"They're angry." I said, "They would never listen."
"Okay then, they are in the living room."
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Professor Xavier sat in my living room, still as calm and put together as he had ever been. Scott wasn't as put together as Xavier, not by a long shot. They, along with everyone, had remembered him just a while ago, but couldn't track him, so they came to the only place that he could be. Their anger was met only by their curiosity and worry. At first, they thought that it was a conspiracy and that he had been kidnapped, but who could have pulled something that big off? Only him. Professor Xavier's worry was of my power. If I could do that, what else could I do? As I walked in, I saw two people that looked absolutely unchanged.
Scott's face changed from angry to soft and caring as he saw me, "Pane." He said softly.
"Scott." I said slowly.
"I assume you know how angry we are." Professor Xavier asked, "All anger aside for a minute, it is good to see you."
"Only because we've been under the impression that you were dead for five years." Scott said snapped.
"Scott." Professor Xavier warned, "It is inexcusable to exercise such power. To invade one's mind is..."
"Then why do I get the feeling this isn't punishment?" I asked.
"Do you know how much I've beat myself up over your death? I didn't remember that another you had come or that...parts, vital parts, of my life were taken from me." Scott said, "Not just about you, about changes in my life.."
"I'm sorry." I said, "But you remember now."
"That's not the...Ugh; you can't mess with people's minds like that!" Scott said angrily.
"I did." I said.
"But you shouldn't." Professor interjected.
"But," I said, "I did. Is this why you're here? To ruin my life again?"
"I cannot believe you lived with the knowledge that you invaded our minds for five years." Scott said.
"It doesn't matter." I said, "Everything I've worked towards is gone now." I said sadly.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Scott said.
"Ditto." I said, "I heard about Jean."
"Thank you." Scott said.
"I have been powerless for the last five years. It took up all my powers. Sorry, no more. Besides, I didn't have enough to erase everyone and me." I said.
"You are in danger." Scott said.
"Shock and surprise." I said sarcastically.
"And we need you." Scott said, "Arthur Renfield has been taken."
"Taken?" I asked.
"Apparently, he's the new Rogue." Scott said, "Magneto took him."
"I'm not a hero anymore; I'm a normal person now." I said, "No powers."
"Perhaps you are right, but I hope not for Arthur's sake." Professor asked.
"God, what do you people want with me?! I gave you my teen years! I died at least three times and now, what? You want me to run after some kid I knew five years ago?" I asked.
"Now he's in his teen year and he needs you." Scott said, "I know it's not fair..."
"Fair?! This is the opposite of fair in every way." I said, "Isn't there a team of teenage X-Men who can deal with this?"
"Yes, they are no yet equipped." Professor said.
"Get out." I said, "Get the Fuck out!" I screamed, "I don't have anything else to give! Now go!"
Professor and Scott said nothing else, they just left.'
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As I walked through my house, I saw that everybody had gone, the wake was over. I walked into my living room to see Rae sitting at a table, drawing with her crayons. I smiled, for the first time in a long time and watched her sketch something. Even though the sketch was stick figures, there was a reason for things on the paper.
"Rae." I said, sitting beside her and looking at her art. There was two groups of people and one in the middle, "Who are these people?"
Here, she pointed to the group with a tall brown stick figure in it, "This is you and the good guys." Then pointed to the other side, "Those are the bad men. Bitches."
"Bitches?" I asked, "Rae, where'd you learn that?"
"I heard one of them say it." Rae explained, "You're going to fight them. Please don't fight them!" she said, clinging to my chest.
I looked down at the two groups and between them stood a lone person, "Who is this?" I asked.
"That's the bad man." Rae said, pulling away and looking at the picture, "He wants you to fight. He's a very bad man."
"Do you know what his name is?" I asked.
"No." Rae said, "Where's Uncle Josh?"
I was at a loss for words, "He...you know...he's dead, sweetie." I said quickly.
"So he's gone to Heaven?" Rae asked.
"Yes." I said, "He went to Heaven and he'll be looking down at us."
Rae looked up, "Am I going to go to Heaven?" she asked.
I nodded, "Of course!" I said quickly.
"Are you going to go away now? To fight the bad men?" Rae asked.
I looked at her and shook my head, "No, sweetie, I'm not." I said.
"Why not?" Rae asked, looking at me with her puppy dog eyes, "Then who's going to fight the bad men?"
"The heroes." I said, "Those men who were here, they'll save us."
"But, you're a hero." She said.
I chuckled, "You think I'm a hero?" I asked.
"My favorite." Rae smiled, "Mommy told me how you fought the bad men."
I smiled.
"And I saw you," she said, "I saw you do it."
She's right, you're a hero.
"Rae!" her mother called.
I looked down at her, "I think it's time for you to go." I said.
"Are you going too?" Rae asked.
I shook my head, "I have to go, don't I?" I asked.
Rae nodded.
"I love you, Rae." I said hugging her.
"I'm scared." Rae said.
"Don't be," I said, "I'm going to save us all."
"Rae, you ready?" her mother asked, rounding the corner. She smiled, looking at us, "Awww, look at you two."
"Rae, why don't you go and talk to mama and auntie." I said.
"Okay." Rae said, running out of the room.
"Nice to see you smiling." She said.
"I'm leaving." I said.
"What?!" she asked, "Not to go...no! Last time, you died for two or three years."
I nodded, "Rae is a mutant." I said, "She sees things."
"What kind of things?" she asked.
"Things that she draws." I said, "Take care of her. I'm coming back and when I do, I want to help her with her powers."
"We've got to go." She said.
"Take care." I said, "I love you guys."
She hugged me and left. I walked slowly behind them and shut the door. I walked to the bedroom and stood in the doorway. Something wasn't right. I had never been alone in this house before. My thoughts started to go wild. He loved you. He loved me. His death was necessary. It wasn't just something to be given. The world will crumble without you. The world isn't dependent on me. The time to fight has come. My fight was over. You got what you wanted, to be normal, to be loved. So, this is the consequence for my wish? Give and take, you are given what you truly wanted, but you take the risk of it falling apart. I didn't miss you. I'm honest with you. Yeah.
I walked over and sat in the middle of the room, my legs crossed and my hands resting on my knees.
§
A robed figure ominously made his way across the green mansion grass, not stopping to bask in the beauty. The figure's feet never touched the ground, instead, it floated and even its robe swayed over the ground. As it stopped at the mansion door, the ground began to shake. For the last five years, it had been planning its next move. It had been amassing power beyond the mere mortal. What he was about to do was find a friend. This friend had been dead for years and suddenly...there he was. Like a rocket, the robed figure shot into the air and out of the mansion's proximity.
§
There was a knock at the door that broke my concentration. I opened my eyes and walked to the door. I had the strangest sensation as I took the time to look at the door. Something beyond was scary. Something was unknown. I heard a voice and ducked away from the door just in time to see the door fly off its hinges! I looked up to see the robed figure and suddenly, I looked around to see mist everywhere. I felt an invisible force lift me up and pin me against a wall. The robed figure came from out of the mist and stood in front of me.
"Who are you?!" I shouted, "Let me go!"
The robed figure seemed to be floating on air, then glided to a stop. The hood of the robe obscured my view of its face.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"You don't know?" it asked, its voice was raspy, "I'm shocked, I expected you to reinvent yourself, but the sophisticated good guy is way out of your league. I had begun to think your powers had all diminished."
"I don't have any powers." I said, "I'm not a threat."
The voice's raspy chuckle rang throughout the mist-filled...cemetery. The scene had become a cemetery with me in the arms of a robed harbinger...I'd seen this...
"It was our favorite book...I see both our tastes have changed." The robed figure said, pulling back its hood and revealing its skeletal features and I recognized them.
"No." I said, "You are dead."
"We just don't stay down." He said, "And I'm only your clone."
"How?" I asked.
"Unlike you, I can't come back on my own...I needed my father's help." It said.
"Your father?" I asked.
"Apocalypse. The prophecy tells of my coming." The clone said, "You were right, you could never be evil, so they needed something only a clone could give...I'm going to help my father do what I was prophesized to, we're going to rule the world," he flashed a blade.
"So, what? I thought your body disappeared." I asked.
The clone spoke again, "It was taken. In a flash, everything was taken from me and given back to you...now I'm taking it back." He said, slashing my upper arm, "I can be reborn with your blood. Looks like J.K. Rowling didn't get it wrong...it's all in the blood."
I looked around, "This isn't a frickin book!" I shouted.
"This is our life. Our life." He said, using his telekinesis to flow blood from my body into his and he was regenerated. Around me, I could see the room turning into a dome, a steel dome. The Danger Room!
Help! Help me!
Then everything went black.
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Well, if you liked it please tell me so I can start work on the next one. I really need feedback, especially if you like it. If you don't, I need advice and suggestions, please.