This story is a work of fiction, and all correlations to real people are pure happenstance. The Xmen characters are fully owned by Marvel, and the author owns no rights to these characters, save for those he has invented for this story. This story is intended for mature readers, and adult discretion is advised.
My story, as all good ones, start with a boy and a girl. Best friends for life, and two people who are so completely in love with each other, that it's almost beyond belief that they could feel otherwise.
I know, I know, that many reading this story about a gay man could believe that it's about a man and woman in love with each other, but that is beside the point. I completely doubt that anyone who has happened upon this unhappy circumstance of our lives, whether gay or straight, has ever felt such love for a person in their lives, whether or not that person was a friend closer than family or an intimate lover.
Whatever you feel, doesn't matter, as this story is about my feelings and not yours. Not to be rude, but it is; if it was your story, you wouldn't care -- you'd know it.
That said, let's move on.
Picture it -- Sicily ... no, that's The Golden Girls, not my life ... Jesus, what the hell is wrong with me ... the longer it gets, the more I lose my memory. I'm not old, not by a long shot, but the further away from the incident, the worse my recollection gets.
Hell ... I sound old again ... how can I put this normally ...
What took place in my life did so over a very short period of time, yet, the aftershocks of my actions have reverbrated over the millenia, so it makes me lose track of time to the point that it makes me forget the exact moment this history took place. I awake nightly, in panic, only to remember this is old as time, yet some nights, this history is in my control ... yet I can have no effect on it.
Picture watching your favorite movie -- one you've seen a million times, can quote every line, and know EXACTLY how it ends. Now imagine you hate the ending, and you would give anything to change it, but since you are but a player in the film, you are cursed to relive the horror of what will happen with no ability to change the outcome.
That's my life.
Or at least it is now; back then, I had no clue. I actually believed in free will.
Dumb.
I know.
But I had no choice.
Sorry, I ramble ... let's actually tell the story.
"Zack, RUN!"
Zack shook the cobwebs out of his head as Melissa;s command hit him. He stood up from his tumble over the fence as she grabbed his hand and pulled him onward.
"Keep going, or we;re dead!" she exclaimed as she dragged him forward.
Zack ran with her as fast as he could, afraid to look back, and did his best to avoid the scattered trash in the alley.
He trusted Melissa completely to get them to safety and did whatever she said to avoid the peril behind them.
As they wound their way through the debris and trash left in the street, they ran as fast as possible from the demonic creatures that were following them. Aside from sporadic commands, no sound escaped from either in the hopes they would escape the monstrosities hunting for their blood.
Finally hitting an open road, they both exerted all their energy to put as much space between them and the monsters as they could before their attackers had a chance to catch up.
Floodlights behind them grew dim, and Melissa smiled as she assumed they were getting away.
"We're doing it, Zack! We;re doing it!" she whispered triumphantly.
At that moment, bright lights from 3 different Sentinels that were in hiding cascaded on the fugitives and stopped them where they were.
"Unidentifed mutants! Stay where you are and await processing," the robots declared.
"NO!" Melissa cried, and shot her hand towards the nearest Sentinel.
Linghtning flashed from her hand and blew its head off. As the rest of its body fell to the ground, the remaining two robots shot blasts from their palms and blew Zack and Melissa apart into the trees around them.
Melissa lay, gasping for breath and trying to stand as she saw one of the sentinels bend down and reach for Zack.
"You won't have him!" she cried, as she reached to blast it.
"The rogue mutant will submit," the sentinel warned, as a red hot beam of plasma shot out of its eyes and buried Melissa into the ground.
"MELISSA!" Zack yelled.
No response from her crumpled body.
"MELISSA!" Zack yelled.
"Silence, mutant!" the sentinel replied, "Surrender yourself." And then shot Zack with a paralyzing ray from its hand.
Zack collapsed against a tree and nearly blacked out.
The remaining Sentinels began to surround him, ignoring Melissa;s body as it was no longer a threat.
"Melissa ..." Zack barely wheezed out, but she lay quiet and motionless to his call.
"Melissa," he tried again.
Zack closed his eyes and began to weep.
Hope was lost. Melissa was gone.
As he began to lose consciousness, his hand brushed the tree next to him, and a strange electric tingle began to flow up his arm.
Energy from the living plant began to help him regain his thoughts and strength. Finding his legs, he stood up and, still leaning on the tree, felt alive again, and faced the Sentinel that had been reaching for his lifeless body.
"NO!" he yelled, and a strange power flew through him and blasted the Sentinel from his sight.
Still dazed from his attack, Zack turned and pointed to the other Sentinels.
"No, No, NO!" he cried, and as he pointed to each, they exploded in his midst.
As the last of the robots fell apart under his gaze, Zack passed out and lost alll connection to the world.
New York was finally quiet.
The threat was gone.
Zack slumbered from his exertions.
Unknown to him, a man dressed in red entered the field and stood over him in awe.
He gazed, in wonder, at Zack, and noticed that the tree he had been holding on to had been reduced into mere ash and smoke .... as if it had imbued Zack with the power he had unleashed and had been destroyed by it.
"My dear boy," the man in red muttered," what gift we been missing?"
The man in red scooped up Zack's body, reverently, and called upon his power as the two of them flew over the destruction left over the battlefield.
That's it for part 1 ... let me know what you think at ender2155@gmail.com