X-men The Next generation (IC)

Armphid said:

Chris said nothing, he couldn't. His arms clutched Alana to him with desperate strength, his face buried in her shoulder. His body was racked with sobs that he struggled to contain, agonized, grief-stricken, ashamed, all at once. He wished he could cry, but his burning eyes destroyed his tears as they formed.

Seeing Mom and Dad like this was horrifying, knowing how they'd been used, their deaths flung in his face. So many of his extensive foster family too, renewing each dagger cut of loss. Tessa and Doug, Guido too. Nancy. Bobby. Uncle Warren. The stoic front completely collapsed there in her arms, the boy who so wanted to be in control sobbing like a broken hearted child.

He didn't know how long he wept. Only that she never let go, never stopped touching him, caressing him, offering him her strength, her comfort, her love. Her love. She loved him. And he loved her. "Thank you, love," he whispered. "For saving me." She'd done it more than once that night, and not just his life.

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She simply smiled, the electric blue of her eyes almost unbearable to see as she fought tears at the sight of her beloved in pain. "I don't care what they say, we're going back to our room. You need a little break." That said, she held him a little tighter and they were gone from the horrible sight. A few heartbeats later, the two were safe behind the locked door of their room, in the warmth of the bed and each others arms. "Sleep now dear one. I will protect your dreams tonight." She told him gently as she caressed his face. "Nothing will harm you."

Cyclops, 2nd Floor, Student Dorms

Chris nodded, lowering his face and kissing her with fierce passion. His lips spoke in an old tongue of all that he felt in that instant. Of his love, his gratitude, his weariness, his joy to be alive and with her. He held the kiss for a long time, nuzzling at her neck once it broke. "I know you'll protect me, Alana." "My perfect Darkness." He looked into her eyes with a worshiping gaze. "I'll guard you too." "Here, together, we'll be safe."

He reached into his pocket, pulling out his comm badge. He didn't want to tell everyone this. But they couldn't just go silent with no warning. Uncle Hank...had gone through so much. Chris just didn't have the heart to tell him he was resting, when the blue furred genius deserved to just as much. "Cyclops to Talon." The beauty of Forge's work. Assuming it was working right, only she would receive his message. Of course, anyone she was near would hear it too...but it was enough for him. "Laura, I'm sorry." "I can't do anymore now." "It's too much." "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." "I'm safe, with Alana, in the dorm." "We're going to rest a while." "If you need us, you know where we'll be."

Chris tossed the little device onto the nightstand beside the bed, and sighed. Then he hugged Alana close, kissing her once more. Resting his head on her shoulder, he closed his eyes, and let her warmth and her loving darkness envelop him.

Alana stayed silent as he spoke via the comm device. As soon as he was relaxed in her arms, she hummed softly. Nothing that anyone except her mother would recognize. A gentle lullaby that had been used to soothe her when she was a babe. Now she used it to soften the terrible ache in her darling's heart. Her hand moved from his face to his hair and she gently ran her hand through it as another means to calm his jangled nerves.

Cyclops, 2nd Floor, Student Dorms

There were no words to the song she hummed, and it needed none. Simple and pure, it bathed his aching heart in the clear water of her love. The gentle hand that ran through his hair was a sweet balm, and soon his breathing slowed, became normal, eventually became relaxed and steady. His arms never left her, cradling himself against her soft warmth, but they loosened as he drifted to sleep in the warm darkness.

No dreams came, no nightmares. There was only warm darkness all around him, and he knew he was loved, he was safe, he was hers.

Armphid said:

There were no words to the song she hummed, and it needed none. Simple and pure, it bathed his aching heart in the clear water of her love. The gentle hand that ran through his hair was a sweet balm, and soon his breathing slowed, became normal, eventually became relaxed and steady. His arms never left her, cradling himself against her soft warmth, but they loosened as he drifted to sleep in the warm darkness.

No dreams came, no nightmares. There was only warm darkness all around him, and he knew he was loved, he was safe, he was hers.

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Alana smiled tiredly as her eyes fluttered...once...twice...then finally closing the third time. Light enveloped her mind, warm and gentle and guided her to join her beloved in the realm of sleep.

Beast, Forge, Elixer & Onyxx

Out of the sight of the others, Hank hunched over in the corner of his lab and began to sob uncontrollably, no longer caring about who could hear him.

He simply could no longer handle this.


Forge finally finished repairing Sunflares room and headed back to his own lab, determined to make a fitting memorial to those whom had died not just tonight, but for those of the X-men who had sacrificed their lifes for the greater good.


Elixer sighed as she attempted to finish healing Totem. Would the horrors of being an X-man never end?


Onyxx finally left the headmaster's office and looked around. The zombies were laying on the floor dead, or at least no longer being used.

Feeling that he should help, he began to lift the bodies of the undead onto his back, and proceeded to carry them out to the cemetary, where he placed them down in rows, to make it easier for when they were buried.

He noticed that as he did, several zombies began to fade, and after reacting to the shock of this, he began to realise that they were the duplicates of Madrox.

Soon he had carried all the dead out to the cemetary and had placed, at the fore-front those of Xavier, Archangel, Emma Frost, Storm and Jean Grey. he would have placed the bodies of Cyclops and Iceman with them, but he had been unable to find the bodies.

Soon he made his way to the lake, where he sat down, tired, his job completed. As he looked out across the lake he heard the chirpings of the early morning birds and the ribbits of the frogs as they began to stir. Soon the Sun began to rise, rays of golden, red, orange and yellow striking out across the horizon. As the first rays fell upon his face Onyxx thought of all those whom had died, and of all those whom had survived and realised the cost of being an X-man.

The brutal cost which was paid only when death decided, a cost that, not just once had been stolen away.

As the first rays of this new day, rose up over the horizon and the rays of light fell upon the mansion behind him, Onyxx thought of those whom he had known and of those he had not and sighed. The cost of being an X-man was high, which was shown in the deaths of Nancy, Warren and Robert among others.

He sighed, wondering when the robed figure would come to take his cost from him.

Such was his lot in life.

Cable (concern) and Revenant (introspection)

Cable made his way back downstairs, parting company with Revenant. The kid had done good, even under the shock at being used as a conduit for the last bit of sentience among the zombies. Nathan Summers had to laugh a bit, as he realized that no one really knew just how powerful Xavier was. To be able to cling to life as long as he did, even as a rotting corpse, that he would protect his Xmen even from himself like that. But then, he'd heard the stories of Charles' other self, the one that had nearly destroyed his students. He figured the man would have to be as strong as he could be in order to do keep them safe through that. "Cable here. I'm going to check on the students in the War Room."

---

Revenant headed upstairs to the dorm. He could see the knowing look in Cable's eyes. He also couldn't help but show the sadness in his own eyes. He'd fought people he'd considered friends, and people he'd considered forefathers. He'd been okay with that, knowing it was for their own good. But nothing phazed him up until Xavier's truly last breath. His only concern now was a hot shower, and some alone time. He needed to find his center again. Though the truth was, he wouldn't have minded the right company. "Re...Revenant here. I'm gonna...I dunno. Long hot shower maybe...." With that he let it cut out as he made his way up to the second floor to find himself face to face Hardbody. But he was so unnerved that he barely saw her.

Laura/Talon.

She watched Hank slip into his sorrow. She could understand it and knew someone was going to have to stand up and help Hank through this. Once Forge had gotten the mansion's systems back up she went to the P.A. system and announced that she would be holding a meeting for the students the next morning. The kids couldn't be left in fear now. If they let the kids just be scared they'd have a mass exodus of students' parents taking the kids home.

She also made a second announcement that the advanced class would be holding a special meeting after the main body of the school were addressed. She turned to the rest of the staff and said "Hank, take a day or two off, I'll cover for you. You're one of two of us that has lost the most. Jubes, you and Kurt look exhausted too. You need to take a break. Elixer, as soon as we're stabilized on injuries get some rest because I'm going to need you just in case we get any sort of injuries while things get fixed here. I'll corner Forge and force him into a break too if I have to. We're going to need to be back to as close to 100 percent as fast as possible."

She wasn't going to just sit back quite yet however. She left the room and went about the task of calming kids down and calling down to Elixer to see if there was any way of putting a light sedative into the air systems for the night so the kids could get some rest. She then went to Hank's office and started looking through his notes and contacts for any psychiatric assistance she could use as a resource. Some of the kids were going to need councilling after this.

Crawler/Totem

I crawled into Jubilees embrace. "Firecracker who have we all lost?" i whisper in her ear, as if the act f saying it out loud would verify that infact the little girl i cared for with the brilliant blue wings, the two men i had come to look on as older and younger borthers, were gone. "Who did this evil thing?" I ask.

-----------------------------------------------

I sleep resting as Elixir moves on. I send my astral progection out to see who, if anyone i can get in contact with inside this mansion.

Raven

"Who's there?" Raven didn't know who or what she was hearing in her head, but when she realized who it was, she smiled. "How can I help you Totem?" She sat back and wondered what the othe mutant was looking for, besides probably someone to talk to.

sandmaster

Sandmaster was a bit surprized when the zombies walked in. He remembered back in the day when he had to help out in moving the corpses, and a prank some kids pulled. They had tried to make a night of the living zombies thing. He was so caught up in this memory he wasn't that worried until they approched and tried to touch him.

"O no you don't, you basatards! You can't cast me out! I won't let you!!!! He summoned his sand from his pouches, and used it to kill all the zombies around him. He worked a little strategy into it, and soon enough zombies were dead for him to remember were he was. He freaked out, killing even more, then calmed down, eventuly deciding to eat somemore while he tried to keep safe.

He chilled out for awile, ignoring the com until it asked for a head count. he walked over to respond. "Sandmaster here, im fine, but you guys need some more food in the fridge. Has anyone seen Bobby by the way? I need to talk to him about a trip we were going to take."

He waited for a response while using his sand to selfdestruct the zombies that were left. They weren't attacking anymore, but hey, they made quite the mess.

Beast

now finally out of sight of all the people in the mansion, Hank locked the door to his lab, and hid the key. Then he reached into a drawer and pulled out a bottle of JD.

Sighing he began to drink heavily from the bottle, knowing that once he lost control his feral side would go nuts, and he was glad for locking the door.

he gulped down more of the burning drink.

iceman

Iceman was enjoying watching tv in the imfermery with elixer and someone else(wasn't paying alot of attention) when bluebird woke. She lept toward him, and he was in total shock as she bit him. He was recovered enough to freeze one of her arms and dropped a small bit of himself on the floor in case he died.

He slowly felt himself changing, and tried to say something to elixer, but she was gone... in fact, it looked like the place was locked up tight, and he was getting dizzy. He died knowing he had spared sometime for his family and being gratefull to finally be of use with his death. He coudln't resist telling himself his favorite joke. "Do you know why you shouldn't eat popsicles if your...." *DEAD*

let3us2be1free0 said:

He chilled out for awile, ignoring the com until it asked for a head count. he walked over to respond. "Sandmaster here, im fine, but you guys need some more food in the fridge. Has anyone seen Bobby by the way? I need to talk to him about a trip we were going to take."

He waited for a response while using his sand to selfdestruct the zombies that were left. They weren't attacking anymore, but hey, they made quite the mess.

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Another student checking in. Good. One less teacher I'll have to send out with the condolences speech and the inevitable pay offs on law suits. Laura asked herself again why it was that she was doing this. The answer was the same. The kids. They needed someone to be strong right now and with the casualties and losses the staff was a little short on strong, so she'd do it.

"We'll worry about restocking the kitchen once we know how many we're buying for Sandmaster." She said in reply to the kid's smart assed comments.

When all was said and done the casualties weren't as bad as she'd worried they'd be. The fatality rate was completely among the staff as it should have been. Lots of the kids had been scared and shook up but only one student had died. Nancy. She knew Hank was going to be out of it so she figured she'd take up the job of arranging the funerals as well.

"I'm going to set up in Bobby's old office." she said. "Kurt, Jubes? Get some rest then when you're done meet me in the office. Same will go for what's left of the staff. Cable, I'm going to ask you to take point on the virus until Hank can get back in the saddle. You and Elixer give me a report as soon as you can okay?"

She left and went to her room before heading to the office. She got out of her uniform and changed to jeans and a button up flannel shirt and threw on a pair of boots as well. Then it was down to the office and business.

Wyldfire said:

"We'll worry about restocking the kitchen once we know how many we're buying for Sandmaster." She said in reply to the kid's smart assed comments.

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"copy that, ill look around for some more people." He left the kitchen and begain looking around the ground floor(i think its their) and noticed the stairs missing to the first floor. "Well that's just great!" He used his sand to create a temporary staircase, and used it as a blueprint to begain rebuilding the old one.

Captain Brittain

Brian Braddock had been called in to help out with the new school with their strength training, and interstellar relations professor. He had to close things up in Brittain before coming over, and was running a little late, so he missed the whole undead craziness. He walked up to the mansion with a suitcase in one hand, and a duffle bag over his shoulder. "Hmm, haven't been here in ages, I wonder who's still around." He smiled as he went inside and went to look for Hank or someone else he knew.

Sandmaster saw some dude walk in. He looked strong, and his mutant ability might be nice. After all, walk in here, and your a mutant. "Hey, you! Over here! Can you help a dude with a staircase?"

Captain Brittain

Brian looked at the young man and nodded. "How may I be of assistance to you? Names Brian Braddock, or Captain Brittain by the way, I am going to be teaching Strength and Intergalactic Relations." He stuck out his hand to the sandmaster wondering who this one was. "You wouldn't happen to know where I can find Dr McCoy would you?"

He was a bit shocked at the name, and got over it as he shoke the dudes hand. "Hanks probably somewere desparing about his daughter(he knows that shes dead by now) because she recently died. As for what you can do, would you be so kind to lift up that staircase and line it up with the sand? Im sandmaster by the way."

"Its about time another teacher showed up, cause were short. then again, i shouldn't be impatient. Prehaps you could show me how to increase the streanth of my sand in your class?"

Captain Brittain

Brian nodded. "Yes I can show you how to do things with your sand and make it stronger." He picked up the staircase, and placed it in the place that he wanted them put. "I'm sorry to hear about Hanks daughter, looks like you guys have had some kind of fight here recently. Sorry I wasn't here sooner, but had to take care of some business back home before I came here."

Sandmaster

"Thats fine and well". He used his sand to connect the stairs back permenetly(he no longer has to hold it) and put his sand back into his pouches. "We should go to the lower levels to find the rest of the people." He goes over to a wall and reveals an elevator. "Come on" He steps in, and unconsiously attracts the sand in the room to him.

"We had a zombie attack by the way". Brief smile. "I nearly was killed by them, but i regained composure quick enough to destroy em ."

"Excuse my explerative, but who was stupid enough to attack here with Zombies." He thought something was up, but he would find that out later. "So are there many that died, besides Hans daughter?" He looked at the young man and nodded, he would do good in hand to hand. He also knew that there were quite a few strongmen in this group of mutants, and that it would be interesting to teach them.

"It wasn't that stupid. I think they could use some of the dead ones powers".
ooc: got to go for now!

Laura/Talon.

The elevator opened and Laura stepped out. She startled seeing Brian Braddock there for just a heartbeat before remembering that he was supposed to be here. She had come from Bobby's old office after she'd gotten some prilimenary work done on funeral arrangements and a list of shrinks she could bring in to help the kids. She was hungry and when she saw the dawn cracking realized she would not be getting any sleep, so why not get some coffee as well.

She looked over at Sandmaster and said "Thanks for fixing the stairway kiddo, but you should be trying to get some sleep. Today's going to be rough." She shook her head a bit, her hair in disarray and what the hell was that? A bit of zombie goo was still in her mop. Time to cut it she thought to herself.

"Care to grab a cup of coffee or tea and some food so I can give you the full run down in the office? I'm damned glad you're here by the way, we need the support on the staff."

Then she realized she'd lost the flannel shirt in the office and was wearing her camisole top with Tinkerbell on it.

Captain Brittain

"Sure thing ma'am. Show me the way, and we can go talk about what's goiing on. You get some sleep Sandmaster, and make sure your fit for our training routine starting tomorrow.'