************************************************************************* All characters are a copyright of Marvel Comics. ************************************************************************* "The Downward Spiral part 3: Life and Death" "Mmmph--uhhh!" "QUIT FUSSING! By Mojo, I can't do anyone a favor without trouble." She struggles still. Elizabeth Braddock knows that what she is doing right now is pointless. And yet she fights. No longer even able to speak, her mouth is filled with the alien 'food' of her own psyche. She doesn't need to speak. Her thoughts remain to sustain her. What is left of them. And what is left of them, is Warren. "And ever, luv." "Wha - ?! Sever my spine!" "No amount of angels can save Psylocke now, fool!" "Stay behind me, Betts! I'll protect you." The young couple grasp each other for what they know could be the last time in either of their lives. There may have never been two people more in love. "I came for one soul, Archangel, but I doubt Mojo will punish me for two!" ---------------- Reality. "WARREN!! What the devil is going on?!" A scene is presented before Charles Xavier. Betsy Braddock, known as Psylocke, was in a coma only moments ago. Her body: nearly torn to shreds by the mad killer known as Sabretooth. Now she lay perfectly healed in body, yet fractured, still, in mind. "Aaarrggghh!" Some questions, decide Charles Xavier, are best left unanswered. Given the gift of the most powerful telepathic mind on the planet, he easily slips from the constraints of his physical form to the Astral Plane. Here he is no longer a cripple. Rather, he can soar with the greatest of ease. For all the good that it does him. Charles Francis Xavier cannot move. If only it were because of the paralysis dart. Over the long course of his life, he has seen many incredible sights on the Astral Plane. He has rarely been shocked. But then again, it is rare indeed that Charles Xavier is witness to one of his student's murders! Archangel cannot stop moving. He has been angry before, but this is different. This is not anger. This is rage. Rage against Spiral. Rage against life. Rage against himself. He is not going to let love die... again. No matter what the cost. Psylocke doesn't know why she is moving. She reels back in pain every few seconds. She strikes out only to hit air. It acts as more of a figurative action than a literal, when she she realizes that she is utterly powerless against whatever force is attacking her. Whatever deadly demons she is facing right now will eventually overtake her. And she has no way of stopping them. ---------------- "BLESSED GODDESS!" "Wolverine, Iceman, get down there, NOW! Dear God... what happened?!" ---------------- "Wolverine, he's not moving! He... he... looks so..." "Sniff, sniff... GRRRRR..." "Wolverine! Snap out of it, dude! If we don't move fast, we're gonna' have the whole of New York City watching us on the 6 'O Clock News! Wolverine?!" "RAAAGGHHHH! LEBEAU! WHEN I FIND YOU YOU'RE GONNA HAVE YOUR HEART SERVED FOR BREAKFAST!!!" ---------------- "DAMN IT! Where's he going?! Iceman, load up Bishop and get up here NOW!" "But what abo--?" "NOW! "Cyclops, amidst the shock... I didn't realize... Gambit is missing!" "Perfect! There's not much I can do about it now Storm... That's it Bobby, load him up gently... gently..." Though she has never admit it to anyone, Ororo Munroe has more than a passing concern for the mysterious man known as Remy LeBeau. Not as a lover, but as a good friend -- which can often mean more than the former. She can't concentrate. Bishop... dead? Gambit, Sabretooth... missing. Wolverine... mysteriously running away on the verge of a berserker fury. Pieces come together, then break apart, and suddenly... It is all her fault. She allowed him to join the X-Men, allowed him to gain their trust. She didn't listen when the others warned her. And now a man is dead. Dead. "Cyclops, the professor! We must get back..." "I don't have time for vague statements now, Storm--" "Listen to me! Gambit is the TRAITOR! Professor Xavier's life is in danger! The mansion, NOW!" "What?! No, no, no, no!" "Cyke, Bishop's in tow! Let's get back their, now, before we have another body to add to the graveyard!" ---------------- "WARREN, STOP THIS!!!" "Oh, Mojo's bones. You people do not know when to give up..." Warren is not stopping. He continues to shoot his paralysis-inducing feathers and to lunge at Spiral with his wings, having no idea that what he does here... ---------------- ...is being felt there also. The medical lab-- His wings narrowly miss Charles Xavier's head and instead slice through an emergency medical kit. Slices of roof began to ominously waver, hanging by their figurative toenails. And Warren is not stopping. Here... ---------------- ...or there. The Astral Plane-- "Tell him Charles Xavier! Tell him what he's doing to all three of you, right now!" "Warren, please, you're killing us! Stop this NOW! Dear God, it's already too late! Look at her! Elizabeth's already beginning to change!!!" Warren stops. "Warren, don't LET HER TAKE ME! *She's going to hurt me!* *Translated from the Japanese!--(OH NO!) "It's too late, you fools! She's already reverting! My debt to you, Matsu'o Tsurayaba, has been paid in full! KWANNON -- EMERGE!! He looks back into the eyes of a stranger. "Betsy! You're in there! DON'T LEAVE ME!!! I LOVE YOU!" It's happened again. Gone. Just like that. Nothing is left of Elizabeth Braddock except the faint image of a soul, slowly whispering off of an Oriental assassin. Nothing is left of Warren Kenneth Worhtington the Third. No heart. No soul. No will. No love. Nothing. "NO!!!" Warren spends his last few moments on the Astral Plane releasing everything he has left. In a spectacular, yet horrible display, hundreds of metal feathers are shot forth from razor wings. One of them manages to strike Kwannon directly in the heart. "WARREN!" *"Come along Kwannon. You are needed elsewhere."* *Once again, translated from the Japanese. "Warren, to me!" "..." "DON'T LET GO LAD! WE MUST GET OUT OF HERE!" ---------------- The roof of the medical lab finally collapses, crushing every object in the room. ---------------- ---------------- "Sir, yall are awake!!" "Sam... lad... what happened?" "Ah had stayed behind with Tabitha. When ah went to find out what Jean and Hank we're doin' in the medlab, they were gone and ah found Warren tearin' the place apart! It was all I could do ta' blast in there an' get you and Warren. But through the wreckage, ah couldn't see... where's Psylocke?!" "Gone. Just like my reason for living. Just like everything." Large metallic wings unfurl and give flight to a sorry shell of a man. "Sir! Should ah--?" "Go after him? No, Samuel. There's nothing left on this earth to bring him back. God protect his soul, there's nothing left..." END Boo hoo, huh? Well, don't worry. This isn't Romeo and Juliet. I'll be back soon with continuations of "The Downward Spiral", featuring Storm and Bishop, Wolverine, Gambit, and Sabretooth, Phoenix and Beast, Archangel and Kwannon, and the after affects of Spiral's attacks on Xavier and Co! See ya! ANTHONY