The following work of fan fiction features characters from Marvel Comics and DC/Vertigo. They are used w/out permission and profit. Furthermore, the song, Kotton Krown is written by Sonic Youth, from their classic, excellent 1987 album Sister. The song is used w/out permission and no profit is being received from it. Interpretations of the songs meaning are strictly the authors own. Adult Language. "We know the truth about Death. Its cold and cruel, and not some cute chick!" Sara from the Maxx, on MTV's oddities And Not Some Cute Chick! Part 5 Madelyne found herself back in the room where she started out. The TV wasn't playing any movie. No, there happened to be a old radio. And a song issued from the radio, an odd, droning song that commenced with quadruple foghorn blasts, followed by a tinny rhythm shaded by fuzzy distortion, and then an atonal, robotic duet: Love has come to stay/In all the way It's gonna stay forever/And a day It feels like a wish/Coming true It feels like an angel/Is dreaming of you Madelyne sat on the couch, hugging her knees. The television switched on and an infomercial took place. The caption on the screen read X-FACTOR: MUTANT INVESTIGATIONS AND RESOLUTIONS. "Do you like this song, Madelyne?" Madelyne looked next to her, and wasn't surprised to see the pale girl with the ankh, sitting next to her. She accepted the cup of tea she offered. "No...I don't know. It's ugly, but it's got some rough beauty to it too." "It may or may not be about the writer Philip K. Dick and his twin sister, whom I took at childbirth. It may or may not be about his obsession with schizophrenia, and it may or may not be about the secret lives and worlds people can trigger within themselves, or others can trigger for them." The songs lyrics continued: You're gonna take control/Of your chemistry You're gonna manifest/The mystery You've got a magic wheel/In your memory I'm wasted in time /And I'm looking everywhere I don't care where/ I don't care where Angels are dreaming of you... "Angels can't exactly be dreaming of me at this point." said Madelyne, sipping her tea. "Look. I get the point, okay? I think I know who you are. And you've driven home the point. I'm nothing and no one, just a stupid copy of a woman. All my feelings, thoughts, memories and actions are pointless because I'm not real. I'm like this cup of tea, waiting to be filled by whoever needs me to be something. Scott. Sinister. S'ym and N'astirh. Is it over? Can't I just go burn in hell now, or fade into oblivion or something?" The girl looked at her intently. "I feel more like a shrink than an anthropomorphic personification," she muttered to herself. "I'm sorry to have made you relive all that, Madelyne. Maybe it wasn't the right thing to do. But you have to realize that your visions weren't exactly reality - it was just how you perceived the events in your life." "Hm. No. Don't be sorry. Even if they were awful, they were my experiences. And I guess I did see them in a new light. Oh god, did I ever see them in a new light. I don't think I could ever listen to Robert Palmer again.." "I never could in the first place," admitted the girl. They both burst out laughing. The girl handed Madelyne the remote control. "Okay, Maddie. I wanted you to find this out on your own, before you moved on. All the higher muckamuck soul managers insist on it. "We cannot give mortals the answers - they are to struggle with the questions on their own." blablabla. Well, if Uatu the Watcher can break his vows, so can I. Your people, Madelyne, create their own hells and willingly submit to them! And when you try to explain that, they look at you like you're insane! Ah well." Not understanding totally what the girl was talking about, she nonetheless took the remote control and switched the channel. She saw Sam Ross on the TV, her friend and fellow crew member, the master of a library as large and wide as you could ever imagine. "Sam!" "Hiya, Skipper!" "Aww Sam, I miss you so much!" "Me too Skipper. Me too." "I told you..." "I know, I know. You're not Gilligan, and I'm not Barbie's best friend." They both laughed. "Ain't got much time. Just wanted to tell you that you are a terrific, beautiful woman. You have definitely touched my life, knowin' you as a friend. Ain't no cloning or demons gonna change that, you hear?" The channel fuzzed out. "Love ya, Sam." Madelyne blew him a kiss goodbye. She changed the channel. It was the home videos that she took with Scott, of the family in Alaska. She followed after little Nathan Christopher, holding and kissing him, delighting in how his little hands grabbed at her hair, and how he chuckled every time she or her daddy made a funny face. "That was a woman who thought she had a family and a future." "Well, Madelyne, whatever the outcome of that, that's who she was then. Just a mother and wife who loved her family and nothing made her happier. To your baby, not only were you real, you were the most important damn thing in all the world. You held your own against Marauders - something X-Men seasoned in their mighty powers were hard pressed to do - out of that love. Don't think that Scott's feelings about you were so fake either, at least for one brief moment in time." Madelyne sighed and changed the channel one last time. There she was, piloting a beautiful Northstar Airlines Cargo plane, skimming through clouds, fast, soaring, soaring past mountains and into other beautiful worlds.... "And I'm gonna tell you that, my dreams, my love for flying, was just an implant by Sinister. And you'll tell me that you're not so sure about that. And also that even if it was, so what? God, Sinister - whatever created us, we take it from there." The girl beamed. She knew she had gotten it through. Madelyne stood up, and looked at her. The song on the radio came back on, fading out as the singers chimed: I've got your Kotton Krown I've got your Kotton Krown "I'm ready." said Madelyne. Death stood up, and opened her arms. Madelyne Pryor stepped into her embrace, and said "I'll never forget you, friend." And Death hugged her tight, and then Madelyne melted into her. And she heard the sound of wings.