Subject: [OTL]: The Dolphin's Cry [2/?][Emma][R] Date: Thu, 7 Oct 1999 19:25:38 -0700 (PDT) From: Sparks The Dolphin's Cry Disclaimer: Characters belong to Marvel, story belongs to my own imagination. No profit, no legal action. Feedback, please? I'm ever so ecstatic when I get some. :) Author's Note: Less gory than the first, but still has some nasty imagery. Standard warning applies. And props to Pebbs for helping me tweak with bits. You's my girl! :) *** "I...I'm fine, Sean...I'm fine..." Emma lied shakily, having to push the words out by force. "Ye didn't sound fine. What happened, Em?" "It was just a nightmare. Stupid, really. It's nothing." Sean looked at her intensely for a moment. His eyes were so deep, they could see right through anyone's bullshit. And right now, he knew, Emma was full of it. The fact that she was trembling uncontrollably added to his conclusion. But, he thought with a mental sigh, this was Emma Frost, a woman who lived up to her name. She was without a doubt one of the most stubborn women he knew, and when her defenses were raised, there was just no breaking through that emotional shell. But Sean, ever the gentleman, had to always at least try. "Do ye want me t' stay in here ye tonight?" Emma rolled her eyes. "I'm not a child, Cassidy." Sean stifled a chuckle. "Aye. Come down t' the kitchen with me, then? I can make us some tea 'r somethin'." She gave him a scrutinizing look, but agreed. "All right, but under one condition." "What's that?" "My dresser, top drawer; get me something to wear?" It was only then did Sean notice she lay completely naked, wrapped in the sheets. "Um...er...aye, Em..." he stuttered, a slight flush creeping up on his face. He walked swiftly to the dresser and opened the drawer, his blush getting redder by the second as he sifted through various satin and lace...unmentionables. Finally, he found something for her--an ivory satin chemise--and half handed, half tossed the small piece of material to Emma. He turned around quickly as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and slipped into the chemise. Emma walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Aye?" he asked without moving. "I'm dressed. Shall we?" Sean only nodded and the two educators left the room and headed down to the kitchen. *** "2:57a.m.? Damn it..." Emma swore as she read the time on the microwave. "You could just go back to bed, you know? You don't need to stay awake because of me." "I know. But I'm awake now, and ye're good company. May as well stay up." Emma laughed. "Since when did I become good company? You don't need to obligate yourself, Sean. If you get tired, go to bed." "Emma, yer a good friend. And 'tis hardly an obligation. I dinnae know about ye, but I like t' be there with me friends when they need someone." "Since when do I need you?" she snapped, but regretted it immediately. She hadn't meant to sound so cold. Sean didn't reply, and the two were silent for a while. Emma let out a long sigh. "I'm...I'm sorry... I guess..." "Spare me." "Excuse me?" "Ye heard me. Spare me the apology. Ye dinnae mean a damn thing by it." "I most certainly did! I was being sincere!" "Horse shit, ye were, Em!" "I was, goddamn it! And how the hell would you know what I meant by it? You don't know me!" "And who's doin' is that?" "Stop trying to turn things around!" "Around to what?" "Around to...to...ooh, why are you so intent on throwing me off-balance?!" Sean smirked and shook his head at her. Unfortunately, this only heightened her defenses. "Don't. Do. That." "Do what?" "You know perfectly well, what." Sean shook his head again. "Ye're crazy, woman." Suddenly Emma grabbed him and pushed him up against the refrigerator doors. Sean looked at her, somewhat shocked. "Don't you ever, *ever* call me crazy, or else I can guarantee you, you won't live to regret it." she said through clenched teeth. Sean tightened his jaw. "Dinnae threaten me, woman." he growled, and grabbed her wrists, pulling them away from his shirt, but still holding onto them tightly. "Let. Go." He didn't. "I'm warning you, Cassidy. Don't test me." "I dinnae have to, Frost. Ye seem t' be doing that yerself." Emma looked at him stone-faced and unblinking, though she couldn't be sure what he meant by that. Sean closed his eyes briefly. Emma gasped as he opened them again, sinister golden crocodilian orbs now staring back at her maliciously. "No! Get away from me! Not again!" she screamed and yanked her hands out of his grasp before turning and running as fast as she could out of the room. *** Sean's once again teal eyes widened as Emma cried out. She pulled away from him frantically and rushed out of the kitchen. "Emma!" he called out before going after her. Something was very wrong, he knew. The look in Emma's eyes chilled him to the very marrow of his bones. The mask they usually held had split like thin ice, revealing an intense fear. It was unlike anything he had ever seen in her before. She never permitted herself to vulnerability. It worried him immensely, and his mind raced as his legs did, running up the stairs. He followed the echoes of sound that bounced off the walls, telling him where she had passed, and was led into her bedroom. He ignored the familiar setting; the antique four-poster canopy bed; the elegant vanity, the impeccable cleanliness of it all; and focused on the curtains. The gauzy material swirled in the wind, creating a ghostly shadow that danced along the carpet to the opposite wall. Sean cautiously made his way across the threshold of the double French doors that led to Emma's balcony. He found her standing near the railing, completely motionless, not even shivering as a breeze blew across her skin and through her hair, causing a few stray, pale strands to float down and land softly over her delicate face. Her stance made her appear as though she were debating whether or not to leap off the edge and plummet to the ground below. "...Emma?" he ventured. No response. Sean took a few careful steps and lightly brushed a hand along her shoulder. She gasped and turned swiftly to face him, visibly startled. He immediately felt a soft probe pass through his mind, as though she was unsure of who he was. As her mind slipped out of his and back into her own, it was her turn to startle him. She permitted a small cry to escape her lips, and hugged him briefly, but tightly. Sean was more than a bit confused. "Emma, what's goin' on with ye?" She took a careful breathe before revealing, "I don't know." The words were spoken in a whisper. He said nothing--what was there he could say?--and pulled her into the circle of his arms. She protested a bit, and he loosened his hold on her in hopes of easing her apprehension. *** Emma's eyes refused to close, despite the fact that they felt like lead weights attached to her brows, yearning to be drowned in darkness. She turned her head slightly, catching a glimpse of some out of the ordinary out of the corner of one sky-coloured eye. A stain of reddish-brown-on-gray looked back at her, and she faced it ever so slowly, until the owner of the eye was fully visible. Her breathe caught in her throat, and she shoved Sean backwards with all the force her fatigued body could muster. He staggared back against the side railing, while Emma crept towards the opposite side of the balcony, away from him. She didn't even notice as he vanished from sight. The now-single statue of a dolphin followed her every move, its eyes moist once again, but not a drop fell to the ground. It was a slower sobbing this time, more of an oozing in contrast to the previous free-flow. Instinct and panic seized her, and with one final step, her back arched over the railing and she lept off, descending on her far too long in coming fall from grace. She flipped partially in the air, her body contorting into an almost unnatural position. She landed hard on her front, crushing ribs and knocking the air from her lungs, of which one was probably puntured. Her head hit next with a dull pounding in the back of her mind as darkness encompassed her momentarily. One arm caught beneath her and snapped at the elbow, and a few fingers twisted and popped as well. A heel shattered, and the accompanying ankle broke with the strain. But she did not die. They weren't about to let her die... ...yet. Her vision, present but still fuzzy and forming only in shadows, took in the image of multiple dark silhouettes, before fading completely to black. The last sound that echoed in her head before she lost conciousness was a voice, barely audible, but there... "She's still so stunning...pity...she will pay, though...pay for everything..."