Chapter 13: Glory

They walked out into a fury of fighting. Cain stayed back, holding onto Toad. Eric stood in the doorframe, behind the fray. They were calling to him, the police, with their guns and Cure weapons. They could stay in the warehouse, but how long would that last them? Before they were overrun?

The Wolverine was there, and Storm as well, clouding the skies and bringing the rain. He saw the Iceman and then, he saw Pyro. He locked eyes with him, the boy who stood in the midst of the police cars, not fighting, arms crossed. He nodded once to Eric, and disappeared between the cars.

And then they were behind him, the police, with their guns.

They were firing at him, at Cain, at Eden. He saw them as if in slow motion, as if in a film. He saw them and hated them, he saw them and wanted them to die, he saw them and raged against them with his whole being! And they fired and fired!

Cain took a bullet in the shoulder and fell to his knees. The gun aimed at him now and would fire, surely, take him down, kill him, and then, all of them.

He reached out, with his hand, with all of this strength. "NO!" he yelled! "NO!"

And the bullet came. It came and it stopped.

They all stopped.

Mid-air they stopped, bullet and plastic cure vials alike. The bullets wavered in the air and the vials crashed down onto the earth, spilling their contents. A wave of energy spilled out of him, exploded, and he felt the power in him, not unlike an orgasm, as it strained to break free. It was pleasure more than anything else; he was his power, and his power was him. They were one.

He felt everything, every piece of metal, every atom of iron and steel, the weapons, the buttons on their jackets, the adamantium in Wolverine, the wedding bands on their fingers, the very iron in their blood…it was all around him! In him! He rose off the ground! The rain fell and rolled off of the magnetic field emanating from his hand, from his body! The lighting struck it and the field absorbed it, using its electricity to create capillaries of light that expanded over the surface of the invisible shield he was creating. It was Beauty!

His hands pushed forward and up and out and the field surrounded him, surrounded them! It shielded them from everything, enveloped them like a cocoon!

"OY JAIDA!" he heard Cain. She had leapt off his back, away from his protection. She was soaked with rain and she ran out into the open, into the center of the magnetic orb. The bullets fired, but nothing touched her, and the mutants around him stopped fighting and looked up at him like he was a god! They touched the impenetrable field that held them and rose off the ground as he rose!

Together they lifted into the air!

"MAGNETO!" Eden cried with incomparable joy! He looked down to her…her arms wide, her face shining with rain and tears and elation, she seemed to stand on the air itself, the solid magnetic bubble, glistening with rain and electricity, encompassing her and all of them, carrying them away. Below them, the police and the military alike, fired and called and tried to stop them. They could not! They could not stop him!

It surged inside of him, this power, and it carried them. It drew its strength from the very core of the earth, and it was all inside of him. He felt every bit of metal in the entire world, overwhelming, unimaginable! Power beyond power! Joy beyond joy!

His whole soul sang, his heart burst with it! The tears cascaded down his face as the power inside of him burst free! He opened his arms and raised his face to the gray heavens and cried aloud, a wordless thanks to a quiet, unintelligible God! The field glowed! It was an extension of himself! He was limitless! As he had never before been!

And they all watched him, and watched the world disappear beneath them, as he rose and carried them safely away.

Magneto rose!

Magneto lived!

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""'''

Oh! the world would stop for you

if they only knew your name

if they only knew you power

if they only knew your shame

They would raise their hands in exultation

and worship you til death

if they only knew your pain

the agony of every breath

I took your hand and followed

I loved you though you died

and when you came to life again

I raised my hands and cried!

For I loved you more

and no matter what occurs

I'll love you still

even as the world stirs...

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"If the guy's lung is collapsed, it might fix itself," Quicksilver was saying. "But, if it doesn't you can use a needle and a syringe to take the air out of the pleural cavity, or if you've got a hollow plastic tube, you can suck it out with something."

In spite of her overt anxiousness over Toad, Jaida stared disbelievingly at this strange, fast-talking white-haired child. Cain looked at him as well. " 'Ow d'you know that?"

Quicksilver shrugged. "Read a book, watched ER. Bored," he explained.

Cain lay back on the bed. "Don' let that kid anywhere near me."

Jaida ignored Cain and approached Quicksilver. "Can you…I mean, do you know how to do that?"

He nodded. "Told you, read a book, watched ER." He saw her doubt. "Might fix itself," he concluded quietly, as if she had insulted him.

They had oxygen and other surgical supplies and Jaida, with Quicksilver and some other mutants who had limited medical experience, cared for the wounded.

They had made it back to the Lair undetected. Magneto had removed the bullets from the wounded and then disappeared into the confines of his quarters and they had not seen him since.

Several agonizing days dripped by like slow water droplets from a monotonous leaky faucet. Eden barely slept, though he demanded it of her.

She was changing the bandage on his head, the wound she herself had stitched, and the one on his shoulder and he smiled. "Guess we showed him, eh?"

"I guess we did."

"So, what do you think will happen now?"

She finished taping him up. "War," she said.

He rested his head more deeply into the pillow. "Good," he said with satisfaction. " 'Ow's your…friend?" he asked tentatively.

Jaida looked towards Toad. "I think he'll be alright, after a few weeks, I think he'll pull through." She faced him. "I let Quicksilver do that…thing, with the needle and the syringe."

"No you did not."

She smiled. "Saved his life," she replied mildly. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face was paler than the white lights in the room.

"Sit yourself down, Jaida," he patted the bed. She did not argue. "Eh, you alright?"

Jaida nodded slowly. "I think I will be. I just thought, for a moment," she swiped at her eyes quickly, as if he did not notice her tears, "well, I thought, after all this time, he would die, here. And that I would have to…"

"He's not and you won't," Cain said with finality. "So, shu' up abou' it, right?"

She breathed shakily. "Alright," she agreed quietly.

He smiled at her. He took her face in his big hand and wiped her tears away with his thumb. "He's a good looking guy, Jaid, you've done alright for yourself."

She laughed and held his hand as he held her face. "Thank you, Cain," she said, smiling. She kissed his hand and walked over to Toad's bed.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Eden walked into the living room and Magneto was sitting on the couch, his back facing her. He had one arm on the back of the chair and the other on the armrest. He sat quite still and she was afraid she might disturb him.

As quietly as she could, Eden made her way to the other side of the room, towards the kitchen area. She was hungry and so were the others. When she turned to look at him, his eyes were open and he was watching her with a gentle smile. She returned it. "Just getting some food," she explained.

He motioned for her to sit on the couch beside him. She did so. There was something so completely different about him, it was stunning to behold. A kind of glow, peaceful and yet aggressively real and outstanding. He had never looked this way before. His eyes were calm and his face tranquil.

All she could do was look at him, there were no words, as such, that she could think of to say. He seemed to feel the same way, at first, returning her long gaze with his own. Then he reached forward, to caress her face, and without even thinking about it, she huddled up against him and rested her head on his strong breast. He breathed deeply and put his arm around her. He kissed the top of her head and she wrapped her arm around his waist, holding him, closing her eyes, listening to his heart.

Anyone looking in on this scene would have been one of two things, either confused or touched. Such as it was, no one was looking in. They were together, of themselves, by themselves.

"How's Toad?"

"He'll be alright, I think. Quicksilver really seemed to know what he was doing."

Magneto nodded and she could feel the movement, without seeing it. "He's a strange boy, but I like him."

"So do I," she responded. She thought about Quicksilver, and her thoughts drifted and she felt a sadness well up in her. "I wish Pyro—"

"Yes," he interrupted, "but he's made his choice."

She sighed. "Yes, sir," she conceded. It hurt all the same. A love, a friend, she could never have back. But, that was life, wasn't it? That was life.

He stroked her hair. "Pyro was always angry and alone. He was afraid. And I hurt him, in a way that was unforgivable."

"Do you think he'll try and find you?"

"No," he answered, "but if we do run into each other at some point, I will be very cautious."

She let her head sink into him. "I hurt him too," she admitted quietly.

He continued to run his fingers through her hair. "How could you have, my dear?" he asked gently.

Eden sighed and sat up. His hand fell away from her and he observed her with concern. How had she hurt Pyro? How is anyone really hurt in this world? What is it that matters so much that it can destroy someone so completely with just the thought of it? She knew what it was. And so did Pyro.

"I loved him," she said simply.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""'

He woke. His eyes opened and he saw perfectly clearly. Everything jumped into sharp, lucid focus. He lifted his hand to rub his eyes and his hands were free.

And she was there. Watching him. What could he say to her? He had never seen her so clearly before in all the time he had known her and she was more beautiful than he'd ever thought.

"Say something," he whispered, his voice sounded strange and raspy and breathy.

She smiled. "What do you want me to say?" she asked.

"Any—anything thing. I just want to hear your voice."

Her eyes flooded. She grabbed his hand with a vengeance and pressed it to her lips. He took her face in his hand and drew her to him. She stood over him and they were about to kiss. "Just speak, speak to me," he begged, "don't stop speaking." They kissed and kissed and she repeated his name over and over again. She buried her face in between his neck and shoulder, embracing him. He shifted in the bed so that she could lie beside him. She lifted the sheet and crawled underneath it, pressing her body against his and pulling up the blankets to cover them both.

She wrapped her arm around him gingerly, to avoid hurting him, and nuzzled herself against him.

He lay back in perfect peace, feeling her breathing beside him. He smiled. "When I'm better," he whispered, so that only she could hear, "we're gonna go swimming, completely naked, and we're gonna make love in the same place we did before, all wet and slippery, and then we'll go swimming again, and make love again, and we'll just do that all day."

Eden was laughing and crying against him, as he spoke in a kind of hazy, dreamlike way. "Ok," she agreed.

Toad looked down at his hands, at the white-pinkness of them. He sighed, leaning his head back into the pillow. "Do you think, when my powers come back, do you think I'll go blind again?"

"I don't know," she answered. "Maybe you'll be even more powerful than you were before…like Magneto."

"Maybe." He was quiet for a moment, and then said, "Ede, can I ask you something?"

"Anything, my love," she answered.

"I was…looking at myself in the mirror yesterday, and I saw this…this fit looking, quite handsome, Brit staring back at me. He was good looking, you know? And I was wondering…" he swallowed. "Do you like him better, all fucking… perfect looking, like that?"

Eden sighed and propped herself up on her elbow and looked derisively at him. "Are you serious?" she quipped. He nodded. It was her turn to whisper. She leant down by his ear and breathed sensually. "I would trade a good-looking Brit for your tongue any day of the week."

He felt a shiver race down his spine. "I really need to get better, soon."

She nodded and laughed, "You really do."

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

...EPILOGUE...

There's nothing quite like planning ahead. Preparing yourself for what may possibly, and even most likely will, never happen. Marco had called him paranoid. Others had deemed him insane.

If Lucas Marco had listened to him, he would still be alive today. But he hadn't, and he wasn't.

He had taken so many vials of poison from Jaida's teeth, and had kept them, studying them. Eventually, he would have found a way to stop her from producing the poison. As it was, she had unexpectedly escaped, which left him no alternative. Day after day for years he had injected himself with steadily increasing dosages of her poison, the strongest leaving parts of body numb for hours. Just as he had developed a weapon against Cain, he had devised a method to avoid the more serious effects Jaida's poison, namely, death…just in case, in case. Paranoid? Are you watching, Lucas?

The paralysis had worn off more quickly than usual, but it had affected his entire body…mein Gott, she had given him a huge dose. When they found him, he was not breathing, the water from the pipe having filled his mouth and lungs. They had revived him. They had eased him gently onto a gurney, made his jaw immobile, injected him with something for the pain. This is too, shall pass.

And then, dear Doctor, what will happen then?

He would survive this. He was surviving!

Whatever they had given him was making his mind run in circles, replaying what had happened to him in his mind. He was speaking, though his jaw was clenched nearly shut.

"Did you saying something, Doctor?" asked a voice he did not recognized. They must be in the ambulance now, they were bumping up and down, and jolting along a rougher road. "Doctor? What did you say?"

If it were possible, Rhys Weir would have smiled. If he were more cognizant, he would have laughed. The morphine swam through his veins and into his brain. But just before it completely knocked him out, he managed to force a few words between his locked teeth, words that meant nothing to whoever heard them, but everything to him!

"Full…circle."

THE END