loss / marvel au

chapter 18 / encounter 2 / katherine's offering

"And look at that. We're mermaids now too." Kitty groaned, as she had been the one to follow Sue through.

"Mermaids, or sirens?" asked Betsy.

"Mermaids. I'm not really hungry for any men. At least I don't think I am?"

Peter took a few steps back.

"I personally am not interested in becoming a mermaid, so maybe I won't hop through that portal." said Wanda.

"We're gonna have to. That void opens up another, leading us to our way out." said the telepath.

"Then I guess we're going through?" said Steve, as he watched Peter go through then him after. Betsy and Wanda following.

Now, a new rift opened, a boat, and two sailors fell through.

And in Sue and Kitty's, outcome an additional two mermaids.

"Oh. Well that's convenient I guess. I didn't really wanna be a mermaid anyways." Peter shrugged.

"This is beyond ridiculous." Wanda spat.

"Oh trust me sister, it gets worse." Kitty said, eyeing her own obnoxious yellow tail, "You got a nice one!" she then playfully pouted.

Going around the circle, their tails basically applied to their powers, Sue's blue, Betsy's purple, and Wanda's read, whereas Kitty's was basically just a wildcard.

"This has to be a fever dream. It's ridiculous."

"Yeah, and why do the boys get to be sailors?" Sue asked.

"Like I'd enjoy seeing anyone of them dressed as a mermaid? No thanks." Kitty spat.

"Ouch." said Betsy.

"Well, I mean we better get going I guess." Peter said.

"Agreed. Let's move." Wanda said, leading the girls into the depths of the sea as the boy's canoe floated above them.

"Woah... look at this place..." said Kitty, swimming through coral and doing a couple twirls.

"Don't get too used to it. Expect a sudden twist." Sue replied, going quiet again.

"She's right. We better not enjoy this too much." added Betsy, wearily eyeing her violet tail.

"Shush!" spat Wanda, as they reached a darker point in the sea, and a large shadow was seen.

"I think our twist is-..." Sue started

"Defending their lives!" Kitty screamed as a shark charged her, phasing through it before it's sharp teeth could engrave her.

"This-is-crazy!" Wanda yelled, shoving one of the sharks back into a rock.

"It's alright!" Sue said, "I've got us covered." Sue said, as forcefields went up and around each of them, "Anything that comes near us will get a piece of me." she said, holding it strongly as one shark banged off of Betsy's.

"And anything that comes near me-!" Psylocke's eyes went purple, "Gets it's body parts chopped off!" she shrieked, expanding her blade to its tail, as her psy-knife sifted through its top fin.

"Any good reason on why they want to eat us?" asked Kitty, going back and forth with a bigger one.

"Probably the fanatical amount of open wounds that crowd our bodies. These things love their blood!" Wanda cried, nearly tearing one in half as she stretched it out.

"Up there! Get that-!"

"Woah-ahh-oha!"

They were all pulled into a void, even the boys in the boat had been dragged in.

"What's going on?" Peter asked, in pitch black darkness.

"We're gonna be spit out somewhere here in a moment... keep your guard up." said Wanda.

After a few more seconds of what felt like endless falling, they fell out of the void and onto another sandy island.

"Look who decided to show up!" smiled the raccoon.

"What's he doing here!" screeched Peter.

"He's not here... that's and illusion." replied Wanda, hitting the armed 'rabbit' back into a tree.

"Braddock! Where's that other rift of ours!" yelled Steve, as they were now beginning to realize this thing was some sort of shape-shifter, as it went from Rocket, then formed into Dr. Strange!

"Gosh. This is wrong, this is so wrong!" Kitty yelled, throwing a couple punches at the man.

The telepath closed her eyes, searching for the rift until she finally said, "It won't open until we kill this thing!"

"I hate this stupid dimension! I just wanna go home!" Sue randomly yelled, fed up as she stepped back from the action and formed a shield around her and turned her back.

"Sue, what the hell are you-!" Psylocke now had a crimson band wrapped around her, as she squirmed in its embrace, the rest of the team was starting to tire out at the shape-shifter's ways.

"There! Above you, Cap! The rift!" Spiderman exclaimed.

"I guess it opened early, now let's get out of here!" said Wanda, diving through it.

Once cut loose from the twine-like grip, Paylocke grabbed the Invisible Woman by the arm and dragged her towards the portal, getting ready to put her through, as the shapeshifter, now in the form of Falcon extended his wings and fired large, knife-like feather-shaped stakes at Sue, a small body jumping in front of her, only for them to impale that person instead.

"Kitty!" Sue shouted, as the bloody girl stood stationary and shaky, turning and looking Sue right in the eyes, tears starting to roll down her cheeks.

"Please. Save Kurt for me—..." she choked, her limp body sliding to the ground as she fell unconscious, now noticing how deep the spikes went into her.

Katherine Pryde literally took a bullet for Susan Storm.

*
Sue grieved the death of not only Johnny, but also Kitty.

As if losing him weren't enough, this dimension threw another plight situation at her.

But what really hit her right in the spot, was the fact that one died naturally in a way. It was supposed to happen, but it just happened to him.

And the other one, died because of her recklessness and negligent behavior. If Sue werent as busy pouting, Katherine wouldn't be dead.

Sitting next to Kitty's bloodstained body, her knees pulled to her chest as she stared down at those soulless, frigid discolored eyes of hers.

Though seeing Kitty's deceased body wasn't nearly as bad as seeing Johnny's half-eaten corpse that washed up on that one rainy night back on shore, it was too sad to think of everything she could've had ahead of her.

Though hers wasn't nearly as gory and chewed up as his, there was more of a deep sorrow that came with this one.

She didn't know if it was the bloody nose, matted hair, sporadic twitching, or open eyes.

But maybe it was knowing she couldn't avenge her death. Maybe it was knowing her friend would return to Earth without the carefree and blithe personality returning with him. Maybe it was simply even the fact that nobody know what this adolescent had done for her. Or maybe it was why she did it. Why she jumped in front of her like that. Why she didn't just phase them through or move them out of the way. Why the shape-shifter specifically aimed for her. Why it wasn't her.

Whatever this pain truly was, deserved better.

*

"Maybe I'll never have a normal life, but as long as people are afraid of mutants -- as long as people like Asher are afraid of themselves -- I know where I belong. I'm an X-Man because I don't want the world to be like this. I want it to be better. So I'm going to make it better. Just watch me."

()

"Ghostly"