Last Battle (X-Men Fanfiction)

Discovery At Alkali Lake

We landed the jet and I leaped from the seat. Thruster followed close behind and fear spiked through him. I knew that he was just as nervous as I was as to what we might find. When the jet opened Thruster and I allowed Storm and Logan out first. We may be better trackers of the group but they were still the leaders and Thruster and I didn't need to argue with their leadership.

Storm looked over her shoulder toward me. "Do you have any idea what we might find here," I asked her.

She shook her head. "And I'm not excited to find out." She turned and continued out of the jet. Logan followed while Thruster and I trailed. We didn't want to get in the way.

When I stepped on the ground it felt slick underpaw. Fog covered everything and I narrowed my eyes as I tried to see through it but I couldn't. It was just too thick. "Can you see anything Thruster," I asked as I felt him squinting.

He shook his head before I heard Logan speak up. "I can't see anything," he complained as he clenched a fist.

"I can help with that." Storm looked up and her eyes turned white. The fog lifted and I lowered my underbelly to the ground, in case I had to spring forward. I only remembered the dangers of Alkali lake, not any of the beauties of anything. I knew that most of it was beautiful with loads of prey but I only remembered the terrors of the ordeals I and a few others had been through.

"It's alright," assured Thruster as he licked my cheek reassuringly. "Nothing is going to happen now. This lake can't hurt us."

I narrowed my eyes. "Perhaps not the lake but the things in it," I pointed out before I kinked my tail over my back and continued forward.

Thrust and I sniffed the air but we only scented the familiar tang of water and forest. No blood, no sickness, although I did smell the smell of heartbreak. "Thruster," I called as I pawed at the ground. "I think something is here."

He turned and bounded toward me. He sniffed the ground and began to dig. I followed and extended my claws. I finally got deep enough and I saw something shimmering in the ground. I plunged my muzzle in and grasped what seemed to be a needle. I pulled it up and spat in on the ground.

"What was that for," asked Thruster as he pawed at it gingerly.

"Experiments," I replied as I turned away from it. It was nothing important, hopefully.

I continued toward where the lake lapped at my paws and looked down. I spread a wing and gingerly stroked the water. Thruster came up beside me and was about to lap at the water but thought better of it. There were a lot of dead bodies under there, including one that had not died because of the flood.

"Do you think Mirage is under there," I asked as I imagined him leaping around with Poultice back at the mansion. However that would never happen and it was thanks to me.

"I know that his body is under there but his soul isn't," barked Thruster as he lashed his tail. "His soul is in Starbound along with Ivory and along with Riversong and Maria and all of the others we lost."

"You mean killed at this same place two different times," I flashed as I bared my teeth at him and saliva dripped from them.

Thruster nodded. "Yes the first battle we lost a great deal of wolves for something I didn't believe in but the second time there was only one casualty and that was Mirage. Now that the base is under water no one will ever be harmed again, at least not here."

I opened my mouth to argue but Storm suddenly let out a screech. "Logan!"

I turned and sprang forward with Thruster close behind. I skidded to a halt as I saw Scott's glasses, floating above a rock. I gingerly stuck out a claw and grazed them. They spun around and Thruster pressed against me. I knew that I should feel grief but actually I felt relief. He would no longer be able to harm my pups.

However that wasn't all Storm had found. I turned and saw both teachers lowered beside the limp figure of Jean. I looked over to Thruster who shuffled his paws. "I thought she was dead," I whispered in his ears as I took Scott's glasses with my tail and tucked them under my wing so that no one knew I had them. I'd break the news later.

Logan held her hand and I bolted toward Storm. "We have to get her back," she gasped as she felt her pulse. "She's barely alive."

"But what about Mirage," I whimpered as I looked to the water. "If Jean's alive then maybe Mirage is to."

Thruster cut me off and leaped in front of me, his eyes blazing. "Mirage is dead, Starlight."

I snarled and bunched my muscles. "So was Jean and she's still alive!"

"Jean's reappearance was strange," confessed Thruster as he lashed his tail. "But Mirage is never coming back. You told me yourself how you killed him. No one could survive that."

Well that didn't make me feel any better about myself. I thrust my ears against my head and sighed. "Alright."

I lowered beside Jean and sunk my teeth into her shoulder. Logan's eyes blazed but I was only trying to help. I thrust him onto Thruster's massive shoulders. He would be the steadies of paws for this. He strode forward with me following and Storm and Logan bringing up the rear.

I hoped that she'd be alright but I wished more that I'd one day find Mirage, alive.