Inner Turmoil

He had often come here, more lately than ever. With the Brothers Battle over
and April and Talon's child safe he had often thought of going back to his
own reality, but there was something in this perverse view of his world that
kept him here. A stone block next to a tree with the words "Beloved daughter
and pup".

There wasn't a day that went by that Victor Creed didn't curse himself for
letting Clarice down. He often wished that Wolverine would have tried
breaking into his room instead of April's. He probably could have stopped
him and Blink would still be next to him.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Victor smiled. "Nothing you couldn't probably guess by now pup."

Clarice leaned against her grave and looked at her guardian. "I know you did
your best."

"Well that wasn't enough was it? If I hadn't been so relaxed I would've been
prepared and you wouldn't be..."

"Dead?"

Victor frowned. "Yeah...Dead."

Clarice moved from her grave to sit next to Victor. "We had a cause. It was
a hell of a lot better than dying in the inferno of Apocolypse's madness.
And we were free. My only regret is we couldn't bring the others."

Victor nodded. Thinking back to Charles. Magneto's soon who died before he
could really live. And what a way to die...an atomic blast. Voctor cringed
as he tried to shut the image out of his mind.

Clarice place a hand on his shoulder. "Why do you visit me still?"

Victor looked at her. "Would it be to much to say I missed you?"

Blink smiled. "No it wouldn't, but will it ever be enough for you? Death let
me visit once a day because she thought it would help you, not hold you
back."

Victor stood up and started pacing. She was right of course. Everyone but
him had left this pocket dimension in favor of going back to their worlds,
everyone except him.

He could see why April Dumaka and Talon were still here, their child was the
"God" of this world, they had to raise him. What was his reason? To spend
endless days at a small hill waiting for trouble that he would guess now
will never come? He could buy the story not long after Galactus left. Seeing
him rattled even Victor, and seeing what happened with Death and the other
Clarice...

Sometimes he thought he must be mad. He thoguht sometimes he died in the
bombing of the US and since then his sould created this for him to reside
in. It was plausable enough. He had a purpose, to defend the child. He was
free, which is something he had always longed for. The main hole is his life
was his children.

Kyle who was his faithfull inhuman companion. Though he hated to admidt it
he often thought of Wild Child as more of a pet than a person. The kids
mutation along with his overly feral nature left one to wonder if he was in
any psychological sense even remotely human. Still he was very faithfull to
Victor. Unfortunately he was also ash now, another victim in the AOA death
toll.

Then there was the ghost. He hated to call her that. To look at her you
would think she were still alive, though now her soul self seemed to have a
slightly lighter tinge of lavender complextion and there was a vauge
resemblence of color to her pupils. HE guessed she added that to let him see
what she was looking at. Still she WAS a ghost, and one who held a hard cold
grip on his heart.

Blink sighed. She looked at Victor and then out at the horizon. "You know my
time today is almost up."

Victor sighed and nodded. "I know. For all the time we hav it never seems to
be enough."

Clarice walked to him and hugged him. This was the one miracle he couldn't
explain. Though she was dead and supposedly devoid of substance, Victor
could still feel her hands around his waist, her breath and heart. ~this is
mad~ Thought Victor. ~She is dead...why am I keeping her here?~

Victor kneeled down and lifted her chin up to look at Clarice. He leaned
down and kissed her gently before looking into her eyes. "I love you pup. I
always have. I think it's time for us to get back to life."

Clarice to her surprise felt her eyes start to sting. "You're finally going
back?"

Victor nodded. "Some one should be there to calm Kyle. I'm the only one who
can."

Clarice nodded as she wiped a tear in confusion. She was a ghost...how could
she cry?

Victor swallowed hard. This wasn't easy for either of them. "Can you send me
back pup?"

Clarice nodded. "Death gave me the power to before she left this realm. She
said she will meet you at yours to help you."

Victor nodded. He didn't know if the young women was the Entity she claimed
to be but he knew one thing, she gave him a gift he could never repay.

Victor stood upright and looked out toward the sun.

"Do it now pup...Please."

Clarice started to choke as she summoned the last of the energy keeping her
form together and sent Victor back to their world. As her form faded she
leaned over her grave crying at the loss of the only person to ever love
her.

Victor stummbled around realing from the cross dimensional trip. "Remind me
to talke a cab next time." he said outloud as he looked for Kyle.

As he stumbled across what was left of the AOA landscape he noticed that the
bombs had stopped. He cursed himself as he realized he would probably never
die now as his healing factor could pobably combat even nuclear winter
radiation. He smiled though knowing if he were alive so was Logan.

Over a couple days and seeing more carnage than in a thousand cullings he
finally found the fortress of Apocolypse.

Stumbling through the levels he found various corpses he knew. Jubillee,
Angel, the young rasputin, Colosses and Kitty, and a exploded blob he
assumed was Morph. As he made his was to the M'karrin Crustal area he found
the remains of Pietro and ...

He couldnt believe what had happened to Kyle. By the looks of it Kyle was at
ground zero when the crystal shattered. He leaned over his fallen son and
held Kyle's head to his chest as he cried.

Victor decided to bury his lost son since he had precious little else to do.
He thought of buring EVERYONE. 5 billion corpses, and a person who had
nothing but time. As he sat on his friends grave he heard a familiar voice.

"Where did you go?"

He smiled. It was his formar partner Logan.

"Let's just say I took a side trip."

Logan grunted and sat down.

Victor jumped up shoked at what he saw. Logan looked like something out of a
horror movie. Half of his face had been incinerated down to the bone which
ws coal black. His arms had areas of bone and muscle jutting out along with
skin bubbles and other signs of atomic effects. even his eyes, now blood
red, made Victor wonder how he could survive?

"So we're the last two? Its fitting I guess. We've killed enough in both
sides of the cause."

Victor nodded and sat down next to Logan. "How long has the war been over?"

Logan shrugged. "A month, a week, a year? What's the difference? We're the
last two and we can't die."

Victor thoguht of something and stood up to walk behind his friend. "No way
to do die? Looks like we made it to the hell we joked about."

Logan nodded. He was tired. A life spent full of misery only to be followed
by a "after-life" as he came to look at it, of nothing but pain.

Visctor put his hand on Logan's shoulder. "Want me to end it for you?"

Logan sat quietly bowing his head. He had prayed for death every moment
since the end. It amused him to think another immortal would be the
deliverer. "Yes." he whispered.

Without a moment of hesitation Victor put his hads on logans head and yanked
up.

Logan had time to let out a death cry before his head left his shoulders.
The only thing that Victor heard was the crumbling of decaying bone and the
ripping of flesh. It didn't surprise him that Logans blood was lethargic.
The man could be no more considered alive than Kyle or Clarice.

Sighing he threw Logan's head down and dug another grave. As he finished he
thought of Clarice's promise. She had said Death would meet him here. Where
was she then. He felt very defeated and alone. As time passed he lied down
looking at the ash sky and fell to sleep.

He jumped up when a hand touched his shoulder.

"Are you ready to go?"

Victor smiled and sat up. "I was wondering if you forgot me."

Death smiled. "Forget? No. I needed your help with Logan. He couldn't
believe I could rescue him from the pain dismissing me as a hallucination as
he hunted you down."

Victor smiled, "He always was hard headed."

Death smiled and took Victor's hand. Victor felt a cold sting go through
him, and then nothing. He looked behind him to see himself. Dead Asleep.

As Death started to walk with him he had to ask her. "Will I be able to see
Kyle and Clarice again?"

Death for her part smiled. "There is a special place for you. Thanks in part
to your help in the Brother's battle."

As he looked up from her he saw that reality as he knew it was starting
to...well..melt. There was no real way to explain it. Every step they took
caused colors and constrcts to blur and blend. After a while the swirls
started turning colors. Blacks and maroon turned to white and green, blue
and brown. Before to long he was back at the hill by his daughters grave.
Instead of grave however there were 3 people. Kyle, His Clarice and the
other Clarice. Death walked ahead of him and embraced her Clarice, sitting
next to her.

Victor smiled. "So this is the true afterlife?"

Death nodded. "For us it is. Since we loved and truely lived in this
dimension. It's only fitting we should remain here."

Victor looked over to Kyle and Clarice who were playing a type of tag. "I
thank you my friend, but this is not my place, this is yours. Please take me
back."

Kyle and Clarice stopped as they heard this. Kyle ran up to his master
rubbing against his leg and Clarice just slumped in the grass.

"How can you SAY that?" she asked. "After all the time we spent talking you
can honestly say this isn't what you want."

Victor sighed. Clarice was wise in life and even more so in death. She knew
him to well. "If I stay what happens. Eventually the guilt will resurface,
an along with it the grave. Would you have me spend an eternity wishing I
could've been better?"

Clarice hung her head. She knew he was right. He was good at one thing
anymore and that was brooding. Knowing now not only could he not save her
but he couldn't save Kyle? And them being constant remiders there.

Death looked over taking all the scene in. "Victor, if I send you back,
before long you will be imprisoned. You will be locked up in your own world
of grief and pity. Now there comes a time when everyone must dump their
loads and relax. You've done more than anyone should have to. Rest now, and
enjoy it."

Victor sighed. He was so familiar with how he had been after Blink died that
he never stopped think that it wasn't his experiences that were holding him
hostage, it was himself. With that he walked over to the tree and sat
against it scriching Kyle and looking up at Clarice.

"Well sit down pup, I aint going anywhere."

Clarice gladly sat next to him as the five of them started to live their
afterlives.
 
 

~CatspawVP
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