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“I am here, daughter.” N’Dare’s image floated closer, becoming clearer. “How I have missed you, blessed child.” Loving arms engulfed Ororo.
Ororo’s vision blurred and she couldn’t speak past the lump in her throat. This couldn’t be happening, she watched her mother die when she was but a child! Unless… “Mom, I am afraid.”
“Shhh…. Have no fear, brave girl. You are safe here. Nothing can hurt you anymore.” Ororo nodded, relaxing into her mother’s warm embrace. “We are so proud of you, princess.”
“I have missed you so.” Ororo tightened her hold on her mother. “Blessed goddess I have missed you.”
N’Dare stroked her daughter’s hair, smiling serenely and looking as lovely as Storm remembered her. “What a wonderful woman you have grown into.” She pressed her face against Storm’s silvery locks. “We are so proud of you, darling daughter.”
Storm smiled, content to lay in the arms of her mother, happier than she had ever been. Peaceful…

“Flatline!”
A frenzy of activity followed Beast’s sharp word, and from his vantage point outside the med lab Wolverine could see several sharp and dangerous looking bits and pieces exchanging hands. He grit his teeth in anger, still pissed over Jean’s refusal to let him into the O.R., saying that his raw emotions would distract her. Sonofabitch!
Storm’s body arched high off the table as Warren focused all of his healing powers into her body. The angel of the X-Men was looking weary and Wolverine could smell their collective fear and frustration. Xavier had been trying, since they arrived an hour ago, to establish a mental link with Ororo. Trying to tie her to him in some way, to be her anchor, to no avail. She was beyond his reach.
Wolverine’s fist cracked the cement tiles, dust and debris falling to the white marble floor. “’Ro.” He had never felt so utterly helpless, so useless. Crack! Again his fist struck the wall. Goddamn it all! It wasn’t fair! She was so good! She didn’t deserve this! Of its own violation his mind wandered back to the night at the bar when she told him she was leaving. He should have told her to stay, hell he should have made her stay. Ha! He scoffed at his own foolishness. No one made Storm do anything she didn’t want to do. Over the years he had gone toe to toe with just about every member of the extended X family, and Ororo was the only person who would stand up to him when his temper was flaring and, through sheer force of personality, get him to back down.
“Here. Thought ya could use this.” Rogue handed him a steaming cup of black coffee. They stood in silence for a moment, watching the horrible play of activity in the O.R., as their friends fought for the life of one of their best.
“I’m gonna kill him, you know.” Wolverine said deadly soft.
“Ah know.”

“Am I dead?”
N’Dare floated above Storm’s head, looking every inch an angel of heaven. “No. Not dead. In Limbo, if you will. A place of transition. Your body is ravaged and tired, ready to let go, but your soul still clings to the earth. You always were stubborn.” N’Dare softly scolded. “It is here that your choice is to be made.”
“My choice?”
“Yes, darling. You must choose your destiny. A hard decision under normal circumstances, made harder by your body’s weakened state. You do not have much more time, Ororo.”
“What am I to choose, Mother? Whether I live or die?”
“One could put it that way. However, in your case, Ororo, you are special. Different. Your destiny is far greater than I could have ever imagined for you…or prepared you for. Xavier has done a marvelous job and for that he has my eternal thanks.”
“I do not understand.”
“It is complicated, love., and there isn’t sufficient time to discuss this. I shall put it as best I can. If you choose to stay on this side of the void we will leave this place and you will become the great power you are now destined to be. If you leave this place, you will give up this opportunity and your destiny will be remain undecided. Ororo, blessed child, you have more strength and power than you know, and no matter what choices you make I am certain that they will be courageous and pure. ”
Ororo was humbled beneath her mother’s praise. She did not know what to say. Swirls of clouds drifted past, her body feeling heavier and heavier with each passing moment. She thought of her friends, who all seemed so distant now, like photographs fading in the bright sunshine. Her mother’s smile was warm, welcoming. She, Ororo who had wandered so much in her life, wished to be still. To be home. To let go of the pain, the fighting, the constant need to keep her emotions in check, just…let…go…

Each moment in the O.R. felt like an eternity to Jean. No matter what they did, how fast they moved, Ororo’s heart continued to leak blood at an alarming rate, faster than they could hope to replace it. She had never seen someone hold on so long, and as strong as she knew Storm was, she felt her hopes dying.
The monitors blinked several times, then once again the terrible whine of a flat line filled the room. Warren tried with all his being to push his healing energies into Ororo’s still form, but her body refused to absorb them any longer.
Xavier pulled off his cap, tears sliding down his face, which seemed to have aged a decade in the past hour. “Call it.” He said, voice choked.
“Time of death, 2:14 am.” Beast said, pulling the white, blood spattered sheet over his dear friend’s face. He turned his back, shoulders slumped, defeated.
A howl of rage and anguish such as they’d never heard before erupted from the hallway.
Jean’s shoulders shook as she sobbed helplessly, laying herself across the woman she loved like a sister.

“Are you ready then, Ororo?” N’Dare asked, holding out her hand.
“Yes. I am ready.” She grasped her mother’s outstretched hand.
Mother and daughter began floating higher, the white around them growing brighter, Ororo’s body feeling lighter. A bubble of laughter escaped her as she was awash with pure joy and wonder. She was free at last!
“AAAAUURRGGH!!!”
Ororo stopped, looking back over her shoulder. That voice. So full of hurt… Coming from the black void behind them. A void full of excruciating pain and anguish and immense suffering. She looked at the glowing form of her mother, the promise of happiness and contentment right in front of her. Ororo looked over her shoulder again, shuddering at the sight of the void. So cold and dark.
“ORORO!!!” She knew that voice, would know it anywhere. Logan. In pain, aching inside, hurting because of her. She turned her face up ,tears shimmering in her blue eyes, so much like her mother’s.
N’Dare’s hand caressed her cheek, her own eyes knowing. “It will be a painful journey. Be well, my greatest gift.” She pressed her lips to Ororo’s forehead, dissolving into a fine mist. “We love you, brave girl.”
“I love you too, Mom,” Storm said, wiping her eyes. With a deep breathe and mustering more courage than she knew she possessed Ororo threw herself into the void, where she was immediately assaulted by pain and terror, her body screaming at her for her betrayal. She relived every wound inflicted upon her, her mind feeling like it was being peeled like a ripe fruit, but still she pressed on through the cold, through the dark. She had to reach him, he was waiting for her…

“LOGAN!”
Jean and the others were thrown across the room, a wave of powerful energy bursting from the body lying on the table. Storm’s form floated up, eyes glowing brighter than the sun, lightening flying from her fingertips. Every one stood frozen, unable to summon even a breath as they watched the Storm figure in stunned disbelief . She was chanting in a language non had ever heard before, her voice echoing through time and space, her body pulling itself back together, sealing the gaping chest wound and changing her bruised skin back into it’s flawless caramel. As quickly as the powerful burst occurred it left, leaving Storm to tumble from the air. She would have crashed into the tile floor had it not been for Wolverine slashing his way through the sealed operating room doors and catching her just before collision.
Ororo turned her head into his chest, hand clenched in his shirt. “Home…” she mumbled.
“Yeah, darlin’, yer home.” His voice broke, unable to believe what he had just seen. “Yer home.”

To be continued…





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