Lost Souls

Welcome to the nightmare.
The woman in the leather duster is Cable's closest associate. Domino is her trade name. Earned from her uncanny ability to have things go her way. Right about now, she's questioning all that.
"Please, Dom...pull the trigger!" Grizzly pleads. "While you still can...Do it!"
"Listen to me, Theo, I'll get you to someone who can help." Dom tells him desperately. "Xavier, or Cable must know somebody."
She hesitates, not out of inexperience, but out of loyalty. She came to this house in the Colorado Rockies in search of a serial killer. A feral madman who was responsible for the deaths of at least thirteen innocents. Hoping against hope, she tracked him here to prove his innocence. They had been teammates, co-workers and, hardest of all, friends. But, the raging beast before her hardly resembles that man.
*RRRAAARRGH* Grizzly roars and charges towards her. "Not Cable! Don't you get it, nobody can help, especially HIM!!""
Dom dodges his swipe and blasts a hole through the roof. "Friend or not, he's out for blood! Sooner or later one of us is going to do something we both regret."
Domino's first rule of survival: When you think your side is losing, kick over the game board and start again with new rules.
"How do I get through to the man I once knew, when all that's left seems to be a wild animal?!"
"Shouldn't have come here!" Grizzly yells, as he follows he up onto the roof. "Six Pack is in the past. There's no escape. NO ESCAPE!!"
"It's like trying to take out Sabretooth!" Dom' thinks, as she dodges another swipe, but her duster is caught and pulls her over the side of the roof. "Gotta roll with him, try to cushion the fall."

Baltimore, Maryland. In a nearly abandoned shipyard, a rusty Frigate rocks in her slip. As one mystery deepens, another barely unfolds.
"BLAQUESMITH!" Cable yells, upon entering the Frigate, cradling his precious Aliya in his arms. "Dear God, will he be able to help...?"
The man called Cable cannot hide the anger in his voice or the anguish in his heart. The woman he carries in his arms should be dead. Killed in a war-torn future that was once Cable's world. The woman is his wife.
Theirs was a love which was split asunder by a decades old war. But, never, in all the time-jumps this man has made, did he ever think he would hold her, his beautiful wife, again.
In another time she was known as Aliya, a warrior of the Clan Askani'. A warrior who took the battle-name Jenskot, out of reverence for the near mythical "First Ones."
Cable held her close when she...died...the pain of that moment is fresh....the wound never to heal. He replays it in his mind, over and over again. The moment she...died was the moment the world ended. He thought he had accepted the loss long ago. He was wrong.
He was desperate to find Tyler, Jenskot's son and the boy they raised in the future. The boy who grew into the twisted madman known as Genesis. To find Genesis, Cable had sought help from his friend, the enigmatic being known as, Blaquesmith.
"Blaquesmith, help." Cable pleads, entering 'Smiths lab. "Blaquesmith, I looked in Tyler's sanctuary. I didn't find him...but I found...her. She's alive.
"Nathan, who..." 'Smith's eyes light upon Cable's companion, "Blessed Lady...! Aliya."
"Blaquesmith, she died, and now she's here...do you know...can you help us?" Cable asks, as he lays her on an examination bed.
"Precious Aliya, rest now, child..." 'Smith tells her, as he gently strokes a stray lock of her hair back from her eyes. "You journey was long. Nathan, so young she is..."
"Blaquesmith...out of respect for each other. Please, tell me what you know." Cable pleads.
"As much as I can, I will." 'Smith replies. "But, first, let me attend to her."
"�烜�." Aliya, whispers.
"������� ���." 'Smith replies, softly.
"Where...can't focus..." Aliya, switches back to what she knows as 'Old English.' "Wait, you are familiar."
"Yes." 'Smith smiles down at her. "Sometimes, things do work out the way they should."
"This is impossible." Cable whispers. "I...accepted this...I was told it could never be reversed...something is terribly wrong."
"Do the teachings mean so little to you now?" 'Smith asks. "The ways of the Mother Askani' are oftimes mysterious. Or have you simply forgotten that the why of any situation is secondary to the situation itself? Focus now...let's deal with the matter at hand."
"I was sent!" Aliya, tells them. "I have to bring him back. The man called Cable." Aliya turns to face Cable and asks, "Is that...you?"
At first he cannot answer her. Just hearing the sound of her voice speaking directly to him...It's like being lost in the music of a song he thought was gone forever.
"Aliya....yes, I am Cable. But why?" Nathan takes her hand in his, "Why have you come here?"
"Only the most desperate of situations would make us risk the temporal journey." Aliya, explains. "But if my love, Nathan Dayspring, is to live, you must return with me now!"

The Rockies.
Domino feels his claws scrape her leather duster clean off of her. And if she had moved a moment slower, her flesh as well. But, she and Grizzly have been in many hard-fought battles together. They know how and when to counter each other's moves. Worst of all, they both suspect how this fight will end.
"Grizzly. I don't want to fight with you." Dom' pleads. "But, I'm not about to let you take my head off either!" Dom' dodges yet another swipe, and lands a kick of her own. "You need help. Medical help. And I've got to find a way to get through to you!" Dom' lands another kick, but her leg is caught by Grizzly.
"Got you!" Grizzly roars. "Trying to fight it...Dom'. He makes me do these...things."
"Theo, together we can fight whoever it is!" Dom' pleads, as Grizzly pins her to the ground.
"No! Can't!" Grizzly screams, drawing back to deliver a killing blow.
"You and I have been in the field long enough to know," Dom' pulls something from her belt. "Never. Say. Die!"
FOOOSSSHH
Flash grenade. Domino's second rule of survival: When in doubt, cheat.
*Aaaarrgh* Grizzly screams, as the grenade goes off inches from his face, while Dom's gloves protect her hand from any damage.
"Fight it, Grizzly." Dom' begs. "Take control!"
"He's too strong!" Grizzly yells. "You'll see. You're next!"
Dom' draws her plasma pistol and slowly advances upon the suddenly still from of her friend until the barrel is only inches from his forehead.
"Now, please get up slowly." Dom' orders. "We've all lost control at sometime in our lives. It's part of this insane business we're in. Where life and death are so close you could barely put a straight-edged razor between them. But, Theo, the man I know you to be, who has watched my back in countless battles, he would never give up hope."
"Don't you understand?" Theo asks, as tears begin to flow from his eyes. "I remember all the horrible things he made me do. That will never go away...Dom, if you care for me at all...pull the trigger!"
"No!" Dom shakes her head. "There's something you're not telling me. What are you hiding? I know you, Grizz, this isn't like you...Listen, I...don't have that many friends. Particularly ones that go back as far as you. And it may sound selfish, but I'm not ready to let go of you."
It happens with a terrifying swiftness, his hand forces hers...

POOM

Twenty-five hundred miles to the east.
He is full of bittersweet joy...feelings very foreign to him.
"In my heart I feel there's nothing I can change...but she's back." Nathan thinks, standing on the deck of 'Smiths disguised Frigate. "That has to mean something. What's the old saying? The one I learned as a child...?"
""���� ��, ��." 'Smith's telepathically supplies the answer, then in english. "What is, is."
"Did you know this was going to happen?" Cable turns and asks him. "My beloved, Aliya...."
"Is that the important question here, my friend?" 'Smith avoids the question. "Your people need you, Askani'Son. You have to decide if you want to take up this responsibility...But, Nathan, I swear to you, I do not know if the trials you face have nearly finished...or just begun..."
"Nathan...!?" Aliya, asks from behind them. She walks towards Nathan, her eyes full of questions. 'Smith departs quietly. "I wasn't sure before...the temporal change was so draining...but when he called you by name....I could see clearly...it is you. Gracious Mother! They've sent me back to get you!!!"
In the paleness of the moonlight, her beauty is all the more haunting.

If only he could tell her how he feels...if only...
His breathing rate triples, as she raises her hand to gently stroke his cheek. His massive shoulders quiver and his teeth clench, hard, as he fights to hold in his emotions.
"But your face doesn't have the same...." Aliya, falters, sensing his distress. "...I mean...oh, Nathan, my sweet, Nathan...has the life you've chosen been such a difficult one?"
"Difficulties..." Nathan repeats. "Yes, certainly. But there are moments...moments of joy...moments of hope that make it worth continuing. I want you to remember that."
"I know this knowledge is forbidden..." Aliya, whispers. "But the way you look at me...there's such sadness in your eyes. Pain, like I've never seen....Nathan...what caused you such pain? Can you tell me, why did you come to this time? What happens to m..."
"Aliya...I..." He pulls her close, burying his face in her hair.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." Aliya, puts her finger to his lips. "I know that is not the Askani way...to speak of things that have not yet occurred..."
"My children." 'Smith interrupts. "There is no more time. Nathan, you have to decide now."
"What is there to decide?" Aliya, asks. "I do not understand. You, of all people, know the importance of this night."
"Aliya," Nathan takes her delicate chin in his hand and tilts her face up towards his. "The passion that you have for...this mission. Forgive me, but it was a long time ago. What is it you need me to do?"
"How can you not remember this night?" Aliya, asks. "We are on the eve of a battle for the village of the Clan Chosen and the Askani'Son has taken ill...they say he will not last 'till morning...and without his leadership, we will be destroyed by the enemy...the illness was sudden...unnatural in its attack."
"Stryfe..." Nathan whispers.
"Yes." Aliya answers. "We believe so. That is why you must come back with me. Somehow, someway, the Elders believe you are the key....or else, he will die tonight!"
Cable telepathically links with 'Smith, shielding their thoughts from Aliya. "Something is wrong. I know Jenskot never time-travelled."
"Do you, Nathan?" 'Smith asks. "As things stand now, who among us can predict how a wrinkle in our yesterday...will affect our tomorrow?"
"In other words, I don't' have a choice." Nathan replies. "I wish there was time to explain to her..."
"As you know, each of us has a role we are destined to play." 'Smith tells him.
"I assume you have a way to make the time jump?" Nathan asks aloud. "Since I no longer have that ability."
"You wouldn't be being asked if it were not possible." 'Smith replies.
"Then..." Nathan takes Aliya's hand in his own. "Let's Do It!"
Blaquesmith begins the connection...it is a sound which Cable only remembers from his early childhood. And all at once, he realizes the danger he has placed himself in. They are tapping into a power that only a few would attempt to...and even fewer would survive. But, as he looks into Aliya's eyes, the woman who will someday, in her future, his past, be his wife, the woman he will always love...he would not have it any other way.
And as they fade from this reality, Blaquesmith, one of the architects of these acts, wonders if he will see his oldest friend alive...ever again.

As if in answer, the night is filled with the image of the Mother Askani'...in her presence, Blaquesmith trembles.
"I know." 'Smith telepathically assures her. "There is still one task before me...each has a role to play, and her's is an important one."

The Rockies.
As Domino lifts the last stone over the body, the ground too frozen to dig a grave, she remembers: Domino's third rule of survival: Never get emotionally involved with anyone. Ever.
In her heart of hearts, she knows the third rule is the one she always breaks.
"What am I going to tell Nathan? Can I even tell him?"
Suddenly, a telekinetic burst knocks her to the ground. She utters a single word.
"Blaquesmith?"
As she begins to feel herself being transported somewhere, she asks, "Listen, Mister, what do you think you're...doing?"
A second later, there is nothing in the clearing except for a fresh grave and a burning cabin.

Twenty-five hundred miles to the east, a small gnomish figure bows his head and says,
"What is, is..."

Finis

Our Journey Continutes With
What Was...What Is...

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