sixteen !
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With the speech to the world over and done with, Apocalypse brings his wrath upon the world, beginning with Cairo.

In masked horror, Rosa watches as he begins to destroy Cairo. Ripping it apart to construct the grand pyramid in its centre without breaking a sweat.

In that moment, Rosa finds fear roiling inside of herself. Recognises it even through the blistering ache that has been buffering her for days on end. At the sight, that force inside of her lurches and it takes every inch of her to bite it back, gritting her teeth and balling her hands to tightly into fists that her nails slice into her flesh.

A pulse of pain tests her threshold, almost knocking her off her feet. Agitated, her wings shift behind her as she steadies herself with a hand on Warren's arm. A touch he'd not been expecting, but realised she hadn't been either.

When she glances to him, he sees that power inside of her chomping at the bit, pacing back and forth inside the cage, desperate for release.

Rosa shakes her head ever so slightly and stands a little taller, planting her feet and jutting her chin. Her jaw remains clamped shut. Feathering every time a pulse thunders through her.

But the pain is growing worse.

She doesn't know how much longer she can keep it contained. How much time would she have before it exploded out of her as if she were Mount Vesuvius incarnate?

Not much, she suspects.

"My child," Apocalypse's voice beckons and she realises she's been staring through everything as she was focusing on containment of the fury inside.

She blinks rapidly and looks to him, playing obedience. When his hand comes to rest on her shoulder, she roots herself to the ground despite her urge to whip away from him and take flight.

"Your pain will be relieved in due time. You will know when to unleash yourself upon this world." Rosa nods her head, not trusting herself to open her mouth. "For now, you come with me to defend the pyramid while the transference of conscious takes place. My Angel and my Harbinger, protector of the true God of this Earth."

She swallows thickly, though the hatred burns bright in her eyes.

Maybe he mistakes it for passion for the cause, a hate for those who had suppressed them, because he smiles and turns away.

They step through the portal, Warren carrying Xavier as if he were simply a tool in their war. Coldly, she supposes he is. He's as much of a tool to Apocalypse as she is his weapon.

His Harbinger.

She supposes she is a Harbinger of death in some respects. Today, there will be death. There has already been death. Innocent people will surely have died when Apocalypse ripped the city apart for his temple and more dying as they speak as Erik tears the world apart, piece by piece.

She locks eyes with Charles as he's lowered onto the stone altar as if he were some fruit and flower to be offered to the gods.

He will not be overcome by Apocalypse. She will kill the false god herself if she has to. But she will not live to see her friend invaded by this monster.

Jaw clenched tight, her head nods subtly to him and she wishes she didn't see that fear in his eyes as it pollutes his determination with inky black hopelessness.

All she wants is to reach out, to scoop him off the table into her arms and carry him far, far away from this place.

This isn't the fate he deserves.

Resolved to continue her rouse until Apocalypse is incapacitated upon the altar, she steps back, though her eyes don't tear away from him until the order is given to take flight and defend. Only then does she hoist herself into the air and follow Warren from the pyramid.

She beats her wings a few extra times to soar alongside him.

"It's not too late," She reminds him against better judgement.

But he says nothing. Maybe he has nothing left to say to her anymore.

There's no time left to continue her attempts to get through to him as three mutant teenagers come into view, two of which she recognises.

The first she knows only by appearance as the mutant who fought Warren the night of their escape, resulting in crippled wings.

The second she knows extremely well. The betrayal upon the open-mouthed face of Jean Grey strikes her hard and fast in the chest. The girl she'd taught every single day now faces her on a battle field, grown and dressed in a uniform. She wonders what goes through her head in seeing her former tutor plummeting towards her alongside the metal-winged man.

She knows it for sure then that she's making the right decision. Knows it when she witnesses that glint of determination in Jean's eyes staring up at her, gritting her teeth as if preparing to strike back. 

Knows that betraying Apocalypse and his horsemen is the right thing to do. 

With feather wings, Rosa is much lighter and quicker than Warren. She doesn't want this, but it's necessary to save countless lives because he seems determined to end them for this immoral cause.

As soon as he's about to send three metal daggers towards the onlooking teens, Rosa turns harshly and forces her entire body weight into him. Drives her shoulder into his chest and knocks him off course. 

When she glances over her shoulder to see where they've gone, she's thankful that they're no longer in sight.

But, when she turns her head back to Warren, he's not there either.

Already he begins his pursuit of the blue mutant who is making a break for the pyramid.

Left without much choice, Rosa streaks through the sky after him, ignoring the battering her own mind is giving her. As she watches him chasing the boy who'd ruined his former wings, Rosa quickly blinks away tears and continues the chase, telling herself she should not love a man who will so willingly fight for something so unjust. 

This time, when she catches up to him, he's more than aware of her presence. Her former tactic of pushing him off course won't work. Instead, she comes close enough to grab a hold of him and clamps her hands around his ankles and yanks him back. 

Succeeding in catching him by surprise, she continues to pull until she grounds them both. Panting, she rises to her feet, dust dancing in the sunlight that pours in. 

"Warren, please don't make me force you to stop," She pleads, allowing him to get back to his feet, his chest heaving too. 

"Isn't that what you're doing?" He seethes, spittle flying from his mouth. 

"I don't want to have to go into your mind." She doesn't dare take her eyes off him. For one, she's sure he will slip away at any chance he gets to finish off that poor mutant boy. For another, she can't bring herself to look away even as his furious eyes burn into her. "I'm here for you, not to use my power on you."

At the mention of power, that force inside of her rattles the cage. 

"I didn't make you come here," Warren says, hands balling and wings flaring. "I didn't make you do anything."

Rosa sucks in her bottom lip as her eyes blur with traitorous tears. She shakes her head at him in disbelief. "You still don't get it, do you?" 

"Don't get what?" He questions, his expression softening slightly at the sight of her reduced to tears before him. This isn't how it is supposed to go. They were supposed to go into battle together to bring a new age of peace and power for mutants. 

To fight alongside one another for a brighter future. 

Not end up on opposite sides. Not with her dragging him from the air in desperate attempts to save the enemy. 

For the first time, he questions whether this is really what he wants to do. Whether this is worth losing Rosa over because, even if she survives the fight, Apocalypse will not stand for her treachery. 

Either way, she will die.

This sudden realisation cools his anger towards her in an instant. 

"I've told you a hundred times that I came here for you, that I joined this fight for you, but you're so oblivious it's almost comical." She chokes out a laugh and takes a stride between them, closing the distance. "I'm here and continue to be at your side because I'm in love with you."

His wings sink along with his jaw, slackening in disbelief at her admission. For that moment, she's all he sees. All that consumes his mind. The war forgotten, he takes a step towards her, unable to find the words to return the sentiment.

"I-" He begins, but he's cut off when a whip of purple lurches towards them and wraps around Rosa's right wing, yanking her back and throwing her into the wall with a thud. 

"Don't let her distract you. She's only playing her games," Psylocke seethes, the purple energy coiling in her fist. "We have a mission. Don't forget that."

Woodenly, he nods, tearing his eyes away from Rosa, who has clambered to her feet and is now making her way towards the disturbance. 

Warren heaves himself into the sky, not daring to look back, knowing her march into battle will ground him once more. 

"Well," Psylocke lets the end of the glowing, violet whip fall to the ground, her confidence roaring in the closing space between them, "let's get this over with, Harbinger."

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1640 words
19.4.19

i hurted myself with this one ouch