twelve !
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When they seek out Erik Lehnsherr, what they find is a broken man. A vulnerable man. A man who has lost everything he loves.

What follows is death. The deaths of all those around them who, even if they hadn't showed up, would've died by the hand of the mutant in their midst anyway.

Rosa watches them fall to the ground and wonders which one of them sold him out. She knows one of them snitched on him for his power, despite him using it to save a life. His mind is wide open in his callous rage and she steps in, witnessing the memory of his loss looping over and over.

His beautiful wife and his benevolent daughter dead before their time because of human hatred for mutants.

Rosa silently retreats from his mind, affirmed in her beliefs.

Erik must have his own, equally as bitter, beliefs affirmed also for he follows them through their portal to where it all began for him.

When he begins to tear the Earth apart around them, Rosa steps slightly closer to Warren, glancing to him briefly before the sky clouded in rubble captures her attention entirely.

It's a whirlwind of destruction and yet controlled by the hand of a man with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

All that pain blurs the images of everything he'd lost together and surges him forth into a new beginning. Bringing one era to an end and striding forth into the next where none of them would have to live a single day in fear.

His metal wings bump against hers. Designed for brutal efficiency and yet gentle as he nudges her softly, bringing her back into the present from whatever world she constantly falls into. Spiralling away from him as her eyes glaze over and the world around her fades away.

She blinks a few times before turning her gaze to him and bats her own wing against his, shooting him a comforting thin smile. Letting him know she's okay and not being bombarded with the thoughts of Magneto.

Not lost in a labyrinth with no exit.

Since Apocalypse had enhanced her power, a new shadow has made its home in the hollows of her features.

Warren hadn't noticed it at first, but now it's all he sees when he looks at her in this moment of destruction. Maybe it was just fatigue with the constant unrest, but she's constantly on edge. Walking the fine line with every snap and lash of her tongue. He knows she heard his warning, but it seems she's content not to heed his concern.

Her bitterness will be her undoing.

-

-

They return to their hideout to wait out the night, one mutant stronger.

Those who needed it try to sleep and, God, does Rosa need to sleep, but there's no chance of her falling asleep with the constant racing of her mind. All that power still bouncing around on the walls of her skull, rattling her to the core.

There is something wrong with this power. Something so dark that even her shadowed wrath recoils.

As she rolls onto her side, her stomach lurches and she squeezes her eyes tight until the wave passes. When she deems herself stable enough to stand, she rises and slips away from the group, exiting into the night air once more.

Once she's into the night, she walks and walks, not trusting her wings to carry her in this daze. She walks until another wave crashes down upon her. A hand smacks into the building beside her as she draws in a ragged breath, crushing her weight into the wall and sliding to the ground.

Even with the steadiness of the ground beneath her, her vision sways. She shuts her eyes tight and even then her body is recoiling, rejecting the influx of power.

Rosa focuses on her breathing. Draws the night in through her nose, exhales through her mouth. Reminds herself of who she is. Of how far she's come. To fall now would be a waste of all that pain, all that agony, and yet it hasn't stopped. Maybe it never will. Maybe she's destined to forever be in pain in one way or another.

Whether its not being able to close her eyes for more than a second in fear of the faces that come rushing to haunt her, or not being able to relax for a moment because, if she does, then all those thoughts slip through the gaps and begin to compress her mind.

She presses her palms flat against her temples, pulls her knees to her chest, forehead resting on top and wishes the world away.

Maybe she should be more careful what she wishes for.

Either way, as another wave of pain hits she grinds her teeth, jaw clenching so tight its a wonder her bone doesn't snap clean in half. It's as if too much if entering her mind at once and the power is only being fuelled.

It's warping her, turning her into the weapon the apocalypse so desires. Requires, according to that humming power inside her head. Crooning to her to give in. To give herself up and become the Harbinger. No longer Rosalind Lacuna. Harbinger or no one.

This is her dying purpose to fulfil.

She swallows and leans her head back as a spike of nausea totals her. She rasps out a breath, ignoring the devilish voice beckoning her forth.

Her body lurches and she vomits onto the concrete between her thighs.

She's wiping the black ichor from her mouth when she stiffens at the sound of someone approaching, but there's little use in pretending to be capable when her body is collapsing in on itself.

"Rosa?"

When she rolls her head towards him, skull grinding against the brick, she has nothing to say that can make this seem like it's okay.

Because it's absolutely not okay.

Numbly, he moves to her side and kneels down, metal wings clattering into the floor as he searches her for a wound, for evidence of a fight she'd come out of barely breathing.

But there's not a scratch on her.

"What's happening?" Warren asks, voice deathly quiet.

"My body is just adjusting to the power," She manages to say, though even talking is a task as her ribs feel although they're stabbing right into her lungs. "I'll be okay in a few hours."

Or so she hopes.

Hopes even more so when another flash of agony shoots through her skull. Her eyes squeeze shut as she inhales sharply at the surprise of it, though she should've seen it coming.

A hand darts out and grips his. Grips him as her body engages in its very own civil war, counting down the days 'til defeat. Her resolve wavers with every stab of the cutlass.

His other hand clasps over hers as he witnesses her pain helplessly.

"What can I do?" He asks desperately, vision searching her fervently. "What can I do to help you, Rosa?"

"Just be here with me," She mutters as the pain subsides ever so slightly and her mind begins to wander away from her. "Just stay here with me, please."

"Always," He replies without a shadow of a doubt.

As she moves towards him, her wings drag limply behind her. Her head falls onto his chest and he holds her as she rocks into him. Craving the touch of someone with a heartbeat, not the crooked fingers of those long dead stroking down her cheek and digging into her mind.

"He'll kill me if he knows I'm weak," She whispers, muffled by his chest. "I'm sure of it."

"He won't," Warren says, dismissing her worries.

She cranes her neck to look up at him, chin resting on him and eyes blurred with tears and disaster. He lifts a hand and wipes away the wetness with a brush of his thumb. His hand remains at her cheek and she leans into his touch.

"I've been inside of his mind. This is no benevolent god, Warren. He may call us his children, but he will not hesitate to strike us down is we are not worthy," She chokes out as her breathing finally begins to even out.

A pulse of pain and she jolts in his arms. No longer the raging Harbinger, she would shatter at the first punch. Be brought to her knees at the touch of a hand.

"He needs us," Warren insists, clutching her a little tighter as if she's going to roll right out of his arms and fracture into pieces on the concrete.

"He doesn't need me." She swallows thickly. "I was never a part of his plan. I just happened to be there when they came for you."

The pain begins to subside and she leans more deeply into his palm, eyelids heavy.

"You're powerful," He says, desperate to see that fire burning bright once more. "Of course he needs you."

"It's too much." She draws in a shaky breath and lowers her forehead to rest upon his chest. "I'm just so tired, Warren."

"I know, I know." He clutches either side of her face and tenderly lifts her face to meet his eyes. "Once this is all over, we never have to fight another day in our lives."

"But, once this is all over, will you even stay? Or am I fighting for nothing?" Those molten eyes of hers flicker for half a second as they bore right into him.

As if she can see his heart in his mouth, beating rapidly as he fears for her, contradicting his words of comfort.

"I will always stay with you," He swears, promising himself to a woman he's not known for a terribly long time, but can't imagine living without. "Always."

"Then I hope we both make it out of this alive because I want to hold you to that," She says, a glimmer of hope dancing through her eyes.

"We will," he replies, kissing her softly on the forehead, a tender touch she revels in, "I promise."

-

1703 words
28.2.19

i swear if anyone references snape im gonna snap. let my ship have their moment, ok??