That settled it. They were waiting out the week to spite god. "If you manage, I'm down for it... I've had enough bugs, lizards, birds, leaves and mushrooms for a life time." Then came the last chuckle they'd hear for some time.

He listened to her silently, staring toward the cave entrance as she spoke about her mindset before they'd ended up here. Huh. Seemed like this was all pretty convenient for her, wasn't it? Not so for him.

He took another sip.

Just like that, he sat, sipping here and there, sleeping, maybe? It was all blurring together. He recalled awakening to hungry stomach, and not too long after hearing a question ring out in the darkness. A moment of silence.

"Yes. I think I was... your age, maybe a bit younger, the first time. And I did. He killed my friends, and nearly killed me. When I woke up, I found him, and returned the favor... Wish I could say it hadn't been worth it... from there? It wasn't ever really personal most of the time. I've probably killed over a hundred people. Lost count."

What was the point of lying? Hell, he could hardly tell if she'd actually asked the question, or he'd just imagined it. In a moment of clarity he had the presence of mind to ask; "Why?"

She listened, hands clasped on her stomach while she imagined herself lying in a dark, uncomfortable coffin. It was definitely surprising to heard someone hailed as a hero claim he had killed hundreds of people. Like... wouldn't that have been bigger news? Sure, she wasn't as much of a nerd as Xavier for hero stuff, but she was sure that would have made a headline of two.

She turned her head in the direction his voice was coming from and just... laid there. It almost didn't register that he'd asked her a question in return, even though her brain was already thinking about it. It took a while to find an answer.

".... I wish that I could have done that."

She clammed up again after that and it felt like hours passed, but that was probably just the darkness getting to her again.

"... I wish I could have returned the favor, too."

She left it at that. Closing her eyes for no other reason save to keep the dust out.

--

Her waterskin was almost empty. A few gulps left and then it'd be dry. She'd tried to keep track of the days passing by collecting rocks after a few sleeps a "day". She was sure it's wasn't horribly accurate, but with the sun all blocked out it was the best she could do.

She'd had time to think more on his question, as well as her own, too. Randomly after hearing him moving around a bit, she licked her dry lips and managed to get the words out for the second time in her life.

She figured it didn't matter a whole lot whether he believed her or not, since they were going to die anyway.

So, she told him everything she could remember. Her parents and they're awful parenting system. Her first friends; her first crush... She told him about her uncle and all of the horrible things he had ever done to her in as little detail as possible. Told him about nobody believing her. About Mason dying... about everyone blaming her for it.

She spilled the beans on leaving home at 15, about adopting Clyde and living in her car for a long time. About how she'd gotten that fake ID and why... and about how her Uncle was set to be released early from prison anyway, which she had found out about shortly before Clyde's death.

Once she got started the stories just rushed out. She couldn't shut up about it. She left out the rampant long-running string of bank robberies, and Blue, and the subsequent murders that followed due to the hit out on her.

Her throat hurt by the time she was done talking, and she just kinda trailed off back into silence both regretting everything she had just said and actually kinda feeling empowered by it. It was out there now... off her chest. Even if her own ears were the last to hear it, she'd finally managed to speak it out loud for the universe to hear.

"I tried to die a long time ago after Mason died, but I failed at that too. Seems to be all I'm really super good at, ya know?"

The pitch black box they'd existed in these last few days... got to you. The howling wind outside, the uncomfortable heat, and the bleak darkness made one wonder if you were actually talking to someone else, or halucinating.

Maybe she was asleep. Maybe she was already dead. She didn't respond for quite some time, if she'd even talked to him in the first place. Either way, he'd just casually stated a secret about himself that he'd never told anyone who wasn't directly involved in it.

And it didn't matter.

She spoke again. He listened. He sat. He drank. He slept.

She spoke more, more than it sounded like she'd spoken to anyone in some time. She did just what he'd suggested. Dump it all now to be free of it for what ever was next. He was mostly quiet. He could tell she still had a little water, hearing it sloshing around occasionally as she took a sip.

Good.

He was out. It wouldn't be too long, now.

She admitted that she'd tried to die. She said she was only good at failing. He spoke, his voice graveled through dehidration. "Yeah... I know... I know, kid..." He nodded slowly, allowing sleep to take him once more. Maybe for the last time.

And yet... He woke up. His eyes squinted in the presence of an intense light, bright enough to shine through the cracks in the barrier he'd made at the entrance to this place. "Wh... June..." He slowly climbed to his feet, every joint complaining as he liften his dwindling frame up with a pained grunt... He made his way toward the entrance, looking back toward her.

"Back toward camp..." Illuminated, he looked.... rough. His lips were cracked and dry, he'd lost weight, and some muscle mass as well. Confused, he turned and tried to make out the source of the incredibly bright light.

He didn't say much. She laid out practically her whole life story in front of him, and he kept his response to six simple words.

.... Honestly, she didn't mind it. It was ten thousand times better than anything her mother had ever said to her in response. fifty thousand times better than her father's silent, awkward stare. It was better than the made-up conversation she'd had in her head with every friend, adult, and even her therapist.

Just... acceptance.

She smiled to herself as he went silent, tilting the canteen in her hand that still had just a teeny bit of water in it. She wasn't sure if he went back to sleep, or if he'd croaked, or what. She knew that with that weight off her chest now she could give sleep another try though, and after draining the last of her water onto her parched tongue she did just that. Closed her eyes, willed away the tears, and slipped off into slumber.

--

"June..."

She almost startled awake... Body on overdrive as adrenaline pumped through weak limbs and caused almost every inch of her to shake. She sat up with a jerk, eyes struggling to focus for a moment as she slowly figured out what was going on.

"...Camp?" Ugh. Words hurt. Heck, just breathing hurt with how dry her throat was.

She squinted at the light, sloppily getting to her own feet, and staggered toward the front of the cave. She was dying anyway, right? Might as well take a peek outside and see what the light was all about.

Sinking her feet into the earth Juniper pushed herself to a full phase and walked through the blocked up entrance to their inevitable tomb. She squinted against the light as it hit her fully, lifting a hand to block some of it and mute the pain.

It was certainly coming from the direction of their old camp... The one they'd been forced to abandon because of the wind storm. Maybe...

What if it was a way home?

Gulping, which proved to be futile in quenching her dry throat, she steeled herself for what she was about to do... If there was a way home, they needed to investigate. It was either that to die and be forgotten in a dark cave.

"Right, so... forgive me later!"

Hurrying for the first time in what felt like forever, she popped back into the cave and reached for the old X-man. Without worrying about permission (or the fact that this definitely felt like she was going to push herself swiftly into death) she grabbed his hand, extended her power into him in order to phase him fully, and then turned and dragged him behind her as she too off at a dead sprint toward that light.

She'd be damned if she was going to sit and rot and let him miss a chance to get back to his terror-sweat-inducing daughter and lovely baby boy if she had a chance to do something about it.

--

It felt like she had been running forever. Sprinting faster than her body had any right going. The heat would have been unbearable if she had been solid at all, but since she was moving by sinking her feet into the ground it was slightly more bearable. They were able to avoid the heat and smoke in the air from getting into their lungs, too, which was probably the only thing saving them from a quick death. Toppled trees and foliage everywhere; various plots of it on fire. It was eerily silent except for the sound of crackling flames, the wind, and creaking, groaning wood.

She ran in a straight line toward the light. It filtered through the haze like a distant halo. Even without the heat on her skin and smoke in her lungs, she knew she was pushing it too hard. Precious sweat she didn't know she still had in her body dripped from her temples and forehead. It took everything in her to keep running. She could feel the void calling her every now and then... darkness at the edges of her vision tempting her to stop and rest. Breathe. Sleep... She ignored it as best she could, stumbling every now and then, but determinedly continuing on.

She wanted to do this. Really wanted to do this. If it was literally the last thing she ever did, she wanted to go out knowing she had accomplished something good.

--

The large patch of irregular pavement came into view. It was glowing with a white, unearthly light. Juniper stumbled and fell, knees suddenly solid and taking the brunt of her fall. Saph was suddenly solid as well as she let go of him. She gasped, panting, and then coughing from the air, but waved him onward weakly. "Go!"

In his half delirious state it all happened in a flash. He saw the light. He spoke, he looked toward the light, she said something he didn't quite register, and then he was weightless and moving through space like a leaf caught in a windshield...

Suddenly he was alert, his eyes darting about as he took in the situation. She was holding him, and sprinting across the scorched landscape at breakneck speed. It was hot... her exposed areas had to be burning, but her strange abilities seemed to stave off the heat... or be separate from it in a way. All of it was... bizarre. He slipped out again and by the time he came too once more they were nearing the light.


It felt like some time had passed, Juniper was gasping for air. She fell, and he was tossed a bit as they both became solid, and he rolled to a stop. He looked up as she told him to go...

Like hell.

Gritting his teeth, the X-Man powered through the exhaustion, the pain, and climbed to his feet, taking a few laborious steps toward her. "Not... Without... You."

He reached down to grasp her tightly in his hands, and then squinted toward the light...

With a muted thud he pushed all of his collected energy into the ground, and flung them toward the bright light, losing consciousness as he went.

***

BWOOMF!

They were on the street corner, at the edge of a busy street corner. He looked up from his laying position to take in the surroundings in a sort of panic. They were in New York.

Less than a second from when they'd disappeared.

He lost consciousness seconds later.

Breathing hurt. In various ways she didn't feel like thinking about, it hurt. Just plain uncomfortable.

It was also hard to concentrate on what he was doing. After she'd collapsed and lost grip on him she just kinda figured it was up to him now and out of her hands. She barely registered that he was even talking to her. The black at the corners of her eyes was growing, and the fog in her brain was even more nagging. She just wanted a nap, really.

Feeling him grab at her she didn't have the strength to argue or use her power again to escape. At the moment she just didn't really care. She just went limp like a ragdoll and mumbled incoherently at him as he hefted her up and put the last of his reserves into launching them at the troublesome patch of concrete that had brought them here.

--

She woke up groggily, but pleasantly, in a bed with crisp sheets and sunlight filtering in through a window.

At first, she sleepily considered that this was heaven, or that she had some kinda VIP room in hell, until she eventually spotted the signs of being hooked up to an IV bag. The weird little doohicky they had hooked up to her that constantly beeped would have to come off last, or she'd have a nurse breathing down her throat in seconds flat.

Whelp. Looks like they might have made it to the present after all?

"...Crap." Her throat hurt, despite no longer being in a burning, hot forest. She thought she sounded just a bit like a frog.

As nice as a stay in a comfy hospital bed might be, she really didn't want to incur any more bills than absolutely necessary and seeing as she was conscious and not dead, it was clearly time to go.

Uh... stealthily, if possible.

It didn't take long to get herself out of bed and un-hooked from the bag. It, um, looked about half-empty? That was good, right? She could just drink something with electrolytes in it later. Totally the same, right?

Right.

Snooping through the room found her another hospital shift, which she put on backwards and tied in the front to keep the draft off her backside, and then she scooted her barefoot self to the window to gauge where she was and if she was going to have to jump or climb.

"Man... X's gonna nag my ears off if he ever hears about this."

What was this, the six... seventh floor? No biggie.

"Yeah... That so?" He'd been awake a while, but had opted to sit with his eyes closed and feel the world around him. The light hurt his head, and having a sixth sense made it slightly less necessary. It wasn't long before the familiar sensation of part of a body moving about tickled his senses.

Oh... They were in the same room? He opened his eyes to see the ring curtain draped around him. He was sore all over, so it hurt to even to just look down at himself. He was rough, huh? He'd had worse. Thinking about how she'd conducted herself during their little survival expedition, she might have as well. Honestly, it wouldn't be the worst thing she'd gone through.

"You leavin? Prolly shouldn'" He reached up a sore arm to scratch his nose, groaning a bit as he eyed his IV. He wondered if he was up to climbing out of bed like her... Then again, making yourself weightless did make things a lot easier for her.

"S'not like they don't know who you are... Gonna get a bill either way." He coughed into his hand before dropping it back once more.

"...Wachu gonna do?"

Using her power was a bit of a strain at the moment, which wasn't great. Not at all. Did not like it, would not recommend it. She was in the process of experimentally phasing her arm through the window when--

"Yeah... That so?"

"JeSUS CHRist!"

He scared her so bad she dropped her power in a flat second and got her arm stuck in the glass. The whole thing rattled noisily in the sill as she failed about for a second.

After a moment of panic, which she knew he could feel even if he couldn't see her, she poked her head through the opening of his privacy curtain cautiously.

Man, he looked just @#$%in awful. Hit by a semi and dragged for a few weeks, awful. It made her absently wonder how she looked in comparison considering their weight and muscle mass difference.

"Oh... um. Hi."

She hadn't bothered to really inspect herself like he had since she was used to being in some sort of way or another. She'd battled her weight on and off for a few years until she just kinda stopped caring about how her body looked and resorted to extra baggy clothes and showing zero skin as often as possible. Being quite a few pounds off of healthy for her age and height wasn't exactly something new, or scary, unfortunately.

She fingered the curtain around his bed nervously for a moment. "I mean, yeah, of course, they do. But at least if I leave now it'll be less expensive than it will be tomorrow or the day after that, and so on." Hospitals, and Doctors in general for that matter, still got her anxiety flaring nice and high whenever she encountered them. She didn't know much... not about the medicine, or the procedures, and the idea of getting a bill she couldn't pay and ending up on some kind of organ harvesting hitlist (like her father warned her about all those years ago) still haunted the back of her mind.

It was best to just get out as soon as possible, whatever the means, and pay the thing off swiftly.

As for his other question, though...

"I mean, like what? Here? I am absolutely not staying here any longer than I absolutely have too. Too many questions. Too many handsy nurses." She gnawed on the inside of her lip, "out of here, though? Nothin'. Gonna go home and eat food, maybe pass out for a week, and then pretend I don't know what giant sloth tastes like for the rest of my life."

That was fair, right?

"...Have... you called your daughter yet? To, you know, tell her you're alright and stuff? I'm sure even Satan must be worried considering how long we were gone."

Huh, actually, that brought up a lot of questions and some of the possible answers she didn't like. Would she still have an apartment to go back to? Saul wouldn't have like, locked it all up or anything... right? Oh, god... did anyone think she was dead!?

That would be a very awkward conversation to have.