THE ARCHETYPE ASSOCIATION
CHAPTER FOURTEEN

She opened her eyes slowly, realizing as she did so that she was unaware of having closed them. She looked around, trying to find Archetype, but her eyes could not penetrate the mist which surrounded her.

After a few moments of listening for any sign of Archetype, she decided to simply sit down and wait. She leaned back, and landed unceremoniously on her rear end. She jumped up instantly, and felt around. The chair was gone. After a moment, she realized that the entire house was gone, and that she was standing in the middle of nowhere.

Rather than panicking, she decided to wait and see what happened next. She quieted her breathing and listened intently. After a moment, she felt the faint stirrings of a breeze behind her. The wind blew some of the mist away, revealing a small path in front of her.

Okay, I can take a hint, she thought.

She followed the path, which seemed to twist and turn unexpectedly. After a few minutes, she found herself standing before a large, flat rock. She stepped on top of it, and noticed that the path disappeared back into the mist as she did so.

The mound which she had seen before the mist had borne down on her was still there, but it was... changed. Fires burned at either end, and the mist swirled around it in a clockwise motion, making it appear to be in the center of a hurricane. The dark, star-speckled night sky could be seen above it.

Archetype stood atop the mound, just as she had seen him before, seemingly listening for something., his eyes distant. She watched him for a moment, then focused her eyes on the mist surrounding them. She could see bright spots appear within the maelstrom, formed by lightning flashes which congealed into spheres of electricity, then floated out of the mist and approached Archetype.

Rogue had not seen ball lightning before, but had often seen Ororo frustrate herself trying to determine the right 'mix' of natural forces needed to create it. Ororo had given up on the whole idea some months before, when both she and Henry had agreed that whatever was missing was not found in a normal environment. Ororo, Rogue decided, would be more than a little annoyed to see not one, but three spheres of ball lightning floating in the air. They surrounded Archetype, then circled him, as if in an orbit, trails of vapor following them.

The spheres broke their orbit around him and returned into the mist. Soon, the mist swirled, spinning slowly. It slowly started to gain definition, turning into a long tendril of fog, which soon began to glow. The glow started as a pure white, but threads of red, yellow, and green soon appeared within it. The spin of the mist increased, and it was soon moving faster than the eye could follow. The mist suddenly split into three tendrils, one for each of the three colors. The tendrils wove patterns in the air, interlocking in a complex weave of color.

They moved towards Archetype, gaining definition as they advanced. Each tendril developed two glowing points at the front. In a few moments, it became obvious that the shapes were dragons, which wove around him and intertwined. Their heads rose above him, looking down with stern expressions.

Will looked up at them, his face apprehensive. "Is there any other choice?" he asked in a quiet voice.

The ethereal dragons said nothing, but their eyes glowed brighter for an instant.

Archetype sighed and nodded, his head dropping. "Of course. There never is."

The dragons bore down upon him and struck. Archetype screamed in agony and fell to his knees. Rogue cried out and tried to rush to his aid, but found that she could not leave the rock on which she was standing.

Rogue recalled her promise of earlier that night. "Sorry, Will," she muttered as she tried to breach the unseen barrier. She watched Archetype writhe as flames coursed over his body. The fire focused on the insides of his forearms for a few moments, then died down. He groaned slightly, then collapsed in a faint.

The world dimmed for a moment, then Rogue realized that the car was where it had been earlier in the night. They had returned to the "real" world.

She rushed to his side and listened to his breathing, which seemed regular. She spent a few wild moments deciding how to carry him, finally resorting to wrapping her sweater around him and bringing him inside.

She laid him down on his bed, talking to him reassuringly. "You're okay, Will. Everything's going to be all right. It's over now..." He just groaned, then lapsed into unconsciousness. After a moment of searching through the bathroom, she found some bandages, which she wrapped around his bleeding arms, after having put on her gloves.

She stayed by his side for the rest of the night.

Rogue opened her eyes blearily, then awoke in an instant when she realized that the bed was empty. She looked around the room wildly, then noticed the sound of running water. She got up and walked over to the bathroom door. "Will," she asked, "are you okay?"

"I'm feeling better," he replied. "Be out in a minute."

"Okay." She went into the kitchen and turned on the kettle. A few minutes later, Archetype walked out in a T-shirt and sweatpants, toweling his hair dry. "There's a towel for you hanging on the bar," he told her.

"Thanks." She looked at his arms. "You took off the bandages?"

"Looks like my arms healed while I was out. So, what do you think?" he asked, holding out his arms, palms up.

The tattoos covered his lower arms, and wound around them in a pattern so complex that Rogue's eyes became lost trying to follow them. She noticed that each band - the red, the yellow, and the green - ended at some point with a head, which gripped the other end of one of the other colors, resulting in a single, unbroken ribbon. "Snakes?" she asked.

"Dragons," he said as he sat down. "I can't be too sure yet, but I think I'm supposed to be some sort of Pendragon."

"Pendragon?" she asked, puzzled. "You mean like Arthur Pendragon?"

He nodded. "I think I'd like to rest for another day or so, then we'll head out."

"Where to now?"

"Well, first I thought that you might want to visit your friends in Excalibur. I have a good general idea of where Muir Island is."

"Okay, then where?"

"I have something to do in Cornwall, in southern England. More specifically, in Glastonbury."

"What's there?"

"You'll see. Go on, take your shower. I'll start breakfast."

Rogue felt much better after her shower, and the smell of frying sausage reminded her of just how hungry she was. "I totally forgot about dinner last night," she confessed as she came out in jeans and a sweatshirt.

"I know. I just found it in the oven. For now, however, we have poached eggs, hash browns, and sausage."

"Great, I'm starved," she said as she sat down. She looked at him, noticing that his eyes were distant. "You okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he assured her. "I'm just going to take another day or so to come back down to earth. I'll just sit around and read, or maybe take a nap. Unless there's something you'd like to do, of course."

She shook her head. "I could use the rest myself. Will we need to get anything?"

"I think I can scrounge us up another meal if I have to. Is there anywhere you want to go?"

"Not really. Where will you want to go after Glastonbury?"

"I don't know. We've got four days, at least. How does a whirlwind tour of Europe sound?"

"Fantastic! How are we traveling?"

"First class all the way. Any cities you want on the itinerary?"

"Paris!" she said instantly, her eyes bright.

"Don't be uncertain, dear," he said blandly. "Tell me what you really want."

"Can I help it if I love Paris?"

"I won't hold it against you."

"What will you hold against me?" she asked with an arch look.

"Why don't we talk about that?"

They were both joking, of course, and they spent the day resting, either dozing in their chairs or reading quietly. At one point, Rogue awoke to find Archetype looking at her silently, his eyes thoughtful. "What's wrong?" she asked, yawning.

"Nothing," he said quietly. "You just look so gosh-darned cute when you're asleep."

"Thanks," she said, smiling, as she got up and stretched. "What time is it?"

"About three. Feel like going for a walk?"

"Why not?" She slipped on some sneakers, brushed her hair, and met him at the door.

"Where's your coat?" he asked. He carried a small bag with him.

"I didn't bring one. I didn't think it would get this cold."

"Here," he said, rummaging through his coats and handing her one.

"What's in the bag?" she asked.

"You'll see."

The breeze was brisk, but not chilly, and the sun was out. They walked along the road for a while, until they came to a large clearing. "This looks about right," he said, opening the bag and handing the contents to her. "Here you go."

"You've got to be kidding me. A kite?"

"Why not? It's perfect kite weather."

"Isn't this just a little childish?"

"You're making a common mistake, Rogue. You're confusing childish with childlike." As he spoke, he took out another kite, which he proceeded to reel out and run with, allowing it to catch the breeze.

Rogue watched him for a moment, shrugged, then unreeled her own kite.

An hour later, they decided to head back. "I should give Excalibur a call and let them know that we're coming." she said.

"We can take care of that in town, when we get dinner."

"We're eating out again?"

"Why not? Besides, it'll give us an excuse to return the car."

An hour later, they were deciding where to eat. "How about something simple?" Rogue asked. "We can eat fancy when we get to Paris."

"All right. How about a burger?"

"That's simple enough for me."

One meal of burgers, fish, and chips later, they found a pay phone, where Rogue called Muir Island. "Kitty said come over anytime," she told him as she hung up.

"Let's get back and pack up, then." An instant later, they were in the cabin. "I'll wrap up the food and put it in a box."

"Why?"

"So we can give it to Excalibur. No sense in letting it go to waste."

Fifteen minutes later, they were ready. Archetype pulled an atlas of the British Isles off his bookshelf and opened it. "Now where exactly is Muir Island?" he asked her.

"Right here," she said, pointing.

His eyes became unfocused again. "Got it." Everything went dark for a moment, and they found themselves about two hundred yards away from the main entrance to the genetic research station. "This is the right place, isn't it?"

"You were right," she assured him. "See? Here comes Brian Braddock now." She was referring, of course, to the man once known as Captain Britain, who was flying towards them from the other side of the island.

"Rogue, we have a problem," Archetype said sharply.

"What's that?"

"He's not slowing down."

Boom.

Continued in Chapter 15

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