Bring Me to Life

Liv was driving down the highway at 70 mph in Vancouver when her cellphone rang to the tune of Beethoven's Fur Elise. The callerID showed that it originated in Westchester; was Warren finally calling?

She laughed bitterly and turned the radio down, taking the phone from the passenger seat and flipping it open. "Hello?"

"Liv? It's Scott."

"And to what do I owe this call?" she asked, not able to keep the bitterness out of her voice. She'd told them all to leave her alone unless it was an emergency.

"It's Warren, he… He's dead. He killed himself."

She jerked the wheel in shock and decided that maybe she should pull over. When she was safely on the shoulder she took a deep breath. "Are you sure? How did it happen?"

"He took his private jet out and crashed it. There aren't enough pieces left to even identify the damn plane, but it was his. And we can't find a body."

"So he might not be dead?"

"How could that plane have gotten off the ground by itself, Liv? Warren took that plane deliberately."

"Fuck." She rested her head on the steering wheel, tears stinging her eyes. "I know I shouldn't have asked Hank to amputate the wings. How could I have even thought it would work?"

Scott sighed. "Liv, it wasn't your fault. Hank would have come to the same conclusion whether or not you'd ask him to do it. It's not on your head that he went crazy."

"He went crazy?"

"Depressed, reckless… He was seeking out death, and for some reason none of us called him on it."

"Fuck. Are you having any kind of memorial service?"

"Tomorrow, yeah."

"Light a candle for me." Liv closed the phone and turned it off, leaning over to stuff it in the glove compartment.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next time she heard from anyone at the mon won was six months later, when Scott called again, this time with even worse news.

"We found him."

Liv frowned at the shelf in front of her, looking for the cheapest price on soup. She was in a grocery store in Alberta, the only one for about 100 miles in any direction. "Found who? Bigfoot?"

"What the hell happened to you, Liv? You've got a real mean streak now."

"What the hell happened to me? Scott, you must be deeply st if if you can't answer that question yourself. Now, who did you find?"

"Warren. He faked the suicide and has joined up with Apocalypse's group; he's acting as Death in the Four Horseman."

"Fuck."

"Don't you know any other cuss words?"

Liv growled involuntarily. "That's not the point, Scott. What is Warren doing in with Apocalypse?"

"You know how Apocalypse is this super genius? He genetically manipulated Warren's body so that he has wings again, but they're metal and can shoot darts out."

"How did you find out about this?"

"We fought them yesterday. He was there."

Liv sank down onto the floor in the middle of aisle, causing the clerk to look at her strangely. "Is he okay?"

"He looked damned okay shooting those darts at us. He injured Rogue and Logan, but they'reng fng fine."

"Scott, I … I gotta go. I'll call you sometime later, but I have to go now." Without waiting for him to reply she cut the phone off and put it in her pocket, then finished her shopping in a daze.