|A/N|
Confession time: I haven't read MV6 Fall of Hades until today - December 25 (it was a Christmas present). I know, it came out THREE months ago and I'm only reading it now? Yeah, I suck. Anyway,
AAFBJBGNOJNJWEO THAT CLIFFHANGER (yes, I finished it in under a day)
So this is my spin on what could happen after that. Requested by JoshSmith14.
Sidenote- In the book, it said that the whole tower disintegrated, except for the bottom five feet or so. In this one shot, let's pretend that the tower just broke apart into rubble :)
Happy Holidays everyone!
***SPOILERS FOR MV6 FALL OF HADES (duh)***
-=-
Welch looked around for a moment, then at the surviving members of the Electroclan, and said "Let's get out of here. Is everyone here?"
"We lost some," McKenna said. "Tanner and Gervaso."
Welch's head dropped. "I'm sorry. Anyone else?"
No one spoke. No one could. Welch looked around for a moment, then said "Where's Michael?"
-=-
Michael expected pain. Lots and lots of it. Instead he felt nothing. Serene, almost. All he saw was darkness. Voices filled his head. Panicked voices. Screaming. Yelling. Crying. He could hear someone trying to calm everyone else down, but he could not tell who it was. All the voices sort of blended together. Except one.
Taylor.
Michael gasped. His eyes flew open, and he couldn't breathe. It took him a second to realize something. He didn't need to breathe.
What is going on, he thought.
He blinked and finally noticed where he was. He was floating. Thousands of feet in the air, seemingly where the tower had been. Where he was, as he got struck by lightning.
I got struck by lightning.
But what exactly happened? Why was he floating?
He looked down at what used to be an Elgen replica of Fort Knox. Now, you couldn't tell what used to be a tree or a wall. He floated down, toward the ant-sized people who were emerging from the thick layer of white dust covering the whole island. He started making out who some of the figures were. A cluster of them were gathered in a circle, near the dock. A rectangular ship was docked, and a few people were exiting it.
He finally got close enough and watched with confusion as he softly landed, not even noticing how he couldn't feel the ground beneath his feet. Something else caught his attention - someone else.
Michael's heart pounded at the sight of Taylor, sobbing on her knees. She was clinging on to Ostin, who had tears streaming down his face.
"Taylor?" Michael asked.
Heartwrenching sobs wracked through her body. She was saying something, repeating it as if she couldn't believe it, like she had to keep telling herself. It seemed like something important. Michael could barely understand her, but he was even more confused once he did.
She rocked back and forth, soaking Ostin's shirt with tears. "He's gone. He's gone." She repeated those words, over and over again.
"Who's gone?" Michael asked.
She didn't seem to hear him, only saying the same two words. Michael's head snapped up to Ostin, as his best friend mumbled something.
Ostin wrapped his arms around Taylor. "He's gone. Michael's gone." His voice cracked at the end as the shock wore off. He broke down, now clinging to Taylor. They both held each other as if they were their life support, scared to let go.
Michael gasped. He shook his head. "No, I'm right here." He yelled and went closer. "I'm not gone! Guys, I'm right here!" Neither of them seemed to hear him. "Taylor! Ostin!" He yelled in frustration.
He kneeled in front of them, and his heart broke at the sight. "Guys!" He went to put his hands on their shoulders, only for his hands to pass right through them.
Michael's anguished expression changed to fear. "No, no no no no." This can not be happening.
He looked around him. Everyone was crying, even Welch and the rescued Eagles were tearing up. They were all crying for him. But he was right there. He wasn't gone, he was right there. None of them even noticed him!
"They can't see you, dude."
Michael knew that voice. He looked up and his jaw dropped. "Tanner?"
"The one and only." He grinned uncharacteristically. The redhead was floating in the air, in a laying down position. His arms were behind his head, and one leg was over the other, as if he were in a hammock.
"Why can't they hear me?" Michael asked. He spun around at the sound of another voice behind him.
"Hello, Michael."
Michael gulped. "Gervaso?"
The man nodded in response, a small smile on his face. He was glad he was able to talk to Michael again.
Michael shook his head. "No, you two died. I saw you -" he gestured to Tanner "- die right in front of me!"
Tanner nodded in confirmation. "I remember, I was there."
"You guys are dead. I'm talking to dead people?"
"Yup."
"Does that mean -"
"You are a ghost?" Gervaso said. He stepped closer. "Not really."
Michael looked at him. "What does that mean?"
Gervaso put his hands on Michael's shoulders. "Michael, look at me." He obliged.
"You are dead, but at the same time, you're not." He silenced Michael as he tried to ask more questions. "Listen. What is the last thing you remember?"
"I got struck by lightning. No," he shook his head. "I absorbed the lightning."
Tanner grinned. "That was sick. I wish I could have filmed it."
Gervaso ignored him. "Okay. What happened after that?"
"I woke up, and I was floating really high in the air. Where the tower was."
"And where is the tower now?"
Michael turned, pointing at the empty air. "It was -" He blinked. His arm lowered, now pointing at the rubble. "It's destroyed."
Grease's voice softened. He has to break this lightly, or Michael would freak out and stop listening. "So where is your body?" Michael pointed at himself. He shook his head lightly. "That is not your body."
Michael blanched. "It's under all the rubble. I- I looped my belt around the tower so I wouldn't fall."
"You did. Smart thinking, by the way." Gervaso took a deep breath. "I need you to listen very carefully." At the boy's nod, he said the next part slowly.
"You can go back. Hush, listen. Your body is buried underneath all of the rubble. Anyone else who did what you did would definitely be dead right now. However, you're not anybody else. You know how you keep getting electric? The lightning strike basically stopped that process."
"What?"
Tanner cut in. "You remember the thing Ostin said about the mosquitoes? How too much blood is too much for them to handle? It's how to got past Nichelle at the academy."
"How do you know about that?"
"Nichelle told me. Anyway, it's basically like that. You couldn't handle all of that electricity. You were able to redirect it, but it became too much. So yeah, you died."
Michael's head was spinning. "But there's a chance I could come back?"
"Yes." Gervaso took his hand's off his shoulders. "For some reason, you are still electric. Not the you under the rubble. You."
Michael brought his hand up. He concentrated, and he managed to make a small spark between his fingers. His eyes widened, and none of the three noticed Ian snapping his head up in their direction.
"I could restart my heart." Disbelief overcame him, soon replaced with hope. "I could live!"
He sped toward the rubble and did not hesitate in phasing through, quickly finding his body.
"Wait!" Gervaso and Tanner followed him.
"What? I could live!" Michael said. He was confused.
"Yes, but I need to warn you." Gervaso said. "By doing this, I don't know if you'd be able to get your powers back once you're alive."
"The lightning zapped you, man." Tanner explained. "There is a huge chance that you won't be electric anymore."
Michael gulped. He slowed himself down, he had to think about this. He couldn't just do something that drastic without understanding what else could happen. They floated under the rubble, next to Michael's body as Michael went over everything in his head.
He looked up as he realized something. "What about you guys? I could save you, too."
They shook their heads slowly. "Oh."
"We're too far gone. Our injuries are too severe to be saved."
Michael teared up. He brought them into a group hug. "Thank you, guys. For everything." They parted.
"It was an honor to fight with you."
"Go kick Hatch's butt. Good luck, man."
Michael took a deep breath and turned to his body.
-=-
Ian shook his head. He was tired and overcome with grief. The spark he saw was nothing, he was disoriented.
Everyone was a mess. Taylor and Ostin were on the ground, sobbing into each other. Jack fell to his knees, many tears falling as he cried silently. Abi and McKenna were speechless, still in shock as a few tears trailed down their cheeks. Nichelle was staring at where the tower had been, shaking her head in disbelief. Tessa had found her way to Zeus and cried softly in his shoulder. Zeus was clearly fighting back tears. Ian stood to the side, looking at all of the destruction, while half-heartedly keeping an eye out for any threats. Welch stood silent, letting everyone mourn. Cassy, Tara, and Torstyn just exited the Joule and were filled in by Welch at the somber sight.
Quentin shook his head. "No."
He stepped forward. He whispered in Ian's ear, not wanting to give everyone false hope. "Do you see him?"
"He's underneath everything. It could take hours just to get him out."
"How is he?" Quentin felt like he already knew the answer. If Michael was still alive, Ian would have already said something.
"No brain activity, and the heart is completely still. He's gone."
Quentin straightened. "Alright." He turned toward Tara, Torstyn and Welch. He nodded his head at them to follow him.
"What are you doing?" Torstyn asked.
"We're digging up his body."
Welch shook his head. "Quentin-"
"No. He saved me from a lifetime of hell, the least I could do is give him a proper burial." Quentin continued walking. Everyone else followed him, figuring out his plan.
Tara knelt beside Taylor, telling Ostin to go.
"Hey."
Taylor didn't respond. She had stopped sobbing, and is now weeping silently into the ground.
"We are going to go get his body. Do you want to come?"
She shook her head, unable to talk.
Tara sat down beside her sister. She gently pulled Taylor's head onto her lap and rubbed her back. She wasn't used to showing this much affection to anybody, even Quentin, but she was trying her best. "It's okay, you're gonna be okay."
"He was my everything." Taylor cried.
"I know, sweetie. I know."
Everyone else had formed a large circle around the spot Ian pointed out.
"He's about seven feet down," he said. Then they started digging.
After several minutes of pretty good progress, Ian stopped working. He gasped.
"His brain is starting to work. His heart is pumping. It's as if someone shocked him with a defibrillator. His electricity is significantly lower than usual, but that's probably because he's still regaining consciousness."
"What?" Jack asked. Everyone's eyes widened at the announcement, though they were all too afraid to hope.
"He's alive. Barely, but he's alive. We can still save him!"
They all started working fervently. Abi and Tessa had left to grab as much medical equipment as they could from the ship. Tara brought Taylor over when she heard the news, and both of them immediately starting helping where they could. After ten minutes, they were about two feet down. Then they hit a roadblock.
A large chunk of one of the poles was in their way. They tried lifting it, but a good portion of the chunk was still buried.
"We could dig around it." Jack suggested.
"It would take too much time." Ian said.
"McKenna could melt through it." Ostin said.
"It's too thick. She wouldn't be able to do it without passing out first."
"How about combined with Zeus' lightning?" Quentin said. "And Tesla could enhance both their powers."
"It's Tessa, now."
Ostin started to feel hope in their helpless situation. "And Nichelle could help! She's done it before, at a smaller degree, but it will still help."
They all gathered into position. McKenna kneeled down and pressed her hands down on the pipe. Her skin heated up and she was lit up like a Christmas tree, putting all her power into it. She tried her best to keep the heat focused on one part, like Bryan does, but those who weren't needed had to jump out of the hole because of the heat.
Zeus stood next to her. He shot small bolts of lightning where she was melting the pole, careful not to hit her. The extra heat helped, along with Nichelle and Tessa enhancing their power.
They were able to cut through the pole in ten, long minutes. McKenna collapsed, and Zeus carried her out of the hole, Nichelle and Tessa following. He laid her down on the ground. Abi sat her up and handed her an open gallon of water, two more by her side. As she helped McKenna and the others rest and recover, everyone started digging around the pole. After draining three gallons of water and resting for five minutes, McKenna got back up.
This time, they cut through the pole in eight minutes. Jack picked up the piece, brought it out, and everyone went back to digging.
-=-
Ten minutes after shocking himself alive, Michael definitely felt the pain. It felt like an elephant was pressing down on his chest, and his whole body felt sore. There were cuts and bruises all over. His head pounded and all he could think about was how much it all hurt.
That's how he felt one hour later, except the weight was off his chest. He vaguely recognized that someone was now carrying his limp body. He was soon back on the ground, and he groaned.
"Oh my gosh-"
"Where's the first aid kit?"
Many people's hands were on him, doing various things. Cleaning his wounds, checking his heart beat, his temperature. His pain suddenly lessened considerably, and he heard a small gasp. He made a mental note to thank Abi later, and apologize for causing her a lot of pain, as well. The only other thing that stuck out to him was the feeling of someone's fingers running through his hair. Out of all the pain and confusion, it was nice to feel something so comforting, so familiar.
"Taylor." He croaked.
"Someone get him water!"
He was gently moved into a sitting position, leaning heavily on Jack. Cool water entered his mouth, running down his throat. He drank it all hungrily, needing more.
"We got you, Michael." He heard Taylor say. "You're gonna be okay."
Michael opened his eyes, squinting from the brightness and the effort. His lips tilted up slightly, into what he could muster as a smile. He looked around him, at everyone trying their best to help him.
He was going to be okay.