The War Memorial (Open to ALL)

[Cyclops]

Scott Summers stood nearby, dressed in a plain black suit and wearing his amber colored quartz sunglasses as always.It could be a pain sometimes, but that was not what was on his mind at the time. He was thinking only of the fallen heroes that lay in the ground under the stunning memorial. Some thing would never be right again, and Scott felt that this was one of them. The monument was beautiful of course, marble slabs engraved with the names of those that had been killed serving their country. There were several columns with words and names carefully etched into them, and a kind of statue in the middle, all winding up from a row of white pristine steps.Scott had been the first to arrive on the first day of viewing, and he stood in silence with his hands behind his back and his head hanging low. Had they even won this war? At such costs...how could it be considered a voctory? Scott shook his head and caught his trembling breath as he waited for others to arrive.

[colossus]

Emotion seemed to weigh the large Russian man down as he found himself face to face with the memorial that commemorated the deaths of so many. Friends and foes alike had been lost in a war that had gripped the heart of the world in a vise-like grip for so long. Yet, as Piotr Rasputin made his way across the lush lawn toward the stunning memorial, he could not help but wonder what on earth he had stood for when he'd watched so many die.

The memorial itself was stunning, and the location both ethereal and serene. His blue eyes lingered on the pristine white steps before him, and he found himself unable to move. Professor Charles Xavier, the man that had taught him so much and left him still feeling indebted, was gone. While he was lost in his own thoughts, his curious and observative gaze wandered until they rested upon a figure nearby.

Piotr would recognize the form anywhere, and immediately moved toward the black-clad man, his own black slacks brushing the top of his dress shoes with every movement. The color of his white shirt was tight against his large neck, but he did not fiddle with it as he tucked his hands into the pockets of his suit jacket and came to a stop next to the man.

"It is beautiful, but nothing can ever symbolize what they meant to the world, nyet," he spoke softly.

[Ted Kord]

Ted Kord stepped out from the limo and stood near on the curb for a few seconds, unsure if he was really ready for this. He was good at comforting others, but sometimes failed when it came to comforting himself. He coped well enough, but only by pushing the thoughts aside. Now he had to face his demons here on this bright Sunday morning.

Finally Ted took a step from the sidewalk and onto the glimmery white path that led upward to the memorial. He was to say a few words today, when others had arrived. Everyone in the super community would be here, along with many civilians. Ted wasn't too nervous, but he wasn't sure how the events of the day would play out. There was always something going wrong. Always a fight breaking out. Always something.

He finally raced up the pure white steps and peered around at the marble that surrounded him. It was an awe-inspiring sight, really.

"We're proud of you" , he whispered as he traced his fingers along the etchings that lined the walls and slabs.

[Gambit]

Remy LeBeau was not one to wear a suit, but he figured he would surprise everyone today and do just that. Everyone else would be wearing one in any case. His was a dark brown color, and was none too expensive looking, yet the Cajun managed to pull it off with his suave style.

He stood off in the grassy area for a few moments, watching the dew spring from off the blades of green and onto his polished shoes. He was very hurt of course, at the loss of his friends and teammates, but he was not one to openly show his remorse, at least not to a great degree.

The morning was probably his least favorite of times, and this was no different. He marched up the steps quietly, after spotting the other X-Men. He spotted Professor Xaviers name off the bat and shook his head silently. "My defan neg..", he said in a hushed tone. "I will miss him."

[Angel]

A black Jaguar pulled up quietly to the rounded off road that led to the war memorial. Angel sat in the driver seat in funeral attire. She had her forehead leaning heavily on the stearing wheel. She thought she shouldn't be here. She had no fallen comrads in the war. Well, in the war on Earth anyways. Kavink died on Earth, but not in the horrible war that followed. Many people she knew in the past died in the war that ravaged her home world for so long. Finlay, she took a breath and looked out her black tinted windows through a lace veil that hung from a black hat over her eyes. She could see only a part of the Memorial, but it was beautiful. It made a cold feeling rise up in her throaght, and she didn't recognize the somewhat familiar feeling. After a long silent minute sitting in the black car she finally opened the door and stepped out. She didn't cloak her red hair, but hid her slightly pointed ears and the sacred marks of the Androlescent and the Mecoria. She didn't want anyone to recognize her and freak out. Not after she ran into Nightwing on a failed job just a week or so ago. That, made her feel uneasy. What if he came? She brushed the thoughts aside. She was hear for the Memorial and nothing else. She strode slowly but gracefully across the grass towards the memorial, where a few figures were already standing. As she walked along the marble, she ran her fingertips over the names etched in it. A sigh escaped her throaght as she recognized a few of the names. Some of them were people and mutants she knew when she was sixteen and stayed at Xaviers for a while. Everything had changed so much. Here, and at home.

[Pepper]

Pepper Potts swallowed hard as she neared the growing group of people. She wasn't sure where Tony was and was even less sure he would agree to her even being here. She had, after all, kept her involvement in the war a secret as best as she could, choosing to direct over non-video channels and work on her own at night. She hadn't wanted Tony to be concerned for her - come to think of it, she hadn't wanted Rhodey or Happy to be worried either. But she would be cursed if she stood by and watched the men she cared about fight and do nothing about it.

She saw the names on the monument and her icy control shivered. She reached in her bag and withdrew a handkerchief, tapping at the corners of her eyes, and then walked up to the cool marble. Placing her fingers on it, she felt a shiver of contact. "I'm so sorry it ended this way for you," she whispered. "Thank you so much for what you did."

She rested her head against the cool marble and struggled to keep control.

[Marvel Girl]

Rachel landed on the grass near Pepper she was dressed in a green and yellow skirt and a matching cropped top she had locked herself away in Cerebra for almost a week and only left when she had got word about the memorial. An electric blue Phoenix emblem energy signature appeared over her left eye and she was engulfed in blue fire as she used her fine-motor control to alter her cloths on a sub-atomic level into a black dress with the crystal her mother made for her around her neck the fire died down and faded away.

Rachel walked up to the memorial and looked around until she found her mothers name and touched it "It seems like every time we get you back we lose you again." She said as she gripped the crystal she was one of the few to live threw the attack that had claimed the lives of her mother and Professor Charles Xavier and along with many other telepaths.

[Pepper]

A woman alighted near Pepper and changed in flashes of light. Pepper wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at her. One of the X-Men, a mutant. Fiery red hair. She actually looked a little like one of the mutants Pepper had heard about, the Phoenix one, also with red hair. But that one was a woman, this one looked younger. She had a crystal around her neck and tears in her eyes. Pepper wondered if she could say anything to comfort the girl - but she didn't know if she wanted to. Everyone here was so sad, so angry, so full of emotion. What kind of comfort was even possible when you were looking at a wall full of names of people you had seen days or even weeks before? Just names immortalized in stone. No more faces.

Pepper's throat hitched and she looked away. Tony's name had nearly been on that wall. The warning and feeling of that drove her to lean against the wall again. She had been lucky. The man she cared so deeply for was alive. Some others around her, like this girl, were not so lucky.

Her eyes sought out the names of some of her co-workers, the ones who had been caught running propaganda. Ones she had sent away to speak and who had never returned. Some of those people on that wall she had killed by sending away. That, too, was a horrible burden to bear.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice cracking and breaking. "I'm so, so sorry."

[Angel]

Angel slightly began to feel mor uncomfortable as a few more people arrived. She wandered away from the two new women and walked slowly along the wall. Looking at everyname like a child walking through a store aisle of toys. With every name she looked at, she saw a glimpse of the war. With every letter etched into the marble, she felt the pain and suffering of those who were lost.
It turned out, Earth and Zemgartanen were more a like than she thought. The red head found her self soon staring at the sky in concern. She had skipped a big job with out explenation and prayed that, if anything, nothing at all would happen here because she did.
Angel then looked around, trying not to think about it. When she spotted the blonde who arrived only moments ago, nearly crying. Angel looked at her feet. There would be alot of that today, and she didn't know how she could handle it. She hadn't cried in over five years.
Slightly looking up through a curtain of crimson hair and the veil of lace that hid her eyes, she extended a small wave of empathic energy from her body. It was invisible, but effective. Only a strong telepath would be able to sense another telepath's actions of her level, but she didn't think much of it. The wave would make the blonde woman feel less sad, less...miserable at the least.

[whiteraven]

Raven walked slowly into the clearing. No flying today, no magically appearing in the shadows. Her footfalls seemed loud and harsh in the silence of the memorial. Not even the birds were singing. It was beautiful, really, something that would stand for centuries to come so that the great great nieces and nephews of the martyres who were remembered here would come and proudly trace their ancestor's names.

Those who knew Raven would be surprised to see her now. She had donned a lengthy dark blue gown with a long slit up one side. Though she still wore her cloak, her hood was thrown back in homage. She had blushed her cheeks and lined her eyes with khole so that she might even look pretty.

Standing in silence, she looked at the small crowd that had already gathered. The day was young and more would be coming soon. Because she had fought with the Untouchables she had been asked to say something at the memorial, and up in front there stood an empty podium.

She walked a little unsurely up to it, she probably should have waited for more people, but she didn't think she would be able to handle it as it was. Her face showed nothing, no pain, no saddness, it was just blank. She knew she probably looked cold, uncaring, but not even while she grieved could she afford to feel emotion.

"It is said," She said, her soft controlled voice picked up by the microphone. "that a common enemy will unit even the oldest of foes. In the past year, hero and villian alike bound together to fight a war that no others could have. They were our friends, our allies, we gave them our trust, and they gave us their lives.

"They are here now, together, to remembered by all generations for all eternity that they gave all they could, and paid the greatest price possible. Though our mourning will contenue, the job is now ours, to remember them and to make sure that in the minds of others they are never forgotten.

"Why they are gone is not for us to understand." Her voice cracked and she had to pause, taking a deep breath, "But we are here, let everything that we do, be in memory of them, the Untouchables."

Raven bowed her head in silence, not a tear was shed, not a muscle twitched to show she felt anything at all. Gathering some white roses she had been carrying in her cloak, she laid them at the foot of the pink monument. Then stepped back to the edge of the clearing, head still bowed.

((Gah, really long post. sorry 'bout that.))

[emmafrost]

Just after Raven got done talking a white Ferrari Enzo pulled up along side the other cars and out stepped Emma Frost dressed in white from head to toe that was the thing about Emma she'd do things others wouldn't dare to do. She might not have looked it but she was mourning like everyone else she was just doing it in her own way and on her own terms and that was how she became known as the Ice Queen. Everyone saw her as someone who didn't care that people had loss there lives. Well maybe she didn't mourn so much for Jean Grey like Scott and Rachel and the other X-Men who were still alive did since the two hated each other a lot.

[The Juggernaut, Bitch]

After Raven finished the speech and stepped off the podium, Cain made his way through the crowd. Dressed in the same huge trench coat that had been with him since he got back from to the states. He moved as easily as he could through the throng of people that had gathered. Raven stood with her head still bowed as Cain moved up behind her.

"Good speech girl." He said softly. "I've never been good with words, heck, never been good at much." He paused and raised his hands to his helm. It twisted sharply and Cain raised it off his head. "I guess this is all I can do. For Charles."

[Pepper]

Pepper felt a wave of soothing calm wash over her as she stood there, as though someone had patted her on the back. She looked around and noticed a young woman standing nearby with a sharp diamond symbol on her forehead. She wasn't sure who this was either - there were so many faces she didn't recognize here today, and yet they had all been together in the war. She felt bad for not knowing anyone.

She looked at the memorial and said: "Thank you," in a clear voice. Anyone standing around her might think she was thanking those on the memorial. But this thank you was actually directed at whomsoever had sent her that wave of calm. It steadied her, comforted her, and she carefully dried her eyes.

There was a speech being made, and in the silence that followed it, Pepper nodded slowly. Her insides shivered in pain, but she closed her eyes and silently paid her respects.

[whiteraven]

Raven nodded slowly in thanks to Cain. She had never met him before, didn't even think she had ever even seem him. But right now, that didn't matter much. She opened her mouth to speek, but no words seemed quite right, and so she said nothing.

Looking up at Cain's face she saw her emotions mirrored there and she took a deep breath. Then, behind his back, she saw a flash of white. A whole lot of white. Raven, her face hard and stony, stared at her former General, Emma Frost.

Finally averting her eyes, Raven turned back to Juggernaut, purposfully turning her back to Emma. "You're and X-man, right?" She asked softly, trying to avert both their attentions to something other than the marbally plaques.

[Ted Kord]

Ted took a deep breath as he watched the young girl, known to him as Raven, began to walk downwards after speaking at the podium. "Very beautiful", he whispered to her as he began walking towards it. It was his turn to say a few words. He had been asked to do this, and it had taken him quite a long time to agree to do it.

He stepped up to the podium and quickly adjusted the microphone. He shielded his bright blue eyes for a moment as he raised his head and the morning beams from the sun seemed to fixate on him.

"When I was asked to come here and speak, I couldn't really think of anything to say. I think that the tears and the faces I see here today are enough to speak volumes. I came here today to pay my respects and to offer my comfort..and yet I cannot willingly stand here and pretend I can offer anything that will disperse the sorrow. Instead I can only tell you embrace it, for that is the only way any of us can ever heal.

The Untouchables has changed everyone here, but it had the biggest impact on the ones whose names now engulf us. We must remember that they are the heroes and that they gave everything possible to protect and to defend. Some people out there will tell you to remember how they lived, not how they died...but I am here this morning to tell you to remember both...because we can never forget what they did for our brothers in arms on those battlefields. We love, thank and miss them, and that is the note I will end on. "

Ted took another deep breath and cleared his throat. He turned from the crowd and faced the wall, offering the names of the fallen one tiny nod before stepping down. He walked and stood at the steps of the monument, looking down and around. The grass was bright green, the sky a serene blue being highlighted by the golden rays of sunshine. Birds were singing and flowers were dripping with morning dew.

"Leave it to nature to do a piss poor job of reflecting the mood...", he said with a shake of his head.