Warning(s): Insinuated Suicide

"Oh, dear God." Storm looked to be on the verge of tears as she stared down at the mess that was splayed over the front steps of the school.

Peter knelt on the top step, a bloody bundle curled in his trembling arms. Upon closer inspection, the head of dark, messy red curls and the half-lidded light blue eyes made it impossible to deny the identity of the body. Evangeline Xavier-Maximoff, only child of Professor Xavier. There was a hole the size of one of Beast's fists going through the side of her belly, clean through and through.

A wound of that size and nature could only be caused by one of the Sentinels. By the pallor of her skin and the obvious loss of blood, Storm could tell that she had probably been dead for some time. Peter was rocking back and forth on his heels, holding her tightly to him, his lithe body wracked with sobs. Tentatively, Storm attempted to reach for him - but he wrenched his body away so forcefully they both almost tumbled down the stairs.

"Don't!" He almost screamed, but then forced himself to quiet down. He slowly started to rock Evangeline's body back and forth, brushing hair back from her face. "Please... don't." He sniffled, tears rolling off his cheeks and dripping onto the body below him. "Why are you just standing there? Get help!"

"Peter, she's... she's gone." She could only imagine the pain that must be racing through him, having held the same woman in his arms for forty years, and now being forced to face the fact that she had met her final rest there. "She's dead, Peter."

Peter simply laughed. It was distant and broken. "She can't be dead. She p-promised... f-f-forever. I said that I-I'd die before I-I l-let anything h-hurt her."

"Peter... this isn't your fault." Storm said firmly, all the while realizing that everything she said was going straight over Peter's head. "The Sentinels... this war... none of it is your fault, or in your control, or anything like that."

"I... I s-should have b-been f-faster." He sobbed, cradling her closer. She moved brokenly in his arms, blood smearing on his outfit.

Storm shook her head. "Nothing about this is your fault."

"I can't... n-not without her..." another sob wracked his body, and in that moment he seemed impossibly frail. "I can't live without her! She... oh God, it was n-never supposed to be like this..." there was blood everywhere, but Peter did not seem to care. He continued to slowly rock back and forth, 'soothing' Evangeline.

He told her, in-between fits of near hyperventilation, what had happened. They'd been staying at the hide-out in Moscow, gaining valuable Intel on the fight against the Sentinels, which they would then bring back to the school and report to Professor Xavier and Magneto. The attack had come, and when they'd attempted to escape through one of the portals, a Sentinel had come through the other side and stabbed Evangeline through the stomach.

He'd managed to grab her before she collapsed, and they'd both fallen through and landed here. They'd been here for almost fifteen minutes before Storm arrived, but Storm was almost certain that Evangeline had died almost instantly. Peter was practically inconsolable, and who wouldn't be, having been two seconds too late in a matter of life and death? The sobs did not subside until eventually, a blank look came over his face. It unsettled Storm.

"Peter?" She asked, but he wasn't listening. He was too far gone. "Peter, talk to me."

Peter slowly rose to his feet, shifting Evangeline gently in his arms. "I can't do this. N-Not without her."

It didn't take long to realize what he was planning to do. Storm reached out for him, barely grazing his shoulder before he was off. "Peter!"

An hour later, Peter Maximoff was dead.