Summer's End - Bucky and Mel Universe 1

The End

"What do you mean something has happened to Mel?" Matt asked. "What did you do?"
"It is not what I did," James said, "She stopped someone called Mephisto from hurting Morgan and in the process, kind of got herself in a mess. Can you come to this address? She's dying. I don't know how much time she has left. Mel's literally wasting away."
Mel stirred and nuzzled into his side. She was out cold. James was worried she wouldn't wake up. That was a clear possibility. He hung up and put the phone away. He cocooned her with his body, she was cold. He could feel the love she had for him radiating from her though. It was as if she was trying to comfort him, to make his pain go away. He could feel her soul reaching out to him to try to take the pain away.
James walked out to Strange and Wong. "Even though the room dampens the signal, Mephisto will eventually find her here. We need to be ready. What can I do to help?"
"Magic is going to be the only way to solve this." Strange began. James knew this. "You saw how ineffective earlier you were against him."
"So, what if we give him a temporary magical upgrade?" Wong said. "It's been done in the past. We have tons of relics around here that could help. If this was Christine, ..." Wong began.
"Don't start with Christine," Strange began.
"The problem is finding something that fits. There are not any relic guns, we have bo staffs, sitars, whips, maces, axes, what would be good for your fighting style?" Wong truly believed James could help, even if given a small percentage of a chance. Love could be a powerful weapon in this fight.
"Blades, if you have them." James said.
"I'll see what I can do." Wong said.
Matt had arrived.
"What is this, we don't need more individuals to protect." Strange said.
"I invited him here, if Mel is going to die, she could at least get to say good bye to families." James was defending Matt being there.
"Uh, thanks Bucky." Matt said. James guided him to the room Mel was trapped in.
"She knows she's dying, she knows everything that is going on. I'll leave you two alone, please if she needs anything let me know."
"Bucky, I..." Matt began.
"Save it," the strain in James' voice was apparent.
Matt quietly walked in. He could hear her straining to breath. James was right, the life was being sucked right out of her. Why wasn't exactly clear to him right now. He sat on the bed beside her, he could feel her stir. She didn't look as she normally looked to Matt. The light she had inside of her was but a ember surrounded by darkness. He reached for her hand, it felt cold. He could not feel the emotional warmth that usually poured out of her.
"Hey angel," he said, "can you wake up for me?" He squeezed her hand.
"Matt, everything hurts. I'm so tired." She struggled to open her eyes even.
"Rest, please, rest. You've done enough. Morgan is ok." Matt said.
"Matt, can you do something for me? I know I am not going to make it, I'm ok with it.... Just..." Mel began.
"You are going to be ok, just rest." If she had been able to open her eyes, she'd had seen the pain on his face.
"No, Matt." She began, "When I'm gone, give James this please." She used what little strength she had to hold out her hand. In it was one of her black feathers. "It's important, please?"
"Yes, I will, you will be better." Matt was trying to reassure her.
"Matt, you are in charge of my trust, make sure that the school has enough funds. I set some things aside for James and you as well. I know you will take care of it for me and do the right thing." Matt would have started arguing with her again, but she had passed out from that effort.
Matt emerged from the room, angry. "Why is she like that?" He demanded. Strange began to explain. Mephisto wants to invade hell. In order to open a portal to hell, he needs Mel and her powers. If she is the oculus of the portal, he will gain enough power to invade and take over. Right now he was sapping her power through the collar to create the portal.
James went back into the room. "Don't worry hon, we got this."
Wong was able to find some relic blades for James. They worked like regular blades, however they had the ability to harm Mephisto physically. He kissed her head and fell asleep beside her. He slept dreamlessly that night.
The next morning, there was another earthquake. Mephisto had found the street they were on and was working his way towards them. Dr. Strange and Wong held him off for as long as possible. James ran out to help defend the sanctum. All three men were knocked down several times. If Mephisto was able to control hell, then he would be able to release it and its denizens on earth. The door to the room Mel was in eventually came off its hinges due to the shaking. An extremely large snake slithered in. This was not any snake, but the snake. The deceiver that was in the garden of Eden. He had a role to play in Mephisto's plan.
When the serpent had entered the room, not a noise was made. The lights were out and Mel was unconscious. She was defenseless. The snake circled the bed several times opening a portal. The bed slowly sank into the portal like a stone sinking into a vat of pudding. By the time, James, Wong and Strange thought about the sanctum being unprotected, it was too late.
Mephisto had entered this realm with a different portal. Laughed to himself at his cleverness and skulked over towards the bed. He removed the bedding that was covering her and mounted the bed. With a single finger he traced up her leg to her throat and down the other. Mel shifted, too weak to get away, trying with all her might to open her eyes to see what was happening. He smelled her deeply and with one hand raked her clothes off of her, tearing them. The pain caused her eyes to flash open only to see his tongue tracing over the same route his finger had taken.
"Hmmm, little angel, this collar keeps you from getting away and using your abilities, but it won't stop the feelings and sensations I am going to do to you." He grabbed a handful of her hair and ripped her head back, kissing her deeply. "Oh yes, you are sweet." The panic that was in her eyes was feeding him, it was also making the collar suck her energy faster, feeding the energy to him. She tried hard to calm herself down.
"Oh, no, no, no little angel. I am going to make sure you don't enjoy this, you're going to die anyway. I am going to enjoy you before you do." With that, he shoved his dick into her, raping her.
In the real world, James could feel her heart break in two. Strange and Wong were able to force the portal to stay open long enough for them to enter. When they arrived, they were not in the same place Mel and Mephisto were. James could hear her screams. Never in his life has he heard something so harrowing. They rushed in the general direction of the screams fighting off different minions of Mephisto's. When they found Mel, she was in a toga, strapped to the center of a large stone circle. It was clean what Mephisto had been up to, she had blood trailing down her legs. Her hair had turned white.
"No, this can't be happening," was all James was able to get out seeing Mel in this state.
Mephisto started a chant and the eye of the circle started to open up. Mel struggled to get free, but she couldn't. Wong was able to unbind one of her ankles but she couldn't get the other three bindings without help. James came over and tried to get the last three bindings.
"I am so glad to see you," Mel said. James got the last binding off, kissed her.
Mel grabbed one of the knives from James belt and threw it at Mephisto. She had wounded him. She walked over to Mephisto and tore it out. She then walked over the the oculus and slit her own throat.
"No, Why!" James called as he cradled her head and she dropped to the floor.
Dr. Strange and Wong ran over to them.
"She knew it had to be this way in this universe." Strange said. Wong was silent and simply held his shoulder.
Strange open a portal back to their dimension as James carried her body through it.
_____
Weeks later after the funeral, Matt visited Bucky.
"Bucky, Mel asked me to give you this when the time is right. It feels like the time is right." Matt held out the single feather to him. He took it and walked back to his room alone. He sat on the bed holding the feather until he fell asleep.
In his dreams he dreamt of Mel, which was something he didn't do. When he awoke, she was there and not there. She was a ghost that glowed.
"I'm so sorry, it had to be this way. I loved you and I am so thankful I was able to spend the time I was allowed with you, it made all the difference in my life. Please go and live yours now. Live for me." It was the live for me, that got to him. "Whenever life seems to hard or to much, hold this feather and see what life could have been like for us together. I will always love you and will see you when you come home."