She looked so pale against the dark navy pillows. Her eyes were closed and her hands folded neatly across her chest.
She looks dead, was the only thought in the watcher's head as they sat down next to the bed and ran their fingers through her hair. "Sleep peacefully, my angel, maybe when you awake, I'll have a cure." The whispered words weren't for her ears, she couldn't hear, couldn't register anything that happened in the outside world. She would remain like this until they could find a way to save her. Only they had given up. Hank had refused to accept she was gone. She was still there somewhere, and he would find her, cure her and everything would be as it was again. He hadn't even stopped working on the project when his lab funds had been cut, when they had told him they would no longer pay for her medical care, he was paying out of his pocket now. It had been three years since the mansion's destruction. Most the X-Men were either dead or so deep in hiding they might as well be dead to him. She hadn't been there, she'd been spared physically, but mentally she was gone, retreated so far into her mind, her body had started shutting down as if she no longer had any will to live. Hank kept her in his private hospital, he was in charge here, no one ever came near the place unless they were a mutant, he would help anyone who needed it. He'd asked every living telepath he could find to help her, but with no avail. He knew why he wouldn't give up, he knew why he couldn't accept the words they kept telling him. He loved her, with all his heart.
"I wish I'd had a chance to tell you before," he said adjusting the IV and making sure she was still within normal limits with her blood pressure. "I love you, and I will always love you, and one day, you'll be able to open your eyes again, and you'll hear me finally," he whispered watching her sleep, ignoring the tears building up in his blue eyes. Slowly he walked out of the room closing the door behind him knowing he would be looking through another medical journal looking for a new answer on how to help her.