Disclaimer: …I don't waaaaant to!
A/N: Chapter ten. May I say, "WOOHOO!" ? Sorry for the wait. I was seriously having writer's block. :( So review, and I might get inspired! ^^
"How are you, Robert?"
Bobby pondered the question. How was he? What did the professor really mean? How are you feeling? How are you doing?
"I'm good." He replied after a moment.
"That's good." Xavier nodded. "Today we are meeting in the medical laboratory because we are going to discuss your condition."
"Which part?" Bobby asked.
"Well, Hank will be working on the physical aspects" –Bobby rubbed a hand against his shirt where he could feel ice underneath –"so I will be working on your mind. Your subconscious, to be exact."
"You mean that red guy?"
Xavier nodded, "As you know, a few weeks ago, the entire mansion was hit by a psychic blast during one of your seizures, and we were all unconscious for hours."
"And the theory is that I did that." Bobby said.
"Not exactly you. Some part of you, but not you." Xavier corrected.
"That makes no sense, professor."
"Hopefully it will later on." He replied, rolling his chair around the examination table that Bobby was sitting on. "Now, clear your mind, please."
"Wait, what are you going to do?" Bobby asked.
"I'm just going to do a little mind probe first." Xavier assured him, "I'll simply be looking through any memories that may have surfaced."
Bobby rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I remember the last 'little' mind probe. But fine, I'm ready." He exhaled steadily and shifted on his perch before closing his eyes.
Xavier closed his own eye in concentration and reached out to Bobby's mind. He was sucked in immediately, and memories flickered by quickly.
Jean-Paul eating ice cream… Remy driving Logan's car…
Xavier searched for older memories.
Bobby and Jean-Paul sitting in the kitchen… Jean-Paul was smiling at him and Bobby was thinking that it looked very nice…
Xavier pushed past that memory, too, though he filed it away for further examination later on. The Professor arrived at a few hazy, unclear memories of past pranks… most were on Warren and Scott…
He discovered Bobby's memory of a conversation with Hank, and then…
"C'mon, Bobby! Tell men what's wrong…" Jubilee said, shaking Bobby by the arm.
"Nothing –I'm fine." He insisted.
"Bobby, you've been all anti-social for the past month."
"Anti-social?"
"Yeah. It's like the only time you interact with me or even the rest of the team is during missions, Danger Room sessions… Dude, now that I think about it, you don't even come to dinner with us anymore-" Jubilee said.
"Okay, okay! Jubes, I get it. But I'm trying to … I'm reassessing my life. It's a phase." Bobby said.
Jubilee put her hands on her hips and leaned over, squinting at him, "It's a phase? A phase? Oh wow. A phase."
"Yes, Jubilee, a phase! I think we've made that clear!" Bobby snapped.
She straightened up, "Well excuse me if I'm worried! You're my best friend!"
"I don't want your concern!" He retorted, standing up and towering over Jubilee. "And I don't need it!"
"Fine! I'll just go away. I don't want to talk to you anyway –if you're going to be an asshole." Jubilee snapped back at him, turning on her heel and stomping out of the Recreation Room.
Bobby dropped back down onto the couch after she disappeared through the doorway. He closed his eyes and let out a loud exhale as he pinched the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb.
Xavier opened his eyes as the memory faded away. He met Bobby's eyes and waited for his student to say something first.
"I had a fight with Jubilee? I can't believe I yelled at her like that" he said, looking horrified with himself.
"I do believe this argument took place the very week you became comatose. This is very good progress, Robert."
"But I don't even remember what I was making a big deal about."
"Nevertheless, we now know that something was bothering you for a month before everything happened." Xavier insisted.
"You think whatever I was upset about had something to do with what happened?" Bobby wondered.
"It's a definite possibility." Xavier said.
Bobby opened his mouth to say something, but a sudden sensory overload cut him off. He could vividly recall a bright, sunny meadow. It was surprisingly quiet there, and he was staring up at a clear blue sky. The scene flashed by and Bobby found himself looking into familiar, sharp blue eyes. He blinked and found himself in the Med Lab once more.
"Robert?" Xavier said, concerned. He could tell that his student was shaken by something, but he tended not to use his telepathy on his students where he wasn't first invited.
"I –I… Can we do this a different day?" Bobby asked, meeting his mentor's eyes. The ice mutant's own eyes had such a troubled look to them, Xavier could only nod reluctantly.
Bobby hopped off the examination and raced out of the lab. He ran through the halls, heart pounding in his chest, breath turning into short gasps for air. The next thing he knew, he was bent over, catching his breath, outside Jean-Paul's class room.
He squeezed his eyes shut, panting hard. Blood pounded in his ears.
"Bobby, why are you smiling?"
"I'm with you."
The sunny meadow and the picnic disappeared.
Bobby was running through a hall. The ceiling was sky-high and the hall itself seemed to stretch on forever.
There was something following him. Something horrible.
Bobby kept going, though. It was growing darker and darker. Eventually, Bobby couldn't even see what was right in front of him.
But he kept running.
He looked around in the dark, and suddenly spied a door surrounded in light off to the side. Bobby veered toward it, and he could here happy sounds of laughter coming from inside. His hand was about to touch the golden door knob when an icy hand grabbed hold of his ankle and yanked him down
Bobby screamed and kicked frantically as he was pulled away from the light…
…
"Robert? Robert!"
He managed to snap his eyes open, and he discovered that he was lying on the ground, with Jean-Paul leaning over him. He turned his head to the side and briefly caught sight of Jean-Paul's students peeking out from the doorway of the classroom before their teacher shooed them back inside and blocked them from view.
"Bobby, what happened?" Jean-Paul demanded, "We heard you scream-"
"I didn't scream…" Bobby said, sitting up, disorientated. His eyes were still open this time when the scenes flashed before his eyes:
The icy force was dragging him further into the darkness. It was like the cold blackness was seeping into him, infecting his body and mind.
Bobby shouted wordlessly as he felt the darkness begin taking over… He closed his eyes, waiting for it to be over…
"ROBERT DRAKE!"
His eyes flew open and he saw the red-skinned man standing over him. The darkness was suddenly gone, and he could see again.
"Save yourself." The demonic looking creature said before bringing down a silver blade over him.
Bobby screamed.
Everything went white.
…
His eyelids fluttered open and Bobby groaned. He sat up and clutched his head, which was throbbing painfully.
"Jean-Paul!" He exclaimed in alarm upon seeing his team mate sprawled on the ground next to him, "Wake up!" He urged, shaking the French-Canadian's shoulder. He bent over Jean-Paul and pressed his ear to the other's chest, searching for a heartbeat. He breathed sigh of relief upon finding one.
His relief was short-lived. Bobby looked up to see students lying unconscious in the doorway of the class room. Somewhere in the horrified chaos going on in his mind, a small voice spoke up, reminding him that apparently this had happened to the mansion once before, when he was comatose.
"Jean-Paul," Bobby said, shaking him harder, "Jean-Paul!" He looked around helplessly, unsure of what he ought to do.
Fortunately, Jean-Paul decided to stir around just then. He groaned, but then snapped awake at once, gasping, "Bobby!"
"Yeah, I'm right here." Bobby nodded, "I'm here." He gave a short laugh filled with relief.
The Quebecois sat up slowly, "What happened…?" His eyes darted around the area and he noticed his unconscious students nearby. He scrubbed a hand over his face, "Again?" He said mostly to himself.
"I don't know what happened. But I think I probably did it." Bobby said apologetically.
Jean-Paul waved his words away, "Let's take care of the students first. You wake up these ones, and I'll find the others and wake them up…"
They climbed to their feet and Bobby nodded, turning to the classroom.
"Wait," Jean-Paul let out before he could stop himself. Bobby looked back at him. "Are you alright?" Jean-Paul asked.
"I'm fine." Bobby assured with a shrug, "Go worry about the rest of the school." He gestured for the Quebecois to get a move on.
Jean-Paul zipped through the halls and classrooms, shaking one person awake so they could take care of their class or the people around them.
Jean had been sitting at the kitchen table when everything had happened, but the moment she was awake, she groaned, rubbed her temple and gasped. "Someone's in the Danger Room!" She said as a hand flew to her mouth.
He didn't wait to listen for more information; Jean-Paul darted away through the halls, sending papers on bulletins flying as he passed them. He really hoped the Danger Room hadn't been on any levels higher than four –otherwise there wouldn't even be a body to collect.
The room was locked.
Jean-Paul hit the button to open the door over and over, but kept getting denied access. His fingers flew over the panel on the wall, trying to find out if the room was running a sequence or not.
SEQUENCE: ARTILLERY FREESTYLE
SEQUENCE TIME: 10 MIN. LEFT
LEVEL: 5
SAFETY: OFF
USER: CHAMBER –JONOTHAN STARSMORE
"Non!" Jean-Paul cried, hitting the panel. "Voice command Northstar: stop sequence!" He yelled.
COMMAND LOCKED BY USER
"Override command! Override!" Jean-Paul said frantically.
OVERRIDE COMMAND LOCKED
"Voice command Gambit: emergency system shut-down. Code 002374X."
Jean-Paul looked up to see Gambit standing beside him, expression unreadable.
SYSTEM SHUT-DOWN
The lights went off immediately, but Jean-Paul heard the Danger Room doors slide open. At the same time, the smell of smoke was released into the air. They didn't have to wait for the back-up lights to turn on; there were several small fires burning inside the room, providing light.
Still, it was dim, and Jean-Paul couldn't tell what might be Jono, and what was just broken equipment lying in a pile.
Remy didn't seem to have any problem with seeing; he entered the room immediately. The smoke was beginning to become unbearable, and the lights had just returned, so now instead of black, all he could see was gray. To top it off, the fire alarm had just decided to start working, and it was blaring like crazy as the sprinklers turned on.
Jean-Paul cursed under his breath as he squinted through the smoke. "Jono!"
/…Bloody 'ell…/
The mental voice was weak, and Jean-Paul wasn't quite sure where it was coming from.
"Jonothan! Where are you?" He shouted.
/Jean…Paul?/
"Oui, speak louder!"
He heard a faint mental moan and nothing else.
"Northstar!" Remy's voice called from the left.
Jean-Paul followed the sound blindly, "You found him?"
"Gambit found 'im alright…merde." He heard Remy mutter. The Cajun suddenly appeared out of the now clearing smoke.
He was soaking wet like Jean-Paul, due to the sprinklers, and he had Jono in his arms.
Jean-Paul's breath caught in this throat as he saw the growing pool of blood at Remy's feet.
"Give him to me." He said quietly.
Remy just looked at him.
"I can make it to Hank quicker than you! Give him to me!" Jean-Paul repeated, his voice growing louder.
Remy moved to put Jono in Jean-Paul's arms and the stepped back quickly.
Jean-Paul quietly said something to Jono and then darted away with Remy following not so closely behind.
They passed many X-Men on the way to the lab, but didn't stop for any of them. By the time Remy arrived outside, he could see Jean-Paul yelling something at Hank as Jono lay bloody on the bed behind them.
He could hear the sound of Jean-Paul's voice through the glass, but not what he was saying.
Hank was shaking his head sadly. He put a hand on Jean-Paul's shoulder and said something, but Jean-Paul shook away the hand and kneeled down beside Jono's bed. His head was turned so that no one could see his expression, but his shoulders shook visibly.
Meanwhile, a group of X-Men had gathered outside of the room, looking on.
Hank came out and closed the door behind hm. He sighed and took of his glasses before looking around at the group. "Approximate time of death is two-thirty." He said.