Chapter 21 Ice Melts

Scott wasn't doing very well. OK, that was an understatement. He was in a prison for mutants, had no hope of being rescued or ever getting out of the place... and now what was he doing?

The same thing he did everyday.

Digging graves. Graves that were too quickly filled. But he wasn't the only one, as far as his eyes could see there were people beside him doing the same thing he was.

And he was seeing, with such clarity, and such vibrant colors that he would have once thought it a miracle.

But it was just because of the power inhibiting collar around his neck. And it was definitely no miracle. And all he really saw was dirt. Brown, hard, course dirt. And lots of it...

When he had first discovered his power at the young age of 16 he hated it, it scared him to death, and for a while when everyone tried to figure out what was wrong with him, he was forced to keep his eyes closed.

That hadn't been easy for him.

Then the doorbell rang one day and Scott heard his mother let someone in the house. He wasn't very interested in who it was. It didn't really matter. Scott had more important things to worry about. Like not blowing the roof off the house or doing a little unscheduled demolition.

He heard his foster mother crying.

"A mutant!" He heard her screech the word out. "No, Scott is not a mutant!"

He heard a soft voice say something in return. His mom started to cry louder.

Several minutes passed and then there was a knock on his door.

"Scott." His foster mother started quietly "Scott there is someone to see you."

"Another Doctor?" he cringed inwardly at that.

"No, a Professor Xavier, from the Xavier School for the Gifted."

His curiosity was peaked, for what would a Professor want with him?

"Come in." he said quietly.

The door creaked open, someone came in his room. But instead of footsteps it sounded as if wheels were turning across his carpet.

"Hello Scott," a warm cultured voice said "Your mother said it was OK if we talked, is that all right with you?"

And that was when things changed drastically for the second time in his life.

His foster parents were more than happy for him to go off with the Professor. If only he had known that he would never see them again. Not that it would have made much difference. They obviously wanted nothing to do with him. Now that they knew he was a mutant. That caused him great pain, but he pushed it down and went on with his new life.

Now he had a way to see thanks to the compassionate caring man named Charles Xavier.

Although everything was now tinted in red. Took him quite a while to get used to it. But he did.

He quickly learned what the school really was.. a place where mutants could learn what their powers were without interference from the outside world, in order to use them for the good of mankind. At first he thought it was some kind of joke, but he quickly found out otherwise.

He also found out he wasn't alone.

Not the only "gifted person".

He met Ororo, Hank and Jean...

Jean.

He paused for a second before picking up more dirt with his shovel. Thinking of her made him ache. Although it wasn't as pronounced as it once had been. Since his mind now had other tragedies to fill his head...

Like what happened not soon after they had been forced into the camp...

They had tried to escape.

It all started in the middle of the night. He had been trying to sleep on what was supposed to pass as a bed, when he heard something outside of the barracks. At first he had just thought it was the wind playing up when he heard it again.

And then someone entered. Right away he knew what it was, the white strips of hair very pronounced in the dark. And then he saw Bobby behind her who grinned when he saw Scott's shocked expression.

"What's going on?" Scott whispered softly after getting out of the bed and making his way over to the two.

"We're getting out of here, unless you want to extend our stay." Scott knew Bobby's words were supposed to be humorous, but they fell flat on his ears.

"Scott we have t'get out of here before they do the next sensor sweep." Rogue whispered.

He turned around and indicated the other people still asleep in their beds. So many.

"What about the others, we have to get them out too!"

"We can't right now Scott, but we can come back for them." Bobby's voice was urgent, his face more serious.

Scott never liked to leave people behind, and this time was no exception. His feet were planted and the two looking at him worriedly. Rogue approached him and placed a hand on his arm.

"Please Scott!" Her eyes pleading at him in the dark "Come with us."

He finally nodded yes. And found himself following after Rogue and Bobby.

It was so quiet outside. He hadn't been outside in the night since they had been captured. Scott actually heard crickets chirping in the background, which made him think of the nights he had spent walking through the mansions gardens at night.

That almost comforted him. Almost.

But they weren't free yet.

That was when the problem arose.

One that was at least 12 feet tall and had enough electricity running through it to light a small city.

"We're stuck." He sighed loudly as they all stood their looking at the abhorrent electrified fence that was their only way out.

"No we aren't." And then Bobby put out his hands in front of him, a cold mist appeared in front of him. He was using his power to freeze the gate. "I managed to get my collar off." He said over his shoulder at Scott.

He was so rattled at that revelation and the fact that they may soon be free that he hadn't even bothered to ask how that was possible. But now thinking back on it, he wished he had. Scott saw that Rogue wasn't surprised, she had obviously already known. The fence started to crackle and spark and they waited for it to fall apart.

But it never did.

For Bobby stopped. And turned around. Unfortunately Scott knew why.

There were guards behind them. Armed guards. They had been too busy trying to get their freedom, focusing on their goal, to hear the guards before it was too late. Scott knew himself how silent some of the armed mutant watchers could move. He cursed at himself for allowing himself to get distracted, and also at the place he was in that evidently had managed to dull his razor edge senses he once had.

Scott and Rogue had a gun aimed at each of their backs. Bobby stood there his eyes wide, not with terror, but with concern for the two.

Rogue looked at Scott and Bobby, then tilted her head slightly back. And he knew what she wanted to do. She nodded her head slowly yet almost unperceivable. Although he saw it quite clearly. They had been a team once, and they knew how to read each other well.

That is when they both turned. So quickly, that neither of the guards saw it coming. After all the X-men weren't just the sum of their powers. They did know how to fight hand to hand. Even to death if they had to.

He used his arm to push the gun up, but not before the guard was able to let off a shot. The sound was so loud that even the crickets stopped their music.. and the watch dogs started to bark.

They didn't have much time.

After he knocked the gun out of the guards hand he did a quick uppercut to the guys jaw. The guard was down. Scott knew he had hit him quite hard, but for once he didn't lean down to check the man's pulse.

Rogue too had gotten the gun out of the guards hand and was now flipping the large man over her body. When the guy landed with a thud, Rogue jabbed him sharply in the stomach and then punched him in the face. The man grunted before passing out.

Bobby proceeded to cover the men in ice. Only leaving their faces free so that they could breathe.

Scott threw the two guns over the fence after they all quickly agreed they did not want to use them. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe it was the right thing to do. None of them wanted to resort to the way humans solved their problems. Silenced their enemies for all eternity. Won their battles.

Then they were off.

But they didn't get far. Only to the middle of the compound.

Where they became surrounded by more guards. All of them not looking very happy. Not that Scott had never seen one of them happy, unless they were beating on someone or inflicting pain.

But Scott wasn't afraid. The moment was so surreal. Fear didn't even enter his mind.

But it should have.

He remembered all of the men raise their guns in almost perfect unison. Scott knew he was going to die. He looked at his two companions.

Rogue was darting her head slowly back and forth trying to find an opening or a way through. And Bobby. Bobby was icing up. Creating a shield around his body. At the same time he brought his hands up quickly and managed to freeze two of the guards hands to the guns.

But it wasn't enough.

After the two guards dropped to the ground three more behind them took their place.

Scott remembered Bobby looking at Rogue, his face full of regret and love.

That is when the guards opened fire. Scott kept his eyes wide open and waited for his death.

But they weren't shooting at him, or for that matter even Rogue.

It was Bobby.

They didn't stop firing until his anatomy became flesh again, his body now racked with bullets... he dropped to the ground with a loud thud, the ice shattering off his body and falling around him down onto the ground.

Along with his blood.

Scott had never seen so much blood.

Both Rogue and Scott dropped to the ground, both realizing that for some reason they had just been spared.

Rogue grabbed Bobby's hand.

"Bobby!" She cried out desperately "Bobby!" Scott felt his pulse and shook his head no. Positioning her body over Bobby's, Rogue started crying into his now unmoving form.

He was dead.

They had failed.

He could still hear Rogue's cries of despair.

Scott's mind was brought back into the present when he felt the jab in his back. One that forced him to loose his balance and fall into the whole he had been digging.

He managed to turn around and look up.

"No daydreaming mutie!" An overweight guard said as he looked down at Scott with utter and total contempt. And then he threw the shovel at him. It landed on his arm causing more pain to course through his already hurting body.

Fortunately nothing had been broken. This time.

The guard laughed scornfully as he watched Scott pick up the shovel and start to dig once more.

The man finally left Scott alone continuing down the line to hassle more of the mutants.

Scott wanted to retch. To fight back. To scream. Something.

But he didn't do any of them.

He just continued to shovel out the dirt.

Like a good little mutant.

Time was always an important factor in Scott's life. He set each and every day to a certain schedule that had to be followed or he would be thrown off.

It was his way of controlling something in his life, when he couldn't control so many other things. Like the optic blasts that came out of his eyes.

Jean used to tease him about it. Until she showed him that time wasn't so important, that he shouldn't be so obsessive compulsive.

Took some doing but he finally relaxed about it. Learned to own time instead of time owning him.

He was grateful for that.

For now he never knew what time it was.

Minutes blurred into hours and days to weeks to months and finally years.

There were no clocks around, no calendars to tell him what day it was. And the guards were strictly prohibited from allowing any of the prisoners to know...

Scott had finished digging for the day and with the other mutants he was making his way back to his sleeping quarters, the ones that were even more stuffed than the day he had arrived. He felt like a sardine in a can. Didn't even have his own bed anymore. He shared his with a small boy named Michael, who cried them both to sleep every night.

Scott made a slight detour, he wanted to visit Rogue, he tried to whenever he could. She was always guarded throughout the day, but that day when he arrived there was nobody in sight. His stomach tightened and anger swelled.

Hope they haven't taken her to do more tests... Tests! Hah!

He was about to peer inside of the only window on her little shack when he was interrupted.

"She's not there." a cracked, but still very commanding voice stated from behind him.

Looking inside anyway he found that the man spoke the truth. Scott turned around. And faced Erik Lehnsherr. Not Magneto anymore. Just Erik. He still found that was strange thinking of him as such.

Didn't know he was finally released form solitary.

"Where is she?" He himself heard the fear in his voice but hoped Erik didn't pick it up. But he had.

Back in the day, Magneto would have laughed at his fear, used it to his advantage as he lashed him with threatening words and even more threatening powers. But now, now there was just understanding. Understanding and compassion. Funny that it actually helped, considering it came from what looked to be a very defeated old man with clothes that had seen much better days that hung loosely on his once proud figure.

They still weren't friends though, far from it, but the years had at least made it able for them to talk to one another without trying to fight each other.

"Weren't you the least bit curious as to why the guards were so on edge today?"

"They are always like that."

"I suppose they are," Erik frowned, the gesture emphasizing the bruises that were edged around his face. Obviously the guards had some fun before they let him go. "Wolverine freed her."

Scott felt his eyebrows raising in disbelief, he even let out a quick snort.

"You don't believe me."

"Was I that obvious?" Scott shook his head almost violently "Wolverine is dead."

"So I thought as well, but I saw him last night," Erik raised his hand toward him in a stop gesture when he saw Scott was about to interrupt him. "And before you say it, no I wasn't hallucinating."

"Those solitary cells get pretty hot."

"I know. " Eric's steady eyes looked into Scott's brown ones. "but it was him."

At that time a loud siren went off, both their gazes turned toward the sound. They had five minutes to get to the barracks or they would be shot.

Erik started to walk away from Scott, but not before throwing some words back toward him.

"Ask around, people will tell you that Rogue is gone."

Scott stood there for a minute watching the retreating form of the once formidable Magneto. He saw that his body was shaking somewhat and his feet weren't very steady either. At one time he would have laughed at that, maybe not out loud but at least in his head. After all it was Magneto that got them in this position. It was his fault that the humans took these steps. That all mutants were suffering, starving, being tortured, being used as slaves... dying and being murdered. He wondered what had changed to make him actually start to respect him. Maybe even care a little. It might have been the fact that Magneto had been betrayed by his own people, or that he was the guards favorite battering toy. Or maybe it was the fact that they had something in common.

They both wanted to survive. To live.

Turning around Scott started toward his own tiny living area, thoughts swimming around in his head. He wouldn't get any sleep that night. Not that he usually did, the screaming and crying always present.

He heard shots ringing in the background and picked up his pace.

Yep, things definitely weren't going well for Scott.