BLIND LEADING THE BLIND
Part 37
Blackout
"This is absolutely amazing," said Hank, "you've gone from absolutely blind to gaining back some vision...it's nothing short of a miracle."
Remy stared ahead in the dimly lit room at the blue blur in front of him. Colour was incredible to see; he'd never realised how beautifully vivid colours like blue could be. "Anyone ever tell y' that y' a pretty shade of blue, Beast?"
Hank gave a chuckle, "Surprisingy no."
"I never thought I'd see colour again," Remy admitted excitedly, "I forgot what blue looked like," he squeezed his eyes shut. It seemed for now he couldn't look at anything for more than a few seconds before the pain came back.
"Don't strain your eyes," Professor Xavier warned, he was sitting somewhere to the back of Hank, watching over the examination. Remy was sick of these examinations but soon hopefully it'd be over with once and for all. "I can see that straining to see is hurting your eyes and giving you a headache. For now, you should rest your eyes."
"No! I'm done resting my eyes. I wanna see shit. I've been in the dark f' a month!"
"Remy, he's right," Hank assured, "you need to rest your eyes for the moment. Tomorrow we'll work on helping your eyes adjust. Do you have any other problems with seeing at the moment, other than the blurriness?"
"I reach out for things but I miss touchin' them," Remy admitted, "is that normal?"
"Things may seem slightly closer than they are...if your eyesight is recovering then your depth perception should improve."
"But as always," Professor Xavier spoke up, "do not get your hopes up. You may only gain back some sight."
"Right now any sight is better than none at all," Remy said, trying to hide his excitement, he opened his eyes again; he saw the bald blur of Professor Xavier behind Hank, he blurted out, "Jesus, your head looks like a pink balloon."
Rogue, who was standing quietly against the wall to the back of the room, suddenly gave a chortle, the Professor wasn't as amused.
"Funny," the Professor uttered under his breath.
Hank tipped Remy's head back, "I'm going to administer more of these drops," he informed; each drop felt like liquid fire. A little droplet of acid that quietly felt like it sizzled in each socket.
As Remy squeezed his eyes shut, his mind was attacked with thoughts of all that had happened. I can't believe he did it...he fixed my sight. Sinister did this. I know it was him...this is why he hit me in the face...he put something on me...he didsomething.
There was a silence in the room, Remy suddenly realised he had to contain his thoughts, the Professor might hear...he might be trying to invade his mind.
"I think it's time everyone went to bed now," the Professor suddenly announced.
"But it's not even midnight yet," said Rogue.
"You can celebrate New Year in the morning – we're all very tired and could use the rest."
Remy glanced over to Rogue's blur, she moved towards the door with a sigh and he got up and went to follow her but, the Professor grabbed onto his arm and stopped him in the middle of the room.
"Remy, just a moment," said the Professor.
Remy noticed Rogue seemed to look over her shoulder at him before she left the room. Hank followed her out of the room, and the door was closed behind him. Remy was left standing, hovering in the middle of the room, blinking in pain as he took in the blurry surroundings. The hospital room was very dimly lit, but just bright enough for him to make out the examination couch, two beds and what seemed to be a table or desk of some sort. Cabinets, a door, lights on the wall. He glanced down to the floor to see the tiles there, he could almost make out the dark grout between each one.
"There's something you aren't telling us," the Professor stated, "since your sudden perception of light, you've been on edge, and now you seem even more troubled despite your obvious delight that you can see for the first time since the accident."
"Look, of course I'm on edge..." Remy folded his arms, "there could be a mad man comin' t' kill us all f' all I know..." he shut his eyes, he could feel the tears of pain trickling down his cheeks, or perhaps it was just the eyedrops Hank had administered.
Professor Xavier was silent for a moment, then said "I'm always an advocate of giving people a second chance," he admitted. "And I'm trying to give you one now, Remy. I sense your lies...I sense your hesitation. If what you're holding back could potentially hurt us all...hurt Rogue...wouldn't you want us to know?"
Remy paced a little, hugging himself; the room felt eerily cold despite the heating coming from the blur of a radiator he'd seen at the back of the room. "You're readin' my mind."
The Professor paused, "No. Your thoughts are screaming at me, it's very hard not to hear. One word keeps coming up in them, Remy..."
The hairs on the back of his neck tingled and he felt his entire face twitch; he'd never felt so nervous and on the spot. He was a master of deception, a master of lying, but this scared him.
"The word is Sinister," the Professor finished.
He wasn't sure why his heart felt like it was about to jump from his chest, but it thudded hard at the word. With a hard swallow, Remy replied in a thick voice, "I don' know what y' talkin' about."
"Oh, I believe you do," said the Professor. "He's been here, hasn't he? He's been in our home...he did whatever has caused your sight to return. This isn't a miracle, this is a treatment, and if I find out you are working with him still-"
"I'm not," Remy winced, "he...he puts the fear o' God in t' me..." he stammered.
"Then why are you lying for him now?"
"Because-" Remy barely had a chance to begin the sentence let alone finish it; the lights, the hum of electricity, everything instantly died and the drone of it dying into complete silence. Remy looked around the room, everything was black – the hospital room had no windows.
"I was afraid this would happen," said the Professor with a sigh.
"What?" Remy asked, he felt his way to the door and opened it; the hallway, everything, was in utter blackness.
"The security measures we put in place draw a lot of power from the generator powering us. The generator must have overloaded and shut off."
Fear twisted in his gut, Remy knew something was wrong, further than a blown generator. "We need t' get to the others, get everyone in the same room."
"You can find your way in the dark, Remy, I cannot..."
"Fancy electric chair and no lights on it?" Remy asked.
"What did you expect? Floodlights from the wheels?"
"Somet'in like that," Remy moved to where he'd seen the desk and ran his hand blindly along it, "where's that lil' flashlight Hank was shinin' in my eyes?" he asked, "I know it got t' be here..."
"He keeps it in the pocket of his coat," the Professor answered.
"I'll have t' improvise," Remy found something card like and he held it away from himself, focusing all his energy into it until it began to kinetically charge. "This won' provide much light..." he said, even the pinkish orange light of his kinetic charge was nearly blinding and hurt his eyes so much that he had to squint, "but it'll help us get around..."
"Hold on tight to that," the Professor warned, "we don't need an explosion right now."
"Noted," Remy said, he hung onto the back of the wheelchair with one hand, holding the charged piece of card with the other as it lit the way down the hall. The Professor suddenly stopped midway in the hall, "oh..." he said.
"What is it?"
"The elevator...I can't make it upstairs..."
"Fantastic..." Remy uttered, "I suppose y' object t' bein' carried?"
"In this particular situation, there isn't much choice, is there?"
Hoisting the Professor onto his shoulder was a strain, and the man was heavier than Remy had anticipated; it felt as if he were carrying dead weight right over his left shoulder as he moved carefully up the stairs towards the first floor of the mansion.
"I telepathically told the others to meet us in the foyer," the Professor stated.
Remy grunted, "Y' know...for a man so slim, y' packin' a lot of pounds..."
As Remy approached the top of the stairs, the dark hulk of blue lit up by a camping latern was there; Remy coudn't read Hank's expression but he did know the worry in his voice when he spoke
"There's a problem..." Hank announced.
"What's wrong?" the Professor asked as Remy placed him on the bottom steps of the staircase leading upstairs.
Immediately Remy's heart felt as if it had stopped as Hank replied.
"We can't find Rogue."
End of Part 37
...I'm sorry it took so long to get this up. We've had several probs with our internet (one being it having been cut off at one point) so uploading was near impossible. Hopefully am going to get back on schedule with posting more chapters soon (got a lot to sort out). Anyway, thanks to people who keep reviewing and asking for more. It makes my day to know people are reading and enjoying the story. Love you all and hope you enjoy this chapter. 3