Disclaimer: See chapter 1
Crash and Burn
by Skye Dragon
Skye's rambleing spot: Okay, so the review box ISN'T green. I made a mistake. What else is new? Anyway, same deal as before. And review please. I thrive on those things. ^_^
Professor Charles Xavier sat in total silence. The nurse that had been in the room with him had left a few moments ago when Kurt suddenly appeared, saying something about Jean being awake. Xavier knew that he should probably go and see how she was doing, but he couldn't bring himself to leave. He couldn't even take his eyes from the figure on the bed.
It was Scott. He was in a medical bed, with his shirt removed. Xavier couldn't help but think that the boy looked very small and weak laying there with all the machines around him, and all the wires that were connected to his lean body.
The machines beeped in a surreal fashion, keeping track of Scott's vitals. One kept track of his heartbeat, and another one was regulating medicines into his bloodstream. A third helped Scott's abused lungs breath. In between all the wires and tubes, a person could still see some of the extensive cuts and bruises that covered Scott's body. All in all, it was a very depressing scene.
Xavier had attempted to 'talk' telepathically to Scott earlier, even though he had known it would be a useless attempt. He hadn't 'talked' with Scott, but he actually HAD gotten something. A glimpse of a place. Some kind of meadow. He didn't know what it was, but he had a vague idea. And it worried him.
He was still pondering the subject when he was interrupted by the creaking of the door as it opened. The nurse entered quietly.
"Is she still awake?"
The woman shook her head. "No, I gave her some sleeping pills and sent her on up to her room. She wasn't hurt very badly by the wreck, but she was quiet shaken up." The nurse paused. "Ororo sent the rest on up to their rooms as well. They all wanted to know how Scott was doing." She trailed off then, thinking that Xavier wasn't listening to her anymore.
Ororo came in then, her face solemn. "How is he?" She asked the nurse.
"He's stable or, more so than he was eariler, anyway. I . . . don't know if he'll survive though, he lost an awful lot of blood." She informed the other woman. After a few minutes she went on. "There's nothing more to do here. I'll stay around just in case one of the alarms on one of the machines goes off, but until something like that happens . . . "
Ororo caught the nurses point, and nodded. "Xavier, are you coming?"
Xavier took his time in replying, but when he did finally answer, he said that he preferred to say there for a little while. Ororo shrugged and then went off upstairs to see if any of the other 'children' needed comfort or food or anything.
The nurse stood still for a time, watching Xavier as he watched Scott.
"They say they can hear you."
"Beg your pardon?" Xavier turned back to her.
"The people in comas," She explained, "There's some doctors that say they can hear everything said to them, even if they can't respond."
Professor X hummed a reply, and finally, the nurse left, muttering something about cleaning up the bed and room Jean had used.
When she was gone, Xavier sighed. "Scott, if you can hear me, please come back. The team won't be the same without you." He sat there for a while longer before finally Xavier turned his wheelchair around and left the medical ward, leaving behind him a very sick boy.
* * * * *
Scott sighed. He was sitting on the ground staring into the last flames of the fire. He'd promised his mother that he would think about his decision, but in truth. He really didn't know what there was to think about.
The way he saw it was like this. If he died, he would be reunited with his parents and Alex, his little brother. He would never feel pain again, he'd never worry about accidentally hurting someone with his optic blast, and, even though he would miss out on his friends lives, he would be reunited with them when they died too.
If Scott lived, he would be with his friends again, but it would be the same old story all over again. School, fighting, pain, worry, stress, lack of sleep, and so on. He did know that life held many joys along with it's pains, but right now, the cons seemed to vastly out weight the pros as far as living was concerned.
Scott pulled himself out of these thoughts and looked at the fire. It was dying down fast. He was content to let it die, but the promise he'd made kept him from doing that. Somewhat reluctantly, he got up and went off to the nearest part of the forest. Once there he found a smallish tree that could easily be broken into small twigs, just enough to keep the fire from going out completely. That would buy him some more time to think. Casually, Scott lifted his glasses, his eyes fixed on the bottom of the tree's trunk.
Nothing happened.
"What?!" Scott ripped his glasses all the way off and still no beam came forth. Confusion clouded his green eyes. "What is this?" He demanded.
~You're in your mind's eye, Scott, and deep down inside you, you don't want to be a mutant, so here, your not a mutant.~ The voice, which sounded much like the voice of his parents when they made their last comment, hung on the wind. It wasn't any louder than it had to be, but Scott heard it quite clearly.
"Then why am I still seeing in red?" Scott called out.
~Because it's been so long since you've seen color, you don't remember how.~ The voice responded.
Scott blinked. Well, that made sense, he guessed. He looked back at the young tree. Now how was he suppose to bring the tree back? With a shrug, Scott resorted to ripping branches off of that and a few other trees. When he had an arm full, he trotted back to the fire and tossed a piece in.
The flames, which had been starving for new fuel, immediately took to the new wood. Scott sat back down and lapsed back in to his thoughts, this time, he also wondered what else might have changed in this world, besides just his mutation.
* * * * *
Dinner that night wasn't a very pleasant one. Almost no one talked, and no one tasted their food. The nurse, who's name was Mary Tucker, (AN-yes, I finally got tired enough of saying 'the nurse' to give her a name.) ate with them.
Finally Kitty couldn't stand the quiet any more. "Scott's gonna be okay, isn't he?" She burst out, the question directed to Mrs. Tucker.
Mrs. Tucker blinked at the sudden outburst, then stumbled for her words. She knew that these people were all mutants, that was why she was there. But dispite the fact that her own son had been a mutant, she was still not very comfortable with these type situations. The only thing that had kept her from declined the offer for dinner was the fact that there was a young man downstairs that really needed her help. "Um, . . . well, you see, . . . comas are very tricky things." All eyes were on her now, making her want to melt into the floor. "The medicine and machines will take care of his body, and his body may heal entirely and he may still die."
"But, WHY?" Kitty wasn't taking this very easily. The thought of Scott dying was extremely hard for her to accept. Scott was the leader of the X-Men, he couldn't die, could he?
"No one knows, really." Mrs. Tucker was sympathetic to the child. She knew what it was like to lose a loved one. "It seems like it's all in the comatose person's head. Some of them fight death, and they survive. But others . . . " She trailed off, unsure how to finish the sentence.
"Scott's strong. He'll fight it." Kitty said, more to herself then to anyone else. She looked back to the professor, tears beginning to pool up in her eyes. "Can I be excused to my room?" She was answered by a slight nod, and then she phased through her chair and into the floor, giving Mrs. Tucker a slight shock.
The rest of the meal continued in the same manner it had before Kitty's outburst.
* * * * *
Jean sat on her bed, looking out the window at the stars overhead. They didn't seem to be as bright as before. Or was that just her mood? She sighed, moving a bit on her bed. Rouge had brought up some supper to her, but Jean didn't feel up to eating. She was lost in a world of thoughts.
There was so much she hadn't told Scott. Did he even know how she felt about him? She didn't think so. She knew he loved her, as more than a sister (which was what he seemed to consider the rest of the team as, his family) but did he know how she felt about it? She'd never told him. She'd often wanted to, but she never had brought herself around to actually getting the words out while in front of him.
She loved him.
That's all there was to it.
* * * * *
Scott yawned leaning back on the grass. Was it ever night around here? He was tired. Sleep seemed like a wonderful thing now, but it eluded him.
A sound startled him out of his reverie. Nothing around here made any noise besides him. That was one of the things that spooked him. Anywhere else you'd hear animals and streams, or the wind in the trees, but not here. The fire didn't even crackle or pop.
Turning around to see who it was, Scott was very much taken back to find Kitty. She stood opposite him across the fire, and she was wearing her X-Men outfit. There was a hollow look to her eyes.
"Kitty! What are you doing here? How did you get here?"
Kitty didn't respond. Instead a tear rolled down her cheek.
"Kitty!" Scott rushed forward to grasp her, hug her, shake her, anything! But when he reached for her, his hands passed right through her. "Huh?" He stared down at his hands, now gone through Kitty's shoulders. What was this? Was Kitty phasing herself so Scott couldn't touch her? But why would she do that?
~She can't see you, Scott.~ It was that voice again. ~She can't see you, hear you, or feel you. You're in a coma, remember.~ Whoa, it was being a smart aleck too.
Scott blinked and suddenly found himself in another place. He was in bed in the medical ward at the institute. There were machines everywhere. Kitty stood next to his bed, the same expression as before on her face. She was in her normal clothes.
Scott blinked again and was suddenly back in the meadow, Kitty still there and still in her field outfit. Slowly, Scott began to understand. He could see and hear Kitty because she was by his side, or his body's side. But she couldn't see or hear him because he was locked away in his own mind. This place just kept getting worse and worse.
"Scott?" Kitty called softly. Scott walked back to her.
"Yea? I'm here." He told her, knowing she wouldn't hear.
More tears fell down her face. "Scott, please don't die!" She sobbed. "You can't die. You're the one that holds the X-Men together. You're the one that holds all of us together. You're the big brother. You can't die!" Her words were cut off as she buried her head in her hands and let the tears come.
Scott was taken back by this show of feelings. "Everyone dies, Kitty." He said softly. She didn't respond and the urge to hug her, touch her, comfort her was incredible. Scott was forced to decide that this was some kind of slow torture.
Scott blinked back to the real world and watched helplessly as Kitty continued her sobbing. Even here, Scott couldn't comfort her. He couldn't even move. Suddenly Kitty got up and ran out of the room, leaving Scott alone with the beeping machines in his ears. He closed his eyes and was once again in the meadow. Shadowcat was gone.
Scott was left alone to think about her emotion driven words.
* * * * *
Rouge entered the room she shared with Kitty only to find her roommate sobbing on her bed. She felt a sting of pain and sympathy for the girl. She was taking this real hard. But then, who wasn't?
Vaguely Rouge wondered if she should try to comfort Kitty. But Rouge wasn't the type of person that you came to for a shoulder to cry on. Sure she'd helped Kurt just after he found out that Mystique was his mother, but that was a once in a lifetime kind of deal. She had no clue what to say to Kitty. And Kitty looked for all the world content to do nothing more than cry.
'Sometimes you just gotta cry and get it over with.' Rouge thought to herself. This looked like it was one of those times. So instead of saying anything, Rouge went instead to the bathroom to get ready for bed. When she got back to the room, Kitty had already cried herself to sleep.
Rouge crawled into bed but she couldn't sleep. Her mind was working overtime and sleep wouldn't come. It seemed Kitty's thoughts were contagious. Rouge was consumed with thoughts of what would happen to the team if it's leader died.
Her thoughts were finally interrupted when she heard the hall clock chime the hour. It was 1:30 a.m. Rouge growled in frustration at her lack of sleep and then sat up. In the half light of the moon, she could see the outline of Kitty in her bed at the far wall. Rouge watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest as Kitty breathed. She was so peaceful looking. And very deeply asleep. She wouldn't notice if Rouge slipped out of the room for a moment.
Rouge wondered about the institute and found herself headed for the medical ward. She decided to go and check out Scott and see for herself just how bad his condition was. However, when she slipped into the darkened room, Rouge found that she wasn't the only one with the idea of visiting the patient.
* * * * *
Scott rubbed his face with his hands. This place was depressing. Before him stood Sypke, in full battle gear, and he was mad,. . . very mad.
"It wasn't even your fault! The idiot should have been watching where he was going!" Sypke yelled for the umpteenth time. Anger burned like a fire in his eyes.
"Yes, he should. But he didn't. No one ever said life was fair." Scott responded. He use to hate that phrase. Life's not fair. He had hated it with a passion when he was younger. Still did sometimes even now. The worst thing was, it was very true.
Evan's ranting didn't subside. "Why should you have to pay for a mistake you didn't make? Why should all of us pay if you die? Is this nature's cruel joke on us because we're mutants?"
"NO!" Scott's head snapped up at that remark. "Don't say that! That's not true and you know it!" Scott was increasingly becoming agitated with his inability to be heard.
Angry tears slid down Spyke's cheeks. He balled his hands into fists, closing his eyes. "It's so unfair!" His voice lost it's edge on that last remark.
"You have no idea." Scott agreed with the younger boy.
"What?"
"Huh?" Scott looked up at Spyke. "You heard me? Man, you don't know how . . . " Scott trailed off realizing that Spyke had NOT been talking to him. There was someone else in the room . . .
* * * * *
"What did you say?" Evan asked, peering into the shadows.
"Why are you talking to him?" Rouge repeated, her voice soft.
"I dunno." Evan looked back down at Scott's comatose body. "I . . I feel like he can hear me or something."
Rouge followed Evan's eyes. Scott really was horrible looking. His eyes were red and puffy. And a black was forming on his left eye. This Rouge noticed around a goofy pair of goggle things that were in place to keep his optic beam in check. The rest of him wasn't much better looking. But then, Jean hadn't looked very good either when the two of them had been brought in.
"Maybe he can." Rouge was still hanging back in the shadows.
"Maybe." Evan agreed. He was still upset about the whole incident, but now that he'd ranted for a while, the angry fire inside him was dying down. He turned to leave. "See ya in the morning."
Rouge nodded to him and then followed him out.
* * * * *
Scott prodded at the glowing embers with a stick. He had no idea who Spyke had been talking to, but he hoped who ever it was, that they had calmed him down. Meanwhile, he was back to being bored.
* * * * *
Review please!!! See the box below? Fill it up with your words of wisdom, or your criticism. (Hey! that rhymes! ^_^)
Crash and Burn
by Skye Dragon
Skye's rambleing spot: Okay, so the review box ISN'T green. I made a mistake. What else is new? Anyway, same deal as before. And review please. I thrive on those things. ^_^
Professor Charles Xavier sat in total silence. The nurse that had been in the room with him had left a few moments ago when Kurt suddenly appeared, saying something about Jean being awake. Xavier knew that he should probably go and see how she was doing, but he couldn't bring himself to leave. He couldn't even take his eyes from the figure on the bed.
It was Scott. He was in a medical bed, with his shirt removed. Xavier couldn't help but think that the boy looked very small and weak laying there with all the machines around him, and all the wires that were connected to his lean body.
The machines beeped in a surreal fashion, keeping track of Scott's vitals. One kept track of his heartbeat, and another one was regulating medicines into his bloodstream. A third helped Scott's abused lungs breath. In between all the wires and tubes, a person could still see some of the extensive cuts and bruises that covered Scott's body. All in all, it was a very depressing scene.
Xavier had attempted to 'talk' telepathically to Scott earlier, even though he had known it would be a useless attempt. He hadn't 'talked' with Scott, but he actually HAD gotten something. A glimpse of a place. Some kind of meadow. He didn't know what it was, but he had a vague idea. And it worried him.
He was still pondering the subject when he was interrupted by the creaking of the door as it opened. The nurse entered quietly.
"Is she still awake?"
The woman shook her head. "No, I gave her some sleeping pills and sent her on up to her room. She wasn't hurt very badly by the wreck, but she was quiet shaken up." The nurse paused. "Ororo sent the rest on up to their rooms as well. They all wanted to know how Scott was doing." She trailed off then, thinking that Xavier wasn't listening to her anymore.
Ororo came in then, her face solemn. "How is he?" She asked the nurse.
"He's stable or, more so than he was eariler, anyway. I . . . don't know if he'll survive though, he lost an awful lot of blood." She informed the other woman. After a few minutes she went on. "There's nothing more to do here. I'll stay around just in case one of the alarms on one of the machines goes off, but until something like that happens . . . "
Ororo caught the nurses point, and nodded. "Xavier, are you coming?"
Xavier took his time in replying, but when he did finally answer, he said that he preferred to say there for a little while. Ororo shrugged and then went off upstairs to see if any of the other 'children' needed comfort or food or anything.
The nurse stood still for a time, watching Xavier as he watched Scott.
"They say they can hear you."
"Beg your pardon?" Xavier turned back to her.
"The people in comas," She explained, "There's some doctors that say they can hear everything said to them, even if they can't respond."
Professor X hummed a reply, and finally, the nurse left, muttering something about cleaning up the bed and room Jean had used.
When she was gone, Xavier sighed. "Scott, if you can hear me, please come back. The team won't be the same without you." He sat there for a while longer before finally Xavier turned his wheelchair around and left the medical ward, leaving behind him a very sick boy.
* * * * *
Scott sighed. He was sitting on the ground staring into the last flames of the fire. He'd promised his mother that he would think about his decision, but in truth. He really didn't know what there was to think about.
The way he saw it was like this. If he died, he would be reunited with his parents and Alex, his little brother. He would never feel pain again, he'd never worry about accidentally hurting someone with his optic blast, and, even though he would miss out on his friends lives, he would be reunited with them when they died too.
If Scott lived, he would be with his friends again, but it would be the same old story all over again. School, fighting, pain, worry, stress, lack of sleep, and so on. He did know that life held many joys along with it's pains, but right now, the cons seemed to vastly out weight the pros as far as living was concerned.
Scott pulled himself out of these thoughts and looked at the fire. It was dying down fast. He was content to let it die, but the promise he'd made kept him from doing that. Somewhat reluctantly, he got up and went off to the nearest part of the forest. Once there he found a smallish tree that could easily be broken into small twigs, just enough to keep the fire from going out completely. That would buy him some more time to think. Casually, Scott lifted his glasses, his eyes fixed on the bottom of the tree's trunk.
Nothing happened.
"What?!" Scott ripped his glasses all the way off and still no beam came forth. Confusion clouded his green eyes. "What is this?" He demanded.
~You're in your mind's eye, Scott, and deep down inside you, you don't want to be a mutant, so here, your not a mutant.~ The voice, which sounded much like the voice of his parents when they made their last comment, hung on the wind. It wasn't any louder than it had to be, but Scott heard it quite clearly.
"Then why am I still seeing in red?" Scott called out.
~Because it's been so long since you've seen color, you don't remember how.~ The voice responded.
Scott blinked. Well, that made sense, he guessed. He looked back at the young tree. Now how was he suppose to bring the tree back? With a shrug, Scott resorted to ripping branches off of that and a few other trees. When he had an arm full, he trotted back to the fire and tossed a piece in.
The flames, which had been starving for new fuel, immediately took to the new wood. Scott sat back down and lapsed back in to his thoughts, this time, he also wondered what else might have changed in this world, besides just his mutation.
* * * * *
Dinner that night wasn't a very pleasant one. Almost no one talked, and no one tasted their food. The nurse, who's name was Mary Tucker, (AN-yes, I finally got tired enough of saying 'the nurse' to give her a name.) ate with them.
Finally Kitty couldn't stand the quiet any more. "Scott's gonna be okay, isn't he?" She burst out, the question directed to Mrs. Tucker.
Mrs. Tucker blinked at the sudden outburst, then stumbled for her words. She knew that these people were all mutants, that was why she was there. But dispite the fact that her own son had been a mutant, she was still not very comfortable with these type situations. The only thing that had kept her from declined the offer for dinner was the fact that there was a young man downstairs that really needed her help. "Um, . . . well, you see, . . . comas are very tricky things." All eyes were on her now, making her want to melt into the floor. "The medicine and machines will take care of his body, and his body may heal entirely and he may still die."
"But, WHY?" Kitty wasn't taking this very easily. The thought of Scott dying was extremely hard for her to accept. Scott was the leader of the X-Men, he couldn't die, could he?
"No one knows, really." Mrs. Tucker was sympathetic to the child. She knew what it was like to lose a loved one. "It seems like it's all in the comatose person's head. Some of them fight death, and they survive. But others . . . " She trailed off, unsure how to finish the sentence.
"Scott's strong. He'll fight it." Kitty said, more to herself then to anyone else. She looked back to the professor, tears beginning to pool up in her eyes. "Can I be excused to my room?" She was answered by a slight nod, and then she phased through her chair and into the floor, giving Mrs. Tucker a slight shock.
The rest of the meal continued in the same manner it had before Kitty's outburst.
* * * * *
Jean sat on her bed, looking out the window at the stars overhead. They didn't seem to be as bright as before. Or was that just her mood? She sighed, moving a bit on her bed. Rouge had brought up some supper to her, but Jean didn't feel up to eating. She was lost in a world of thoughts.
There was so much she hadn't told Scott. Did he even know how she felt about him? She didn't think so. She knew he loved her, as more than a sister (which was what he seemed to consider the rest of the team as, his family) but did he know how she felt about it? She'd never told him. She'd often wanted to, but she never had brought herself around to actually getting the words out while in front of him.
She loved him.
That's all there was to it.
* * * * *
Scott yawned leaning back on the grass. Was it ever night around here? He was tired. Sleep seemed like a wonderful thing now, but it eluded him.
A sound startled him out of his reverie. Nothing around here made any noise besides him. That was one of the things that spooked him. Anywhere else you'd hear animals and streams, or the wind in the trees, but not here. The fire didn't even crackle or pop.
Turning around to see who it was, Scott was very much taken back to find Kitty. She stood opposite him across the fire, and she was wearing her X-Men outfit. There was a hollow look to her eyes.
"Kitty! What are you doing here? How did you get here?"
Kitty didn't respond. Instead a tear rolled down her cheek.
"Kitty!" Scott rushed forward to grasp her, hug her, shake her, anything! But when he reached for her, his hands passed right through her. "Huh?" He stared down at his hands, now gone through Kitty's shoulders. What was this? Was Kitty phasing herself so Scott couldn't touch her? But why would she do that?
~She can't see you, Scott.~ It was that voice again. ~She can't see you, hear you, or feel you. You're in a coma, remember.~ Whoa, it was being a smart aleck too.
Scott blinked and suddenly found himself in another place. He was in bed in the medical ward at the institute. There were machines everywhere. Kitty stood next to his bed, the same expression as before on her face. She was in her normal clothes.
Scott blinked again and was suddenly back in the meadow, Kitty still there and still in her field outfit. Slowly, Scott began to understand. He could see and hear Kitty because she was by his side, or his body's side. But she couldn't see or hear him because he was locked away in his own mind. This place just kept getting worse and worse.
"Scott?" Kitty called softly. Scott walked back to her.
"Yea? I'm here." He told her, knowing she wouldn't hear.
More tears fell down her face. "Scott, please don't die!" She sobbed. "You can't die. You're the one that holds the X-Men together. You're the one that holds all of us together. You're the big brother. You can't die!" Her words were cut off as she buried her head in her hands and let the tears come.
Scott was taken back by this show of feelings. "Everyone dies, Kitty." He said softly. She didn't respond and the urge to hug her, touch her, comfort her was incredible. Scott was forced to decide that this was some kind of slow torture.
Scott blinked back to the real world and watched helplessly as Kitty continued her sobbing. Even here, Scott couldn't comfort her. He couldn't even move. Suddenly Kitty got up and ran out of the room, leaving Scott alone with the beeping machines in his ears. He closed his eyes and was once again in the meadow. Shadowcat was gone.
Scott was left alone to think about her emotion driven words.
* * * * *
Rouge entered the room she shared with Kitty only to find her roommate sobbing on her bed. She felt a sting of pain and sympathy for the girl. She was taking this real hard. But then, who wasn't?
Vaguely Rouge wondered if she should try to comfort Kitty. But Rouge wasn't the type of person that you came to for a shoulder to cry on. Sure she'd helped Kurt just after he found out that Mystique was his mother, but that was a once in a lifetime kind of deal. She had no clue what to say to Kitty. And Kitty looked for all the world content to do nothing more than cry.
'Sometimes you just gotta cry and get it over with.' Rouge thought to herself. This looked like it was one of those times. So instead of saying anything, Rouge went instead to the bathroom to get ready for bed. When she got back to the room, Kitty had already cried herself to sleep.
Rouge crawled into bed but she couldn't sleep. Her mind was working overtime and sleep wouldn't come. It seemed Kitty's thoughts were contagious. Rouge was consumed with thoughts of what would happen to the team if it's leader died.
Her thoughts were finally interrupted when she heard the hall clock chime the hour. It was 1:30 a.m. Rouge growled in frustration at her lack of sleep and then sat up. In the half light of the moon, she could see the outline of Kitty in her bed at the far wall. Rouge watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest as Kitty breathed. She was so peaceful looking. And very deeply asleep. She wouldn't notice if Rouge slipped out of the room for a moment.
Rouge wondered about the institute and found herself headed for the medical ward. She decided to go and check out Scott and see for herself just how bad his condition was. However, when she slipped into the darkened room, Rouge found that she wasn't the only one with the idea of visiting the patient.
* * * * *
Scott rubbed his face with his hands. This place was depressing. Before him stood Sypke, in full battle gear, and he was mad,. . . very mad.
"It wasn't even your fault! The idiot should have been watching where he was going!" Sypke yelled for the umpteenth time. Anger burned like a fire in his eyes.
"Yes, he should. But he didn't. No one ever said life was fair." Scott responded. He use to hate that phrase. Life's not fair. He had hated it with a passion when he was younger. Still did sometimes even now. The worst thing was, it was very true.
Evan's ranting didn't subside. "Why should you have to pay for a mistake you didn't make? Why should all of us pay if you die? Is this nature's cruel joke on us because we're mutants?"
"NO!" Scott's head snapped up at that remark. "Don't say that! That's not true and you know it!" Scott was increasingly becoming agitated with his inability to be heard.
Angry tears slid down Spyke's cheeks. He balled his hands into fists, closing his eyes. "It's so unfair!" His voice lost it's edge on that last remark.
"You have no idea." Scott agreed with the younger boy.
"What?"
"Huh?" Scott looked up at Spyke. "You heard me? Man, you don't know how . . . " Scott trailed off realizing that Spyke had NOT been talking to him. There was someone else in the room . . .
* * * * *
"What did you say?" Evan asked, peering into the shadows.
"Why are you talking to him?" Rouge repeated, her voice soft.
"I dunno." Evan looked back down at Scott's comatose body. "I . . I feel like he can hear me or something."
Rouge followed Evan's eyes. Scott really was horrible looking. His eyes were red and puffy. And a black was forming on his left eye. This Rouge noticed around a goofy pair of goggle things that were in place to keep his optic beam in check. The rest of him wasn't much better looking. But then, Jean hadn't looked very good either when the two of them had been brought in.
"Maybe he can." Rouge was still hanging back in the shadows.
"Maybe." Evan agreed. He was still upset about the whole incident, but now that he'd ranted for a while, the angry fire inside him was dying down. He turned to leave. "See ya in the morning."
Rouge nodded to him and then followed him out.
* * * * *
Scott prodded at the glowing embers with a stick. He had no idea who Spyke had been talking to, but he hoped who ever it was, that they had calmed him down. Meanwhile, he was back to being bored.
* * * * *
Review please!!! See the box below? Fill it up with your words of wisdom, or your criticism. (Hey! that rhymes! ^_^)
