The rest of the activities at school that evening were canceled. The younger pupils were sent to bed early, and the teenagers were told to continue tiring themselves out in the Danger Room, where they had already been mastering one simulation after another with flying colors for hours, proving clearly that they would possibly have a say in the next emergency of this kind.

Katja had actually been told to go the fuck to sleep by both her partner and Jean as well before the two of them had retreated to the lab, but upon arriving on her floor, she found without much surprise that her footsteps did not lead her to Scott's and her apartment.

Ororo would probably be again unwilling to listen. But after all the defeats that day, one more failure couldn't lower the score any further.

The young woman's stubbornness was in any case no excuse not to try again. After all, Katja had also been able to help Marie when she had been in such a bad state after her arrival at Mutant High. She herself had been depressed in her youth for years – an episode that not even Scott knew much about. Ororo had helped her deal with dark memories of that kind so often ... Katja at least wanted to try and do the same.

"Ororo?" She was waiting in vain for an invitation to come in once again, but she was not going to let that deter her today. As cautiously as possible, she entered the small anteroom with the beautiful high mirrors and the many porcelain figurines, where Ororo and she had already spent so many harmonious hours.

"I think you got the wrong door." Katja hadn't taken more than a few steps into the room when she was confronted with this harsh rejection. She almost didn't recognize Ororo's voice; her friend had never spoken to her so coldly.

"Not at all." She stopped herself almost by force from turning on her heel, settling down on the wing chair across from the sofa instead where Ororo had stretched out, in near darkness, though she sounded wide awake. "Do you still not know that I always want to help, even if I can't do a lot?"

"Then leave." Ororo demonstratively picked up a book from the television table and pretended to lose herself in it, although the dim light of two candles could impossibly suffice for that.

"How many times do I have to tell you guys that I don't want to keep dwelling on some old story? If you want nostalgia, you're better off in Charles' room. This, right here, is the reality of this business of ours that you're so eager to join, Flashwind. It's one that rarely gives us a chance to hold each other's hands. If the Brotherhood keeps this pace up, you better learn that real quick. Erik has obviously decided that we should no longer be an obstacle in his path. No one has time left now to go easy either you or me."

"Why are you so angry with me?" asked Katja, suddenly in tears, which was another testimony to how physically and emotionally drained she felt herself that evening. She shouldn't be crying right now, not when her friend was doing so badly and needed strength to hold on to, not even more drama. But the memory of what had triggered this moody, vulnerable condition of Ororo in the first place was just still far too present. The knowledge that maybe everything could have gone very differently.

"Is it because I didn't go with you on that ride back then? If that's the reason, yell at me, or hit me a couple of times for all I care. Just tell me already!"

"I'm not angry with you." Just for a moment, that tight expression around Ororo's eyes softened as she stared at Katja over the edge of the book with an impatient shake of her head. Her affection for Katja made the untypical aggression disappear at least for the moment. "I just don't have the strength right now to put on the same broken record like Scott and Jean, that you need to stop constantly escaping into your guilt. That doesn't help to process catastrophe in any case. But how to manage that better, that's something you'll have to figure out on your own, I'm afraid. Just like me. This isn't a soap opera. Talking can't make everything better."

"Well, you tried not to, didn't you? Did that help? When I first arrived at Mutant High, you were always there for me. Right after our first training sessions, you asked me what this was."

Katja raised her arm, which was adorned with pale, thin lines, only visible if you looked very closely. So inconspicuous, in fact, that she had been able to plausibly give her partner an excuse in this regard that she'd been rehearsing for years. "Not even Scott has any idea what a low point I used to be at as a teenager, just because I didn't have anyone to turn to. Until, for a while, I knew no other solution but pain. You knew immediately. You told me that before I did something like that again, I should come to you. Remember? I didn't realize how much I needed an offer like that until it was suddenly there. Until I came to you guys, I kind of always managed to get by on my own. You were the first one to make me realize that I don't have to anymore. And that I will never be able to be fully there for others if I make my own life more difficult than necessary out of pride."

Ororo stayed silent, but in the flickering candlelight, her cheeks were suddenly glistening suspiciously before she quickly clenched her teeth again and readjusted the mask of detachment she had been wearing so excellently for weeks now.

"Goddamn it, Ororo, wake up!" Katja leaned closer and firmly placed a hand on Ororo's leg, right around where she knew those cruel marks of fangs to be that had torn the flesh from her friend's body. To her surprise, Ororo trembled noticeably but did not flinch away.

"These will fade eventually. But if you keep on ignoring where they come from, you won't need Sabretooth to die. Then you'll just run into the nearest blade in some fight soon because it's gotten far too noisy in your head for focus on anything but suppression. Do you really want to do the bastard that favor?"

Long seconds passed as Ororo continued to try to stay strong. In vain. No matter how many times she wiped her face with her sleeve, that sheen under her eyes wouldn't go away.

Katja sat down next to her on the sofa and very carefully pulled her up, lightly spreading her arms.

Ororo visibly fought with herself. With the fear of what she would see if she dropped that desperate wall around her memories.

Katja gently took her by the shoulders once more, still without any pressure, with nothing but a light touch.

That helped at last. With a sob, Ororo let Katja pull her close. A violent tremor began to shake her body. "I can't do this, Flashwind. Not now." The crying made it hard to understand her, but the way she clenched her own hand painfully tight in her jeans, just above the scars, said enough. "Every time I close my eyes, that bastard is there. And in my dreams, he keeps going. In my dreams, he accomplishes what you guys stopped him from getting to. I can't let him rule my thoughts during the day too. He's not worth it, do you understand? I have to function for the kids, for our team. It'll stop eventually, don't worry."

"Not by itself," Katja objected quietly. Her hand was also shaking when she stroked Ororo's beautiful, soft hair. "But eventually. I'll help you with that as best I can. You see, that whole worrying part is included in that friendship deal. A certain redhead told me so in the sick bay a few days ago. I'm afraid, neither of us is going to get out of that anytime soon."

For the time being, she didn't want to say more, nor would she have known exactly what. Perhaps it was indeed enough for the moment to be there for Ororo, to hold her tight, now that she was finally allowing weakness for once. It hadn't been much ... But at least it was a start.

She stayed with her friend ever until exhaustion took them both and then brought her to the bedroom.

Ororo would surely have nightmares again, but that, for once, was indeed something no one could change. Maybe she really did need these dreams to be able to live with this thing someday. In any case, she was not alone, and Katja strongly hoped that she had at least understood that now.

When Katja left Ororo's apartment, Scott was waiting for her outside, as she had hoped. For today, Jean and he had apparently finished their research on Magneto's new weapon. "It's okay. But I think she's got the kick in the ass now that Jean was talking about."

She took a step toward her partner – then, not for the first time today, her legs gave out beneath her. Black dots were dancing before her eyes. She suddenly felt tired, so incredibly tired ...

Scott reacted with the instincts of a fighter practiced for years and caught her before she could make painful acquaintance with the ground. He didn't need to call Jean, they both knew it. Ororo was not the only one who needed to recover.

So he wordlessly brought Katja to their apartment, where he lay down on the bed with her and hugged her, warming her because she continued to shiver despite her clothes and blanket.

"Thank you," Katja whispered, choked, after minutes of silence, with her head buried against his shoulder. She was glad Scott hadn't turned out the light yet. She wasn't sure she could stand complete darkness now after all those hours in that awful cell. "I just felt so cold suddenly ... I can't stop thinking about the day this happened to Ororo. Of the evening."

"I'm trying not to do that." Scott gave her a somewhat absent-minded kiss on the forehead and shook his head with a jerk when Katja looked up questioningly, slightly unsettled.

"Not because of you. What we did wasn't exactly planned that way at the time, but you needed comfort, just like I did. There's nothing wrong with that. But you crying afterward made it somewhat difficult to shut down all thoughts for a few hours." A clearly visible shiver ran down his arms. Yes, that first time could have gone more romantically indeed, though since then, they'd both been functioning better and better together on that level, too.

"We spent so much time that night trying to cheer each other up and distract each other that we forgot about Ororo," Katja realized bitterly. "We should never have left her alone. We should have stayed with her until she came around. Then she wouldn't have fallen so deeply into this apathy."

"Mistakes are something we can make up for. It's not too late," Scott replied, wrapping his arms around her a little tighter. It was visibly still hurting him when Katja struggled with guilt, even or especially when it wasn't unwarranted, and yet she couldn't just turn that off. In this respect, he would have to give her time, and she could only be glad and grateful that he could muster that patience.

After a brief silence, he surprisingly changed the subject. "I'm as worried about you as I am about her, you know. That's also why I haven't been there for her quite as much as I should have. You both need more support right now than you'd like to admit. When the Brotherhood struck today, and we were way too far away to help ... For a moment, I thought I was going to lose you." At those words, he had to look away, swallowing hard. Katja could feel his body tense against hers. How much Scott was often struggling, even in front of her, not to let himself go too much ... She didn't like it, but maybe that was his own personal weakness that Katja would have to learn to deal with.

"Magneto won't just stop, I hope you realize that. If next time we don't get there in time again ... Don't get yourself killed out there. Don't do that to me."

"I won't." Katja forced a reassuring smile on her lips, backing away from Scott a little so she could look at him straight. "I'll be more careful from now on, okay? Because I don't want to lose you either. You're far too important to me for that." Leaning in, she placed her lips on his for a tender moment.

"But right now, things are not really about me, Scott. Right now, we need to be there for Ororo."

And that was exactly what they both promised each other firmly that night.

Given how loud both Jean and Scott had been about a certain amount of physical restraint over the next few days, Katja had taken the precaution of turning off her alarm clock before falling asleep. All the more disoriented, she stumbled to the door of Scott's and her apartment at sunrise, where the impatient hammering of an Adamantium-steeled fist would probably have awakened even the dead.

"Hey ... Did something happen again?"

"Other than you not having changed yet?" Logan leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed and his usual cigar in the corner of his mouth, making it very clear what he thought of certain bans on activity.

"Uh ... I'm not sure ..." For a moment, Katja was completely overwhelmed, not least because she could now hear Scott stirring back in the bedroom as well, meaning that the first trouble of the day was just one stupid one-liner away. But especially because she had learned to appreciate these regular training sessions with Logan early in the morning a lot, she didn't want to just turn him down.

Logan didn't let her get a word in edgewise anyway. "Put some clothes on and get your ass out here."

"Hey, Claws, not everyone comes with your healing factor." And there Scott came shuffling toward them already, shimmying into some shirt, still quite sleepily himself, but already orientated enough to put his favorite rival in his place.

"As far as I can tell, your girl's back on her feet already," Logan returned unapologetically.

"Move, Flashwind. You can walk, you can run."

"Logan, I swear to ..."

"Scott, I ... Give me a second." Katja stood on tiptoe to leave a kiss on Scott's cheek and let her eyes drift to the bedroom unobtrusively.

Back off please, that look, that tone said. No matter how well she understood her partner's concern for her after yesterday, she was old enough to speak for herself. Not to mention that it was definitely too early in the day for an overdose of testosterone.

"Listen, Logan, truth is, I'm really still pretty beat. If I'm overdoing it now, I'm going to be out cold for the rest of the day. And I actually meant to spend it with Ororo. That's long overdue."

For a moment, that constant demonstrative dismissiveness and boredom in Logan's posture gave way to an expression of similar concern to the one that had plagued Katja for weeks, of lingering anger toward someone so uncannily similar to Logan, at least physically, that it couldn't be easy to know that this very bastard had wounded one of them so badly. "She's been in the sick bay with Jeannie for half an hour already. Further tests on both of them and that damn gun from yesterday to make sure it didn't leave any lingering effects."

At least that was good news. Maybe last night's conversation had helped more than Katja had first realized, seeing as Ororo had gone back to her team duties instead of just doing the bare minimum of chores.

"So you can either get moving now, or I'll drag you out there with me half-naked," Logan added, quickly with that sardonic twinkle in his eye again when he realized Katja was running out of excuses. "Don't get me wrong, there are things harder on the eye, but ..."

"Logan."

This time, when the guy went silent with a grin and a provocatively raised eyebrow, Katja refrained from the same teasing for a change. Apparently, this was a good moment to ruffle the feathers of the other half of this annoying brawling duo as well.

"How about this: You two do your dick-measuring contests when I'm not around, and I'll be outside the main entrance in five minutes. Deal?"

"You got two. Hurry up."

The fact that there wasn't another stupid line hopefully meant the less-than-discreet hint had gotten through.

Scott, on the other hand, was far from done pouting and complaining when he saw Katja frantically searching her closet for a pair of shorts. "Coffee and donuts, huh?"

"I insist those are waiting for me when I get back, yep." Katja shimmied into her clothes as quickly as the heaviness still sitting in her limbs would allow, then leaned down for a quick kiss to Scott, who had demonstratively got under the covers again with a scowl on his face. "Relax. I'll take it slow. Give it five minutes, then he'll get bored with my snail's pace and run off on his own. You've been training me long enough now to know I'm pretty good at estimating my shape."

"Long enough to know you're just exploring your limits so deeply so that you can expand them by force, yes." Scott gently held her by the arm before she could straighten up again. "You can't run away from everything, Katja. You know how much I admire your drive, but you've just been through your first captivity. That's not something you can just train away."

"No, but I can work on getting better so it doesn't happen again." Katja crouched down on the floor next to the bed instead of sitting down, making it very clear that this discussion was over, but wrapped her hands tightly around Scott's because she also wanted him to understand why. "Because if I don't, the nightmares I had tonight will get worse instead of better. I need to be able to be sure for myself that I'm doing everything I can, Scott. That I'm not just going to give up helplessly at the first storm."

The shrill signal from Scott's own alarm clock cut off whatever he might have thought of to say. So much for a few more minutes of sleep for him.

"Come on, get ready for your day, and I'll get mine over with." Katja tenderly straightened out his still very messy hair. "And when we're both done with that tonight, we'll finally get back on your bike, okay? I don't need more breaks, Scott, I need routine. I need to be able to feel that soon, I'll be good enough to face our enemies with the skill I need. That's the way for me to keep my fears and doubts about something like yesterday under control."

"There will come a time when you will have to face them instead." Scott not-so-coincidentally let his fingertips wander right over that spot on Katja's arm where Jean had used a few band-aids yesterday when she had been somewhat back on her feet.

The claw marks weren't even deep enough to leave scars, but Scott and Katja had seen enough on another victim of that bastard residing at Magneto's base not too long ago to know, that was probably only a matter of time.

Next time, Katja couldn't and wouldn't even let it get to the point where she was completely frozen in her fear, defenseless against an attack. Unfortunately, such abilities didn't just fall into your lap like in a bad science fiction flick.

"I think I just had to do that yesterday, didn't I?" She put her hand gently but firmly on her partner's and pushed it aside. "And when that went down, you realized as much as I did how much I have to learn before that can happen again. I don't want to run out of time before, Scott."

With a reluctant nod, Scott finally let her go, but in the lines around the corners of his mouth that were a little too deep, Katja could see the same unease that had a hold on her ... The dark foreboding that this was already yesterday's news.