One Thousand Paper Cranes-----part 6
"So what's the deal with the book?" Lance asked the white haired boy walking next to him, "You haven't put it down since you got it".
Pietro said nothing and merely kept on walking at a relatively normal pace along the lane.
This silent treatment was starting to get annoying to Lance and he bounded in front of Pietro, blocking his path. "Look what's the deal, you been acting cooky ever since that night coming from the library, what gives!!!"
"Kurt Wagner...you know the x-man?"
"The little fuzzball, ya"
"well he's got cancer, I thought maybe this book would help"
"Whoa Pietro, you realize that your helping out the other side ...you can't do that.."
Pietro stopped and gave Lance a long hard stare. "Dominique," Pietro said curtly using Lance's real name. He was the only one Lance had told it to ,and he only used it when he was mad "....Do you know what happened to my sister.?"
"..um..no...I didn't even know you had one?"
"She died .." He choked "The sweetest, prettiest girl in the world died of cancer..."
"Pietro..I'm sor.."
"And do you know why she died ...well..do you...do you Dominique!!!"
"No" Lance gulped, he'd never seen Pietro in such a rage before.
"Why..why oh I'll tell you why....because our village was at war, we couldn't her because our enemies the "other side " as you put it, wouldn't help us, oh they had the ability to....but the wouldn't!!!!!!!!" The last part was spit out with such hate Lance felt as though he'd had a knife shoved into his guts.
"I had to watch my sister die, knowing that the whole time the cure was only a breath away. But by the time we managed to get her to a hospital...it was too late" Lance felt the knife twist in his guts,
"No wonder Pietro has problems with hospitals and sickness, he's seen enough to last him his life"
Pietro wiped his tears away and walked on leaving Lance behind, "You do what you want, but I'm going to see Kurt ....he may be my enemy ..but I wouldn't let my worst enemy die..if I knew I could offer even the slightest chance of hope." With a flash Pietro was gone and Lance found himself standing alone on the walkway.
"Pietro wait!!!" He called running after the other boy, he was surprised when he was hit by spray of water from a car as it sped by. 'Hey watch where your going asshole !!!!" Lance shouted.
"Huh...was that ..Scott?"
Lance began running again, he'd made it about two blocks , when a blur shot up behind him.
"Quick, Lance, Kurt's in the hospital" The slender boy grabbed hold of his arm and yanked him at subsonic speed to the hospital gates. The he stopped, eyes wide and his body frozen to the spot.
"Are you going in?" Lance asked.
"I...I c..can't move" Pietro whispered, his legs felt like they were made of lead. Half of him wanted to run in and help Kurt the other half wanted him to run as fast and as far as he could away from here. "My..sister..n..never made it out of ..t...the ..hospital...I...I"
Lances hand folded around his. " But what about Mystique?" Pietro asked turning wide blue eyes to him.
"Ah screw Mystique, we're in this together" he and Pietro walked slowly up the stairs.
Pietro faltered slightly at the door but Lance squeezed his hand gently "You can do it Pietro"
The snowy haired boy, nodded at him as they walked through the doors "Thanks Dominique "
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Scott quietly entered the hospital room, he'd just arrived a few moments ago and had been confronted by Pietro, as soon as he got out of his car. He had only given the pale boy a brief account , not really sure what had happened yet himself.
As he laid eyes on Kurt, his heart went out to the small boy. Kurt lay among a jumble of machines, wires and tubes. He looked up when he heard Scott come in.
He mouthed the words "Hi" and motioned for Scott to take a seat. Scott sat in the chair, Kitty offered him.
"...are you..um..ok.....I mean...you know" Scott stammered. Jean motioned for the others to leave , she knew Scott didn't do well with emotions while others were present. She nodded to him before shutting the door.
When the others had gone , Scott leaned in close, sorrow on his face. 'Kurt, what happened?"
"I vas just talking vith Kitty and Jean..and then I vake up here. They say I had a seizure."
"What's with all this stuff ?" Scott gestured to the machines that surrounded them.
"This one " Kurt pointed to a large machine to his right, "monitors my heart, see" he showed Scott where they had shaved off his fur and stuck the electrodes. "And these ones monitor my brain" He pointed to a similar set on his head. He could see that Scott was unnerved by the tubing taped to his face. "They had to put a tube in my nose, to give me the medicine because I kept throwing it up...It goes down in to my stomach" Kurt explained.
"Yuk..." Scott paled .
"I know...I can feel it...all the way down.."
"Not much of a fashion statement is it?" Scott attempted at a little humor.
"It hurts....everything hurts !!!" Kurt cried suddenly, Scott took Kurt's hand and squeezed it. He would have hugged him if the equipment surrounding them would have let him get a little closer.
They sat in silence for almost twenty minutes , before hearing a loud commotion in the hallway.
Scott went to investigate and was met by Pietro and a bedraggled looking Lance. Pietro bounced in to the room slamming the door in the other boy's face.
"I need to talk with Kurt," Pietro announced.
"Visiting hours will be over in 20 minutes" a nurse said walking out.
"Thank you" Scott acknowledged "Kurt?"
"It's vine, let him stay"
Scott nodded. Walking out the door, he watched an annoyed Lance rub his face where it had connected with the door.
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Kurt looked at Pietro, "Vell?" He asked "You needed to say something?"
"Um...yay.....that is...I um.........wanted to give you this " Pietro handed him the book.
"Vhat is dis for?"
"I ..just thought....you know that.....well I know what your going through...... sorta......"Pietro began to watch his feet with keen interest.
"How?" Kurt asked. Pietro pulled a seat over to sit in.
"My sister...had cancer......I miss her...very much" Pietro sniffed.
Kurt waited patiently for the snowy haired boy to continue.
"When she was sick, she read that book...and learned how to make paper cranes. There was a legend that said if you made one thousand ...you would be granted a single wish...she believed she would wish herself better."
"Did she?"
"....No, she never made it to one thousand......" Pietro shook his head sadly.
"Vell vhat are ve vaiting for, let's get started" Kurt smiled.
"Huh?" Pietro looked surprised
"The cranes, lets start. Teach me how to make them"
"....ok" Pietro gave Kurt a square of yellow paper, and took a green one himself. "First fold it this way then this way......"
Kurt watched and copied Pietro's every move and soon a small pile of cranes sat on the bed.
"Vow," Kurt panted "this vill take longer than I thought, I only have twenty four"
"Nope, you got eighty eight," Pietro smirked dumping a small bag on to Kurt's bed. "Me and Rouge gave ya a head start"
"vell then that's not so bad" Kurt picked up another piece of paper "lets make it a hundred..ja?"
"Ja" Pietro smiled warmly, having someone to talk with was surprisingly welcoming."Kurt...let me tell you about my sister.."
The rain outside beat against the window, but it went unnoticed by the two young boys folding paper cranes, and telling each other tales about their past.
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Scott looked down at the snack machine for the third time in the past ten minutes. He was debating whether or not to have the last bag of chips, when the decision was made for him.
Lance grabbed the bag from the chute and tossed it at Scott. "Here, I'm tired of watching you gawk at that thing" he snorted standing a few feet away.
Scott attempted to glare at him, but was cut off when his stomach roared out in protest.
Scott's cheeks blushed, and he fingered the bag quietly.
Lance's features softened as he looked over at the sandy haired boy. He'd never seen Scott so unkept. The x-man's clothed were wrinkled and his hair was slipshod. And judging by the paleness of his skin, Lance guessed that Scott probably had ring under his eyes too.
"You haven't eaten in a while huh?" Lance asked, though he already knew the answer.
Scott was silent, he tried to find the words to say...but he couldn't.
Lance leaned beside him as he fumbled to open the bag.
"Thanks" he mumbled through a mouthful of food, not looking at the dark haired boy.
"No problem" Lance said rubbing the back of his neck. "Man I suck at this condolence stuff " he thought."
"So...um..how's your friend.." Lance asked, "Oh great one moron!!!!" he mentally yelled in his head, wishing he could kick himself."of all the stupid questions to ask"
"........He's..dying......" Scott whispered his bottom lip began to quiver "he's dying..."
"Hey..are you ok?...Scott!!" Lance knelt down where Scott had sunk.
"He's dying.....HE'S DYING!!!!!...m..m...my best friend is dying!!!!!" Scott's resolve crumbled and he began to cry. Huge sobs whacked his body as tears spilled down his pain stricken face.
Lance was glad he couldn't see the x-man's eyes, he remembered being told once that the eyes were a window to a persons soul, and he was certain he never wanted to see a broken one .
Carefully, he sat down next to his supposedly hated foe and did the first thing that came to his mind. He held him.
To be continued..........
