Ororo's Deathbed
Author's Notes: Spending some quality time with Sierra.
...Continued
The morning sun rose bright in the sky over the ravage Xavier's Institute for the Gifted. There on the first floor was a broken window on the exterior of the red brick mansion. The landscaping was destroyed by winds, lightning storms, and struggle throughout the entire night. There in the driveway were the pieces of a motorcycle and fallen trees. Not only was the outside in horrible shape, but the expensive French doors that gave passage to the Library were also destroyed beyond a pricey repair.
The younger students awoke that morning, surprised that they had all slept through the obvious chaos of the late night events. All except Sierra and Darè, who found themselves waking up later than usual and late for their class schedules. With sunlight beaming through their windows, it was hard to imagine that something so devious had happened the night before in the very same place.
Sierra was the first to awaken from her slumber in her dorm room after all the other students had devoured breakfast and went to homeroom. "Oh my gosh," she said as she looked in the mirror to tired eyes and a bruise on her cheek, "Darè is not going to want to talk to me anymore and it's all that ditzy Ms. Grey's fault." Although she had been through quite a transaction the night before, she was still a teenager, and despite the occurring situations, she was more concerned with what a boy thought of her than her accomplishments. "That's alright though, Sierra," she said as she pampered herself and walked towards the girl's dorm bathroom, "You showed that Jean last night and Ms. Munroe - aye! Ms. Munroe... I wonder if she's okay."
As she stepped into the shower she recapped on the night's events before she fell to sleep from absolute exhaustion:
'After defeating Jean Grey so simply by putting her in a cold sleep, Ms. Munroe stood for a minute. I remember that part. The next thing I know, she fell to the ground. Darè ran to her side, and I felt jealous for a minute, before realizing that he was only injecting a special herb inside of her. For a moment I thought I saw her stop breathing. I was nearly panicking my head off until Mr. McCoy came to the window and looked out at the frozen witch and Ms. Munroe. I was so nervous I couldn't even explain what happened to him. So, he jumped out of the window like a jolly wilder beast and picked up Ms. Munroe's body. It was like something out of a stupid movie flick or something, like Ms. Munroe was meant to kill the stupid Jean! I mean, as soon as she defeated the ugly trick, everybody started to wake up. Rogue went over and carried Jean into some special cold isolation cell or something to keep her in that cold sleep. It's like Jean's a reptile or something. It'd be funny if she is. The next thing I know, Wolverine is behind me telling me I should get some sleep and I fall out in his arms. Aye! I hope Darè doesn't think I like him. Yuck, that's just disgusting. I can't believe he and Ms. Munroe are talking either. So anyway, the last time I opened my eyes before I woke up, I see somebody tucking me in bed but I can't make out the face because of the shadows. I hope it was Darè. Let me get out of this shower... I can't wait to see him!'
And that's what she did. Completing her shower, she made her way out of the bathroom after drying. With a large towel wrapped around her body and water dripping from her long hair, she lost thought of everything and everybody except Darè. There once more was another fascination for someone her age and in her situation.
She entered her dorm room and put on a pair of hip-hugger jeans and a halter-top. On her feet was a pair of black high-heeled boots. "Now to hide this ugly bruise," she said as she sat down at a vanity, exclusive to the female dorm. As she began to comb her hair in a way that it would cover he cheek, her mind began to wander again:
'I'm sure the news has spread all across the mutant community now. Geez, if we had our own newspaper it'd be the front headlines. -Xavier's Storm Kills Jean Grey-. Of course the media would always have to exaggerate things, even if a little bit. But I would think Mr. Summers would be back with a few words and optic blasts. It makes me wonder that he had something to do with it. He'd do anything for Jean... and that's just buck-wild. Now that looks better.'
She examined her hidden cheek under black hair and brown highlights. She looked into her own hazel eyes in the mirror and smiled, pleased with her appearance. Rising from her seat at the vanity, she looked at the alarm clock and noticed she was late for second period already. Sticking a small bottle of lip-gloss in her back pocket, she grabbed a History book and a notepad. Rushing out, she slammed the door behind her and ran down the hall. She must have been in the same predicament many times before, for even in the high heels she ran with much speed and consistency before crashing into Darè who was half-sleep. "Ow!" she said as she rubbed her forehead.
"What's the rush?" he asked with his hands in his baggy blue jean pockets, which cuffed at the bottom to cover his construction colored fashionable boots. A long shirt, as before, went down to his mid-thighs and a loose watch held onto his wrist where his hand started.
"History! You know how Ms. Munroe is!" she said, rushing the words out of my mouth and not really grasping Darè's point until he actually made it, himself.
"Ms. Munroe is in the med lab," he reminded her with dark brown eyes.
"Well let's go see her, cutie," she said as she grabbed his hand and pulled him with her towards the grand staircase, which led into the foyer of the Institute on the first floor. Quickly down the steps, nearly tripping over each other, the two young mutants found themselves in a rush to see how she was doing. Neither of them had been awake for the final diagnosis on her wellness.
As they ran, Darè hoped to himself that his work to give her a healing herb the night before had been potent enough to help fight off the virus. His boots made a thud against the floor as they finally landed in the foyer and ran towards the elevator. At many points, he heard his brain telling him to stop running, but his legs wouldn't respond. The adrenaline rush was beyond comprehension. His forehead frowned with wrinkles and gave him a headache as he worried that his attempts had been in vain.
After entering the elevator, they stood side-by-side with fast beating hearts, and countenances of anxiety. The same questions ran through their minds:
'Will Ororo be all right? What will Professor say when we come in during school hours? Mr. McCoy and Rogue? - I never saw that one coming. That's probably the only well kept secret around this place.'
DING. The elevator opened on the lower levels and the door swished open as the two teenage mutants walked down the hall with entwined fingers. The med lab was not far down from the elevator; it was in a convenient location for emergencies, which was its main purpose. When the approached the automatic metallic doors, they SWISHED open and revealed the mutants inside.
The two entered the room with wide eyes at the scene. Ororo was laying on a table/bed with a light blanket over her. There was a small cloud just hanging over her head, not doing anything. Every now and then she would squirm and groan, then wouldn't make another sound for a long time. She would just lay still as if she was dead. Then their eyes moved onto Beast. He was sitting at a desk, big and bulky, and writing with a pen, never giving the chance to look up. There was Rogue, right behind him, sitting in Indian style on the air.
On the other side of the room was Logan who kept extracting and retracting his adamantium claws from his knuckles. He would watch them glimmer and dance under the bright luminescent lights of the room, and then watch them go down in just as fast a motion. His healing abilities allowed him to endure the pain so easily, and the years of doing this over and over again had petitioned his nerves to deal with it. And there, next to Logan, was Remy. It looked as if he had just gotten off of a respirator, which was possible since Jean nearly suffocated him to death. Perhaps he did die somewhere in the process, the miracles of heaven and the growth of science.
Now the brown haired man was no longer on any type of respirator, instead, he was cleanly clothed and walking towards Ororo. No one in the room seemed to notice the teenagers until the door SWISHED open behind them, and Xavier appeared in the room on his familiar hovercraft wheelchair.
He had an angry appearance on his face as well. His blue eyes, which were once full of love, were now full of spite. One of his most trusted students had betrayed him and their entire family. He put his hand under the cloud that Ororo had undoubtedly created in her state of sleep, and on top of her warm forehead. Finally, her body heat was matching the fever that was building itself inside her body to try and purify her body of the virus that still plagued it. The unwanted Iodine seemed to stay in her blood as well.
His mind focused without a words to the students, even Sierra and Darè, and he began to enter Ororo's mind. What he found was not pleasant and surely not a daydream. Although the nightmares were no longer there as they were before, Ororo was continuously relapsing on her childhood and being buried under the rubble of a hotel. He heard every sound that Ororo heard: the sound of a counter-attack hitting a war plane and the crash that it made in the sky, the sudden rumbling of the entire apartment, and a loud vibration in the ears as the plane made it's way into the structure and everything began to cave in. He felt what she felt when the heat erupted from the plane's impact and the crushing of the heavy building against her young body. Everything was so real, right down to the feel of the tears against her face. He felt the warm stream of tears while he was in her mind and nearly exerted his own tears back in his wheelchair. For the first time, his mind actually felt Ororo's hidden pain. Perhaps this was the reason the tempest would never let her full fury unleash itself.
When he finally exited her mind, he took a deep breath, with white eyelids covering his icy blue orbs. He knew that all these thoughts had been released by Jean to destroy Ororo mentally so physically she would be no match. Ororo had conquered her fears well whilst in battle, but while sleeping they continued to haunt her, creating the small cloud that hovered over her head as she slept.
"Rogue, I want answers now! You have been keeping too many secrets and I have allowed you to keep them long enough without probing your mind. I want answers right here and right now!" Xavier yelled suddenly as he opened his eyes and moved his hovercraft to the middle of the room.
Sierra and Darè watched in shock as Hank turned around to face Rogue. Logan also stopped playing with his claws. Remy sat down on the table/bed next to Ororo and took her hand. Ororo's eyes suddenly fluttered open as well. Once again, an odd reaction as if planned or determined by destiny to happen.
"Now Rogue!" the baldhead professor said with fury.
Footnote: Uhm, so this chapter is a bit not-so-focused-on-Storm but going through the entire medical process over a 9-hour period is kind of boring I think. So, I decided to do it like this. And uhm, as you can see, next chapter will hold the answers to a lot of questions, no doubt. :)
Author's Notes: Spending some quality time with Sierra.
...Continued
The morning sun rose bright in the sky over the ravage Xavier's Institute for the Gifted. There on the first floor was a broken window on the exterior of the red brick mansion. The landscaping was destroyed by winds, lightning storms, and struggle throughout the entire night. There in the driveway were the pieces of a motorcycle and fallen trees. Not only was the outside in horrible shape, but the expensive French doors that gave passage to the Library were also destroyed beyond a pricey repair.
The younger students awoke that morning, surprised that they had all slept through the obvious chaos of the late night events. All except Sierra and Darè, who found themselves waking up later than usual and late for their class schedules. With sunlight beaming through their windows, it was hard to imagine that something so devious had happened the night before in the very same place.
Sierra was the first to awaken from her slumber in her dorm room after all the other students had devoured breakfast and went to homeroom. "Oh my gosh," she said as she looked in the mirror to tired eyes and a bruise on her cheek, "Darè is not going to want to talk to me anymore and it's all that ditzy Ms. Grey's fault." Although she had been through quite a transaction the night before, she was still a teenager, and despite the occurring situations, she was more concerned with what a boy thought of her than her accomplishments. "That's alright though, Sierra," she said as she pampered herself and walked towards the girl's dorm bathroom, "You showed that Jean last night and Ms. Munroe - aye! Ms. Munroe... I wonder if she's okay."
As she stepped into the shower she recapped on the night's events before she fell to sleep from absolute exhaustion:
'After defeating Jean Grey so simply by putting her in a cold sleep, Ms. Munroe stood for a minute. I remember that part. The next thing I know, she fell to the ground. Darè ran to her side, and I felt jealous for a minute, before realizing that he was only injecting a special herb inside of her. For a moment I thought I saw her stop breathing. I was nearly panicking my head off until Mr. McCoy came to the window and looked out at the frozen witch and Ms. Munroe. I was so nervous I couldn't even explain what happened to him. So, he jumped out of the window like a jolly wilder beast and picked up Ms. Munroe's body. It was like something out of a stupid movie flick or something, like Ms. Munroe was meant to kill the stupid Jean! I mean, as soon as she defeated the ugly trick, everybody started to wake up. Rogue went over and carried Jean into some special cold isolation cell or something to keep her in that cold sleep. It's like Jean's a reptile or something. It'd be funny if she is. The next thing I know, Wolverine is behind me telling me I should get some sleep and I fall out in his arms. Aye! I hope Darè doesn't think I like him. Yuck, that's just disgusting. I can't believe he and Ms. Munroe are talking either. So anyway, the last time I opened my eyes before I woke up, I see somebody tucking me in bed but I can't make out the face because of the shadows. I hope it was Darè. Let me get out of this shower... I can't wait to see him!'
And that's what she did. Completing her shower, she made her way out of the bathroom after drying. With a large towel wrapped around her body and water dripping from her long hair, she lost thought of everything and everybody except Darè. There once more was another fascination for someone her age and in her situation.
She entered her dorm room and put on a pair of hip-hugger jeans and a halter-top. On her feet was a pair of black high-heeled boots. "Now to hide this ugly bruise," she said as she sat down at a vanity, exclusive to the female dorm. As she began to comb her hair in a way that it would cover he cheek, her mind began to wander again:
'I'm sure the news has spread all across the mutant community now. Geez, if we had our own newspaper it'd be the front headlines. -Xavier's Storm Kills Jean Grey-. Of course the media would always have to exaggerate things, even if a little bit. But I would think Mr. Summers would be back with a few words and optic blasts. It makes me wonder that he had something to do with it. He'd do anything for Jean... and that's just buck-wild. Now that looks better.'
She examined her hidden cheek under black hair and brown highlights. She looked into her own hazel eyes in the mirror and smiled, pleased with her appearance. Rising from her seat at the vanity, she looked at the alarm clock and noticed she was late for second period already. Sticking a small bottle of lip-gloss in her back pocket, she grabbed a History book and a notepad. Rushing out, she slammed the door behind her and ran down the hall. She must have been in the same predicament many times before, for even in the high heels she ran with much speed and consistency before crashing into Darè who was half-sleep. "Ow!" she said as she rubbed her forehead.
"What's the rush?" he asked with his hands in his baggy blue jean pockets, which cuffed at the bottom to cover his construction colored fashionable boots. A long shirt, as before, went down to his mid-thighs and a loose watch held onto his wrist where his hand started.
"History! You know how Ms. Munroe is!" she said, rushing the words out of my mouth and not really grasping Darè's point until he actually made it, himself.
"Ms. Munroe is in the med lab," he reminded her with dark brown eyes.
"Well let's go see her, cutie," she said as she grabbed his hand and pulled him with her towards the grand staircase, which led into the foyer of the Institute on the first floor. Quickly down the steps, nearly tripping over each other, the two young mutants found themselves in a rush to see how she was doing. Neither of them had been awake for the final diagnosis on her wellness.
As they ran, Darè hoped to himself that his work to give her a healing herb the night before had been potent enough to help fight off the virus. His boots made a thud against the floor as they finally landed in the foyer and ran towards the elevator. At many points, he heard his brain telling him to stop running, but his legs wouldn't respond. The adrenaline rush was beyond comprehension. His forehead frowned with wrinkles and gave him a headache as he worried that his attempts had been in vain.
After entering the elevator, they stood side-by-side with fast beating hearts, and countenances of anxiety. The same questions ran through their minds:
'Will Ororo be all right? What will Professor say when we come in during school hours? Mr. McCoy and Rogue? - I never saw that one coming. That's probably the only well kept secret around this place.'
DING. The elevator opened on the lower levels and the door swished open as the two teenage mutants walked down the hall with entwined fingers. The med lab was not far down from the elevator; it was in a convenient location for emergencies, which was its main purpose. When the approached the automatic metallic doors, they SWISHED open and revealed the mutants inside.
The two entered the room with wide eyes at the scene. Ororo was laying on a table/bed with a light blanket over her. There was a small cloud just hanging over her head, not doing anything. Every now and then she would squirm and groan, then wouldn't make another sound for a long time. She would just lay still as if she was dead. Then their eyes moved onto Beast. He was sitting at a desk, big and bulky, and writing with a pen, never giving the chance to look up. There was Rogue, right behind him, sitting in Indian style on the air.
On the other side of the room was Logan who kept extracting and retracting his adamantium claws from his knuckles. He would watch them glimmer and dance under the bright luminescent lights of the room, and then watch them go down in just as fast a motion. His healing abilities allowed him to endure the pain so easily, and the years of doing this over and over again had petitioned his nerves to deal with it. And there, next to Logan, was Remy. It looked as if he had just gotten off of a respirator, which was possible since Jean nearly suffocated him to death. Perhaps he did die somewhere in the process, the miracles of heaven and the growth of science.
Now the brown haired man was no longer on any type of respirator, instead, he was cleanly clothed and walking towards Ororo. No one in the room seemed to notice the teenagers until the door SWISHED open behind them, and Xavier appeared in the room on his familiar hovercraft wheelchair.
He had an angry appearance on his face as well. His blue eyes, which were once full of love, were now full of spite. One of his most trusted students had betrayed him and their entire family. He put his hand under the cloud that Ororo had undoubtedly created in her state of sleep, and on top of her warm forehead. Finally, her body heat was matching the fever that was building itself inside her body to try and purify her body of the virus that still plagued it. The unwanted Iodine seemed to stay in her blood as well.
His mind focused without a words to the students, even Sierra and Darè, and he began to enter Ororo's mind. What he found was not pleasant and surely not a daydream. Although the nightmares were no longer there as they were before, Ororo was continuously relapsing on her childhood and being buried under the rubble of a hotel. He heard every sound that Ororo heard: the sound of a counter-attack hitting a war plane and the crash that it made in the sky, the sudden rumbling of the entire apartment, and a loud vibration in the ears as the plane made it's way into the structure and everything began to cave in. He felt what she felt when the heat erupted from the plane's impact and the crushing of the heavy building against her young body. Everything was so real, right down to the feel of the tears against her face. He felt the warm stream of tears while he was in her mind and nearly exerted his own tears back in his wheelchair. For the first time, his mind actually felt Ororo's hidden pain. Perhaps this was the reason the tempest would never let her full fury unleash itself.
When he finally exited her mind, he took a deep breath, with white eyelids covering his icy blue orbs. He knew that all these thoughts had been released by Jean to destroy Ororo mentally so physically she would be no match. Ororo had conquered her fears well whilst in battle, but while sleeping they continued to haunt her, creating the small cloud that hovered over her head as she slept.
"Rogue, I want answers now! You have been keeping too many secrets and I have allowed you to keep them long enough without probing your mind. I want answers right here and right now!" Xavier yelled suddenly as he opened his eyes and moved his hovercraft to the middle of the room.
Sierra and Darè watched in shock as Hank turned around to face Rogue. Logan also stopped playing with his claws. Remy sat down on the table/bed next to Ororo and took her hand. Ororo's eyes suddenly fluttered open as well. Once again, an odd reaction as if planned or determined by destiny to happen.
"Now Rogue!" the baldhead professor said with fury.
Footnote: Uhm, so this chapter is a bit not-so-focused-on-Storm but going through the entire medical process over a 9-hour period is kind of boring I think. So, I decided to do it like this. And uhm, as you can see, next chapter will hold the answers to a lot of questions, no doubt. :)