Chapter 5: Vigil
By the time Rogue and Miss Marvel had fallen to the ground, Gambit was gone, and Kurt was left alone to deal with the two unconscious young women. Both were breathing, but Miss Marvel's pulse was rather weak. Kurt looked at Rogue, unsure of why she'd held on for so long. She'd said she couldn't let go, Kurt was unsure of why. He sighed, and pulled Rogue up from the ground, and held her for a time, his family, the sister he'd never had – never known of. He sat there for a time, not sure what to do for either young woman. He was not a doctor, and both were breathing, he sat there, with Rogue in his arms for a while just cradling her carefully, careful not to let their skin touch.
The school's van pulled up on the road near by, and four X-Men, Scott, Jean, Kitty and Evan poured out. "Kurt! What happened?" Jean asked frantically.
"We had an intruders," Kurt looked up at them, "Gambit and Miss Marvel…" he gestured nearby to where Miss Marvel's unconscious body lay spread out on the grass, bathed in moonlight.
"Are they both alright?" Scott asked, he walked over and knelt by Miss Marvel, he took a hold of her wrist and checked her pulse, "she's still alive…" he sighed in relief.
"Rogue used her powers on her," Kurt stated, he looked down at Rogue, Rogue's eyeliner was smeared and staining her cheeks, diluted by tears, "it must have knocked Miss Marvel clear unconscious – and Rogue…" he added sullenly.
"Lets get them both inside…" Scott suggested.
Kurt pulled himself up, and lifted Rogue.
Scott pulled Miss Marvel up, carefully, one arm supporting her back, the other under her knees, "how did they get past our alarm systems?" he asked of Kurt.
"I'm unsure…" Kurt stated, "All I know is they managed to somehow disable everything in the war room…"
"They WHAT!?!" Scott demanded, he looked at Kurt, gaping.
"They broke everything in there, it's going to take months to repair…" Kurt despaired, "even the Mansion's electricity is off…"
"We'll fix it, somehow," Jean decided, "We'll get this two to the hospital wing, first. Where are Logan and the Professor…or Beast?" she asked.
"They went to Boston, to find another Mutant…" Kurt answered, they entered the mansion quietly,
"Jean, can you sense any other intruders around?" Scott asked.
"None…" Jean looked around, "We're the only ones here…"
Kitty walked with her arms folded insecurely, "I don't understand why they were here, what did they want?" she asked curiously.
Kurt walked slowly, Rogue in his arms, her head tilted back, her hair fallen back from her face, "They wanted Rogue…Magneto wanted Rogue…"
"Just who is this Miss Marvel anyway?" Evan asked, "I've never heard of her before…"
"I don't know…" Kurt stated, "All I know is she works for Magneto…"
Kurt found himself an hour later, in the hospital wing, holding a silent vigil over Rogue, praying that she was alright, she looked pale, he'd never seen her look so bad – he held one of her hands, within both of his gloved hands, praying she'd be alright at least until the professor and the others returned. At his back, he heard Kitty step into the room, holding an old paraffin lantern.
"Is she alright?" Kitty asked, she walked over slowly.
Kurt sighed, and grasped Rogue's
hand tightly as if holding onto her would stop her from slipping away
completely – for all he knew she could be near death. "She has not moved or blinked, or even made any sound in this
last hour," he sighed, "I just do not understand why she could not let go of
Miss Marvel…she kept holding on, she could have killed her…"
"By the looks of Miss
Marvel, it looks like she nearly did,"
Kitty gestured to Miss Marvel, laying on the next bed. "She even looks dead…"
"She'd not dead, I checked her pulse ten minutes ago," Kurt responded, "don't say she's dead," he looked at her, "X-Men fight, but we don't kill people…" his eyes fell to Rogue.
"Kurt, you look tired – why don't you get some rest…I'll watch over Rogue…" Kitty offered.
"No…" Kurt shook his head, "I can't leave her, not now, not at least until I know she'll be alright…she's my family," he stated.
"I tried to get in touch with the Blackbird using my communicator, but all I'm getting is static," Kitty sat on the end of the bed Rogue was lying on.
"Gambit and Miss Marvel destroyed a lot of the computers in the War Room – I know that one of the computer systems runs the network for the communicators – if that's down, we're…screwed," he sighed.
Kitty fell silent for a moment and looked at Kurt, she swore she could see tears forming in his tawny eyes, "Something wrong…?" Kitty asked.
"This…is my fault…" Kurt took a breath, "I told her to use her powers…" a tear escaped, and disappeared into the fur on his cheek.
"Kurt, you said yourself earlier that if Rogue hadn't used her power you guys would have never stopped her – I mean you said she could fly – and was incredibly strong…" Kitty reminded.
"That's not the point!" Kurt yelled, then realised his tone of voice, and felt flustered for having lost his calm at Kitty. "The point is I told her to do it – and she did, and now she's lying here and I have no idea if she'll make it through the night…" he had a lump in his throat, he tried to swallow, it almost sounded as if he were trying not to sob. "And just before the both of them fell she pleaded for help – and I could only stand and watch…why didn't I help her?!" He demanded, both of Kitty and of himself.
"Kurt, you can't blame yourself for this…"
"But it is my fault…" he closed his eyes, and lowered his head solemnly.
Kitty stood up, she brushed her hand across Kurt's shoulder, "call me if you need me," she murmured, and then left by phasing through the floor, leaving Kurt to brood over Rogue's condition.
Scott and Jean were in the basement area trying to locate the mansion's main power source, there was a small tunnel near the hanger area they found themselves in.
"I don't understand why Rogue is so important to Magneto – or the Brotherhood, or anyone for that matter," Scott said, he shone his flashlight back and fourth across the small tunnel, trying to find a fuse box or something that would indicate where the power had been coming from.
"Scott, she's powerful, you've seen what the girl can do," Jean reminded him, "Remember at the concert when she began to take on all the powers and personalities of the people she'd absorbed all at once – she nearly manage to wipe us out…" Jean stopped, "here it is…I think this is the power source here," she held her flashlight up to it, there was black soot around the box, the door was hanging off, wires were melted and circuits blown, and there were little pieces of singed cardboard scattered around the area.
"Gambit…" Scott muttered, he sighed, "How are we going to fix this mess?"
"Don't we have a back up power source," Jean paused, "I'm sure I heard either Logan or the Professor mention something about a generator."
"Maybe, we'd have to keep searching though," Scott grabbed her hand and led her the other way out of the tunnel. "Have you heard anything from the professor yet?"
"Nothing, and I can't contact him, he must be too far out of my range…" Jean sighed, "He has no reason to believe anything is wrong back here…he wouldn't think he had to contact us so soon…"
"I just hope he's back soon…" Jean stepped out of the end of the tunnel, still holding Scott's hand. "I'm worried about Rogue's condition – and this other mutants condition too…I can sense something is terribly wrong…"
Scott stopped her, and looked at her, "what do you mean by 'terribly wrong'?" he asked, concern growing.
"I can't explain it…" Jean admitted, "things don't always appear clearly to me, my telepathy still needs to be honed – all I have is the feeling that something IS wrong."
Scott looked into Jean's green eyes, he could see she was worried, "Lets find this generator, then we can check on Rogue."
"Guys!"
Scott and Jean both felt their hearts jump in alarm when Kitty Pryde seemed to appear almost out of nowhere, she'd phased through one of the nearby walls.
"I think I found a generator!"