Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men
characters. Also thank you to my good friend Corrinth for the use of her
creation Ilehana Xavier, aka Vixen, she makes a very good doctor!
A/N: I'd like to take this opportunity to firmly plug Corrinth's story 'The Ties of Mutant Blood', its good, check it out!
Scene Two
She was dreaming. She knew she was. But at the same time the dream was so real it was as though she could almost reach out and take his hand, her comrade of old. She felt it from him too, that aching loss when souls so long together are tormented from too long apart.
**I've really messed up. It happened again... ** She tried to keep her voice neutral, but a lump rose in her throat and her voice quivered. She was afraid, and he knew it.
**Shhush, Blaze. It's not your fault. ** His voice tore at her heart, that soft voice she missed so much. She reached out, hoping for just the briefest touch of his hand, but the dream was fading.
**No! ** She grabbed at the dream, clinging on with all her might.
**It's okay, little one. It will be okay... **
"How can it be, when I'm so alone?"
"You're not alone, I am right here." A woman's voice, richly accented, was one that Blaze vaguely recognised. Blaze hadn't realised she was speaking out loud. She tried to open her eyes. "No, don't try and move. You've been badly hurt."
"Who are you? Where am I?" Her throat cracked, her voice was dry and long unused.
"My name is Storm. You are safe, relax, no one will hurt you here. Go back to sleep..."
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Nightmare took her, deep in the night when all the school slept. It was a nightmare she had had before, but knowing the outcome made it only the more terrifying. Blaze found herself back in her own room, in her parent's house in England. Cheesy pop music pounded out of her stereo, as she lay on her belly on her bed, face hidden in her pillows, soft cotton absorbing her tears. Even above the music she could still hear her mother laughing downstairs with a man who was not her father.
Suddenly the front door slammed. But her father wasn't due home until much later. Fifteen year old Blaze lifted her head, just in time to hear her mother scream in surprise. Raised voices, arguing, her mother's friend trying to leave, anger from her parents, each directing the blame at the other.
Blaze's tears ran hot down her face. The palms of her hands prickled. Her head throbbed with anger, hatred, upset, and most of all betrayal. In her belly dragon's fire itself began to consume her, eating her from the inside out. Still downstairs voices yelled, things were smashed; perhaps her mother's best china, or the vase Blaze's grandmother had bequeathed them.
Blaze could control herself no longer. All her walls, her unconscious barriers that kept herself separate from the world around her, were burnt up in a ball of painful flame. It was like being the centre of a star, fire flew all around her, burning, destroying. But, as though in slow motion, Blaze sat calm and empty, unharmed in the midst of the maelstrom.
Downstairs the arguing stopped. Screams of outright terror, screams of the dying greeted the wave of fire and flame. Then, after a while, all was quiet...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"How is our patient this morning?" Professor Charles Xavier tried to keep his voice calm and optimistic as he entered the infirmary, but he already knew something was gravely wrong. Some dreams were so powerful that even the most well controlled telepaths could not guard against witnessing them.
"Not good Professor," Storm was a competent nurse, Jean had seen to that before she... But this young woman she had rescued three days ago was worsening, and Storm hated feeling helpless. "She spoke to me yesterday evening, but now..."
"Dad," Dr. Ilehana Xavier put down the equipment she was toying with and addressed the Professor calmly. "The bullet wound is the least of our problems. Her metabolism runs perhaps twice as fast as normal, in order to fuel her power. Right now, when it should be helping her to heal more quickly, it's beginning to shut down instead. We have her on a glucose- saline drip to try and kick start it again, but its not working as we would like." Ilehana paused, her predatory eyes locking with her father's trusting ones. "If she doesn't want to come back to us, there is only one person here who could perhaps change her mind."
Xavier took her meaning. He was so very proud of his daughter, but sometimes she did ask the most difficult things of him. He flicked the control lever on his electric wheelchair into forward. The two women stood back from the bed as he approached it, intent on the peaceful expression on the patient's face. In dark contrast he could almost feel the turmoil of the lost soul deep inside this mystery girl. Without looking away, he addressed Storm again.
"Storm, you said she spoke to you? What did she say?"
"She said, 'How can it be, when I am so alone?' " The desperateness of those few words had tormented Storm all night long. "And then she asked who I was, and where was she. I told her my name, and that she was safe. Then she went back into the coma."
"Hum." Xavier went around to the top of the bed, and with great care placed his hands around the young woman's head. Storm stood still, intent on the tableaux, but Ilehana turned away to busy herself across the room. She refused to intrude on such a private moment between her father and this new mutant. Slowly, the Professor composed himself, before gently initiating telepathic contact.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It was almost like diving into a deep, dark ocean. An ocean of secrets waiting to be explored. Xavier rebuked himself; he must resist the temptation, the pull of another's memories, knowledge and feelings. He had a job to do, and this mutant needed him.
Opening his mental self, he sent out searching tendrils with which to find the girl's conscious mind. Somewhere in the darkness, someone pulled back sharply from the touch of his net. A weak pulse of revulsion, **what are you doing here? ** The weakness of the response worried Xavier, if he didn't find her soon she would be gone forever, she had withdrawn so far into herself.
He set off to follow the tendril that had got so close. Images, memories, feelings that he had no right to witness assaulted his senses. Still she pulled back from his efforts, making Xavier more uncomfortable. He did not want to intrude on her, but he was doing this for her own good.
**I am trying to save you! **
Another consciousness seemed to brush at Xavier's intruding mind. Someone else was here? But as quickly as Xavier tried to investigate, it was gone again. Resolutely Xavier pushed on after the girl, he must have imagined the presence.
Diving deep into that ocean, pulled and buffeted by emotions and temptations, Xavier found himself almost struggling to remember who he was. But he would not stop his search; all the time he could feel the girl's energy being drained. The more she sought to hide from him, the faster she seemed to be dying. In utter urgency he made one last deep dive into her most secret mind. There, alone and cowering, he found her.
**You do not belong here... ** Her voice was weak; she was so nearly gone.
**Blaze, ** He did not know where the knowledge of her name came from, but again another, third person seemed almost to be present. **Blaze, you can trust me. I come only to help you. **
**How can I trust you? Look what you have done... **
She was right, how could he ask her for her trust when he had intruded so far into her mind without permission?
**...I don't even know who you are. **
He knew then what to offer her. He gave her himself, showed her his ideals of a world where mutants and humans could live together in peace. He showed her his precious school, growing every day to better serve the mutant children who called it home. Xavier presented 'his' children, his pupils whom he loved so much. He offered up Bobby and Rogue's blossoming relationship, Kitty's joy at solving a particularly hard algebra equation, Jubilee's love of music. He gave her Scott's honour, Storm's courage, Nightcrawler's faith, and Logan's wiry humour. He revealed to her Jean, and the ways each and every member of the academy mourned her passing. He showed her his precious Ilehana, his pride and love for her. And finally Xavier offered his one true love, Ilehana's mother, his wife now dead so many years, who he missed so much...
It worked. Not only had it gained Blaze's attention, but the illusive presence was transfixed also. Xavier felt two minds brush gently just out of his reach. Then the presence was gone, and Blaze was reaching out to Xavier.
**Help me? ** So softly uttered, as though she was ashamed. Without answering Xavier took her conscious in his metaphorical hand, and struck out for the surface. Gently he placed her back where she should have been all along. He showed her how to take control again of her own body. Then he left her, going back to his own mind, suddenly so tired.
A/N: I'd like to take this opportunity to firmly plug Corrinth's story 'The Ties of Mutant Blood', its good, check it out!
Scene Two
She was dreaming. She knew she was. But at the same time the dream was so real it was as though she could almost reach out and take his hand, her comrade of old. She felt it from him too, that aching loss when souls so long together are tormented from too long apart.
**I've really messed up. It happened again... ** She tried to keep her voice neutral, but a lump rose in her throat and her voice quivered. She was afraid, and he knew it.
**Shhush, Blaze. It's not your fault. ** His voice tore at her heart, that soft voice she missed so much. She reached out, hoping for just the briefest touch of his hand, but the dream was fading.
**No! ** She grabbed at the dream, clinging on with all her might.
**It's okay, little one. It will be okay... **
"How can it be, when I'm so alone?"
"You're not alone, I am right here." A woman's voice, richly accented, was one that Blaze vaguely recognised. Blaze hadn't realised she was speaking out loud. She tried to open her eyes. "No, don't try and move. You've been badly hurt."
"Who are you? Where am I?" Her throat cracked, her voice was dry and long unused.
"My name is Storm. You are safe, relax, no one will hurt you here. Go back to sleep..."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Nightmare took her, deep in the night when all the school slept. It was a nightmare she had had before, but knowing the outcome made it only the more terrifying. Blaze found herself back in her own room, in her parent's house in England. Cheesy pop music pounded out of her stereo, as she lay on her belly on her bed, face hidden in her pillows, soft cotton absorbing her tears. Even above the music she could still hear her mother laughing downstairs with a man who was not her father.
Suddenly the front door slammed. But her father wasn't due home until much later. Fifteen year old Blaze lifted her head, just in time to hear her mother scream in surprise. Raised voices, arguing, her mother's friend trying to leave, anger from her parents, each directing the blame at the other.
Blaze's tears ran hot down her face. The palms of her hands prickled. Her head throbbed with anger, hatred, upset, and most of all betrayal. In her belly dragon's fire itself began to consume her, eating her from the inside out. Still downstairs voices yelled, things were smashed; perhaps her mother's best china, or the vase Blaze's grandmother had bequeathed them.
Blaze could control herself no longer. All her walls, her unconscious barriers that kept herself separate from the world around her, were burnt up in a ball of painful flame. It was like being the centre of a star, fire flew all around her, burning, destroying. But, as though in slow motion, Blaze sat calm and empty, unharmed in the midst of the maelstrom.
Downstairs the arguing stopped. Screams of outright terror, screams of the dying greeted the wave of fire and flame. Then, after a while, all was quiet...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"How is our patient this morning?" Professor Charles Xavier tried to keep his voice calm and optimistic as he entered the infirmary, but he already knew something was gravely wrong. Some dreams were so powerful that even the most well controlled telepaths could not guard against witnessing them.
"Not good Professor," Storm was a competent nurse, Jean had seen to that before she... But this young woman she had rescued three days ago was worsening, and Storm hated feeling helpless. "She spoke to me yesterday evening, but now..."
"Dad," Dr. Ilehana Xavier put down the equipment she was toying with and addressed the Professor calmly. "The bullet wound is the least of our problems. Her metabolism runs perhaps twice as fast as normal, in order to fuel her power. Right now, when it should be helping her to heal more quickly, it's beginning to shut down instead. We have her on a glucose- saline drip to try and kick start it again, but its not working as we would like." Ilehana paused, her predatory eyes locking with her father's trusting ones. "If she doesn't want to come back to us, there is only one person here who could perhaps change her mind."
Xavier took her meaning. He was so very proud of his daughter, but sometimes she did ask the most difficult things of him. He flicked the control lever on his electric wheelchair into forward. The two women stood back from the bed as he approached it, intent on the peaceful expression on the patient's face. In dark contrast he could almost feel the turmoil of the lost soul deep inside this mystery girl. Without looking away, he addressed Storm again.
"Storm, you said she spoke to you? What did she say?"
"She said, 'How can it be, when I am so alone?' " The desperateness of those few words had tormented Storm all night long. "And then she asked who I was, and where was she. I told her my name, and that she was safe. Then she went back into the coma."
"Hum." Xavier went around to the top of the bed, and with great care placed his hands around the young woman's head. Storm stood still, intent on the tableaux, but Ilehana turned away to busy herself across the room. She refused to intrude on such a private moment between her father and this new mutant. Slowly, the Professor composed himself, before gently initiating telepathic contact.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It was almost like diving into a deep, dark ocean. An ocean of secrets waiting to be explored. Xavier rebuked himself; he must resist the temptation, the pull of another's memories, knowledge and feelings. He had a job to do, and this mutant needed him.
Opening his mental self, he sent out searching tendrils with which to find the girl's conscious mind. Somewhere in the darkness, someone pulled back sharply from the touch of his net. A weak pulse of revulsion, **what are you doing here? ** The weakness of the response worried Xavier, if he didn't find her soon she would be gone forever, she had withdrawn so far into herself.
He set off to follow the tendril that had got so close. Images, memories, feelings that he had no right to witness assaulted his senses. Still she pulled back from his efforts, making Xavier more uncomfortable. He did not want to intrude on her, but he was doing this for her own good.
**I am trying to save you! **
Another consciousness seemed to brush at Xavier's intruding mind. Someone else was here? But as quickly as Xavier tried to investigate, it was gone again. Resolutely Xavier pushed on after the girl, he must have imagined the presence.
Diving deep into that ocean, pulled and buffeted by emotions and temptations, Xavier found himself almost struggling to remember who he was. But he would not stop his search; all the time he could feel the girl's energy being drained. The more she sought to hide from him, the faster she seemed to be dying. In utter urgency he made one last deep dive into her most secret mind. There, alone and cowering, he found her.
**You do not belong here... ** Her voice was weak; she was so nearly gone.
**Blaze, ** He did not know where the knowledge of her name came from, but again another, third person seemed almost to be present. **Blaze, you can trust me. I come only to help you. **
**How can I trust you? Look what you have done... **
She was right, how could he ask her for her trust when he had intruded so far into her mind without permission?
**...I don't even know who you are. **
He knew then what to offer her. He gave her himself, showed her his ideals of a world where mutants and humans could live together in peace. He showed her his precious school, growing every day to better serve the mutant children who called it home. Xavier presented 'his' children, his pupils whom he loved so much. He offered up Bobby and Rogue's blossoming relationship, Kitty's joy at solving a particularly hard algebra equation, Jubilee's love of music. He gave her Scott's honour, Storm's courage, Nightcrawler's faith, and Logan's wiry humour. He revealed to her Jean, and the ways each and every member of the academy mourned her passing. He showed her his precious Ilehana, his pride and love for her. And finally Xavier offered his one true love, Ilehana's mother, his wife now dead so many years, who he missed so much...
It worked. Not only had it gained Blaze's attention, but the illusive presence was transfixed also. Xavier felt two minds brush gently just out of his reach. Then the presence was gone, and Blaze was reaching out to Xavier.
**Help me? ** So softly uttered, as though she was ashamed. Without answering Xavier took her conscious in his metaphorical hand, and struck out for the surface. Gently he placed her back where she should have been all along. He showed her how to take control again of her own body. Then he left her, going back to his own mind, suddenly so tired.
