Hope Dawning
Disclaimer: Premise and characters are the property of Marvel, I'm just borrowing them for a bit of non-profit fun.
Thanks for the feedback: raniatlwm, Rex, T. Riddle, SkyDancerHawk, Sandoz, animeluvr1, MiracleChick, xfearddarknessx, Sophia, faster_is_better, The Midgar Demon, Dusty, Psyc, Ice Princess
Moira watched with discomfort as the infirmary she'd come to think of as her own was transformed into something out of a movie. She reminded herself that while Charles assured her that Mattie Baptiste's powers were mutant in origin the woman herself believed they came to her through her beliefs, which seemed rooted in an odd mix of Voodoo and Catholicism. And so Moira said nothing as the lights were turned off and candles were lit and as the smell of the herbs Mattie had hung overwhelmed the antiseptic smell of the med-lab. Moira held her tongue and kept her expression neutral as Mattie disconnected the various pieces of equipment monitoring Lance's condition, but when the Cajun healer went to remove the ventilator tube she had to protest. "You can't, he'll die!" Moira exclaimed.
"I read your notes," Mattie disagreed. "Yo' put dis t'ing in 'cause he was breathin' poorly an' yo' couldn' risk any further damage from oxygen deprivation, yo' left it in because he didn' wake an' dese t'ings can be frightful hard to get in when yo' really need dem. B'yond dat yo' had him stable an' feared any new shock might set off another seizure. Yo' don' believe in m' ways and I don' hold much wit' yours neither mais at least I know somet'ing of yours." Mattie turned to Lance patting him gently on the cheek. "Yo'll breathe for me won' yo' cher? I don' blame yo' a bit for not wantin' back wit' all dis muck and such about yo'."
Moira stared as she saw a faint glow pass from Mattie's hand to Lance then Xavier intervened telepathically. /Let her do as she wishes,/ he projected.
Moira bit her lip and held her breath as Mattie eased the respirator from Lance's throat. He exhaled then, after a terrifyingly long moment, drew a breath. Moira sagged with relief.
"Bien cher," Mattie told the boy. "Knew yo' weren' ready to pass on jus' yet, your friends need yo' too much."
Pietro glared at the digital clock in his room willing it to go faster. He paced around the small room. Feeling claustrophobic he took to the halls and found himself outside of Gambit's room. Remembering that the Cajun booby-trapped his door Pietro decided against bothering him.
The speed demon found his way to the common area and tried to settle down enough to watch TV. He skimmed through the channels so quickly the remote squealed in protest before giving up the ghost. Then he darted between the TV and the couch, manually channel surfing, fussing with the volume as he was torn between the impulse to make enough noise to wake someone else and the knowledge that almost everyone in the base was one irritation away from trying to kill him.
Several hours later Gambit wandered out of his room, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and yawning.
"Didshegetthere?Didshecall?CanshehelpLance?Ishebetter?IsRogueokay?Dotheyneedhelp?CanIhelp?ShouldIdosomething?CanIgohome?WasIgood?" Pietro exclaimed in a torrent of words.
Gambit gave a sleep-blurred sigh and stared blankly at the silver-haired teen. "Homme, I don' follow a t'ing yo' said."
"Lance. Your-Tante-Mattie. Rogue. The-Institute. What-do-you-know?" Pietro demanded.
Gambit brushed past him heading for the kitchen. "I need coffee, yo' need Ritalin den mebbe I can make some sense of what yo're sayin', non?"
With a near shriek of impatience Pietro latched onto Gambit's arm. "Your… Mattie… Did… She… Call?" he asked carefully measuring his words.
"She saw him, oui. Said he wants to live," Gambit said.
"That's-it!" Pietro exclaimed. "Of-course-Lance-wants-to-live! What-sort-of-idiot-news-is-that?"
" 'M not 'xplainin' bon," Gambit sighed understanding Pietro's tone more than his words. "De only times I 'member Tante Mattie not bein' able to help was when dey'd given up on livin'. From de stuff yo' said 'bout your Lance, it sounded like he t'ink dere be no hope, like he was tryin' his bes' to let go. What Mattie says is dat he ain't done it yet, he's still fightin' to live. Dat means Mattie be able to help."
"Really?" Pietro asked.
Gambit grinned. "Oui, really," he said ruffling Pietro's hair. "Don' yo' worry, it's gonna be a'right. Jus' wait, yo'll see, everyt'ing gonna work out."
"So how goes it with our visiting witch doctor?" McCoy asked.
Moira gave a frustrated sigh, but she was smiling. "She willna let me hook up my monitors or run any tests, it's difficult to say. However I'm certain there's been an increase in eye movements, as if Lance is dreaming again."
"That's excellent news," McCoy replied.
"Yes and sometimes I could swear his respiration changes when his friends come to visit. Arrh! A simple heart monitor could tell me so much," Moira exclaimed.
They walked past Rogue who was talking on the phone. "Well if yah see him, just tell him to call me alright? Ah know it's unusual, so's he. Yah can't miss him, tall, slender sixteen-year-old, with blue eyes and silver hair, he moves really fast…. No Ah don't mean that figuratively!"
Gambit stuck his head in the base's common room and cursed. Colossus was calmly painting; Pyro was laying back on the couch writing. The floor had a new set of scorch marks, which explained how they'd corralled Quicksilver.
The speed demon was sitting in the corner, securely tied to a chair and gagged. Pietro's eyes were rolled back until only the whites showed and he was breathing in quick panicky gasps around the gag.
"I told yo' not to do dat!" Gambit said darkly.
"Relax, 'Tooth's out," Pyro said. "You're pet's safe enough."
"Did yo' notice he was hyperventilating?" Gambit demanded stalking across the room and slicing through the ropes that bound Pietro with a pocketknife.
Quicksilver spat out the gag. "I-hate-you!" he announced. A moment later Pyro's notebook was shredded, Colossus' canvas was hanging around his neck, his paints were splattered across the room and Quicksilver was gone.
"Don' yo' t'ink havin' Chat torturing de kid be enough?" Gambit demanded of the pair.
"He should learn to behave like a sane adult," Colossus said glaring at the mess. "He cannot just bug us every time he gets bored."
"Come on Gambit, you handcuff him to his chair so he doesn't cheat at cards," Pyro said.
Gambit grasped the arm of the chair and easily tore it free. "Yo' mean dis?" he asked. "Handcuffing him to dat be a mite different dan mummifying de boy in ropes, oui?"
Pyro shrugged. Colossus looked away, ashamed. Gambit stormed out of the room muttering, "Now I got to find de kid and get him calm 'fore I can get anyt'ing done!"
"So, like, we're going back to school, not that anyone wants us there or anything." Kitty said sitting beside Lance, her legs tucked underneath her. "You don't have to worry about Fred or Todd, they opted out. Todd was sort of a given, I mean he was a magnet for bullies anyways and… Don't worry about it Lance, Todd and Fred are safe, they're staying here and giving Mr. McCoy fits."
Kitty smiled a little. "He had them identifying plants for bio, only you know Freddy, some of the stuff was editable. You'd think Mr. McCoy would learn after Toad and the insect collection idea. Still this one did go over better, Todd considers all insects editable and Freddy only eats certain plants."
"Tante Mattie says you're getting better, and Dr. MacTaggart grumbles a lot about no proper data, but she agrees, so you keep it up Lance. We all miss you." Kitty leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I love you. Goodnight, wake up soon."
When Lance's dark eyes blinked open Kitty screamed with delight, bring both healer and doctor running. "What is it?" Moira asked.
"Lance!" Kitty exclaimed pointing excitedly.
"Welcome back cher," Mattie said.
"We'll need to run some tests, a new MRI at least," Moira said, guiding a resistant Kitty toward the exit.
Mattie scowled. "Yo' want to scare him off 'gain wit' dose t'ings?"
"I've given ye so far but now we need actual information to determine what to expect."
"I want to stay," Kitty said.
"Not now cherie."
Kitty found herself unceremoniously pushed out into the hall and told to wait. Then she realized that no one had spread the news yet. She took off up the stairs at a sprint. "Todd! Fred!" she yelled startling the various students moving back into the Mansion's upper levels. "Lance opened his eyes! Where are Todd and Fred!"
"Oh Kitty, that's wonderful," Jean said smiling.
"Dr. MacTaggart and Tante Mattie are checking on him now. But he opened his eyes, I didn't think that was ever going to happen!" Kitty exclaimed. "Where are the guys?"
"Upstairs, setting up their room," Kurt said. "I'll get them." He popped out with a bamf.
"What's the hubbub," Logan asked coming in with Scott.
Kitty grabbed Logan's arms and tried to spin him around. "Lance is waking up!"
"Yippee!" Todd hollered taking a flying leap from the second story landing to the chandelier.
"We just got that up!" Logan grumbled. "…Oh, go ahead."
"For real?" Fred asked Kitty.
"He opened his eyes!" Kitty repeated.
"Alright!" Fred cheered, grabbing up the closest person in a bear hug.
"Put me down yah big lummox," Rogue laughed, cheerfully pounding on his shoulder.
Scott stood back grinning delightedly at the chaos.
"So-what-are-we-doing?" Pietro asked as Gambit kept watch over a building the other side of the street.
"Dis be a new group," Gambit replied. "De Friends of Humanity, dey call demselves. De last meetin' dere was a lit'le girl with purple skin found in a dumpster 'bout three blocks 'way de morning afterwards. We're letting dem know dat sort of t'ing won' be tolerated.
"So what are we waiting for?" Pietro asked.
"Dere's still stragglers comin' in," Gambit replied. "Don' want anyone to feel left out."
"What are we going to do?" Pietro asked a moment later.
"Yo're going to set in de car and be quiet," Gambit replied.
"You just brought me for company?" Quicksilver asked sarcastically.
Gambit shrugged. "Figured yo' could use a break from your Pere an' Sabretooth. Plus de other two paid me to keep yo' out of deir hair for a bit."
"I want half," Pietro immediately replied. "I did all the work to annoy them, I should get paid too."
"Yo' t'ink we could turn dis into a business, Red Chief?" Gambit laughed.
"It's not like it's hard," Pietro replied. "I mean I don't even do anything and they're all mad."
"Yo' were pacing 'gain?" Gambit asked.
Pietro shrugged, his cheeks flushing slightly. "I-can't-help-it. Dad-never-lets-me-go-out. You-keep-telling-me-I-gotta-wait. I-never-meant-for-Lance-to-get-hurt-or-any-of-it. All-this-stuff-just-happened. I-hate-it-with-Magneto. I-want-to-go-home,-but-I-can't. I-don't-have-any-right-to-unless-I-make-it-better, unless Lance gets better."
"I know how yo' feel," Gambit said softly. "I had a job once, real simple little t'ing, just keep an eye on m' baby cousin while he pulled his first big B&E. Shouldn' have been any big deal. Mais I got 'stracted by a girl. Really t'ought I loved dat femme too. Dey're both dead now, 'cause I didn't make de right choice. Still lookin' for some way to make t'ings right, me… Looks like dat was de last of dem. Wait here."
"I'm here, I might as well help."
"Got it under control, Silver-kid."
"Come-on, come-on, lemme-help!"
"Non!"
"Why not?"
"Look Silver, yo' stay put, or else," Gambit threatened, his eyes taking on a heighten glow then he slid out of the car and disappeared into the shadows. Pietro sat in the car and sulked, but a cold feel in the pit of his stomach kept him in his place.
Gambit worked his way around the building, picking and choosing different parts of the structure to charge. Then he returned to the car, his mouth tight with concentration.
"So what did you do?" Pietro asked reluctantly as they drove off.
Gambit sighed letting the tension go out his body and released the charges he'd planted around the building, behind them a number of explosions went off.
Pietro scrambled into the back seat of the staring at the building as it collapsed in on itself. In a matter of seconds it had been effectively demolished. After a shocked pause Pietro said. "They're all dead aren't they."
"Most of dem, probably," Gambit said quietly. Silence held sway for several minutes then Gambit sighed. "Don' t'ink 'bout it Silver. Dey started it. We couldn' let dem t'ink dey could get away wit' killing us. She was only eight years old. It was dem. Dey deserved to die. 'M not like Chat, I didn' enjoy what I just did. They had to be stopped."
"You-trying-to-convince-me-or-yourself?" Pietro asked.
"M' eyes were dis color when I was born, mais I didn't get m' power 'til I was fourteen. De girl was helpless 'gainst dem."
Another uncomfortable silence descended.
"I hear your girl's been trying to get in touch wit' yo'," Gambit said changing the subject. "It wouldn't be hard to stop off an' call her for we head back."
Scott worked loose the hasp on the air vent screen then lowered himself into the med lab.
Lance glared furiously at the X-Men's field leader. "Yeah, I know, you don't want visitors," Scott replied grabbing a seat on the edge of a counter. "Which explains why I came in through the vent instead of the door. You're totally freaking out your friends and Kitty by the way. You're lucky I helped Wolverine with the security system or I wouldn't have been able to get in here."
Lance snorted, scowling at Scott's definition of lucky.
"Well if you're going to be anti-social, I'll make this quick," Scott said. "I don't know if anyone's told you yet, but Pietro's alive. I figured you'd want to know."
Lance's expression became less hostile and Scott thought he saw grudging relief in the other boy's eyes.
"You were right when you said we needed you on the rescue," Scott continued. "If you hadn't of come, things would have gone a lot worse. We probably all would have ended up trapped there or there would have been casualties. If you don't believe me there are about a hundred hours of simulator footage on the computer to prove it."
"Why?" Lance asked haltingly, his expression showing confusion.
Scott glanced away for a moment. "I don't like loosing teammates any more than you do," he said quietly. "And I'm more than enough of a perfectionist to spend weeks trying to figure out how I screwed up. I was sure I must have done something wrong or not seen something and that was why you ended up hurt. The thing is, I couldn't find it. I couldn't figure out a single way to be sure of getting everyone out of there without your help. I thought you should know that."
With that Scott climbed back into the air vent, leaving Lance behind to think about what had been said.
"Bonjour, may I speak wit' Rogue?" Gambit asked shaking his head as he watched Pietro fidget.
"Who may I say is calling," Jean asked formally, but Gambit heard an edge of caution underneath the schooled politeness.
"Why chere tell her it be her boyfriend calling," Gambit grinned at the sudden frown on Pietro's face, for once he was truly grateful for the silver-haired teen's rapidly shifting focus of attention. While the boy had truly been disturbed by the bombing his longer held concerns about Lance quickly replaced those thoughts in his mind and in a few hours they were back to normal.
"Quicksilver, if this is you that's the cheesiest fake accent I've ever heard," Jean exclaimed. "And what makes you think Rogue, or anyone else here, wants to talk to you?"
"Chere de accent be real an' who's dis Quicksilver? Are yo' tellin' me m' girl is two-timin' me?"
"Shut up!" Pietro hissed. "We-said-childhood-friend-'member-childhood-friend-saw-her-on-TV-got-worried-'member-that?"
"Are you talking to someone else?" Jean asked suspiciously.
"Only yo' chere," Gambit replied. "Mais de pest are fair thick where 'M calling from. Now yo' goin' to get Rogue or keep on running up de phone bill? I can hang up an' call back collect, I ain't got dat many quarters yo' know."
"Alright, I'm getting her," Jean said.
"Gimme-the-phone!" Pietro demanded. Gambit grinned holding it out of reach. Pietro dash around him snatched it away in a move to fast to be seen. "Like-that'd-work-on-me," he scoffed. "You're-such-a-pain!"
"Who the hell is this?" Rogue demanded.
"Rogue?" Pietro asked.
"Finally!" Rogue exclaimed. "Ah been leaving messages for weeks, Kitty and the guys told me yah got out okay, but yah could've called, ah was worried."
"I've-been-stuck-on-the-base. So-is-Lance-better? Don't-lie-please."
"He's awake," Rogue said. "It happened last night. Kitty found out she really can walk on air."
"So-he's-okay?"
Rogue hesitated.
"Lance is okay right?" Pietro asked.
"Well, um, the Doc, Tante Mattie and the Prof all say everything looks okay," Rogue hedged. "As far as they can see there ain't nothing stopping him from making a full recovery. He's just forgotten some things."
"Like what?" Pietro demanded.
Lance reached for the cup sitting on the table, his encountered only empty space, with a frown he swept his hand across the surface until his fingers brushed against the cup cursing in the privacy of his own head. He concentrated intently as his fingers grudgingly closed around the smooth plastic cylinder then watched in disgust as the cup tumbled from his hand a moment later.
"That was much better, don't you think?" McCoy asked encouragingly.
Lance glared, reaching for his powers to express his feelings about his progress, not caring about the consequences.
/I'd rather not knock you out again,/ Xavier projected. /Even though your powers are no longer a danger to you, you don't have control over them. You are being sought by the police here remember? When you begin working on re-mastering you're mutant abilities we'll have to find some place less suspicious than Bayville./
"Please try again Lance," McCoy said setting the cup back within easy reach of the teen.
Lance paused, forcing himself to speak without slurring the words. "Can't, leave me alone!"
"I know this is frustrating," McCoy sighed.
Lance sent the cup flying across the room with a violent swing of his arm that overbalanced him, sending him tumbling to the floor.
Beast leapt the table between them. "Are you alright?" he asked reaching out to lift Lance back into his seat.
Lance curled in on himself, making things as difficult as he could. "Go away!" he yelled.
/Hank, give him some room,/ Xavier projected.
McCoy grimaced unhappily, forcing himself not to help as Lance collected himself with painful slowness. He rolled to his feet then using the table managed to pull himself upright. "I'm fine," he growled.
"So you are. Does this mean you're ready to continue?" McCoy asked neutrally.
"Yeah," Lance sighed letting McCoy resettle the chair and offer him a supporting arm as he sat.
/You were right Charles,/ McCoy though placing the cup back on the table. /Just blowing off a little steam, as usual./
He sighed at Lance's intense scowl of concentration as the teen struggled with a task that should have been effortless. "I know this isn't easy and it feels like it's taking forever, but you really are doing amazingly well." McCoy told Lance, earning a death glare. "I am merely being factual, in just over two weeks you've come so far. When you first awoke you had no motor control at all, and now, through sheer stubbornness I believe, you are walking again and when you do choose to speak you're perfectly clear. The fine motor control, hand-eye coordination and balance will all come back to you, just give it a little time."