Chapter 5: Flatlining

             "Another cup of coffee?" Kitty Pryde asked.

             Remy LeBeau gave a vague nod.  They were still in the kitchen, it was past 2am.  The mansion had fallen silent, although it seemed everyone was probably in bed, Kitty had a feeling a lot of the students would be awake, thinking about Rogue, and what had gone wrong – just like she and Remy were.

Remy looked now like a zombie, he'd cried until his tears had ran dry.  Now he felt so, numb, it almost felt as if Rogue were already dead.  He'd come to realise Kitty was right, it was his fault.  He should have been honest with Rogue instead of convincing himself lying to her was really for her sake rather than his.

             Kitty was tired, but she kept pressing herself to stay up – just in case something happened.  Kitty didn't want to admit she just didn't want to go to sleep and wake up to the news that Rogue didn't make it through the night.  Kitty wasn't sure, but she had assumed Remy felt the same way.  Neither of them had really said anything to each other, they sat in silence, continuing to sip coffee, and they waited – hoping for news on Rogue's condition.

             Kitty took a hold of the coffee pot, and walked over to Remy's side of the table, pouring the black steaming hot liquid into the mug before him.

             Remy put his hands around the cup, looking into it. 

             "Are you okay?" Kitty finally asked, it was the first time she'd asked him how he felt since they'd learned Rogue may die.

             Remy gave a shrug, he wasn't sure how to answer, really.  The elders of his guild had always taught him to answer the question of 'are you okay' with a positive response, even if you weren't, just to be polite, or just to hide how you were really feeling.  Part of Remy wanted to yell 'no I'm not okay, my girlfriend is going to die, and it's my fault'.  But he didn't say a word, he just stared into his coffee, a black pool he couldn't even see the bottom of.  He wished he could leap into the cup and drown himself in the black liquid, let it fill his lungs and let him sink to the bottom, out of sight.

             Kitty went back to her seat, she was silent for a few moments, she sipped her own freshly poured coffee, and then stated, "I'm sorry…"

             "For?"

             "Losing my temper," Kitty traced a scratch in the table with her fingernail, "I guess my nerves are a little raw today."
             "Likewise," Remy nodded, never looking at her, his eyes down on the table.  "Y'know…I don't get it.  It's like…god has had it in for me and Rogue from the beginning."

             "You're bringing God into this?" Kitty raised an eyebrow.

             "God gave her the worst powers any mutant could ever have…not even the cool powers you have, not even the animal senses or healing powers Wolverine has…and if she'd been given powers that she could have had some control over, none of this would have ever happened – because I wouldn't have been here…if she hadn't had those powers, Magneto would have never sent me and Carol to fight with her – which eventually led me here...and she'd have been fine…"

             "Back up…" Kitty stopped Remy, her voice loud and she seemed more alert than she had been in the last hour, "what did you just say?"

             "That none of this would have ever happened if she'd had powers she could have had some control over...?" Remy asked.

             "Like Wolverines…" Kitty set her jaw, and raised both eyebrows.

             "Yeah…"

             "You thinkin' what I am?" Kitty looked at Remy.

             "I don't know what you're thinking," Remy shrugged.

             "Don't you GET it?!" Kitty asked, "Logan has a healing factor, any injury he sustains, any illness he gets, heals away within a matter of hours, sometimes even minutes…" Kitty explained.

             "I don't know what this has to do with anything," Remy looked back to the coffee cup sullenly.

             "Duh," Kitty stood up quickly, "c'mon!"

             "Where are we going," Remy stood up as well.

             Kitty left the Kitchen in a fast pace, heading down to the foyer, and finding a second hallway off to the corner, "when you went to get Hank earlier, I was trying to take Rogue's pulse…and I touched her…and even when she was dying, she was still able to absorb my powers," Kitty said, "I felt it."

             Remy stopped, "so you're…saying…"

             "I'm saying that if she could do that to me, there's a good chance that she can absorb Logan's healing factor enough to repair the damage to her liver and reverse the effects of the painkillers in her system!"

             Remy's mouth dropped, "Kitty, you're a fucking genius!"

             "No, you are!" Kitty pointed at him, "You're the one who said it – it just took your saying me to conclude it!"

             Remy scooped Kitty up into his arms and hugged her, "you may just have saved her life."

             "Wait," Kitty pushed him back, "we still don't know if its going to work…"
             "Worth a try," Kitty began to run down to the hallway.  The hospital wing door was closed, and she opened it without even having knocked.  Professor Xavier was sitting in his wheelchair by Rogue's bed.  Hank was going through some medical text book seemingly looking for some kind of method of keeping Rogue alive.

             "Kitty…I believe I left orders that you should not come here…"

             Remy came up behind Kitty, they couldn't speak for a moment.  Rogue was laying upon the hospital bed, they'd seen her in that same bed what seemed like a thousand times, as if she'd never been out of the infirmary in her life.  Right now, it was the worst they'd ever seen her.  Her skin looked almost sunken, still clammy, still pale, her eyes darkened, her mouth dry.  Remy's eyes welled up.

             Kitty pulled herself together, despite the urge to cry again, "Professor, I think I have an idea," she admitted.

             "Kitty, please…this is not the time for the discussion of anything…" Professor Xavier said sternly.

             "Logan's healing factor might save her!" Kitty yelled.

             Professor Xavier and Hank looked at each other, and then back to Kitty.

             "She absorbed my power, even when she's so weak, her powers are still kicking in – I felt it myself," Kitty explained, "me and Remy reckon it could work…"

             "Even if she could absorb his powers…there might not be enough time for the healing factor to repair the damage to her liver," Hank stated, "she's so weak, and her powers are weakening with her."A

             "Isn't it worth trying?" Kitty asked, "She has no chance if she doesn't, but if Logan touches her, it might increase those chances…"

             Professor Xavier looked at Kitty, "Go get Logan…"

             Kitty smiled and rushed off in a sprint.

             Remy walked over to the bed slowly, she looked so deathlike in her sedated sleep, he was afraid it might already be too late, yet the hospital equipment around her seemed to indicate she was alive – but just barely.  The EKG machine monitoring her heart showed how often her heart was beating, which hardly seemed enough.  A soft, weak beep, a long pause, then another beep.  His tears broke once again, and as he leaned over her to look at her, one of his tears splashed on her face.

             "Remy…perhaps you should not be here," Hank suggested.

             Remy ignored Hank's words, he leaned close to Rogue, and whispered near her ear, "Chere, if you make it through this, I promise you I'll never lie to you again, I will tell you every secret I have…" his voice soft, he chewed his lip, looking at her closed eyes, "I know you gotta be able to hear me, even though you're sleepin', and you're gonna hold me to that promise for the rest of our lives…" he hoped Hank and Professor Xavier could not hear him.  "Just pull through…" he pleaded, "and I will do whatever it takes to be with you, 'cause without you, my life isn't worth living anyway…" his tears speckled her pillow. 

Remy reached into his pocket, and took out the cross she'd thrown at him during their argument.  He dropped it into her hand, which was turned slightly upwards.  With bare, trembling fingers, he closed her bare hand around the silver cross.  Surprised the sensations of her power draining mutant abilities were so weak he could almost barely feel it, he hardly felt weakened at all as he normally would.

             "Professor…she's weakening…" Remy's voice cracked under the emotion, he held onto Rogue's hand, hoping that perhaps if he held on long enough she could draw on some of his strength to survive on.

             "I know," Professor Xavier gave a solemn nod.

             Logan and Kitty rushed through the door.

             "Logan—" Professor Xavier was about to begin to explain what Kitty had proposed.

             "Kitty already told me on the way down," Logan was slightly breathless, "You think this will work?"

             "In her weakened state she might not be able to draw on enough of your healing factor to counter act the damage already done," Professor Xavier explained, "But…it is the only hope we have."

             "Fine," Logan said, "move back, Cajun," he said.

             Remy stepped back from Rogue, letting go of her hand unwillingly.

             Logan drew his breath, "okay, Kiddo…" he looked at Rogue, "this better work…'cause it's not your time to die."

             Logan placed a hand on each side of Rogue's face, closing his eyes, bracing himself for the draining sensations he'd felt every other time Rogue had touched him.  "it's not working…" he said in concern.

             "Don't let go…" Kitty said, "she's weaker…it takes longer to kick in…"

             Logan frowned, "come on, Rogue, this is the one time you NEED to rely on your powers…"

             Kitty reached for Remy's hand and grasped it tightly in her own, he squeezed her hand.

             "C'mon…" Kitty whispered at Rogue.  "You can do this…"

             Suddenly, they were all aware of the beeping on the EKG machine, it was picking up, the pauses growing shorter, and the beeps almost seemed far louder than before.  They turned towards the monitor, watching the green line zigzagging up and down wildly.  Rogue convulsed in the bed, and suddenly a look of trauma set upon Logan's face, his eyes wide, he too convulsing, his hands. 

             "Pull him away!" Professor Xavier ordered to Hank, suddenly afraid Rogue might absorb Logan completely into her – the same way she had done so to Miss Marvel.

             Hank grabbed a hold of Logan's shoulders and pulled him back.

             Rogue's convulsing stopped, and she lay on the bed, the EKG suddenly started flatlining.

             "NO!" Remy cried, "do something!" he cried at the Professor, then he went to rush to the bed.

             "Remy! No!" Hank grabbed a hold of Remy's arm and pulled him away, "wait!"

             Kitty put her hands to her mouth, gasping, she couldn't believe the attempt could have failed.  "This isn't happening…this isn't happening…"

             "Marie!" Remy tried to pull his arm out of Hank's grasp.

             Suddenly, with a sharp gasp as if she'd never breathed before in her life, Rogue jumped up from the bed, her green eyes wide.  She twisted and writhed, howling in agony, she pressed hands to her side, she fell from the bed, curled up onto the floor, banging her head against the corner of a nearby cabinet.

Blood splattered onto the floor, and Rogue writhed still, it felt to her as if her insides were being turned inside out.

             "It's working!" Kitty gasped, gesturing to Rogue's cut forehead, which visibly was starting to heal right before their very eyes.

             Remy dropped to his knees, his head low, exhaustion settling over him.  She was going to live.