~*~
Lance was in the infirmary getting a tablet for his migraines when the place suddenly filled. Luke and Nikki were down again, and Lance felt a blaze of anger towards the sadists who had reduced the two guys to this, which only made his head hurt more. He wandered over to take a look, standing back from the bed that Luke was laid on as Logan sweepingly put him down on it. The boy was still but there was no sign of any physical attack.
Logan had Nikki over his other shoulder, and the kid seemed pretty traumatized. There was a lot of blood coming from his mouth and he had a wild-eyed detached look to him.
Xavier wheeled into the room shortly after Logan; he glanced over a Lance and frowned slightly, "Lance? Will you please go and get the anti-psychotic from the drawer in the desk there?"
Lance, looking befuddled, did as he was told. He somehow got Nikki to open his mouth by gently squeezing on his jaw, and then popped the meds into the back of Nikki's throat, handing him a glass of water. Nikki swallowed and trembled for a few minutes until the meds started taking effect and he chilled out into a reaction-slow state. Lance stayed near where Nikki was sitting on a gurney to keep an eye on him.
"What's going on Professor?" He asked, peering at Luke inquisitively.
"I'm not sure," Xavier answered truthfully, "Influx of memories for Nikki, I'm assuming, but Luke... Kitty said he just suddenly passed out onto the floor. And I can't get into his mind, his shields are too strong."
Logan frowned folding his arms over his chest, "What are we gonna do then?"
"I'm afraid I don't have an answer for that." Xavier sighed glancing over in Luke's direction.
Luke made a soft grunting sound, then hesitatingly opened his eyes and sat up. Lance looked up, glancing at Nikki to see if he'd do anything.
He didn't so much as lift his bowed head, so Lance decided to ask the question... "Hey man, how're you feeling? What happened?"
Luke slowly turned his head towards Lance, his face completely blank.
"Luke?" Xavier furrowed his eyebrows as he approached the side of the bed, "What's wrong Luke?"
Logan frowned taking a step towards the group now surrounding Luke's bedside.
Luke twitched slightly then blinked, "Who...?" He muttered softly furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.
Lance had a bad feeling about this… He turned to catch Nikki who had almost fallen forwards off the gurney. He up righted the boy, then turned to Luke. "Luke... are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Luke replied softly glancing around the room at everyone, "... I'm fine..."
"Man, you seem a little... fuzzy..." Lance said uncertainly, raising an eyebrow at Logan
Logan shrugged then turned back to Luke who was staring at them.
"Luke, do you know who we are?" Xavier asked shifting in his chair slightly.
Luke turned to him and slowly shook his head, "I should though... shouldn't I?"
Lance ran a hand through his hair. *Shit* He thought. He clicked his fingers, "Hey Luke... do you know who this is?" He asked, lifting Nikki's drooping head.
Something clicked in Luke's mind but didn't stick and once again he shook his head 'no'. That seemed to cut through Nikki's drug addled mind. He knew what was going on around him; he just couldn't seem to make his body work. His head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, but there wasn't a single drug that could make him sit there while Luke professed to not knowing him. He groaned, getting off the gurney, and Lance helped him down. He fell to his knees once he got to the floor, so Lance had to help carry him up to Luke's bed.
Once he was there, he rested his head and arms on the mattress, looking at Luke with hazy vision. "Luke..? It's me... Nikki..." He slurred.
Luke looked to the others, Logan frowned and turned away; Xavier shook his head sadly and wheeled over to a desk and began looking through it for something.
"Nikki." Luke repeated letting the name roll around in his head, it sounded so familiar...
Nikki clawed at the mattress, trying to get his legs under him, so eventually Lance just lifted him onto the bed. Nikki sat, hands braced so that he could stay up. "Dominik, remember..." He said, sounding like a child who's mother has inexplicably left it. "Remember... we left that place... with... Alex..."
'Dominik...Alex...' Luke closed his eyes trying to remember. 'Dark rooms...rape... torture... Dominik...'
"The asylum..." Luke whispered finally as he opened his eyes.
Nikki was lying in a little sprawl, his head practically on Luke's lap, one hand resting against Luke's leg. He was half-asleep, but when he heard Luke begin to remember, he finally gave in to the drug and drifted into a deeper sleep.
Lance gave Luke a concerned look. "Do you remember us now Luke?" He asked
Luke shook his head sadly, "No." He whispered, a look of frustration washing over his face.
"It's okay Luke, it'll come back to you." Lance said reassuringly. "Just know that we're your friends and we won't let anything bad happen to you okay? We just wanna help."
Logan, meanwhile, had wandered over to Xavier as the crippled man shuffled through documents and stuff.
"What're ya doin', Chuck?"
Xavier paused and sat down the stack of papers he had been shuffling through, "I was looking for something Hank left behind..."
"Like what?" Logan grunted raising an eyebrow.
"X-ray machine... I'm sure I can fix it if I could just find the documents."
Logan glanced over his shoulder at Luke and the others then back to Xavier, "Ya think they have something physically wrong with 'im?"
Xavier looked up at him, "Yes."
~*~
