Pete looked at Clark's lifeless body, or it looked lifeless. He couldn't even see him breathing. He would have thought he were dead if it weren't for the steady beeping of the heart monitor. What had Rogue done to him?
He knew that Kitty could walk through walls and Kurt could teleport, Scott had the optic blast thing going on. He also remembered Ororo saying she was a mutant, but had not thought to wonder if the rest of the people here were all gifted as well. Duh! He yelled at himself. He remembered Professor Xavier saying he was at his school for the gifted. Great one Pete, you get a medal for missing the obvious as usual.
He heard a poof next to him, strangely that sound was already familiar to him. He didn't say anything to him. He had nothing to say right now.
"I brought you a sandvich." Kurt said.
"I'm not hungry." He sat in silence for a moment longer. "Kurt? Is everyone at the mansion a . . . different?"
"Ja."
He turned to him and asked a question that had been bugging him since he first learned that Clark had attacked the mansion. "Do you think they will understand that he didn't mean to do what he did?"
"I have not been vis zese people long, but I do know zat zey do forgive if zey had no control over it."
"How do you know they will forgive him?"
He then looked down and away from Pete as if he were ashamed, "because zey forgave me." He then looked Pete in the eyes. I vas ze von who attacked ze President," Then quickly he added, "but I had no control over it. I vas zere but I couldn't stop myself."
"You were the one that did that?" Pete asked surprised. He looked back at Clark again, feeling a little more secure about Clark's situation.
*****
Clark had days, years, minutes, months, seconds to think about what he had done. He had thought of all the details, and perfected them to such perfect clarity that he could practically tell you how many hairs were on the screaming girl's head. He would be able to tell you how many trees he had passed from his house to this silent nothingness. He analyzed every facial expression. He feared what the people would do to him? They had no reason to trust him. He had given them plenty of reasons to fear and hate him. How could he ever go back to normal life after all he had done?
He found himself thinking of Lana. He formed her face in his mind. He liked her eyes how they were always smiling in the face of what life had to thrown her. He remembered the way her nose crinkled when she was trying to be serious. They way she looked at him when she thought he wasn't looking. Then he had left her. He had put on that stupid ring and left her in the dust. She made the right decision, of not coming with him. He could have gotten her killed. He didn't think he would have been able to handle that on his conscious.
He tried to move again but it was hard to when he felt nothing. Even if he were moving he figured he wouldn't be able to tell.
*****
Bobby watched Rogue as she stared out the window. She hadn't said anything since the day before. When she had touched Clark. He knew his thoughts were running through her mind. She had tried to describe it to him once when he had been curious how it had felt to be on her side of here ability.
He moved next to her and touched her covered arm. She pulled away from under him with the speed he had only seen with Clark. She tried to smile, but he could see it was forced. "Are you alright?"
"Of course. I just need to think through some things." She got up and started to leave.
"You know you can talk to me, about anything."
She stepped back toward him and placed her hand on his cheek. "It's okay Bobby, I just need some time to think." Then she turned and walked out of the room.
*****
Lex sat on the beach staring at the sunset. Running through everything that had happened to him. What had happened to the jet? What happened to everyone? Was Helen at the bottom of the ocean? Was she in the middle of the ocean on a life raft, hoping a ship would pass by? Or was she safe, laughing with her friends about how she fooled the rich man? No, she wouldn't do that, couldn't do that. Could she? He pushed the thought out of his mind. "No!" He yelled as he stood.
He then picked up the coconut; he hit it against a sharp rock until a crack spread across it. Some coconut milk spilled onto the ground, he quickly held it over his mouth and drank the precious moisture. He shook the last drops and looked around the ground. He had finally found a spot with fresh coconuts that had fallen to the ground.
"You need to find fresh water." He told himself. "Why didn't you put me in boy scouts, Dad?" He yelled in to the sky. "You prepared me for everything life could throw at me but this." He threw the now empty coconut in his pile. There was starting to be a small cache of emptied coconuts for him to eat.
He grabbed three new coconuts and put them in his shirt. He tied the sleeves together and flung them over his shoulder. Then he started his quest once again, his search for fresh water and something to eat besides these coconuts.
*****
"Thank you for meeting with me Dr. McCoy." Xavier said as he shook the young doctor's hand.
"Please call me Hank." Henry McCoy said. He was a large man with brown hair and round spectacles. His limbs were slightly larger than normal. Xavier knew he was a mutant. He also knew that Hank hides his abilities from everyone he knows.
"Very well, Hank. I suppose you're wondering why I asked you here?" Knowing exactly what Hank was thinking.
"You read my mind." Hank said joking, not know how true it was.
Xavier smiled then continued, "I have watched your interviews on television and read some of your doctorates. And I was wondering where you stand on the issue of mutants?" He knew from what he had read that Hank had no ill will toward mutants but he needed to hear it out loud.
Hank now looked at the Professor curiously. "I think that if we just talk to them, we would find that we all want the same thing. To live in peace."
Xavier smiled, he liked that answer, "Very admirable, Hank. I'm sure you are wondering my reasons for this question. I run a private school and I am in need of a doctor."
"Why not go to a hospital?"
"I feel my students would not be very welcome at a hospital."
"So your students are mutants then?" He said as he slightly shifted his weight from one foot to the other then back again.
"Yes and if you don't mind working here, we could use your expertise. You could also use our labs for your own studies as well. Would you like to see them?"
He stood there for a moment running through his thoughts then answered. "If I may."
"Good, follow me then." Xavier moved out of his office and toward the elevator. They stepped into the white elevator. "I think you will find our labs to be more than sufficient for your work."
"We shall see."
Moments later they were in one of the labs. Hank looked like he was a child in a candy store. As soon as they entered the room his face had lit up and he had been looking at all the instruments since. Moving from one to the next then at some times back again.
"Have you made a decision? Can your work be moved here?"
Hank looked up with a smile on his face. "I should pay you to let me use this equipment."
"So is that a yes then."
"Most definitely." He said with excitement.
Xavier held out his hand for a hand shake and said, "Welcome to the team, Dr. Hank McCoy."
*****
Logan paced back and forth in the hall. How could Xavier be doing this? He had the boy in the mansion. Receiving medical treatment as if he deserved it. He was an animal.
He was still slightly upset that Rogue had let go. He made the move to go talk to her and went for the elevator. It wasn't hard to find her; she was heading for the front doors. "You're not running again are you?"
She stopped but didn't turn around for a moment. "No, I-I just need some time to think."
He could see she had so many things on her mind. "You know I'm here if you need to talk."
"Why does everyone think I need to talk?" She said angrily.
"I don't know probably because you just absorbed a killer. I know you Rogue; you have his thoughts running around your head."
"I know, that is why I need to think. I promise I won't go all psycho. It was the ring that did that to him. The red..." he could see she was searching for a word, "rock is what affected him. The rock took away all his control."
"Kryptonite, and that's no excuse."
"Yes, it is. Just think of how you would be, if you had your control taken from you and you did anything you wanted with no conscience to hold you back. Don't forget I know you too." She said as she tapped her head. Then she turned and walked out the door.