Chiara fought to stay conscious. It hurt to keep her eyes open and oxygen in her lungs. It felt like her heart's last stand, that it would keep fighting for a little while longer before it would die, along with her. With every rapid beat, she felt new blood surface under the hand holding her arm. She pressed harder, trying to stop the bleeding, wondering how close she was to the bone.
She heard a noise, but could lift her head. If this was Mystique or Magneto, she'd be dead before she understood what was going on. Foggy shapes entered her field of vision.
"Chiara!" she heard. She knew the voice.
"Twist..." she tried to say, but all that came out was a inaudible murmur.
"Careful." she heard Cyclops say. "It could be a trick, or some mirage." he said. Someone was close to her, touching her face.
"She doesn't feel fake." Connor's voice said angrily, obviously replying to Cyclops. There was a pause. She tried to say something, but all that came out was a cough. Someone came up on her other side and pried her fingers away from the red wound. Someone touched her arm and she screamed out in pain.
"It's not broken." Cyclops said. "Just... hit a nerve." he said, taking his hand away.
"What did it?" Twist asked.
"It could have been anything." Cyclops sighed. "She looks tired. I don't know how long she's been here." Chiara heard the scraping of feet, someone getting up. "Simon, take her back to the plane. Give her something to help her sleep and bandage it up. Then follow this path and get back to us." he said. "Connor, Twist, you two will go on with me. We'll try and find the others." he commanded to the other two.
She felt Connor step away from her, and someone else tried to support her and stand her up. Her entire body ached, but she was too tired to cry out. She was safe now, she hoped. Now was time to give in. She closed her eyes, let her body limp, and pretended to be unconscious. That helped.
-----
Chiara opened her eyes and looked about. She didn't recognize the mesh-metal ceiling above her. She turned her head, to look at the room. She was in some kind of large closet, filled with military shelves and buckets and labeled boxes.
She sat up, wanting to get up and move. As soon as she did, pain rocketed down her left arm, blocking out her vision for a split second, and she screamed out. Simon was there in a flash.
"Are you okay?!" he asked. "What happened?" He placed a hand on her right shoulder. Bare shoulder. Chiara looked down. She was in that black halter and jeans again.
"You undressed me?!" she turned on him. "You undressed m-"
"I didn't do anything, I swear!" Simon said. He stepped back, putting up his hands in defense as her eyes flickered a flourescent-blue. "Your uniform's ruined. I couldn't bandage you like that." He said, softer. Chiara opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. She looked down at her arm.
The blood was cleaned away and now there was a clean white antiseptic bandage around her arm. It looked like she'd barely hurt herself. She cast Simon a grey glare again and moved off the medical bed and went out into the main cabin.
"The X-Jet?" she asked, looking around.
"That's what it is." Simon said, following her and stopping to lean against the door frame.
"How long was I asleep?" she asked, turning back to him. She noticed her hair was down again, not like she could tie it up again with just one hand. There was also a scratch along her forehead, she could feel it.
"About an hour." Simon said. He was reaching into pocket. Chiara watched him suspicious. He pulled out a bottle of pills and shook two into his hand and extended them to her. "Pain killer sleeping pills." he said. "Cyclops orders, so I can go back and help out."
"I don't want them." she said. Simon sighed, walking towards her. He took her hand and place them in her palm.
"You have to take them. The shit I gave you to take the pain off your arm will only last another hour. Then it will feel like your arm is on fire." he said. "I doubt you want that."
"I don't want to sleep." she said, prying her hand away and dropping the tablets on the floor. Simon glared at her. Bright green eyes stared into icy grey ones. He sighed, bent down and picked them up again.
"You'll thank me later." he said, going over to the sink at the back plane and running the water until it was cold and he ran it into a glass. Chiara bit her lip, annoying him had bought her time to think. She glanced down, and then looked back at him. Suddenly she smiled.
"It must have been hard to know that Cyclops chose you to come back here instead of the others." she said, looking sideways, trying to remember where the door was. Simon turned off the tap and looked back at her.
"What the fuck does that mean? He let Connor and Twist go on cause he needed backup." he asked. Chiara shrugged, finding that that hurt her shoulder. She moved towards him slightly.
"I dunno. I was just thinking. You're pretty powerful. But maybe Connor and Twist are just better than you." she said, looking fakely thoughtful.
"I doubt that." Simon said, reaching for the glass of water to give her.
"Or maybe your happy, because otherwise it would be Connor and me all alone in the plane together." Chiara said, looking at him, smiling slightly, close to him now. Simon stopped reaching for the cup and returned her smile.
"You don't seriously like that guy?" he said. Chiara looked up at him, eyes seductive. Simon was already taking advantage of the situation and putting his hands on her hips.
"You're cuter." she smiled, kissing him. She could tell that Simon was surprised, but immediately he began to kiss her back, tightening his arms around her small waist. She ran one hand up his chest behind his neck, the other reached for the glass of water on the counter behind him.
In one moment she crashed the glass into the side of his head. It splintered and broke in her hand, cutting her fingers, but there were more important things at stake. Simon fell to the floor.
Mistique dropped the base of the glass onto the floor, the only part that hadn't shattered. She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and looked at the unconscious boy at her feet.
"Hormones..." she spat in disgust. A few minutes later, after searching the plane, she took both his hands and dragged him out of the jet and across the ice towards the warehouse.
---------------Note: Well that was the next exciting installment... I am SOOOO sorry it took so long, I was in an uninspired state XP More will be coming soon!