Dust and Blood

Legal Stuff: Don't own them, only borrowing them.

Rating: Not intended for children, story does contain mature subject matter. Injury and femslash.

000

Day 13

Rogue stroked Jean's back softly as Jean sobbed and heaved. Starvation has all but killed them. Jean's stomach rolled and heaved angrily punishing the girl for not feeding it. With no food to vomit thick strings of acrid slime slipped from the weary girls lips. Helpless Rogue only tried to calm the girl. Neither aware they had been buried for almost two weeks. The water was now gone, the small room was dotted with waste and vomit, they had all but moved back to the black room. Jean's head often throbbed and made her dizzy, she knew she should have had stitches after her fall but they were here. Trapped. Rogue she also noticed wheezed heavily at night, her damaged ribs causing mush discomfort. Both girls were filled with a silent defeat, though neither of them could admit it. They were going to die… the question was… who would be first.

000

Days ago when the professor had collapsed the image of a bird has been burned somehow into the flesh of Xavier's forehead. While in an unresponsive coma the team had assumed the worst. A new enemy… with the sorrow of the memory of their lost friends the teams moral was thin to say the least as they readied themselves to meet a new foe.

Beast sat in the medical lab next to Xavier taking his vitals. Checking machine after machine, Charles seemed to be in perfect condition except for the fact his mind was completely unreceptive. Psychics were often hard patients to treat in situations like this. You never quite know what is going on inside. Beast leaned close to check the reading on a machine over the professor's head, when he heard a small sound.

"Je…" The professor almost muttered.

"Charles?" Beast removed his glasses and looked down at the "sleeping" man. Wearily the professor's eyes fluttered open.

"Jean!" Xavier struggled to sit up, his concern very apparent.

"Professor… calm yourself." Beast laid a gentle hand on the professor's shoulder. He helped Charles sit up. "What about Jean?"

"I know where they are Hank…"

000

"Jean…" Rogue's voice barely cracked a whisper. "Jean?" Her hand trailed over to touch her friends shoulder. "Jean?" Slowly Rogue sat up. "Jean!" She turned and shook Jean's body. "JEAN!" Desperation lined her voice. Jean did not respond.

"JEAN!" Rogue stopped… wait… she hadn't yelled a second time… "ROGUE?"

"IN HERE! HELP US!" Rogue cried as loud as she could. "SOMEBODY! JEAN'S HURT!" Nothing for a long moment, Rogue thought maybe she had finally succumbed to the insanity which had been gnawing away at them for the past few days.

Sudden a figure appeared, floating through the rock wall. Rogue thought for sure she was crazy now… but… no…

"Kitty?" Rogue's tired broken voice broke the silence. For a moment she knew everything would be ok, and then the world went black.

000

Day 20

One week after finding the girls half dead in that cave the professor sat over them in the infirmary. They were both still unconscious. Students though grateful to have them back and alive began to question however if they would ever wake up and recover from their traumatic event. 312 hours they spent without any major source or food or clean water… they should be long dead, and yet they lay sickly, broken and unconscious a living miracle.

Separated at opposite ends of the room the girl's life signs did not improve. Slowly and steadily they were still headed on that road to death. Beast had inserted tubes through the girl's noses to get nutrition to their stomachs, however being deprived of sustenance for so long their bodies tried to reject the liquid meal causing them many times to vomit will unconscious. Beast had to stay by their sides day and night to make sure they did not drown themselves. On top of the starvation both girls were suffering from massive internal infections, Rogue from her broken untreated rib and Jean from her bloodied head. As well both girls had traces of toxic chemicals in their system from ingesting the moss. It was a very grim situation indeed, but they had more of a chance now, a chance Beast would not give up on.

"Hank… perhaps I should watch over the girls for a bit. You are exhausted, I can call you if something comes up." Ororo padded into the infirmary in her white satin robe. She sipped from a mug in her right hand and offered Beast the other.

"Mmmm. You make the best herbal tea Ororo." He stood and stretched. "I seem to have them stabilized again… but something else is wrong… something I cannot treat, they just seem to continue slipping away from me. I don't like being so helpless Ororo." He frowned and scratched his head.

"Perhaps we could try a non medical solution. It cannot hurt if it does not work." She made her way to Jean's bed. She set her mug on a medical table.

"What do you suggest?" Curious Beast moved to help.

"Well, I have heard in cases of children... mostly twins when they are sick or injured while unconscious they seem to heal better if close to each other." She explained.

"But they are not twins… not even related." Beast pointed out.

"Yes… Obviously… however, when they were down in those caves they became closer to each other than anyone else. They were all the other had… alone neither of them would have survived. They drew from each other some sort of strength and survived 13 days alone in the dark, no food, no water… they needed each other then… and they need each other now." She clicked back the lock on the hospital bed's wheels.

"You are most wise my friend." Beast nodded his head in understanding and helped to move Jean's bed across the infirmary with all its machines. They pressed the beds together into one larger bed and locked them in place. "And now?" Beast asked.

"We wait… go get some rest I will call you in a few hours." Tired Beast knew he had better rest or his treatment of the girls would suffer. He took his tea and headed to bed. Storm just sat and watched the girls and listened to the beeps of the monitors. Noticing sometime later the girl's hands hand slid across the beds to find each other.

000

TBC: Sorry it took so long. I know this one was pretty dark... and maybe a little too in detail with the illness's but no one starves for 2 weeks without getting sick. Next chapter will be lighter… and more romantic.