Chapter 7
You just couldn't help but be impressed at the speed with which the country's media arrived in the destroyed town. They must have had some sort of bug on the police phone line, because with the ambulances and squad cars, there came the cameras and the reporters. In half an hour the town had been transformed from silent wreckage to media frenzy.
This did not bode well for the mutants at the Xavier institute. Because all though it was a good thing that many of the townspeople had survived the attack by Apocalypse, those who hadn't been knocked unconscious and were in full control of their senses couldn't help but notice a large part of building rise and fall through the air, then an army of imposing figures take off into the skies. And that was a very hard thing to explain.
Then there was still the task of seeing to the ruined town. Whilst so staunchly defending their own home, the students had put aside the terrible thought of what had become of their beloved town. There were still hundreds of people outside the boundaries of the institute in need of help. So, disentangling herself from Pietro, Rogue left the confines of the destroyed mansion, and walked off into the streets to see what she could do. The others followed behind her, or branched off into groups to cover as much of the town as possible. Pietro stayed with Rogue, for even though her walk was resolute, their was a tired slump in her shoulders, and he knew that watching the horrors that others had endured at the hands of Apocalypse would be hard for her.
This was proved a little way up the road, when they paused at the blown out window of a convenience store. Behind the counter, they could make out the body of an elderly woman, clutching her murdered grandchildren to her breast. There was a dried out tear streak on her wrinkled old face, frozen in its tracks by the loss of life. Rogue reached out a hand to close the startled eyes of the little kid folded tightly in her arms, and then felt her knees give way. She sagged against Pietro, who removed her from the broken shop floor.
They quickly learnt to subdue their own horror momentarily. Bayville was now equivalent to a war zone; victims wandered the streets with eyes even more sightless than the frozen bodies that lay scattered on the ground before them. Even though they blocked the emotions now, the scenes would haunt the mutants in their dreams for years to come. None of them ever imagined they'd see anything like this.
But there were still people to help. They blended in with the crowd, and joined the able bodied townspeople in helping those who were injured from their various predicaments. People were too busy saving the innocent who had been caught in the crossfire to pay any attention to the strangers who had joined them, and they worked together long into the afternoon and evening.
Some of the students stayed back at the mansion, rounding up any of the attackers, and locating any of their own missing. These searches had a tragic end, with the discovery of Storm's battered and broken body, lying crippled beneath a tree, like a fallen leaf. Evan had crawled over to her, at least one of his legs obviously broken, his face torn and bloody. He was ignorant of his pain, trying desperately to shake his dear aunt back to life. He gave up trying, and collapsed, sobbing against her. Logan watched him with something heavy, and painful rising in his throat. He made his way over to the boy, and put a hand on his arm. Evan threw it away.
'Come on, there's nothing more you can do now.' Logan spoke with a voice even gruffer than it usually was. He picked up the struggling boy with both hands, and carried him like an infant out of the mansion gates and down the street in search of an ambulance.
The rest of the students had fared somewhat better in the battle. There was the odd broken arm bruise to the ribs, and people were pretty bloodied up, but those wounds would heal much quicker than the scars that now ran deeper in them all. Once the mansion was searched completely, the students who had remained did not stop to take breath, and moved off into the town to help the others.
By about nine o clock that night, there was not much else that they could do. Almost collapsing with fatigue, the teens made their way back into the destroyed grounds, and sank heavily onto the grass that hadn't been burnt or ripped up. But Rogue could not join them yet; she made her way over to a depressed looking Mystique.
'What are we going to do about them?' she asked her mother quietly. Mystique looked at her with weary eyes, as if she did not understand the question. Rogue gestured around at the younger students, caught between yawning and rubbing their puffy red eyes.
Mystique understood now. She watched Rogue's face for a moment, and realised what she was implying.
'I'm not sure if there's room.' she said uncertainly.
'Of course there's room,' Rogue snapped back, 'we live in a mansion, we've always got room.'
This one sentence told Mystique she was in fact fighting a losing battle. She saw that Logan had appeared behind Rogue, and was quietly observing their exchange. She heaved a great sigh, and nodded so that both of them could see her. Logan gave a slight inclination of his head, and disappeared through the trees to go back to Evan's bedside in the hospital.
Rogue smiled slightly for the first time that day, before she quietly mouthed thank you to the older woman. She then faced the others, watching her with tired, strained expressions. They'd been to hell and back that day, losing one of their number, and seeing the man they admired most in the world abandon them. Now their home was destroyed, and they were left with a broken past, to face an uncertain future. In all honesty, Rogue had no idea how they would react to her proposal, or if it would even register with them at this point. Two of them weren't even present to hear it, though she was fairly certain that Logan had guessed what she was going to say.
'All right, I don't know whether you feel like talking about this, or even thinking about this right now, after everything that's happened, but I think it's pretty clear that you can't stay here, and I just wanted you all to know that you're welcome to come back with us to Bedford Falls, we certainly have the room.' She saw that some of them looked relieved at her words, as though they had been desperately pondering their own future after the destruction of the mansion. It was true, there was not enough left of a building in which they could stay, and nobody wanted to stay any longer than possible in the ruined mansion.
Bobby raised his hand tentatively, as though he were a first year on their first day of primary school. Rogue nodded at him, and he cleared his throat to speak.
'Why?' he asked softly. He didn't say what he was asking about, as it was already clear to everyone else.
Rogue looked at him sadly, and shook her head a little at her old friend. 'I don't really know Bobby. He was after the Professor I think.'
It was only the remaining students of the institute who looked unsurprised at the statement. Those who had dropped in for the day looked around at the others in astonishment, both in the revelation of Apocalypses target, and the fact that Rogue knew about it. Sitting with Kitty leaning against him, Lance gave Rogue a swift, searching look, which she momentarily avoided.
Jubilee confirmed what Rogue had already said, when she replied with 'We know, he took off just before we were attacked.'
Rogue nodded, and then addressed everyone. 'I know the Professor was his initial target, but I'm not sure just what exactly it is he wants. All I know is that his name is Apocalypse, and he's extremely powerful.' She let the last part hang in the air, aware that they needed no proof of the validity of her claim.
They accepted what she said without question, and Rogue sat back down by Pietro without another word. She leant into his arms, and felt solid muscles enfold her tenderly. At that point, she had never wanted more than to close her eyes to the world, and stay like that forever, regardless of what was happening outside. The temptation to let everything go was almost overwhelming, and Rogue forced herself to open her eyes with a snap before she gave into temptation.
When she became alert again, she saw that Mystique was talking to everyone else, getting opinions and sorting out the finer details of them moving back with them all. She watched with sad amusement at the way in which Mystique had reluctantly accepted her post as head of a rapidly expanding family. The former students of Xavier were watching her with guarded expressions, as though they were unsure of whether or not she was in fact a friend or foe.
Plans were made hastily, either because it was necessary, or because it all helped delay the moment when they would actually have to face what had happened that day to them all. Either way, about an hour or so later, they all found themselves waiting outside the local hospital, with what meagre belongings they could salvage from the house stuffed wildly into the cars. From the ruins of the town, they'd been able to acquire two cars which would get them to Bedford, though perhaps no further. Kitty had no idea who they belonged to, and yet she still hated to think of it as stealing. Most the places in Bayville, like the institute, had been abandoned by their occupants. It was no more than a ghost town now, with camera crews and police vans clustered together in squares as though they were swarms of flies, so finding two cars had caused little problem. For all she knew, their owners could be dead by now, a thought that caused her to shudder. Try as she might, she could not escape the horrible sensation that she was looting from a disaster zone, a place where something terrible had happened. Still, they needed more cars to get out of there, and desperate times called for desperate measures.
She waited by the entrance to Evan's ward, before the doctors permitted them to go and see Evan. She, Scott, Rogue and Kurt huddled together in the clean, clinical waiting room, trying very hard not to look at the injured around them. On every seat and space there were people in need of help, and salvation. Kitty could do nothing for them but watch, and with her eyes send her wishes of sympathy and hope.
A Doctor approached them wearily, his stance haggard and defeated. He looked young, but on closer inspection there were lines of worry marring his otherwise youthful face. Kitty rose from her chair to meet him, along with the others. As Evan's oldest friends from the institute, they had come in to do what they could to comfort him, and to persuade him to return with them to Bedford. The younger students had rather vacantly told them that since their departure, Evan hadn't really mixed too much with them, preferring to see other friends, or spend time with storm (it was there that their voices cracked a little).
The Doctor showed them into the ward, with smiley faces pinned to the walls, and crying faces on the beds below. They could see Evan now, tucked away along one side of the room, obscured from the chaos outside the room. Wolverine was sitting by his bed, one worn hand touched lightly on the boys undamaged shoulder. They approached them slowly, not looking at the surrounding beds, and when close enough, got a look at Evan's face for the first time since leaving the institute.
If they hadn't known he was suffering from nothing more than a broken limb, they would have sworn he was mortally wounded; such was the pain on his face. But then, Rogue supposed, losing the person you held most dear to you would leave you with a wound far greater than anything flesh deep. Evan's skin was sallow, with wet lines running either side of his face. His eyes were scrunched up, so they weren't even sure if he had noticed their entrance.
He did however, when he opened his eyes. Bloodshot and wild, they looked out at the others as if through bullet holes. Wolverine too looked up at them, his own sadness making him more aloof than ever.
Evan did not say anything; he did not wave or make a similar gesture. He merely watched with almost bored detachment as his old friends crept closer to his bedside. The lack of conversation between them all hung like a chasm.
Kitty was surprised when Scott was the first to speak, because she had been looking to Rogue. After all that had happened, it was hard to imagine that Scott had once been undisputed leader of them all. So many things had changed since then, both for better and for worse. And here was Evan; lying like flotsum tossed up from the past she had left behind.
Scott laid his hand on the bright white sheets, on the opposite side of the bed to Logan. He didn't want to risk damaging Evan's arm. Speaking softly, he said 'Evan, I'm so sorry.'
If she didn't know better, Kitty would have thought that Evan had never laid eyes on Scott before, he watched him with a stranger's eye, and thought out his response carefully.
'Why are you sorry?' he asked, 'was it you guys that caused all of this?'
This caught them by surprise. In situations such as this, it was common practise to say just how sorry you were, you didn't expect to get asked why, it was just the right thing to say.
This time Rogue did speak. 'No,' she said simply, 'he was after Xavier.'
She gave him no other explanation, but there was no harshness in her tone. Evan's head sank back further into his pillow, and he let out an 'oh'.
Rogue continued. 'We were going to take everyone back home with us. You're welcome to come too, that is, if you're well enough.' She paused, then added 'and if you want to,' almost as an afterthought.
The question sat with Evan for a moment. Out the corner of her eye, Kitty could see Logan watching the boy in the bed very closely.
A few minutes later, Evan gave his answer. 'I'll come with you, but I have a condition.' His face hardened, became steely and unreadable. 'I want to know why you all left the mansion. I want to know what you accused the Professor of, and why you did that, and I want to know how you managed to turn up at the institute at the very time we happened to be attacked, and who exactly it was that killed my aunt.' Strangely enough, he was looking at Scott when he spoke. Kitty supposed that to Evan, Scott was still the leader.
So it was he who replied. 'Fine. We'll stay with you here till you're discharged, and the others can go on ahead, we can join them later.' He looked up at the others, who all gave him signs of assent.
Logan rose. 'Right, I'll go tell them outside, and they can start back. Whatever's happened today, they need to have somewhere proper where they can stay and start to reflect. You four can start explaining.' He squared his shoulders, and threaded his way through the chaos that was the ward.
They watched him go, and then looked back at the boy on the bed. 'All right.' Evan said, 'tell me.'
The journey back to Bedford was; if possible, even quieter than it had been that morning. The most activity came when they had to get out of the town, and past the barrage of media and police that waited eagerly round the town. They had gotten over this obstacle by Mystique changing into none other than Charles Xavier, who proceeded to tell the authorities that he was taking his charges away from the disaster area to stay with a trusted friend of his up North. At that time of night, nobody was in a fit state to question anything, and mercifully few cameras flashed in their direction as they drove past.
The new arrivals to the town were not really in the mood to be taking in their change of surroundings, and even the situation and appearance of their new home failed to make any great impression on them. Mystique led them wearily to a small collection of guest rooms on the first floor of the house, and got Pietro, Lance, Fred and Todd to help her in ensuring there were enough beds for everyone.
There was no fuss made over who shared what room. Boys took one, girls the other, and there was a bathroom adjacent to both. Wasting no time, the teenagers retired for what would doubtless be a sleepless night. Tabby decided to bunk down with the girls that night, because Kitty and Rogue were not there, and nobody had a particular desire to be left alone.
Mystique and the remaining boys made their way down to the kitchen, and grouped together round the table in a daze. Mystique busied herself around the room, making steaming mugs of coffee, even though she and everyone else detested the stuff. It just seemed like the thing to do.
They supposed they should be having a detailed and important conversation, but they just couldn't seem to get their mouths open (except for Fred, who had got himself a bowl of cereal). Eventually, after several failed attempts at conversation, Fred and Todd went up to bed, closely followed by Mystique, who would in all likelihood have to register several new students the next day at school, though it was pretty clear they would all be taking the day off. Lance and Pietro said they would stay up and wait to see if the others returned, and soon found themselves to be the only people left in the kitchen.
Lance switched on a small television that sat in the corner of the counter. He and Pietro watched for a few moments, as they saw familiar scenes flickering before their eyes.
He moved away from the TV and sat back down next to Pietro. 'Big news isn't it?' he remarked, as casually as was humanely possible.
'Sure' Pietro replied, 'it's not everyday a violent group of mutants turn up and completely wipe a town off the map.' He sounded light.
'It's going to look really bad for mutants now, if the people up here find out who we are, then there's going to be a hell of a lot of trouble for us all.'
'Rogue dropped a house on someone.' Pietro said abruptly.
'Which is one way of dealing with that trouble I suppose.'
Pietro shut him up with a look. 'She didn't even break a sweat, just raised her hand in the air. And I was almost killed just running at that, thing. How can I be a protective boyfriend, with a girlfriend who can throw a house on someone? How can I compare?' he didn't really expect the question to be answered.
When Lance spoke this time, he was deadly serious. 'You can't compare, none of us can. Rogue has never before given us any idea before of just how powerful she is. Now she has, and we cannot compare.' He looked sympathetic, but at the same time final. Knowing Pietro as he knew him, and knowing what an egoist he was, it was hard to imagine the size of the inferiority complex he was going through at this point in time.
'There are other ways you can protect her though,' he said, and Pietro looked up at him. 'Be there for her. She's one of the most powerful people in the planet, but she's also a sixteen-year-old girl. What she saw today must have hurt her; probably a hell of a lot more than it affected us. So be there for her, like we all try to be. It's the only real way in which we can help her.'
Pietro was looking at him in a funny way. 'Lance' he asked gently, 'have you been reading Kitty's girly advice columns again?'
Avalanche smacked his friend lightly on the arm, but not before noting the thanks in Pietro's light eyes. He supposed he had changed and become more sensitive quite a bit over the past few months. They all had, ever since that day when Rogue had gone missing. It seemed like such a long time ago. He put his changes down to Kitty mostly; she had an influence that would wear even the most resolute of people down. God he missed her at a time like this, missed having to hug her and tell her everything was going to be all right. And they'd only been apart a few hours. It was partly this new type of feeling that had caused him to willingly become such a rock for others.
'So' Pietro said into the silence, 'what if they do find out about us up here. What's going to happen?'
Lance sighed, desperate times called for desperate measures. Reaching across and patting Pietro lightly on the shoulder, he spoke comfortingly.
'Everything's going to be all right.'
Damn, if the guys back home could see him now.
The last car pulled into the mansion driveway in the earlier hours of the next morning. Evan sat with Kurt, Rogue and Kitty in the back, his arm firmly cast and held in a sling. Scott sat up front with Logan, constantly turning in his seat to look back at them. Kitty was dozing, her head leaning against the window, her elbow digging into Kurt. He himself was asleep, and draped across his sister haphazardly. She was not sleeping, instead sitting rigidly still, and watching Evan out the corner of her eye, who seemed more interested in looking out of the window than anything else.
When they pushed the front door open quietly, they could hear something coming from the kitchen. Putting a finger to her lips, Rogue moved swiftly and silently to the room, and had to bite back a peal of tired laughter as she looked in.
Pietro and Lance were both asleep, their heads so close they were touching, and both collapsed on the table surface. She wasn't sure who was causing it, but a distinct snoring sound came from their direction. She could see a couple of strands of Pietro's silvery hair were rising and falling as he breathed.
Kitty stretched her arms out, and let out a yawn, before moving towards her boyfriend. Scott saw this, and motioned for him and Kurt to take Evan and Logan up to their room, being that they weren't sure whether there were any guest rooms left. Kurt blinked groggily several times, then followed him without fuss, showing that he clearly hadn't realised yet that he and Scott would be sleeping on the couches that night.
Rogue watched them go, and looked back into the kitchen in time to see Kitty startle Lance awake. Before he could make a cry of surprise, she kissed him softly on the lips, and he responded by instinct. A brief, and tiny smile crossed his face as he looked at her, and then took in the sight of Rogue standing in the doorway. Then the smile faded, as reality came flooding back to him.
'How is he?' he asked.
'He's not going to get over it.' Kitty said truthfully, 'but he's not alone, so that's good. Come on, I'll walk you upstairs.' The two of them left quietly, and Rogue gave them a little wave of goodnight, then sat down in Lance's empty seat.
Pietro was waking up now, shaking his head a little. He pulled himself up and found himself looking into Rogue's face.
'Hey' she said, reaching out her hand to gently brush away the mussed up strands of silver that fell across his forehead. He watched her gesture carefully, as though not quite sure that they had finished their argument.
'I wanted to say to you, before all this, that I love you so much.' Rogue said, keeping her hand on his forehead, 'But I cannot tell you who it was that was calling me.'
Pietro nodded sadly, and then moved his head downwards to kiss her hand gently. It was a tender, loving gesture, but it did nothing to convince the two of them that the gap between them had been breached.
'I love you too,' he murmured, 'more than life itself.'
It was enough. Rogue broke down completely, falling into his arms as though dropped from a great height. He stroked her hair softly and let her cry, remembering Lance's words to him earlier that night. This was the only way possible he could help Rogue, loving her. He couldn't keep asking her questions anymore, not if it was going to drive her away. He held her carefully, afraid she might break, and they stayed like that until the sun rose and dried what tears remained on their faces, both resigned to their fate.
DISCLAIMER: Characters and situation property of Marvel and WB
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Short chapter this time, because I decided to split it into two segments, one that dealt with the aftermath of the destruction of Bayville, and one that moved on again with the story. So things should perhaps be a little more lighthearted next chapter. Kitty is going to have great fun at her sleep over, and Scott's going to have to do some explaining to Lydia. So, see you next chapter (hopefully pretty soon), and as ever, read and review!!
You just couldn't help but be impressed at the speed with which the country's media arrived in the destroyed town. They must have had some sort of bug on the police phone line, because with the ambulances and squad cars, there came the cameras and the reporters. In half an hour the town had been transformed from silent wreckage to media frenzy.
This did not bode well for the mutants at the Xavier institute. Because all though it was a good thing that many of the townspeople had survived the attack by Apocalypse, those who hadn't been knocked unconscious and were in full control of their senses couldn't help but notice a large part of building rise and fall through the air, then an army of imposing figures take off into the skies. And that was a very hard thing to explain.
Then there was still the task of seeing to the ruined town. Whilst so staunchly defending their own home, the students had put aside the terrible thought of what had become of their beloved town. There were still hundreds of people outside the boundaries of the institute in need of help. So, disentangling herself from Pietro, Rogue left the confines of the destroyed mansion, and walked off into the streets to see what she could do. The others followed behind her, or branched off into groups to cover as much of the town as possible. Pietro stayed with Rogue, for even though her walk was resolute, their was a tired slump in her shoulders, and he knew that watching the horrors that others had endured at the hands of Apocalypse would be hard for her.
This was proved a little way up the road, when they paused at the blown out window of a convenience store. Behind the counter, they could make out the body of an elderly woman, clutching her murdered grandchildren to her breast. There was a dried out tear streak on her wrinkled old face, frozen in its tracks by the loss of life. Rogue reached out a hand to close the startled eyes of the little kid folded tightly in her arms, and then felt her knees give way. She sagged against Pietro, who removed her from the broken shop floor.
They quickly learnt to subdue their own horror momentarily. Bayville was now equivalent to a war zone; victims wandered the streets with eyes even more sightless than the frozen bodies that lay scattered on the ground before them. Even though they blocked the emotions now, the scenes would haunt the mutants in their dreams for years to come. None of them ever imagined they'd see anything like this.
But there were still people to help. They blended in with the crowd, and joined the able bodied townspeople in helping those who were injured from their various predicaments. People were too busy saving the innocent who had been caught in the crossfire to pay any attention to the strangers who had joined them, and they worked together long into the afternoon and evening.
Some of the students stayed back at the mansion, rounding up any of the attackers, and locating any of their own missing. These searches had a tragic end, with the discovery of Storm's battered and broken body, lying crippled beneath a tree, like a fallen leaf. Evan had crawled over to her, at least one of his legs obviously broken, his face torn and bloody. He was ignorant of his pain, trying desperately to shake his dear aunt back to life. He gave up trying, and collapsed, sobbing against her. Logan watched him with something heavy, and painful rising in his throat. He made his way over to the boy, and put a hand on his arm. Evan threw it away.
'Come on, there's nothing more you can do now.' Logan spoke with a voice even gruffer than it usually was. He picked up the struggling boy with both hands, and carried him like an infant out of the mansion gates and down the street in search of an ambulance.
The rest of the students had fared somewhat better in the battle. There was the odd broken arm bruise to the ribs, and people were pretty bloodied up, but those wounds would heal much quicker than the scars that now ran deeper in them all. Once the mansion was searched completely, the students who had remained did not stop to take breath, and moved off into the town to help the others.
By about nine o clock that night, there was not much else that they could do. Almost collapsing with fatigue, the teens made their way back into the destroyed grounds, and sank heavily onto the grass that hadn't been burnt or ripped up. But Rogue could not join them yet; she made her way over to a depressed looking Mystique.
'What are we going to do about them?' she asked her mother quietly. Mystique looked at her with weary eyes, as if she did not understand the question. Rogue gestured around at the younger students, caught between yawning and rubbing their puffy red eyes.
Mystique understood now. She watched Rogue's face for a moment, and realised what she was implying.
'I'm not sure if there's room.' she said uncertainly.
'Of course there's room,' Rogue snapped back, 'we live in a mansion, we've always got room.'
This one sentence told Mystique she was in fact fighting a losing battle. She saw that Logan had appeared behind Rogue, and was quietly observing their exchange. She heaved a great sigh, and nodded so that both of them could see her. Logan gave a slight inclination of his head, and disappeared through the trees to go back to Evan's bedside in the hospital.
Rogue smiled slightly for the first time that day, before she quietly mouthed thank you to the older woman. She then faced the others, watching her with tired, strained expressions. They'd been to hell and back that day, losing one of their number, and seeing the man they admired most in the world abandon them. Now their home was destroyed, and they were left with a broken past, to face an uncertain future. In all honesty, Rogue had no idea how they would react to her proposal, or if it would even register with them at this point. Two of them weren't even present to hear it, though she was fairly certain that Logan had guessed what she was going to say.
'All right, I don't know whether you feel like talking about this, or even thinking about this right now, after everything that's happened, but I think it's pretty clear that you can't stay here, and I just wanted you all to know that you're welcome to come back with us to Bedford Falls, we certainly have the room.' She saw that some of them looked relieved at her words, as though they had been desperately pondering their own future after the destruction of the mansion. It was true, there was not enough left of a building in which they could stay, and nobody wanted to stay any longer than possible in the ruined mansion.
Bobby raised his hand tentatively, as though he were a first year on their first day of primary school. Rogue nodded at him, and he cleared his throat to speak.
'Why?' he asked softly. He didn't say what he was asking about, as it was already clear to everyone else.
Rogue looked at him sadly, and shook her head a little at her old friend. 'I don't really know Bobby. He was after the Professor I think.'
It was only the remaining students of the institute who looked unsurprised at the statement. Those who had dropped in for the day looked around at the others in astonishment, both in the revelation of Apocalypses target, and the fact that Rogue knew about it. Sitting with Kitty leaning against him, Lance gave Rogue a swift, searching look, which she momentarily avoided.
Jubilee confirmed what Rogue had already said, when she replied with 'We know, he took off just before we were attacked.'
Rogue nodded, and then addressed everyone. 'I know the Professor was his initial target, but I'm not sure just what exactly it is he wants. All I know is that his name is Apocalypse, and he's extremely powerful.' She let the last part hang in the air, aware that they needed no proof of the validity of her claim.
They accepted what she said without question, and Rogue sat back down by Pietro without another word. She leant into his arms, and felt solid muscles enfold her tenderly. At that point, she had never wanted more than to close her eyes to the world, and stay like that forever, regardless of what was happening outside. The temptation to let everything go was almost overwhelming, and Rogue forced herself to open her eyes with a snap before she gave into temptation.
When she became alert again, she saw that Mystique was talking to everyone else, getting opinions and sorting out the finer details of them moving back with them all. She watched with sad amusement at the way in which Mystique had reluctantly accepted her post as head of a rapidly expanding family. The former students of Xavier were watching her with guarded expressions, as though they were unsure of whether or not she was in fact a friend or foe.
Plans were made hastily, either because it was necessary, or because it all helped delay the moment when they would actually have to face what had happened that day to them all. Either way, about an hour or so later, they all found themselves waiting outside the local hospital, with what meagre belongings they could salvage from the house stuffed wildly into the cars. From the ruins of the town, they'd been able to acquire two cars which would get them to Bedford, though perhaps no further. Kitty had no idea who they belonged to, and yet she still hated to think of it as stealing. Most the places in Bayville, like the institute, had been abandoned by their occupants. It was no more than a ghost town now, with camera crews and police vans clustered together in squares as though they were swarms of flies, so finding two cars had caused little problem. For all she knew, their owners could be dead by now, a thought that caused her to shudder. Try as she might, she could not escape the horrible sensation that she was looting from a disaster zone, a place where something terrible had happened. Still, they needed more cars to get out of there, and desperate times called for desperate measures.
She waited by the entrance to Evan's ward, before the doctors permitted them to go and see Evan. She, Scott, Rogue and Kurt huddled together in the clean, clinical waiting room, trying very hard not to look at the injured around them. On every seat and space there were people in need of help, and salvation. Kitty could do nothing for them but watch, and with her eyes send her wishes of sympathy and hope.
A Doctor approached them wearily, his stance haggard and defeated. He looked young, but on closer inspection there were lines of worry marring his otherwise youthful face. Kitty rose from her chair to meet him, along with the others. As Evan's oldest friends from the institute, they had come in to do what they could to comfort him, and to persuade him to return with them to Bedford. The younger students had rather vacantly told them that since their departure, Evan hadn't really mixed too much with them, preferring to see other friends, or spend time with storm (it was there that their voices cracked a little).
The Doctor showed them into the ward, with smiley faces pinned to the walls, and crying faces on the beds below. They could see Evan now, tucked away along one side of the room, obscured from the chaos outside the room. Wolverine was sitting by his bed, one worn hand touched lightly on the boys undamaged shoulder. They approached them slowly, not looking at the surrounding beds, and when close enough, got a look at Evan's face for the first time since leaving the institute.
If they hadn't known he was suffering from nothing more than a broken limb, they would have sworn he was mortally wounded; such was the pain on his face. But then, Rogue supposed, losing the person you held most dear to you would leave you with a wound far greater than anything flesh deep. Evan's skin was sallow, with wet lines running either side of his face. His eyes were scrunched up, so they weren't even sure if he had noticed their entrance.
He did however, when he opened his eyes. Bloodshot and wild, they looked out at the others as if through bullet holes. Wolverine too looked up at them, his own sadness making him more aloof than ever.
Evan did not say anything; he did not wave or make a similar gesture. He merely watched with almost bored detachment as his old friends crept closer to his bedside. The lack of conversation between them all hung like a chasm.
Kitty was surprised when Scott was the first to speak, because she had been looking to Rogue. After all that had happened, it was hard to imagine that Scott had once been undisputed leader of them all. So many things had changed since then, both for better and for worse. And here was Evan; lying like flotsum tossed up from the past she had left behind.
Scott laid his hand on the bright white sheets, on the opposite side of the bed to Logan. He didn't want to risk damaging Evan's arm. Speaking softly, he said 'Evan, I'm so sorry.'
If she didn't know better, Kitty would have thought that Evan had never laid eyes on Scott before, he watched him with a stranger's eye, and thought out his response carefully.
'Why are you sorry?' he asked, 'was it you guys that caused all of this?'
This caught them by surprise. In situations such as this, it was common practise to say just how sorry you were, you didn't expect to get asked why, it was just the right thing to say.
This time Rogue did speak. 'No,' she said simply, 'he was after Xavier.'
She gave him no other explanation, but there was no harshness in her tone. Evan's head sank back further into his pillow, and he let out an 'oh'.
Rogue continued. 'We were going to take everyone back home with us. You're welcome to come too, that is, if you're well enough.' She paused, then added 'and if you want to,' almost as an afterthought.
The question sat with Evan for a moment. Out the corner of her eye, Kitty could see Logan watching the boy in the bed very closely.
A few minutes later, Evan gave his answer. 'I'll come with you, but I have a condition.' His face hardened, became steely and unreadable. 'I want to know why you all left the mansion. I want to know what you accused the Professor of, and why you did that, and I want to know how you managed to turn up at the institute at the very time we happened to be attacked, and who exactly it was that killed my aunt.' Strangely enough, he was looking at Scott when he spoke. Kitty supposed that to Evan, Scott was still the leader.
So it was he who replied. 'Fine. We'll stay with you here till you're discharged, and the others can go on ahead, we can join them later.' He looked up at the others, who all gave him signs of assent.
Logan rose. 'Right, I'll go tell them outside, and they can start back. Whatever's happened today, they need to have somewhere proper where they can stay and start to reflect. You four can start explaining.' He squared his shoulders, and threaded his way through the chaos that was the ward.
They watched him go, and then looked back at the boy on the bed. 'All right.' Evan said, 'tell me.'
The journey back to Bedford was; if possible, even quieter than it had been that morning. The most activity came when they had to get out of the town, and past the barrage of media and police that waited eagerly round the town. They had gotten over this obstacle by Mystique changing into none other than Charles Xavier, who proceeded to tell the authorities that he was taking his charges away from the disaster area to stay with a trusted friend of his up North. At that time of night, nobody was in a fit state to question anything, and mercifully few cameras flashed in their direction as they drove past.
The new arrivals to the town were not really in the mood to be taking in their change of surroundings, and even the situation and appearance of their new home failed to make any great impression on them. Mystique led them wearily to a small collection of guest rooms on the first floor of the house, and got Pietro, Lance, Fred and Todd to help her in ensuring there were enough beds for everyone.
There was no fuss made over who shared what room. Boys took one, girls the other, and there was a bathroom adjacent to both. Wasting no time, the teenagers retired for what would doubtless be a sleepless night. Tabby decided to bunk down with the girls that night, because Kitty and Rogue were not there, and nobody had a particular desire to be left alone.
Mystique and the remaining boys made their way down to the kitchen, and grouped together round the table in a daze. Mystique busied herself around the room, making steaming mugs of coffee, even though she and everyone else detested the stuff. It just seemed like the thing to do.
They supposed they should be having a detailed and important conversation, but they just couldn't seem to get their mouths open (except for Fred, who had got himself a bowl of cereal). Eventually, after several failed attempts at conversation, Fred and Todd went up to bed, closely followed by Mystique, who would in all likelihood have to register several new students the next day at school, though it was pretty clear they would all be taking the day off. Lance and Pietro said they would stay up and wait to see if the others returned, and soon found themselves to be the only people left in the kitchen.
Lance switched on a small television that sat in the corner of the counter. He and Pietro watched for a few moments, as they saw familiar scenes flickering before their eyes.
He moved away from the TV and sat back down next to Pietro. 'Big news isn't it?' he remarked, as casually as was humanely possible.
'Sure' Pietro replied, 'it's not everyday a violent group of mutants turn up and completely wipe a town off the map.' He sounded light.
'It's going to look really bad for mutants now, if the people up here find out who we are, then there's going to be a hell of a lot of trouble for us all.'
'Rogue dropped a house on someone.' Pietro said abruptly.
'Which is one way of dealing with that trouble I suppose.'
Pietro shut him up with a look. 'She didn't even break a sweat, just raised her hand in the air. And I was almost killed just running at that, thing. How can I be a protective boyfriend, with a girlfriend who can throw a house on someone? How can I compare?' he didn't really expect the question to be answered.
When Lance spoke this time, he was deadly serious. 'You can't compare, none of us can. Rogue has never before given us any idea before of just how powerful she is. Now she has, and we cannot compare.' He looked sympathetic, but at the same time final. Knowing Pietro as he knew him, and knowing what an egoist he was, it was hard to imagine the size of the inferiority complex he was going through at this point in time.
'There are other ways you can protect her though,' he said, and Pietro looked up at him. 'Be there for her. She's one of the most powerful people in the planet, but she's also a sixteen-year-old girl. What she saw today must have hurt her; probably a hell of a lot more than it affected us. So be there for her, like we all try to be. It's the only real way in which we can help her.'
Pietro was looking at him in a funny way. 'Lance' he asked gently, 'have you been reading Kitty's girly advice columns again?'
Avalanche smacked his friend lightly on the arm, but not before noting the thanks in Pietro's light eyes. He supposed he had changed and become more sensitive quite a bit over the past few months. They all had, ever since that day when Rogue had gone missing. It seemed like such a long time ago. He put his changes down to Kitty mostly; she had an influence that would wear even the most resolute of people down. God he missed her at a time like this, missed having to hug her and tell her everything was going to be all right. And they'd only been apart a few hours. It was partly this new type of feeling that had caused him to willingly become such a rock for others.
'So' Pietro said into the silence, 'what if they do find out about us up here. What's going to happen?'
Lance sighed, desperate times called for desperate measures. Reaching across and patting Pietro lightly on the shoulder, he spoke comfortingly.
'Everything's going to be all right.'
Damn, if the guys back home could see him now.
The last car pulled into the mansion driveway in the earlier hours of the next morning. Evan sat with Kurt, Rogue and Kitty in the back, his arm firmly cast and held in a sling. Scott sat up front with Logan, constantly turning in his seat to look back at them. Kitty was dozing, her head leaning against the window, her elbow digging into Kurt. He himself was asleep, and draped across his sister haphazardly. She was not sleeping, instead sitting rigidly still, and watching Evan out the corner of her eye, who seemed more interested in looking out of the window than anything else.
When they pushed the front door open quietly, they could hear something coming from the kitchen. Putting a finger to her lips, Rogue moved swiftly and silently to the room, and had to bite back a peal of tired laughter as she looked in.
Pietro and Lance were both asleep, their heads so close they were touching, and both collapsed on the table surface. She wasn't sure who was causing it, but a distinct snoring sound came from their direction. She could see a couple of strands of Pietro's silvery hair were rising and falling as he breathed.
Kitty stretched her arms out, and let out a yawn, before moving towards her boyfriend. Scott saw this, and motioned for him and Kurt to take Evan and Logan up to their room, being that they weren't sure whether there were any guest rooms left. Kurt blinked groggily several times, then followed him without fuss, showing that he clearly hadn't realised yet that he and Scott would be sleeping on the couches that night.
Rogue watched them go, and looked back into the kitchen in time to see Kitty startle Lance awake. Before he could make a cry of surprise, she kissed him softly on the lips, and he responded by instinct. A brief, and tiny smile crossed his face as he looked at her, and then took in the sight of Rogue standing in the doorway. Then the smile faded, as reality came flooding back to him.
'How is he?' he asked.
'He's not going to get over it.' Kitty said truthfully, 'but he's not alone, so that's good. Come on, I'll walk you upstairs.' The two of them left quietly, and Rogue gave them a little wave of goodnight, then sat down in Lance's empty seat.
Pietro was waking up now, shaking his head a little. He pulled himself up and found himself looking into Rogue's face.
'Hey' she said, reaching out her hand to gently brush away the mussed up strands of silver that fell across his forehead. He watched her gesture carefully, as though not quite sure that they had finished their argument.
'I wanted to say to you, before all this, that I love you so much.' Rogue said, keeping her hand on his forehead, 'But I cannot tell you who it was that was calling me.'
Pietro nodded sadly, and then moved his head downwards to kiss her hand gently. It was a tender, loving gesture, but it did nothing to convince the two of them that the gap between them had been breached.
'I love you too,' he murmured, 'more than life itself.'
It was enough. Rogue broke down completely, falling into his arms as though dropped from a great height. He stroked her hair softly and let her cry, remembering Lance's words to him earlier that night. This was the only way possible he could help Rogue, loving her. He couldn't keep asking her questions anymore, not if it was going to drive her away. He held her carefully, afraid she might break, and they stayed like that until the sun rose and dried what tears remained on their faces, both resigned to their fate.
DISCLAIMER: Characters and situation property of Marvel and WB
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Short chapter this time, because I decided to split it into two segments, one that dealt with the aftermath of the destruction of Bayville, and one that moved on again with the story. So things should perhaps be a little more lighthearted next chapter. Kitty is going to have great fun at her sleep over, and Scott's going to have to do some explaining to Lydia. So, see you next chapter (hopefully pretty soon), and as ever, read and review!!
