Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men. Ilehana Xavier belongs to Corrinth. All other characters belong to me.
A/N: Thank you to all my reviewers out there; you really are all stars.
Scene 29"Hank on yet?" Scott asked Vixen as he walked in on her watching the news on the edge of her seat.
"On next." She answered shortly. "Mission go okay, One Eye?"
"Yeah." Scott perched on her chair's arm, "You'll be pleased to know Logan behaved himself." If he expected her to laugh at that, both of them would have been surprised, but it mattered little anyway as the newsreader began talking about Hank McCoy's expertise in science and on mutation. "They're talking him up first? They think he's as big a story as the virus, don't they?"
"Something like that." Vixen answered, turning up the volume on the TV as finally the camera panned round to where Beast was sat waiting. The chair looked too small for him, a sweeping, high-armed number in the exactly wrong shade of red to make his blue fur seem less shocking. Ilehana was silently horrified at how hard they'd tried to make Beast seem hideous. And was that gel in his hair?
"Now, Dr McCoy, before we get round to the mutant virus debate, perhaps you could explain to us what has happened to you since your last visit to the studio?" The anchorman smarmed, smiling at some hidden joke. But Hank took it well, knowing he may be blue and furry, but he still had the intelligence to pull the wool over this fool's eyes.
"Of course. For those of you sitting at home wondering if I've maybe gotten a new suit or a different haircut, well done, you are exactly right. What do you think?" He smiled appeasingly, enjoying these games.
"That's sure swell Hank." The newsreader continued. "But I think we were alluding to a more dramatic change in appearance..."
"Well I have been working out..." Hank joked. The newsreader looked like he would burst if Beast didn't just spell it out soon. Ah well, to put a man out of his misery. "Yes, I am a mutant. It is no sudden change either, despite appearances. I have been suppressing my mutation for a number of years..."
"Then a mutation is an optional thing? It can be switched off?" The newsreader was keen to ask.
"A good question, given my own story. But no, the mutation is as much part of a mutant as, say, eye or hair colour, or a passion for art or music. But mutations can, with time and training, and speaking generally, be controlled or even suppressed. I however stand as proof that suppressing a mutation is not a healthy way forward." Hank sat back in his seat, knowing this was going well but doubting anyone was actually listening to what he had to say.
"And the..." The TV pundit continued, but Scott and Ilehana both were swamped instead with a telepathic message. #To the hanger, we have an emergency. # Xavier didn't try and explain, trusting his daughter and his foster son not to argue with him. Of course, they didn't.
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"Help us..."
The gangway of the jet dropped open like the maw of some deepwater fish. Ilehana and Cyclops, with the Professor, were waiting. Blaze and Gambit hung there suspended, his arm around her shoulder in what looked like a friendly embrace. Until Cyclops saw Gambit's face. The Cajun, pale and sweating, was visibly woozy. Just like Colossus had been when they'd come home that night, but this time everybody knew what was wrong. Gambit had the virus; he was going to die.
"Help us..." Blaze pleaded, taking more of Remy's weight across her shoulders than she was comfortably able to bear. The Professor watched, rife with concern as Cyclops and Vixen helped detach the redhead and sweep the Cajun onto a trolley bed. Bobby and Kurt appeared in the maw as Cyclops pushed the stretcher towards the door, leaving with Blaze and Ilehana.
"How did it happen?" Xavier demanded softly. "How is this possible?" The thought of losing another of his X-Men was too much. It didn't help that neither Iceman nor Nightcrawler had any answer to give...
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"I've given you painkillers and strong antibiotics Remy. With any luck we've caught it in time..." Ilehana tried to remain hopeful, but it was a forced, desperate hope when she had nothing but hope to offer. It wasn't even as if the ex-thief was listening to her. Remy's unique eyes glazed over, all he could taste was bile. So this was what it felt like to be dying?
"This ain't so bad..." He tried to find some dark humour, but only succeeded in making himself cough and splutter.
"Don't speak." Blaze told him, not quite forcefully. "You have to save your strength."
"For what?" Remy asked pointedly, red-on-black eyes swinging back into focus sharply. But another coughing fit took him before Blaze could answer. She helped him roll onto his side, smoothed his hair as the coughs subsided.
#Blaze? # Vixen called telepathically, #Come away, I need to talk to you, and he needs to rest. #
"Rest." Blaze ordered, pulling a blanket up and over Remy's shoulders. This time he didn't argue, closing his eyes and concentrating on breathing. She left him, walking across the infirmary to where Vixen was waiting. "What is it?" Blaze asked Vixen reluctantly. With everything that she was, Laura was fighting to deny the truth, to ignore the reality that Gambit may die as if that alone could stop it. But it wasn't that Vixen wanted to talk to her about.
"You know how Colossus caught the virus." Fact, not question, Ilehana's cool blue eyes practical. Blaze nodded slowly, unnecessarily. "No matter what, you must not kiss Gambit." Blaze just looked at Ilehana. Nothing was sinking in, and Ilehana couldn't blame her, it was all a bit much for the metamorph as well. "Look, Blaze, I'm going to sedate him as well, to give the drugs a chance to work. He'll be pretty out of it. Do you mind sitting with him, keeping an eye on him? I'll understand if you don't..."
"If I..." Blaze shook her head, curls dancing, eyes dilated. "Of course I'll stay, if you told me to leave I wouldn't. Why would I not want to?"
"All right." Ilehana conceded, not answering Blaze's question, trying not to think about the damage to might do to Blaze's already fragile emotional health to watch her best friend die. "I've got work to do, a lot of work, but if you need me, just call."
"Sure." Blaze blinked slowly at Vixen. All Laura's anger, her terror, her emotions were drained away now as the colour of her face. Her empty eyes followed Ilehana as the doctor walked to Gambit's bedside to administer the sedatives. And then it finally hit her. Remy was going to die.
She choked on a sob. She blinked away tears frantically. And then, just like that, she pushed it all aside. No time to feel now, it wasn't over yet, and he needed her...