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Chapter Nineteen: It's called 'Losing your mind'

After the incident all training sessions had been canceled for that day. All of the students were still a little shaken up. Cyclops, Jean, Kitty, Kurt and Rogue told the Professor exactly what had occurred. They had placed Serena in the infirmary still asleep. All the adults were there discussing what had happened.

"The child must have been through a great deal to lash out in such a way." Storm said.

"It is quite possible that Serena is starting to become more reckless." Xavier said worried.

"I don't know Charles." Logan interjected. "The kid seemed terrified of the other students. That is, until she got knocked into the pool."

Xavier contemplated. "Yes. It did seem that she wasn't attacking them directly. It looked more like she was trying to defend herself."

"From what?" Storm asked disbelievingly.

"I am not quite sure." Xavier said.

"According to the monitor, her brain patterns are racing." Hank stated. "Quite unusual for someone currently inactive."

"Her body may be inactive but her mind isn't." Xavier said simply.

"That would explain why she's been so exhausted lately." Storm said. "If her mind never rests, then neither does she."

"I think she's hiding something she obviously doesn't want to tell anyone about." Logan said.

"Yes, though it is very strange." The professor said frowning. "When she first came here her mind was troubled and her powers uncontrollable. But over time she was starting to progress. But now it's as if she is the same as when she first came here, or worse I fear."

"Somethin' needs to be done about her." Logan said.

"Yes, but what?" asked Storm. "We cannot just send her away."

"No we cannot." Xavier said firmly. "She is far too upset and dangerous to be out wandering the streets."

Serena stirred making all the adults jump. Her eyes opened half way making her look like she was in a daze.

"Monsters. Monsters everywhere." She whispered, squirming slightly. "Make them stop. Make them go away."

"I think she might have been hallucinating." Hank observed.

"What makes you say that?" Logan said raising an eyebrow.

"Don't you see? It's perfectly logical." Hank reasoned. "The other students claimed she was acting strange. Anyone who is hallucinating can be particularly dangerous."

"It certainly would explain a great deal."

"Yeah but what was she hallucinating about?" Logan asked.

"I can try to probe her mind and find out exactly what is going on."

"Are you sure that's a good idea Charles?" Logan asked with a slight hint of trepidation.

Xavier looked at Serena. Her eyes were still only half open, her hands twitched slightly at her sides and her chest rose up and down silently. "She seems to be in a trance. I doubt she will do anything sudden."

The professor put his hands to Serena's temples and closed his eyes focusing. At first nothing happened. Then suddenly images passed through his mind. A room with water nearly filled to the ceiling. A girl screaming. Bodies lying on the floor. Several people fighting. A child lying in an ally way. Someone crying. A dark figure hiding in the shadows. A bright light… The images came faster and faster. He could barely process them. Demons, monsters rising up from the ground, and something else… A great power… Before he could process anything else a burst of energy forced him out of her mind.

"Ah!" he groaned and closed his eyes.

Serena's eyes went wide and she gave a strangled gasp before falling once more into unconsciousness.

"Professor Xavier!" Storm cried.

"I'm alright." He said rubbing his head. "But I'm afraid she's not."

"What is wrong with her?" Storm asked.

Xavier rubbed his eyes. "Her mind is jumbled with so many thoughts and memories I am quite surprised she hasn't gone through a mental breakdown."

"Uh, I'd say she has." Logan remarked.

"Yes this explains everything." Said Hank rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "The nightmares, the lack of function, the hallucinations… All of these could have been caused by mere trauma."

"Yeah but why now? I'll tell you one thing she wasn't this bad when she first came here." Logan said.

"She seemed to get along fine with the other students." Storm said.

"Not lately." Logan spoke. "These days the only time you see her out of her room is during school or during training."

"I have noticed she doesn't quite associate with the other students," Hank commented. "Even when they are out training."

"But why not?" Storm asked puzzled.

"She no longer trusts anyone." Xavier sighed.

"Then why does she even stay here?" Logan inquired.

"She probably has no where else to go." Hank replied.

"What about her family?" Storm asked.

"It is possible that there could have been a fight between her and her mother." Xavier said.

"Wonder why?" Logan thought out loud.

"Her mother does not appreciate the fact that her daughter is a mutant."

Logan lifted an amused eyebrow. "I don't think anybody does Chuck."

"I'll try probing her mind again." He moved towards her. But before he could put his hands to her head, something shocked him and he retracted his hands.

Storm put a hand on his shoulder. "What is wrong Charles?"

"I… cannot touch her."

"What?" Storm said surprised.

"She is surrounded by some kind of force field."

"How?"

"I'm not sure." He replied. "Perhaps she doesn't want me to look into her mind."

"But I didn't think she had that kind of power." Hank said.

"She does have a slight gift of empathy and telepathy." Xavier explained. "But I don't think she quite fully knows how to control it. And with her emotions this makes her an even bigger threat."

"How much of a threat?" Storm asked warily.

Xavier folded his fingers together. "If her powers were to spin out of control, the results would be devastating."

"We must help her somehow." Storm said.

"Yes," Xavier agreed, "though it won't be easy. There were several disturbing images that were immensely out of order. Some of which I am not even sure were real. I would have pried deeper but something had forced me out."

"I think there is more to this than we realize." Hank said darkly. "Much more."

Xavier looked forlornly at the girl lying in the bed. "So it seems."

Logan crossed his arms. "So, what are we gonna do with her?"

"Lance, what are we gonna do with him?" Tabitha asked.

They were all in the living room wondering what they should do about Todd. Tabitha sat next to Pietro who was lying down the couch recuperating, Fred sat in the armchair watching Todd carefully in case he needed to restrain him when he woke up, and Lance was pacing back and forth across the room occasionally running his hand through his hair.

He gave a deep sigh. "I have no idea."

Lance couldn't believe it. He just couldn't believe it. His fears had come true. Todd was losing it. He had snapped and had nearly beaten Pietro to death. Once again Lance had been right there and yet he couldn't stop it from happening. Why was this happening to him? He couldn't deal with all of this at once. This was getting to be too much. Gaud, what am I supposed to do? He thought. My teammate is going insane.

"Okay," Lance turned to Pietro. "Explain one more time exactly what happened."

"Well, I was sitting around doing nothing like you guys." Pietro told them. "I look out the window and I see Toad kneeling on the ground looking like he was having a breakdown or something. I went outside to see if he was okay. He was whispering something that I didn't quite catch. I called to him and asked if everything was alright and he just went ballistic and jumped on top of me and started beating me to death."

"Do you know why he did that?" Tabitha asked.

"Not a clue." Pietro shrugged. "He just kept screaming, 'you killed her, I'll kill you, you SOB,' and stuff like that."

"Why didn't you just dodge him?" Fred asked.

"Oh yeah, like I really knew he was going to kill me." Pietro said sarcastically. "I just wanted him to beat me up for the heck of it. How was I supposed to know he was going to tackle me? I'm a speedster not a psychic."

"Still, it's hard to believe that he was able to grab you," Fred snickered, "the almighty Quicksilver."

"I was taken by surprise." Pietro said indignantly. "I tried to get away from him but he wouldn't let me."

"This worries me." Lance said in a serious tone. "If Toad was angry enough to actually attack Pietro we could all be in danger."

"How?" Fred said confused.

"He might try to kill us!" Lance said exasperatedly.

"Lance don't be an idiot." Tabitha rolled her eyes. "Why would Todd want to kill us?"

"He wanted to kill me." Pietro remarked.

"Everybody wants to kill you." She mocked.

Pietro looked at her. "That was seriously harsh Tabitha."

"No more than you deserve." Tabitha responded.

Pietro looked down at the floor. "I thought you guys had forgiven me."

"Will somebody please give me an explanation for all of this?" Lance cried out, more to the roof than anybody else.

"I have a perfect explanation for this." Pietro remarked.

"Yeah?" Lance said. "Do tell."

"What else?" Pietro shrugged. "He's lost his mind."

"Thank you for your most intellectual and astoundingly helpful input." Lance responded. "But I'm pretty sure everyone already knows this."

Pietro held up his hands. "Hey, I'm just here to help."

"I think I speak for everyone when I say you're not doing a very good job." Lance snapped.

"Yeah well…"

"Knock it off you two." Tabitha cut in.

"We're getting a little off track here." Fred said.

Lance rubbed his head. "I'm sure Toad's been through a lot worse than this."

"How would we know?" Pietro inquired. "We don't know anything about his past. For all we know, he could've been rich and living in a mansion with butlers and a swimming pool and five different types of dinner forks."

Tabitha snorted with laughter. "Yeah right. If he had all that do you really think he would be living with us right now?"

"Before he fainted, he said 'he killed Serena'." Lance considered. "He was talking about you Pietro."

"I didn't kill anybody!" Pietro yelled.

"I know, I know. But why does he think that?"

"Why don't you ask him when he wakes up?" Pietro suggested. "If he doesn't kill you first that is."

"Shut up Pietro." Lance said. "I can't help but think that someone's messing with us."

"Aw, come on. Who?" Pietro asked doubtfully.

Lance gave a deep sigh. "I don't know."

He looked at the small teen curled up on the floor sleeping. He stirred slightly and rolled over still asleep. He looked at the huge blood stain on the front of his shirt. The sleeves were stained too. The blood had dried turning to smudges of dark maroon.

"He looks so harmless."

"When he's asleep." Pietro mumbled.

"I'm sure he didn't mean to attack you." Tabitha stated. "It was probably an accident."

"Oh yes," said Pietro thickly, "he probably just accidentally leapt on top of me and accidentally pulled back his fist and accidentally sank it into my stomach."

"Knock it off Pietro." Lance snapped.

"What I meant was he might have been delusional at the time." Tabitha reasoned. "Ever thought of that?"

"Uh, duh!" Pietro exclaimed.

"What I want to know is how did that blood get on Toad's shirt?" Fred asked scratching his head.

"It was probably Quickmouth's blood over here." Tabitha indicated Pietro.

Lance shook his head. "No way. Pietro wasn't bleeding enough to make that stain."

"Maybe he had that before." Tabitha shrugged.

"Maybe." Lance said doubtful. "Pietro did you see any blood on his shirt before he attacked you?"

"Well I wasn't really paying attention to what he had all over his shirt." Pietro replied.

"Just answer the question." Lance said impatiently.

Pietro thought. "Um… I think so. Yeah, I saw blood on his sleeve. It was red."

"So it was fresh." Lance shook his head. "This just makes no sense. Toad wasn't bleeding anywhere. It couldn't have been Pietro's blood. Who did the blood belong to?"

"Or what did the blood belong to." Tabitha implied.

"We definitely need to try and figure out what is going on with him." Lance decided.

"That's not going to be easy. We're not exactly on his list of favorite people." Pietro said.

"Nobody said it was going to be easy." Tabitha countered. "But we're his friends. We gotta help him."

"Yeah." Lance agreed. "But how?"

DUN DUN DUN! Have Serena and Todd really lost their sanity? Will the Brotherhood and X-Men lose theirs?

Well, I'm going on a vacation to for a while so don't expect to find out too soon.

Pietro: What? You can't just take a vacation! What about us?

Lance: Yeah, we're the characters. We deserve a break.

Sorry, no other flights available. Bye! (Runs off screaming 'Hawaii here I come!')

Tabitha: After her!

They all chase after the author.