Serena sighed as cold rain pelted against her bedroom window in the mansion. Running nimble fingers in an intricate pattern, she lazily drew designs in the fog as she waited for Logan to return.
Rogue told her friend it was just the way he dealt with difficult things: run off somewhere to think and be back in a few weeks or months. But it hurt Serena to know she was the cause of his leaving. No matter how much Rogue told her otherwise.
It was after the Alkalai lake incident, where they almost lost Jean Grey. The water was about to pound her into the ground as she attempted to raise the jet, but Serena had stormed to the front of the jet and forced her hands out in front of her. Pushing her powers past their limits, her eyes turned entirely sea blue as she fought with the strong current of the water. She knew what it was like to lose someone, a significant other, and didn't want their leader, Scott, to know that feeling.
As her power surged to protect the older woman, her fingertips began turning blue, and the color slowly bled up her arms and down the rest of her body. The water outside the jet stayed away from Jean as the plane lifted, and even when Jean let go of her power, the water was still separated. "Someone get her before I lose control!"
As it was, her arms and legs were shaking, making it difficult for her to stand on her own two feet.
"She von't let me bamf out," shouted Kurt as he rushed to her side.
"Then I'll just have to do it."
Applying a little more force, Serena gently clenched one of her hands and brought it upward.
Everyone in the Blackbird gasped as a water-hand lifted from the lake with Jean Grey in its massive palm. Raising it higher, Serena formed another hand to pry open the jet's plank. After a brief power struggle with Jean's power, she grunted as she finally over powered the telepath and opened it. Shoving the red head inside and dropping both hands, she fell to the floor in a heap, gasping.
A few more minutes of the gasping concerned the Professor, but then he saw why it was so difficult for the girl to breathe. Since she had pushed her powers, gills had formed on her neck, giving one more fish-like quality to the girl other than her blue skin and eyes.
All the while, Logan was in the back of the jet, watching. He could have lost two important people to him, add that with what almost happened with Stryker, and Rogue when she flew out of the jet…it was just too much. Flopping into a seat, he ran his hands through his hair trying to calm himself. 'What she did was stupid!' he shouted. 'But you're glad she did, or else someone wouldn't be very happy right now.'
Sending a glance in the leader's direction, he saw Scott yelling and hugging his fiancée at the same time. 'Speaking of which,' he thought as he made his way over to the still gasping girl. Tilting his head, he saw the gills and smelled the slightly fishy scent coming off her, but sighed in relief when her breathing got a little easier as the gills melted back into her skin. Falling on his knees next to her, he smashed her to his chest and kissed the top of her slowly returning to normal skin colored forehead. "You have no idea how scared you got me," he growled into her hair.
Letting out a last breath that calmed her down, she hugged with her right arm, her left hanging limply at her side. "I'm sorry," she breathed out, "I just had to save her, you know?"
Logan nodded against her head. "Yeah, I know," he softly whispered into her bangs. She'd told everyone her story before she'd arrived to New York; about her boyfriend and her friends being killed in the Sailor Wars in Japan. At first, she was a broken girl trying to pull herself back together, and seeing everyone around her having someone made it hard.
Rogue stuck to Logan's side like a best friend and was going out with Bobby who was friends with John, Jean had Scott, Storm was a friend to everyone, but Serena had no one…until Rogue decided to talk to her.
The two had become fast friends, and soon, Serena was surrounded by people, but still had a hole in her that was to only be filled by her soul mate. 'Who was dead,' she remembered thinking.
But that was a few days before Logan came back.
One day while Serena and her new friends had been playing foosball, a slam echoed through the mansion, sending Rogue running to the front door, muttering something about a 'Logan'.
Serena shared a look with Bobby. "Who's Logan?" Following him down the stairs, she soon discovered who Logan was.
"He's a good friend of Rogue's; he's saved her a few times since last year. You remember the Liberty Island thing, right? That was them."
In an awed silence, she saw Rogue launch herself at Logan. As Serena reached the bottom of the stairs a bit behind Bobby, she saw the two males shake hands after Rogue introduced them.
Ice crawled down Bobby's hand, transferring to Logan's hand as he shook it. Serena blinked a few times to ward the cold away as she felt Bobby lower the temperature in the air around the intertwined hands. Rogue saw Serena wince and slapped her boyfriend in the chest.
"Bobby, quit it, you're making Serena uncomfortable. She can manipulate, and practically is, water you know, and standing in freezing temperatures is not on the top of her to-do list."
By now, Logan had glanced over at the new girl who was holding her head as if a headache was spreading, along with an icy glove inching up her hand. Since her eyes were clenched shut, he couldn't see the colors of her eyes, but her scent 'Is incredible,' he thought as he took a deep breath. 'Rain water and roses,' he thought as he grinned.
The ice mutant blushed and muttered an apology. "I forgot, sorry." Returning the room back to its original temperature had Serena shaking her head and hand to dismiss the apology and the ice. "No need Bobby, I understand perfectly."
And indeed she did. She knew what it was like when Darien had been possessive, and it was funny sometimes. A tighter handshake here, a hand around her waist there; it was all showing ownership, and she missed it. Sadly smiling and shaking her head at the memories, Rogue piped up. "Oh, Serena, you haven't met Logan yet!"
Logan's head came up as he heard his name. "Huh?"
Rogue laughed as she pulled Bobby to the rec room, Serena and Logan following shortly behind. "Logan, this is Serena Tsukino. She can manipulate and make the moisture in the air tangible."
While Logan was taking it in, Serena piped up, "It means I can control water."
"I know what it means," Logan growled back, a little harsher than he'd intended to be.
Serena eeped and stepped back a little bit and stopped walking. Sighing as she shook her head, she turned away. "Hey Rogue, I have a lesson with the Professor. I'll see you at dinner, ok?"
Now Rogue knew Serena didn't have a lesson, and glared at Logan. Pushing Bobby ahead, she explained to her boyfriend she needed to knock some sense into Logan's adamantium-covered head.
SMACK
"Ow, Marie! What in blazes was that for?" Logan made a show of being hurt, but was more surprised she'd done it. "What'd I do?"
Rogue only shook her head as she glared at him from behind auburn and white hair. "She's prolly upset 'cause you growled at her, you big wolf," was the response as she poked him in the chest. "She's new and not used to you, ok? And as of a few weeks back, she didn't have anybody in the world, so try to be nicer, she's trying to get used to people again."
Shocked, Logan's eyes flew to Rogue's. "Nobody in the world? What do you mean?" He frowned as he tried to coax the story out of her as they walked to the rec room.
"That's her story to tell, but she lost all the people she cared about in the Sailor Wars. You kept up with that, right?" Seeing him nod, she continued. "Her family, friends, and fiancée were lost in that fight, so she decided to come here. After all, there was nothing left for her back home."
Logan stopped walking and cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "Fiancée? Wait, how old is she?" The girl couldn't be any older than Rogue, but she'd had a serious relationship? "Ain't she your age, kid?"
Rogue shook her head. "She's about two years older than me, twenty, but still young, I know. Supposedly, she and her guy had a little history and stuff." Rogue smiled sarcastically. 'Yeah, as if a thousand years is a little history.'
Bringing herself out of that memory, Serena remembered the day Logan left.
"Serena, I just need some time to think about this, that's all. It ain't you darlin', it's me, it's all me." The man sighed as he saw the crestfallen look on her face as he hefted his rucksack onto his shoulder. "I promise I'll be back, ok?" Dropping a kiss to her forehead, he left without another word.
Hearing a whoosh from the doorway had Serena falling out of her bed and onto the floor. "Kitty, I wish you wouldn't do that," she muttered as she rubbed her head.
"Sorry! Like, the Professor said to fetch you and stuff, cuz we like, have a danger room session for a little bit." The girl who phased through the door rummaged through her closet for her uniform as she explained, giving an "AHA!" when the uniform was pulled out. "Aw man, this uniform's like, totally wrinkled!"
Serena laughed. "You prolly had it stuffed somewhere, din' ya?" She gave another short laugh as Shadowcat blushed. "That's a loud and definite yes," muttered Serena as she fetched her own uniform. She rotated her hand in a semicircle as the water in the air clung to the material. Seconds later, the uniform dried, taking the wrinkles and water with it.
"Oh my gosh Serena, you're a lifesaver!"
Ten minutes and a few elevator rides later had the girls and some fellow x-teens in the danger room, waiting for their lesson.
"Today, I will be teaching the lesson."
At that voice, everyone groaned. "It's Cyke," students whispered, adopting Logan's nickname for the leader of the X-Men.
Don't get anyone wrong, Scott was a good teacher, but his exercises were a little on the…well, difficult side.
"We will be going over teamwork today, so everyone pair into several groups of two, and we'll get started." Scott clapped his gloved hands together, sounding a muffled pat, giving the signal to start.
Kitty found Rogue and apologized to Serena. "Sorry, but like, we were partners the last time around…even if I wasn't paired with you last time Scott gave the lesson."
Serena shook her head. "It's ok, I'm sure I can find someone." That was before she gave a good look around the room, and she was alone. "Or not…" Heavy footfalls and a large shadow alerted her to a presence behind her not two seconds later. "Hey Piotr, wanna be partners?"
The tall boy nodded. "It will be interesting I think, since we've never worked together before," he replied in a thick accent. A piercing whistle brought everyone's attention to Scott.
"Now," he shouted across the room, "I'll give out numbers to groups as I pass them, and random numbers will be drawn from a hat, as will a danger room simulation. That numbered group will have to go against that numbered simulation, none of you knowing which simulation it is until it begins. This will teach you to trust your partner and to adapt quickly. If you have mutations that have an 'on off' switch, turn them on."
Piotr felt his mouth twist upward to a mischievous grin. "Have you seen my mutation yet, little one?" Even though she was the same age he was, she was shorter and let the "little one" comment slide as she shook her head, watching him concentrate. Serena's mouth dropped open in shock as the over six-foot man became over seven feet tall and covered in metal.
"Wow, so that's why they call you Colossus, huh?" she asked as her neck strained upward as Piotr let out a deep laugh. "Indeed, little one," he replied, she being even littler than she was in the first place. Coming in at only five four or so, he dwarfed her by a good two and a half feet. With a grin on her face, she rapped on his arm, making a dull thunking noise.
Serena and Pitor were the last group called, and Scott realized with a growing horror, the last simulation was set in Tokyo, Japan. He realized a little late that he never should have put that one in there in the first place. After thinking it over a few minutes later, he decided against a new program. Not being cruel, he thought it might be good for her to try to get over her past; hoping the program would help a little.
As the simulation spread over the metal, Serena realized with a start just what city it took in. "Tokyo," tore from her mouth in a choked whisper.
Piotr immediately recognized the name of her former hometown and gave her a slight squeeze on her shoulder. "It's alright, little one, you'll be fine. You're meant to trust your partners after all, and I will take care of you," Piotr punctuated the last word with a punch to a robot headed in their direction.
Nodding, still dazed, she tried to gather water in her hands, but realized there wouldn't be any from all the fires that were burning. "I can't help you, Piotr! The flames are sucking the water out of the air!"
"Just trust me little one, I'll take care of you as long as I can!" Punching another robot into a bricked wall, two came at him next as Serena hid behind a pile of boxes.
'I can't just hide! Scott said the exercise was to help us adapt, and I need to adapt!' Looking to the sky, she saw some rather large thunderhead clouds that looked like they needed some convincing to rain. Hopefully the water would short circuit the robots…it would at least put the fire out.
Scanning for immediate threats, she realized they were all on Piotr, him seeming to be the more powerful of the two. With an evil grin, she pointed her hands to the sky and began 'pulling' the rain out of the clouds.
Piotr felt a raindrop splat on his nose before glancing at Serena. Holding the robot at bay, he saw her arms raised to the air and her eyes turn completely blue. "That a girl, little one! Keep it up!"
Smiling at Piotr's confidence, more rain began to fall, and she soon had a large ball of water in her hands. Taking it with two arms, she pushed it forward to one of the robots. Electricity fizzled as the circuitry died, as did the other robots.
The two x-teens sighed in relief as the city turned back into the metaled walls of the danger room. Serena fell to her knees as she tried to get her breath back as Piotr's mutation dropped. "Are you all right, little one?" Seeing her shake her head, he placed his arms under her legs and around her neck, picking her up and carrying her to the observation deck.
Nodding her head as best she could on her low energy, she held onto Piotr for dear life. "Ugh, it's high up here," she grumbled out. Piotr chuckled.
Colossus stepped into the observation deck and set Serena down on a chair as they waited for Scott's assessment.
"Very well done you two," he said, clapping his gloved hands. "The two of you may be able to come to a mission with the rest of us the next time one comes up you did so well." Turning to Serena, he kneeled down on the floor to become eyelevel with her. "I'm sorry about the last simulation; I thought there was so little of a chance you'd be doing it I just left it there. I hope you'll be able to get over your past in time, and I hope I didn't just send you back a few steps."
Serena shook her head. "No, it's ok, I agree I need to overcome my past and all, and that did help a little. Sometimes I just try to block it out, but you made me face it. I haven't been able to do that for a while now, so thanks, Scott." Still unable to move and not being able to hide it, Piotr picked her up. "You'll have to show me to your room," he explained as he and the other students left.
Kitty and Rogue rushed up to Piotr as they headed back to the dorms. "Like, oh my gosh, Serena, are you ok? You used a lot of power, and that was way awesome by the way!"
Rogue laughed and nodded. "Yeah, your gift is so cool, it's almost a little like 'Ro's, you know? And I think it's good how you handled your location and all."
Serena leaned over the side of Piotr's arms and smiled down at her friends. "Thanks guys, it means a lot to hear both of you say that. I think I may just be able to start putting my past behind me. The girls and Darien led good lives, and they sacrificed themselves so I could live. It would be putting that sacrifice to waste if I didn't ."
Piotr nodded and spoke up. "Yes, it would be a good idea for you to live and not only go through the motions of life, which you did for a while when you first came. But now, you're making friends." Hugging her gently, he set her down at her dorm room door. Kitty opened it and ushered the girls inside. "Have a good rest little one," said Piotr from the doorway, "dinner's in about an hour." Heavy footsteps faded away as Serena fell onto her bed.
"Holy moly, I'm so tired." Pulling her arms over her head to make the light go away seemed like a good idea as she lay in bed in her sweaty uniform. Hearing the other girls do the same, she was about to fall asleep when the air conditioner came on, freezing all three girls.
"Gah, air conditioners and sweaty clothes, like, so totally don't go together!" Kitty phased through her bed and came to rest on a smaller mattress she placed there in case she phased through her bed at night. A contented sigh came from beneath the bed skirt, making it move.
Serena and Rogue tried holding in their laughs as they glanced at each other, then the moving bed skirt, but couldn't do it. Kitty's head phased through the skirt, "Hey guys, like, what's so funny?"
Rogue shook her head at her valley-ish friend. "It's nothing Kitty, really!" Her reply was a "Psht, yeah, whatever," before they saw Kitty phase back und her bed.
Sighing and closing their eyes, Serena and Rogue soon followed Kitty to sleep.
Someone shaking her shoulder woke Serena up some time later. "Come on, girl, we're late to dinner!"
"Go away, Kitty, I'm too tired to eat!" Halfheartedly waving her hands in an attempt to get the girls to leave her alone only fused their attempts to get her up.
"Come on, it was Ororo's turn to cook, and she made some great Italian stuff, and we know how you love Italian," coaxed Rogue as she still shook Serena.
One of her eyes peeked open. "Race you there," she cried as she took off.
"Hey like, no fair Serena!"
Rogue just chased after her two friends as she shook her head. They were so difficult to deal with sometimes.
Two days later found Serena still sitting at her bedroom window, waiting for the roar of a motorcycle engine to alert her Logan was home. Her blue eyes were glazed as the thought back a few days. 'I was so determined to try and live…but then Logan's absence got to me, I guess.' She was so preoccupied with her thoughts, she didn't hear Jean come in. "Serena?"
She turned to the red haired Doctor. "Oh, hey Jean," she replied without a care.
Jean sighed as she looked at Serena. The girl wasn't eating or exercising or anything…soon, Logan would have no one to come home to at this rate. "Serena, you need to eat something today. Do it for me, ok? As a favor?"
The water girl looked down at the tray Jean brought in, but looked away. "I don't feel well, Jean," she whispered as she began controlling raindrops through the glass of her window, forming a familiar face.
"You need to stop pining over Logan, Serena. You're just wasting away without him. What about that promise to try and live?" The red haired mutant sat on the ledge next to Serena as she placed a hand on her forearm. "You're worrying everyone, you know. Kitty's not as perky, Rogue is distant, and all your other friends are worried about you."
Serena let the water image fall as she turned to Jean, looking through electric blue hair before saying "You don't know what it's like, Jean. You have Scott." She turned away then and pushed her hair out of her face.
Sighing after she realized she wasn't getting anywhere, Jean lifted the tray and put it on the nearby desk. "I'll leave this here, just in case." And with that, she left.
After Serena sat at the sill a little while longer, she distantly heard the phone ring. She'd let one of the other students get it, she thought as she flopped onto her side.
The door clicked open as Rogue stepped in. "Hey Serena, phone." When she was ignored, she tried again. "C'mon Serena, I don't have all day," she said jokingly. Serena waved a hand in dismissal. "It's Logan." She thought that would get the girl up, but it made her curl in a tighter ball. 'Wow.'
Rogue sighed as she pulled the phone back up to her mouth as she left the room she shared with the other girl. "Logan, she's so depressed…just come home."
"You know I can't. I need to find out who I am…and I'm not good enough for her anyway."
Rogue sighed angrily. "Well, I hope you get your damn answers before she wastes away Logan. You should see her. She plays with the constant rain we get here…and when it's not raining, she goes and lives in the pool. Seriously, I think she's part lovebird."
Logan sighed on the other end. "Sorry, Marie, but I need more answers, you know that. The last time I talked to you, I thought you said she was doing fine."
"That was a week or two ago, Logan," Rogue replied as she paced and ran her other hand through her hair. 'What I wouldn't give to be able to knock some sense into his head!'
"Look Rogue, I need to go. So I'll see ya when I see ya."
Rogue stopped pacing. "No goodbye for Serena?"
"I told you Rogue, she needs to forget about me…find someone like Scott and settle down and all."
Rogue really wanted to hit him now. "Logan-"
click "Oh, he did NOT just hang up on me!" That sucked, because she had no way to contact him back. She glared at the phone. 'For some reason, the Professor hasn't been able to get into Logan's head to talk to him…it's so weird.' Rogue just hoped nothing went wrong until after Logan came home.
Just before she went to hang up the phone, the Professor mentally called the X-Men. Right now, the team included the teachers, Piotr, and Serena. She heaved a sigh. How she and Bobby wanted to be apart of those ranks. The door clicked open, and for the first time in days, Serena walked out of her room, and it wasn't a pretty sight. Rogue thought the Professor would have Serena stay home. "Serena, you sure the Prof wants you to go?"
"Yeah, it's underwater somewhere. Magneto thought it would be fun to get some highly toxic crap and put it in some drinking supply…or close to it. Anyway, since the fight will be underwater, he needs me." Without another word to the younger girl, she walked with a determined yet weak air to the elevator. Pressing the button, the doors slid open; she stepped inside, turned around, and let the elevator close over her face.
"Alright everyone, you know why you're here," said the Professor in the debriefing room. "Magneto is going to set off toxic bombs into this lake, a major water and seafood source for Westchester. Serena," he turned sadly to the pale woman, but continued. "You'll be leading a team into the water, but be careful, Magneto could set these off at any given time." Receiving a nod, he went on. "Jean, you'll go down there with her to help her disable the bombs. Scott, Storm, and Piotr will be inside the sub as backup. Are we ready?"
The X-Men around him nodded. "Then let's head out," said Scott as he adjusted his glasses.
Serena swam with a timeless grace in the water, Jean noticed. She nervously eyed the area around her, jumping at almost every slight thing.
'It's ok, Jean,' said Serena telepathically through the water. 'I'll know if anything's coming.' She swam up to the older X-Woman as she blinked in the water, sending a small stream of bubbles out her nose. With a slow wave of her hand, the two continued.
After what seemed like miles later (to Jean, at least), they came upon the field of bombs. Serena blinked in surprise at the sheer number. 'This'll take a while Jean, so let's get started, shall we?'
The two began to slowly and meticulously tinker at the bombs. Their movement was slowed due to the friction of the water, but they still worked quickly despite that fact.
Nearby, the three X-Men in the sub waited anxiously. "It's strange that Magneto hasn't shown up yet." Scott just jinxed it, for at that moment outside the sub, Serena was about to dismantle a bomb…but the activation light began to blink. Surrounding bombs also began to slowly blink their red lights, and the blipping increased in speed as it got closer to detonation.
With a yelp into the water (and a lot of air bubbles), Serena turned to Jean. 'I'm about to save your life again, but I may not come out of it this time,' she thought sadly to herself. As she gathered power to push the sub and Jean as far away as she could, she began to cry. 'I love you so much, Logan,' she thought as the lights stopped blinking, red flaring out across the lake. Finally, she shoved her arms out in front of her, startling Jean out of her work. Just before she was pushed away, she saw the red lights.
'No Serena!' she screamed in her head, 'don't do this!' Jean's heart stopped as Serena looked back to her with a sad smile. 'I have to do this,' she heard in her mind.
'You don't, don't do this again!'
With a soft chuckle, Serena nodded. 'Yeah, I'm saving you again, aren't I?' That was the final thought ringing through Jean's mind as she and the sub were pushed away.
"Wait," yelped Storm as she felt the sub tumble. "What's going on?! Jean, Serena?!"
Jean's 'voice' cam floating through the submarine. 'The bombs were activated from somewhere else, she's pushing us away before they have a chance to-'
A ring of bubbles flew out, the aftershock sending the sub careening in another direction after the bombs exploded.
"No!" Scott shouted as he tried to re-direct the sub, but the after shock was too great. "Piotr, as soon as this shock dies down, try to re-direct the sub to Serena's last coordinates; I'm going out with Jean," explained the X team leader as he fiddled with a diving suit.
The stunned Russian nodded as he numbly took the controls from Scott. 'That'd better not have been a suicide mission for you, little one.'
Scott and Jean stared in shock at the damage the toxic bombs wrought on the lake. Broken barrels lay everywhere, seaweed darkened to a charred black as it floated on an imaginary breeze. Jean was worried now if they'd find Serena at all. The gloomy thought didn't have long to take root, but a shout by Scott in her mind brought her back to the present.
He found the girl floating in more black seaweed, hair and uniform tangled in the black fingers. 'Now's not the time to be thinking poetically about something,' Scott berated himself. Reaching out a shaky hand, he felt her neck and sighed when he found a pulse. It was slow, but it was still there. 'We need to get her back, now! Her skins' absorbing the water around her, which also contains the toxins; if we want her to have any chance, we need to get her home.'
Jean forced herself to nod as they both pulled her out of the seaweed, tearing away at the stuff that was holding her.
Back at the mansion, Jean placed Serena into a stasis tank, hoping the water might help her friend and savior (for a second time) heal. Jean walked up to the glass and placed her hand over Serena's face, looking down at her friend. 'You lived the first time, and now you need to pull through again. Don't leave this world yet Serena, the world and a certain someone aren't ready for that yet.'
As Jean worked, she thought about how the Professor hadn't been able to contact Logan. 'Who knows how far away he is, and who knows how much time Serena has left if we can't help her.'
The toxin was a highly poisonous concoction, mostly focused on harming marine life and making the water unsafe. Since Serena was kind of part fish, she'd been hit twice by the bombs. It also seemed as if Serena consumed the toxin…the lake was completely clean, and the young mutant had alarmingly high levels of the toxin running through her system. If Logan were at the mansion, he might be able to give a blood transfusion to help…Rogue was the only one who could benefit from his healing ability so easily. Speaking of…
Rogue, Kitty, and Bobby dashed into the med bay. "Like, oh my gosh, is she gonna be ok?" asked Kitty as she saw Serena suspended in the tank of water. Gently phasing her hand through the glass, she touched Serena's cold cheek.
Jean looked sadly to the small group. "Do you want it straight or sugar coated?"
Bobby hugged Rogue tightly to himself. He didn't know what he'd do if Rogue were in the position Serena was in right now. 'Logan's gonna be so mad and everything else when he finds out what happened while he decided to disappear.' "Tell it straight, Dr. Jean. We can take it."
"Well," she took a deep breath. "She most likely won't make it." Hearing sharp gasps and a choked sob, she hurried on. "However, if Logan were to get back here in time, we might be able to perform a blood transfusion. The healing factor is in his blood, so it might transfer. Other than that," she turned back to the tank and the unconscious girl inside it, "there's nothing else we can do."
Rogue stormed back up to her room. "If only Logan never left, this might not be happening right now," she muttered. Slamming the door open, she spotted Kitty on the bed, crying. Rushing over to her friend, she gave her a huge hug. "Don't worry, Kitty, Logan'll come back…he'll feel there's something wrong…animals have that sixth sense, you know?" She only hoped she was right.
"But what if he doesn't? What if she dies, Rogue?" The girl started sobbing again, letting out desperate cries for her very sick friend. "You know, I heard Jean talking to the Professor. She said there wasn't any toxic substance left in the lake after the bombs exploded." Kitty took in a shaky breath and continued. "It's because Serena absorbed it all, so she has all that crap in her body…that's why she won't make it!"
The other girl was stunned. "She what?"
"All those toxins were enough to kill all the life in that lake and make the water undrinkable, and Serena has all that inside her body! Jean was surprised she's actually still living after that!"
Pain.
That's all that was registering in Serena's mind about now. It hurt to move, to breathe, and to blink. She would never take those things for granted again after this. A burning pain began to fester deep in her chest, and after losing a battle to keep it in, she coughed, a red haze appearing before her eyes.
But then that got her to thinking. She was alive? 'I thought for sure I would die when I took all the toxins from the lake into my body,' she thought with another cough breaking from her lungs, leaving another red cloud in the once clear water.
Jean sighed as she walked into the lab. It would be another day of observing her comatose friend, and worrying she may never come out of it. Her eyes wandered to the stasis tank that was laying on the floor, and gasped when she saw red water in it. Furiously pounding the computer for an explanation, she heard bubbles rising to the surface of the water in a large group. 'That means she's awake!' "Serena, are you awake? Serena?"
Serena used her powers to push the blood to another area of the tank as she looked up into Jean's face. 'Hey Dr. Grey, how are you and the others?'
Jean laughed and cried at the same time. "You stupid girl, we made it all out just fine, unlike you," the doctor sighed in relief. "How are you feeling?"
Letting her head fall to the bottom of the tank, she shook her head and winced. 'It's painful all over, Jean, it hurts to blink.'
"Well, these toxins in your blood aren't a picnic," replied Jean as she began typing away on the large computer. "It was a rather deadly combination that was made to wipe out the entire lake; the fish, the plants, even the lake water was going to be badly contaminated. But for some reason, you took it upon yourself to save the lake." Jean gently smiled, her typing slowing. "There's little hope of you living," she choked out.
"Yeah, I think I heard someone say I might have a chance if Logan were here to perform a blood transfusion; but who knows where that man is right about now. He could be at a bar, or sleeping some where (with someone)."
Jean caught the last half of that sentence. "No, he isn't. He really loves you Serena. Flirting with me was done to tick off Scott, and he has real feelings for you. Trust me," said the telepath as she tapped her head, "I know. He projects so strong, it's hard not to ignore him."
Serena smiled sadly. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up Jean, but it didn't work."
Jean saw the girl's eyes begin to flutter as the heart monitor at the side of the tank began to get slower. "No, stay with me Serena, you hear?! Stay with me!" A sad smile was the only response as the heart monitor flat lined. "NO!"
'That was so close,' thought Jean as she fell to her knees to the left of the tank. Her left hand traced along Serena's face, making a path to the top of her head. 'If she's fallen once, it's getting close to her time.' Tears leaked from her eyes, blurring the vision of the pale mutant in the stasis tank.
Scott rushed into the med lab seconds after Jean began to cry. "Jean, are you ok? The whole school heard you yelling! I had to order the students to stay out of the med lab!" The leader's ranting stopped when he felt his fiancée collapse against him. "Jean?" he whispered. "What's going on?"
A shaky breath made its way to his ears before he heard what really happened. "We almost lost her, Scott. She flat lined, and she looked so ready to die," replied Jean in shocked fascination. "Seeing her like that was so…scary a-and wrong."
"Shh," running his hand through her hair soothed her a little as Scoot tried to think of something to say. "Well, you've managed to keep her here a little while longer, so we'll just have to pray."
"Scott, I need to talk to you, SCOTT!" Rogue squeezed through the med bay doors. "Scott, Jean, it's Logan. He's home, but he's not alone."
Jean was reluctant to leave Serena's side so soon after her brush with death, but Rogue insisted. Besides, the girl told her, if there are any problems, I'll yell for you. So, she walked down the grand staircase, but wasn't quite ready for what she saw. There was Logan, with a blonde floozy hanging from his arm. What was more surprising though, was her feline tail wrapping around Logan. 'Oh, that's so gross,' thought Jean as she approached the two, glaring at Logan. "Hello Logan, we weren't expecting you."
"Since when do we ever?" Scott growled form behind Jean. A curt nod was tossed in Logan's direction as he held out his hand for the newcomer to shake. "Name's Scott-"
"Leader of the X-Men, yeah, Logan told me all about you all." She pointed to each in turn. "You're Cyclops, you're Jean, Storm, there's Rogue, Iceman…and I think that's it." The blonde gave a toss of her hair and a purr as she finished.
The X-Men that were named and present glared at the new girl. "So Logan, did you totally forget about Serena? You know, the girl-" Storm, aka Ororo, slapped a hand over Kitty's mouth. The girl had phased right through the floor, literally under everyone's noses. "Hush, Katherine Pryde."
Meanwhile, down in the lab, Rogue paced back and forth like a caged lioness. "How dare Logan do this to Serena? I mean, brining a girl home? Who he's probably doing?! Ugh, I disgust myself." She shuddered as she tried to push mental images out of her head, but she didn't really have to, because a continuing beeping got her attention. "Oh my God, JEAN!" 'JEAN,' she psychicly screamed. 'Serena's flat lined again!'
Jean wiped the fake smile off her face when she grabbed her head because Rogue was screaming. "Sorry to cut this short, but I have something very urgent to attend to." She located Shadowcat, "Kitty, med lab, now!"
The young girl nodded with tears streaming down her face as she grabbed the Doctor's arm. "Quickly, now!" They soon phased through the floor.
Logan blinked as Felicia's tail played with his muttonchops. "Ok, what was all that about?" he turned to Scott. 'Leader boy should know.' He cocked an eyebrow after no response but a frigid glare from Bobby. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Hey Icicle, warm up a little bit."
Bobby stomped from the room towards the med bay as he heard cat-woman laughing. 'Ew, sounds like nails on a chalkboard,' he thought with a disgusted frown.
When Jean arrived in the med bay, Rogue was sitting beside the stasis tank, twitching every-so-often. "I want to do something," she whispered softly. "We need to get Logan in here." Jean replied as she opened the lid to the tank. "Get him Rogue, now."
Rogue flew out of the elevator faster than you could say 'Was that Rogue?' as she made her way to Logan's room. 'Please be there, please be there, please-' She angrily knocked on the door. "Logan, are you in there? LOGAN!"
The door muffled "Geez kid, calm down, I'm coming,", but she heard it loud and clear. "No, you don't get it Logan, this is urgent!"
He opened the door, revealing a half-naked cat-lady under the bed sheets, and he clad in only his boxers. "What Marie," he growled.
"Fine then, don't care about Serena, don't care an OUNCE that she's gonna die if you don't help her, I don't care!" Her emotions came tumbling fro her mouth as the situation finally got to her head. If Logan didn't come now, she would lose a very dear friend, and she wasn't going to let that happen!
Logan went white as he listened to Rogue's rant. "Wait, what? Die? How would she die? And why didn't you tell me earlier kid?"
"I didn't have a chance earlier! She," an accusing finger was pointed in Felicia's direction, "was taking up your short attention span!"
'Rogue, where is he? Serena's not doing so well! She's been clinically dead for a minute now! Hurry up!'
Rogue pulled at him. "We have to go now!" He was halfway out the door when a tail snapped at Rogue's fingers. "Not so fast, we were in the middle of something."
"I don't care," Rogue whispered dangerously. "One of my friends is about to die, and he's the only hope we have of saving her, now let. Go." When Felicia didn't answer, Rogue removed her gloves. "Now, before you find out what my power is!"
'ROGUE!'
The mental shout egged her on, and she shot her hand out at Felicia and began absorbing her, gaining memories along with some…well, images she didn't want to know about. This just made Rogue angrier with Logan. "C'mon you brute," said Rogue as she successfully pulled him away. 'Jean, what's the deal with Serena?'
'Not so good I'm afraid. She's been out of it for three minutes now…any longer and she could have brain damage…or never wake up again.'
"Quickly, quickly!"
"Marie, will you please tell me what's going on?!" The Wolverine pulled free from her grasp and stood in the hallway, arms crossed and his famous glare in place.
"We don't have time for this, at least walk while I explain!" Reaching for him and dragging him along, she explained the situation to the AWOL X-Man as they made their way to the elevator. "It was a few days ago, there was a mission, and Serena and Piotr were able to join them this time. It was underwater 'cause Magneto thought it would be a good idea to totally destroy a lake with a buncha toxic bombs. Since it was underwater, the Professor sent Serena and Jean in the water to dismantle them. Serena wasn't looking so good anyway…she stopped eating a few days beforehand and was really depressed…care to guess why?"
Logan let his gaze fall to the floor. "I told her to forget about me, Marie, I did. She just has to get over me."
Rogue had it with Logan's crap! Grabbing him by his shoulders (and…thanking Felicia for the borrowed strength), she slammed him against the elevator doors. "You can't make decisions for her, Wolverine!"
'Woah, she just called me Wolverine…she never does that!' Well, Logan came to one conclusion: she was pissed. But then again, so was he. "She's too good for me, Marie, I'd just kill her-" He was going to say her innocence, but Rogue cut him off with something that scared him more than the day she almost killed herself to save Jean.
"You already practically have killed her! She wasted away without you, Logan! She stopped eating, she stopped living when you left! And now she's dead, again, and you're the only one who can help her recover!"
"How long has she been dead?" he roared. "Tell me, Marie!" He watched her head turn to the side, and he figured she was talking to Jean. Seeing her shoulders slump was a bad indicator about how long she'd been out.
"Five minutes and twenty seconds. Any longer, and she'll never come back."
Logan sliced through the med bay doors with his claws in his rush. "Jean, what's the deal?" He came to the foot of a stasis tank on the floor and almost bolted. It reminded him so much of his imprisonment when he received his adamantium skeleton.
"This isn't about you, Logan, this is about her," Jean sharply stated as she read his projected thoughts. "Now, sit here, we need to do this quickly."
Logan's gaze wandered to the squirt aka Kitty, who was standing over Serena, helping her breathe with some weird bubble looking thing that had a tube down her throat. "Is that good for her?"
"It'll bruise her trachea for a few days, but it's helping her live," Jean tersely replied as she pulled out a needle. Seeing it come his way, Logan vehemently protested. "Woah Jean, where's that going?"
"In your arm, smarty," Rogue barked from behind him. "How else are we going to do a blood transfusion? Suck it up…you'll never forgive yourself if you let her die because you were afraid of a needle."
'I'll let that comment slide…' Thing was, Logan was deathly afraid of needles. The last time he was injected, he came out with metal mapped over his entire skeleton. 'Things like that stay with a man…but so does the death of a loved one.' So he shut up and let Jean prick him.
After a tense minute, Rogue began pacing again. "Shouldn't it have worked by now?" Desperation clouded the teen's voice as she gazed at the half of Serena that was propped outside the stasis tank.
"It may take time." Jean hoped it sounded more confident than she felt. In all truth, she wasn't holding her breath. She needed to come clean with Serena's death as she tried to convince herself it wasn't her fault, but it was a very hard thing to do.
Logan tensed again, making the needle bite into his arm. All this time he was in Canada, Serena was slowly killing herself. 'Don't you die, 'Rena. I know now it was stupid to try and make choices for you. I guess it's true when they say you can't help who you love'. Your heart really does do the choosing for you.'
Jean was ready to give up. She couldn't do this much longer, watching her friends try to revive another. If it hadn't worked by now, maybe it wouldn't. Her hand floated over the needle in Logan's arm and tried removing it.
"NO!" Logan shouted. "Not yet."
"Oh Logan…"
"Don't take that tone with me, she's going to be fine!" He desperately looked at her face, trying to see improvement. When her white face stayed that way, he started to panic. "C'mon, Serena, please don't do this, don't leave me…" Logan was shocked to feel tears coming down his face, and he quickly wiped them away. "See Serena? You got me to cry…please don't leave…I'm sorry…so sorry…I love you…" He grabbed her hand in his, not minding the prick of the needle as his muscles tensed as he held her hand to his forehead and cried.
Rogue stopped her pacing and began to cry herself when she heard Logan begin to weep. 'She must truly be gone,' she thought as she fell to the floor, not expecting Bobby to catch her at the last minute. "Rogue?"
"She's gone Bobby, she's gone," she whispered brokenly into her boyfriend's ear.
All present in the med lab followed Logan's example and began to cry, but Jean's voice broke the silence. "Time of death, 19:46." Logan wept harder as he clung to Serena's motionless form.
Blue eyes shot open as Serena took a deep breath and began to cough. Her hand that was intertwined with Logan's tightened, making Logan look to her face. "Serena? Oh God," he whispered as he hugged her closer to him. "I thought you were gone…"
'I was for a while,' she replied telepathically. 'Logan, why were you gone for so long? Why did you leave?'
Jean and the others gasped in joy as Serena woke up, alive and well. "C'mon, let's give them some time alone," said Jean as she herded the relieved teens out of the room. Jean walked back over to Serena as she removed the breathing tube. "There you go…you'll be sore for a few days in your throat so speak telepathically for a while, ok?" With another gentle smile, she left.
Logan gently lifted Serena out of the tank, taking great care not to bump her around too much. He sat down on a bed and placed her in his lap, smelling her unique scent. 'Still rainwater and roses,' he thought with a dazed smile. "I'm sorry."
'For what, Logan?'
"For trying to force you into a decision I wanted…I never should have done that." With another gentle hug to her form, he laid down in the bed, cuddling her close. He touched his forehead to hers and began to telepathically speak. 'Words can't describe the feelings I have for you. I tried so hard to block them out, I guess I just started to ignore them.'
Serena nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck and shoulder. 'It's ok Logan,' she replied, 'I know it's out of your element, really. You aren't used to showing emotions to people.'
He shook his head, muttonchops ticking her cheek as he placed his forehead back to hers. 'It's no excuse,' he replied sadly. 'If I'd been here, maybe you wouldn't have been hurt, or you at least wouldn't have died like that,' he growled, mentally hitting himself.
'Logan, as long as you've corrected mistakes, it's ok, really. Just as long as you never leave me again.'
Logan shook his head again. 'Never.'
Hey guys, so, how was it? Reviews are appreciated! Also, tell me if you want me to write any more on this, ok? None of the chara's are mine, by the way, they belong to Marvel and Serena to Naoko. See you all next time!
-MoonFace