Author's Note: No flames! Flamers will be drowned by the emo tears of doom. In this chapter, Zephyr falls down the stairs and dies, Cassandra is killed and everyone throws a party. The end.

Chapter Eight

Anorra skidded into the medical area, managing to stop herself before she smacked into some equipment. Fortunately, the facility was wide enough for her to have plenty of room to maneuver in. She carefully slid Piotr off of her back and on to one of the beds, then changed back into her human form. When he had been knocked unconscious, Piotr had lost his metal shield, and now he was human as well. Anorra wouldn't admit it, but she was scared. Any blow that would knock Piotr in his metal form unconscious would have killed him had he been human.

She didn't know what she would have done if he'd died. Damn it, she had only known him for a week, she wasn't supposed to be this attached to him. Then she told herself she was being silly. He could have died, she would have been worried about anyone in this situation. It wasn't just Piotr.

Still, though, she slid a shaking hand gently over his forehead, tangling his fingers in his hair. "Hold on, Piotr." She murmured. "Don't you leave us now." Anorra forced herself to say us, just in case he, or someone else, heard. "Professor! Piotr needs help, now!" She called, adding extra emphasis to her thoughts.

I know, Anorra. Beast is coming, and everyone else as well. The battle is over. Xavier told her.

Anorra breathed a sigh of relief, then stood there, waiting. It wasn't long before a crowd of people gathered in the room, flooding it with conversation and the sound of moving bodies.

Finally, Beast jumped up to hang from the ceiling. "If you're not injured, please leave the room, except for Ororo, Kurt, and Logan. I will let you all know when everyone is okay."

There was a rumble of protest, but finally everyone except for Cassandra, Samantha, Gambit, Rogue, Anorra, Beast, and the three Beast had mentioned remained in the room. Beast silently handed Anorra a bathrobe and she blushed bright red as she remembered she still didn't have a uniform, and so had been left naked after she shifted. Fortunately, everyone was too distracted to really notice or comment as Anorra slipped on the bathroom and tied it closed.

Logan helped Cassandra up onto one of the examination tables and she pulled up the leg of her jeans, wincing at the deep wound that was on her calf. "Ow. Pain. Pain." She commented, grabbing Logan's hand and lacing her fingers through his.

Surprisingly, he didn't comment. He even gave her a squeeze back as he told her, "Good job, Cass."

Gambit's eyes were unfocused and he could barely keep his balanced as Rogue helped him climb up onto another table. He attempted a cocky smirk, but it didn't work too well, and even once he was settled he didn't move his arm from Rogue's shoulders.

"Gambit got a stray rock to his head." Rogue told Ororo as the weather witch came over to examine him. "I wouldn't have thought anything could get through that thick head of his, but apparently something did. I should stay, he'll need someone to take him back to his bedroom."

Ororo looked ready to refuse, but her eyes softened as she took a look at Rogue's face. "Very well. You may remain, too, Anorra, if you wish." She performed a few brief tests on Gambit, then began bandaging his head. "You have a concussion." She informed him. "I'll give you some medication, but for the next twenty-four hours, you must have someone wake you up every four hours, or else you could wind up in a coma." Ororo turned to Rogue. "Can you do that, or would you like him to remain here?"

"I can do it." Rogue said. "Come on, Gambit, let's get you to your room."

"Gambit knew you would want back in his room, chere." He muttered to her as they started out.

Samantha was still unconscious, so Kurt placed her gently onto one of the beds. "She will be okay, yes?" He asked Beast quietly.

"She'll be fine, Kurt. I simply need to look her over." Beast replied. "And I will do so, after I examine Piotr."

Anorra hadn't really been listening to their conversation, both because she was focused on Piotr and because she was tired from the fight. When she heard Piotr's name, though, she looked up and finally noticed the other injured people in the room.

"Is everyone going to be okay?" Anorra asked, moving aside so that Beast could examine Piotr.

"I'm fine." Cassandra replied. "Just a deep, gushing wound that hurts like hell. And I think I saw some bone earlier, too. Gambit had a concussion, so Rogue took him upstairs to watch him. Sam and Pete are still out."

"They're fine, though, right? Just unconscious?" Anorra said.

"We need to wake Piotr up." Beast said. "I believe he may have a head injury as well, and the longer he sleeps the more likely it is that he will remain that way."

Immediately, there was a flurry of action as the four senior members of the X-men began taking the necessary medical action to try and revive someone. Anorra leaned over Piotr, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, wake up." She told him, shaking him lightly. "You need to open your eyes now, okay?" When that didn't work, Anorra grew desperate. She bent down and pressed her lips against his, kissing him passionately. To her surprise, she felt him begin to respond, and when she pulled away, he was looking at her.

"You scared me." She told him quietly. "We thought you weren't going to wake up. I…"

Piotr nodded. "I understand."

Beast smiled, looking a bit amused. "Perhaps there is some truth to the story of Sleeping Beauty after all. Except in this case, the roles were reversed."

Ororo came over to tend to Piotr while Beast moved to examine Samantha.

"She is fine?" Kurt asked nervously. "There is no danger of head injury? She did not hit the ground."

"No head injury." Beast told him. "She's just burned out from that mutant's whip. And she has a few injuries that need to be taken care of." There was a glaring red line across Samantha's lower back and part of her stomach and the beginnings of some bruising from Backlash's whip. Her left palm was cut open, and the ends of the cut were an unhealthy black-ish color. "I believe she may have been cut with a blade that was not made from metal, but some organic material."

"Ewwww." Cassandra commented. "Gross. One of the knives that Sam blocked was the same thing that cut me."

Logan had come back over to her after the scare with Piotr and she was clutching his hand again. "Is it poison?" He asked, gripping her hand a bit tighter.

"It cannot be poisoned." Kurt said. "That knife was meant for me. It is my fault."

"It's not poison." Beast replied. "Or at least not one that I know of. In any case, it has not spread to the bloodstream. I will examine the chemical make-up of it, but I do not believe it should have too much of an effect, aside from slowing the healing process down and perhaps making it more painful."

"Yay. Slow, painful healing. That'll be fun." Cassandra muttered.

Ororo finished with Piotr and moved over to Cassandra, cleaning and bandaging her leg. Beast finished Samantha's bandages as well, then came over to look at Cassandra.

"You can go up to your room, if you want." He said. "You don't have to remain here. You should have someone with you, though, just in case the wound has a more negative reaction than I thought."

"Logan?" Cassandra asked quietly. "Come with me? I don't want to stay down here. I want to be in my bed."

"I'll watch her for you, doc." Logan told Beast, then gathered Cassandra up in his arms. "Come on, let's get you out of here."

"I will stay here with Samantha." Kurt said. "I can watch her if you wish to get some sleep."

"Thank you, Kurt." Ororo said. "I believe I will take you up on that offer. Call me if you need me."

She left as well, and Beast looked over at Anorra and Piotr.

"You want me to stay here?" Anorra asked Piotr. "I don't mind. Since you stayed up with me before."

"I would like that. As long as you do not mind." Piotr said.

"All right." Beast said. "Make sure Piotr doesn't sleep for at least another two hours. And then wake him up every two after that, just in case. I will be in my office if anything happens."

Aphedria was pissed off. They didn't get to kill anyone. Sure, their mission was technically a success, but she didn't care about that. She just wanted to kill things. So when she stepped out of her room and saw Charm disappearing around the corner, probably on her way to Pyro's room, it pissed her off. And then she stormed out of the building, planning on killing the first humans that crossed her path.

Charm had indeed been heading to Pyro's room. She flung open the door, still feeling a bit jazzed from the adrenaline she had been on during the fight. Unfortunately, Pyro wasn't there. He must have been off in his office, talking to Magneto. She didn't have to wait long, though, before Pyro came back in, his manner cocky and a slightly maniacal gleam in his eyes.

"I take it the meeting with Magneto went well, hon?" Charm asked.

"Perfectly." Pyro replied, pacing his room. He, too, had pent up energy. The fight hadn't gone nearly as well as they planned. "We got what he wanted."

"What about you, hon, you get what you want?" She said.

Pyro stopped pacing. "I will now."

Charm tilted her head at him. He was usually more or less calm, although he always had a slightly cocky air about him. Now his eyes burned, and he had that dangerous look she had seen him wearing while he fought. It must be left over from the battle. She couldn't say she was opposed to it.

She opened her mouth to reply, but he didn't even let her start before her lips were pinned under his and they fell back on the bed.

Backlash's room was only a few doors away, and so she could hear them. She was used to it, though. They all had their own little methods of burning off extra energy. Aphedria killed things, Charm had sex with her current boytoy, and Backlash, well, Backlash usually didn't let herself indulge in extra energy. All that she had was carefully allotted for something. Now, though, she found herself with some. And so, with a sigh, she slipped a bookmark into her book and went to go see Toad. Maybe she could finally break him this time.

Saturday morning came and went, and sometime later in the afternoon, Rachel was sitting outside of one of the first level windows. Inside, some of the students had banded together and were working on repairs to the halls that had been damaged by Anorra's frantic run through the mansion. The students who had witnessed that incident were still talking about it. None of them were likely to forget the sight of an eight-foot-tall dragon skidding across the hardwood floor and slamming into the walls at every turn like an over-grown puppy.

She was supposed to be in there with them, helping clean, but she was taking a break. So she had floated outside of the window and come to a stop right next to it, sitting cross-legged in mid air. A couple of the students inside had paused briefly to look over at her, but random usage of power wasn't uncommon around here, so their gazes didn't linger too long.

"Hey Rach." Bobby said, leaning out of the window. "How're the repairs going?"

"Fine." Rachel replied. "How's the backyard?"

Bobby grimaced. "Ugh. Most of the lawn is dead. It'll probably take awhile to grow it back."

She gave a bit of a grin. "Burninating does that."

Bobby laughed. "Strong bad?"

"Sam and Cass showed it to me." Rachel said.

"Have you been to see them?" Bobby asked.

"I just talked to Cass. She's in her room with Logan. Sam's still out. At least last I checked, but that was about an hour ago." She told him.

He nodded. "She's still out, I was just down there. Kurt's with her. Anorra's down there, too, with Piotr."

Rachel sighed. "Does this happen a lot, here? People attacking?"

Bobby shook his head. "No. It happened once before, a little less than a year ago. It was just us and Logan, and some rebel government faction tried to invade us. Logan got pissed." He said with a grin. "And the rest of us weren't too happy, either. They managed to kidnap six students."

"What happened?" She asked.

"We got them back." Bobby said simply. He paused, then, taking a closer look at her face. "What's wrong?"

Rachel shrugged. "Nothing, I guess. It's just, I wasn't really in the fight, was I? Everyone else was on the ground, getting hurt, and I was safe hovering above it all, throwing tennis balls."

"Hey, don't knock the tennis balls." He said. "Some of those saved my life, remember?"

Rachel smiled slightly. "Okay, so maybe I was slightly useful."

"You were more than slightly useful." Bobby told her. "You were great, Rach. You shouldn't feel bad about using your powers to their full extent."

"I don't. Not really." She said. "I just feel bad that everyone's injured."

"Me, too." He agreed. "It's an awkward position to be in. You can't feel too bad for yourself because everyone else is hurt, but you sort of wish it was you. Survivor's guilt."

"Yeah." Rachel said, falling silent.

They remained quiet for a moment, staring out at the front yard. Then, Bobby shook his head.

"I should have known Johnny would cause so much damage." He said. "He liked to burn things even when he was a student here."

"Johnny? The fire guy?" Rachel blinked. "He went here?"

Bobby nodded. "He used to be one of my best friends. He, Rogue, and I hung out all the time. But he left. He joined Magneto, after the invasion I was telling you about."

"Oh." She said. "I'm sorry."

"Me, too." He said. "It was partially my fault. I was so distracted, when Rogue and I started dating…Maybe if I paid more attention to him, I would have noticed something was different."

"You're not responsible for his decisions, you know." Rachel said. "And if I'm not allowed to play the guilt game, then neither are you."

He smiled. "Okay, you win."

"I like it when I win." Rachel commented cheerfully. There was silence again for awhile, then she asked, "How long have you and Rogue been together?"

"About two years." He said. "It's a long time, when you think about it. But it hasn't been the same lately."

"It hasn't?" She repeated.

He shook his head. "No. We've both been pulling away a little. For awhile, we were best friends. And we still are, there's just….I dunno, maybe nothing else."

"Is that because of Gambit?" She asked.

"No. Well, maybe, a little. But it happened before Gambit. Before you." Bobby said.

Rachel blinked at him. "Before me?"

"Yeah. You're confusing, you know that? I mean, I really like Rogue. And we get along great. But so do we. And…" Bobby shook his head. "Sorry. You don't need that right now."

"You're confusing, too." Rachel said. "We're quite a pair, aren't we?"

"Yeah. Anyway, it's just about dinner time. We should head inside." Bobby told her.

She floated back into the window, and the two headed for the dining hall, both of them purposely avoiding the last part of their conversation. There was a small staircase in their path, and in an attempt to lighten the mood, Bobby hopped on top of the railing and slid down it. Rachel had already descended the stairs, though, and so when he slid off the railing he came within a few inches of smacking into her.

"Geez, Bobby, kill me why don't you." Rachel commented jokingly.

"I try." Bobby teased back. "If it was iced up, my aim would have been more accurate."

Rachel laughed. "I'm just not going to comment on that. Really, really not going to comment."

"Cassandra. What are you doing?" Logan asked.

He had gone to go grab dinner for the injured woman, and apparently while he was getting it she had gotten a toothbrush somewhere. Cassandra was twisted around in her bed and currently scrubbing at her headboard.

"Nothing." She said. "Absolutely nothing."

Logan stared at her. "Cass. You're doing something."

"I'm cleaning." She replied. "Everyone else is out there cleaning, and I feel bad that I'm not helping. Plus, um, I have a little bit of OCD."

Logan stared at her, then set down the dinner he had gotten and walked over to her, taking the toothbrush from her hand. "Sit back down. You're going to hurt yourself even more."

"Am not." Cassandra muttered as she settled herself back down. "Oh. Ow. Never mind, I lied. Hey, is it time for more pills?"

"That's why I brought you dinner." He said, picking up the tray and bringing it over to her bed. "You have to eat with them."

"Not complaining here." She told him, digging into her food.

He sat down in the chair he had taken over for last night and most of the day. Logan was still a little worried about her, although he would never admit it. Beast had been working on analyzing the stuff that the knives had been made of, but he still hadn't quite figured it out yet. Until he did, there was a chance that it was dangerous. Which was why he was still in the room with her. Even if there was a part of him that really wanted to stay with her, he never would have allowed himself to do it if he didn't have a damn good reason.

Logan handed her the medication Beast had given her after she had finished eating, and she swallowed it. There was silence for a few minutes while the medication took effect, then Cassandra glanced over him.

"Logan? I have a really strange question. And I blame medication." She said.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Can you come hold me? Please? My leg really hurts." Her voice was hopeful, and slightly sleepy.

Logan paused, then gave in and kicked off his shoes. "Okay, Cassandra, but just for a little while."

He settled himself on top of the covers and slid his arm around her. She rested her head against his chest and gave a happy sigh, listening to the sound of him breathing.

"Logan?" She asked after a long while, sounding even more sleepy. "Tell me about Jean."

"She was beautiful." He replied. "And always tried to make everyone else feel better, even at the expense of her own happiness. She never thought she was better than anyone, even when she was."

"Hmmm." Cassandra murmured. "Did you love her?"

"More than I loved anyone else in a long time." He admitted, then shook his head. "But it doesn't matter. She didn't love me back."

"Silly Jean." She said absently. "Oh, well. I do."

"What?" Logan asked, but she didn't say anything. "Cass?" He glanced down at her and saw she had fallen asleep. Maybe it was just as well. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know what she meant.

"I'm going to go back upstairs….Warren's in my room." Zephyr said, pausing in front of the stairs. "You'll call us when she wakes up, right?"

"You'll probably hear her screaming when she wakes up and realizes she's down here." Anorra said. "But, yeah, I'll call."

Zephyr glanced over at Samantha's bed, where Kurt was sitting. "Has he moved all day?"

"No." Anorra said, shaking her head. "He feels bad. I think he's really worried that the knife was poisoned and that's why Sam hasn't woken up yet. I brought him some food, once, and we had a conversation in German for a bit, but other than that, nothing. But I had Piotr talk to, sometimes, when he's up."

"Oh. You want me to stay a bit?" Zephyr asked.

Anorra shook her head again. "Nah. You go spend time with Warren…It's his first battle, right? He probably needs some comforting."

"Yeah." Zephyr said. "But we've been together all day, so…"

"Go ahead. Someone else will be down to visit one of them, soon." Anorra said.

Zephyr nodded. "Okay. See you later." She headed upstairs.

Anorra sat back down next to Piotr, who was currently sleeping. She cast a worried glance over at Samantha and Kurt, then turned her attention back to Piotr.

Kurt shifted his weight, his eyes never moving from Samantha's face. He picked up his hand a made a move as if to rest it on her cheek, but then he hesitated and instead gripped the cross around his neck. He murmured a prayer in German, then another one, the steady sound of it comforting him. After a long while, Samantha stirred. Kurt paused, his expression hopeful.

"Samantha?" He asked.

"I'm fine, love. Really, I'm all right." She murmured.

For a brief moment, he thought she was speaking to him, but then her eyes opened and he saw that they were a bit unfocused. She must be speaking to one of her animals.

"Kurt?" She asked, as her eyes came back into focus. "What…how long have I been out?"

"About twenty hours." He said, then asked, "Who were you speaking to?"

"Apatche." She replied. "He's one of the horses. We sort of hit it off." She paused. "Have you been here this whole time?"

Kurt blushed lightly. "Yes. I was worried about you."

Samantha lifted her right hand and rested it against his cheek. "Thank you. But you didn't need to. I'm fine."

"I just wanted to make sure. You blocked that knife from hitting me." He said.

She nodded. "I didn't want you to get hurt."

Kurt frowned. "But you were hurt instead. And Beast is not sure what the knife was made of."

Samantha shrugged. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't hurt, anyway."

'It does matter!" He said, perhaps a little too loudly. "It should have been my injury."

She shook her head at him. "You should be used to people defending you in battle. You're a veteran X-man."

"Yes." Kurt said, quietly. "But not you."

Samantha didn't really hear him, since she was looking at the IV in her right hand. "Is this morphine?"

Kurt nodded and Samantha unwound the tape with her left hand, then pulled out the needle.

Kurt gasped. "What are you doing?"

"Going to my room." She threw off the covers and stood up, holding onto her bed for a moment until she regained her balance. "Don't need to be here."

Samantha lurched towards the stairs. Startled, Kurt got off of his chair and started after her, but he wasn't fast enough. Anorra, in full dragon form, had been expecting Samantha to make a run for it and was now standing in front of the stairs.

Back to bed. Anorra commented, grabbing the collar of Samantha's bathrobe with her teeth and carting her back over to the bed. She plopped her down on top of it. Stay.

Samantha pouted. "I'm fine. I'm not even injured at all."

Make sure she stays there. Anorra said to Kurt, then returned to Piotr's side and shifted back into her human form, putting her bathrobe back on.

"She is right, Samantha." Kurt said. "Please, remain here. At least until Beast can figure out what the knife was."

She started to make a protest, but her green eyes met Kurt's gold ones and her argument deflated.

"Okay." Samantha told him, covering his hand with hers. "Will you be here?"

Kurt ran his thumb gently across her bandaged hand. "I'll be here."