Aftermath

Jean waited for everything to explode. The mixture was volatile. Sabretooth and Wolverine in the same house. The Brotherhood kids lurking around at all hours. The constant tension ringing everything they did and everything they said. Worst yet, it hadn't even been sixteen hours since they landed back at the mansion. Creed wouldn't leave, but then again, Xavier had extended him the option to stay as long as Kylie was out. The Brotherhood mutants had agreed to return home, but Toad pushed for the ability to visit Kylie when he wanted. Even Creed allowed him that.

Jean thought that Creed would blow when he found out that Carnal... Lexie... was up and around already. But he kept his own counsel. If it bothered him, he didn't express it in words. He stood quietly at the wall while Jean checked the precog's pulse. Xavier had already checked on her. She was still mentally inside, at least, that's what the professor claimed. Jean wasn't so sure.

Releasing Kylie's wrist, she looked back towards Victor Creed. Here stood a man so nasty, so violent that it churned her stomach to think of it, yet she couldn't help but feel sympathy for him. Leaned up against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, his long hair tamed into a ponytail, he looked like any other man faced with a daunting situation. Feeling her eyes on him, he raised his head, and fixed her with a steady blue-eyed gaze.

"Sorry," she apologized softly, stepping away from the bedside. She effectively relinquished his rightful place to him. When Creed didn't move immediately, Jean wondered if he had something to say.

For a few minutes, Creed simply looked, not at the redhead, but at the dark-haired girl lying supine in the hospital bed. He took a deep breath and pushed himself off the wall. For a moment, he paused before Jean, looking torn. Finally, he shook his head.

"What do I do?" The tremor in his voice shocked her. "Do I talk to her? Can she hear me? C'mon, Red, you gotta help me."

Jean bit her lower lip. He seemed to have a lot vested in her, either a severe punishment was hanging over his head, or this was a genuine show of concern and worry. Jean moved aside and gestured for him to sit. "She can hear you. Just keep talking to her. She'll come back; I'm sure of it."

She flickered a wan smile in his direction, as he lowered himself carefully onto the rolling stool at Kylie's bedside. He carefully curled his taloned fingers around Kylie's much smaller hand, before looking back up at Jean once more. "You better be right," he spoke quietly, the depth of his voice making her head seem to vibrate. "I made a promise."

He turned away from Jean again, leaving her with a view of his broad back. Carefully, Jean backed out of the door, letting it swing silently closed before her. She let out a breath she hadn't been aware of holding and steadied her trembling hands. The man was a brute, but much like Logan, he appeared to have a protective side. Turning slightly, she nearly ran into Hank, as he dropped down from the ceiling.

Suppressing a quiet yelp, she reached out and gave his blue fur a slight tweak. He smiled warmly and extended a hand toward the barely closed door. "How's our patient?"

"The same, I'm afraid. I don't understand it; she should have woken up by now." Jean sighed, crossing her arms over her stomach to quell the uneasy feeling growing there.

"Not necessarily. I've managed to isolate at least one of the compounds that she was drugged with. It's a heavy psychotrope, laced with other compounds that I haven't even begun to understand. Whatever else was in her system, it was designed to push her mutant powers beyond even her maximum." Hank McCoy sighed, and gestured Jean to move away from the door slightly. He couldn't take having Sabretooth overhear what else he had to say. Dropping his voice, he leaned in towards Jean. "There's no guarantee that when she wakes up, she'll even be sane."

Jean stared at him. What would happen then? Covering her mouth with her hands, she shook her head. "I hope that's worst-case scenario."

"You'd better hope it is."

Spinning, Jean saw the look on Sabretooth's face. How long had he been standing there? Obviously long enough to hear the worst of it. His lip curled with the anger flashing in his gaze. "I'll be coming to get her tomorrow. Get her some real help." Fists clenched at his sides, Victor Creed turned on his heel and stalked down the hallway.

Jean looked at Beast, who shrugged.

"Whoops?"

When Sabretooth returned the next day, he wasn't alone. Not only was he flanked by Mystique, but also by a craggy-faced older man. Jean knew instantly that he was another telepath, simply by the void of space she felt surrounding him. She stood, well, she supposed guard was the proper term, outside Kylie's infirmary room, waiting for this moment. Xavier himself had escorted them through the mansion, and upon seeing Jean, raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"Lexie's inside, with Logan." Jean explained, silently. "They wanted a few moments alone."

Xavier nodded and turned his chair slowly towards Sabretooth. The big man's hands were curled loosely into fists; he seemed to vibrate with impatience. "It will be just a moment. Kylie has visitors, right now."

Creed glanced sharply at Mystique, who simply held up a hand in reply. Their communication was obviously facilitated by the presence of the telepath, because Creed bristled, but momentarily backed off. He stepped back away from the other two, leaning up against the wall, and assuming his customary stance of waiting. Arms crossed over his chest, chin lowered, eyes closed; he was the epitome of a predator waiting to strike.

"Please, forgive Sabretooth," Mystique offered only smiles for Xavier and Jean. "He's had a rough few weeks."

No one answered the obvious dig. Jean shifted as the tension in the silence rose quickly. Biting her lower lip, she waited for something to break it. Her expectation was served by the click of the infirmary room door opening. Logan stepped out first, and surveyed the room. From across the hall, he locked eyes with Sabretooth.

"Guess the party's started," he muttered, before clearing the door. Extending a hand behind him, he escorted Carnal out of the room. She moved gingerly still, her eyes darting around the gathered group nervously. Her nostrils flared as she caught scent of Sabretooth, and her grip on Logan's arm tightened.

Creed's gaze shifted from the staredown with Logan, to surveying the feral girl. He took a long deep breath, and pushed himself up from the wall. Instantly, both Xavier and Mystique moved to intercept his line, while Alexia squeezed between Logan and the wall. Wolverine's free hand curled into a fist, ready to pop his claws to end this ridiculous dance.

But Sabretooth made no move for the two of them. Instead, his hand snaked out over Mystique's shoulder to catch the door before it could swing shut. He curled his lip at her, and growled softly in her face. She knew that sound, yet she held her place for a few seconds. When it was clear that she was backing down out of choice, and not intimidation, Mystique stepped away.

"Mastermind and I will await you outside." She told him, smoothing a hand over her hair. "No need to show us out, Charles... I know the way." As she turned, her body changed, her form and coloring became more natural. After a few moments, she was simply another woman, dressed in business attire.

Xavier glanced at Logan, who nodded slightly. Giving Alexia a slight tug, he took her away down the hall. Sabretooth had already ducked into the room, leaving Jean at the doorway. She made room for Xavier as he guided his wheelchair through.

"She is as ready as she can be for transport, Sabretooth. I am truly sorry that there is no more we can do for her."

The big man was standing poised at the bedside, his hands loose and hanging by his sides. She looked no different than before, sleeping peacefully, her curls all carefully brushed and laid out on the pillow around her. What few machines she had been hooked up to, now lay silent and dormant around the room. Creed looked torn; in his silence he seemed to be agonizing over the proper choice. Finally, he reached down, sliding one arm carefully under her shoulders. Slipping his other beneath her knees, Creed lifted her easily from the bed to cradle her against his chest.

Turning, he paused before looking down at Xavier. Creed only nodded at the telepath, before walking out the door. Outside, Jean was struck with how small Kylie looked in Creed's arms. She caught the man's gaze as he turned down the hallway. For a moment, she believed there was a man beneath the psychopathic personality. But she dismissed that thought as nothing more than worry for the precog. As an afterthought, Jean took a few steps down the hallway after him.

"Take care of her," she called out.

Creed paused to glance over his shoulder. He nodded with something like a smile. "Already promised her I would."

Kylie was swimming. She struggled against a tide that wanted to sweep her away, beneath the water. The current grabbed at her, pulled at her legs, yanked at her arms. It wanted to drag her down, keep her under, but she knew land wasn't far away. The current formed sigils and shapes in the water, swirling around her while she beat them away with her hands. The shapes were an equation; the sigils were a formula. She needed to get away from them.

Encouragement came in the form of sound. Soft rumblings from the land; a barely-heard voice whispering to her from the safety of the shoreline. Why couldn't the owner of that voice just jump in and rescue her? Why did she have to struggle alone against the water? She flailed, fighting to keep her head up, her hands stinging from slapping at the shapes surrounding her. She gasped for air, and for a moment, the current dragged her beneath the waves.

Underwater, it was worse. The shapes had voices, the sigils had edges. The screaming grew inside her chest, unable to break out for fear of swallowing the water. She fought, kicked, clawed her way until her head broke the surface once more.

Kylie awoke, screaming loud enough to wake four states from slumber.

Just as quickly as she was awake, someone grabbed her. Her reaction was instinctive, throwing her arms around whoever grabbed her, squeezing as tightly as she could. Her eyes screwed shut still; she struggled to take another breath. In the strange silence left in the wake of her scream, a voice broke through.

"You're safe, frail. You're safe."

Frail. Kylie felt the first sob escape her before she could catch it. The arms around her, the musky scent; she knew the warmth and strength of her protector without even opening her eyes. As she cried, Creed simply held onto her. Over the mussed curls, he met gazes with Mastermind, giving the older man a simple nod of acknowledgment. Whatever he'd done had brought Kylie back. That's all that mattered.