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Disclaimer: all characters belonging to Sky High and Xmen are not mine. I am only borrowing them. Please don't sue me. I'm not making money out of it.
Chapter 7 - Consequences...
The crowd was strangely completely silent.
There was no need to announce who the winners were.
Layla was stunned.
And her excitement shifted into chaotic anxiety in a flash.
"Will, Warren!" whispered Layla. "Oh my god."
And she ran. Like a chasing murderer was after her.
The gate opened with no sound.
She was the first to rush out - a streak of blue in her PE uniform.
"Will!" she screamed running over to her boyfriend's prone body on the ground.
"Students, please step back," roared Boomer, still on his high chair. "We need you to be calm. Please go slowly to your next classes." Then aside, to Mr. Medulla, "Get the nurse. And the Principal."
"Will," she said more softly now, caressing his face with her palm. She moved his face towards hers. "Say something. Please." Tears came down noiselessly on her face.
And she couldn't stop them. They just came.
Maybe it was just the way he looked. He looked so pained and defeated. His eyes were closed. His mouth was partly open as if he was preparing himself for another heart-wrenching scream.
No! How can this happen?
"Please say something. Anything," she cried. "Will! Oh, Warren!"
She saw Warren laid on his side, unmoving, his eyelids closed over his eyes. His hair all messed up.
"Flower child," came the firm and insistent voice of Boomer right beside her. "Please step aside."
"No!" said Layla. Clutching and protecting his body, she said, "He's my boyfriend."
"I said step ASIDE!" he thundered. So loud it created a sonic wave.
The glass windows to the gym rattled crazily. Threatening to break.
Layla's body was instantly thrown several feet away. She landed sprawling on the ground.
"Layla!" said Magenta and ran to be with her friend.
"Are they okay?" asked Zach concerned beside her. Ethan looking on.
"How can they be okay?" Layla said, her head still facing the ground, despondent. Can't you see what's obvious? My boyfriend and Warren almost died. She thought.
"Layla," repeated Magenta by her side. "We can't do anything right now. They will be taken care of…" Just then, teachers came on the scene including Mr. Medulla and Mr. Boy, Nurse Spex and Principal Powers.
"No!" said a tearful Layla, unable to stand. "Oh my god. We lost! We lost!"
What happens now?
The teachers were beginning to lift Will's body to carry it away.
"Will!" she wailed as her boyfriend disappeared amongst the crowd of teachers.
---
"Michael, my friend," said Principal Powers swiftly as she moved her head to flick some strands of long hair that had fallen over her face. She was calling from her dark black phone in her office. "We need you. Can you start work immediately?"
"I think so," said Michael over at the other end. "This is pretty urgent is it?"
"Yes, we need you to look after some kids. You will be paid."
"Will this be a permanent job?"
"I think so. We needed a doctor. We can't just have one nurse. Please come now," she said as she remembered the unfolded scene around her, just moments before. The uncontrollably crying child surrounded by her friends. The unconscious children lying on the ground.
"I'll send Ron Wilson to get you. It's an emergency."
---
"I think you let this get too far," a female voice cut into Will's mind. And he was awake.
"Yes, I didn't think it would get this far either," another rather cool voice answered. "Where is the other two?"
Boomer?
"In another room," the female voice replied. "They are separated from each other. As a precaution. I didn't think that the children would cause so much damage to one another. We don't have facilities prepared for such serious injuries. This sleeping arrangement can only be temporary. I want both boys to be on proper beds by tonight. And we must consider whether Save the Citizen can continue. After all, it was meant to be practice. Not a war zone Boomer."
So it was Boomer.
"What about the parents?"
"Stronghold's will be informed by Ms Kari. Peace's mother already knows. These kids might be sore for the Homecoming," the female sighed. Will guessed it was Principal Powers. "I have to go."
Then the click click of heels and footsteps gradually faded away.
Will opened his eyes slowly.
Some kind of shape was in front of him.
"Boomer?" he croaked. Then he tried to look more closely. As he concentrated, he felt the room tip beneath him and the shape distort as it stretched. And there was white.
Boomer in a white coat?
"I'm not Boomer," came a calm but deep voice. The doctor then saw the boy's brown eyes close.
Where am I?
"Relax," he said, as he gripped the boy's hand. It was limp.
Then as if answering his question, he said. "You are in the nurse's office. Being taken care of. We will do what we can for you. I'm Dr Michael Manning."
Michael cast his eyes over Will's makeshift bed, over the other side of the room, where a Warren Peace lay and turned. Warren had been brought in as well, as he lost consciousness after being hit by the energy wave sent by Will.
I'm strong. Super-strong. Why can't I be strong now too, in the heart? Thought Will.
A torrent of a multitude of emotions hit his heart and head suddenly.
What am I even thinking about? I can't even save myself. How can I save my friends? I'm so stuffed up. I'll never be a real hero like my mom and dad.
Michael was surprised when the boy suddenly gripped his hand like he would crush it. Squeezing it so hard it literally hurt.
I thought I wouldn't hate it when I'm weak… like this. But now I do. I hate it. I hate it when I'm weak.
Michael watched the teenager.
Even though his eyes were closed, Will felt a scorching hot tear ran down the side of his cheek and onto the white pillow beneath.
Why am I crying?
"It's okay," Michael said steadily, trying to comfort him. Will could feel Michael's thumb holding his hand then stroke his own knuckles and fingers.
Michael's heart turned in compassion as more tears just flowed silently.
---
Nurse Spex came to perform the last minute check ups on Persuasion and Electrix in the nurse's office after Warren and Will were moved into another room.
She had already X-rayed both the teenagers and satisfied when she found no bones broken.
A smile beamed on her face. "You children are free to go," she said in a cheerful woman's voice.
Persuasion responded angrily, "Of course we are!"
The smile disappeared. She explained, "You had to be checked. Both of you were unconscious briefly after the energy wave as you hit the wooden chair and the phone box. Even for a second for health reasons you should be monitored."
"Yeah yeah," said Electrix, patting his bandaged right arm, which had been treated already. "Whatever. Can we go now?"
"Come on Dan," Persuasion grabbed his left arm roughly and led him out the door, leaving an irritated Nurse Spex behind.
---
"I want to visit them," said Layla to Magenta at lunch that day. "I really really want to visit…"
"Layla, you heard what the Principal said," said Magenta. "We can't. Not today. They need to rest. We simply can't right now. We can try tomorrow."
Layla just responded by fidgeting absent-mindedly with her school textbooks.
"Layla," Magenta said softly. "You should eat something."
"No, I can't. I can't," she said sadly.
Suddenly, tears again came to Layla's eyes without her conscious bidding, her voice breaking. "I just hope that they aren't hurt too much… I'm worried about them both. You don't know how much I love… Will. Please god, let him be all right…" her voice soft and trailing off.
---
Jubilee jumped when the door hissed closed. She wasn't meant to be here. But it was still lunchtime. And she wasn't going to cause any trouble. She just wanted to see Warren. Do something nice for him for what he tried to do for her before. Being kind to her.
"Ouch!" she cried. Then hands clapped over her mouth to stop any more sound coming out. She had just walked into a trolley full of medical equipment.
Must be the nurse working on her patients. You've got to be careful. You don't want to wake them… especially Warren, thought Jubilee.
Sometimes she was such as klutz.
Fortunately, Warren was still asleep. His shoulder length hair spread on the snow-white pillow supporting his head beneath.
He looked so serene.
It was difficult to believe he had been involved in combat just this morning. She was there too.
Quietly, she placed a folded origami bird by the pillow.
Then she slipped away.
