X-Men: Evolution

Blood Magics

21. Enlightenment

It seemed like forever that Dragon had to wait, sitting on Rogue's lap while Jean and the professor did… something. She still wasn't even sure exactly what was happening, but it seemed like it was something pretty bad. And she could agree with that; whatever it was had been controlling her body, and she didn't even know what she was doing during those times!

She was scared with what had been happening. She didn't understand what it was. Her head hurt. And she wanted all of it to stop.

She had no idea why she'd been on the jet in the first place, but she'd tried to be good all day. She'd stayed in the corner when asked and kept herself occupied by watching the images in the colours. But when she'd woken up with her head hurting, and no one willing to tell her what had happened, she'd been even more scared, and trying to watch what had happened in the colours had made things even worse when she saw herself doing thing she didn't remember doing.

But they said they were going to stop it, so Dragon waited. This time she didn't dare look in the colours; didn't want to do anything that might cause any kind of problem. Time stretched on forever, and even Rogue shifted underneath her from time to time as if either impatient or uncomfortable.

But finally, finally the professor and Jean both seemed to stop their work and moved from where their bodies had seemed frozen, Jean sighing with relief.

"That should put a stop to it." Professor Xavier rubbed at the side of his head with one hand.

"Any chance we might have a better explanation on what's going on?" Mr. Logan asked behind them. He didn't sound as angry as he had been getting earlier.

"I'm hoping to track down an explanation, too." The professor sighed, dropping his hand. "If we can determine how this started, we might all understand better. Rogue, do you know when you first started to feel anything unusual? Think back. Dragon, you too; do you know if there was anything strange that happened before the morning that Ororo found you tearing that book apart? Or is that the first time you know of that something strange happened?"

"Um.." Dragon tried to think. A strange thing, one that she couldn't place… "Oh! There was one thing! When… when my… daddy came." She didn't like calling him "daddy," hadn't for a long time, but what else could she call him? That was what he was…

"Something happened then?"

"Yes. But it wasn't like my memory stopped like all the other times. I saw two things at the same time."

"Wait!" Rogue's head shot up. "Ah remember that! I was talkin' to Gambit in the containment cell at the time, right? I saw two things at once as well… I could see both Gambit, in front of me, but it was also like I could see Mr. Kristie coming in through the infirmary doorway."

"Yeah, yeah, I saw him coming in through the door, and I also saw a man behind bars. It was weird, 'cause in that image I was seeing I didn't see any moving colours… just things that kept one colour."

"And the man… red on black eyes, right?"

"Yes!" Dragon answered the professor. He frowned.

"In that case, you definitely had the connection at that time. It sounds like both of you were seeing out of both of your eyes at once. And that was Monday afternoon. Can you remember anything earlier?"

Dragon tried to think, but came up blank and shook her head. Rogue's eyes were narrowed.

"My trouble with… with readin' and such started yesterday, but… I remember on Monday. I'd had a strange feelin' all day… right from when I got up. And in the mornin' I got a… a flash? Ah dunno what ta call it. But I could feel Dragon somehow… and I got the sense that she was havin' a dream about… about a polar bear eatin' a seal."

"Oh! I remember that dream!"

She did; she often dreamt about food before coming to the mansion. Now, the food dreams were a lot less common and usually centered on a memory, and in this case, she did remember the memory she'd dreamed about that morning.

"Once, I had some of the colours show me a polar bear that killed a seal! It was one of the first things I ever tracked down through the colours. I waited until it was done eating the seal, and then I was able to have what was left. I got three days of food from that seal… and it would have been more if a fox hadn't stolen some of the last of it. I did dream about that on Monday!"

"That was during first period, for me." Rogue added.

"So it must have happened either Monday morning before you left, or before Monday entirely." Xavier mused. "Do you remember anything else before that? Dreams might be a good indication- if both of you were asleep with no kind of guard up, that would be when the first signs might have started to show."

"Um… I don't think so." Dragon shook her head again. She remembered having the dream about the bear and the seal, but that hadn't been anything strange to her, and she still couldn't think of anything else.

"Um… no, I don't… wait. Actually, there might have been one." Rogue muttered. Her eyes narrowed even more, and Dragon was surprised she could still see out of them when they were that far closed.

"Saturday night… you know, Ah felt pretty bad, then. Ah barely got through dinner… and Ah kind of collapsed on the bed when Ah got up to my room. And then Ah was asleep until noon the next day, and Ah remember thinkin' that was strange. An' the entire night, Ah had this dream… Ah was stuck somewhere dark and terrible. Ah kept trying to move somewhere that Ah could sense was better, but something kept dragging me back. And slowly, whatever it was dragged me further and further… until Ah eventually woke up." Rogue shook her head. "Nothin' exiting happened… but it was real strange. And in that dream, I was Dragon."

"The presence that kept pulling Dragon's mind back." Jean cried. "It was you!"

"Come again?" Rogue looked as confused as Dragon felt.

"If your minds were bound to each other by that point already… it does make sense." Professor Xavier said, his eyes widening. "But that means…"

"Actually, Chuck, it doesn't make sense. Not to us."

"We would like an explanation as well, Charles…"

Dragon glanced at Mr. Logan and Mrs. O, then back at the professor, who'd also looked up at them. He hesitated, then nodded.

"As you're already aware, Dragon's surgery was… difficult. It was a very long procedure. Now, Rogue, we didn't tell the other, younger students about this, and I'd prefer it if you didn't tell them, either, but… it wasn't just that the surgery itself was difficult. It was, but the worst part of it is that Dragon kept having… complications."

"What does that mean?" Dragon asked. The professor looked down at her.

"It means, Dragon, that your heart rate kept almost stopping. It never quite did, but there were multiple times when it dropped to a dangerously low rate, and you stopped breathing several times as well. You nearly didn't make it through the surgery. In fact, there were a handful of times when we believed that you weren't going to make it… Jean was monitoring your brain activity and she felt it slow to almost a stop several times, but each time, something else seemed to force it to start up again. She actually asked me if I had been pulling your mind away from the brink of death, because the only explanation for it would be if another telepath had been doing so."

Professor Xavier gave her a small smile. "However, it was not me. Doing such a thing is never advisable. It's not that I wouldn't have wanted to save you… I certainly did. However, trying to pull someone's mind back when they are hovering near death is highly dangerous. If I were to try, and fail, and you passed on while my mind was still intertwined with yours, it would kill me as well. That's why I consider it the first rule of telepathy; never go into the mind of someone on death's door unless there is absolutely no other option and it is an undeniable emergency. It could be the difference between losing one person and losing two. However, Rogue, if your mind was connected to Dragon's before that, then you would have had no choice but to… well, we can liken it to a game of "tug- if- war," if you'd like. Your minds had a connection between the two that you could not separate… and that you were not even aware of. Therefore, where one went, the other tried to follow… you felt poorly, Rogue, because the mind that your mind was connected with was trying to die, and Dragon, your mind was pulled back from the brink of it several times because it was connected with someone who was still alive and was determined to stay that way. That bizarre occurrence during the surgery finally makes sense."

"You're sayin' that if Dragon died last Saturday… I would have too?" Rogue's voice sounded quite a bit weaker than normal; when Dragon looked up at her, the older girl looked sick.

"As much as I don't want to say it… yes, I think that would have been most likely." Professor Xavier sounded apologetic. "And I understand that this must be a shock… but in this case, there isn't anything that we can do about that situation now, except be grateful that you were strong- willed enough to save you both, Rogue."

Dragon felt Rogue tremble under her; she saw the older girl swallow. She still looked sick, but Dragon didn't know what to say.

"Wait, what about in the future, then?" Mr. Logan demanded. "What if… well, let's say something happens again. To one of them. Will we still have to worry about both of them?"

"It's… possible. I don't honestly know." Xavier admitted. "We've set a barrier between their minds to prevent further merging. But they are still connected. And the connection is powerful, as well. I don't think we can ever separate it now. But, with the barrier in place, it's possible that it will protect them from being dragged after the other in the event of… the very worst. But I can't guarantee that. The connection is there. And it's more than just a strong rapport; it's an open pathway that Jean and I simply added a closed door to."

"It might still drag one down after the other." Jean added quietly.

"Hang on, though, you said you put up a barrier, but I can still feel Dragon in my head. Like a… like a psyche, but in the wrong place. Not locked up with the rest of them." Rogue protested.

Dragon looked at her, confused. "I don't feel anything."

"That's because you have no experience with feeling someone else in your head, Dragon." Xavier told her. "Rogue does. She knows what it feels like when someone else is there, not only because of her experiences with her psyches, but it's a challenge even for me nowadays to go into her head without her knowing I'm there. I train all my students in mental barriers, when they reach a certain point; some are better at it than others. Rogue is one of the better ones, seeing as how she has barriers of her own to keep up. Being practiced with mental barriers, even if you only use it in emergencies, often helps sensitize a person to be able to realize when someone else is in your head. Because of the connection, Rogue, you'll always feel Dragon there. With some practice, Dragon, you will most likely start sensing Rogue as well. But, since we're on the subject, both of you need to be aware that this barrier will need maintenance, just as everything does. Rogue, you already know how to strengthen mental barriers. Dragon, it seems that I'll need to teach you about that early. Until you're proficient at it, you will need to come to me on a regular basis, preferably weekly, so that I can help strengthen it for you."

"Oh…" Dragon scuffed a paw on the floor, careful not to scratch it. She wasn't sure how she felt about this. "Okay…"

"Anyway, returning back to the matter at hand… I know you may still be in some shock, but we need to continue finding the answer." Professor Xavier's eyes moved from Dragon to Rogue. "So, we've established that the connection was there during Dragon's surgery. Which leads us to… did anything happen during that attack at the café, by any chance? Walk me through what happened. Every detail you remember."

"The boy grabbed me by the tail." Dragon grumbled. "It hurt." She could almost feel it now, how the pain had flared right from the end of her tail practically up her neck, and every movement she had made had made it feel worse.

"Kitty got me out, though." She added. "But the boy- oh! My things! I hadn't even thought!" Pain of a completely different kind hit her chest; how had she forgotten? It had been days since, and she hadn't once thought about her little bag of treasures. Her mommy's treasures.

Her eyes filled with tears. "That boy took my bag with my things! They were my mommy's! And now they're gone!"

"Easy, Dragon. We recovered them. I haven't given them back to you yet because it looks like the ring and the locket were damaged a little, and I'm looking into having them repaired for you. I apologize for not telling you sooner. Once they have been repaired, I'll give them back to you, good as new." Professor Xavier told her, voice gentle. He really did look sorry for not telling her earlier.

Relief flooded her; she blinked, and the tears that gathered in her eyes still dripped down her face, but she no longer hurt.

"Oh, good. My stone, too?"

"I… stone?"

The professor looked confused.

"We didn't see anything like that, Dragon. There was a stone in there?" Rogue asked softly.

"No? I kept it in the bag, too… mommy had a ring with a blue stone on it that she got from her grandma's mommy. She said it gets passed down to everyone to wear for good luck, but she kept it in the bag because she said it was "getting loose." I don't know what that meant. But I… the stone fell off the ring part, and… every time I took the things out to look at them, the ring part started breaking… I kept the pieces as long as I could, but eventually they became so small that I couldn't pick them up any more… I tried really hard! But I could only keep the blue stone. But I did keep it! It should have been there!"

Her eyes were filling with tears again. Her mommy had trusted her with it. And first, she had broken it. Now… she had lost it.

"I'm sorry, Dragon. We didn't see anything like that." Rogue murmured.

"If it was just a stone, Magneto wouldn't have been able to lift it with his powers…" Xavier murmured.

"What?" Dragon asked, her voice watery.

Professor Xavier shook his head. "Nothing. I'm sorry, Dragon. We'll keep an eye out for it, but we didn't find a blue stone."

Her tears began falling again, and Dragon found it hard to speak from there; her eyes going to the floor, she fell silent.

One of Rogue's hands started rubbing up and down her neck, and Rogue took over the conversation.

"When Magneto arrived, he lifted Dragon out of Kitty's hands. Dragon used her power to cut Magneto's hold on her, but Sabretooth grabbed her out of the air. Ah lost track of them both for a while after that; it was chaos. Rahne and I ended up together but separated from the others; she started blockin' a couple people swingin' bats and pipes while I fought one guy with a knife. Ah made sure to keep the backs of my hands towards him, like we were taught, but… the weirdest thing happened with it. I kinda forgot about it until now, but when I blocked one of his strikes, it was like his wrist twisted around in a way that no normal person's should have been able to, and he put that big gash on my hand." Rogue shook her head, an irritated expression on her face. "I have no idea how he managed to twist his hand around like that. His arm seemed to get longer suddenly, too. But, after a moment, something blew up at his feet, and I was able to use that to my advantage and got the knife away from him. After knocking him out of the way, I finally saw Sabretooth, and he was holding Dragon, so I told Rahne I was going after him and bolted over there… didn't do much fighting on the way, I didn't want to have to slow down, so I jumped and rolled past people until I got there. Someone with a bat stumbled in his direction and distracted him, so I used that chance to grab Dragon. Tried to back out of the fight, since she was hurt bad, but Magneto blocked my path. We argued. Dragon was out of it… she was bleeding a lot. Some of it might've been my blood, though… when I grabbed her, it kind of put my own injured hand all over her."

"Wait!" Professor Xavier said suddenly. Dragon, listening quietly, lifted her head. "You touched her injury with your injured hand?"

"Yeah. Hurt like a- I mean, it hurt a lot." Rogue quickly corrected. "Probably hurt Dragon worse, though. Or at least, would've if she'd been conscious."

"So… you got her blood on your hand, and she got your blood on her broken wing. Jean, do you remember what happened in New York when Angel bled on the injured mutant?"

"I… yes! That mutant that got attacked! When Angel got injured, he dripped a little bit of blood on the other mutant, and the other mutant healed as well! Afterwards, we talked a bit… Angel has a healing factor, but the other mutant did not. So we could only assume that Angel's blood healed him somehow, when it dripped into his injuries."

"Indeed. Which opened the question, to me, about the effects of mixing blood between mutants. It's something that still hasn't had any study done into it. In the case in New York, it wasn't a mutual transfer; the only one that ended up getting any trace of a different person's blood in their system was the other mutant. And at that time, it was a good effect. But perhaps… perhaps we should track down this mutant and check on him, just to be safe. We can contact Warren, as well, though it's less likely for him to be feeling any effect. I think this is what might have done it. Rogue, you introduced Dragon's blood into your system, and your blood into Dragon's system."

"And you think that started causing our minds to… blend together?" Rogue asked. She sounded disbelieving.

"I honestly think it is the only likely possibility. We have no idea what the effects of putting a different mutant's blood into another mutant are; it's not something that has come up. And if it can truly have effects as serious as this… it needs to be looked into. We need to know if it would be safe in the event of something like needing a blood transfusion. Perhaps I should contact Moira McTaggert… she would likely be the best person to look into this…"

Professor Xavier's voice slowly became quieter; Dragon didn't really think he was talking to them by the end of it.

"Um, okay, but what about us?" Rogue caught his attention. "So… there's a possibility that if one of us dies the other will too… are there any other things we should know about?"

"Ah, yes. Excellent point. Between the two of you… there are a few things that are going to be, we'll say, "left over," but you have both been stabilized. When you consider that both of you have powers that have to do with energies- Rogue being able to absorb them and Dragon being able to both see and sever them- I have to think that that makes you almost compatible in a sense, which does make having your minds both merge together have a little more sense, though whether or not that actually has anything to do with anything is an unknown. The connection will remain there permanently… Dragon, in addition to helping you with maintaining the barrier between your mind and Rogue's, I will need to help you maintain a barrier that will stop any psyches from breaking through. The door has been closed, but the pathway is still there, meaning that you will need to learn to block them if it ever comes to it. Rogue, I don't think there will be too much you will need to worry about, but your mental pathways are in some… disarray."

"What? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Dragon's underdeveloped mind is, to put it plainly, a mess. As she adjusts to life as it is normally lived, and as she ages and learns, most if not all of that should be able to be straightened up with time and proper development. When your minds tried to merge, however, yours began to take on the same mess that's within her mind. That is where your confusion was coming from. I was able to straighten some of it out, so it shouldn't bother you nearly as much as it was over the course of the last day or two… you may experience occasional moments of initial confusion for certain situations, but it should not last long, a few seconds at most, and you certainly will no longer look at your notes and be unable to read them. But, just in case it ever comes up in the future, you should be aware that it's now more confusing in your mind to navigate. If a psychic tries to go into your mind unprepared, it's going to be messy and the regular pathways highly disorganized, and if they are not careful, they could cause problems they weren't expecting. As I said, it shouldn't affect you much, your mind will get used to the new pathways, and it's very possible that it will slowly straighten out over time as well, especially as Dragon's does, but you do need to be ready if there is ever an event where a psychic other than Jean or myself needs to go into your mind. They will not find what they expect to, and that could be a potential danger."

Rogue raised a hand to her forehead and rubbed at it. "Oh, lord… alright. Oh, lord."

"Is this really making sense to you?" Dragon heard Mr. Logan grumble, though she had no idea who he was directing the question at. "All of this happened because a little bit of mixed blood?"

"I believe so, Logan." Xavier sighed. "It certainly serves as a future warning for any blood transfusions between mutants without further study. And as strange and complicated as this has all been… at least we can be thankful that we've managed to solve and put a stop to this particular problem before it got any worse."

A/N: Posting this a little later than I meant to, I got preoccupied.

Mixing blood among mutants seems like it may be a bad idea if not prepared. Not all effects are nasty ones, but it looks like it could get unpredictable...