FanFiction.Net - unleash your imagination
| FanFiction.Net - unleash your imagination |
|
| Home Just In Communities Forums Beta Readers Dictionary Search | Login Register Extras |
Thank you to mazdamiatta, marajade963, Hawaiichick, and Raven-takes-flight for reviewing. A writer always likes to hear that their work is enjoyed. Tell your friends. :)
Insert funny worded, grammatically incorrect disclaimer here:
Rogue stands outside of the Institute’s operating room. Occasionally, she sneaks glimpses through the large observation window, but the sight of Gambit flayed out on the operating table on the brink of death overwhelms her, and she quickly looks away. Kitty was hesitant about keeping her company outside the operating room, but came down to avoid the constant “How is Rogue handling it?” questions. When Kitty came down, Rogue didn’t seem too interested in talking, and that was fine with Kitty. Rogue was in her spot next to the observation window, and Kitty was sitting on one of the chairs that were down the hall.
Aside from the obvious knife stinking out of his chest, Gambit also suffered a broken rib at the hands of Jaden, which punctured one of his lungs. Gambit was in bad shape, and Dr. McCoy had to call in few friends from the Bayville Hospital to assist with the surgery. Had they not had medical facilities on premises to stabilize him, Gambit would surely have died on his way to the hospital if he were anywhere else.
Gambit had already been in surgery for three hours, and it didn’t look like he was going to be getting out anytime soon. Rogue was exhausted, and emotionally drained. She finally gave into her fatigue, and walked towards Kitty and the row of chairs lining the hallway. Rogue quietly sat down next to Kitty, and rested her head on Kitty’s shoulder.
:Professor Xavier’s Office:
Ororo, Scott, Jean, and Kurt have gathered around the Professor’s desk. The kids are still in shock for the most part, especially Kurt. He so wanted to be with his stepsister in the infirmary, but there were other things that needed to taken care of first. Namely why Jaden attacked Gambit, and, of course, what to do about Jaden.
When Gambit arrived, at the Institute, the rest of the X-men looked upon him with a wary eye. Just based on his relationship with Rogue, Ororo, Jean and the Professor gave him the benefit of the doubt, but Scott and Kurt on the other hand were suspicious of his true intentions. The fact that he was sneaking around with his sister never sat well with Kurt, but he always tried to respect Rogue’s privacy. The others were discussing that day’s events, but Kurt’s thoughts were with his sister. He stared blankly at the wall when he was jarred from his trance by Jean’s hand on his shoulder.
“I know that this must be very hard on you Kurt.” Says the Professor reassuringly. “It’s hard on all of us, but I need you to focus on the matter at hand.”
“Yes, I know Professor.” Apologizes Kurt. “I’m, sorry.”
“As a senior member of the team, I want you, Scott, and Jean involved in this decision”
“I’m not condoning his actions Professor,” says Scott, “but Jaden doesn’t seem like the cold blooded killer type. I mean, even his fight with Bobby wasn’t really his fault. Bobby was the instigator. ”
“Yes, but based on the short work that Jaden made of Gambit, he could have easily killed Bobby if he wanted.” Jean adds. “Lets not forget that Jaden pulled his knife on Bobby too. Whose to say that he doesn’t lose it again and kill someone.”
“Every one of the residents here at the Institute has the ability to kill with just a thought. Each of us walks a fine line.” Replies the Professor. “As mutants, if we ever lose control, killing is the least of our worries.”
“But that is the thing Charles, Jaden almost lost control before with Bobby, and he lost control today in the hanger.” Says a concerned Ororo.
“What do you think we should do Ororo?”
“Well…” Ororo looks out the window as she contemplates things for a moment. “I think that Jaden is a very impressive young man, and given some time, he could be a valuable asset to the Institute. But what can we do about Jaden?”
“She’s right Professor, it’s not like we can call the cops on him” says Scott. “And what about Gambit? Why did Jaden yell “Murderer!” before attacking him? I don’t think that we have the entire story here. Gambit did work for Magneto after all, who knows what he might have been involved with in his past. Do we really know anything about Gambit?”
“We know as much about Gambit as we do about Jaden.” Says Jean. “Besides, it probably doesn’t even matter anyway Professor. To the police it would just be a mutant on mutant crime”
“I decided awhile ago that the police are out of the question. As far as I am concerned, Jaden will always have a home here as long as he wants it…”
“Well he can’t let him walk free!” Scott interrupts. “I’m not exactly Gambit’s biggest fan, but I’m not about to let a killer walk free”
“Then, it seems that Jaden stays.” Comments the Professor. “Ororo?”
“I think that the boy does have a lot of potential, but I think that if he stays, he is a danger to himself and the other students. We should do everything that we can to help him, but it would be irresponsible of us to keep him around the other students.”
“Scott, You are the leader of the team, and this decision concerns two of the people under you.”
“I think that the kid needs to be locked up, but there’s no way that he’s going to get a fair trial as a mutant. I agree with Ororo, I don’t think that he should be allowed with the rest of the students. I don’t know what we are going to do with him, be he can’t stay here.”
“Has anyone even considered that Jaden won’t want to hang around after what happened?” Jean jumps in. “Chances are, Jaden is going to try to get out of here the first chance he gets.”
“At this point,” Says the Professor, “We have to assume responsibility for the boy. I have no doubt that Jaden will try to escape, but for now, he is one of my charges, and he will remain as such until he leaves the Institute.”
“I think that he should stay.” Says Jean “The team didn’t give up on me or Rogue when we lost control of our powers. We didn’t give up on you and Storm when we fought Apocalypse, and we shouldn’t give up on Jaden.”
“Kurt?” says Professor Xavier as he looks to the morose, fur-covered boy.
“I-I…” Kurt stammers as he gathers his thoughts. Kurt sits quietly for a few seconds. “I trust Rogue Professor! If Rogue trusts Gambit, then I trust Gambit. As for Jaden… We have all done things that we are not proud of. You didn’t give up on us Professor, and you shouldn’t give up on Jaden. He deserves the same opportunity that you gave all of us. If he’s willing, I think that he should be allowed to stay.”
“Very well then.” Says Professor Xavier. “If Jaden wishes to stay, then he will be allowed to stay, but there is still the matter of why Jaden attacked Gambit, which needs to be addressed. However, there is not much we can do about that at the moment, and I’m sure that Kurt is not the only one who wants to check on Rogue and Gambit.”
Before Professor Xavier has the chance to move away from his desk, Kurt teleports out of the room, leaving Jean, who was sitting in the chair next to him, fanning sulfuric smoke away from her face.
:Xavier Institute Infirmary:
Kitty and Rogue sit in the hallway outside the operating room waiting to hear any news about Gambit’s condition. Kitty sits in awkward silence not really knowing what to do. Rogue was still resting her head on Kitty’s shoulder. Her harm has fallen asleep, but Kitty was worried that Rogue would want to talk about what happened if Kitty said anything. Kitty quietly wiggled her fingers in an attempt to circulate the blood in her arm.
Suddenly, Kitty sees Piotr turn the corner, and proceed to walk dawn the hall towards the two girls. Rogue hears the sound of footsteps, and quickly sits up in her seat to see who it is. When she sees that it is Piotr, and not Beast or one of the other doctors, Rogue disappointedly slouches down in her seat.
“Err ummm, how is Comrade Remy?” Piotr stammers in his heavy Russian accent.
“No news yet” Perks up Kitty as she gives Piotr the once over. “They… They-uh, are still operating on him.” Kitty says as she grabs Piotr by the arm and pulls him into the seat next to her.
Rogue is oblivious to Kitty’s overt flirtations with Piotr, and continues to slouch in her seat. Suddenly, a puff of sulfuric smoke explodes into the hallway as Kurt teleports in. The three teens burst into a fit of coughing.
“Damnit Kurt!” Rogue expounds as she gets up from her seat and walks away.
As the smoke clears, Kurt watches Rogue walk away. Kurt looks over at Kitty who is sitting next to Piotr with her arm wrapped around his. This is a rather odd sight to Kurt, particularly the pathetic “Help Me” expression on Piotr’s face. Normally Kurt would take this opportunity to tease Kitty or cause some other kind of mischief, but at the moment, Kurt is concerned with more important things.
Kurt looks down the hall and sees that Rogue is leaning with her back to the observation window. Kurt cautiously walks towards Rogue.
“So uh, how are ya holding up?” Kurt says hesitantly.
Rogue looks over at Kurt whom currently has a very meek expression on his face. She knows that he is only there out of concern for her. It was obvious to her that Kurt never really trusted Gambit, but she knew that he had the best of intentions. Rogue continues to stair at the floor when the operating room doors swing open. Rogue immediately stands up straight and faces and obviously fatigued Dr. McCoy.
“Mr. McCoy, is he…” Rogue blurts out before Hank stops her by holding up his hand. Piotr and Kitty soon join Kurt and Rogue with Dr. McCoy.
Hank removes his mask, his fur matted from sweat. “The good news is that we have stabilized his condition.” He says as he removes his cap, and ruffles his hair, which is wilder than usual. “However, he has a fight ahead of him. He lost a lot of blood, and he is currently on a respirator because one of his lungs was punctured by a broken rib.”
Rogue’s eyes begin to tear up. “Is he….”
“I’m sorry Rogue, he’s in a coma at the moment, and it’s all up to him right now. He’s in bad shape, and it all depends on whether or not he has the will to pull though.”
“Can-Can I see him?” Rogue asks as Kurt supportively rubs her back.
“Yes, but only a few minutes. He is very prone to infection right now, so you won’t be able to stay long. They are moving him right now, so you can go in a few minutes.”
Moments later, Rogue slowly steps into the room that they have moved Gambit into. The sound of the respirator startles Rogue upon first entering the room. Soon, the sounds of the various pieces of hospital equipment rhythmically join the respirator. Rogue looks at Gambit lying in the bed. Wires connect him to the various apparatuses, which are currently keeping him alive. His chest, unnaturally moving up and down as the respirator pumps oxygen into his weakened lungs.
Rogue can’t bear to look at him in his current state. Her eyes well up with tears, as she turns away, and runs out of the room. Rogue double doors to the infirmary fly open as Rogue bursts into the hallway, almost knocking Kurt over. Hank had gone to brief the Professor as to Gambit’s condition, and Kitty had managed to drag Piotr off somewhere.
Rogue places her hand against the wall, as she tries to catch her breath. Kurt warily comes up behind her, and places his hand on her shoulder. “A-Are you alright Rogue?”
“Alright! What the Fuck do you think Kurt!”
“I-I know that you’re probably…”
“You don’t know anything! You know what I want to do Kurt? I want to kill him! I want to kill Jaden! It would be so easy too.” Rogue says while holding her gloved hand in front of Kurt. “Just one touch, and he’s dead.”
This seriously disturbed Kurt. He had never seen Rogue like this before, and it scared him. “Rogue you can’t mean that. You’re not a killer.”
“That’s what we all thought about Jaden, and look what he did! Did Jaden look like a killer before he did what he did?”
“Rogue, you’re stressed, and you some rest, now come on, I’ll teleport you to your room.”
“I’m sorry Kurt, I-I have to do this.” To Kurt’s surprise, Rogue leans over, and kisses him on the cheek. Kurt immediately falls to the ground, as Rogue teleports, leaving a cloud of smoke in her wake.
Just as the smoke starts to clear from the hallway, a small pink glowing ball of light comes out of Gambit’s room. The ball hovers over Kurt for a moment as if it were looking at him before floating down the hall and disappearing around the corner.
:Professor Xavier’s Office:
Hank had just arrived to the office where he is now briefing the Professor on Gambit’s condition. Professor X had sent Scott and Jean to check on the other kids while he and Storm met with Hank.
“He is stable for the moment, but he’s got a long hard fight ahead of him Charles.”
“How sever was his injuries?” Asks Ororo.
“Well, aside from the stab wound,” Hank ruffles his hair. “He had a broken rib, and a punctured lung. However, I don’t think that Jaden was the sole reason why Gambit’s rib broke.”
“What do you mean?” Asks the Professor. “Are you saying that he injured it earlier?”
“Not exactly. Although Gambit is in peak physical shape, his body seems to be burning out. His bones weren’t brittle, but for some reason, they were in such a state that it really didn’t take much for Jaden to break it.”
“Could he be suffering from sort of degenerative illness?” Asks the Professor.
“No, but based upon what I have seen during the surgery, I believe that his powers may be the cause. When we got him to the infirmary, his temperature was running incredibly hot, and the amount of energy radiating from his body proved very problematic during the surgery. Judging from the rate of deterioration on his body, this had been happening for weeks, and it would have been impossible for this to go unnoticed to him. He knew this was happening to him, and for some reason, he didn’t want us to know about it.”
“Are you saying…” adds Ororo.
“Yes, Gambit was dying.” Says Hank. “If he does pull through, he’ll maybe have a month to live before his body finally gives out.”
“Is there any thing that we can do for him?” Asks the Professor.
“Not while he’s in a coma,” Answers Hank. “But then again, he may never awaken from that coma.”
“Do you have any idea what may be causing this?” Asks Ororo.
“I have a hypothesis.” Hank rubs his chin. “ One of my initial scans found something rather curious. It seems that our Cajun friend has a microchip in his head. I was unable to determine what it’s function was if any, but there is heightened brain activity in the area that the chip was implanted.”
“Could you remove it?” The Professor rests his right elbow on his desk, and touching his hand to his face in a pensive manner.
“I could, but at this moment, that chip maybe the only thing keeping his body from exploding. I will have to study it further before attempting to do anything.”
“Very well Hank.” Says the Professor. “I suggest that you get some rest before pursuing this mystery. We’ll need you sharp if we hope to get to the bottom of this.”
“I’ll try Charles.” Hank stands up, and makes his way towards the door before stopping, and turning slightly. “An idea comes to mind, perhaps Forge may be of some help.”
“Yes, I will contact him, and ask him to come as soon as possible.”
With that said, Hank and Ororo quietly leave the Professor’s office.
:Elsewhere in the Xavier Institute Infirmary:
Logan leans back in his seat in one of the corridors of the Infirmary. Logan has his arms crossed, and his hat tipped forward covering his eyes. Without moving from his current pose, Logan sniffs the air. He slowly looks up and then with blinding reflexes, he reaches around the corner, and pulls Rogue in front of him.
“What are you doing her Stripes?”
“What do ya think I’m here for?” Rogue hisses, her makeup smeared by tears. “I’m going to kill Jaden!”
“Come on now Stripes, you’re not a killer”
“Please Logan! HE DESERVES IT! He attacked Gambit for no reason! And Now Gambit is going to die!” Rogue is emotionally drained, and finally collapses into a heap at Logan’s feet. She tries to hold her self up with one hand while wiping tears away from her face with the other. “Just one touch… Just one touch…” Rogue says barely above a whisper.
At that moment, Kurt teleports into the corridor next to Rogue and Logan. “Wolverine!”
“Don’t worry about it Elf, she’s fine. Why don’t you take her to her room so that she can get some rest.”
Kurt looks up at Logan who gives him a gruff yet reassuring glance. Kurt kneels down and takes Rogue’s hand in his. A split second later, the two teens disappear into a puff of sulfuric smoke. Logan snorts like a bull as the smoke clears, and returns to his seat.
:Shadow Realm:
Jaden walks out of the darkness of his shadow realm. His clothes are rumpled as usual, and he calmly walks through his shadow realm as if nothing were wrong. Somewhere out of the darkness, screams echo all around Jaden. He looks around, and warily continues forward. Suddenly, a bright light blinds him. The sound of explosions rings out all around him. Jaden opens his eyes, and he realizes that he is 12 years old again. He looks around and realizes that he is back in the Morlock Tunnels. All the hairs on his body stand on end as a streak of fear shoots down his spine. People are running around, and Jaden starts frantically looking around for her. Suddenly Jaden is frozen in fear as a group of mutants, whom appear to be giants, stand before him. In the center of this group stands Gambit.
Gambit looks down at Jaden with his hypnotic red and black eyes. Jaden is completely petrified, yet there is something in Gambit’s eyes that have a calming effect on him. All of a sudden, Jaden is grabbed from behind. Someone takes Jaden by the hand and proceeds to run away from the invading marauders. Jaden looks up to see that his older sister Jade has him by the hand. Jaden loved his sister, and with all the chaos going on around them, Jaden felt safer now that he was with her.
They weave in and out of pipes and make shift shanties that make up the Morlock tunnels. A fire has begun to tear its way through their underground village. Jaden does not dare to look back. The screaming and suffering inflicted by their attackers was palpable in the air. Jade leads her brother to an empty side tunnel where she tells him to hide behind some trash and rubble in the corner.
“Stay here Jay okay? You’ll be safe here.” Says Jade who is trying to reassure her younger brother.
“Don’t go Jade… Stay here with me.”
“I can’t Jay, there are others who need my help too.”
“Then I’ll come with you, I can help.” Jaden says with tears streaming down his cheeks.
“No Jay! I can’t help anyone if I’m worried about you.”
“But Jade…”
“Please Jaden, stay here. I’ll come back for you I promise!” Unexpectedly, an explosion goes off right behind Jade. She drops down on top of Jaden, using her self to shield him from falling debris. Jade slowly gets up and looks over her shoulder, and then she looks back down at Jaden. Jaden looks into her hazel eyes, but then Jaden hears a loud roar. An unseen force then abruptly, pulls jade away. Jaden closes his eyes tight and tries to cover his ears but he is not able to block out the horrible sounds.
Jaden can hear the screams from his sister while some beast roars with savage pleasure as he does things that Jaden could not bring himself to look at nor try to imagine. Jade’s screams continue for five agonizing minutes. Five minutes that seemed like an eternity to Jaden as he lay huddled behind some rubble only a few feet away from where his sister was being mauled. Then Jaden hears the most terrifying sound that he would ever hear. The screaming suddenly stops. The sudden silence sends terror through his bones. The silence soon becomes deafening, but then Jaden hears footsteps coming towards him. As what ever it is approaches, Jaden can hear him sniffing the air like an animal on the prowl. The great beast is almost on top of him when the shadows around Jaden extend over him. Jaden huddles in the shadows, terrified to open his eye out of fear of what he may see. The Monster that will forever haunt Jaden’s dreams sniffs the area, but finds nothing. The sound of heavy footsteps begins to move away from him.
The shadows pull away from Jaden, and he musters all the courage that he has to open his eyes. He peaks over the pile of rubble, and what he sees will forever be ingrained in his memory. The entire area is blanketed with blood. The blood has pooled on the ground, and has trickled to only mere inches away from where Jaden was. Jaden hesitantly follows the trail of blood with his eyes until he sees his sister Jade lying in a pool of her own blood, her voiced garbled by the blood building in her throat, looks up at Gambit. Jaden sees him pick up a small pebble off of the ground. Gambit holds the pebble between his fingers, and the pebble starts to glow bright red. Gambit places the tiny glowing rock behind Jade’s ear. A split second later, a small explosion goes off killing her. Jaden’s eyes are wrecked with tears as he watches Gambit push his sister off of his lap, and hobbles off into the darkness.
“Jade…” Jaden whimpers, barely above a whisper. “Jade…” Jaden says again a little louder. “Jade…” Jaden yells. He has now returned to his present age of 14, and stands alone in the darkness of his shadow realm. Jaden, with tears streaming from his eyes falls to his knees before screaming as loud as his lungs will allow. “JADE!”
Jaden wakes up in the Xavier Institute infirmary. He is covered with sweat, and heavily panting. He tries to sit up, but finds that he is strapped down to the bed. Still disorientated, he looks around the room. It is not until he sees the equipment at his bedside that he notices that he is connected to various medical monitoring devices. The sounds of the various machines start to filter into his hearing. The rhythmic melodies of the beeps and drips only prove to cause Jaden to get more disoriented. Jaden looks towards the door to see Logan standing in the doorway.
“You know I had to practically lock Jubilee in her room to keep her out of here.” Says Logan who walks into the room, and sits down in a chair next to Jaden’s bed. Jaden struggles against his bindings to no avail.
“You wanna explain to me what happened in the hanger?” Asks Logan to which Jaden, refusing to look at him, just turns his head. “Look kid, I got noting else to do. I’ll sit here until you start talking to me, but you’re not getting out of those straps until I find out what is going on.”
Jaden stares at the far wall of the room. For reasons only known to him, he refuses to say anything to Logan. As he lies in the infirmary bed, Jaden closes his eyes, and gets a very satisfied expression on his face as a lone tear rolls down his cheek.
:Professor Xavier’s Office:
It’s been a stressful day for everyone. None more so then for Professor Xavier. The events of the day weighed heavy on his shoulders. Never before had one of his charges knowingly tried to kill another resident of the Institute. After Hank and Ororo left, the Professor moves his chair to the large window in his office where he sits gazing out at the night sky.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, the Professor sees the flash of a bright pink light, which seemed to pass right through the door. The Professor is startled as his chair turns around, and is then pulled by an unseen force towards the floating ball of energy. The Professor closes his eyes, and tries to focus his thoughts in hopes of using his telekinetic power to stop the chair. Unexpectedly, Professor Xavier senses something, and opens his eye to see that he continues to move towards the bright light.
So, who figured out before the last two chapters that Jaden and Gambit were connected and that the dream Jubilee saw in chapter 15 was really Jaden’s Nightmare? Of course since I’m writing the story, it blatantly obvious, but I’m just curious if anyone picked up on the clues I left in the story. Well, I hope that you liked this chapter, and please leave a review.