THE ARCHETYPE ASSOCIATION
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The next morning, Rogue was awakened by a knock on her door.
"What?" she said crossly, cranky at being up early.
"You'd better get down to the kitchen," Warren's
voice said through the door.
"What's the problem?"
"Something's wrong with Will."
Logan and Bishop prudently stood just outside the kitchen
as Rogue and Warren arrived. "What's going on?"
she asked.
"As best as we can tell, Rogue," Bishop replied,
"his powers are in overdrive."
Rogue peered into the kitchen, which was illuminated only
by the sunlight coming in through the curtained windows. The
overhead florescent fixture was raining sparks onto the floor.
The blender had also burned out, spreading smoke throughout
the kitchen. Normally, this would have set off the smoke alarm,
but that had shorted out as well, and was hanging precariously
by one of its support hooks.
Will was standing in front of the stove, busily making flapjacks.
His face was contorted in a grimace of concentration, and
his hands were trembling. His eyes were glowing even more
brightly than anything Rogue had seen yet.
"Thank God the stove doesn't have an electric pilot,"
Rogue muttered. "He could have blown up half the mansion."
"I hadn't even thought of that," Logan admitted.
"Has anybody tried talking with him yet?"
"We've been debating the wisdom of that course of action,"
Bishop commented. "He was slicing the hash browns with
a bit too much vigor for my comfort."
"Don't be a bunch of babies," Rogue said scathingly
as she entered the kitchen.
Will glanced at her as she walked in, but said nothing.
"Morning, Will!" she said cheerfully as she walked
over to the refrigerator, which, she noticed as she opened
it, had also burned out. "Do you need any help?"
He didn't speak in reply, but instead shook his head.
"Remember that you and Wolvie have a team session today."
Will nodded absently as he put bread in the toaster, which
burst into sparks as soon as he depressed the plunger. He
simply looked at it, his shoulders slumping.
"You want to take a break?" she asked.
He nodded again, then walked out into the rain.
Bishop, Logan and Warren walked in as he left. Logan stared
at the damage. "Chuck is gonna be pissed."
"At least there's no lightning outside," Warren
commented. "He won't get charged up any more than he
already is."
"We should clean some of this up," Bishop noted.
"Cyclops will be angry enough as is stands."
"I agree," Henry replied. "I'll see if I can
get the refrigerator active again." He went down to the
workshop for his tools.
Fifteen minutes later everything, with the exception of the
toaster, was back to normal. Xavier entered just as Henry
was replacing the grille on the overhead light. "What
happened, Hank?" he asked.
"Will happened."
"I was afraid of that," Xavier sighed. "I
could feel his frustration as I was waking up. Where is he
now?"
"He went outside," Rogue replied.
Jean stepped out of the bathroom, toweling her hair dry and
trying to decide on breakfast. Scott still snored soundly
on their bed, since she had prudently turned off the alarm
on their clock before stepping into the shower. Scott had
destroyed three alarm clocks so far that month, and Jean was
getting tired of buying new ones.
After quietly getting dressed, she entered the kitchen and,
deciding on eggs and sausage, got the necessary items out
of the refrigerator. As she stepped over to the central island
which housed the stovetop, she noticed something moving farther
down the lakefront. Reaching out with her telepathy, she heard
the chaos that she had come to associate with Will's thoughts.
There was an element of distress, however, that she couldn't
account for.
She stepped outside, creating a telekinetic shield to block
the rain, and floated over to where Will sat on a rock, staring
at the patterns the rain made as it hit the lake.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked quietly.
To her surprise, he laughed. There was, however, an edge
of hysteria to the laugh which disturbed her.
"Talk about what? I have no idea what's causing this.
For the past few days, my mind's been going haywire, and I
have absolutely no idea why. I can't string two thoughts together
coherently, the Chorus is so loud I can barely hear myself
think, and I'm wound up tighter than a cat at a dog show."
He grabbed a rock and tossed it into the lake.
Jean thought for a moment. "Has your ADD been bad lately?"
He nodded. "I only got about three hours of sleep last
night."
"I might have an idea."
"You want to try what?" Bobby asked Jean.
"Sensory deprivation," Jean explained. "Since
Will can't cut off his external stimuli, we'll try to do it
for him."
"We haven't used the tank since you were in training,
Jean," Xavier reminded her. "It may not be usable
any more."
"There's no harm in checking," Jean replied.
A few minutes later, they all descended down to the medlab.
Jean opened the door into the triage area, which hadn't been
used since the Morlock Massacre. She grimaced as she realized
that the tank had been used as an extra storage shelf, and
could barely be seen under all the junk. A quick sweep with
her telekinesis cleared off the area. She activated the heater
tank, setting the water to 93° F, "This will take a while,"
she commented.
"What do we do for him until then?" Rogue asked
with a worried look on her face.
"We keep him outside, for one," Xavier said. "It
might not be a bad idea for him to teleport directly here.
If he walks through the high security areas, it could take
us weeks to get everything running again."
Henry opened the tank door, then wrinkled his nose. "This
thing definitely needs a good scrubbing."
"I'll do it," Ororo volunteered.
"I'll help," Bobby added. Twenty minutes later
the tank was spotless.
"Is the water feed still open?" Jean asked.
"Yeah," Logan said, checking. "I'd let it
run for a few minutes, though. No telling what crap is in
the line after this long." He was proven right when the
water which flowed from the pipe was brown with rust. It cleared
up after a few minutes, however., and the dirty water was
allowed to drain out.
"Hank, do you have any magnesium sulfate in your lab?"
Jean asked. "We'll need a ten percent solution."
Henry nodded. "I'll get it. Someone should wake Scott
and let him know what's happening."
"I think that it might be best if Scott wasn't told
about this until it's a done deal," Warren suggested.
He looked at Jean apologetically. "I'm sorry, Jean, but
let's face it - Scott doesn't like Will, and it looks like
Will has enough to worry about right now without Scott's griping
added to the list."
"You're right," she sighed. "I'm going back
to the house, and I'll see if I can keep Scott occupied for
an hour or so." Then she blushed suddenly. "Forget
I said that," she amended quickly as she left the room.
"Is anybody keeping an eye on Will?" Bobby asked.
"He went to his room," Betsy said. "He's tossing
and turning on the bed."
"I don't want to sedate him if I can help it,"
Xavier fretted.
"We'll see how this works first, Charles," Henry
said as he returned, carrying a large canister. He measured
out a large amount of white powder, placing it in the small
mesh pouch by the intake valve. He then checked the thermometer.
"This will be ready sooner than Jean thought. We can
fill the tank now." A few minutes later, four feet of
water was present in the tank.
It took thirty more minutes to raise the water to the proper
temperature. "Okay," Henry decided, "we can
go get him now."
Will's condition had worsened while they were away. He lay
writhing on his bed, his eyes staring into space. He was shaking
violently, and was visibly in pain.
"He looks like a Parkinson's case," Henry remarked
clinically.
"I heard that!" Will snapped in reply.
"Sorry," Henry apologized. "The tank's ready.
You can go down to the medlab now."
Will opened a Door at floor level and rolled of the bed,
falling into it and landing in a sprawl on the floor of the
medlab.
Ororo tried to help him up, but he shook her off angrily,
standing up on his own and walking to the triage on trembling
legs. He ripped his shirt open, sending buttons flying in
the process, and pulled it off.
The others got out of his way as he approached the tank.
He yanked the door open and glared at them.
Rogue understood immediately. "About face, everybody!"
They all turned around politely while Will finished undressing,
and heard him enter the water. His voice, when he spoke, was
taut with strain.
"Thank you."
Then the door boomed shut.
Two days later, Logan relieved Bishop at the watch which
they had decided to place so that they could keep an eye on
Will. "Anything?" Logan asked.
Bishop shook his head as he replaced the energy cell in his
rifle. "Not a sound. Are you sure that it's a good idea
to leave him alone for so long?"
"I asked Jean about that. People under sensory deprivation
tend to lose track of time. Two days isn't much to worry about."
"What do you think is going through his mind right now?"
Logan shrugged. "Who knows? So long as he's functional
when he comes out, it's none of my business."
"That's a pretty blasé attitude to take."
"Not really, it's just that there's nothing I can do
about it. He's Charlie's and Jean's department, not mine."
"But what if..."
Bishop was interrupted by the sound of the tank door swinging
open.
"Would one of you please hand me a towel?"
Half an hour later, Will sat in the parlor, showered and
changed, while the rest of the X-Men questioned him.
"Do you have any idea of exactly what happened?"
Henry began.
Will nodded. "For some reason - I'm not sure just why
yet - my powers were magnified. Instead of it being a gradual
process, like it was the first time, it took place all at
once - probably while I was sleeping. I wasn't able to deal
with it until I could tune out everything else around me."
He turned to look at Jean. "Your idea worked perfectly.
I owe you one."
Jean grinned. "Okay. You owe me one prepared, heat-it-up
meal."
Will grinned back. "It's a deal. Anyway, I've been able
to build the necessary shielding. I shouldn't have any more
problems."
"Then you think you're more powerful than you were before?"
Xavier questioned him.
"Quite a bit more, I think. I'm not sure if it's anything
you'd be able to measure, though."
"Do you feel any different?" Rogue asked.
He frowned, thinking. "I feel... honed."
Xavier's eyebrow arched up. "That's an interesting phrase.
Are you saying you feel ready to fight?"
"I feel like I'm being prepared for it, yes." He
stood up. "Can we run me through a training session?
I have to get rid of some of this excess energy."
"All right."
A few minutes later, they assembled in the Danger Room control
center. "What have you got in mind?" Will asked
as he stepped out of the elevator into the staging room.
"Let's try an agility test. Just dodge whatever we throw
at you."
"No problem." A few seconds later, a dense foam
cushion was flying at him. He dodged it easily, then looked
up at Xavier.
"Let me get this straight," he said as he wove
his way around more obstacles, "I'm playing a high-tech
version of dodgeball?"
"Pretty much," Xavier admitted. "Do you want
the threat level increased?"
"Would you, please? I feel like an idiot doing this."
"Adding harmful objects now."
A series of solid projectiles replaced the cushions. Will
continued to evade the objects as they flew towards him.
"What now?" Logan asked after a few minutes.
"Let's upgrade to lethal," Scott said.
Henry looked at Scott sharply. "I haven't had time to
examine him yet. He may not be up to it."
"He seems plenty fit to me," Scott replied, pointing
down at Will, who was still threading his way through the
obstacles.
Henry and Xavier looked at one another uncertainly, then
nodded. Xavier tapped at the keyboard for a moment, and a
new panel, looking somewhat like a garden lattice, opened
in the Danger Room wall.
Will looked at the new threat curiously for a moment, trying
to determine its nature.
A steel javelin, about one and a half meters in length, shot
out of one of the holes of the lattice and flew straight for
him. His eyes widened, and he became a blur of motion, jumping
out of the way.
"He's kicked into overdrive," Warren noted.
"Good thing, too," Logan added. "If he hadn't,
he'd have been ready for a rotisserie." He looked meaningfully
at Scott, who simply shrugged in response.
Will kept moving at enhanced speed, trying to stay clear
of the volley of lances which sped towards him and tracked
his movements. Rogue, who kept her eyes on his face, started
getting worried. "Stop this, Scott," she said. "He
can't keep this up much longer."
"He'll just teleport out of there if there's any real
danger," Scott replied offhandedly.
Rogue's jaw dropped. So did Xavier's. "Scott, did you
ever ask him if he can teleport while he's in overdrive?"
Scott looked at Xavier uncomprehendingly for a moment, then
reached for the abort button.
Too late.
A javelin shot out just as Will stumbled to one knee. He
got up, looking down, and never saw it coming.
Thunk.
Rogue and Ororo both screamed as Will was pinned to the wall
like a butterfly. The javelin entered through his right shoulder
and exited midway through his back.
Rogue's lower lip trembled for a moment, then she ran for
the elevator, Logan right behind her. The others followed
about two seconds later.
Rogue and Logan approached Will, but didn't touch him. He
was effectively hanging from the spear, his feet off the ground.
He was still, his eyes dead.
The rest of the team caught up a moment later. Logan glanced
at Jean. "You get anything from him?"
Jean shook her head grimly. "Nothing." She paused
a moment. "No, wait." Then she hastily raised her
shields.
Will's eyes flashed, and he jerkily raised his head. He stared
at Logan, then glanced at the spot where the spear entered
the wall. "Cut it," he said in a hoarse whisper.
Logan complied instantly, popping a single claw and slicing
through the spear. Will dropped, landing on his feet and swaying
unsteadily for a moment before falling to his knees. He glanced
up at Jean, Betsy, and Xavier in turn. "Raise your shields,"
he instructed them.
He then reached back with his left hand and started pulling
the spear out. He stood once the spear scraped the floor,
and finished removing it. He made no sound as he did this,
but the look on his face made it clear that he was not enjoying
himself.
The spear hit the floor with a clang, and Will ripped his
uniform where the injuries were, exposing them. He closed
his eyes, and the wounds closed. He straightened up and took
a few steps, then staggered a bit.
Rogue studied his face closely this time, and while it did
not appear, to her eyes, that he aged, his face became leaner
and more haggard. The panel nearest to Will exploded into
sparks, causing him to shield his eyes.
Henry walked up to Will, his face set. "Infirmary,"
he said tersely. "Now."
Will nodded his head weakly, making his way towards the door.
Rogue looked at Xavier, her eyes questioning. He nodded,
and she followed Henry and Will.
As the door closed behind them, Xavier turned towards Scott.
"Everyone to the conference room." His tone allowed
no argument.
Will groaned as he removed his coat. "Mental note: replace
vest with Kevlar."
"I don't think that would have helped," Henry said
as he was examining him. "The shirt too, please."
Will nodded and started unbuttoning his vest. Rogue took
it and looked at it critically for a moment, then threw it
into the waste bin.
"There are weapons in there," Will told her.
Rogue looked at him. "I didn't feel anything."
He gestured for Rogue to hand it to her, and took it. He
fished into an interior pocket, and removed a small coil of
wire.
"What's that?" Rogue asked.
"Garrote," he replied shortly.
Henry blanched. "You're not serious."
"I'll probably never need to use it, but I'd rather
have it and not need it than need it and not have it."
He rummaged through the vest again, removing a pen.
"That's a weapon?" Rogue asked.
He didn't answer, but squeezed the clip of the pen. A needle,
about one inch long, popped out from the tip.
"Let me guess," Henry said. "If you press
the top, it injects?"
"Very good."
"What's it filled with?"
"There's no cartridge in it right now, but I thought
that it would come in handy if we need to tranquilize someone
- or eliminate them. I have a set of cartridges in my room
that are filled with - let me see - curare, sodium amatyl,
adrenaline, Phenobarbital, and air."
"Air?" Rogue asked. "What good is a needle
full of air?"
"It would induce a stroke in minutes if injected into
a vein," Henry informed her.
"Nasty," she said, frowning in disapproval.
"Maybe," Will admitted, "but if I can stop
a war by killing the generals, I'm willing to have that on
my conscience." He winced as Henry examined the healed
area. "Careful. That's still a little tender."
"I'm not surprised," Henry replied as he swabbed
iodine on Will's back. "Leave that on for a few minutes,
then go to bed."
"Can I shower first without causing any complications?"
"The wounds are closed, so I don't see why not."
"Good. Maybe I can loosen up some of these kinks."
He slid off the bench, threw his coat over one shoulder, and
walked out.
Rogue looked at Henry. "Tell Ororo and the Professor
that I'm a little too biased to be any good. I want to be
sure he's okay."
Henry nodded. "Make sure he goes straight to bed."
Rogue followed Will from the elevator, then from there to
his room. "I can put myself to bed," he told
her pointedly as she followed him in.
"I've noticed that you tend not to take care of yourself
when you get hurt," she replied. "I want to make
sure that you don't just flop into bed without patching yourself
up."
"My wounds have healed. What's the problem?"
"Your back and shoulder healed, but I noticed that you
were covered with bruises. And if you don't get some heat
on those muscles, you'll barely be able to move in the morning."
He blinked. "Good point."
"Besides," she added, her eyes twinkling, "you
stink."
"Well, excuse me!"
"Come on, big boy, hit the showers," she ordered,
sitting on the bed.
"Yes, coach," he said affectionately as he went
to his closet and pulled out a hooded terrycloth robe. "Grab
a book to read. I'll be in there a while."
She nodded and went to the bookshelves, deciding on an anthology
of vampire stories. She got through two of them by the time
Will came out, toweling his hair dry. "Don't you use
a dryer?" she asked.
"I never need one. My hair dries pretty quickly. The
problem is combing it back as soon as I can. If I don't I
wind up looking like Yahoo Serious."
She smiled. "Feeling any better?"
"A bit," he admitted. Then he yawned. "Now
to get some sleep. I didn't get any in the tank."
"You didn't?" she asked in a surprised voice.
"Nope. I kept getting really close, but never quite
made it." He went to the mirror and combed his hair straight
back. "I was linked with the Chorus so closely, though,
that it didn't affect me too much." He started walking
back to his bed, then stopped and went to the window instead,
closing the shutters and pulling a heavy curtain over them,
effectively sealing off the room from the sun. "I'll
never get to sleep if there's any light," he explained.
She nodded, then held up the book. "Can I borrow this?"
"Sure," he told her, smiling slightly. He then
pointed at her, then down, twirling his finger slightly. She
took the hint and averted her eyes while he got into bed.
"Could you shut off the light on your way out?"
"No problem." She got up and walked to the side
of the bed. "Sleep yourself out, okay?" she asked
him as she touched her gloved hand to his cheek.
He held her hand against his face for a moment, then kissed
it. "Thanks," he said.
"For what?"
"For being here."
She smiled as she left the room, closing the door behind
her.
The other X-Men, meanwhile, had gathered in the conference
room. Xavier and Ororo sat next to one another. The original
team members, with the exception of Scott, took the adjoining
seats, and the others occupied the remaining chairs. Scott
took a seat opposite Xavier, leaving several empty seats to
either side of him - an isolation which was quite deliberate.
Xavier wasted no time. "What in the hell were you thinking,
Scott? Will just finishes recovering from one stressful experience,
and you subject him to another one."
"With absolutely no basis for your actions," Ororo
added. "You haven't sat in on one of Will's tests. You
have no knowledge of his limits, or of exactly what switching
to enhanced speed does to him."
"If it was so dangerous for him, then why didn't he
say something?" Scott shot back.
"Because you never gave him any warning," Logan
growled. "He thought he was in a simple training session.
You never told him you were switching to lethal."
"You've been riding him ever since he got here, Scott,"
Bobby added. "He's done everything he can to get on your
good side. Problem is, you don't seem to have one where he's
concerned.
"If you're not going to get off his case for his sake,"
Bobby continued, "then you'd damn sure better do it for
Rogue's. She's been stressed out over the way you've been
treating Will, and it's going to start affecting her performance
soon."
"In any case," Xavier said, "I think it would
be best if, for the time being, Will and Rogue were transferred
to Ororo's unit and authority."
"What?!" Scott exclaimed.
"I'm not going to split them apart just yet. Their personalities
seem to complement one another quite well. Will can keep Rogue
from rushing into things before she's ready, as she sometimes
does, and Rogue seems to be able to help Will maintain a sense
of focus."
"There's something else as well," Betsy pointed
out, "that I think we're all overlooking."
"What's that?" Logan asked.
"I've been watching Rogue carefully ever since Will
got here, and the change in her attitude has been startling.
She's not moping around anymore, like she used to do when
I first joined the team." She made a face. "I don't
want to sound overly critical, but while we were in Australia,
she occasionally became more than a bit annoying. I mean,
it wasn't like any of the rest of us had any companionship."
"Good point," Ororo said, "although I never
thought of it that way."
"Now, however, she's a lot more cheerful. I'm not entirely
certain of just what happened when she and Will went on their
first date, but she's been a lot happier since then."
"Nothing really happened, from what she told me,"
Ororo supplied, "but Will did give her his undivided
attention for the entire evening."
"And when's the last time that happened to her? I always
felt that Rogue sometimes wore some of her more provocative
outfits as a way to compensate for the limitations that her
power places on her. Since Will showed up, she's been a bit
more conservative in her style of dress, probably because
she's a lot more comfortable with herself."
"It may also be because Will tends to be a rather conservative
dresser himself," Xavier added. "He tends towards
muted colors, and seems a bit more comfortable in older styles.
I haven't seen many people his age who wear a hat."
"In any case," Betsy continued, "Will doesn't
seem to have any problem with making Rogue feel valued."
"Of course she's valued," Scott objected.
"As an X-Man, yes. But what about as a woman?"
She looked at each of the men in turn. "When was the
last time any of you told her she looked good in an outfit
she's bought, or simply that she was an attractive woman?"
The men looked uncomfortable for a moment. "Exactly,"
Betsy confirmed. "Rogue grew up in the South, with its
traditional notions of femininity. That sort of thing stays
with you for a while, if you're raised with it. No matter
what else she's been exposed to since she joined the X-Men,
the ideal of the Southern belle is somewhere in her mind.
Will understands this, and his behavior reflects that. He's
acting, perhaps unconsciously, the role of the gentleman,
Southern or otherwise. He's been very cautious and flexible
in the way he's treating her, and allowing her the opportunity
to back off when she needs to."
"What about the incident after the poker game?"
Bobby asked.
"I think that was more a reflection of his personality
than anything else. He seems to have a very protective, nurturing
streak in him. We saw that the night he was shot. He wasn't
concerned with himself as much as with the risk that we were
under."
"That could be a liability in combat," Ororo mused.
"If he's spending all of his time protecting us, that
makes him vulnerable."
"We'll work on some strategies with that in mind,"
Henry assured her as he came in and sat down. Then he frowned.
"Is it just me, or did he heal a lot more quickly than
last time?"
"He was back in one piece in about a minute," Logan
confirmed.
"I can't say quite why," Henry admitted, "but
I get the feeling that he's much more powerful than he was
before."
"That may make him a bit more distracted," Logan
noted.
"True," Xavier agreed, "but I've been working
on ways around that."
"Like what?"
"I've noticed that when he's working at his computer,
he's usually listening to music. Maybe that helps him focus."
"It does," Bobby supplied. "He mentioned it
to me during a break in the poker game."
"Good. We'll start pumping music into his Danger Room
sessions."
"We might want to look into the idea of a headset for
him," Jean suggested. "Something that would play
music at a level loud enough for him to hear, but that won't
give him away."
"I'll ask Forge to work on something," Xavier decided.
"Where's Rogue?" Bobby asked Henry.
"She felt that she couldn't be objective, so she asked
to be excused from this discussion."
"Normally, I wouldn't approve," said Ororo, "but
this is an unusual situation."
Scott, who had been fuming silently up to this point, decided
to speak up. "How's that?"
"We've never killed one of our own before," Warren
said sternly.
"Thunderbird? Dark Phoenix? Madelyne?"
"All suicides. Cypher was killed by an opponent. Ilyanna
was either a suicide, or died from Legacy, or both, depending
on how you want to look at it."
"I nearly killed Rachel," Logan added, "but
it was either that or let her murder somebody else."
"But none of us has ever killed another X-Man because
of ignorance - willful ignorance, I might add - of that X-Man's
power," Ororo informed Scott.
"If this were the XSE, Cyclops, you would be facing
a court-martial," Bishop informed him.
"What would the charge be?" Warren asked out of
curiosity.
"Involuntary manslaughter due to reckless endangerment."
Then he frowned. "The fact that the victim came back
to life complicates matters, though."
Scott pounced on that opening. "That's exactly it! The
man can't die. Don't we need information on just how
that aspect of his powers works?"
Xavier looked at him incredulously. "Scott, are you
saying that the fact that Will came back to life makes everything
all right?"
"Well, no, but..."
Xavier looked at Scott for a moment, then shook his head
sadly. "Why don't we all call it a day? We'll try to
start fresh tomorrow."
Everyone nodded in agreement, and filed out of the room.
Scott stayed seated, still glowering.
Ororo went straight to Rogue's room to inform her of her
transfer. She knocked softly, then entered at Rogue's request.
She was surprised to find that Rogue had pulled down the
shade and was seated in her chair, facing away from her.
"Rogue, both you and Will have been transferred to my
team. I'll tell Will when he wakes up."
Rogue nodded silently, but didn't turn around. Ororo walked
over and faced her.
Rogue was staring into space, crying steadily, arms wrapped
around one of her stuffed bears. Ororo didn't say anything,
but did roll down the sleeves of her shirt and put on her
gloves. She leaned against the arm of the chair and drew Rogue
to her.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.
Rogue was silent for a long moment. "How does he do
it?"
"Do what?"
"Keep going. He... dies, and just picks himself
up and goes on."
"I don't know," Ororo admitted. "I certainly
don't know if I could do it. He seems to be able to
bear a lot more than most people."
"But why? The Professor..."
"I think that Will's powers are outside his experience.
Charles tends to approach things in a very intellectual way.
Will is a much more elemental sort of person. He acts on impulse
and whim."
"Tell me about it," Rogue said, smiling despite
herself.
"We'll see what he's like when he wakes up. Remember,
we still have that religious observance of his. If I remember
correctly, it's tomorrow night."
"I'd forgotten about that," Rogue admitted. "Do
you think he'll be in shape for it?"
"We'll find out tomorrow," Ororo assured her. "Why
don't you try to get some rest?"
Rogue nodded wearily and stood up, looking at herself in
the mirror. "I'm a mess," she said critically.
"You don't have the complexion to cry in public,"
Ororo agreed, smiling. "Get some sleep, Rogue. It will
all look better in the morning."
Logan was waiting in the hall when Ororo left Rogue's room.
"She asleep?" he asked her.
Ororo nodded. "How is Will?"
"Out cold. For somebody who was dead an hour ago, he
looks pretty peaceful. He'll probably sleep until tomorrow.
You up for a drink? I could use one after today."
"Make mine a double."
Continued in Chapter
24
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