xp_logs | Pietro and Medusa, in the medlab

Pietro and Medusa worry over Crystal.

The request to keep out of the infirmary had clearly, Pietro thought, been meant to apply to other people. Of course they'd want to keep the students out--they were noisy and disruptive, not at all conducive to rest. He, on the other hand, could be almost invisibly quiet, as sneaking past the doctors surely proved.

Besides, he wasn't Crystal's only visitor. "Hello, Lady Medusa," he said quietly as he eased the door shut. "No change yet, I take it?"

"None," was the tired reply. Medusa had only moved from the spot she'd taken beside Crystal's bed in the medlab once and that had been to contact her parents and an Attilani specialist. Each time one of the doctors had tried to get her to leave, she'd refused and they seemed to have more important things to do then shoo her away from her sister. So she sat, quietly, holding Crystal's hand and waiting for her to wake up.

"At least they're used to dealing with situations like this here," he offered, pulling up a chair beside her. "But still . . . she's so lively, usually; it's hard to see her like this." He grimaced. "And it's so very hard to wait."

"I do not know that it makes me feel better that they are used to things like this," Medusa said, gently setting Crystal's hand down on the bed. Because that means they should have been able to prevent it. "I wanted to take her to Attilan, to our own doctors and healers...but they assured me it was best she stay here. At least I was able to convince them that making me leave without her was futile."

"I meant that they have experience with this kind of care," Pietro said, a touch of wry humor in his voice. "There's no better place for her this side of the Atlantic; as it's apparently something psychic, arguably no better place in the world, as reassuring as I'm sure that isn't. If it were Wanda . . ." He shook his head. "I don't know that I'd be able to bear just sitting here."

"I cannot bear it," Medusa said, a tear slipping out of the corner of one eye. Her composed face wavered and she leaned against the bed, burying her head in her hands. "I can do nothing. Nothing but sit and wait. I am supposed to take care of her. I should have protected her." Red hair roiled around her as Medusa's control slipped slightly.

"From what? A museum trip? There's no way you could have known, and you can't prepare for everything as though it's an ambush." Pietro scowled. "Take it from me, that's no way to live. And even if you'd been there . . . Xavier is of the opinion that this wasn't even an attack. Just two ships colliding in the night, making an ungodly mess. They might not even have seen what happened. There might not have been anything to see."

Medusa took little comfort from his words, but managed to get her hair back under control. "I just want her to wake up," she said softly, reaching out to smooth her sister's dark blond hair. "To smile and jump up, to be the little Crystal I know." Medusa continued gently brushing her sister's hair with her hand as she spoke. "I do not think I have ever seen her on solid ground for this long."

"'For thou wast a spirit too delicate,'" Pietro quoted wistfully. "I'm reminded of Ariel every time I see her--her journal helps, of course. And I suppose her own mind is the cloven pine, now." He shook his head. "But she'll wake up. She will."

"She must," Medusa said, a touch of her usual sureness reentering her voice. "And she is stronger than I often give her credit for." She managed a weak smile for Pietro. "Thank you...thank you for coming to check on her."

"She is . . . a good friend," Pietro replied quietly, his eyes still on Crystal's face. "I don't make friends easily, or often, and I treasure them commensurately."

"Crystal is a good friend to have," Medusa said softly. "And I am glad that she has a good friend in return." Strands of hair reached out to tuck the blanket more tightly around the sleeping girl. "Perhaps she is at least having a pleasant dream."