xp_logs | Ororo and Kurt | Monday night (Reply)

Patrolling the halls late at night, Kurt finds Ororo still in her office. It's hard to give comfort when you yourself are worried to death, but they both manage a little.

Kurt was spending the night awake, partly in case some
lead came in to help them find the students, partly in case any of the
ones left behind were awake and in need of a listening ear.
Coincidentally, his patrols of the mansion, at one point, took him
past Ororo's office.

The door was half-open; from within was the faint light
of a computer monitor and the clicking of keys as the headmistress
typed away. She didn't have access to everything on this computer, but
she had pulled up enough files to give her plenty to go through as she
sat up through the night.

He heard, and paused on his way down the corridor to put
his head round the door. "You could not sleep either?"

Ororo glanced up, giving Kurt a smile that faded as
quickly as it had started. "No, I am afraid not. Somehow sleep seems
like a futile possibility right now."

"It certainly does", he agreed quietly, coming more
fully into the room. "And for more than just us two, I think. I was
looking for students who may be out of their rooms."

"Have you found any?" she asked, grateful as always for
Kurt's thoughtfulness.

"Not yet. It may be they are still trying for sleep, or
comforting each other. I will check on the younger ones more often
tonight."

"Thank you, Kurt," Ororo said, warmth evident in her
voice despite her current state of mind. "I am sure Marie and Dani
would help you, too, if you needed."

"They may well already be doing so", he said with a
faint tired smile. "I have not seen them, so it is possible they are
in one of the student suites to do what they can."

"We will all be quite busy until the students are
found." And they would be, Ororo vowed; the possibility that they
might not be was not even allowed. "But please, do not overwork
yourself. It will do no good to exhaust yourself in your efforts."

"I will sleep when I can", he allowed. "But I do not
tire easily. I was used to short nights a long time ago."

"Well. I cannot say your help will not be appreciated."

"It is the least I can do, until we get the children
back. Is there anything I can do to help you, in the meantime? More
than trying to help the students, I mean."

Ororo shook her head, brushing back silver hair as it
fell in her face. "I think knowing they are in your capable hands
would be the best thing, right now. As soon as that changes or
anything new is discovered I will tell you, of course."

Kurt nodded. "I would like to request now to be on any
mission that may be needed, when they are located. I think... it is a
matter of responsibility."

"I cannot promise anything, Kurt. But I will try."

"Thank you. I appreciate it." He sighed, sitting down.
"I told Kyle he should not be afraid of how people would react to
him, looking different. That he should not let their fear or hate
change what he does."

"That is good advice. Something we try to tell all the
students, regardless of whether their mutation is visible or not."

"But I am afraid... that it made him incautious. I do
not mean that he should have feared overmuch, and it may be that
whoever has taken them had other reasons. And yet."

Ororo's expression changed to one of concern, and she
leaned closer to Kurt, shaking her head once more. "This is not your
fault, Kurt. Kyle was not alone, and I am sure that he was as careful
as he could have been. What you told him was the truth, and you should
not have kept it back from him."

"I know", he said quietly. "I know all of those things.
But still they are our students and our responsibility, and these
things happen, and all I can think is 'what should we have done
differently?'"

"In that you are not alone," Ororo told him. "But we
cannot let that distract us from the task at hand, or let the guilt
cloud our judgment."

That got another sigh, with a crooked smile behind it.
"When we find who has taken them, I will not let those things happen.
But until we do... there is only this long night."

"Then we had been distract ourselves however we can,"
Ororo said with a nod. "And hope morning comes sooner than later."