Pietro and Crystal - Who's to Blame?

[x-aerial.livejournal.com]

Backdated to yesterday. Pietro comes to check on Crystal, receives an apology, gets glared at, discovers that Crystal's been blaming herself for what happened, and quickly sets her straight.



Having not found Crystal in her own room, Pietro's next stop was her sister's. He knocked a little more loudly than usual, wondering idly if she would be able to hear it if she were confined to her bed.

At the knock, Crystal looked up from the textbook she had been reading. Life went on even when three of your classmates had been snatched right before your eyes, and although it was quite possible she would have been allowed to miss more classes had she made a fuss, making a fuss was not something she wanted to do. Isolating herself from the others did that enough, so after resting all day on Tuesday, she'd returned to class, semi-floating while also using crutches. Sighing, she stood and made her way to the door on the crutches, keeping her left leg above the ground. "Oh. Good afternoon," she said, a bit surprised to see him after the way she'd spoken to him Monday evening. "Would you care to come inside?"

"I was certainly hoping to," Pietro replied with a wry smile. "I wanted to see how you were, and what the doctors say about your leg--if you don't mind telling me, that is." He shrugged. "I'm hardly the optimal choice of ambulance, after all."

Crystal floated back a step to let him inside the room. "Have a seat if you wish," she said, motioning to one of the chairs as she sat down in another chair with her leg stretched out in front of her. "I am coping," she replied. "In a way, I am fine, and in another way, I am not fine. It will take a couple of months, but the doctors expect for me to make a full recovery if I do as they say." She paused for a moment. "I cannot say that I am familiar with riding in ambulances as up until now I had managed fairly well without ever requiring the use of one, but I believe that as far as such methods of transportation go, you did quite well. You arrived quickly, did not appear to have any problems with traffic, and brought the patient in to be treated as soon as you could."

"Not the smoothest ride, though. I was worried I might hurt your leg more, bouncing around. But it wasn't safe to stay, even aside from your need for proper medical attention." Pietro sighed, sinking into the chair. "I haven't heard very much new about the others yet--we think we know who was behind the attack, but he dropped off the map years ago, apparently."

"To Forge's credit, he already told me letters were received from the probable kidnapper but the definite identity of the kidnapper was in question. He promised to keep me informed," Crystal explained. "He made the same promise last year. Everyone deserves a second chance, I suppose. Even someone such as Forge."

"Having been the beneficiary of one, I suppose I can't disagree with the sentiment." He quirked a smile at her. "Even for someone such as Forge. You must be feeling better, your sarcasm's back in formal-wear."

"Do not worry, I have used up all of my 'being rude to people who do not deserve it' supply." She probably wouldn't have used as much up if Forge hadn't acted like a complete imbecile or if she hadn't vented after reading the comments on Scott's post. "I am not going to lash out at you again. I should not have been rude to anyone, really, but in your case it was entirely uncalled for."

"You don't need to apologize to me. You were in pain, and as focused on your friends' welfare as, well--" Pietro chuckled softly. "As I was focused on yours. I don't blame you for that, or for what you said. Besides, sometimes rudeness is the only language people listen in."

"I still needed to apologize," Crystal said firmly. "Although it is obvious what caused me to speak in such a manner, I still wanted you to know that I am sorry for being rude to you." She owed Scott an apology, too, didn't she? "My stay here would have been very different had people not spoken to me and treated me the way they did. Perhaps rudeness is accepted as a language to some people, but it is not one that I care to learn."

"Well, you're forgiven. As long as you do as the doctors say, and let your leg heal." Pietro grinned. "I won't even say a word about our deal."

"Less than two weeks ago you attempted a bonding experience with the X-Men, participated in trust exercises with Logan, and temporarily became a woman," Crystal said, not looking particularly amused. She didn't want to have to give another apology later, but Jennie, Marius, and Kyle were still missing and right now she wasn't quite up to cracking jokes about being kidnapped. "Less than five days ago I fought, kicking and scratching, and barely avoided being abducted while three of my classmates were taken to parts unknown against their will. Forgive me for not choosing to utilize my 'free kidnapping' pass at this time. I will have to redeem it the next time someone decides to take me hostage."

"My turn to apologize, I think," Pietro said shamefacedly. "Once again I demonstrate why I should leave comedy to the funny. I should have known better; of course it's too fresh to joke about."

"Apology accepted. They are still missing," Crystal reminded him. "The search is ongoing. This is not over yet. I will not be surprised if jokes will flood in and be welcomed after they return. Such is the Xavier's way. I usually find it best to let others make light of such things in public. I saw Jennie and Marius after they came back to the mansion last year; it should be up to them and to Kyle whether or not jokes are made about what happened to them this time."

"Likely they will be regardless of what they want, but I take your point. I was decidedly too quick off the mark." Pietro smiled wryly. "It's my curse, you know."

"You did not arrive too late," Crystal said, referring to his post on Scott's journal the day before. "I did not call you until after my classmates had disappeared. Unless you possess the ability to travel though time, there is no way you could have arrived before they were taken. You arrived as quickly as you could, yes?"

"As quickly as was practical," Pietro corrected her. "Manhattan's a bit too fragile for my best speed. But you're effectively correct; that's as fast as I could have gotten there in a populated area." He gave Crystal an ironic look. "I don't blame myself, if that's what you're getting at. The point I was trying to make was that nobody here should be blamed for what happened."

"As quickly as you could without destroying everything in your path, sorry," Crystal replied, wondering who was splitting hairs now. "Nobody should be blamed except me. I was there. Jennie is missing again and I was right there when it happened and I was unable to do anything to prevent it."

Pietro didn't quite glare at her. "I stand by my statement. Nobody here should be blamed--least of all you. You were outnumbered by adults who had the element of surprise and almost certainly better training, and you fought back anyway, as hard as you could. Even when they neutralized your powers. You got away and you brought back important information. If anyone's insinuated that you should have done more . . ."

Crystal didn't-quite-glare right back. "No one has insinuated anything; that's not the Xavier's way. Only Logan would tell me how much I messed up, and I am certain that he would use much stronger language than that. What you just said is not an excuse. I should have been able to do more. I did not stop to think and act in a rational manner; I simply acted. If I had run off while they were busy with the others, I would have been able to call for help earlier. Instead, I literally threw myself into the middle of the fight, for all the good it did. I did not want to leave the others, and by fighting a battle that was lost from the start I condemned them all."

"If you had stopped to think, they might have captured you while you were doing so, and you would now be saying 'what if I had acted, instead of wasting time thinking?' If you had run off while they were busy with the others, they might have had enough attention to spare to capture the others faster, and then all of them would have come after you alone, and you would now be saying 'what if I had fought instead of running, I've fought kidnappers before and what if one more person would have made the difference?' If you had called me earlier and I had arrived while they were still there, and my powers had been suppressed as well, they might have two more captives. And if the X-Men had responded faster to the panic buttons, then the man who sent the kidnappers might have had to resort to his backup plan. Which might have been to detonate the entire block, killing all of us. That's the trouble with hindsight, Crystal." Pietro's eyes and his voice were absolutely serious. "Nobody knows what might have happened, because only one of those things actually did. You fought, and because you fought you were not captured, and because you were not captured you were able to give us descriptions of your attackers and their powers, and the devices they used to teleport away, any and all of which might lead us to them faster."

"I was not captured because the man who broke my leg clearly did not view me as a threat and was rather careless when he placed the device on my arm," Crystal argued softly, her heart clearly not into her usual explanation of 'this is how the events truly occurred.' She gave Pietro a slight glare, not bothering to try to mask the pain in her eyes. "Stop making so much sense."

"Again, my apologies." Pietro smiled. "I'm letting down school tradition, I know. But I know a little bit about hindsight--and I think you have more than enough to worry about without taking on blame that belongs to people that, with any luck, I will have a chance to kick in the head before long."

"I regret to inform you that I beat you to that," Crystal replied with just the hint of a smile. "I already kicked one of them in the head. He tried to hit me and then he just fell down in front of me and I kicked him.. It did not feel quite right to do this while he was on the ground, gasping in pain, but I also knew that I could not just leave him there to get right back up and attack one of us again, so I kicked him in the head first."

"Will you mind very much if I follow your trend?" Pietro asked lightly. Then he snorted. "I can't tell you how it pains me to sound like Logan, but you did the right thing. Fighting fair wouldn't have helped you."

"I know," Crystal answered. "It still does not make me feel much better about what happened. I do not believe that anything can. I just want Jennie and Marius and Kyle to be all right, but... no one who has someone taken in that way has good intentions in mind." She shook her head. "I can only hope that they are found soon and will be able to recover from whatever has happened to them."

"So do I," Pietro sighed. "We're doing the best we can to make sure that happens, but that's an uncomfortably long way from certainty."

Crystal nodded. "It is the not knowing that is the hardest part for me. I wished that I had been taken with them so I would at least know what was happening to them, even if I had to go through the same thing. I still...well, I just hope I was able to provide useful information that will be able to assist in finding them."

"I'm just as glad you didn't--if you had been, I'd be the one not knowing." Pietro smiled faintly. "I think I would find that excessively stressful."

"Yes, and then you might have gone out and done something rather silly such as attempting to get yourself blown into pieces. I suppose this might happen anyway depending on what happens when they are found." Crystal thought of Monet's journal posts regarding Marius's disappearance and could hardly imagine what Medusa's response would have been had she been taken, too, and not just had her leg broken. As for her parent's reactions... no, she didn't even want to think about that. "I will try to not let anything else bad happen to me during the next month. I will be finished with school then, and I willl return home. We do not have such craziness in Attilan."

Pietro nodded solemnly. "Proof, if we needed any more, that Attilan is a properly civilized country. I'm very much looking forward to your sister's engagement party."

"Yes, but enough mansion residents have been invited to the point where there could be potential trouble," Crystal said, sighing dramatically. "Luckily, the engagement party is neither a field trip nor an X-Man mission, so hopefully the Xavier's curse will not make its way to Attilan. Hopefully, the leather outfits will be left at the mansion; no one is being invited as an X-Man."

"I'm leaving mine here," Pietro volunteered cheerfully. "No sense tempting fate on such a happy occasion."