Sins of the Father || Burning Up
Jul. 22nd, 2018 01:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsFire hurts. Especially when it’s inside you.
Bobby started to knock on the door to the medlab, but once his hand was on it he just pushed his way on it, grunting as he did so. He didn't know what was wrong - hence going there in the first place - but what he thought was just a bad case of heartburn was turning into something much more serious.
His mind went to it being a heart attack maybe, because the burning sensation was spreading outward, but his arms and chest didn't actually hurt, not like he thought a heart attack would anyway. But what did he know? So he made his way to the medlab, the pain seemingly increasing with each step, until he barged in.
"H-hey, anyone here?" he managed, grunting as he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes and grimaced at yet another wave of pain.
Jean could feel Bobby before he knocked. The air was thick with pain and anguish from the other patients. She hoped there wouldn't be another. How foolish of her.
"Bobby?" she said, halfway across the room and walking toward him as he opened the door.
Then again, maybe it was just a simple stomachache.
And maybe the ice age was just a little cold snap.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't feel so good..." Bobby let himself slide down the wall, clutching his stomach with one hand and slowing his descent with the other. The floor felt nice and cool when he landed, though that only lasted a brief second before another flare up struck him. The heat radiated out further that time, he was sure of it, and he looked down, expecting to see his skin actually glowing from the ferocity of it.
"I d-didn't eat anything weird, promise, but my stomach..." That was about as much as he could vocalize at one time without feeling like he was going to breathe flames or something.
Bobby had hit the floor before Jean could catch him, but she was across the room and to him a half a second later, crouching down. His skin glistened with sweat, which was unusual for someone with his powers. Reaching out to feel his forehead, Jean reflexively pulled her hand away when it felt hot.
"Let's get you to a bed, okay?" she said gently, managing a smile. In reality, she was gravely concerned.
"This may feel a little strange but I'm going to support you telekinetically," she said, attempting to pull him to his feet. If he tried to fall, he'd feel something invisible supporting him as she started to guide him toward one of the medical bays.
"How long have you been hurting? When did it start?"
Letting Jean support him in whatever way possible, Bobby eased himself onto the closest bed. He lay his head back and took a deep breath, exhaling loudly. "I dunno, not long ago, I was just walkin' and -"
He cut off and hissed out whatever breath he had left, squinting his eyes shut tightly as a new wave of pain roared through his body. "Fire," was all he could manage as the burning ebbed away, his eyes still closed and imagining waves of flames roiling and weaving in and out along a beach of impossibly black ash, in and out, in and out.
As they reached the hospital bed, Jean lifted him onto it telekinetically. She frowned at the description. "Fire? What do you mean?" she said.
"Like...you feel like you're on fire?"
She was tempted to let her walls drop, to feel what he was feeling, just for a moment, to get a better diagnosis.
"It's burning... insides, they burn," Bobby replied, stopping to cough repeatedly as another surge of pain racked his body. All he could do was point to his stomach, which he then clutched as the pain intensified. "Dunno what it is, but it's burning me up, it hurts so bad..."
He reached out and white-knuckled the bed frame as another spasm struck. His powers kicked in reflexively, icing up the area and his hand in kind. Bobby blinked at the ice and then placed his hand over his belly, hoping that'd help cool him down.
The cold blast made Jean take a step back as her breath misted in the air. She immediately grabbed a thermometer.
"I'm going to take your temperature, okay?" she said. She had experience working with other cryokinetics from at Claremont so she knew how to allow for the lower temperatures when measuring temperature.
"'K," he said, placing his other hand on top of his stomach and icing that one up as well. He had no idea if it'd work but hell, he had to try something. It was either that or he'd burn up on the spot. Bobby wondered if this was how that whole spontaneous combustion stuff he'd read about happened, which only made him panic more.
Jean's brows furrowed as she readied the thermometer and ran it over his forehead.
"You're not feverish. No elevated body temperature, even at your regular levels," she said, shaking her head.
She had her suspicions what it could be, and if that were the case....there was not much they could do until the others figured out how to stop it.
"I think...it might be something trying to make you feel like you're on fire."
Bobby shook his head, biting his lip as he continued trying to cool himself down. "S'not fake, s'real. Burning up really bad..." The sensation was spreading down his legs now with each pulse, right down to the tips of his toes. He lifted his head up enough to peek down, almost expecting to see them alight, burning like some macabre human candles.
"I can't let it get me, can't keep burning..." He concentrated as hard as he could, balling his fists up and willing his power to cool him as much as possible. At first it was working, Bobby felt really cool, and a quick glance at his hands - wait, was he actually turning into ice right now? He flexed his fingers, staring up his hands to his forearms and marveling at the transformation for a few heartbeats until the pain returned, twice as strong as before.
Great, now he was going to melt, was all that he could think.
Jean stumbled backward, eyes widening with a mixture of surprise and almost...wonder when Bobby turned himself into ice. Even when working with people who controlled ice powers she had never seen someone actually turn themselves into it.
But she didn't have time to think about that.
"I believe you, Bobby. The feeling is real, because something is trying to make you think it's real. We think it's magic," she said. She figured it best to tell him the truth in this instance.
"I can try to shut off the pain telepathically if you want me to but it'll only work for a little while. We're trying to figure something out."
"Do whatever you gotta do, ungh," he grunted, still partially amazed at how much of himself was turning into ice - almost all of him at this point, what the hell? - but more focused on not passing out from the pure pain of it all.
Sitting down on a lab stool, beside him, Jean studied him. "Okay....I need to get into your mind. Have you ever had a telepath enter your mind before?" she said.
"Not... not that I know..." Bobby tried his best to keep his eyes open, focusing on Jean's face, then sliding over to her red hair. Red like fire, the all-consuming flames that were eating him alive no matter what he said or did. He opened his mouth to say more but he was just about spent by that point, so he just shook his head back and forth almost imperceptibly.
Jean nodded. "Okay. This will feel strange. But I promise, I won't hurt you. So I need you to try to relax, even if that sounds really hard," she said gently. With the agony he was in, Jean knew Bobby's mind would be locked up tighter than a fortress.
"Take deep breaths, in....and out...Focus on the sound of my voice."
Again he nodded with as much strength as he could muster, which wasn't all that much. Things were getting blurry and all Bobby could really see was red, even when he closed his eyes, which was what he was trying to do. Keeping them shut took more energy than he had to, so just surrendered himself to whatever Jean thought she could do to help.
Reaching out her mind, Jean visibly flinched for a moment before steeling herself. It was like walking into fire and agony. The flames burned out of control, threatening to swallow him whole. So she set about finding ways to counter the inferno, building up the walls to smother the flames until only smoke remained.
As she left Bobby's mind, she'd found he'd passed out in relief.
While it was a small victory, Jean knew it was only the beginning of what was to come.
Bobby started to knock on the door to the medlab, but once his hand was on it he just pushed his way on it, grunting as he did so. He didn't know what was wrong - hence going there in the first place - but what he thought was just a bad case of heartburn was turning into something much more serious.
His mind went to it being a heart attack maybe, because the burning sensation was spreading outward, but his arms and chest didn't actually hurt, not like he thought a heart attack would anyway. But what did he know? So he made his way to the medlab, the pain seemingly increasing with each step, until he barged in.
"H-hey, anyone here?" he managed, grunting as he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes and grimaced at yet another wave of pain.
Jean could feel Bobby before he knocked. The air was thick with pain and anguish from the other patients. She hoped there wouldn't be another. How foolish of her.
"Bobby?" she said, halfway across the room and walking toward him as he opened the door.
Then again, maybe it was just a simple stomachache.
And maybe the ice age was just a little cold snap.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't feel so good..." Bobby let himself slide down the wall, clutching his stomach with one hand and slowing his descent with the other. The floor felt nice and cool when he landed, though that only lasted a brief second before another flare up struck him. The heat radiated out further that time, he was sure of it, and he looked down, expecting to see his skin actually glowing from the ferocity of it.
"I d-didn't eat anything weird, promise, but my stomach..." That was about as much as he could vocalize at one time without feeling like he was going to breathe flames or something.
Bobby had hit the floor before Jean could catch him, but she was across the room and to him a half a second later, crouching down. His skin glistened with sweat, which was unusual for someone with his powers. Reaching out to feel his forehead, Jean reflexively pulled her hand away when it felt hot.
"Let's get you to a bed, okay?" she said gently, managing a smile. In reality, she was gravely concerned.
"This may feel a little strange but I'm going to support you telekinetically," she said, attempting to pull him to his feet. If he tried to fall, he'd feel something invisible supporting him as she started to guide him toward one of the medical bays.
"How long have you been hurting? When did it start?"
Letting Jean support him in whatever way possible, Bobby eased himself onto the closest bed. He lay his head back and took a deep breath, exhaling loudly. "I dunno, not long ago, I was just walkin' and -"
He cut off and hissed out whatever breath he had left, squinting his eyes shut tightly as a new wave of pain roared through his body. "Fire," was all he could manage as the burning ebbed away, his eyes still closed and imagining waves of flames roiling and weaving in and out along a beach of impossibly black ash, in and out, in and out.
As they reached the hospital bed, Jean lifted him onto it telekinetically. She frowned at the description. "Fire? What do you mean?" she said.
"Like...you feel like you're on fire?"
She was tempted to let her walls drop, to feel what he was feeling, just for a moment, to get a better diagnosis.
"It's burning... insides, they burn," Bobby replied, stopping to cough repeatedly as another surge of pain racked his body. All he could do was point to his stomach, which he then clutched as the pain intensified. "Dunno what it is, but it's burning me up, it hurts so bad..."
He reached out and white-knuckled the bed frame as another spasm struck. His powers kicked in reflexively, icing up the area and his hand in kind. Bobby blinked at the ice and then placed his hand over his belly, hoping that'd help cool him down.
The cold blast made Jean take a step back as her breath misted in the air. She immediately grabbed a thermometer.
"I'm going to take your temperature, okay?" she said. She had experience working with other cryokinetics from at Claremont so she knew how to allow for the lower temperatures when measuring temperature.
"'K," he said, placing his other hand on top of his stomach and icing that one up as well. He had no idea if it'd work but hell, he had to try something. It was either that or he'd burn up on the spot. Bobby wondered if this was how that whole spontaneous combustion stuff he'd read about happened, which only made him panic more.
Jean's brows furrowed as she readied the thermometer and ran it over his forehead.
"You're not feverish. No elevated body temperature, even at your regular levels," she said, shaking her head.
She had her suspicions what it could be, and if that were the case....there was not much they could do until the others figured out how to stop it.
"I think...it might be something trying to make you feel like you're on fire."
Bobby shook his head, biting his lip as he continued trying to cool himself down. "S'not fake, s'real. Burning up really bad..." The sensation was spreading down his legs now with each pulse, right down to the tips of his toes. He lifted his head up enough to peek down, almost expecting to see them alight, burning like some macabre human candles.
"I can't let it get me, can't keep burning..." He concentrated as hard as he could, balling his fists up and willing his power to cool him as much as possible. At first it was working, Bobby felt really cool, and a quick glance at his hands - wait, was he actually turning into ice right now? He flexed his fingers, staring up his hands to his forearms and marveling at the transformation for a few heartbeats until the pain returned, twice as strong as before.
Great, now he was going to melt, was all that he could think.
Jean stumbled backward, eyes widening with a mixture of surprise and almost...wonder when Bobby turned himself into ice. Even when working with people who controlled ice powers she had never seen someone actually turn themselves into it.
But she didn't have time to think about that.
"I believe you, Bobby. The feeling is real, because something is trying to make you think it's real. We think it's magic," she said. She figured it best to tell him the truth in this instance.
"I can try to shut off the pain telepathically if you want me to but it'll only work for a little while. We're trying to figure something out."
"Do whatever you gotta do, ungh," he grunted, still partially amazed at how much of himself was turning into ice - almost all of him at this point, what the hell? - but more focused on not passing out from the pure pain of it all.
Sitting down on a lab stool, beside him, Jean studied him. "Okay....I need to get into your mind. Have you ever had a telepath enter your mind before?" she said.
"Not... not that I know..." Bobby tried his best to keep his eyes open, focusing on Jean's face, then sliding over to her red hair. Red like fire, the all-consuming flames that were eating him alive no matter what he said or did. He opened his mouth to say more but he was just about spent by that point, so he just shook his head back and forth almost imperceptibly.
Jean nodded. "Okay. This will feel strange. But I promise, I won't hurt you. So I need you to try to relax, even if that sounds really hard," she said gently. With the agony he was in, Jean knew Bobby's mind would be locked up tighter than a fortress.
"Take deep breaths, in....and out...Focus on the sound of my voice."
Again he nodded with as much strength as he could muster, which wasn't all that much. Things were getting blurry and all Bobby could really see was red, even when he closed his eyes, which was what he was trying to do. Keeping them shut took more energy than he had to, so just surrendered himself to whatever Jean thought she could do to help.
Reaching out her mind, Jean visibly flinched for a moment before steeling herself. It was like walking into fire and agony. The flames burned out of control, threatening to swallow him whole. So she set about finding ways to counter the inferno, building up the walls to smother the flames until only smoke remained.
As she left Bobby's mind, she'd found he'd passed out in relief.
While it was a small victory, Jean knew it was only the beginning of what was to come.
