Left Behind

[phase]

Hannah watched the car pull out of the drive, feeling confused and lost.

Don't come after me Hannah. And never go back to the lab. Trust me, this is for your own good.

She turned a quick circle, her throat tightening as panic began to rise. Her eyes watered, blurring her vision. She was supposed to knock on the door of this big house, but she didn't know who or what would be inside. Hannah just wanted to go home.

She had felt that Miss Jenny really believed what she said, that she was doing what was right for her. She tried to trust, to calm herself, but she was so tired, her knees ached as she stood in her white shoes and socks, starting to get cold in the night air wearing only her leggings and tshirt. She ran her fingers around the band on her wrist, the plastic ID bracelet she'd worn all her life.

Phase Type C ++ ID 68900234 ++ 09.03.1995

There were no names on it. Something in her heart shattered as she realized, they'd never told her where she was. She never had so much as a street name. In fact, it had been years since she'd ever seen one.

As tears spilled down her pale face, she reached for the only person she knew actually cared. Throwing her astral self into oblivion, her small frame erupted in a faint white mist that caught the light of the lamp near the door. The surface of her eyes going white, her back arched painfully as if her soul were being ripped through her chest. Consciousness having evacuated her physical self, Hannah fell hard on her back on the front step.

As Jennifer Walters sped down the road, Hannah had to use her clairvoyance to keep up with the car. She could see Jenny, and placed her ghostly form in the passenger seat she'd been in only minutes before. But Jenny was trying to hide. Hannah could see her teacher wiping tears from her face, hear her sobbing, but the vision was interrupted like a tv with bad reception. As Jenny's mind sought to block Hannah's presence, a humming throb echoed in Hannah's ear. She screamed, covering the sides of her head with her hands. Jenny's muffled voice yelled for her to go back, to go through the door of Xavier's school. Hannah didn't want to. She endured the pain and reached for the door handle, gripping tightly.

And then, something gave way.

Hannah felt herself ripped away from the car, sucked back through astral space as her energy gave out. She'd travelled too many times in the last week, as her training had intensified, and now her spirit was incapable of holding on.

On the front steps of the school, somewhere near five a.m., Hannah gasped for breath, something gurgling inside her chest. The hand that had gripped the car door had been forced to hold on too tightly in order to remain; her palm and the pads of her fingers were stained black-purple and raspberry red where the capillaries had burst beneath her skin.

The coughing slowed, mist dissipating as her astral form settled back into its host. Her pale eyes looked up at the sky. She was so tired, and the stone step was so cool... with a sigh, Hannah's eyes closed in an exhausted sort of sleep.

(ooc: I know some of us may not be on quite the same time, so whoever needs to wait can. I just wanted to get this up here, I was too excited!)

[Iceman]

It was around seven a.m. before anyone ventured outside--And when the heavy oak doors did open, it was Bobby Drake who stepped out into the chilly morning. As he stepped onto the front landing, he took a deep breath and almost smiled as the cool air hit his skin. Most would have been uncomfortable in the cool breeze in just a thin t-shirt, but Iceman was not one of those people.

He directed his gaze immediately past the steps out to the drive, his eyes searching the ground for the paper he hoped had already been delivered. It wasn't until he failed to see it from such a distance and headed across the patio that he noticed the body lying on one of the steps.

He stopped dead in his tracks for a split second, staring at the form as his eyes grew wide. In the next second, he was across the patio and taking the steps by twos to get to the body. He moved around it, kneeling on the steps below it and peering at what he could see of the face. It was a little girl, he realized with surprise. Had she been outside all night?

Bobby put a hand on her small shoulder, barely shaking her for fear of scaring her. "Hey...Are you okay? Wake up..." He kept his voice as calm as he could with how anxious he felt. His eyes flitted over her form--she was breathing, that much he could tell. But what was she doing on the steps of the school?

[phase]

Hannah's eyes rolled a bit in her head as she was jostled out of her exhaustion. She immediately felt fear, fear and worry all around her. It was a lot like Miss Jenny, only without the sadness.

Her eyes focused on the man. She flexed her sore fingers, they and the palm still scarlet and purple.

"My name's Hannah," she said, coughing a bit. Her chest rattled as if she had a deep cold. "I was spose'ta go through the door."

Her bottom lip curled up a bit, looking as if she thought she'd be in trouble. It was obvious she didn't quite have the strength to get up.

[Iceman]

Bobby's eyes turned to her hand as she moved it, and he saw with surprise that it was bruised badly all across her fingers and palm. He frowned slightly, but didn't question her about it. He wiped his frown away as he turned his gaze back to her face, which now looked a bit afraid.

"Let's take you inside, okay?" he proposed gently. "I can carry you." He needed to get her to Storm. To someone; he'd tell the first person he found to go find her.

[phase]

She was surprisingly calm for the circumstances, looking as if she was ready to accept whatever came to her. With her body as weak as it was, it almost gave the impression that she didn't care if her life slipped away right here in his arms.

But her undamaged hand reaching to grasp his shirt lightly, small fingers curling into the fabric, gave a different impression.

"You're scared. But it's okay." Hannah's pale eyes watched the sky, and she smiled a bit.

[Iceman]

Bobby was taken aback by her statement. He didn't answer right away, knowing that she needed to be taken inside before anything else. She looked incredibly frail.

Bobby leaned closer to her, one arm sliding underneath her neck and grasping her shoulder firmly, the other sliding under her knees. He lifted her up smoothly as he stood, and made sure he had a stable hold on her before he started up the steps. "I'm just worried about you," he answered honestly, and gently. "It's not good for anyone to be sleeping outside in the cold."

He made his way across the patio, stopping only when he reached the front doors. He paused a moment. He couldn't let go of her, not with how she was in his arms. He looked down at her then and asked kindly, "Can you hold on around my neck?"

[phase]

Hannah nodded, turning herself. She seemed to almost gain strength, though not as rapidly as he might have liked. Her thin arms wound around his neck and she pressed her face against his collar, hands holding onto wrists.

Her mind reeled as she picked up emotion from someone who wouldn't think of hiding it from her. Most of the doctors and scientists knew better. But this one... as she shivered now, noticing the morning chill for the first time, she read a litany of Bobby's hurt and confusion, regret and hope.

"Thank you," her small voice said, muffled against his shirt.

[Iceman]

(ooc: A Mini-Iceman Award for you! Because you clearly read the Bobby app or other threads he's been in or something, and that post made me squee! -Exalts- ;D )
IC:

When Hannah wrapped her arms around his neck, Bobby let the arm supporting her shoulders let go, and he grabbed the brass doorknob and turned it. He stepped to the side as he opened the door, pushing it farther open with his hip as he stepped into the school once again. He immediately looked around the entryway, hoping to see someone who could find Storm while he found a couch to lay Phase on for the time being.

(ooc: Shall we move to Interior?)

[phase]

(ooc HEEHEE poor bobby's a glass case of emotion. let's move on- Hannah has nothing to add for now, so go ahead and post on the new board.)

[Iceman]

(ooc: Okay, I'm just pretty much going to use the same post lol)