Thorn • Scott Summers

twenty eight

"Florence? Florence?!"

Scott bent over, resting his hands on his knees, nearly short of breath. His heart ached more than anything else right now, and he was close to tears.

"Scott?"

He looked up, and saw the giant span of white wings. Warren landed on the ground swiftly and ran over.

"What happened?"

"Florence and I were running away and she's gone now- she's gone, and I can't find her and I've been running everywhere-"

"Scott, calm down," Warren said, subtly looking around to make sure Medusa want around. "I found 'Ro and Jean, she can help us find her faster. Come on," he said, and they prepared themselves for flight as they had done in the danger room. Warren could easily carry things when he flew, but it took more momentum when he took off. He backed up, Scott holding his arms out. Then, Warren outstretched his wings, and ran towards Scott, jumping off as he wrapped his arms around him, his large wings flapping heavily as he lifted off the ground. They flew over to the others, Jean, Ororo, and Hank.

When they landed, and Scott explained what had happened, Jean focused on locating Florence.
Minutes later, they felt a quick breeze. Peter.

"I took Kurt back to the mansion, he's getting assistance. What'd I miss?"

"We can't find Florence," Warren said solemnly, and Peter's face drooped.

"What? What happened?"

"I was with her and then I didn't see her. This forest is too fucking big, and she could be anywhere with that fucking-"

"Scott, she's strong. I know she's okay." Warren said comfortingly.

"Jean, you got anything?" Scott asked the redhead, who had her fingers at her temple. She furrowed her eyebrows further before dropping her hand and huffing.

"No," she said, frustrated and worried.

"I'm going to go look for her," Scott said quickly, walking away towards more trees.

"Scott, no! You could-"

"Is standing here going to help find her? The longer we wait, the longer she's in danger."

No one said anything, knowing he was right, and that there was really no way they could stop him.

"I'll look around, too," Ororo said, veering off towards another direction. Scott nodded at her in appreciation, and he headed off. Anxiety pooled at the bottom of his stomach, and his hands were shaky. He walked for a few minutes, calling her name out often, when he heard rustling.
He stopped, whipping his head to the side attentively.
Then, rustling once more. He heard it to his left, and even though his first instinct was to run towards it, he remembered they were there with Medusa. He walked towards the noise with his head leaned down, squinting.

"Florence?" He called out.

The rustling stopped, and he felt a presence near him. He shut his eyes, dread washing over him.

"Your emerald girl isn't here, darling."

He furrowed his eyebrows underneath his visor, his anger and despair growing at her words.

"Where is she? What did you do to her?"

"You should ask yourself what she's done to herself. I think she went to take a dip in a pond nearby," Medusa answered, her smirk invisible to Scott's closed eyes.

He looked up frantically. "What?!"

Medusa cackled, and rustling ensued again.

"Hey, where is she?" When he noticed she was leaving, he called out again. "Hey!"