Kitty was perched on the end of one of the infirmary beds, her back half-turned towards Illyana as the other girl removed the medical gown they had forced her to wear for her examination in exchange for the light sweats the brunette had managed to find for her. Kitty herself was dressed in a pair of cargo pants, white socks and a black tank top, her face drawn in silent contemplation as she waited for her friend to finish.
"I think the others are trying to throw you a party," she told the blonde, a small smile on her face at the thought. She couldn't keep herself from thinking about the fact that she had had to borrow the clothes for Magik from someone else, because the majority of her belongings had either been disposed of or sent back to Russia. Because they had thought she was dead. Because they hadn't even imagined that she might not be, or that she might come back. They hadn't even been the first to find her when she had come back. Instead, she had fallen into the hands of Ord, her life and whatever remained of her innocence once again stripped from her.
Kitty had to bite her lip to keep her eyes from watering, swinging her legs off the edge of the bed as a way of keeping herself occupied. She wasn't waiting long though, because a few moments later Illyana was hopping up onto the bed with her. She settled in beside the brunette, now perfectly snug in the gray sweatpants and navy hoodie she'd been given.
"A party, huh?" She asked, a little grin creeping across her lips, "They sure didn't waste any time, did they?"
"None at all," Kitty couldn't help but smile back at her, momentarily lost in those stunning blue eyes before she was abruptly sliding off the bed. She held her hand out to her friend, "Ready?"
"Yup," Illyana grabbed hold of Kitty's hand and used it to assist in launching herself off the bed and to her feet. She'd learned a long time ago not to take her freedom for granted, but that didn't make getting it taken from her any easier to handle. It felt so great to be free again, to have her life back in her own hands, that everything she'd done since they'd left the labs, even the smallest things, had been a true gift.
The pair started towards the infirmary room's sliding door, but the blonde suddenly stopped in her tracks and tightened her grip on Kitty's hand, halting her as well. When the slightly older mutant turned to look at her, Illyana smiled almost sheepishly.
"Katya? I...I didn't get a chance to tell you before, but," She started, struggling for a moment to get the thoughts in her head to form into an actual coherent sentence, "Thank you for getting me out of there."
At that, Kitty did tear up, and she laughed admonishingly at herself as she did. She wasn't usually the type to get so emotional at only the slightest of provocations, but having just discovered that her best friend had actually been alivefor the past three years... Kitty figured her reaction was justified. "I'm sorry we didn't find you sooner. Some superheroes we are."
Illyana let the sleeves of the hoodie fall over her hands and she raised one arm, using the soft fabric to brush away the tears just under Kitty's eye, "I don't blame you and you shouldn't, either."
"When did you get so wise?" Kitty wondered, a nostalgic smile tugging at her lips as she reached for the blonde's waist to pull her into a hug that Illyana quickly reciprocated with her arms around the brunette's torso. Shadowcat laid her head against Magik's shoulder, "And so tall?"
"When did you become such a crybaby?" Illyana jested with a teasing smile.
"Hey," Kitty glared at her playfully, "I've had all this bottled up since we lost you. Who else was I going to whine to?"
"Okay, I'll give you that," the Russian's smile grew into a full-blown grin, "No one else is going to listen to all that."
"Brat," Kitty laughed with her, before finally easing out of the embrace, taking just one of her friend's hands instead, "Come on, princess. The ball awaits."
Although they didn't make use of the sorceress's stepping discs to get them from the infirmary to the upper levels, they made good time. Arms swung between their bodies, their laughter echoing down the halls behind them just as it had in the good old days. The mood in the kitchen, where a makeshift banner had been draped across the doorway, "WELCOME HOME ILLYANA" printed in neat, colorful handwriting across it, was no different.
Scott was at the stove, expertly flipping pancakes — it was too late for even Emma to find a cake for them, and Illyana had always loved pancakes anyway — and sipping from a bottle of ginger ale. Emma stood behind him, one perfectly manicured, now-free-of-blood hand resting lightly on his back as she watched him work. The rest of the team, Hank and Logan, were seated at the kitchen table, grinning at each other over their beer bottles. The Cuckoos, Mindee, Celeste and Phoebe, sat as far away from them as the table would allow, talking quietly amongst themselves and doubtlessly making the other students — and adults — in the room extremely uncomfortable.
They all looked up when the girls arrived, clapping excitedly amongst low whistles and whoops of "Welcome home!".
It was, admittedly, a strange feeling for Illyana. Before she'd supposedly died after saving New York from Limbo's endless hordes, she'd been an outcast. Her teammates had been distrustful of her and sometimes, even afraid. They talked behind her back endlessly, thinking all the while that she'd had no idea of the things they did or said, or the fact that most of them wanted nothing to do with her. After all, how could a demon sorceress ever be one of the "good guys"? The only person she'd ever truly felt connected to back then, aside from her older brother—who she noted was not in the room with them at the moment—was the best friend who had rescued her from Benetech. So to see all of these people gathered here for her/em, it was a little overwhelming and it took her a few moments to decide that for once, that was a goodthing.
With that, Illyana smiled, "Thank you."
"Go on, sit down," Kitty laughed at her, ushering her into the room and towards the chair that Logan kicked out for her, "I'll get us some drinks."
A gesture from Scott told her that someone had procured them a few bottles of soft drink for the celebration, and Kitty went about pouring some for the two of them. Then, she was snagging the stack of pancakes that were already cooked and warm, to carry it over to the main table as well. She slipped into a chair next to Illyana, unable to keep the grin off her face as each of the students came over to talk to her.
The rest of the evening was a mostly-pleasant blur of reconnecting with old faces, one of which was her old New Mutants teammate, Karma, and learning the names of some of the new ones. They'd each brought their own stories to tell, giving her a taste of what had happened while she'd been gone. Bobby Drake told her about the massive snowball fight he initiated in the mansion's courtyard where Emma had fallen—literally—as his first victim. Kitty told her own story about the former White Queen—which Illyana still hadn't heard that tale yet— involving her righteous upset over the woman teaching Ethics, of all classes. The students had complained to her about finding blue fur all over the papers Hank graded for them, and about how hard Scott was on them in the Danger Room. And then there had been the countless retellings on alien invasions that had not been nearly as amusing at the time, and off world adventures, and the stunt Emma had pulled with the Sentinels on orientation day.
Many of the kids — and the adults as well — had gotten so caught up in the stories that they hadn't realized how quickly time had been ticking away. When they had, the teachers had hastily sent the children off to their beds, with reminders about assignments and early morning training sessions that most of them knew were now off the table. The pseudo-celebrity status of their returned teammate had generated such a jubilant atmosphere that all their usual cares didn't seem nearly as significant anymore. Still, the crowd gradually thinned, until the only ones left were the team that had brought Illyana home.
They managed to catch a few moments of silence before Illyana finally asked the question that everyone had been dreading the entire evening, "Why wasn't my brother here?"
And the silence continued. The other five X-Men glanced between each other, the mood getting a lot more sullen very quickly. When it appeared that no one else was going to speak up to tell her what had happened, Logan took it upon himself to do it for them, "Pete's dead, kid."
Illyana could practically fell her heart plummet, could feel a tightness in her chest that came with the sudden constricting of her throat. Yet, somehow, she had suspected it. All the X-Men were here at the mansion, so why wouldn't Piotr have been there? Surely he wouldn't miss out on seeing her, not if he had missed her as much as she'd missed him. That wouldn't have been like him at all. With that, what other explanations were there? She cast her gaze down to the polished wooden surface of the table, "Tell me he was not in pain?"
"No," Scott assured her, reaching over and placing a comforting hand on the blonde's shoulder, "He wasn't in pain, and he gave his life to get rid of the Legacy Virus completely. For everyone."
"That's the way he would have wanted to die," Illyana acknowledged, more for her own benefit than anyone else's. She knew her brother had come here from their childhood home in Russia in order to join the X-Men, in order to be a hero. A death less than heroic would not have been an option for him, and she knew that. The corners of her lips lifted in a slight, but grateful, smile, "Thank you for being honest."
"I took his ashes to Russia," Kitty told her, a trying smile on her lips, "I scattered them over that lake he always talked about. The one he always tried to paint, but said he could never get quite right."
"I don't think there's a single corridor in the mansion that doesn't have one of his paints gracing its walls," Hank added with his own thoughtful smile.
"He was good kid. Helluva thing to do," Logan said, suddenly grabbing for the bottle of whiskey he had brought into the kitchen with him. He jerked the stopper out of its neck, slopped some into his glass, and raised it, "To Pete."
The others echoed his words, raising their own glasses and clinking them against each other's. Most of them threw back the last of the liquid in their cups before setting them back down in front of them. After the brief moment of silence that followed, Emma rubbed her hand across Scott's shoulder gently as she addressed the rest of the group, particularly Hank and Logan.
"We've had quite enough for one night," she spoke, rising from her spot at the table, "I think we should leave them to it. Some of us have responsibilities tomorrow."
"Ah yes, quantum psychics does not teach itself," Beast agreed, pushing his own seat out from the table so he could clamber to his feet, "Logan?"
"I'm comin'," Logan told him, then proceeded to wait for the others to say their good nights. He waited until the rest of the team had left the room, leaving only himself, Kitty and Illyana around the table, before pushing the mostly-full bottle of whiskey across the timber. It stopped just in front of them, and with a nod that could have been more to himself than the two girls, he showed himself out as well.
Kitty grabbed the bottle by its neck, pulled out the stopped, and poured some into her otherwise empty glass. Then, she squinted at her friend, the alcohol still raised in her hand, "How old are you now?"
"I'm..." Illyana hesitated, rolling her eyes up to the ceiling in thought as she went through the math in her head, "Nine...teen?"
Kitty eyed her, saw the way her blue eyes kept inadvertently fixing on the bottle, and laughed. "Close enough," she grinned cheekily at her, filling her cup as well.
"As if you're any older than I am," Illyana plucked the glass away from the other mutant, a grin of her own crawling across her lips, "Can we move somewhere else? This chair's hurting my butt."
"Of course, princess," Kitty made as if to curtsey, while still being confined to her own chair, then laughed again. She stood, her seat scraping against the tiles as she did so. While Illyana got to her own feet, she leaned against the back of it, the mirth disappearing from her face, "I'm so glad you're back, Yana."
Illyana pushed her chair in with her hip, grabbing the bottle of whiskey by the neck before she turned her body slightly towards Kitty, "Me too."
Kitty reached out towards her, linking her arm through the other girl's and gently tugging her away from the table. Side by side, they walked out of the kitchen and found the nearest living room, a lot more quiet on their journey this time than they had been on their way down. Whether that was more to do with the late hour and their consideration for the other residents or the contemplative silence each of them had fallen into, neither of them could say. Soon enough, they were falling back onto a sofa together, their cups and the bottle on the coffee table before them.
"What did you think of everyone?" Kitty breached the silence once they were comfortable.
"It's kind of weird seeing everyone after all this time," Illyana admitted, slouched slightly, "It was nice seeing them again though. But...I have to ask something."
"What is it?" Kitty asked, reaching for her glass and bringing it to her lips for a cautionary sip.
"Emma."
Kitty's eyes widened at that, not in shock, because the White Queen's presence would arguably be the most confusing thing to her best friend, but at the prospect of having to explain that entire story to her. She set her glass down again, "What about her?"
Illyana tipped her head to the side, squinting her eyes at the brunette like she honestly couldn't believe that she'd just asked her that question.
"So the whole 'Emma deal' then?" Shadowcat grinned. She leaned her head back against the couch with a exaggerated sigh. "That is a long story."
An eruption of hysterical laughter echoed down the halls from the living room where Kitty and Illyana still sat, a little more drunk and a lot less serious now that half the whiskey bottle had been consumed. Illyana's leg was bent and hugged to her chest, the other one still planted firmly on the ground. She had her arm draped over her knee, forehead pressed against the bend of her elbow as her body shook with her laughter. Kitty, on the other hand, was now laying face down on the couch, her face buried in the cushions and her limbs hanging off the sides. Her own body trembled intermittently, as if she was continuously forgetting the reason why she was laughing, only to remember again a second later.
"Shhhh," Kitty spluttered, craning her neck to look back over her shoulder at the blonde, "You'll wake everyone."
"I'll wake everyone?" Illyana hardly managed her mock-offended tone through her laughter as she pushed her foot against the only one of Kitty's legs that still remained on the couch, kicking it off.
Unfortunately for Kitty, the rest of her body followed it. She hit the floor and the rug that dressed it, and a moment of stunned silence followed before she was abruptly howling with laughter once more. She rolled onto her back, her abdomen convulsing under her arms that tried to keep it from exploding with her hysteria. Her tear-filled eyes stared up at the ceiling for a few moments as her body shook, then suddenly she was lurching upright, grabbing hold of Illyana's leg, and jerking her down. The blonde landed right on her rear in front of Kitty, her mouth falling open in an amused shock.
Kitty's arms went around her, draping over her shoulders so the brunette could bury her face against Illyana's neck, hoping to muffle the sounds of her laughter that way. Illyana, not even bothering to try and hold herself up under Kitty's weight, let herself fall backwards as her arms locked around her waist.
"You're such a dope, Katya," the sorceress laughed, leaning her head against the other mutant's.
"Your dope," Kitty murmured against her neck, suddenly very quiet. She breathed deeply, taking in that familiar burning-pine scent that she had been missing for so long, but had never forgotten. The sudden closeness calmed the blonde down as well, her giggling slowly dying out as the brunette's arms dropped to Illyana's waist, her fingers gently skimming over the naked flesh that their fumbling had revealed.
"Yeah, you kinda are," the younger girl said, feeling more at ease now than she had all night, grateful that even after all this time, Kitty was still the one that was there with her without a question. She trailed her hands up her back, careful not to disturb Shadowcat's arms as she moved along. They came to rest on her upper back and she tightly hugged her arms around her torso.
Somewhat reluctantly, Kitty had withdrawn her face just enough so that she could rest it on Illyana's shoulder instead. One of her hands drifted up under the bunched up part of her friend's shirt, grasping her side lightly but enough to feel her ribs expanding with each breath. All amusement had gone from her, instead replaced with such a profound sense of contentment that she didn't dare move or speak anymore. She just wanted to feel her best friend there with her, under her, warming her flesh where they touched and filling her nose with the sweet scent that lingered in her silky smooth hair.
And for a while, they just laid there. Illyana didn't mind it though; she could have laid there all night, just like that. There had been a lot of nights before the invasion of New York where she'd wished Kitty had held her just like she was now. More than that, she wished that she could have felt her touch on her skin and her breath on her neck in a way that maybe wasn't simply 'just friends'. They'd come close to it a few times, or at least Illyana had felt that way, but something or another had always gotten in the way somehow. This was probably another one of those times and this time it'd probably be attributed to just a mix of the alcohol and the happiness of being in each other's company again. Magik wasn't stupid, she knew the idea of Kitty seeing her as anything more than her friend was a farfetched fantasy, but that had never made the blonde's longing thoughts or her feelings go away. It was just that as time went on, it got a little easier to bury them and pretend they didn't exist until the next time something pulled them back out again—like right now.
Illyana loosened her arms around Kitty's back, letting her hands move up and lightly hold on to the back of her shoulders instead. She gently slid the brunette upwards slightly and the sorceress buried her face against her neck. Shadowcat felt her heart speed up just a fraction, felt the blood rise to her cheeks, and the warmth in her gut engulf the rest of her as well. Yet still, she continued to lay there on top of her best friend, a lump in her throat made up of her anticipation of just what she might do next.
When finally it seemed as though all the blonde was going to do was nuzzle her face against her neck and wash her flesh with her breath, Kitty slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, folding her legs on either side of the other mutant and self-consciously running her fingers through her own hair.
"We should probably find you a bed," she suggested with a quiet, sheepish laugh that was born more from the butterflies in her stomach than the alcohol in her bloodstream. Illyana pushed herself up, supporting her body with her hands that pressed against the floor behind her.
"Can't I just stay with you?" She asked, tipping her head to the side, her overgrown bangs falling over her eyes. She blew them out of her face again, but most of them came right back. She was going to have to cut those eventually.
"Only if you don't mind sharing a bed with me," Kitty ventured as she pushed her hands against the floor to help herself back to her feet, Illyana following suit. Although she hadn't originally meant the offer to be serious, she couldn't deny that there was some appeal in the idea. It sure beat trying to find Illyana an empty room in her none too coherent state, if nothing else.
"When has that ever been a problem?" Illyana half-jokingly questioned as she grabbed their empty glasses from the coffee table, tucking the whiskey bottle under her arm. She made a glance around the rest of the living room, but soon decided she was too tired and too out of it to even try and tidy up anything they might've messed up.
"It's different when one of the people in the bed is six!" Kitty protested, only to quickly resign herself to defeat, "Are you sure you wouldn't rather have some space to yourself?"
"Eventually. But I've spent the last three years alone," Illyana told her as if she actually needed to be reminded of that fact. The smile that crossed her lips as she spoke again was a sad one, "I'd rather not be alone again. Just for tonight, promise."
"Oh Yana," Kitty sighed, drawing her best friend into a hug that was made slightly awkward by all the things the other girl had in her arms. As a result, it ended quickly, and instead Shadowcat was linking her arm through the blonde's to tug her gently in the direction they needed to go, "How could I say no to that?"
"I was hoping you wouldn't," Illyana admitted, the glasses clanging together as she transferred them to the same arm, holding them together with her fingers while her newly-freed hand grabbed for Kitty's.
"There is just one condition," Kitty warned her, their hips bumping against each other as they started down the hallway. A sly smile crept onto her lips, "No shadow puppets."
Although Illyana complained profusely about that on their way to Kitty's bedroom, neither of them were so loud that they had too much of a chance of waking up anyone who was not the lightest of sleepers. Instead, they conversed quietly under their breaths, only once devolving into muffled giggles that made them pause to lean against each other for support. Otherwise, they made it without incident, and as soon as the brunette had changed into her pajamas and Magik had stripped off her hoodie in favor of the white t-shirt underneath, they had slipped under the covers, inexorably drawn to each other in the middle of the bed in such a way that made Kitty's heart start racing yet again.
She leaned over to switch off her bedside lamp, then laid down on her back next to her best friend. Kitty usually slept on her side, but it felt rude putting her back to the blonde, so instead she elected to stare up at the ceiling instead.
Illyana did the same, her arms crossed loosely over her abdomen, fully taking in that she was finally able to sleep without her arms and legs spread eagle and clamped down on a hard examination table. The feeling of finally being able to lay in a soft bed, with her best friend by her side at that, was indescribable. It felt good to be home, though she wasn't sure if that meant the mansion or simply being in Kitty's company again. Way too tired to contemplate it, Magik sighed contentedly through her nose and laid her head on Shadowcat's shoulder, nuzzling her face against her. Eyes fluttering closed, she whispered, "Spokoynoy nochi*, Katya."
"Night, Yana," Kitty murmured back, gently easing one arm between the blonde's waist and the mattress, pressing her body slightly closer to her own. Despite how exhausted she had felt earlier, she was suddenly very awake, and she didn't think that would be changing any time soon. Instead, she just laid there, listening to Illyana's breathing gradually slow and feeling her body relax against her, thoughts of what had been done to her torturing Kitty's restless mind.
*Goodnight - Translated from Russian
