Tabitha woke up, sat up slowly, looked around, and discovered that it hadn't all been a bad dream. Though, she thought, I may just still be in it. Everything felt so surreal. The empty room, her memories of saying goodbye to Amara the night before, the feelings of sadness, anger, and betrayal that all fought for attention… none of it really seemed true; like it was all just a bad joke that had been taken too far.
Taking a deep breath, she shook her head to fully wake herself up, then swung her feet out of bed and threw on some clothes. She then proceeded down the hall to Bobby and Sam's room, where she knocked on the door to wake them up.
"Breakfast time," she said half-heartedly, almost not caring if they heard her through the door. Amara usually helped her wake those two up. They were the only ones who never seemed to be able to wake up to their own alarm clocks in the morning and get ready in time for training.
"I'm awake…" she heard Sam say faintly from inside their room, and so moved on, heading downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast.
The place was already full, though only about half the mansion was up yet. X was in the corner with Logan, not talking, while Jamie, Roberto, and Alex were busy making pancakes.
"Morning, Tabby," Jamie said, mixing a bowl of batter.
"You want one?" Alex asked, flipping a pancake in the air as he talked. It was one of the talents that he was quite proud of.
Tabby shook her head, turning away. "Thanks, but I'm not hungry."
"Yah, and then you will just bum some food off me later, right?" Kurt asked from the breakfast table, where he had a sizable amount of pancakes piled in front of him, and was joined by Scott, Kitty, Remy, and Piotr, who were all eating pancakes as well. "I don't think so. She'll have two."
Tabitha grimaced, but plopped down beside Kurt. "You know, if you really are determined to be in a foul mood, I'll have you sit over there," he said, pointing toward Logan and X. "But if you want some comfort you can stay."
Tabitha's grimace turned into a pout, then into near tears as she let her head fall on Kurt's shoulder. He put his arm around her. "She's gone," she said, choking on the words.
"Tabby… she hasn't even left the city. And you did the same thing to her not too long ago-"
"That was different! We weren't friends yet, then, and I… I had reasons."
"Fine, then you did the same thing to me. And I didn't even know where to find you for a while. She's still in the city, and she'll still be at school. You'll see her almost every day, and you'll still be best friends."
"Yeah yeah…" Tabby muttered, wishing she would just be allowed to wallow in sadness instead of being forced to feel better with reason. She sat up as her pancakes were put in front of her. "Where's the syrup?" Gulping them down, Tabitha barely said another word while in the kitchen, and when she finished she made her way directly to Xavier's office, hopeful that he was there.
When she arrived she knocked on the door and began to open it before she realized that there were people inside talking. She was just about to slowly close it again and leave when she heard Xavier's voice in her head: Come in, Tabitha. What we are discussing may interest you.
Heeding the voice's words, she entered, and found Bobby and Sam in the office, along with Xavier and Storm. Evidently the boys had come straight to the office after getting dressed instead of getting breakfast first.
"Come in," Xavier said aloud. "Your friends have come here with the same purpose as you have, I believe. We have been discussing Amara's transfer to Emma's school."
Tabitha opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Xavier continuing. "I was just telling them that, though their theory that Emma mind-controlled Amara is not without merit, it is not true. Though Emma is formidable, both Jean and myself far outstrip her telepathic capabilities. Emma would not have been able to control Amara in such a way without my or Jean's notice." He cleared his throat, then continued:
"We must look at this as an opportunity. One school helping mutant children is wonderful, but two is even better, and Amara will be getting the benefit of learning from both."
"But why Amara?" Sam asked, while Tabitha nodded her agreement.
Xavier smiled cryptically as he said, "She had an interest."
"What interest?"
"I do not believe it is my business to disclose that information," Xavier said, glancing at Storm. "Amara is an extremely powerful, headstrong girl. If Emma's school is not suited to her, I suspect she will discover that herself and return."
Tabitha interjected, "but if something is controlling her-"
"Tabitha, Xavier has already informed you that Emma is not controlling the girl," Storm replied. "She agreed to go of her own free will. I know that may be hard to accept, but it's true. Sometimes people we love leave us for reasons that we cannot understand, and the only thing that we can do is let them go and trust that they will come back to us when the time is right. As I'm sure you've already been told: you haven't lost her. She's just not living here anymore, and that's the way things are."
Tabitha lowered her head, knowing now that she would not find allies in Xavier or Storm. Xavier was enthusiastic about the education possibilities, while Storm was only thinking of Evan.
"I think you all had better head off now," Xavier finished. "If I'm not mistaken, your training starts in the Danger Room in less than five minutes."
"Aw man, breakfast!" Bobby exclaimed as he and Sam tore out of the room toward the kitchen.
"Tabitha," Xavier said, stopping her as she was about to leave. "I know this is hard. You, like many of the others here, have had a very difficult childhood. I know you and Amara were very close, but you must not fight this. I'm sure everything will turn out alright. You just need to trust me, and trust Amara."
Nodding, Tabitha left somberly, and headed in the direction of the Danger Room.
"Yes sir, sure feels good to be a winner," Bobby said in triumph, stretching his arms as he and the rest of the new recruits exited the Danger Room.
"What are you talking about?" Danielle retorted, stalking out past him. "You had X on your team. She did most of the work."
"So? Not like you did anything," Bobby spat back. Scowling, Danielle stamped away, muttering something about finding Kitty and Bobby being such a jerk.
"C'mon, Jamie: it's milkshake time," Roberto said.
"All right!" Jamie exclaimed from close behind. Together they led a group that consisted of Jubilee, Rhane, and Ray. Sam, Tabitha, and Alex followed, but stopped with Bobby in the hallway. X-23 and Beast were the last ones out, and Beast closed the door behind him.
"I must say, Laura, you have done an excellent job containing your aggression during this session," Beast commented as he and X-23 walked past the group.
"Laura?" Alex echoed, confused.
X-23 abruptly turned to Alex, a scowl on her face and a fist raised threateningly. "You don't expect me to be called X-23 forever, do you?," she snarled. "I am a human."
"S-sorry," he apologized, "I just was confused. That's the first time I've heard anyone call you that.
"Well… I only picked it this morning," she said, her voice calming slightly. She headed back to Beast, who was waiting, but paused to turn and say "sorry," before catching up to her furry teacher.
The remaining students could hear him say, "Now, that comment that I made about your aggression…" before he and Laura moved too far away. Bobby and Sam, with small, restrained grins on their faces, made eye contact, and then began to crack up, laughing so loud that Tabitha was sure the entire mansion could hear them. Tabitha grinned a little, but could not enjoy the situation as much as the boys were.
"Oh, come on, Tabby!" Bobby said, gasping for air as he talked. "She didn't die!"
"No." Tabitha's smile vanished. "She left us. She left me."
"So did you," Sam pointed out, calming himself.
"Why does everyone keep bringing that up? It's not the same! I committed a crime and I lost my dad, and I didn't really know any of you guys yet. I had to get away. Amara… she has no reason, other than just wanting to, and if that's the case, why didn't she tell me – or any of us – that she was planning on going? I mean, none of it makes any sense. None of it feels right!"
"Amara's a big girl, Tabby. She knows how to take care of herself, "Bobby pointed out. "Maybe she was afraid you'd try to talk her out of it. Or maybe she doesn't want any of us to know the reason why she left."
"I thought I was her best friend…"
After a small, awkward silence, Alex surprised everyone by saying, "Let's go visit her."
"Huh?" Sam queried.
"Let's… visit… her," Alex repeated, slow and loud like Sam was daft.
"I heard what you said," Sam said, smacking Alex on the back of the head. "I was just taken off guard is all…"
"Let's do it!" Tabitha chimed in, her mood already lifting.
"I don't know," Bobby cautioned. "Are you sure it's not too soon? I mean, Tabitha, you're still pretty worked up about this whole thing. Shouldn't you give it some more time so you're not immediately begging her to come back when we get there?"
"But I know she'll want to see us!"
"Bobby has a point, Tabby," Sam said. "We really should give her some more time. I mean, she just got there. At the very least we should give her time to get settled or somethin'."
"Fine, Alex and I can go by ourselves."
"No, no," Alex protested, rethinking it as well. "They're right. We don't want to seem too eager."
"Too eager? I'm not trying to date the girl, I'm just trying to rescue her!" Tabitha realized after a few seconds that she had chosen the wrong words. "I mean… not 'rescue'…I guess…" Sighing, she capitulated. "Tomorrow?" she asked them all.
"Tomorrow," they all agreed.
A/N: I know it's short, but I already have two more chapters done, and they are awesome. They'll be up soon!