Two days later, Hank brings down a small notepad and marker the next time she awakens. She remembers Hank now. He asks her if she thinks she can write answers to his questions. She blinks twice.
She grips the marker awkwardly in her left hand. Carefully, she starts marking on the paper. She's slow and deliberate. Finally, she sets down the marker on her chest and lets Remy take the notepad. She's written several Japanese symbols.
"Hmm," says Hank. "Can you write your name for me? In English?"
She raises her eyebrows impatiently and writes something. Again, it's in Japanese. She hands it over proudly.
"Miss Oyama, I'm afraid you're writing in Japanese. Do you think you can write in English?"
Now they both sense frustration from her; but again, she writes in Japanese. She looks at it carefully before handing it over, and Remy shakes his head.
She motions with her hand to get the paper back, and Remy obligingly hands it to her, though he's given up hope of reading anything she writes. But this time she draws a heart. She slowly rips off the sheet and hands it to him. Then she draws a peace sign and hands it to Hank. She caps the marker and closes her eyes, exhausted with her effort.
Hank laughs. "Well, she hasn't lost her problem-solving skills."
"But she forgot English?" Remy asks, incredulously.
"She pretty clearly understands spoken English. This seems strange, but it isn't uncommon. Her written English may come back with time, or she may have to learn from scratch. But really, this is encouraging. I'd like to find someone who speaks Japanese to make sure that this is coherent, but assuming it is, she's retained written mastery of a complex language. And she also has access to some common symbols. This could be much, much worse."
Xavier wheels himself into the medbay then. "I felt her awaken," he says. "It seemed... complicated."
Hank shows him the notepad. "She's communicative, but it seems to be in Japanese."
"I'll ask Logan to translate."
"Logan knows Japanese?" Hank and Remy ask in unison.
"Yes," Xavier says with a smile. "He spent a few years in Japan."
Logan enters a few moments later, summoned by Xavier's telepathic call.
"What's goin' on?" he asks.
"Can you read this?" Remy replies, handing him the notebook.
Logan glances at it. "'I love you, what happened, Oyama Noriko, Oyama Noriko, English.'" He frowns. "Did she write this?"
"Oui."
"Well, at least we know she's coherent in one language. Excellent news," Hank says.
"But she can't write in English?" Logan asks.
"It appears not."
"Well," Logan says, "I can't write so good in Japanese, but I'd be happy to translate anything she comes up with."
"Merci, mon frere," Remy replies.
The next day Logan translates a new note: "How much longer?" He reads it aloud and says, "Can you be more specific, darlin'?"
She points at her mouth and raises her eyebrows.
Hank nods. "We'll probably take you off the ventilator within the next few weeks, as you regain your strength. The trouble is you've been on it for a long time, so we can't just remove it all at once. It will be a gradual process of returning you to breathing on your own power."
She looks between Logan, Remy, and Hank, then carefully draws a frowning face.
Hank laughs. "I know it's frustrating. But we must exercise caution. Better a few extra days with the breathing tube than to take it out and risk further complications."
She bats her eyelashes twice for yes, then exasperatedly flutters them rapidly.
Hank starts, but Remy laughs. "I know, cher, it's killing you not to talk, isn't it?"
She adds angry eyebrows to her sad face and holds it up at him. Remy smiles and kisses her on the forehead. "Forgive me, cher, it's killing me too."
She writes a symbol on her notepad. Logan reads, "Hands." She looks pointedly at Remy's.
"Don't you worry 'bout my hands, cherie. They'll be back to normal soon enough." He pats her hand with stiff fingers and feels a flutter of concern from her.
Xavier enters the room and asks, "How are you feeling, Miss Oyama?"
She draws a happy face and holds it up, then flips back to the angry frowning face.
"Quite understandable," Xavier says. "Now. Miss Oyama, I am a telepath. I was wondering if you felt up to letting me examine your memories a little today." She meets his eyes and blinks twice.
"Thank you," he says, and approaches her, placing his hands on her face. Hank, Remy, and Logan watch carefully. Charles nods slightly. They spend a few minutes in silence.
He pulls away and says, "Her consciousness seems mostly intact—as is her personality, which I suppose is apparent. She should recover well."
Telepathically, Xavier tells Hank and Remy, She has no conscious memory of what happened to her, although I did find some memory fragments. It... it's probably for the best if she doesn't remember it," he concludes, his mental voice sad.
Remy looks at him. Xavier adds privately, "Remy, you should know that she doesn't hold you responsible. She loves you."
"She doesn't remember what happened!" Remy thinks angrily. "I should have protected her."
"Help her now, Remy. Help her by forgiving yourself and moving on."
"Easy for you to say."
Xavier looks at him kindly. Remy looks to Nori, who's asleep again. He leans his head back against the wall and sighs. Xavier and Hank go off to have a private conversation in the lab, and Logan goes down the hall to train with some of the X-Kids.
Remy reads an issue of Rolling Stone aloud off of Scott's Kindle, cover to cover—metaphorically speaking. He carefully turns off the Kindle and puts it away, then nods off in his chair.
Scott, prodded by Xavier, finds his way down to the medbay. He hates being down here—it reminds him of Jean. But Xavier gently reminds him that everyone else had had a turn of sitting up with Nori while Remy slept. Scott didn't trust Remy. He'd read the files on him—the man was a thief and had spent years with Magneto. And Remy had been right, the last time they'd spoken—it was hard for him to watch Remy get a second chance with his girlfriend, when Scott wouldn't get one. Scott suspects that Xavier has some kind of ulterior motive for getting him to spend time down here, probably wanting him to make his peace with Remy or Nori or someone. But he's not in the mood.
He picks up his Kindle and reads for awhile, until he becomes aware of a gentle, inquisitive presence in his mind. It's not Xavier.. or Jean... he looks at Nori, whose eyes are open. He remembers that Hank had said something about her powers changing. She gives a little wave when he looks at her, and the sense of curiosity grows stronger.
"Hey," he says softly. "I... I don't know if you remember me. I'm Scott." It must have been what she was wondering, because the curiosity dissipates.
"Do you need anything? I can get Hank if..." he trails off. She blinks three times, decisively. She looks at his face for a long time, then awkwardly picks up her small notebook and draws a sad face. She holds it up to him.
"You're sad?" he asks. She blinks three times, points to the sad face, and points to him.
"I'm sad?" He feels... something like concern from her, and also frustration.
"You're asking if I'm sad." Two blinks.
Scott sighs. "I guess I am sad."
She lifts her eyebrows inquisitively and waits patiently, not that she has much choice. "My fiancee died... a few months ago."
Sorrow and compassion float over from her. Was this why Xavier had wanted him to come see Nori? Scott sighs inwardly. But Xavier's instincts were right... it is easy to talk to someone he doesn't know, especially someone who can't talk back and offer platitudes.
"Her name was Jean... she died at Alkali Lake." Now he feels anger mixed into her emotions. He remembers that she'd spent a long time imprisoned by Stryker at Alkali.
"She drowned, when the floodgates burst... she... she died saving the rest of us." Nori's emotions shift to sorrow and... respect? It's a new experience for Scott. So pure. Jean and Xavier send thoughts or directions or images, but not feelings. Her gift is both more ambiguous and easier to understand.
She pulls out her notebook and starts working on something. It's taking much longer than the sad face, and he hopes she's not writing something in Japanese. The last thing he wants is to have to ask Logan for a translation.
Finally she hands it over, feeling proud of her work. She's drawn out a few bars of music. He hums it and grins when he realizes what it is. "Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly?"
She nods.
"You think I've just been waiting for this moment to be free?"
Three blinks. Her emotions are muddled. He thinks maybe she thinks she's offended him.
"No... it's a good song. You're right."
She sighs. Painstakingly she picks up her notebook again. She spends a long time on it. While she writes, Scott turns on his iPod and plays the White Album. They listen to Back in the USSR and Dear Prudence and Glass Onion while she works.
Finally she hands it back to him. She's written out the melody to the chorus of Let It Be, and below it, several tidy Japanese characters.
"Let it be," he says. "Good advice, I guess." She blinks twice. "I miss her so much," he says. "I..." he trails off as her eyes flutter shut. He sits for a long time staring at the impromptu sheet music.
Logan comes downstairs with a six-pack of Molson and looks surprised to see Scott. "Hey, One-Eye," he says. Not hostile—he says the nickname as if it were his name.
"Hey, Logan," Scott says. "Remy's asleep," he adds, unnecessarily.
"Good," Logan says. "He's been exhausted."
"Logan, can you translate this?" Scott says, passing over Nori's notebook.
"She's writing music now?"
"Yeah. The Beatles."
"Go figure." Logan frowns. "This is... I don't know, It's like... 'Nothing is between the blue and the sky, nothing is between you and me.' That mean anything to you?"
Scott shrugs. "Kind of. Thanks."
Logan nods. "You want a beer?"
"Yeah, I think I do," Scott says. He knows he's not the one Logan came intending to drink with, but what the hell. It's been too long since he's had a drink with anyone. And maybe a few beers will make Wolverine more tolerable.
"Hey, do you have any of Nori's music on that thing?" Logan asks, nodding toward the iPod speakers.
"Yeah," Scott says. "You want to listen to it?"
"Yeah, if you don't mind. I've never heard any of it." Scott takes a sip of beer, and gets up to change the music.
Her voice is clear and strong, but a little... a little teasing. She conveys a lot with it.
Red state, blue state, state of grace,
It's Election Day and I miss your face
But since I found out you're a Republican
Well, I just Repbubli-can't
Logan laughs. "She's funny."
"Sometimes," Scott acknowledges.
The next song of hers that comes up is more melancholy.
Dylan got tangled up in blue
But I'm tangled up in black
And baby I miss you
But what you said you can't take back
You can blame your fear or blame the beer
But nothing's worse than a self-hating queer
Logan's finished with his beer, and Scott downs the rest of his to catch up.
"What's a girl like her doing with a guy like LeBeau?" Scott asks.
"I've been wondering that same thing myself, me," Remy says, good-naturedly.
Logan and Scott wheel around. Scott actually blushes. Remy waves a bandaged hand dismissively. "No harm, mon ami, it is a fair question. As best I can tell, I believe I won her over with my charm and persistence."
Logan snorts. "Hey Gambit, your girl's writing music," Logan says, holding up her notebook.
Remy beams. "Guess it makes sense. She told me she learned how to read music before she learned English."
"You want a beer?" Logan asks.
"Indeed I do," Remy says. Logan opens one and passes it over. Remy's forced to awkwardly hold it between his palms, but it's worth it.
"I don't think you're supposed to mix alcohol with sleeping pills," Scott says mildly.
Logan rolls his eyes and Remy slightly raises his beer. "To living dangerously, then," he says.