Chapter Ten: A Visit to the Mansion.
--Sorry, but I don't remember who roomed with who, so I kinda made most of it up. Umm…a little bit of angst for X23/Sarah.--
Betsy had decided to take the Jeep with Lance, Toad and Wanda home. Wanda raised an eyebrow at her when she'd hopped in.
"What?" Betsy had demanded.
Wanda just turned away. The other Brotherhood members had seen how John and her were all over each other. Just Wanda was the only one with brains to spare, but Pietro would catch on quick and, metaphorically, 'move in for the kill'.
But, at the moment, Betsy had bigger things in mind. After seeing Sarah looking somewhat put out at her friends' talk of the upcoming dance and who they hoped to secure for the night, Betsy had decided it was time to visit Sarah, if only to lift her spirits.
(-3-)
Betsy was in her new uniform, but still wore her favourite ninja garb over it. She had lost the makeup and her hair was completely concealed. A violet bandana was across her face. She wasn't Elizabeth 'Betsy' Braddock tonight. She was Psylocke.
The Institute seemed oddly eerie for a moment, as Psylocke stood at its formidable steel gates. It was past midnight and there was only one light on- and it was flashing. Ignoring her doubts, Psylocke easily scaled the fence. She would go by road. The X-Men had no reason to attack her and, if she came out into the open, there'd be a lesser chance at setting off some defense system.
There was no flashing red light, nor any sign that her presence had been noted. Not even when she opened the front door and stepped into the mansion. That really surprised her. They left the door of a mansion unlocked? It was well past midnight now, so Psylocke did a service and locked the door for them.
Stealthily skirting the side of a wall, she realized she had no idea where Sarah's room actually was. She scowled. It would be hard if she had to open every door in the mansion to find her.
Sighing heavily, she started her search.
(-3-)
She opened the first door a crack. It was a girl about her age, who was wearing –believe it or not- velvet on a silk-covered bed. Obviously not her. In a bed near her was another freckled, rusty-haired girl, who twitched slightly in her sleep and growled softly before turning over. Scary but not too surprising.
The next room she tried was the telepath's room. She seriously considered going in there and doing room some serious damage…or at least scorch the red hair that lay spread out all over the pillow with a lighter she'd 'borrowed' off John. Had Psylocke's mind not been blocked from telepaths, Jean would have sensed her, but she was deep in some kind of dream that caused her to smile and giggle.
Psylocke gave a grimace went up the stairs.
She almost laughed out loud when she reached the first room. It was Kitty and Rogue's. Half of the room seemed to be made up of things that would make most grown people retch…going along the lines of pink covers, pink pjs and stuffed animals. Rogue's side of the room wasn't as dark as you'd expect, but compared to the pink and fluffy side…
(-3-)
Still chuckling quietly she closed the door softly.
"You don't live here, do ya bub?" 'snickt'
Psylocke cocked her head and turned, at the same time taking off her bandanna.
"And you didn't strike me as the baby-sitting kind, Logan."
Logan withdrew his adamantium claws. He had picked up a foreign, but strangely familiar scent on his patrol of the halls.
"I'm looking for Sarah."
"Thought ya might've been, kid. Third door on the left; she shares it with another kid."
"Thanks Logan," she said and turned to make her way down, but Logan grabbed her arm.
"Kid, you should stay. X misses ya and you might be getting yourself into more trouble than ya can handle."
Psylocke wrenched her arm out of his grasp.
"I know what I'm doing, Logan."
As she turned and walked away from him, Logan shook his head. The reason he hadn't recognized the scent was because it was mingled with the scent of others…namely, the Brotherhood and rather strongly of one Acolyte. He walked away to give the girls some privacy. Not his problem.
(-3-)
Sarah's woke up and tensed when she heard the door open from the outside. It was too late for Logan's midnight patrol, but too early for the three o'clock patrol. Her eyes snapped open when she caught the familiar scent.
"Not here. Downstairs," Psylocke whispered under her breath.
Sarah waited a moment then padded towards the still open door. Her roommate, Jubilation Lee, stirred.
"Where ya going?" she queried sleepily.
"Just to get a drink of water."
"I'll come with you," said a Jubilee shaking her head to clear it.
"I'll bring one up. Go back to sleep Jubes," Sarah hissed at her. Jubilee would be asleep by then, anyway.
The girls embraced one another at the bottom of the stairs.
"I missed you, Bets."
"I missed you too, X. Anywhere else we can talk, instead of in the middle of the entrance room?"
Sarah lead Betsy to the kitchen, where she prepared her a hot chocolate.
"Ah, so you've learnt the fine art of making hot chocolate!" joked Betsy.
"Yeah. The students pretty much cook for everyone here."
"Mmm…" murmured Betsy, trying the hot drink.
"Where have you been?"
Betsy looked at Sarah, whose hurt was plain to see. It was a throbbing sense of abandonment, of being given away.
"Control your emotions, Sarah. Do you want a telepath to come down?"
Sarah bit a lip at Betsy's sharp comment, but took a breath and started to relax.
"I'm sorry, Sarah. I didn't know you would feel that way. Do you remember that once I told you that there were many things that a bigger than us? Things that were more important than our own happiness?"
Sarah nodded, not exactly understanding. When they'd been twelve and fourteen, Betsy had told her this. Betsy continued, unsure.
"What I am doing, I cannot share with you. It may be more important than you believe and you may doubt me. But don't doubt that I still love you like a sister and that, at all costs, I will protect you. I've chosen a difficult path for myself and I don't want you on it."
Inside Sarah, the hurt was building.
"Betsy, I'd follow you in an instant. Please take me with you. I love the Institute and this life, but I'd rather lose that than never see you."
Betsy stood up. She smiled ruefully at the girl.
"You'll probably see me a lot. Then you might change your mind. Goodnight Sarah."
(-3-)
Sarah waited for two minutes, until she was sure that Psylocke had left. She got Jubilee her water and went to bed, burying her head into her pillows to cry.
In the morning, Logan had asked her gruffly whether she was alright.
"I've never been better," she said in a cold voice.