Chapter 22: A Dream and a Special Day
"You remind me of Jean…" a voice whispered, sending images into her mind; a whirl of color exploded behind her eyes and she felt herself falling. "I wish she were still alive… she would have loved you."
The first thing Lyra noticed when her yellow eyes flickered open was that she was standing in the middle of beautiful mountainous terrain. She could feel a biting wind blowing through her hair and a chilling breeze was sliding through her white dress. After opening her eyes all the way and blinking a few times in confusion, her vision narrowed and she saw a woman with fiery red hair looking right at her. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of green, her fiery tresses were cropped just above the shoulders, and she was undeniably the most gorgeous person Lyra had ever seen. However, when the girl blinked, the image shivered a bit and seemed to fade before flickering back to a more colorful degree. Lyra shook her head and started moving towards the beauty before her, but only a few seconds after she started moving, an explosion shook the ground.
The angel let out a yip as the ground bucked and sent her sprawling.
"What the hell?!" Lyra squeaked, looking behind her as her tunnel vision dissolved. Her eyes went wide and she gasped in shock, for the jet she had fallen asleep in was trying to take off and failing. The girl felt a fierce wind lifting her hair off of her shoulders and looked back at the redhead, who she realized wasn't actually looking at her: she was looking at the ship. Jean's hand was outstretched and her green eyes were blazing with focused intensity. However… when Lyra looked behind her, the girl's face drained of color and she let out a shriek: a dam was breaking in the distance, and a wall of water was already thundering towards them… flattening trees and ripping boulders off the ground in the process.
In that moment, Lyra heard several voices roaring into her head.
"Jean… "
"Wait… where's jean?"
"She's outside…"
"What?!"
"No, we're not leaving! Lower the ramp!"
"I… I can't!"
"Storm, lower it!"
"I CAN'T! SHE'S CONTROLLING THE JET!"
"Kurt, go get her!"
"Zhe's not letting me!"
"JEAN!" Lyra screeched, realizing with a jolt of horror who she was looking at. Thoughts of Scott's distant attitude and all of the whispered murmurs about how devastated he was after losing this woman erupted into her mind, and she instantly wondered if she had somehow gone back in time. For a moment, the woman's green eyes seemed to flicker and she looked around before staring at the spot Lyra was lying in. She gazed sightlessly at the same exact area with frightened emerald eyes, putting less weight on one of her legs than the other as she searched; it was only after Lyra glanced down at her lower torso that she realized the woman was injured, but thoughts and memories of how Scott had been acting roared to life.
Jean looked right at Lyra for a split second, actually seeing her.
Then the wave was roaring down the mountains, and Lyra scrambled from the ground and straight into a sprint towards the redheaded woman: in that moment time slowed down, and her mind was full of nothing but saving the woman in front of her and preventing Scott from becoming the person he was now. She had been told by everyone that he used to be a funny, goofy guy until Jean's death… and this was the crucial moment. The moment where her actions could change his unhappy future forever.
Her long silver hair flew behind her as she sprinted towards the woman, hands sparking with electricity and wings fanning as the world around her flickered like an old movie. Her legs pumped and her bangs blasted out of her fiery golden eyes as she ran, yellow taking her gaze off of those glittering emerald irises.... the eyes that seemed to see her while looking through her.
"JEAN!" Lyra shrieked again, diving low and spreading her arms wide in preparation to perform a tackle and fly away; she had never before flown with another person in her arms, and she had rarely exercised the muscles in her wings, but she was going to try it if it meant she could save Jean Gray. However, the moment she thought she was going to collide with a solid body, she merely passed through the woman as though she were an apparition. A sickening jolt went through Lyra's stomach as she tripped and tumbled onto the ground, but when she scrambled onto her side and looked back, Jean was looking right at her.
Although, at the same time, she couldn't really seem to see her at all.
Then the wave was upon them, and Lyra covered her head with a shriek.
However, only a violent spray and a hurricane-like wind smashed into her rather than a wave.
"I know what I'm doing…." Jean whispered after the water had exploded around their forms; Lyra looked up with horrified yellow eyes, heart dropping through the ground when she realized there was nothing she could do. "This is the only way…"
"Jean, listen to me!" Scott cried, voice slicing through the air like a knife full of pain. "Don't do this!"
Jean closed her eyes after several of her tears were swept away by the furious wind.
"Goodbye…" the psychic whispered, opening her eyes: Lyra's own eyes widened when the woman started glowing yellow, and her world was sent spiraling down into darkness when the water plummeted around the two of them. For several moments, the girl lay submerged under the waves… long silver hair floating around wildly with the raging water currents and passing debris.
However, after a moment of shivering, she realized she could breathe.
Everything was cold and dark… but then, she saw a bubble of air beneath the waves. Jean was curling up in a little ball, and her entire body was glowing brightly. Her eyes were shining with yellow light that soon filled with shadows… and just before they closed, she smiled in Lyra's direction before fading out. Those eyes honestly made her blood run completely cold from fear.
"Jean!" Lyra wailed, trying to move towards the fading woman as the world around them began to dissolve. "Jean! Jean, wait!"
"—bchen…?"
"JEAN!" the girl screeched, world completely fading into black. "STOP! WAIT!"
"LIEBCHEN!" Kurt roared, gripping her arms and shaking her awake; Lyralianna's yellow eyes flew open wide and she instantly threw out her arms, screaming at the top of her lungs. She flailed around with blind movements, whacking somebody in the process and completely oblivious to the victim's startled yelp.
"Jean!" Lyra screeched, yellow eyes flashing around in search of the red-headed woman; her breathing was ragged, her pupils were dilated, and her silver hair was disheveled. "WHERE IS JEAN?!"
"Kid…" Logan muttered, standing in the jet walkway with stunned eyes; the second she heard his shocked tone of voice, the girl's mind came around and she finally saw her surroundings. Furiously rubbing her watering eyes, the angel glanced around and saw several people staring at her in the jet: apparently they hadn't even taken off to go back to the mansion, so she hadn't been sleeping for that long. However, all of them looked shocked to the core and had odd expressions on their faces.
"Jean…" Lyra whispered, face paling and hands trembling as she clutched her forehead. "Jean… where is she? Where is she?! You didn't tell me what happened, Logan! You didn't tell me! Where the heck is Jean Gray! What happened to her?!"
"Kid…" Logan whispered, voice becoming thicker than normal. "Jean is… dead... she died a long time ago…"
"I KNOW!" Lyra screeched, stumbling upright and pulling on her hair. "I know! Everyone's told me bits and pieces about why Scott's a total ass, and I understand as much, but he wasn't always like that! I need you to tell me what happened to her!"
"Fuck off, Angel…" Scott barked out, shouldering his way past Rogue and Bobby in order to glare daggers at her. "You don't need to know anything about my personal life, and this isn't exactly something a newcomer like you should be asking, understand?."
"Stop being a dick for once!" Lyra snapped, hands sparking as she stood up. "I'm not asking about you this time, I'm asking about what happened to Jean! So, somebody please tell me what happened!"
"Frauline, vhy do you vant to know?" Kurt whined, clutching his bleeding nose with startled yellow eyes and a knotted tail. "Ow... you vere sleeping one moment… zhen you started screaming for Jean, and ze next zhing I know, I got vhacked in ze face!"
"I'm sorry… I-I had a nightmare, that's all…" Lyra stammered, feeling incredibly foolish; however, despite the worried looks and singular glare that was sent her way, the girl merely looked out the window as a mental image of black eyes and a dangerous smile flickered behind her eyes. "At least... I hope that's all it was… something about it gave me the creeps."
"May I zit back down now…?" Kurt asked, rubbing his nose and blowing it on a tissue before looking down at her with tentative eyes. Lyra blinked and looked up at him in confusion before nodding and absently staring out the window again. The trip back to the mansion was dead silent, but Lyra didn't notice. In fact, she didn't even notice they'd landed it until Kurt touched her arm.
"You go on ahead…" the girl murmured, trying to smile for his sake. "I need to take a walk and think."
"Okay…" Kurt mumbled; after a moment of indecision, he leaned forward and hesitantly pressed his lips against her own. When she stiffened in pleasant surprise and stared into his unblinking eyes, he squeaked in sheer embarrassment and disappeared in a flash of dark blue smoke. Lyra touched her mouth before staring off into space: everyone had gotten off the jet and headed inside to relax, so she figured she should as well. However, just as she was leaving the jet, Scott grabbed her arm and forced her against the side of the aircraft with rough hands: she flinched and turned her head to the side out of reflex, shivering all over for several moments of total silence. Her ugly yellow eyes were squeezed shut in preparation as she waited for the blow to strike her…
Wait… she wasn't with Molly anymore, she was with people who cared... and they wouldn't hit her, right?
"No…" Lyra whimpered, hunching up even further when she remembered where she was. "Don't."
"I'm not going to hit you, ever," Scott hissed, looking at her with a tight mouth, "because I'm not that kind of a man. However, don't you ever bring Jean up again… do you understand me? You were not there to see what happened to her, you do not understand my suffering, and you do not have any fucking right to talk about my life as though you're a part of it."
"You're wrong! I may not have been there, but I know I saw what happened," Lyra instantly retorted, looking up at him with a shaken expression; for a moment he looked slightly taken aback by her response for several moments. Then his nose crinkled up and he sneered before folding his arms: he looked almost as though he were waiting for her to continue.
"Do tell," he stated sarcastically.
"I saw a dam…" Lyra whispered, holding her forehead with vacant eyes. "There was a beautiful woman with red hair standing in front of me… she had the most beautiful green eyes I've ever seen. I… I called out to her, and she reacted as though she could hear and see me, but at the same time… not. She… stopped a wall of water from smashing your jet to pieces, and… faded into a bubble under the waves. Then... several times, I think she saw me! She looked at me with... dark and evil black eyes... "
An image of those smiling black eyes ripped through her mind, giving her a case of the shivers.
"Did Wolverine tell you about what happened at the dam?" Scott demanded, mouth turning angry. "Better yet, are you finally showing your true colors to us, Lyralianna? Do you get off by lying through your teeth to people who care about you?!"
"W-what…?" Lyra whispered, eyes widening in shock. "What are you…? No! I'm not lying!"
"Don't try to start the prissy little emo bitch act again!" Scott roared, making Lyra flinch; his voice echoed around the empty garage before fading off into a ringing silence. "I hate it when you do that! It disgusts me to look at a crybaby like you!"
"I'm not a crybaby!" the girl shouted, feeling her cheeks growing hot when tears welled up in her eyes. "I saw her! She saw me!"
"Jean is DEAD!" Scott snapped, leaning forward with a twisted mouth. "You had a dream stimulated by everything you were told, that's all! Nothing more! Jean could not have seen you because she is DEAD!"
"No! I'm not lying! I saw her! She looked right at me under the water and smiled!" Lyra screeched; however, it was only then that the girl realized what she was doing to Scott. She froze like a statue, feeling all of her muscles locking up as a terrible premonition of danger gripped her heart and made her stomach drop through the floor. "I… I don't think it was just a dream… she saw me."
"What does that have to do with anything?!" Scott demanded in outrage. "You're scared of everything!"
"This is different..." Lyra whispered, shivering violently and vacantly staring at the ground. "This is the first time I've ever had a feeling that told me a nightmare was more than a nightmare. Somehow, that woman saw me... she sensed my presence, too."
"She couldn't have because she's dead," Scott muttered, entire body sagging before he looked away. "You don't get it, do you?"
"No, I definitely understand what 'dead' means, but did you ever bother going back to find out?" Lyra demanded, eyes shooting up to look at his face when he stiffened and went completely still. "And if you did go back to mourn her… why didn't you or anybody else ever try to find her body? How do you know she's dead if you don't have any proof? Wasn't she a powerful psychic?!"
Scott's face completely drained of color and he tensed like a statue for several long moments, jaw locking up tight.
"This conversation is over," he stated coldly, turning around and walking towards the stairs. Lyra watched him go as more shivers trailed up and down her spine: those smiling black eyes continued to gaze at her in the back of her mind, giving her a fearful sensation that her unstable life was going to fall down. When Lyra made her way inside the mansion, the hallway was empty of everyone due to how late it was, so the girl decided to take a visit to the kitchens. She was feeling a strange mixture of emotions that made her want to cry… she didn't understand them, nor were they familiar to her, but they hurt nonetheless.
After making her way through countless empty corridors with beautiful mahogany furnishings and marble pillars, the silver-haired girl finally folded her wings and rested against one of the walls. She stared up at the ceiling with tired eyes, sliding down to the floor as she started crying for reasons unknown. It wasn't a chest-wracking kind of release… it was a silent one, with barely a sob let loose between her lips. Tears merely streamed down her cheeks as she stared off into space, feeling completely empty.
However, she didn't know she had an audience until she saw Storm staring at her from behind one of the beautiful marble pillars. The woman was trying to hide herself, but she wasn't doing a very good job… and her eyes were full of worry. The moment Lyralianna noticed her, though, she wiped her eyes and tried to make it look like she hadn't been crying before getting to her feet. The woman merely watched with an expression of motherly concern, not stepping out but reluctant to stay back at the same time.
"I know you're there…" Lyra sniffled, trying to force a smile. "Storm, you can come out."
"Are you all right…?" the woman asked, touching her arm. "You… really have me worried."
"I'm fine," the girl replied, rubbing her nose. "It's just… tonight was a little…"
"Painful," the woman finished, staring off into space before she sighed and hugged Lyra with warm arms; the girl merely let her head thump weakly against the woman's chest. "It'll be all right, okay? I was told by the professor to come let you know about our plans for tomorrow. After your last-hour class gets out, you and I are going to have a training session tomorrow morning… the two of us are going to master your control over your electricity before we moving onto the other elements that make up the weather."
"Wait, what?" Lyra asked, looking up in surprise. "Why do you need to do that?"
"Well, in order to master your control over something," Storm stated confidently, smiling down at her, "you need to know everything about it. I just so happen to control all three of the major elements you possess due to my powers concerning the weather, so I'm very skilled. I might be the one person who can teach you safe ways to discharge the energy in your body during the times that Kurt isn't around or can't immediately help you."
"Really?!" Lyralianna squealed, mouth dropping open in surprise. "Are you serious?!"
"Yes," Storm confirmed, beaming like a child. "After you master all of your elemental abilities until they no longer blow up on you, you'll be passed onto the next person who has powers that are similar to your own. For instance, John would be the best option for fire… and Lance would be the wisest choice for earth-related abilities… there are several people who could teach you."
"Wow…" Lyra whispered, shaking her head. "Um… are you sure this is a smart idea…? Do you really think I can do it?"
"Yes, I believe in you!" Ororo confirmed, happily patting her shoulder. "The next few weeks are going to be very busy!"
Lyra didn't know how true those words really were until it was too late to complain.
TXXXXXT
Three months later, Lyra had become adept on controlling her powers due to the careful tutoring that her temporary teachers had been giving her. She had been diligently struggling to learn everything she could about lightning and electricity since that element seemed to be the strongest out of everything she could do: Storm's lectures on wind patterns, heat, airflow, and several other things had taught her how to channel her powers using the world around her.
Now, when she focused her mind, she could channel tiny strands of electricity through her fingertips and zap the shit out of people, or send instantaneous lightning bolts rocketing out of her palms with lethal force. On top of that, she had gotten marginally better at willingly creating storm clouds thanks to everything the white-haired woman was teaching her.
As for the other elements, she was doing a pretty good job along those routes as well.
Surprisingly enough, both Lance and Pyro took their jobs seriously enough not to hit on her while they were teaching, and that had come as a huge relief. Because of how diligently they had been teaching her, she had progressed with her control and had learned new maneuvers for creating earthquakes, growing plants that could lash out at people, igniting fire into the world without using a lighter, and directing the flames without burning herself by accident. Her life had pretty much become a busy balance between fighting in the danger room, school, and spending the majority of her time with Rogue, Logan, and Kurt.
Scott had constantly been going out by himself ever since Lyra's outburst concerning Jean.
However, she'd had no more nightmares, and she was slowly working her way up to the level that everybody else was on whenever she got into the danger room. Surprisingly enough, she kind of liked it more than she should have: being in the danger room was sort of like being in a combat video game. She'd had several foster siblings over the years who'd owned video games.
They'd sometimes let her watch from the doorway if she was quiet.
However, on one particular Saturday afternoon… Lyra woke up to Logan dragging her out of bed by her legs, grunting over and over again that Kurt needed her to go to the mall for a little while. She had been planning to sleep all weekend, but apparently life had other plans... so, still half asleep, the silver-haired girl groggily slipped on a pair of the jeans she'd gotten at Christmas before throwing on her wing harness and a black tank top. Once she was fully dressed, she allowed herself to be dragged out the door by the man and followed him to where her boyfriend was waiting at the front doors. Kurt grinned so brightly when he saw her that the girl returned it without a second thought and followed him down the steps.
She didn't know what he needed, but if he needed her assistance then she'd be willing to help.
It was an idyllic afternoon in the city located near Xavier's Mansion: the sun was shining, and the rays of surreal light danced upon the windows of many skyscrapers in the metropolitan area. Even though it was early September, it was warm outside; the sort of day that served as a goodbye for summer just prior to the impending autumnal chill. With such nice weather, it was no surprise to see that the streets of the city were full this early in the afternoon: some people were merely running errands and going about their daily business, while others skipped out of work early to squeeze in one last game of golf or one last trip to the mountains.
It was truly a great day to be alive.
However, even though nature itself had provided a remarkable day for everyone to enjoy, it was even harder to ignore the red sports car that was careening down the freeway with its windows rolled down, the radio cranked up, and the silver-haired girl screaming her head off in the passenger seat. The wind was tossing her hair around like a violent spray of liquid platinum.
"KURT!" Lyra screeched, clinging to the seats for dear life. "SLOW DOWN!"
"Sie würden es auch tun, wenn Sie wüssten, wie viel Spaß es ist!" Kurt whooped, expression full of utter absolute glee as he swerved and screeched around other cars with a huge grin on his face. "You vould do zhis, too, if you knew how much fun it is!"
"I highly doubt that!" Lyra wailed, covering her mouth as she dry heaved.
"Vell, zhis trip is going to be fun, if nozing else," Kurt laughed, shaking his head as he parked Scott's hotrod in front of the mall and rolled up the windows. He and Lyra all got out and began walking toward the front of the mall, interlacing their hands without caring who saw them... mostly because Lyra was too dizzy to care: they attracted many odd stares, but the looks went ignored.
As they walked through the doors, however, Lura was abruptly overcome by the sights, smells, sounds, and incredible bustling going on all around them: the sound of multiple conversations and unbridled laughter enveloped her quickly, along with the sight of thousands of twinkling lights—from the fluorescent storefront signs to the decorative strobes and multicolored stands of bulbs used to seduce the eye. Even better, though, was the scent of freshly baked cinnamon rolls and chocolate-frosted pretzels looming somewhere off in the distance. Lyra passed each store front slowly, dazedly taking in what each display window had to offer.
She even strolled past perfume vendors and scented-candle stores, which—to most people—could prove to be either overwhelming or nauseating. The couple seemed to be moving in slow motion compared to the throngs of people moving hurriedly passed them. However, what was normal for some was very precious to them: a trip to a mall—something that was supposed to be completely for fun—was a rare and well-deserved treat for Lyralianna.
Really, there was just one thing left for them to do after browsing the different stores: head in the direction of the wondrous scent of cinnamon buns, which would surely lead to the food courts. The walk to the food court was considerable, but it wasn't long before they made it through the lines and finally sat down at a table. Kurt had a large plate full of loaded beef-and-cheese nachos, and Lyra had a large soft pretzel loaded with frosted chocolate—which she planned on splitting in half with Kurt.
They sat in silence at first, just enjoying their food and looking at their surroundings, but a few passersby noticed the couple in the food court and immediately stopped to pull out their phones to snap a few quick photos at Kurt. Several people were giggling and pointing fingers at him as though he were a circus animal, but Lyra's irritation spiked when she saw his ears droop despite the fact that there was no change in his expression.
"Play along," she whispered, giving him a wink when he stared at her in confusion. After setting down her pretzel, the small girl got up and shocked everyone pointing fingers by walking around Kurt and tilting his head back. When he was staring at her and blinking like an owl, the girl grinned and kissed him flat on the mouth. His tail shot straight out before going limp…
Then it slowly began to flick back and forth, curling against her leg in the process.
When she pulled away, he pulled the chair out a bit and she grabbed her plate before sitting on his lap. In reality, Kurt was absolutely enormous in size when compared with Lyra: he was fairly slender, but at the same time he was broad-shouldered and was insanely tall for a teenager. He had already broken the six-foot-three mark, and he was still growing. Lyra had only grown two inches during her time at the mansion: she was currently four-foot-nine, and her height didn't want to extend over the five foot mark… so she was pretty much stuck being short. It made doing little things like sitting on his lap a lot easier.
When Lyra wrapped her arms around his neck, his dark blue skin turned an interesting shade of purple as he blushed in total surprise. The angel cocked her head and grinned in an adorably cute pose for a few of the paparazzi who were gawking snapping pictures; she put her head on his shoulder and continued to munch on her food.
The two of them were nearly finished eating when Kurt's wrist-watch beeped.
"Oh, no!" Lyra whined, face pulling into a saddened pout. " Is it training time already?"
"Ze Professor said he vanted us back by five in ze afternoon," Kurt feebly replied, heart speeding up a little bit: even though he'd been having a really good time hanging out with Lyra and doing something normal for a change, he was more excited about what would await her when they returned home. Still, the two of them didn't get opportunities like this too often.
Especially when it came to going out on dates.
Lyra hung her head a little and shrugged her slender shoulders: apparently there was work to be done, and she wasn't the type of girl to shirk her responsibilities when it came to her friends. Kurt and Lyra both hurried through the mall on their way out—doing a complete turn-around from how they'd acted earlier in the afternoon. There was no time to stop and take it all in now: duty had called them, and the only thing that mattered was getting back to the mansion on time in order to avoid a scolding from Logan.
Once they were outside, Kurt and Lyra the car before hitting the freeway.
"Thanks for taking me out today," Lyra murmured, breaking the silence. When the boy grinned at her, she smiled in reply before folding her skinny arms and gazing out the window. Even though the day was coming to a close, it was still beautiful outside and there were a few good hours of daylight left… on top of that, there were still a number of activities that appealed to her—especially when contrasted with the prospect of combat practice, an exercise that tested everyone to the point of physical exhaustion.
Kurt continued to steer in the direction of the Mansion.
When they finally pulled into the garage and hopped out, Lyra bolted up the stairs for the common room, praying that she wouldn't be late for the meeting. She really didn't want to get extra training hours, although the lessons with Storm wouldn't be such a bad thing since the woman was almost always willing to chat with the two of them. However, she bolted through the common room's doors to find that the lights were out and it was pitch black.
"Huh? Where is everyone?" Lyra asked blankly, looking around and squinting at the shadows. "Oh, crap! Kurt, were we so late for the meeting that it ended?! Oh, god, we're in so much trouble! What do we say?!"
When a muffled snicker erupted from the darkness, the girl jumped in surprise and the lights suddenly flew on. Lyra twitched and blinked in stunned confusion as her friends jumped out of hiding and began cheering, letting loose some confetti-poppers and blowing some kazoos; everyone was wearing party hats and the room was decorated.
Logan was rapidly snapping some pictures with a digital camera.
"What's going on?" Lyra squeaked, looking thoroughly amazed. "Is today some sort of holiday?"
"You little knucklehead," Logan snickered, bounding over and pulling her into a hug; the girl squeaked and turned bright red when he unexpectedly swung her around in a circle and crushed her to half to death in a bear hug. "You have to be a blonde somewhere under all that snow you call hair, especially if you can't even remember your own damn birthday! Happy Birthday, Squirt!"
"How did you guys know I turn sixteen today?" the tiny girl squawked, mouth hanging open in delight. "I never told any of you what my birthday was, so this really did come as a surprise! I mean, I've never even had a party before!"
"Hello?" Logan sniggered, waggling his eyebrows before he planted a kiss on her cheek. "I'm your father, hon! I know everything!"
"And that means this occasion will become even more special to you," Rogue stated slyly, cocking an eyebrow when Logan set her down and allowed her to walk over to the table that held her birthday cake. It was a marble cake with organic butter cream frosting and actual tropical fruits that had been ordered from across the ocean. Resting on top of the cake was a homemade candle shaped like an angel with folded hands, and Lyra touched it with shaking fingers. When the silver-haired girl looked up at everyone with large yellow eyes, everyone began to sing happy birthday. She slowly covered her mouth as they finished and cheered.
"Make a wish!" Storm squealed; however, everyone paused when Lyra merely blew out her candle and looked up at them with tears streaming down her faces. In that moment, Lyralianna Evangeline smiled so brightly that her face literally shone with the joy and love she was feeling: every single person in the room gawked at that radiant smile.
"I don't need to make any wishes," the girl chuckled, sniffling and rubbing her eyes as tears streamed from them. "I already have everything I could ever want… thank you so much…"
"You are velcome," Kurt whispered, bending down to give her a kiss. "Ich liebe dich, Lyralianna..."
"I love you, too," Lyra whispered back, hugging him and silently thanking God that she'd brushed up on her German skills.