Disclaimer: I do not own any of the X-Men characters. They belong to Marvel Comics. No profit is being made from this story.
"I… regret lashing out in Las Vegas, but that is where my remorse ends" said Nature Girl as vines emerged from the Pit of Exile and wrapped tightly around her. "You taught me to stand up and fight for what I know is right and my cause is right. My anger is just."
The Quiet Council watched her with disappointment as she was pulled into the pit and dragged down until the light was completely gone, leaving her suspended in pitch blackness. Now she would spend forever here in darkness, alive and fully conscious but unable to move or speak. Never again to see or hear her animal and plant friends, nor anyone else…
"No! No!"
Trevor Hawkins AKA Eye Boy was jolted awake as he heard terrified screams. Immediately he sat up in his sleeping bag as he used his night vision, one of several special vision types his mutation granted him, to assess his surroundings. He didn't even need to rub the sleep from his eyes, not with multiple eyes covering his body.
A few feet away Lin Li AKA Nature Girl was laying on the bed of leaves she preferred to sleep on. She was thrashing about and twisting her head from side to side with a look of terror on her face, clearly in the grip of a horrible nightmare.
"Lin!" He raced over to her, gripped her shoulders and shook her. "Lin! Wake up!"
Her eyes opened and she looked around in confusion for a second before throwing her arms around Eye Boy and hugging him tightly. He gently rubbed her back as he returned the hug. After a few moments she let go and he moved back to give her breathing room. She reached up and touched her hair, relieved to find that it was present.
"Are you okay? That must have been some nightmare."
"It was" she replied as she sat in a huddle. "It, it was awful."
"You want to talk about it? I mean, it's totally okay if you don't, I won't pry but Paige told me it's good to talk about things like this and personally I've always found it helps. Just saying."
She sighed. "You remember that poor sea turtle that washed up on the shore?"
Eye Boy nodded. "I remember." He hadn't been there at the time but he'd heard about how Nature Girl and some other mutants had found a sea turtle choking to death from a plastic bag it had swallowed. Afterwards he had gone to visit her and offer what comfort he could. His heart ached as he recalled how upset she had been. By the time she had finally settled down it had been getting late and so she had offered to let him stay. He had been unsure about spending the night with his crush but had agreed. Now he was deeply glad he had done so. "Is that what you dreamed about?"
"Yes. But that wasn't all." She hesitated for a moment and then went on. "After she died, I took a portal to the grocery store where the bag came from. I went to the manager of the store and I… I killed him. I stabbed him in the neck with a pair of scissors. After that I went to a protest at an oil pipeline and killed more people." She didn't bother mentioning the presence of Curse in her nightmare. After all it wasn't like the strange child had been making her commit her crimes. No, she had done those all herself. "I said that humanity was an infection and that killing them made me feel alive."
She shuddered and stared down at the floor, unable to look him in the face and see the fear and disgust that she was sure would be on it. Had she looked she would have seen that his face held nothing but sympathy.
Nature Girl continued. "My hair fell out and the top of my head turned blood red, as if my hate was consuming me. Then there was a fight with a woman and a pterodactyl mutant, and I blew up an oil refinery. After that I was brought back to Krakoa and thrown into the hole. Where I belonged."
By now she was struggling to hold back tears. "I've always felt more comfortable around animals and plants than humans. Maybe that dream was of what I'm going to become…"
Eye Boy put his hands on her shoulders again. "Lin, look at me" he said gently.
She opened her eyes and her fears receded slightly as she saw the kindness on his face.
"That won't happen" he said with uncharacteristic firmness. "You may not feel things the same way most people do but you're not some cold-blooded killer." He winced as he realised what he'd just said. "Uh, no offence to your reptile and amphibian friends."
Despite herself she managed a small smile. "It's okay."
"Great." His expression turned serious again. "Lin, I know I can't understand what it's like for you. But I do know that you're not a bad person. You have a good heart. And yeah, that sounds cheesy as hell but it's true."
Her smile brightened. "Thank you, Trevor."
"And besides, you're smarter than that" he added. "How would stabbing a grocery store manager do anything to help nature?"
"It wouldn't."
"Exactly! And wouldn't blowing up an oil refinery just cause more harm to the environment?"
"It would."
"There we go then. That nightmare could never come true. Not only was it crazy, it was dumb. You'd never do anything that stupid."
Nature Girl chuckled softly. Eye Boy smiled.
"That's better. Lin, if you ever want to talk, I'm always here for you. I know you have all your animal and plant friends but there are humans that care about you too."
Like me he added silently.
"I know. Thank you, I feel much better now."
"I'm glad I could help."
For a moment they sat together silently. Eye Boy fidgeted uncomfortably, wanting to say more but unable to think of anything. After a while he said, "well uh, if you're sure you're okay then I'll go back to bed. It's not actually a bed, obviously, but you know what I mean."
He stood up and awkwardly went back to his sleeping bag. As he got into it, Nature Girl said, "Wait."
He looked over at her. She paused briefly and said, "tomorrow I'm going to do some volunteer work at an animal shelter. You're welcome to come too if you'd like."
His eyes lit up, all of them. "I'd be happy to."
"I'll see you tomorrow then. Good night, Trevor."
"Good night, Lin."
The two young mutants settled down and soon went back to sleep. This time Nature Girl slept soundly, untroubled by dark visions.
