Kyle woke some hours later and looked around, then buried her head deeper
into the pillow and tried to go back to her blissful dreamless sleep.
"Kyle? You up girl?" Rogue asked softly. Kyle lay limp in her bed.
"Tired," she grunted. She felt Rogue's gloved hand on her back for a moment, then the soft padding of bare feet walking out of the room and the door close. Then, all at once, the tears came. Kyle couldn't understand why, but all of the sudden memories, from when she was a little girl and her mother and father were alive and happy, well, mostly happy, flooded through her mind, memories from when she was happy and normal and loved by her father, and had her sister to play with even when other kids wouldn't, memories bringing a torrent of emotions and sensations that reminded her vaguely of one of Ororo's storms.
The memory of her mother, a pretty woman with amber eyes and blonde hair, and a drinking problem that was all too obvious to her ten year-old daughter. The memory of her father, blue eyed and slightly darker haired than Kyle used to have, always buying his youngest child little gifts and playing with her until her mother died in the car accident, then he too turned to alcohol for comfort. Her sister, tall and sharing her father's blue eyes and blonde hair, who had always looked out for Kyle until she had to leave for college, and Kyle never heard from her again.
The memory of herself, before her mutation, a slender girl with pretty hair and her mother's eyes, a straight A and B student with a few friends, independent by necessity and not bad off socially. But that had been before her darts had come out of her wrist, and her eyes turned purple, and she started being abused by her father, and before the strange X Men showed up one morning offering a place where she could make more friends who didn't curse or hate her and where she could control the darts....
The most recent memory of her home. The memory of it being ransacked and full of blood and hate. Her father's blood, her blood, where the two cops had been rendered... was it just unconscious? Kyle didn't care. Where the white picket fence was now like a billboard for the people who hate her to post their feelings, and the oak tree. Home, where her father would strike her again and again for what she was, which would eventually kill him, even if it wasn't by her hand directly. She could picture mutant haters forcing their way into the house, shooting her father through the head before he could defend himself, then taking anything they wanted.
"No! She's not here! I got rid-" The words yelled themselves through Kyle's head out of the blue, followed by a deafening shot. Then there were no memories, in her mind Kyle could only see herself as a tiny girl playing with her trucks and wearing her boy's clothes, her father still liked to treat her like a boy sometimes. Just that memory, sitting in the living room, that one memory while quick visions of people walking by; her father, her mother, Ororo, her old best-friends Jane and Taylor, Rogue, Scott, the police men that had tried to kill her, Hank and Scott, the teacher that had first spat the word 'mutant' at her, her sister. All of them walked by on the edges, barely recognizable, and then Kyle as she was now, looking at her old self, then everything faded out into blackness, and Kyle dreamed no more for the rest of the night, she had unwittingly fallen asleep in the middle of her personal torment.
***
At noon the next day Jubilee sat on Kyle's bed, putting an arm on her friend's back.
"You up and just faking it?" she asked softly.
"Yes," Kyle said, in a voice almost too small to hear.
"Fake more if you want, I just wanted to make sure you hadn't passed out," Jubilee said, rubbing Kyle's back and then getting up and leaving.
"How is she?" Kitty asked as Jubilee shut the door. Rogue also looked up, waiting for an answer, which was given merely in the form of a shake of the head.
"Hey, what's wrong with you all?" Evan asked, walking up with a look of concern on his face. "Everything alright? Where's Kyle?"
"She's not talking to anyone right now," Rogue said glumly. "Family problems. I would leave her alone." Evan's face fell.
"Well, alright then," he said, looking at the door and putting his hands in his pockets. "If she can't do the dance tonight-"
"She can't," Kitty said, looking at the floor. "Definitely not."
"Oh, well, tell her I hope she feels better soon," Evan said.
"We will," Jubilee said. Evan nodded and turned, walking back down the hall.
"He's nice," Kitty said.
"Yeah," Rogue agreed.
"Should we tell someone she's still in bed? What if something's wrong?" Jubilee wondered, looking back at the door.
~ She's going through a lot right now, I suggest you keep up what you've been doing, it's helping more than either you or she realizes at this point, ~ the professor said.
~ Really? ~ asked all three girls in response.
~ I promise, ~ he said, then closed the link.
"Man, why do these things always have to happen?" Jubilee demanded of the wall.
"What do you mean?" Kitty asked.
"Kyle's a great girl, and her father goes and gets killed, and she's thrown out of her family and town just because she can shoot people with darts from a couple hundred yards off if she wants," Jubilee said. "Why? Like, because we're all mutants we're supposed to not care about this kind of thing? You heard the adults last night, they said her house was *trashed*, and all the stuff on her fence or something, just because she's a mutant! Why does it always have to happen to people like her?" A tear slowly fell down Jubilee's cheek, and Rogue and Kitty got up and hugged her.
"There is no reason, except an unfair one," Rogue said. "No reason at all."
"Kyle? You up girl?" Rogue asked softly. Kyle lay limp in her bed.
"Tired," she grunted. She felt Rogue's gloved hand on her back for a moment, then the soft padding of bare feet walking out of the room and the door close. Then, all at once, the tears came. Kyle couldn't understand why, but all of the sudden memories, from when she was a little girl and her mother and father were alive and happy, well, mostly happy, flooded through her mind, memories from when she was happy and normal and loved by her father, and had her sister to play with even when other kids wouldn't, memories bringing a torrent of emotions and sensations that reminded her vaguely of one of Ororo's storms.
The memory of her mother, a pretty woman with amber eyes and blonde hair, and a drinking problem that was all too obvious to her ten year-old daughter. The memory of her father, blue eyed and slightly darker haired than Kyle used to have, always buying his youngest child little gifts and playing with her until her mother died in the car accident, then he too turned to alcohol for comfort. Her sister, tall and sharing her father's blue eyes and blonde hair, who had always looked out for Kyle until she had to leave for college, and Kyle never heard from her again.
The memory of herself, before her mutation, a slender girl with pretty hair and her mother's eyes, a straight A and B student with a few friends, independent by necessity and not bad off socially. But that had been before her darts had come out of her wrist, and her eyes turned purple, and she started being abused by her father, and before the strange X Men showed up one morning offering a place where she could make more friends who didn't curse or hate her and where she could control the darts....
The most recent memory of her home. The memory of it being ransacked and full of blood and hate. Her father's blood, her blood, where the two cops had been rendered... was it just unconscious? Kyle didn't care. Where the white picket fence was now like a billboard for the people who hate her to post their feelings, and the oak tree. Home, where her father would strike her again and again for what she was, which would eventually kill him, even if it wasn't by her hand directly. She could picture mutant haters forcing their way into the house, shooting her father through the head before he could defend himself, then taking anything they wanted.
"No! She's not here! I got rid-" The words yelled themselves through Kyle's head out of the blue, followed by a deafening shot. Then there were no memories, in her mind Kyle could only see herself as a tiny girl playing with her trucks and wearing her boy's clothes, her father still liked to treat her like a boy sometimes. Just that memory, sitting in the living room, that one memory while quick visions of people walking by; her father, her mother, Ororo, her old best-friends Jane and Taylor, Rogue, Scott, the police men that had tried to kill her, Hank and Scott, the teacher that had first spat the word 'mutant' at her, her sister. All of them walked by on the edges, barely recognizable, and then Kyle as she was now, looking at her old self, then everything faded out into blackness, and Kyle dreamed no more for the rest of the night, she had unwittingly fallen asleep in the middle of her personal torment.
***
At noon the next day Jubilee sat on Kyle's bed, putting an arm on her friend's back.
"You up and just faking it?" she asked softly.
"Yes," Kyle said, in a voice almost too small to hear.
"Fake more if you want, I just wanted to make sure you hadn't passed out," Jubilee said, rubbing Kyle's back and then getting up and leaving.
"How is she?" Kitty asked as Jubilee shut the door. Rogue also looked up, waiting for an answer, which was given merely in the form of a shake of the head.
"Hey, what's wrong with you all?" Evan asked, walking up with a look of concern on his face. "Everything alright? Where's Kyle?"
"She's not talking to anyone right now," Rogue said glumly. "Family problems. I would leave her alone." Evan's face fell.
"Well, alright then," he said, looking at the door and putting his hands in his pockets. "If she can't do the dance tonight-"
"She can't," Kitty said, looking at the floor. "Definitely not."
"Oh, well, tell her I hope she feels better soon," Evan said.
"We will," Jubilee said. Evan nodded and turned, walking back down the hall.
"He's nice," Kitty said.
"Yeah," Rogue agreed.
"Should we tell someone she's still in bed? What if something's wrong?" Jubilee wondered, looking back at the door.
~ She's going through a lot right now, I suggest you keep up what you've been doing, it's helping more than either you or she realizes at this point, ~ the professor said.
~ Really? ~ asked all three girls in response.
~ I promise, ~ he said, then closed the link.
"Man, why do these things always have to happen?" Jubilee demanded of the wall.
"What do you mean?" Kitty asked.
"Kyle's a great girl, and her father goes and gets killed, and she's thrown out of her family and town just because she can shoot people with darts from a couple hundred yards off if she wants," Jubilee said. "Why? Like, because we're all mutants we're supposed to not care about this kind of thing? You heard the adults last night, they said her house was *trashed*, and all the stuff on her fence or something, just because she's a mutant! Why does it always have to happen to people like her?" A tear slowly fell down Jubilee's cheek, and Rogue and Kitty got up and hugged her.
"There is no reason, except an unfair one," Rogue said. "No reason at all."