4. Homecoming
Kitty's parents had been extremely worried and anxious, and Carmen was very angry with Xavier. Fortunately, he bought Ktelor's vivid explanation about an extraordinary incident at the restaurant they had been eating in. He was still rather suspicious though, but trusted Xavier enough to continue talking with him.
The adults still had some things to discuss as of now, so after they all had had lunch, they sent Kitty and Ktelor upstairs. Kitty took Ktelor to her room.
"Well, this is my room... Nothing much to it", said Kitty as she stepped into the room. Ktelor looked around. The room looked pretty much like an average teen girl's room. As Kitty had said, nothing really special to it.
"Looks nice." They were quiet for a moment. Kitty yawned. "Tired?"
"Oh yeah... I don't think I've ever seen more than last night. ...Is... is that what a superhero's life is like then? Unexpected fights and threats everywhere?"
"Well... kind of. They aren't that frequent... usually we go looking for the trouble rather than them coming at us, but yeah, that's life. I hadn't fought in a while though..."
"Didn't you get hurt? I saw how one of those grunts hit you back there..."
"It's no big deal... I have a healing power, it takes care of me. It isn't that fast though, and I need a lot of food for it to work... Did ye see how much I ate?"
"Ah, that's where the food went!" Kitty chuckled.
"Heh... Well, honestly speaking, my back is hurting now... I think I slept bad. My head's putting up something too... After using that much of my power suddenly, I'd need a lot more sleep. Oh well, I'll sleep this night. Hopefully."
"Your back's hurting? C'mon, take off your shirt. I'll have a look at it." Ktelor turned to Kitty, rather surprised. Kitty was honest; she wanted to look at Ktelor's back. She was going to rub it. She also wanted to see Ktelor without a shirt...
"Um..."
"C'mon."
"Well... uh... okay." Ktelor lifted her shirt over her head and looked down. She even had some bruises on her chest from the beating.
"Ouch... Goodness, Ktelor. That doesn't look good..." Kitty reached her hand and touched Ktelor's chest right under her left collarbone. Ktelor blushed but did not want Kitty to see that, so if Kitty looked at her, she would trick her mind to see her the normal way.
"It's okay. It'll heal." Kitty moved her hand to Ktelor's shoulder.
"Come on, turn around." Ktelor turned and felt Kitty touching her back. Kitty rubbed it slightly, and it felt nice. "Let's sit down... my arms are gonna get tired if I stand here like this." Ktelor sat down, Kitty after her. Kitty started rubbing Ktelor's back properly. "Does it feel good?"
"Oh, yes, very..." They did not speak for a while, and Ktelor enjoyed the rubbing.
Kitty stopped rubbing after a while.
"My arms are getting tired..." She leaned forward and lay her upper body against Ktelor's back. Ktelor was slightly surprised. Kitty put her arms around Ktelor, on her stomach.
"Kitty... Do I... have a reason to... believe you like me?"
"And only now you noticed?" said Kitty, chuckling. "Geezers Ktelor, you're a telepath an' ya didn't figure it out?" she asked, smiling.
"Well, I, uh... I've just... I don't know..." Kitty got off of Ktelor.
"Ktelor... Is there like anything that you don't take seriously? I mean – –"
"Well, Xavier. I know, I'm acting weird... but... I don't know how else I would act. I just.... I'm not used to other people." They were quiet for a while.
"Do ya want me to rub more?"
"Yes, please... if you want to." Kitty started rubbing Ktelor's back again, and Ktelor enjoyed it while it lasted.
Kitty's father interrupted them.
"Kitty, Ktelor – –" he was cut off when he saw them. Ktelor turned her head away. Kitty blushed, but just slightly. "...come on downstairs. We need to talk with you again... Oh, Ktelor, you have some bruises on your back."
"Yeah, I know", replied Ktelor while she pulled on her shirt and reached for the sunglasses. "I got a little beaten yesterday in that incident... nothing big, it's just bruises." Kitty had gone downstairs already. Ktelor got up and went to the door.
"Ktelor", said Carmen.
"Yes?"
"I take it Kitty seems to like you quite a lot."
"Uh... I guess."
"Do you like her?"
"Um... I... I don't know. I... I just don't... I don't know. I've never been in love an' I uh... I've never really had friends so I... Um... I should probably just be quiet when I don't know what I'm talking about." Ktelor looked down, slightly embarrassed. She had no idea what she should have said and Carmen did not give any clues. "But... I... She..."
"It's okay, kid. I would be confused if I was your age, really. You're a bit shy, aren't you?"
"Uh, really?" Ktelor was surprised. "Um, oh, yeah... Yeah, I am... I guess..."
"It's okay, Ktelor", said Carmen and patted Ktelor's shoulder. "Let's go down." Ktelor was slightly confused and even reading Carmen's mind a little did not help. Ktelor went down.
They all sat around the dinner table to eat some dessert. It was decided that Kitty would come to Xavier's school. She would pack her stuff now and go to the mansion with Xavier and Ktelor. Kitty was soon done with packing. She had two big bags and one small bag full of her stuff, clothes, some books and other things. They soon got on the plane and flew to New York City, where Lilandra and Manuel were waiting.
Lilandra had already directed Manuel to a room of his own, and he had calmed down. To him it seemed that this place wouldn't be much different from the Massachusetts Academy. There were not near as many students at Xavier's, but personalized teaching was about as good as teaching could get anyway. Moreover, here Manuel would be able to meet more mutants than in the Academy, not having the need to hide his powers.
It was likely that the White Queen and the Hellfire Club would not come after Manuel. His talents were not really valuable in any way; he was not important. Besides, after what Ktelor had done to the members of the Hellfire Club, it was likely that they would keep their heads out of it for at least a while.
After the fight with the Hellfire Club, Kitty was very taken by Ktelor. She had been impressed by Ktelor's skills in addition to the fact that she thought she liked Ktelor's appearance. As far as Kitty knew, Ktelor was a modest, honest, pretty-looking boy.