Classes were finished for the day, and all the students were in the common room. Most were crowded around the television listening to all the doom and gloom of what was going on currently.
Theresa Rourke was fed up with it though. She had lived too long in the horrors of the wars in Northern Ireland. She thought she had gotten away from all that by coming to stay at Xavier's school, but apparently, war of any kind was none-stop all over the world.
She stormed out the common room, ready to get away from the smothering feeling of dread. She tried not to let it control her over in Ireland, and she wouldn't let it control her here. Being outside on such a beautiful day was comfort enough. It was bright and the sky was blue. A cool, gentle wind blew her hair off her shoulders. She closed her eyes and sighed. Oh yes, this was a good day. Only one thing could make it better.
Theresa strolled over to the fountain in the courtyard. Wildflowers grew around it. Pinks, blues, yellows. They were so lovely and peaceful looking. She picked a few, making a small bouquet that she decided to place in a vase when she went back inside.
Footsteps were coming toward her, and Theresa turned to find Jamie Madrox walking up to her. Her smile split her face. The day had just gotten better.
Jamie had come to the Xavier's school four months prior. He and Theresa were a year apart in age and had only two classes together, but they both enjoyed the outdoors. Jamie had become the grounds keeper by default. He was raised on a farm in Canada, and loved taking care of growing things. He took to keeping up the grounds the first week after arriving and had ever since. Theresa seemed to always be there to help him, so a strong friendship had grown between them in a short time.
"Hi Jamie!" Theresa greeted, a little spring in her step now.
"Hey Ree," Jamie greeted back, using the nickname for her only he used. He loved hearing her Irish lithe. "Been picking my flowers again?"
Theresa gave him an Oh-shut-up look then held the flowers out for him to take a sniff. Jamie leaned over. He barely took a sniff when the pollen from the flowers went up his nose. Living on a farm didn't make him immune to allergies. Jamie stepped back as he felt a strong sneeze coming on. The bright smile on Theresa's face faded.
The sneeze caught Jamie in midstep, knocking him off balance. He fell back on his bottom, the sneeze echoing like a rocket engine through the grounds. Thirty duplicates of Jamie Madrox suddenly split from him from the impact of the fall and the sneeze. Theresa knew what Jamie's power was, he could produce several duplicates of himself earning him the code name "Multiple Man", but this was the first time Theresa had ever seen his power in use.
The sight of thirty different Jamie's on their bottoms in front of her in the yard shocked and scared Theresa. Out of shock, she did the only thing she knew how to do well, she screamed. Theresa didn't have a normal scream like other girls. When she screamed, it was like a sonic wave plowing through the air, which is how she earned her code name, Siryn.
Jamie and his thirty duplicates immediately covered their ears hopelessly blocking the ear piercing sound. As windows of the school shattered, Theresa finally realized what she was doing and threw her hands over her mouth. She stared down at Jamie, a look of horror on her pale face. She hated losing control of her power. It happened sometimes without her even knowing what she was doing. It was one reason why she was at the school, being trained to gain control of her sonic wave screams.
Jamie and his duplicates had their hands over their ears, pain etched on all their faces. Some duplicates, realizing that the screams had stopped, stuck fingers in their ears as if trying to clear the ringing in them.
Theresa's chest heaved as sobs began to well up inside her. She quickly turned and dashed back to the school. Jamie knew better than to follow her. He knew Theresa was ashamed every time she lost control of her power. She needed time to calm down and work through it enough to come to apologize.
For now, Jamie had to deal with the splitting headache and irritating ring in his ears that would probably last for the rest of the day. He peered around behind him grimacing as he viewed all his duplicates. They all had different expressions on their faces, processing what just happened and reacting individually. He controlled his duplicates, but when they were expelled from him, they all could act independently as if they were individuals.
Jamie groaned, still holding his head as he stood. He tried as best to concentrate through the pain. A moment later, all thirty duplicates phased back into him. Jamie jolted as the impact of his multiples hit him, the throbbing headache increasing. He wearily started back to the school.
Theresa Rourke's eyes were sore and swollen. She'd been crying for the good part of an hour. Why did she get so emotional over incidents like this? It wasn't from embarrassment, she knew that for sure. Shame played a factor in it, but most of all, she hated the fact that when it happened she hurt people around her. All she could see was the pain on Jamie's face.
She didn't leave her room until the evening time, not even bothering to go eat dinner. She was readying herself to face Jamie. She wanted to be prepared for any harsh comment or rejection that he might throw at her, though deep down she knew he wasn't that kind of guy.
Theresa found herself in front of Jamie's bedroom door. She hesitated for a moment, taking deep breathes, then knocked as softly as she could. "Come in," she heard a weary voice say from the other side. She carefully opened the door to find Jamie lying on his bed, head back holding an icepack on his forehead. The sight broke her heart, and she tried to stop up the tears that were threatening to fall again.
"I'm sorry," she said in a tiny voice.
Jamie turned his head slightly, holding the icepack in place. He gestured for her to come into the room.
"I'm sorry," Theresa repeated, a little louder this time.
The corners of Jamie's lips curved up. "It's okay. I know you didn't mean to do it. I don't have a lot of control over my powers either, to tell you the truth."
That was the first time he had ever admitted that to her or anyone. He was still learning, just like her. Accidents did happen sometimes.
Theresa frowned, conflicted with the fact that on one end she wanted to stay by Jamie's side and other where she wanted to go hide forever in a hole. Jamie could tell what was going on by the face she was making.
"That was how I found out about my powers for the first time."
Theresa scrunched her face, confused. "How?"
"By sneezing," Jamie replied. He scooted over and patted the side of the bed. It took a moment for her to move her limps to sit next to him. "When I was twelve years old, I was in the wheat fields working by myself when a bad sneeze came on. It was so strong that I fell backwards into the wheat. When I sat up and looked around, there were over two dozen copies of myself all popping their heads out from above the wheat."
Jamie smiled at the expression on Theresa's face. She looked mesmerized by the story, her mouth agape just slightly. "What'd you do?" she asked.
"Well, the first thing I thought was 'Did I knock myself out and am dreaming?' When I stood up, I found out I wasn't. I didn't know what to do. Identicals of myself were all staring at me. I knew I felt something shift inside me, but I thought it was from the sneeze. I started thinking about how to make the copies go away, and after a couple minutes, they finally got sucked back into me.
"I kept my powers a secret for two years until an accident with my dad one day made me multiple and that was it." His voice suddenly became heavy and his features grew dark. "The secret was out and things were never the same again."
"But that's over with." In an instant, he was back to the regular Jamie as he smiled at her even through the terrible headache.
"Thanks for sharing that with me," Theresa said. "I really am sorry about giving you the worst headache anyone could ever get."
Jamie sighed. He reached out and surprised Theresa by taking her hand. "It's okay. I'll get over it."