Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men or Portishead's song "Sour Times," so don't get litigious.
Jean didn't answer Jinx's question. She could come up with plenty of reasons for why someone would commit murder, but giving Jinx a vague answer would just be heartless. She already knew who had murdered Gaia's parents, but she didn't know why, and Jinx needed to hear both parts of the answer.
"Jinx, I already set up your room. You should go and have a rest." She gave Jinx the directions, and as Jinx let, the Professor re-entered the room. "What should we do?"
"I don't really know," he admitted. "I thought that when I broke the news, she'd want to stay here where she'd be safe. Instead, she's run off, and it's no good finding her if she doesn't want to be found."
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On the bus, Gaia was shaking her CD player in frustration. She did NOT need this! Not now! It was the only way she'd been able to keep people from asking about her swollen red eyes.
"Hey," the girl sitting next to her whispered. "Need batteries?"
Gaia sniffled. "Yeah. Thanks. Um, sorry I've been ignoring you all bus ride."
Battery Girl smiled. "Nah, that's OK. It's not like you came on this bus to socialize. Me, I'm taking the bus because my car's in a garage in New York City, waiting for me to pick it up. How about…" She trailed off.
"What?" asked a confused Gaia.
"I was gonna ask you why you were on this bus," Battery Girl admitted. "But I saw your face and I figure if you're leaving anything that bad, you don't need a reason." She dug around in her purse and pulled out a little plastic compact. "White eyeshadow. Maybe it'll bring out the whites of your eyes enough that people'll stop trying to comfort you. I hate it when they do that and they don't even know the situation."
Gaia was astonished. She didn't even know this girl, but she'd figured out the situation and how to help almost instantly. "Thanks. Hey, if I'm going to be thanking you every five seconds, you should probably tell me your name. I don't want to get stuck saying 'Thanks, uh… person.'" Both of them laughed.
"Julie," Battery Girl finally said. If Gaia had been fully functioning, she would have noticed that Julie had needed a few extra seconds to remember her own name. She was so tired and miserable, though, that her natural suspicion failed to rise to the occasion. "So, where do you think you'll end up?"
"New Orleans," came Gaia's determined answer.
"By plane? Train? Bus?"
Gaia's confidence faltered. "Um. I was just going to hitch rides-"
"Not only is that dangerous," Julie pointed out with a shake of her dark ponytail, "it's also pretty difficult nowadays. I had a friend who tried to hitchhike cross-country. No one would pick her up. She couldn't get five miles from home. Look, I was planning to stay in New York for the next couple of weeks, but if it'll keep you from sitting by the road until doomsday, I'll give you a ride."
"Really?" Gaia couldn't believe her luck.
"Sure. I take the same stupid vacation to New York every year. This way, I can go on to California after dropping you off." Julie stifled a grin. "I should send my wannabe-hitchhiker friend a postcard from LA. She'll just wanna kill me!"
A few hours later, Gaia was having a great time, considering that she'd just had the shock of her life.
"Feeling better?" Julie asked. Gaia nodded. She felt relieved after telling Julie about it all (except, of course, the mutant parts of it… Gaia wasn't a complete lunatic). "Good. Hey, do you mind if I change the CD?"
Gaia shook her head and leaned back in her seat, gazing out the window. She didn't see Julie pull the dart pistol from behind the CDs, and she'd barely registered that something had pricked her neck when she lost consciousness.
Julie grinned unabashedly, showcasing the fangs and pointed teeth she'd been so careful to hide from Gaia. She could pass for a reasonably pretty human when all the outward signs of her mutation were covered up, but now that the girl wasn't watching her, she didn't have to disguise herself as one of those worthless creatures. She tugged her tail out of her jeans, whipping it around a little to shake off the numbness, then pulled off her ponytail holder. The hair she'd combed over her horns fell back to the side of her face. Too bad she couldn't do anything about her wings; she wasn't about to take off her shirt in front of a stranger even if she was knocked out. As she removed the sunglasses that had hidden her demonic-looking red eyes, she whispered something to Gaia's slumped form: "My name is Heaven. But I'm afraid you might find I'm taking you to Hell."