Disclaimer: I don't own any characters except my characters. Which are quite a few this time around. Let's try it this way: I don't own any Marvel characters that happen to show up in the upcoming chapters and which I'm sure you'll recognise without any need to name long lists. I also do not own Jenny, which Dizi created a few years back and which is a fabulous character. I strongly recommend you read her adventures with Wolverine and the X-Men.
7. Mamma's a Coward
Lilia was sleeping in her bedroom, they had told Creed. Frost had given her a telepathic nudge to get her to sleep, but the suggestion should undo itself the moment an external stimulus snapped her out of it.
"It was considered the safest option," Pryde said stiffly on their way. But he could tell she wasn't fully satisfied with the option. "We were able to focus on giving Isabel the best care possible, and Lilia was able to be safely on her own, instead of suffering with anxiety over the whole event."
Sounded fine in theory, but he could smell it from the corridor: fear. It got stronger with each step and he couldn't help the growl. When Pryde opened the door, he registered neither her slightly apprehensive tone nor her words. As a matter of fact, as soon as the stench of intense fear fully assaulted him, when the door opened, Creed's already over-ridden instincts had him completely forget about the X-girl's harmless presence.
Without as much as a conscious thought, Creed closed the door behind him, glanced over the windows to ascertain they were closed and locked, and quickly used his senses to make sure no danger was lurking anywhere in the room. Next, he was stealthily crouching by the bed.
Lilia was whimpering, rolled into a ball under the bed covers; and when Creed carefully pulled the covers back, she shuddered harder. He wondered briefly how the child could have managed to snap out of the telepathic influence. Could her powers include a natural resistance to telepathy?
"Hush, Lil' Devil," Creed cooed softly, picking the girl up with the gentleness of the first time he had picked her up, a three-month-old infant. "Papa's here, now, Lil' Devil, and everythin's gonna be O.K., ya hear? Everythin's gonna be O.K.."
The girl clung to her Papa's neck as if it were the only thing keeping her alive, her little fingers boring into his skin so hard they almost drew blood.
"Hush, Lil' Devil, hush, now," Creed continued breathing softly, "Why's ya cryin' so much, Lil' Devil? Papa's here. 'S O.K.. Nuthin's gonna hurts ya, now. Everythin's fine."
The sobs started dying down eventually, and as Creed continued promising everything was OK and nobody was going to hurt her, Lilia whimpered something about her hands.
"Huh?" He forced her hands away from his neck and sat her down on the bed softly, frowning away the sobs that threatened to increase. "O.K., no more cryin' now, girl, and we'll have us a lil' talk. What's this ya talkin' 'bout, yer hands. What's the matter with 'em?"
"They… they… hu't…"
Creed swallowed down and gently took the little hands in his, looking intently at their back. They looked the same as always: beautifully perfect. He passed a thumb over the tiny knuckles and felt the girl's body stiffen and shudder. Pain had snapped her out of Frost's suggestion, he realised. Looking at her frightened brown eyes, Creed felt unsure and a cold shiver of fear ran up and down his spine. As soon as it did, though, he hardened his resolve. He took the little girl's face in his hand and gazed right into her eyes.
"Ya can't be 'fraid o' yer hands hurtin', Lil' Devil. Ya gotta be strong, ya hear? Ya just tell yer hands ta stop hurtin'. Ya tell'em ya ain't gonna let 'em hurt. That ya're stronger 'an them. Ya understand?"
Lilia didn't seem very sure, though, as she swallowed down and asked if it worked. She had good reason to be dure, though. While her body didn't relax some, the pain would not go away. But he was there and his presence would give her the opportunity and the confidence to unwind her muscles as she overcame her fear.
"It takes a lil' while. They don't stop right away. But ya can't let'em win, Lil' Devil. Ya keep sayin' ya're stronger 'an them, and they won't have no other chance but t'obey and stop hurtin'. Ya can't let'em get away with hurtin' ya. Tell'em ya're not afraid o'them; that ya ain't afraid of'em hurtin' so they might as well stop hurtin' an' behave."
Stiffling a sob, the girl bobbed her head up and down. She seemed calmer and Creed relaxed a bit. The pain would go away soon. She must have been really scared with what happened to her Mamma, what with him being away and having no one she could trust telling her everything was going to be just fine. Creed gave her a hearty smile when she told her hands to stop hurting, although her voice wavered with slight uncertainty. Looking up and seeing her Papa's smile, though, she bit her lip, took a deep breath and put on her 'bad face'.
"I to'd ya: stop hu'tin'. I'm not afwaid o'you, ya hear? I ain't no cowa'd wike Mamma."
When she looked up this time, ready to bask in Papa's approval, her big smile met a frown. She was immediately frightened and her chin started trembling.
"What did ya just say yer Mamma is?"
Seeing her chin crumble and her breast heave up and down ahead of more crying, he grabbed her arms and repeated the question; but the only answer was a set of whimpered sobs.
"Stop it! Who told ya yer Mamma's a coward, Lilia?"
By then, Lilia was fighting hard to keep fresh tears from spilling and the only thing she managed to whimper, besides strangled sobs, was that her hands were hurting. Almost immediately, he sensed the door opening. Next, he was clutching a surprised Pryde's neck against the wall, who phased away in the following second. Enraged, Creed punched the wall, and turned to face the X-girl, standing between him and his crying daughter.
"WHO WAS IT!" He hadn't even heard what Pryde was saying. The only reason he hadn't plunged into an attack, was the fact Lilia was crying behind her and he couldn't risk hurting her in a difficult fight as it would be, facing off the phasing girl. "WHO the fuck told Lilia her MAMMA's a COWARD!"
"What? Are you insane?"
Pryde was already positioned for his attack, and Creed did leap. She was ready for him and phased, expecting to partially materialise and attack him when he couldn't defend himself: before his attack was fully over. But it had been a ruse. Creed hadn't meant to attack her and simply reached for the crying girl, who promptly clutched herself to Papa's neck and shoulder.
"Think this over, Creed. You harm Lilia…"
"SHUT YER YAP!" Creed was fuming and clung to Lilia almost as hard as Lilia clung to him. "Ya told her her Mamma's a coward!"
"What? Of course not! We…"
But Creed wasn't listening anymore as he turned to Lilia and demanded she said who had told her her Mamma was a coward.
"They said…" she wailed, frightened; and as Creed continued insisting 'who', she kept crying "they… they said…"
Pryde passed a hand over her forehead, and not even the enraged Sabretooth could have denied her shock and disbelief at Lilia's words. Growling, Creed walked past her and out of the bedroom.
"This can't be happening…"
Trying to make sense of the girl's accusation, Kitty phased onto the lower floor and hurried to the meeting room, where Scott and the others were discussing the interrupted mission. Creed was acting on an instinct of protective parent, which turned him into a big threat… one that would be hard to thwart while he held Lilia. At the same time, Kitty went over the morning events: Lilia crying desperately for her father and Isabel having the spontaneous abortion. What if Isabel's abortion had been caused by the extra stress of having her daughter call her a coward? Worse, what if Creed thought that the abortion had been caused by someone convincing Lilia that her mother was a coward? And what if it actually was true?
"Scott, we have a situation."
Kitty had hardly finished these words and Logan's claws were already out.
"Did he hurt the girl?"
Scott seemed surprised at the idea even as he put it forward.
"Somebody said something that had Lilia saying we told her Isabel is a coward and…"
"… and I wanna know WHO!"
If you've enjoyed the chapter, please leave a review. Just let me know what you liked and disliked so I can keep improving my writing skills. Thank you.