The first few paragrahps feels ackward for some reason. I don't know. You guys tell me what you think. Enjoy
The mansion door was thrown open after the third knock. A brief flash of dark skin and white hair and the door was slammed shut again. Kelly stood statue still for a moment, gazing at the door and wondering exactly what had happened.
Around twenty hours earlier she had called the Professor to tell him she was coming home. And so, thusly she had expected them to know that she was coming home. She knew they knew she was coming home, but for whatever reason Ororo felt the need to slam doors in her face, she didn't understand.
She shrugged. There were other ways to get into the school. She walked around the school and smiled cheerily when she came to the back of it. With as much force as she could, she threw the one duffle bag she had with her, over onto the second floor upstairs patio thing. She climbed the vine plant rail and jumped over the stonewall.
Not quite unexpectedly the glass doors leading into the second hall were open. The pure snow-white curtains bubbled brightly in the warm breeze. Kelly slowly entered through the door, gazed up and down the empty hall and walked towards the set of stairs leading down. She walked right past the room she once occupied before going back and entering it.
The room looked exactly the same, except for a few minor changes.
Two, very familiar, guns were laid out on the bedside table. David had given it to her on the first Christmas with the guys. Next to it was a pretty little charm bracelet from Chris. Dukes had given her a silver necklace; matching the bracelet Chris had given her. They'd probably gone and done shopping together. On the headboard of the bed was a black cowboy hat from John. The other guys had given her things to eat. But next to the bracelet, standing up, was the casing of the first bullet she had shot into a target. That was courtesy of Victor Creed. She had no idea why. The book she had read the day they got back from Africa was standing, a little open, with the cover to the front. It was James's book. And the last thing, the one thing that drew her attention the most, was the single fake red rose laid out across the necklace, bracelet and guns.
She could remember the day Wade had given her that rose, like it was yesterday. She didn't even need to concentrate on her breathing at all.
She could just close her eyes and she could see a replay of the whole event. "It's going to sound cheesy." He had said when he walked into the room they shared.
She had barely glanced at him, trying to make her way through a thick report one of the guys had given her. It was an old interrogation report she didn't even want to read. "What is?" She had asked when he dropped down onto the bed.
Her sight of the report had gone slightly blurry as it tried to focus on the words and the red rose suddenly in her view. It had taken her a moment to realize that the rose hadn't popped up from nowhere. It had taken her a moment to realize that Wade was holding the rose. "When this dies, I will stop loving you." He had said.
She hadn't answered him. She had stared at the rose and then glanced at him, before turning her gaze back to the rose. It had taken longer than it should've to realize that the rose was fake. At first she had thought he was seriously twisted if he was going to base what she felt for him on a rose that was going to die eventually. But when the realization had hit, she had smiled and pressed her lips to his mouth. "I love you."
She dropped the backpack onto the bed and the duffle bag at the foot of it and studied the assembly of things for a moment longer. She shrugged. She couldn't really figure out where they came from. The guns had been in her backpack, which had been confiscated, the night they went to save Wade. She had never seen the backpack since then. The book and other things had been left in her room before she had even left the base. She hadn't exactly expected to see them again. But she figured someone who had been on her team had raided the old base and brought it here. For whatever reason.
She slowly walked over to the bedside table and picked up the bullet casing. She studied it and shook her head, pulled the drawer open and dropped it inside. She placed the guns in there as well. The rest of the things she held in her hands and replaced after wiping the dust away.
She left the rest of things as it was. She figured she'd clean up later. Now, she'd just like to know why Ororo slammed the door in her face. Downstairs looked no different than she remembered either. Granted, she only saw the inside of one room downstairs so she wouldn't know if it changed much. She made her way to the kitchen, she didn't want to into the living room just yet.
Two arms wrapped around her and lifted her into the air, just as a bunch of confetti paper fell onto her. "Welcome home!" Jerry declared setting her down near the island.
She smiled brightly and pressed her hand over her chest, in a mock fashion of pain. "You guys should've told me you missed me this much, I'd have come home." She teased with a grin.
Ororo huffed. "Would've if we knew where to find you!" She said. She crossed her arms over her chest. She actually looked like a human now. All of them did. She scanned over the crowd. Emma was gone. Emily was also gone.
But the rest of them were there. Ororo didn't look like a skeleton and Scott had a set of dark red ruby colored glasses on his eyes. She had no idea what his power was, but those looked cool.
They talked the whole night away. She told them all about Japan. How she trained with Hiroshi. Lived with Satoshi and Yuki. She told them about Market day and the surrounding hills. They told her about Neill's visit. Emily going off to marry Neill. And Emma leaving the manor. She didn't ask questions about why. She just figured the girl needed time on her own.
She did ask where Emily lived now. Apparently the two hadn't gone too far from New York and she'd be able to visit once in a while.
Jerry told her about this new girl he found. A girl who didn't have a problem with mutants and figured they were as human as any other person on the planet. Scott told her that he had a crush on Jean (Jean wasn't around for that part). Jean wanted to be a psychologist and Ororo just wanted to learn how to control her powers and continue living and eventually working at the school.
By the time they finally went to bed, it was starting to become morning. Kelly smirked and sighed wistfully. "The irony." She muttered softly.
Ororo gazed at her a tiredly. "What?" She asked.
"In about ten minutes you have to get up for school." She said with a rather smug expression.
Ororo scowled at her. "Actually dear. I was wondering if you'd like the position as a communications teacher. Teach the children how to talk to each other. I think you'd be perfect for that."
Kelly smiled. She had never felt so honored before. She nodded. "Sure, of course, but I'll start tomorrow. Today, I'm sleeping in Jerry's room. Cleaning my room and working on a discussion topic."
Kelly watched as Jerry pulled his leather jacket straight, saluted her and started for the door. "Good luck Captain." He never stopped calling her that it would seem. Ororo said that whenever he spoke about her in the two years she had been gone, it was the Captain this and the Captain that.
"Why are you doing this to me?" She asked mournfully.
He laughed. A bright cheerful sound, a sound that she could not copy at the moment. "They're just a bunch of kids, Captain! How hard can it be to look after kids?" He asked sassily. He was supposed to help her baby-sit. The Professor was out to dinner with an old friend who had come to town. It was supposed to be her, Jerry, the kids, popcorn and a lot of corny movies. But now it was just she, and a bunch of kids. Who were all probably going to be very temperamental by the end of the night, mostly because she didn't know how to look after children.
She had never even babysat someone before, much less a group of someones. "You'll be fine Captain. I'll see you in the morning." He left like that.
Two weeks of teaching and everything and suddenly she were a babysitter. That sucked. It wasn't any sorts of fun at all. She sighed. She heard the gate creak open about a kilometer down from the front door. And just as it shut lightening flashed across the sky followed by a loud bark of thunder.
She felt a shiver race down her spine and quietly crept up to her room. She knew Ororo, Scott and Jean would take care of everything until she got down there. Inside her room she pulled the drawer open, checked the two guns and shoved them into the back of her jeans. She was going to sit uncomfortably, but something felt weird. She figured that was why she didn't want Jerry to leave. The leather jacket she was prone to wear (meaning she was never seen without it) covered the guns.
She looked up to the two katana, which was stationed over the bed, and glanced out the window. It was raining hard and relentlessly. She got onto the bed and pulled them down. The two wolves swinging back and forth it was almost like they wanted to run. She left the room and checked the glass doors, made sure they were locked and the dark velvet curtains pulled over the white ones.
Just before she closed them, a flash of lightening traveled across the sky and she could've sworn she saw something at the edges of the trees surrounding the place. She knew full well that she was only freaking herself out upstairs alone. She walked down and wasn't surprised to find the group of children already fully immerged in their horror movie.
She couldn't help but find the cinematic drama in that. A horror movie on a storming night with a group of kids and a woman who wasn't sure she could do much. The irony of it all. She sat in her plush chair. Facing the television, the two katana balanced into up right position and slouching down slightly. It still didn't stop the guns from being uncomfortable.
She wondered if this was what some people got. She wondered if now that she was back in New York and to her senses, this was an after shock of what had happened at the base, Africa, Texas all of it. Like soldiers who sometimes think they hear an explosion when it's only something falling…loudly unfortunately.
She was sure it couldn't be that. But she was also sure that Xavier's school for gifted youngsters were the safest place on the planet. She cut the sounds from the television off and concentrated on nothing.
"You believe in self and home and you will be ok." Hiroshi's words made her open her eyes.
She kept her eyes on the television. Her unease never left her. She found herself often glancing at the watch on her wrist. A welcome back present from Jerry. She was counting down the minutes to when either the Professor or Jerry would be back. But that seemed impossible. Every time she checked it seemed like time had slowed down purposely just to frustrate her. Eventually she just fell asleep, she was apparently more tired than she had thought she was.
She was woken by the lights flickering off and loud, crashing thunder outside. The kids in the room stayed completely still as the television flicked off and stayed dead. "Just hold on, it'll come back." Scott muttered.
A minute turned to five, five turned to ten eventually they sat in dead silence for a half hour straight with nothing happening. The unease Kelly felt earlier came back with full force and deadlier than before.
Something was wrong.
She slowly got up and grabbed the two katana. She didn't know what she was going to do with them. She knew very well she wouldn't kill anyone. "Stay here." She muttered. And she also knew full well that Hiroshi hadn't taught her how to use them to kill. He had taught her how to use them because he knew she needed help with herself. How, she didn't know. He had just known.
She didn't venture far. She wasn't brave and she wasn't stupid. Bravery almost always led to death. And she sure as hell wasn't going to die for something she wasn't even sure if it was there. Meaning she wouldn't die, but the thought would still have been there. She ventured as far as the kitchen island and the middle of the second floor staircase. And then she went back to the kids.
They watched as she walked in. One of them must've gone into the kitchen at some point during her half way up the staircase adventure, she blamed this knowledge on the small candle burning on the coffee table. It didn't offer much light, but it did offer light and that was the most important part.
She tried to smile reassuringly. "We'll just wait here for the lights to come on again." She said and sat down. She didn't miss how all the younger children crawled over to her chair and sat as close to it as possible.
Jean huffed, but nodded still. Ororo smiled. "We'll be fine. We'll be fine." She repeated. They came to sit with the younger kids. Quietly telling stories to them to keep them calm.
It worked well for a while. Then something upstairs broke. Glass by the sound of it. The loud shattering crash traveled hard through the quiet mansion. It was an instant reaction. They all blew at the candle and watched as it flickered out.
Kelly pulled the two guns from her jeans and slowly got up. She pulled the safeties back and walked to the door. The thick carpeting in the whole place dulled her steps to nothing but a soft spoofing sound. It was covered completely by the rain. She walked into the hall and stood in the center of it. If she stood still, absolutely still and held her breath and listened carefully. She could hear the dull thudding of heavy footsteps upstairs. Heavy footsteps of more than just one person.
"Scott, get them out." She whispered just loud enough for them to hear as she walked back and grabbed the katana swords. She stared at them for a moment and cursed softly. She didn't know how she was going to carry all of it at the same time. "Now." She continued to say as Ororo pulled something from under her chair.
"Now's as good as any other time. It was supposed to be a welcome back present. I bought it after you showed us the swords." She said and shoved something at Kelly.
From what Kelly could tell in the dark, it was a holster. She could slip it over her shoulder and then be able to put the katana on her back, and guns against her ribs. She smiled and nodded, quickly pulling it on and having Jean help her put the katana on her back. "Now, really, I need you to go. Find a safe place." She told them and moved back out to the hallway.
She heard them trudge as quietly as possible into the kitchen and out the back door. They were going to be soaked and cold before the minute was up. She shook her head as she moved up the stairs. Sticking to the shadows. The steps were still more up. She couldn't believe she was playing the brave one. The stupid one. The dead one if this went wrong. She should've gone with the kids and went to get help.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when something crashed upstairs. She stood frozen for a moment, trying to listen for sounds. There weren't any, so she started moving again. She couldn't decide if this was just some sick twisted game created by one of the anti-mutant groups or if it was a group of junkies looking for valuables or if it was some sort of real danger.
She decided on real danger a minute later. They were too high up in the building for it to be some insane group or junkies.
She stopped at the base of the fourth floor stairs. She could honestly say she found it sick and twisted what some people would do. She hadn't been able to believe Jerry when he told her what some people would do to fight against mutant rights. But she could also not believe what she was thinking about when she was supposed to be serious.
Someone was thrown into the wall just above the stairs and she quickly ducked and hid behind the stairs against the staircase wall. "Moron." Someone snapped. The voice sounded familiar. "The term 'silent as the grave' means just that. Be silent or I will put you in a grave."
A few more men chuckled and she cursed her stupidity. She couldn't take on what sounded like at least five or six men. Not on her own. And she was sure that at least some of these men were going to be mutants, if not all. She couldn't even handle one single mutant alone, the scar on her stomach, is the proof to that. She crouched down as someone started walking down the stairs. She kept herself to the shadows.
The guy was big. From his silhouette he was also well trained. She trained the two guns on his back and closed her eyes. She needed to protect those kids. No one but the taxi driver and the lot here knew she was even in New York. Hell she didn't even know anyone else but the group here. It came down to something simple. She had the element of surprise.
She pulled the triggers on both guns once. The loud dislodging of the bullets didn't allow the guy time to turn around. Whoever was with him shouted as he thudded to the ground. Stupidly they ran down. She didn't get chance to train the guns on four different people all at once, but two more went down before the last two realized she was standing in the shadows. And they ran at her. Stupidly again. She just pulled the triggers, hitting each of them. She was sure not in a critical place, but it would give her time to call –
Her thoughts froze in her head as the guy she had shot first got up with a groan. "I can never get use to that." He muttered. Her hands were limp at her sides and she couldn't help but stare at the guy. He turned around.
Lightening flashed again and glinted off the two swords in his hands. For a moment she was ready to smile brightly, laugh even and run to him. But then she remembered that Wade was dead. And that anyone could learn how to handle swords. She was living proof of that.
She regained her sense the moment she realized he was walking towards her. She shoved the guns into the opposite side of her arms' holsters and pulled the katana from her back. She could tell he was surprised by the hesitation he showed for a moment. Other than practice attacks, which became a routine later, she had no clue how to handle them in an actual battle. She didn't show the theatrics he did and mostly backed up and away from him.
Battle wasn't her thing at all. She was bad at it. She froze up and forgot everything she was supposed to remember.
He swung out at her and she blocked it with one of her katana. The loud clang of metal on metal echoed through the hall. He didn't wait for her to feel elated about having remembered how to block, the other sword got itself imbedded where her head had been seconds before. She felt a growing need to find something that would stop this fight before she ended up dead.
He moved them down the hall. Him swinging and walking forward with her trying to block and going backward. After about twenty minutes of a rather not routine fight, he had her deprived of both katana and the holster. She was literally and figuratively weaponless. She was weaponless with her back pressed to the wall.
They were standing next to the window they had broken. It took her a minute to collect her thoughts properly. They must've broken the window, went upstairs and then came back down when there was no one up there. And ran into her. Rain had soaked the carpet a little. And the moon was shining brightly. It was odd. It was raining, thick clouds she could see, but on one spot, the moon was clearly visible.
Lightening crashed through the sky as she looked back to the man. She stared at him long and hard in that second of a flash and then everything went black. All of it. The world around her, her vision and her head emptied.
Because there was no way. None at all that Wade Wilson could be standing there.