|
  |
Lorna had been gone for a little over two weeks. Only a week had passed with any information about what exactly had happened when Kaleb had been rescued, which had led to a mixture of phone calls to Erik and gossip from Julie to spread the news. As of two days ago, Lorna had been rescued and out cold in the medbay. As of last night.. she had been awake, nearly took out said medbay, and been removed of a psonic mutant possessing her mind by Charles.
Which had resulted in a return to her bedroom up a floor and down the hall from Remy's. The green haired mutant had been showered with affection from other students awash in concern and worry for her. But she hadn't left her room or said much of anything.
Yet somehow, in the afternoon, with the sun streaming through the hall windows, Lorna found herself standing outside of Remy's room and knocking. It was a quiet, soft, thing.
"Chere," Remy says with a smile as he's actually not even in the room. He's walking down the hallway with an unlit cigarette behind his ear. His arms are half-outstretched toward her as he approaches, leaning in to give her a hug should she let him. "Ain't been home dat much recently. Jus' heard you an' yer boyfriend been thru a terrible time. Y'allright?"
Lorna was slow to even realize Remy's voice wasn't coming from the other side of the door. She was very visibly not herself. Her hair looked like it hadn't been combed. And she hadn't bothered to change out of a comfortable pair of shorts and T-shirt that she'd obviously slept in. And with a slowness that suggested a new fragility to her, she returned the hug. Which quickly turned into something far more clingy and desperate for comfort. A sniffle followed.
"No." She mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut as she struggled to inhale and exhale a shaky breath to fight back more tears.
Remy holds her in his arms, sliding his hands onto her back and pulling her close. "Erryting gun be alright, chere. Jus' breath. Dun forget t' breath. C'mon, les go talk." He opens the door to his room—Oliver has dutifully been sitting on the rug, waiting for Remy to return (or more likely, just sleeping there because it was close and soft). "What happened?" Remy says as he moves over towards his dresser and pours himself a drink.
Lorna nodded as she shuffled along under his direction. She didn't particularly get far into the room, not at the sight of Oliver on the rug. Just as soon as Remy turned to the dresser to get a drink, she was bending down to scoup up the tiny kitten and settle him on her lap. She snuggled him close to her, scritching under his chin and just seeming to find comfort in holding onto the little fur ball.
"..I.. uhm.. I don't.. I'm not sure how to start." She mumbled, her voice soft and trembling on the edge. "It's.. a .. a jumble."
"Well, start it wit a jumble den, chere. Ah ain't in no hurry." Leaving the bed or the recliner to her, he sits upon the sofa with the glass of bourbon in his hand. He puts his arm up on the back rest and crosses his leg, apparently in a "I'm ready to listen pose."
An exhale followed and Lorna's brow creased in a furrow of concentration. "Kaleb took me out to dinner.. but.. someone drugged the soup. Everything got blurry and .. that's all I remember there. I don't know how long I was out.. or where I went. I vaguely remember bright lights, and something that smelled like a hospital. Everything was.. it was difficult to process. I couldn't move. I remember that.."
She kept her position on the floor, putting her back to the bed as she cuddles Oliver close. Lorna drew her knees up, shifting her grip on the kitten to basically cradle him. "..And then I wasn't me anymore."
"Weren't you?" Remy says as he pinches his eyebrows together. He reaches back to open the window and then turns on a fan to blow air out of the room. Looks like someone has been breaking a rule or two. He lights his cigarette. "Ah guess ah dun understand, chere." He looks to her sympathetically. "Ole Remy get you anything? Mebbe sometin to eat or a blanket."
"I'm not hungry." Lorna mumbled, shaking her head. She hadn't exactly eaten anything since she'd gotten back to the school. Though it wasn't from lack of attempts from others that were worried about her. Her gaze remained firmly on Oliver as she scratched under his chin and smoothed a hand down his back.
"..they put .. there was.. a.. uhm.. they had a mutant. She.. she body hopped. A-and.. she worked for them. They put her.. she.." Her lower lip trembled faintly as she swallowed a hard lump in her throat. "..She made me do things. Say things.. a-and she woke up in the medbay.."
Remy raises an eyebrow, "Well whatevah she done, dat was her and not you, chere." He drags hard on his cigarette, wondering about the particulars of this place, wondering who is behind it, and wondering whether that peacock boyfriend of Lorna's is alright. He exhales, getting too much smoke into the room and finds himself hoping that Xavier doesn't notice. "Important ting is dat you home and you safe."
"..Kaleb didn't.. didn't know it wasn't me.." She whispered, biting her lower lip hard. "In the medbay. She.. she liked him. and.. she.." She shook faintly, her voice breaking off as she squeezed her eyes shut.
Lorna perhaped, hugged Oliver too tightly or for too long. Who could say with kittens and cats? As he squirmed and wiggled free from her grip, a sharp little claw nicked her arm, drawing blood. The green haired mutant dropped the kitten abruptly with a hiss of pain and snarl. Her powers lifting everything metallic in the room by a good few inches reflexively, along with herself, before she clapped her control over her powers again and everything fell back with a lurch.
Remy smokes his cigarette and doesn't say anything for a long time. After exhaling he stabs it out onto a tray before he leans back and tries to think of something to say. "How he feelin' bout it?" he asks, finally, finding no real words of wisdom here.
A mumbled apology for her minute loss of control followed and Lorna burrowed inwards all the more, wrapping her arms around her middle as she curled up at the side of Remy's bed. She shook her head mutedly for a moment, before realizing that she should likely add more to it. "I don't know." Her voice was small. "He.. they.. they did something to him. He's in pain."
Lorna bit her lower lip again, pressing the heels of her palms against her eyes. "..I think he liked her more than me."
"Dat ain't true, chere. Dat ain't true," Remy replies and shakes his head. "What you goin' thru dun make no sense to nobody. Y'can't jump to no conclusions like dis." He sighs sadly towards her, heart breaking a bit on her behalf. "Ahm sure y'all will get dis figured out."
Lorna lifted that green eyed gaze toward Remy, "I do though. She was drawn to .. to bad feelings, Remy. She told me that she knew Kaleb was .. was filled with them. And she talked about murdering people and .. and torturing them. And he .. he kissed her and.." Her voice broke off again into a trembling crackle that ended with tears flooding her eyes again.
A sniffle, then another followed as she rubbed at her eyes. "He liked her.." She choked out.
"Chere," Remy says as he leaves his glass on the dresser and joins her, putting an arm over his shoulders. "Look, ah know dat Kaleb is a boy you like a whole ton. Ya gotta give him de benefit of de doubt on dis one, belle. Mebbe he had his reasons, or mebbe dis have sometin to do wit sometin we ain't seein."
Lorna leaned heavily into Remy's offered arm, and she curled up there, crying for some time until she could finally bring herself to halt the tears and breathe. A cough, and she rubbed her nose with the back of her hand, her eyes red and puffy. "..I.. I don't want to see him again. I don't.. I can't.. he didn't know it wasn't me.. but.. but.. I-I tried to fight her. She wasn't like me."
Lorna rubbed at her eyes, still breathing hard from her tears and coughing as she wound herself up.
"Dat gun be plenty hard given dat de boy lives here, don't he? Or am ah wrong on dat? T'be honest, I can't keep it all straight, really," Remy says. "You gunna keep dat a secret from him? Dunno if dat a good idea, but you gotta do what is good for you, chere."
Lorna shook her head again. "No. He was supposed to start in the fall." She hiccupped, and rubbed at her nose again. "I.. Remy.. I feel like he should've known it wasn't me. She was all over him and .. and in my body… and .. and he didn't stop her. Didn't see anything wrong.." Her voice raised in pitch and she knew she was being irrational, on some level.
But the feelings remained. Hadn't every story and fairy tale she'd known claimed that love conquered all? That true love would know?
And Kaleb hadn't.. it had taken Charles to recognize immediately that something was off about 'Lorna'. And on some level that hurt the teenager rather sorely.
"Well, how was she different den you? Because she was all over 'im? Mebbe he figured you'd finally lost de chastity belt and could no longer resist 'im. In de same position ah think I'd do de same. Men are men, chere. Mebbe it was wishful tinkin," Remy says with a shrug.
Lorna exhaled a breath, flushing pink faintly among her tears and sniffling. "She was cruel, Remy. She.." Another rough sigh, and grimace followed as Lorna rubbed her hands against her tear stained face.
"She kept telling him to kill people. That she wanted to see their suffering.. that his anger and hatred was.. was something beautiful. How could he think that was me? That I would .. would like to see people suffer?"
"Ah don't know, chere. And either will you till you talk to him about it," Remy says as he gives her back a bit of a squeeze and pulls to his feet, looking for his booze. "Ah tink you should call him right now and get dis shit squared away."
Lorna shook her head again, even as he got up and went for his booze. "No. I.. I can't face him." She mumbled, exhaling a breath. It was a defensive thing. To focus so much on Kaleb and lay all of her hurt and anguish at what had happened to her at his feet. To find a small something to focus on rather than the bigger picture of what Malice had done to her for weeks.
"I don't want to talk to him."
Remy sighs and shrugs his shoulders, "Ah can't tink of nothin' else to help ya, chere. If you dun wanna talk to him, don't. Dun wanna see him? Don't. It's yo life and you gotta do what you tink is best."
Was Remy's advice good advice? Likely. Better than ignoring the issues and hoping they'd go away. But such was the joys of dealing with an emotionall and mentally unstable teenager. She exhaled a shaky breath, and as Oliver came back within petting distance, the green haired mutant reached out toward him, petting him carefully this time.
".. He would've been better off not dating me. Both of us would've been.."
"I think you feel guilty," Remy replies, sipping more at his drink. "If he is what you sayin he is, den what you jus' said ain't true. Either he a good guy or a bad guy."
Lorna swallowed hard, and kept her gaze away from Remy. The first part all too true. There was a good amount of guilt and self loathing in the little magnokinetic. "No one is all one thing, Remy." She mumbled, sniffling and rubbing her nose with the back of her hand.
Her own opinions so quick to lash back and forth on Kaleb, was it his fault he didn't notice Malice was in control? How could it be? To laying the blame for it all at his feet. Whether Kaleb was a good guy or bad was just as polarized a concept as her own magnetic fields.
".. It's just.. it's better this way."
"If you think so. Ahm not sure you really believe dat, but it ain't none of my business," Remy replies, looking over his shoulder and out the window. "You jus' a kid. Dere be plenty of fish in de sea and all dat."
Lorna lifted her gaze toward him as he looked toward the window and she pursed her lips together. Her arms crossed, settling atop of her knees as she watched him. "Kids don't get their bodies taken over and used by psonic mutants that use 'em for.. for.. whatever." She mumbled, "I'm not a kid."
Her gaze shifted away from Remy, back to staring at the floor in front of her.
"You right. In some ways, you a kid. In otha ways, you not, chere." Remy sighs, figuring nothing he is going to say here is going to help her. And less that she'd actually be willing to listen to. "Do you remember it? Like, were you in there as it was happenin?"
It took a while before Lorna responded to Remy's question and she slowly nodded. "..Yeah.." She exhaled a breath. "It.. it was like watching TV I guess.. I could see and hear everything… But I couldn't control my voice, or my body at all. It was.. I couldn't look away. I couldn't stop seeing what was going on around me when she was awake. When she did things."
Lorna rubbed her upper arm, squeezing her eyes shut. "And she was always there in my head. Telling me horrible things."
"What exactly did she do?" Remy asks, figuring he should ask point blank and at least get the facts if she was willing to share them.
Lorna glanced back toward Remy, biting her lower lip for a long moment before she exhaled a breath and looked down at her hands. "She told them.. she went into my head and told them everything about everyone here." She whispered. "She gave them names. Locations. She made me tell. She made me help them grab kids off the streets. Ones that I'd met before." She shivered. She still didn't know that Magneto had freed two kids from the same facility that she'd been headed to.
"She was supposed to make me grab the kids here. But the Professor caught her."
"Hmm." That's pretty much nothing that Remy thought it was. It's worse, but in a different way. "Anyone know why she is wantin' to do such a ting? Anyone know who she is or how we can catch her?"
Lorna exhaled a breath and shook her head. "I don't know. She said she liked my suffering… she liked negative things. Emotions.. people.." She closed her eyes, and pressed the tips of her fingers against her temples. A head ache already there that had never really faded from her crying.
"They.. the people that had me. They told her what to do. The Professor said she was gone. That he got rid of her."
"That's a relief at least," Remy replies. He lets out a deep sigh. "Ah tink you should probably talk to someone. Mebbe de Professah. Mebbe someone professionally. I dunno, but ah tink you should seek someone out."
Lorna glanced back up to Remy and she hooked an eyebrow upwards as he said she should talk to 'someone'. But as he clarified 'professional' she winced and looked away. "I think the Professor will want to talk to me." She mumbled, at least then she wouldn't always have to talk exactly. A grimace pulled at her lips and she exhaled.
"I just.. I don't want to be around anyone really. I .. Everyone else is going to coddle me and worry.. and.. I.. I just can't stomach that thought."
"If y'dun wanna be coddled, what do you want?" Remy asks with a raised eyebrow. "People are gunna worry, Lorna. Dats because dey care about you."
A shrug, muted and wordless followed his question about what she wanted. Her expression looking lost and more than a little exhausted and forlorn. "I just want.. I want.. I don't know what I want. I just know that .. that everything looks pointless. Why should I bother with anything?" Her brows furrowed and she hugged her arms around her middle.
"What's the point in .. in all of this?" She gestured to the room at large but it was clear she meant something more. "I don't want to finish my degree. I don't want to train in my powers. Or in combat. I don't want to do anything anymore."
"De point is in whatever you want it to be. Ah tink you gotta start livin' for yourself and not for your uncle, not for yo' daddy. Jus' for Lorna. If training and finishin' yo' degree is what's best for you and what you tink should happen, den dat for de best." Remy sighs, "Or mebbe you should jus' take some time before you make any rash decisions."
Lorna grimaced, and got up, a glance back toward Oliver briefly. At least he seemed to be able to sleep well enough. Her focus wavered toward Remy again and she sighed. "Maybe.." She shrugged, pushing her hands through her hair. "I dunno. I'm going to go back to sleep I think. Or try." She wrinkled her nose and shrugged once more.
"Thanks, Remy.." For what? She wasn't sure. But it was reflex at this point.
"You're welcome," Remy replies. He's not sure for what either.