Lyrissa's Sparkles

Lyrissa woke the next morning to hushed giggles. She suspected it was the boys getting ready to pull another prank, until she heard Gambit whisper, and Jean and Jubilee laugh as well. She opened her eyes to seeLogan sprawled out in the chair next to her bed, holding Allie’s tiger as a pillow in one hand, and the corner of her blanket pulled over his shoulder in the other. The tables around her bed were covered with drawings and handmade Get Well Soon cards, some flowers someone had picked form the back yard, and next to her was her blue stuffed teddy bear Beastie.

“Shh, she’s still sleeping. Do you want to wake her?” Kiera scolded the group. “She’s not asleep genius, her eyes are open!” Max retorted. “But do you wanna wake Wolverine, dat be de question.” Gambit whispered. Lyrissa opened her eyes further to see nearly every kid in the mansion crowded in the infirmary, most if not all the X-Men as well.

“Hey guys.” She whispered with a tired smile. “Spawkles!” Allie piped quietly, crawling into bed with her and snuggling up. “Happy birthday.” She smiled. Allie replied with a happy giggle. “You know, she was going to postpone her party until you woke up.” Storm pointed out as Allie began playing with one of Lyrissa’s braids. “Awe, you’re such a sweetie.” She laughed. “Yeah, but you woke up like four whole hours before the party, so we don’t have to.” Jazz grinned. “Four hours? But the party was supposed to be at eight o’clock.” She gasped. “Yeah, and it’s four now Lyrissa.” Scott frowned.

Logan suddenly grunted in his sleep and shifted, pulling most of Lyrissa’s blanket off the bed; the only thing that was covered was from her hips to her knees. “Blanket hog.” She laughed as he slowly woke up. “Hey! Yer awake!” he beamed. “So are you!” she smiled in sarcastic awe.

“So can I leave?” Lyrissa asked the group hopefully. “I don’t see why not, Hank said you were free to go as soon as you woke up, as long as it was on your own and not one of the kids.” Scott shrugged. “Awesome!” she cheered; she was feeling so much better than the night before. She lifted the blanket, turned white, and covered up again quickly. “I know we’re into pranks around here, but who stole my pants?” she demanded, looking directly at Andrew. “Jean did it, I swear.” He said, holding his hands up defensively. “Hank suggested you be put in a hospital gown, and we agreed that you would prefer a girl do it. It wasn’t a prank, it was mostly to prevent the buttons and zippers of your uniform from cutting you up.” She explained. “Right, well it’s all scrunched up and I can’t un-scrunch it without showing everyone…” Lyrissa sighed and leaned back against her pillows.

“Wait, that bright pink thing I just saw, with the black bows was your underwear?” Andrew gasped. Lyrissa turned a very deep shade of red. “Oh god it was.” He groaned. “Uhm, does that mean that wasn’t your bikini top I found on your floor?” Max asked nervously. Her blush deepened. “OH MY GOD! I touched your bra?!” he shouted. She could practically feel Logan’s smirk at the situation. “Alright boys, girls, Logan, out. Come on.” Rogue ordered as she started ushering people out of the infirmary. Logan stayed behind. “Logan, don’t make me come back there for ya, ‘cause I will.” She threatened. “See ya around.” He smirked before leaving the room, and leaving her alone.

“I had to wear the pink ones!” she scolded herself as she got out of bed and quickly pulled the gown down to her knees. She wasted no time getting dressed, and in less than two minutes she was walking up to the kitchen.

“They really pink?” Logan asked from somewhere behind her. “Yes, with bows.” She sighed and kept walking. He gave a soft chuckle and followed behind her. “Don’t even comment on my underclothes Logan. I’m not having that discussion.” She stated firmly, knowing he was about to say something.

“Actually, I was gonna ask somethin’ else.” He replied.

“Shoot.”

“The kids, they were actin’ different when you were in there.”

“More of a statement than a question Logan, but yeah I bet they were.” She laughed.

“You were gone four years, what’d you do for them down in those sewers? They were actin’ like we would if it were the Professor layin’ there.”

“Everything I could. They had Andrew, and he was like the big brother of everyone, but he needed help. I just stepped up and took over everything he couldn’t do. And being a girl, I helped with the girl stuff a lot too. Logan, we’re all we have. I wouldn’t be the first one we’d lost. They were probably just afraid I was gonna die.”

“Lyrissa, Dante and Max were cryin’ with their arms ‘round each other. Andrew spent the entire time in the Danger Room, or holdin’ Allie. Allie didn’t quit demanding that we hold off the party until you got better, and crying for ya. Jazz and Kiera stayed outside the door the whole time talkin’ and tellin’ stories about ya… they were more than worried. Their whole personalities changed. Was like they all grew up at once.”

“I dunno Logan. Like I said, we’re all we have.” The conversation ended there, as they got to the kitchen.

“Hey!” Andrew laughed happily they walked in, hugging Lyrissa tightly. “Andrew… air…” she wheezed dramatically. “Well it seems you are feeling much better.” Xavier smiled from the other side of the table. “Yeah. I’m sorry about that. Do you guys need to set anything up for the party?” she asked, wanting to pull her weight after the night before. “Nope, everything’s already done.” Andrew beamed. “Cool.” She smiled, though she was disappointed.

Four hours later Allie’s party was raging. There were streamers and balloons everywhere, a brand new Happy Birthday banner with all of it’s letters, music, games, and a huge cake with five big candles on it. They really had gone all out to make it her best ever. When Lyrissa sat down at one of the tables in the Game Room she couldn’t help but to laugh, they had covered all the tables in newspapers and trash bags, just like they had before moving into the mansion.

“I told ‘em not to do dis.” Gambit sighed, gesturing to the unusual, low budget tablecloths. “Awe Gambit, it’s tradition for us. We didn’t have much to decorate with down there, so we always did stuff like this. It wouldn’t be a party of any kind without it I don’t think.” She laughed.

“Sparkles! You’ll never guess what Professor-X gave us permission to do!!” Dante interrupted excitedly. “Have our end of junk fight?” she guessed. “No, better! Have an end of party FOOD FIGHT!” he exclaimed. Her jaw dropped. If they thought the water war was bad, the food fight would scar them for life. They’d only had one good food fight in the sewers, and it was mostly rotting trash, but it was everywhere. “Hah! I told you Uncle Charlie was awesome, didn’t I?” she laughed. “Yeah! He’s totally boss!” he shouted before running off to play with Allie, Jazz, Beast, and Jubilee.

“Food fight?” Scott asked nervously as he joined her and Gambit at their table. “I guess so. You playin’ Scotty?” she asked hopefully. “I doubt it.” He laughed. “Wuss! You’re just scared Allie’s gonna make ya look bad.” She taunted. “No, I just don’t think it’s a good idea.” He retorted. “You’re so boring Scotty! Why do you have to be so grown up all the time? You remember the big snowball fight we had when I was eleven?” she asked. “No, why?” he answered slowly. “B’cause you sat in de house and watched de monitors waitin’ for Magneto ta make his next move. Dat’s why you don’ remember.” Gambit answered. “Gambit gonna play.” He added with a sly smile. “Sweet!” she cheered, hugging him around the neck.

“Spawkles, come pway with us!!” Allie screeched from somewhere behind them. “Yes, we could use another player on our team. One who knows the game, perhaps.” Beast agreed. “Gotta go guys. Can’t keep the Birthday Girl waiting.” Lyrissa laughed to Scott and Gambit before running off to join Jubilee, Beast, and Allie.

“What’s the game?” she asked. “Jump The Line!” Jazz shouted excitedly. “Oh man, Beast I wanna see you play this.” She laughed. “What’s Jump The Line?” Jean asked. “You see this tape on the ground here? You have to jump from one side, to the other, and back again as many times as you can, as fast as you can, while keeping your feet together. Double points if you break one hundred.” Lyrissa explained. “Spawkles, you go fiwst! You’we weally good at this!” Allie grinned. “Okay, who am I jumping against?” she asked. “Me.” Jazz grinned. “Crud.” She sighed and stood with her toes on the line next to Jazz.

“Okay, your team counts your jumps, so you guys have to keep track of how many times she jumps it. You’re also allowed to mess up the other team.” Jazz explained. Beast and Jean both nodded and stood back. “Ready?” Jamie asked. “Yeah.” The girls answered together. “Three… Two… One… GO!!” he shouted, and the girls immediately started jumping back and fourth over the tape.

Both teams counted louder and louder as the girls jumped, and before long the entire party was watching and cheering. “Come… on… Jazz… Let the… Birthday… Girl’s team… Win!” Lyrissa grunted as she jumped. “No!” she retorted, keeping her pace steady. “Go Sparkles, Go Sparkles, Go Sparkles!” Kiera and Jubilee sang as they jumped, soon joined by several other kids. Jazz’s team retorted with singing the same with her name, twice as loud.

Finally after god only knows how long, Jazz started shaking her head and held her hands up, too winded to speak. “I, can’t, go anymore.” She breathed. “Me, either.” Lyrissa laughed, equally winded, and collapsed to her knees. “Who won?” Gambit asked. “We counted ninety-eight.” Jamie announced. “Ninety-six.” Beast replied. “WE WIN!!!” Jazz’s team exclaimed. “Good game Sparkles.” Jazz huffed as she lay back onto the floor. “You too Jazzy.” She smiled, slowly standing up with the help of Logan.

“Round two! Mr. Beast versus Andrew!!” Max shouted. “I like that one.” Lyrissa laughed, still leaning her entire exhausted weight on Logan’s shoulder. “Alright. You’re goin’ down though. I invented this game!” Andrew grinned evilly.

It truly was an amusing sight to see Beast and Andrew jumping forward and backward over a strip of tape, at the highest speed possible. Sixteen minutes later, Andrew tripped over one of his shoelaces, and hit the ground hard, losing the round. “You fail Andwew.” Allie jeered, causing everyone to erupt in laughter. “Yeah, yeah, I know.” He giggled as he pushed himself off the ground. “Who next?” Kiera asked eagerly. “Wovie!” Allie shouted demandingly. “Oh no, I don’t think so, sorry kid.” “Awe come on Logan, she’s the Birthday Girl! I’ll even jump against you if you want.” Lyrissa pushed, but Logan stayed firm in his decision.

“That’s fine, it’s time for presents and cake anyway.” Jean smiled. Allie let out an excited, inaudible shout and ran over to her and the table covered in brightly wrapped gifts. The paper ended up everywhere, and everyone had a bow on them somewhere once Allie got done; even Logan had a bow on his shirt, thanks to Lyrissa.

“Now for Happy Birthday!” Andrew announced happily. “You’re in for a treat, see if you can keep up.” Lyrissa laughed just before the song began. The kids, Andrew, and Lyrissa sang as loudly as their vocal chords would allow, screaming so far off pitch of each other it was torturing Logan and his sensitive hearing. They all screamed and cheered and jumped up and down for a while after the song ended as well.

“Hey, blow out the candles Allie.” Jubilee instructed. “Why?” she asked. “So you can make a wish.” Rogue answered. “A wish on candles?” she asked, she was beyond adorable in her childish amazement. “Guys, we didn’t have candles down there. I’m not sure if she remembers having candles at a birthday, or if she had them at all with her family.” Lyrissa explained. “Well, dis is what you do, okay Petit? Take a deep breath,” he stopped as she took in as much air as her lungs could hold and held it, “Now close your eyes,” he continued, waiting for her to follow directions, “Make a wish, an’ blow de candles out.” He finished.

Allie stayed quiet for quite a while, and finally blew out all five flames, and was met with congratulations and cheers from the entire crowd. Jean cut the cake, and handed each partygoer a piece before taking her own and joining Logan, Xavier, Allie, Scott, and Storm at a table.

“Okay you telepaths. I saw your faces when she was wishing, what was it?” Lyrissa demanded as Jean sat down. “If they tell, then it won’t come true.” Scott protested. “Dang, you’re right.” She sighed.

“How are you feeling Lyrissa?” Storm asked after a moment of silence. “Much better now, thanks. I guess not killing people is harder than killing them.” She laughed. “We are all proud of you for your control Lyrissa. I was observing you from here, I know how difficult it was for you to let him go.” Xavier smiled. “Thanks Uncle Charlie. Would’ve been great if I didn’t have a mental breakdown after.” She sighed. “Awe come on kid, ya couldn’t help that.” Logan replied, draping his arm around her shoulders.

She opened her mouth to say respond, but as soon as she did a ball of icing flew into her mouth, causing her to choke shortly. “Hey! That ain’t funny, you wanna come over here and do that in person?” Logan growled to a snickering group of boys, hiding behind a nervous Andrew. “Its… its fine Logan… this is normal.” She coughed as she sat up from under the table.

“Uncle Charlie, duck.” She ordered once she had fully recovered. Xavier moved his head to the side, and she flung a small forkful of icing at the side of Andrew’s face, and hit the dead center of his cheek. “Score!” she whispered excitedly before sitting innocently, pretending she hadn’t done anything.

“This isn’t the start of the food fight, is it Professor?” Scott asked nervously. “Nope, just some cake fun.” Andrew answered from across the room, and went back to playing with the kids. “We always do stuff like this at birthdays, Christmas, Easter, and any other celebration. Not much else to do in a sewer, ya know?” she giggled.

“So how do you celebrate? I’ve been curious after hearing some of the kids talking about it.” Jean asked. “Well, telling stories is one thing we do a lot. Usually the ‘hey do you remember when…’ and ‘oh man, you should’ve seen…’ things, but sometimes it’s stories about our lives before we all met. It always leads to us laughing until someone cries, and then we laugh harder. That’s usually when we’re all so tired from goofing off all night. Pretty much we just do this, only without the nice things.” She shrugged.

Suddenly most of the kids stopped playing, and just sat quietly. “What’s goin’ on?” Logan asked. “I dunno… Andrew?” She replied, stand up and walking over to him. When she got there she saw him holding Jamie, who was crying his heart out. “Jamie sweetie what’s wrong?” she gasped. “He misses Dee.” Andrew answered. She sighed heavily and took Jamie and Andrew out of the party.

“Okay Jamie, what’s the tears about?” she asked softly as the three of them sat in the kitchen. “I d-don’t know. I just m-miss him.” He hiccupped.

“Hon, I know you do, we all do. But he wouldn’t want you being sad, especially not at Allie’s party, would he?”

“No… but he’d love it so much! Chocolate was his favorite, remember? And he was so good at Jump The Line, and the mansion is so cool he’d just go crazy in here!”

“I know.” She sighed, rubbing his arm as Andrew held onto him.

“Hey, you guys remember that time he bet he could run faster than you could fly, Jamie?” Andrew asked.

“Yeah, you two raced around the room, and he couldn’t stop at the finish line and smacked right into that wall.” Lyrissa giggled.

“He was really mad after that, but he was laughing the next day.” Jamie added.

“Yeah he was. I think he’d want you remembering those things, and laughing today too. Okay?” Andrew stated.

“I’ll try.” Jamie agreed, and he and Andrew headed towards the kitchen door. “You guys go ahead, I’ll catch up.” Lyrissa smiled, and watched them leave. It had been a long time since she thought about Dee. He and Jamie were the best of friends when she moved in with them, and one was never seen without the other. Dee’s ability was to run as fast as Jamie could fly, which meant they were always trying to see who was fastest. Two years after she moved in, and after they had all become her family, a car hit Dee while he and Andrew were out getting some burgers with some money Xavier had sent her; he died before the ambulance could arrive.

The whole group was devastated, but no one was hit with his death as hard as Jamie was. His entire demeanor changed, he wasn’t playful anymore, he wasn’t excitable anymore, he didn’t speak to anyone, he just sat on his bed, which was next to Dee’s empty one and kept to himself. Eventually he got over it, but things would still trigger those thoughts. She didn’t let anyone see her cry over any of it, because she knew that Sparkles had to stay strong for everyone; if they saw her crying, how were they supposed to hold it together?

“Hey, you okay Sparkles?” Jazz asked as she sat down at the table, pulling Lyrissa out of her thoughts. “Fine, Jamie was thinking about Dee, and how much he’d love all this. He’s right, he would.” She answered, laughing at the thought of Jamie and Dee speeding around the mansion. “Yeah, he really would. Wolverine would hate him though… he thinks Andrew and the boys are bad with pranks, he’d end up killing Dee.” Jazz laughed.

“I know he’d probably end up replacing his uniform with one to match Allie’s tiger or something.”

“Oh man, can you imagine a pink and yellow Wolverine fighting off the bad guys?”

“Not at all, but I can guarantee it’d be funny Jazz!”

“Yeah. Your Uncle Charlie sent me up here to get you by the way. He says you should listen to Andrew’s advice.” Jazz said out of the blue.

“Yeah… I guess. Thanks, tell him I’ll be down in a sec, okay?”

“Yeah sure.”

“You don’t expect me to believe that do you?” Xavier asked telepathically as Jazz left the room.

“I wasn’t lying, I’ll be down in a sec Uncle Charlie.”

“I can read your thoughts Lyrissa, I know you would stay up there. Allie wouldn’t want you to miss her birthday, and I know you don’t want to do that to her. Now come down here, before I send Logan to pick you up and carry you here.” She could tell he was smiling while sending his message, but knew he probably would send Logan if she didn’t get moving. “Fine, I’m coming.” She thought, and got off the chair.

Back at the party, Allie had wrapped the feather boa Lyrissa had picked out for Logan around his neck, and was on his back holding it in place. “But it’s pwetty! Keep it on Wovie!” she whined over various giggles at the situation. “Yeah Wovie, I picked it out just for you… it even has your name on it!” Lyrissa added from the doorway. “So I can blame you fer this.” He growled; he was much less amused than the others were. “Yeah, you can.” She grinned, putting on a neon orange party hat and leaning up against Xavier’s chair.

“Look, kid, I don’t wanna wear it. I don’t know how ya got me ta wear one last time, but I ain’t gonna do it again.” He protested as Allie kept pushing the boa over his shoulders. “Yes you do!” she argued. Suddenly he snatched the boa from her hands, and flipped it around his neck properly, and left it alone. “Whoa, I didn’t see that coming.” Jubilee commented. “What’re ya lookin’ at?” he asked as everyone stared at him. “The boa?” Lyrissa snickered. “Yeah, so what? I decided I wanna wear it.” He stated firmly.

“Did Allie use her powers or something?” Box asked no one in particular. “Yes, but without realizing it. Her telepathic abilities also allow her to persuade people to do as she wants.” Xavier answered. “Oh great! A four year old who can use her powers to get us to do whatever she wants!” Andrew laughed. “FIVE year old!” Allie, Lyrissa, Jubilee, Jazz, Kiera, Max, Jamie, Jean, and Rogue corrected together. “My bad! Sorry!” he laughed.

Three hours of laughing, arguing, playing, singing, dancing, and cake throwing later, the food fight started in the Danger Room, using a program Beast had helped figure out so cleanup would be a breeze. Lyrissa opted out at first, but after taking a full plate of cake to the chest she changed her mind. Gambit joined after Allie begged and dragged him into the room by his coat. Rogue, Jubilee, and Jean joined because it would be fun, and Logan joined in reluctantly after Lyrissa’s pleas, and Allie’s persuasion.

The rules were simple, everyone for themselves, alliances aren’t outlawed, but aren’t demanded. Other than that, everything goes. As soon as Xavier said go, food was flying. Andrew used his powers straight off, and sent globs of mustard straight into Rogue’s face. Rogue flew him over a table and dropped him into a bunch of different foods. Allie was throwing like a pro, and using everyone to her advantage; hiding behind people, hiding under tables, using her size to avoid being hit, and holding her own quite well. Lyrissa couldn’t resist her temptations, and dumped an entire plate of spaghetti down the back of Logan’s shirt. Needless to say, he wasn’t happy.

“Dude!” Dante exclaimed, pointing at Lyrissa running for her life from the very angry clawed mutant. “Throw something at him, I wanna see him slice it!” Jazz laughed excitedly. Jean heard her and sent a bunch of grapes directly at his face, which he sliced and kept running. “Brilliant!” Kiera cheered. “I got your back Wolverine!” Andrew shouted, and threw ton of mixed foods from the ground at Lyrissa, covering her head to toe. Logan tackled her as soon as she stopped running.

“If I said stop, would you get off me?” she asked, trying not to laugh since spaghetti was still hanging out the top of his shirt. “I doubt it, ya ain’t gettin’ away with that one.” He growled. She struggled to escape his grasp, only to have him put his full weight on her to hold her down. “Not much of a payback Mr. Logan, she’s sparkling… she’s actually enjoying that.” Max sighed while dodging applesauce from his sister.

Sure enough, when he looked at what little of her hair that wasn’t covered with food, it was sparkling abnormally bright for her. Of course, he smirked smugly. “If I flipped you into that gunk next to us, would I knock that grin off your face?” she asked smartly. “Doubt ya can.” He retorted.

Lyrissa brought her knees up, so that he was laying between her legs, and grabbed the back of his shirt; earning a whistle from Andrew, and some shocked looks from both the kids, and watching X-Men. “Shut up you freaks.” She laughed as she took her other hand and grabbed his, pulling it to her chest. He gave her a very confused look before she bridged her hips up, and pushed off with her leg, flipping him off of her and into a puddle of something kind of yellowish brown. “Don’t ever doubt me Logan.” She smirked, now holding him down with her weight, and earning applause from their onlookers.

Later that night, after everything had ended and most everyone had showered and gone to bed, Lyrissa was back in the garage, working on the bike. There wasn’t much else she could do to it, but tinkering with it helped her deal with stress. Jamie bringing up Dee flooded her head with thoughts and memories, and reminded her just how much she really missed him. On top of that, she was still haunted by that dream of her father’s death, pleading thoughts to know her mother, self blame for the deaths in the labs… she really needed something, anything to focus on to make the thinking stop. She worked on the bike taking this part or that part off, cleaning it, putting it back, touching up paint, and anything else she could think of.

“Lyrissa, are you okay? Lyrissa…? Hey, Lyrissa! Lyrissa!” Scott yelled right next to her. She slowly lifted her head up, and opened her eyes to find that she had worked on the bike until she fell asleep, slouched over the front fender she had been polishing, and was dreaming of working on the bike as well. “How long have you been down here?” he asked. “Since you went to bed.” She mumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with her wrist so she didn’t get polish or anything else in them.

“So all night?”

“Mmhmm, I guess.”

“God Lyrissa, you need to start sleeping in a bed. You’re the only one to have ever slept in every public room of the mansion, you know that?”

“I’m the record holder!” she sang dumbly, being a complete mess as she had just woken up from a pretty deep sleep.

“Andrew and Jamie are going to visit some guy named Dee, and wanted to know if you wanted to go.” He explained.

“Dee? I…sure…” she slowly stood up with his help and went up to get changed from her black pajama pants and blue tight tank top.