Lyrissa's Sparkles

As soon as Andrew found and led Jamie, Xavier, and Lyrissa to Dee’s grave, Jamie started talking to him. Lyrissa wanted Jean to come with her for support, since she had only gone to Dee’s grave twice over the years, but she and Scott had a date; so Xavier came instead, and Lyrissa was happy to have him.

“Hi Dee-Dee. You’ll never guess who we brought with us! This, is Sparkles’ Uncle Charlie. Yes, THE Uncle Charlie, who sent her all that cool stuff, and the money for good food, and some clothes, and toys, and all those things. He’s cooler than she told us, way cooler. He even threw a food fight for Allie’s birthday party last night.

“Yeah, you remember her don’t you? I know you didn’t know her long, she was only with us like four months before you… you know….” Jamie stopped and took a deep breath to keep his composure before continuing. “Anyway, last night was her birthday. Man you should’ve seen it! There’s this big guy, dude he’s huge! Anyway his name’s Beast, and he really is a beast, big, furry, and he’s blue! He was playing Jump The Line against Andrew here, Andy lost. Uncle Charlie, well his real name is Professor Xavier, he was laughing so hard I thought he was gonna squirt juice out his nose! Weren’t you Professor-X?” Jamie grinned. “Yes, I was laughing quite hard.” Xavier admitted.

“Why don’t you say hi to Dee-Dee? He’d have a blast with you.” Jamie smiled. “Hello Dee. Jamie is quite the friend to have isn’t he? He really speaks highly of you.” He smiled.

“Oh, I have some things for ya!” Jamie gasped as he started to excitedly unpack the small bag he had taken from the mansion. “You remember Kiera and Max right? Well Kiera drew this for you a while back, she thought you’d like it.” He smiled, putting a child’s drawing of everyone together in the sewers, which were decorated for new years, with Jamie and a small blonde boy standing side by side with their arms around each other, “See, this is me and you right here in the front she said.”

“And look, the mansion has flowers! They’re growing everywhere, because Storm, she’s a cool lady, loves to work with plants. She helped me pick these out for you.” He continued, putting a beautiful bouquet on his grave. “And here’s some more stuff you’d like.” He sighed as he started organizing the gifts.

Once he was done, there was a hat from Allie’s party stuck on top of the stone, Kiera’s drawing, a football, checkered racing flag, a group photo from the mansion, a cookie from the batch Jean had baked, and a bow from one of Allie’s gifts, since everyone had one he thought it was only fair Dee get one too.

“I… I really miss you Dee-Dee. I really hate that you’re gone. No one races with me like you did, and no one plays games like you. When I get scared now, I wish I could hear you calling me a wimp for it. I miss that too… why’d you have to go Dee? Why couldn’t you stay awake when that car hit you? Why did he have hit you?!” Jamie started crying over his best friend’s grave. Andrew picked him up and carried him away from the grave so he could calm down.

“I believe I’ll let you have a moment with him Lyrissa. If you need me, I’ll be helping Andrew.” Xavier announced, waiting for her nod or approval before leaving.

“Dee, it’s not the same without you. I didn’t get to know you like I know Jamie now… but you were as much of family as they are. As much as Uncle Charlie is! I miss you too… I, I really do…” she whispered, feeling her tears burning down her face.

Another hour went by before they got back to the mansion, right after lunch. Lyrissa’s hair had once again lost it’s sparkle, Jamie was still upset, Andrew was filled with anger and hate towards the driver who hit Dee, and didn’t stop, or even look out the window to see if he was all right, and Xavier was just as calm and sympathetic as ever.

Lyrissa went straight to the garage, and started messing with her bike, which was by this time probably the most well kept bike, with the cleanest engine on the planet. Andrew went to the Danger Room so he could take his rage out on something, and Jamie, much to everyone’s surprise, just wanted to work in the gardens with Storm.

“Hey, mind a little company?” Logan asked as he sat down on a stool next to Lyrissa. “Nope, just tinkering with Bad Boy.” She answered with a frustrated sigh as she tried to find a missing screw for the air filter.

“Ya seem to do that a lot.”

“What?”

“Tinkering with that bike.”

“Gives my mind somethin’ to do I guess.”

“Think ya just got a new nickname, Tinker.”

“Oh please don’t start that. Sparkles is bad enough.”

“I got a question fer ya.” He said randomly.

“What’s it?”

“How many times have ya changed or cleaned that filter?”

“Seven since I’ve been here. Why?”

“’Cause every time I come down here yer doin’ somethin’ to that bike.”

“Told ya it keeps me sane.”

“Ya know, the Jeep’s been havin’ some problems… you know anythin’ about cars?”

“Enough to get by, mind if I have a look?” Her hair lit up as much as her eyes at a chance to look at something other than Bad Boy.

He nodded and popped the hood, then started the jeep so she could see what was wrong with it. “What’s it gonna take ta fix it?” he asked once the engine was shut off. “A lot of work… your belt needs changed first, and I think your starter’s going out… that’s not gonna be cheap, then you probably should change the oil because I checked it when we went camping and it was nasty. Logan, oil isn’t supposed to be jet black and gritty!” she answered with a playful laugh. “Think ya can fix it?” he asked, raising his brow. “Dunno, think you can help me?” She replied with a flirtatious grin.

Since he already knew what was wrong with his jeep, and had already purchased the parts, she was able to get started right away. He let her do most of the work, and really didn’t do much. Handed her tools, held the flashlight, held the tension pulley so she could change the belt, helped her remember how the belt went on, and things like that.

She had grease and gunk up to her elbows by the time Jubilee came in to announce that dinner was ready. Lyrissa went to scratch her face and got a black smudge from the bridge of her nose, down to her jawbone. “Cute.” Logan smirked, since he only had a little grease on his hands from holding the pulley, or grabbing something that had fallen down. Lyrissa huffed and pulled him into a quick kiss, leaving black smeared handprints down either side of his face. “You too.” She laughed, and left to get cleaned up.

“Holy… what happened?” Scott asked as they walked past the kitchen. “Grease monkey here’s been workin’ on the jeep.” Logan answered. “He was helping a little.” She smirked and went into the bathroom.

It took her ten minutes to get all the grease off, before she could make it to lunch. Logan had only needed a fraction of the time, since he wasn’t even half as filthy as she had gotten. “What were you doing to the jeep to get that much dirt anyway?” Andrew asked as she sat down, not even giving her a chance to grab a plate. “Changing the belt, and the starter, then I decided to adjust a few things, and tighten a few things.” She answered. “Tinkering.” Logan summed up their entire ‘adventure’ in one word, which made them both snicker.

As soon as they had finished eating, Lyrissa and Logan rinsed off their plates, and went back to the garage. “Thanks for lettin’ me mess around under your hood.” She smiled, feeling herself blush as soon as she realized how it sounded. He also smirked, but decided to leave the jokes out. He stayed out of the way, and sat on a stool to watch her as she continued to try and get the starter out. Since he didn’t have the book, she had to actually figure it out herself; and that was proving to be very difficult.

He couldn’t help but to notice how cute it was when she had to stand on her toes to reach into the engine since she was so short for the jeep. He also found himself admiring how her silhouette was almost perfectly shaped. Flat stomach, thin legs, but still curvy which showed even more with the way she was bent over his jeep; unfortunately a lot of that was from how hard she had to work over the past four years, and how little she was able to eat.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he realized she was just leaning on the front of the jeep with her hands on either side of the outside staring blankly at something. He decided to go and see what she was so focused on.

“What’cha lookin’ at?” he asked, standing very close behind her.

“Your starter’s stuck. Three bolts are jammed, and one of those is cross-threaded. I can’t get it out.” She sighed.

“Could take a break, ya know.” He suggested, snaking his arms around her waist. She accidentally gave a soft moan as he tightened his grip, without even realizing it; he chose to ignore it, knowing she’d have been embarrassed by it, but kept his smirk.

“Think you could get those bolts off your starter? We’re going to have to buy at least one new one, since it got cross-threaded… which means I can’t attach the new starter, dang it!” she sighed angrily. She was the kind of person to refuse to leave a project unfinished, especially when working on an engine.

“Guess we got all we can get done then.”

“Yeah…” she really wasn’t happy.

Lyrissa pushed off of the jeep and turned herself around to face him, and leaned back up against it, draping her arms around his neck loosely. They stood there for a few minutes before the alarms went off. “Timing right?” she laughed before moving her arms. “Yeah.” He grunted, tightening his grip on her for a second before letting go and escorting her to the War Room.

“About time you two got here, what took so long?” Cyclops demanded before they even made it all the way through the door. “Uhm walking? Jeez Scotty, I’ve seen pregnant women who didn’t snap as easy as you do.” Lyrissa scoffed as she brushed past him to sit by Rogue and Storm.

“So what’s with the sirens anyway?” Logan asked after taking his seat next to Cyclops, since it was the only open seat left. “There’s trouble in the city. Some mutant’s stopping all electronics and machinery, and causing a real disturbance. We think it’s a distraction for something bigger. “Lyrissa, Logan, I want you two suited up and ready to go. Meet the others at the jet.” Xavier ordered. “Yes sir.” Lyrissa smiled, giving a very poorly executed salute.

“Logan, have you seen my boot?!” she yelled from her room as she dug through her closet. “You can’t keep yer shoes together to save yer life, can ya?” he asked from her doorway, already dressed and ready to go.

“Well I do have kids constantly taking my stuff, so it’s not my fault my shoes are always missing! I have one I’m wearing it… I just need my other boot!” She was in her full uniform, the only thing missing was her boot and she would be ready to go.

“Here, now lets go.” He said after a while of searching, tossing her the boot and leaving the room.

Lyrissa was a sight to see as they walked into the hanger, her boot still wasn’t zipped all the way, her jacket was half off her shoulder, and she was quickly trying to get her hair up and out of her face. Not a word was said as they boarded the jet and took their seats.

“So any idea who this dude is?” Lyrissa asked, half just trying to break the silence. “No, he’s keeping his face hidden behind a bandana.” Cyclops answered. The jet went back to silence.

Suddenly the controls started malfunctioning, and the jet started losing altitude. “Guys…” Lyrissa said nervously, tightening her belt along with everyone else. “I know I’m trying.” Jean replied before the jet shut itself off entirely. “Well dis ain’t good…” Gambit mumbled as they started falling rapidly.

“Storm, Jean, help me out here.” Lyrissa said suddenly as she unbuckled her belt. “Sit back down, and buckle up.” Wolverine ordered sternly. “Jean you’re telekinetic, use your powers to try and slow us down, Storm you can use wind and stuff to slow our fall too.” She continued, slowly making her way over to them and grabbing their hands. “What’re you gonna do Lyrissa?” Rogue asked curiously. “Try to thicken some shadows and slow us down, after teleporting us outside.” She answered quickly. “You and Jean can’t fly.” Wolverine protested. “Nah, but I can.” Rogue smiled as she grabbed Lyrissa’s arm and teleported with the others.

“That ground is comin’ quick!” Lyrissa yelled as rogue held her and Jean up. “Winds, aid me. Slow their decent!” Storm yelled as she got to work. Jean didn’t say a thing as she focused everything she had on trying to stop the jet. Lyrissa used the jet’s own shadow, and her wisps which were coming more and more handy as she got better control of her powers.

The jet did slow, but not enough to survive the crash. “Think you can use those wisps a yours to hold you two up?” Rogue asked. “I can try.” She answered nervously, changing her focus from the jet, to her and Jean’s feet. If she weren’t so afraid of dropping them both, she would’ve been overly excited that it worked. As soon as they were stable, Rogue let go and started supporting the jet. “It’s … working! Keep… focusing on… the jet!” Jean shouted. Storm sent even more winds, Rogue was yelling while using every ounce of her strength to hold the jet up, Jean was giving it everything she had, and Lyrissa was near ready to faint from being afraid she was going to drop herself or Jean.

“Here we go! It’s gonna be a rough landin’ boys!” Rogue shouted as she flew out from under the jet, and grabbed the nose to try and soften the impact. Jean and storm kept up what they were doing, and once they were close enough Lyrissa let herself drop and thickened all the shadows to create a softer place to land. The jet wasn’t totaled, but it wasn’t pretty either.

“Is everyone all right?” Jean asked nervously as the guys slowly started getting off the jet. “Been better, but I’ll live.” Wolverine answered. “Great work, we wouldn’t have survived that crash if you hadn’t come up with that plan Sparkles.” Cyclops congratulated, patting Lyrissa on the shoulder. “We should rest a while before going into a fight. You guys go ahead, we’ll catch up.” Jean announced; she and Lyrissa were both exhausted after using so much energy to save the jet, and it’s passengers. “I hear ya, that wasn’t easy.” Rogue agreed, sitting on one of the wings, “How ‘bout you Storm?” she asked. “I will be fine, after a rest.” She answered, mostly stressed than tired out. “If anything happens, call us.” Cyclops directed before leading the others to find the masked mutant. “Will do sugar.” Rogue nodded.

“That really was a great plan Lyrissa. Tiring, but great. Scott’s right, we’d have died. I know I wouldn’t have come up with that, I was still trying to get the jet to start back up.” Jean smiled as Lyrissa lay on the ground with her eyes closed. “Thanks. I didn’t do much though. You guys landed the jet, I just bossed ya around.” She replied. “You kept focus of your abilities to hold Jean and yourself in the air, and used the shadows from the ground to safely stop the jet. I would say that is doing quite a lot.” Storm argued. “Yeah, but I almost dropped us. I didn’t wanna say anything up there because I didn’t wanna freak Jean out. I almost killed us both. You guys saved the day, I just came up with the plan… awe man I’m Scotty!” she groaned, which caused the other three to laugh. “We should go to the others, they may need our help.” Storm pointed out. “You’re right, come on.” Rogue agreed, and soon they were off.

Storm and Rogue flew above while Jean and Lyrissa walked. They knew they were close to the fight when they saw that none of the park lights were on, no signs were lit, and as they got to the roads, no cars were moving. There were however, several angry people screaming and yelling at each other, and ranting about mutants. “Awe, they love us.” Lyrissa cooed to Jean as they walked; Rogue and Storm were flying high enough not to be seen. “Yeah, keep it down. We don’t want a fight over here do we?” she replied as they pushed on.

“No offence Jean, but you’re wearing tights and a headpiece. I could pass for just some punk or even better yet, a street racer… you are wearing tights and a headpiece.” Lyrissa teased.

“Yes, but this is New York, people have worn worse. Look, we’re getting close!”

“Where?”

“There, that red flash, I’m pretty sure that was Cyclops.”

Lyrissa looked over to where Jean was pointing just as another red stream flashed. “Yep, that’s him alright. And there’s Rogue and Storm.” She grinned, pointing out the two women flying towards the fight.

“We can’t get to them through this traffic and crowds.”

“We can, but everyone will know we’re mutants. There’s a lot of shadows here, I can make a bridge over everything, if you want.”

“Go ahead, we need to get there and help.”

Lyrissa stopped and focused on what she needed, and although the shadows stayed in their places, a dark, almost transparent bridge formed over the crowd. “Is it steady?” Jean asked. “Don’t know; I’ve never done this before. You go in front so I can make sure you’re staying up.” Lyrissa answered.

Jean quickly, but cautiously made her way across the bridge, with Lyrissa behind her keeping it up. Before they knew it they were right in the fight, finding out by having a driverless car try to run them over. “Thank you for deciding to join us.” Beast joked as he dodged two cars, causing them to smash into each other. “Sorry, traffic jam.” Lyrissa retorted, teleporting her and Jean out of the way of a bus. “We gotta get that masked maniac before he kills all of us.” Rogue yelled over the battle against machines. “Where is he?” Jean asked. “Up there!” Cyclops answered, shooting a beam at the top of a building where Storm was throwing lightning bolts.

Lyrissa meant to teleport to help her, but ended up flying into the air with her wisps holding her up the same way they had when she and Jean were trying to save the jet. She went at least thirty feet into the air before stopping. “Oh man, oh man… oh man I can’t do this, I can’t fly!” she thought aloud while trying to get control of this new ability. “Okay uhm… Rogue says she doesn’t know how she flies she just thinks and does… so think… I want down!” she groaned when nothing happened. “Okay, Storm can fly, she’s flying now… her wind works like you wisps… take me forward, I … uhm… command you?” she growled in frustration when again nothing happened.

“Focus Lyrissa, you can do this.” Xavier encouraged telepathically. “Focus! Right Uncle Charlie, I’m FLYING! If I fall, I COULD DIE!” she yelled. Right when she said that, her wisps disappeared and she fell half way down before landing on her hands and knees on another swirl of wisps. “Focus on bringing the wisp platform to the ground.” He instructed. “Down… go down. Down!” she yelled, but nothing. “SEE?!” she screamed at him.

“I am very aware of your frustration, and fear, but yelling at the sky isn’t going to get you onto the ground so that you can help the other X-Men.”

“They were doing fine without me before, they’ll survive this now! And yelling does help because it makes me feel better!”

“Focus Lyrissa, you’ll fall again.”

She took a deep breath, mostly in spite of him, and as calmly as she could, tried to make her swirling platform lower. She had very mixed emotions when it did. “See? Now go and help the others. Try and stay on the ground until you’re back here.” He said before severing the connection.

She didn’t say a word, she just ran and climbed a fire escape to the roof where Rogue and Storm were still fighting the masked mutant, trying to keep him from killing the others, who were playing dodge ball with cars, trucks, busses, and anything else he could throw at them. “Hey! What’s your problem, huh?” she demanded. As soon as he turned around she punched him in the jaw, which knocked the bandana down around his neck, revealing his face. “WHAT THE HELL!” she screamed as he sat back up. “Hi Karma.” He smiled before kicking her off balance. “Didn’t see that one comin’.” Rogue commented before hitting him.

“Jackie, stop! Why are you doing this?” Lyrissa asked, her hair losing all the sparkle it had.

“Why should I? I had a good think goin’ until you guys showed up.”

“Why are you doing this?” she asked again.

“Look, Sparkles, I’m not just ‘Jackie of Jax Shak’. That money I’ve been needing for the ‘Big Guys’ wasn’t to keep me out of jail.”

“Who are the ‘Big Guys’ Jack?”

“You already know ‘em, so I guess I can tell you. You know those dudes you were fightin’? The big hairy one you almost killed? That’s them. The Brotherhood.”

Lyrissa went cold. “You’re working for The Brotherhood?! Do you have any idea what they do?”

“I agree with what they do. Who was the one hiding from those stupid ‘normal’ people, in the sewers? While you were hiding in sewer gunk, I was living life, and getting paid. Only two thirds of what I made went to those guys, the rest I got.”

“And what about Sierra?”

“You familiar with Mystique?”

Lyrissa was beyond mad that someone she trusted, and would have trusted with her life, could turn out to be just another pawn of the Brotherhood. Without thinking she let one of her wisps flip out and whip him across the face, hard enough to break the skin. “I helped you earn that money!” she yelled, hitting him again. “I would never have raced for you if I knew I was helping you pay those… those…” she couldn’t think of what to call them that would do her anger justice.

“You do realize that all you’re doing is protecting the people who would kill you as soon as this fight’s over right?” he asked. “Don’t push it sugar, she could hurt you real bad.” Rogue warned. The cars suddenly stopped attacking the X-Men, and Jack stood silently before charging Lyrissa with everything he had. “Sorry Jen, just part of the job, nothing personal.” He grunted as they hit the ground. “I’m not fighting you.” She said blankly before taking a hard blow to the face, followed by another, and some hits to her ribs and stomach.

“What’s she doin’ up there?” Wolverine asked the group as they watched the fight from the ground. “I don’t know. Why isn’t Rogue and Storm helping her?” Cyclops replied. “Because they know she doesn’t want them to.” Jean answered. “Why not? He gonna kill her!” Gambit shouted, charging a card. “Gambit, don’t.” she protested, making him discard the card. “Why ain’t she fightin’ back?” Wolverine asked. “I believe it’s due to respect, Wolverine. I spoke with her a few days ago, and she told me that he had actually saved her life once before. She explained a sort of code that they live by, and for her to fight against him now, would go against that code.” Beast explained.

Meanwhile, Lyrissa was still taking the beating with pride. “He is going to kill her.” Storm commented worriedly. “I’ll kill him if he does.” Rogue replied, not taking her eyes off the beating, which was painful for her to watch.

“Dang it Jen, fight back!” he growled. “No. You saved my life, and I… owe it to you. Fighting you like this wouldn’t be… right. Not fighting you is… saving… your life. After this we’re even, and… I’ll never… show this respect to you again, after this you’ve lost all respect… I have for you. You’re nothing to… me after this Jackson, nothing.” She replied weakly through his punches. Jack threw a few harder, meaningful punches before getting off of her and walking to the edge of the building.

“Don’t you dare jump, after what she just went through to save your life, you ain’t endin’ it now. You climb down that fire escape, and get your butt outta here. I ain’t tellin’ ya again.” Rogue warned. “Wasn’t gonna.” He smirked before jumping off the roof, and somehow ending up going through a window and into the building.

“Are you all right Lyrissa?” Storm asked as she helped her up. “Sore, but I’m okay. Probably won’t get outta bed tomorrow though.” She smiled; just as weak as she was when she answered Jack just moments before. “Come on, let’s get ya down to the others and have Beast take a loot at ya. Then we’ll head home.” Rogue sighed as she and storm both flew her down, trying to move her as little as possible.

“Why didn’t ya fight back?” Wolverine asked as they laid her on the ground. “Wouldn’t be right. Even New York street rats have an honor code Wolverine.” She answered quietly.

“Nothing is broken, however you will have many bruises from this.” Beast sighed after finishing his examination. “Guess I’m not swimming with Jubilee tomorrow.” She laughed; gasping at the pain laughing caused her.

“Will the jet run?” Cyclops asked before anyone tried to move Lyrissa, who was hanging on the edge of consciousness. “I don’t know… I haven’t thought about that.” Jean answered, now concerned about how they were all supposed to get home. “We gotta figure somethin’ out. She ain’t looking good.” Gambit pointed out. “I know. We’ll try the jet and see where it goes from there. Come on.” Cyclops ordered, and they left. Wolverine had to carry Lyrissa, since she had blacked out for the most part. She’d wake up for a few seconds, or groan slightly as they walked, but other than that she was out.