Lyrissa's Sparkles

“She’ll be fine Alice. Don’t worry.” a familiar voice said softly. Lyrissa slowly opened her eyes to see nothing but blue fuzz. She moved a bit to look around, and came face to face with the beast that was carrying her. “Ohmygod!” she gasped in one word; startling Beast, and causing him to drop her. "Beast!" she gaspedhappily. "Hello Lyrissa." he smiled.“Spawkles,” Allie squeaked excitedly.“You okay?” she whispered as Lyrissa stood up and took a few dizzy steps before falling into somebody. “Fine.” she laughed; because Allie couldn’t pronounce her R’s correctly, made it so cute when she tried to say “Sparkles”, and she couldn't help but to laugh.

Lyrissa looked around to see what had happened, and mildly annoyed to find her Uncle Charlie right next to her; letting Allie ride with him on his wheelchair. “Lyrissa,” he started but was cut off when she stepped away from Cyclops: who had caught her when she stumbled. “I know!” she spat quickly; quickly taking a headcount of the kids that were walking with the X-men. “You know what?” he asked calmly. “I know I lost control! What else?” she retorted. “Well, yes you did; but I was going to say Andrew and the children with him are safely aboard the jet with Jean, Rogue, Gambit, and Nightcrawler.” he smiled.

“…oh.”

“Now, about losing control?”

“Never mind.”

“Lyrissa,”

“Never mind, okay?”

“Lyrissa,” this time said with more authority.

“Uncle Charlie, forget it! Please!” she sighed; again taking a headcount, but including the X-men this time.

“You’re Uncle Chawlie?” Allie asked excitedly. “Yes I am.” he nodded; Lyrissa was still going through her mental checklist, and ignored everyone around her. “Thanks for the Pizza.” she smiled. Professor-X was slightly surprised that at a time like this Allie, a terrified four year old girl, would think to thank him for pizza. “You’re quite welcome Alice.” “Allie.” she corrected him. “Allie.” he smiled.

“Stop!” Lyrissa sighed suddenly. “What is it?” Cyclops demanded; bringing his hand up to his visor, ready for a fight. “I can’t get a count! You’re all moving around, and I can’t focus. Just hold still a minute okay?” she answered; she was actually getting annoyed with herself more than anyone else, but only the Professor could tell; everyone else just thought she was kind of a bitch.

She named off the kids as she counted them. “Allie… Max,” she pointed at one of the four she hadn’t really gotten to know yet, “Allen, but Rew called me Dizzy.” he said shyly. She pointed to the next one, “Katie.” she nodded. “And you?” she asked; pointing to a third. “Rikki.” he answered; nervously shuffling his feet in the sewage. “Tomas.” the fourth answered quickly. Lyrissa sighed as she went over her group again, “Allie, Max… Allen, Katie,… Rikki… Tomas…” she froze and her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates; “Where’s Dante.” she demanded.

“Dante was teleported to the jet by Nightcrawler, where his wound can be treated.” Professor-X answered calmly. “But he’s okay?” she asked eagerly. “So far yes. He was shot in the leg, but I highly doubt it’s lethal.” he answered; again calm and collected as always. “Stop worrying kid, he’ll be fine.” Wolverine added; taking it upon himself to get their group moving again.

“Hey Spawkles?” Allie asked; jumping down from the Professor’s chair to walk hand-in-hand with her.

“Hm?”

“How do you know these people?”

“What d’you mean?”

“Uncle Chawlie, isn’t weally your uncle…”

“No, but he’s close enough Al.”

“But how do you know them?”

“Uncle Charlie was a very close friend of my dad’s. When my daddy got sick, I moved in with him and he took care of me. When I found out I was ‘gifted’, he helped me then too.”

Allie was quiet for a while; but being four years old, she was full of questions and it wasn’t long before she couldn’t hold them back anymore. “Why do you live here then Spawkles?” her eyes glistening with curiosity as she asked her questions; “Why don’t you live with them still?” Lyrissa sighed inwardly at the question; she really didn’t want to answer that. The X-men also reacted to it, and Allie picked up on it.

“I’m Sowey.” she sighed quietly; letting go of Lyrissa’s hand and moving to the back of the group to walk away from everyone. “What’s wrong child?” Storm asked curiously; she had also elected to walk in the back due to her claustrophobia “I made you all sad.” she answered. Clearly upset over the fact. “No, you didn’t. It is not your fault.” she smiled softly.

“Almost out.” Cyclops announced as they came to a much smaller tunnel. They had to walk single file, and Jubilee, Allie, and the Professor were the only ones who didn’t have to duck down a bit. “Uhm… uhm mistew?” Allie whispered; tugging on Cyclops’ arm. “What is it?” he replied gently. “Can we stop a little bit? Just for a second, pwease? She’s scared.” she answered; pointing to Storm, who he knew would be having trouble in the tunnel. “She’ll be fine once we’re out of this sewer, we just have to keep moving alright?” he smiled. “Nuh-uh. She’ll be fine now if you let me make her not scared.” Allie argued. “We don’t know how far those soldiers are, we have to keep moving. Storm will be fine, she just doesn’t like small spaces. That’s all.” he replied; continuing to walk ahead. “No!” she squeaked. “Allie, sweetie, calm down okay?” Lyrissa smiled; walking over to her and picking her up. “Spawkels, look-it!” Allie sighed; pointing at Storm, who was clearly having more trouble in the tunnel than they thought. Professor-X knew how much she could take, and motioned for everyone to keep moving; but being four, Allie knew what she was doing, and wanted it no other way.

“NO! Let me help, she’s scared!” she screamed. “Allie, hush okay? We’re still hiding.” Lyrissa whispered sharply. The more they tried to quiet Allie down, the more upset she got. The more upset Allie was, the more frustrated Lyrissa, and the X-men got, which upset the other kids, which made Allie even worse because of her empathic abilities.
“Everyone settle down. Allie, please help Storm, we would all appreciate it.” Professor-X ordered suddenly. “But Professor-” “Cyclops, pick your battles. This is not the time, or place to have an argument with a four year old.” the Professor interrupted.

Allie tugged Storm’s hand to get her to kneel down to her level, and put both hands on either side of her face. “Think happy things.” she whispered as her hands started to glow. Storm and Allie both started giggling as soon as she had finished. “What?” Wolverine almost demanded. “They’re happy now. Allie’s happy, because Storm’s happy, and now we can go because Storm isn’t claustrophobic anymore. Well, she isn’t right now anyway.” Lyrissa explained. “Fascinating.” Beast nodded as they continued out of the sewers.

Twenty minutes later they were safely aboard the jet, but over crowded, and packed in uncomfortably. “So, Sparkles huh?” Wolverine asked Lyrissa. “It’s the hair.” she grinned; pointing to her glittery locks. “Guess we got yer X-menalias then.” he grinned; he knew she would hate to hear Cyclops yelling “Sparkles” over the communicators to give her an order. “Don’t. Only they can call me Sparkles… I’m still just Lyrissa to you guys.” she replied; keeping her voice monotone. Wolverine ended their conversation with his signature grunt.

“Hey, where are we going anyway?” Andrew asked as he braided a one of the little girls’ hair. “Yeah, we gotta wait for Box and Jazz, they got everyone else.” Jamie piped in. “We cannot wait. I will explain the situation when we’re safely at the mansion.” Xavier replied. “No! We have to wait, we can’t leave them. They’re family, we don’t leave family! We have to wait for Jazz, we have to wait for my sister!” Max pleaded. “Don’t worry, we’ll get them. We’ll come back for them Max, I promise. But they’re right, we can’t wait or we’ll get caught by those guys back there. We’ll come back for Kiera and the others, I promise.” Lyrissa smiled; pulling Max into her lap and holding him as he started to cry.

One very long, tear filled flight, filled with arguments, and “Are we there yet?” later, they arrived at the mansion. Needless to say Wolverine was the first off the jet. Nightcrawler teleported beast and Dante to the infirmary, where his wound could be properly treated, and the others split up to give the newcomers a tour of their new home.

“You remember how to get to your room Lyrissa? We left it the same, so it’s still yours.” Jean smiled as the two of them walked down the halls. “Yeah, I remember. You think Gambit and Cyclops can handle the boys for an entire tour? I mean, it’s no doubt Storm and Rogue can handle the girls, the kids have pretty much adopted them already; but we both know Scotty’s gonna have problems, and I’m not so sure Gambit knows what to do with kids.” she laughed.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine. That’s not what’s bothering you though.”

“No, it isn’t; and I know if I don’t tell you, you’ll just figure it out anyway.”

“Eventually, yes.” Jean laughed; “So what’s wrong?”

“Everything. I lost control back there when Dante got shot, I could’ve killed everyone! I lost thirteen people, let a kid in my group get shot, didn’t react fast enough when they found us… and I made a promise to Max that we both know I may not be able to keep!” Lyrissa answered; tears threatening to spill over her eyes.

“Lyrissa, it isn’t your fault. The Professor’s going to do everything possible to find them, and when we do we will bring them all home.”

“Jean, Dante got shot. What’s to say the others didn’t…” Lyrissa couldn’t finish her sentence, but the horrified look in her eyes as her mind went over all the worst possible scenarios told everything.

“Come on. We’re not going to think about that right now, instead I think we’ll think about raiding the kitchen with Jubilee in search of some ice-cream. What do you say?”

“Only if it has sprinkles.” Lyrissa laughed.

When they got to the kitchen, Andrew was sitting at the table with his head down; probably sleeping. “We do have a room for him, if he’d prefer a bed.” Jean laughed. “He said to not wake him up if he falls asleep Jean.” Jubilee replied from the freezer; digging around for more ice-cream. “He’s right too. When Rew crashes, you leave him or he’ll never get back to sleep.” Lyrissa agreed; getting some bowls from the cabinet after seeing Jubilee pull out a carton of chocolate ice-cream. “Sounds like someone else I know.” Jean grinned while getting some spoons.

“How many bowls do we need?” Lyrissa asked after putting down at least six. “I dunno… Jean are you eating some?” Jubilee asked. “Of course, and Rogue and Storm are coming back from the grand tour, so… I would say five. The kids are all asleep!” she laughed. “Wow, you must not have told them we have ice-cream.” Lyrissa laughed as they were joined by Rogue and Storm.

“Ice-cream?” Jubilee asked; putting down two bowls full for them. “I do not believe we have a choice.” Storm smiled as she took her seat. “Come on, it’s yummy!” Lyrissa laughed as she took a dramatic bite. “Haven’t changed much, have ya sugar?” Rogue smiled. “Hey! I did too change… I’m at least three inches taller now.” she laughed; causing everyone else to join in.

“You know, I did miss this guys. You remember the first time we stayed up all night eating ice-cream?” Lyrissa sighed once the laughter died down; and the ice-cream was gone. “Yes, do you remember why we stayed up all night?” Storm answered. “Uhm…” she grinned. “Because Logan made you cry, remember?” Jean giggled. “Yes I remember! I just didn’t want her to know! What kind of first impression is this? Big bad Wolverine made Spawkles cry!” Lyrissa laughed; gesturing to Jubilee, who she had met for the first time that day. “He made you cry?” Jubilee asked while trying to stifle her own laughter. “Yeah, it was the first time I spent the night here, when my dad got sick. I got scared, and went running from my room, looking for Jean, and smacked into him. It wouldn’t be so bad, if I didn’t make him spill the drink he was carrying all over himself.” she explained. Jubilee wasn’t able to contain her laughter at that point; neither was anyone else. “Ah thought he was gonna kill her with the way he started yellin’ at her.” Rogue laughed. “Yeah… me too.” Lyrissa agreed with a smile.

“So how’d that lead to a night of ice-cream?” Jubilee asked curiously. “And cartoons, and it was because Rogue felt bad, because he made me cry.” Lyrissa laughed. “Rogue and I were both down here going over something… I can’t even remember what it was now, but it wasn’t hard to hear him yelling at Lyrissa from here. Rogue was the first up there, and as mad as he was, she still got in his face and made him leave her alone. To make her feel better we brought out the ice-cream, and the only thing on TV that wasn’t boring news, was cartoons.” Jean answered. “Yeah, Storm joined us about two hours into Lion King, which Rogue found somewhere.” Lyrissa added. “Wow, so how old were you? I mean, you don’t look like Wolverine yelling at you would really make you cry…” Jubilee giggled. “I was ten. But to be fair, I was already upset, and thinking dad was going to die, and that it would be my first Christmas without him.” Lyrissa answered; justifying her reasons for crying in the first place.

The girls continued their conversation until the early hours of the morning before they finally went to bed. Lyrissa couldn’t be happier to see her old room. Black and neon purple striped curtains, black bedding, with neon pillows, of every color, a disco ball lamp, that when set to stand-by just lit the room like a normal lamp, posters all over her walls, and her old bright blue, shaggy teddy-bear that Jean and Cyclops gave her for Christmas, still sitting in the middle of the floor; along with dirty laundry, books, and a few CD’s. She let out a delighted squeal as she picked up “Beastie” and flopped down onto her bed. Whispering “Home.” as she fell asleep.