Lyrissa's Sparkles

Lyrissa tossed and turned that night trying to stay asleep. That scene she had let Jean see was haunting her, among others. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw something. Some images she wished would never end, others caused her to wake up in a panic.

~Lyrissa’s dream~

“Dad, where are you gonna put this thing?” She asked cheerfully; she was admiring the shining plaque. She was in the front seat of the car, on their way home from an award ceremony, and her father had won one of the awards. “On the wall, in my lab. Unless you can find a better place for it, you’ve always been better at the décor.” Her father replied. “I think you should put it somewhere where the whole world can see what a great geneticist you are. But then again, the only people who are going to know what this stuff means are the other lab-rats, so your idea is fine.” She laughed. She had nicknamed the scientists lab-rats, after making a joke and deciding that is what they should be named.

The rain was pouring down, and visibility was very low, so she decided to be quiet and try not to distract her dad while driving. “Lyrissa, you have your belt on right?” he asked nervously. “Yeah, you?” she asked. “Yes.” He nodded. She couldn’t hear him over the thunder that had just sounded, but she could read his lips and see him nod and understand his answer that way.

They drove in silence, and her dad being so tense was making her nervous. She glanced up at the road to see two bright lights coming straight at them; two headlights. “DAD LOOK OUT!” she screamed. Her dad yelled and swerved. He missed the car, but something else was wrong. The car was moving faster, and downhill. She screamed louder as she realized that they had crashed through the guardrail, and off the road. “Daddy!” She cried as he grabbed her and held onto her. “Lyris-” he was cut short by the car coming to a very sharp, and loud halt.

~Lyrissa’s Room~

“DAD!” she screamed as she sat up in bed. She was shaking, and crying, and terrified. She had never, in all the years since her father’s death, seen those images. Until now, she didn’t remember a thing about that night.

She was still crying when she heard someone knocking at her door, and several voices talking outside it. “W-What?” she choked; she was trying to hide the fact she was crying. “Heard ya scream. You okay in there, kid?” Logan asked through the door. “I’m… fine. J-just fine.” She lied. Of course the tearful voice, and stuttering gave her away instantly. “Lyrissa, you don’t sound like it. Are you sure?” Scott called through the door. “Yes, I’m sure!” she answered shortly; she really wanted them to just leave. She heard Jean’s voice outside the door, and footsteps as the crowd left.

“Lyrissa,” Jean called softly while knocking at the door. “What?!” she cried. Her room was getting darker, and she knew she was starting to lose control again. She had to calm down, but couldn’t with everyone talking to her. “Can I please come in? I know you’re upset, I would like to help.” She answered. “No, thanks Jean, but I… I don’t want to talk right now okay?” Lyrissa sniffled; she was still trying to calm herself down. “All right. But if you ever want someone to talk to, I’m always available. Even if I’m in the Danger Room, I’ll be there for you.” She sighed before leaving Lyrissa alone.

She continued to cry as that dream repeated itself over and over. She could hear, and what’s worse feel the crash. She could hear him try to shout her name before nothingness. It was ripping her apart.

“Lyrissa, please open the door for me.” Xavier requested telepathically. He was someone she wanted to see, and she immediately opened the door for him. “Uncle Charlie…” She cried as she threw her arms around him. “It’s all right Lyrissa.” He whispered soothingly before she pulled away from him to let him into her room. “Tell me what happened, what caused this?” he asked after she shut her door back. “I saw him die, I was in the car, and it was raining and storming, and I saw him die. We crashed, and he died right there. He was holding me, he tried to say my name Uncle Charlie, he was trying to tell me something but the stupid car hit something before he could say it!” she cried as she slid down her door to sit on the floor, covering her face with her hands. “You remembered the crash then?” he asked with a sigh. “You told me I would probably remember someday, and I told you I wanted to. I didn’t want to Uncle Charlie, I didn’t want to see that!” she sobbed.

Xavier put his hand on her shoulder, and she responded by pulling herself up and once again putting her arms around him. “You’re all right. I will help you through all of this. The labs, this new found memory, everything.” He promised. “Thank you so much Uncle Charlie.” She whispered as tears continued to run down her face and be absorbed by his robe. “I’m so sorry I ran away before, and said no when you asked me to come back all those times.” She said after a ragged breath. “No need to apologize, I knew you would refuse. ‘Stupid telepath’, remember?” he smiled understandingly. She pulled back and wiped her eyes. “You aren’t a stupid telepath.” She laughed.

“Are you all right now?” he asked after a while of silence. “Yeah. Probably going to stay up, but I’m okay if you want to leave.” She answered.

“Only if you are sure you’re all right. I will stay if you want me to.”

“It’s cool Uncle Charlie, I’m pretty awake now. I think I’ll just go snag something from the kitchen, and see where I go from there. Probably to tinker around with my bike.”

“Then goodnight Lyrissa. I will see you in the morning.” He smiled warmly. “Uhm, it is morning. So good morning, and I will see you later today.” She grinned while pointing to the clock she had bought. It was 2:12 am.

She followed Xavier out of her room, and watched him head off to his own before quietly making her way to the kitchen. She nearly had a heart attack when she saw Beast sitting at the table reading. “You gave us all quite a scare earlier.” He commented as she poured herself some of the coffee he had made. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to wake anyone up.” She replied softly. “I wouldn’t think that you did.” He smiled.

“So what’re you doing up so early, I thought everyone would’ve gone back to bed since it’s only like 2am.”

“I am reading various works of Edgar Allan Poe. Logan is down in the Danger Room.”

“Poe huh? Which one?”

“Currently, The Angel of the Odd. It is a very interesting tale.”

“Yeah, I read that in the library here once, it is good.”

“Lyrissa, May I ask what scared you so badly earlier?”

“Bad dream. Just a wicked bad dream, that’s all.”

“I see. If you ever want to talk about it, I find I can be a very good listener.” He nodded. Deciding not to pry.

They sat in silence for a while. Hank continued reading his book, while Lyrissa looked blankly at the reflection of her eyes in her coffee. “Hey Hank?” she asked softly; finally breaking the silence. “Yes?” he replied. Lifting his eyes above his book. “I was going to head down to the garage and fiddle with my bike for a while. The race is tomorrow… well today actually, and I have a whole bunch of new parts, paint, and other things to add and switch. You wanna come keep me company?” she asked somewhat nervously. She was expecting him to deny her request; she knew it wasn’t his highest interest. “Of course. I was just finishing the last story in this book, and would need another form of entertainment. Your timing is impeccable.” He smiled. Lyrissa gave a sigh of relief, and led them up to her room to grab her new bike things. Once they had everything she needed, they went down to the garage.

“I thought you said that Bad Boy ran ‘like a crazy dream on a racetrack’. Why are you replacing so many parts now?” he asked as she started to disassemble the bike. “Because, a crazy dream is good, but at the last race, there was this big guy who’s bike was way faster than this one. I needed to upgrade some things.” She answered. He gave a nod and handed her the tools she needed.

Three hours later she was still working on the bike. Hank had gone to finish some work he needed to get done some time ago, but she couldn’t tell exactly how long. She had replaced most of the inadequate parts, and was finishing up the last replacement when Logan walked in with two plates of food. “Don’t know which ya’d rather have. Jean’s breakfast special, or the Cajun’s so-called cookin’. I put both on yer plate.” He stated as he set hers down, and pulled up a mechanic’s stool for himself. “Thanks Logan.” She grunted as she tried to loosen a bolt. “Need some help?” he smirked. “And risk those claws of yours tearing up all this work?” she laughed sarcastically; “No thanks Logan. I… ugh… got it!” she beamed after the bolt finally came lose.

She wiped the grease off of her hands, and picked up the breakfast he had brought her. “So what was all the cryin’ about? Thought ya said you’re a big girl now.” He jeered as they ate. “I wasn’t crying.” She spat coldly. “I got good ears kid, I heard ya.” He replied in a less teasing tone. Lyrissa sighed and set down the plate. “I dreamt about the night dad died. I saw the entire crash. That’s what all the crying was about.” She explained. A few tears welled up in her eyes, and her hair went suddenly very dull. Even her naturally sparkly black nails seemed to lose their shine.

Logan noticed the sudden change and put his plate down. “You ain’t goin’ through this alone Lyrissa.” He said seriously, putting his hand on her shoulder; “Ya got all those kids you brought with you from the sewer, ya got all us X-men, and ya’ve got the Prof.”

Lyrissa’s tears started falling down her face at a fast rate as she let herself cry. Jean and the Professor had both told her that part of her losing control of her powers is due to her pent up emotions; she didn’t want this memory to lead to her hurting anyone. She kept crying as Logan pulled her into a tight hug. It wasn’t something he’d normally do, but he could tell she needed it, and for some reason he wanted to. She felt safer in his embrace, and warmer. She was a little surprised at his response to her tears, but she greatly appreciated, and enjoyed it.

He waited until he felt her breathing slow to a normal pace to pull away from her. When he did, he couldn’t have been happier with what he saw. Her hair was sparkling like it had when he first met her. She was smiling, and couldn’t have looked better. Even though she was still wearing an oversized t-shirt, and short tight shorts that you couldn’t see because of the shirt. It wasn’t flattering, but it was comfortable so she wore it anyway.

“Yer food’s gettin’ cold.” He said after catching himself looking her over. “Yeah…” she blushed as she picked up her plate and started eating again. “Okay, I’m gonna ask Scotty to go with me to the race again, but he’s going to say no. But I got this idea, because I kind of really need a crew, that maybe you could all come? Most of the other racers have their teams and or crew to support them. Jax is more like a professional, but illegal league. None of us are ‘professionals’ but we could be if we wanted to. The good racers, and I mean the really good racers, could even top the pros I think.” She explained; she had a habit of rambling when trying to justify her reasons for asking something. “What would we have to do as yer crew? I ain’t an errand boy.” He replied.

“Well, to start, you’ll have to all match somehow. Same color shirts, or a full matching uniform I don’t care, but we have to be set apart from all the other groups there. It looks better, and it’s safer. Second, I wouldn’t make any of you the errand boys or girls; there really aren’t a lot of errands to run in this. Really all I need is a chase, and two riders. But I want you all there, ya know?”

“Yeah. I’d go, don’t know about Summers though; he ain’t too happy about the races.”

“I know, and if he says no he can stay here. Hand me that wrench.” She replied as she set down her now empty plate, and got back to work.

He stayed down there with her, helping every once in a while, but mostly just keeping company. They were down there together for hours, and hours, and hours. Neither of them knew exactly how long, but the engine had been put back together, tires replaced, suspension upgraded, and breaks changed. She was now working on stripping paint, so she can repaint the bike. “Wanna help with this? It’s going to take forever since its kind of thick.” She laughed. “Sure.” He grunted and grabbed a rag and can of paint thinner.

Gambit and Allie came down a while later with lunch for the two of them. They could hear them laughing from down the hall. When they walked into the garage, Gambit nearly dropped the sandwiches at what he saw. Lyrissa and Logan were laying on the floor, she was laying across his stomach, and both of them were laughing harder than he’d ever seen either of them laugh before. “You… you’re horrible at this! Look, its… its everywhere! You got paint everywhere, and spilled the paint thinner!” she laughed. “Yer the one to talk Sparkles, who sprayed the can in my face?” he chuckled as he pushed her off of him. “YOU sprayed it first! You hit me with it remember? THEN I sprayed it at you, because you deserved it stupid!” she yelled before grabbing another can of paint thinner and spraying him with it.

The fumes from the paint, and the paint thinner were so strong, Allie had started coughing, and Gambit’s eyes were starting to water. He knew by the way they were acting that they had been down there breathing the fumes for a very long time, and needed to get out of the garage and into some fresh air. “Hey, lunch be ready soon. Why don’ you two quit dis and come eat, eh?” he suggested, hiding the sandwiches behind his back. “You hungry?” Logan asked cheerfully. Gambit nearly snorted at the grin on his face. “Yeah… let’s go eat food. Lots of food!” she laughed. They really had been in those fumes too long. “With Sparkles!” he added. “Sparkles?” she gasped. “… I meant sprinkles.” He corrected himself; he didn’t mean to say sprinkles, but he wasn’t going to let her know that.

Up in the kitchen, Allie came running into the door yelling that something was wrong with Logan and Lyrissa. “Well, they have both been awake a long time Allie, they’re probably just tired.” Jubilee dismissed. “Nuh-uh, he’s laughing, and being silly, and she was laying on him when we gave the sandwiches. It smelled funny down there… I think they’we gonna die!!” she panicked. “They are not going to die Allie. The fumes from the paint, and paint thinner are very strong and have caused them to act differently. I want you to stay up here until the fumes dissipate.” Xavier explained. “What’s dis-uh-plate?” she asked childishly. “Until they go away Allie.” He laughed. “Oh, okay. But they’we okay?” She asked. “I dunno about that one sugar.” Rogue laughed as she walked into the kitchen. “What do you mean?” she asked.

Before Rogue could answer Logan walked into the kitchen, followed by Lyrissa tackling him from behind and wrestling him to the ground. “Admit it!” she screamed in his ear. “No, get off!” he laughed in defiant reply. “SAY IT!! You know you want to…” she sang after screaming. He just started laughing as they wrestled around on the kitchen floor. “Dey been like dis the whole way. She want him to say he looks like Edward Scisorhands.” Gambit explained to the very questioning looks they were getting from the other X-men and kids in the room. “Oh my god… he kind of does!” Andrew gasped. “Do not.” Logan grunted through the fight.

Lyrissa lost her grip and gave him the chance to switch places and get on top of her in the match. Of course now she was in no place to scream at him to say he looked like Eddie Scisorhands; she just looked up at him with a goofy grin and stopped fighting. “What?” he asked sternly. “What, what?” she replied while faking innocence. “That grin. What’s it for?” he answered. “Oh… nothing… you, uhm… you look like Edward Scisorhands.” She laughed hysterically. He growled and got off her so he could get a sandwich. She followed suit and sat right next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder.

Andrew snorted behind his laughter. “I have never, seen her like this before. Was she like this when she used to live here?” He asked everyone in the room. “No, it is the fumes. They are both impaired.” Xavier answered. “You mean she’s stoned?” he asked in very amused shock. Xavier nodded his response and left the room.

“How long do you think this is gonna last Wolverine?” Jubilee asked. “How long what’s gonna last? Sparkles fallin’ in love with me?” He replied sarcastically. “I am not falling in love with you!” Lyrissa yelled, punching him hard in the shoulder before biting into her sandwich; she laid her head back onto his shoulder shortly after. “No you two acting like this, you’re both acting… well weird.” Jubilee answered. “Dunno, didn’t think I was actin’ weird in the first place.” He grinned.

A while later Lyrissa was working on her bike again. The fumes had worn off, but Xavier had demanded that she paint the bike outside to prevent any future problems. Her bike was finished except the decorations. She had the smoky background airbrushed, which was just black and gray, and was now trying to figure out the decals she bought. She had two picked out, and had to decide to replace her demon eyes, or do something completely different. She decided on the latter.

She finished the paint just in time to give the bike two hours to dry before the race. It had been a long time since she’d had butterflies before a race, but she was very excited about this one. She had gone with what looked like someone had clawed down the sides of her tank, and painted over the decal to look like it had revealed red paint behind the scratch. She then put “Bad Boy” at the top of the tank in almost calligraphy lettering –which took her forever- and a shadowy figure of a man up the center of the tank below it. All and all, she was very satisfied with the tank. The rest of the bike was painted to match, elaborate without overdoing it. And, as much as she hated to admit it, the sparkly candy-apple red looked good on her bike.

“Looks good, think it’ll be dry before tonight?” Scott asked from behind her; he scared her enough to make her jump and drop the bottle of detail paint. “You, are so lucky that didn’t hit the bike!” she yelled. She hated when people snuck up on her. “And yes it will be dry. At least I hope it will.” She added as she turned to face him. “Good… did you do all that freehand?” He asked in awe. “Some of it, the claw marks aren’t, but the red in them is. The calligraphy is mine, and the shadow is half mine. The background is all me though.” She answered matter-of-factly. “Never knew you were so good.” He admitted.

“So, what’re you doing down here anyway?” she asked. She expected him to want something. To see her in the Danger Room, ask questions, something. “Actually, I wanted to ask you about this race tonight.” He answered. Yep, asking questions.

“What about it?”

“Is it safe?”

“No.” she laughed.

“No? It isn’t safe?”

“No! Do you know how many crashes happen out there? People die in these kinds of races. But Scotty, you have to remember people die on the highway every day. People die when they get sick, they die when they fight evil mutants who wanna crush them… it isn’t the most dangerous thing. I just won’t lie to you about it.”

“It isn’t legal, it isn’t safe, why do you do it then?”

“Because it’s fun! You see this is why I want you out there with me Scotty. I didn’t understand anything you did as the X-Men, until I saw it. Until I experienced it for myself, then I understood. You won’t understand the amazing atmosphere unless you’re there. Just once Scotty, please? Just this once?” she begged.

“I don’t know Lyrissa. I don’t like the idea of you going out like this. It’s dangerous, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Scotty! I know it’s dangerous! Me asking you not to go out and fight Magneto and his guys when I was twelve didn’t stop you did it? That was dangerous Scotty, you did almost die!”

“That’s different. We were protecting innocent people out there. What good are these races doing? And how do I know you’re not going to crash out there, and get yourself killed?”

“So this is what it’s about… you don’t think I can ride do you? You’ve never seen me ride; you have no idea what I can do Scott!” she shouted. It hurt her that he didn’t believe in her.

“No I don’t know what you can do, because until last week I didn’t even know you raced!”

“Just forget I asked you all right? You obviously don’t want to go, so don’t. I’ll have someone else go. Logan already said he’d go, and his jeep goes off road, so it’s the perfect chase. Gambit said he’d go, and even Jean said she’d be happy to go just to see what it’s like. You stay here and be the superhero, waiting to spring into action.” She yelled before storming out of the garage to get herself ready for the race.

She was so frustrated that she couldn’t think properly, which made getting her things together even more frustrating. She was already under a lot of stress, and nearing her breaking point. She was still trying to deal with the labs, and now had to deal with her father’s death all over again, and to top it all off, she was starting to think about what she showed Jean at the mall. Xavier never told her how her mother died, and neither had her father. It was a mystery to her.

She had changed into her new racing clothes. It looked similar to the outfit Rogue wore, only black and gray and two pieces; it had tight fitting black faux-leather pants, and a black and gray quarter-sleeve shirt. She re-laced her new combat boots with red laces, and had them set by the bedroom door. She had a leather jacket that she had stuck red reflective tape to sitting on top of them. Her hair was braided in two down her back, and she put on some red lipstick, and red eye shadow under her black eyeliner.

She looked good, but didn’t feel it. She was too distracted to race safely, and she knew it. She looked at her clock and saw that she still had an hour before the race. She decided to take a quick nap before heading downstairs.

~Lyrissa’s Dream~

She was sitting in the passenger side of a car, going down the road during a very severe storm. She looked down and saw the plaque her father had won. She immediately started to cry, she was watching the crash all over again in third person. It was like she was riding in the back seat. “Where are you gonna put this thing dad?” she saw herself ask. She watched the conversation play out until she saw the headlights. She saw them before her dream self, and started screaming at her father to move.

“DAD LOOK OUT!” her dream self screamed. The car swerved off the road, and down a hill. She watched herself scream for her father, and saw him throw himself over her protectively. “Lyris-”

~Lyrissa’s Room~

The alarm was going off at a very annoying pitch. She yelled out and threw her pillow at it and muffled the sound. She looked in the mirror and noticed that she had been crying in her sleep and her make up was running quite badly. A few minutes later she had her make up fixed up, and the alarm turned off. She pulled on her boots and jacket and went down to check her bike’s paint. She was shocked to find it was dry. She started it up just to be sure it would run, sighed with content, and went up to see how everyone else was doing.

“Look guys, after that argument, I don’t think she wants me to go.” She heard Scott say, as she got closer to the main room. “I think that if you want to go, you should ask her if she will let you.” Jean argued. “Fine, when I see her, I’ll ask her.” He huffed; she knew they had been arguing for a while now, and he just gave up because he was tired of the argument. Not that Jean would have let him lose anyway.

“Lyrissa, are you ready to leave?” Xavier asked calmly. She hated it when he did that, addressing her before she even enters a room. “Yeah, if we leave now we’ll get there early enough for you to meet Jackie and his girl. They’re pretty cool.” She answered as she walked through the doorway. “Who all is going?” she asked. Everyone was in the room, and most of them were wearing red, black, or both. Even Xavier was dressed as part of her team. “Hank is staying here with the kids, and Jubilee. You said you wanted everyone to go, so we are all ready. Unless you have someone you would like to stay behind?” he answered. “No… unless he wants to.” She replied sheepishly, directing her reply to Scott.

He gave a heavy sigh, and she knew what he was about to ask was going to be hard for him. “Lyrissa, I’m sorry about the argument we had in the garage. I wasn’t thinking, or respecting you at all. Would you be all right with me going along with you to your race?” he asked with some difficulty. “No, I wouldn’t be ‘all right’ with you going along.” She answered firmly; “I’d be thrilled!” She laughed as she shocked him with a big hug. “But you can’t wear that… it’s blue and blue, you need red or black. Trust me, there’s a guy with blue as his only color; he’s a jerk too. He’ll start trouble with you wearing that anyway.” She added.

Scott hurried up to his room to change and came back in a simple red t-shirt and jeans. “Awesome. Am I riding, or are we towing?” she asked. “Yer riding this time, we ain’t got a trailer here for the bike.” Logan answered as they made their way to the garage. “That’s fine. Can you take the jeep? If the track goes off road, it’d be nice to have a chase that can pick me up if I crash.” She asked. “I was plannin’ on it.” He smiled.

Logan, Rogue, Gambit, and Andrew took his jeep, and everyone else took Scott’s car. Lyrissa put on her helmet that she had repainted to match her bike with red and black claw marks, and led them out. She could practically hear Scott gasp as she gunned a wheelie through the gate. “Lyrissa, please be careful.” Xavier said telepathically just before her front wheel touched the ground. “Sure thing Uncle Charlie!” she yelled over the wind rushing past her ears.

Her family was finally going to see her race! She couldn’t believe it. Scotty was going to see her in action, and Uncle Charlie was going to be so proud when she won.