Lyrissa's Sparkles II

It had been a full week since Marvin arrived at the mansion. Granny Rose left to Sweden, and Katie went with her. Stephen also had gone, but his reason wasn’t sightseeing; his brother was getting married, and he was the best man.

Marvin’s powers had everyone on edge. The power outages had stopped, but they were still suffering surges, blown bulbs, blown fuses, dead batteries, and his awkwardness. Lyrissa tried her hardest to make him feel welcome, but between taking care of Allie, keeping Max and Kiera in check, keeping Dante and Jamie’s jokes against Marvin to a minimal, making sure Box didn’t pummel him, helping Jazz through her “Girlie Issues”, and working with her own powers, she was exhausted; and Andrew was never around to help her. Logan had taken to keeping to his room, or the Danger Room, and was of less help than usual, and the other X-Men were all busy with missions, training, and other things to help her either. Although she wasn’t she felt completely alone.

Marvin didn’t feel much better. A full week in, and he still had no friends, except Hank, who understood his jokes. He liked Hank, because he didn’t judge him for being smart, or tease him for reading encyclopedias when he was bored. He didn’t laugh at his questions about how to act around people, or more how to act around girls, and most importantly, he listened to him. Hank always, even if he was busy, was able to listen to what Marvin had to say. Xavier listened to, but he was more like his old school councilor, than the friend Hank was.

“He needs a nickname.” Marvin heard Jamie say, as he was about to pass the Game Room. “Yeah, how about Metal Mouth?” Dante snickered. “How about Weasel, since he’s so scrawny?” Box suggested, making everyone laugh. “Dude, Weasel’s such a nerd.” Andrew chuckled. Marvin didn’t need to stay to hear the rest, the mansion was no different than his old school, and it was only a matter of time before he started getting bullied there too.

“Marvin, what’s wrong?” Hank asked as he walked quietly into his lab, and sat down in an empty chair.

“Nothing.”

“It doesn’t look that way.” He argued, leaving his work and sitting across from him.

He went to answer, but ended up making a very loud, squawking sound instead. “What was that?” Beast chuckled. “An involuntary spasm of the diaphragm.” He answered blankly; he hated the sound he made when that happened. “Ah, hiccups.” Hank smiled as it happened again, only this time it was shorter.

They sat in silence while Hank continued to work on his paperwork. “Hey, can I read that?” Marvin asked, noticing a medical encyclopedia on the desk beside Him. “Of course you can.” He smiled. Marvin grinned to himself, and picked up the heavy book, and turned to a random chapter.

“I didn’t know that.” He muttered as he read. “What didn’t you know?” Hank asked curiously.

“Cardiopulmonary Arrest isn’t a heart attack, but it can be caused by one; I always thought they were the same thing. I also just learned the definitions of CPR and SCD.”

“And what are those definitions?”

“SCD stands for Sudden Cardiac Death, and CPR stands for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.”

“Fascinating.”

“I know. I love learning new things. Especially definitions to things most other people wouldn’t know. DNA for instance.”

“Deoxyribonucleic Acid.” He smiled.

“Yeah! Of course you’d know it though, you’re a doctor.”

“Did you just learn the definition of DNA?”

“Nope, I learned that out of the Biology book I borrowed from the University library. I learned a lot out of that book.” He beamed.

“Have you considered becoming a geneticist?”

“Not really. It’s more of a hobby than a future; I don’t want to turn something I enjoy into a chore. Did you know that most people who go into something they love as a career, end up hating their choice in the end? It’s all because of our resentful nature I think. I mean, when you’re little you love to help mom clean the house, or help cook; but when you get older, and that becomes your job, it isn’t fun anymore because you have to do it, and then you stop wanting to do it. The same thing goes with your first ever day of school; you’re so excited to be going to school, but then you decide it sucks and you hate it. Why? Because you have no choice, you have to go. That’s why I’m not going to use my interest in things like this to decide my future; I don’t want to end up hating genetics and medicine, when it’s so interesting, and to quote you, ‘fascinating’.” He smiled.

“Nerd.” Someone coughed as Box, Andrew, Jazz and Jubilee walked past the lab. “Ignore them Marvin.” Hank sighed. Marvin nodded and kept reading the book until he had gone through sections A-F, before having to put the book down and go up to lunch, which he hated.

“Shut up you lame-wad!” Jazz ordered as he and Hank walked in. “Would you two quit!” Lyrissa snapped, grabbing both her and Andrew with her wisps and forcing them to sit down. “He started it!” she protested. “Yeah, I did.” He laughed. “Just… enough okay?” she yelled, and sat down. Since Marvin’s arrival, Logan hadn’t been eating at the table, which meant Marvin was given his seat, instead of bringing out another chair, and she was starting to hate it; she missed the way Logan would rub her knee under the table, or hold her hand, or put his arm around her; she missed Logan period. The meal was as loud and insane as ever, and half way through the lights went out.

“Thanks Weasel.” Box muttered, before Jazz snorted and burst into laughter. “What was that?” Scott demanded. “Nothing Mr. Summers.” She and Box both answered together. “It’s because I’m small.” Marvin sighed before standing up and walking up to his room, making the lights flicker as he passed them. Once he was gone, the dining room lights came back on, and everything went back to almost normal.

As soon as she finished eating Lyrissa teleported up to Logan’s room. “Logan,” she whimpered, sitting on his bed as he lifted weights; he stopped and looked at her as soon as she said his name. “What happened?” he demanded, suspecting a prank from Andrew.

“I can’t do this… I need help.”

“With?”

“With life! Andrew isn’t helping me with anything, and do you have any idea how much I have on my plate? Ever since that new kid… Marvin got here you’ve left me high and dry! I have to keep up with Allie, who’s demanding attention, keep Dante and Max from killing each other, keep Jazz and Box from killing Marvin, keep Andrew from killing Marvin, keep the pranks down, help Jazz with her ‘problems’, keep up on Danger Room sessions, and not lose control in the process!” she cried, clinging to him as soon as he sat down beside her, “I need your help.”

He sat quietly and comforted her as she started to cry, letting all the stress she was feeling go. “I had no idea ya were feelin’ like that.” He admitted. She still cried, without saying a word. She did give him a reply though, by tightening her grip on him and refusing to let him go.

Outside the door, Marvin was standing and listening. He had been walking aimlessly through the upper levels of the mansion when he heard her shouting, when he heard how hard his arrival had made her life. Rogue walked up beside him and sighed, she knew what was going through his mind, and knew he was feeling guilty. “Ya know sugar, sometimes a girl just needs to cry.” She explained lightly. “I made her cry.” He mumbled.

“Nah, if anyone did it, it’s Andrew. The boy ain’t done a darn thing to help her out. All these kids here came with them. It was those two takin’ care of ‘em all. Now he ain’t helpin’ out, and she’s takin’ all the responsibility on herself. Now c’mon, I gotta get a bunch of stuff done, and you gotta get to the Danger Room; the Professor wants to work on ya powers.” She smiled, and guided him away from Logan’s door.

Much later that night, the X-men, Logan included, had to go out on a mission. Xavier was doing one-on-one work with Marvin, and Lyrissa was trying to get everyone ready for bed. Andrew was nowhere to be found. “Jubilee, can you please help me try to get Jamie in the tub?” she asked, she was so stressed out, her hair was actually starting to frizz. “Sure.” She shrugged, and went off to do her assignment.

Lyrissa had Allie in her arms because she was tired and cranky, and Dante by the sleeve. Jazz had gone up to bed already and locked everyone out, and Box decided it’d be fun to rig Marvin’s room with a bunch of pranks to get even with him for messing up their Danger Room session. “Dante, bed.” She ordered, guiding him into his room and pulling the door closed behind him. “Why you so mad Spawkles?” Allie asked as they went to track down Max and Kiera. “I’m not mad, I’m stressed. There’s a difference.” She sighed.

“But why?”

“Because I have a lot to do, and it’s really hard.”

“I can help!”

“Can you?”

“Yeah!”

“Okay, here’s what I want you to do. Kiera’s in the dining room, eating ice cream, you need to go tell her it’s time for bed, and then get her to sleep. Then I want you to go lay down in your room, and I’ll be there to tuck you in. Okay?”

“Okay!” and with that Allie darted away to complete her mission. Lyrissa sighed heavily, and went to the Game Room to find Max.

One hour later, everyone was in bed, except Marvin, who was still working with Xavier. Lyrissa had tucked Allie in, and sat with her until she fell asleep, and was now lying face down on the couch feeling the bliss of not having to move, or do anything. Unfortunately her bliss was interrupted by several lights going out, and the ones that didn’t blow, flickered; she knew it was Marvin.

“What happened?” she gasped after teleporting to him. He was standing in the middle of his room, which was turned yellow with post-it notes that each had a word written on them. The most commonly used being “Nerd”, “Weasel”, “Loser”, and “Dork”. “Box, I’m going to kill you!” she grumbled before grabbing Marvin and teleporting him back to Xavier.

“You already know what happened, so here; I’ll be back with Box.” She announced harshly before disappearing again. She was back less than a second later with a very tired Box, who was rubbing his eyes and whining about being woken up. “Would you like to explain why you decided to alter Marvin’s room?” Xavier asked coolly. “It wasn’t just me! Jazz, and Andrew did it too!” he defended. Xavier nodded to Lyrissa, who teleported away and back again with Jazz. “He is in the hanger.” Xavier informed, knowing she had no idea where her so-called friend was. She teleported him into the room and leaned up against the wall, since there were no chairs left at that point.

“The three of you are first going to go up, and remove every note from Marvin’s room, then you will apologize to him, and return to me; we have a lot to discuss.” Xavier announced firmly. The three pranksters groaned and drug their feet out of the room, while Marvin sat quietly in the corner, being his usual awkward, nerdy self.

“Marvin, could you please excuse us a moment? I have some things to discuss with my niece.” He smiled calmly. Marvin nodded and quickly left the room, leaving Xavier and Lyrissa alone. “Uncle Charlie, I don’t know what to do.” She sighed heavily, resting her forehead on his desk.

“I know, you have been under quite a bit of stress lately. May I ask why you haven’t asked for help?”

“Because you’re all just as busy.”

“Not really Lyrissa. True, we all do have a lot of work on our hands at the moment, but you are overworking yourself. And I know your brother leaving, and your great, great grandmother have something to do with it.”

Silence.

“Lyrissa.”

“What?”

“What happened to cause so much stress?”

“You’re the telepath, figure it out!” she snapped

~Lyrissa’s Mind~

She was running all over the place picking up pieces of the mansion walls, which were crumbling around her. The kids were all fighting and arguing, the X-Men were all off doing some sort of important work, and so was Xavier. Logan wasn’t busy, but he was locked in his room, of course. Andrew was lounging on a couch as Max and Dante were having a fistfight behind him, ignoring both of them entirely. She teleported over, broke them up, asked Andrew for help, and got an “I’m busy,” as an answer. With a heavy sigh, and a gasp, she used her wisps to hold up the ceiling that just collapsed.

Allie was asking to play a game on the other side of the room, and crying because Lyrissa wasn’t able to play. Lyrissa was losing it because she couldn’t play; she was trying to keep the mansion from coming down. She somehow got the ceiling to stay, and walked over to play with Allie, when the power went out and Marvin started apologizing behind her. Now she had to find the scared and angry kids, while keeping Marvin calm, listening to Scott complain about something, and keep the mansion from falling. Needless to say, she was at the end of her rope.

~Back In Reality~

“So you feel that everything is falling down around you, and no one is able to help?” he asked calmly. She nodded, keeping her forehead against his desk, “Without Andrew’s help, it’s a lot harder to keep on top of the kids. You’re all busy keeping Marvin from shorting out the place, and saving the world, so I’m on my own.” She explained quietly.

The second she finished her explanation she felt his hand on her shoulder. “As I’ve always said before Lyrissa, I am here whenever you need me. No matter what I’m working on, I will always be able to help you.” He smiled, rubbing her back to comfort her, the same way he used to when she was little. “Thank you.” She smiled, shifting so she could hug him before they left his office.

When the X-Men returned, Xavier was next to the couch, gently rubbing Lyrissa’s hairline as she slept; he and her father had both done that to calm and comfort her when she was very young, and it had the same effect now that she was older. “Is she all right?” Storm asked worriedly. “Yes, and no, Storm.” He sighed. “What happened?” Cyclops demanded. “We have been neglecting her this past week. She has been trying to take care of the children on her own, while we have been working against Magneto, and the anti-mutant organizations, and Andrew has been doing very little to help her recently. Ever since Marvin’s arrival, things have become much more difficult for her.” He explained. “She was asking for my help the other day, but I told her I was too busy training the kids… I should’ve made time to help.” He scolded himself quietly. “We have all been ‘too busy’ to assist her.” Storm admitted.

Lyrissa groaned suddenly and adjusted herself in her sleep; unfortunately she was sleeping on the very edge of the couch, and rolled into the floor. She didn’t wake up. “Poor girl’s all worn out, isn’t she?” Rogue sighed. “Yes.” Xavier nodded as Jean telekinetically put her back on the couch.

They left her for the War Room to discuss ways to make her life just a little easier, and also punishments for Box, Jazz, and Andrew for their little stunt earlier that night against Marvin before going to their rooms for the night.