Jean-Paul and Johnny

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Jean-Paul does his best to console Johnny while he copes with missing memories and an unorthodox variety of withdrawal.



Despite his desire to help (as well as to distract himself from his own disappointment), there wasn't much that Jean-Paul could do in the infirmary. First-aid wasn't any good at this point -- the children weren't injured, just miserable. Even once the symptoms of their psychic withdrawal passed, that misery was likely to linger. Hopefully, reunion with their families would help to some extent. In the meantime, there was not much to do except keep an ear open for those who were restless in the night.

The sudden loss of Joyboy's warm, mindless bliss was not easy for any of them to cope with and neither was the fact that most were still piecing their muddled memories together. Their reunion with reality was proving to be a harsh one. Even the energetic acrobat Jean-Paul had encountered at the Neverland compound seemed a shell of himself, restless and disoriented and idle to the point of excruciating boredom, but somehow lacking the will to do anything about it. Most of the questions the older mutant had presented were still without answer in his mind...but the notion was not so amusing anymore. He exhaled deeply, pushing both sets of fingers back through his unkempt hair and ducking his head.

Jean-Paul looked up from the work he'd brought down to the medlab and made his way to the boy's bed. "Jonathan, right?"

The boy raised his head just enough to look up at Jean-Paul, his young faced weighted into a gloomy expression that seemed wholly out of place there. He was a pitiful sight, like a scruffy, whimpering pup just left at the pound. "...I guess. Sounds right."

"Can I get you anything?" Jean-Paul hesitated. "I don't know if you remember me. We spoke briefly back in the woods."

Johnny offered a worn and disingenuous smile, "That's one of the few things I do remember."

"You have all had a rough couple of days. How are you doing?" It was a little surprising to see how pale the boy was now that he'd been cleaned up; he'd thought the youth was a light brunet, not white-haired.

"I...feel like hell. And I don't know why." The young mutant's voice wavered, sounding as strained and exhausted as he looked. He forced himself to sit up, the simple act somehow feeling like a substantial chore, but one that was necessary for what he was about to say. Not that he had any hope of catching up to Jean-Paul in height even if he stood up on the low bed. "...I don't see why you couldn't let us stay."

"So far as Doctor Grey can tell, you are suffering from a form of psychic withdrawal. It should pass in a day or so, she thinks." Jean-Paul considered what to say. "The people who took you thought they were doing you some good, but they weren't thinking of the long term or of the people that they were hurting by kidnapping you."

Psychic withdrawal? The term would have meant little to Johnny on a good day and at this moment it meant nothing at all. The only thing he did understand was that, at best, he would continue to feel this way for at least another day. His frown deepened and he watched Jean-Paul intently as the man silently sought his next answer. It didn't seem to hold much solace. "What if it didn't hurt anybody? What if they don't want us back?" He wasn't sure where such ugly questions had come from, but they had come so easily that it was almost frightening. He swallowed hard.

"It's not so simple. You couldn't stay out in the woods all of your life, Jonathan. There's no future to that, just hiding away."

"If home is as bad as they said...what kind of future is there for us anyway?" Johnny's bright eyes hovered intently upon the older mutant, honestly seeming to want some justification to prove him wrong and quell this increasingly oppressive pessimism. It didn't feel right and he was slowly realizing how desperate he was to shake it off.

Jean-Paul stepped closer and took a seat by the boy's bed.

"Even assuming that those people were telling the truth, that's what places like Xavier's are for. Some of the students already here come from unhappy homes, but this place is a refuge as much as a school. Even if it is a bad scenario once we contact your parents, you'll have options besides going back." He offered the boy a faint smile. "But do not worry on that so much. Everything that Dreamer woman said was to justify kidnapping. I'd be surprised if she were telling the truth."

Jean-Paul didn't seem the type to smile very often and there was some comfort in the expression. Still, Johnny's unfaltering trust in the man's words seemed to have been left in the forest in Washington. "...I could really stay here? If they don't want me?"

Jean-Paul nodded, his smile fading at the gloomy thoughts that seemed to come so naturally to the boy.

"Would you care for the dime tour? Your head may need sorting out, but I don't think there is anything wrong with your legs."

Though Jean-Paul was plainly nodding, Johnny couldn't help but perceive the gesture with a certain amount of doubt when it was coupled with that disappearing smile. He lowered his eyes briefly, but said no more on the subject. His uncertain future was even more unsettling than his uncertain past and he had no desire to dwell on it. He felt bad enough.

The question seemed to catch him off guard, light eyes turning quickly up again. "But...we're not supposed to leave."

Jean-Paul nudged a mental inquiry Jean's way, then offered the boy a slight smile. "We're cleared. One of the advantages to having a telepath on duty tonight. Shall we?"

Johnny couldn't help but return a small smile. He didn't know whether the older mutant had actually asked anybody anything, but it was an amusing notion either way. Only at a mutant school. He shifted upon the bed to slip his slim legs over the edge and his feet down to the floor, his form feeling less heavy and worn than his mind had expected once he actually stood. Maybe this would be good for him. "Lead the way."