Butterflies and Hurricanes - Derek and Yvette (backdated to Saturday afternoon)

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

Following the news that they can take their mutations back from Derek, Yvette forces herself to go see him.

Backdated due to not having online access yesterday.




Yvette really didn't want to be down in medlab, hovering outside a particular door. The news of the truth behind their 'cures' had been horrifying to the young girl, and her first instinct had been to go and hide in the deepest part of the woods. But the truth was, her conscience wouldn't let her do that and she had to go see for herself just what Haven had done. If only to remind herself that nothing ever came for free.

Lifting up her hand, she knocked tentatively on the door. "Derek? My name is Yvette. May I be coming in, please?"

Derek was sitting on the floor, since that was more comfortable, watching a television show that he hadn't seen in ages. The buttons on the TV were just big enough that he could poke them with his claw so long as he was careful and change the channel. He looked up at the knock on the door and reached over to turn the show off. "Come in?" It had been a really long time since someone had knocked and asked if they could come into a room where he was staying.

With a deep breath, Yvette pushed open the door. "I wanted to say..." she began, but the words died in her throat at the sight of him. "Oh," was all she could say, although her face spoke volumes.

Well, she'd obviously been looking for him, given she'd used his name... which meant, given her expression, that she hadn't known what he looked like. Offering her a rueful sort of smile, Derek said, "Yeah, it takes some getting used to."

The reminder that this was another human being and she was staring shook her back into her manners. "I am sorry, I did not mean to be rude," she said, coming in properly. "They told us what you... about you, but I did not realise." His skin had the same dull red cast hers had had, his hair sticking out in all directions as haphazard spikes. "You have my powers, the red sharp skin," she continued, not even sure what she was saying now. "I wanted to say I was sorry. I did not realise that this was how Haven made mutations go away."

Shrugging a little, his pincers shifting even as he turned around so he could face her properly, Derek said, "No problem, I didn't really think you were being rude. I mean, hi. Crab claws. Grasshopper body. I was clear for a while, so the red's kind of an improvement over that. Since, you know. Nobody really wants to be able to see their own organs..." He offered her another smile, then tipped his head to the side and asked, "What can I do for, Yvette?"

"I... I am not sure," she replied, stumbling over her words. He was so normal, despite everything that had been done to him! "It was me who asked Haven to take our powers. I suppose I wanted to come to see you and apologise."

"You don't need to," Derek said, still smiling. "I'm never going to be 'normal' again, you know? I guess I was never really normal, even before I started helping Haven. But it's not like there's anything I can do about it now, so... you kind of have to take the little things, right?" He lifted his chin a bit, gesturing toward her without swinging his claw around. "D'you enjoy it?"

"Sometimes," she admitted. "When I am making something with my hands, or helping people, like with the Red X group. But..." and here she looked down at her feet, embarrassed to be admitting this in front of someone who had things so much worse and yet was not complaining at all. "I missed being able to touch people. To be able to relax and not worry about hurting someone every minute of the day." She realised who she was saying this to and grimaced a bit. "But you understand that, yes?"

"A bit," Derek answered, honest to a fault. "Are you happy now? Being able to touch and things without having to worry about hurting other people?"

Yvette paused, not even noticing she had clasped her hands together and was actually wringing them together. "I have never been so happy in my life as the past few weeks," she admitted at last in almost a whisper.

Smiling brightly at that, Derek said, "Well then. It's not really so bad, is it? Better for me to have it when I can't really do a lot, anyway. And you can still be happy." He stopped for a moment, expression becoming a mix of contemplative and serious. "That's what it was for, I guess. When I started out helping Haven. It was things that didn't matter. Leukemia from a kid, a really little boy. He was dying. My healing factor took care of it in a day or two, no big deal. He's off somewhere, being happy. So's everyone else. It's not ideal, but... it's kind of like a silver lining."


"But what about you? Your life?" Yvette was dumbfounded. "Do you not mind, all the things you cannot do because of the powers you have had put on you?"

"My life?" Derek shrugged his misshapen shoulders. "The one where I was an orphan? The one where I couldn't do anything to really help people? That's what I wanted. But I didn't have the grades or the money for college or anything, I was too young. I didn't really have a life. And anyway, your powers, Kevin's... they're not so bad when you put them on top of some crab claws and a grasshopper body. It's not like there's a lot I could do even without them. But, to be honest, the one I hate the most is the exploding one."

Yvette blinked stupidly at him. How could someone think so little of sacrificing their life for the benefit of others? "So, if I was to... if I did not take my powers back, you really would not mind? You would not think badly of me?"

"Not so long as you promised to do something wonderful," Derek said, smiling again. "Help others. Like that movie. You gotta pay it forward."

It was tempting. Extremely tempting. Could she really do it? Take advantage of such an offer? It was her dearest dream, the thing she'd wanted ever since the day she'd woken in medlab and discovered she was no longer herself.

Could she live with the knowledge that she'd dumped her powers on someone else, even if they were willing?

Sudden tears welled in her eyes. She couldn't. Not if she wanted to live with herself, be the person she strove to be.

"Thank you," she managed to Derek. "I should go. I have some thinking to do, about all this. Do you need anything?"

"Not at the moment," Derek said, biting his lower lip for a moment before continuing, "Some company later might be nice, though. If that's alright."

"Of course." She summoned a weak smile for him as she took her leave. "It was very nice to meet you, Derek."

"You, too," Derek said, concerned that he'd upset her. He didn't say anything, though, as she turned to leave. Sometimes trying to do the right thing was way more difficult than you could anticipate.