Sarah Vale and Yvette, Monday Afternoon

[x-network.livejournal.com]

Yvette stops by to check in on Sarah with some food, and the two have a big talk about what happened and other things.


While she had been given the option of going to the Hamptons - fairly strongly, in fact - Yvette had decided to remain at the mansion. She could help with the repairs, she'd pointed out, and the injured would need someone to help take care of them and the Hamptons lodge would be far too crowded for her to be truly comfortable, especially in the wake of her own nightmares. Her arguments had won through and she'd quietly set about her work. Today it was making sure people were fed, especially those who were in their rooms, recovering from the trauma inflicted on them.

"Sarah?" she called softly through the closed door to the girl's room. "I have food. May I be coming in?"
Sarah's logic had been similar: there'd be too many people at the Hamptons and right now she just wanted to be alone. Even though there was no actual physical damage done to her face the psychic pain from what Dark Beast had done to her remained. It was slowly fading away, thank heavens, but the memories and nightmares would always remain.

She looked up at the sound of someone's voice. While she didn't really want any company, she recognized the voice and knew it was Yvette's, who'd been through just as horrible a time as she had been. "Sure, it's unlocked." Sarah shifted to sit up on her bed; she'd been laying down and hadn't really gotten up for longer than to use the washroom earlier in the day. Hopefully her friend wouldn't mind the fact that she was still in her pyjamas.

Balancing carefully on one foot, Yvette reached up and unlatched the door with her long toes, tray still firmly in her hand. "Hello," she said softly as the door opened and revealed Sarah sitting up in bed. "I brought you some lunch - soup, toast cut into what Laurie told me once are soldiers, and some fruit yogurt. Things that are easy to chew, yes?"

"Hi." Sarah managed a soft reply for her friend, then scooted over to make room for Yvette if she chose to sit down. She peeked at the tray in other girl's hands. It certainly looked appetizing, and smelled good as well. Sarah couldn't really remember the last time she'd eaten anything, come to think of it, and her stomach growled on cue at the thought. "Yes, that would be nice, thank you so much." She offered a small smile, but she was still pretty shaken up. "How are you doing?" She wasn't the only one who'd had a traumatic event, and she hoped her friend was faring better than herself.

Yvette set the tray down in the space Sarah had cleared on the bed, choosing instead to pull a desk chair over. She was dressed in her X-Men uniform - the tough leather had been the only thing she'd felt comfortable wearing around others for now, and her hands and feet were covered with multiple layers. "I have, how do you say? Had the better days," she admitted, with a one-shouldered shrug. "Sarah, I want to apologise to you."

The X-Men uniform was very impressive looking, certainly more impressive than her crossword pyjamas that Sarah had gotten for her birthday. That hadn't been all that long ago but so much had happened since then. She reached out and took one of the pieces of toast, nibbling on it carefully so as not to spill too many crumbs onto her bed. "Heh, I hear you there, I think all of us have seen better days than this." She frowned at the mention of an apology. "You don't have anything to apologize to me about, Yvette." Not that she knew about at any rate.

"Please, let me. I have to say this." Yvette's eyes, normally glowing bright blue, had dulled, and her hair was trying to escape the titanium hairnet she usually only used for school. "In the dream, when we were... on the boat. I could hear you, screaming for help, but I could not. I let you down." She looked down at her hands. "I was too afraid."

Sarah was still confused but she let her friend continue as she wanted. "You didn't let me down, Yvette. It wasn't you that was... that was doing... that to me." She reflexively rubbed her forehead where the worst part of the torturing had began, scratching the itch that was there. "We were all afraid, it was kinda what it was all about. I think." She still didn't really know what it was all about, and didn't know that anyone did, really.

"I know. But I am an X-Man, Sarah. It is my job to be brave when others are scared. Instead... I curled up in the ball like a little girl, too afraid to move, even through I could hear what was happening to you." Yvette's voice hitched - she couldn't cry, not with her powers, but she could still feel the need. "And that is why I need to apologise. For failing you."

"Yeah, but you did the best you could. You had your own nightmare to deal with." Sarah knew Yvette hadn't been just standing there watching the whole time or anything like that. Her friend may not be able to cry but Sarah started to feel her eyes water up when Yvette's voice hitched. "Oh Yvette, no, you didn't, I promise." She put down her toast and went to give her a hug, which she figured would be okay since she was wearing her uniform.

Yvette flinched at the movement, but gritted her teeth and forced herself to control the reaction. Sarah knew how to be careful and she was possibly as safe as she could be without wearing full plate armour. "Thank you," she said as Sarah wrapped her arms around her carefully, patting the other girl's back awkwardly. "And you're right, I did have my own nightmare. I thought I was going to be sold again, like I was before I came to the school, only this time to someone who would not take care of me." She shuddered. "I was so scared, Sarah. I could not even move."

She pulled back, sitting back down on her bed across from Yvette. "Oh no, that's a horrible nightmare. No wonder you were so scared." Sarah shuddered at the though, not even being able to move was a pretty terrifying feeling indeed. "But you're okay now, we're ... " She had to stop short of saying that we're all okay because not everyone made it out okay. "We're okay, it'll be okay, Yvette."

Yvette managed a wan smile. "And here I was to be checking on how you were doing," she said with a slightly hiccuping breath. "But thank you. I needed that, I think."

Sarah managed a small smile in return. "We all need a little checking up on, I guess." She patted Yvette on the knee. "Thank you for bringing me some food, Yvette, and for checking in on me." Frowning again for a second, Sarah thought for a second before asking her friend another question. "How's everyone else doing? You know, with everything that happened." She'd heard about some of the casualties and other injuries but hadn't been talking to anyone in a while in person.

"Eat your soup," Yvette directed, but with a fond tone. "As for everyone else... it is hard to say. Everyone is keeping to themselves, the ones that are still here. No-one is really ready to talk yet, I do not think." She sighed and fiddled with the top layer of gloves. "The Professor made the journal post, explaining that happened and who..." She paused and then said the word. "Died. Dr. Voght and Sophie Stepford."

She did as she was told, since she'd finished her toast, lifting the bowl and blowing on it to cool it off a little. "I think you're right, yeah." Sarah certainly wasn't ready to talk about it in any great detail, and would still have been curled up on her bed if it hadn't been for Yvette seeking her out. She nodded at the mention of the post, she'd seen it on her laptop but that was about all of the news she had. "It's so horrible, I can't believe it. If something ever happened to Jessie..." She couldn't even begin to fathom what the other Stepfords were going through.

"Her sisters are still asleep - they are in the infirmary, with Dr. Grey-Summers," Yvette confirmed. "They were all linked, when Sophie... I do not understand the psychic thing so much, but to imagine feeling someone die like that..." She shuddered, and then remembered herself. No point upsetting Sarah more. "Have you talked to Jessie and your parents since Friday?"

Sarah didn't understand the psychic connection either but even if that hadn't been there it still was a horrible thing to have to endure. Finishing her soup, she put the bowl down and shook her head at the question. "I haven't called yet, I didn't want to... I guess I didn't want to freak them out." She could imagine them wanting her to return home, and even if they wouldn't she didn't want to think about what had just happened if she didn't have to. "I'll call them later on, maybe."

"If you want someone to be with you, to help explain things, I can be there," said the older girl. "It is not the first time, I suppose, that something has happened at the mansion which is not so easy to explain to the parents." She shrugged a little. "My mother, she stopped speaking to me after the attack at graduation, when Nick was taken. It was not so easy for her to see me fight; she was afraid of me."

"Thank you, Yvette, I really appreciate it." She wasn't sure she'd ever tell her parents, if she could help it. Sarah was pretty sure no one outside of the school and her fellow mutants knew what had happened, so maybe it was better to keep it that way. "I'm sorry to hear that, that's horrible. I mean, you'd never hurt anyone. You're the exact opposite of that kind of person." What other kind of person would have checked up on everyone like she was doing now?

"It is... complicated," Yvette replied softly. "And she does not understand. Me, or my mutation. One day, perhaps, we will speak again, but for now, perhaps it is better we do not." She thought again of the dream, of her suit failing, the blood, the screams. Of how she fought against the woman in Madripoor, the man on the train in India. "I have made my choice, to be on the team. If she cannot understand that, then that is how it will be."

"Parents are like that sometimes. A lot of the time, really." Sarah nodded. She hadn't gone though anything that serious with her own parents, however, but she'd had her own share of misunderstandings with them. "I hope she will understand that and respect your decision, Yvette." She paused, not sure what else to add. "If there's anything I can do to help, just let me know, ok?"

Yvette hesitated, then carefully reached out and patted Sarah's knee through the blanket. Given her current state of mind, the small gesture took more than she suspected Sarah would ever know. "Thank you," she said. "I will remember that."