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Mar. 5th, 2006 02:30 pm[Kitty Pryde?] asks the voice, and Kitty blinks and turns, shifting the folders in her arms.
[I'm sorry.]
And then
there's
white light
and the red's pushed to one side
and the white takes the other
and then
and then
and then
and then
Oh God no.
Kitty remembers.
"Miss Pryde?" It's Angela, whose mom has a fixation with Prince Namor, and no, she wants to yell, as she shakes on the floor, head resting back against a locker, she's not okay, she's never going to be okay, make it stop and make it go back and let me forget.
Kitty is a teacher. Masters in education. And Kitty loves her students, so she looks up with a careful smile and says, "I just fell. Angela, I want you to go to the office, and tell Mrs. Davids I'm not feeling very well, and we need a substitute for today."
She waits while the girl leaves, and knows that they are there, but first things first. And that's going to the restroom and emptying her stomach until even the bile's gone, and she's just heaving, and shaking, and crying, and oh god no.
And then it's time to work.
"Daddy? No, everything's fine. I just--"
"I just wanted to call and let you know I love you.
"Hey Jeff. Yeah--no, it's fine, just a stomach virus. Yeah. I feel some better even now, but I didn't want the kids to get it. No--yeah. Bring some chicken soup home? Thanks. ...Yeah. I love you too, sweetie. I really do."
"No. Everything's fine, I mean it.
"Just fine."
And then you do what you have to.
Organize. Attack.
Bring down the fucking House of Magnus.
And never, ever, ever forgive Wanda for this.
Three words can change the whole damn 'verse.
"I love you."
"I hate you."
"I miss you."
"Who are you?"
"Go far away."
And also
"No more mutants."
And then
and then
and then
and then the world turns red again.
No more mutants.
Not quite true.
The estimates, if you do the math--she did the math--are that 2% of the world's population of mutants remain.
The evangelists are having a field day with this, and she can't watch the news.
"Get them out."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because of the way Wanda's powers work. It's not mutation. It's not sorcery. It's both. Stephen Strange can't either."
"But--"
"We both tried already, Kitty. We can't."
And then she nods and walks away and up and through the floor and goes to curl up with a stuffed bear and a dragon, because sometimes that's all you've got with you, and cry.
And then nothing was ever the same ever again.
decimation
[I'm sorry.]
And then
there's
white light
and the red's pushed to one side
and the white takes the other
and then
and then
and then
and then
Oh God no.
Kitty remembers.
"Miss Pryde?" It's Angela, whose mom has a fixation with Prince Namor, and no, she wants to yell, as she shakes on the floor, head resting back against a locker, she's not okay, she's never going to be okay, make it stop and make it go back and let me forget.
Kitty is a teacher. Masters in education. And Kitty loves her students, so she looks up with a careful smile and says, "I just fell. Angela, I want you to go to the office, and tell Mrs. Davids I'm not feeling very well, and we need a substitute for today."
She waits while the girl leaves, and knows that they are there, but first things first. And that's going to the restroom and emptying her stomach until even the bile's gone, and she's just heaving, and shaking, and crying, and oh god no.
And then it's time to work.
"Daddy? No, everything's fine. I just--"
"I just wanted to call and let you know I love you.
"Hey Jeff. Yeah--no, it's fine, just a stomach virus. Yeah. I feel some better even now, but I didn't want the kids to get it. No--yeah. Bring some chicken soup home? Thanks. ...Yeah. I love you too, sweetie. I really do."
"No. Everything's fine, I mean it.
"Just fine."
And then you do what you have to.
Organize. Attack.
Bring down the fucking House of Magnus.
And never, ever, ever forgive Wanda for this.
Three words can change the whole damn 'verse.
"I love you."
"I hate you."
"I miss you."
"Who are you?"
"Go far away."
And also
"No more mutants."
And then
and then
and then
and then the world turns red again.
No more mutants.
Not quite true.
The estimates, if you do the math--she did the math--are that 2% of the world's population of mutants remain.
The evangelists are having a field day with this, and she can't watch the news.
"Get them out."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because of the way Wanda's powers work. It's not mutation. It's not sorcery. It's both. Stephen Strange can't either."
"But--"
"We both tried already, Kitty. We can't."
And then she nods and walks away and up and through the floor and goes to curl up with a stuffed bear and a dragon, because sometimes that's all you've got with you, and cry.
And then nothing was ever the same ever again.
decimation
