Who: Siryn OT Banshee What: Banshee comes to tell Siryn the news When: After Mystique and Banshee talk Where: Siryn's room Warnings: cursing
After his conversation with Mysti, Sean dressed quickly and made his way to the main house in a sort of fog. His swirling thoughts had slowed and numbed down into a sort of dazed shock, fear and panic. Kurt was dying and that broke Sean's heart for both Kurt and Mystique but at the same time he was nearly weak with relief that Theresa hadn't taken the Cure. It wasn't the first time medicine had killed, that the cure was worse than the disease, but this may be the first time that medicine supposed to help would wipe out millions. And the government wanted to give it to all American mutants. Worthington Pharmeceuticals had to know about the side effects of their Cure otherwise it wouldn't have been passed by the FDA.
Sean snorted softly to himself. Yeah. Right. The FDA probably knew but they were more than likely run by mutant haters and wouldn't mind seeing them all die. What was he thinking?
The mansion seemed so quiet with everyone out enjoying the break in the heat and storms. Crap, Theresa might not be in her room in that case.
Flying up the stairs and down the hall, he stopped in front of Theresa's door and knocked with his heart in his throat. She had to come with them. Sean needed to protect both his girls and the only way to do that was to make sure they were in one spot. Theresa had to see what was so clear to Sean about Haven and its vulnerabilities. "Theresa, it's Da, can I talk to you a moment?" he called out a moment later.
How easy it was to take up that title - Da, Dad, Father. It was like slipping on a pair of new shoes that no less felt as comfortable as a pair of well worn ones.
***
Terry had been sitting on her bed, lost in thought when she heard a knock at the door. It startled her and made her jerk slightly, the bottle of water she'd been holding balanced on her knee slipping slightly and making a cold wet puddle on her jeans. So much mess. Life was such a mess right now. She was worried about her friends. Kurt had been so sick lately that he hadn't been to church. It was one thing to skip church when you were sick of course, but she knew he was taking it hard. It was a familiar source of comfort, and it was one he couldn't have anymore. At least, not at the local parish church. She'd seen to that, and she felt horribly guilty for it. And she hadn't seen or heard from Gabe since that night, as she'd taken to thinking about it. But she'd heard some rumors. Was she to blame? Had she pushed him over the edge? Had she made him do those things by not being good enough? By not giving in to his demands? Or by giving in too much? It was all so confusing, a lifetime of Dogma to sort through.
"Come in," she called, coming back to the present and remembering that her father was at the door. She hadn't seen him in some time, either, and she'd missed him. More than she wanted to admit. She'd never be daddy's little girl, she couldn't be, she'd been too old when she'd met him. But she still wished they had more time to spend together. She... she needed his advice, even if she didn't want to ask for it. She didn't really want to admit how torn up she still was over Gabe, and how she was really not dealing with it, instead hiding out in her room and letting the world pass her by.
***
Opening the door and stepping inside, Sean took a moment to look at his little girl. She may never think she was daddy's little girl, but she was to him. She could be forty with children of her own, and he'd still think of her as his little girl. "Hi, sweetie," he said softly, his momentary grin at the mess on her jeans faltering a bit with worry. The instinct to take her and run warred with his worry about her. She didn't look well. She seemed more pale than usual and it felt as if a light gone out of her eyes. There were bags under her eyes as if her sleep hadn't been well lately and she had a distracted air about her.
"I need to talk to you but first I want to know if you're ok. You don't look well, love," he said walking further into the room and sitting next to her on her bed. He wrapped an arm around her and gave her a small squeeze. "Are you sick? Or is it everything with Gabe?"
***
"I'm fine," she said, setting the bottle of water aside and rubbing at the wet spot on her knee as if the friction would dry it. Or at least warm it a bit. She didn't quite look at him, though. She couldn't. "It's not just Gabe. That's... part of it, I suppose. But it's a lot of things. The mess with the Church... feels odd. I skipped Mass. For the first time in... as long as I can remember. At least, when I wasn't sick. Skipped it. And... and some of my friends are sick and the healers aren't helping them. Can't help them, really. Polaris has been gone a lot, and I'm just not used to... being alone so much."
The fact that Polaris was gone a lot for her Acolyte duties hadn't bothered Terry until she'd realized how much of her time her roommate was spending with Gabe. It almost felt like a betrayal of a special roommate, girl-talk bond. Not that she'd said anything to Lorna about it. But still.
***
The Papa Bear in Sean wanted to defend her, comfort her and protect her which meant not telling her about the Cure even though she had a right to know. At the same time, he was afraid that if he said something, she would stay to be with her friends and not come with him. Oh lord, and he was going to leave her when she was already so alone. Sean closed his eyes and leaned his head against hers. "Theresa, I have a couple of things I need to tell you. First of all, I love you very much. Don't forget that no matter what I say next. Have you seen the news yet? No? It's not good. Congress is threatening to pass a bill that will require all mutants submit to the Cure. Forcefully if needed. And I'm guessing we'll need to register as well. Mysti didn't take it well. At all. And I'm... I'm in shock and I'm afraid. For us, for you."
***
Theresa was shocked out of her moping, her eyes going wide as she looked at her father, able, albeit poorly, to read between the lines. "And?" There was more. She could tell. The tension she heard in his voice wasn't dissipating, it was getting stronger. He was leading up to something. Something big. She was too shocked to be afraid, though. Her mind was still churning through his words, the meanings, hidden and opaque. Taking a deep breath, she forced her mind to calm, to process logically. She'd studied political science. She understood the motivations of people. Of groups. Of governments. Of power.
"You might as well tell me the rest," she said sofly.
***
"I'm not sure which to tell you first," he sighed, scratching his cheek and wishing he'd shaved that morning. "Mysti's leaving. She has no trust or faith in Charles and Erik any longer and to be honest, neither do I. I feel like they've failed us, if anything by keeping quiet about this legislation. They had to have known and yet they said nothing." He sighed and shook his head, promising himself he wouldn't get worked up over this again.
"At any rate, Mysti and I are leaving Haven. It's too much of a target. Haven has security, but it won't withstand a direct assault from Sentinels and I don't think all the training in the world will help the X-Men or the Acolytes because they have no experience against the sort of assault team the government will send on this place. I want you to come with us. I want you safe and I know you'll be safe with me and Mysti."
This was the moment of truth. Would she come? Or would she stay?
***
"You want to go? Just... leave? Leave all these people to fend for themselves?" she asked softly. She didn't know how she felt about that. She knew he was right. That the words he was saying were correct. This place was a target, and the teams, at least what she'd seen of them, wouldn't be able to hold back a military strike. But that didn't make it right to leave them to fend for themselves.
But what could she do? How could she save them? What if they weren't ready to listen?
"I need to think about it," she said softly. "I... let me think tonight. I'll... I'll tell you in the morning."
***
"I know, love. It isn't an easy decision to make. I will still love you, no matter what your decision is," he murmured, cupping her face and kissing her forehead. "We're leaving some time tomorrow but I won't leave without seeing you first." I don't want to leave you at all, not here.
"But before I go, I have to ask you... did you take the Cure?" He was fairly certain she hadn't and she seemed ok now but the flu-like symptoms were affecting people differently. She could be running a low grade fever with only some mild aches while someone else could be on death's door, it varied from mutant to mutant. Also, the Church had forbidden it but still, she'd become a bit rebellious lately....
***
"NO! God, no! Why?" she asked, her eyes hardening. He'd been living with Mystique, and she had heard from Kurt how Mystique felt about it. Would her father disown her if she had? Would he draw away from her the way his lover had drawn from her son? With disgust? "Would you leave me behind if I did? Abandon me like your girlfriend abandoned Kurt?"
***
"No, love. I would love you anyway," he replied quietly, his eyes flashing steel for a moment even as he felt intense relief. "But I wouldn't be so hasty in accusing Mysti of that until you've heard her side of the story. And to add to that, Mystique is talking to Kurt right now, hopefully reconciling in these last few hours. No, I ask because of what Erik and Charles have found out. They intend to fight the legislation with some of their own research about the Cure. Have you noticed how selective this "flu" has been? And how long lasting it seems to be? It isn't a flu at all, it's the Cure. According to Mysti, Erik said that they have no cure for it yet. I want to emphasize yet and I also want to point out that no one has died from it. It's a problem, but it's being worked on. It's also another reason why we're leaving. We can't let that legislation pass because in my opinion, I don't think Charles' and Erik's research will do much good. Congress will say they made it up, they'll form committees and conduct their own research and in the meantime, they'll be forcing people to take something that is obviously making people very very sick which will compound the problem even more. It's a clusterfuck waiting to happen and we're going to stop it. Or try."
***
She closed her eyes, trying to get a grip on everything he was telling her. It was a lot to take in, but it certainly put her problems, or what she thought were her problems, into perspective. Hard to think her life was so shitty when the whole world seemed to be collapsing around them.
A deep breath in, a slow exhale. Another. Finally, she opened her eyes and nodded.
"All right. Let me think about it tonight. I... I'll have an answer in the morning. You won't leave without seeing me first, right?" she asked, already knowing the answer, or hoping she did. She had to believe him, that he meant it when he said he loved her. "I love you, Da. I'll see you in the morning," she said, watching him stand, closing her eyes as he kissed her forehead.
And she couldn't help but wonder whether she really would see him again.