Attention: Generation X and their villains, as well as any other mutant mentioned in this story, is property of Marvel Comics. The character Richard Cale is named after family relations. Any other reference to anything copyrighted is a chance happening.

Chapter 9: Recovery


I. Everett


Everett Thomas remained at the door to his teammate's room. While he knew that watching Richard was just as important as communicating with the X-Men about what his teammate had gone through, he was starting to get a little bored watching him. It wouldn't be so bad if he could talk with Richard, but Richard had taken to isolating himself with music.

He thought it was a shame that Richard was isolating himself, but in some ways he understood. After he had been enthralled, and even controlled by Emplate, he tried to withdraw from everyone. It had been Jubilee who managed to break through to him. He figured that Yvette was trying to do the same, but Richard was deeper in his depression than he had been. In fact, Everett figured it was worse than the depression he was in after Monet broke him free of Emplate's control.

As the time passed, he kept looking in the door, knowing full well that Yvette would never forgive him if Richard found some way to leave undetected. They had all heard of what Richard had done to Black Tom, and Everett didn't want to see what she would do in anger. He still remembered how she ran amok on her first day at the school.

After a bit, he heard the sounds of music coming from the room. He had learned Richard had a varied taste in music, ranging from Oldies to New Age. This didn't mean much, since what ever he listened to never matched his mood. Everett just had to hope that the music was a good sign.

He had just looked in the room, trying to figure out the music when he heard someone ask, "How is he doing?" He turned to see Yvette, who looked a little worried, but a little hopeful as well. He also saw that Monet was with her, as well as Scott Summers and Jean Grey.

He gave her a truthful answer. "Well, he put some music on, nothing I am familiar with, so I don't know if that's good or not." He watched as Yvette closed her eyes, and listened for a moment.

When she smiled, he felt relieved that the music was a good sign. "I remember that music. It is from a Jim Henson movie. I think it is a good sign." She then looked at him, but pointed to Monet as she said, "Monet thinks she figured out the problem."

Before he could ask her, Monet volunteered the answer to his question. "It all stems from betrayal. Richard betraying his normal instincts when he killed Black Tom. The betrayal he felt from his uncle after finding out he was alive. It was just too much, too quickly. He thinks he's the only one who knows how it feels."

Everett thought about that for a moment, and he had to admit Monet had a point. While he didn't know about it personally, he could see the connection. He felt certain that was how his parents felt when Emplate had enthralled him. He only stopped thinking about how his parents had felt back then when he noticed the absence of music.

He turned to look in the room, startling everyone. A quick glance into the room told him Richard was no longer lying on his bed. He hadn't looked away for long, so he was certain Richard was still in the room. He didn't want to resort to using his power to pinpoint Richard's location in the room, since they still didn't know if his power could handle Richard's without any adverse effects.

He then saw Yvette run into the room, calling out his name. "Rich. Please answer me." He took a chance then, hoping Yvette was near enough to Richard so he could latch on to Richard's abilities when they were mimicking Yvette's. Sure enough, Yvette had to be close to him, since he heard the call again, but this time, he heard it in his head, and in a different language.


II. Richard


Richard Cale had heard the people outside his dorm room door. He knew that Everett had been there, but he didn't want any company. He wanted to be alone, but that wasn't happening. Everybody had been keeping an eye on him, never letting him escape his problems, and even his life. Everything had just gone wrong. He had put the music on to try and figure things out, but when he heard the talking outside the door, he put on headphones, and got down on the floor, out of sight of the door.

At that point, the partial lyric of the song by David Bowie hit him. "Don't tell me truth hurts," echoed through his mind, especially since it was so spot on for what had happened. The truth about his uncle had hit him hard. It made him long to be, as the song said, "Where nothing ever hurt again." Could he ever find that?

His lamenting was interrupted when he heard a familiar voice in his mind. "Richard. Rich, where are you? We need to talk." It was Yvette, and she had to be near enough that his ability had latched on to her powers. For a moment, he figured he could do something to duck out of view. He didn't want to cause her to be hurt by his problems. If he hid, and didn't respond, they might all leave him alone.

That idea got squashed seconds later when he noticed another figure levitating in the air. It was Monet, and their eyes locked for a moment. The music had gotten soft at that point, and he heard her say, "He's here, Yvette. I think he was trying to hide from all of us." In a moment, he noticed something, but he couldn't be sure. It looked like that for a brief moment, there might have a completely different person looking at him, but that could have been some sort of paranoia.

He then saw Yvette walking over to him. She had quickly fallen for him, and the feeling had been mutual. It had been part of why he felt miserable, as he realized that he would only bring her misery. She knelt down, taking his hand, and saying with tenderness he didn't think he deserved, "Rich, there are some people here who can help you. Please get off the floor."

He didn't look past her. The way he felt right now, there was only one thing he wanted help with, and he seriously doubted that Yvette would help him with that. Still, he could not help but voice his thoughts. He turned his head away from her, hating himself a bit for doing it, and adding to his despair as he mentally responded to her. "I don't want any company, unless they can help me leave this life." He then reached up to the CD player in an attempt to turn it up, as well as restart the music.

He felt two hands grab his wrist. The first one was Yvette's, and as he locked eyes with her, he saw that her eyes were pleading with him. Despite all he was going through, he could see she still cared for him, even though he was so messed up right now. As they locked eyes, he heard her say, "Rich, we know what is bothering you. We figured it all out." He didn't believe that for a moment. They couldn't have figured out what was bothering him. To be honest, he wasn't fully sure of it himself.

It was then the other person holding his wrist spoke. It had been Monet St. Croix, and before he could tell her to let go, she said, "Richard, you need to listen. There are people here who can help. We figured things out. I know we can't force you to listen to us, but don't think Yvette and I are going to let you continue to isolate yourself, unless you take drastic measures against us." She had hit him with the one thing he didn't want to do again. He didn't want to kill someone again, especially someone he knew and cared about. Black Tom's image kept running through his dreams, and the man had actually deserved what he had gotten.

In that moment, he started doing something he rarely did. He started to cry, as everything hit him all at once. He wasn't sure where it was all coming from, but it was all coming out now. "You can't possibly understand what I'm going through."

It wasn't either Monet, or Yvette who responded to his comment, but one of the other people in his room. "I think we can. Allow me to introduce myself and my husband." It was then that he took notice of the other two people who had come into his dorm room. One was a redheaded woman, who looked familiar for some reason, most likely from one of the X-groups. When he noticed the other figure, a gentleman whose distinguishing feature was ruby red glasses, he knew exactly who they were before she continued, gesturing to the man first. "This is Scott Summers, and I'm Jean Grey. We are both members of the X-Men, as well as former students of Charles Xavier."

With those last words, he noticed a pang of sadness in her voice. It was the same kind of pain he was going through right now. The one that came from betrayal, and what they suffered was similar, maybe even worse, than his. He started to get up, but as he did, he asked the question he wasn't sure if they would answer. "What was he like before Onslaught?"

It had been Scott who answered the question, his voice calm. "He was always working to bridge the gap between humans and mutants. He never gave up on peace being possible."

Jean followed up that statement. "He had hoped that by serving time for what Onslaught did would keep the dream alive." Richard had a feeling that their situation wasn't the same, but he could see some similarities.

He still, however, pointed out the key difference between their situation and his. "That isn't the same as mine, though. The person I had trusted had been biological family, and he ended up being a hypocrite. Do you know about that kind of betrayal?"

To his surprise, Monet looked at him and said, "I know about it. I had a similar trust in my brother, until I found out the truth about him." She didn't say any more, or if she did, he didn't hear it. His mind momentarily came up with an image, or memory. He wasn't sure, but for some reason, he envisioned himself trying to calm a crying baby, and even calling them Monet, but it didn't make any sense.

He snapped back to the present when Yvette spoke to him. "Richard. When I was younger, my home was blown up. Emplate approached me, looking more human, and he gave no hint of what he was, and offered me shelter. If I had known what kind of monster he would be, I would have taken my chances on the streets at that time." He saw her shudder, and realized that they all had been betrayed in some way.

He then thought to what he had heard a few times when the fog of depression had fully hit him, and sighed. "Well, I still don't know. I understand my uncle tried to make things right by actually killing himself, but I don't think it will be enough. There has to be more of those sentinels about, no doubt planning to strike the school since he died here."

He looked over as Jean Grey started to speak. As she spoke, Richard noticed that she had a look amazement on her face. "Do you know what your uncle had done when he did that?" He shook his head, and she continued. "He had sent out a signal that destroyed every Sentinel active in Zero Tolerance, as well as terminating the group." Richard felt his own eyes grow wide when he heard that.

Scott nodded, and he heard the leader of the X-Men say, "We were on our way someplace when a group of their Sentinels attacked our plane. We had been about to take counter measures, and then the robots fell back, and self destructed. When we landed, I had gotten in touch with one of our allies in the government, and they told us what had happened. It actually wasn't until we heard of your plight that we finally pieced together the whole story."

Richard let the facts sink in. Bastion hadn't just killed himself for real, but taken down the whole organization that he was leading. It was an extreme action to prove to him that his uncle still cared for him. He wondered if he would have accepted just a simple apology, but then he wondered if his uncle, the part that was still a human being, had the option of just doing that. There had to be some extenuating circumstances that had to be done to make him a cyborg, if he had the ability to do all that.

Finally, he started to get up off the floor. He looked at everyone in the room, but he couldn't shake the thought that maybe there was a way that wouldn't cost have cost a life. He then brought his gaze to Yvette, who had a slight smile on her face. She could tell he was starting to feel better. "I'm sorry everyone. It had been just too much in such a short time. I'll probably still wish there had been another way that the whole Bastion situation played out. The man who was my uncle regained his humanity long enough to do the right thing, I suppose."

Yvette just hugged him, and he was surprised at how powerful the hug was. "At least you are feeling better. Just don't do that to us again." He returned the hug, and as he did so, he heard her say in the mental link they shared when they were together, "You really had me upset. I don't want to lose you. Ever." He squeezed her in assurance, and then wondered for a moment if Bastion's last attempt to make peace with him would have a long lasting effect on the world.


III. Monet


Two weeks had passed since things started getting back to normal at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. In her own dorm room, Monet St. Croix sat on her bed, and was writing in her diary. In it, she kept several things that she had kept from all her classmates, as well as her teachers. She had even made sure Emma Frost didn't have a way at finding out all her secrets. This was one such occasion that she was doing so.

"January 31"

"Dear Diary,"

"It has been two weeks since Rich had started to recover from all the events of his first month here. He and Penny, as well as everyone else, had returned to there normal lives. I had narrowly dodged revealing my deepest secret not only to my teammates, but to two of the X-Men as well during that time. If it had been revealed, I would have lost complete trust from everyone here."

"As for Bastion, and the fate of Zero Tolerance, Rich still hopes that all that his uncle did here was not for nothing. Richard seems to think that it might be possible that his uncle, had his uncle retained as much humanity as he showed in the end, might have more to come. He doesn't sound pessimistic, but I hope he doesn't regret what he..."

A knock on the door to her room made her look up. She wasn't expecting anyone to stop by. Even as she answered the knock, her hand kept writing in the diary. "Yes?"

To her surprise, it was the very person she had been writing in her diary about. Richard's voice came from the other side of the door, and she heard a bit of excitement in it. "Monet, I think something is up. Something I figured might be happening."

This caused her to put her diary down on her bed, and walk over to the door. She opened it, noticing Richard had stepped away from the door, no doubt to prevent his powers from picking up on hers, something she was thankful for at the moment. "What is it?"

He showed her a letter, and she briefly looked over it, but it was enough for her to get an idea of what it was before he spoke. "Seems my uncle was doing a little more than he let on. Seems he was secretly protecting one girl. This letter finally got to me stating that he left this girl in the school's care. Miss Frost is finally getting all the details ironed out."

Monet nodded in response to the last words, and smiled at Richard. "Well, I hope this all works out." He nodded, and then she shut the door to her room. With this new bit of news, she felt she had to finish her diary entry. To her shock, however, it was already open, and complete.

"I hope he doesn't regret what he wishes for, since he and Yvette won't have much time to enjoy it before I get them back to my brother."

"Claudette"

Monet gasped, and hoped no one was near enough to hear it. She then slammed the diary shut, and momentarily put it in its old hiding spot, hoping no one would see what she just wrote. She then placed it in the new hiding spot she had for it, just in case Angelo might snoop again. That little entry could ruin everything, and reveal the shameful truth about her.

Finis?


Author's note


If you have been following my stuff, you know that I have been working on rewriting The Cale Storyline. This is the last chapter of the second story, Truth Be Told. I had divided it into nine chapters, and for this story, they were relatively short. That means these chapters didn't take as long as the ones for the last story. This is also the only story of this series where I used the First Person Limited view point, which worked best for these flashbacks. I believe I've done a very good job at improving them. As a side note, I would like to point out that when I first wrote this story, not much was known about the character Bastion. It was some time after the posting of this story that it was revealed that Bastion was actually a merger of the Sentinel from the future, Nimrod, and the Master Mold. Since all fanfiction is, in its basic format, an alternate universe, and this was written prior to that revelation, I will keep with the way I presented Bastion, mixing it with the given facts revealed after that in this rewrite. If you've read the original, you will understand why.