burn.

* closed starter for @telekiinisis​ /  “no, no, no, no. i’m not lonely. i have me.”

“okay, but…- the LITERAL definition of lonely is not having any company. which. you saying you have you doesn’t… negate, cause, you have you and no one else. ergo, you have no company.” she neglected to mention, of course, that loneliness also required a persistent feeling of sadness in addition to the situation - and while she was right that kaia relying on herself did make her alone, it certainly didn’t HAVE to mean she was lonely. reeva had her sisters best interests at heart, or at least… she liked to think she did. she only wanted to help. “i just think you should really consider getting a HOBBY. joining a scrabble team, or something. anything. as long as it’s not… you, sitting alone at a computer playing the pre-downloaded solitaire with the spiders on the back.” 

Aki’s appetite has been unpredictable to say the least. Though, nothing’s really been predictable lately. He’s barely eating, barely sleeping, barely leaving the room Laura’s let him use, barely doing.. much of anything. now that he’s here he doesn’t particularly feel like doing much of anything else except to stay with Kaia for as long as she’ll put up with him. “Yesterday. I haven’t really been hungry.” He admits quietly, though he knows that’s just going to put him in for a world of fussing. She can’t help it, Aki knows that - for reasons he can’t quite figure out, Kaia seems fixated on taking care of him, and whether he understands it or not.. he’s not going to say no.

He doesn’t know where the panic is coming from, the fear that she’s going to up and disappear again. While Aki might not blame her for when she’d left before… that doesn’t mean the fear’s not there that it’ll happen again. And he can’t face that right now. He can’t bear the thought of it, really. He can hear the honesty, the sincerity in her voice, and though his senses aren’t quite working the way they should and he can’t trust that the lack of deception in the air is real.. he trusts Kaia. He has to. If he stopped trusting her he might as well give up trusting anyone outside of his close family.

“You’ll be stuck here for a while, then.” He tells her, pulling back enough that he can finally meet her eyes. “You mean that, right?” He asks, his voice soft and.. a little scared, but mostly hopeful. He needs Kaia to stay. until he feels like he’s not in a million pieces anymore… god, he needs her to stay.

her childhood had tried to prepare her as much as it could that something like this could happen. no matter what she did, how she tried to change it mutants as a species were hated, loathed for their own existence and as much as kaia tried to ignore her own emotions. in kidnapping aki it had felt like they had kaia’s own heart in their hands. it was the kind of pain she never wanted to feel again. she couldn’t for a moment imagine what it must have been like to be aki himself “yesterday,” she repeats before shaking her head. “alright, that settles it you need to keep your strength up,” she could remember what things had been like for her in chicago and things were simply hard enough without then also adding stress to your body.

“ then get ready for it to be ruined even more now that i’m here , “ gaia laughed. 

she might have surprised the other woman before - but vicki didn’t think she had EVER caught her so off guard. the two might have shared some similarities, but at the end of the day, kaia was everything that she was not. she played her cards close to her chest. she never spoke a word out of place. she didn’t make SLIPS, which was maybe why vicki ensured to tune in, properly, to the next words out of her mouth. shocking as they were to her, she didn’t need the tone to know that this was a matter to be taken quite seriously. if kaia cared for the daken spawn… - well, if it came to losing a valuable connection or losing one of MANY in the wolverine bloodline, victoria took the latter. “itsuaki akihiro. i assure you, my friend, he was from the TOP of my list.” a lie, but not too big of a one that vicki failed in sounding convincing. whatever she might have been thinking in regards to the boy was GONE. “and now i know you care, consider his name crossed. you don’t want to bargain for any of the others, do you?” she even went so far as to chuckle to soften her words, choosing to mildly change the subject before kaia had a chance to answer- “i didn’t expect for you to care for one of the howlett’s, kaia. are you going soft?”

“ you don’t wanna get caught up in it , “ gaia laughed. she was good at playing off her own troubles as a joke. “ then i guess i’ll owe you a drink OR SOMETHING. “ after a few moments gaia pulled away from the hug. “ now , was that so bad ? “

messy and dysfunctional as they could be, the x-men were very much the village it took to raise a kid. multiple kids, actually. ❝ ah ‘preciate it, hun. ❞ she liked to believe she was a good mom, and she knew remy was a fantastic dad, but she would be stupid to think she’d raised her kids on her own. every one of her teammates ( well, most of them, at least, ) had a part in parenting the twins. she could only return the favor. ❝ so what’ve you been up to ? ya gotta keep me in the know. ❞

“ be thankful you’re not , “ gaia chuckles. “ a hug for your favorite ? c’mon , “ she laughed , opening her arms , ready for a hug. 

This is childish. Aki know it is. He shouldn’t be clinging to her this way. He’s stronger than this, his father raised him to be more. To be better. To be able to stand on his own, come what may. But others just didn’t allow that. People like Laura, like Xavier, like Jules. Like Kaia. The woman who’s become more than just a friend or mentor, more like a mother, dare he say it. He shouldn’t need her, but he does.

God, he does.

He fully intends to loosen his grip and let go but her reassurance that he doesn’t have to just makes him want to stay like this for a little longer. Maybe more than a little. Here with Kaia is.. safe. Not just in the sense that he knows she would protect him from anything, but he feels safe and right now he doesn’t feel that a whole lot. Aside from Laura’s and here, he’s not sure where else he will feel safe. And he’s determined to hold onto that. “M’not hungry.” He mumbles quietly, though he knows he’ll need to eat something eventually.

Slowly but surely his breathing begins to settle, his chest stops heaving just a little, he begins to feel a little more at ease here with Kaia, but.. a memory surfaces slowly but surely, bit by bit coming to the forefront of his mind as he remembers Kaia hasn’t always been here. And any other time, Aki would understand. He had when she’d left last time. He’d known why she’d left, he chose not to be mad, not to hold it against her, though he had missed her dearly. This time, though.. Aki’s not sure he could handle that. Not the way he is right now. “Kaia -” His breathing quickens again, panic beginning to set in, quickly finding a new home in his chest and he’s not sure it’s ever going to go away. “Please.. please don’t leave again..”

anything else the female had planned to do that day was forgotten, she had a shift at the bar but she was already planning to call in sick. aki was here, aki needed her. That was her priority it had to be. She had loathed it once upon a time, the thought of someone opening up parts of her she was certain she had killed off, left in Chicago where they belonged but this was something else entirely. aki was hardly what someone could call a replacement, rather something else new entirely.

something maybe she needed too.

She simply hums in response to the others statement feeling stupid that she could have left it so long before seeing the other. She had wanted to give Laura’s place a wide birth but with the way she can feel aki relax she realised that was probably not the best idea for him. “when was the last time you actually ate something?” she asked raising a brow. This was here was her role in his life it would seem, taking care of him always.

“ just being honest ! “ gaia laughed. “ do you really think that i would have forgotten about my partner in crime ? come on. “

If there’s one thing Aki’s always prided himself on, it’s not needing. He’s never needed to e around certain people or in particular spaces, he’s never felt as though he must find a safe space where he feels taken care of. That’s one thing his father gave him from such a young age.

Now, though.. Aki needs that. Quite desperately. And he hates it, he feels like a stranger to himself, uncomfortable and out of sorts. He doesn’t know how to handle this or where to even start, but in this moment he forces that out of his mind. He can deal with that drastic change in character later. Right now, Aki needs the comfort he finds in Kaia’s arms, the feel of warmth and safety he’s craving.

“Kaia -” He gasps before swallowing thickly and burying his face against her shoulder, completely disregarding the fact that he’s a little taller than she is. He curls in on himself just to be able to settle against her and seek out as much comfort as he can. “I - I’ll move in a minute, I just..” His grip on the back of her shirt tightens a little as he tries to calm down, taking slow, deep breaths the way his father had taught him so many years ago.

it’s easier to be unattached kaia has always told herself that. she only needed to take one look at her father to know that it was the team that held him back from what he needed to do a good portion of the time. and yet some things even she couldn't help.

“it’s alright,” she speaks trying to keep her voice steady. doing her best to be someone he can ean on. “you don’t have to move, you’re okay i promise,” she’s holding onto him just as tightly taking in the fact that he’s here, at home with her finally. she could deal with everything else later so long as she had the knowledge that they didn’t still have their hands on him. “it’s just us, i was about to make food, you’ve got great timing,”

“Clearly you’re not trying hard enough then,” Amy replied, glancing over her shoulder at her sister. “You could, if you want. I don’t know if it’s your thing though.”

❝ you saved my life. i owe you, i owe you everything ❞ — @telekiinisis

❝ you don’t owe me nothin’, sugah. ❞ the older mutant smiles, pride in her eyes at the woman who had transitioned from just a kid, to fully fledged x-men. to teammate. equal. she saw a lot of herself in kaia. ❝ you’re family. ❞

A week. A week is enough time, right? Enough time for Aki to get his shit together, to pull his nerves in and go outside. Sure. Okay. Outside is fine. Outside should be okay. Right?

Wrong.

He barely makes it to Kaia’s front door. The only thing that kept him going was knowing she’d be there on the other side. Every second he spent out in the open sent his senses haywire - something else that’s been stressing him out, because they don’t feel right anymore either. He’s bristling, anxiety high, panic piling on him with every step as he waits for them to come back and take him again - and before he knows it he’s pushing Kaia’s door open and rushing inside, gasping for air as though he’s just been suffocated. And in a way, he has.

He’s not sure how he finds her, he’s not sure if he’s the one saying her name or if someone else is here, but somehow Aki makes it to Kaia and all but collapses against her, eyes closed tight as he takes in her scent, the familiar feel of a hug from her, grasping desperately onto something familiar and safe. [ @telekiinisis ]

Kaia Summers was a soldier in all sense of the word, all rough edges and focus on the mission. There wasn’t room for much else in her life or at least there hadn’t been in the past. You wouldn’t know that from the way that she had feared from the moment she knew he was missing or the way that she had been unafraid to rip weapon x agents apart to get to him.

She knew something was up the moment the door opened, there were very few people who had a key to the place but that’s nothing in comparison to seeing him, really seeing him and not the feral kid that had taken his place in the lab. He had been with Laura for the past week, his family the ones who could keep him safe. Kaia has still barely slept. His place was with her, at least in moments like this.

“hey now, I don’t have Masters in geophysics to be told that designer heels and a love of rocks don’t mix,” Lorna laughed aloud at that, grateful for the distraction from her drink. it was no secret Lorna Dane was an extraordinary lightweight, “ooooh, wanna hear about a dig I went on in school where I got stuck with like 5 other students in a little cave in?” Lorna sighed at the memory, “none of them understood why I was so calm, until Alex came over the radio telling me to just get the rocks out from over us,” Lorna laughed, “there were samples to collect,” she shrugged as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, though offered kaia a look a moment later, “okay, okay, i have better stories than my rock days. anyone every tell you about when i went by magnetrix for a hot second?”

“alright alright i’m sorry,” she spoke with a laugh knowing that the other wasn’t about to take her seriously. lorna knew her too well for that. “honestly tell me everything,” she spoke leaning forward as if to so show her interest. “i’m sure i have some stories to tell you that you’d love,” and some she’d abhor but that was something she was about to address. she shook her head at the image then, as if she somehow didn’t approve in the other’s mutation making what should have been a stressful moment almost mundane. “magnetrix?? you’re kinding lorna no,”

“i’m a foot soldier, kaia.” another word for a foot soldier? a pawn. victor had ensured she grew up and matured with at least that much self awareness. “you’re not. it’s not concern. you’re better than i am.”she was nothing but a weapon to be used against the howletts, and when she had served a purpose, she would die. she would take as many with her as she could, but she wasn’t a long term sort of soldier. she was temporary. the hurt she caused would be swift and devastating ( in the case of ramona, it already had been ), but it wasn’t meant to be all consuming. maybe kaia WASN’T better than her. maybe not by much. but she was brainier. and brains equaled value. “i started small. a grandson of the wolverine. he was easily gotten rid of - i know the others will be more difficult.” and evidently, though vicki didn’t know it, so was theo. she’d moved on from cold spring. she didn’t know he had survived. “i’ve already got the trust of his granddaughter and the new child - klara. too many that share his blood heal. the next step is working out which ones are easy pickings.”