The Cale Storyline Redux Story 2 Chap 8

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.

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Truth Be Told Redux

Chapter 8: Monet's Story (Audio)(Original)

I hadn’t been sure what to say that day. Yvette had asked for my help in keeping an eye on Richard. I was still in shock about it, since everyone knew that Emplate was my brother. I figured she wouldn’t trust me to help her out. Yes, I had fought with Generation X against him, but I knew she was suspicious of me. Also, Yvette prior to the incident involving Bastion seemed to stay by Richard’s side. The fact that he was apparently shunning her company, as well as everyone else’s, seemed to hint that something was wrong.

Yvette had been constantly keeping an eye on Richard, and with her past and skills, it wasn’t hard to believe that she could successfully do so. This day, when Richard started walking into the woods that surrounded the school, made her more fretful, hence she turned to the person I figured she trusted the least, me.

As we followed him into the woods, I noticed that Yvette seemed more anxious than usual. Her hands were tensing up almost involuntarily. I noticed they tensed and untensed as we walked. I didn’t press, since I figured what the problem was. I just gave her time to finally voice it. Sure enough, Yvette finally broke the silence, keeping her voice low so not to tip off Richard that we were following him. “Monet, I’ve been worried about Richard lately. He’s been keeping his distance from me. I mean, after the whole incident involving Sean’s cousin, he stayed with me almost all the time, and I was comforting him. I don’t know what’s going on with him now.”

I glanced at Yvette, and I saw the genuine worry in her eyes. I couldn’t blame her, since Richard had done so much for her, and meant so much to her. Now, he was isolating himself from everyone, including her. There was something truly troubling him. I tried to comfort Yvette, remembering what we all were told. “Everyone is worried about him, especially with the way he‘s been trying to avoid everyone. Emma told us that we had to keep an eye on him, at all times. She‘s afraid he‘s going to do something rash or foolish.” I watched as he kept walking, and I said to her, in hopes of comforting her, “I doubt he will try something here, but we will watch him, just in case.”

I knew Yvette was relieved to hear that, but I could still sense that she wasn‘t fully relaxed. We then continued following Richard, and he had seemed to be walking in the same direction for some time. It was almost as if he was being drawn to something. I looked back for a moment, and couldn‘t see any traces of the school. I knew it was behind us, but we had obviously gone so far that we couldn‘t see it. I actually began to think that Richard had gotten lost. If he had, us helping him back would have blown all future attempts to keep an eye on him.

Eventually, I noticed something becoming clearer through the woods. We were headed towards a structure, and I couldn‘t tell what kind of building it was. I started to have a bad feeling about it, however, when I glanced at Yvette, and she was starting to tense up, almost fully reverting to her form when her powers were fully active. Panic started to build in me, as I started to fear the worse. In fact, I didn‘t want to believe it, so I asked her, “What‘s wrong, Yvette? What is it?”

In that moment, I heard fear in Yvette’s voice as she responded in the very way I feared she would. “Rich is going to kill himself. That’s Emplate’s lair. He’s going to hand himself over to Emplate.” There was genuine fear in her voice, as well as a bit of pain. I could understand that, although not personally familiar with it. I could only figure how Richard found out about the place. It was possible that he figured out the location from both Yvette’s memories, as well as from my brother when he last attacked.

Before Yvette could say any more, I took flight. I grabbed her, and then flew as fast as I could towards Richard. It was tricky, since I knew his power might latch onto mine. I just hoped that my speed, as well as having Yvette with me might mean that his power would latch on to hers first.

As luck would have it, he paused the second we got near, and before he could react to the sudden presence, I grabbed him, keeping him as close to Yvette as I could. It was the best I could do in that scenario, and I could already sense his distraught feelings.

I don’t recall if Yvette tried to hold him while we flew, but I knew he was upset. I heard him say as we flew, “Why didn’t you just let me go? Nothing but disaster seems to follow me. I can’t even have a nice life. If I try, something happens just to ruin it.” He went silent then, and I glanced down at them as I flew. Yvette looked hurt, but she was trying to hold him, trying to give him the emotional support that he gave her.

I took that moment to send a mental communication about what happened to the others. That was why when we arrived, I saw Sean, Emma and the others waiting for us. When we landed, I watched as Emma took Richard back to the dorm. Yvette tagged along, obviously still worried about Richard, and I couldn’t blame her on that.

I saw a solemn look on Sean’s face as they walked away. He shook his head, and said, “This is serious. I think it’s time to give Scott and Jean a call. Monet, tell everyone that I want them to keep an extra eye on Richard, just in case he tries this kind of stunt again.” He then left, and I mentally relayed the message.

Once that was done, I decided to go to the dorm to check on Richard. By the time I got there, I saw both Emma and Yvette standing there. Both were obviously watching him from the door. When Emma saw me approach, she stepped back and said, “Richard has not been having the best days in his life lately. Almost like when we all found out you were Emplate’s sister.”

I nodded in silent agreement, wondering at the time if that was the root of the problem. It took all my will power not to focus on that, since I knew that if I were to go into one of my spells at that time, it could be a disaster. Every moment he wasn’t watched would be an opportunity for him to do something else foolish.

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Monet started to think about all that had happened. After hearing everything from everyone, she realized that the death of Black Tom was only a small part of what happened to Richard’s psyche. As she thought about, she tried to shut out the laughter coming from that dark part of her mind.

At that point, she heard Jean say to Sean, as well as to everyone, “Is that everything that happened?” She felt the question was being directed at her, as if Jean already suspected that she hadn’t told them everything. Monet was certain that if she did tell them everything, it would put her in a very difficult situation.

Thankfully, Sean responded before she felt any of them could pry. “Aye. We’ve had a close watch on him everyday.” She then saw him shake his head. “It’s just that we don’t know how much longer this is going to continue. We can’t talk to him, because we don’t seem to know what the problem is.” Monet had to respect the calmness that Sean kept as he spoke. The last few words, however, kept echoing in her head. They didn’t seem to know what the problem was.

They had assumed it was the two deaths that bothered Richard the most. One life he had taken himself, and the other killing themselves because of Richard. Yes, it was a lot for someone to take on, but for some reason, Monet felt Richard could have coped with killing Black Tom, and would be rational enough to realize the sacrifice was noble. That inner voice, who she knew was taunting her, said, “He’s too distraught to figure it out. I say we get him and Yvette back to our dear brother. Remember how it was what Richard wanted.” Monet didn’t want to shout, but something it had said nagged at her.

It came at the same moment she heard Jean remark, “I hope he can recover.” She glanced over at the X-woman and saw a concerned look on her face. “This makes me wonder how Professor Xavier is dealing with what he had done. He still feels responsible for being part of Onslaught.” She then saw the look of anguish that started on Jean’s face, and spread to everyone else’s. They had all felt a pain from that whole incident.

It finally hit Monet, and she stood up, slapping her hand on the table. “That’s it. That’s the problem.” When everyone looked at her, she tried to say calmly what she figured out, while the inner voice was cursing her out. “I’ve figured out the problem. I know what’s wrong with Richard.”

It was Sean who asked the question that was on everyone else’s mind at that moment. The one they were all trying to figure out. “What’s wrong with him, lass?”

Again, she had to resist the urge to engage the inner voice that was now calling her every obscene name in the book. She just hoped that as she spoke, neither Emma nor Jean could sense her psychic distress. “Betrayal. When he found out about Bastion, he felt betrayed, and it didn’t go away when Bastion made that sacrifice. In fact, I think it is at the root of the whole issue with Black Tom. Richard betrayed his own values, having lashed out in anger, killing Black Tom.” There was a look of shock, and possible understanding upon all their faces.

She felt a little slighted, however, when Scott made a remark that caught her off guard. “Wait, you mean Bastian, the head of Zero Tolerance, destroyed himself, and the whole group, to save and restore his nephew’s belief in his good nature.” Monet actually staggered back as the implication had hit her, as well as everyone else.

It was Emma that recovered first from that bit of news. “You mean that he didn’t just kill himself, he wiped out the whole Zero Tolerance operation, just to restore his nephew’s faith in him.” She saw a slight smile cross Emma’s face. “If Richard knew that, it might just snap him out of this mood he’s in.” Monet saw everyone nod in agreement, and did what she could to ignore the shouting of the voice in the back of her head.

Another thought crossed her mind, and she knew it would anger that voice even more. She figured the people who needed to deliver this news were the ones who knew best about betrayal; those who were hurt by someone they thought of as family, as well as one other individual. She looked over at the rest, and then spoke to Emma. “Miss Frost, I think it might be best if Yvette, Jean, Scott and myself went up to talk to Richard. I think we have a good idea of the sense of betrayal he’s feeling.”

She was relieved when Emma nodded and said, “I think that is an excellent idea, Monet. Just be careful how you go about it.” She nodded, and then led the way to Richard’s dorm room. All the way, she tried to keep that voice in her, her evil twin, from making herself known to all the psychics there. She was worried that if that happened, no one would trust her again, especially when they learned the real truth.