Your Pretty Face Is Going To Limbo (Part Six)

Eight hours. However long we had been in Limbo, it had been eight hours on Earth. Eight hours of hell.

It was supposed to have been a training day. It had been anything but.

All of us had been returned to the Danger Cave, from where we'd been taken. Not a thing was out of place from how we'd left it. However, that would have meant an annoying and painful walk back to the school proper, had it not been for that neat teleportation trick that Megan had been forced to learn.

The senior X-Men were quick to flock to us, check us all over, and make sure we were all in one piece. I bowed out and stepped away from the physicals. The medical staff would have enough work ahead of them. Everyone else's injuries mattered more than mine. I didn't even bother sticking around for a debriefing. I didn't know if I was going to get my ass chewed out or not, but if I was, it could wait until I had the energy and patience to deal with it.

I washed off all of the blood and grime in the privacy of my own shower. I stood there under the water, my head against the wall for so long, I lost track of time. Leading this team was heavy. It was all of the weight of leading the Paladins, times one-hundred, because we would go on missions.

I knew realistically that they couldn't all be as bad as getting sucked into a literal hellscape, but given my experiences, there had been few easy details that came with the X-Men style of living.

"How the hell do the rest of them do this?" I muttered to myself aloud as I turned the water off and got out, "...Gotta pick Cyclops' brain when I get the chance."

When I finished drying off and returned to my phone on my bed, I found a handful of messages from some of the others.

Good job. From personal experience, Limbo is a rough place, but everyone got out alive. Stop by my office tomorrow morning.

Mister Summers (Cyclops)

Where'd you run off to dude? Man Ive got some shit to tell you. We gotta compare stories. Bet mine are worse lol

Eddie (Wing)

Hey :) Its been kinda weird lately huh?

Megan (Pix)

Just wanted to say ty for everything in Lmbo. Can we talk later?

Megan (Pix)

There were more from other people, and most of the ones who sent them were probably still awake, but I didn't feel like responding to any. I fell face down on my pillow and blacked out. It felt great, but it didn't last long enough for my tastes.

A knock at my door late, late at night woke me up. It wasn't Wolf, because if he didn't have a key, he'd just pick the lock and break in.

I wiped a hand down my face and got up to open the door, "Hmm? What up?" I asked, squinting my eyes at whoever my visitor was.

It was Laura who stood in my doorway, changed out of her uniform and into much comfier clothes. She raised an eyebrow at the sight of me in my designated sleep attire of basketball shorts, "I woke you up. I thought you had insomnia."

"I dumped enough power in Limbo to actually get to sleep tonight," I told her, leaning my head and the bulk of my weight on the doorframe, "Probably gonna miss some classes tomorrow. It's gonna be amazing," I whispered.

Laura cracked a small smile, "I wouldn't want to keep you. Some other time then."

I scoffed and moved out of the way so she could enter, "Fuck that, you're here now. As leader, I should expect to be called upon at all hours... or something like that, I guess," I said, flopping back down onto my bed.

Laura watched me by the door for a moment, then sat down on an open spot on my bed, "Are you alright?"

I ached all over, in some places more than others, and from looking in the mirror in the bathroom, I wasn't going to be very pretty for a few days, but I wasn't in terrible shape, "I'm probably doing better than just about anyone else. What do you need?"

She chewed on her lip for a moment before replying, "Would it be a problem if I stayed here until morning?"

I pushed myself up, newly alert, "You mean like... with me? Here?" I down pointed to the bed I was in. Laura nodded stiffly, "...Yeah, why the fuck not? Come here."

Laura was quick to take the invite and scurried under the covers with me. I couldn't help but chuckle as I turned the lamp.

...Get your heads out of the gutter, jerks.

We both had clothes on, and I was too beat up and tired to do anything else but sleep. Despite her previous assertiveness, Laura didn't seem to want to do more than that on this occasion either. She settled in, pressing her back against me. The little thing wasn't shy at all about wanting some contact, and that was fine with me. I wrapped my arms around her and she placed her hands over mine.

It didn't take her long to relax, and when she did, it was comfortable. Her hair was soft, and she smelled amazing, having clearly showered and shampooed thoroughly after the violence that was Limbo. This was as far away from that as I could imagine, and that was just what I wanted.

I had one last bit of banter in me before I started to drift off.

"Do you pop your claws in your sleep?" I asked.

"Sometimes," Laura readily admitted, "When I have nightmares."

"Do you have a lot of nightmares?"

"..."

"Glad I've got you facing the other way, then," I took an elbow to the kidney for that one, "Ow. Goodnight, Laura."

"Goodnight, Bellamy."