Disclaimer: "The New Mutants" are copyrighted by Marvel Comics. This is a work of fanfiction and no copyright infringement is intended. No financial gain is realized from this story. Author: Hekatis Title: Dealing with demons (series title) 4: Breakfast is not always a good start for the day Rating: PG Thanks: to Luba, who catches all the little mistakes I make in the English language Feedback: Any and all feedback is welcomed, cherished and answered. Breakfast is not always a good start for the day by Hekatis A shrill sound invaded her sleep. The covers weighed heavily on her. Waking up was like struggling her way through a thicket of thorns. Her head still hurt, and the rest of her body felt like a well-wrung washcloth. Ungracefully, she clambered out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom. It was 6 am, half an hour until breakfast and another merciless day awaiting her. Maybe a cold shower would help her to get awake. When the icy water hit her skin, she gasped for breath. Maybe this had not been such a good idea. She managed to dry her hair and put on a pair of new jeans and a sweatshirt just in time to be only ten minutes late. The others New Mutants were already sitting at the kitchen table. The X-Men would have breakfast in their separate kitchen whenever they decided to get up, while the New Mutants had an agreement that they would eat their first meal of the day together, at least during the week. Illyana cursed the day when she had agreed to this, ignoring the voice in her head that told her that she usually got up even earlier than this. One of the most annoying things of living together with numerous other people was that constantly, arrangements had to be made. Negotiating one's allowance. Asking for permission to go out. Food arrangements. Lunch and dinner would be had together by all occupants of the house in the dining room, with the food being delivered durning the week by a local canteen, which had grown accustomed to the fact that the number of people they catered to could range from 1 to 30. On weekends, they always cooked by themselves. This usually turned out to be quite an adventure, for a stove with only for burners was not the most ideal contrivance to fix meals for an average of 10 people. Having to prepare the ingredients was either a communal task or a punishment. Illyana's tendency to act on her own had brought her much experience in peeling potatoes or cutting up all kinds of vegetables, rivaled only by Roberto, who usually saw no necessity to ask for permission before he went on a date with one of the local girls. Most of the time, when everyone behaved, they decided to have cold lunch and rely on a pizza service for dinner. "Good morning, Illyana. Did you sleep well?" Danielle said cheerfully. Illyana wondered whether the friendliness in Danielle's voice was genuine or whether her team-leader wanted to rebuke her for taking her seat at the table without greeting her team-mates. "I feel fit enough to hunt down anything from paper lice to cockroaches," she replied sarcastically. "Uh, that bad?" Sam commented. Illyana thought. Determined to avoid such a conversation, she hastily grabbed the package with her favorite tropical fruit cereal. When she turned it round, three single rolled oats and one raisin sailed down into her bowl. "Ok, which of you snatched the last bits of the tropical muesli?" she snapped. "I know there was some left from yesterday." Amara looked up from her bowl of cereal. "You weren't here when I asked if anybody else wanted some." Somehow, the answer seemed logical. Illyana should have expected that Amara was the culprit. Illyana and Amara were the only ones to eat this particular brand of cereal, Amara because the mixture reminded her of the food in Nova Roma, while Illyana valued the fact that the muesli was unlike anything served to her in Limbo. Illyana did not feel like listening to logic, though. "You know that I always eat this muesli. Why didn't you leave me any?" she almost yelled at Amara. The rational part of her mind argued that there was no point in picking a quarrel about something as trifling as cereal, but the part of her that was distraught with worry for Kitty and frustrated because of harsh training and little sleep, teammates who feigned concern about her well-being but were apprehensive she might turn into the devil at any moment and an overeager X-Man who encouraged her do just that did not care. "Illyana, calm down," Sam censured her, rising from his chair in the process. Only then Illyana noticed that she had risen from her chair as well and was glaring at Amara. "If you don't show up in time you have to take what's left over," Dani chided. "Since when is my breakfast your business, Dani?" Illyana spat back. Why was everybody making her affairs their concern? "Illyana, don't make a fool of yourself," Sam warned. "I didn't know that cereal was so important to you," Amara remarked. "If I had, I would have saved some for you." Illyana stared at Amara as though she was an alien kind of demon. Cereals. Oh, right, that was what their debate had originally been about. Suddenly, the whole quarrel seemed as ridiculous to Illyana as it was. Amara had just returned from a trip with Stevie, who had shown her New York City. She could not possibly know that she and Illyana shared a liking for the same kind of muesli. It was understandable that the others thought she had gone mad. Probably, she really had. "Illyana!" Sam suddenly shook her. She had been gazing at Amara for at least a minute. Did he think she was cursing his would-be girlfriend? "What?" she hissed. "Sam!" Dani said harshly. Illyana felt as though she was in a disgustingly bad film. The hero is about to strangle the evil sorceress while the noble teamleader prepares to give a statement about the accused being innocent until proven guilty, the utterance of said statement being essential for said teamleader's self-image as a competent and impartial judge. Unfortunately, there was no stop-button in this revolting drama. "Get your hands off me, Sam!" Illyana yelled. If the others treated her as though she was a bomb that could blow up any minute, there was no reason why she should try to keep her temper. "Have you ever considered that the world doesn't turn around you and your grand values and your superior morals and your impeccable judgment?" she shouted at Sam and Dani. "Does it ever cross your mind that you could be wrong, or that there's a world besides your own?" Suddenly, she wondered why she was yelling at them. Why she was standing here at all and why the world was spinning around her. Had Dani's face always looked like a fish and why did Sam's eyes seem like giant watermelons? And why was she lying on the kitchen floor again? Fainting in this room really seemed to become a nasty routine. "What is all this disturbance about?" a stern voice demanded to know. Ororo? "We... we were arguing about cereals and Illyana got upset and started shouting at us and then she broke down." Amara seemed worried. Why? The darkness that enveloped Illyana felt quite comfortable. Somebody moved. Crouched down beside her. A cool hand on her forehead. "She has a temperature." A concerned voice. Belonging to whom? "Help me carry her into her room." Hands that lifted her and made her uncomfortable. Illyana gave up all efforts to remain conscious and embraced the darkness that erased sensation and thought.