Aki, Raven, and Draco lounged on the couch in the rec room while Daniel was busy playing pool. Kei suddenly ran into the room, then, around them, and out of the room. Aki, Raven, and Draco stared blankly at the space in front of them.
Aki: “Okay… w-what the hell is wrong with her?”
Raven: “Uh….”
Draco: “Kei never runs, does she?”
Aki: “No…that’s why I’m asking!”
Raven: “I’m…CONFUSED!!!”
Raven flopped her head onto the table, making a loud bang with her forehead.
Daniel: “Huh? Kei was in here?”
Aki: “Uh..yeah!”
Daniel: “Oh…okay…”
* * *
Gumby stood at the end of the hall, watching Kei run through a doorway, then another on the other side of the hall, then through another on the first side, and on and on.
Gumby: “Uh… what?”
Kei rushed past him, then down the stairs.
Gumby: “Wha-?”
* * *
Marejia and Schlegal worked in the lab and stood on opposite sides of the room. A soft breeze flowed through Marejia’s hair and brushed against Schlegal’s arm. They both looked up and looked around.
Schlegal: “Do you-?”
Marejia shrugged and they went back to work.
* * *
Gwen: “Uh… Kei, no matter how hard you try, you still can’t be like Quicksilver!”
Zion: “I don’t think that’s what she’s doing…”
Luana: “Then, what IS she doing?”
Kei ran out of the room that Gwen, Zion, and Luana were in.
* * *
Kei hurried past Bethy and Andrew who were in the garden, again.
Andrew: “Why-?”
Reluna: “I wouldn’t ask…”
* * *
Naze, Sparkles, Steve, and Toni lounged in the shade on the porch as Kei ran by them, too.
Naze: “Kei, what are you doing!?”
Toni: “Maybe she’s exorcising!”
Steve: “Exorcising?”
Sparkles: “Glitter!”
Sparkles was suddenly covered with shiny specks of glitter as he held an empty plastic container that used to hold the sparkles.
* * *
Kei ran past Reluna and Andrew, again, then past Gwen, Zion, and Luana, then through the lab, then past Gumby. She entered the rec room, again.
Aki: “Kei?…Kei!?…Kei!?!”
She didn’t stop running. Daniel grabbed her wrist when she ran past him. Daniel held a pool stick in one hand and Kei’s wrist in the other. Kei was still running, but in one spot.
Draco: “Kei!? KEI!?!”
Kei snapped out of her trance and stopped running. Daniel let her go.
Daniel: “What the hell’s going on?”
Kei: “I’m looking for Twiggy. Twiggy!!!”
Raven: “Twiggy?”
Kei: “I lost one of my butterflies.”
Kei dropped to her knees and held out her hands dramatically.
Kei(dramatically): “Twiggy, Twiggy!!! Where could you be!!?!!?”
Draco(Kei still going on in bkgd): “Did she say she lost one of her butterflies?”
Daniel(Kei in bkgd): “Butterflies?”
Aki(Kei in bkgd): “Oh, no…she did, didn’t she?”
Daniel(Kei in bkgd): “Kei has butterflies?”
Raven(Kei in bkgd): “Shit! Not a butterfly!”
Daniel: “*Ahem* Butterfly?”
Kei(pouty): “Twiggy… my favorite one, too!”
Her head fell into her hands as she began to whimper like a puppy.
Aki: “We’ve got to find that butterfly before it’s too late!!!”
Daniel: “Butterfly!!???”
Draco: “Yes, butterfly!!”
Daniel: “But, K-“
Aki, Draco, and Raven left before Daniel could clear up his question.
Daniel: “Butterflies? Kei, you have butterflies?”
Kei(proudly): “Plague-infested butterflies!”
Daniel: “What?”
Kei: “Hee-hee…”
* * *
All the X-men searched the Institute for the missing butterfly. But, alas, they found no trace of a butterfly or plague-ridden people.
* * *
After hours of searching, some of the X-men gathered in Kei’s room.
Daniel: “Oh, THESE butterflies!”
Daniel stood in front of a glass case filled with black butterflies, which had blue flames on their wings and antennae.
Gwen: “We’re doomed, doomed!”
Kei(pointing at various butterflies): “Look, there’s Scooter, and Bif, and Twiggy, and Brandon, and Puffy,
and…(continuing)”
Draco: “You forget, we’re immune.”
Gwen: “Oh… so then it’s just people who are gonna die…”
Aki: “Yep..”
Rachael: “Whoo-hoo!!!”
Daniel: “Wait… did you say Twiggy?”
Kei: “Did I?”
Daniel: “So, you really aren’t missing a butterfly, are you?”
Kei(hesitating): “…no…I-I guess not……Ah-hah-hah-hah!”
Raven: “You made us look for nothing!!??”
Rachael: “People aren’t gonna die!!??”
Kei(pouty): “I thought I lost one…”