(Following Sam's "death" immediately)

Secure the Mansion.

That was what Mirror was supposed to do, so that was what Gawain was doing. The young X-man, wearing his full gear and usual weaponry, walked the perimeter of the Mansion grounds, checking on security systems, traps, and keeping an eye out for students trying to sneak in or out.
Students who had no idea what was happening.
Shin and Streak told Mirror (and the rest of the team) to secure the Mansion, so that was what Mirror was doing.
They only said one other thing:

Sam is dead.

It seemed unreal, so Gawain decided not to think about it. There were practical, security issues to attend to. It was much more real than trying to wrap his head around the fact that Sam, the closest thing he ever had to a mentor and family after Mom left, Sam, the leader of the X-men, died on his way to have a beer with him and Eve.

Dying was just not Sam's thing, that's all.

Gawain bit his lips as he continued his rounds. Evelyn was also out there somewhere, and their paths were bound to intersect at some point. Gawain took some deep breaths, and tried to prepare for facing the Mansion again.

He'll have to, sooner or later.

But first: Securing the Mansion.

More than anything, Evelyn wished she could forget. She wished she could forget the words that were now haunting her, and she wished she could forget the memories that made it difficult to do her job. There were kids that could be endanger, there was an enemy out threatening their lives. But the words made it almost impossible to focus.

Sam is dead. Sam is dead. Sam is dead.

She had practice keeping her composure in tough situations. Every petty party her parents made her attend, every event, and hundreds of hours working in customer service. She knew how to keep her head high when she hadn't slept in several days, and she knew how to smother a bad round of playbacks and get to work on time. But nothing prepared her for the pain of loosing a friend. More than just a friend, Sam was someone who had saved her life, helped train her and in many ways had become almost a brotherly figure.

Evelyn couldn't forget the words, but it sure felt like she was forgetting how to breathe.

Hand shaking, she found herself sinking against a tree and trying to pull herself back together. But the playbacks rushed forward like a wave, crashing through her skull.

Shifting his attention to the blonde Sam headed in her direction making sure to wave her down just in case she tried on running.

Sam started to pick up the pace till he caught up with her still slightly out of breath, ”Got a few questions for you if you got a minute.”

The first x-men she ever met was dead...

”Fair enough, I’m sorry I called you ‘Blondie’ heat of the moment. I think I’ll stick with Evelyn if it is all the same to you.”

After a slight pause Sam reached his non-cut arm out towards he and offered his hand for a shake, ”Well if we are going to do names instead of nicknames I’m Sam and the guy with the arrows is Gawain,”

The guy who introduced her and Mirror, was dead...

His head shifted towards Eve and his grip tightened around the guys throat as another hand reached around the guys collar and lifted him off the ground. ”Eve! What happened!?!” Sam was trying hard not to jump to conclusions but he could hear the guy in his grip gasping for air.

The guy who saved her life...

”Every time I close my eye or try to sleep there she is with my kids telling me to come back.” his voice stopped when he opened his mouth again not entirely comfortable sharing this much with anyone let alone Eve, ”I’m not sure I can forget every time I try to I’m overcome with guilt. I lived with them for years, even if it was a lie. Still felt real.” Sam hung his head slightly before he decided to speed up a bit.

Who became her friend...

Sam slid down to the main level closer to Evee than Gawain because if he knew Gawain the guy might try throwing a punch and well he did spend a bit of time making the picnic lunch be a shame it something happened to it. Letting out a whistle Sam set the basket down next to Eve, ”Evee, great job with the scenario. Even the kiss was entertaining to watch!”

He couldn't be...after everything

First things first." In a flash of motions, her hand curled into a fist, are went back and straightened and her knuckles nailed Sam on the chin. It stung through the bites on her hand and arm, but the satisfying thud was worth it. "You're an ass."

...dead.

She didn't remember pulling out her sai. All she felt was rage and pain as she swung it into the nearest tree. She wasn't sure if the sound she made was a scream or a sob, but the metal buried deep, too deep for her to pull back out. Not that she was trying at that point. As the memories took over, she sank against the bark and the tears she had held back rushed to the surface.

It couldn't be. She must have misheard them.

If her memories had ever been wrong, she just wanted them to be wrong in that moment.

Gawain could hear the sobbing before he could make out Eve's form against the tree. Lights were low this late on the Mansion grounds, but he didn't need them to recognize his own girlfriend.

It was almost too much. He had the tears in his eyes for a long time, and hearing Eve break down came dangerously close to tipping him over that point too.
Not yet.

"Please don't do that." he said awkwardly "We've got rounds to do. C'mon."

He offered a hand to help her up. He had no doubt that that won't stop the crying on either part, but right now they were the ones responsible for the rest of the Mansion students, and damned if he was going to let Steel down.

The echoes barely picked up Gawain's approach with her emotions overwhelming them. His words only made her feel worse for breaking down at a time like this. They were x-men: regardless of what happened, their job was to keep everyone safe. It seemed easy enough in theory, but why was it so hard to do now?

"He's an ass. How could he do this? It's not fair, and it'll never get better because it'll never stop hurting." She found herself sniffling incoherently. She took a shaky breath and struggled to pull her sai free of the tree, willing her control to return. After a few yanks, the weapon was back in her hand. She wished everything else was that easy to fix. Her emotions were all over the place. She felt angry, and sad, and terrified all at the same time. They would do their rounds, keep the mansion safe, and then what? He would never come back, and months, years from now, she would be back in this moment. She would never loose his memory, but she would never escape the emotions loosing a friend created.

The sudden depression and emptiness was overwhelming. She couldn't go through this again. Heck, she couldn't deal with it now.

"I don't know how to do this..." She whispered quietly, staring at the tree lines and trying to keep a grip on her sai. "It's not fair. He never should have made us go through this."

>>"He's an ass. How could he do this? It's not fair, and it'll never get better because it'll never stop hurting. I don't know how to do this... It's not fair. He never should have made us go through this."

"Believe me, I'd punch him for it if I could."

There was something tight in his throat; nothing about this was fair, not to Sam, not to him, and it was also hurting Eve which made Gawain hate reality even more. He had been close to Sam for longer than he cared to count. He had some strange way of making people like him.

"Nothin' 'bout this is fair" he added, pulling Eve up into a hug. Whatever they were going through would stick with her, frame by frame, forever.
Everything sucked, forever.

"I'm sorry." he muttered, trying to get the words out "I'm sorry, I... we can't do this now. We gotta finish security. Sam would have our asses if we didn't."

As upset as Evelyn was, she knew Mirror was right. Now wasn't the time to be upset, and now wasn't the time to deal with her emotions. She shut her eyes and searched for something, anything to replace the emotions she was feeling. Like waking up in the morning, she clung to any of the happier memories she could find. Dates, hanging out with friends, pictures she painted. They were silly things, small things. But one memory after another created a barrier against the pain she knew she'd have to come back to face eventually.

"What's next..." She whispered finally, trying to turn back to the task at hand. She glanced around the grounds, mentally identifying what she had done and what she still had to accomplish. The grounds seemed endless. It felt silly trying to defend them at this point. But the kids had to be safe, and the school had to be safe... Sometimes, she hated the sense of duty that came with being an x-men.

>>"What's next..."

Gawain held Eve for a moment, trying to catch his breath and gain some strength for the rest of the night ahead of them. He kissed her on the forehead before he let go.

"Let's finish the rounds. I'll go up on the roof after that for a vantage point and keep an eye out. You can join me if you want. I don't think we'd get much sleep anyway."

In fact, relaxed sleep might not be a possibility for a very long time. And it wasn't just the grief, either; it was the increased responsibility of losing someone who kept the rest of them safe. They would all have to work together to make up for not having Sam around...

Evelyn nodded slightly. While the hug was comforting, she felt distant from it, almost numb to the affection. She felt like she was keeping a mental step back, trying not to fall back into the emotional mess she knew was lurking right under the surface.

"...You can join me if you want. I don't think we'd get much sleep anyway." Mirror was saying.

Evelyn gave a somewhat bitter smile, and pushed her hair out of her face. "Lack of sleep's never been much of a problem for me." She remarked quietly. She doubted she would have the courage to sleep for awhile after this anyway. Sleep meant memories, and that wasn't something she could face at this moment.

"I'll meet you on the roof in a bit..." She agreed after a second. She could feel the sai digging into her hand where she was holding onto it so tightly. While she hated Gawain seeing her upset like this, she hated the idea of being alone more. Duty first though. That was the x-men way. Regardless what happened in the fight, they had to focus on their jobs.

She swallowed, and moved to finish her rounds. If nothing else, loosing CS meant she wasn't afraid of anything lurking out in the darkness. It felt like they had been through the worst already.

>>"Lack of sleep's never been much of a problem for me. I'll meet you on the roof in a bit..."

Gawain nodded and went to finish his rounds. He didn't like leaving Evelyn alone; apart from the crying, there was also an increased sense of danger, some tension of anticipation, and it made his hair stand on end, until he figured out what it was.

By the time Evelyn found him, he was sitting on the Mansion roof with his bow next to him, staring into the night and the lights around the Mansion. It was peaceful up there, away from the late-night bustling of the school and the other team members patrolling downstairs.

Gawain didn't even notice that he was crying. It had become a state of being in the past few hours, and when the tears started to roll and fall on the roof, there was no one there to see them anyway.

The rest of the rounds felt uneventful. Evelyn didn't see any danger, everything was secure, and it was an otherwise peaceful evening. In someways, that made her feel bitter. She would have rather had someone jump out she could fight, have something to take her anger out on. In the end, nothing came though, and she moved to the roof of the mansion with her emotions still chaotic and uncontrollable.

[Tears.] The echoes pointed out as soon as Gawain came into view. The slight glimmer of moisture on his face was illuminated by the dim lights of the school. As bad as this felt, she couldn't imagine how Gawain was feeling. CS and him went through everything together. As she sat down next to him, she pulled her legs up, and gently leaned her head against Gawain's shoulder.

"What now?" She whispered. She felt desperate for some guidance, some direction to go in from here. She felt lost, but she wasn't sure Gawain felt much better.

>>"What now?"

Gawain tried his best to suppress a sniffle, and then decided it was no use; the echoes would have told Evelyn by now that he was crying, and even without them, it was not a difficult guess to make.

"Now... now we stay up here and watch. Do me a favor and let me know if the echoes pick up anything..."

Gawain wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. The archery gear was lying next to him on the roof, easy to pick up if needed.Gawain rested his chin on his knees, and leaned into the warmth of Eve by his side.

"Is it bad that I wish they'd show?..."

"Do me a favor and let me know if the echoes pick up anything..."

Evelyn nodded, and let the echoes continue to scan the grounds. It was easy enough to do, and didn't quite take her mind off the news. As Mirror spoke again, she shrugged.

"Even if it's bad, I feel like I'm still wishing the same thing. Would feel better than just sitting here." She picked at a paint-stain on her pants, and looked back out across the trees.

"Just feels like we should be doing more." She admitted.

>>"Even if it's bad, I feel like I'm still wishing the same thing. Would feel better than just sitting here. Just feels like we should be doing more."

"Oh, I could do a lot more" Gawain murmured with a flash in his eyes that had nothing to do with tears and everything with vengeance. "Honestly, I hope they are stupid enough to try to break in."

Sure, that was the grief and anger speaking, but Gawain meant every word of it. He knew that if the bad guys that attacked... killed... Sam would show, the entire X-men team would be on top of them... but he also knew he would only need a few minutes of a headstart to make them regret they were ever born.

Gawain shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Probably shouldn't be saying that. We're supposed to be the good guys 'n' all."

"Probably shouldn't be saying that. We're supposed to be the good guys 'n' all."

Evelyn snorted slightly, and gave Gawain a look. "You and I both know we aren't perfect 'good guys'. Besides, even Sam had a dark side. He--" She paused suddenly, realizing she almost spoke about Sam rescuing her. While everyone knew he got her home safely, no one really knew the extent of Sam's rage that night. The images flashed back through her mind, and she stared out into the trees quietly for a moment.

What did it matter keeping secrets now? Sam was gone.

"I've seen Sam when he was angry. Back when I got jumped coming home... Can't say the guy made it out alive. Wish I could say I felt bad about it though. I just don't, sometimes. I know I should see the lines more clearly, or cared. I think Sam felt that way a lot too..." She didn't mean to reminisce, but it was hard when the emotions were so close to the surface.

>>"You and I both know we aren't perfect 'good guys'. Besides, even Sam had a dark side. He-- I've seen Sam when he was angry. Back when I got jumped coming home... Can't say the guy made it out alive. Wish I could say I felt bad about it though. I just don't, sometimes. I know I should see the lines more clearly, or cared. I think Sam felt that way a lot too..."

"Yeah" Gawain nodded, staring into the shadows and lights below on the Mansion grounds "Doesn't make it easier though, does it?"

Gawain had been through scary situations - hell, he had died once... it was a dream, but it felt real, and had real consequences. He found himself wishing he would wake up from this one too, and find Sam waiting in the awake world...

"I mean... I'm pretty sure I'd kill them." Gawain muttered "It's horrible to say, but I don't think I would care."

His fists balled up at his sides as a fight reflex. He really wished there would be someone to fight. To the death. No holding back.

"Sam would... he could be dangerous when angry, but if you asked him about it, he'd tell you not to do it. He never... wanted us to be a vigilante team. Not like that, he didn't."

Nothing moved on the grounds, or offered a chance to fight.

"... I miss him."