Skye Sinclaire lay on her stomach on her bed, looking blankly at her phone. The light was off, but the room was bathed in a pulsing blue light that matched her hair emanating from her hands.  On her phone was a message conversation with Mari from a few months prior. 

'I'm sorry things have been busy. We'll make time soon, okay? I love you."
"Yeah. I understand. I love you too."

But that time never came. In fact...when she did finally see Mari again...they decided to 'take a break' for awhile. Two months after it happened, and Skye was still broken up. She rarely wore anything but her pajamas around the mansion anymore, she'd been ducking out on her training ever since, and her grades had dropped from straight A's to barely passable Ds.

A single tear landed on the phone screen before she suddenly turned and threw the phone across the room and it hit the wall with a loud thud as the light and her hair turned red briefly, then back to blue as she wiped her tears and just lay in bed. Luckily the pink case on her phone prevented any damage to it. But on the wall, a fresh dent joined a few other ones of assorted shapes and sizes from various objects. 

She'd broken up and taken breaks dozens of times before, but...this one actually hurt. Even after this time, it still hurt. So much so that she'd lost her passion for anything else, it seemed. 

Gemma would not have been a very good school counselor if she did not notice the signs when one of her students was in distress. Skye had been too exhausted to try to hide how badly she was doing. He grades slipped first, and then her appearance, and the few times Gemma saw him in the past weeks she was wearing pajamas, her unique glowing hair messy and usually blue. That meant she was sad. Her powers made her a lot easier to read than other teens, but the problem was pretty obvious even without the color coding.

Gemma head a thud just because she knocked on the door of Skye's room. The knock was a little awkward, since she had to do it with her elbow; she was holding a tray with a teapot and a cup, an assortment of tea bags, and a plate of cookies.

"Skye? It's Gemma. May I come in?..."

She hated it. Things like this never got to her, but not having Mari anymore just shut her down. That mixed with a bunch of little things just crippled her emotionally, which was not only bad on her productivity, but also occasionally wreaked havoc on her powers. She just curled up on the bed, trying not to cry again. She'd already cried too much already; she was pretty sure she was out of tears, or should be by now. 

At that moment there was a knock on the door. 

"Skye? It's Gemma. May I come in?..."

She popped up, wiping her tears and turned on the light so her powers wouldn't be the only light in the room. 

"Y-yeah, I'm coming," she answered as she made her way to the door and opened it. 

"H-hi...what's going on?" she asked as she backed up to the bed to give Gemma some space to move in, her eyes looking inquisitively at the tray of tea and cookies, and her hair and lights still flickering the familiar blue they had been.

Gemma wondered for a moment if Skye was actually going to open the door. If she didn't, she was going to allow her her space; teenagers sometimes just needed time and peace to figure things out. But it would have been unlike Gemma not to at least try to offer her company.

Skye opened the door; her powers flickered out as she entered Gemma's aura, and then she backed up to the bed, her hair turning blue again.

>>"H-hi...what's going on?"

"Nothing, really" Gemma said with a soothing smile "I just thought you might want some cookies and tea? I have seen you in a... blue mood a lot lately. Do you want to talk about it?"

Of all the people that could have come to her door, Skye was glad it was Gemma. Though she didn't know if she wanted to talk about what was going on...she figured maybe she needed to. Besides...she'd brought cookies and for some reason that gave her a twinge of...not happiness, but definitely a twinge of positivity that she desperately needed. Even if it wasn't enough to change her hair color.

She took a deep breath, looking from the plate to Gemma's face. "I guess it's just...girl trouble? Like, I finally found someone I thought was worth being serious with and...she suddenly never had time for me anymore. And when we finally got to see each other...she..." Skye struggled to hold back tears, but eventually just gave up and buried her head in her hands. "She dumped me.."

Her hands started pulsing more rapidly and Skye sat up, tears streaming down her face and stood to move closer to Gemma. Her hair turned it's normal though now-unkempt brown and the lights stopped. Luckily she still had the wherewithal to use Gemma's aura to keep her flashbang from going off.

"I don't know...breakups never hit me this hard before...I just feel...empty."

Gemma placed the tray on the bedside table, then took a seat on the chair by Skye's desk. She could see from the blue light that she was very upset, but if she wanted to be left alone with the tea and the cookies, Gemma was ready to leave.

>>"I guess it's just...girl trouble? Like, I finally found someone I thought was worth being serious with and...she suddenly never had time for me anymore. And when we finally got to see each other...she... She dumped me.."

Oh. That made sense. Breakups were crap even in the best cases, but teenagers took them especially hard. She could she the lights flare up before Skye moved closer. Gemm stood, and moved over to sit next to her on the side of her bed. Her aura canceled out the lights, and now Sky looked like any other kid with a broken heart.

>>"I don't know...breakups never hit me this hard before...I just feel...empty."

"I'm sorry to hear that" Gemma said gently "You must have loved her very much."

Skye nodded, tentatively taking a cookie off of the tray and nibbling on it. She slid close to Gemma as she looked up at her and gave a small nod. "Yeah...I did. I...I'd never really taken a relationship seriously before, ya know? But she was different. At least...I...I thought she was..." she took another bite of cookie as tears started flowing freely.

Setting the half-eaten cookie back down, she just let herself cry again, wondering how she still had this many tears left. After a few moments, she wiped her tears. "I just...I lost all motivation and...I don't know what to do..."

She picked the cookie up again and took another nibble, her free arm sort of wrapping around herself in have of an odd self-hug. When she finished the cookie, her other arm crossed around herself as well as she just started slowly rocking back and forth on the bed.

"Thanks for checking up on me. And probably preventing another explosion. You've probably heard that's been happening more lately..."

Cookies always made things better. Not immediately, and not a lot, but they should never be underestimated.

>>"Yeah...I did. I...I'd never really taken a relationship seriously before, ya know? But she was different. At least...I...I thought she was..."

Skye nibbled on a cookie, and Gemma let her talk. These first words were always hard to get out, and there was really nothing to say anyway, nothing that would not have sounded like unsolicited commentary.

>>"I just...I lost all motivation and...I don't know what to do..."

Skye hugged herself, and Gemma gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Her aura kept her powers from going off, but that was not the only point here.

>>"Thanks for checking up on me. And probably preventing another explosion. You've probably heard that's been happening more lately..."

"It is normal that your powers react to your emotions" she noted with a nod "That's the one thing my aura can help with. You are grieving. Breakups can have the same effect as grief, since you actually lost someone important to you. Grief has many forms. Feeling empty and lost is one of them."

Skye shivered feeling Gemma's arm around her, but she leaned into it. She could feel her emotions calming a little from all of this. It was...nice. This was the most social she'd been in awhile and it helped to be able to talk to someone about all of this, even if it was all new territory for her.

"That's always sort of been my problem," she said with a weak smile. "Controlling my powers means controlling my powers. I got pretty good at it but...you're never fully in control of those, really," she mumbled, reaching for another cookie. "But...how do I get through this? It's been two months and I don't wanna be an emotional puddle forever...I still want to good in school, and maintain what friendships and life I have but...I just....my body won't do what my brain tells it to right now."

Skye leaned against her, and Gemma allowed her to talk herself through her feelings. The cookies probably helped, too. The tea in the mug was still steaming, but it would be good to drink later.

>>"That's always sort of been my problem. Controlling my powers means controlling my powers. I got pretty good at it but...you're never fully in control of those, really,"

"No one ever is." Gemma nodded with a smile. And no one was supposed to be. Unfortunately, mutants with emotion-based powers had a harder time justifying letting themselves slip every once in a while.

>>"But...how do I get through this? It's been two months and I don't wanna be an emotional puddle forever...I still want to good in school, and maintain what friendships and life I have but...I just....my body won't do what my brain tells it to right now."

Gemma nodded again. She knew Skye meant well. She was a smart kid, and motivated, or at least she had been before the breakup.

"You know, it usually helps me to think of myself as a friend. What would you tell your best friend if she told you this?... It is okay to allow yourself time to process."

Skye let out a small sigh as she let Gemma's words sink in, really letting herself think about this as she closed her eyes, pushing aside all of the sadness and self-pity. Putting herself in the position of the helpful friend instead of the one who needed help. She took another bite; it'd been awhile since she'd eaten sweets--in fact lately she was just eating enough to not be hungry.

"I'd probably tell them to find something to take their mind off of it. Go out and have fun. Go to an arcade or something that would take them away from the problem," she said, looking up at her after awhile. "Aside from that, I really don't know, to be honest..."

Skye considered the question. It seemed to have successfully taken her out of her own head. Sometimes that was all that was needed. A small step. And a cookie.

>>"I'd probably tell them to find something to take their mind off of it. Go out and have fun. Go to an arcade or something that would take them away from the problem. Aside from that, I really don't know, to be honest..."

"That's okay" Gemma smiled, squeezing her shoulder "It's a start. That's all you need for now. Give yourself time to figure out the rest. And you know I'm here, and other people at the Mansion who care. It's okay to be upset after a breakup like that. You don't have to hide."

Her muscles had relaxed considerably by now, and she found herself feeling at least a little better for now. She gave Gemma a nod and a weak smile. "Thanks. I've just been feeling like I didn't wanna deal with anything--or anyone, so I just...kept to myself. But that didn't have the best results, did it?" she gave a nervous chuckle, thinking back to one particular incident that caused a lot of chaos in the rec room. She stood to her feet.

"Maybe I should go out. Have fun. Maybe cruise the mall, maybe change up my style a bit, visit the arcade..." She looked down, noticing she was still in her pajamas. "Though putting on some actual clothes might be a start, eh?" she asked with a nervous laugh, realizing her wardrobe had gone practically unused for awhile.

Gawain's voice was somewhat muffled by the mirror he was walking into.

"PRISM! I have been patient, but dammit, girl, you need to drag your aaaAAAAH!"

The mirrorwalker landed in a very much not graceful faceplant, right out of Skye's dressing mirror. It would he been a perfect superhero landing, had it not been for the chair. Or the fact that he did not expect to make an exit so soon.

"... umph. Hello, Ms. Taylor. Mrs. Taylor. Cervantes." he muttered as he picked himself off the floor. Gemma arched an eyebrow and gave him an amused smile. "Hello, Gawain."

"I'm here to... um." Gawain found his footing and regained some of his momentum, folding his eyes and giving Skye a look. "Aaas I was saying, Prism. Danger Room. Like, yesterday. Chop chop."

Skye jumped slightly when she heard the familiar voice, and yelped when Gawain came through the mirror, and face planted courtesy of her chair. Were it not for Gemma being right there, the room would have been accented nicely by green lights and a fitting flash of white light paired with an ear shattering pop.

That look damn near pierced Skye's broken soul as their eyes met, and the girl found it hard to believe that she'd initially tried flirting with them when they first met. My how times had changed...

Without a word, Skye gave a small nod, going to her closet and grabbing her gunmetal gray training uniform, accented with bright pink trim and reflective material on the sleeves. She couldn't remember the last time she'd even worn her uniform, and aside from trying it on, she'd never worn this particular one. She then hurried off into her bathroom where her pajamas hit the floor and in a brief moment, she was wearing her uniform and boots, though her hair was still a mess from earlier.

"Thanks, Gemma," she murmured on her way past, her hair going from purple to brunette and back as the young mutant passed through the aura and back out into the hall. She gulped as she made her way down to the Danger Room, a pulsing purple light guiding her way, really accented by the reflective sleeves. She knew those were going to be a good idea...