Katrina was a bit surprised that he wanted her to stop, since the expression of pain in his face had certainly eased since she had started. He seemed so sure about it though, that she let the illusion fade away again. The pinched look on his face returned, but with it seemed to come determination and concentration.

Katrina kept a hold of his hand the whole time while Ghost kept him clear and Zephyr put himself back together again. It was difficult, but not impossible to see what was happening. She did see the rib that was jabbing in the wrong way twist itself back to the right spot again. She was convinced that it was pretty much a miracle.

There sat Zephyr, fully solid and all in one piece, even after she had hit him with a jet. She couldn't restrain herself. She threw her arms around him and (very carefully so as not to squeeze him too hard) gave him a hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay! Why aren't you dressed? Why is your face decorated like that? Why did Ghost call you Simon? How did you do that? Will you ever forgive me?"

She looked up at him with her grey eyes shining, hoping that the answer to the last question was a yes.

She felt as if she were holding up a tablecloth. Keeping just a portion of Zephyr incorporeal was as easy as that. But unseen hands plucked at the cloth. He pushed some parts to fold a wrinkle in the cloth and sometimes he just plain pulled. It was hard to tell when he was trying to gain control of something from her and hard to know when he needed something to keep resistance against.

Ghost ended up closing her eyes to help keep her focus and to better discern what was happening in front of her.

It was slow work. Despite the fact that Ghost was only maintaining Zephyr's incorporeal form, it was draining. Part of it was the sun bearing down on her dark wig, though most of it was due to the strain that happened between their powers. Eventually, even just maintaining incorporeality outside of herself was a task.

Slowly and carefully it got done. Ghost hesitated to let the last of him settle back into solidity, but his body wanted to be solid. She just hoped that it was going back to something like the shape it should have been. If even one single blood vessel was out of place, he would be bleeding internally and they might not know the difference behind the bruising… would there even be bruising?

She opened her eyes in time to see Katrina tackle the other elemental and… she had, in all the excitement and with her eyes closed, entirely forgotten about the things she had drawn on his face.

Ghost ducked her smile behind a hand and turned her chuckle into a serious cough. Because this was serious business.

"Please be gentle, Katrina. I'm not sure we could do that again."

There is a difference, albeit a minor one, between physical and mental exhaustion; with the former the body has met or surpassed its reserves and thus becomes little more than a listless ragdoll largely incapable of anything beyond the simple act of respiration. In the latter, the mind has been taxed to its limits and thus desires nothing more than a chance to surcease; to abstain from any thoughts which fail to lead to such an opportunity.

Ordinarily an individual suffers from one or other, Zephyr on the other hand, after essentially rebuilding his rib cage and a good assortment of the veins, capillaries and organs therein, found himself with the rare distinction of simultaneously being inflicted with both states of exhaustion. What little strength his limbs typically possessed had all but abandoned him. Ideas, assessments and various musings crept through his mind at an onerously slow pace and a faint throbbing in the center of skull warned him of worse to come once sobriety reared it's unwanted head.

Sleep would have been advisable, a hot meal and a warm bed would have been ideal, at the current moment however the latter was unlikely and in his present position the former would be unwise. It was with a sigh then that Zephyr forced his arms beneath him and, with effort, pushed himself into a sitting position. A wave of vertigo swept through him in response and a grimace overtook his features as he immediately stilled and waited for it to subside.

At least, that had been his intention. Such plans were swiftly foiled though when a small blonde missile latched onto him with enough force that he was almost sent back to the ground. As it was Zephyr barely managed to regain his center of balance and raise a hand to his reeling head whilst the small form beside him began its rambling litany of questions, only the last of which the hessian managed to discern by the time his head cleared.

"Will you ever forgive me?"[/color]

Blinking against sunlight which still seemed far too harsh Zephyr shifted his hand to shade his eyes before he glanced down at the young gamine beside him uncertainly. What would Sa- no. No it was Katrina, it had to be her, it had been her voice but it didn't make sense. She was staring up at him, her eyes were wet and she had an almost pleading expression which did nothing to ease his confusion or unease as he lowered a hand and swept a few stray strands from girls face as he sought for some answer to question before quietly posing one his own.

"What did you do?" There was no anger or accusation in his tone as he spoke, simply confusion and, possibly, some concern.

Dio answered her question with a gentle brush across her forehead to put a few stray hairs back into place. That, and the look in his eyes was enough of an answer for Katrina. The other questions didn't matter as much as that one did.

He had only one question for her, one that begged some explaining, for as long as she had known him she had never really told Zephyr anything about her mutation. He'd figured out that she could turn invisible when she had made a mistake on an airplane over to Romania. Then, he may have suspected her involvement in another incident that had occurred there, but there hadn't been anything definite.

And now she had used a power on him that didn't really have anything to do with invisibility at all.

“You know how I turn invisible? By making you not able to see me. This was kind of the same, except I made you not able to feel instead. I... I didn't want you to hurt if you didn't have to. I didn't know that it wouldn't help you do what you did. I was just trying to help.”

Katrina sniffled and buried her face in his uninjured shoulder, more carefully this time as Ghost reminded her. She was just now remembering that people who didn't have shirts on were not very absorbent.

Even Ghost wasn't entirely sure what Kat's ability was. She had only really seen Katrina make a hairbrush into a rose and sport some fancy goggles. Adding to that invisibility and pain numbing? She ended up scratching her white hair when she tried to connect those dots.

One thing, Ghost did notice. Kat didn't answer Zephyr's question about what she had done.

"You collided with the x-jet, Zephyr." Ghost wasn't a finger pointer. It was, in all actuality, her fault anyway since she had started the whole mess when she teased a half asleep, half drunk Zephyr. Why did he do these things to himself? She wanted to ask if Zephyr could stand, but he strained to sit up. Granted Katrina clung to him, but it didn't bode well.

"Come on, Kat, I think you'll have to help me get him into the jet." None of the three could lift more than a couple books but with all their efforts combined they could make it. "You probably need to sleep it off." His breath didn't smell any better for his incorporeal time.

As a general rule Zephyr rarely abided children; it wasn't that he bore younger generations any particular ill will, it was simply that dealing with them tended to require more effort than the hessian was typically willing to put forth. They were often coarse, immature, thoughtless and possessed of a propensity for tangential thought which, if it could be accurately mapped, would likely engender a rather striking simulacrum to the circuitous roots of an aspen and as such made holding a coherent conversation somewhat trying to say the least.

Admittedly such annoyances tended to fade as an individual grew older but they rarely disappeared completely, or if they did, were often replaced with other irritants, most commonly deliberate omissions or misunderstandings. Katrina's response was an apt example, intentional or otherwise. The elementals weary mind had been anticipating some petty misdemeanor, however the abrupt segue into the gamines mutation momentarily derailed such thoughts in favour of the mercenary's own curiosity.

In all the time Zephyr had known Katrina the girl had always been exceedingly wary of discussing any aspect of her abilities. It had taken the hessian almost two years just to learn that she could effectively render herself invisible, and even then her explanation had been surprisingly obscure for her age. He'd neglected to press the issue in the past because he had disliked putting the girl on the defensive, to have her freely volunteer such information was therefore unexpected to say the least. He quickly fell silent as Katrina nestled her head against his shoulder and something trickled down his arm leading him to absently rest a hand on her back and make vaguely reassuring motions, his original question briefly forgotten as he considered the potential implications of what he'd just heard.

"You collided with the x-jet, Zephyr."[/color]

...up until Ghost helpfully brought the conversation back to the main topic at hand, causing Zephyr's gaze to lift from the top of Katrina head as he cast a quizzical cursory glance at his sylph counterpart before his thoughts finally took notice of the rather evident elephant in the room as it were.

Aircraft are, by and large, large. The model before him was no exception, a combination of sleek metallic lines, melanoid tones and inverted wings all came together to form a dirigible which would not have looked out of place in a military installation but formed a somewhat jarring contrast when viewed on a rooftop in the middle of a thriving metropolis. The presence of the plane however did not hold Zephyr's attention for long, even fatigued as he was, the hessian recognized that the machine could not get where it was without a pilot, and given the limited company at present, there weren't that many options.

"Katrina..." The question died off before it was even formed, as the elemental tried to determine what he wanted to say. When had she learned to fly? How had she gotten hold of a jet? Why on earth had she been flying so low in such a crowded area? In short, what in the world had she been thinking? Had she even bothered? What would- No, this wasn't the time for such a conversation. It would could wait until after he'd rested and held a clearer head, Until then Katrina's own guilt at having nearly killed him would likely be more effective than any admonishment he could offer in his current state.

And he had come close to dying, more so than any other time in his life, he knew that with a bleak and weary certainty. The cruising speed for an aircraft of that size would, at a rough guess, be somewhere between 300-400mph. He should have died on impact. The fact that he'd not only lived, but managed to stand afterwards raised questions he was in no way ready to deal with.

"Come on, Kat, I think you'll have to help me get him into the jet."[/color]

Ghosts words roused him from his somber thoughts and brought him back to the present. He couldn't say he relished the prospect of boarding the machine that had very nearly killed him, but there was little point in arguing about it; neither he nor Ghost were any shape to fly and thus the jet was the only means off the rooftop short of calling 911, and that would only serve to complicate things. He therefore did what little he could to help Ghost and Katrina in getting him to his feet and after a few stalled attempts the trio managed to make their way up the ramp of the jet and Zephyr quickly found himself lying down in a somewhat stiff seat.

"You probably need to sleep it off."[/color]

That was precisely what he did.

>> “You collided with the X-jet, Zephyr,” Ghost supplied.

Oh. Was that what he meant by what did you do? Had he already forgotten? Did he have amnesia?

>> “Katrina...” Zephyr started.

At least he remembered who she was now. That was a good sign. Katrina sniffled and wiped her nose on her own shoulder before it could drip on him.

He's going to be fine, she tried to tell herself. She let go of him and wiped the moisture from her eyes then her hands on her skirt. She tried to pull herself back together. He's fine.

Her own knees were a little shaky, but she managed to help support her fair share of Dio's weight all the way to the seat in the jet that would be his bed for a little while. She helped him recline it as far as it would go, then turned to check the compartments in the cabin for pillows or blankets. It wasn't a commercial jet that usually saw a lot of sleeping passengers, though, so she was out of luck in that department.

She did, however, find an extra uniform of Sam's tucked into a compartment behind the pilot's seat. If Zephyr got cold, it would probably fit him. Same was just a little taller and broader than Dio, so it would probably be comfortable enough.

Katrina walked back to give the uniform the the air elemental she'd accidentally injured, but he had already fallen asleep in his chair. The blonde teen unfolded the fabric and tucked it carefully around the sleeping young man.

Her grey eyed gaze caught Ghost's.

“What now?”

"Now, I guess we take him home." But that posed a problem. Ghost didn't know his address, she only knew what it looked like to get there while incorporeal. That was the only way she had ever been there, after all. The X-jet didn't really look like it took directions like 'turn left at the building with knobbly juts at the top.' Katrina needed an actual address.

Well, she did have the passport. Ghost fished the burgundy passport out of the back waistband of her stealth pants and handed the to Kat without really thinking about it. It had his real name in it, wouldn't it have his real address?

She didn't want Kat to see the gun, so Ghost only passed the small booklet forward before stepping back to find a seat by Zephyr. "His address should be in there, you think you can get us there?"

Katrina flipped open the passport. Sure enough, there was a picture of Dio looking about as young as she did, maybe even younger. He had been a cute teenager, with hair a little too long and freckles that hadn't quite faded. He still had the same serious expression on his face, though. It was the same old Zephyr. Or Simon Smith, rather. Katrina wrinkled her nose. No wonder he didn't use it. Boring.

Ghosty said she should fly to the address listed on the little page. That... was in England. Katrina shrugged and typed the address into the little GPS on the cockpit dashboard. If Ghost thought it best that she take Zephyr home, then that's where she would take them. Maybe she'd get a chance to meet her lookalike.

“Yeah, I can get us there.” They had a full tank of gas. They might just have to fill up in Iceland on the way back.

Taking off from the top of a building was actually easier than taking off from underneath a basketball court. In just a few minutes, they were in the air and nosing upwards to a safe flying altitude; one where air elementals probably wouldn't be playing tag.

Settling back into a chair, Ghost found a magazine she had once started to read while in the X-Jet. Either this place didn't get used too much these days or it was an interesting enough magazine to keep around. Psychology Today always did manage to bring something to mind that Ghost had never really considered before. Like the concept of guardianship. Ghost supposed she was responsible for Zephyr and Katrina in this instance.

And after reading that article there was one on petulant children and after that there was one on the psychology of cats. By the time Ghost reached the end of the magazine, she realized they had been flying for a while. Her first order of business was to check on Zephyr. He didn't seem to be turning purple or bleeding anywhere so Ghost moseyed on up to the cockpit.

The front window was shaded against the sun and flying so high like they were it was impossible to tell where they were.

"Isn't this taking a long time?" It wasn't like there was traffic or anything.

Katrina tilted her head. Ghosty had practically just asked her an "are we there yet" question. She checked her instruments and confirmed their location, just past Iceland now. The winds off the Gulf Stream were going to start causing a little turbulence, but it wouldn't be too bad she thought.

"We're about half way," she replied. They were going at a pretty good clip, especially compared to commercial airliners.

"How was Zephyr doing back there? Have you ever been to his house before?" She sounded like she had, when she had directed Katrina to fly there. "I wonder if we'll get to meet the rest of his family. He has a sister, I think. He doesn't talk about the rest of them much though."

She knew she was just chattering, trying to pass the time. Even at the speeds they were going it would take awhile. At least the long trip was good practice behind the joysticks.

The clouds cleared up and Ghost caught sight of... water? "How fast are we flying?" A flitter of panic colored her words as she glanced around until she saw Zephyr's passport. She snatched the booklet off the dash in front of the GPS and opened it to the first page before she skimmed.

Oh.

Ghost sat down in the co-pilot's chair without looking at it and Zephyr's gun clanked against the back of the chair. They were half way to England? She put her hand in her hair and tried to think about how much trouble she had just gotten them all into. After all, Zephyr was the only one who came prepared with a passport.

"He's sleeping." She mumbled a bland response to Katrina's question and then shook her head when the other question finally filtered through to her brain. "No. I haven't ever been to his house. I meant for us to take him home to his apartment. In New York." Ghost double checked the address on his passport and then squinted at the little GPS on the dash. Holy cow, how fast were they going?

"Erm. Maybe we shouldn't drop him off at this address before we know who is there? Can we go back? Or call ahead?" Unfortunately passports didn't come with phone numbers. "You don't have your passport with you? Do you?" Because Ghost sure didn't. And in tis timeline she had yet to immigrate to England.

Then a lightbulb went off in her head. "I know a place where we can go." She quit scratching her head. A plan was forming under freshly mussed white hair. The X-Force shouldn't mind them popping in for a visit and they could look for some Smiths in the phone book while Zephyr recovered... well it was a start anyway.

Ghost took her time explaining to Katrina about their new destination. She told Katrina about her future dream, about the Gulf and Sebastian's old home and their current day (well, it was in the past now) visit. Gary and the X-Force wasn't a band name. It was their destination.

Katrina listened carefully to everything that Ghost said, nodding every once in awhile. It was a lot to take in. The dream of the future, the proof that it was real, the fact that they were going to visit that proof.

Out of all the dreams she'd ever had, the one of the future had been the most vivid, and one of the ones she had most quickly forgotten. She still half remembered images of mountains in the snow, of a dying dragon, of someone's blue eyes sharing a pillow. She remembered it had been important, but she didn't remember any of the details.

And now Ghost was saying that she had dreamed that dream, too. As had her husband. As had a bunch of people in England. It was all real. They all remembered.

But she didn't.

Katrina frowned, feeling a sense of loss, not even knowing what it was that she was missing.

It gave her plenty to think about the rest of the way to the X-Force mansion that had been Mr. Csendes' home in a previous life. About 50 miles off the coast, she switched on the stealth mode. About five miles away from the site Ghost told her about she announced, “Almost there.”

Finally, they touched down in a field behind the mansion. Katrina powered everything down and removed the keys from the jet, slipping them into her pocket. She loosened her buckle and went back to check on Zephyr.

“Simon-Dio! We're here! Time to wake up,” she shook his arm gently to see if she could wake him up.

Pain, hunger and fatigue.

Those were the primary sensations clamoring for attention in the elementals mind when he was abruptly shaken from his slumber. He hadn't the faintest idea how much time had passed, or where he was and his weary mind had no intention of providing answers any time soon. He was thus largely at a loss as he blinked blearily in an attempt to clear his eyes and focus on the figure shaking arm.

Blonde hair, familiar features and a soft voice that was strangely familiar. The elementals exhausted mind latched onto conclusion it could summon and he made a half hearted dismissive gesture even as he raised a hand to his head in a vain attempt to repress the rapidly growing migraine.

"Leave me alone Sarah, I'm tired."

"I should have called ahead, I know, but it was a bit of a last minute decision." Gary had been so excited to see Ghost that he had picked her up and spun her around. Cheeks were kissed, hands got good thorough shakings. Gary's wife lingered a little bit behind, her bald head wrapped in a silk kerchief. Chemo therapy would extend her life by a good 10 years at least, they'd said.

Gary introduced the crew. Some Ghost already knew and others were fresh faces. They had come out ready for a fight when a jet started landing in their backyard. Volcana, lava elemental. Gerty, opossum shifter. Multiple man, Max. Franz, inanimate object shifter. Volcana and Max looked so very young compared to how she remembered them. No doubt they thought the same about her.

Ghost popped back into the jet to check on Katrina who had been checking on Zephyr when she had popped out of the jet to keep Volcana from melting through the front window. Once they were both ready, Ghost wedged her shoulder under Zephyr's arm and helped him down the exit ramp. She uh... didn't have a chance to take back her permanent marker work while Zephyr was asleep. Unfortunately the pigment hadn't faded any since she'd last checked. Oh well.

"Everyone, this is Katrina of the X-men and Zephyr, another air elemental." It was just easier to let them think of Katrina as a full fledged X-man rather than explain how the three of them had managed to kidnap themselves all the way to England.

"What's wrong with him?" Gerty flicked her whiskers forward at the uneven trio. Katrina was getting taller, but hadn't yet reached a height comparable to Ghost or Zephyr.

"Ehm." Ghost glanced at the Katrina before answering. The could have been asking about the bruising, Zephyr's lack of dress or her creative permanent marker work on his face. "He's had a rough day. Can we get him inside?"