New Mutants: Betsy (Psylocke)/Doug (Cypher)
Author: Bitterfig
Title: Tea and Marmalade
Fandom: New Mutants
Pairing: Betsy Braddock (Psylocke)/Doug Ramsey (Cypher)
Summary: A shaman’s spell allows Betsy to finally resolve the ambiguous feelings she harbored for Doug before he died.
Beta Reader: Nzomniac
Word Count: 1038
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Implied romantic/sexual attraction between an adult woman and a fourteen year old dead boy. But its canon, I swear. Chris Claremont came up with this pairing, not me.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any illegal acts taking place within that fiction are NOT condoned by the author. Depictions of any questionable, illegal, or potentially illegal activity in said fiction does not mean that I condone, promote, support, participate in, or approve of said activity. I grasp the distinction between fiction and reality and trust that readers will do the same. I do not profit from the fan fiction I write, and all rights to the characters remain firmly in the hands of their creator.
Author’s Notes: Written for 07/16/07 prompt #43, New Mutants, Doug/Betsy: Resurrection. “You’ve changed but not enough for it to matter.”
Tea and Marmalade
“Thank you again,” the shaman said. The holy woman was simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar to Betsy Baddock. She was Dani Moonstone, but another dimensional version of Dani--a regal priestess of incredible power with black hair that flowed to her waist, a queen crowned in beads, bones and flowers, her slender body wrapped in the furs of strange and sacred beasts. “Before I send you back to your world, I’d like to repay you for all the help you’ve given me.” Betsy would have protested, but the shaman pressed a finger to her lips. Her eyes seemed to glow with a silver fire. “Before you return home, let me give you your heart’s desire.”
It seemed to Betsy that the silvery flame burned away everything, leaving her in a vast emptiness where she could not see, hear, or touch. Even her telepathy seemed to have failed.
Then, as if waking up from a dream, her senses, her powers returned to her. The warmth of the morning sun enfolded her, the smell of flowers and fresh spring air, of Earl Grey tea, oranges and toast. She was on a veranda, wearing a light pink robe, her hair loose about her shoulders. She was sitting at a table lavishly set for breakfast with scones, jams, and fruit. A china tea pot occupied the place of honor and across from her sat a blond haired boy engrossed in a comic book.
And even before her telepathic powers confirmed who he was, she knew.
“Doug…” she gasped, not believing it was him. He looked up at her and smiled.
“Hi, Betsy,” he said.
“You recognize me?”
“You’ve changed, but not enough for it to matter. You’re still Betsy, except you’re Japanese now. Since when have you been Japanese?”
Speaking so rapidly it left her breathless, she unburdened herself to him. She had always felt so at ease in his presence. She told him everything that had happened to her since he’d died. All the transformations she had made since he’d known her as a dainty Englishwoman with a pink butterfly of power. She told him how her mind had been placed in another body, how her butterfly had become a knife. How she had been remade as a ninja assassin, enslaved and then freed. How she had come face to face with herself, her old body with another’s mind and how that woman had died. She told him all the confusing adventures and entanglements of the years since she’d last seen him face to face.
“Wow,” he said. “Wow, that’s pretty amazing, but how did you get here? Did you die?”
“No, I haven’t died. I think I’m only here for a visit. There was a shaman,” she explained. “She was Dani, another version of Dani. I helped her, and in return she said she’d give me my heart’s desire.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “It was to see you again.”
She grasped his hand in both of hers and pressed it to her face. Then, battle hardened as she was, she wept.
“I’ve wanted for so long to see you again, Doug, to talk to you, to touch you. I wanted it more than anything. I kept it a secret; I could never tell anyone. They wouldn’t have understood, but I’ve never forgotten you, never stopped missing you, and never stopped wishing it could have been different.”
“Wow,” he said with disbelief. “Wow. I never realized I mattered so much to you. Sometimes I thought-- I hoped there was something between us, but I always thought it was just wistful thinking on my part. You were a woman--this strong, incredible, grown-up woman--and I was just some dumb kid…”
“I never thought of you that way,” she said. “You were so much more to me. I never told you because I was confused by what I felt for you. You were only thirteen when we met, just a boy, but I cared for you. Before Spiral kidnapped me and took me to Mojo’s world, I had a fiancé. When I returned to earth, I could have gone back to him, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to be with you, to be part of your world. I thought I could wait for you.”
“Why me? I was nobody.”
“You amazed me. You were so full of life,” she said. “So full of joy and wonder. When I was with you, the things I saw as struggles and obstacles became extraordinary adventures. You always reached out--to me, to Warlock, to so many others. You had no protection, but you never hid; you never closed yourself off the way I did. You were so brave, so vulnerable, you made my heart ache. You were the best part of me, Doug. I lost that part when you died. I’ll never have that back again, never have you back.”
She enfolded him in her embrace. He felt so small in her strong arms, so fragile. She buried her face in his hair.
“It’s okay, Betsy,” he told her. “I’m glad you came. I’m glad you told me all of this. I’m glad to know. I died so suddenly--one minute I was there, the next I was gone--and all the stories I’d been a part of, they all just ended. That was the worst part of dying. It only hurt for a few minutes, but I never got to find out what happened next to my parents or the New Mutants or to you and me. I never got to see how things turned out. Everything just went away. ”
A tear rolled down his cheek; she wiped it away, turning his face up to hers. Carefully, tenderly, she kissed his mouth. He tasted of tea and marmalade.
“You didn’t have to do that for me, Betsy,” he said.
“It was what I came to do,” she said quietly. Her fingers entwined with his, even as the silver flames began to shimmer around her. “What I wanted more than anything. To finish the story of you and me, to tell you I love you, to kiss you the way I always meant to, to kiss you good-bye.”
Title: Tea and Marmalade
Fandom: New Mutants
Pairing: Betsy Braddock (Psylocke)/Doug Ramsey (Cypher)
Summary: A shaman’s spell allows Betsy to finally resolve the ambiguous feelings she harbored for Doug before he died.
Beta Reader: Nzomniac
Word Count: 1038
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Implied romantic/sexual attraction between an adult woman and a fourteen year old dead boy. But its canon, I swear. Chris Claremont came up with this pairing, not me.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any illegal acts taking place within that fiction are NOT condoned by the author. Depictions of any questionable, illegal, or potentially illegal activity in said fiction does not mean that I condone, promote, support, participate in, or approve of said activity. I grasp the distinction between fiction and reality and trust that readers will do the same. I do not profit from the fan fiction I write, and all rights to the characters remain firmly in the hands of their creator.
Author’s Notes: Written for 07/16/07 prompt #43, New Mutants, Doug/Betsy: Resurrection. “You’ve changed but not enough for it to matter.”
Tea and Marmalade
“Thank you again,” the shaman said. The holy woman was simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar to Betsy Baddock. She was Dani Moonstone, but another dimensional version of Dani--a regal priestess of incredible power with black hair that flowed to her waist, a queen crowned in beads, bones and flowers, her slender body wrapped in the furs of strange and sacred beasts. “Before I send you back to your world, I’d like to repay you for all the help you’ve given me.” Betsy would have protested, but the shaman pressed a finger to her lips. Her eyes seemed to glow with a silver fire. “Before you return home, let me give you your heart’s desire.”
It seemed to Betsy that the silvery flame burned away everything, leaving her in a vast emptiness where she could not see, hear, or touch. Even her telepathy seemed to have failed.
Then, as if waking up from a dream, her senses, her powers returned to her. The warmth of the morning sun enfolded her, the smell of flowers and fresh spring air, of Earl Grey tea, oranges and toast. She was on a veranda, wearing a light pink robe, her hair loose about her shoulders. She was sitting at a table lavishly set for breakfast with scones, jams, and fruit. A china tea pot occupied the place of honor and across from her sat a blond haired boy engrossed in a comic book.
And even before her telepathic powers confirmed who he was, she knew.
“Doug…” she gasped, not believing it was him. He looked up at her and smiled.
“Hi, Betsy,” he said.
“You recognize me?”
“You’ve changed, but not enough for it to matter. You’re still Betsy, except you’re Japanese now. Since when have you been Japanese?”
Speaking so rapidly it left her breathless, she unburdened herself to him. She had always felt so at ease in his presence. She told him everything that had happened to her since he’d died. All the transformations she had made since he’d known her as a dainty Englishwoman with a pink butterfly of power. She told him how her mind had been placed in another body, how her butterfly had become a knife. How she had been remade as a ninja assassin, enslaved and then freed. How she had come face to face with herself, her old body with another’s mind and how that woman had died. She told him all the confusing adventures and entanglements of the years since she’d last seen him face to face.
“Wow,” he said. “Wow, that’s pretty amazing, but how did you get here? Did you die?”
“No, I haven’t died. I think I’m only here for a visit. There was a shaman,” she explained. “She was Dani, another version of Dani. I helped her, and in return she said she’d give me my heart’s desire.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “It was to see you again.”
She grasped his hand in both of hers and pressed it to her face. Then, battle hardened as she was, she wept.
“I’ve wanted for so long to see you again, Doug, to talk to you, to touch you. I wanted it more than anything. I kept it a secret; I could never tell anyone. They wouldn’t have understood, but I’ve never forgotten you, never stopped missing you, and never stopped wishing it could have been different.”
“Wow,” he said with disbelief. “Wow. I never realized I mattered so much to you. Sometimes I thought-- I hoped there was something between us, but I always thought it was just wistful thinking on my part. You were a woman--this strong, incredible, grown-up woman--and I was just some dumb kid…”
“I never thought of you that way,” she said. “You were so much more to me. I never told you because I was confused by what I felt for you. You were only thirteen when we met, just a boy, but I cared for you. Before Spiral kidnapped me and took me to Mojo’s world, I had a fiancé. When I returned to earth, I could have gone back to him, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to be with you, to be part of your world. I thought I could wait for you.”
“Why me? I was nobody.”
“You amazed me. You were so full of life,” she said. “So full of joy and wonder. When I was with you, the things I saw as struggles and obstacles became extraordinary adventures. You always reached out--to me, to Warlock, to so many others. You had no protection, but you never hid; you never closed yourself off the way I did. You were so brave, so vulnerable, you made my heart ache. You were the best part of me, Doug. I lost that part when you died. I’ll never have that back again, never have you back.”
She enfolded him in her embrace. He felt so small in her strong arms, so fragile. She buried her face in his hair.
“It’s okay, Betsy,” he told her. “I’m glad you came. I’m glad you told me all of this. I’m glad to know. I died so suddenly--one minute I was there, the next I was gone--and all the stories I’d been a part of, they all just ended. That was the worst part of dying. It only hurt for a few minutes, but I never got to find out what happened next to my parents or the New Mutants or to you and me. I never got to see how things turned out. Everything just went away. ”
A tear rolled down his cheek; she wiped it away, turning his face up to hers. Carefully, tenderly, she kissed his mouth. He tasted of tea and marmalade.
“You didn’t have to do that for me, Betsy,” he said.
“It was what I came to do,” she said quietly. Her fingers entwined with his, even as the silver flames began to shimmer around her. “What I wanted more than anything. To finish the story of you and me, to tell you I love you, to kiss you the way I always meant to, to kiss you good-bye.”