White Christmas
A companion piece to "Blue Christmas" set several years post season 2.
The mall was closing. In a matter of minutes, the stores would close and the shoppers would all go home for the night. The mall santa had been there for hours and they were starting to wear on him. The line to se him was being closed at that very moment. The older man looked around towards a little shape off to the side. Sure enough, the boy was still there. The child had been sitting there by himself for the past seven hours without moving from that spot. He wasn't much to look at, a shabby little thing with a ragged coat and a pair of rubber boots that were certainly not meant for the biting temperatures of the winter cold. Two brown eyes turned in the old man's direction and, upon seeing him meeting their gaze, looked quickly away.
The man got up from his seat and walked over to the small child, who couldn't be more than nine or ten.
"Son, what are you doing here? Is there something you need?" he asked softly.
Those fiery brown eyes shot a glare at him.
"Yes," came the sharp reply.
"What is it?" he asked.
The boy's face flushed with rage.
"Why do you care? It isn't like you brought me anything I ever asked you for! You must hate me just as much as everyone else," the boy snarled.
The older man blinked. That certainly wasn't how he expected a little boy to address Santa.
"I don't hate you, boy. Some things...some things Santa can't bring. What is it you want?" he asked patiently.
"I...I want...," the little hate filled voice cracked.
10 Years Later
"GWEN! HELP!" Kevin cried out.
"Kevin, Come on! It isn't hard!" Gwen laughed, pulling on the young man's arm.
Both of them were wearing ice skates, but only Gwen seemed to be able to control them. Kevin was gripping the side of the rink with fierce tenacity and a wild look of fear was on his face, as if, despite everything he had been through, falling down on a public skating rink was the worst thing that could happen to him.
"Says you, the ice skating queen," he snapped at her.
Gwen giggled again and pulled herself next to him.
"You just have to keep your feet moving," she reassured him.
Kevin steadied himself and pulled his black scarf tighter around his neck, as though his inability to balance came from his loose scarf and not his own clumsiness. Gwen took his hand and the two started off together. They managed to make it around the rink once...if a bit unsteadily. He hit a crack and began to pitch forward. Gwen squealed as she went down with him. But neither of them hit the cold ice. Gwen felt the two of them steady and when she looked over at Kevin, she saw an orange furred arm sticking out from under his coat and was holding onto the side of the rink, its claws digging into the paint. Kevin was grinning, as if his action had somehow been terribly clever.
There was a gasp behind them. The young lovers turned around and saw a small boy staring at them, his mouth hanging open. Kevin quickly withdrew his extra arm and Gwen heard the light crack that signified the DNA Inhibitors kicking back in. The child promptly pulled his mouth shut, but continued staring at them. Kevin leaned over towards him; the child gulped.
"See that? That's what happens when you take something that doesn't belong to you. So be a good little rugrat and behave yourself," Kevin smiled.
The child nodded and quickly skated away from them.
"Kevin, you probably scared him with that little stunt," Gwen scolded mockingly, lightly punching his arm.
"Yeah, well. I hopefully scared him straight," Kevin grinned with a slightly menacing glint.
Gwen giggled.
"We should probably get going, anyway. We've got a lot to do if we ever hope to get done getting ready for Christmas before its over," she sighed.
Within the next hour, Kevin and Gwen had managed to make it to a nearby mall without attracting any more attention. Currently, The two sat at a small table in the food court with several bags cluttered around their feet as a testament to their holiday power shopping. Two cups of steaming hot cocoa sat in front of them. Kevin's was distinguishable by its towering stack of marshmallows and whipped cream. Gwen went over their list of gifts to buy, checking each item off with a pen with a light up star on the end. With every check she made, Kevin saw the little yellow light dance around her face. He found himself sucking harder on the candy cane he had poking out of his mouth, which resulted in a hideous squelching sound.
Gwen raised an eyebrow and shot him a daring look.
"Take it easy there, I might get jealous of that candy cane," she laughed.
Kevin was about to come back with a snappy remark, but something else caught his attention.
There was a flash of periwinkle and a terribly familiar quick footed step on the air. Despite the fact that there were hundreds of people at the mall, Kevin could hear that particular sound as clear as he felt his heart pounding in his chest. That day...that day all those years ago came rushing back. The betrayal and the horror sprang to his mind as if it had been yesterday.
Gwen looked up at her boyfriend's face. He'd gone ashen. He rose from his seat as if some other force had taken control of him, as if he were someone else. A shiver went up Gwen's spine.
"Wait," Kevin's voice was dead serious and it carried an air of something old and terrible.
His entire body froze and his eyes darted about the crowd like a man possessed.
"What is it?" Gwen asked, trying to follow his vision path, she rose up slowly.
He raised a hand to hush her. Before he let himself get excited, he had to be sure. In a few moments, he was able to locate the sound again and shortly after, its maker.
Gwen saw his eyes become the darkened, almost black hue they always took on when he was thinking something dangerous. He couldn't be regressing, could he? Not after the years of therapy, the DNA Inhibitors...it was all supposed to keep him, well, himself.
Kevin took several hurried steps toward a woman in a blue coat. The woman seemed to notice this and changed her course dramatically. She sped up. Kevin rushed after her, leaving Gwen several meters behind carrying all their bags and looking quite bewildered.
The strange woman made for an exit hallway, but managed only to get herself cornered in a corridor whose exit was closed for refurbishment. She turned around and almost bumped into the dark haired young man who had been following her. She tried to walk around him, but he blocked her path. He looked her over several times. He had to be sure...now he was.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" he demanded.
He seized the woman by the shoulder and she shrieked in surprise.
"Let me go! What do you want?" the woman cried our in fear.
" years ago, you left a child alone in New York City! You left him there! You left him for dead! How can you call yourself a mother?"
The woman went white as a sheet.
"How...what makes you think I...," but she couldn't finish, Kevin had started talking again and he wouldn't let her feeble attempts to speak stop him.
"You know what happened to him? After you left him in that subway station, do you want to know what happened to that little boy? He lived on the street for five years. He made the tunnels his home and he hid away from a world that hated him for existing. He got into fights, he made enemies with gangs. Gangs! He hated everything because of what you did!"
Gwen caught up just then, her chest heaving with exertion. What she saw wasn't very comforting. Her boyfriend held an older woman she had never seen before against the wall. Gwen felt the bags drop from her hands.
Oh no. This had lawsuit written all over it.
"He met a kid with a watch. But because he'd never had anyone show him how to live, he betrayed him. He tried to take it from him. That was the biggest mistake of his life. But how was he supposed to know? Anyone who ever said they'd do anything nice for him always ended up screwing him over! Why should he be any different? Didn't he deserve something...anything?"
Worse than a lawsuit. Gwen knew this story and didn't like where it was heading. Kevin promptly squeezed the woman's shoulder harder and she cried out.
"Kevin!" Gwen shrieked in shock.
The woman's eyes widened. She blinked a few times.
"No...it isn't...it isn't possible. You can't be," the strange woman struggled to put as much distance between her and her assailant as possible. The way Kevin held her, she could only manage an extra few inches.
Still, he leaned in closer, so that their noses were almost touching.
"Oh. You don't think so?" he asked icily.
A chill ran up Gwen's spine. She knew that voice and if he was using it, it wasn't a good sign.
"Kevin! I want to go home! Take me home this minute!" Gwen said loudly, hoping to catch his attention. She stomped her foot and made an exaggerated huff, anything to try to distract him from whatever it was he planned on doing. Unfortunately, it didn't work.
The woman Kevin had grabbed covered her face with her free hand. An impossibly quick orange paw seized her hand and pulled it away from her face. The woman stared in horror at the extra arm that had, to her, materialized out of thin air. Another forced its way roughly out from under the bottom of his coat and seized the belt on her long coat. She was shaking, unsure of what to make of the display before her.
"No! Kevin! Stop it!" Gwen shouted as she ran forward and grabbed onto his left arm and buried her face in it.
"No yourself! I want her to see! I want her to know what she did to me!" he snarled.
Gwen paused at the change in his voice. It wasn't dangerous anymore. It was angry, to be sure, but not the wild unchecked rage she had thought it was. The sound was more akin to a sob than to a shriek of malignant rage.
Still holding the woman in place with his lower arms, Kevin carefully took off his coat and handed it to Gwen. She took it from him without question and bit her lower lip. She squeezed his left shoulder. Under her fingers, she felt his flesh twist and warp. He was doing it all on his own, willingly overriding the safety settings they had installed. Gwen felt only slightly relieved when she felt his muscle spasm and stop changing. The safety had apparently decided to override Kevin's will and stopped closer to the tetramand form from years ago than the full mutation she knew could be unleashed. It was enough to get his point across.
"Oh...oh God!" the older woman managed to choke out, as she beheld the inhuman monstrosity before her.
"I can assure you, God had nothing to do with this. This was all you," Kevin spat at her, his voice a hideous combination of human and alien qualities.
The sound tore at Gwen's heart like razor sharp claws. It took her back to two years ago, when they had Myaxx develop the DNA Inhibitors. It reminded her of how he'd screamed for days on end as every cell in his body tore itself apart and reformed again. The same pain was in his tones now, though it belied something Gwen had never heard in his voice before.
"No, no...I...I didn't mean to. I didn't think...," the woman managed to choke out despite her gasps of disbelief and trembling body.
Gwen could take no more and she pulled on his arm.
"Oh, for God's sake! Stop it!" Gwen shrieked.
"Be quiet!" Kevin snapped at her.
She blinked unbelievingly. He hardly ever yelled at her.
"Do you see this woman? This beautiful, kind, loving woman?" he gestured at Gwen.
Gwen's eyes widened. She had no idea he was going to bring her into this.
"She saved me. She could accept me no matter how freakish I was, even when we were practically strangers. It made me realize what a fool I'd been and what a damn mess I'd made of my life. She was the one who was there to help me pick up whatever pieces were left,"
Gwen felt her lower lip trembling.
"Wanna know what's funny? I used to write to Santa, back when I was little. I used to ask him to make me good. When I realized that didn't work, I started asking for someone good. I didn't think it would ever happen, but it did," Kevin gave an uncharacteristic giggle at the last sentence.
Gwen felt him easing back to himself, piece by piece, inch by inch. She heard him grit his teeth as bones clicked away or collapsed on themselves. He shook his head free of any remnants of his transformation and he looked into the frightened woman's eyes. He backed off and put an arm around Gwen.
"Let's go home," he sighed.
The woman looked at Gwen as if she had no idea what to say or do. Gwen took a step toward her.
"I suppose I should say something. However, I find that, well, I can't find any words to describe what you did other than it sickens me. I hope after all this you're happy," Gwen said heavily.
Gwen left her side and picked up whatever packages she had dropped that Kevin hadn't already retrieved. Neither of them looked back at the woman as they exited.
Kevin and Gwen passed a mall santa on the way out. The line was short and Kevin pulled her over to it. Gwen looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"What are we doing here?" she asked.
"This will only take a second," he said, eyeing the mall santa.
It wasn't the same man. Kevin frowned.
"Never mind, we can go," he said.
The two of them left through the automatic glass doors. Snowflakes fluttered down and landed softly in their hair. On the way to their car, an elderly man in a red overcoat passed them. He had a thick white beard and a jovial air about him that seemed contagious. He looked up at Kevin with bright eyes and smiled.
"My boy! It is good to see you! You're looking so much better this year!" he exclaimed.
Kevin blinked twice. He certainly wasn't expecting this. He'd never seen the man in his life. Gwen tightened her grip on his arm. The old man looked at Gwen and smiled.
"I'm sorry it took so long to get you what you wanted. I just had to find the right person. There are an awful lot of people in the world," he chuckled.
Kevin smiled back. Gwen gave a little gasp. This couldn't be who she thought it was...Could it?
"That's okay. It was worth the wait," Kevin said casually.
"I have to get going now, there's a lot to be done. Merry Christmas, to both of you," the old man tipped his hat and seemed to vanish into the darkness.
"Merry Christmas," Kevin called after him.
Gwen did a double take. Kevin never said that in public. She squeezed his shoulder.
"Who was that?" she asked.
"Someone who promised to get me something...a long time ago," Kevin answered, his throat choked.
"What was that?" Gwen asked.
Kevin looked at her and she could see tears in his eyes.
"I...I asked for someone who could love me, no matter what I was. I wished it when I was still...you know...fully human," he said.
Gwen felt her throat tighten.
"Do you remember the day I woke up two years ago? After the fevers died down to where I was actually sane?" he asked.
Gwen nodded.
"The first thing I saw, after all the pain...after being sick...all that...was you. You were there in my room by yourself. You'd been there for days, you said and right then, I saw the calendar on the wall. I couldn't believe it...but I knew it was some kind of sign or something," he said, a flush of embarrassment on his cheeks.
Gwen smiled and hugged him tight. She remembered that calendar. It had been a Sumo Slammer 16 month calendar Ben had brought with them to space. Gwen had marked off the days with a red marker. She hadn't thought of it for ages, but now that he said it, she remembered everything as clear as day. She remembered crossing out December 24th as her watch, still set to Earth time, passed midnight. She remembered pressing the cold washcloth against his forehead. She remembered him slowly opening his eyes and looking at her and she remembered what she had first said:
"Merry Christmas!"
Looking back on it, she smiled with the appropriateness of it. She never knew he'd asked for any of that. It was so endearing, she swore it had come out of a greeting card or a Hallmark movie.
She hugged him as best she could with all the packages she was carrying and she felt a furry arm, free of any packages wrap around her waist.
Snow was still falling as the two continued on their way to their vehicle with distant strains of Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" echoing over the parking lot from an unseen speaker.