Disclaimer: They all belong to Marvel and there's nothing we can do about it. The end.
A/N:I feel obligated to let you know I started this story at sixteen years old under. Nearly ten years later, here I am. You wouldn't believe how long it took me to remember the password! It was painful to reread, as I can clearly see now how delusional my plot-making skills were as a child. Don't even get me started on how terrible my grammar was. So here it is… refurbished, redone, and hopefully better than the last version my sixteen-year-old self slaughtered.
A World from Home
A Stranger in the Night
Monday, April 4th, 1:58 am
The girl gave a startled yelp as she flew through the open vortex and landed within a few unfriendly bushes. Muttering in pain, she mustered all the strength she could and sat up slowly. She ran a hand through her shoulder-length jet black hair and looked up at the mysterious opening where she came from. The vortex she had long disappeared, along with any hope she could get back to where she fell from.
Her thoughts raced as she wondered how she had arrived there. A splitting headache struck very suddenly and mercilessly. She groaned as her vision started to waver. She took a moment to piece together her aching head, but to no avail. Looking down, she examined her body. Her jeans were torn and partially burnt, and her nightshirt stunk of blood and sweat. A dirty pair of white sneakers were obviously thrown on in a hurry. She was suddenly aware of other pains besides her head; her wrist for one felt stiff and slightly numb. She turned and spit a bit of blood out of her mouth.
After forcing a deep breath, she tried to remember what happened before she ended up where she was now sitting. Blurred visions of alarms and a fight swarmed her suddenly, and left her confused. Somewhere nearby, a car horn honked.
It was then that she was suddenly aware of her surroundings. Remembering previous lessons from her feral mentor she sat completely still and listened, scolding herself for not doing this the moment she landed. She heard cars passing by not too far away. Crickets chirping in the distance. And wind. The rest was unnervingly silent.
She turned her head slightly to get a visual of her new environment. She had earlier fully comprehended that she was in a bush. Turning her head left, she could see the headlights from the cars she heard. She looked up beyond the leaves and saw a clear night sky of stars. After coming to the conclusion that she was in no immediate danger, she stood up carefully.
"Where am I?"
At once, her headache returned, and this time at full force. She reached out for balance and could find none. Her body veered to the left as she fell onto another bush. She gave a slight scream as she pulled herself out of the thorn bush and backed hastily away from anything else that resembled nature. Her vision became worse as she continued to stumble. As she took a last clumsy step, she found the ground uneven and stumbled onto concrete floor. She carefully gathered herself together once more and pulled herself up.
When her vision finally cleared, she noticed the pair of headlights approaching her. After that, everything blurred again and could only hear the screeching of car breaks.
Jean Grey Summers
Monday, April 4th, 2:01 am
The woman had been on her way home to her husband and son from a late shift at the hospital. Nothing made her feel better than the idea of a warm greeting from Scott and Nathan, the two men of her life. It had been a long day at the hospital from a seven-car pile-It had been a long day at the hospital after a seven-car pile-up and a class of sick children. There was nothing Jean Summers would rather do than read six-year-old Nathan a story and snuggle up with Scott to sleep.
Life was beautiful in the lives of the Summers, Jean thought happily. It was far from perfect, but she wouldn't have it any other way. A quiet drive home from work was always a transition period for Jean. As she gathered her thoughts together and let loose the stresses of her shift, she could phase away her doctor side and slip into her mommy side. Unlike other doctors, long hours and a lot of love made her ride home so peaceful on a daily basis.
She checked her side mirror and looking over her shoulder and pulled into the right lane. Then abruptly, a girl stood up directly in her path. Jean screamed and slammed on the breaks. The girl wasn't hit that hard, but she ended up rolling on top of the hood of the car, and then sliding off onto the grass at the side of the road.
The Stranger on the Road
Monday, April 4th, 2:15 am
The girl groaned as she tried to turn onto her side. Groggily, she realized that she couldn't move her neck. The thought panicked her and she tried to scratch at the restraints around her throat.
Strange arms held hers down. She tried to fight the strangers off, but found herself amazingly too tired to move.
"Easy there," a hazy male voice spoke to her. "Take it easy."
"She just came out of nowhere, Sam," a woman's voice said. "I didn't mean to–"
She didn't hear the rest of the sentence, drifting too far into unconsciousness.
New York Memorial Hospital
Monday, April 4th, 4:03 am
She wasn't sure how long had passed since she was last able to recall conscious thought.
The next time when she awoke, she didn't move. She kept her eyes shut, listening to her surroundings. An annoyingly steady beeping made her head throb, and several inaudible voices could be heard in the distance. She was suddenly very aware of the horrible pain in her left wrist, and hissed silently. Her legs felt bruised up, but not badly enough to bother her at the moment.
She had a slight headache, but forced herself to focus. There was a draft where she lay and a thin sheet of blanket was pulled over her. An uncomfortable, yet welcoming pillow sat beneath her head and her ankle felt a cold railing against the side of the bed. She felt a slightly odd pressure on her thumb.
The child insider her gave false hope that she was in Beast's medlab. But the realistic in her forced her to gauge her surroundings closer. Hank's voice could not be heard humming a ridiculously cheery classic tune. Wolvie's musky scent could not be detected anywhere nearby. And no one in the X-Mansion would've thought to leave her all alone in a medbed.
A telephone ringing somewhere in the distance confirmed her strong suspicion. Her heart nearly broke. The telephones in the medlab sounded much different. She wasn't home; in fact, she had a feeling she was far from it.
She forced one eye open and found herself in a room. The lights were turned off, but the wide open door let more than enough light seep through. She blinked and forced her eyes open all the way. Peering beyond the door, she caught sight of a desk and several people in hospital uniforms passing by.
Immediately, she thought of the others. There had been a fight, she remembered. The alarms were blaring in the middle of the night. She'd only had time to pull on jeans and sneakers; she couldn't even change out of her night shirt. Why was she even at the X-Mansion? She was supposed to be in Massachusetts. At the moment, she couldn't recall why she wasn't where she was supposed to be. Cyclops had forbid her to come along during the fight. True to her slightly rebellious nature, she had tagged along anyway.
The girl sat up carefully, and slid the thin blanket off of her. She wore an ugly hospital gown and nothing else. Peering at her legs, she found them cleaned and bandaged. Her right thumb was clipped by a small clamp and connected her to a machine. Her left wrist was bandaged and hurt like hell. And her headache seemed to be almost as bad as her wrist. She brought her right arm up to touch her head, and found yet another bandage. As she tried to scratch an itch underneath the bandage, the clip on her thumb proved to be an unnecessary annoyance. Abruptly, she yanked it off.
"Ugh," she muttered, raising her good arm to cover one ear.
An annoyingly rapid beeping sound came from the machine connected to her. Groaning, she reached over and tried to shut it off, but as she moved her body towards it, her head started to throb even more. She finally forced her way to it, and didn't know how to shut it off. So she shoved the obnoxious contraption to the ground. It made a loud crash.
"Oops," she said, not really feeling sorry. She stared down at the probably-very-expensive machine that lay shattered on the floor.
A couple nurses startled her by arriving to see what the commotion was. One of the nurses started to mutter expletives in Spanish as she tried putting back together what the patient had destroyed. Another nurse was at the girl's side in an instant.
"I see you've managed to keep yourself busy in the time you woke up," remarked the nurse, a curly-haired redhead. "What's your name dear?"
"None of your business!" the girl answered grumpily, resisting any help from the kind nurse. "Where am I?"
"Calm down now," the nurse soothed, despite the patient's hostile manner. "Can you tell me what your name is?"
"No! Not until you tell me where everyone else is!" Her headache started to feel worse. Her thoughts began to jumble again. Why was she here?
"Sweetheart, you came here alone," the nurse replied. She cast a worried glance towards the other nurse.
"What?" The young patient started to let swear words roll off her tongue as the kind nurse tried vainly to calm her down. The girl began to panic, demanding to know where 'everyone else' was and issuing violent threats.
Two doctors came through the door and the girl began to feel a little claustrophobic.
"What's going on in here?" A voice boomed. This doctor was kind of short and bald, with hardened facial features.
None of the nurses spoke after his authoritative voice made its presence; the patient had a feeling neither of the nurses liked this guy. An uneasy silence filled the room and Jubilee's stomach began to feel butterflies. Nope, that's not butterflies, Jubilee thought suddenly as she leaned over the railing and vomited on the floor.
The authoritative doctor ushered the nurses out.
The other doctor pushed passed the nurses and put a hand on Jubilee's back as she continued to throw up. This doctor was female, the girl could tell from the gentle touch on her back. This doctor pulled out a tub for Jubilee to finish vomiting corn.
Jubilee examined her vomit carefully and disgustedly. Corn? She couldn't remember eating corn. In fact, she couldn't remember what she'd had at all for dinner.
Once the last of the gagging ceased, the female doctor maneuvered her patient to lie back down. The girl forced her eyes shut in an attempt to hush her dizziness.
"You should've taken it easy," the female doctor said as she checked her patient's bandages. "What's your name, Sweetie?"
"Jubi… lee," she muttered in reply, too light-headed to fight.
"That's an interesting name there. I like it. Do you remember what happened?"
"No," Jubilee shook her head miserably.
"You were hit by a car," Jean paused. "Actually, to be more specific, it was my car."
"Gee, thanks a lot," Jubilee replied sarcastically.
"Do you know where your parents are?"
Her voice seemed awful familiar to Jubilee. "Dead," Jubilee muttered nonchalantly.
Jean's gut churned at the girl's response. "Who takes care of you?"
"Teachers," Jubilee sighed. At that moment she finally processed the warm voice speaking to her, and she opened her eyes abruptly. She sat up and took a look at the female doctor's long red hair and green eyes.
"I just said to take it easy," Jean said, fully eyeing the antsy girl sitting in the bed.
"Jean!" Jubilee cried as she threw her arms around her.
Jean was caught by surprise when the young stranger showed affection. "Excuse me?"
Jubilee immediately let go and sat back staring at Jean. "You're not Jean Grey?" Jubilee asked bewildered. The woman before her certainly looked and sounded like the Jean she had come to grow and love.
"Well I used to be," Jean replied a little surprised.
"What do you mean? What happened?" Jubilee asked frantically.
"I got married-" Jean began, unnerved by this stranger's knowledge of her maiden name.
"-to Scott," Jubilee finished, as though it were ridiculously matter-of-fact. What was wrong with this woman?
"How did… how did you know?"
"Jean?" Jubilee whispered. "You honestly don't know me?"
Jubilee's blue eyes stared pleadingly into Jean's for truth. Jean watched the young girl for a moment and tried to think if she knew this girl. She shook her head disbelievingly.
"Jean?" Jubilee pleaded once more, more panic beginning to set in. "It's me, you have to know me… It's me, Jubilee! Jubilation Lee! The firecracker!"
"I'm afraid I don't know you, Jubilee," Jean said firmly after a pause. "Should I?"
Jubilee's face then went pale as she lay back against the pillow. Her lips pursed shut as she looked away from Jean with tears in her eyes.
Just then, the curly haired nurse poked her head into the room. "Dr. Summers, your husband is on the phone for you."
"Okay, thank you, Shannon," Jean replied slowly. "I'll be there in a minute." With that, the nurse disappeared from the doorway. Jean looked back at the young girl. "I'll be back soon, Jubilee. I'll have someone in to clean up the mess. And then we'll have a talk, OK?"
Jubilee didn't reply. She continued to stare at the other side of the room with an expressionless face.
Jean felt uneasy, and slowly backed away. "I'll be back, I promise," Jean called as she left the room.
Jubilee lay there for a long while just staring. She tried desperately to wake up from this dream. She didn't know where she was, and she didn't know how she got here. She couldn't remember anything before she fell out of the sky. All she knew was she didn't belong here, wherever she was, in this world.
She barely noticed when the nurses returned to clean up the mess. She didn't notice when a tray of food was laid on the table next to her bed. And she didn't notice that the nurses were trying to talk to her. She was lost in thought, trying to figure a way out of this nightmare.
Jubilee felt herself becoming weary. Absentmindedly, she yawned. Wherever she was, in this world, everything seemed to make her sleepy. After deciding she was safe for the meantime and that it wasn't worth fighting to stay awake, she let herself drift away. Visions of a semi-feral wolverine, one who would retrieve this particular lost girl, filled her dreams with false hope.
The Summers
Monday, April 4th, 3:20 am
Jean arrived at the phone. "Hello?"
"Jean, are you all right?" came Scott Summers' overprotective tone. "I got a call from Shannon about the accident."
"Yes, Scott I'm fine…"
"You don't sound fine. What's wrong? Do you want me to call a sitter for Nathan? I can come down there."
"No, no, it's fine. It's just the girl I hit… It's weird. She knew my name."
There was a pause on the other side. Finally, Scott replied, "What do you mean? Did she read your name tag?"
"No, not like that…" Jean wasn't sure how to explain the situation. She took a deep breath. "Look, she knew my maiden name. She looked at me, into my eyes, as if she knew me. It was odd. She knew your name too."
Another pause. "Are you sure you don't know her?"
"I've never seen her before in my life," Jean stated firmly.
"What's her name? Maybe I know her through the depart-"
"She calls herself Jubilee," Jean interrupted.
She heard him sigh. "Jean, that's a pretty unique name… I've never heard it before."
"Me neither. I'm so confused."
"Were you hurt in the accident? You might have hit your head-"
"No, I wasn't hurt at all-" she tried to explain.
"I'm calling the sitter. I'll be there as soon as I can."
"But-"
"I'm coming, Jean. I'll try to be there within the hour." His tone left no room for discussion and Scott Summers promptly hung up the phone, leaving his wife rolling her eyes while cradling the phone.
Jean slowly placed the phone back on the receiver and sighed. There was never any use arguing with her husband when he was worried about something.
She walked back to Jubilee's room and found the young girl asleep. Wishing not to disturb her newfound acquaintance, she sat down in a chair and before long dozed off herself.
Scott Summers
Monday, April 4th, 5:49 am
Scott arrived at the hospital while Jubilee and Jean were still asleep. Instinctively, he pulled a spare blanket around his wife and propped her head up on a pillow. She moaned gently, then returned to stillness. In the dark, he moved closer to the patient's body and peered over her.
He observed the girl to be adolescent, no more than fifteen or sixteen, and she had Asian features written across her face. Her jet black hair was thrown in every which way. Her forehead was bandaged from a seemingly nasty blow. As he looked closer, he noticed a thin pale line on her neck. A scar, he thought. The girl seemed badly beaten, though Scott gathered from what he was told that she hadn't hit that hard. Or at least that was what Shannon had informed him. The possibility of child abuse flittered across his thoughts. He clenched his fists in disgust.
A shuffling from the doorway caught his attention. As he looked over, someone whispered, "Sir, you're not supposed to be in here. Visiting hours are during the daytime."
"Shannon?" Scott whispered back.
"Yes? Oh, Scott, is that you?"
"Yeah, I came for Jean."
"Oh, all right, would you like to take her home for the rest of the night?"
"Yeah, that's what I came here for…"
A different voice spoke up this time. "Well, I'm not going home 'til I find out who this girl is." Scott turned to find his wife awake and stretching in the chair. "A social worker is going to drop by in the morning."
Scott walked over to her and put an arm on her shoulder. "You're awake."
A grunting noise came from the bed as Jubilee moaned, "She's not the only one."
Shannon flipped on the lights and walked over to the patient who drowsily sat up. "Where am I?"
Shannon placed a comforting hand on Jubilee's, though the young girl pulled hers away, and replied, "New York Memorial Hospital. Do you remember what happened?"
"Wha?" Jubilee asked disoriented momentarily. "Oh… no. I woke up and there were people. Jean was here…" Jubilee trailed off, suddenly remembering that this Jean didn't know her.
"I still am, dear." Jean said as she stood up and walked over to her bedside. Jubilee observed another figure behind Jean.
Jubilee eyed this new person back carefully. Curiously, she furrowed her eyebrows examining the strangely familiar man. Then it clicked suddenly as she recognized a Scott Summers looking back at her - without his visors. Jubilee gave a yelp and backed as far away from him as the bed would let her.
The three adults stood back surprised giving the patient some space. Scott felt uncomfortable at having scared a child; he'd never pictured himself as a scary guy. A few seconds passed by as Jubilee continued to wince. Before long, she realized nothing was happening. She looked up at Scott in awe.
"Scott?" she hesitated, unsure if she was correct.
The Cyclops-look-alike observed her suspiciously. "Yes?"
"Where are your visors?" Jubilee asked confused.
"Excuse me?"
Jubilee fell silent and stared at him for a while. Shannon was paged to leave and that left Scott and Jean alone with Jubilee. After a moment of staring at each other, Jubilee couldn't suppress it any longer and finally blurted out, "You have brown eyes!"
"Um… Yes, that's correct," Scott replied carefully tightening his protective grip over Jean's shoulders.
"You don't know me?" Jubilee whispered. It was more of a statement than a question. She needed to hear the answer nevertheless.
Scott felt a little uncomfortable beneath the glare of this girl's expressionless face. "I'm afraid not," he stated firmly.
"Jean?" she called out without taking her eyes off of Scott.
"Yes, Jubilee?" Jean placed a nervous hand on the railing of the bed.
"Scan my mind," she demanded.
"What?"
Jubilee fixed her glare over to Jean. "You two have no idea what I'm talking about?"
"No," Jean admitted sorrowfully. "I don't understand… how do you know us?"
"Apparently I don't." Jubilee paused for a moment and thought. She muttered something about a 'freakin twilight zone'. "So," she began again, "you're not mutants?"
"Mutants?" Scott raised an eyebrow at her.
"A mutant…" Jean answered carefully as though she were reciting out of a book, "is a genetically altered being, a manifested change is contained in its DNA."
"Right… I think." Jubilee paused again and thought of her next question. "Do you know any mutants?"
"Well, sure," Jean replied. "There are plenty of people with down syndrome, sickle-cell, even something as minor as color blindness. Mutants are all around us."
"No," Jubilee said frustratedly. "That's not what I mean! I mean, fast healers, like super fast. Or, or people who fly. Or someone who has, like, DNA that blocks myostatin or something!"
"Myostatin?" Jean replied skeptically as Scott's faced reflected his lack of knowledge on the subject. "Someone with super strength?" Jean asked.
"Yes!" Jubilee exclaimed, slightly relieved. Finally, something she accidentally learned in genetics class actually paid off. Unfortunately, her relief was short lived.
"Well," Jean replied, slightly perked by the topic at hand and babbled on. "There have been rare cases of 'super strength' found in very few people, but the extent of their 'super strength' has more limitations than benefits. Being able to lift heavier weights isn't exactly a good trade off for over-sized heart muscle. In fact, it can be dangerous, leading to early death-"
"Ugh!" Jubilee's cry cut her off abruptly. Jean looked slightly offended, and for that, Jubilee felt a little bad. She took a few deep breaths before continuing. "That's not what I meant either," she said, in a tired voice. Two blank faces stared back at the teen. Great, Jubilee thought. They think I'm psycho.
She considered showing them her power for a brief second, but decided against it. In a world where it seemed no true mutants existed, she was completely aware of what could happen if she exposed herself. Being a guinea pig for some top-secret government laboratory happened to not be on her bucket list.
Instead, she shifted the subject grumpily, "What time is it?"
"Almost six o'clock in the morning," Scott answered as he glanced at his watch.
Jean thought back for a moment. "Listen, Jubilee, a social worker is coming in at eight."
"Why?" Jubilee replied.
"Well, your parents…" Jean trailed off suddenly, feeling uncomfortable at bringing up the fact that the teen was an orphan.
"I don't need a social worker," Jubilee told them in a hardened voice, realizing they felt sorry for her.
Jean and Scott watched her carefully. Jean seemed to be able to let the topic slide. She quickly glanced at her watch again and sighed. "I'll be back in a moment."
With that, Jubilee and Scott were left alone.
For a moment, they both remained still in an uneasy silence.
"So," Scott started awkwardly, "Jubilee, huh? Interesting name."
"I guess," Jubilee replied, fiddling with her sheets. "I think my parents were bigger patriots than Uncle Sam."
Scott chuckled and smiled at her. She raised an eyebrow at him. He seemed a lot less anal without his visors.
"So, Jubilee, what's your story?" he asked. "I mean, how'd you end up here?"
"Well, see, when a man loves a woman-" she began while rolling her eyes.
"You know what I meant," he said in a more Cyclopsy manner.
She peered back at him. Now that was the Scott she knew. "I don't know," she replied honestly after a few seconds. "I just woke up, and here I was."
"You don't remember anything?"
"It's all kind of hazy right now, dude."
Scott seemed uneasy about the next question he wanted to ask. Thankfully, Jubilee spoke before him.
"Well, what's your story," Jubilee demanded, turning the tables on him.
Scott let another sly smile slip. True to their nature, orphans would never agree to share their histories. After all, he would know. "Well, since you seem to know so much about me and my wife already, then how about you tell me? What's my story?"
"Scott, I don't know your story anymore." At her somewhat sad and uneasy statement, Scott wasn't sure how to respond.
He thought for a moment. "What's your full name," he asked her.
"Jubilation Lee, but if you call me that, I'll break you."
"Where do you live?"
"In Westchester," she replied carefully. But that wasn't right; her head began to swim. Suddenly, she remembered she lived elsewhere. "No wait, I live in Massachusetts now. I used to live in New York, but then I was transferred."
"Transferred?"
"Yeah, to a new school."
"So you're a boarding student?"
"I guess," Jubilee replied. She hadn't really considered that being X-Man would make her, or anyone else, a boarding student. The thought of Wolverine in a schoolboy outfit made her smile. "Maybe more like a ward of the school."
In a more gentler tone, he asked, "So who takes care of you?"
"It used to be Professor Xavier, and now it's Ms. Frost and Mr. Cassidy."
Scott took a mental note to write those names down soon. He paused before asking, "Do they hurt you?"
Jubilee's eyes went wide in surprise. "What? No way, I mean, yeah sometimes our sparring sessions can get a little tough, and Frosty is a grouch, and Cassidy drinks sometimes… But they'd never, like, hurt me. What made you think that?"
"Calm down," Scott tried to soothe her. "I just wondered about the injuries you're sustaining."
Jubilee stammered for a moment, not wanting to give away too much information to this reality. "I… well, sometimes it can hurt to be hit by a car."
"No, I'm not talking about those injuries. I mean the scar on your neck."
"Oh... I've always had that," Jubilee lied. "I fell off my bike when I was a kid." She was pretty sure that scar was from a run-in with Sabertooth. Or maybe it was from a scuffle in the Danger Grotto. Or was the Danger Grotto scar the one on her back? Who could really be sure in the life of an X-Man? Explaining that long-forgotten story would probably make non-mutant Scott's brain fry out.
Scott seemed to have caught her lie and watched her in disbelief. Jubilee tried not to melt underneath his glare.
Quickly trying to change the subject, she asked, "What's the date?"
"April 4th," he replied.
So she was in the right timeline at least, she realized. But perhaps not quite the right reality.
Just then Jean returned and practically fell into the chair tiredly. Jubilee watched, feeling like an intruder, as Scott walked over to her and wrapped the blanket back around her. "You want to go home?" he asked her gently.
"No," she replied, "If want to wait and make sure Jubilee's going to be taken care of." Jean looked over to Jubilee and smiled.
Jubilee tried to smile back, but failed. The thought of running away from this hospital popped into her mind. But she was well aware that she would not last long in her condition at the moment. She watched as Jean fell asleep in Scott's arms. Then she watched as Scott fell asleep after. She herself, lay back down, but did not fall asleep right away. She stared at the ceiling for quite a while, pleading with all her might to wake up from this world she knew nothing of.
She allowed herself to imagine a dramatic rescue and reunion by the X-Men. How long would she have to wait? And as long as she was here, where would she go? Was she all alone? The last thought she had as she drifted away was whether or not there was anyone else in this world from hers.