DISCLAIMER:
This story features characters which are trademarks of Marvel Comics. This story is an unauthorized work done purely for my personal enjoyment, and is not intended to infringe on any of their rights in or profits from these characters. But this story is copyright to me.
BRIEF EXPLANATION:
This scene obviously takes place after the Storm LS and sometime between Excalibur #92 and Excalibur #102. I have chosen to put it near the end of that span, just for my convenience. Again, I'd rather Ellis had written this (and he should have, since he wrote the Storm LS, so he can't claim ignorance), but since he didn't...
If you want to comment, send email to LubaKmetyk@worldnet.att.net
Excalibur/Storm: BEARING TIDINGS OF JOY
Luba Kmetyk
Kurt was passing the communications room when the call came in from Westchester. After the connection had been completed, he saw a regal, white-haired, blue-eyed black woman. He smiled since Storm, the co-leader of the X-men, was one of his original teammates and best friends there.
"Gutten abend, Ororo." he greeted her. "Any official reason for this call, or are you just curious to keep abreast of what's happening with Kitty and her new swain? I can get her for you now, or do you want my observations first?"
"Actually, Kurt, I was calling to talk to Peter, if he's available." Ororo said heavily. "There's something I've been intending to tell him for a long time now, and I've put it off far too long already..."
"You make it sound quite serious." Kurt was disturbed by the look on Storm's face. "I believe he's helping Moira shift some equipment in one of the labs. I'll page him, he should be here soon."" Placing the call to Colossus, Kurt went on to ask "Is it anything I should know about?"
"Yes, you probably should..." Ororo nodded her head slowly as she considered his question. "I need to tell him I saw his brother Mikhail."
"What?!" Kurt exclaimed in surprise. "But we all thought he had died in that debacle with the Morlocks... Wait just a moment, Ororo, Peter's calling in..." He turned to the local intercom and told Peter that he had a call from Westchester. Turning back to the main screen, Kurt told her "He'll be here in a few minutes, as soon as he finishes up his current task. Now, did I really hear you correctly, that you saw his brother?"
"Yes, I saw him recently in another dimension, where he's been with the remaining Morlocks... It's a long story which I do not enjoy talking about, please, let us just wait until Peter arrives so that I tell it only once, while you listen in. In fact, as I think on it, you may wish to call Kitty to come listen, also. I am afraid Peter will need his friends after he hears what happened, what I found out." Storm was worried about Colossus' reaction to her news, that was why she had kept putting off telling him, until her guilt and discomfort at withholding her information had finally outweighted her concerns.
"Yes, of course I will call her, I believe I know where she is..." Kurt sent off another summons, this one flagged as urgent, hoping to have time to explain the situation to Kitty before Colossus arrived.
She came in to the communications room within a minute or two. She was fully dressed in her usual jeans and loose sweater, but there was something about her hooded eyes and tangled hair that made it pretty obvious Kurt's summons had gotten her out of bed.
"I'm sorry, katzchen, did I wake you?" Kurt had a devilish glint in his eye. "I didn't think you used to go to bed this early..."
Her blush simply added to the overall glow highlighting her face. "What is it, Kurt?" she asked him, ignoring his blatant teasing, except for her flushed cheeks. "You said it was urgent."
"Ororo has called with something very important she needs to tell Peter, and she has suggested we should be here to hear it also." He nodded up at Storm's image on the monitor screen.
"Hello, Ororo." Kitty smiled at Storm in pleasure, just as Colossus walked into the room.
He was in his armored form, having used his enhanced strength to help Moira install some new equipment. Overhearing the little exchange between Kitty and Kurt as he entered had distracted him so that he had forgotten to change back. He nodded a greeting to Kurt and Kitty, then sat down in the main seat in front of the screen as Kitty and Kurt stood to the side. "Storm, my friend, it is always good to see you..."
"I hope you will still feel that way in a few minutes, little brother. I have something to tell you, something I should have told you immediately, but I wasn't sure how to begin... Peter, I saw your brother, Mikhail."
Kurt was the only one prepared for her announcement. He'd had no
chance to warn Kitty in advance of the nature of Ororo's announcement, leaving Kitty to gasp in surprise. Peter sat still, not saying anything immediately, but his hands tightened convulsively and there was a loud crack as the chair arms splintered into pieces.
"Is he all right?" Peter finally asked, hesitantly.
"I cannot say for sure, but I believe he most likely is." Ororo replied.
"Where is he? I want to see him." That was his next obvious enquiry, even harder for her to answer, "I do not know."
Storm waited for the flood of questions she had expected to erupt from Colossus, but he continued to just sit, as the silence stretched out uncomfortably. It was Kurt, finally, who asked "I do not doubt your word, Ororo, but how is that possible? We'd heard that Mikhail had tried to teleport away with the last remaining Morlocks as the tunnels were being flooded, but I thought you said Callisto had stated Mikhail himself didn't make it?"
It was the first of the questions that Ororo had been dreading. "Yes, but what I did not tell anyone at the time was that later, when we were alone in the tunnels, Callisto hinted that she had misled us, that Mikhail had survived the jump and later was attacked by Gene Nation, who held him responsible for their plight. I had no reason to believe she was telling the truth then any more than before and, even if it were true, it merely indicated that Mikhail had died later, and likely harder."
Storm grimaced at her memories of what those transformed Morlocks of the younger generation had been capable of. "Peter was walking away from us, from the X-men. I did not know where he was going, I did not know he was coming to Muir. I elected not to tell him of the possibility that Mikhail might have survived the trans-spatial relocation only to die later, to have Peter carry that away with him as a burden into his future."
Colossus stirred at that, and said in a flat voice. "You should have told me, you had no right to make that decision for me."
Ororo answered simply, "Yes, I realize that now, and I am sorry, Peter, that is part of what I called to tell you. I was wrong to do what I did, to not tell you everything, but I meant well, I thought I was doing the right thing..."
Peter interrupted her apologetic self-justification harshly. "It seems you all always mean well when you take it upon yourselves to make decisions for me, 'for my own good', without ever consulting me as to my opinions, my feelings, in the matter at hand. Just as the Professor did not call me in Dallas to tell me Illyana was dying, but decided for me that telling me would serve no useful purpose, would interfere with the mission, because I could not help her even if I had returned, but he didn't consider I would have wanted to be with her when she died..."
"And I have said I am truly sorry, little brother. I am trying to be honest, to be open with you now, calling to tell you that I saw Mikhail again..." Ororo was realistictic enough to expect Colossus to be upset, of course, but she was still surprised at the extent of the rancor, the bitterness she could sense in him. She waited for him to respond in some way, to accept her apology, or to challenge her motives and her actions further, but he sat in silence once again.
Kitty and Kurt had been watching quietly from the sidelines, not participating as long as Colossus was willing to speak for himself. Now, as another awkward silence threatened to continue indefinitely, it was Kitty who took the lead, suggesting "Tell us about Mikhail, Ororo. Exactly what happened?"
Storm had been concentrating all her attention on Peter. Looking aside for a moment, she threw Kitty a grateful glance and then resumed watching Colossus intently as she plunged into the story how she'd gone to perform the Ceremony of Light in the abandoned underground Cathedral as a farewell, an apology, to the Morlocks she felt she had failed as leader, how she'd been taken by one of Mikhail's portals to his surreal world.
She went on to describe the harsh environment of that world, how Mikhail had turned it into his version of Apocalypse's doctrine of the survival of the fittest, forcing the surviving Morlocks to compete and breed to produce ever-better fighters. As she talked, Kurt and Kitty could understand why it had taken so long for her to tell Peter about what had happened. They could feel Colossus' shock and pain at hearing his brother's actions equated to those of one of the X-men's greatest enemies.
Storm went on to tell them how something in the air healed wounds so that death could come only from old age, so the combatants recovered from the most hideous injuries only to have to fight again. Her audience knew better than most what a curse that could be, rather than a blessing as others might have believed, having seen the pain Wolverine often had to endure as he waited for his healing factor to repair his broken body.
Ororo described how time moved differently there, how Mikhail had aged since Colossus and the X-men lost him in the Morlock tunnels. Peter showed some reaction at that, a painstricken frown as he realized he'd been separated from his brother for decades, not mere months or even a few years. He understood now why Callisto had aged so greatly, so quickly, the last time he'd seen her.
Watching Peter even more carefully, Ororo spoke of fighting Callisto yet again, after Storm had forced Mikhail to bring them all back to the Morlock Cathedral. Callisto had regained her power and leadership through Mikhail in that other world, and had feared Storm would usurp her place at Mikhail's side, both as ruler and as lover. She saw Peter flinch at the idea of Callisto with Mikhail. Peter had himself been Callisto's lover, when Masque had temporarily restored her looks and he'd been an amnesiac artist. He had come to Muir looking for Kitty, but a part of him couldn't help wondering what might have been if things had turned out differently, if Xavier had not restored his memories, if Masque had left Callisto her beauty, her ability to live in the everyday world. Storm glanced over at Kurt and Kitty in a silent enquiry. Kurt nodded, signalling that yes, they were aware of Colossus' previous involvement with Callisto, and recognized how this news might affect him personally.
Colossus had no desire to discuss Callisto or their history together any further. He was beginning to realize how much Callisto had not told him when she'd had found him in Antarctica after Avalon was destroyed, how she'd used him to get help from the X-men for her battle with Gene Nation, but he pushed that thought away from him for the moment. "You have not yet explained, Storm, why you say you believe Mikhail is fine but do not know where he is now..."
"Because he teleported away again during the ensuing confrontation with Gene Nation in the Morlock cathedral... He was fine, he was uninjured, as he escaped, but that is why I do not know where he is now. I would assume he went back to that world where I first encountered him, but that is merely a guess.." Ororo tried to project the most optimistic view of the ending of her recital that she could.
Peter would not be gulled. "So, you are telling me that if he is back there, where you said time moves more quickly and one can die of old age, if nothing else, he may die before I can find him, see him again... You return my brother to me in one breath, and take him away again in the next..." The raw loneliness in his voice tore at the others.
It was Storm's turn to wince. "And it is precisely for that reason, little brother, why I hesitated to call you, to tell you about Mikhail... Do you understand now why I waited, why I wasn't sure what to do?"
"Yes, of course I understand, Storm." He replied in a dead, level monotone. "There is no need for you to continue apologizing."
Kurt had a number of other questions he would have liked to ask, but elected to refrain until some later ocassion in deference to Peter's sensitivities and personal involvement. Colossus in contrast had voiced only a few questions during Storm's labored recital, seemingly content to allow her to tell her story in her own way, and seemed to have no further questions now that she was done. The farewells were forced and awkward, but given the topic that wasn't unexpected.
As the image on the monitor faded away, Peter pushed back his seat and stood up. He felt Kurt and Kitty staring at him sympathetically, and remarked bluntly, "Do not worry about me, my friends, I have no intention of rushing off to do something foolish or desperate. I simply wish to be alone now, to think on this latest news."
"Are you sure, mein freund? I do not think solitude is a terribly good idea right now." Kitty's and Kurt's voices practically overlapped. "Wouldn't you rather have some company, Peter, maybe talk about it?"
"No. I know you both wish to be helpful, but there is nothing that either of you can do for me." He turned, and strode rapidly out of the communications room, shutting the door very deliberately behind him.
Kitty looked at Kurt. "What do you think, should I go after him?"
Kurt thought for a moment, then shook his head regretfully. "No, I do not think so. It is not your fault, katzchen, you had every right to go on with your life, but I am not sure he has completely accepted you as just a friend, a shoulder to lean on. He may want more than you're prepared to give, and refusing him would create even more tension. And I assume that you want to get back to Wisdom, that he's waiting for you."
Kitty bit her lip, caught between two needs, two desires. She wanted to help Peter deal with this news better than he had in similar situations
in the past. She hadn't been there for him when his parents were killed or when they thought, mistakenly as they now knew, that Mikhail had died in the tunnels taking the Morlocks in a mass suicide, and he had rejected her help, her sympathy, when his sister Illyana had died. She still wondered if he'd have left for Avalon with Magneto if she'd been able to reach him then, comfort him then. But she did want to get back to Pete before he missed her and began wondering where she'd gone, and she knew Pete wouldn't be thrilled at the idea of her being with Peter, although he'd readily acknowledge her altruistic motives and try not to express his involuntary jealousy. She nodded reluctantly at Kurt's decision.
Kurt fell silent for another minute, weighing various possibilities, then continued in a determined tone. "I will go and tell Moira about Storm's news, first, I will allow Peter that brief time alone, and then I will go to him and stay with him, whether he wants my company or not. Hopefully, he will be willing to talk about Mikhail after he has had a chance to more fully absorb the news."
Kurt went to find Moira where she was still working on hooking up her new equipment, to update her on what Storm had told them about Mikhail and about Peter's reaction, or lack thereof. Kitty trailed along behind him, unable to put her concern for Colossus aside, still hoping there would be something she could do to help.
Moira listened to Kurt's recital, and agreed it was a worrisome situation. "Och, the puir lad, he'd jis' begun opening up tae Rory aboot his feelings, his problems. Now I'm afraid he may be feeling abandoned and betrayed yet again by Rory leaving so abruptly, it'll be even harder f'r him tae begin again opening up wi' someone else. Aye, go be wi' him, Kurt, ye're right, better ye than Kitty now. If he willnae talk about Mikhail, try to get him talking about anything else, anything at all, just get him talking..."
Kurt nodded and went out, planning to tell Amanda what had happened and that he needed to be with Peter for a while, and then stop in at the kitchen to collect some bottles of cold beer before going to find him.
Kitty went back to her room, feeling frustrated at her helplessness, her inability to give Peter what he wanted, not her help, but her heart. Closing the door, she phased her clothes as she walked across the room, small piles of fabric dropping to the floor behind her as she headed for the bed.
She pulled up on one side of the sheet Pete had wrapped around himself, eliciting an inarticulate grumble from where he had his head buried in a pillow, and slipped in next to him. As soon as he felt her, he turned over to face her.
Seeing the expresssion on her face brought Pete fully awake. "What's wrong?" He reached over to lightly wipe away the tear tracking down her cheek.
"Nothing... no, actually, it's Peter, please, I'll tell you about it tomorrow..." she said, in a tremulous voice. "Right now, please, I just need you to hold me..."
He wrapped his arms around her tightly, entwining his leg with hers at the same time, pullin the covers over them both, and rocked her gently as she cried herself to sleep.
Comments are welcome, email to LubaKmetyk@worldnet.att.net, but be nice, my ego is a fragile thing.