Something I couldn't resist writing.
Disclaimer: Mickey and the Beanstalk belongs to Walt Disney, and the X-Men and any other Marvel character I use belongs to Marvel Comics, 20th century Fox, and Stan Lee.
Cyclops and the Beanstalk
Chapter 1: My What a Happy Day
Scott was putting his daughter Rachel to bed with his best friend Kurt Wagner as he was putting his own daughter, Arcane to bed as their wives Jean and Wanda were about to leave.
"Now boys, for once get them to sleep by their bedtime." Jean said with a smile.
"Good night sweeties." Wanda said as she blew both children a kiss.
"Good night Aunt Wanda." Rachel said.
"Good night Mommy." Arcane said.
"Now go to sleep kiddo." Scott said.
"Could you tell me and Arcane a story, Daddy?" Rachel asked.
"Well, I guess one wouldn't hurt." Scott answered.
"Yay!" Rachel called out. "Isn't that cool Unca Kurt?"
"Vell…" Kurt said. "Uh… No."
"This is a story everyone should hear." Scott said.
"Yeah, but not everyone should tell it, and you know who." Kurt said.
"Well I'm gonna tell it anyway." Scott said.
"Alright, suit yourself." Kurt said with a sigh.
"Now, once upon a time there was a place called Happy Valley." Scott began. "It was called Happy Valley because everyone who lived there was happy."
"That makes sense." Kurt said with a smile.
"Okay kids, now close your eyes and tell me if you can picture it." Scott said.
"I think I can." Rachel said.
"Me too." Arcane added.
"It's all nice and green with a lot of hills." Rachel said.
()()()()()
Happy Valley was often called Nature's garden spots, nestled among green rolling hills. A lovely brook, the laughing brook, flowed through the valley. Winding roads connected the valley with stately trees lining them. They also connected the lush fields and prosperous farms that dotted the landscape, and on a hill top over-looking the valley and shining like a jewel stood a magnificent castle, and two precious princesses lived in the castle. One was the fair maiden Wanda Maximoff who made fair rules and kept the country clean. Her fellow princess, Jean Grey, kept the country bright, cheerful, and happy with her beautiful singing voice. Men, women, and children came from all over the world, feeding the country's trade, just to hear her beautiful voice.
My… What a happy day.
What a sunny sky.
Kinda make you sigh
In a happy way.
What a very merry day…
All the world is gay.
When your cares are light.
And your heart takes flight.
And you're swept away.
The air is sweet with clover.
The clouds are turning over.
Oh yes they're turning over
Just to show their silver lining.
My what a happy day…
Never knew such bliss.
Never read of this in a book or play!
What a lovely day!
What a great big gorgeous, sumptuous, thumping, bumptious, hum-galumptious, simply scrumptious!
My what a happy day!
When Jean would sing, all the farmers would join in as well, and their work got twenty times quicker.
My what a happy day…
Never knew such bliss.
Never read of this in a book or play!
What a lovely day!
What a great big gorgeous, sumptuous, thumping, bumptious, hum-galumptious, simply scrumptious!
Oh me, oh my, what a happy day!
The voice of Jean cast a magic spell of joy and prosperity throughout the land, but it was too good to last, for one day a mysterious shadow crept over the valley and something dreadful happened.
()()()()()
Jean and Wanda were talking. They weren't biologically sisters, but they had been raised in the same home for so long that they couldn't have been closer if they were. When they sky got surprisingly dark, Jean and Wanda both screamed and tried to run, but they were caught when the creature who had caused the darkness grabbed them, and they knew no more for a long time.
()()()()()
When the shadow lifted, Jean and her sister were gone. No longer was the valley happy, for without the magic of Jean's voice and Wanda's wise guidance, all was misery… Misery… Misery.
The grass fields and trees all became a depressing reddish color as the desolation spread throughout the land and everything dried up. The fields of corn turned to dust almost before you could say kerplop. The Laughing Brook flowed no more, and what little water remained fell down the cracks that appeared in the river bed.
To think that this land was once happy valley, and now it was little better than gruesome gulch.
Days passed. Then weeks passed. Then months passed.
()()()()()
A group of humble peasants, three orphaned boys, were hit the hardest. All they had was a cow who had dried up with the Laughing Brook. The three boys were all that were left of three proud families who had tilled the land together. Among them were Scott Summers, his best friend Kurt Wagner, and their other closest friend, Jimmy Hudson. The house was so much to handle for the three boys that it was in a derelict state with one of the doors having fallen off very recently. The three poor farmers sat at the dinner table as they were on the edge of starving to death. By some combination of miracles and careful planning, the three were still alive, still breathing, and sharing a pitiful crust of bread between them. Scott made as thin cuts with his knife as he could to save the last loaf of bread they had for as long as they could.
Were their spirits broken? Did they lose hope? Yes. The three teenagers were facing famine and were left only with beans… Well a bean by now. One bean to split between three people. Scott cut it as thinly as possible until there were three semi-thin bean slices that barely made the bread bulge. The only bright side anyone could have found was that at least the bean didn't have any bones. Jimmy, though still fit thanks to his family's healing factor, had become gaunt from lack of food, becoming a bag of bone and weakening muscles. A true picture of despair, but Jimmy never whimpered. Jimmy never gave up.
"SHUT UP!" Jimmy called out. "I CAN'T STAND IT!"
Jimmy then grabbed as many plats as he could and attempted to eat them like a sandwich before Scott and Kurt grabbed him and pulled the dishes away.
"Okay Jimmy, easy now." Scott said as Kurt and Scott rubbed his back in an attempt to calm him. "Easy now."
"Don't worry guys." Jimmy said with a heavy sigh as he breathed hard from the rush of adrenaline. "Yeah… I'll be alright. I'll be alright."
Jimmy said he'd be alright, but Scott wondered. Jimmy had suffered too much. Kurt, knowing how Jimmy got when he was riled wondered what plan was forming in the mind of the desperate Jimmy.
Jimmy meanwhile saw the axe they had used to chop down wood and got a sinister smile on his face as he slipped away and grabbed it.
"JIMMY NO!" Scott called out in alarm when he saw the empty space where the axe usually hung.
()()()()()
"Here cowsie-wowsie." Jimmy said in a raspy, demented voice as he approached the cow. "Nice old cowsie-wowsie."
"Jimmy!" Scott called out as Jimmy suddenly shouted out and lunged at the cow with the axe. The cow mooed in alarm and jumped onto a tree as Scott pulled the axe out of Jimmy's hand, and he then began extended the three bone claws he had in each fist and began chewing on the tail before Kurt and Scott grabbed Jimmy and held him down.
"But guys…" Jimmy panted as he began to come back to his senses. "I've just gotta eat. I'm so… Hungry."
Kurt and Scott helped Jimmy into the house where he rested on the couch.
Aw, poor Jimmy.