A/N: I do not own X- Men Evolution.
As a quick note, the stuff in brackets are things Rogue can't hear/ doesn't know are going on between Kitty, Remy, and Emma. You'll see… Onward!
Rogue slammed the door behind her, nothing in her hands but her keys- she refused to make any purchases until after "The Holidays" (which, unfortunately, included not purchasing snacks… which left her unnaturally ornery).
Kitty's eyes wandered up from the Solitaire game on her iPod. She smiled for a fraction of a second, before plucking the buds from her ears, turning off the festive track. She rushed over to the stairs.
"Hi Rogue!" Kitty beamed before hustling up the steps.
"Hi." Rogue's brow furrowed. "What? No questions about my lack of supernatural joy?" She yelled up the stairs as her peppy friend made her escape.
Kitty swiveled from the top and shrugged. She turned back around, a wicked little smirk painted on her face.
At dinner, Rogue mostly stared. Kitty was acting weird- like more weird than normal. The whole day, she'd been giving her very careful/ creepy smiles- like some kind of nurse from the Happy Homes psych ward. And she'd been extra careful in not alluding to the holidays. In fact, she said little about anything.
"Can you pass the butter?" It was sort of a test question (though she did like her butter).
Wordlessly, with one of those creeper psych ward smiles, Kitty handed her the tray of soft golden spread. Rogue shuddered.
"What did you do to her?" She turned to Remy. "Some weird bayou voodoo or something?"
He just shrugged in response. "Why is everything always my fault?" He muttered.
This is really getting weird- even Remy wasn't taking the time to bother her.
"Just consider it her gift to you." Logan tipped a glass of what could only be Christmas spirits down his throat.
Emma didn't say a word, just sipped at her calorie free Evian.
Rogue squinted at the four of them.
Nothing.
She pushed her plate away from her. They milled around at their dinners.
It was a late dinner- the clock read 9:32 PM.
"Okay then." She cleared her plate and glass. "Ah'm going to check out for the night." So what if it was super early- this mix of weirdness and holiday joy was making her itch. They smiled up at her, dumb.
She plowed up the stairs with the awkward feeling that they were watching her.
"She's gone!" Kitty gasped, finally turning her head away from the stair case as Rogue turned the corner.
"Make it more obvious next time." Remy muttered.
Kitty frowned, but ignored the dig- in the spirit of the holidays (and because she needed his help). Her gaze darted to Emma, who smirked a little bit. They excused themselves and muddled down to the empty rec room.
"Stage one of operation X-Mas is ago," Kitty said with a devilish smile.
"I have to make sure she's asleep first," Emma rolled her eyes, probing around the Goth's thoughts. "Yep. She's out." The blond nodded with a sarcastic smirk.
"Alright then," Kitty said, tapping her fingers together like an evil… evil person. "You're up."
Rogue turned in her bed- she rolled over, shuffled the pillows, smoothed the blankets. Nothing worked. It was weird though- a few moments ago, she could have sworn she was asleep. Whatever. Her mind had probably just glazed over in order to stop thinking about "Christmas this," and "Christmas that".
Silly Rogue.
"What the-" She sat up in her bed, a voice that was clearly not her own disturbing her thoughts.
Humbugs are for Scrooges.
"Emma?" She asked the empty air.
No, it's Martha Stewart.
["Easy on the sarcasm Emma- we're trying to win her over." Kitty scowled. Emma rolled her eyes.]
Rogue scanned the empty room, really not in the mood for mind games.
Over here.
Rogue turned to the glow of the muted television on the other side of the room. Ah thought I turned that off...
Apparently not.
Rogue glowered. This was why she didn't like telepaths.
Emma, in a white tank dress and white shrunken blazer, stood next to a five day forecast.
["You really do look like Sunny Dais." Gambit snickered.
"Shut up." Emma glared.]
Mind turning up the volume?
"Depends- does that mean you'll talk more?"
Or we can sit here having a mental conversation. It's really up to you.
Rogue popped the volume on.
"What are you doing?" Rogue snapped. This was a very weird end to a very weird day, and she was getting annoyed. She didn't even know why she was going along with this nonsense. It was Emma for goodness' sake.
"I'm here to teach you a lesson." She said, with an irritating smile.
"You? Teach me a lesson?" Rogue snorted. "We aren't even really sure your moral compass points north."
"The ends justify the means," she shrugged. "Either you learn your lesson or you'll become-" ["We can't tell her yet!" Kitty hissed] Emma bit her lip.
Rogue's brow contorted into a skeptical look.
"Your hostile anti-Christmas attitude is harshing everyone's mellow- if you don't get some cheer going, your fate is sealed."
"Did Kitty put you up to this?"
The blond smiled knowingly. "You'll be visited by three spirits," She gestured to the side of her, in true weather girl fashion, at the blacked out silhouettes next to her: a girl, a boy, and a… mysterious, genderless blob?
This was all sounding oddly familiar…
"Learn your lesson, or suffer the consequences." She shrugged. "Your choice."
The television fizzled out with a loud pop, and the room went black.
A/N: End of chapter two=)
So… if Emma was our (modified) Marley… I'll give you one guess as to who are Ghost of Christmas Past is;)
