A/N: I do not own X- Men Evolution.

"Whoa." Rogue sat up right, rigid as a plank. She should have known better than to go to sleep so soon after eating a dinner Bobby prepared. She shuddered. No wonder she was having freaking scary dreams. With Emma there, it was more like a nightmare. This made her snicker- in spite of her usual anti- laughter policy at this time of year.

Kitty lay across the room, passed out in her bed. Rogue squinted at her. There's always the possibility that it wasn't just a dream. It was a level that Kitty defiantly was not above. Especially not with all that 'peace and good will toward men' crap coursing through her veins. But as for right now, it was one in the morning, and she preferred to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"What the…"

She was being awakened by… were those sleigh bells? Really? Really.

"Rotten lousy good-for-nothing out of tune morons." She muttered at the window, getting up to close it.

"It's closed."

"Ah!" Rogue jumped. She swiveled around into fighting position, but relaxed in surprise when she saw "Kitty?"

"No you silly goose!" She said. "I'm like, the ghost of Christmas past. I've taken on this form to make you like, more comfortable."

She was glowing (literally, not in the 'she's so happy and she looks ethereally pretty' way) in a cream, knee length, Grecian reminiscent dress, and her air was down, with a wreath of golden holly functioning as a crown- but that was definitely Kitty.

"Did you really just call me a silly goose?" Her brow knit. This had to be a dream- the real Kitty would have never said that, because the real Rogue would have decked her for it.

["Silly goose?" Emma repeated.

"You did it your way, I'll do it mine."]

"I'm here to show you the Christmases that have already come to pass." Kitty- er, the 'Ghost of Christmas Past' said.

"You know, this is all starting to sound vaguely ripped off."

["We should have done something more original." Emma rolled her eyes again.

"It's a classic!" Kitty scoffed.

Remy shrugged. "It was affective for Scrooge, non?"

"That was a book." Emma said, receiving two dangerous glares. "Fine. Whatever."]

"It's all part of the lesson, Rogue." Glowy Kitty said with a gentle smile. "What harm could it do?"

Reluctantly, Rogue placed her hand in Kitty's- if anything, just to shut her up.

"Where are we?"

"Silly Rogue- this is your memory. You know where we are."

"I swear Kitty- call me silly one more time-"

"Ah- hem."

"Ah am not calling you the Ghost of Christmas Past." Rogue's arms crossed over her chest. "That's just ridiculous."

"Ugh!" Kitty glowered. "How about 'Spirit'? Can we agree on Spirit?"

Rogue rolled her eyes and sighed, very loudly, like this was the worst burden to ever be bestowed on her. "Fahn- Spirit." (She sneered, very reluctantly)

"Do you know where we are right now?"

Rogue mulled it over. "This is Mystique's place-" She walked over to a frosty window. "Me and Destiny and her used to all spend Christmas here." She turned to the… uh… Spirit. "Why are you showing me this old witch?"

"To show you it wasn't all bad." Kitty put her hands on her hips. "Look in the window."

A young Rogue, age four, sat between a friendlier Mystique and Destiny. She opened a Christmas package- a doll.

["Remy didn't think Rogue was da doll type."

"Shut up Remy." Kitty snapped. "All girls are the doll type."]

The child in the house glowed, lit with Christmas spirit.

"See? Even evil people love Christmas." Kitty said with a satisfied smirk. "You were so happy."

"Ah begged for that stupid doll all year…" Rogue skimmed her fingers over the cold glass.

"Aw,"

"It broke three days later." And then she soured. "And a few minutes after Ah opened it, they went out to get some liquid Christmas spirit, and Ah spent Christmas alone."

Ghost Kitty was stunned. She looked it too.

["I thought you said this was a happy memory?" Kitty hissed through gritted teeth.

"It was supposed to be!" Emma hissed back.

"Do something!" Remy said.]

"Moving right along then," Kitty snatched up Rogue's hand, hustling on to the next memory.

"Oh my gosh- guess where we are now!" Kitty clapped her hands under her chin like she was six.

The pair drifted over linoleum tiles, the kind only found in grade and middle school multipurpose rooms. Red and green lights spouted from the ceiling in round beams. Gangly tweens filled the space.

"Oh my…"

"Oh my gosh- spoiler! It's like, your first formal, at your junior high!" Kitty squealed. "Look at you! Aw- you were so awkward."

["Such a way with words…"

"Oh come on Emma- you know she is." Kitty giggled. "It's cute!"]

"Thanks." Rogue grunted, looking at herself; she'd been taller and thinner than all the other girls- and she was just as pale then as she was now. She wore a cranberry satin knee length dress, with long black gloves.

"And look! Your first Christmas dance is coming up!" Kitty said, cutting a rug to Jingle Bell Rock.

["Remy don't like dis memory." He glared.

"Oh relax. This was like, the seventh grade!" Kitty continued to dance. "This song like, totally reminds me of Mean Girls."

Emma rubbed her hand down her face.]

"This is so adorable." Kitty gushed, sighing wistfully.

Rogue half smiled for a second, before hardening. "He was the only one who asked me to dance that night!" She snapped. "Dances are stupid." Her arms folded over her chest. "Can we get a move on here- Ah have sleeping to do."

Kitty frowned. "Fine."

Kitty hummed the tune of Last Christmas (the original), her mind shifting in that general direction, as they wandered through the palace of retail that is none other than the mall.

"Kitty, you are one unfocused spirit."

She shrugged. "What can I say? It's the mall- it calls to us." She hunched over and squinted like a creepy cave dweller. "My precious."

"You're alluding to the wrong book for this story."

She shrugged again. "What can I say? I'm a closet LOTR nerd."

["Dat reminds Remy- LARPing the Friday after New Year?"

"Given!" Kitty shrugged.

"Kitty! Focus!" Emma snapped.]

"Ah knew it!" Rogue pointed a finger in Kitty's stunned face. "There's no way you aren't the real Kitty!"

"I'm taking this form to make you more comfortable!"

Rogue glared at her, stopping and folding her arms over her chest.

"Do you want to know why we're here or not?"

Rogue rolled her eyes, curiosity chewing at her.

"Over there, in front of that jewelry store,"

Staring through a spotless sheet of glass, Remy LeBeau pointed to a sparkling pair of emeralds- earrings- for the clerk to ring up.

"He's not robbing the place is he?" Rogue smirked. A very sullen look on her face, Kitty shook her head. "He's legitimately purchasing those- jewelry?" Her eyebrows rose. "Well Ah'll be."

"He didn't want to give you something that cost him nothing."

["Aw- Remy that's so sweet." Kitty gushed. Gambit shrugged gracefully. And was that… blush? Non! It couldn't be!]

Rogue's brow furrowed. "That's gotta be a mistake- he never gave me those."

"There in the back of his t- shirt drawer." Kitty's face went a little dark. "Because last Christmas he overheard you tell Amara how Christmas was all just a plot to get people to spend money, and that people who bought gifts for others were stupid."

[Kitty frowned.

Remy frowned too, but shrugged again. "It was no big deal."]

"You also added a nice little bah humbug in there somewhere- you know, it's funny, I'm beginning to wonder how I didn't pick up on your being a Scrooge before…" She tilted her head up thoughtfully.

"You were too blinded by your supernatural joy," Rogue said (sarcastically).

Kitty continued to gaze at the ceiling thoughtfully.

["FOCUS!"]

She shook off her daze. Rogue frowned at the young man, proudly carrying the black velvet box in his pocket.

"Sucks how your lack of joy ruins other people's too, huh?"

They flashed to an image of Remy, a disappointed look on his face, stashing the box under a pile of clean black shirts.

"How was Ah supposed to know?" Rogue said defensively. "Ah didn't ask him to get me anything!"

Kitty shook her head. "You still don't get it." They were back in their room. "I've done all I can."

"Wasn't that a little short?" Rogue protested. "What about Tiny Tim and all that crap?"

"You won't find your version of Tiny Tim," (She snickered when she said it, knowing full well who it was) "Until your next encounter."

"You really wanna go for more?" Kitty put her hands on her hips. Rogue sheepishly shook her head. "You aren't the only humbug that needs exterminating." (She contained her giggles, for effect, but still found herself rather punny.) "I got a schedual to keep." She hit Rogue like she could have had a V8 and it was back off to dream land.

A/N: Muahahaha (smiles with an evil glint in her eye). You knew I was going to do it. I hope you all liked spirit Kitty. (She didn't exactly make Rogue a believer. But, eh, even Dickens didn't make Scrooge convert that easily. And besides, if it had worked, there wouldn't be much of a story now would there?)

But (gasp!) Who will be our ghost of Christmas present? I'm sure if you give it a little thought you'll know;) And who will play our dear Tiny Tim? The answer may surprise you ;)! Stay tuned- the next chapter is bound to be a doozy!