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"The Enchantment"

The CD started slowly with a single guitar, soon joined by another. Then the bass line started, and the tempo picked up . Emma's unique voice began, singing, "I thought you'd come from a fairy tale…"

A line about being "under a wicked enchantment" struck a chord with Rachel. "Sounds like she's talking about Scott and Emma," she ventured, leaning back into her seat as Kitty maneuvered the car down Graymalkin Lane.

"'The witch put a sheep's head on you-'" Rachel's jaw dropped, "She is singing about Scott and Emma!"

"Red, I'm trying to listen to this…" Kitty said, turning up the volume. But we could talk telepathically, if you'd like.

Having trained themselves over the years, Kitty and Rachel were able to communicate in mindspeak while keeping their attention on other things. It was faster, too, occurring at the literal "speed of thought" instead of mucking about with the whole speech center of the brain.

So, do you think Emma is controlling everything Scott says or what? Kitty projected.

I haven't really detected anything. The old cow is far subtler than I am, but you'd think that I would pick up something. I just hate what they did to Mom. I wasn't around for it, I know, but just picking up sense impressions from Logan and Henry and some of the others…

Logan was so pissed about that A memory of the fight between Logan and Scott flickered across the link. I know we weren't around for all of that, but I talked to Logan about it once, and he told me Scott changed a lot after the whole merging with Apocalypse thing. He even said he had a sense of humor at one point while they were assaulting Magneto in Genosha.

Kitty turned down another country lane, the forests near Xavier's giving way to a bland landscape of local farms and fields. The smell of manure caused her nose to crinkle in revulsion.

My father, a sense of humor? A clone, perhaps? Who knows what Sinister has squirreled away. Anyway, you wouldn't know it now, really. I mean, he laughed when Henry put the clown nose on him during the Christmas celebration, but lately he's back to the same guy I knew from the Asgard caper, probably with the same stick up his-

Emma's vocals continued on. Kitty, ever the multi-tasker, seemed to be fairly absorbed in the music while still conversing. Rachel was only half-listening, more a punk fan, but a line about saying it was your fault, but never believing you were wrong tugged at her.

It's the lack of remorse that gets me thought Rachel, I know he said he was sorry, but there he was draped all over her at mom's grave. I'd expect that behavior from Emma, but I thought my parents loved one another, you know? They spent all those years together raising Nathan in the future, you would think they would've learned to talk things over…

…And not go running to Miss Frost, I know. It doesn't make sense. Wolvie was saying how Jean was hoping Scott would be more open, and he just didn't trust her enough. I thought that Jean was the one person he could talk to. And Emma? I know I couldn't trust the White Queen like that, whatever she may have been through. Granted I tend to do my thinking above my beltline. More memories flashed by of Emma disabling Wolverine, Storm, and Colossus; of the time she stole Ororo's body; and the visit to the Massachusetts Academy with Doug, with the attempt to brainwash her.

The band was playing a verse about a magic mirror that would reveal the truth, but was still clouded by the spell, and the person would "swear it wasn't true", and hide in the dark to "make all the lies true."

I suppose it is possible Emma did manipulate the whole thing, Rachel sent, She has the ability, certainly, and the motive. Mom beat her down, more than once, and she always seemed the type of person who didn't accept defeat with dignity

Hell, no! She and Shaw were always looking like "Curses, foiled again, I'll get you next time" whenever we beat 'em. Not that any of the X–villains ever seem to stop. But there was something more sinister with the Hellfire Club. Maybe being all rich and important made them unaccustomed to failure.

So you're saying that she stole my Dad away because she was a rich, spoiled bitch?

If the corset fits… Kitty joked, I remember a girl in college, a snobby little French Lit major who lost out to one of my friends- Brandy- for a dorm council seat. Three weeks later, Miss Frenchie is all l'amour over Brandy's boyfriend at this party. Brandy walks in, they break up, Frenchie dumps him a week later.

Yeah, but Emma's still with Scott. And they're still… you know. Both of them tried to block the slew of images that rushed into their minds at the thought of the couple.

I didn't say it was the best analogy, Red. It may have started that way, of course, but maybe it did grow into something more. I know Logan said that after your mom caught the two of them having psi-sex and went all medieval on Emma's brain, that he spoke with her and she'd actually regretted falling for Scott. And Hank told me that when Jean put her back together, it was the thought of your dad that brought her back. However their relationship started, it's fairly clear that she loves him, and barring any new evidence, that he loves her right back.

The song was in the final refrain now, "…Victims of the ones who lied, you're under the enchantment… you're under the enchantment."

It's scary, though, isn't it? I'd always pictured my parents as the ultimate loving couple, who would always be there for each other, and for me. And that someday I would find someone to love me like that.

I know Kitty reached over and gave Rachel's hand a gentle squeeze.

Anyway, this doesn't mean we cut 'em any slack, right Pryde?

Not a chance, Rachel. Emma asked me to keep an eye on her, and if she goes back to her roots, I'll be on her like Logan on beer.

Author's note Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed this. A few things I should mention- this fic is basically a philosophical enterprise, to explore issues raised in the comics and seldom dealt with because Marvel needs large people in spandex kicking the crap out of each other to sell books. Anyway, Cats Laughing was a band comprised mostly of Science Fiction authors. Chris Claremont was a big fan, and inserted them multiple times in Excalibur, as Madripoor Rose pointed out. They were even spotlighting the band in the one-shot Mojo Mayhem. The original version of this had several verses written in to show how the music would drive the conversation, but that's a no-no here, so I have to use my limited writing skills to try to weave it in another way. And despite 9 years playing 'cello and string bass and a year of AP Music, I really lack the vocabulary to describe it. Sorry. Hope you can still follow the ideas.