Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made by this work.
-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-
The message had been passed along, a promise made to tell Jubilee once she woke up, the news that she was safe everything he needed just then. The number below the phone had been passed along, whiling away the wait for a call back building a fire and rummaging through the cabinets. Mikhail's presence was seen as he found instant coffee for his morning cup, surprised to find a stash of candy bars and packets of hot chocolate and canned milk right along with canned stew and other goods. Leaving well enough alone, he heated water for what would be his morning cup given the time zone he found himself in.
The distant call of a young girl calling out in her native Russian had him spilling some of his coffee on himself as he scanned around the farmstead. Once again she called out, closer now, one word he recognized out of it all, Mikhail. Running through his options with all the hard earned practice as a Field Leader of the X-men, Scott took another sip of his coffee figuring it best to wait and see.
"Mikhail!"
He saw her now clearing the woods and running along the unplowed and overgrown fields, dressed in a bright blue jacket that accented her blonde hair, her boots crunching through the frozen puddles and sending the few snatches of snow dancing into the air. Setting his cup down and warming his hands on the fire, he saw she saw him now as she stood at a safe distance away staring at him.
Russian was spat as she back peddled a couple of steps and pointed an accusing finger at him, looking at her once again and wondering why she looked so familiar. Giving her a wave and wishing he had the knack for languages that Hank had, he smiled for her and went back to his coffee figuring it was her choice now how the meeting went.
Rushing up and keeping the weather worn planks of the fence between them, she leaned over and stared at him all the while kicking her feet in the air. Holding a hand up to her with a finger asking for a moment, he headed back into the farmstead for another rummage and came back with a couple packets of hot chocolate and a mug, mixing it strong in a fresh blast of water he kept boiling over the fire for when he needed a second cup.
Questioning Russian came to which he could only shrug in reply and freshen his coffee with a teaspoon of instant and a splash of water. Walking off to lean at the door to the farmhouse, he watched her rush up and have a sip of the strong treat, warming her hands on the mug in the early morning. Try as he might he couldn't figure out just why she was nagging at him so, swirling his bitter brew about and thinking how horrible it really was.
"Did Mikhail bring you here?"
Choking on his cup at hearing English for the first time, he looked again down to the girl and saw the years fall away from her to reveal the child he now remembered. Older yes, twelve if he remembered right, her hair was longer too but still the same golden blonde that looked almost ethereal for how it hung about her.
"Yes, yes he did. Did he bring you here too Illyana?" Scott asked, earning a little smile from her.
"No, I came myself. You're one of Piotr's teacher right?" Illyana asked after another sip of her hot chocolate.
"Yes, I'm glad you remembered me. Does Pitor know you're here?" Scott asked, the implications already running through his head.
"No." Illyana said sullenly.
"Your parents?" Scott asked anew, her reply the shake of her head and those blonde locks spilling out from under her toque.
"Is this a secret between you and Mikhail?" Scott asked.
"He told me not to tell anyone." Illyana confessed.
Thinking back to what now seemed like the night prior, he remembered all too well the honest pain Mikhail had shown mentioning the threats to his family and Illyana in particular. Excusing himself for a moment, he came back with two chocolate bars and offered one to her that was gladly taken. Opening his own and snapping off a piece, it was an old trick he had learned over the years of teaching students at the school, a modern twist on breaking bread.
"There was a day maybe just a few years ago we got a call that your parents couldn't find you. A lot of the school came looking for you, and in the end we found you safe and sound just like all of us wanted. You said you just got lost, you didn't get lost did you?" Scott asked between nibbles of his chocolate, dipping a piece in his awful coffee to snack on.
He could tell by her downcast eyes she'd been caught in a lie, it was one he couldn't fault her, but the threat to the Rasputin's was one that couldn't stand. That was still a call for Piotr to make, just as Mikhail had hinted, but seeing the youngest out of the family here now across the world with him it gave him much to think on and just a little bit of hope too.
"You came here that day didn't you, and Mikhail found you?" Scott gently asked, watching her kick her heels together looking nervous.
"I missed my biggest big brother, I was looking at pictures before we moved. Then..." Illyana whispered.
"Then you came to the last place you ever remembered seeing him?" Scott asked, her head nodding with a sniffle.
"He found me." Illyana confessed.
"What did you do after he found you?" Scott inquired with a kind smile.
"He took me for dinner and we saw a movie even if it was weird because they were talking Russian, they didn't even sound the same." Illyana revealed, slowly chewing at her candy bar without tasting it.
"What movie did you see?" Scott asked, her luminous blue eyes looking up in surprise.
"The last movie I saw was some artsy French movie, I spent most of my time reading the subtitles but that's what Jean wanted to see for the anniversary of when we started dating." Scott added, the old pain still there but finding it easier to talk about Jean as he opened up to the young girl.
"Ocean's Eleven." Illyana said, snapping her last piece of chocolate in two.
"Bad Russian dubbing for George and Brad?" Scott asked, Illyana nodding enthusiastically.
Offering his mostly uneaten bar, she took it with a tiny smile and a blush, kicking her feet again as she carefully broke the pieces down into squares to nibble away at. Watching her and thinking of another who did that, the ache in his heart came back. Even with his eyes hidden behind his sunglasses she must have seen his pain, a bit of chocolate held up by a frozen hand.
"You want to go home?" Illyana asked.
"You can take me?" Scott asked not caring how hopeful he sounded.
Nodding enthusiastically once more, Illyana jumped to her feet to offer her hand. Having a glance to the fire that still burned, a bucket of water and earth extinguished it in a haze of steam. Taking her hand, light spilled over the ground beneath them to rise as streamers and motes in the air before him as the land vanished as suddenly as it had once before.
-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-
The return had been a blur, but the phone call from the mansion had been their one relief, that Scott was safe and sound even if he was currently in what was now the Russian Federation. Sitting in her room and holding her near, Jono felt Marie lolling off to sleep anew to jolt awake and look after their friend who lay sleeping soundly in her own bed with the picture of her parents watching over her.
The knock at the door was a formality, Pete showing himself in after a moment with tray of coffees in hand right along with an assortment of biscuits and a few sandwiches. He'd been the one to have carried Jubilee off to her room, a date with the good Doctor McCoy in the morrow to be absolutely certain. Rousing awake the lady in his arms, Jono settled into a corner and took his offered cup to enjoy as he could while she laid in his lap nibbling on shortbread and chocolate chip.
"She's a plucky one that gel, she'll be fine mate." Jono voiced for them with the strength of his belief offered for them both though he spoke to one in particular.
Pete offered him a sad smile even as he placed a tray of cookies down upon the night stand between the beds, a tribute to his hopes for when Jubilee awoke. Tucking her in again if only an excuse to feel her gentle breath upon his hand, he stroked her cheek and touched her nose with a few words of Russian spoken for her alone.
Unbidden as it was, there were times when peoples thoughts were just a mix of too strong and too tantalizing not to visit, like an overheard conversation only a table away at a restaurant. Closing his eyes to embrace the warmth of it, Jono lived a moment remembered by Pete as another girl lay in bed sick and under the weather, a sister dotted on by her big brother with hair of honey and glacial blue eyes. The brush of fingers against her cheek, the tweak of her nose, and the promise to be there for her when she woke where seen anew as he learnt the meaning of the Russian spoken moments before.
"Who is she?" Jono asked, the echo of that moment filling his unheard voice as he relished the feel of a tear rolling down his cheek.
"Illyana, our little snowflake." Pete said with fondness in his voice and set upon his lips, life among telepaths a normalcy at the school.
"Yer sister?" Marie asked, a tear rolling down her cheek too as a flicker of the memory was offered to her.
Pete nodded with tears of a different kind falling, a talk with Logan about everything that had gone on in that private room they were meant to enjoy and revel in telling him of the dark cloud hanging over his family.
"The baby of our family, the one that can't remember how hard our lives were. She's the keeper of all our dreams, the one we all did what we had to for." Pete said, wiping his eyes with the knuckle of his thumb.
Newcomer to the school he was, Jono looked to Marie and felt just the same guilt at not knowing more about the people who had found their way into their lives. Pantomiming a kiss to her head as he pressed his bindings to her white streaked hair, he set his untouched coffee down to wrap her up in a hug he felt she could use all too well at the moment.
A flash of light on the wall he mistook for headlights pulling up the drive, Jono felt the curious thoughts of the school turn to surprise and shock. Outside doors were thrown open with the stomping of feet trampling down the halls, the three of them left to look at one another as they kept watch over the one of their number who laid slumbering. Reaching out to those minds and picking up their thoughts and the visions they mulled over, his shock was writ in his eyes and felt among them as he forgot those self taught lessons on shielding his gift from others.
"Scott?!" Marie asked all while jumping clear out of bed.
"Illyana!?" Pete gasped, torn between watching over the girl who tugged at his heart in a very different way than the love he felt for his little sister.
"They're both headed this way." Jono assured, fighting to bear the brunt of so many minds set aflame with the return of a man who was last heard to be an ocean and still further away.
The hammer fall of feet was heard even from their room, pounding down the hall until the door was torn open. Frozen as he looked on them and the slumbering girl, Scott had to lift his glasses to clear the tears from his clenched eyes. Rushing then to her bed, he did as one before had and brushed her cheek and found her hand beneath the blanket. Yet it was the one lingering at the door looking unsure of herself who Pete had his eyes on, standing tall from his chair to take two strides forward and draw her into his arms.
"How?" Pete croaked as he hugged his sister.
"I'm special, just like you and Mikhail, we're all special." Illyana managed as she squirmed and returned the embrace.
Jono saw the pain the last name brought to the boy he readily called his friend, the clenched eyes and the twisted smile that became a grimace. Finding his hands taken and looking to the girl who held them, Jono let his eyes smile for him grateful for the understanding her startling green eyes held.
"Think we should give them some privacy, huh?" Marie asked.
Helping her up and following her on the way out, they had one last look to the unfathomable reunion before closing the door. Thinking the rules might be relaxed just tonight, he showed her off to his room and gave up his bed to her. Playing soft melodies on his guitar, Jono lulled her back to sleep in the candlelight with so many icons of his art still so freshly painted on the walls he could still smell it drying.
-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-
Author's Note : Just a little shortie that's long overdue to wrap up everything that happened at the club and lead on into what will be the finale :) Enjoy!