Disclaimer: Still not mine, but like everyone I wish that they were. Well actually Claire is mine, so YOU can't use her unless you ask for permission, and unlike marvel I will hunt you down, so consider yourself forewarned.
Thwap!
Another
branch slapped Jubilee in the face as the huge hulk of a beast that was
carrying her ran after his companions. As far as she could tell she had been bouncing along in his arms for the
better part of a half-hour, and they didn't show any signs of slowing
down. She twisted so she could see
behind his massive shoulder to see if they were being followed, but the forest
was empty behind them.
"Um,
big dude?"
He
looked down at her questioningly.
"I
don't know if this has come to anyone else's attention, but I don't think we
are being followed so I think it would be ok for us to, like, slow down, ya
know?"
"She's
right." Claire said as she slowed to a stop, bracing her arms on her knees and
breathing heavily.
"You
sure?" said a voice behind Jubilee, and she strained to see if it was really
him.
"Yeah,
we've been running for a while now, and I doubt that the flatscans can keep up
with our pace."
"Then
perhaps we had better make camp, I'll collect firewood." John came to a stop next to Claire, resting
his hand on her shoulder.
Jubilee
couldn't believe it, she felt her mouth slowly drop open. His hair was a little longer, he was a
little slimmer, and didn't have his glasses, but it was definitely him.
"Cyclops?" Jubilee wriggled out of the larger mans arms
and ran to Scott, flinging her arms around his waste.
"OhmygodIcan'tbeliveit'syou,butitisyou,eventhoughwethoughtyouweredead,butobviouslyyournotdeadcauseyourrighthere!"
She gasped for breath and hugged him tighter. "Wait until Jean finds out!" She
smiled up at him.
"Excuse me? I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I have no idea what you are talking about." He slowly pulled free of Jubilee's grasp.
"What
do you mean you don't know what I'm talking about? You're our fearless leader, you have to
know!"
"Look
Sparky, I don't know how hard you were hit on the head, but the guy doesn't
know you."
She
wheeled on Claire, pointing her finger at her, "Yeah well I know who he
is so shaddup!" Claire simply raised
her hands and walked away.
"Look,
your name is Scott, and when we find a way home yur comin with us, cause you
gotta be with Jean."
"Whose
Jean?" John asked rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"She's
yur wife stupid." That got a reaction,
as Claire turned around and stalked toward the two.
"You
mean to tell me that Red is married to John?"
p
"His
name is Scott and yes."
Claire
gave a snort and patted Scott on the shoulder. "You might wanna stay here pal,
I've met the lady and trust me, she's no picnic."
"Neither
are you, but we're still nice to your ungrateful carcass." Jubilee mumbled
under her breath.
"That's
cause if you weren't I'd gut ya and use your intestines as party streamers
Sparky."
Jubilee
simply glared at her. It was amazing,
after all this time what were the chances that they would find Scott here of
all places. With Sinister, or as one of
Apocalypses evil horsemen, sure; but as a bum in the middle of a lawless and
abandoned land? Not only that, but Claire had saved her, and has seemingly
avoided death to do so. As usual the
turn of events boggled her and she decided that it would be easier to put it
out of her mind and think about it later—much later.
"So
we gonna start a fire or what?" She
yelled after the pair.
Dim
came and put a hand on her shoulder. "Fire would attract attention little
one. We will wait out the night and
continue in the morning."
"How
will we keep warm?"
Dim
simply smiled, "No worries. They will
think of something, they always do."
Cable
placed the steeple of his fingers against his lips as he gazed of off the roof
of the mansion. Three of their
teammates were missing, and now two were dead. Things were not going well.
Peter
had been laid to rest. His sacrifice
had saved millions of lives, but to those close to him that fact did not heal
the wound in their hearts. Storm had
cried for days upon hearing the news, and had been for all purposes,
inconsolable.
There
had been no trace of Jubilee or Claire yet, and it worried Cable that even with
such a close mental link he couldn't sense Claire at all. It was as if she had simply vanished. Or had
been taken someplace too far for him to reach her.
"You
wanna be alone?" Cable turned to see Gambit
leaning against one of the chimneystacks.
"No,
I believe that you come here often enough to own rights to it."
Gambit
simply nodded as gracefully sank down next to his teammate. His lit a cigarette and inhaled slowly
before turning to Cable.
"You
tryin ta make sense of it all?"
"No. There is nothing to make sense of. He's dead Gambit. Shadowcat, Jubilee, and Claire are MIA, and we can't find them. It isn't really any mystery what happened."
Gambit
took a puff of his cigarette, looking into the forest as he digested Nathan's
words. "You a tough son-ofa-bitch, non? You can just take dem punches as they come, and not blink twice. Have ta say though, sometimes tragedy can be
a blessin in disguise."
"And
how do you see that?" Nathan bit out.
"Well
as Remy sees it, things be runnin more smoothly wit'out Claire here. She be notin but a thorn in our side since
she got here. Now dat thorn be gone."
"A
thorn in our side or yours Cajun?" When Remy raised an eyebrow at him, Nathan
continued. "You forget that Claire and I practically share a mind. I know how you two act towards each other."
"So?"
"Just
like I know how things have been going between you and Rogue. All I am saying is perhaps the thorn is more
personal than you would like to admit."
"Well
if you think that den you be wrong homme, you can count on dat."
"Perhaps,
but she will be back eventually. She's
a survivor-you can count on that."
The
quartet of travelers was huddled next to each other on the ground trying to
stay warm in loo of the falling snow.
"Some
one wanna tell me why this is a good idea again?" Jubilee grumbled.
"Like
I told you the last time, If I raise my body temperature then I can keep us
warm and we won't need the fire, and they won't be able to spot us."
"Yeah,
well I think you forgot one important fact. You only have two sides and there are three of us!"
"Congratulations
Jubilee, I didn't know you could count."
"Oh
your reaaal funny."
"Could
the two of you quite bickering long enough for the rest of us to get some
sleep?"
"Sure
John, your welfare is the first thing on my mind."
"His
NAME is Scott."
"That's
it!" Claire rolled over pushing Scott into the ground with her weight as she
reached for Jubilee. "I've had enough of your ungrateful whining! I'm gonna finish what those soldiers started
and I'm gonna tell the rest of your precious X-men that you walked off of
cliff!" She reached for a scrambling Jubilee.
However
she didn't get a chance to get close as Scott firmly closed his arms around her
waste. "If you wanted to get close
Marquee, all you had to do is ask." He smiled up at her.
"In
your dreams."
"Every
night since I met you."
Claire
raised an eyebrow at the man beneath her who had her 'imprisoned', "You think you can handle me slick?"
"I'm willing to try." He smiled up at her.
"Oh
pulease! There are actual human beings
present here people. Let's can the mush
ok?"
"Alas,
the kid is right." Scott rolled Claire off of him and placed her back at his
side. "but I have to say that was the most enjoyable rescue attempt I have ever
made."
"See
if you still think that when you have to explain this to every one back at the
mansion. Then we'll see how fearless
you really are." Jubilee snorted,
settling back into the crook of his arm.