Chapter Two: A Loss and a Gain
"Hello... Hello? Charles?"
"Ms. Ororo? Mr. Logan? Are you here?"
"Hey, guys! Where are ya?"
The Meoskite family quietly walked up the grand staircase.
"Helloooo- Oh!"
Kurt BAMFed to the landing, in between Mir and Mara, with Meos still on the staircase.
"Vhat are you guys doing here?"
"What, are we not allowed to visit anymore? Some friends!"
Kurt gave Mir a look. She laughed.
"I was just kidding, Fuzzy."
"Min's missing- Mom asked the cauldron, and it said she was here. Have you seen the black furball slinking around anywhere?" Mara asked.
"She's missing too?"
"Uh-oh," Mir said at once.
"I don't like the sound of this!" Mara commented.
"Katherine is gone. Missing. Or as Rogue vould say, 'not findable.'"
"Oh no!" Rogue walked in on the conversation. "Still no luck?"
"Nein. Any news from ze others?" (AN: "Nein" is German for "no." At first I had spelled it "nine" ...now you can really tell my first language is English.)
"Still no sign of 'er." Rogue shook her head.
"Wait- Wait a minute." Mir held up one hand. "Does... Does Kitty know about this?"
"Are ya'll crazy? If she evah caught word of this, she'd go insane! She'd nevah stay in bed, just like last time! You remembah how she refused to rest, just because 'poor little Katherine' was lost, after faintin' like that in the Danger Room! She had to get up and start lookin' for her herself. Well, that ain't happenin' this time! She is gonna stay in bed and rest, not knowin' a thing about it!"
"Plus, she'd basically kill you, Rogue, if she knew. You VERE supposed to be taking care of her vhile Kitty recovered," Kurt said.
"Not mah fault the furball got away! I turn mah back for ONE second-"
"Okay, okay! You've answered my question, that's enough now!" Mir said.
Mara giggled. "Maybe Katherine is with Minuit."
Silence.
"Ya know what?" Meos climbed the rest of the stairs and stood by her brown-haired daughter. "I think, just maybe, you're right, 'Rantha."
"Ya'll got to be kiddin'."
"Mom, can you summon Min? Tell her to bring Katherine as well?"
"Well, let's see, I'll need my spellbook..." The objects appeared in her hands as she listed them, "... my cauldron, my potion set, MAYBE a touch of cat tongue and lost shadow mix."
The others stared, dumbfounded.
"Well, what are you all waiting for? Go and get me something that belongs to Katherine!" Meos said. "I'll take care of Min."
"Um, excuse me, ma'am? Why didn't you just conjure Katherine and Min in the first place?"
"Oh, don't be silly, Rogue. You can't conjure animate objects! Only inanimate objects can be conjured. Living things have to be summoned... oh, the process is so detailed and precise, I do wish we could just... 'conjure' people and such. Alas, hear my lament: It is not so," Meos said dramatically.
Rogue blinked. "Okay...So then, how did you conjure Katherine last time? Back when she was first missing?"
"Notice that she didn't come alone."
"Huh?"
"I conjured the bag, Rogue. Katherine just happened to be in it. Which was my plan. She came in the bag... I didn't just make her appear out of thin air, ya know."
"Here you are!" Kurt appeared with Katherine's catnip mouse.
"Why, thank you Kurt!" Meos smiled as Min's mouse toy appeared in her hands. She laid both items down on the ground, as well as everything else in her hands, and then knelt down in front of the cauldron.
"Mom! You can't think of doing it HERE!"
"Why not?" Meos asked innocently. "Oh, it'll be fun, just watch!"
Mir groaned and smacked her forehead. "I can't believe we're performing a spell on the Institute's steps..."
"Come off, Mira. I expect you AND 'Rantha to know all this by next Sunday; there WILL be a test! And if you believe it to be oral- ha! AND I want a paper on exactly WHY we can't conjure animate objects and only inanimate, AND some examples. Also why the techniques differ. The paper has to be longer than a page. I don't care what maximum; the minimum is exactly one page."
Mir and Mara groaned. "Mom, it's almost Halloween!"
"Exactly my point, Mira. More of a chance to fit all this new information inside your pretty heads." Meos then focused on the potion, adding the cat's tongue, Katherine's cat toy, and Min's mouse to the mix.
"Vow," Kurt said. Rogue took it as aweness at the magic; Mir and Mara took it as an exclamation of their "torture."
Then Meos began chanting.
"Lords of wind, water, and void,
Lords of fire and earth-
Bring me the felines of Kitty and Meos
Bring to their masters their mirth!
Send the cats a warning,
Clear as the light which shines,
Get their cat butts back to their owners,
Or we'll have their hides!"
Again, the wind blew, swirling the smoke, mixing it all around. With a sudden burst it flew out into the night sky, then dove behind the greenhouse with a ray of light.
"That had to be the most WEIRDEST thing I've ever seen! OR heard!" Rogue exclaimed. "Maybe the lamest..." She then thought of all the things she'd seen so far. "Oh, nevahmind..."
"That's what you get for having witches for friends," Mara said.
"They should be coming soon-" Meos cut herself off as she peered closer into the brew. "What!"
"Huh? Mom, what's wrong?"
"Wha? Oh, dear..."
"Je ne suis pas née hier, maman."
"Je sais! Je sais, chère. Mais ce n'est pas... oh mon Dieu."
"What?!"
"I know! I know, dear. But it's not... Oh my God."
"What!"
"Katherine... I can't find Katherine. She's isn't replying."
"Does zat mean she's not here?"
"Oh no, she's here alright. She got the message- she just isn't replying."
"What does that mean?"
"... I don't know. She may be unconcious."
"Vhat?"
"What?!"
"What?!"
"Oh no..."
"Katherine!"
"Huh?" Suddenly all five pairs of eyes turned to the other side of the landing, where Kitty stood, shaken.
"Guys... what's going on? Where's my Katherine?"
"I repeat... Oh no!" Rogue muttered.
"You're toast," Mir said to her.
"Aww, you hush!" Rogue said in a hushed whisper.
"What's going on?! Somebody answer me! Mir, Mara... Ms. Meos, why are you here?"
"Kitty, vhat are you doing out of bed? You should be resting..."
"No, I shouldn't. Something is totally wrong. Where is Katherine? Why are they here?"
Kurt went over to her and gently guided her back to her room. "Nothing important, Kitty. Min didn't come home yet, and zey thought she vould be here."
"But what about..." Kitty suddenly stopped and hoarsely coughed. "Oh, man..."
"Come on, lets get you back to bed."
Suddenly, Kitty had a sneeze attack. She flew backward and phazed through the banister. After what seemed like a few hundred sneezes, she stopped and looked down.
"Oh... man!" She let out a scream as she fell from mid-air. Kurt BAMFed to where she was and caught her awkwardly.
"See vhat I mean? You're in danger if you don't get back to bed."
"And I don't think that was a joke, Kitty." Rogue leaned across the rail to face Kitty, followed by Mir and Amarantha.
"I agree," Mir said. Mara nodded in agreement.
"But, Katherine!"
"She's fine! Don't worry, I'm takin' care of her." Rogue said. Kurt tried hard to keep a straight face.
"Oh... okay..." Kitty said faintly. She allowed Kurt to 'port to her room. He dropped her off, and after a small kiss, he BAMFed back to the others.
"I hate lying to Kitty like zis... but I don't vant her to vorry!"
"It's understandable, Kurt," Mara said. "But what are we going to do about Katherine?"
"Follow me," Meos said mysteriously, and she raised the hood of her cloak. She banished her items, returned the cat toy to Kurt, and walked down the steps to the door.
"Wait, Mom!"
"Yeah, wait for us!"
Mir and Mara raised their hoods as well and ran down the stairs. Kurt BAMFed away. He soon returned with his cloak on, and Rogue's in his arms.
"You better not have gone through all mah stuff to find this," Rogue said as she grabbed the cloak away from him.
"Don't vorry... I didn't! It vas just in your closet... Oh, by ze vay, Kitty's asleep again."
"I hope she doesn't wake up." Rogue lowered the cloak over her clothes.
"Come on, ve'll be left behind!" Kurt grabbed Rogue's arm as soon as she donned her hood and 'ported to where Meos was standing outside.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Meos made her way to the other side of the greenhouse. "Min!" she said in a whisper. "Min, get your hide out here this instant!" Meos heard giggles behind her. *That would have to be Mira and 'Rantha,* she thought. She WAS talking in the same tone of voice as when she lectured them. She had it coming.
Suddenly, Meos stopped. Everyone crashed into each other, with exclaimations of surprise and temporary pain.
"Ouch! Zat vas my tail!" Kurt cried out, rubbing his head.
"Shhh..." Meos put a finger to her lips. "Minuit Chatte! Come here now, come here now, come here now!"
A bright light flashed, and then the black cat was at Meos's feet, innocently sitting and looking up at her.
"Min!" Meos reached down and picked up her familiar by the back of the neck. "Where is Katherine?"
"I don't know, Meos! Oiy, put me down!" A strange voice said. Min struggled within Meos's hold.
"Ex.. eh, excuse me? Did that cat just... talk?!"
"Why don't you ask her yourself, Rogue?" Mir asked sarcastically. "Of course she can talk- she IS a witch's familiar, ya know!"
"But she didn't talk last Christmas! Or any other time I saw her!"
"She was talking to Katherine. Katherine doesn't understand human talk."
"Back then she didn't," Min said.
"Min, what do you mean? Answer me now, Minuit. Where is Katherine? I know you've seen her today. Where is she?"
"I don't know where Katherine is, okay? She... disappeared."
"Don't make me use force!"
"Now you're starting to sound like Colleen."
Min hit the floor with severe force, but managed to land on her paws all the same.
"Minuit Chatte..."
"I'm sorry! It was true. Everything I've said so far is true, and everything I'm saying now is true. I do not know where Katherine is."
"But you were with her! We saw you!" Mara exclaimed.
"Yes, that is true; I was with her. But she disappeared."
Suddenly, a shadowy figure hesitatingly walked up behind Min. Green eyes reflected in the darkness.
"Hello?" asked a strange voice.
"Hello... Hello? Charles?"
"Ms. Ororo? Mr. Logan? Are you here?"
"Hey, guys! Where are ya?"
The Meoskite family quietly walked up the grand staircase.
"Helloooo- Oh!"
Kurt BAMFed to the landing, in between Mir and Mara, with Meos still on the staircase.
"Vhat are you guys doing here?"
"What, are we not allowed to visit anymore? Some friends!"
Kurt gave Mir a look. She laughed.
"I was just kidding, Fuzzy."
"Min's missing- Mom asked the cauldron, and it said she was here. Have you seen the black furball slinking around anywhere?" Mara asked.
"She's missing too?"
"Uh-oh," Mir said at once.
"I don't like the sound of this!" Mara commented.
"Katherine is gone. Missing. Or as Rogue vould say, 'not findable.'"
"Oh no!" Rogue walked in on the conversation. "Still no luck?"
"Nein. Any news from ze others?" (AN: "Nein" is German for "no." At first I had spelled it "nine" ...now you can really tell my first language is English.)
"Still no sign of 'er." Rogue shook her head.
"Wait- Wait a minute." Mir held up one hand. "Does... Does Kitty know about this?"
"Are ya'll crazy? If she evah caught word of this, she'd go insane! She'd nevah stay in bed, just like last time! You remembah how she refused to rest, just because 'poor little Katherine' was lost, after faintin' like that in the Danger Room! She had to get up and start lookin' for her herself. Well, that ain't happenin' this time! She is gonna stay in bed and rest, not knowin' a thing about it!"
"Plus, she'd basically kill you, Rogue, if she knew. You VERE supposed to be taking care of her vhile Kitty recovered," Kurt said.
"Not mah fault the furball got away! I turn mah back for ONE second-"
"Okay, okay! You've answered my question, that's enough now!" Mir said.
Mara giggled. "Maybe Katherine is with Minuit."
Silence.
"Ya know what?" Meos climbed the rest of the stairs and stood by her brown-haired daughter. "I think, just maybe, you're right, 'Rantha."
"Ya'll got to be kiddin'."
"Mom, can you summon Min? Tell her to bring Katherine as well?"
"Well, let's see, I'll need my spellbook..." The objects appeared in her hands as she listed them, "... my cauldron, my potion set, MAYBE a touch of cat tongue and lost shadow mix."
The others stared, dumbfounded.
"Well, what are you all waiting for? Go and get me something that belongs to Katherine!" Meos said. "I'll take care of Min."
"Um, excuse me, ma'am? Why didn't you just conjure Katherine and Min in the first place?"
"Oh, don't be silly, Rogue. You can't conjure animate objects! Only inanimate objects can be conjured. Living things have to be summoned... oh, the process is so detailed and precise, I do wish we could just... 'conjure' people and such. Alas, hear my lament: It is not so," Meos said dramatically.
Rogue blinked. "Okay...So then, how did you conjure Katherine last time? Back when she was first missing?"
"Notice that she didn't come alone."
"Huh?"
"I conjured the bag, Rogue. Katherine just happened to be in it. Which was my plan. She came in the bag... I didn't just make her appear out of thin air, ya know."
"Here you are!" Kurt appeared with Katherine's catnip mouse.
"Why, thank you Kurt!" Meos smiled as Min's mouse toy appeared in her hands. She laid both items down on the ground, as well as everything else in her hands, and then knelt down in front of the cauldron.
"Mom! You can't think of doing it HERE!"
"Why not?" Meos asked innocently. "Oh, it'll be fun, just watch!"
Mir groaned and smacked her forehead. "I can't believe we're performing a spell on the Institute's steps..."
"Come off, Mira. I expect you AND 'Rantha to know all this by next Sunday; there WILL be a test! And if you believe it to be oral- ha! AND I want a paper on exactly WHY we can't conjure animate objects and only inanimate, AND some examples. Also why the techniques differ. The paper has to be longer than a page. I don't care what maximum; the minimum is exactly one page."
Mir and Mara groaned. "Mom, it's almost Halloween!"
"Exactly my point, Mira. More of a chance to fit all this new information inside your pretty heads." Meos then focused on the potion, adding the cat's tongue, Katherine's cat toy, and Min's mouse to the mix.
"Vow," Kurt said. Rogue took it as aweness at the magic; Mir and Mara took it as an exclamation of their "torture."
Then Meos began chanting.
"Lords of wind, water, and void,
Lords of fire and earth-
Bring me the felines of Kitty and Meos
Bring to their masters their mirth!
Send the cats a warning,
Clear as the light which shines,
Get their cat butts back to their owners,
Or we'll have their hides!"
Again, the wind blew, swirling the smoke, mixing it all around. With a sudden burst it flew out into the night sky, then dove behind the greenhouse with a ray of light.
"That had to be the most WEIRDEST thing I've ever seen! OR heard!" Rogue exclaimed. "Maybe the lamest..." She then thought of all the things she'd seen so far. "Oh, nevahmind..."
"That's what you get for having witches for friends," Mara said.
"They should be coming soon-" Meos cut herself off as she peered closer into the brew. "What!"
"Huh? Mom, what's wrong?"
"Wha? Oh, dear..."
"Je ne suis pas née hier, maman."
"Je sais! Je sais, chère. Mais ce n'est pas... oh mon Dieu."
"What?!"
"I know! I know, dear. But it's not... Oh my God."
"What!"
"Katherine... I can't find Katherine. She's isn't replying."
"Does zat mean she's not here?"
"Oh no, she's here alright. She got the message- she just isn't replying."
"What does that mean?"
"... I don't know. She may be unconcious."
"Vhat?"
"What?!"
"What?!"
"Oh no..."
"Katherine!"
"Huh?" Suddenly all five pairs of eyes turned to the other side of the landing, where Kitty stood, shaken.
"Guys... what's going on? Where's my Katherine?"
"I repeat... Oh no!" Rogue muttered.
"You're toast," Mir said to her.
"Aww, you hush!" Rogue said in a hushed whisper.
"What's going on?! Somebody answer me! Mir, Mara... Ms. Meos, why are you here?"
"Kitty, vhat are you doing out of bed? You should be resting..."
"No, I shouldn't. Something is totally wrong. Where is Katherine? Why are they here?"
Kurt went over to her and gently guided her back to her room. "Nothing important, Kitty. Min didn't come home yet, and zey thought she vould be here."
"But what about..." Kitty suddenly stopped and hoarsely coughed. "Oh, man..."
"Come on, lets get you back to bed."
Suddenly, Kitty had a sneeze attack. She flew backward and phazed through the banister. After what seemed like a few hundred sneezes, she stopped and looked down.
"Oh... man!" She let out a scream as she fell from mid-air. Kurt BAMFed to where she was and caught her awkwardly.
"See vhat I mean? You're in danger if you don't get back to bed."
"And I don't think that was a joke, Kitty." Rogue leaned across the rail to face Kitty, followed by Mir and Amarantha.
"I agree," Mir said. Mara nodded in agreement.
"But, Katherine!"
"She's fine! Don't worry, I'm takin' care of her." Rogue said. Kurt tried hard to keep a straight face.
"Oh... okay..." Kitty said faintly. She allowed Kurt to 'port to her room. He dropped her off, and after a small kiss, he BAMFed back to the others.
"I hate lying to Kitty like zis... but I don't vant her to vorry!"
"It's understandable, Kurt," Mara said. "But what are we going to do about Katherine?"
"Follow me," Meos said mysteriously, and she raised the hood of her cloak. She banished her items, returned the cat toy to Kurt, and walked down the steps to the door.
"Wait, Mom!"
"Yeah, wait for us!"
Mir and Mara raised their hoods as well and ran down the stairs. Kurt BAMFed away. He soon returned with his cloak on, and Rogue's in his arms.
"You better not have gone through all mah stuff to find this," Rogue said as she grabbed the cloak away from him.
"Don't vorry... I didn't! It vas just in your closet... Oh, by ze vay, Kitty's asleep again."
"I hope she doesn't wake up." Rogue lowered the cloak over her clothes.
"Come on, ve'll be left behind!" Kurt grabbed Rogue's arm as soon as she donned her hood and 'ported to where Meos was standing outside.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Meos made her way to the other side of the greenhouse. "Min!" she said in a whisper. "Min, get your hide out here this instant!" Meos heard giggles behind her. *That would have to be Mira and 'Rantha,* she thought. She WAS talking in the same tone of voice as when she lectured them. She had it coming.
Suddenly, Meos stopped. Everyone crashed into each other, with exclaimations of surprise and temporary pain.
"Ouch! Zat vas my tail!" Kurt cried out, rubbing his head.
"Shhh..." Meos put a finger to her lips. "Minuit Chatte! Come here now, come here now, come here now!"
A bright light flashed, and then the black cat was at Meos's feet, innocently sitting and looking up at her.
"Min!" Meos reached down and picked up her familiar by the back of the neck. "Where is Katherine?"
"I don't know, Meos! Oiy, put me down!" A strange voice said. Min struggled within Meos's hold.
"Ex.. eh, excuse me? Did that cat just... talk?!"
"Why don't you ask her yourself, Rogue?" Mir asked sarcastically. "Of course she can talk- she IS a witch's familiar, ya know!"
"But she didn't talk last Christmas! Or any other time I saw her!"
"She was talking to Katherine. Katherine doesn't understand human talk."
"Back then she didn't," Min said.
"Min, what do you mean? Answer me now, Minuit. Where is Katherine? I know you've seen her today. Where is she?"
"I don't know where Katherine is, okay? She... disappeared."
"Don't make me use force!"
"Now you're starting to sound like Colleen."
Min hit the floor with severe force, but managed to land on her paws all the same.
"Minuit Chatte..."
"I'm sorry! It was true. Everything I've said so far is true, and everything I'm saying now is true. I do not know where Katherine is."
"But you were with her! We saw you!" Mara exclaimed.
"Yes, that is true; I was with her. But she disappeared."
Suddenly, a shadowy figure hesitatingly walked up behind Min. Green eyes reflected in the darkness.
"Hello?" asked a strange voice.