Author's Notes:
I know you're not really reading this little commentary because you're sooooooooo anxious to see what going to happen next. But i felt inclined to put it up here anyway. Just wouldn't be a story without my Ramblin's.
~Windresss
Nothing Gold Can Stay.
Part 3: You Can Never Go Home
Pain stabbed at Jubilee's temples, the bright light blinding even her, who was accostumed to flashes of plasma energy. Her body ached from being tossed from her chair. But nonetheless she suddenly felt like laughing. The first to find her voice, she cried out,
"CLARICE!"
A startled round of gasps could be heard through the haze, then several boats of coughing as the other members discovered their own aches and pains. And there upon the kitchen table, stood the slender figure of Blink, her purple locks swirling about her.
She looked... older, wizened beyond her true age, though it was apparent she had grown nearly twice a fast as the members of the Gen-X team during her abscence. And now she stood before them, no longer believed dead.
Husk drew a gulping breath, the oxygen escaping on an exclamation, "Is it -Really- you?!"
Blink smiled, almost sadly Jubilee noted, and nodded, "It is, Paige....I have returned."
"We thought ya dead, Chica!" Angelo has regained his feet, looking up at her as if he too recognized the aged cast to her features. He glanced to Jubilee, who only shrugged.
"If Frostie catches you on the table, there'll be hell to pay.."
For the first time in entirely too long, Clarice Ferguson smiled with true warmth, her eyes lighting up the way they used to before she disappeared from this dimension in an effort to save them all. It warmed Jubilee, somewhere inside....where it had been cold a very long time.
The purple skinned woman stepped off the table, swathed in a green costume that differed drastically from the one she wore when Paige first met her as a captive of the Phalanx. It clung to her in a way that made even Chamber look upon the girl...no, woman....differently.
Though Clarice was certainly old, she was only a scant half inch taller than she had been when she left them, but the gangly look was gone, replaced by muscled contours that spoke of rigors the Team had yet to imagine.
It was obvious that no one wanted to broach the subject of where she had disappeared to, but Jubilee felt prodded to point out, "Damn, Girl...you've changed..."
"..and it ain't all bad...," Skin, like usual, added his suggestive remark, eyebrow waggling. The team chuckled in unison, save for the still quiet Blink and a oddly troubled looking Paige.
Clarice glanced to the girl she had met so long ago, and quirked a magenta brow, but remained silent. Instead, she waved a hand to quiet them.
"I could have returned before now, but I dared not. I had to prepare..to learn all I could so I could help you in what is to come..."
She let her words sink in, watching the group for a long moment as confusion clouded their eyes. Finally, Jubilee spoke, "So you came from the future?"
"An alternate future, yes....A future that will be, unless you all stop it."
Silence again. And disbelieving looks. "You're Kidding, Right?" Angelo scoffed, eyeing her almost warily.
"If only I were, Angelo..."
Jubilee finally spoke again, putting things together with more ease than the rest of the team. After all, she did work with Bishop for years, so time travel and alternate futures were nothing new.
"Thats why you are so much older...You've been there for at least a year or more longer than you've been gone here." At Clarice's nod, Jubilee suddenly became all business, "Whats happened, Blink? What's wrong with our Future?"
At that, the purple woman released a low sigh, looking pained... "It is not so simple as to tell you..and..I'm rather tired, Jubes.."
Jubilation snapped out of her state in an instant, "Oh, Clarice, I'm sorry. You need rest and all this can wait at least one more day.." Seized again by impulse, a force she should really learn to control, she moved forward and hugged the young woman tightly.
And suddenly, they all were. A tight circle of team members embraced their lost friend, abandoning their somber thoughts for the joy of her return.
*****
Clarice sighed, stepping into the homey but scantily furbished room just two doors down from the room Jubilee shared with Paige. She glanced around, smiling at the attempts made to give it a personal touch.
Half of Jubilee's monsterous stuffed animal collection was piled on the bed, each of the smiling creatures propped against the pillow. ~It's amazing how much they've changed....yet haven't at all..~
She shook her head, unwrapping the towel from around her head and allowing her wet tresses to tumble down her back. Dressed in a borrowed shirt and windshorts, she dropped the towel to the carpet and walked to sit on the edge of the bed. Blink picked up one of the animals, a worn stuffed elephant that looked like it had been acquired at a carnival, and gazed into its shiney, lifeless eyes.
~These people....my friends...How can I ask this of them? In so many ways, they are still the children I remembered and admired.~ She smirked dryly, ~I was a child then too....but I thought I knew so much...~
"Logan won that for me..." The quiet comment startled Blink, dashing her thoughts as she looked up into Jubilee's silhouette in the doorway.
"It must mean a lot to you, then..." Clarice, like everyone, was aware of the special relationship Jubilee had with the man called Wolverine. She understood it better than some.
Jubilee nodded, walking into the room and sitting down on the bed next to the purple skinned woman, "..Yes...it does...People are always telling me to get rid of it..that it reeks of cigar smoke.." She smiled, an odd smile that Blink couldn't place.
"..But I always say 'no.' Not because I love the stuffed animal...but because I love the memory..and the man." Jubilee reached out and took the toy, sighing wistfully, "It seems so long ago...but it could have only been a couple of years..."
And Blink realized what Jubilee was trying to tell her. The team may still seem like a group of children, but war, and surely that was what it was, does funny things to people. It makes adults out of kids, wise men out of fools. Clarice swallowed tightly, nodding. How could she have not seen that, when she had aged the same way?
Jubilee lingered a moment longer, then smiled and offered her friend the stuffed elephant. Blink took it, grasping it tightly to her chest, "Thank you.."
Jubilee grinned, tone shifting into its usual brisk note, "What are friends for?"
~What indeed..~ Clarice mused, watching the woman depart.
*****And So, another Chapter down. Did you like my little surprise? WEll, just you wait, cause I'm not ever CLOSE to through shocking you!***
I know you're not really reading this little commentary because you're sooooooooo anxious to see what going to happen next. But i felt inclined to put it up here anyway. Just wouldn't be a story without my Ramblin's.
~Windresss
Nothing Gold Can Stay.
Part 3: You Can Never Go Home
Pain stabbed at Jubilee's temples, the bright light blinding even her, who was accostumed to flashes of plasma energy. Her body ached from being tossed from her chair. But nonetheless she suddenly felt like laughing. The first to find her voice, she cried out,
"CLARICE!"
A startled round of gasps could be heard through the haze, then several boats of coughing as the other members discovered their own aches and pains. And there upon the kitchen table, stood the slender figure of Blink, her purple locks swirling about her.
She looked... older, wizened beyond her true age, though it was apparent she had grown nearly twice a fast as the members of the Gen-X team during her abscence. And now she stood before them, no longer believed dead.
Husk drew a gulping breath, the oxygen escaping on an exclamation, "Is it -Really- you?!"
Blink smiled, almost sadly Jubilee noted, and nodded, "It is, Paige....I have returned."
"We thought ya dead, Chica!" Angelo has regained his feet, looking up at her as if he too recognized the aged cast to her features. He glanced to Jubilee, who only shrugged.
"If Frostie catches you on the table, there'll be hell to pay.."
For the first time in entirely too long, Clarice Ferguson smiled with true warmth, her eyes lighting up the way they used to before she disappeared from this dimension in an effort to save them all. It warmed Jubilee, somewhere inside....where it had been cold a very long time.
The purple skinned woman stepped off the table, swathed in a green costume that differed drastically from the one she wore when Paige first met her as a captive of the Phalanx. It clung to her in a way that made even Chamber look upon the girl...no, woman....differently.
Though Clarice was certainly old, she was only a scant half inch taller than she had been when she left them, but the gangly look was gone, replaced by muscled contours that spoke of rigors the Team had yet to imagine.
It was obvious that no one wanted to broach the subject of where she had disappeared to, but Jubilee felt prodded to point out, "Damn, Girl...you've changed..."
"..and it ain't all bad...," Skin, like usual, added his suggestive remark, eyebrow waggling. The team chuckled in unison, save for the still quiet Blink and a oddly troubled looking Paige.
Clarice glanced to the girl she had met so long ago, and quirked a magenta brow, but remained silent. Instead, she waved a hand to quiet them.
"I could have returned before now, but I dared not. I had to prepare..to learn all I could so I could help you in what is to come..."
She let her words sink in, watching the group for a long moment as confusion clouded their eyes. Finally, Jubilee spoke, "So you came from the future?"
"An alternate future, yes....A future that will be, unless you all stop it."
Silence again. And disbelieving looks. "You're Kidding, Right?" Angelo scoffed, eyeing her almost warily.
"If only I were, Angelo..."
Jubilee finally spoke again, putting things together with more ease than the rest of the team. After all, she did work with Bishop for years, so time travel and alternate futures were nothing new.
"Thats why you are so much older...You've been there for at least a year or more longer than you've been gone here." At Clarice's nod, Jubilee suddenly became all business, "Whats happened, Blink? What's wrong with our Future?"
At that, the purple woman released a low sigh, looking pained... "It is not so simple as to tell you..and..I'm rather tired, Jubes.."
Jubilation snapped out of her state in an instant, "Oh, Clarice, I'm sorry. You need rest and all this can wait at least one more day.." Seized again by impulse, a force she should really learn to control, she moved forward and hugged the young woman tightly.
And suddenly, they all were. A tight circle of team members embraced their lost friend, abandoning their somber thoughts for the joy of her return.
*****
Clarice sighed, stepping into the homey but scantily furbished room just two doors down from the room Jubilee shared with Paige. She glanced around, smiling at the attempts made to give it a personal touch.
Half of Jubilee's monsterous stuffed animal collection was piled on the bed, each of the smiling creatures propped against the pillow. ~It's amazing how much they've changed....yet haven't at all..~
She shook her head, unwrapping the towel from around her head and allowing her wet tresses to tumble down her back. Dressed in a borrowed shirt and windshorts, she dropped the towel to the carpet and walked to sit on the edge of the bed. Blink picked up one of the animals, a worn stuffed elephant that looked like it had been acquired at a carnival, and gazed into its shiney, lifeless eyes.
~These people....my friends...How can I ask this of them? In so many ways, they are still the children I remembered and admired.~ She smirked dryly, ~I was a child then too....but I thought I knew so much...~
"Logan won that for me..." The quiet comment startled Blink, dashing her thoughts as she looked up into Jubilee's silhouette in the doorway.
"It must mean a lot to you, then..." Clarice, like everyone, was aware of the special relationship Jubilee had with the man called Wolverine. She understood it better than some.
Jubilee nodded, walking into the room and sitting down on the bed next to the purple skinned woman, "..Yes...it does...People are always telling me to get rid of it..that it reeks of cigar smoke.." She smiled, an odd smile that Blink couldn't place.
"..But I always say 'no.' Not because I love the stuffed animal...but because I love the memory..and the man." Jubilee reached out and took the toy, sighing wistfully, "It seems so long ago...but it could have only been a couple of years..."
And Blink realized what Jubilee was trying to tell her. The team may still seem like a group of children, but war, and surely that was what it was, does funny things to people. It makes adults out of kids, wise men out of fools. Clarice swallowed tightly, nodding. How could she have not seen that, when she had aged the same way?
Jubilee lingered a moment longer, then smiled and offered her friend the stuffed elephant. Blink took it, grasping it tightly to her chest, "Thank you.."
Jubilee grinned, tone shifting into its usual brisk note, "What are friends for?"
~What indeed..~ Clarice mused, watching the woman depart.
*****And So, another Chapter down. Did you like my little surprise? WEll, just you wait, cause I'm not ever CLOSE to through shocking you!***