Usual: Characters? Not Mine. Money? None Being Made. Un-named student belongs to me (I guess). Everything else belongs to They Who Own It. Even if They are doing a $#@&*! job...... This operates under the assumption that 5 years later, some of the X-Men have left, and new ones moved in. Kate Pryde, Emma Frost, and Bobby Drake are all living lives outside the Mansion and the world of X. This one is shorter than the others, it's a mini chapter. Onwards.
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Eye of the Storm
Jeanne M.
I was burned out from exhaustion, buried in the hail,
Poisoned in the bushes an' blown out on the trail,
Hunted like a crocodile, ravaged in the corn.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."
Shelter from the Storm by Bob Dylan
Whatever asshole said that time and distance heals any wound, was a lying son of a whore. Hmm......wait, that would have been Xavier. Charles needs to learn how to think before he speaks, you'd think someone with his brain size woulda figured that out on his own.....unless it's all ego like I been saying for years. Shit. It's been five years, and I can't get those eyes out of my head. The pain that flashed briefly behind those eyes as the wind screamed in sympathy with my heart. I make no apologies. I did what was necessary to protect myself. If I had just let Logan ride off into the night, never to be seen again, I think it would have killed me. I'm not a fool, I know he visits when I'm not around. I'll come back from visiting Pryde, Popsicle, or Frost, and I'll smell him. It doesn't take heightened senses or anything- it's quite a distinctive scent- cheap whiskey, expensive cigars, faded flannel, and cedar trees. He's come here maybe three times since that night.
And I smell him all over the place right now.
Admittedly, I usually don't take it very well when I discover he's been sneaking around. It involves me throwing one of my "tantrums" as Scott has taken to calling them, and storming into Xavier's office to ask very icily if they were going to bother to tell me that Wolverine had stopped by. Charles just looks at me with those sad eyes of his, taking in my disheveled and travel-worn gear, and states softly that yes, Logan had been on the grounds, but had already left. He never fails to stress the name, as if to counter my full use of his codename. Logan hasn't been Wolvie or Wolvester in a very long time.
This time, however, I can't work up the anger to accompany one of my infamous explosions of temper. The newer kids are watching me suspiciously, I suspect that Scott told them to stay out of my way until Ororo could get me calmed down. They're all waiting for me to start detonating things. I just smile thinly, making my way to Charles's study.
** Professor, are you busy? ** I tap lightly on the sturdy oak door out of courtesy.
** Come in, Jubilation. **
I push the door open to find him sitting behind the desk reading the Times. "How may I be of service?"
"He was here again, wasn't he." It isn't a question, and there is no venom in my voice. "The Wolverine."
"Yes Jubilee, Logan was here for a brief time." Ta da! He did it again. "Unfortunately, I could not convince him to stay with us."
"I suppose he left moments before my bike came racing up the frontage road?" I sit down in one of the huge leather armchairs and sigh. "Don't bother to answer, Charles. I think I already know the answer. How does that man do it?"
"I am not quite sure, his ability to leave in just enough time to avoid you completely greatly disturbs me." Charles pushes his paper to the side and studies me over his hands. How I hate it when he does that! "I sense that you are not as hostile as you usually are after such an occurrence. Has something changed?"
My laugh is bitter, tired. "You 'sense', Xavier? You mean the fact I'm not blowing things up or snarling at Scott wasn't a hint?" I tug my hair out of it's ponytail and let it fall loose. "I'm tired. I'm fucking exhausted at being angry at him for hurting me. I can't work up the energy to care about how he abandoned me, abandoned all of us! I've waited and waited for him to come back, I've been bending over backwards for a long time trying to get some word of him, and all I get is silence and hostility. For the first time in my life, I've got some sense of purpose. I'm in control. Of my powers, my life, everything. For once I'm happy, and the only thing that's missing is my best friend, the one person who understands me better than anyone else here- including telepaths. Logan is missing. We both made mistakes, I admit that. And Gods above know I've tried to atone for mine. But I'm getting discouraged, Charles. I can't wait for him forever, or I risk losing everything I've fought so hard for." I stand, brushing off my jeans. "Is that what you wanted to know?"
"In a sense, yes. However, I would argue that you do not yet have full control of your powers. Your abilities continue to elude definition, it shifts in subtle ways that Henry and I do not understand. You are a wildcard on the team, Jubilation, and we cannot depend on you because we do not know what you are capable of!" Xavier is giving me the 'I'm very disappointed in you' look. "You don't conform to teamwork, Jubilee."
"Like I said, Professor. I'm the one in control for once. I didn't say you were in control, I said that I was." I give him my sweetest smile and walk out, shutting the door behind me. Dealing with that man is almost as taxing as..........no, better off not thinking down that path. I walk swiftly past whispering students and teammates, heading towards the kitchen. I need food.
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I don't hear doors slamming, screaming, or anything igniting. That means that either Jubilee has decided to remain calm, or she doesn't know that Logan was here. I laugh softly to myself; the world must have come to an end, Jubilation Lee was keeping a reign on her temper. As long as she's spent honing her battle-skills, there is no way she cannot know that he was here. And knowing my friend, she has gone to drown her sorrows in her own time-honored fashion.
Double Fudge Vanilla Swirl Ice Cream.
I head to the kitchen, frowning sternly at lurking students who I know are just waiting around to see Jubilee pick a fight with Scott. I don't have the heart to tell them that she's probably going to be too full of sugar to be mad at anyone. I enter the kitchen, and instantly repress the laughter that bubbles up. Jubilee is sitting on a barstool in the corner, still wearing her dust-covered trenchcoat, motorcycle helmet dangling from the freezer handle, and the entire carton of ice cream is wedged into her lap. She waves a spoon at me and grins.
"Greetings and Salutations, Ororo! Care to indulge with me?"
"You sound like Hank, my friend." I deftly snag a spoon out of the drawer, and drag a chair over to join her. "Did you leave any of that for the rest of us?"
"Gee, and here I thought I had the whole Christian Slater thing going for me!" At my blank look, Jubilee twirls her spoon and digs deeper into the ice cream. "It's from the movie Heathers. He's a psychopathic pyro with a yen for mass death and destruction. I was watching it this weekend with Emma." Her eyes flicker to the door and a smile flits across her face as she winks at me. Jubilee clears her throat and raises her voice a notch. "I was thinking of re-enacting some of the scenes in the Danger Room later, but why wait?" The whoosh of air as our listeners rapidly depart is enough to stir the windchimes that Jean has hung over the doorway. Jubilee just rolls her eyes and dives back into the ice cream. "Maroons."
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'Ro says that she's doing good. She said that I'd be real proud o' Jubilee, that the kid's finally got her life together. She can apparently kick some serious bad-guy ass, and likes to take her frustrations out on the Danger Room. 'Ro was tellin' me about all the times that Jubilee has wiped the floor with Cyke during the one-on-one sessions, usually without using her powers. 'Ro also said that if I didn't stick around, for good, she was going to fry my sorry ass and let Jubilee kick the shit out of the rest.
Ororo says that I need to come home, or I'll risk losing my Jubilation forever. Sometimes she's so alien from the girl I first towed to the Mansion, that 'Ro doesn't recognize her.
I don't know if I can do it. This canucklehead doesn't know how to deal with a twenty-something girl with an attitude problem. What if she still hates me?
What if she just doesn't care anymore?
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I can't claim to know what happened, I wasn't here then. I came to the school last year, but I've heard all about Him. Logan, Wolverine, Patch, whatever you want to call Him. All the kids know about the Scott/Jean/Logan thing, and we've heard stuff about how He and Jubilee used to be great friends, and now they can't be around each other. It's like how the polarization of a magnet repels itself. Storm knows what happened, but she won't tell us. She always just says that a lot of things happened in a short amount of time, and it left people confused and upset. Lots of people got hurt and died and came back, but everything was all wrong afterwards.
I just hope they get it right. Watching Jubilee pick on Scott during training is fun, but the tension whenever His name is brought up just gets old after awhile.
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I still miss him so much.
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He hesitated this time, but left anyway. Bright Lady, when will we stop hurting ourselves this way?
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Despite my absence, these are my teammates. After all this time, I shouldn't feel hesitant about any of them. Well, I can still be suspicious of Remy. That charm and the accent of his just bothers me.......
I talked to Jean without losing it. I even talked to Scott.
But I still won't directly face Jubilee. I watched her enter the house from afar, I had left just in time. I watch her, and wait. Not yet. I can't talk with her yet. Maybe later.
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Four down, Ten verses to go.........
Omnia Mutantur, Nihil Interit.
'Everything changes, but nothing is truly lost.'