There Must Be Some Kind of Way Out of Here
Chapter 21
Author's Note: Stuff in italics are thoughts and I love you all.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from X-Men: Evolution - Marvel and Kid's WB do. I do own my original character, John Jashback, and any arms that fall off.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask for any of this. I just wanted to live my life like a normal person, not as a mutant. I didn't want to be John Jashback, the mutant whose arms fall off. I didn't want any of this...
It was a sight so grotesque and macabre, that even the most seasoned of horror writers would have trouble describing the scene. John Jashback sat nearly naked in a bed, bandage wrapped around his temples and one on his chest, cuts and bruises randomly decorating his upper body. And he had no arms. He alternated between gaping at his right shoulder and staring dejectedly at his left.
"Why?" he asked dumbfounded. "How did this happen?"
"It was quite possibly a defensive reaction that your body took when you were endangered," said Hank McCoy.
"I had not expected evolution of your mutant powers so soon after their emergence. In fact, due to such the late age in which they manifested, I had not expected them to evolve at all," the Professor said. "John? Are you listening?"
"Huh? What? Sorry," he said, snapping out of his daze. "This is all just...hard to take in at once."
"That's understandable," Professor Xavier told him. "But you knew that the evolution of your mutant powers could one day occur."
John nodded. As much as he wished it weren't true, the Professor was right. He sighed and reluctantly accepted his fate. Eyes rolled up in the back of his head, John screamed out in pain as a new set of arms sprung forth from his body. He fell backwards, sweating and breathing heavily. Hunger gnawed at him more than ever.
"DAMN THAT HURT!!" he shouted. He looked over at the Professor and reddened slightly. "Er, sorry."
"That's quite alright, John. I would assume you are more than hungry now?" John nodded. "Very well." Xavier wheeled over to the counter alongside the wall, and pulled a robe out from underneath. "If you'll put this on, we can get you upstairs." He glanced at a rather intricate and expensive-looking watch on his wrist. "It's eight o'clock already, so the other students have already eaten. You should be able to dine in relative privacy."
**********
The Professor left John to his own vices when they made it into the kitchen. John hobbled over to the pantry and refrigerator and pulled out anything and everything that looks appetizing. He could have cared less for what it was -- the stomach gods were angry and demanded multiple sacrifices. Shambling his way to the dining room table, John let everything he held fall onto the table. It was no feast fit for a king, but for someone who used extensive amounts of energy to regenerate limbs, it was bountiful indeed.
Some time later, the table was littered with empty dishes and discarded cans and wrappers from various foods. John leaned back in his chair, eyes shut, and a contented smile on his face.
"Wow, you sure were hungry," an accented voice said.
Snapped out of his blissful euphoria and opened his eyes. Rogue was standing in the doorway with a skewed grin on her face. John smiled back lazily, until she began laughing. He shook with a start, when he realized his hand was under his shirt, rubbing his stomach appreciatively. Face as red as Jean Grey's hair, John laughed nervously.
I sure screwed that up.
She laughed harder and sat down across from John. "How yah feelin'?"
God, she's beautiful.
"Much better now," he said smiling, not sure if he was happy because he had eaten or because Rogue was there. Probably both. "My head doesn't hurt anymore, and..." He drifted off, looking around the room and smiling like an idiot.
John, why do you live in a house full of beautiful girls? I don't know. You tell me. Shut up.
Looking back over at Rogue, he said, "So uh...how many people here think I died?"
"Oh, Ah'd say most everyone thought so at first. Mr. McCoy and the Prof. set 'em all straight though."
"Was uh...anyone in particular uh, worried about me?"
She gave him a brief, knowing smile and simply said, "Maybe."
Rather than press his luck, John stood up and stretched. Looking down at the mess on the table, he said, "Mind helping me clean up all this?"
**********
After they had finished cleaning, Rogue insisted on helping John to his room. The way she practically carried him upstairs, his arm around her shoulder, supporting him up the stairs, John was surprised she didn't try to tuck him in to bed. Not that he would have minded it if she offered. John peeled off his robe and limped into bed, trying to decide if the day's events were worse than those from the previous day. He was still debating the issue when he fell asleep.
**********
John opened his eyes and he was in his head. It was still dark outside, and the room was icy cold. A cloud of mist formed when air would escape his lips. He shivered under the blanket, and curled in a ball for to keep in the warmth. His door swung open, and a bright light filled his room. He shielded his eyes with a hand, giving his eyes time to adjust to the change. A figure stepped into the room, blocking the flow of light inside. John lowered his hand and blinked hard, not sure if he could believe what he was seeing -- Rogue, wearing a plain, long white dress. An unseen wind seemed to be blowing against her; her hair flowing with it. Walking slowly towards him, the light shining around her, she could have been an angel. If she had been beautiful before, now...she was Aphrodite, a goddess, beauty, radiance, elegance, grace, enchantment... She was the living form of perfection. Stopping next to the bed, she bent down, her face inches from John's. Heart pounding and blood boiling, John closed in, and pressed his lips to hers. At first, it was magical, wondrous, everything he hoped it could be. And then it changed. His heart stopped, his blood stopped, everything stopped, and he was slowly feeling weaker and weaker. He tried to pull away, but an unseen force held him close. His cries and scream muffled, John flailed about and pushed and pulled in a desperate attempt to break free. Every ounce of life was being sucked out of his body, and as he inched closer and closer to the impending darkness, Rogue never took her eyes from his...
**********
John propelled himself up from his bed, sweating profusely, breathing heavily, eyes darting across the room. Empty. The room looked exactly like it had when he went to sleep. The clock read 1:56, so he lay back down and ran his fingers through his hair.
Must have been a dream.
John stared up at the ceiling for a moment.
Well, no crap it was a dream. If it wasn't a dream, I'd be dead.
John settled back down and tried to fall back to sleep. After five minutes of futile tossing and turning, John sat up again and sighed. He went and sat down at the desk in the middle of the room, and pulled a sheet of paper and a pencil out of his backpack. He poked his nose for a moment, staring at the blank sheet. He shrugged and started writing...
~**********~
Dear Mom and Dad...
I don't know why I'm writing this. Wait, I do know why. It's late, I just had a dream where a beautiful girl tried to kill me. That's why I'm writing this. I don't know if I'll send it to you or not. If I had something really important to tell you, I'd call. But then again, you can't come rushing to get me out of here if I tell you something you don't want to hear. Like this: both of them fall off now. It happened earlier today. It's no big deal. The Professor said it could happen, even if the chances were slim. But yeah, enough about that.
I guess I should tell you about this place. First off, it is freakin' HUGE. I mean gargantuan. I got lost, wandering through all of hallways. It's THAT big. I should ask them for a map or something, cause I barely remember where my room is. The people here are really nice, and strange. And the girls...man oh man, are the girls here the hottest anywhere. I don't know what the hell the Professor was thinking, putting me and a bunch of other guys in a big mansion full of girls. Seven girls, ranging from drop dead gorgeous (that would be Jean, Rogue, and Miss Ororo) to cute and sweet (the other four: Kitty, Amara, Rahne, and Jubilee). But enough of that. I don't think you want to read about all the girls I can drool over while here. The guys are cool too. Scott is the oldest (of the students, that is), and he's a pretty cool guy, except the others say he's uptight. Then there's Kurt -- he's from Germany, and let's just say there's no one else like him. He's cool too, cause he shares this awesome candy with me. And then there's little Jamie. He's the youngest here, and I guess I've kind of adopted him as a little brother. He gets picked on and ignore and left out by some of the others, and since I asked him to show me around, he's become a little overprotective. The others are pretty cool, Evan, Bobby, Sam, Roberto, and Ray. I've had some interesting encounters with some of the others (including me fainting, others fainting, fires starting, making girls angry -- typical teenage activities). I'll tell you about them later.
School here isn't too bad. It's not as big as the one back home, but it's not bad. My classes are easy, the people are the same as those back home, and...well, it's just a regular school. With a large mutant population. I don't know. I miss you, and I miss home, but I think it was good that I came here. I need to be around others who know what being different is like, who can help me with everything that happens and....sorry, I'm rambling. That's what happens when you write letters in the middle of the night. I guess I'll go now, but I'll be sure to right real letters and call you...
With love from your son,
John
~**********~
John set down the pencil and stared the paper he had written, not exactly content with what he had written.
Yeah well, I don't do my best work at 2 a.m. He grinned wryly and yawned. John turned off the lamp and climbed back into his bed, mind and thoughts more clear, and somehow more relieved.
I wonder if I have a training session tomorrow. I should have made sure I asked. Bleh, I'll find out in the morning.
And with that, John Jashback, the mutant whose arms fell off, drifted back to sleep.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh yeah. gecko came up with a cool name for John -- Shatter, and even a little battle cry to go with it: "I am Shatter! Watch me fall apart in front of you!" I'll introduce it later in the story or something.
Someone asked in a review what John looks like, since he seems to be somewhat of a babe magnet (I guess). Let's see...he's...about as tall as Scott, with brown hair, brown eyes, broad shoulders, and I suppose he's a moderately attractive guy, cause in the world of X-Men Evolution, there are no ugly mutants, unless you're evil or a Morlock.
In case anyone was wondering, a side effect of John's regeneration is that it uses energy from his body to do so, which boils down to he gets really hungry after making a new arm. As the case in this chapter, he regenerated both arms at once, thus meaning he needed to eat more than a reefer-head with the munchies.
Chapter 21
Author's Note: Stuff in italics are thoughts and I love you all.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from X-Men: Evolution - Marvel and Kid's WB do. I do own my original character, John Jashback, and any arms that fall off.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask for any of this. I just wanted to live my life like a normal person, not as a mutant. I didn't want to be John Jashback, the mutant whose arms fall off. I didn't want any of this...
It was a sight so grotesque and macabre, that even the most seasoned of horror writers would have trouble describing the scene. John Jashback sat nearly naked in a bed, bandage wrapped around his temples and one on his chest, cuts and bruises randomly decorating his upper body. And he had no arms. He alternated between gaping at his right shoulder and staring dejectedly at his left.
"Why?" he asked dumbfounded. "How did this happen?"
"It was quite possibly a defensive reaction that your body took when you were endangered," said Hank McCoy.
"I had not expected evolution of your mutant powers so soon after their emergence. In fact, due to such the late age in which they manifested, I had not expected them to evolve at all," the Professor said. "John? Are you listening?"
"Huh? What? Sorry," he said, snapping out of his daze. "This is all just...hard to take in at once."
"That's understandable," Professor Xavier told him. "But you knew that the evolution of your mutant powers could one day occur."
John nodded. As much as he wished it weren't true, the Professor was right. He sighed and reluctantly accepted his fate. Eyes rolled up in the back of his head, John screamed out in pain as a new set of arms sprung forth from his body. He fell backwards, sweating and breathing heavily. Hunger gnawed at him more than ever.
"DAMN THAT HURT!!" he shouted. He looked over at the Professor and reddened slightly. "Er, sorry."
"That's quite alright, John. I would assume you are more than hungry now?" John nodded. "Very well." Xavier wheeled over to the counter alongside the wall, and pulled a robe out from underneath. "If you'll put this on, we can get you upstairs." He glanced at a rather intricate and expensive-looking watch on his wrist. "It's eight o'clock already, so the other students have already eaten. You should be able to dine in relative privacy."
**********
The Professor left John to his own vices when they made it into the kitchen. John hobbled over to the pantry and refrigerator and pulled out anything and everything that looks appetizing. He could have cared less for what it was -- the stomach gods were angry and demanded multiple sacrifices. Shambling his way to the dining room table, John let everything he held fall onto the table. It was no feast fit for a king, but for someone who used extensive amounts of energy to regenerate limbs, it was bountiful indeed.
Some time later, the table was littered with empty dishes and discarded cans and wrappers from various foods. John leaned back in his chair, eyes shut, and a contented smile on his face.
"Wow, you sure were hungry," an accented voice said.
Snapped out of his blissful euphoria and opened his eyes. Rogue was standing in the doorway with a skewed grin on her face. John smiled back lazily, until she began laughing. He shook with a start, when he realized his hand was under his shirt, rubbing his stomach appreciatively. Face as red as Jean Grey's hair, John laughed nervously.
I sure screwed that up.
She laughed harder and sat down across from John. "How yah feelin'?"
God, she's beautiful.
"Much better now," he said smiling, not sure if he was happy because he had eaten or because Rogue was there. Probably both. "My head doesn't hurt anymore, and..." He drifted off, looking around the room and smiling like an idiot.
John, why do you live in a house full of beautiful girls? I don't know. You tell me. Shut up.
Looking back over at Rogue, he said, "So uh...how many people here think I died?"
"Oh, Ah'd say most everyone thought so at first. Mr. McCoy and the Prof. set 'em all straight though."
"Was uh...anyone in particular uh, worried about me?"
She gave him a brief, knowing smile and simply said, "Maybe."
Rather than press his luck, John stood up and stretched. Looking down at the mess on the table, he said, "Mind helping me clean up all this?"
**********
After they had finished cleaning, Rogue insisted on helping John to his room. The way she practically carried him upstairs, his arm around her shoulder, supporting him up the stairs, John was surprised she didn't try to tuck him in to bed. Not that he would have minded it if she offered. John peeled off his robe and limped into bed, trying to decide if the day's events were worse than those from the previous day. He was still debating the issue when he fell asleep.
**********
John opened his eyes and he was in his head. It was still dark outside, and the room was icy cold. A cloud of mist formed when air would escape his lips. He shivered under the blanket, and curled in a ball for to keep in the warmth. His door swung open, and a bright light filled his room. He shielded his eyes with a hand, giving his eyes time to adjust to the change. A figure stepped into the room, blocking the flow of light inside. John lowered his hand and blinked hard, not sure if he could believe what he was seeing -- Rogue, wearing a plain, long white dress. An unseen wind seemed to be blowing against her; her hair flowing with it. Walking slowly towards him, the light shining around her, she could have been an angel. If she had been beautiful before, now...she was Aphrodite, a goddess, beauty, radiance, elegance, grace, enchantment... She was the living form of perfection. Stopping next to the bed, she bent down, her face inches from John's. Heart pounding and blood boiling, John closed in, and pressed his lips to hers. At first, it was magical, wondrous, everything he hoped it could be. And then it changed. His heart stopped, his blood stopped, everything stopped, and he was slowly feeling weaker and weaker. He tried to pull away, but an unseen force held him close. His cries and scream muffled, John flailed about and pushed and pulled in a desperate attempt to break free. Every ounce of life was being sucked out of his body, and as he inched closer and closer to the impending darkness, Rogue never took her eyes from his...
**********
John propelled himself up from his bed, sweating profusely, breathing heavily, eyes darting across the room. Empty. The room looked exactly like it had when he went to sleep. The clock read 1:56, so he lay back down and ran his fingers through his hair.
Must have been a dream.
John stared up at the ceiling for a moment.
Well, no crap it was a dream. If it wasn't a dream, I'd be dead.
John settled back down and tried to fall back to sleep. After five minutes of futile tossing and turning, John sat up again and sighed. He went and sat down at the desk in the middle of the room, and pulled a sheet of paper and a pencil out of his backpack. He poked his nose for a moment, staring at the blank sheet. He shrugged and started writing...
~**********~
Dear Mom and Dad...
I don't know why I'm writing this. Wait, I do know why. It's late, I just had a dream where a beautiful girl tried to kill me. That's why I'm writing this. I don't know if I'll send it to you or not. If I had something really important to tell you, I'd call. But then again, you can't come rushing to get me out of here if I tell you something you don't want to hear. Like this: both of them fall off now. It happened earlier today. It's no big deal. The Professor said it could happen, even if the chances were slim. But yeah, enough about that.
I guess I should tell you about this place. First off, it is freakin' HUGE. I mean gargantuan. I got lost, wandering through all of hallways. It's THAT big. I should ask them for a map or something, cause I barely remember where my room is. The people here are really nice, and strange. And the girls...man oh man, are the girls here the hottest anywhere. I don't know what the hell the Professor was thinking, putting me and a bunch of other guys in a big mansion full of girls. Seven girls, ranging from drop dead gorgeous (that would be Jean, Rogue, and Miss Ororo) to cute and sweet (the other four: Kitty, Amara, Rahne, and Jubilee). But enough of that. I don't think you want to read about all the girls I can drool over while here. The guys are cool too. Scott is the oldest (of the students, that is), and he's a pretty cool guy, except the others say he's uptight. Then there's Kurt -- he's from Germany, and let's just say there's no one else like him. He's cool too, cause he shares this awesome candy with me. And then there's little Jamie. He's the youngest here, and I guess I've kind of adopted him as a little brother. He gets picked on and ignore and left out by some of the others, and since I asked him to show me around, he's become a little overprotective. The others are pretty cool, Evan, Bobby, Sam, Roberto, and Ray. I've had some interesting encounters with some of the others (including me fainting, others fainting, fires starting, making girls angry -- typical teenage activities). I'll tell you about them later.
School here isn't too bad. It's not as big as the one back home, but it's not bad. My classes are easy, the people are the same as those back home, and...well, it's just a regular school. With a large mutant population. I don't know. I miss you, and I miss home, but I think it was good that I came here. I need to be around others who know what being different is like, who can help me with everything that happens and....sorry, I'm rambling. That's what happens when you write letters in the middle of the night. I guess I'll go now, but I'll be sure to right real letters and call you...
With love from your son,
John
~**********~
John set down the pencil and stared the paper he had written, not exactly content with what he had written.
Yeah well, I don't do my best work at 2 a.m. He grinned wryly and yawned. John turned off the lamp and climbed back into his bed, mind and thoughts more clear, and somehow more relieved.
I wonder if I have a training session tomorrow. I should have made sure I asked. Bleh, I'll find out in the morning.
And with that, John Jashback, the mutant whose arms fell off, drifted back to sleep.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh yeah. gecko came up with a cool name for John -- Shatter, and even a little battle cry to go with it: "I am Shatter! Watch me fall apart in front of you!" I'll introduce it later in the story or something.
Someone asked in a review what John looks like, since he seems to be somewhat of a babe magnet (I guess). Let's see...he's...about as tall as Scott, with brown hair, brown eyes, broad shoulders, and I suppose he's a moderately attractive guy, cause in the world of X-Men Evolution, there are no ugly mutants, unless you're evil or a Morlock.
In case anyone was wondering, a side effect of John's regeneration is that it uses energy from his body to do so, which boils down to he gets really hungry after making a new arm. As the case in this chapter, he regenerated both arms at once, thus meaning he needed to eat more than a reefer-head with the munchies.