The southern couple walked downstairs, each with an arm slung around the other's waist, and into the foyer where the Christmas tree stood in all it's glory. Everyone really had done a nice job. There was dead silence for a moment when they walked into the room. Remy and Rogue were again forced to suppress their laughter lest they give the game away.
"Wow. It looks great y'all. How'd ya get the highah branches?"
"Well, since SOME people with the power to fly," Ray gave her a dark look, "didn't help we got Jean to do the higher branches with her TK, the girls stood on our shoulders to reach the middle ones, and all of us did the lower ones."
Remy was about to make a smart comment when there was a knock on the door. Kitty flew out of the wall and through the front door, appearing a moment later dragging Lance in after her. "Um, hi," he greeted the others a bit uncomfortably. Then he caught sight of the Christmas tree and his eyes widened. "Woah..."
Once he got over his awe of the tree, his glance met those of the many X-Men in the foyer. The ways they were looking at him widely differed. Remy rubbed his fist while Rogue glared at him from underneath the Cajun's arms. Jubilee and the other new recruits had small smiles on their faces, happy to see him, yet rather confused as to why he was there. They figured that since he'd ditched the team, they would've only see him in the halls at school. But with a quick glance at Kitty and the deep blush on her cheeks, it all came together.
"Umm," Lance ran a hand through his hair. "What's goin' on?" he asked casually.
Rogue hmphed loud enough for it to almost echo. Remy massaged her side to calm her down. He replied back, "Not'in' at all." Then he squinted at him. "De eye is lookin' better, eh? How's it feelin'?" He grinned with satisfaction.
Lance was about to let out a growl, but he caught Kitty looking up to him with pleading eyes. He sighed. "Better, thanks," he muttered dejectedly.
Kitty smiled happily. "Umm, if you guys, like, don't mind, I'm just going to... right. C'mon, Lance." She took his hand, leading him away.
Bobby leaned into Jubilee and whispered, "Great, who's going to spy on them for us?"
She pointed a finger into his chest. "I'm not doing ANYMORE chores for ANYONE just so you can feed your perverted mind," she told him as she blasted him a few inches away with a tiny paff. He backed up into Amara, who also gave him a disapproving look.
"No way. You'd be better off playing matchmaker with Scott and Jean than getting me involved with THAT."
"I heard that!!" Jean screamed from her room.
"Aw, you're no fun..." His eyes lit up as he spotted Jamie. "Jamie! My main man!"
"Not a chance. You see I have something you lack... survival skills. Every single one of the girls in this mansion could kick my ass, with the possible exception of Kitty, and she has Lance. NO!"
"Damn." He sighed, glanced around at the others, none of whom were going to help him spy on Kitty and Lance. Suddenly he had and idea, nonchalantly opening the door and wandering outside. As soon as he was off the sidewalk he made an ice slide that went all the way around the mansion and up to Kitty's window. It topped out into a platform and he peered into the window where Kitty and Lance appeared to be talking quietly. 'Well, this sucks,' he thought with a mental pout. Then Lance leaned forward and kissed her. 'Yes! Score!' Bobby thought, like the little perv he was, as Kitty kissed Lance back. Then Lance saw him and extended his arm, fingers spread. "Oh, shit..."
Kitty watched as Lance turned to the window. Seeing Bobby out there, she shrieked. When Lance started to raise his hand up, she didn't stop him. Lance's eyes rolled back and a tremor rocked throughout the estate. Students in the foyer just shook their heads as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Rogue looked to Evan. "Ha! Ah said under five minutes. Pay up." She held out her gloved hand. Evan smacked down a $10 bill, sulking.
Bobby's ice slide crumbled under the shakes, and down he went. He created a small ice tower to break his fall on the way down, but it shattered as well. Kitty looked down at him from the window. "Serves you right!!" She gave him the most evil look she could muster, which was actually pretty good for her. Then she slammed her window shut and pulled down the shade.
On the ground, Bobby just shook his head, waiting for the pain to come. Then he vowed to himself no more peeping. 'Well... for at least today.' He amended, grinning.
Remy tore his room apart, looking for the bottle of bourbon he'd stashed, even if he already knew it wasn't there. He hated it when people went in his room. He was a naturally secretive person and the thought of people going through his things really bothered him, despite the fact that, as a thief, he'd done the same to countless others. Then there was the fact that you just don't steal a man's liquor. It was practically an unwritten rule to the male half of the species.
He muttered French curses as he flipped his bed sheets up again, checking underneath the bed for what had to be the fifth time. He'd had a special night planned with that bourban. Even if Rogue didn't like it, she was still willing drink it. "Oh, yes," he said to no one but himself. "Somebody's gon' pay f'dis one."
A laugh came from the doorway. "Lookin' for something, Gumbo?"
Remy slowly turned toward the door. There was Logan, smirking at him, the half-empty bottle of bourbon dangling from one hand.
"Hey, dat's mine!"
"Not any more. You know the rules. No liquor on the premises."
"Oh, like dat stash y' have hid'en in de garage?"
Logan's eyes narrowed. "I'll have to move that."
"Why de hell y' goin' t'rough m' room anyway? No' like I go t'rough y' shit!" He was furious, watching that bottle hand lazily from Logan's hand... Correction, that HALF EMPTY bottle... He didn't know what was holding him back.
"Can't allow underage drinking either."
"Y' can't even get drunk on dat! What are y' doin' wit' it!?" His hands glowed dangerously.
Logan noticed this and just smiled. "Have a good night, Cajun." He took another swig and walked away.
A card appeared in Remy's hand and started to glow pink. He debated whether or not it would be worth it to throw it at the smug Canadian. That settled, he debated whether or he'd survive if/when Logan decided to retaliate. There was the kicker.
Rogue flew up behind him and touched him lightly on the shoulder. The card dropped as he jumped. BOOM! "Remy? What's the matter?" she asked, worried. The card had left a nice black mark in the newly laid carpet. He'd had these types of accidents before.
He turned and faced her. "Wolverine took my bourbon," he replied softly, like a child.
A maternal frown came across her face. "Aww, Remy. Ah know how much ya like that stuff. C'mere." She opened her arms and he graciously moved in, resting his head against her shoulder as she rubbed his back soothingly. "Ya wanna go foh a walk? It'll make ya feel better."
He nodded. "Y' go downstairs an' I'll be dere in a minute."
"Don't be late. Ah'm leavin' without ya if ya do." She smiled and left the room.
Rogue was walking outside during what was the beginning of a light snowfall. It was the perfect Christmas mood, given the holiday was only three short days away. The flakes collected on her hair in a very movie-like way. She smiled to herself, slowly walking along the path that led all the way out to the front of the estate. She heard a rustling in the trees, so she whipped around to face it. "Remy, if that's you, Ah told ya Ah was gonna leave without ya."
"I'm sorry, dear Rogue," Beast said as he stepped out from the small forest of trees. "It's still so frighteningly simple to get lost in this labyrinth of a domicile."
"It's alraht, Mr. McCoy. Wanna join me on mah walk?"
"I'd be delighted. And, please, call me Hank."
Rogue laughed. "Fine then. C'mon." They continued up the snowdusted stretch of path. Soon they heard running footsteps behind them. Rogue turned and saw Remy trying to catch up. "Oh, now look who shows up."
"Hey! Y' know Logan stole m' bourbon. Had t' do some mournin'. 'Ello, Henri."
"Evening, Remy. What's this about bourbon?" he inquired with a slight sternness in his voice. He was one of the institute teachers after all.
"Umm, not'in'. Let's keep walkin'." He smirked his Remy-smirk and laced his gloved fingers with Rogue's. The trio continued walking aimlessly. After a few minutes, they heard something, but neither of the teens could figure out what it was.
"It's carolers!" Hank exclaimed. "Who would have thought that carolers would have come to grace our presence and sing their joy to us!"
Rogue and Remy just exchanged strange looks then looked back looked to Beast who was nearly jumping about with excitement. "Hank... we can't let 'em stay here, ya know that, doncha?" Rogue explained gently.
"Why on earth not?"
Remy grinned. "'Cuz what's de holiday season wit'out scarin' de hell out o' de locals? Chere, call de ot'ers." Rogue nodded and called into her communicator.
"Kurt?" There was a faint click and then...
"Ja?"
"There are some carolers here..." Rogue's voice turned vaguely evil. "Ya know what we do with carolers..."
"Ja! I'll tell ze ot'ers!"
Kurt clicked off with Rogue and then clicked again. "Bobby?"
"Yeah, elf?"
"Ve've got some carolers coming in. Zere's an attack in ze planning. Get whoever you can."
Bobby could be heard whooping to himself. "Sure! I'll get Ray!"
Ray was in his room, loud rock music blasting, looking at *ahem* questionable imagery in a magazine when Bobby burst in the room, halting at the sight of Ray's "reading material."
"Hey, man! You've been holding out on us!"
"Was there a REASON you burst into my room without knocking?"
He stood there blankly for a second, his eyes attempting to see through the pages on the magazine. "Oh... umm... right! Carolers in the area. I've been told to retrieve anyone willing."
Ray put the magazine face down on the bed, so as to have Bobby's undivided attention. "Carolers, you say?"
Bobby thought about trying to peek behind Ray to the magazine, but figured it was futile. "Yep. I'm going to get Amara and Jubes. Go find Jamie."
"Alright. I'll get Rahne and Sam too."
"Righto!"
Ray made a 'well, leave' motion with his hands to the lingering boy. "Go! I'm hiding this where you can't find it."
"You suck."
"Hey, you wanna look buy a subscription," Ray responded unsympathetically.
Bobby pouted but went off to find the others.
The carolers had grown louder, causing Rogue to cringe slightly. Sure, she had Christmas spirit, but if her music wasn't coming out with wailing guitars and such, she just couldn't stand it. She clicked her communicator again. "And Kit? Bring my portable stereo."
"Okay. I'll be out with Kurt in no time." Rogue clicked it off once again and turned to smirk along with Remy. Hank still had that same confused look on his face, which was not by any means a common sight.
"What's going on now?" he asked innocently.
"Our li'l caroler friends are goin' t' see why y' don' sing t' large mansion gates."
Ray, who strangely enough had more courtesy than Bobby, knocked on Sam's door before entering. There he was with Rahne was sitting on the bed next to him. "Aww... isn't this just a Kodak moment?" he mocked. They blushed and Rahne growled at him. "We got carolers people! Are you just gonna sit there, or we gonna have some fun?!"
Rahne kept a steady glare on Ray, but Sam spoke up. "Carolers?!" he squealed with joy and grabbed Rahne's hand, pulling her off the bed.
She looked at him funny. "What's the big deal? I've ne'er heard anyone so excited."
Ray walked over to her and placed an friendly arm around her shoulder. "Dear sweet Rahney, you have so much to learn about America." She snapped at his hand which he jerked away. "Okay," he smiled easily. "Never let it be said that I can't take a hint. Let's find Jamie so we can go."
Outside once again, the trio had turned into five, and with Bobby coming in on an ice slide with company, it looked like their numbers were still growing. He stopped a few feet short of the others, Jubilee letting go of his waist. "Amara is getting Roberto," she announced to the others.
Rogue just nodded, adjusting her stereo which Kitty and Kurt had teleported over to her. "Hey, Bobby, ya didn't happen ta bring any of yoah twisted stuff, did ya?"
He hopped off the slide and changed back to human form. Then he rustled in his pocket a moment. "The best stuff for carolers," he grinned.
Rogue took the cd and went back to fiddling with the controls, Remy doing his best to distract her. Finally she elbowed him. "This is serious business, Swamp Rat. If ya cain't keep yoah hands to yoahself then I'll get Bobby ta freeze 'em off."
Remy grinned unrepentantly, "Dat's no' wha' y' said a couple nights ago, chere," he teased but settled for putting his arms around her waist and watching her work.
Bobby's eyes widened and he looked to Jubilee, who mirrored his expression. Remy watched their faces from the corner of his eye. "Somet'in' on y' mind, popsicle?"
He kicked some snow in front of him, avoiding Remy's penetrating red on black stare. "Nothing at all," he mumbled. Jubilee made some tiny paffs just for the hell of it, just hoping Remy would avoid asking her the same thing.
Rogue looked up from her work on the CD player. "Good ta hear." She laughed to herself and then looked up to the noise of more people coming. Roberto was walking towards them with Amara in tow, both bundled up to hell. No more than twenty feet behind them were Ray and the others. The others being Sam, Rahne, and several Jamies.
"He tripped," Sam offered at Kitty's raised eyebrow.
Roberto frowned and scratched his head. "You know I have strangest feeling we've forgotten something..."
Evan looked around the upper floor of the mansion for the other teenage residents. "Guys? Guys?" All of their rooms were vacant. "Where is everyone? They couldn't have just vanished... could they?" His eyes flitted around in a paranoid sort of way and spikes popped out on his arms. "Hello? Someone? ANYONE?! HELLO?!?!"
"Okay, so what's the game plan?" Ray asked, rubbing his hands together, creating a small electric charge in the process.
"Well, first let's make sure they don't leave prematurely..." Bobby said, grinning as he formed a thick blocks of ice around the feet of the unlucky carolers. They abruptly stopped their singing and looked to their now ice covered feet. Since the teenagers plus Beast were far enough away that they couldn't be seen from the gates, the carolers were completely confused, and more off, frightened.
"Do your thing now, Rahne," Amara whispered. Rahne nodded and morphed into her wolf form. She trotted up to the gate, peering curiously at the carolers. They actually thought of her as a rabid guard dog, and when one tried to run, he just ended up tripping over his ice feet and falling to the ground. Rahne barked out a laugh, but still was skeptical about this so-called American tradition. Her wolf snout formed a grin as best as it could, while the others started their way up to the gate.
Hank stood back. "If you don't mind, I think I would like to stay here and watch from a safe distance."
Kitty pouted. "Aww, Mr. McCoy. Where's your Christmas spirit?"
"May I point out that I am not taking immense pleasure out of tormenting carolers as you seem to be?"
Kitty rolled her eyes. "It's tradition." She picked up a white sheet she'd brought that had been lying unnoticed on the snow. "Kurt? Little help?" He boosted onto her shoulders and she draped the sheet over them both.
"I can't see..." he mumbled.
Sam grabbed Kurt at waist level and steered him toward the now panicking carolers. "Just go forward and ya'll be fine as long as Kitty stays intangible."
"I have a BAD feeling about zis..."
"Don't be such a worrier, Kurt." Kitty whispered from above. "Just like we planned before we came over."
"Right, right." He sighed, but then after feeling the slight tingle of passing through the iron gate, a small demonic grin came to his face.
They couldn't have looked more ridiculous, but the carolers didn't know any better. First the ice, then a strange dog, now this. It didn't help their attitudes much when Kitty walked right through them. One of the carolers dropped her book and fainted. "Ready?" Kitty whispered. Kurt nodded. "Alright, I'm going. See you back on the other side." Slowly, she phased through him, bringing the sheet with her into the ground. Now the carolers could only see the blue elf, more like demon, in front of them. Screams rang out of course.
Kurt made a scary face, which wasn't all that scary (more like goofy) to anyone except the carolers. "It's a devil! Run!" They made a valiant effort to escape, halted by a sheet of ice, courtesy of Bobby.
One of them pulled out a cross and held it out facing Kurt. He pretended to cringe and bamfed away.
"Oh, thank, God we're safe!" one of them exclaimed. They looked around at the sudden sound of hysterical laughter that seemed to come from everywhere at once. They drew closer to each other and huddled together in a frightened ball.
Rogue stood on the team's side of the gate, holding her stereo up. She hit play, and Bob Rivers music, appropiety enough "The Twelve Pains of Christmas," started pouring out. Jubilee, Amara, Jamie, Remy and Ray were hiding in the bushes.
Remy held up his index finger, signaling for them to wait. Then he lowered it and all hell broke loose. In his other hand, he had one of his trademark playing cards. He charged it, and let it fly. It landed no more than 4 inches away from one of the caroler's feet. Jubilee grinned with glee and raised her hands to the sky, her sparks sailed from her fingers in a steady flow of pink and blue.
Jamie poked Jubilee. "Jubes, pink and blue aren't exactly festive. Can you do green and red?"
"Oh, I can do red and green, alright," she said, irritated and sent a short blast at Jamie, knocking him on his ass, and sending half a dozen multiples tumbling out of the bushes. Jubilee put a hand to her mouth. "Oops." She quickly went back to shooting fireworks at the carolers, this time red and green, hoping her "group leader" hadn't noticed.
The Jamies rubbed their heads and noticed the attention they were getting from the carolers. "Umm... boo?" They all said. The carolers shrieked at the Jamies, but soon their attention was divided between the red and green fireworks dangerously close to them and the blue electric bolts coming from the other direction. Ray kept his laughing as low as he could.
Beast behind the gates, stood in amazement. A small, almost unnoticeable smile came to his face. Rogue turned to him, "Ah know ya wanna get in on this."
"Oh, no. I couldn't possibly..."
"What're ya afraid of? Just make a li'l appearance." She stooped to pouting. "Please? Ah promise you'll have fun."
"It's wrong and-"
"And that's what makes it fun. Go ahead." Sam encouraged.
Beast smiled a bit, giving in. "Well, if you insist..."
Beast jumped out of the bushes, right next to the carolers and roared. They fled in the other directing and stopped short at the sight of Rahne who had her head lowered, teeth bared, and hackles up, doing a very good impression of an angry wolf.
They started scattering in any direction they could think of escaping. One way it was Amara in her Magma form, and even the other was Roberto in a flickering form of Sunspot, due to the lack of solar energy to work off of. Soon, they were stuck huddling all together once again, but then, a complete fog came over them in their minds.
Rogue, guessing what had happened from the sudden blank looks on their faces, sighed and muttered, "Busted."
~I cannot believe you would be so mean to completely innocent carolers who were only trying to spread the joys of the season.~ Jean scolded them.
"An' DAT's why we didn't invite y', Jeanie," Remy said, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, way to spoil our fun," Bobby muttered, pouting.
The mutants were again hidden in the bushes by the time the carolers picked themselves up, dazed but unharmed. They glanced around with a sense of forbidding and decided they were better off leaving before anything creepy happened.
Rogue glared dangerously in the general direction of the mansion. "She had NO raht ta do that," she growled. "Ah think we do somethin' ta teach li'l Miss Prissy Princess about the true meanin' of Christmas."
Remy uneasily came up behind her. "What's dat, chere?"
"Tagetherness."
TBC...
"Wow. It looks great y'all. How'd ya get the highah branches?"
"Well, since SOME people with the power to fly," Ray gave her a dark look, "didn't help we got Jean to do the higher branches with her TK, the girls stood on our shoulders to reach the middle ones, and all of us did the lower ones."
Remy was about to make a smart comment when there was a knock on the door. Kitty flew out of the wall and through the front door, appearing a moment later dragging Lance in after her. "Um, hi," he greeted the others a bit uncomfortably. Then he caught sight of the Christmas tree and his eyes widened. "Woah..."
Once he got over his awe of the tree, his glance met those of the many X-Men in the foyer. The ways they were looking at him widely differed. Remy rubbed his fist while Rogue glared at him from underneath the Cajun's arms. Jubilee and the other new recruits had small smiles on their faces, happy to see him, yet rather confused as to why he was there. They figured that since he'd ditched the team, they would've only see him in the halls at school. But with a quick glance at Kitty and the deep blush on her cheeks, it all came together.
"Umm," Lance ran a hand through his hair. "What's goin' on?" he asked casually.
Rogue hmphed loud enough for it to almost echo. Remy massaged her side to calm her down. He replied back, "Not'in' at all." Then he squinted at him. "De eye is lookin' better, eh? How's it feelin'?" He grinned with satisfaction.
Lance was about to let out a growl, but he caught Kitty looking up to him with pleading eyes. He sighed. "Better, thanks," he muttered dejectedly.
Kitty smiled happily. "Umm, if you guys, like, don't mind, I'm just going to... right. C'mon, Lance." She took his hand, leading him away.
Bobby leaned into Jubilee and whispered, "Great, who's going to spy on them for us?"
She pointed a finger into his chest. "I'm not doing ANYMORE chores for ANYONE just so you can feed your perverted mind," she told him as she blasted him a few inches away with a tiny paff. He backed up into Amara, who also gave him a disapproving look.
"No way. You'd be better off playing matchmaker with Scott and Jean than getting me involved with THAT."
"I heard that!!" Jean screamed from her room.
"Aw, you're no fun..." His eyes lit up as he spotted Jamie. "Jamie! My main man!"
"Not a chance. You see I have something you lack... survival skills. Every single one of the girls in this mansion could kick my ass, with the possible exception of Kitty, and she has Lance. NO!"
"Damn." He sighed, glanced around at the others, none of whom were going to help him spy on Kitty and Lance. Suddenly he had and idea, nonchalantly opening the door and wandering outside. As soon as he was off the sidewalk he made an ice slide that went all the way around the mansion and up to Kitty's window. It topped out into a platform and he peered into the window where Kitty and Lance appeared to be talking quietly. 'Well, this sucks,' he thought with a mental pout. Then Lance leaned forward and kissed her. 'Yes! Score!' Bobby thought, like the little perv he was, as Kitty kissed Lance back. Then Lance saw him and extended his arm, fingers spread. "Oh, shit..."
Kitty watched as Lance turned to the window. Seeing Bobby out there, she shrieked. When Lance started to raise his hand up, she didn't stop him. Lance's eyes rolled back and a tremor rocked throughout the estate. Students in the foyer just shook their heads as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Rogue looked to Evan. "Ha! Ah said under five minutes. Pay up." She held out her gloved hand. Evan smacked down a $10 bill, sulking.
Bobby's ice slide crumbled under the shakes, and down he went. He created a small ice tower to break his fall on the way down, but it shattered as well. Kitty looked down at him from the window. "Serves you right!!" She gave him the most evil look she could muster, which was actually pretty good for her. Then she slammed her window shut and pulled down the shade.
On the ground, Bobby just shook his head, waiting for the pain to come. Then he vowed to himself no more peeping. 'Well... for at least today.' He amended, grinning.
Remy tore his room apart, looking for the bottle of bourbon he'd stashed, even if he already knew it wasn't there. He hated it when people went in his room. He was a naturally secretive person and the thought of people going through his things really bothered him, despite the fact that, as a thief, he'd done the same to countless others. Then there was the fact that you just don't steal a man's liquor. It was practically an unwritten rule to the male half of the species.
He muttered French curses as he flipped his bed sheets up again, checking underneath the bed for what had to be the fifth time. He'd had a special night planned with that bourban. Even if Rogue didn't like it, she was still willing drink it. "Oh, yes," he said to no one but himself. "Somebody's gon' pay f'dis one."
A laugh came from the doorway. "Lookin' for something, Gumbo?"
Remy slowly turned toward the door. There was Logan, smirking at him, the half-empty bottle of bourbon dangling from one hand.
"Hey, dat's mine!"
"Not any more. You know the rules. No liquor on the premises."
"Oh, like dat stash y' have hid'en in de garage?"
Logan's eyes narrowed. "I'll have to move that."
"Why de hell y' goin' t'rough m' room anyway? No' like I go t'rough y' shit!" He was furious, watching that bottle hand lazily from Logan's hand... Correction, that HALF EMPTY bottle... He didn't know what was holding him back.
"Can't allow underage drinking either."
"Y' can't even get drunk on dat! What are y' doin' wit' it!?" His hands glowed dangerously.
Logan noticed this and just smiled. "Have a good night, Cajun." He took another swig and walked away.
A card appeared in Remy's hand and started to glow pink. He debated whether or not it would be worth it to throw it at the smug Canadian. That settled, he debated whether or he'd survive if/when Logan decided to retaliate. There was the kicker.
Rogue flew up behind him and touched him lightly on the shoulder. The card dropped as he jumped. BOOM! "Remy? What's the matter?" she asked, worried. The card had left a nice black mark in the newly laid carpet. He'd had these types of accidents before.
He turned and faced her. "Wolverine took my bourbon," he replied softly, like a child.
A maternal frown came across her face. "Aww, Remy. Ah know how much ya like that stuff. C'mere." She opened her arms and he graciously moved in, resting his head against her shoulder as she rubbed his back soothingly. "Ya wanna go foh a walk? It'll make ya feel better."
He nodded. "Y' go downstairs an' I'll be dere in a minute."
"Don't be late. Ah'm leavin' without ya if ya do." She smiled and left the room.
Rogue was walking outside during what was the beginning of a light snowfall. It was the perfect Christmas mood, given the holiday was only three short days away. The flakes collected on her hair in a very movie-like way. She smiled to herself, slowly walking along the path that led all the way out to the front of the estate. She heard a rustling in the trees, so she whipped around to face it. "Remy, if that's you, Ah told ya Ah was gonna leave without ya."
"I'm sorry, dear Rogue," Beast said as he stepped out from the small forest of trees. "It's still so frighteningly simple to get lost in this labyrinth of a domicile."
"It's alraht, Mr. McCoy. Wanna join me on mah walk?"
"I'd be delighted. And, please, call me Hank."
Rogue laughed. "Fine then. C'mon." They continued up the snowdusted stretch of path. Soon they heard running footsteps behind them. Rogue turned and saw Remy trying to catch up. "Oh, now look who shows up."
"Hey! Y' know Logan stole m' bourbon. Had t' do some mournin'. 'Ello, Henri."
"Evening, Remy. What's this about bourbon?" he inquired with a slight sternness in his voice. He was one of the institute teachers after all.
"Umm, not'in'. Let's keep walkin'." He smirked his Remy-smirk and laced his gloved fingers with Rogue's. The trio continued walking aimlessly. After a few minutes, they heard something, but neither of the teens could figure out what it was.
"It's carolers!" Hank exclaimed. "Who would have thought that carolers would have come to grace our presence and sing their joy to us!"
Rogue and Remy just exchanged strange looks then looked back looked to Beast who was nearly jumping about with excitement. "Hank... we can't let 'em stay here, ya know that, doncha?" Rogue explained gently.
"Why on earth not?"
Remy grinned. "'Cuz what's de holiday season wit'out scarin' de hell out o' de locals? Chere, call de ot'ers." Rogue nodded and called into her communicator.
"Kurt?" There was a faint click and then...
"Ja?"
"There are some carolers here..." Rogue's voice turned vaguely evil. "Ya know what we do with carolers..."
"Ja! I'll tell ze ot'ers!"
Kurt clicked off with Rogue and then clicked again. "Bobby?"
"Yeah, elf?"
"Ve've got some carolers coming in. Zere's an attack in ze planning. Get whoever you can."
Bobby could be heard whooping to himself. "Sure! I'll get Ray!"
Ray was in his room, loud rock music blasting, looking at *ahem* questionable imagery in a magazine when Bobby burst in the room, halting at the sight of Ray's "reading material."
"Hey, man! You've been holding out on us!"
"Was there a REASON you burst into my room without knocking?"
He stood there blankly for a second, his eyes attempting to see through the pages on the magazine. "Oh... umm... right! Carolers in the area. I've been told to retrieve anyone willing."
Ray put the magazine face down on the bed, so as to have Bobby's undivided attention. "Carolers, you say?"
Bobby thought about trying to peek behind Ray to the magazine, but figured it was futile. "Yep. I'm going to get Amara and Jubes. Go find Jamie."
"Alright. I'll get Rahne and Sam too."
"Righto!"
Ray made a 'well, leave' motion with his hands to the lingering boy. "Go! I'm hiding this where you can't find it."
"You suck."
"Hey, you wanna look buy a subscription," Ray responded unsympathetically.
Bobby pouted but went off to find the others.
The carolers had grown louder, causing Rogue to cringe slightly. Sure, she had Christmas spirit, but if her music wasn't coming out with wailing guitars and such, she just couldn't stand it. She clicked her communicator again. "And Kit? Bring my portable stereo."
"Okay. I'll be out with Kurt in no time." Rogue clicked it off once again and turned to smirk along with Remy. Hank still had that same confused look on his face, which was not by any means a common sight.
"What's going on now?" he asked innocently.
"Our li'l caroler friends are goin' t' see why y' don' sing t' large mansion gates."
Ray, who strangely enough had more courtesy than Bobby, knocked on Sam's door before entering. There he was with Rahne was sitting on the bed next to him. "Aww... isn't this just a Kodak moment?" he mocked. They blushed and Rahne growled at him. "We got carolers people! Are you just gonna sit there, or we gonna have some fun?!"
Rahne kept a steady glare on Ray, but Sam spoke up. "Carolers?!" he squealed with joy and grabbed Rahne's hand, pulling her off the bed.
She looked at him funny. "What's the big deal? I've ne'er heard anyone so excited."
Ray walked over to her and placed an friendly arm around her shoulder. "Dear sweet Rahney, you have so much to learn about America." She snapped at his hand which he jerked away. "Okay," he smiled easily. "Never let it be said that I can't take a hint. Let's find Jamie so we can go."
Outside once again, the trio had turned into five, and with Bobby coming in on an ice slide with company, it looked like their numbers were still growing. He stopped a few feet short of the others, Jubilee letting go of his waist. "Amara is getting Roberto," she announced to the others.
Rogue just nodded, adjusting her stereo which Kitty and Kurt had teleported over to her. "Hey, Bobby, ya didn't happen ta bring any of yoah twisted stuff, did ya?"
He hopped off the slide and changed back to human form. Then he rustled in his pocket a moment. "The best stuff for carolers," he grinned.
Rogue took the cd and went back to fiddling with the controls, Remy doing his best to distract her. Finally she elbowed him. "This is serious business, Swamp Rat. If ya cain't keep yoah hands to yoahself then I'll get Bobby ta freeze 'em off."
Remy grinned unrepentantly, "Dat's no' wha' y' said a couple nights ago, chere," he teased but settled for putting his arms around her waist and watching her work.
Bobby's eyes widened and he looked to Jubilee, who mirrored his expression. Remy watched their faces from the corner of his eye. "Somet'in' on y' mind, popsicle?"
He kicked some snow in front of him, avoiding Remy's penetrating red on black stare. "Nothing at all," he mumbled. Jubilee made some tiny paffs just for the hell of it, just hoping Remy would avoid asking her the same thing.
Rogue looked up from her work on the CD player. "Good ta hear." She laughed to herself and then looked up to the noise of more people coming. Roberto was walking towards them with Amara in tow, both bundled up to hell. No more than twenty feet behind them were Ray and the others. The others being Sam, Rahne, and several Jamies.
"He tripped," Sam offered at Kitty's raised eyebrow.
Roberto frowned and scratched his head. "You know I have strangest feeling we've forgotten something..."
Evan looked around the upper floor of the mansion for the other teenage residents. "Guys? Guys?" All of their rooms were vacant. "Where is everyone? They couldn't have just vanished... could they?" His eyes flitted around in a paranoid sort of way and spikes popped out on his arms. "Hello? Someone? ANYONE?! HELLO?!?!"
"Okay, so what's the game plan?" Ray asked, rubbing his hands together, creating a small electric charge in the process.
"Well, first let's make sure they don't leave prematurely..." Bobby said, grinning as he formed a thick blocks of ice around the feet of the unlucky carolers. They abruptly stopped their singing and looked to their now ice covered feet. Since the teenagers plus Beast were far enough away that they couldn't be seen from the gates, the carolers were completely confused, and more off, frightened.
"Do your thing now, Rahne," Amara whispered. Rahne nodded and morphed into her wolf form. She trotted up to the gate, peering curiously at the carolers. They actually thought of her as a rabid guard dog, and when one tried to run, he just ended up tripping over his ice feet and falling to the ground. Rahne barked out a laugh, but still was skeptical about this so-called American tradition. Her wolf snout formed a grin as best as it could, while the others started their way up to the gate.
Hank stood back. "If you don't mind, I think I would like to stay here and watch from a safe distance."
Kitty pouted. "Aww, Mr. McCoy. Where's your Christmas spirit?"
"May I point out that I am not taking immense pleasure out of tormenting carolers as you seem to be?"
Kitty rolled her eyes. "It's tradition." She picked up a white sheet she'd brought that had been lying unnoticed on the snow. "Kurt? Little help?" He boosted onto her shoulders and she draped the sheet over them both.
"I can't see..." he mumbled.
Sam grabbed Kurt at waist level and steered him toward the now panicking carolers. "Just go forward and ya'll be fine as long as Kitty stays intangible."
"I have a BAD feeling about zis..."
"Don't be such a worrier, Kurt." Kitty whispered from above. "Just like we planned before we came over."
"Right, right." He sighed, but then after feeling the slight tingle of passing through the iron gate, a small demonic grin came to his face.
They couldn't have looked more ridiculous, but the carolers didn't know any better. First the ice, then a strange dog, now this. It didn't help their attitudes much when Kitty walked right through them. One of the carolers dropped her book and fainted. "Ready?" Kitty whispered. Kurt nodded. "Alright, I'm going. See you back on the other side." Slowly, she phased through him, bringing the sheet with her into the ground. Now the carolers could only see the blue elf, more like demon, in front of them. Screams rang out of course.
Kurt made a scary face, which wasn't all that scary (more like goofy) to anyone except the carolers. "It's a devil! Run!" They made a valiant effort to escape, halted by a sheet of ice, courtesy of Bobby.
One of them pulled out a cross and held it out facing Kurt. He pretended to cringe and bamfed away.
"Oh, thank, God we're safe!" one of them exclaimed. They looked around at the sudden sound of hysterical laughter that seemed to come from everywhere at once. They drew closer to each other and huddled together in a frightened ball.
Rogue stood on the team's side of the gate, holding her stereo up. She hit play, and Bob Rivers music, appropiety enough "The Twelve Pains of Christmas," started pouring out. Jubilee, Amara, Jamie, Remy and Ray were hiding in the bushes.
Remy held up his index finger, signaling for them to wait. Then he lowered it and all hell broke loose. In his other hand, he had one of his trademark playing cards. He charged it, and let it fly. It landed no more than 4 inches away from one of the caroler's feet. Jubilee grinned with glee and raised her hands to the sky, her sparks sailed from her fingers in a steady flow of pink and blue.
Jamie poked Jubilee. "Jubes, pink and blue aren't exactly festive. Can you do green and red?"
"Oh, I can do red and green, alright," she said, irritated and sent a short blast at Jamie, knocking him on his ass, and sending half a dozen multiples tumbling out of the bushes. Jubilee put a hand to her mouth. "Oops." She quickly went back to shooting fireworks at the carolers, this time red and green, hoping her "group leader" hadn't noticed.
The Jamies rubbed their heads and noticed the attention they were getting from the carolers. "Umm... boo?" They all said. The carolers shrieked at the Jamies, but soon their attention was divided between the red and green fireworks dangerously close to them and the blue electric bolts coming from the other direction. Ray kept his laughing as low as he could.
Beast behind the gates, stood in amazement. A small, almost unnoticeable smile came to his face. Rogue turned to him, "Ah know ya wanna get in on this."
"Oh, no. I couldn't possibly..."
"What're ya afraid of? Just make a li'l appearance." She stooped to pouting. "Please? Ah promise you'll have fun."
"It's wrong and-"
"And that's what makes it fun. Go ahead." Sam encouraged.
Beast smiled a bit, giving in. "Well, if you insist..."
Beast jumped out of the bushes, right next to the carolers and roared. They fled in the other directing and stopped short at the sight of Rahne who had her head lowered, teeth bared, and hackles up, doing a very good impression of an angry wolf.
They started scattering in any direction they could think of escaping. One way it was Amara in her Magma form, and even the other was Roberto in a flickering form of Sunspot, due to the lack of solar energy to work off of. Soon, they were stuck huddling all together once again, but then, a complete fog came over them in their minds.
Rogue, guessing what had happened from the sudden blank looks on their faces, sighed and muttered, "Busted."
~I cannot believe you would be so mean to completely innocent carolers who were only trying to spread the joys of the season.~ Jean scolded them.
"An' DAT's why we didn't invite y', Jeanie," Remy said, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, way to spoil our fun," Bobby muttered, pouting.
The mutants were again hidden in the bushes by the time the carolers picked themselves up, dazed but unharmed. They glanced around with a sense of forbidding and decided they were better off leaving before anything creepy happened.
Rogue glared dangerously in the general direction of the mansion. "She had NO raht ta do that," she growled. "Ah think we do somethin' ta teach li'l Miss Prissy Princess about the true meanin' of Christmas."
Remy uneasily came up behind her. "What's dat, chere?"
"Tagetherness."
TBC...
