Shout-outs

Rogue77: Horses are pretty cool. Heh, I remember a few carols but I think Jingle bells will be the on that I remember forever.

Asteria: Arcane? Well, this chapter should answer that question. Hmm…I'll think about making him a regular, but he probably won't be. He'll probably have cameos in other stories, though. He'll need a vacation after this anyway.

torque: Thank you, Lizzy, for all the nice foods. Jingle Bells loves the carrots. And yes, please e-mail. And put a subject like 'fanfiction' or something in the subject so I know what it is and don't delete it accidentally.

Dragonet: He might have cameos, but he's pretty exclusive to this story.

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Wahhooo!

"I take it you're liking this?"

I haven't had this much fun in years! YEEEAAAHHHH!

Dashing through the snow is a lot more fun when you're on the back of a fast racehorse. It had all started out innocently, with Doggy and Jingle Bells stretching out their legs, getting exercise, trying to outpace each other on the sly. Then they both broke into a trot then a full out run, and now they were racing down the highway. From what I could see, they were paced pretty easily.

A few days ago, I left the institute in order to bring holiday cheer. Or something. The urge just to leave again from that place had been overwhelming for a while. I don't know what it was. Maybe the institute was just too human now.

The wind hit my face with a bitter crispness, and the smell of it was refreshing as the big black horse tore across the way.

Doggy, running beside, long grey legs a blur, tore along next to us. By now, Professor Xavier surely knew what I was doing. He probably sent someone after me. But right now, it didn't matter. All that mattered was the race.

Right now, we were in the middle of Pennsylvania, and it was freezing. Clouds of ice breath came out of our mouths and noses as we traveled.

"We're going to stop in a town pretty soon. I want to pick up some chow. We haven't eaten since yesterday."

Whatever. You're not gonna beat me! No one beats Jingle Bells! HAHAAHAH!

"WOOF!"

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"Oh, yum!"

"Bet you I can eat more of these things than you can!" Jamie challenged.

"No way!" Julian picked up another cookie. They started cramming them down, and the race might have gotten into full swing, had not Jean caught them.

"What are you two doing?"

"Uh…" Jamie still had his hand in the cookie jar, and Julian had a half eaten one in his paw.

"You two are going to make yourselves sick! You know better!"

"We do?"

"Julian!" She scolded.

"We're on vacation! Doesn't matter if we get sick. We're not going to miss school!" Jamie protested.

"This is wrong!"

"But they taste good. How can that be so wrong?"

"Julian, if your mother was here, I'd—"

"So why don't you and Scott tell us why it's wrong? Unless you two are doing something…" Julian let the thought hang in the air.

Jean turned bright red. "I don't want to see you doing this again, alright? You'll get off this time."

"Okay!" Julian said brightly and dragged Jamie off into the hallway.

Jamie turned to him. "What ARE they doing?" he asked suggestively. Julian just howled with laughter.

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Profeesor Xavier turned over in his mind the speech he was going to make to Danny's parents when they called. He had already sent out Logan to check around for her, but the snow had fallen again and wiped away any trace that she was around.

Of course, this wouldn't be the first time she'd wandered off. In a while, they'd probably all get used to it.

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Walking into town we got a lot of odd looks. Partially because of the giant wolfhound walking beside me. Partially because of the racehorse I was riding. Probably most of the fact that everyone else was driving cars and I was riding a horse and there was ice hanging off the bridle.

"Hey! Mom, look at the horsey!" A little boy tugged on his mother's purse and pointed.

"It's not polite to point." His mother scolded and kept him close as we passed.

"Are there any stables around here, ma'am?" I asked her. She gave me directions haltingly to the Sunny Summer Horse Farm.

"Thank-you." I said politely and took off in the direction of the directions, and after an hour of missed streets, we found the stables.

"Hello!" I yelled, trying to raise the dead. Or the stable hands.

"Eh?" An old man came out. "What do you want?"

"Board for a day?"

"Well this is the place for horses. Come on."

We followed him into a simple, yet very warm building.

"Kids these days don't ride horses much, glad to see a few still do. He's a fine animal."

"Thank you sir."

"Polite too. Here you go!" He waved to a stall, clean and cozy.

"Thank you. How much."

"How long you staying?"

"The night."

"Twenty bucks."

"Alright." I forked over the money and the old man showed me where to get food and tools to brush the horse.

I spent an hour getting Jingle Bells all situated. I left Doggy in there with him so they could have company. The town wasn't very big, so there wasn't much trouble I could get into that they couldn't come to my aid.

I walked out into town, trying to find someplace to get food. I had to pick up something for Doggy too. After a little searching, I found a little restaurant. It looked like one of those old sixties cafés. I went into the door, and some bells announced my arrival. I sat down in a booth and tried to warm up while I waited for a menu.   

A waitress cam by and dropped a menu on the table with little ceremony, and barely a hi. I wasn't really bothered. All I really cared about was food anyway. I scanned the menu and selected some soup for myself, and a hamburger for Doggy. And some appetizers that looked pretty good, all of them warm. The orders were brought straight away, and I dug in.

Halfway through my meal, I got the odd feeling someone was watching me. I looked around. All of the other customers were minding their business.

"Weird." I muttered.

"What? The fact that this is the third time I've seen you wandering outside of your normal area?"

I snorted while some vegetable soup was in my mouth and started to choke a bit, but swiftly got it under control. I looked behind me.

A guy in a trench coat.

"Hey Arcane. What are you doing here?"

"I travel for a living." He got up from the booth he was sitting in and sat across from me. I assume his mutation made me not see him the first time, and forget him just as fast.

"Yeah, but why are you here, you know, here."

"You are so articulate."

"What do you expect? You made me choke on my soup."

"Sorry about that."

"No problem." I began eating again. I'm not the kind of girl that, when around guys, turns into an anemic.

"Healthy appetite."

"Yep. Take me as I am. Everyone else has too."

"Now there's a true statement." He drank from his coffee cup.

"So how'd you manage to get service if the waitress keeps forgetting you exist?" I asked innocently.

He sighed. "It's difficult. And if I didn't strive to persevere I might have  been disheartened."

"I'm sure." I deadpanned.

"So what are you doing? Should I be running now? Every single time you go away from your little institute, trouble follows you like that dog, Pup---"

"Doggy."

"Whatever. So?"

"I'm going to visit relatives."

"On horseback?"

"Oh, you saw me come in. Yes. Mr. Logan won't let me drive any cars anyway. And I'm incognito."

"You ran away?"

"Well, it doesn't sound have as nice if you put it that way, and besides, it isn't as if I'm not coming back. I'm just…taking a break."

"On a horse."

"I thought we went over this."

"You are traveling on a horse."

"Do you have something against horses?"

"Horse kicked me once."

"I can't see why." I said in exaggerated sympathy. He just sipped more coffee.

"Horses don't like me."

"Must be because you're Greek."

"Eh?"

"They just never got over the Trojan Horse…"

He stared at me while I finished my dinner. "What?"

"Don't you know? They see it as an affront to their masculinity. Just ask any horse about Trojan Horses, they'll kick you, I swear."

"Now I know you're pulling my leg."

"Yup." I left a tip on the table and wrapped up the burger. "I'm going to go feed Doggy, you want to come?"

"Sure."

We got up and paid for our respective meals. I opened the door and a blast of cold air hit my face. It wasn't near as pleasant when I was riding on horseback. 

"Brr."

"Hm." Arcane answered. We walked out into the street and started back towards the stables.

"So who is this relative your meeting?"

"She's my Grandma. She lives in a home in Kentucky. She's a little erratic."

"Can't see that in your family." He drawled.

"Ha! Ha! Funny." I rolled my eyes.

"Hey it's the girl with the horse!"

"Hey wait up!" I turned to see some young kids running towards me.

"What?"

"We're singing carols for people and taking donations! Will you donate?"

"For what?"

"The food drive. We're taking money for our school to buy food."

"Okay." I dug into my pocket. After all, it was Christmas. I handed them a twenty. "Make it a good song." 

"Okay!" They huddled up. "Right!" They took up a choir position and began singing.

'The weather outside is frightful,

But the fire is so delightful;

And since we've no place to go,

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

It doesn't show signs of stoppin',

And I brought some corn for poppin';

The lights are turned way down low,

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

When we finally kiss good night,

Oh-oh-wo-wo-wo;

But if you really hold me tight,

All the way home I'll be warm.

The fire is slowly dyin',

And, my dear, we're still goodbye-in';

But as long as you love me so,

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

When we finally kiss good night,

Oh-oh-wo-wo-wo;

But if you really hold me tight,

All the way home I'll be warm.

The fire is slowly dyin',

My dear, we're still goodbye-in';

But as long as you love me so,

Let it snow, let it snow,

Let it snow, let it snow,

Let it snow, let it snow,

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.'

They yelled the last notes. I clapped loudly, or as loudly as I could with gloves. "Bravo! Great job!"

They thanked me and ran off to find more donators. Arcane nudged me.

"Considering the weather, was that song appropriate?"

"Tch. You have no sense of Christmas spirit. It's supposed to snow a lot!"

"Speaking of which…" Arcane looked up as the snow started to fall harder.

"Uh…Let's get some shelter."

"I thought there was supposed to be a lot of snow at Christmas." He teased.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we have to stand in it while it's comin' down. Come on!" I ran back all the way to the stables.

Once there, we were almost five pounds heavier with snow. I walked back to give Doggy his sandwich and took off my wet jacket.

"Where are you staying?" I asked Arcane.

"Here. I'm not going to walk out into that storm again. My car is probably buried now."

"See, this is good, because you can't get the full experience of wandering when you're in a car."

"I'd stick with the car, thanks." He stayed well away from Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells was lying down. Not very dangerous.

"Well, I guess carolers should go to states where there isn't a lot of snow." I commented.

"Maybe they should just stay here." He grumbled melancholy. "When this storm lets up, I'm leaving."

"It will in a few minutes."

"How do you know?" He asked curiously.

"Birds. Animals. That sort of thing."

"Ahh…Oh. You were right, look." He pointed at the window, which was mostly covered. I could see the snow had let up.

"Well…I guess I'll see you."

"Yes…" He trailed off for a minute. Then he shook his head and then nodded at me. "Good luck with the holiday cheer, Danny."

"You too." I said as he left. Then I made a pillow on Jingle Bells' shoulder and snuggled against Doggy for warmth and fell asleep.

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Hmmm….Jingle Bells will take the reviews! Remember, he's a racehorse, not a packhorse.