"Is Piotr your boyfriend?" Illyana asked curiously, as she helped Kitty lay down the blankets a few yards from the house while Colossus was gone collecting firewood. It was the two X-Men's last night in Russia, tomorrow the Blackbird would be coming to take them back to Scotland, and Illyana had begged to sleep outside and pretend they were camping.
"He's, well, I mean, we're still-" she stuttered, surprised by the bluntness of the six year old's question.
"How come you never kiss?" she interrupted, tired of Kitty's stammering.
"It's complicated." The little girl stared at her blankly. "There are things in the way," she explained.
"You mean like witches and spells and big scary monsters?" she asked, wide eyed. "Cause I bet anything Piotr will fight them for you. Then you can kiss."
"And what makes you think it works like that?" Kitty teased, amused by the child's innocence.
"Because that's what happens in all the fairy tales," she said slowly, confused by the notion that things could turn out any differently then "happily ever after". But she quickly forgot about it, turning her attention instead to surveying their handiwork. "You should move Piotr's bed further away from yours if you want to get any sleep tonight," Illanya told Kitty authoritatively.
"What? Why?"she asked, a little shocked. Illyana looked around and motioned for her to come closer.
"He snores" she whispered conspiringly into her ear. "Loud."
Kitty laughed. "You are the precocious one, aren't you?"
A few moments later, Colossus joined them and lit a fire, more for the light then the heat. Illyana listened intently as her brother told her the story of how he and the X-Men about fought Apocalypse and saved the world. It was obvious to Kitty that the girl worshipped her big brother. By the time Piotr finished the story, it was late, and the three decided to go to bed. A few hours later, Kitty was in the middle of a rather nice dream when she felt someone shake her.
"Katya? Please wake up," a frightened little voice whispered. Kitty rolled over and found herself staring at the pale young face of Illyana Rasputin, who looked ready to burst into tears
"What's wrong?" Kitty asked, concerned. "Are you ok?"
"No," the little girl sniffled. "I had a bad dream."
"Oh," Kitty breathed, relieved. For years now the only reasons she'd been awakened in the middle of the night was for surprise drills or emergency missions. It was strangely comforting to be woken simply to attend to something as normal as a small child's nightmare. "It's alright," she soothed. "Dreams can't hurt you, especially when you have me and your brother here to protect you. Do you want to go back inside the house?"
"No, I want to stay out here with the big kids."
"You sure?" Illyana nodded. "Ok. Here, take Martin," she said, handing the girl her green stuffed dragon she'd had since she was a child. "When I first moved to from my home to the Institute, I took him with me to keep me safe. He'll chase all the nightmares away."
"Ok," she whispered, trying her best to be brave.
Kitty helped tuck her in and watched affectionately over the small blonde girl for a few moments before settling back into her own makeshift bed. She was just drifting back to sleep when she was once again interrupted.
"Katya? Are you still awake?" Illyana whispered.
"Yeah, Blondie. What's up?"
"I'm still scared. Can you tell me a story?"
"Snowflake? Why are you still up?" Piotr asked groggily
"I needed help."
"Why? Is it Magneto- are you hurt?" he asked, panicked, still not fully awake.
"Peter, everything's ok, she's alright. It was just a bad dream, that's all."
"Oh," Piotr said, calmer now, but still visibly upset. "I'm sorry, I should never have told you the story about Apocalypse. It was to scary, it probably caused your nightmare," he apologized, his voice heavy with guilt. Would you like to hear a happier story?" he asked his sister, knowing it was the best way to put her to sleep.
"No, I want Katya to do it. I bet she tells them better."
Kitty giggled. "The kid's got taste. Can't argue with that. Now, let's see. Once upon a time, where all true fairy tales begin... "
Illyana sat on her brother's lap and listened, wide eyed, with Martin clutched tightly to her chest, as Kitty told her about the adventures of Pirate Kitty and her one true, er, friend, Colossus, who journeyed the seas looking for adventure. During their travels, the pair met a prince and a wizard in search of the prince's true love, Princess Jean, who was under the enchantment of the evil curse of the Phoenix. With the help of Kitty's Dragon and their new found friends: a Bamf, a genie, and a Fiend With No Name, they chased after the cursed princess, hoping to free her and ensure that she and the prince live as they should, happily ever after.
"She's asleep," Piotr said quietly after Kitty had finished her story.
"Yeah, my story must have really wowed her. So what did you think?" she whispered.
"I think my story would have been better," he teased.
"And why's that?" she demanded in mock resentment.
"Because it means something to me. I can relate to it," Peter told her, his tone growing serious.
"Well I don't think Illyana's in the state to properly appreciate it, but you could still tell me," she said, smiling hopefully at him.
"Have you ever heard the story of the Snow Queen?" he asked, gently putting his sister down, careful not to wake her as he moved to sit next to Kitty. After she shook her head, he continued with the story. "It begins with a hobgoblin who makes a mirror. This mirror, it is cursed so that all things good and beautiful appear wicked and ugly, while all things bad are magnified until they become the only things you can see. The hobgoblin gave the mirror to his students, who carried it up to the heavens to mock the angels. But the higher the demons went, the heavier it became, until it slipped from their hands and shattered into a million pieces. One of those pieces landed in the eye of a boy who had been watching the snowflakes fall from the sky, and it began to freeze his heart. Soon after, the boy was taken from his home to a dark, vast fortress, far away from those he had once loved, and with each passing day, his heart grew colder and colder, until it was no more than a lump of ice. He could no longer see the goodness or beauty in the world, only ugliness and cruelty, and he became callous and cruel. The only way to win his freedom from this dark place was to solve a puzzle, but no matter what he did or how long he worked, he could not find the answer. So he remained as he was, trapped, unable to be his own master.
But then a girl came, and reminded him of all things in the world that were beautiful and good. She stirred his heart, and her warmth and kindness melted the ice inside him. He shed tears of joy for being able to feel again, and as he cried the splinter of glass was washed from his eye, and his spirit shone as bright and pure as the girl standing before him. She led him out of the darkness into the light, and the world was beautiful once again." Piotr looked back at Kitty. "Do you understand?"
Kitty didn't say a word. She just smiled shyly, and placed half of her blanket around his broad shoulders.
Piotr smiled back at her for a moment, then looked up at the sky. "It's late. We should be going to sleep," he told her, reluctantly getting up to move back to his own bed.
"No, look" she said, grabbing his hand. "The sun's about to rise. I've never really sat and watched that before. Besides," she reasoned, "By the time we get to sleep, it'll be morning already."
Colossus allowed Kitty to pull him back down next to her. As they watched the sun rise over the lonely mountains and fill the valley with light, Illyana's body stirred under the warmth but she continued to sleep, her mind still hanging on to the last remnants of her dream. A few feet away, Piotr put his arm around Kitty as she rested her head against his shoulder, "and there they both sat, grown up and yet children, children at heart. And it was summer-warm, beautiful summer." *
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* Excerpted from Hans Christian Anderson's "The Snow Queen"
Disclaimer: To give credit where credit is do, I blatantly stole the lines "Yeah, my story must have really wowed her" and "Pirate Kitty and her one true, er, friend, Colossus", as well as the idea's for Kitty's fairy tale from UXM #153, which is a very sweet little issue in which absolutely nothing of great future importance happens but it still has a few subtle lines (with the exception of Jean calling Scott "Lion of my heart") that advances character definition better than a years worth of Chuck Austin stories. I'm sure anyone who read "The Draco" story arc agrees with me. And now there's rumors that Marvel is giving Austin, the man who has destroyed decades of character definition and disregarded or rewrote years of established X-Men history on a whim, a Nightcrawler solo series. I weep for you, Kurt.
But I digress. Hope you liked this chapter, I enjoyed writing it. But I couldn't bring myself to name the green stuffed dragon she has on the show Lockheed. It just felt wrong. But I thought Martin was an appropriate alternative choice, given the comicverse origin of Lockheed's name. Oh, and sorry there was no ROMY in this chapter, I couldn't fit it in anywhere. But it will definitly be back next chapter, which will hopefully be up around next Monday. Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day! And remember, it's not just about flowers and jewelry. It's about candy. Lots of it. Enough to make you hyper active.
And thanks to Dark-bat, SperryDee, Lladyred01,The Rogue Witch, oldprydefan, ishandahalf, *B, DemonRogue13, Nie Starwhistler, Kitrazzle Fayn, Gothic- Rogue LeBeau, and Robby B. (thanks for bringing the spoiler to my attention) for reviewing. Hope you all like the chapter!