The rabbit sat up on
its haunches, sniffing the air. Satisfied that no-one was around, it
resumed nibbling the grass it had uncovered by digging at the snow.
This was the last mistake it ever made. In a flash of silver, a knife
hurtled across the clearing and impaled the rabbit. It never knew
what hit it.
Kurt materialised more than became visible as he left
the shadows he'd been waiting in.
Three rabbits, he thought. That should do it, for today.
In a small garden he'd
managed to grow, he had herbs and vegetables that were protected from
the elements to go with his meat. His rural German upbringing served
him well in the wilderness.
Stooping to collect his prize, he
suddenly paused as his sensitive hearing picked up the sound of
approaching people, and he dove back into the shadows. He cursed the
small patch of red snow that betrayed the fact of his hunting, but it
couldn't be helped. He could run if he had to. Dropping into a
crouch, knife at the ready, he listened intently as a tall young man
with brown hair and a strange visor covering his eyes spoke to the
others.
"Okay," announced Scott. "That's enough –
we're going back now."
"Huzzah," muttered Jubilee as she
tried not to shiver too hard. Evan wasn't convinced.
"Won't
Logan get angry if we don't go the whole distance?" he asked.
Scott shook his head.
"Not if we all get back at the same time.
He'll think we all went to the falls and came back together."
You
sure about that? Came Jean's voice in his head.
Perfectly
sure, he replied. Logan told me to do this. Don't tell the
others.
Jean just grinned and
turned around – unfortunately knocking over one of the two dozen
remaining Jamies as she did so, the trek through the snow having
caused him to fall over more than a few times. Helping the new Jamies
to their feet, the assembled X-Men began the run back to the
mansion.
No-one noticed the unconscious Jamie lying buried in the
snow as they left. Not even Kurt, when he left almost five minutes
later.
Soon it began to snow again.
----
An hour later, everyone
had eaten breakfast. Logan, having informed the students of his
'cleaning duty' joke, was almost popular. He didn't seem to
like it. Hank, of course, found the whole situation highly amusing,
although he had sternly scolded Logan for risking the student's
health by sending them out into what was swiftly becoming a blizzard.
Logan ended the argument by suggesting that Hank find a closet and
utilize the privacy therein to copulate vigorously with himself. Now,
the students sat in the Rec room watching the Saturday midday movie.
There were now four Jamies remaining; as a commercial break came on,
another one disappeared, provoking comment from Rahne.
"Jus'
how many of ye are there, Jamie?" she asked the triplets.
"We
don't know," said one.
"We think just us," added
another.
"But, there might be more," shrugged the last.
"Who
knows?" they asked in unison. Evan just put his head in his hands
and groaned, but Rahne persisted.
"So which one of ye is the
original, then?"
"I am," they said in unison, then glared
at each other. Even groaned again, and Rogue patted him on the back,
making soothing sounds. Rahne opened her mouth to speak again, but
was interrupted by the abrupt disappearance of two of the three
Jamies. "Told you," said Jamie.
"Like, congratulations,"
drawled Kitty. "Want a trophy?"
The surviving Jamie was
about to retort when he gained the attention of all present by
vanishing, too. Silence prevailed for an instant, before Scott broke
it.
"Either this is a joke, or an honest mistake has been made,
or this is really bad."
Jubilee nodded in agreement. "And around here, it always seems like the last one." She stood. "I'm going to get the professor."
----
It was snowing really
hard. It was freezing. Jamie was scared.
The last thing he
remembered was Jean bumping him, and he fell over
Man, I'm a klutz…
"Sorry, Jean," He said, and got to his feet. Then he noticed Jean's absence. "Jean? Hello? Somebody? Anybody?"
Now he was really
scared. He was totally alone, colder than he'd ever been in his
life, and the growing snowstorm had stripped him of any sense of
direction.
He didn't know how to get home.
He didn't know
what to do.
He did the only thing he could do. Taking a deep
breath, he gave the traditional, standard reaction to complete and
utter terror.
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP!"
----
In his nice, warm cave,
Kurt was relishing the feeling of a full stomach, having just
finished his breakfast. He was almost falling asleep... Jamie's
scream brought his head up instantly. For a moment, fear of discovery
and capture froze him in place. Then a repeated scream galvanized him
into action. All thoughts of capture, all fear of hunters, were
gone.
Only one thought drove him.
Someone needed help.
Someone was in danger, maybe about to die, and perhaps there was
something that could be done to save them.
Kurt paused only to
slide his knife into its sheath before he sprinted out into the
blizzard. His form was quickly swallowed up by the raging snow and
wind as he ran towards the sound of Jamie's distress.
----
Professor Xavier was
not having a good day. He'd spilled a cup of coffee over his
favorite jacket, had to break up several arguments between Logan and
Hank over the existence of the hermit in the mountains, and now this.
He sighed. "And you have no idea where the original Jamie
is?"
"Ummm..."
The professor massaged his brow. "I see.
When was the last time you knew for certain where he was?"
Kitty spoke up. "Um,
it was like, right before we went on Mr. Logan's morning run. He
like, totally fell on top of Rahne and duped." Rahne nodded.
"And
then the daft bairn went and duped himself another dozen times during
the run. The last time was when Jeannie knocked 'im into the snow
when we turned back."
For a moment, Charles was silent. Then
he cautiously spoke. "Children... are you completely certain that
he came back? That there is NO CHANCE WHATSOEVER that he is still out
in that snowstorm?" There was total, nauseating silence.
Oh dear.
He began to move toward the elevator, barking orders as he went. "Search the mansion. Every room. If you find him, let me know. Scott, find Ororo and tell her to stop the snow, if she can. I'm going to use Cerebro to search for him." He paused before entering the elevator. "Now!"
The students scattered.
