Mutants in the Haunted Hotel
Part the Last aka 7
A/N: Yeah, we've been gone for years it seems. Terribly sorry. But school, it's a time consumer. KW starting at a higher school level, and I'm in the school play (as dancer/party-goer. Yay me.) and we really don't have a ton of free time. But we shall make every effort to make this final installment in MitHH fantabulous!
Soundtrack: "Cats"
Disclaimer: If you haven't quite figured it out, this is your last chance. Evo is not ours.
And now, it is our great pleasure to present:
Mutants in the Haunted Hotel
FINALE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kurt gently rubbed Kitty's hand and she smiled. Taking a deep breath, she followed him down the dark hallway. They had decided it would be best for them to try and find Remy and Rogue before anything bad might happen to any of them. It was a much more frightening task than Kitty would have ever attempted before. She had always been the kind of girl who covered her eyes during the Halloween specials. Her courage held out only long enough to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" every year before she was forced to go to her room and try to sleep while the rest of the X-men enjoyed horror movies.
But worry for her best friend, and for her new friend motivated her now. Plus the added courage Kurt was lending her. She smiled again just at the thought of him. Finally. It had taken long enough for him to admit he liked her. It was, of course, equally her fault it had taken such a long time, but she studiously ignored that fact.
"Don't worry about anything, Kitty. It will all be fine," Kurt reassured both her and himself. She shook her head with a small, affectionate smile. If Kurt said so, she was pretty sure she believed that everything would work out fine.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Should we try this door?" Rogue asked, absentmindedly stroking Remy's hair. Freed from her "no touching" confinement, she had quickly taken to cuddling and many types of affectionate contact. Remy wasn't complaining.
"Go ahead, ma belle, whatever makes you happy."
"This is serious, Cajun. Kurt and Kitty are lost in here somewhere and we have to find them."
"Remy knows, and he is sorry," he kissed her hand in apology, and she couldn't help but smile at him. He had loved her for so long, and she didn't know how she could have ignored him. For something that could have been so terribly, losing her powers had made her very happy. For not the first time, she contemplated what her life could be like if she was able to touch just like everyone else. But before, it had just been wistful contemplation. Now she saw there was a very good chance she would be just like everyone else. That didn't really bother. She wasn't sure how Remy felt about the loss of his powers, but she couldn't keep from grinning at the picture of Rogue and Remy, the perfectly normal teenage couple.
You and me she whispered to him in her mind. Things could be so wonderful for the two of them. Going to dances and actually dancing together, holding hands along the beach. She was so caught up in her daydreams of the possible future, she drifted ahead of Remy and, rounding the corner, bumped right into someone.
"AGH! Don't kill me!" Kitty shrieked, throwing her arms over her head.
"Kitty?" Rogue smiled, relieved. Remy finally caught up with her and wrapped his arms around her.
"Did Remy not tell you everything would work out?"
"Oh hush," Rogue scolded half-heartedly. Kurt offered Kitty his hand and pulled her up. They both turned to the other two mutants and frowned.
"Umm, Rogue?"
"What?"
"Well, um," Kitty looked at the curious Rogue uncomfortably. She gestured at the cuddling couple.
"What she means is, um, why can you touch each other?" Kurt explained, but looked equally uncomfortable as Kitty.
"Oh!" Rogue laughed.
"Well, Remy and Rogue have both lost their powers!" Remy replied, but not looking too unhappy about this.
"And what about you?" Rogue asked, eyebrows raised as she directed her gazed to Kitty and Kurt's joined hands. The two blushed.
"Well, we lost our powers too," Kitty offered, knowing that her answer didn't answer her best friend's question. Kurt nodded weakly.
"I see," Rogue smirked at the two of them.
"Remy hates to interrupt this, but shouldn't we be looking for our way back?" Gambit pointed out. The other three looked around, and realized for the first time that they were in a part of the Rusted Gardens Hotel they had never seen before. Now the situation seemed much more serious.
"Yeah, we really should find the right hall," Kurt looked up and down the hallway, as if he expected a neon sign to appear, pointing them in the correct direction.
"How do you suggest we do that?" Rogue arched her eyebrows at him and Kitty scowled at the perceived insult to her boyfriend's intelligence. Remy, sensing the storm clouds, stepped in.
"Remy suggests we try opening doors. No one knows when the way will appear." To prove his point, he opened the door he stood in front of and pushed it open. It was a staircase, leading down into pure blackness. Rogue, Remy and Kurt exchanged meaningful looks. Kitty looked from friend to friend, and shook her head.
"No way, we are so not going down there!"
"It might help us find out what's going on around here."
"We already know! The house is, like, a freaky haunted place! So let's get out!"
"I agree with Rogue," Kurt offered, and flinched away from the daggers flying out of Kitty's eyes at him. Kitty turned to Remy in a final desperate attempt.
"Remy apologizes, Chaton, but Remy believes this where we must go."
"Fine! You all want to get killed, go ahead. I'll wait right here." She sat down on the ground right there, crossed her arms and turned away from them. The three others glanced at each other and simultaneously turned and headed down the stairs.
Kitty sat, nose pointed into the air for a few minutes until she realized she couldn't hear her friends anymore. Opening her eyes, she discovered they had indeed left her.
"Fine, I don't care," she told the empty hall, "I'm waiting here." A few more moments of silence and she began to hum quietly and shakily. Looking up and down the hall desperately, she sighed.
A curtain flared out with the wind and, with a squeak, Kitty leapt up and hurried down the stairs.
"Wait up!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The quartet crept down the stairs, feeling a strange need to be silent. The few times they did speak, it was in whispers. Kitty clutched Kurt's arm, trembling slightly. Kurt held her arm with his other hand, glad that he had something to clutch. Rogue leaned slightly against Remy, who held her close. As he walked on he felt oddly tired and a small, dull pain was rising in his chest.
The stairs spiraled downward into the darkness. Eyelids heavy, Remy blinked and stopped to breath deeply against the slowly increasing pain.
"Are you okay?" Rogue whispered. The concern in her voice touched him and he smiled gently.
"Oui, ma cheri," he replied. "Remy is just resting and preparing himself for what is down here." Kitty squeaked.
"What do you mean, preparing?" she looked from Remy to Rogue. "There isn't anything down here. We're just….exploring," she tried to sound confident, but her voice shook.
"You're right," Rogue said in a falsely convincing voice. Summoning all her courage, she marched down the stairs. Remy followed her, a drowsy look on her face. Kitty and Kurt looked at each other, then sighed and continued on.
The stairs started to level, and Remy felt a sharp pain and clutched Rogue's hand even tighter. Now level, the stairs flattened into a large square room. Everyone gasped as they looked at the chains and other medieval looking torture devices.
"Agh!!" Remy fell, his face pale, to the floor. Rogue's hands flew to her head and she gasped with pain. Then her hands down she looked at Remy, tears in her now red and black eyes.
"Yes," a tired voice whispered from one of the dark corners. Kitty and Kurt turned their heads wildly. "Your powers have returned, I believe." Rogue looked up slowly. I recognize that voice. She thought as she walked slowly towards one of the corners, followed by Kurt and Kitty. Gasping she stopped short.
Smiling weakly up at her was the ghost, chained to a wall.
"You're the ghost," Rogue said. He nodded. Kitty wrinkled her nose.
"But, um, if you're, like, the ghost, then why are you, like, solid?"
"My name is Isaac Travers. This is my house, and I am not dead."
"Right. So, why are you chained up down here?" Isaac laughed shortly at the bluntness of that statement.
"He surprised me. When I came to, I was down here."
"Who surprised you?"
"That would be me." They all spun around to stare at the man who had spoken. His smile was malevolent, eyes shining dangerously.
"Des?" Kitty scrunched up her nose, "you're the supervillain? No way, that is so totally lame." Des Carlson scowled at her. Rogue snorted with laughter as well.
"You really think you're a match to us?" She arched her eyebrows.
"Maybe not alone," he reached into his pocket and produced a handgun, "But I have a little help."
Kitty squeaked in surprise and the rest of the teens became quickly serious. They would probably be able to use their powers to prevent any injury, but it was still a surprise. Des was definitely very serious. Deadly so.
"So, if you'll excuse me, I need to keep this little operation from the public," Pointing the gun upward Des smiled maniacally. "Farewell." His finger pulled the trigger and the bullet flew straight for Kitty. It phased through her, and instead hit the wall behind.
Before the confused Des could try again, Kurt teleported behind him and covered his eyes.
"Gah!" Des cried, his shot going astray. Rogue ducked, avoiding the wayward bullet.
"Thank you," she whispered, glancing at Remy. Quickly she jumped up, the Cajun's red eyes glaring at Des from her own eye sockets. She pulled one of Gambit's cards from his jacket, charged it, and flung it at the wildly swearing Mr. Carlson. Kurt, recognizing this motion teleported to where Kitty stood. The other teen was shaking slightly.
With a loud crack, the card exploded. When the smoke cleared, Des lay charred on the ground. Remy let out a groan, and Rogue knelt down beside him. She stroked his hair, hands safely covered by gloves.
"What happened?" he asked no one in particular as he sat up, rubbing his head.
"He's still alive!" Kurt called over from Des, where he had been checking the mans pulse. Spinning around Gambit spotted Des and groaned again.
"Did Remy really miss the final battle?" he asked Rogue grinning up at her. "And when did you get your powers back?" Rogue bit her lip, but couldn't hold back the tears.
"I'm so sorry Remy!!" she exclaimed.
"Shh," Remy tried to comfort her. "it's okay ma cheri!" He wished he could hug the crying mutant, as he glanced at Kurt and Kitty who were kissing.
"Ahem," Isaac cleared his throat purposefully from his corner. "I don't mean to interrupt but-" he was cut off by a coughing fit.
"Oh my gosh! We are, like, so sorry!" Kitty cried, running over to the man, and phasing him through his chains.
"Thank you," he smiled. "It feels so good to stand again."
"I don't mean to be callous," Rogue, who had wiped the tears away from her face, faced him now, "But you have some major explaining to do. What is up with this place, and the ghost thing, and all of that?" Isaac smiled at her.
"I don't mind at all, my dear. You all deserve to know. Like you, I am a mutant. My powers include astral projection, and telekinesis. However, I am unable to control them. My powers are motivated by pain and emotion, which caused great difficulties everywhere I moved. You've experienced what happens when my powers are released. They are, sadly, extremely destructive and frightening," he sighed sadly. Rogue felt a pang of sympathy. She knew what it was like to have dangerous powers she couldn't really control.
"As you may have discovered," he continued, "I am a scientist. I moved here, somewhere nice and quiet where I could devote my time and energy to experimenting with various ways to control my powers. What I finally created was quite ingenious, if I do say so myself. A chemical, which cancels out the effects of mutant powers. I painted it throughout the house, except in the basement, where I seldom went, and used for further experimentation."
"But if it cancels out powers, why did your powers affect us all upstairs? You said-"
"Alas, that is the one failing of my creation. It is only able to prevent powers that are initiated in a certain radius. For example," he glanced around at their confused faces and focused on Kurt, "you, young man, would be able to teleport into the house, but not out, once you were inside the protected area." Kurt nodded. That seemed to make sense.
"So this place was never really haunted?" Kitty asked, sounding very relieved. Isaac smiled warmly at her.
"No, my dear, it never was haunted. That dreadful man had heard the stories about the "mysterious" occurrences at my house, and came to investigate. He snooped around while I was out, and found my journals. He knocked me out, and when I came to, I was chained up down here. You children were test subjects. He turned my home into a hotel, and planned to torture me to create the haunting."
"Oh!" Kitty's hand flew to her mouth, horrified. She looked down at the unconscious villain, and with a scowl kicked his side.
"Kitty!" Kurt looked at her with wide eyes and she looked away.
"I'm sorry. I just can't believe anyone could be that cruel." Kurt shook his head. He was shocked to see such viciousness from sweet, shy Kitty. Secretly, however, he agreed with her. Anyone who could coolly plan such a thing deserved to be kicked.
"Well, since everything is settled," Isaac looked mildly from teen to teen, "would anyone like a cup of cocoa?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"That sounds so exciting!" Jubilee sighed, "I wish I could have been there."
"No you don't!" Kitty rubbed Kurt's arm subconsciously as she shuddered, "It was really, really freaky!" Kurt smiled and so did Jubilee. She loved it when people got together, especially two who had so obviously liked each other for such a long time.
"Are you telling the story again?" Rogue asked entering hand in hand with her own beau.
"What do you mean 'again'?" Kitty asked, sounding insulted.
"Well, maybe that you've only told it about a thousand times."
"Hush now," Remy reprimanded her, "be nice to Chaton."
"Why do you seem to think that all of a sudden I'm going to listen to you, swamp rat?" She asked, putting her hand on her hips, lips twitching to keep from grinning at him.
"Because you love Remy," he gave her his most charming smile and she gave in, and kissed his cheek.
"I do."
"Okay, hold the phone a second," Jubilee held up her hands and looked from Rogue to Remy, "what just happened here?" Rogue glanced at her, then looked back at Remy.
"This." She kissed him again, longer this time and Jubilee turned to Kitty and Kurt with a confused look.
"Well, before we left, Mr. Travers gave Rogue a little present," Kurt said.
"Some of that chemical stuff, mixed into lip gloss. So her lips are a hundred percent kissable and non-zappy," Kitty finished. Jubilee considered this for a moment and sighed again.
"I so wish I hadn't missed that."
"Don't worry, Jubes," Kitty said, a grin spreading across her face, "there's bound to be an adventure coming one of these days. You know what it's like around here."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
¡Es el fin! ¡Sí, es verdad! ¡El fin! Selly is taking la clase de español this semester, if you couldn't tell. We'd like to thank all of you for hanging in for this long, and come back and read our other stuff! Yay! And…special, special, special, hang out for the BONUS chapter next: "Mutants in the Haunted Hotel: Behind the Scenes". It's a little look into the craziness that went into the planning and writing of this chapter. Love you all!
Kissies,
Selly and Kitty Weasley