Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 26

Chapter 6: Our Final Farewell Yet

Kitty Pryde was in the laboratory with Hank McCoy and young Jessie Crowell. Hank had requested Jessie to come down so he could take a blood sample and some DNA samples. He would take DNA samples from every student so he could research them, and see how mutant DNA changed over time. Jessie was the youngest mutant he'd ever had the pleasure of meeting and so he was intrigued to see if her DNA was much different from the older students.

Jessie's unruly blonde hair was tied back from her face, and she looked a little pale, she didn't like the concept of being taken blood from. Her large stormy eyes were filled with panic.

"It won't hurt much," Hank promised softly and he smiled.

Kitty understood that Jessie's panic wasn't so much the needle, but perhaps Hank McCoy's involvement in sticking it into her arm. Jessie hadn't spent much time amongst mutants, and Hank was probably the most mutant any mutant could get. Kitty was sure if Jessie had ever had nightmares of 'the closet monster', it might have been a vision of Hank she'd seen.

"It's okay, Jess, he won't let anything bad happen to you," Kitty smiled. She'd taken quite a shine to the child. The child was stunningly beautiful, so much that whenever she smiled Kitty felt her heart melt.

"Why do I need to do this?" Jessie asked, she was sitting on one of the counters, and her bare scrawny legs were hanging off the side sticking out of ridiculously pink shorts. Jessie was covered in cuts and bruises.

Ever since having arrived to the mansion, and having settled in, she had begun to take an interest in climbing the trees on the estate – or climbing anything for that matter. One day Kitty had searched high and low for the girl to find she'd climbed up one of the eight foot-tall bookcases in the library – and unfortunately couldn't get down again. Kitty was sure when the girl was old enough to enter the danger room, she was going to love it.

"Because we want to know as much about you as possible," Kitty said and grinned brightly to try and cheer the girl up, she watched the needle go into Jessie's arm and she saw Jessie wince and bite her lip, her eyes filling with tears.

Hank finished with taking a blood sample, and he put a child bandaid upon it – one with many different Disney characters just to cheer her up. "There we go," he said, he picked a tissue up from the opposite counter and dabbed the tears which had rolled down Jessie's cheeks, "you're a brave girl," he said, "the bravest I think I've ever met," he added.

Jessie forced a nervous smile.

Kitty looked at Hank, "what tests do you need to do now?"

"Just a few minor DNA tests, none of them will hurt though," he assured, "I just like to compare mutant DNA and watch it change through puberty," he explained, "Jessie is younger than the others, it'll be interesting to see how her DNA develops from now until she's a teenager."

Kitty's cellphone, which was clipped to her hip pocket, began to ring. "Excuse me," she said, "Jessie, I'll be right back for you in a moment, you'll be okay with Hank," she promised, and she picked up her phone, left the room, and hit the answer button. "Hello?"

"It's me…" came Remy's voice, he sounded dry, and almost nonchalant.

"Hey, did you guys get…to wherever you guys were going?" she asked. It was only six hours ago they had left, she'd seen them both leave.

"I guess," Remy said, "Listen…Rogue's on her way back."

"Why?"

"Because me and her had a fight…we broke up," Remy said, and although the emotion was apparent in his voice, he sounded very calm, as if he'd already accepted it and decided not to worry about it any further.

"Not again…" Kitty groaned. "What exactly happened?"

"I'm not in the mood to discuss the whole thing right now…and anyway, I'm sure Rogue will relay the whole thing to you and then you can both discuss what a dipshit I am like always," Remy sighed, "I need you to pass a message on for me…"

"You're not a dipshit…" Kitty said in a low voice, just in case Jessie should overhear from the lab, Kitty felt this language wasn't ideal for a six year old to hear.

"Will you just pass on this message to Psylocke?" Remy asked, sighing even more now, he sounded quite annoyed and fed up.

"Of course…" Kitty trailed off, confused.

"Tell Psylocke I'm ready, and to meet me on the roof of the Excalibur. That's 3850 Las Vegas Boulevard," Remy sighed.

"You're in LAS VEGAS?!" Kitty asked.

"Yes."

"You're not leaving…" Kitty trailed off, suddenly realising that his wanting to meet Betsy in Las Vegas meant that it was time to start the search for Sinister. Kitty felt a lurch in her stomach. All this hard work she'd put in to keep Rogue and Remy together and they were still splitting up? She was wondering if they would ever settle down and just accept things as they were.

"I have stuff to do, Kitty…you know the plan…I need to find Sinister, me and Psylocke did it once before, we can do it again…" Remy replied, "anyway…I'll be back, this isn't over yet. This isn't exactly our final farewell yet," he assured. "I won't be saying any adieus, Kitty."

"So you will be back?"

"Yeah, but I don't know when."

"Why is it so important that you find this Sinister guy, Remy?" Kitty sighed.

"Because of the seven years of hell I've gone through because of him. I know I can't get them back but…I can at least get some kind of revenge…and so can Betsy. Pass on the message to her, and don't worry about me, because I'll be back."

"Remy…please, just come back now, don't go off on this wild goose chase…" Kitty pleaded.

"I have to," Remy said, and he did not even bid her goodbye. Kitty heard silence at the other end, and then realised he had hung up on her.

"Jerk," She muttered under her breath, then somehow feeling bad for even saying it to herself. She knew Remy wasn't a jerk, she knew that he had problems, and that he easily let himself be drawn in to trouble, that was his problem. And that's exactly what this was. This time Betsy had drawn him into trouble.

It was strange that Betsy – along with Bobby Drake – came wandering down the hall at that exact moment, Kitty realised they were probably heading towards the gym, as they were both in workout clothes.

"Betsy," Kitty cleared her throat, "I have a message for you."

Betsy stopped in her tracks and looked straight at Kitty, "you do?"

"Remy says you've to meet him in Las Vegas…at the Excalibur…that's at 385—"

"I know where it is," Betsy said, but smiled, "thank you," she said politely, and she threw a meaningful look towards Bobby.

Kitty slipped back into the laboratory and shut the door behind herself.

Betsy smiled at Bobby, "looks like everything went to plan, then," Betsy said, sure that Kitty was out of earshot now.

"And Rogue will come to me, now, definitely?" Bobby asked.

"With open arms."

Kitty sighed as she entered the lab, and she shut the door, "that was Remy," she said to Hank.

Hank had been teaching Jessie the 'ring of roses' game, and he stopped, "Hmm?" he asked, his indigo eyes curious.

"He's in Las Vegas…and Rogue is coming home…so I don't know what he's done now," Kitty sighed, "and now he's not coming back. Him and Betsy are going to look for this Sinister guy…" Kitty mumbled.

Hank looked at her, "I'm sure he'll be back," he said, he handed Jessie a lollypop from a jar he kept on the counter. Hank had a sweet tooth that he'd never been able to control and he always kept sweet things even in his lab.

Jessie accepted it gratefully and tore the wrapper off.

"Can I go and play now?" Jessie asked, she put the lollypop in her mouth.

"Of course," Kitty said, "c'mon…" she helped Jessie off the counter.

"Kitty, will you come back down and see me once you've taken Jessie up to the main floor? There's something I want to show you…" Hank said.

"Okay," Kitty nodded, she took Jessie's hand and led her all the way through the mansion.

"Who's Remy?" Jessie asked. She'd spent almost a month at the mansion but had never met the man before.

"He's a friend. A good friend," Kitty smiled.

"Who's Rogue?"

"Another good friend," Kitty said. She realised perhaps she shouldn't have talked about the situation in front of Jessie. This was one of those things she would have to learn if she was to be a parent in the future – when to keep quiet and not discuss private things.

When they arrived in the foyer, Kitty let go of Jessie's tiny hand, "now, don't go climbing any trees or anything," Kitty pleaded, "you already have more bruises and cuts than I do – and I'm one of the X-Men," she smirked.

Jessie grinned, "okay," she said happily, and she disappeared off towards the hall that led to the back doors.

Kitty smiled a little, she was enjoying taking care of Jessie, and it was teaching her a lot about parenting. Not that she thought of herself as Jessie's parent or anything, but helping Jessie get dressed for bed, teaching her things, hanging out with her when she wanted to play, had taught Kitty more than she felt she would have learned later in life when her baby was the same age as Jessie. Kitty put her hand to her stomach thoughtfully, and she glanced towards the large mirror on the wall, her stomach had swollen a tiny bit, and she was now almost noticeably pregnant – depending on what she wore.

"Hey, Fetus," she said to her stomach in a kind of whisper, "don't worry, I'll learn to be a half-decent mom, yet."

Kitty smirked at herself, talking to her belly seemed a little silly, but it made her happy all the same. She went back down the elevator, down the hall and into the Laboratory, where Hank was now sitting at the computer, the computer was showing a graphical structure of DNA, Kitty had seen similar structures before when helping Hank with his research.

"So…what'd you want to show me?" Kitty asked eagerly as she wandered over.

"This…this is Jessie's DNA," Hank pointed out, he had a pencil in his hand and he pointed to certain threads of the DNA, "now look at this…" he said, and he typed in a number, and another DNA structure appeared. It was almost identical, there were a few noticeable changes of course, but Kitty understood.

"Wow…a similar match…" Kitty said, "who's DNA is that?" she asked, she put her hands on Hank's shoulders and leaned over his back a little more to inspect closer.

"You're not going to believe, this, Kitty…"

"C'mon, stop keeping me in suspense," Kitty shoved him playfully, "who's DNA?"

Hank sucked in a breath and turned and looked at her very seriously, "Remy LeBeau's."

THE END - (OR IS IT?! DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN).

Well, actually, it is the end – of the series. Mwahahah. There WILL be a new series coming later in the year. Anything regarding the series I can't divulge at the moment, but I'm going to try and have the first episode released before hogmanay (New Year). I'm going to take a short break from the story and let you all mull over what you think might happen, hehehe.

Thanks to everyone who's kept up with the entire series. Another 26 episodes down and a lot of you are STILL here. Who'd have guessed I could have written something that you'd all come back and read time after time? I want to thank you all, especially everyone who has reviewed, but I can't remember everyone's names and it would take me weeks to go back and find out everyone's names, but you know who you are and I'm thankful you've read up to this point.

Special thanks to:

Alex (Aro), who takes the time out of her busy schedule to help me work out timelines, and to research on previous episodes. And also, who wrote Hank's speech in chapter 1. She's my special helper, I'd be in a right mess if she wasn't around to keep me right.

Crystelle Johnson, who's translations in French appear in this story – she also has a busy schedule and it was sweet of her to take time out to help me with.

Rogue4787, for all the amazing theories she keeps coming up with (how DOES she do it?!) – it inspires me to try and outsmart her, lol.

Ishandahalf, for bunnies on crack, and every hasty review ever sent!

And thanks everyone else who's name I can't remember (I'm only human).

Hope everyone enjoyed the story and is looking forward to the next series.