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lol.

Ice Lynx

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After the service life in the mansion, seemingly frozen in time after the meeting in the War Room slowly began to move again. Though the black cloud remained, shadowing almost every occupant inside, talk and even laughter was heard in the long corridors and gradually not-so-lonely rooms.

Steph was still lacking a will to interact with any of her fellows, indeed, all she wanted to do was watch out for Ruhko and Bucky and Little Steph and spend time with Hank, but she found herself regularly in the company of Kurt, who seemed to want to get closer than they had before the deaths of their teammates. Steph had no problems with this, but often suspected that he was on the verge of asking her something important, though he seemed never to get around to it.

"Have you ever vondered vot it vould be like to leave the X Men?" he asked one afternoon. Steph, who had been watching the still form of her birth sister, looked up.

"Leaving? You gonna leave?" she said, hearing the words come out a bit sharper than she had intended. Kurt blushed.

"No," he said quickly. "No, it vos just a thought."

"I couldn't," Steph said simply.

"Vy not?"

"'Cause I'd never leave without my little sisters n' Hank, n' he'd never leave his labs for more than a week, tops," she said, looking over at Hank, who was dozing in his chair at the computer counsel. Kurt smiled.

"Perhaps," he said, a strange look on his face. Steph scowled.

"Keeping secrets doesn't help anyone," she said informed him. Kurt looked surprised.

"Secrets?" he repeated. "Vy vould I be keeping secrets from you?"

"That's what I'm wonderin'," Steph muttered. Kurt smiled again and patted her hand.

"I vould not keep anything important from you if I could help it," he said.

"How would you not help it?" Steph asked.

"Vell, if it vos by ze vish of another to be kept quite," he trailed off and Steph scowled even more fiercely.

"What are ya talkin' about?" she asked.

"Nothing," Kurt shook his head and would say no more, instead turning the conversation to Little Steph, who was still fitfully asleep in her bubble.

And as Steph noticed over the next few days, it wasn't only Kurt who was acting odd. Kitty seemed to refuse to interact with anyone much, and even Jubilee sought out Steph to ask if she had any reason why Kitty would decline to talk to her best friend about something that was obviously bothering her.

"She got mad you know," Jubilee said sadly as the two young women lay in the couches in the otherwise empty rec room. "Slammed the door in my face this morning, it was like she suddenly hated me...." Jubilee looked exhausted, and Steph handed her an Oreo cookie.

"She's probably missin' Peter," she said. "Give 'er some space for a day or two, she'll come 'round. You n' Kitty could never be separated before."

"Oh Steph!" Jubilee said, groaning suddenly.

"What?" Steph asked, confused. Before she knew it Jubilee was up and hugging her tightly.

"I never like, even considered your feelings when I came down this morning!" Jubilee said. "I was so worried about Kitty... I never- but you lost your whole family didn't you?" Steph stiffened.

"Not all of 'em," she said in a tight voice.

"I'm really sorry, but my mind hasn't like, wanted to focus on anything forever!" Jubilee said, letting go of Steph.

"Then do me a favor n' turn this conversation back t' Kit," Steph replied, giving Jubilee another cookie.

Later that day Steph was walking down the hall towards the kitchen and braiding her hair when she heard a startled yelp and then a gigantic crash and the sound of something shattering. Hurrying forward she found Hank hastily scooping up the last pieces of a broken glass and putting them in the garbage, Ruhko standing behind him looking uninterested as Hank caught sight of Steph and beamed, then took a step on the slippery floor and with a surprised cry landed on his back.

"Whoops," he mumbled, temporarily hidden by the island.

Steph rushed over as Ruhko also jumped up, the little girl immediately perching on Hank's chest and preventing him from rising.

"Ruhko," Steph groaned, as Ruhko gave a ghost of a smile and remained where she was. Hank actually laughed as Steph also slipped on the floor and landed right next to him.

"I trust you are alright?" he chortled. Steph smiled.

"I think so, how 'bout you?" she asked. Hank looked thoughtful.

"I could fare better with a Twinkie," he admitted. "I have been watching young Ruhko over the course of the morn, she is quite a handful."

"Ya could prob'ly keep up with her if ya didn't eat so many of those things," Steph said, rolling over so she was also on her back with her head on Hank's chest. Ruhko nodded and then curled up in a ball, still rising and falling with every deep breath Hank took as he rubbed her back and put his other arm over Steph, staring at the ceiling.

"But it is the Twinkie, fair Stephanie, that acts as a vault of sugar, which is known to give energy, if only for a short time," he pointed out.

"Ya know better then that," Steph said in a mock-disciplinary voice. Hank's chest rumbled as he chuckled, and Steph took the opportunity to cuddle in closer. "I don't see whatcha like so much 'bout them anyways," she said.

"Twinkies?" Hank raised his head slight to look down at her. "Have you not known me for years, sweet Stephanie?" Steph smiled.

"Well I kinda lost interest in talkin' 'bout those things since ya got sick n' sprouted yer fur, didn't I?" she replied.

"Ah, yes, my infamous, and often referred to, Twinkie mishap," Hank said, setting his head back down. "But they are quite delicious, and soft. The sugary cream in the middle balances well on the taste buds with the delicate fluffy yellow cake-"

"Great, he's gonna go off on 'is Twinkie lecture again, he'll be gettin' a call t' be their next advertisement announcer any day," Steph whispered to Ruhko, who nodded, then rose in the air three inches as Hank puffed up his chest.

"Twinkies are-" he started. But Steph never got to hear what Twinkies were, for suddenly she found herself falling, tumbling through an empty space.

Crying out in surprise she reached out for Hank or Ruhko, but found them beyond her reach as she finally tumbled and hit something hard, feeling something cold and tight snap around her neck right before her mind and vision went totally and completely blank.