Chapter 2

The next day dawned crisp and clear with the winter sun shining in a cloudless sky. Despite the late night the two teens managed to be up and out early. Jubilee was outfitted in full snow gear including a thick waterproof jacket in bright yellow, sunglasses to protect from the sun reflecting off the pristine whiteness of the snow and a hat, scarf and gloves as bright and multicoloured as the fireworks she could produce. Bobby on the other hand was causing concern with his distinct lack of protective clothing. Like Jubilee he wore hiking boots and sunglasses but there the similarity ended. Bobby didn't even have a jacket, only a long sleeved shirt. Jubilee's mother followed them outside, worried look still on her face.

'Are you sure you'll be all right like that Bobby?'

Jubilee turned back smiling. 'Mom, quit worrying, he'll be fine. I know it's weird but he's really comfortable in this weather. He's not called "Iceman" for nothing ya know.'

Gina smiled. 'I know, just call it mother's instinct and humour me. Now remember to both be careful and look out for each other, keep an eye on the weather and don't go to far, you know walking in the snow can be tiring so don't overdo it. Also – '

Jubilee rolled her eyes at hearing the speech again. 'Mom we know all this, and if I get tired or the weather turns bad Bobby can just ice slide us back. Chill okay?' She grinned cheekily at the deliberate pun. It was Gina's turn to sigh and roll her eyes, but she was smiling.

'One more thing?'

'Go for it.'

'Have fun,' Gina smiled fondly as her daughter kissed her cheek and ran to catch up with Bobby a short distance away.

'Don't worry we will! See you this afternoon!' The couple waved before turning their backs and beginning the slow ascent towards a small clump of trees in the distance.

A few hours later and with a little assistance from Bobby's ice slide they reached their destination. Jubilee threw the backpack she'd been carrying on the ground and flopped on her back in the snow.

'Phew!' She was still panting slightly from the exertion. 'That took longer than I thought. I am so ready for those sandwiches now.' She had started moving her arms and legs in lazy arcs in the snow.

'You're tired?' Bobby asked incredulously. 'Even with my help? You better be glad Wolverine isn't here to see it.' He made ice "claws" extend from one hand, pointed them at her and made his voice deeper and gruffer. 'An X-Man has to be in top physical condition at all times. You wanna be an X-Man ya gotta be ready to work for it.'

She burst into a fit of giggles at the spectacle and leapt up, giving him a flirtatious look and speaking slowly. 'I'm very glad Wolverine isn't here – for lots of reasons.' She grinned and turned to admire her handiwork. 'Look! A snow angel.'

Bobby stood beside her to look and then smiled and pointed to a space in front of him. Ice flowed from his fingers and took shape as it hit the snow to form a statue the same height as them.

He smirked at her. 'Look, an ice angel.'

It looked like a Christmas tree ornament made life size, with glistening long wings like the real Angel's and hands clasped in front at the end of long sleeves of a robe. It was only when Jubilee looked at the face she gave a small gasp, it was like looking in a mirror as she looked at a frozen version of her own head. She smiled as her cheeks became pink from more than just the cold. It was amazing how many times Bobby could let her know how he felt about her without saying a word.

After a few minutes she broke the companionable silence. 'Hey, speaking of ice sculptures don't forget what you said you'd make me today.' She prodded him lightly in the side.

'Hey! Don't worry I haven't forgotten,' he tried to get away from her but she persisted.

'Well? Come on, get to it!' She laughed and chased him, still poking him with gloved fingers.

He turned suddenly, catching her by surprise and grabbed her hands. 'Let's eat first, I've gotta build my strength up! Besides, thought you said you were hungry?'

'Starving! Thanks for reminding me!' She snatched up her backpack from the snow and looked around the grove of bare trees that rose from the white expanse to see if there was anywhere even slightly drier to sit. Finally they spotted a fallen tree a little further in that made a good rough bench to have their lunch on. Sandwiches and thermoses were produced from both their packs and for a while they just sat, munching and enjoying the chilly serenity that surrounded them. Jubilee looked around at the sea of white beyond the trees. 'Wow,' she breathed. 'It's so quiet here. Like we're in the middle of nowhere.'

'Um, Jubes?' Bobby looked at her sceptically. 'We are in the middle of nowhere.'

She whapped his arm. 'I know that! I meant it's like we're completely alone.' Bobby gave her that look again. 'Like we're alone in the world,' she clarified. 'As though we're the last two people on Earth or something.' A shiver ran down her spine. 'You can't even see the house from here. All this quiet, it's kind of creepy.'

Bobby just laughed and stood up, tidying away the debris of their picnic back into the bags. 'What, are you afraid a snow monster's gonna come along and eat us or something? You're just not used to it being this quiet, Jubes, it's getting to you, making you paranoid. We're X-Men, there's nothing we can't handle, right? Now come on, you want my giant crane masterpiece or what?'

Jubilee stretched and followed him. He was probably right; it was the eerie silence bothering her, the complete lack of noise from traffic or nature. She looked around again, thinking that all the white was slightly unnerving too. Glancing up at the sky she noticed it was cloudier than she had realised and the clouds seemed quite close. They would have to head back soon, to be on the safe side and not get caught in a possible storm or low clouds. But not before Bobby makes the ice crane, she said to herself. It won't take too long, and then we'll head back. She stood and watched him as he refined the sculpture that was rapidly taking shape, tapering the edges to a paper thinness while ensuring the core was still solid enough to take their weight and the base was thick enough to keep it all steady. He was like an artist as he made the ice take shape with just his hands and his mind and the massive creation was soon finished. Bobby stood back to admire his impressive handiwork and Jubilee stood and stared in awe, speechless for one of the few times in her life.

'It's – it's - ' her brain still couldn't find words to describe how she felt, so she just squealed, hugging him instead, nearly knocking him over and gave him a slightly sloppy kiss on the lips to show her appreciation. 'We have to take a picture of it!' she cried in excitement, breaking apart from him and rummaging in her bag to produce a camera. 'Okay if you take a picture of me – oh but I want you in the picture,' she paused, disappointment on her face.

'No problem. This thing has a timer right?' She nodded and Bobby took the camera from her, looking through the lens and moving until the sculpture was centred. Keeping the camera at face level he made a rough tripod of ice and set the camera on it, making sure it would be secure without risking water damage.

Happy with this solution Jubilee went and sat on the ice creation as Bobby set the timer then went to join her. The picture was taken and they spent more time taking various other pictures, including ones of their ice and snow angels and were having so much fun neither of them realised how dark it was getting, or how low and angry looking the clouds had become. Finally they grew tired of their fun and started thinking about heading back. It was then they noticed the grey sky that looked like it threatened to snow.

Jubilee started to look worried. 'Uh-oh, the weather's looking bad. We'd better get home Bobby.'

He nodded in agreement. 'Yeah okay. Get behind me and hold on. We'll take the express route.'

They made sure they had everything and set off, Bobby's ice slide coasting along slightly above the frozen white landscape, helping them make good progress. Unfortunately they were fairly high up and the clouds were descending, it was not long before a thick white fog surrounded them.

Bobby, we'd better stop,' Jubilee said, concerned.

'What? Why?'

'We can't see where we're going, we don't know if we're going the right way.'

'Walking will slow us down, Jubes, at least let's get out of this cloud first.'

We don't know how far this goes,' Jubilee argued, 'and I have a compass in my bag, just stop for a minute so I can get it out and check it.'

Bobby sighed but gave in, bringing them to a halt. Jubilee opened her bag, digging for the compass while staying close to her friend, knowing that they would be in difficulty if they lost each other. She managed to find it and they determined which was the right way, setting off again on foot. They walked for a while, losing track of time, the thick fog surrounding them making it impossible to see more than a few inches in front of them. Keeping his eyes to the ground Bobby noticed his shoelace had become untied and bent to re-tie it while Jubilee, who hadn't noticed, continued walking. His shoelace done up again Bobby stood up, jogging to catch up with his companion thinking that she couldn't have gone too far.

Further ahead Jubilee realised there was a distinct empty space where Bobby should have been and looked around in surprise. Unfortunately she could see nothing but whiteness all around her and could hear nothing.

Bobby thought he could try following her footprints but soon realised he couldn't even see the ground. He couldn't see her bright jacket either but still tried walking further to try and catch up with her not realising he was actually veering away from the path they were taking and the further he walked the further away from her he was getting. After moving for several minutes without having caught up with her he stopped and called her name.

Jubilee heard his cry and shouted an answer, heading to where she thought the voice had come from, but the fog was disorienting. She shouted again, sending a shower of multi-coloured sparks into the air, hoping he would see them, and edged forward.

'Jubes! Jubes!' he heard her shout and moved towards it, the fog making her voice sound muffled and far away. He heard her call once more and it sounded as though it was coming from a different direction. 'Jubes! Stay where you are! I'll come find you!' Faintly through the murk he saw a stream of bright colours and headed towards it, smiling with relief. It had started to snow lightly, just small, gentle flakes floating gracefully to earth, but it was getting heavier by the second.

Jubilee did as Bobby asked, staying in one place and looking around. She had taken her goggles off and the cold whiteness fell on her face, she brushed it away from time to time, noticing that she was having to do it more frequently. She adjusted her hat and scarf so they covered her face more and hoped Bobby got to her soon. She continued to send up her fireworks, hoping they could be seen through the fast falling snow.

Bobby tried ice sliding to the flares of light but they only came from time to time and were getting harder to see. Sometimes he would get to where he thought the sparks were coming from only to find nothing there. He tried shouting again, the snow and wind smothering his voice so it was barely audible, and he heard nothing in return. Desperately he searched, treading and re-treading the ground but it was no use. He couldn't find Jubilee, and now he was also lost.