Beany: Thank you!
Agent-G: Aww thank you and thank you for recommending it. There will probably be a couple of one-shots in future, depending on RL, but thank you for reading this and glad you enjoyed it!
TheLegendaryManHimself: Wow thank you! Her background isn't explicitly explained in the cartoon, so I felt okay taking liberties with it, and it just made the story work! Glad you enjoyed it so much and hope you like this chapter.
Here it is, just a short epilogue to round it off. Thanks to those reading and reviewing, I'm really glad people liked this fic so much! Enjoy!
Epilogue – Shirahime
It was a few days after the incident on the mountain and things were back to normal. They hadn't told Jubilee's family about what had happened, not wanting to worry them, and also because they weren't entirely sure about what had happened themselves. Now their vacation was nearly over and they were spending the last few days doing more sight seeing. They were in a small gallery dedicated to Japanese art and Bobby found himself wandering around bored again when Jubilee rushed up to him in great excitement and clutched his arm. Her face looked like she'd seen a ghost.
'Bobby!' she hissed, 'you have to come see this!' and dragged him towards one of the paintings. Bobby reluctantly allowed himself to be pulled along, idly wondering what had gotten Jubilee so worked up. When they reached the painting she pointed to it, and he just stared. It was her. It was the woman he had seen, the painting looked exactly like her.
The picture showed a woman standing barefoot in the snow, wearing a white kimono. Her black hair hung down to her waist and the only colour was her red lips. Five wolves stood around her, the largest standing by her side. It was night in the picture, the large full moon shining overhead. Under the painting was a small plaque that said "Shirahime" and then the artist's name. One of the museum helpers saw their fascination with the painting and walked over.
'Ah yes,' he said, 'an arresting painting isn't it? It was done long ago by a man who claimed he'd seen Shirahime, the snow princess.' They both turned to stare at him and he smiled indulgently. 'Of course, that is just a myth. Enjoy the exhibit.'
He walked away and they murmured their thanks, barely noticing as they still stared at the painting. Finally Jubilee spoke.
'Bobby, do you think it's possible?'
'I don't know,' he replied slowly, 'but it's like Scott's always saying, "We're X-Men, anything's possible." Hey you remember what your aunt said?'
She thought for a moment. 'That those who were helped by Shirahime,' she said thoughtfully, remembering, 'left her gifts as thanks.'
He grinned at her. 'Yeah. And just in case it is possible, I've got an idea . . .' He took her hand and led her out of the gallery.
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When she heard his plan Jubilee looked at him uncertainly. 'Bobby, I'm not sure about this. I've never done anything like this before.'
'Aw come on Jubes! You've been getting really good with your powers over the last couple of years, I really think you can do it. At least try.'
She sighed. 'Okay, I guess I can give it a shot. But you'll have to be quick.' She put her hands together so only the tips of her fingers touched and concentrated. Tiny globes of light, all different colours, came out of her hands and she closed her eyes tight, concentrating on them holding their shape and not exploding. Bobby smiled and quickly put his hands close to the lights, making ice form around them, trapping them within the shape he created. Soon he was done.
'Okay, open your eyes.'
Jubilee did so and gasped. In his hands was an ice crane about the size of a basketball, a miniature version of the one he'd made for her. The lights held within sparkled and glowed, refracted by the ice, making it look like some kind of magical fairy object. 'Oh Bobby! It's beautiful.'
He grinned, feeling proud of himself. 'Good enough for a snow princess?'
She looked into his eyes, returning his grin. 'Definitely.'
They waited until after dark, when everyone else had gone to bed, and sneaked out of the house, retrieving the present from where they'd hidden it earlier in the snow, to ensure it stayed cold. Bobby adjusted the shape slightly and they slid away, going to the approximate spot where the woman and the wolves had left them, the nearly full moon and stars shining overhead, reflecting off the snow, making it easier to see.
'Okay,' Bobby said as they stopped, 'I'm pretty sure this is the place.'
'Do you think she'll see it?' Jubilee asked worriedly.
'We can make sure of that,' Bobby replied, and created a rough platform of ice that came up to their waists, like a mini iceberg with the top cut off. They put the snow crane on the top, like an offering on an altar, and stood looking at it for a moment, glimmering brightly in the darkness.
'Wow,' Jubilee breathed, 'it really is amazing Bobby.'
'Hey, you helped. It wouldn't look nearly so amazing without your fireworks inside it. You're the amazing one.' Jubilee blushed as he pulled her closer, kissing her lips gently. 'Just one more thing to do.' He stepped away from her and cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting at the top of his voice. 'SHIRAHIME! WE BROUGHT YOU A PRESENT! TO SAY THANK YOUUU!' His voice rang around the mountain and Jubilee couldn't help giggling as he turned to her, a wide gin on his face.
'Come on you maniac!' she tugged at his arm. 'We'd better get back, I wouldn't be surprised if you woke up everyone back at the cabin, yelling like that.'
He took her hand and after a last look they turned away, just walking for a while and enjoying the night and the stillness. After a moment a breeze swirled around them and they heard what they were sure was a woman's happy laughter. They smiled at each other, feeling their gift had been accepted, and felt proud.