The last school bell sounded and the students retired to their dorms to do their homework or to the den to play foosball or watch television. Jubilee jetted to the elevators she didn't want to have to deal with the questions from Emma; she knew the whole school knew about her little incident with Storm and how she wasn't in any of her classes. She could only think of one place to go. . . .
She exited the elevator walked down the hall and turned into Nightcrawler's room, the door was open; she just stood in the doorway. He was reading one of his pirate adventure novels; his face wore a riveted expression on his face. She debated whether she would knock or not, he did have a way of invoking curiosity in a person, and it wasn't just the blue skin, tail and yellow eyes.
She knocked. He looked up and then put a bookmark in his book and placed it on his bed.
"Can I talk to you?" Jubilee asked
"Ja," he said as he got up and pulled up a chair.
She stood in the door way as if she were frozen.
"You can come in, I don't bite" Nightcrawler said as he sat back down on his bed.
Jubilee slowly entered his room.
"I don't want to hurt you," Jubilee said as she stood against the wall by the door.
"You aren't going to hurt me, but if you want to stand there it's just fine with me." Nightcrawler said as his tail, curled along the side of his leg, began to tap against the bed.
"What were you reading when I came in?"
"Oh, Treasure Island, I love pirate stories—something about going out on the sea for days on end is so fascinating no?" Nightcrawler said smiling
"I am more of a mystery novels person"
"You don't know what you're missing" Nightcrawler said as he tapped the book, smiling.
"I remember you from the cellar at Alkali Lake, you saved us"
Nightcrawler bowed his head humbly.
"I also remember that Artie got sick after, you did one of your smoke screen disappearing acts, what do you call that any way?"
"Teleporting is what Storm called it. But in the Munich Circus they called it some thing like you did"
"You were in a circus!" her tone sounded more hurt by the idea of a mutant being in a circus than curious. "By choice?"
"Ja, I was raised in the Circus; we traveled all over Germany and Europe. I was known as the Incredible Nightcrawler!" he said with pride.
"You liked being in the circus?" Jubilee forced curiosity
"It was all I knew" Nightcrawler said solemnly
"You didn't find it humiliating that they were all laughing at you?"
"They weren't laughing at me. Not really, it was all an act, they were impressed by what I could do, the disappearing act like you said. To them I was just a man in blue make-up doing magic tricks. I guess in a way I was almost--"
"Normal" Jubilee finished, she felt her bitterness rise and her hands started pulsating. She raised them up and stared at them charge and charge, her eyes glared as she looked intently at her hands
"How did they react when they found out you were a mutant?"
Nightcrawler's face dropped into a grave seriousness
"Ein Dämon is what they called me," he muttered, "They would stare and run and--" He faded off into silence, "Hatred and fear can do strange things to people," he said as if remembering the riots and the screaming.
Jubilee saw his face drop with hurt and pity, not anger. She was surprised if it had been her, she'd have chosen anger.
"Doesn't it make you angry?"
Nightcrawler looked up, and straight into her eyes, "No." he said simply
"They called you names; they treated you like an animal! Why doesn't that make you angry! Why!" Jubilee demanded, remembering how Stryker put them in that electric- wired cage as if they were animals, using the very source of her power to imprison her symbolically telling her what humanity thought of her and "her kind". Her hands charged again. Nightcrawler heard the hurt in her voice.
"Because I would have been just like them," Nightcrawler said, Jubilee's features softened, "I would have been what they feared. I would have became, what they saw me as and that wasn't who I was. Being in the circus taught me that people see only what they want to see, all they see is 'the act'." He said. "The Incredible Nightcrawler! When the crowds leave and the tents are pulled down the act is over and you have to be yourself, who you are inside" he said patting he chest.
"And who are you inside?" She asked.
"I am Kurt Wagner." He replied. Jubilee smiled. She looked down and shuffled her feet. There was a long silence.
"What is your name?" Kurt asked
"Jubilee"
"Is that who you are on the inside or just an act?" he asked.
Still confused by all this she looked at he buzzing hands and then at Nightcrawler.
"It was nice talking to you, I had better go or I'll be late for dinner." She said as she quickly left for the elevator. Nightcrawler watched with concerned eyes as she left. He heard her hurried footsteps down the hall.
Everyone gathered in the dining hall for dinner. At the head of the table sat the Professor, on end sat Cyclops, back in his Boy Scout troop leader demeanor. Storm sat between Siryn and Artie who never seemed to get along. Artie stuck his tongue out at her she took a breath, threatening to yelp at him. Storm covered her mouth.
"Don't you two start." She said looking at Siryn's guilty eyes then at Artie who sank down in his seat.
"She started it," Artie muttered
"Hey I said cool it" Storm said in a maternal tone.
Jones passed the rice to Emma who looked around.
"Has anyone seen Jubilee?" she asked, "she wasn't in the room after school, I got all her homework; she wasn't in any of her classes"
"I recommended she take some time off, she had been feeling a bit under the weather"
"She's probably hiding out somewhere in the mansion to be alone" Rogue said.
"Yeah" Bobby agreed, taking the peas from Rogue and scooping some on his plate.
"Normal" Jubilee chided herself mockingly; she felt her bitterness rise and her hands started charging. She raised them up and stared at them. They charged and charged, uncontrollably, her eyes glared as she looked intently at her hands, like they were contaminated from some disease she couldn't cure herself from. She remembered the pictures at the mutant exhibit at the museum. That's all they would ever see her to be. . . . some animal to entertain them, another exhibit for them to stare at, an experiment gone wrong by Mother Nature, for them to dissect on their lab tables like a frog in a biology class, isn't that what they did to Wolverine? Nobody wanted her around, then she thought of Kurt and the hope that emanated from him, she would never be able to feel what he felt, never! She sneaked past to her room and got a bag. She couldn't stay here, she had to find a way to deal with this on her own. Alone. . . .