Lady Marie was vaguely dreading the visit to meet Kurt and Amanda's first baby, a healthy bouncing boy. Bouncing was the right word for it, if the reports on the 10-month-old miniature Kurt were true.
She had had to delay the visit whilst she herself was ill, and now she was fully recovered, she could see the child.
Rogue had no idea why they hadn't just let her zap that army officer with the magical healing powers to heal herself, but suspected he had refused. Sergeant Logan was notorious for his refusals.
Humphing, she glared at her cocky French husband to alleviate the boredom of the long journey. Remy replied with a flirtatious grin. The young woman looked away, annoyed at her arranged marriage to the delinquent noble. At least it had been Juni who ended up with Chad. The two airheads suited each other.
Hours later, the edge of the castle grounds came into view. Marie sat up straight in the rocking carriage as it began to slow.
Lord Lebeau leapt deftly from the coach, turning to give Marie a hand. Grinning when she stubbornly exited by the other door, needing no help, he strolled in the huge front entrance of the castle.
He was immediately assailed by a catapulting brown fur-ball. The Unidentified Flying Object swiftly extricated itself from the resulting tangle and; stretching bat-like wings that were covered with light fur, the creature escaped through the door.
"Nein! Nicht outside!" A blue demon came pelting past, with Amanda following after.
"Oh no, he's escaped! We'll never get him now!" she yelled.
Remy stared in shock. There was a pained scream outside. Recognizing it as Marie's, the man scrambled up and ran outside.
Marie decided to leave her gloves off till she found her brother and sister- in-law in the rambling castle. A crashing sound reached her ears, and a hyperactive brown thing careened into her. Instinctively raising her arms to protect herself, she cringed, waiting for the flashbacks. Instead, she felt fur as whatever it was clamped onto her. Opening her own, she looked into huge green eyes framed by a human, though fuzzy, face.
"Mah Gawd, this is the little monster? KURT!" She yelled. On cue, the afore mentioned person ran out of the doors.
"Stephan! Get back here!"
Suddenly Marie's blue furry brother stopped. "Ah, you have him. Either bouncing of walls or fastened on to something. I now know what Mutti Wagner went through with me."
"WHY does he have wings?"
Kurt shrugged, pulling the squalling kid off her arm. "Why didn't you absorb him?"
Rogue thought a second, then smiled. "His fur is even thicker than yours, blue-boy. Can't make skin contact through it."
"What's the point of you being married if you can't make skin contact?"
"Kurt! Ew! Not in a million years will I answer that question."
Amanda was suddenly beside them, poking her husband. "Don't be rude, demon."
"Don't call me that."
"No, Stephan is more of a demon than you...Runs in the family."
"Well, that's great. Remy, git yore ass over 'ere!"
"Remy was coming, cherie. Calm down."
The two looked Stephan over gravely. He was similar to Kurt in shape, but for the wings. His plush fur was the light brown of his mother's skin, and his hands had all five fingers.
"He has your eyes, Marie. Crazy petite garcon."
Amanda sighed. She was very tired. "He's an incredibly fast developer, I must say. I keep feeling surprised he can get his head off the floor, it's still so big." Kurt gave her a sympathetic hug.
"Anyway, you must be pretty tired so we'll go find one of the sitting rooms. Which colour would you like? I never realized this place was so big before. Come on, mein Dame, before you fall asleep."
Kurt led the way to a lounge, calling for some food from the kitchens. By the time an hour was up, every one of them was snoring.
The next day, the castle was awoken to the sound of crying. Rogue once awake found it impossible to go back to sleep again, so she staggered down to the deserted kitchens for some coffee. The maid on all-night duty jumped up as the woman entered, only recognizable by the streaks of white in her hair. Marie was bad at mornings. She set the maid to helping Amanda, guessing the Queen would be awake now that Stephan had stopped crying. Exploring the pantry for coffee - what would she do if they hadn't got any? - she made herself a large mug and returned to her room.
Her husband was sitting up in his separate bed, cursing babies.
"Good thing we can't have them then, ya'll agree?"
Remy suddenly looked soulful. "Would ya love Remy if you could touch him? I love you, Marie."
"Shurrup with ya'll. I don't like bein' hassled in the morning."
"Remy thought you'd had your coffee."
Rogue waved the mug at him, indicating she hadn't drunk it yet, and sat on the edge of Remy's bed with a sigh.
"Ah suppose Ah'm sorry shugah. But this is who Ah am, and ya'll are stuck with me. Ah sure as hell didn't get to choose!"
Her husband grinned at her sweetly. "Remy don' mind you at all."
Marie stood up and snapped at him - "Always in third tense! It's driving me up the wall!" - then taking a long draught of coffee.
"I asked Jean to do a spell to block your power, but t' only one that will work is a binding."
I'd do a binding if it would let me live properly.
"Ya'll have, have - found a cure?"
"Oui."
Amanda carried her son into her bedroom, dropping him on Kurt who was still fast asleep in the bed.
"No. Don't wake me up with the little fiend, please 'Manda."
"Tough. And if you're not up in...twenty five minutes you'll miss breakfast too."
The demon rolled over, leaving a stray clump of fur on the pillow. He was dropping off again, even as his son tried to find out just how far the pointy ears stretched. Amanda thought up a suitable incentive for him to wake.
"I'll hide the brushes. And, oh look, you're going to start moulting again any time now."
The Nightcrawler paused. There was a pause as he remembered just how well she could hide things.
The next second he was upright, with no stage in between lying down and standing up. "Jawohl, cruel Liebe."
Stephan began bouncing on the bed, and then unfurled his bony wings. Time to explore the top of the bed.
The parents groaned. "He shouldn't be able to do that at ten months!" They chorused. (I know nothing about child development, aside from Stephan's being unbelievably fast. Deal with it, I've got creative license! Love that phrase.)
After dinner the same day, everyone was surprised to see Lady Marie actually playing with the bat-like son-of-a-demon, without gloves on. He was entirely unaffected by her absorbing magic, until he brushed one of his wings against her face.
There was a flash where almost everything went like a photo negative, if they'd known what that was; as they didn't the people could only describe it as unnatural.
Squeaking dismally, Marie examined the unconscious child in front of her in the scant seconds she had, before red fur grew on her skin, batwings appeared with a nauseous cracking and a tail extended from her body, unnoticed under her skirts.
"Quit staring!" she growled, before rushing to her guest room, where her husband sat in a chair, reading. He leapt up when he saw her.
"Chere! What happened?" He yelped in shock.
"Ah absorbed Stephan. We were playing, an' he hit me in the face with his wings" - it felt a little odd to say that - "and they're less furry than the rest of 'im, so, here I am. Now scoot, Ah need a new dress."
"Not so fast Marie, if you furry, then Remy can touch you now."
"I don't have time for your flirting!"
"Fine, chere! Completely ignore t' fact that Remy hates not bein' able to touch 'is wife!" He stormed out the room, kissing her fuzzy face swiftly as he went past. Rogue shut and locked the door in a bad mood. She stayed in the room for an hour until her metamorphosis had disappeared. Then she put on a new dress, and rejoined the outside world, after a detour to the court mage's rooms.
"So, tell me about this spell..."
Stephen was hidden behind a chair leg, lying on his back gurgling.
"You do confuse me, kinder, sometimes normal, just lying around; sometimes flying around like a juggernaut. You make me seem ordinary."
Kurt picked up his child, who had disappeared as soon as he regained conscience. He wasn't bothered at all by being absorbed.
He turned to Amanda. "Hello, beautiful. Wie gehts?"
"Tired."
"Du bist so schoen. And you need sleep."
"More? I'm all slept out! Give me Stephan; at least he doesn't stick to walls like you. Or teleport."
The blue-furred elf kissed his wife, the reformed peasant-shooter.
"Hey, Fuzzy. Shall we go check on Marie?"
"Jawohl. I haven't talked to mein schwester much yet."
They found her outside Jean Gray's quarters, for once not fighting off Remy. He was kissing her, so the two worked out that the spell Remy had mentioned earlier had been a success. Kurt and Amanda hastily un-found them, though Kurt couldn't resist a few snide comments on the way back.
Turning from the window, Mystique looked at her husband. He was sitting quietly, watching her, on some subconscious level thinking she looked glamorous in her blue form, with her long red hair.
"All the loose ends have been resolved for now. I don't get the chance to say that a great deal."
He smiled warmly at his wife. "That's very good to know."
"Isn't it?" She grinned.
Snow had begun to fall. Rogue wondered why her flu had to be in the summer, so the trip was delayed till winter. But she didn't really mind. Someone loved her, for all her tempers and isolation, and that was far more interesting than frozen rain.
When they went to bed, neither Kurt nor Amanda were cold. Kurt because of his fur, and Amanda because of Kurt.
Everyone was content, happily ever after. Various countries and realms were peaceful for many centuries. That all changed in the years of the Mage Conflict, but that is another, much longer story.