Disclaimer: I do not own Legion of Super-Heroes. I do however own Celia Cortez, and if used without my consent MAY THE DEATH OF 1,000,000 CATS BE ON YOUR HEADS!
Adapted from the story Nutcracker Nightmare by R.L. Stine
Shadyside High. Room 101. Detention. There were four people inside. The faculty adviser was reading the newspaper. One kid had his head down, the other was writing words on his arms with a pen. The third was reading a book. More & More & More Tales to Give You Goosebumps. She was tall, very tall, an Amazon practically. Her skin mixed, like coffee and cream, tanned mostly. A mix of Hispanic and Caucasian. Her long hair was blond, and her eyes were gray like two pearls. And she had a pair of well-developed, round and succulent breasts. Hard to believe she was seventeen. She looked up from the book.
"Hey losers. The name's Celia. Celia Cortez. And as you can see I'm stuck here in detention, thanks to my gracious host and my big mouth. Anyway, I should tell you this now so there's no miscommunication between us. I don't live in a superhero world, or a romantic, love-dovey bulls$%t land. In my world, people my age die. Every day. And where are the adults when this stuff happens? Nowhere. I know this for a fact, because if I didn't, I wouldn't have these…"
She moved her hair to show two scars on her neck.
"Or these…"
Her fangs slid out.
"Or these…"
Her red eyes.
"Or these bad boys here."
She held up her two large and round breasts which stuck out so firmly it's hard to believe they don't burst out.
"But, when it happens to younger kids, there's never an actual sense that they might die. The things they go through are more juvenile. Halloween masks that possess you, evil snowmen, skateboarding skeletons, and the perpetual evil babysitter. This story I'm about to tell already happened to someone, so it's kinda a funny coincidence that it happened to someone else. Some spoiled brat named Cham couldn't wait to go through his Christmas gifts, and now he has to sit through a rendition of the Nutcracker. So while I'm waiting to get out of here, he can wait through what might as well be the longest night of his life as he has to watch…"
07. Nutcracker Nightmare: The Director's Cut
"Coast clear?"
They snuck inside the dark hallway. They tiptoed in, and entered the room at the end. The door whooshed open, and they crept in silently. The girl on the left had dark skin, like creamy chocolate, and short black hair. An air of authority, someone who knew what to do before she was told. The girl on the right was peach-skinned, somewhat pale, with hair like ice and aura of royalty. Jazmin Cullen and Projectra were their names, respectively. Kid Quantum and Princess Projectra. They stepped into the dark room.
"Where do we put it?" Projectra, or Jeckie, asked.
"Here. In here." Jazmin told.
"Did anyone follow us?" Jeckie wondered aloud.
"No, we're safe." Jazmin reassured her.
The two stepped into the darkly lit room, into a door in the back. A storage closet. Jazmin touched a pad on the right, and the lights went on.
"Good. Then let's-what?!" Jazmin's calm turned to a storm.
"Cham! What are you doing?!" Jeckie demanded.
"Uh, nothing."
In the middle of the room was an orange-skinned child with antennae and big, green eyes like lily pads on black water. He sat around a hurricane of shredded paper decorated with jolly snowman and ringing bells, Santa Claus and his reindeer. His name was Reep Daggle, a.k.a. Chameleon Boy, or Cham.
"You-how could-" Jeckie stuttered. She dropped the gifts that were in her arms.
"I asked you guys for a Mega Man and you got me Mighty Man are you kidding me?!" Cham yelled.
"Thanks, Cham! You ruined the surprise for everyone!" Jazmin yelled.
"What have you got to say for yourself?" Jeckie demanded.
"It was the one-armed man?"
…
"Aw come on, guys. Can't we go see a movie?"
It was one week later, Christmas night. Gifts were exchanged, family visited, dinner was devoured, and good times were had by all good little boys and girls across the universe.
"Cham, stop whining. This is a special event." Jazmin told him.
Cham, Jeckie, and Jazmin were standing outside of Hargreeves Theatre in the snowy December night. The girls were accompanied by their boyfriends, the blond Dyrk Magz, a.k.a. Magno, and the black-haired Val Armorr, a.k.a. Karate Kid. Dyrk was asked by Jazmin, but Jeckie was Val's lover for about two months. All five were in the Legion, and they were all dressed in winter coats.
"Special as in special ed." Cham muttered.
"Cham!" Jazmin looked at him disgust.
"Smooth." Dyrk muttered.
"Charming." Projectra said, spitting the word out like poison as Val shook his head.
"Really Cham, I think you might like this." Jazmin told him.
"The Nutcracker is one of the most beloved classics on Earth." Jeckie explained. It was even well known on her homeworld, Orando. Cham cared less, and started fiddling with the buttons on his green jacket. The four others huddled together.
"Why did we bring him along?" Dyrk whispered.
"His father gave me the tickets. I thought it'd be rude not to invite him." Val explained.
"And besides, look at him." Jazmin motioned. The other four looked at him as if plotting some conspiracy.
"Needs more protein in his diet." Jeckie said.
"He's miserable, and we haven't even entered the theatre yet." Jazmin said. "This'll teach him to mess up the gifts."
"Guys can we hurry? I think I'm getting frostbite." Cham said. They started to enter the theatre. Seeing the inside, with all the old people, the art experts, the snobs, Cham cringed.
"On second thought, frostbite's sounding a lot better."
"Cham really, what is it with you? It's Christmas and you've been acting like a grouch all day." Dyrk asked.
"I'm just mad because I didn't get to open any new presents this morning." Cham complained.
"Well then you should have been patient. Instead of opening them all." Jazmin explained.
"Even the ones that WEREN'T YOURS." Jeckie glared. One of the gifts Cham had ruined was a brooch Val had bought for her, and he was disappointed this morning when she didn't act surprised.
"It isn't fair." Cham slouched.
"What is his problem? When did he start acting like Miss Poor Little Rich Girl?" Dyrk asked.
"I guess when your father is the richest man in the galaxy you can get this way during a holiday so polluted with consumerism." Val offered that hypothesis.
"Or he could just be a jerk." Jazmin offered a counter-hypothesis.
"I'm willing to go with that one." Jeckie told her. A short while later, the five entered the busy theatre. They found their seats. Cham slumped forward, waiting for the woman in front to take off her large hat. Until he realized it was hair.
"We can trade if you want, Cham." Val offered his seat. Ever the gentleman for a man who practiced the pursuit of enlightenment through bare-fisted murder.
"I dunno. If I have to look around at least it'll prevent me from lapsing into a coma."
He gulped when he saw the anger in their eyes.
"Uh, on second thought, I gotta go use the bathroom." Cham was ready to rush out.
"That's actually a good idea." Dyrk said. It would give them break from his whining.
"But the time I'm out the show'll probably be over." Cham mused. Jeckie sighed and rubbed her temples.
"Cham, you need to learn more patience." She told him.
"No. My dad needs to give better gifts."
"Okay that's it!" Jazmin yelled.
"Jazmin, no!"
"See you guys in a bit." He said in a rush as they tried to restrain Jazmin from committing justifiable homicide. In the bathroom, all Cham did was walk back in forth, thinking over what to do.
"Oh, boy. Maybe I can sneak out the window."
He looked around, there weren't in windows.
"D'oh!" He gave a sigh of defeat and went back into the lobby. It was empty.
"Hey, did it start already?" Cham wondered.
"No it didn't." A voice behind said.
"Gah!" Cham nearly jumped out of his skin. He tuned around, it was Jazmin.
"Something wrong?" She said, oddly calmed.
"Geez, KQ, you scared the living daylights outta me." Cham told her.
"Oh, I'm sorry." She apologized.
"Huh?" What happened? Before she wanted to murder him.
"Come on, the show's about to start." She said.
"Oh goody." He replied sarcastically. "So I guess it's time to get bored to death."
"Boredom. I wonder, Reep?" Jazmin stopped him.
"Reep? Since when are you so formal?" Cham gave her an odd look.
"Tell me, do you have any idea what actual boredom is?" Jazmin asked.
"Uh, well, I know what's it like to have to wait for the movie to come on only you have to sit through like five hours of trailers from remakes and Adam Sandler movies, and by the time the movie starts you've eaten all your snacks and you have to pee wicked bad." Cham explained. Jazmin smirked.
"I thought so. You need to learn to be patient, Reep. And you're going to." She told him.
"Huh?"
"Oh believe me, you're going to." She said, with a cold smile. And walked back into the theatre.
…
"When's it going to start?" Cham moaned.
"Be quite, the orchestra is still warming up." Dyrk said.
"Still? It's been like an hour-"
"Shh!" Val went.
"Oh no he didn't." Cham muttered to himself.
It was true. He looked down to the stage, and saw the orchestra going over their sheet music, blowing notes through their horns and woodwinds, plucking the strings on their violins and banging the drums. For what felt like hours. Cham tapped his fingers on his armrest impatiently. Then, the motion down their seemed to stop. An eerie silence. The curtain hadn't gone up.
"Did it stop?" Cham wondered aloud.
"Cham the first act hasn't started. Sit still."
Cham grumbled until, finally, the curtain opened. He felt relieved. But nothing happened. The lights were on, but the stage was bare. There wasn't even any music. Cham suddenly noticed something funny. His leg had fallen asleep. He waved it around to get the blood flowing, when he heard a loud CRASH! An involuntary reaction made him hit his foot against the seat in front of him.
"Ow!"
"Be quiet!" The lady with the big hair scowled.
"My foot's asleep." He said. The others scowled as well and motioned for silence. He glared at them.
"And so's my butt." He muttered to himself.
"TMI." Jeckie whispered.
"Cham, either shut up or you want have a butt anymore." Dyrk threatened.
Cham kept quiet for that point, and watched the stage. The dancers came out, dressed in Victorian clothing. The sashayed and pranced, danced and frolicked. Over and over and over and over. They seemed to be repeating themselves. Cham was unsure, but he believed to have seen the part with the stranger godfather at least three times. But when he noticed, the dancing seemed to all but stopped. Super slow motion. Clara seemed to have stopped in mid-air for about twenty minutes. Cham turned to the others, but they were happily entranced in the play. Suddenly, everyone started to applaud. Cham didn't want to, his hand had fallen asleep. But he got more glares from Jeckie, and felt obliged to. So he clapped.
And clapped.
And clapped.
And clapped.
Cham tried to stop, until the others glared again and he started to clap until his hands hurt. And then, the music stopped, suddenly. The curtain went down. Silence fell across the theatre once again. It was dark. Finally, Cham spoke.
"Guys, is it just me or have we been hear all night?" He asked.
"Cham it's only been a half hour. You're imagining things." Val told him.
"Oh you mean like the time I 'imagined' my cereal was talking to me?" Cham asked.
"Yes." Jazmin whispered back.
FLASHBACK
Cham was in the kitchen, staring into a bowl of Lucky Charms. The cereal was talking to him.
"Reep, I command you to destroy." The cereal commanded.
"Rokk says you're only in my mind talking cereal." Cham said with no-so-much conviction.
"He lies! He's the first one to be destroyed. Now, I want you to-"
The cereal started sputtering as Cham poured milk into it. It hacked for air when Cham stopped.
"D, don't ever do that again. Now, I want you to-"
Cham dug his spoon in and took a big bite.
"AAAHHH!!! AAH AHHHHHH!!" It screamed.
END FLASHBACK
Dirty looks from the others made Cham keep quiet. The silence persisted. And he couldn't remember how long, it felt like hours. His whole body felt stiff and sore and numb in some parts. He forgot what his backside felt like.
"How long has this been going on? Anyone have the time?" Cham asked.
"If you don't stop talking I'm getting the manager." The woman in front said.
"We know what time it is, Cham." Jeckie said.
"What?" Cham asked. He felt chills run down his spine as he looked at the same eerie grin all four of them had on their faces.
"Time to learn patience." Jazmin smiled.
"What-re you, what?" Cham stuttered.
"You heard me." She told him.
Cham processed this. It made sense now. Why this was going on for so long. Jazmin. She was using her time stasis abilities to make it seem like this stupid play was lasting forever. And the others, they were in on it. This was revenge for what he did to the gifts. Well he wasn't going to stick around for that.
"I gotta get out of here." He said, and left for the aisle as the music started again. He got out of his seat and made his way to the exit. He'd never felt so relieved to see the glowing neon sign for EXIT in bright red. He didn't what he'd do when he left, but probably tell Cos or someone else about Jazmin and the others did. Yep, then he'd forget this whole night ever happened. Ever happened at all. When he got to the exit. But when would he? He just kept walking and walking as the music droned on. He picked up the pace, but he it was like he was stuck in the exact same spot. The music started to slow down, like someone was messing with a sound system. The music ran together in a slow, grinding paste of shrieking violins slowed down to sound like some awful moaning. The drums bammed and bammed so slow it sounded like incoherent thunder. The pipes were like whistling through trees in a storm, slowing down like low, guttural chanting to some forgotten god. Finally, Cham decided to fly, but when he did, it was like he was going backwards! He dropped to the floor and sobbed. He looked up, and a heard a loud RIP! His arms and legs felt tight in his clothes, until the seams came apart.
"What is this? Why is she doing this?" Cham cried. He got up, and saw the woman in the seat in front of him. Her hair was turning gray, then white, then falling off her head until he could see the liver spots on her scalp. The music droned on. The awful, horrible music.
Is it because of the presents? All because of some stupid presents?! Or is it because of the spoiled attitude he had the whole month?
"Oh, why is this happening?!" Cham cried. He rushed back to the aisle.
"Jazmin I know you're doing this. Make it stop." He ordered.
"Cham the snack bar is closed when the show is on." Jazmin said.
"Jazmin this isn't funny make it stop!" Cham said.
"Cham, sit down. You'll miss the best part." Val said.
"Make it-*Gasps*." He stopped.
Cham felt his stomach creep up to his mouth. He could barely hold it in when he saw his friends.
Jazmin kept her gaze on the stage, not noticing that her face had become creased with age. Wrinkles around her eyes and lips, getting saggier until she looked like an old leather bag left out in the sun. Her hair had become snow white and frayed.
Jeckie's eyes were shriveling up and going back into her sockets as her eyes started to become hollow and empty. Her skin was becoming wrinkled and her hair fell out. Her skull was showing through her scalp. Her mouth and joints creaked like an old screen door and dust came out of her mouth as she opened it to laugh at what was going on in the play.
Val's skin had turned to dust. Amongst the three, he was the… wettest. Viscera was leaking out through his eyes and ears. PLOP! His face fell on the floor and shriveled like a piece of jerky.
Cham didn't know what to do, but when he looked down at his own hands, they had decayed down to the bare bone.
What was going on? Why didn't anyone else notice this?!
And Dyrk… his head had popped right off. His skull rolled over to Cham's feet and stared up at him, smiling, then frowning.
"Cham sit down. We're trying to watch the show."
And then the screaming started.
…
They brought Cham back to HQ, cradled in Val's arms with dear life.
"So I'm guessing I overplayed it with the illusions, huh?" Jeckie asked.
"You think?" Jazmin asked.
Cos greeted him. He looked at Cham and blanked.
"So, I take it he didn't like the show?" Cosmic Boy asked.
"No s&*t Sherlock." Jeckie flat out told him.
…
Celia was getting her stuff out of her locker. On the inside of the locker door was an old rag doll and some old test papers.
"I got let out on good behavior. So, what'd you think?"
RRRRING!!
The payphone next to the lockers started to ring off the hook.
"Oh hold on."
Celia took the phone off the receiver.
"Hello? What? Speak up I can't, what? Whose baby? No, this isn't Billy. Hold on."
She sighed, hung her head low, then, as her eyes went from gray to red, she yanked the phone off the wall and pulled out the guy on the other side. He had a knife in his hands and a black plastic bag in the other. He looked up at her.
"Please." She scoffed.
WHACK!
She passed by the principal on her way out, the man named Billy tied up with the phone and over her shoulder.
"Miss Cortez, what do you think you're doing?!"
"Just takin' care of business. Hope you all can last till Christmas. Feliz Navidad."
Next Track:
08. Gingerbread
