Chapter Seven

Mainframe

Bob slowly stirred and opened his eyes. He felt the weight of Frisket upon him, and then his ear drums were almost shattered by Frisket's anxious bark and the scrambling feet of the dog as he ran forward, barking even more frantically. Bob got up and looked in the direction that Frisket had run.

He was totally surrounded by a grayness devoid of any other matter. He could not tell where to put his feet safely as it seemed that there was a gray mist rising from where the ground should be. In fact, the mist had become so heavy that he could not see Frisket, and the only thing that he could tell was that Frisket was still barking at something and his barks were even louder. He walked slowly toward the barks, hoping that whatever surrounded them would not swallow both of them up.

Where was he? He thought that when he had hit his icon, it would have taken him home, but this couldn't be home! Home was brightly lit with myriads of color, and it was always a bustle of activity, though nothing compared to the Super Computer.

"FRISKET?" he called as he continued to walk forward, hoping that he was not walking into a trap. His own voice echoed back to him. Each step took him even further into the mist until he reached a point he could not see even his hand in front of his face.

With relief, Bob felt his keytool attached to his wrist. Memory guided his fingers to one of the special keys that provided light. He was rewarded with a dim light that helped him to see where he was stepping.

Suddenly, Frisket stopped barking. Why? Bob wondered. Had something taken him? That thought carried him into the area where Frisket was now frantically licking the melting ice on what appeared to be the back of Enzo.

He hurried forward and knelt beside his best friend. His finger searched for another key that turned on a small heater, and he began to hold it close to Enzo's back where the ice now began to slowly disappear. He prayed that Enzo would still process.

The Council's Court Room

Trent stared at the talking animal that had just thrown him into the wall. Slowly, he managed to begin moving his slacked jaw, but he was still trying to find his voice when barking suddenly erupted and another talking animal flew into the first!

Didymus could not believe that Donkey was still sitting on the man and had not crushed him! With his tiny cane, he hit Donkey on the bum, which was already sore. Donkey roared with pain. "GET OFF OF ME, YOU FLEA-BITTEN MONGREL!" to which Didymus replied, "GET OFF THE MAN, THOU BIG, DUMB OXEN!"

Donkey got slowly to his hooves, and when Eddie turned his baleful eyes upon Sir Didymus, the small dog should have been warned to get the Hell gone, but he failed to notice the gleam in Eddie's eye as he turned around. The next minute, he was met with Eddie's hooves which collided with his behind and sent him sailing through the air to come to rest upon Clark's chest. Didymus began to yip once again. Even though Donkey was way on the other side of the room and he doubted he could hear him, he told him what a big, clumsy ass he was.

As Trent scuttled backwards from the talking donkey and Didymus yipped in canine language, Clark swatted at the heavy thing on his chest. His hand fell with surprising gentleness upon the dog's fur, however, as the young man muttered, "Not yet, Lex. Let me sleep just a little longer, baby. Then we can play whatever you want, but I'm just so tired . . . " His words ended with another snore that was drowned out by laughing overhead.

He came to slowly, but as he realized that he still lived, he did not bother to get up or even check his body for injuries. He heard many voices yelling, screaming, and crying. Some were familiar, but he did not bother to try to separate the familiar ones from those belonging to strangers. None of them mattered. Even the one voice whose screech he recognized through the clutter of all the others could not bring him to do so much as even budge. Let Autolycus take care of her, he thought as he continued to lay. She doesn't matter. None of them do. Jack . . . His heart and throat whimpered in unison as the name reverberated through his mind.

How could his beloved be gone? How could they have survived so much together for him to be killed now, now after they'd survived Supernatural critters, dinosaurs, Piratesses, nearly everything he could have ever imagined as being hurtful and so much that he never would have thought to exist? How could Jack be gone now? And at his blasted brother's hands, at that! Will was not even aware of the growl that escaped him as he thought of that accursed Brendan. He hoped he'd rot in Hell.

At last, as yet another unknown voice bellowed out a warning that the people around him had two minutes to be healed or else they could die, Will picked up his head. His brown hair hung limply all around his face, and he had to shake his head to move it out of his vision so that he could look around. He paid no attention to most of those he saw, but then, in a far corner, he spied the Werewolf who had sent his beloved Jack plunging to his death.

Will stared at the wolf, whose yellow eyes seemed to look right through him to the flesh and bones his body was made of. He's still hungry. He killed Jack. Didn't get to eat him but killed him. How could Jack have let a Werewolf be his brother? He had more sense than that. I know he did! He killed Jack! The scattered thoughts swirled through his pounding head as he began to take stock of himself.

He was still alive, though he'd jumped after Jack to what he'd believed to be his death. Without Jack, he didn't want to live. Indeed, he wouldn't live. Perhaps it would have been better if Elizabeth had never saved him in the first place, but then he never would have known Jack . . . Still, with Jack gone, he wasn't going to live in this Hell of a world.

Would Elizabeth mourn for him? He didn't care. Let Autolycus pick up the pieces. He just didn't care. His sister . . . Indeed! If she turned out to be any kind of a sister like Brendan was a brother to Jack, she was the least thing he needed!

Jack . . . Jack was dead . . . That damn Brendan had killed him . . .

He was naked, Will realized as he pulled himself up to a sitting position. He was naked, and there was a bunch of people around. So what? he questioned dully, too far gone in his grief to give even the slightest bit of a damn. So what? All it meant was that he didn't have a weapon.

Then he saw it -- a glimpse of silver just laying on the floor! A discarded weapon! A means to kill himself and take that damn wolf with him! With a primordial yell bellowing forth from his dry throat, Will sprang forward, grabbed the weapon from the stone floor, and charged toward the Werewolf.

Roxanne looked up as yet another man ran by screaming at the top of his lungs. She made a disgusted face as she warned her pets, "¡Ahora no mire, las muchachas, pero hay otro! ¡Y me maldecirán si él no está desnudo! ¡Diosa, qué una vista fea!" Her nose wrinkled even as she yelled in English at the stranger, "PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!"

Roxanne turned back to Sasha to see that the older of her two familiars had kept her concentration intently trained upon their patient but that the younger one was looking up, her eyes on the man and a disgusted expression also upon her furry face. Roxanne shared Yasmine's feelings but did not comment to her; instead, she turned her attention back to Sasha.

As Sasha's claw finally snagged the bullet in Trina's shoulder and Will drew closer, Yasmine pulled back her head. With a grunt, the jaguar let her spit fly at the same time that her mate pulled the bullet up through the hole in the blonde woman's shoulder. The bullet popped out, sending a spray of blood spattering both jaguars' coats and their mistress' face and hair, just as Yasmine's spitball barely missed the running man. Yasmine complained to Sasha with a grunt as she tried unsuccessfully to shake the human blood off of her.

Unlike her pets, Roxanne was not deterred in the slightest by the blood. As soon as Sasha caught the bullet and moved out of her way, the Latina leaned forward with the piece of cloth she gripped in her hands and began to work on stopping the blood flow. She still did not know where they were or why they were being held here, but she would solve the case by healing one female at a time and kicking one male butt at a time. She shuddered at the memory of the naked man even as, somewhere within their cell, a howl broke forth from a male Werewolf. She shook her head as she applied more pressure to the wound. "Varones. ¡Qué criaturas repugnantes!"

Her jaguars grunted in agreement as they stood. The couple arched their backs at first but then, after stretching, took up their sentry positions around her. With their protection, Roxanne would know there was danger coming before it got within even fifteen feet of her, and chances were that she would not have to lift a finger to defend herself and could instead continue her ministering.

Pan had been staring at James Hook for hours it seemed. He'd get him this time! How dare he leave Neverland and take his playtoys with him! He had been miserable and very lonely since Hook had left! Tinkerbell refused to play with him any more, and his Lost Boys were no longer any fun. In fact, he seemed to be alone too much of the time as Tinkerbell was spending most of her time at the Indian village. Just what was going on down there he had yet to find out, but he would, he vowed.

He glanced away for one moment to see what all the yelling was about. All he could see was one naked male running with a silver sword in his hand who seemed to be heading straight for the Werewolf. This should be fun! he thought. But I have to watch Hook or he'll slip away. He has to be punished!

His eyes quickly darted back to Hook just in time to see a spitball splatter against that atrocity on his face that he called a mustache. He doubled up in laughter and fell backwards with his feet waving in the air and his arms holding his sides. That only lasted a few seconds, and he got back up. Have to watch Hook, he kept reminding himself, or the codfish might get away!

He looked for a way to further increase the embarrassment of the spitball and began to sneak quietly downward, keeping one eye upon Drell and the rest of the Council and the other on Hook. He crept closer and closer, and before any one could see, in the twinkling of an eye, he had snapped Hook's cravat. The white cloth rolled upwards and smacked Hook in the nose.

Hook roared in pain, cursing the damn boi. Oh, if only he could get his hook upon him! With his hand, he continued to wipe the spitball away while his hook reached up and pulled the cravat down. James could not believe that Smee was not helping him out during his dilemma! "The boi is here!" he told Smee. "Be careful!" Why would Smee not look at him, especially now that he needed his help!

It hurt Smee so badly to keep himself rooted still that tears stung his eyes, but still he kept his head turned downward and his eyes trained on the floor. He couldn't cry again, not now, not with James and his boys right there to see him. He scrunched his eyes tightly closed, even as Frederic assured his father that he was looking out for the boi and only wished for his sword to run him through, and tried hard not to cry. His red, round nose sniffed.

Meanwhile, Pan looked for further trouble that he could cause Hook. He saw a tiger look back in concern at the commotion he'd just been leaving. The big cat looked back towards another tiger who was jumping in the air after something, then turned and began to head back toward Hook. Pan snuck around to the other side, grabbed the big cat's striped tail in both hands, and then bit it hard. He was so excited that his ears wriggled as he chomped down!

Vang had just been heading back toward James and his family to see what the new problem was when something bit his tail and hung onto it with its teeth! The tiger's roar echoed through the room, causing heads to snap up and even sending a falter in the storm for just a split second. Vang began to run, but whatever had a hold of his tail was going along with him! He roared again, calling for help, as he tried to get a look at his unseen enemy. He saw a flash of green, but that was all he could see. As he tried to reach his enemy, or at least catch sight of him, he began to rapidly turn in circles.

Cole reached Wolverine's side. He heard Wolverine's moans of defeat. "Oh my darling! If I could only reach ya!"

"You can, buddy!" Cole said as he appeared. "Cannonball time!" he instructed as he dropped into position.

"Thanks," Wolverine told his friend as he placed his foot in Cole's cupped hands and felt himself thrown upward. He reached his arms straight outward and prayed that he'd reach 'Ro. Sure enough, he was close enough to her that he grabbed her booted heel and began to pull himself quickly upward. "Little darlin', I'm here," he said. "It's yer Wolverine!" He slipped his arms around her and held on tightly, his eyes glancing downwards once.

Cole shimmered back to Piper's side before glancing upward and seeing that Wolverine had reached his goal, who was now bucking even more.

Zora had been busily leaping through the air after Sebastian, the cubs, and Wolfie and had just grabbed Sebastian's tail in her teeth when Vang bellowed. She released the crab without another thought to her friend and set off running in the direction of Vang's roar, her own roar answering him. She could barely believe that some damned boy, clad in green, had dared to grab hold of her father's tail with his teeth, and the sight and Vang's roars of pain made her run even faster and roar even louder.

Connor had jumped to his feet and was standing, waiting for Vang to come closer. He had no weapon to attack Pan with except his fists, and now he was ready for anything! He could see Zora running and knew she'd reach him before he could. He hoped she'd tear him from limb to limb.

Vang's roar calling for help was the only sound that broke Kat out of her grief for Ace. She looked up through the tears that burned in her emerald eyes and saw what she presumed to be a damn human biting Vang's tail! With a cry of rage, she started to form a fireball.

"Kathleen," a familiar voice called, "that is not called for! This situation can be handled without -- "

Kat didn't even look at Xavier. He could have helped matters a lot further than by just sending her to help Jack's people, but he had not. He had sent her into a fight that had claimed her beloved Ace's life, and she hoped he'd die a slow, smoldering death. Her other hand lifted from Ace's still body and began to form a second fireball. The fire danced in her tear-filled eyes, and she let the first go toward the boy even as she yelled at Xavier. "GO DTACHTA AN DIABHAL THU!" As the Wizard's mouth fell open in shock, the first fireball sped straight toward Pan.

Pan saw the chaos he had caused and, with a smile, took himself out of the picture immediately. He flew so quickly that he was back in his seat before Drell had had a chance to miss him.

Drell turned around and looked. He was having trouble keeping up with all the chaos being caused by the abominations and flirting with one of the women in his booth, and he was getting sick and tired of all the interruptions. He bellowed, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT! WHAT GOT THAT TIGER STARTED! SOMEBODY SHUT HIM UP! YOU NOW HAVE ONE MINUTE, XAVIER!"

Charles rubbed his temple. He was certainly getting quite a headache, but it wasn't the tiger's fault. "With all due respect, Drell," Charles responded, his voice tight, "if the boy had not left his seat, the tiger would not have had cause to roar."

"BOY? WHAT BOY?" Drell demanded and looked around the booth at the faces therein. Only then did it occur to him that there was only one boy in their midst.

The man sitting to his left rubbed his beard. "I'm afraid Xavier is right, for a change," the smooth, sophisticated voice informed Drell. "I always did say that that dratted Pan was no better than my own offspring." He nearly spit the last word.

A small, female voice piped up from the floor beside Drell's legs. "It was Peter Pan, sir. We did try to tell you that he was not worthy of being involved here."

Pan began to turn shades of red and tremble as Drell's eyes fell upon him. He wished for Tink but realized that she was, yet again, nowhere near him. His eyes searched the room and finally came to rest upon Tink sitting on Tiger Lily's knee and purposefully not looking at him. The pixie was turned with her back toward him and her nose pointed upwards.

"PAN, IF YOU GET OUT OF YOUR SEAT AGAIN, UNLESS I TELL YOU TO, YOUR TRIAL WILL START NOW!"

Pan gulped. My trial! he thought. Oh crap! I've done it this time! What's he going to do to me! Aloud, he spoke innocently, "But, sir, I haven't done anything!"

"THAT WILL BE DECIDED AFTER I AM THROUGH DEALING WITH THE abominations," Drell told him, "UNLESS YOU INTERFERE AGAIN. SIT QUIETLY, AND DO NOT OPEN YOUR MOUTH UNLESS I MISTAKENLY ASK YOU A QUESTION." He sniffed. "OF COURSE, THAT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN AS I DON'T MAKE MISTAKES."

The man sitting beside him smiled. "Of course you don't, Sir."

Another man cleared his voice, but the woman sitting on Drell's other side with her hand upon his knee bubbled happily at him. "Of course you don't, Drelleykins, which is why I know you'll make the right decision regarding our cat!"

Jack could not believe the chaos that was all around him. Now he heard something else hollering, a dearly-beloved voice screaming something he couldn't understand. He got to his feet and looked back down at Faith. "I have to see about Will," he told her. "I'll be back soon." He went running toward the sound of Will's voice, wondering what was wrong with him.

Across the room, Eddie heard his boy hollering. "Oh my Gods! Something's got a hold of my boy!" he spoke to the blonde man, who scuttled even further backwards, his blue eyes already looking like they were about to pop out of his head. "I'll have to return to you after I take care of my boy!"

Trent, at long last, found his voice again. "P-P-P-P-P-Pl-Pl-Pl-Pleasedon'tbother!"

"It's no bother, but I have to take care of my boy! I'm coming, Will!" Eddie yelled and began to run toward the sound of Will's voice.

"WILL!" Jack yelled. "WHERE ARE YOU!" He hoped Will would answer him so that he could at least find him and know what was wrong and why he was screaming. He'd protect him from whatever it was! He couldn't wait to get his arms back around his love!

Prue heard Will yelling at the top of his lungs. She turned in his direction and saw him running with a silver sword, heading straight for Brendan. Oh my Gods! He's lost his mind! she thought. He wants to kill Brendan! I can't let him do that! Before she realized what she had done, Prue had thrown out her hand to stop Will and he had been thrown backwards.

Prue frantically turned to look back at Brendan, hoping he'd stayed but fearing that he had disappeared. Sure enough, he was gone, and she knew not where he had ran to this time!

Ace coughed roughly, and his eyes flashed open just in time to see Kat's second fireball being lobbed off in the direction he could hear Xavier's voice coming from. "Kat, what the He-Hell!" he managed to gasp out. He could not believe Kat had just fireballed Xavier's ass! As long as he had known his beloved, she had kissed Xavier's ass, and now she had fireballed him! Ace was totally stunned!

Clyde jumped up and down, clapping his hands and screeching in glee. It had certainly taken Ace long enough to wake up, but now that his partner was awake, Clyde knew everything was going to be okay! He had watched as Kat's fireball had first barely missed hitting something in green, and her second one was now going for the old, bald geezer! Kat and Ace had had so many fights over that old, bald geezer that Clyde wondered what had changed everything! Why was Kat fireballing the geezer? He was glad to hear Ace ask the question.

It was only when Ace spoke that Kat realized why Captain had suddenly began to knead her shoulder. Her emotional eyes glanced from Ace to the fireball to Xavier, who was even now yelling to her that he hadn't meant any harm to befall Ventura. With a wave of her hand, Kat's fireballs snapped into oblivion, but she did not bother to look again at Charles. Instead, her eyes dropped to Ace, where they remained glued. "Ace! Thank Gods ye're alive!" The sight of him brought more tears to her eyes, but she did not realize that she was crying as she leaned down and gently kissed his lips.

Ace looked over at Charles even while he was kissing Kat, and his eyes told him what he was thinking: Looooser! He didn't know why Kat was fireballing him, but he hoped it meant that at last she had come to her senses and would not be running every time the damn, old Wizard hollered! Maybe it would be smooth sailing from now on, but he doubted it! He delighted in her kiss even as his hands stroked her back.

Kat forced herself to pull away from Ace, not wanting to kiss him too passionately out of fear that she might hurt him. Her eyes gazed at him in concern. "How're ye feelin'?"

"My throat hurts like Hell," he rasped out, "but I'm alive, and your kiss let me know just how much I am glad to be alive!" He wondered if the tears in her eyes were because she had fireballed Xavier or because maybe, for one second, she'd thought he was gone and she'd miss him, but he dared not ask. "What's going on, and where are we?" He struggled to sit up.

"Crap's hittin' the fan, as usual," she responded, gently helping him to a sitting position.

"And Xavier?" Ace asked.

"We're in the Council's court room."

"What Council, and what's he got to do with it?"

"The Council," Kat replied, her quirked eyebrow hinting at their importance, "an' he's one o' 'em. They brought us here fer a retrial o' Salem an' his men."

"What's that got to do with us?" Ace wondered aloud. "We weren't even born at the time, and we don't personally know Salem. So why are we here?"

She shrugged. "Best I can figure, they snatched all our asses."

"Do we have any weapons?" he asked in a whispered voice. "Can we fight our way out?"

"Not exactly," she replied. "Not if the legends're true. 'Course they may have been just as much bullshit as trustin' Xavier." At Ace's questioning look, she warned him, "Ye din't want tae gi there."

"I . . . probably don't," Ace told her. "Just curious about Xavier. You swore the sun and moon set in him! Now you hate his guts enough that you were gonna blast him into oblivion?"

Kat thought quickly as to how she could explain her anger toward Xavier without telling Ace how much he meant to her. "The head lad told 'im he had a minute tae heal the injured, meanin' he could've healed me Gran'da'."

"Since when is Xavier a healer?" Ace asked. "I saw him cut his hand once, and he couldn't even heal himself, just stuck a very awkward-looking bandage on it!"

"We'll jest have tae see," Kat told him, looking back over at where Xavier very quickly looked away.

Ace reached out and took Kat's hand. "Well, the sooner they get this show on the road, the sooner we can get out of here. We've got to check on our babies."

At those words, Kat looked away from both Ace and Xavier. She bit back the tears that threatened to well again in her eyes, and for once, Captain's gentle purring beside her head did nothing to comfort her. She squeezed Ace's hand gently but remained silent.

Morph sat and held Celina, rocking her gently even as he crooned softly to her. He hoped that she would soon awaken although he feared that, when she did, she would absorb too much too fast and not be able to handle it. Sometimes, her talents overpowered her instead of her controlling them. They overwhelmed her and gave her headaches.

His finger gently traced over her face. He heard all the chaos going on around them but chose to ignore it until he heard the loud mouth from above saying that there was only one minute left for the healing. He knew that they needed more. They needed organization before they could be healed, but he didn't know where to take Celina for help and he didn't know where Katrina was.

His brown eyes searched frantically around the area that was close to them but did not see Tom nor Katrina. He wondered where Tom was and prayed that they were both alive. He wished that he could talk to Katrina like he could to Celina so that he could locate her. He and Celina often shared each other's thoughts.

Morph knew he was a bad boy most of the time, but he was glad that Celina still loved him enough to stay with him. He knew that, no matter what he did, he'd never be good enough for his beloved. His sexual inclinations were so strong that he had to fight them all the time. Even now he had trouble keeping himself from looking at the naked women that seemed to be everywhere in the room. He tried to push it away from his mind, hoping that Celina wouldn't wake up with overhearing his thought being her first thought.

Why didn't they have clothes for them? Aloud, he called upward, "We need more time and some organization, and if some one up there has clothes, we could also use them." In response, robes were pelted downward, and both masculine and feminine voices sighed reluctantly. Morph realized that they had been enjoying the show and was thankful, yet again, that his Celina was clothed.

A hand snatched one of the robes out of the air from behind Cordelia. The blonde had been using her friend's body for a shield from eyes she felt sure to be on her, and even now, as she hurriedly snatched the black robe on, she again turned toward where she felt one of the gazers to be. "Paige," Elizabeth nearly wailed, "tell your boyfriend to stop staring at me!"

"I'm not staring at you!" Carl declared. "I'd much rather look at Paige! I love Paige! You're ugly! Most of you women are ugly! But Paige is beautiful!"

He longed to be anywhere but stuck in this room, and he didn't know why they were holding him. He didn't personally know Salem, but he had been around when the trial had gone on the first time. He didn't want to see the same thing happen again. "I'm glad you got a robe on," he told Elizabeth. He still kept his head turned away from her. "You did put it on, didn't you?"

Elizabeth shoved up the long, baggy sleeves of the robe as her eyes flashed at Carl. "Why, you ugly, little Gnome -- !" she started only to be hushed by Cordelia, who her eyes snapped to instead.

"Can't you two just be happy you're alive? I don't know what happened to your dress, Elizabeth, but we have more pressing matters! At least you've heard Will's voice, but I still don't even know if Angel's alive -- " Her face scrunched in confusion for a moment. " -- or undead or -- or whatever!"

"I can take you to him," Carl said. "I saw him a while ago. He's still undead, but he's with Lorne. They may not be with us very long. Something has happened to Crys."

"Is he okay? What happened to Crystal? Have you seen Meesy? Is Lorne okay? What about Crystal's babies?"

"How about answering my question first?" Paige demanded. She was glad to see Carl and relieved that he was alive, but she was still frantic over her godmother's situation. "What do I do about Ororo?"

Carl's eyes traveled back up to where Wolverine was desperately hanging on. "I think you should orb them both down here."

"NO!" both Cordelia and Elizabeth exclaimed simultaneously.

"Why not? If we can get her down here, between all of us, we should be able to calm her." Carl looked up into Paige's beautiful eyes and smiled. "You can do it, darling. I know you can."

"If she brings her down here," Cordelia spoke, "the lightning is going to be even closer. Do you want us all to be struck by her?"

"We barely avoided it the last time!" Elizabeth commented shrilly. "Just look at our hair! That's how close it came!"

"Then go away!" Carl told them. "I will stay with Paige. We have to do something! Wolverine's going to fall!"

"If he falls, then she can orb him to safety," Cordy argued, "but if she brings Ororo down here . . . Well, you might be able to survive lightning, Carl, but she can't!"

"I'm taking you to Angel!" Carl told her. "Then you can tell him what to do, but you're not telling me what to do! Only Paige tells me what to do! Be right back, darling!" he said. He grabbed Cordelia and lifted her, bringing a shriek from her, and ran at the speed of light to take her to Angel. Depositing her beside him, he sped right back to his beloved.

The North Pole

Crystal left Santa's workshop at a run. She bounded down the steps and fled the building as though it was possessed of all the Demons in Hell. Tears stung her eyes, and the chilling winds whipped at her long, blonde hair. Still, she ran, passing cottage after cottage, and never stopping until she came to one that was all too familiar.

Crystal stopped and froze as still as a statue, her wide eyes staring at the gate that was around the snow-covered property. How had she gotten here, and when had they added the gate? That certainly hadn't been there when she was here! Why, there'd never been a need for gates before, or so they'd always claimed! She crept closer, careful not to step too hard upon the snow should it crunch underneath her feet and give her away. She pushed the gate, and it swung soundlessly open.

Quietly, she walked up the pathway and to the front door of the house that held so many memories for her. The yard was curiously devoid of any decorations. Not even a single snowman was to be seen, and the trees were gone, as well. She stepped up to the door but dared not knock, let alone open it. Instead, she listened to the voices inside that yelled at one another.

"WHY THE HECK SHOULD WE BOTHER?"

"CHRISTMAS IS COMING! IT'S LESS THAN TWO MONTHS AWAY!"

"SO? IT'S JUST ANOTHER DAY!"

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT!" The man demanded, and Crys was glad he asked the question for she, too, wondered that.

"I KNOW! I KNOW!" the woman retorted, and Crystal could easily imagine the older, blonde woman waving her hands around to emphasize her words. "IT'S THE BEST DAY OF THE YEAR! IT'S OUR HOLIDAY! IT'S EVEN OUR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! BUT IT'S JUST ANOTHER DAY LIKE ALL THE REST OF THESE DAMN DAYS! THIS IS A LIVING HELL, CHRISTOPHER! I CAN'T KEEP LIVING LIKE THIS!"

Crystal's mouth dropped open at the next words out of the now-sobbing woman's mouth. "EVEN THE TREES PULLED UP THEIR ROOTS AND LEFT US! THEY HATE US! THEY ALL HATE US JUST BECAUSE OF HER! WHERE DID WE GO WRONG?"

There was just the slightest sound of a mild struggle, and Crystal knew, without looking, that Christopher Michael Frost was pulling his wife into his arms. "I don't know, darling," he told her. "I don't know, but Crystal's been gone for years. They've got to let us live down the shame some day, Eva, but if we don't act like everything's normal, they certainly won't either."

"How can we, Michael? How can we act like everything's normal when it never will be? Our daughter turned into the only liar the North Pole has ever seen, and why? Why our daughter? Why our Crys? Why did she have to lie and turn into a little bitch?"

"I don't know, Eva. I just don't know."

"I wish she'd show up. I'd like to see her again just one last time so that I could ask her how she could do this to us," Eva Frost sobbed into her husband's chest, "how she could make her parents' lives into living Hells and never care!"

A sob broke from Crystal's mouth before she even realized that it was in her throat. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand and looked fearfully back toward the door. They had heard her; they were headed right toward her! She leapt off of the porch and started running again, this time headed for the forest, and by the time that her parents opened the door, Crystal was nowhere to be seen.

The Council's Court Room

It was all Cordelia could do to keep standing, and if not for Angel's arms quickly catching her, she would have fallen. Her head spun, and nausea rolled in her stomach. She pressed a hand to her head and the other to her stomach. "Dear Gods, what is wrong with that Gnome! Angel, he's going to get Paige fried!"

"What do you mean, Cordy, and what happened to your hair?" He had never seen her hair in such a fright. It was sticking straight out from her head. "I am glad that Carl brought you to me, but I'll tell him to slow down next time. Gnomes are the fastest creatures alive. He must have forgot what it does to humans." He helped her to sit down beside Lorne. "Crys has ran off," he informed her.

"To be quite frank, Angel, the little bugger didn't care! I haven't met any one that obnoxious since . . . since . . . since some of those darn suitors my father tried at one time!" She made a face and had to swallow to keep from barfing. "We'll find Crystal, but we can't even start on that until we can get out of here. He's going to get Paige fried, though, if she listens to him and brings Ororo down to her! She already shot at the three of us! She would have hit Elizabeth if I hadn't knocked her out of the way!"

"Somebody has to get Ororo down from there," Angel told Cordy, "and it's going to take some one who can use magic on her. I'm sorry Carl manhandled you too roughly, but I'm glad you're here with me now. I'll speak to him about it later."

Cordelia shook her head but did not continue on the same topic. If Paige ended up listening to Carl and getting struck by lightning, she'd have no one to blame but Carl and herself. She had, after all, tried to warn her. She reached out and placed a gentle hand on Lorne's shoulder. "We will get her back." Then, looking up at Angel, she added, "And I'm glad you're . . . huh . . . still undead and that we're together again too." She managed a weak, trembling smile, but then her face flushed. Pressing a hand over her mouth, she jumped up and ran from them.

Angel did not pursue her. One of the smells he definitely did not like to smell was that of vomit. He'd give her time to get over it, and then he'd go after her. He had no intention of her going with him and Lorne, but at the present time, did not know how he and Lorne were going to leave and how they were going to do it and leave both her and the animals behind. He did not want to jeopardize their lives, and if he could have gone on his own, leaving Lorne behind, he would have. Lorne wasn't a fighter, but he had every right to be there to try and stop Crys from her madness.

Tom had awoken to chaos, and his tail had been twitching ever since. He was scared to move, scared to open his eyes and find that he was blind, scared to try to contact Katrina only to find no answer on the other end of their telepathic link. He was afraid, and he had never been more afraid in his entire life. He was going to have to open his eyes sooner or later, he thought, and figure out just what exactly was going on and where he was and somehow find Katrina.

Sooner or later . . . . Later, and in the mean time, he would pray. Pray for his beloved Katrina's survival. Pray that Morph and Celina also lived. Pray for a happy reunion and safe passage through this latest chunk of insanity in their piratical lives. Pray for his Katrina to be safe, alive, and well.

Tom was so lost in his fear and prayers that he did not even realize the whisper he sent through their link. I love you, Katrina. Please, dear Bast, please let her be alive. I love her so much. I can't live without her. I love her! Winds ripped over his furry body, and his tail continued to twitch in its own storm.

Wolverine had managed to finally reach 'Ro's lips. He clung to her even as he kissed her cheek, talking to her softly, trying to soothe her down. Just as he thought he had her, she bucked again, and he slid all the way down to the foot. He knew he wasn't going to last long if some one didn't help him soon. He prayed somebody down there would do something to get them down. What he was trying to do was not working as 'Ro had definitely gone over the deep end this time.

When Carl had reached Paige, his eyes were still glued on Wolverine. He saw Wolverine kiss 'Ro and prayed that it worked but groaned outwardly when he saw Wolverine sliding. "Damn the strength of that woman!" he thought. "Somebody has got to knock her out!"

Paige glanced at Carl. "Prue could do it, but I can't and I'm not sure it's a good idea to bring her down here. Just because I orb her doesn't mean I can control her. It just puts her going nuts down here with us."

"Can you orb Wolverine down here?" Carl asked.

"That I can do," Paige said with a confident nod. Holding out her arms, she called out, "Wolverine." She frowned; nothing happened. "Wolverine. Wolverine. Wolverine! The man in my godmother's arms! The man on Ororo! Huh . . ." She looked at Carl for help. "Does he have any other names?"

"Not that I know of," Carl told her. "I'm going for Prue. She's in here somewhere. I'll find her." He wondered why Paige's powers were not working.

He sped around the room as fast as he could go, looking for Prue. He saw Brendan hiding in another corner and wondered what he'd done this time, but he didn't have time to stop. Besides, he had a hard enough time talking to Brendan in man form and had never tried it in Werewolf form.