Mutants of the mansion

Chapter 20

Chapter 20! We hit another milestone! And it's time to make it more lighthearted. Or at least try.

(Jubilee)

These last 2 weeks have actually been pretty fun. I'm currently in a small town in the middle of the forest. It's pretty secretive. Most people work with the trees, either cutting them or growing them. Everybody is really nice. Also, one of the women started calling me Alice and it caught on quickly. A couple of people even joked with 'Amnesia Alice'. It would be a pretty weird coincidence if that was actually my real name. Well, at this time, I was sat by myself in a small clearing, enjoying the calm wind on my face and the sun on my skin. I'm still wondering about who I was. None of Dr. Lethice's therapy is working. Maybe I was some awesome secret agent! A perfect explanation to why I was shot! I grinned to myself and laid back, placing my shades on my stomach. Hopefully, nobody would come looking for me. I like it when its quiet. After a moment, something scurried across my chest, stealing my shades in the process. I sat up just in time to see a squirrel run up a tree with them.

"Hey!" I called as I got up and ran over, as if it would understand me. "Give those back!" Of course, I got no answer. Well, looks like I have to climb. Hopefully, I wont fall. After giving myself a second to stretch, I jumped up, gripped the lowest branch and pulled myself up. One down, a few to go. The next branch was no trouble, the third snapped in my hand. Thankfully, I was still stood on the second one. With a sneer, I tossed it to the ground and jumped to the fourth. If I wasn't so determined to get my sunglasses back, I would have wondered about how the hell I could swing myself around or scale a tree without getting tired. I did get my coat snagged a few times. "Alright you tiny, furry demon." I growled as I reached its nest. "Give me my stuff!" I reached out and attempted to grab the squirrel, but instead of letting me, it squeaked and ran to the next tree. "Hey!" I followed it. Jumping across branches, swinging from them, racing across the treetops and vaulting over them. Again, I was distracted, so I didn't stop to think about what I was doing.

(Third)

"Hey, have you guys seen Alice?" Raymond Lethice had just emerged from the small hospital and approached the small group of woodsmen.

"Uhm, not in the past hour. Why?"

"Just wondering. Let's hope that she hasn't gotten lost." Just then, all of the people in the clearing heard that exact person shout just as a squirrel run across the ground with pink sunglasses in its mouth. They all watched as the teenager jumped from the treetop, rolled when she hit the ground to soften the fall, and follow it.

"Found her."

"Noticed!" Ray and Maxine -usually known as Max- sprinted off after her. What they saw was not what they expected. Alice was sat in the middle of the clearing, shades on the forehead and the squirrel in her hands, scratching her.

"Ow! Geez! Stop that!" They decided to stay quiet and watch. "I'm not -ow- going to hurt you! I just want you to know -ow- that stealing is wrong!" After smiling at the doctor, Max sat down next to the teenager and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't think that the squirrel can understand you."

"How else will he learn to not steal stuff?"

"Well, we know that he won't take anything from you again." After frowning slightly, the teenager opened her hands and all three of them watched the rodent run away and up one of the trees. "Are you okay?"

"Fine. Why?"

"Well, we just saw you jump from numerous trees and then jump 10 feet to the ground without hurting yourself." She paused and looked at the treetops.

"Oh yeah. I was chasing the squirrel. I didn't want it to get away."

"So you ran across trees."

"Yeah!" Both adults gave each other questioning looks.

"Maybe your past is pretty interesting, Alice." The teenager adjusted her shades and pulled her gloves further on.

"Let's test it some more."

(Meanwhile, back at Xavier's school)

Everything was quiet. Everything. Barely anything had been said in the past two weeks. Some of the team had made their way out of the grounds before they went crazy. The only people in the house currently were Wolverine, Kitty, Gambit, Rogue, Storm and Jean. Wolverine was sat in the kitchen, attempting to drown himself in whiskey, Kitty had attempted to cheer him up with no success, Gambit was in the danger room, Storm had shut herself in her room and Jean was going to see if Rogue was still in hers. She gently rapped on the door.

"Rogue?" No answer. "Are you still in there?" Swallowing her fear, Jean stepped through the threshold into her room and found it empty. She thought for a few seconds and walked to Jubilee's room. And of course, Rogue was sat on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest and silently crying. Jean wasn't sure if she should go in or not. It hurt everybody to see somebody who was usually so strong like this. Wolverine and Storm didn't show it quite so much. Everybody thought that Storm was probably attempting to same thing as Wolverine. With a solemn look, Jean shut the door and walked back downstairs. Only a minute later, Wolverine came up instead and walked in.

"How ya doin', kid?"

"How does it look like ahm doin'?" With a sigh, he sat next to her and rubbed her back.

"It's never easy t' lose someone. Trust me. I speak from experience."

"I wouldn't know." Rogue moved over a bit so Logan could fully sit on the bed. When he offered this whiskey bottle, she declined.

"It never gets any easier. This is probably the hardest loss that I've ever been through." He moved his hand to her other shoulder and let her rest her head on his shoulder. "But somethin' seems amiss."

"What do ya mean?"

"Even in her state, Jubilee would've been able t' get away from a couple of guys." Wolverine rolled his eyes when Rogue wiped her nose on her sleeve. "It took me years t' get th' girls t' stop doin' that."

"What are ya sayin'?"

"There's a chance that Jubes might've made it out."

"Then why havn't ah got a call from 'er?" Logan slumped a little. "Why hasn't any o' us?"

"You're right. It was a stupid thought."

Oops. Looks like I kinda failed there.