So once again I may not have been clear about the plot Bimbette isn't going to hallucinate but she is going to have an encounter with fae who only appear to help her in her moment of need the Wasp in this case was like...A messenger stinging her to send her to them as mischievous fairies tend to be and while I did say the next chapter was going to be Bimbette's experience I suddenly had an idea of Glass Joe having a dream conversation with his Grandpa and decided to write that as a bridge to Bimbette's experience and since this scene takes place in a dream which is often treated like a magical realm similar to the fairy realm I'm using that as a reason to have for this chapter the characters are assumed to be speaking French but like many a fantasy movie the audience is hearing (Or in this case reading) English in later chapters I'm going to do something I didn't want to do and have characters conversing in Foreign language and put the translation in parenthesis underneath
Meanwhile as Glass Joe and Dana slept soundly in their bed...Glass Joe was in for a dream unlike any he had ever had before he had fallen into a deeper sleep than ever before…
He heard a voice calling his name...It was faint at first but as it came closer the voice began to sound familiar…
"Joseph...Joseph...Can you hear me? Open your eyes…"
Joe felt at that moment he was laying in warm sunshine in a sweet smelling meadow...He blinked a few times
"Uh…" He rubbed his eyes "...What is it?"
And then he looked up and saw the familiar face with a full white beard and a brown beret smiling warmly at him
Joe gasped, he felt sure his heart skipped a beat! "Grand-Pere!" He exclaimed
"Yes Joseph…It's me…" His Grandfather Christian
Glass Joe for a moment felt his heart pounding his chest...His Grandfather had been dead for years...Then realizing the last thing he remembered before this moment was going to bed despite the fact he had never lucid dreamed before he quickly calmed and said "This is just a dream...For a moment I thought you were alive again...But now I realize anything you say is probably just what I want to hear…"
And Christian lay a tender hand on Joe's shoulder "Joe...I want you to think for a moment...Do you ever remember lucid dreaming before? You know how normally dreams are chaotic with no rhyme of reason...But notice how you can think so clearly and everything in this dream seems so...Stable if a bit more enchanted than usual?"
And Joe because of the magical things he had recently experience since Mutant Animals gained civil rights and also the things he recently learned that there is indeed realms of spirits...Of various kinds as well!
"This...This is no ordinary dream is it?" Joe said his heart catching in his throat "It's really you I'm talking to? Not just a figment of my imagination?"
"Yes indeed." Christian said "Sometimes spirits are allowed to visit their loved ones particularly in their loved ones' times of need"
"Oh Grand-Pere!" Joe exclaimed as he hugged his Grandfather "There are so many things I wanted to say to you...But I never got the chance before you died!"
"It's all right…" Christian said "...There is time for that." He showed Joe a path up a soft grassy hill "Come and walk with me, like we used to."
As they made their way up the hill Glass Joe said "I'm sorry I was such a brat to you before I left for America…" He said as he wiped away a tear "...I know I blamed you for my Quebec accent I just couldn't seem to drop and my classmates teased me mercilessly for…"
Christian sighed "It's all right Joe...I knew when your Grandmother and I moved to Paris that it would not be easy because of the long standing rivalry between the Old French and the New French...And I wasn't always able to be their for your father...And I fear that's part of the reason Henri turned out the way he did as he suffered a lot of the same things you did and I was determined to not let the same thing happen to you and Jeanette…"
Joe sighed thinking about his Father becoming a bitter alcoholic and that image and his hardened sour face was probably what kept Joe in the boxing ring for so long, figured better to die in the ring doing what he loved rather than become a bitter old man like his father...But the fact remained he still was in his own downward spiral until he met Dana and she helped him find a new path in-between those two dark paths in his mind..
And remembering Dana also made him gulp and blush realizing his Grandfather knew about his marriage...He remembered his Grandfather...Was devoutly religious where his Father went with Atheism because it was fashionable in Paris while Joe was mostly Agnostic until he again he learned the Spiritual side of life was very much real…
"Grand-Pere…" Joe felt like a bashful little boy again "...What do you think about the fact my wife is…" Joe trembled a bit thinking how to best phrase it "...Not human?"
And Christian laughed and hearty laugh and slapped Joe on the back! "Oh don't you worry Joe! It's all right! Like most of your fellow Boxers I understand that the rise of the...Talking animals...In all the various names they take be it Mutants or Humanimals...When the animals begin to stand on their hind legs and talk...It is a signal it is the dawn of a new Age of Wonder...That it is the rebirth of the magic that happened in the age of fairy tales! And remember I read you and Jeanette the fairy tales...I see this as like Beauty and the Beast...Just with the genders reversed...Or perhaps the Beauty is the Beast!"
Joe sighed "But in the fairy tale the Beast returned to human form…Dana is not going to transform into a human and she never was pure human…"
"I know some people like your Father wouldn't agree with me…" Christian said "...But I see these various uplifted animals as...Honorary humans by virtue of the fact they are given the gifts of reason and human virtues so it is not violating the laws of nature to marry them."
"Thank you Grand-Pere…" Joe sighed "...I wish...I wish Dana had the opportunity to meet you!"
"Well she will soon enough…" Christian said and Joe assumed when he and Dana arrived in the afterlife as one would assume a full human (Or Mutant Animal) lifespan is a relatively short amount of time compared to eternity.
"Oh…" Joe said "...That reminds me...I assume you also know about Dana's...Unique past...That before she was a Mutant she was a Humanimal…"
"Remember what that Cat-Girl told you and your friends…" Christian said "...Humanimals are unique because they are partly fae creatures created for a specific purpose...One of the benefits of being on the other side is one of the privileges is being allowed to be privy to some of the secrets of the universe including other universes in folklore and fairy tales it was always established that fairies and other magical creatures aren't subject to the exact same rules as human beings...Stands to reason…"
"I remember…" Glass Joe said "...Dana is worried about the fact she's a completely different person now and when we get to the afterlife, she's worried about meeting her previous husband and children…"
"I will leave that for another time…" Christian said firmly "...I will just say it's no different from other cases of stepfamiles which is something we have to deal with in this less than perfect world…"
They had arrived to the top of the hill there was an elegant stone bench that curled at the ends next to a small pool of water that shimmered with a strange ethereal light…
"The reason I came to you is more than just to visit you Joseph…" Christian said "...I have come to you because you and Dana are on the forefront of understanding the Mutants who were originally Humanimals and you are trying to help the Mutant Dow known as Bimbette."
The two of them sat down on the bench and Christian began to stir the water of the strange pool with his walking stick…
"What I'm about to show you might be eavesdropping…" Christian said "...But I'm here to show you because it's needed to know if you are to help this Poor Doe with the trials she is about to face!"
So decided to name Joe's Grandpa Christian after Glass Joe's voice actor in Punch Out Wii Christian Bernard who is apparently a radio announcer for Air Canada according to YouTube comments