Quixotic

Quixotic Chapter Fifteen (NC-17)

Disclaimers Apply

 

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta…Happy Gaia Yule! InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena are
delightfully sparkley people for archiving/hosting! ProPhile is around here somewhere… Readers/Reviewers: I’m on
a ROTK high…*swoon * I love Scottish hobbits, lol. Thank you so much for sticking with the story—I know it’s a bit
different than the rest of the Foreververse but I figure something lighter
would be a good thing. Which brings me
to this: I’m going to be putting in some slightly darker bits soon…brace
yourself, Sheila. ;) (extra points if you know where that’s
from).

 

 

 



Kurt
finished the last of the cheese and sighed.
He was full, sleepy and quite content.
Even if Sherwood Forest did not seem quite…right… He stood and stretched, bouncing once on his
toes to pop his ankles and reached over head to pull an oak leaf. His fingers closed around nothing and he
frowned, reached again, and again came away with nothing. Was ist das? It did not occur to him that he was thinking
not in English but German again. He
frowned deeply and turned a slow circle, his hands outstretched in an attempt
to touch the trees on either side. Nothing
there… His breath coming in short gasps now, he began frantically moving
through the illusion of a forest Kitty had created, touching metal instead of
boulders, air instead of bark. He was
on the verge of crying when he found a wall.
Disguised somehow as yet more trees, it was cold and hummed faintly with
something Kurt knew he should know but for the life of him, could not remember
the name of. God, what’s going on
here? What evil is this? He sucked in a slow breath and exhaled,
lowering himself to his knees. In
rapid, broken Latin, the remnants of an old fashioned Catechism, he invoked
protection against every evil his addled mind could think of.

Kurt?

He spun
about, still on his knees, rising into a crouch to meet whoever was
approaching. “Who are you?”

Jono
Starsmore. Jono to you. He stepped forward, out of the artificial shadows and held out one
hand in a placating gesture. Remember?

Kurt
frowned. Part of his mind niggled with
familiarity but most of it went on guard.
“Why cover your face so? Come to
me in disguise and I’m like to think you an enemy.”

Jono’s
inward sigh was palpable. Your accent is terrible, Kurt. He squatted a short distance from
his friend and considered him briefly. Look,
mate, I’m not sure what’s rattling around in that skull of yours, but I know it
isn’t right. Wher yer you’re all
twisted up about, let it go. Kitty’s runnin’ ragged trying to fix it, Beast and
Profr Xar Xavier are at a loss, no matter what they tell us, and everyone else
has their own problems which are just bein’ made worse tryin’ to deal with
yours. We all need a break now and
then, but we gotta come back from it.

Kurt
dropped to his knees again and frowned, lowering his hands to his thighs. “I don’t know what you’re talking
about. I’m fine. Everyone around me is acting as if under
enchantments…”

Jono
glanced at his wrist, his watch unfamiliar and odd on his arm, but a gift from
Paige so a necessary evil. I have
to get before Kitty comes back. Emma’s
only going to keep her so long. Kurt,
listen careful, right? Snap the fuck
out of it. Listen to Kitty. Listen to the rest of us. It’ll come back.

Kurt looked
up sharply. “What is this place? It’s illusion, the work of evil!”

It’s
the work of holographs, Kurt…Something I don’t have time or patience to
explain. It’s science, not some weird
mojo. Jono stood and held out
his hand. Come out among the
living, Kurt.

Kurt rose
to join him, refusing his hand but moving closer. “Among the living?”

The
rest of us…

Kurt nodded
once and motioned for Jono to go. He
followed tentatively, pausing with some curious horror at the opening in the
alleged woods. “Is this…”

It’s
a door, Kurt, Jono supplied, sounding as exasperated as he could. Come on.

Kurt padded
after Jono cautiously, looking around the hallway as if it were new to his
eyes. He stopped once to finger a
portrait done the year before of the Professor and the older students, before
the inception of the Institute as a school in and of itself. He mouthed “Xavier,” before his face became
a mask once again and he resumed his trek in Jono’s wake.

Jono paused
in front of a rather innocent looking door and turned to face Kurt again. Look, mate, it’s for your own good… With a sudden lunge, he grabbed Kurt and
shoved him through the now-open door, slamming it behind him.

Scott,
bruised and generally displeased, stood in the middle of the room, flanked by
St John and Bobby. Jono blocked the
only exit. “What is this treachery?”
Kurt hissed.

Jono
addressed Scott. I don’t like this.
You owe me big time.

Scott
nodded shortly. “Kurt, it’s time to
have a little talk about Robin Hood…”

 

 

Amara
peered at her blackening eye, delicately touching the bruise with the tips of
her fingers. It was less than twenty four hours since Jubilee hit her and the
bruise was still darkening. “I look
hideous,” she said flatly.

Lance
looked at her reflection in the mirror, standing behind her. “Why didn’t you hit her back?” he asked for
the tenth time.

Amara
glanced up at him in the mirror and shrugged.
“I need to go to town for a bit.
Are you going to drive me or should I ask someone else?”

He raised a
brow at this. “Demanding today, aren’t
we?”

She turned
and leaned against her vanity, regarding him with princessly annoyance. “That is not an answer.”

“Amara, you’ve
been acting weird for a few days now…I just want to know what’s wrong.”

“What makes
you think something’s wrong?” she sighed.
“Lance, you’re becoming very tiresome.
I need to get some things for my day.”

“Your…oh. Saturnalia.
Right.” His gaze slid away from
hers, a sure sign he was hiding something.
“So.you you guys give presents, right?”

“We did
last year,” she reminded him. “So are
you driving me or not?”

“ “I was
reading and,” he paused as she slid past him, brushing against him in a way
best kept to the bedroom, “um…yeah. I
was reading and I read that masters and servants traded places on Saturnalia.”

She turned
from where she was rifling through her purse and made a face of bland
amusement. “Yes…And?”

“So…with us…how
would that work?”

She
smirked. Lance was actually
blushing. Setting her purse to one
side, she crossed to him slowly, pinning him in place with her eyes. When she was close enough to feel the heat
emanating from his body, she said quietly, “Have I ever given you cause to
beliehat hat I am in any way subservient to you or any man?”

Lance
blinked in surprise. “Well…no…”

“There’s
your answer then,” she said brightly, turning away and leaving him standing,
waiting. “For the last time, are you
driving me or not?”

“Remy’s
going to town. Hitch a ride with
him. I got things I need to take care
of,” he added as an afterthought to assuage her the flicker of hurt in her
eyes.

“Right. Remy.”
She frowned at him and glanced around her room one more time. “I’d better find all my underwear where I
left them when I get back.”

He
snorted. “They aren’t my size.”

She grinned
in a very dangerous manner. “Don’t
tempt me.” Lance’s horrified expression
was enough to keep her smiling all the way down the stairs and into the rec
room where she found Remy lacing up his boot.
“I need a ride to town.”

“D’accord…”
he glanced at her warily. “You gonna
pick a fight?”

She She
frowned. “No. Do you want me to?”

He stood
and patted his pockets, checking for cigarettes. “Jubilee ain’t happy wid you right now.”
“Ask if I care.”

“You care?”

“That was
facetious. Let’s go.”

Remy shrugged. “Apres vous…”

Amara
sighed and led the way to the garage only to draw up short. “She’s coming?”

“Oui. We goin’ to lunch.” He shrugged again. “You changin’ yo mind ‘bout de ride?”

If Amara
and Jubilee had been cats, their fur would have been standing on end. “No,” the Nova Roman said sharply. “I can deal with being in the same car as
the girl who attacked me.”

“What the
fuck,” Jubilee began, but a hard look from Remy silenced her. “But…”

“Jubilation,
dat sorta temper ain’t good for…tings…”

“What
things?” Jubilee demanded as Amara slid into the back seat. “What things?”

Remy shook
his head. “Buckle in, chere. We got a long ride ahead of us…”

 

A/N I know this was kind of slow but…sorry. Next chapter, Kurt has a little spaz, Kitty
and Emma talk, Rogue and Todd talk and the Professor starts to
worry.