Quixotic

Quixotic Chapter Nineteen (NC-17)

Disclaimers Apply

 

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta…my pirate muse isn’t
cooperating. Meh. InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena
are squishy and loverly for archiving/hosting.
* g * ProPhile is a helpful
smutmuse and gets big heap muse kibble for his efforts. Readers/Reviewers: Odd things to know and share: Robin Hood supposedly died today in
1247[1]
. Heh.
I think that’s the first time I’ve ever footnoted an a/n. *G *
And mille mille grazie for reading/reviewing! The ducks send their love…

 

 

“What’re
you doing?”

Kitty shot
Rogue a bemused glance. “Tinseling.”

“Lights first!”
Rogue said in exasperation, batting at Kitty’s leg where she balanced on the
ladder. The Professor had brought in an
obscenely large tree that insisted on getting sap all over the floor and anyone
who got close enough to touch it. It
required more strands of lights and tinsel than they had, so Bobby and St John
had been sent to town to “buy supplies.”

“Why? No one’s going to notice when we hang
ornaments…”

“Lights
first,” Rogue insisted. “That’s the way
you have to do it!”

“There’s
rules for this?” Kitty mused, making her way down the ladder with a handful of
icicles[2] “Here.
I don’t speak Christmas. You
hang whatever and I’m going to wash this sap off.”

“Uh uh…you
have to help me finish!” Rogue insisted, pulling Kitty back with a sharp tug on
the girl’s pink sweater. “Todd’s
already vanished. I’m not doing this
alone!”

“Back!”
Rahne announced as she crossed from the rec room, arms laden with boxes from
the garage. “We’ve got a spider
problem…I found six of ‘em on the top box alone!”

Kitty
emitted a sharp shriek and scrambled back up the ladder, swaying dangerously on
the top rung. “Get them out of here!”

Rahne
grinned. “Want me to get Kurt to
vanquish the evil spiders for you, Damsel in Distress?”

“Rogue!”
Kitty wailed, “Make her stop!”

Rogue
grinned evilly. “What? You’re afraid of spiders, Kitty? Harmless little spiders?” She gave Rahne a significant glance as they
closed ranks on their friend.

“You’re not
being funny,” Kitty snarled. “Stop it!”

Rahne
snickered. “Aw, Kitty, they’re just eight legged killing machines. Nothing to be afraid of!”

“I hate
you,” Kitty muttered in loathing before phasing through the ladder and to the
floor. She hurried past her friends
before solidifying again. “You are
so…so…Lance-ish!”

“Someone
call my name?” he asked from the top of the stairs. “ Whoa…that is one huge
fucking tree!”

“Nice,”
Rogue sighed. “You’re tall. Get down here and hang something.”

Lance
looked as if he had a snappy comment ready at hand, but he wisely kept silent. Storm and Jean appeared from the side hall,
looking grave. “Rogue, Rahne…Please
come with us immediately,” Storm said firmly, not quite meeting Kitty’s eyes.

Kitty
stared after them, holding the handful of tinsel Rogue shoved at her on her way
past. She looked up at Lance, still
leaning over the banister. “Well,” she
sighed, “it’s not even my holiday… Want some silver stuff?”

He shook
his head. “No way…that shit freaks me
out.”

“This,” she
shook the decorations at him, “freaks you out?” She snorted. “You’re
weird.” With a look of profound
resignation on her face, Kitty headed back towards the ladder again, pausing
when she saw the boxes of ornaments Rahne had abandoned. “Come move these.”

“They can’t
be that heavy!” He trudged down the stairs
and frowned at the tangle of lights under the tree and the bundle of tinsel in
her hand. “Lights first, you know.”

“Gah!” She grabbed the waistband of his jeans and
shoved the entire handful of tinsel down his pants. “You do it!” She spun on
her heel and stomped towards the half bath in the hall. “I’m going to de-sap!”

“Kitty!” he
shouted after her. “You suck!”

“At least I
don’t have tinsel on my…oh! Hi, Logan!”
Kitty tried to look innocent but had the distinct feeling she failed
miserably.

“What the
Hell’s wrong with you, Alvers?”
“Tinsel,” Lance growled. “Tinsel
in bad places…”
“Ah…” Logan hid a smirk and returned his attention
to Kitty. “Half Pint, Emma and
Professor Xavier need to talk to you pronto.”

She
groaned. “What did I do now?”

“Nothing,”
he said with an odd tone. “Just…go on.”

Kitty shot
him a backwards glance as she hurried, still sap-stained, towards the stairs. “
Oh, before I forget…can I set up some place in the basement for Kurt, so he
doesn’t run off? Make it look like some…I
don’t know…Robin Hood thing?”

Logan’s
face froze in a mask of bland concern. “We’ll
see, Half Pint…Go on before Chuckles starts pokin’ around lookin’ for ya.”

Kitty
bounced down the hall, humming a nothing tune, leaving Lance and Logan facing
each other awkwardly. “Uh…I was gonna
move the ornaments.”

“Call it
whatever you want, kid, just do it in private…”

“No, I
meant real ornaments…” He sighed,
trailing off as Logan returned the way he came. “Damn it. I didn’t sound
like a dork before I moved here.”

“Yeah, you
did. No one ever told ya though,” Todd
muttered from the top of the stairs.

“What’d you
say, Frogger?”

“Nothin’,
tinsel nuts. Jubilee’s on the phone for
ya. Catch!”

Lance
hissed as the phone bounced of his head.
“I’m kicking your ass when I find you!” he shouted as Todd pulled a
vanishing act. “What?” he barked into
the phone.

“Um…Is
Amara with you?”

“Why the
fuck would she be with me?” he snapped, picking tinsel out of his
clothing. “She went to town with Remy
earlier.”

“Yeah, I
was there. We just can’t find her is
all and we were supposed to leave about an hour ago…” Jubilee muffled the phone and said something to Remy before
coming back. “You sure she didn’t come
back there?”

“How would
she have gotten here?” Lance demanded, trying not to sound nervous. “Maybe she’s shopping.”

“She only
has Nova Roman coins on her now. She’s
not shopping…” Jubilee sighed and added, “I’m going to look ten more minutes
and if I can’t find her by then, screw it.”

“Put Remy
on,” Lance sighed.

“Why?”

“Put him
the fuck on, Jubilee!”

There was a
snort then a shuffling sound before Remy’s modulated voice crossed the
line. “Oui?”

“You sure
she isn’t shopping?”

“Fairly.” Remy cleared his throat delicately and said,
“Mebbe she jus’ needed some time alone…ya know, ta think or whatever.”
Lance frowned at this. Amara did like to be alone sometimes
but she would not just wander off…”No.”

“You sure?”

“Fairly.” He made a face at his echo of Remy’s earlier
response. “I…er…where are you?”

“Maple an’
Main… Jubilee, arête! Desolee, homme… Anyways, don’ go harin’ off down here caushe lhe late. We call ya if she ain’t back
soon.”

“How soon?”

“An hour?”

Lance
hissed. “Too long…”

“Lance…”

“Fine, an
hour.” He hung up and swore fluently
for a full minute before stomping up the stairs two at a time. Amara’s room was unlocked and her knives
were on the altar where she had left them, bringing a small sigh of relief to
Lance’s lips. At least she isn’t doing
anything stupid.

 

Kurt was
out of breath and very woozy. He could
see the keep from his vantage point in the trees and the rickety fence that
lined the property. That fence, he
shuddered at the thought, had hurt! It
had shocked him, burning a patch of fur from his leg as he tried to hop over,
leaving a raw, seeping spot beneath his knee that ached with the very air
against it. He had made it to the
highest possible branch in the tree only by the grace of God, he
reflected. He hurt all over and was so
hungry he thought he might die from it.
He had no idea how he had ended up in the western woods, but he was
oddly grateful. I’m away from that
evil! But Kitty… He sobbed soundlessly, sucking in a great
lungful of air before burying his face against his knees. I am
weaponless. I have no men. Kitty is within those walls and I think she
might want to stay there…He bit his lip so hard he tasted blood at this
last thought. No! Never! Whatever evil had ensorcelled me so briefly
must sure have her trapped there… I
must save her! Movement near the
house caught his eye and he frowned.
Several people were coming out and fanning across the expanse of lawn
sloping towards the woods. He shivered
in fearful surprise as one of them took to the sky, wings beating the air as if
angelic. This place is cursed… Kurt steeled himself against the pain and
worked his way to a lower branch, well hidden by the evergreen’s still-present
needles and a smattering of snow. Hugging
the trunk of the tree, he shivered anew.
His body was demanding nutrition at the cost of his strength but all he
knew was he felt sick. He could not
control the shaking and the gnawing pain in his gut, no matter how hard he
tried. He felt naked without his bow or
staff, bare of protection and consequence.
I cannot storm the citadel unarmed.
I need weapons. I do not need
men…I can move more quickly alone. He
squeezed his eyes tightly shut as a wave of nausea overtook him. Breathing slowly until it passed, Kurt
sighed. I need food first…



[1] And Robin
Hood he to the green wood,

And there he
was taken ill.

And he sent for a monk, to let him blood

Who took his
life away;

Now this being done, his archers did run,

It was not
time to stay.

~Old English Ballad

One tradition says Robin Hood died on this day, 1247

[2] Oh, you
know, that silver strip stuff.
Icicles.