Fractals

Fractals Chapter Forty Two (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… three more of TMO today, when the headache is gone. Wheeee! InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena are wondermous and loverly for archiving/hosting. :) ProPhile: *poke * Rest more. Morgan: Forget the hooker…just the underwear will work. Readers/Reviewers: A migraine slowed down the completion of TMO but it’ll be done today. Wheeeeeeeee. *GLOMP * from the Killer Kitties ™ in the meantime…


Kitty sighed and stared at her ceiling. She had never noticed the very faint crack running the length of it before, but she supposed that was something that had been there for years. In her half-asleep state, it seemed very profound, the flaw unnoticed for so long was now suddenly the object of her focus, niggling her thoughts and pulling her eye back every time she tried to look away. She had been awake since the Rahne had crept from the room so much earlier, but she had been too tired to even think about getting out of bed. At first, she had tried to get back to sleep but succeeded only in achieving odd half-dreams of cats and some sort of bird playing chess, then in giving herself a crick in her neck. She had heard Kurt in the hall a little while before and half hoped he would slip in to see her, but he had moved on, talking to someone just loud enough to be heard, not quite loud enough to make out individual words. She could no longer fight the urge to answer nature’s call and, still contemplating Kurt’s early morning hall patrol, she slid out of bed and shuddered at the first touch of her feet on the ice-cold floor. _I’d be getting ready for class now, _ she thought bitterly. _I have a quiz in microbiology this morning. Damn it. _ She shuffled towards the half bath, eyes mere slits and her mouth set in lines of mutinous disregard for the lightening sky. She thought of very little as she took care of things and washed her hands, wakefulness stealing through her veins the more she moved. Kitty had hoped that some distance from the incident at the school would make her look back at it and realize how stupid she was to be afraid, how easy it would be to simply laugh it off, but in the—literally—cold light of day, she realized that she had been stupid to not be more afraid.
She was still dwelling heavily on the subject as she shuffled her way downstairs, tying the belt to her robe securely against the chill air of the mansion. “Why is it so cold?” she asked Rogue muzzily as she met the other teenager on the stairs. “Are you guys going to start hanging meat in the foyer or something?”
Rogue made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a snort. “We can’t figure out the thermostat and the Professor ain’t here to fix it. Neither is Logan. Or Storm, or Emma, or Sean, or…well, anyone.” Rogue was sans make up and wearing something printed with little green frogs. “What’re you doing up?” she asked, sounding more annoyed than curious, shoving a white shock of hair from her eyes. “Kurt’s in bed.”
Kitty frowned. “So? I’m up because I’m up. Why the bitchy?”
Rogue snapped her teeth together on an angry retort and edited out the attitude. “I was up all night with Lucas. He wouldn’t sleep unless Kurt let ‘em chew on his tail and when that got painful, the kid wanted to chew on my glove. All. Fucking. Night.”
Kitty smiled quickly at that, making sure Rogue could not see her. “Wait…” The implication of the statement struck her mildly muzzy mind. “Lucas is still here? I thought Tabby and Wanda were supposed to get him last night.” She paused, half way across the Rec Room on their way to the kitchen. “Are they okay?”
“No idea,” Rogue admitted. She glanced around quickly and, finding they were truly alone, motioned Kitty closer. “Kit, all the old folks are gone,” she whispered as her friend leaned in. “Everyone but Beast and Forge…”
“Huh?” Kitty snapped awake then, the last vestiges of sleep dissolving rapidly. “What do you mean, gone?”
She shook her head. “Logan’s not here, Storm’s not here… I can’t find anyone over the age of 19 aside from Beast and Forge. Kurt said that he and Sam were woken up to keep an eye on the younger mutants last night.” She grasped Kitty’s elbow and half pushed, half guided her into the kitchen. In an even lower tone, she added, “I can’t find Jubes, Theresa or Todd, either.”
Kitty stared for a long moment, her brain churning out possibilities and rejecting them just as quickly as they formed. “Missing, hmmm? Hmmm. Okay. Okay. I know what we need to do.”
“No,” Rogue groaned. “We’re not doing a Scooby Doo…” She covered her face with her hands and cursed under her breath. “We always make things worse when we do that.”
Kitty nodded, patting her friend on the arm. “What do you suggest? Calling the police and asking for an APB on a bunch of mutants? You know as well as I do that wherever they are, it’s not somewhere norm-friendly.”
“It might be!” Rogue called after her as Kitty slipped past her and headed back towards her room. “Maybe they all went Christmas shopping really early!”
“And I’m the Pope!” Kitty called back, disappearing up the stairs.
Rogue stared at the empty doorway for a long moment. “Well, shit.”
_*She does that a lot, doesn’t she? *_
“DAMN IT!” Rogue whirled to face Jono, her hand pressed over her wildly hammering heart. “Make some noise next time!”
Jono shrugged and folded the newspaper before him into neat halves. _*Not my fault you didn’t see me sitting here, *_ he reasoned.
“Yeah, you sitting there, in all black, in the dark corner, lurking.” Rogue yanked the cabinet open violently, grabbing the box of cereal and slamming it onto the counter. “And yes, she does that a lot. Kitty’s big on the plans and not so big on the thinking ahead.”
_*Well… planning is better than sitting on your ass and doing nothing, isn’t it? *_ He peered at Rogue, wishing he could impart more sarcasm into his communications.
If she did not know better, she would have sworn he was smirking. “Bastard,” she muttered. “I’m not proposing we sit on our asses, thank you very much. Just that we put half a thought into this and…” She paused, turned and glared again. “Why am I explaining this to you?”
_*Because if you’d had half a chance, you would’ve run off half cocked after Todd and you’re trying to rationalize not doing it right away. *_
There was a very long silence before Rogue spoke again. “Anyone ever slap you silly?”
_*Feel free, *_ he said, spreading his hands in invitation. _*Just don’t tell Paige. Might give her ideas. *_
She sighed and shoved the box of cereal back into the cabinet. “Give me ten minutes to get dressed. Meet me in the security room.”
_*Hey now… don’t go dragging me into this, *_ he chided kindly, standing and heading from the room, his bandages seeping just enough light to make him appear ethereal. _*You going to tell Kitty or should I? *_
“No!” Rogue grabbed his arm to stop him. “Don’t tell her anything yet. I don’t want this to turn into a project. Just meet me in ten…no, five minutes. I want to try this before Kitty turns this into a three ringed circus!”
Jono nodded and stood aside as Rogue walked, then ran, back to her room. He wished he could sigh but he was fairly certain any expression of exasperation would be useless at this point. _*Five minutes… right… that should be just enough time for something to go completely wrong. *_