The "Big Mutant On Campus" Series
By David D. Amaya

Part Seven "Evil Dreams Sweet Nightmares"
Chapter 8

Disclaimer: As always; the first step of the journey.

"Here is Mr. MacKenzie's response, Charles. He wrote this as I read my report aloud to Bobby. He is requesting that this letter be read to everyone by Jubilee, but only if she is willing to do so."

"Why me, Professor?" She asked clearly surprised as anyone at the request. "I don't speak Canadian."

"Stewart appreciates that you fought along side both the X-Men and Generation X," The Professor explained. "Everyone in residence this day is your friend and teammate, so he feels that for all involved, and everyone else that is concerned, it would best to hear his conclusion from you. He is aware that you spoke up in defense of his friend Jason not being expelled at the beginning of term, even though you had more than enough motive for siding with expulsion because he injured your friend, Angelo. He respects that about you, Jubilation, but the choice is yours to make."

"That's so… So… Cool," She stood and approached the Professor at the front of all her friends and teammates and opened the letter the Professor handed her.

"Knock- Knock, Stewie," Bobby opened the door to the Recovery Room. "Kordel said you wanted to talk to me."

"Oui, Agent Nichols said the puck's in my zone," Stewart said as he slid out of bed, pulling on his old Québec Rafales hockey jersey he sat in an easy chair. "He read you his report, non?" Motioning Bobby to sit on the one facing opposite him.

"Yea," Bobby replied as he sat. "Just before I came over here."

"'To Everyone,'" She began.

"'I was told of Agent Nichols' findings before you guys heard about it, so I am sure you know why I had been asked to write this letter.

"'As for what happened, I told him I do not freeze myself. None of you need to know why, so don't bother asking. I was told he wanted to help me tap out my ca-d-e-o?'" she attempted to sound out.

"Cadeau, chère," Remy called out. "It mean 'gift.' He talkin' bout his powers."

"Thanks Gumbo. 'I was told he wanted to help me tap out my mutant gift. He thinks I could be stronger than he is.'"

"It would seem that we have a lot to straighten out about today," Stewart took a deep breath. "Docteur McCoy ran a lot of tests on me. He said that I am capable of turning into ice, like you do."

"Really?"

"He even said a brain scan shows I can possibly be stronger than your powers could be."

"I'm glad for you, Stewie."

"'So?

"'I didn't agree to enroll here to be the strongest mutant here. I wanted to prefect the skills I already have, and maybe learn some new things. I know the war over eugenics is coming, and we all need to be ready to fight, but the world doesn't need a Francophone version of Captain Cold.' Eugenics?"

"The Us vs. Them War, Jubes."

"Oh, thanks, Hayseed, Jr." She said to Paige before continuing.

"'I'm not a psychic, but I don't need a crystal ball to know two things happened; Madame Frost jumped off the handle, and Alea, Jay and Nate made a move on Drake and had to be held back.' Maybe he is psychic after all."

"Jubilee!"

"Geesh, sue a gal for statin' the obvious! Where was I, oh yea; 'We formed our pride on a simple creed,'" She looked at the paper closely and sounded the next twelve words phonetically; "'Pour le meilleur ou pour le pire, nous vivons et mourons aussi un!' I told 'em I didn't habla Canadian! Oh he translates it!; 'For better or for worse, we live and die as one! In our time together, we had to prove that on more than one occasion.'"

"What makes you think I should stop either of them? Frost hates to see ses étudiants get hurt, and les trois lions, I run with have spilled blood for a whole lot less than an accident, and so have I! You have no idea what we've been through, but understand we're ready to die for any one of us, just as the X-Men will die for you! You know this because you'd die for any one of them, oui?"

"In a heartbeat, Stewie."

"'I was asked point blank, Will swift and blinding violence make me whole? Will it heal me, body and spirit?

"'My question is, what about Drake? Agent Nichols said he made some lame excuses for what he did to me, but still found it was his fault. Then I found out this isn't the first time he's faced someone with his powers and being better than he is.'"

"Agent Nichols said you were possessed by Madame Frost, non?"

"Yea, that was one weird experience."

"He also said she used your powers in ways you can't do to this day?"

"It was a big head trip, you know, Stewie?"

"I can relate. When you approached her to explain how she did it, what did she tell you?"

"She showed me a taste of what she did, but basically that I had to do it all on my own."

"What did she TELL YOU?"

"'Whether that drives you forward, or drives you crazy, makes absolutely no difference to me.' Those are words you don't soon forget."

"But where has it driven you since then? Nulle part, nowhere. Now that's just sad!" He stood up, anger painted on his face. "You want all that power, Drake? You want to be the biggest, the baddest, the strongest and the greatest? Pierre is the biggest, but he doest act like a bully. Wolverine is the baddest, yet Jay can take him and he's only 16! Rogue is the strongest and she'd sell her soul to be a normal! And the greatest, Xavier, he'll be the first to tell you he's not, and doesn't want to be. While you on the other hand have it all, but you don't have it at all and that eats at you, but you'll never admit that to your friends. Am I right?"

"Well, ya. But I see all that in you, Stewie."

"You mean Frost wants you to want ME to want that kinda power! Admit it, you were hesitant to take this tutoring stuff on. You've never taught anyone how to use these powers have you?"

"The Prof-"

"Xavier is a good man, but he never conjured up a snowflake or a snowball, or showed you how to make an ice slide. He's like a coach, he convinced you to be able to do it on command, then on your own, then helped make you better. Nathan did that for me for three years, than Alea and the Admiral, and even Jay helped where he could. Now Frost, Cassidy and Nichols are all going to do the same.

"You know all this. You could have taught me. As in REALLY taught me by doing it yourself and helping me in what I'm doing wrong. But you didn't think you could teach that which you still haven't mastered, right?"

"How could you tell?"

"Frozen shotglass molds, Drake? I've been doing this for almost four years, you don't think I've made a tons of ice cubes? That's not a test, that's a stupid party trick!"

"You don't know Emma, she-"

"Wants to make up for the death of the Hellions."

"You know?"

"Agent Nichols told me about it, he found out about it yesterday and as far as I know Alea, Jay and Nathan don't know, yet. But none of that is an excuse for what happened either."

"'Will he change? He has to stand to face his only judge, the man he sees in the mirror and ask himself if he wants to. If he can't do it by himself, then he needs to look to his friends. If they are anything like mine all he needs to do is ask.

"'Drake screwed up and I got hurt, but unlike a skinned knee or a broken arm, the passage of time isn't going to fix this.'"

"Nichols said you called what Emma did to your body a 'sweet nightmare.' But do you know what an 'evil dream' is?"

"Kordel told me-"

"I asked if YOU know what an 'evil dream' is?"

"No."

"I wouldn't tell this to Agent Nichols because I don't know him, but I'm going to tell you. Since you don't deserve it, you don't get the details, but the reason I don't turn to ice is because I almost killed Nathan by nearly freezing him to death."

"Oh my god!"

"The evil part in that dream is when I remember it, my powers kill him in that cave and I get trapped with his frozen corpse for eternity."

"I didn't know honest!"

"How could you? I've only told three others and my cousin wasn't one of them. But that's why I don't use my powers like that. There is only one time I would even think to unload my gift like that!"

"'I have been told he's sorry and would do anything to turn back the clock, but since no one here has that power, Agent Nichols asked me how I'd make this right.'"

"So when I nailed you in ice I made you relive all that," Bobby started to look at his feet. "Shit, Stewie, I'm sorry for what I did."

"'Sorry?' You're 'sorry'? Au contraire, I need to thank you, Robert.

"You see when we got back to our homes, everything was sacked; the deeds to our homes, our family's wills, my first hockey stick, Nathan's favorite fishing hat, our photo albums, literally leaving us with just the clothes on our backs and what I have up here," He pointed to his head. "But since that day in that cave, I started to forget important things, like the songs my mère used to sing to me, the way my père's eyebrows would furrow when he's setting up a triple deke, the way Aunt Joséphine liked to comb my hair differently just to tease my mom, the sidearm way Uncle Donnie would cast his line when fishing trout, and all those birthday parties with Nathan.

"The head shrinks from the Youth Advocate's Office said it's dissociation from the whole ordeal coming to a head at once, but I know the real reason. Ma famille bien-aimée was taken from me, but because Nathan was spared, every last memory of happiness I ever had, was sacrificed in exchange."

"Hey, don't say shit like that! That wasn't your fault!"

"You don't think so, Drake? When you froze me, my life flashed before my eyes, and for the first time in over two years, I could recall things I thought I would never remember again. Aunt Joséphine's warm missing-tooth smile. Uncle Donnie's famous Nunavut porridge. Christmas in Ville de Québec. Watching grey seals in Kouchibouguac National Park. Everything came back! I thank you for that, Robert."

Stewart hugged him tightly, and kissed both his cheeks, though Bobby was too stunned to react. "Vaut mieux prévenir que guérir," He whispered to him."Tête de rubber." When the Canadian released his hold on him, he continued.

"When I came to, it all started to slip again. At that moment I had an epiphany; The only way I'll ever get those memories back is when I rejoin ma famille bien-aimée. If you hadn't done that who knows when I would have experienced that much happiness again. That's why I can't allow anyone I love to harm you over this incident, Drake."

"You afraid I can't take 'em all on, Stewie? I trained with Hercules and the Black Widow back in LA."

"I know how far they'll go, once they cross that line you're afraid to approach, you couldn't take any of them. Although I thank you for my memories, my family taught me one thing I'll never forget. The value of life! You nearly sent me to that Penalty Box in the Sky, Robert Drake, and I still haven't learned how to drive yet! C'est vraiment de ta faute!I'm gonna make you pay for what you did!"

"'Right now I feel beaten, broken, and humiliated, so it is only fitting he should experience those same feelings. But since that is what Alea, Jay and Nate were forced not to do. I have to find a way to do those things without touching him.

"'So, I move, and I was assured that this will get enforced, that Bobby be restricted to base for the next 37 days.'"

37 days! Nathan mulled in silence clinching his fist. Thirty-seven FUCKING DAYS!

"Why 37 days?"

"In 37 days, it would be the anniversary of the day they found the crash site. Our families' remains were never found so on that date we have to petition Le Premier Ministre de Colombie-Britannique to declare our families death in absentia. We have to petition British Columbia's Provincial Government to declare them legally dead." Stewart explained noticing Bobby wince.

"I'm giving you that time before we have to make that journey for you to figure out if reaching your peak is worth the climb. You don't need my Evil Dreams. I don't want your Sweet Nightmare! You have a lot to think about in the next 37 days, Drake, and I'm making sure you focus!"

"'With the exception of saving the world as a team,'" Jubilee continued to read. "'he doesn't set foot nor frost one centimeter off the grounds! Not the club scene, not to the store, not to Tim Horton's, not to grandma's house, no one is to offer to let him ride along to Chez Ashton's for an order of poutine.' Hey Wolvie, didn't you say that stuff tastes like dog food over at Harry's Bar?

"'During this confinement he and he ALONE is subject to cleaning the mansion from head to toe. With the lone exception of the Blackbird, as that's still Logan's job for the next week, cleaning the refrigerator, stove, microwave, washing the dishes, pots 'n' pans, moping, vacuuming, dusting, scrubbing the tub, showers and the toilets, the whole kit and caboodle, is Drake's job FOR THE NEXT 37 DAYS!'"

Several of the assembled mutants snickered, some giggled, some even laughed out loud upon hearing the fate that awaited Iceman. Three young mutants in the back apparently didn't find that sentence funny.

"'There is a reason I had chosen this date. But I wasn't asked to explain my reasons, so I will not do so. Don't ask! None of you need to know!'"

"Now, I haven't told that story to Nathan and none of them know that I'm losing my childhood memories-"

"You could talk to Jeanie or the Prof, Stewie."

The young Canadian grabbed Bobby by his collar and pulled him out of his chair. "AND STOP CALLING ME 'STEWIE' DAMN YOU! MY MOTHER CALLED ME THAT! SO NO OTHER SHALL EVER AGAIN!" He shoved him back onto his chair. "I'm holding you to secrecy, Robert Drake! No one is to EVER know what was said in this room! This NEVER gets out! Not to Frost, Xavier, Nathan. TO NO ONE!"

"'That is my final words to the X-Men as a whole, but I have included a letter explaining this decision for ma seule famille.

"'Alea, please read the front of this envelope and follow it's instructions before reading the letter,'" Jubilee turned the page over several times. "That's it guys. That's all that's here. Here's the envelope, Alea. It's written in Canadian, too." She left it on the podium then sat back down next to Jean, Scott and Logan.

"Thank you, Jubilee, for your narration," The Professor then gathered up all the papers, leaving Stewart's letter. "As I had agreed, that shall be the final word on the matter. I agree with Agent Nichols' assessment, and I admire Mr. MacKenzie's maturity in his decision. The young man feels this course of action will impart to Robert a valuable lesson on responsibility. I am sure it will. I wish though, to discuss this further, with the senior leadership, so if you all will please return to my office, everyone else is dismissed. Miss. Kaulalona, here is Mr. MacKenzie's envelope, if you please."

"Aye-Aye," She replied then stood and approached the podium after the room had thinned considerably.

After everyone, save three young mutants exited the Hanger Deck, Nathan McPherson grabbed a folding chain and began smashing it on the ground.

"CHORES!" Jason voiced what they were thinking as he kicked several other chairs. "That was a load of bullshit! He was put up to that!"

"I'm not entirely sure guys," Alea said as she retrieved the envelope. "If he was writing that under duress, he would have used a different date. No one else knows what happens at the end of March."

After smashing the chair on the ground several more times Nathan finally flung it to the far side of the hanger before rejoining them. "Well, what does it say, Alea?"

"'I know your all pissed at me,'" She translated. "'But I'll explain it outside. Please walk out to the Escalade, then open this.' Let's go, boys."

End of Part eight

©David D. Amaya 2012