X-Men Evolution: Rogue Evolution

Christmas Special *Non Canon*

"You mean to tell me that big hunkin' thing is still alive?"

"I mean, as alive as pine trees can be when they just sit in that pot of water. Oh! Speaking of which!" Kitty half jogged, half ran from Anna's side and through the furthest right wall of the mansion's main hall. Less than a minute later she returned with a bright red watering can, crouched inside the tree with one of its massive limbs pointing straight through her head, and gingerly filled the tree's basin of water. When she was done, she wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, draped the water can over her shoulder like it was a jacket, and joined Anna's side once more. "That could have been a disaster."

"Yeah, no - I can really see the difference." Anna ran her eyes up the length of the great pine. Like the hall, and the rest of the mansion, it was dripping with red and gold for the holiday. Bright round yellow bulbs were laced in tandem with a garland and the limbs were heavy with red ornaments that glittered under the hazy warm light. No two ornaments were the same, and several were even handmade. Of the home-brewed creations, there were origami cranes and little hats with hooks on the top so they could be hung. A few were miniature photos of Kitty posing with the others she had printed out and hung up. Another was an 'X' made out of Evan's spikes and laced together with leather. One that stuck out in particular to Anna was a stick man made out of popsicle sticks. The head was made out of white paper with a crudely drawn green crayon smiley face. Anna had asked about it when she was helping Ororo decorate a few weeks before.

"Xavier made that when he was a kid." The older woman had explained while climbing down a 20-foot ladder.

Anna remembered looking back at the little thing like she had uncovered some sort of dirty secret. She looked at the fat semi-translucent smudges of hot glue securing the popsicles in place and the wrinkled paper face with new fascination. "Xavier was a kid?"

Ororo snickered before gently plucking the little man out of her grasp and securing him on the tree limb where he still stood. "Xavier was, and is many things."

Back in the present, Anna shoved her hands in the pockets of her hoodie and glanced around the mansion's great foyer. "This time last year, me and my folks had already opened presents and were getting ready to watch the Peanuts Special. Gotta say, this is... different." Her eyes clung to the chandelier above draped with little paper snowflakes.

"The 'Peanuts Special?'" Kitty snubbed a little snort. "Little weird to think of you and Mystique being big Peanuts fans."

"We weren't. It was just kinda one of those things you do every year. A tradition I guess. We started it when I was little, a baby probably, and did it every year since. Why it was the Peanuts, knowing my family, it was probably just because it was what was on TV at the time."

"Ugh, yeah - tradition. My dad is all about it."

Anna crossed her arms to keep out the chill from the perpetual draft that appeared at the beginning of the fall. "Really?"

"Yep. My dad took to the whole 'supporting my wife's Jewish traditions' thing a little too seriously when they got married. Mom was kinda blasé about it, but Dad got us menorah sweaters and everything."

"That's... kinda cute actually."

"Yeah, Mom and Dad have always been tight that way. He's always supported her in everything she tried to do. Especially when she went back to college to get her masters. Still, it's a little sad... I never really learned a whole lot about his past. He was from Lanzhou China and he never talks about it, not even really to Mom."

"Maybe it's something he's trying to get away from."

"Yeah, maybe. Still, it's half my DNA and I just don't know anything about it." Kitty shook her head and clapped her hands together. "Man, what am I doing? It's freaking Christmas! Best time of year for you Gentiles! We should find the others and do this secret Santa thing already." She checked her watch.