X-Men Evolution: Rogue Evolution

Christmas Morning 12.5

Anna creaked the curtains open wide enough to watch the snow fall outside, or at least as far as she could reach from the comfort of her bed. The white moonlight reflecting off the fluffy powder gave her room an ethereal aura despite the time of night. To the sound of the wind lightly pelting her window with falling snow, she felt her leaden eyelids finally fall shut.

The nightmares had stopped, but that didn't make resting in her sheets much easier. Questions were still left unanswered. Questions about her abilities, why they were the way they were, why there was a stranger who was welcome to rent a room in her psyche, and what all that really meant. It all made her wish the Professor was still around. Almost.

Anna tossed from one side and then to the other. She'd check her phone, put it away, only to pick it back up a moment later. Some hope still desperately clung to the frayed ends of her heart strings that any moment she'd hear a response back from Kitty for the half-dozen texts Anna had sent. None of them had even been read.

Unlike Kitty's side of the room, which had a wall plastered with printed photos, Anna only had the one. And it wasn't on the wall, or even anywhere she could see. It was inside her nightstand under a few scattered hair ties, a pack of wintermint flavored gum, and the nail clipper she kept meaning to give back to Kitty. The only reason she even had the photo was because Kitty insisted on giving it to her for her birthday, and it was difficult to say no to Kitty when she was that excited.

However, as it lay there on the pillow next to her, Anna was glad she hadn't mustered the courage to turn it down. It was of her, Kurt, Evan, and Kitty dressed up moments before Anna's birthday bash. Kurt was dressed up as his D&D character, Zerzer the bloodless, Evan was a lizard man, Kitty was Cleopatra, and Anna dressed as the bride of Frankenstein.

It felt so stupid at the time, gathering to take a selfie when all Anna could think about was stealing Cerebro's information. A plan Kitty knew about at the time, and in retrospect, was likely just putting off as long as she could. This far out and looking back, Anna could hardly blame her. In a way, she couldn't help but thank her for forcing her to slow down if it was even for just a moment.

"WAKE UP!"

"What?!" Anna threw her arm across her chest like a swinging hammer and just missed her brother's face by centimeters before slamming her fist into the other side of her bed. "Brotherhood? Sentinals?" She shot up and, in her bleary haze, saw that the room around her was bathed in orange sunlight.

"No! More important than that." Kurt grabbed her by the shoulders and shook. "Presents!"

"Pres-" was all Anna could mutter before being thrown back into her bed by her brother.

"Downstairs! Now!" Kurt leaped off her in a blue blur and through the open door to her room.

Anna sat up once again in her bed with her hair disheveled and forehead sweaty. She'd been an only child her entire life until only a few months ago...and suddenly she was really starting to miss that life.

The mansion outside her door had transformed seemingly overnight. Long ribbons of gold and white lined the crown molding of the hallway, along with twinkling little stars. The red carpet somehow seemed more vibrant than she remembered, and it led to the foyer where a large tree lay heavy with crimson and gold garland, along with glittering crystal ornaments.

"Where... did all this come from?"

"Like it?" Jean appeared from the other side of the house-sized tree with a bright star tree topper levitating high above her head. She reached up and, with an invisible force, set it neatly on top. "I found a bunch of this stuff in the attic and in some storage in the basement."