The X-Men, Generation X, the Age of Apocalypse 
and all related characters are the property of Marvel 
Comics. No copyright infringement is intended, no 
profit is being made.

This story and all original characters are the property 
of the author.

Chapters One through Six can be found at the 
Generation X Archive, or on my homepage.

http://gen-x.simplenet.com/
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/8868/

I'm going to write more, whether I get feedback or not, 
but I do write faster if I know people are actually 
reading this!

Okay, yes, the secret of Monet's true heritage has 
been revealed. More or less. For the sake of my story, 
things worked out a little differently. Hey, it *is* an 
alternate universe.

This is for Micaela, who said Chapter Six was too 
short.
________

To Hell and Back
Chapter Seven



The bite of cold air against her skin partially roused 
Jubilee from her sleep. She murmured a complaint 
and  huddled deeper beneath the thin blankets 
covering her. The warm body before her rustled 
slightly at her movements, but otherwise showed no 
signs of being disturbed. Behind her, she heard a soft 
sound of movement, and the blankets were gently 
tucked in around her. The cold air was held at bay 
once more, and Jubilee slipped back into the welcome 
nothingness of sleep, where the cold couldn't reach 
her.

It was several hours later when she awoke again. The 
hard ground was uncomfortable enough, and the call 
of nature was making the situation absolutely painful. 
She mumbled a protest under her breath and squirmed 
beneath the blankets, rolling onto her back to sit up. 

She glanced at Angelo to make sure she hadn't woken 
him up. The older boy was still asleep, though, and 
probably would be for another hour or so. Jubilee 
glanced at her other side, expecting to see Claudia - 
the French girl was a very light sleeper - but to 
Jubilee's surprise, there was no sign of her. Vaguely, 
Jubilee remembered waking up momentarily earlier 
that morning. 'That was a couple of hours ago,' she 
realized. 'What would she be doing for so long?' For a 
moment she considered waking Angelo, but she didn't 
actually *know* that anything was wrong just yet. 
Probably Claudia just wanted some time to herself, 
away from the two fellow refugees she'd become stuck 
with over the last several months. Jubilee could 
understand that. She'd felt the same need more than 
once herself.

She slid out from beneath the covers quickly and 
quietly, shivering fiercely as the bitter cold air hit her 
skin. She checked to make sure that she hadn't pulled 
the covers off Angelo, then headed away from the 
make-shift shelter they had slept in. She didn't bother 
to grab one of the heavy sweaters she had shed before 
going to sleep. With any luck she wouldn't be gone 
long enough to need it.

It was almost sunrise, and the pink and gold tinge had 
lit up the sky to the east, making it fairly easy for 
Jubilee to find her way over the rocky, uneven 
ground. She took care of business quickly, wanting 
nothing so much as to get back where it was *warm.* 
And quickly.

She was making her way back to the small shelter 
when she spotted movement out of the corner of her 
eye. Instinctively freezing in place, she looked over to 
see what she had seen.

Perched on a ledge, almost twenty feet above her, sat 
Claudia. The older girl apparently hadn't seen her, she 
was staring out into the distance, her expression 
introspective. She hadn't moved, but the wind blew 
her long dark hair about her head like a veil. She 
wasn't wearing a coat either, and Jubilee suppressed a 
shudder. Up there, with nothing to shield her from the 
wind, Claudia had to be freezing. "Claudia!"

The older girl didn't move.

"Hey, Claudia!"

Still nothing. Jubilee sighed. Maybe she should have 
taken the X-Men up on their offer.

***

"I swear, Claudia. Between you and Ange, it's enough 
to make a girl miss the gene-pits." Jubilee shivered as 
the wind hit her head-on, her double layers of 
clothing only barely managing to keep the worst of it 
out. "What're you doing up here? It's freezing! And 
the sun hasn't even come up yet. You know Angelo 
wants to get an early start up to the castle." Jubilee 
dropped to a cross-legged position next to Claudia. 
"What're you, masochistic?"

There was no reply, and for the first time, Jubilee 
took a good look at her companion. "Claudia?" The 
older girl was still and unmoving, her eyes distant and 
unblinking.

Jubilee panicked for all of three seconds before she 
reached out and grabbed Claudia firmly by the 
shoulders. "Claudia! *Wake up!*"

Claudia blinked and turned to look at her as if 
nothing had happened. "Bon matin, ma cherie. Ca 
va?"

"Tired. Cold. Grumpy. And definitely not bilingual. 
What is it with you and Ange anyway? Just cause you 
both understand what each other's saying doesn't 
mean *I* do."

"If you were able to answer my question, Jubilation, 
then you *do* understand." Claudia stood and ran her 
hands through her thick mane of hair, pulling loose 
some of the worse tangles. "Come on, let's get back. 
It's cold up here."

Jubilee stared. "No kidding. What just happened here, 
Claudia?"

Claudia sighed. "The trance, you mean?"

"What do you think I mean? What was that? Are you 
all right?"

"I'm fine, Jubilee, I promise. This just... happens 
sometimes. Especially when I'm concentrating hard, or 
dealing with something emotional. I get... caught up 
in the thoughts and feelings and I don't pay as much 
attention to the real world as I ought to. The doctors 
in Algeria said it was like autism, that when I get like 
that I might as well be catatonic."

"That's a bad thing to be doing at the edge of a twenty 
foot drop," Jubilee said softly. "Be more careful, huh? 
And if you ever need to think about something so 
much that it eats you up like that - tell one of us, 
okay?"

"I will," Claudia promised. "Now come. It *is* cold, 
and Angelo will be awake soon."

***

Angelo was, in fact, already awake when they 
returned and almost finished packing up the supplies. 
Claudia and Jubilee pitched in and made short work 
of the rest. When there was no sign left that they had 
spent the night there, Claudia and Angelo shouldered 
the two packs, and the three set out toward the castle.

Claudia picked out a ridge, not far from the castle, in 
clear view. She handed the pack to Jubilee and 
concentrated. "Remember," she told Angelo, "I'm an 
empath, not a telepath. I'm not fool proof."

"You're the best we got," Angelo said simply. He 
waited until Claudia's eyes had closed in 
concentration, then leaned over to Jubilee and 
whispered loudly, "We'll have to trade her in for the 
newer model when we get to the next city." Jubilee 
giggled and Claudia opened one eye to glare at him. 
He smiled disarmingly.

Claudia sighed and set about restoring her 
concentration. She focused on the castle and searched 
carefully, letting her mind roam through the grand 
structure. Each room and passageway was graced with 
the soft touch of her consciousness, searching for 
another, for anyone who may mean them harm, or, 
conversely, anyone who may help them.

She didn't know how much time had passed when she 
finally opened her eyes, but judging by the fact that 
Jubilee and Angelo were playing tic-tac-toe in the dirt 
it had been a while. She shook her head slightly, 
casting off the last trace of fogginess that clouded her 
thoughts.

Angelo looked up. "Chica?"

"Nothing!" she announced. "I didn't sense anything, 
Angelo. No people, no animals. It's completely 
empty!" She met his gaze and felt his enthusiasm 
grow to match her own. "Angelo, there are no psi-
remnants whatsoever. I don't think anyone's been here 
for years. Decades maybe. It's what you wanted; a 
place where Apocalypse has never been."

Jubilee bounded to her feet and grabbed Angelo's arm. 
"What are we going to do?"

Angelo looked down at the young girl, then back at 
Claudia, and finally over to the castle. "Looks like as 
good a place as any to spend the winter."

Jubilee cheered.

***

The castle was as magnificent close up as it had been 
from a distance. Claudia forced open a small side 
door, probably used by servants back when the castle 
had been staffed and the three took their first steps 
inside. 

The door led them into a kitchen, filled with every 
sort of cooking utensil available in the earlier half of 
the century. The stove, Claudia discovered, used 
wood, another coal, and Angelo found a large supply 
of both in the cellar. The wood was rotted, but it 
would do for now.

Angelo arranged a simple bar at the door that would 
keep out anything without superpowers, and they set 
about examining the rest of their new residence. There 
was a spacious main room with several smaller rooms 
leading off it. The upstairs consisted of several bed 
chambers and studies. There was even a great library 
filled with moldy hardcover novels. Claudia 
immediately announced her intention to never leave.

There were clothes in several of the closets, and while 
most of them were outdated, there were some pants 
and shirts and sweaters that would do for extra 
clothing, to the relief of all. The few clothes they had 
with them, had not faired well after their weeks of 
traveling.

They each claimed one of the bedrooms, sticking 
close to each other at Angelo's insistence and set up 
their meager belongings. Claudia found the stairwell 
to the attic and they ventured up together, scaring 
several bats, mice, squirrels and things Jubilee didn't 
want to think about.

The attic was filled with what could only be called 
miscellania. Which is exactly what Claudia did call it. 
Paintings leaned against the wall. Trunks filled the 
floor space. Racks of clothing filled what little room 
was left. They searched it quickly and hit the jack-
pot: a truck filled with blankets. Claudia piled Jubilee 
and Angelo's arms full of the thick covers and 
instructed them to put them on the beds. "And leave a 
few downstairs, as well," she added. "In case."

While they did that, she continued to rummage and 
when they were just leaving the last blankets 
downstairs, she came down, her own arms full. 
"Coats!" she announced. "They're old fashioned, and 
they aren't a perfect fir, but it's better than what we 
had."

It was afternoon by then, and they were all hungry. 
Claudia rationed out what was left of their food and 
while they ate, they set out plans.

"Shelter's not going to do us much good if we don't 
have food," Angelo pointed out. "And the food we 
have is only going to last a few more days. A week at 
most if we keep up with two meals a day."

"We have water, at least," Claudia reminded him. 
"That stream we got the water from last night comes 
past here. And once the snow starts falling water will 
be the least of our problems."

Angelo nodded. "We're not far off course from where 
we were headed before we found this place. We can 
probably hit Boulder in a few more days. It's a big city 
with a pretty large rebel population. And a good black 
market. We should be able to find enough supplies to 
last us through the winter. The problem will be 
carting them all back here."

"About that," Claudia said. "Angelo, would you let me 
handle this on my own? I can fly, so I'll get to Boulder 
in just over a day. And with my invulnerability I'll be 
a lot safer there than you two. As for getting  it 
home," she shrugged. "All I have to do is pack it up 
and carry it. I can lift up to a ton easily. I doubt we'll 
need so much that I can't handle it."

Angelo nodded, a little reluctantly. "Si. It's a good 
point. I don't like making you go alone, though."

"You're not making me do anything. I volunteered. 
Besides, by the time I get everything you and Jubilee 
can have this place livable."

Jubilee groaned. "The truth comes out. She just wants 
*us* to do all the housework!"

Angelo chuckled. "Sounds like a fair trade. All right, 
Claudia. But be careful."

"I will. Now let's finish getting ready. I'll leave first 
thing tomorrow and we need to decide just what I'm 
going to be buying."

That night, for the first time in fifty years, the grand 
house was lit with the warmth of fires, and the 
presence of people.

________



to be continued