We all fall down...

[Kitty Pryde]

None of this was right. This was wrong, it was all wrong. None of this should have happened, it shouldn’t have ended up this way. What way, though? She didn’t even know. Everything was... nothing, and nothing was all around her.

Sitting in the middle of what had once been a wide street but was not broken and deserted, Kitty Pryde could only stare unseeing at the desolation around her. Buildings that once stood proud had fallen, streets that had once been busy were deserted. Empty, lonely, nothing. It was all wrong.

How had she gotten here? How long ago? How long had she been sitting in the dirt trying to comprehend it all? How long would she continue to? So many questions, questions without answers. No answers. Nothing was right, all of it was wrong.

“It shouldn’t be this way.”

[Jubilee]

This was a place out of nightmares. There was nothing, no one. Just abandoned buildings and sand building up in the corners, weeds growing up through the asphalt. It was like someone had lifted the people out of there and taken them elsewhere, leaving the city to collapse under the weight of its own history. They hadn't died, Jubilee didn't think. She hadn't found any bones yet, at least.

It felt like she had been walking forever, that all there was to do was walk. Jubilee clutched the yellow jacket she was wearing around herself, finding comfort in it somehow. If only there was someone else...! Her breath quickened as she heard a voice, a simple statement and it meant that she was no longer alone. She couldn't stand being alone. It didn't matter that she could only barely remember other people, it was worse for that, because she couldn't truly remember what it was not to be the only one. Just remembered enough to make it hurt.

Breaking into a run from the shuffling walk that had carried her through what felt like miles of empty streets, Jubilee's sneakers slapped across the ground loudly as she ran to where she thought she'd heard the voice, wanting to make sure she found them before they moved. Coming up on Kitty, she almost threw herself at the other girl, hugging her fiercely. She didn't know who she was, but she didn't care. She was somebody else!

"Ohmigosh, you're a person! A real person!"

[Hank McCoy]

“It shouldn’t be this way.”

"I've been thinking the same thing", he thought. He had been watching her...studying her...from a perch on a pile of rubble at the edge of the road for he didn't really know how long. Trying to figure out how to catch her attention without startling the crap out of her.

She was just so lost in thought.

And it was pretty evident they both were just plain lost.

He thought maybe he'd try calling out to her and hope he didn't scare her to death.

And then suddenly a streak of yellow hysteria solved that problem for him.

"Ohmigosh, you're a person! A real person!"

"And so am I", he said aloud.

"I'm Hank", he offered as he dropped to the weathered pavement. He took a step toward them and held out his hand in greeting. He was a pretty big guy for someone not yet out of his teens. Football in high school would have given him a muscular physique anyway, but his powers or whatever the proper word was helped out even more. He wore a protective shirt made of neoprene - like a surfer - and grey shorts with black tennis shoes. "Hank McCoy", he added.

[Kitty Pryde]

Lost in her own thoughts, in all the memories and all the wrongs, Kitty wasn’t aware that she was no longer alone until a set of arms wrapped around her and held her tightly. Her whole body stiffened and she didn’t return the embrace; she wasn’t read to. As much as everything was plaguing her there was still that tiny shred of doubt (or was it hope?) that this could all just be some nightmare that she was having a hard time waking up from. Not anymore. The contact made it real, the voice and the desperation of the hug. Slowly she touched the yellow sleeved arm, solid under her hand. Her whole body sagged into the other girl’s arms.

“Oh God, it’s real,” her voice was choked quiet, but another, louder one drowned her out. It sounded familiar, and then... then he said his name and Kitty’s whole body went cold. Phasing herself right out of Jubilee’s embrace, she got to her feet and turned to the voice quickly. The figure that greeted her was not what she expected.

“No you’re not,” she said, standing warily and unsure how to process all this new information.

[Desperado]

There was a light at the end of a long tunnel, and Jacob could hear a deafening roar. His whole life, his whole life, passed through his memories. His parents, his schooling, college, marriage, vengeance, servitude, it all went through his mind as he stared at the light.

And then time reasserted itself, and Commander Guthrie's bullet passed through his head. For a long time after, there was Nothing with a capital N. No light, no dark, no gravity, no force.

No body. No sensation. Just endless Nothing.

And then, as suddenly as it ended, he found himself taking in a large breath of air as harsh sunlight and cracked earth and heat and solid and pain all assaulted him at once. He lay on the ground gasping and coughing for a long time while he tried to make sense of it all. His thoughts eventually coalesced. He was looking up at a noonday sun. He could smell the asphalt beneath him, could feel its heat through his clothes. He could feel his clothes gripping him, a little too tight, but they had always been when he had them buttoned up like he was supposed to. He could hear the sound of silence around him. He could feel the aches and pains of a body that had been subjected to forced labor.

He was alive. Dear God, he was alive!

As soon as he stopped coughing, he laughed. It was a sweet, musical sound to his ears despite his dry throat. He rolled over onto his side to get his face away from the sun, and slowly took stock of himself. He held his hands in front of his face, breathing heavily from such minor exertion. Ten fingers. Two arms. He touched his face, his forehead. No bullet wound. Everything in order. He was so happy, he started to cry a bit. He sat up and took stock of his surroundings Decrepit buildings, roads that looked more at home in Louisiana than anywhere civilized. This was a dead place. But he was alive in it, and for the moment that was all that mattered.

He stood up, and looked at himself. He was still wearing his servant's clothes, black suit jacket, black slacks, white button down shirt, and black tie...thing...he had never been sure just what the Hell this thing was supposed to be. And so he took it off and unbuttoned the top button, rejoicing in the freedom his throat now experienced. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and looked around him, squinting in the daylight. Everything was heat images out to any appreciable distance, but he knew he couldn't stay here, simply because there was nothing "here" worth staying for. So he picked a direction and started off.

The place was surreal, like an old Fallout game. It looked as if this world had ended, and he began to wonder just where he was and what happened to him. He didn't fret on it overmuch. He was just happy to be alive. He relished every sore footstep, every aching breath, because pain was for the living.

After walking long enough, he encountered something that made the place more surreal: a Mexican standoff. At least, that was how he was reading it. Who knew? Maybe in this culture, this was how they said-

Except that was Princess Katherine. Jacob stopped walking towards the group. He knew that they could probably see him, but he wasn't exactly willing to keep going forward. Unfortunately, these were the first people he had ever seen here, and at least one of them was familiar. Common sense dictated that he introduce himself. Common sense also dictated that he not interfere if there was to be bloodshed. Dying once was enough.

[Jubilee]

For a moment, the other girl was stiff and then she sagge into Jubilee's desperate embrace. Not to be alone. A deeper male voice introduced himself, and she looked up, nearly toppling to one side as the expected support of Kitty's body removed itself and the girl phased through her arms. Cool, definitely, but unexpected.

Sitting up and crossing her legs, Jubilee gazed up at the very big guy who had approached them. Seemed friendly enough, she supposed...but brown-haired girl was being pretty stand-off-ish. Prickly, in a word. Like she doubted he was who he said he was. There was definite doubtage going on.

"I'm Jubilee," the small Asian teen offered, forbearing to say the next thing on her mind. Which was, at least, I think I am. Everything felt hazy, like her memories were as desolate and despaired and broken as the world around them. Dusty, and ill-used. There had been pain, and then the walking...oh, the walking, all alone. "You know where we are at all?"

[Hank McCoy]

"I promise I am", Hank said as he slowed his pace and lifted both his hands in as non-threatening a gesture as he could think of.

"Cool trick", he told Miss Defensive. He meant it.

"Cool name", he told the streak of hysteria. He meant that, too. "And I don't have a clue where we are. But it's real as far as I can tell..."

He turned his attention back to Miss Defensive. "...and so am I", he tried to reassure her.

He felt a little stupid having said the same thing twice.

[Kitty Pryde]

Kitty unconsciously took a defensive stance as “Hank” approached her despite his non-threatening demeanor. Sure, he was a big guy, but it wasn’t Dr. McCoy, at least not any version she knew... the jury was still out on whether that was good or bad.

It was all so confusing. Once she had looked up to him and respected him and leaned on him during one of the most trying times in her life, and he had helped her and done everything he could for her and then... she just couldn’t strike the images from her mind, all the pain, the horror... how could she reconcile this man as Dr. McCoy when she couldn’t even do the same for the two others she remembered that actually looked the same?

“Doctor McCoy is blue. And furry,” Kitty said, ignoring the rest of the conversation. “You’re not.”

Well thank you Captain Obvious from Planet Duh. Gosh, think, would you?

But that was the problem, wasn’t it? She didn’t want to think. Thinking hurt, like really hurt in more ways than one. How could she think when she couldn’t even deal with the fact that this world was real, that these people were real and that this situation was a real one that required thinking?

[Bobby Drake]

Wind swept down the long lonely road. Coldness wasn't exactly something Bobby felt uncomfortable with, but this chill was caused by something far more unsettling than a simple absence of heat. It was a haunting sort of feel, chilling Bobby to his soul and despite the glaring sun he pulled his collar up around his neck at the hollow sound of the wind as it whistled through the barren branches and through the skeletal remains of fallen buildings.

He heard voices in the wind. Ghosts of people that he had known, and would never see again.

The worst part was, he wasn't even sure if he'd remember their names.

Cold blue eyes to the road, Bobby walked, willing one foot in front of the other as he trudged down the mottled gray pavement and denied the pangs of hunger and consuming thirst that had been plaguing him for what felt like...(days? weeks?)...forever. He had a vague memory of happy times. Memories that felt like scenes from a movie, or fragments of a dream. He remembered laughing, and loving. He remembered a fierce devotion to an idea he couldn't even put words to if he tried. He remembered family...

And now, with eyes bloodshot and lips cracked dry he wandered in a land that felt abandoned...as forsaken as he was.

There was a flash of light and a buzz that shook him so violently from within that he cried out in pain. Bobby collapsed to his knees as the brilliance withdrew. He heard voices, and he looked up at a group of familiar strangers as his eyes swam and the world spun in lazy tipping circles. Eyes focusing on a Chinese girl and then a brunette, Bobby tried to hold it back.

But it would not be restrained.

Leaning forward, Bobby lost what little was left in his stomach.

[Jubilee]

Jubilee winced and put her hand against her forehead as brown-haired girl faced off against the guy who'd named himself McCoy. "I think he should know what his name is, princess," she commented, not sure why she used that nickname over any other. Girl just looked like one, she guessed. Princess rang bells in the back of her head, just the way the man's name had.

Hollow, echoing bells that didn't seem to be connected to anything. Just ringing in her head. Scent of antiseptic. Popping camera flash. Images moving across a tv screen. A hug. Ugh, her head.

"I could shank someone for a few Tylenol," she mentioned, before the small group was interupted by someone just appearing like a bubble of reality. And then he threw up. She made a yell of disgust, and scooted away from the guy who'd vomited, using her hands to push herself away while she was still seated.

"Ok, this is getting even more like the Twilight Zone! And if someone mentions a cornfield, I might start screaming and never stop."

[Desperado]

Jacob had stood at the edge of hearing, consequently, unable to hear much of what was transpiring. The Princess had just assumed a defensive combat stance in response to the boy coming towards her. Given the boy's physique and a sort of quiet power that he emanated, Jacob guessed that there wouldn't be much chance of Katherine winning at hand-fighting. Unless she got him in a choke hold.

Are you just gonna sit there and make vague Princess Bride references, or are you gonna do something?

He was just about to step forward when something even more surreal happened: a bright flash of light, hard enough to cause him to squint and shield his eyes, and then, out of nowhere, a person. A person on his knees. A person who looked at the girls as if he knew both of them before vomiting.

And suddenly Jacob didn't really care about the belligerent tension as he strode right between the two would-be battlers, flicking the Princess a spare glance as he walked over to the boy on his knees. Kneeling down himself and placing his hands on the boy's shoulders (he seemed very frail, but he couldn't make any assumptions at this point), he began speaking.

"Hey. You alright?" He tried to look the guy in the eyes, both to provide human contact and to get a look at his pupils. "Admittedly a dumb question, but can you hear me at least?" If he'd teleported himself, he might have just gotten out of a sticky situation, at which point he might be hurt. If he'd been teleported by something else, he might be dizzy or disoriented.

Jacob'd seen enough stupid students do both to know that the best thing he could do was give the victim a solid foundation to ground himself with. "Try to pay attention to the sound of my voice. If you understand me, blink your response. Once for 'Yes, I understand you, now lay me down on the ground with something to cover my eyes,' or erratically for 'No, I don't understand you, but I would take it as a kindness if you would lay me down on the ground with something to cover my eyes."

He looked terrible (not that Jacob knew what state he himself was in). Practically dehydrated. As he spoke, he tried to get him to lay, if not on his back, then at least on his side. And not in the vomit.

[Hank McCoy]

Hank's mind raced as he tried to figure out what was happening.

“Doctor McCoy is blue. And furry,” 'Princess' said, ignoring the rest of the conversation. “You’re not.”

Clearly, Jubilee and Princess Defensive knew each other. Princess, as far as he could tell, was trying to make a Star Trek joke or something - only she wasn't acting like she was kidding and Hank didn't get it or really know if it was a joke at all.

He managed an awkward sort of non-committal chuckle just in case, and then thought if she wasn't kidding he'd only look dumber so he let that go and tried to come up with a response that didn't make him sound even worse.

That was when someone he knew showed up. Bobby Drake. Whatever had drawn the rest of them here to this place at this time must've also grabbed Bobby and Hank grinned and pointed at his teammate.

"Now this guy...", he said and he was going to say that Bobby could vouch for him being real and being Hank McCoy and anything else Princess didn't believe in when the poor kid doubled over and tossed up his lunch.

"...I've never seen him before in my life...", Hank said, horrified. The smile vanished.

Jubilee said something about the Twilight Zone and Hank actually got that joke so he committed just a little more to the chuckle he had for Jubilee than he did the first one. But then he thought she might not be kidding either, in which case he either looked insensitive or like even more of a dork than before.

Some Other Guy then showed up and started dealing with Bobby. Maybe he was Doctor McCoy. Only if he was, Hank still didn't get the blue and furry part.

What a mess. The only thing Hank knew for certain was that he was going to have to figure things out quickly and try a lot harder not to look and feel like a complete moron.

At least Bobby looked worse. That was something, he told himself.

[Kitty Pryde]

Kitty started when Jubilee called her ‘Princess’, and only then did she manage to draw her eyes away from Hank. Now that she looked at the girl she did recognize her vaguely, but the comment was pretty offhanded and she wasn’t even paying much attention to what was going on, instead holding her head and complaining of a headache. Boy, she wasn’t the only one. This whole situation was like one big pulsing headache.

Looking back at Hank when he chuckled, Kitty’s eyes narrowed slightly, but soon all animosity and mistrust was forgotten when a new figure entered the scene. This one didn’t run in and tackle her or saunter on down; this one just appeared. For a moment their eyes met and she thought she felt her heart stop. “Bobby...” she whispered, but then the moment was gone and so was his lunch.

She had seen him too in that other place, he and Jubilee, but she hadn’t known him, hadn’t wanted anything to do with him. How was that possible? How could she not know him? But before that he had been...

Her hand covering her mouth, it could have been mistaken for disgust at his action, but in her eyes there was a different kind of emotion. She had lost him, had thought she would never see him again, but here he was, alive and... well, alive. She took a step forward then, wanting to reach out to him and make sure he was real, but another face from the past beat her to it, also seeming to come out of nowhere but in a much less spectacular way. Desi was all business, but could he have been any more confusing to the poor guy? If someone was so messed up they had to actually blink their answer, then surely as few words as possible in the question would be better.

She could have pointed this out. She could have said a lot of things, done a lot of things, but all she managed to do was collapse back to the ground to just sit there looking more lost than ever. “It may be real, but it’s not right.”

[Bobby Drake]

"Hey...you all right?"

The words had a distant and echoey feel to them, and Bobby couldn't help but notice that after emptying his stomach he felt twice as dizzy and unsettled as before. His blue eyes feebly lifted up to look into the guy's face, and he tried to make his throat and mouth cooperate to form some sort of coherent response. All that came out was a raspy wheezing sound, but he nodded his head.

Fingers scraping the asphalt, Bobby pushed himself back a little and away from the pool of rank smelling bile. There was another guy there, sort of rambling to himself. He had a distant sort of look in his eye that made Bobby think he probably did that a lot.

Slowly he stood up on shaky legs, looking around at the group that seemed every bit as lost as he was right now. It was the first really good look he had at the Chinese girl and the brunette. Quietly he exchanged long and profound glances with both of them, but in the end he only breathed one word.

"Drink."

[Jubilee]

She'd gone from not knowing if anyone was alive at all to a multiplicity of people. Jubilee just stared with fascinated eyes as another guy turned up - acting like he knew what he was going on about, getting right up into the guy who'd thrown up's face. And hadn't Princess called the big guy who'd arrived first, 'doctor'? Or rather...she'd denied that his name was his name, and that meant he wasn't a doctor. Maybe?

"Ugh, my head," she groaned to herself, and put her hands over her eyes. Now, she'd wanted company but maybe this was too much? It felt like there were pingpong balls riccochetting off the inside of her head, triggering different impulses to act. "Couldn't you freeze up some of the moisture in the air, Icicle? I haven't seen any water - or any food, come to think of it, the whole time I've been walking."

Although had she really been looking?

And Icicle? Where had that even come from? None of this made any sense. It made less sense that a 4-chan board. 'Nother question for her scattered brain cells - what the Sam Hill was a 4-chan board? Did she really want to know?