The silver sports car ate up the miles in what seemed seconds as she hugged the turns like a pro and drove as fast as she dared. The wind blew through her hair like a million fingers and she smiled for what seemed the first time in decades. She heard one of her favorite songs on the CD she had popped into the player come on and she cranked it up as high as her ears could stand it. As Kitty Pryde sang along with the “Cat’s Laughing” song she reached over and petted her best pal Lockheed where he stood on his hind legs, enjoying the ride and the scenery. She was finally returning to the X-men, she thought to herself, and she finally looked her old self again. Her hair had grown back, she had gone back to the clothes she liked, rather than what others thought looked tough. And she had finally gotten Lockheed back with her, where he belonged, instead of…wherever he was before. Finally, the world seemed to be righting itself and best of all…she was going home.

She swung the car into another turn without a care in the world and noticed something peculiar on her side of the road. She slowed down enough to get a good look and almost phased out of the car in shock at what she saw. Walking toward her on the road, looking road weary and ragged, was none other than Pete Wisdom. She’d know that unshaved Brit anywhere. She squealed to a halt, having passed him by in her surprise and taking a quick look in the rear view mirror to make sure nothing was coming she shoved the car into reverse and pulled up alongside the man.

“Pete? Is that you?”

The figure looked up and seeing Kitty stopped in shock at what he saw, “Cat? What in the Hell are you doing here? I thought you left the X-men?”

Kitty, after some arguing and brow beating managed to get Pete into the car and reaching into the bag in the small back seat, she grabbed a bottle of water and threw it to him. He drank it greedily. After a moment Kitty started driving again and decided to continue their conversation now that Pete was a bit more hydrated.

“I’m going back to the X-men. Haven’t you heard?”

The look on Pete’s face was far from happy, “For the love of…Why?”

The question took Kitty a bit by surprise but she answered it, “Because I got the news that I was to return to the X-men. What about it?”

Pete shook his head as he let Lockheed climb near the stick shift to be closer to Kitty, “Don’t be stupid. Don’t you have any idea of what’s been going on?”

Kitty didn’t like being called stupid and her glare told Pete so, but she answered honestly anyway, “Noooo. You forget I’ve been gone. I have no idea what’s been going on back in Westchester. Why?”

Pete shook his head in a surly fashion, “No reason. Just asking. You know the reason we broke up was probably the stupidest reason in X-men history.”

Kitty kept her eyes on the road as she took a turn fast, “Yeah. I know. But, that makes it all the easier for us to get back together later.”

Pete gave an almost half-grin at her, “My God are you naïve. We’ll never get back together…at least the way things are now. I mean come on and look at the facts, Pryde. You are much younger than I am, which infuriates a lot of people. Which leads to pressure. And then your old boyfriend kills himself, which leads to the ‘loving the martyred victim’ complex. You should know how it works by now. You’re looking forward to about five years of moping. At least.”

Kitty glared at him when she hit a straight stretch, “No you listen here, Wisdom. Piotr and I were very good friends and yeah at one time we were involved, but dang it I outgrew him. I mean I was in love with him when I was 14 years old. I’m a lot older and wiser now. I loved you as a mature adult, not Piotr. And yeah the reason we broke up was stupid and pointless, but so was dissolving Excalibur when we were doing so well for a while there.”

Pete outright laughed at that, “Yeah, but the main X-peoples weren’t going to be happy until they axed out the book that X-men fans and non X-men fans alike were reading, Pryde. We both know that the X-guys thought that Excalibur was butting into their business too often and that they were too far away and too separated from the X-men. And then they wanted you and Kurt back with the X-men so the rest of us just got shipped off to our respective corners of the globe. I, on the other hand, somehow managed to end up back in America. Did you know that?”

Kitty shook her head, fascinated by Pete’s downright frank cynicism if nothing else, “No, I did not know. What happened?”

“Well, I somehow, the details are hazy to me, ended up on X-Force with an eyepatch and ended up training the kids to be an elite fighting force.”

Kitty blinked, “An eyepatch? How did that happen?”

Pete shrugged, “Damn if I know. Do you have some chips or something?”

Kitty handed him one of the bags of beef jerky she’d gotten for the road trip and as he munched she contemplated the things that had happened before she had left, “Yeah, but Pete that was a while ago. I’ve been out of the X-men for a while. What has gotten worse since then?”

Pete raised his eyebrows in Kitty’s direction and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He offered one to her, but she shook her head in answer. He then pulled out a flask from his coat pocket and put it on the seat next to him, “You might need that after I fill you in. Well for one thing I died and came back again, sans eyepatch, or so it seems. Even though I took a bullet in the back of the head. But, X-men types can come back from anything and I guess I’m one of the X-men types now. Scott came back and is half of Apocalypse…not sure if you knew about that or not. All of the X-women’s uniforms are hideous, in me opinion, and they’re running around with exposed abdomens and stuff. Lots of bare skin either way. So many people are MIA it’s not even funny and now it seems that your old leader Cyke might be having an affair.” “An affair?” Kitty almost choked on the air she had inhaled at that, “With who?”

She was expecting Psylocke. Or Lee. Or even Maddie Pryor come back from the dead, but not the answer she was given, “Oh…Emma Frost.”

Kitty slammed on the breaks and pulled into an emergency pull off, spitting up dust and gravel as she did it, with the car that had been behind her honking his horn as he went. She turned off the radio, feeling a bit sick, and she didn’t have to say anything, Lockheed did it for her. The dragon scrunched up his face in a way Kitty had never even thought possible and said, “EWWWWWWWW.”

Kitty agreed whole heartedly. She turned to Pete and almost afraid to ask said, “What else?” Before she could answer a familiar face peaked around the corner of the guard rail near the edge of the rest stop. Kitty couldn’t help but smile and felt almost relieved that she was being saved from the conversation, “Illyana!!! Oh it’s great to see you!!!”

Illyana smiled as she swung the soul sword around to show off a bit. She walked up to the side of the car and then smiled down at Pete, “Well, well. Look who has escaped from character limbo.” Pete glared up at her and said in a deadly tone of voice, “I don’t care what they want me to do or what part they want me to play, tart. I would rather stay dead. I don’t want to be a part of that whole fiasco.”

Illyana stuck up her hands in a surrendering motion, “Hey, hey. Don’t worry about it, Wisdom. I for one agree with you and was going to warn Kitty when I saw you and she hook up from Limbo. I’m assuming he’s told you a bit about what was going on.”

Kitty nodded, “God Illyana, how did it get this bad?”

Illyana shook her head sadly, “No one paying attention to what they are doing. Erratic changes in X-men’s behavior. Things like that. I know you two thought it was over when Excalibur split and you thought it was over after you got fed up and left for a while Kitty, but it’s not going to stop. I’d get out while I still could. Or stay out anyway.”

“Do tell. At least you didn’t go evil.” The tone of Romany Wisdom’s voice as she walked out of one of Illyana’s teleportals was far from happy, “I mean good lord. I thought I was one of the more stable people in the whole madhouse of X-men types, but I guess I was wrong. I might have been ODD, but I wasn’t evil. Maybe I was possessed.”

Everyone looked a little thoughtful at that, until Pete shook his head, offering the beef jerky to the other two standing outside the car, “Wake up and smell the scotch laced coffee. Possession may be an easy out, but it’s not going to happen and things aren’t going to be reconciled that easy.” He turned to Kitty and clicking off on his fingers said, “I forgot to mention before we were interrupted that Rachel is back from the future again and this time she’s with Cable…last time I checked anyway. Rogue is half skrull now…or a quarter…whatever the Hell it was. I thought for sure that Carrol was stated to be a fluke of like a million to one and that Rogue was tough enough as is, but someone disagreed with me out there and she now has all of the powers of the X-men at different times, has to wear red glasses like Cyclops and she’s so powerful I don’t understand why the X-men need anyone else. Beast is now beast-like in a cat type of way, which I thought was somewhat bizarre, and there are other things but I doubt you want to hear them.”

Kitty nodded and reached for the flask, “No, no I don’t want to hear them.” Illyana handed Kitty a picture, looking solemn and Kitty blinked. It was a before and after shot of Wolverine and Kitty felt her mouth drop open, “OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!! What is that?” She pointed to the small beard that Logan was currently sporting, “When did Wolvie become that much of a fashion nightmare? His old self could kick this guy’s butt any day of the week.” She also pulled out a folder marked, “Wolverine’s Origin” and flipped it open quickly. In it she learned that Wolverine was now the son of a well-to-do Canadian family. To her that was just the stupidest thing she’d ever heard of in her whole life. It had always made sense to her that Logan had been around since WWI. He had all of the experience to show for it and there had been WITNESSES to state that he was older than this file said. But, any type of past you had could go flying out the window at a moment’s notice. Just look at her…she had almost become an alien before she booked it away from the X-men the first time.

Kitty motioned to Illyana and Romany, “Get in. We’re getting out of here.” Bobby Drake suddenly appeared beside them in the seat and smiled, “Can I come too?” Illyana smiled at Kitty innocently where everyone was crammed in like sardines, “What? He asked nicely when I was leaving if he could come too and I couldn’t blame him. And he’ll come in handy if we need ice.” Kitty reached over and grabbing Pete by his black tie dragged him to her and kissed him hard. A few moments later she drew back and as she was shifting the car into drive she said, “Like I told you before, Wisdom. There is NO reason we can’t get back together. At least out here.”

The car spun tire on the gravel and shot around in a circle, heading as far from Westchester as it could get. The radio was turned on again and Kitty sang along with her favorite band as Bobby did his own version of Brac’s “Driving Down Highway 40” from the old Brac Show. As the sun started to set and the wind blew blond and brunette hair from the car as it raced for the opposite horizon, papers from a thrown file folder were shot from the car to float in the wind. As the X-men drove off happily to exist in character limbo they knew it was better this way for them all. And maybe, just maybe, they thought to themselves, they could travel and rescue others like them, so that they too could exist in happy oblivion with them.

And they Lived Happily Ever After.

The End.