The 1999 Holiday Fanfic Project
Gen13: It's A Wonderful Life
(well, okay, maybe not wonderful but it doesn't suck as bad as I thought)
By Indigo (indigo@plastic.spork.com)
This part of the Project is hosted by
Amythyst's X Archive
Disclaimer: All characters herein are the property of Image Comics and are used without permission, but no harm is intended and no money is being made. Please do not archive without permission from the author. Feedback is appreciated.
Roxanne Spaulding dragged herself -- tired, sweaty, and all-around disheveled, from the A train, and up the stairs to the apartment building she shared with her sister Caitlin and the rest of the kids who did the superhero gig as Gen-13. Home...
Roxy had been really psyched at the idea of them having a real home of their own -- a crash pad in no less a cool place than a New York City penthouse! But there was the whole annoying rule Lynch and Cat had come up with of "don't use the powers because we're trying to have normal lives here" so she'd been forced to Christmas-shop like a normal person. She couldn't even levitate the bags of goodies she'dbought for her sweetie-bear Grunge (oh, yeah, and the others too) so despite the cheery Christmas tunes being piped in via the elevator," Roxy Spaulding's Christmas spirit was in freefall.
The only thing that made it bearable was the week off from school -- and the fact that Bobby's dad, Lynch, had gone out of town for the holidays.
Roxy's mood improved not at all as she opened the penthouse and found herself blasted by the strains of RUN DMCs Christmas in Hollis at eardrum-rupturing volume. There was a full-fledged RAVE in progress, and near as she could tell, Fairchild and Rainmaker -- who would surely have objected -- were nowhere to be found.
Roxy elbowed her way through the crowd, getting groped, tickled, and asked to be stuffed into stockings. She shoved her way into the kitchen where she found Sarah Rainmaker, frowning over a copy of "A Christmas Carol."
"Can you BELIEVE them out there?" Rainmaker demanded as Roxy gratefully dumped her plethora of shopping bags. "Partying like that! I mean, REALLY. It's not my people's holiday, but it's supposed to be a solemn holy occasion of joy! Look at all that chintz! Do you know how much RUM was in that eggnog?! Grunge is commercializing all the meaning out of Christmas, just like everyone else in this misbegotten city! Were I home on the reservation..."
Roxy missed whatever else her housemate had to say; when Rainmaker had identified Grunge as the nexus of this rave, she had taken off at a run to find him.
And find him she did: Dressed in a Santa hat and a pair of Rudolph boxers, he was skanking with a pair of girls Roxy identified as skeezers. "GRUNGE!"
"Oh, hiya babe!" He blew her a kiss, then returned to guzzling eggnog. "Merry Jolly and crap like that! How you diggin' my Yule Rave?" He never took his arms from around the two girls, who were feeding him gingerbread men and gumdrops.
"Our very first Christmas in a new home and you spend it indulging your hormones!" Roxy bellowed, and snatched the punch bowl up with a burst of her power. "You...you..." Roxy sputtered, invective burbling from her lips -- thankfully drowned out by the jingling bells and blasting stereo.
Grunge only blinked sheepishly as the punch bowl upended over his head and drenched him in rum punch. "She'll come around," he said, shrugging as Freefall vanished into the crowd again, in tears.
"You are such a moron," Bobby smirked from the mantle, as Grunge returned to partying in earnest. He'd used his Burnout powers to get above the crowd to watch. Truth was, he was having a good time himself -- but Roxy hadnt looked upset and he felt he had to at least make the token attempt to hit his friend Percival with the clue-by-four. "She is ticked, Grunge!"
"I know what I'm doin'," Grunge assured Bobby. "Stop being so uptight. Have a candy cane." He tossed a cane to his friend, and let yet another girl in red and green hot pants drag him out onto the area of the penthouse that had been cleared as dance floor. His face lit in a wide grin.
On the roof, Roxy finally found a moment of peace. The party noise was only a distant throb of bass from here, and the cold snow was refreshing. Between the smoke and the tears she'dnever admit were in her eyes, she had barely been able to see.
"Hey -- you all right, Rox?"
"Caitlin?" Roxy turned, surprised to see her half-sister towering over her. "What, come to make my holiday complete? Sorry, I already know there's no Santa Claus." She flung herself down on a chaise lounge and huddled there, shivering. "Grunge already ruined Christmas. I wish I'd never been born!"
"Oh, please," Caitlin sighed. "Don't you know that whenever someone says that at Christmas they get an angel to show them how much their existence means to everyone around them?" Cait let the roof door swing closed and slung a cheery red flannel blanket around Roxy's shoulders.
"Right," Roxy sniffled. "What have I ever done that's so important, huh? If I'd never been born, what would be the difference?"
"Oh, let's see," Caitlin said, tipping the tinsel halo on her head. "Aside from the fact that Grunge would probably have fallen to his death a few weeks ago if you hadn't levitated him?"
Roxy snorted. "Yeah, stupid me. I should've let him fall." Dilemma, one of their old enemies, had transformed her boyfriend into some big, stupid, hairy, mindless ape -- most of the others had blinked in bewilderment and said "transformed?" when theyd heard the news.
"Um, okay, bad example." Caitlin smiled sheepishly. "What about when we first escaped the Project?"
Roxy pouted wordlessly.
"Come on, Rox -- Rainmaker wouldn't even be here today. That Keeper would've shot her in the head!"
"Yeah, and spared us the hours and hours of politically correct ranting," Roxy grumbled. "She's in the kitchen now lecturing about how it's cruel and inhuman punishment to reindeer, and how we're commercializing the sanctity of a holiday she doesn't even celebrate!"
Cait gave Roxy her tinsel halo. "Yeah, okay, sure, but without Rainmaker we'd never have turned Grunge back."
Roxy snorted again.
"Okay, okay, but I would be out one sister!" Caitlin exclaimed, reaching to embrace the smaller girl.
Roxy blinked, flailed a bit, then acquiesced. "Really?"
"Yeah, really. I'm glad we found out were sisters. It makes losing my dad a little easier to take knowing I'm not totally alone." Caitlin rested her cheek against Roxy's violet-and-black hair. "So if you were never born, I'd be all alone in the world."
Roxy brushed the cuff of her leather jacket under her nose, sniffling. "Well, when you put it that way..."
"Merry Christmas, sis," Caitlin said softly, stepping back. "You want I should drop kick your brain-dead himbo boyfriend into next year?" She winked playfully.
"Nah. I guess I can forgive him. It's Christmas, right?" Roxy straightened up, and looked at the sky. The snow had stopped and the sky had cleared. A single blue-white star twinkled overhead, clear and bright. "Hey, miracles are s'posed to happen." The star brightened as if to offer its silent celestial agreement. "Cmon, Cat -- well go down and show those skeezers how it's really done."
It was then that Roxy noticed that the music had stopped; there wasn't even a faint indication of it anymore. It was as if a hush had fallen over the entire top of the building. Roxy crept down the stairs quietly, and found their apartment had emptied out as if by magic. The place was still a mess, but in the center of the room, with a trash bag and a broom, stood Grunge -- dutifully putting all the leftovers into the trash.
"What the fu--" she started, but Caitlin clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Dont question your Christmas miracle. Just go with it!" Caitlin gave a shove to her sister, then headed for the kitchen.
"What's going on?" Caitlin asked, finding Bobby and Rainmaker huddled by the kitchen door.
"SHHH!" Bobby hissed, tugging Caitlin inside. "Just watch!"
On the mantle, the clock began to strike twelve -- Christmas Eve turning into the first moments of Christmas Day.
"Hiya," Grunge said almost sheepishly, taking off his Santa hat in what almost looked like a gesture of mannerly respect. "Uh, Merry Christmas, Roxy."
"Yeah, uh, you too." She glanced at the tree, which had somehow survived the wild festivities. "I didn't get to wrap your present," she murmured.
"It's okay. You can give it to me later." Percival Chang reached into the pocket of his shorts and produced a small red velvet box with an enormous gold bow on it. "But this is for you. I thought you'd like to open one special present tonight before we do the whole big family thing in the morning."
Roxy's eyes widened. That's the right size for a RING! she thought, catching her breath. "Gee, Grunge -- that's awfully...thoughtful...of you..."
With shaking fingers she opened the box and inside was indeed a ring.
"This is part of the present too," Grunge whispered, wrapping one arm around her waist. "The rave was my last fling at the wild life. I'm gonna try to be the kinda guy you can be proud of." A blush rosed his cheeks
faintly. "After that unfortunate -- ape incident -- I realized people were not taking me seriously and that I wasn't takin' you seriously, hon. So I hope this makes up for it.
"Consider it a pre-commitment ring."
Roxy blinked down at her hand dumbly as Grunge carefully slid the little silver band with the little heart-shaped amethyst onto the middle finger of her left hand. "Look, you'll even get a twinkle when you give people the finger now!" He grinned, then added, "And besides, now those loser boys at your job will know you're taken, and I won't have to kick their butts!"
"Oh, Grunge!" Roxy flung herself into his arms and kissed him warmly.
"Wow," Grunge said articulately, then turned to give a thankful thumbs-up to the trio peeping in from the kitchen.
They grinned back, and let the door swing shut to let the couple have their moment.
...and overhead, the faint jingle of bells and hearty laughter could be heard if you listened juuuuuust right...
THE END.
