He shivered in the cold, snuffling a bit. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Fifteen is supposed to be a year of...of...well, Frank always told me that fifteen was torture because you didn't have a car but you did have lots of zits. But older brothers didn't know everything, much as they wanted you to believe that. A gust of wind blew past. I can handle zits and no car, Harve thought, but crazy I can't handle. I guess that's the point.
To his eyes, Harve was surrounded by a beautiful summer's day, the sun shining and birds fluttering. His body told him different, shivering to the Massachusetts snowstorm. Harve squeezed his eyes shut. Maybe it's just my eyes. You know, crossed wires or something. "Or something" being that he really was crazy, or that he was a mutant.
Yeah, screwy power even for a mutant, he thought. Hey, everyone, I have the power to see stuff that's not there! Harve opened his eyes again, just in time to stop from walking into a tree. He started to go around it, but noticed that it was blue and somewhat upside down. Thrusting an arm out in front of him, Harve tentatively placed a hand on the bark. He didn't feel anything. Right. Stuff that's not there.
Jeez, she thought, I feel like Wolvie. Got an image to protect! Once she was out of sight of the mansion, she turned a cartwheel in the snow. Jubilee giggled with thoughts of freedom, then stopped suddenly. Did I just hear something? she wondered.
"Ow! Dogs! But you're gray! Rocks aren't gray! They're ORANGE!"
Astonished, Jubilee turned her head to see a boy about her age yelling at a rock. Which he had apparently just run into.
"Hey!" Jubilee called out. The boy turned sharply.
"Did someone just say something?" he hesitantly responded.
"Yeah, over here!" Jubilee waved her arms.
The boy's jaw dropped. "Hey," he said, "I know you! You're Jubilation Lee!"
It was Jubilee's turn to be surprised. "Well, yeah, that's me. How do you know that?"
The boy bit the bottom of his lip. "Ummm..."
"It's just that, uh, rocks really are gray. Because you seemed a little bit confused about that," Jubilee offered. The kid looked abashed.
"Yeah," he mumbled. "Sometimes I, uh, forget."
Logan padded silently down the hallway. I wonder where Jean is, he thought idly. She would be a good person to be talking with right now. It isn't that I really love her, he mused, it's that Scott loves her. And Scott don't like it when I talk to his girl. Wolverine gave a smirk. Sounds good to me.
"Hey!"
Logan turned. "Yeah, Jubilee?" he asked. "Who's the friend?" He nodded toward Harve.
"This is Harve, and I bet that he knows who you are without you telling him!"
Logan snorted. "Right. Because you told him. Sorry, darlin,' no bet."
Jubilee paused. She hadn't thought of that. "No really, I haven't told him anything! And he knew who I was." She put on her best puppy face. "Come on, please?"
Logan sighed. He knew when he was beat. "All right, pal, who am I?"
Harve looked at him. "Um, your first name is Hugh. Hugh Jackson, no, wait, that's not it... Hugh Jackman! That's it!"
Wolverine looked at the kid askance. He seemed so sure of himself. Jubilee just looked embarrassed. "Why do ya think that?" Logan asked diplomatically.
"Well," he began, "I just sort of know it when I look at you. I know you're Australian and..." Harve trailed off. He looked at Logan again and winced. "You have a beard, don't you."
Wolverine blinked. To most people that was relatively obvious from the start. Jubilee, cheeks bright red, chimed in. "Hey, Harve, maybe you should, er, talk to the Professor. Like, right now." She grabbed his arm and pulled him away before he could dig himself into a deeper hole.
At least nothing has exploded today. Professor Charles Xavier had to admit that it was a step in the right direction. He stopped his musing when his door final opened to admit Jubilee and the confused mind Xavier had sensed coming. The professor asked his student dryly, "Well, Miss Lee, did you bewilder this boy's mind or did he come like this?" Not expecting an answer, Xavier turned to the newcomer. "And you are?"
"Ah, I'm Harve. Sir."
Jubilee broke in. "I found him in the woods. He was yelling at a rock."
Xavier raised an eyebrow. "A rock. Well, why don't we start at the beginning."
Harve took a deep breath. "Okay, Captain. It all started about two weeks ago. I started seeing things which nobody else could see. At first it was just every once in a while, but it's gotten worse. Now, when I look at someone, I get this flood of information in my mind about who they are and stuff. Problem is, the information keeps changing. It's kind of, uh, confusing."
Captain? Xavier wondered at the boy's choice of title. "What exactly do you get when you look at me?"
Harve bit his lip. He thinks I'm crazy. "Right now? That you're a captain. On some sort of spaceship, I think." Harve waved an arm at the wall. "At any rate, the screen over there shows stars going by. Um, you're British...no, French, you just sound British. You work for the, er, Federation. And there's a scary-looking guy behind you. He says his name is Worf." He paused, then blurted out, "Am I crazy?"
Xavier winced mentally. "Yes," although perhaps accurate, is probably not the best response for the boy's mental health. Of course, it could be a moot point. Xavier opened his mouth to respond with some diplomatic nothing, when a thought struck him. "No, I'm relatively certain that you're not. I have a hypothesis, though I need Dr. Grey's opinion on it."
*Jean? I need you in my office.*
Jean looked up at the summons. "Oh, Scott, the Professor needs to see me. You don't have to pause the movie, it didn't sound too urgent."
Scott frowned then shrugged. "See you in a bit, then." Jean gave him a quick peck on the cheek, then turned and left the room.
When Jean arrived at his office, Xavier had Harve explain his problem to her. "...and so I'm never quite sure if what I'm looking at is real."
This kid looks miserable, Jean thought. I probably would be, too, if I were crazy -- unless... Jean was so startled by her thought that she turned to Xavier and asked, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Professor?"
"Yes, but why did the Jones' name their dog Indiana?" Three sets of perplexed eyes turned Harve's way. "You know," he said, "Pinky And The Brain? Indiana Jones and...oh, never mind."
Xavier sighed. "To answer your question, yes. I believe that young Harve here is a mutant able to see multiple parallel dimensions. And with your assistance, Jean, I also believe that I have an solution to his problem."
Walking down a hallway, Rogue spotted Logan. "Hey, Wolvie! Do ya have any idea of why some kid just complemented me about all the geese following me?"
"Geese? Nope. Sorry, darlin'."
Jubilee, exasperated, said, "Oh, come on. He's gonna keep callin' you Hugh or Wace or Jack or whoever he thinks you are. It's for you're own good, and it'll only last 'til he can keep his dimensions straight."
Jean nodded. "I've linked his mind with this tag. When he looks at you, he'll see the name 'Logan' and be able to ground himself in this universe."
Wolverine glared at them. "Fine," he finally growled. "But I ain't wearin' this outside this mansion."
Jubilee smiled in triumph. "Yeah. Sure."
"Oh, dogs." Harve, frustrated with himself, said, "I thought this was the other universe."
Bobby looked startled. "Wait a minute," he stuttered, "You mean..." But Harve had already bowed to him and moved on.
A few days later, Scott walked into a heated breakfast conversation in the kitchen. "I vote for 'Crackers,'" Logan was in the midst of growling, a steak half-eaten on his plate.
"Wolvie!" Jubilee practically shouted. "That's not a good codename! Might as well call him 'A Few Fries Short.'"
Bobby spoke up next. "I don't know, Jubilee. Sort of has a nice ring to it -- 'Crackers.'"
"Bobby!"
Jean handed Scott a plate of pancakes. She nodded towards the rest of the group. "They've been at it for a good hour now. Poor Harve hasn't gotten in more than two words, and those consisted of 'um' and 'er.'"
Scott gave Jean a half smile. "And with Jubilee in the mix they'll probably continue for another hour and still won't have a codename for the kid."
"Or 'Psycho'! That'd inspire fear in the enemy!"
Jubilee buried her face in her hands. "Tell me you just said that to annoy me."
"Oooh! Even better! 'Sees-Weird-Stuff Boy!'"
"Robert Drake, if you suggest something like that again, I'm going to...to light your hair on fire!"
"Not in the house, dear," Jean murmured in Jubilee's direction.
"Or, how about 'The Great Orange Pansy'!"
"Hey, wait a minute," Harve spoke up. "I thought pansies were purple. They are...right?"