13 Days of Halloween 2014 #1

[katleept]

Welcome to the semi-annual 13 Days of Halloween,
As always made possible by and dedicated to
My wonderful, infinitely beloved Drew!
Without this woman's love,
I'd never write anything worth reading!


We start this year's adventure with a little crossover tale starring the X-Men's very own Weather Witch, Storm, and the Charmed Ones' grandmother, Penny Halliwell . . .



Two sisters stand together underneath the bright, pale full moon. Blue eyes and brown gaze at the night sky from whence laughter and shrieks of delight drift down to their ears.

"Thank you, Ororo," the older, white woman speaks quietly. "Magic can accomplish a great many things, but I fear these spells were long ago lost to my people."

"Yours and mine, as well," the tall, dark-skinned woman replies with a gently lilting accent. Stars dance in her eyes as she smiles serenely. "Being a mutant does have a few perks."

"You're like my little ones, my whole family, really," the other Witch tells her in confidence. "We have all been born into greatness with powers we may understood very little and may often wish did not exist, but we are all here for a purpose. I'd like to think one of your many purposes, my dear friend, is making the dreams of this night a reality."

The corners of Ororo's mouth pull up higher; her smile hints just a little of a smirk. "Halloween isn't Halloween if a Witch can not ride over the moon."

"True, true. We did once start the holiday every year."

"We should again."

"How? I can not expect you to come out to California every Halloween."

"It would be a pleasure." Her words and smile are genuine.

"I know, but your schedule's so busy. Your X-Men save the world even more often, I fear, than my granddaughters will."

"There's a lot of power in those three."

"Yes. I just hope I'm here to help them harness it when the time comes."

"Our people always have a way of finding each other, Penelope. I was lost once, believing myself a Goddess after having been a thief on the streets in my childhood. I had no idea what I really was then, or of what I was capable. I was content to simply give my villagers the weather they needed and bask in their appreciation and gifts. But then a man found me. His religion may not be the same as ours, but he is still one of us. He is a truly gifted man, a genuine spirit of intelligence and caring; I believe you'd like him a great deal if you ever met him, Penny."

"Sounds like I would. He showed you the right path?"

"Yes, and although there have been times since that I have regretted it, times that I wished even that I had never come to America, there have also been times when I am so eternally grateful for what he gave me. I never would have become the woman I am today without him. He made me want to better myself, and in so doing, the world. I have seen so many wonderful and awful things, so much more than I ever would have experienced back home in Africa. Being an X-Man has also given me so much, but being friends with certain people has also given me even more than saving the world ever could, such people as he and you."

Her eyes gaze into hers. "I know my gift to you all means a great deal to your coven tonight, but it is not just you who should be thanking me. I thank you, as well, for giving me this opportunity to share my gift of flight on this special night as we stand here between the veils of times and worlds. It is nice to remember that even in this world so riddled with problems and technology, where science overruns so much, magic still exists."

"Yes, but it is your magic, not ours, that makes this ride possible tonight."

"That is true, but each of your coven and yourself holds magic highly in her. I have seen the glimmers. I have seen each of you time and again, like we X-Men, sacrifice your own personal needs and happiness to help others. Perhaps you do not save the world on as grand a scale as we, but the magic is still clear in your souls, clear and pure and strong much as the stars this night."

"I only hope it forever stays that way. The world isn't what it used to be."

"No, and it still fears us."

"Tell me about it. Just the other day Angelica had to fight to keep the school system from taking the Pattersons' babies, all because their daughter slipped up and told one of the kids she thought to be her friend that she's a Witch."

Ororo shakes her head sadly, the crisp, night air swaying her ivory white strands of hair behind her slender back. "We must be careful who we trust with our secrets."

"Always. There are so many who want to hurt us."

"I fear there always will be."

"That's one of my many concerns for my granddaughters."

"Perhaps they'll eventually get to see a better world. Maybe, in their lifetime, the dream Charles taught us all to believe in will come true."

"Mutants and humans living together?"

"Not just," she says,shaking her head again. "Mutants, humans, Witches, Vampires, Werewolves. All of us. We were all born in this world for a reason; if we can only follow those reasons and learn not to fear each other for our differences, every one will be so much better off."

"Yes." Penelope sighs, and Ororo's eyes go again from the sky and its riders to her friend.

"You worry it will not happen in your lifetime?"

"I almost know it won't."

"I fear that often myself, but there is another thing Charles Xavier and being one of his X-Men has taught me." She reaches for her hand.

"What's that?" Penelope asks, slipping her hand into hers.

"That anything is possible. Look at your friends," Ororo advises. "Each of them had come to think there would never have this night in such a way. Many have grown up hearing stories like we did of Witches riding over the moon, but try as they did, they could not construct a spell to allow them to do so underneath their own power."

"No, but you gave them that."

"No." Ororo shakes her head, smiling. "Not really. The Goddess who gifted me with my powers guided me to you. It is through Her that I am able to do this for us all tonight, and it is through Her that we will find all the answers we seek, the peace and happiness that we deserve, the lives we are here to save and better, and the love we need."

Penelope cocks her head slightly to one side as she studies the former "Goddess" in the moonlight. "What makes you so certain of that, Ororo?"

"I must believe," she tells her, "for if we do not believe, we have nothing, not even the magic that courses through our souls." With those last words, she lifts herself and her friend from the ground. Hand in hand, they begin to soar up into the night sky, leaving the Earth and the restrictions of its mundane reality behind them.

Penny laughs as Ororo has not heard her do in a very long time. "You do have a way of convincing people, Windrider!"

"It's one of my gifts," she says with an even brighter smile, "another lesson from Professor Xavier."

"I'd like to meet that Professor sometime."

"Perhaps we can make it happen another night, but for now, it is time for us all to join our souls, draw down the moon, and pull in another year."

"Ho!"

"Goddess Bless us all!"

The End

Rated PG/K+

We hope you enjoy this friendly, little tale! Come again tomorrow evvvvening for more spooky fun and maybe, just maybe, a different Witch or two!

Comments

Thanks

[blackjackalee.livejournal.com]

Enjoyed the story. Thanks for the kind words. I love your stories.