SquidgeWorld Archive

A Prankster's Heart
by Mostly Pirate Turner with a cameo of Katrina Lewis written by Pirate Sparrow

Betsy Braddock walked into her bedroom, still drying her purple hair with a large, fluffy towel. She shut the door behind her and started towards her bed. Suddenly, there was a flash of movement behind her. She glanced over her shoulder but saw nothing unusual. Shrugging it off, she touched her long hair with one hand and, finding it dry enough, she released the towel. It fell to the floor even as she continued on to her bed. She was about to lay down when she noticed one of her swords lying near her bed. "Odd," she murmured aloud. "I don't remember leaving it there." She put her sword up and then went on to bed.

Not even an hour later, an angry yell snapped Betsy back awake. She snapped up to a sitting position and was about to get out of bed when she saw a man emerge from her closet! Her purple eyes flashed as she exclaimed furiously, "MORPH!"

She had just leapt to her feet when there came a knock at her door. {I hope it isn't Warren,} she thought on her way to the door, being careful the entire time not to let Morph get out of her sight for even a second. {I can just see trying to explain to him why Morph is in my bedroom.}

As soon as Betsy opened the door only a crack, a furious catwoman barged in. Betsy turned around just in time to see Celina slap her husband. Keeping a firm hold of Morph so he couldn't escape, she turned to look at Betsy, an apologetic expression crossing her lovely face for only a fleeting second. "What happened?" she demanded. "What did he do?"

Betsy closed her eyes, briefly reading Morph's mind though she knew Celina could have done so even more easily. As soon as she got the information from his brain, Betsy's eyes snapped open. She was even angrier. "YOU PEEPING TOM!" She marched over to Morph and promptly slapped his other cheek.

"That's what I thought." Celina released a weary sigh. "I'm sorry, Betts. I'll take care of him."

Betsy watched Celina drag Morph out of the room by his ear. {He's certainly going to get what he deserves!} She knew where Celina was taking him -- the Danger Room. He'd be lucky if he could drag himself to the guest room by the time Pantheria was finished with him! "Only an idiot makes the Lewis women mad!"

She walked silently through the halls of Xavier's Institute For Higher Learning, her head held high though her heart ached. She knew that Morph was a prankster. That was one of the countless things she loved about him. Normally, she enjoyed his jokes nearly as much as he did, but she simply could not understand how he could have done to Psylocke what he had.

It wasn't Betsy that she was concerned about. She trusted the other woman and knew that the Earthling had no designs on her man. It was Morph and their life together that she was concerned over. If he wanted to sneak into other women's bedrooms for a chance to see them naked, surely their marriage must not be as happy as she had thought it was?

Celina sighed heavily. She'd seen how pathetic and untrustworthy the majority of other men were. She should have been ready for this, but somehow, she had let herself be fooled. By some way that she had no explanation for, she had actually been idiotic enough to believe that Morph was different.

Her blue eyes closed tightly against the tears that threatened to well in her eyes. She would not cry. Tears were a sign of weakness, and she'd be damned if she'd let any one see her cry or, for that matter, any man make her cry. She was an Alderberan warrioress and Princess. She was above that. What would her grandmother, Queen Sheba, and sister, Katrina Lewis, think if they saw her now?

Suddenly, a small, warm figure wrapped its lithe body around her ankles. It rubbed against her, purring loudly. Its rumbling, reassuring purr easily caught her advanced hearing.

When Celina's blue eyes reopened, they were cold and hard, carefully keeping all emotions other than anger safely hidden. She looked down at the cat that rubbed against her ankles and did a quick scan of its mind just to make absolutely certain she was right. As soon as her suspicions were confirmed, she said coldly, "You're going to have to do a great deal better than that, Morph." Icicles dripped off of her tone even as she sailed gracefully up into the air.

As soon as she'd spoken, the cat's head had began to change. The very instant human lips sprouted from the furry face, Morph called to her, "CELINA, WAIT!" It was already too late, however, as Celina rounded the corner and vanished from his sight. He knew he would never be able to catch her as long as she was on her guard. His head hung as he finished the transformation. His heart cried. What had he done, and just how in the world was he going to get himself out of this one?

He had known the very instant that she had fled that he would find her here, but he had not expected to find her in such a condition. She sat, her long legs curled up tightly to her chest while her arms wrapped around her knees, with her beautiful face pressed into her legs. Her shoulders shook softly, and he knew she was crying though she did not make a sound. Seeing his beloved wife in such a condition coupled with the knowledge that he was responsible for causing her misery shattered his heart yet again.

He began to creep up to her on silent feet, but a gentle breeze rustled through the surrounding rosebushes, bringing his scent to her nose. Her head lifted up, and she looked straight at his face. Though she now refused to allow even one more tear to fall, her blue eyes remained full to overflowing with tears, and the black fur around her eyes and cheeks was wet with tears. "Celina," he spoke her name softly, bringing out a gorgeous boutique of rich, red roses from behind his back and holding them out toward her. "Please let me --" he began to say.

"Please, Morph," she spoke softly, her voice on the verge of being hoarse, "do not speak. Not now. Just leave me alone." She shook her head as she stood on the iron bench.

"Celina, please," he cried out desperately as he raced toward her, "just hear me out! Just let me explain!" Yet even as he was speaking the last sentence, she had leapt into the air and was flying off. Wings sprouted from Morph's back. Flapping the white wings, he sailed into the air and flew as quickly as he could after his wife. "Celina, PLEASE!" he called again.

She looked back to him, and for a moment, she considered hearing him out. {But what could he possibly say that would make any difference?} she asked herself. {If he is just like all the others, he would only lie to cover up his true actions.} She would know if he did, but she couldn't bare the thought of possibly finding out that her awful suspicions were correct and her husband truly didn't love her. She shook her head sadly before picking up speed and almost instantly vanishing from Morph's vision, leaving him alone yet again.

"Damn it!" Morph exclaimed sharply as he reluctantly relinquished the chase and returned to the ground. His wings slipped back into his back, and he ran trembling fingers through his brown hair. He had to do something to make her understand that he had never meant for his prank to upset her so terribly, but how he could possibly do anything when she wouldn't let him catch her?

{Bobby,} he thought suddenly, {or one of the others. If she won't listen to me, maybe she'll at least listen to one of them.} With a heavy sigh, he turned and started the long walk back to the X-Mansion.

"Have you tried roses? Though simplistic, a flower's elegance oft does win the heart of a lady, and your beloved certainly does love her flowers."

"Or chocolate? If you can't get to her heart, maybe you can get to her taste buds," another of his companions suggested with a grin.

"Guys," the brunette man said, shaking his head, "The regular stuff isn't going to work this time. I've never known her to be this upset at me, and I guess I kinda do deserve it." Another heavy sigh left his lips as he shoved his fists deep into his pockets.

A large hand reached over and gave Morph's left shoulder a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "Whatever wrong you may have committed can still be fixed as long as there is love, my friend, and I know that is something that the two of you have an abundance of."

"Or had," the brunette spoke. "She might hate my guts now."

"Just what kind o' prank did ya pull on 'er, Morph?" the short man to the brunette's right asked, pulling his cowboy hat down further onto his head. A salesgirl began to approach the four men, but the short man sent a warning growl in her direction. The blonde stared at him in shock for just a second before hastily scampering off.

"I didn't pull it on her," Morph answered. "I . . . I showed up in Psylocke's room. I hadn't meant for her to be undressing," his companions each glanced at him in a myriad of expressions as he spoke this, "when she found me. I just wanted to spook her."

"So Celina thinks ya were just bein' a regular peepin' tom, huh?"

"That's exactly what she thinks, Logan -- that I wanted to see Betts naked."

"You didn't?" another of Morph's companions turned to him with a shocked expression.

In answer, Morph shook his head. It was their tallest companion that set his thoughts to words. "Love's eyes seek only their beloved, Bobby. You should know that."

"With my string of bad luck girlfriends, Hank?" Bobby shook his head.

"And now she won't even talk to me," Morph put in with another sigh and a sad shake of his head. "I've tried approaching her as a cat. I've tried speaking to her, pleading to her to get her to listen to me, roses, even flying after her when she took off, but she just won't talk to me which is why I was hoping one of you might approach her?" he asked hopefully, raising his brown eyes to fix his three dearest friends with pleading, puppy-dog eyes.

"No way, bub," Logan was the first to answer, shaking his head. "Ya got yer own self into this mess. Ya shoulda known better than ta take the chance o' being caught in Betsy's bedroom. Hell, I'm surprised Celina didn't skin ya alive."

"She almost did." Morph winced in memory of the pain that had filled him after their Danger Room session that evening. "I've still got the bruises." Hank turned to inquisitively study his face, but Morph shook his head. "They're not visible when I'm clothed. They're down South." he explained, and each man winced in realization of where Morph's injuries lay.

"Sword or claws?" Logan tentatively asked.

"Claws."

"YEOW!" Bobby exclaimed sharply, bringing several looks their way. Logan growled at their new audience, and the humans quickly sought something else to be entertained by.

"Hank?" Morph asked hopefully, turning to face Hank and Bobby. "Bobby?"

Bobby shook his head. "Sorry, man, but I don't particularly fancy becoming neutered!"

Morph focused begging eyes on Hank. "What about Tom?" Hank quickly suggested.

Morph shook his head. "He's doing a show in Alderberan. He won't be back until late tonight, and there's no telling how much worse this is going to get the more it goes on." When Hank again hesitated, Morph persisted, "Please, Hank? I'll owe you a huge one."

Hank had never been one who could stand seeing his loved ones in such obvious emotional straits. Slowly, he relented. "I . . . I suppose I could try a literary example. She does seem to be rather considerably fond of such."

For the first time that entire day, Morph broke out into a grin. His mouth opened to thank his loyal friend but froze as familiar voices reached their ears.

"Would y'all believe they call this a 'personal washer'?" a Southern voice drawled out.

"Such a fancy name for such a little bar of soap," another voice spoke.

"Too bad there isn't a man in there that will pop out and wash your back for you." The third voice sighed.

"Scott failing in the bedroom again, Jean?" a fourth voice asked.

"Betsy!" Jean admonished.

Silence reigned in the next aisle for a moment, and then a voice filled with concern asked, "Celina, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Katrina."

The four men listened in silence as the women continued on, and Hank spoke again as soon as their footsteps disappeared into the distance. "It would be best if you were the one to tell her, Morph."

"But I can't get her to listen to me!" Morph exclaimed.

A slow smile crept over Hank's handsome face. "What if I have an idea that just might work to make her listen to you?"

"Then I'm all ears."

Morph's ears began to elongate, but at Logan's swift, hushed growl of, "Not here," they quickly ceased and returned to normal. Hank again began to talk . . .

Katrina was deeply concerned over the problems her sister and brother-in-law were having. She knew Morph loved Celina with all his heart, but this time he had gone too far. She must seek him out and find out what his problem was. {Why couldn't he quit such dangerous funny business?} she wondered. {He simply must stop his nonsense and make Celina smile again.}

As soon as they reached the X-Mansion, she went in search of Morph. Finding him, she told him he had 24 hours to make amends and make Celina smile again or she would return to make him wish he had. She left and returned to her sister's side, hoping Morph could "win the day"!

Morph sighed as he watched Katrina stalk off, tenderly rubbing his throat where her claws had pressed only a minute before. He hoped she knew how much he loved Celina. He had tried to explain to her that his wife simply would not talk to him, but Katrina, who had inherited even more of the Lewis stubbornness than his own wife, would simply have none of it.

An angry Firestar was a frightening sight indeed, but for the first time, Morph did not fear Katrina. His only fear was that he would not manage to make Celina believe him, and if he should fail in doing that, he would deserve whatever Katrina would do to him and even more. If he shattered his beloved's heart and failed to heal the grievous wound that his own stupidity was solely responsible for putting there, he did not deserve to live nor did he want to live if he could not have Celina in his life as his loving and loved wife.

Morph turned slowly around. It was time to prepare for his next form and plan . . .

A heavy sigh left her furry lips as she ran the fresh bar of soap down her back. She could not believe how shattered her life had become so quickly. How could her beloved Morph have been transformed into just another frog that used his genitals to do his thinking? She had and still did love him so much, and she had been foolish enough to believe that he loved her as much as she loved him. The tears began again, and the alien warrioress did not bother to hold them back this time. Instead, she only took another step forward so that the water from the shower mingled with her tears. If any one should see her now, they would be unable to tell which was tears and which was water.

Just as suddenly as Celina realized that she no longer held the soap, the Alderberan Princess felt hands slowly encircling her naked body. She knew his hands, and her betraying body still thrilled at his touch. "Morph!" she snapped angrily, snatching herself out of his grasp. "Get the Hades out of here!"

"I'm not going to do that," he told her even as he reached out with surprising reflexes, moving with the speed he had learned both from her and his best Earthling friend, Wolverine. He wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms to her side, as he did so.

"What in the Hades do you want?" she hissed, struggling madly in his grasp.

He knew she could have easily broken free from him if he had been any other man, but she did not want to hurt him. Although she had hurt him a few times in the past, she had always turned right around and healed him. "Celina, calm down please," he pleaded with her, his voice gentle. "I just want to talk to you."

"Since when do you try to pin me down in order to talk to me?!" she snapped, her blue eyes blazing with fury as her claws unsheathed.

"Since you refuse to listen to me."

"Let me go!" she pleaded. "I don't want to hear any of your lies!"

"They're not lies," he ground out even as she struggled more desperately. Just as she almost broke free, he let himself slip, bringing her down on top of him. His head hit the hard porcelain of the bathtub, but he refused to allow the pain to hinder him. He had to make her listen to him. He had to make her believe and accept the truth of his words. "Celina, I really do love you! I am so sorry I hurt you! I never -- "

"I hereby issue to you a royal Alderberan decree," she hissed in a flurry of words, grasping frantically at any idea that might cause him to release her without hurting him. "Shut up, and release me!"

"We're not on Alderberan, Princess!" he snapped. "You listen to me! I know you thought men were scum before me. I know you thought I was one of a kind and then doubted both of us when you found me in Betsy's bedroom, but you've got to --"

"There is nothing you can tell me that I have to do, Morph!" she exclaimed angrily. Red fury flooded her blue eyes as her claws dug into his skin. In the tight confines of the tub, she still managed to maneuver around until she flipped him over her.

Pantheria grasped her husband by the collar even as Morph tried to struggle to break free while gasping, "Celina, damn it, will you listen to me?! I love you! Give me a chance to prove it, and I won't let you down!"

"Lies!" she hissed. "You may have fooled me once, Morph, but I'll be damned if I'll let you do it again! Get out of here!"

"I'm not," he started to protest only to again be interrupted.

"Yes, you are!" she hissed as she flew up and tossed him straight out. He hit the door so hard that it opened underneath his force and collided with the wall outside. He was still struggling to return to his feet when Pantheria flew to the door and slammed it shut in his face.

Their eyes met for just one second, and despite the physical pain that screamed through his body, the pain he saw in his love's eyes hurt him a hundred times more. He knew she felt every inch of his pain, but what hurt her even more was the fact of what she had done to him in order to force him to leave her alone. "Damn it," he murmured in a soft whisper. "Celina, when are you going to learn? Just because you're their Princess and will take over when the Queen bites the big one doesn't mean you have to be like the rest of the Warrioresses. It doesn't mean you have to cover up your heart at all costs. It doesn't mean that . . . "

Inside the bathroom, she could hear every word he whispered though she fought desperately not to take any of them to heart. He had already proved that he was just like all the rest of the male gender. They were all lies -- nothing more, nothing less.

Tears ran simultaneously down both their cheeks as, just outside the bathroom, the realization of his last chance hit Morph. Even as blood trickled from three of his wounds and his entire body protested against even the slightest movement, Morph struggled to rise to his feet . . .

"Damn it!" Morph exclaimed sharply as he forcibly shook the knob. "It's locked, and if the Professor knows what I'm up to, he might not let me do it!"

"Morph," a gruff voice suddenly sounded in surprise as a short man rounded the corner and almost collided straight into the brunette, "what in the Hell hit you, bub?!" Logan's eyes roamed over his friend's bloody scratches and bruises. "Katrina finally have that 'talk' wit' ya?"

"No," Morph said, frantically examining the key hole. "The personal washer idea didn't work."

Logan's eyes widened slightly. "Ya mean Celina did that to ya?!"

"Mostly," Morph muttered in admittance.

"Damn!" Logan exclaimed sharply, shaking his head in wonder. "Ya know, sometimes I don' know why you're so hung up on a woman that can do that to ya."

"She didn't want to hurt me, Wolvy, but I haven't got time to explain. I've got to get to that intercom!"

"Chuck ain't here; he's got that Hair Club meetin' tanight. What're ya needin' the intercom so bad fer?" he questioned.

Morph turned to his friend, a look of sheer desperation on his handsome face. "It's my last chance. If this doesn't work, nothing will. I've upset her so badly that I don't know how much longer she's going to hang around. You know Katrina's the captain of her own spaceship. They could be gone in the next heartbeat, and if I lose her, I lose everything."

Logan cocked his head slightly to one side as he studied his friend's face. "Yer really hung up on 'er, ain't ya?"

"More so than words can say," he admitted. "Why else would I have married her? Have you ever loved some one so madly that it hurt just to breathe without them?"

Silently, Logan looked at Morph. Then, he leaned over, unsheathed a single claw, and used that claw to pick the lock. As the door swung open, Wolverine straightened again. He looked Morph straight in his eyes and then said, "Maybe ya oughta tell her that," turned, and continued on his path. "Good luck, Morph," he called back to his friend over his shoulder, but the brunette had already disappeared inside Xavier's office.

Seconds later, the intercom carried Morph's sad and desperate voice throughout the X-mansion and over the grounds of Xavier's Institute. "Celina," he pleaded, "wherever you are and whatever you're doing, please just stop and give me a chance. I know you're afraid to listen to me, because you think that all I'm saying is lies. That isn't true. You can search my mind if you want. I don't care. Just do whatever it takes for you to know that I am not lying to you. You've got the word of the man who loves you more than any love he ever imagined before you came into his life, but I know that that might not be enough for a brave Alderberan warrioress like yourself."

"I know you're a warrioress and a Princess, Celina, but neither of those is the part of you that I fell in love with. I love you, Celina. I love the Princess and the warrioress and am proud to be with both, and the same goes for the Sorceress part of you, Pantheria. Yet none of those parts is the part of you that I fell in love with and am asking to hear me out. The part of you that I first fell in love with is Celina Lewis, the woman."

"I know you think that's your weakest part," he continued, "but it isn't. It's your strongest. The warrioress might be the fiercest in battle, the Princess the part that will one day rule Alderberan, and the Sorceress might be the most powerful of the three, but the real power and strength is in the woman herself. That's the part that gives you the strength to play your other three roles and so much more. I love each and every one of your layers, Celina, but the woman is the real you. It's the real you I love most of all."

"Remember when we first met? When you saw me on the battlefield, just seconds before I would have been shot by that Sentinel? You projected another image of me to take that blast and make everybody think I was dead just as you beamed the real me up. You saved my life that day, but did you ever know that it was more than just what you did that saved me? The love that was began that day was what came to save me, not only physically but spiritually and emotionally."

"I can't picture my life without you in it, and I don't want to. I know I screwed up, but please let me explain. You know I've always been a practical joker; you usually enjoy my jokes almost as much as I do. I know now that I went too far with Betsy, but if the thought that she might show up in just a towel and then strip the rest of the way had ever occurred to me, I would never have done it. All I was thinking of doing was waking her up in the middle of the night as a sword dancing around in her room, maybe spooking her a little. I don't mean any offense to her or to Warren, but I never wanted to see her naked. She's just not the woman for me. You are the only one I ever want to see naked again, and you are the only one that I could ever love, Celina Lewis."

"I'm so endlessly sorry, Celina. I never meant to hurt you. If there was any way I could go back and undo what I did, I would in a heartbeat, no matter the cost to my own being, but there's no way for me to do that and there's no way for me to show you how sorry I am. All I can do is to tell you and to admit that I know what a bastard I was, even if it was by accident. I would gladly carve out my own eyes and give them to you if that would ease your hurt, but I know it wouldn't. I don't know what to do, Celina, except to keep talking to you, to keep apologizing, to keep telling you how much you mean to me, and how much I love you, and . . . "

Morph paused as a new figure silently stepped into the doorway of the office. His head rose. His eyes turned to the beautiful alien, and brown eyes met blue eyes. "Celina?" he whispered softly.

The smell of his blood was nearly overwhelming, and she realized then how weak he had grown since she'd last seen him. A part of her subconscious mind wondered if he might have received a concussion from his fall in the bath tub even as tears flooded her blue eyes. "Oh, Morph," she breathed, having completely forgotten about the intercom. "I love you, but it's so against my people's nature for the women to believe the men that I couldn't see the real you when I was so upset. I couldn't think straight, and what's happened isn't only your fault. I'm sorry, Morph. I'm sorry for being such a bitch and refusing to listen and believe you. I was scared -- frightened beyond thinking straight that maybe I was wrong and you were just like all the other males --, but that doesn't make it right. I overreacted, but I just couldn't understand why you would want to see Psylocke naked if you truly loved me as much as I'd believed you had and as much as you've always told me you do."

"I didn't," Morph protested. "I didn't know. I . . . "

"I know that now," Celina gently interrupted her husband as she walked closer to him, her long tail curled around her legs, "but I didn't then. I'm so sorry for how I've treated you and how I've acted. I should have listened to you. I should never have doubted you. Accidents do happen, and I know now that this entire nightmare was started by only one stupid accident."

"But you had no way to know that," Morph interjected.

"I could have listened to you and believed you from the beginning. I could have even read your mind and found the truth therein, but I was afraid of what I might find there." The tears in her blue eyes increased as she came to a stop beside the Professor's desk and, looking down into her husband's sexy brown eyes, softly asked him, "Can you ever forgive me, Morph?"

He stood to face her. "Celina, I never once blamed you. This is all my fault. It's me that should be and am ever so sorry."

"But Morph," she protested, gently taking his hands in hers, "you are the one who has been repeatedly injured because of this. You were the one that was doubted, not the one that doubted."

Morph sighed softly as he gazed lovingly up into his wife's beautiful baby blues. "But, Celina," he insisted, "my wounds were only physical ones that I asked for by being such an idiot in the first place. You were the one wounded, and almost destroyed, spiritually by this whole horrible nightmare."

"But, Morph -- "

"Celina -- "

"OH, JUST SHUT UP AND KISS EACH OTHER ALREADY!" a chorus of familiar voices sounded from just out in the hallway.

Blushing slightly, the married couple turned to see a sea of faces pressing into the doorway as Katrina and various X-Men, including but not limited to Rogue, Wolverine, Beast, Storm, Gambit, Jean, Bobby, and even Betsy, watched their reunion.

"You know," Celina began to say, "I think they . . . "

Whatever she might have been about to say was interrupted as her husband leaned up and pressed his lips to hers. The kiss began gently at first but soon deepened, their tongues sweeping into one another's mouths in deep explorations. His arms gently encircled her slender waist, and his hands caressed the small of her back as her furry hands gently caressed his handsome face. As they continued to kiss, their passion building, their mouths parted only to seek gentler positions and deeper and more sensual pleasures. They continued for several very long minutes before finally parting, gasping softly for air. " . . . might be right?" Morph breathed softly against his wife's lips, their foreheads gently pressed together.

"Precisely," she murmured, glancing back at the hallway only to see no sign of the others. "What do you say," she then asked, returning her full attention to her soul mate, "that I heal you and then we continue making up?"

"I do believe that's the best idea you've come up with in days, Love Kitten," he whispered softly back before pressing his lips to hers and beginning to again gently drink her sweet nectar.

The End