Chapter Text
Finding herself in the situation she was right now, Kitty Pryde could not help but wonder what her younger self, the one from over ten years ago, would have to say about this.
Back then, she was a little girl and was already dreaming about her future. Like all of her images at that time, they were at least partially widely unrealistic. The imaginations she had about her future jobs were, even when looking back now, somewhat realistic and, boy, did she have lots of them. Whether she wanted to be a teacher, astronaut, doctor, gardener, nurse, animal handler, member of the police, secret agent, princess, warrior princess, fairy princess, super hero...
Actually, screw that. The more and more Kitty thought about the jobs she dreamed about as a child, the more and more unrealistic they seemed to become. Though, could being an X-Men not being considered a superhero? Considering the general consensus regarding mutants however, it was probably more accurate to draw a line to some tragic heroes.
Not something Kitty Pryde actually ever wanted to associate herself with actually.
Not that she hated the trope of the tragic hero, she just never wanted to be one herself. Strange how she only remembered that now. Still, whether a shining superhero or a shunned tragic hero, a hero was a hero. That had to count for something, right?
Of course, if she was a hero, what would that make out of Lance and his Brotherhood? Some sort of villain? Well, they were better now but some of the past stuff was totally villain-worthy. That would make them some sort of super powered Romeo and Juliet couple. Hopefully without that kind of ending though. Still, the romantic tragedy behind stories such as these was always something that resonated with her in a way that her mom always seemed to be uncomfortable about. She was always more a fan of a princess and her knight in shining armor and the likes. Kitty liked it too but she simply liked a good romantic tragedy as well. Sometimes at least and she could not help but wonder what her actual situation would do to her so called job. She did not dare to imagine it. Partly because this one time, she did not want her imaginations and their accompanying expectations to be true and yet she feared that exactly this would happen.
Usually, she loved having a bullseye but this time she would not mind missing it.
Of course, she felt like having hit a bullseye right now with what she was doing. Hell, she got married in this very moment and it was nothing like the imaginations of her childhood and yet she was happier then ever. She was not even accounting for the lack of marshmallow unicorns and rainbow fairies. It was something else. Neither of her or his friends were here. There was also no one from her family, which was probably for the better, as sad as this truth was and also no one from his family. Another sad truth as Lance straight up told here that there was no one he knew he would consider family enough for such an occasion. At least not when they could easily be counted among friends.
Kitty knew that Lances real family, his parents, were dead. He always just shrugged when she brought up potential relatives to this parents so this was a topic that died some time ago. From what he told, his parents died in an accident and he got put into the system after no relative could be found. Another case for Kitty Pryde to not want to imagine about. As someone who loved family and gatherings and festivities she could not help but shudder at the mere thought of little Lance going through that. As far she knew from his words, the orphanage tried its best and failed most of the time due to lack of funding and resources and the foster families were Hit or Miss and Lance had more then one experience with both sides.
Well, Mr. Lance Alvers was about to get a whole new member to his family and this one would was determined to make it work. Festivities included.
They had gone through enough up to this point as far as Kitty was concerned. Bloody hell, Lance kept telling her that she was right with what she said to him when they broke up but she still felt guilty about it. What was she thinking when she called him a hood? She knew exactly where this came from, feelings of treachery and disappointment but seeing him in that parking lot alongside Duncan the Idiot? She could not help herself but sometimes she wished she could go back in time to stop herself. The look of hurt on his face was something that made into her personal array of nightmares. Yet she would have to lie if someone asked her if the time of their breakup was so horrible for her. It was not and frankly, after a lot of tears and ice cream, she would say that she handled it quite well.
Then again, it seemed that neither she nor Lance tried to have another relationship during that time and that was, overall, quite some time after all. Now that she thought back at that time, she remembered the lingering feeling of having to wait for something specific. She wondered why she never noticed it sooner? Did she not want to notice because he hurt her too? Both were honest enough to admit to it. Kitty was also honest enough to admit having seen the slight array of hope and happiness when she came to his house. Slight arrays that vanished when she asked him and his group to help against Apocalypse. That too was something she only noticed after it was done. She wish she would have noticed it back then, would have found other words, would have found the honesty and courage and the words needed to tell him her feelings.
Now that she thought about that, she wished she would have done that a lot earlier and she could not help but notice the wide array of potential imaginations hidden there. Then again, what was the point of trying to imagine alternative outcomes, alternative routes to something that was already over?
Kat Alvers left the chapel in Las Vegas alongside her husband Lance Alvers and decided to no longer try to imagine the future. The last time Kitty Pryde did that was the time when they talked about the names. Kitty went through every possible combination Katherine Anne, nickname Kitty, Pryde could offer when Alvers became the surname. She even tried every combination with Alvers-Pryde and Pryde-Alvers and even thought about keeping Pryde but she always circled back to Alvers and Alvers alone. Kitty Alvers was not having a nice ring to it but Kat Alvers? That for sure did and she knew that Lance was more happy about that then he was willing to let on.
Yes, Kat Alvers would not longer try and imagine the future like Kitty Pryde was prone to do. Maybe when the first pregnancy rolled around she would return to this habit for a while but for now, she would enjoy the moment and the days until their return to Bayville.
The Institute, the Brotherhood and her parents would understand soon enough that she was not kidnapped or anything but that she and Lance simply eloped.