3
Water. He needed water. Kurt woke up for what must have been the twelfth time, throat dry. Groggily, he reached over for his cup and lifted it to his lips, only to find it disappointingly empty. He would have to go get more. Again.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and rose, swaying on his feet a bit. Dr. McCoy had told him the medicine for his cold might make him a bit groggy and a bit thirsty, but a bit had been an understatement. Kurt had already gone through at least three glasses of water since going to bed only four hours ago. Nevertheless, he stumbled to his bathroom once more, turned on the faucet, and filled the cup. He proceeded to guzzle the contents before filling it again, then went back to bed, plastic cup still clutched in his tridactyl hands.
He fell asleep instantly, and as his grip on the cup diminished, the water spilt out, soaking him and his bed, yet he didn't wake up. Instead, his mind registered the horrible wetness in his dreams.
Kitty yelped as the rain started pouring down on her and Kurt, who were both coming back from performing in the circus. She covered her head with her bag and broke into a run, heading straight for the mansion door. Kurt was right alongside her.
"I thought it was supposed to be sunny today!" Kurt yelled through the torrent as they headed for the door.
"Didn't you hear? There's supposed to be a huge flood coming in!" Kitty replied.
"What? Is it going to be bad?" That was a stupid question, as it was obviously already getting bad, but he hadn't heard a thing about a flood. "Maybe we should get to higher ground!"
The door seemed to be farther away than when they had first started, but the two kept running, trying not to slip and fall in mud puddles.
"We'll be fine! Trust me!" Kitty shouted back as they finally reached the door, which was nearly the size of the mansion itself. The two friends had to put all of their might into opening it, but when they did, they were greeted by a horrible sight. It was raining inside too!
"I hate wet." Kurt complained. "Where's Miss Munroe? She can fix this, can't she?"
"I don't know. The place is empty." Kitty replied, looking around.
Indeed, the entire school seemed empty, completely quiet except for the sound of the pounding rain and rushing water. Kurt noticed the sound of splashing and the feel of his tail hitting water, as it twitched behind him. He looked down to find that the water was already covering his feet and rising quickly to his ankles.
"Kitty, we've got to get out of here!" He grabbed her arm to head for the door, but she stopped him.
"We've got to find the others. They might have already drowned."
The words struck fear into his heart, but he followed along as Kitty pushed through the flood waters, checking every room in search of the other X-Men and students. Each passing second filled Kurt with a sense of dread and impending doom. Something was not right.
The water was at his waist now. "Kitty, please. We need to go."
"Let's check upstairs first." Kitty grabbed his hand and tugged him up the stairs, where thankfully, the water had not reached, though it was still raining. Pictures were ruined, the carpet was soggy, and the place was a mess. It looked like everyone had left in a hurry, hastily packing everything of value. Kurt was starting to get the idea that he and Kitty had been abandoned, but he kept silent.
"No one." Kitty concluded. Even Storm's attic apartment was empty, her plants unattended and drowning in the excess water falling all around them. "Come on. One last place to try."
"No, Kitty." Kurt resisted a bit, pulling back as she dragged him towards the staircase. The water was already halfway up. The whole mansion would be filled in no time at all.
"Don't be a wuss, Nightcrawler." She gave him a hard look, and now, instead of her normal clothes, she was in her costume, hair pulled back into a drenched ponytail. "Come on. I'll phase us through. It'll be fine. Hold your breath."
He did as he was told and held Kitty's hand tightly as she phased them down through the floor, down through the depths, and down into the hangar of the Blackbird, which, surprisingly, was not yet full of water. The jet, however, was gone.
Kurt was overwhelmed by emotions he didn't even know the names of. His stomach dropped. They had been abandoned by the X-Men and left to die. He turned to his friend, whose hand he had been holding since they had ventured upstairs. "Please, we need to go now. We can't stay here. It's not safe. We'll drown!"
Kitty considered him for a moment, obviously trying to process what had happened herself. Finally, she nodded. "Yeah. Can you teleport us to the garage, Fuzzy? Maybe we can drive out, find a safe place." They both knew that if they fell into the water, there would be no coming out. There would be no swimming, no hope of survival. Consumption by the water meant certain death.
"Ja, I think so." He closed his eyes and focused, transporting them to the wet garage, still untainted by the flood waters, but raining nonetheless. They got into one of the X-vans, Kurt behind the wheel, and peeled out as fast as the car could go.
"We need a safe place." Kitty reminded him. "Any ideas?"
"The church." It was the only safe place he could think of. The church where he attended services every Sunday; of course it would be safe.
"Then get us there fast."
He did his best, navigating the empty roads through the rain. Not another car was in sight. No people whatsoever, but Kurt just knew that there would be people at the church. Father Simmons would be there, helping people, making sure everyone was safe. They just needed to get there.
Finally, they arrived, but the church had moved…somewhat. The very ground it sat on had been raised, not much, but it was still higher. Kurt and Kitty should have had no trouble climbing the slight incline, so they got out, careful to avoid the rushing water in trenches around them, and started up. They made it across the roiling river beneath the hill, which lead into a storm drain, keeping the water away from the church and keeping it safe, but Kurt had a bad feeling about it.
"It's muddy," Kurt warned, dropping to hands and feet to climb. He tried to tamp down his worry; they were so close. They just had to climb this hill, and if they did it carefully, they would be fine. They would live, and everything would be okay, though to be honest, at this point, he was more worried about Kitty than himself. "Don't slip."
He made it to where he could stand and glanced back. Seeing her struggling, reached down to give her a hand, but his helping gesture seemed to put her off balance, and she started falling backwards.
His grip tightened, but her hand slid out of her glove, and she fell.
"Kätzchen!" He screamed as he watched her plunge into the foaming water beneath and get sucked into the storm drain to drown. Self-preservation kept him from jumping in after her. There was no coming back from that water.
Tears mingled with the rainwater on his face as he began to sob, his three-fingered hand clutching her glove as if he were holding onto it for dear life. If he hadn't reached back to help her, she wouldn't have fallen. His best friend, the girl who was more a sister than a friend, died because of him. He was now utterly alone with only the knowledge that her last few moments had been filled with horror and sadness as water invaded her lungs and she ceased to breathe. She was gone, forever, and it was his fault.
Kurt woke up himself up sobbing, and upon realizing he was wet, had a short panic attack before he saw the cup and realized it was all just a dream. The knowledge brought little relief, so despite his uncomfortable circumstances, he forwent changing his clothes and went straight to Kitty's room, knocking on the door.
"What?" Came his friend's sleepy voice from inside her room.
"K-Kätzchen?" He stammered, sniffing hard. "It's K-Kurt."
She phased through the door and poked her head out, eyes squinted in the light. "Kurt? Omigosh, Fuzzy, what's wrong?" She came all the way out to solidify and wrap her arms around him. She pulled back a bit and looked down at him, confused. "You're wet."
"I sp-spilled water." He sobbed, holding her tight.
"Is that why you're crying? Go get changed, Kurt. You're already sick. You don't need to make it worse."
"N-nein. I h-had a bad d-dream. You died, and…" He whimpered a bit, still trying to get some control over himself. "It was m-my fault."
She hugged him again. "Oh, Fuzzy Elf. It was just a dream. I know you'd never let anything happen to me in real life. It's okay. I'm here."
Kurt closed his eyes and tried to breathe deeply, focusing on the realness of the situation. Kitty was there. He could hear her, feel her, see her, smell her…heck, he could even taste her if he licked her, but that probably wouldn't be a good idea. Still, she was there. The dream was over. He was okay and she was okay.
"Come on. Let's go get you dried off, huh?" Kitty put an arm around him as she walked him back to his room. There wasn't a thing she wouldn't do for her best friend.
He nodded. "My sheets are wet, too."
She paused a moment, giving him a weird look. "You sure you didn't wet the bed or something? I know Dr. McCoy's got you on the strong stuff, but…"
"No, no. I fell asleep with a cup of water." He tried to laugh. "I blame the medicine. It is strong."
Her laughter was refreshing and it lifted his spirits immediately. "I can tell. Okay, we'll get you dried off and clothes changed and then we'll get your sheets changed too."
"Thanks, Kätzchen." He smiled down at her, tears already drying.
"No problem, Fuzzy." She smiled back, pulling him into a tight side-hug as they walked.
((I should probably mention that the circus part is because it's a dream and things are weird, as are the blatantly obvious weird dream things like raining inside, abandonment by the X-Men, the church being on a hill, and so on and so forth.))