Author's notes: This is the last multi-chapter story that I have planned from my AU Marvel Universe, 917. This is the third in the trilogy, along with The Foundling and The Demon of Bayville. I do have other stories planned, but I might not be able to work on them for some time, as I have an anthology containing my original short stories, poems and illustrations due out hopefully at the beginning of October this year, which means that I will have to concentrate on working on that, rather than my fan-fictions, for at least the next few weeks. The avatar that I have used for this site will also be used, with perhaps some minor modifications, as the cover art for this book. If you want to have a clearer look at this cover art, you can see this image using the link to my blog, which is on my profile page.
Now, on with the story;
The Island of Legend
Prologue – Chance Encounter
Kurt carefully guided the blindfolded and giggling Kitty towards the clearing, taking great care to ensure that she did not trip or fall. Of course, she could have phased through the blindfold at any time had she chosen to do so, but she clearly did not want to spoil Kurt's fun or ruin his plans to surprise her, so she went along with his game, laughing and joking the whole time. She reached up to adjust the blindfold, but Kurt gently placed his furry hands over Kitty's own delicate hands.
"Can I remove this yet?" she asked, just a little impatiently.
Kurt giggled, and surveyed the clearing briefly with a critical eye, then shook his head slightly, even though Kitty obviously could not see him doing this. "No, not yet," he said quietly," I want this to be perfect before you can see it."
Kitty smiled at Kurt reassuringly, "I'm sure it will be fine," she said.
Kurt frowned slightly, and surveyed the clearing again. There was the smell of rain still lingering on the breeze, and the sky was clear blue, without a single cloud in sight. The first rays of morning sunlight were being filtered through the young leaves of a tall oak tree, giving the whole scene an almost magical glow. Towards their left there was a clean and clear river rushing towards a distant waterfall, rushing in time with Kurt's rapidly beating heart. Kurt looked up at the oak tree once more, and sighed quietly, his tail coiling and uncoiling, the way it always did whenever he was nervous or unsure of himself.
"Fine," he said, after a very long pause, "you can remove the blindfold now."
Kitty obligingly removed the blindfold, and gasped when she saw the beautiful clearing. She then turned around suddenly to where Kurt was watching her nervously.
"Will this do?" he asked.
In response Kitty simply hugged him tightly, and kissed him passionately on the lips. "Oh Kurt, its perfect," she said.
Kurt grinned at her, and let out a relieved sigh. There had been a lot of discussion recently about where Kurt and Kitty should hold their upcoming wedding, since they wanted this to be held in a place and a manner that was respectful to both of their cultures, both of their heritages. Kitty was from a Jewish background, and a strict vegetarian, whereas Kurt had grown up with a Romani travelling circus. Margali, Kurt's mother in all but blood, had in the past few months spent countless hours talking with Kitty's parents, discussing where they should hold their wedding, desperately trying to find the perfect venue for their children to publically state their love for each other. In the end, both Kurt and Kitty had agreed that they wanted to have the ceremony outdoors, a celebration of nature, as well as a celebration of the best aspects of both of their cultures. Kurt had remembered passing by a place that he thought would be perfect, during one of his many travels with the Szardos Circus, when he had been perhaps nine or ten years old. With some help from Margali, he had finally been able to locate this clearing, the place where he now stood, with Kitty examining the whole scene, awe and wonder upon her exquisite features.
Kitty giggled again, "Look Kurt, there's rabbits over there," she said, pointing towards where three rabbits were nibbling the grass, apparently oblivious to those who were watching them.
Kurt nodded, and was glad to see that Kitty was so happy and excited. He was used to seeing wildlife, as he had spent his childhood travelling to many different European countries, always passing through miles of countryside in order to reach the various lands where the Szardos Circus had been scheduled to perform. He had become so used to seeing rabbits and squirrels and other small animals that he sometimes forgot that Kitty was not nearly as familiar with such creatures as he was, and her enthusiasm was becoming infectious. "Sometimes, if you are really lucky and really quiet, you can see deer in the woods near here," he said quietly, "I saw a young fawn once. It was magical."
"Magical," Kitty repeated, sighing contentedly, "it's so beautiful. It's perfect."
"Glad you like it," said Kurt, "but it's natural, not magical."
Magic, now there was a force that could cause – and solve – all sorts of problems. Kurt had grown up with Margali and her two biological children, Jimaine and Stefan. Both Margali and Jimaine had been skilled at magic, and Jimaine had taught Kurt some very basic spells. Kurt was also a mutant – a very obvious mutant, as he was blue from the tip of his pointed ears to the tip of his pointed tail. Kurt had known that he had been a mutant for as long as he could remember, although he had only developed his mutant teleporting ability relatively recently. Kitty, however, had only found out that she was a mutant within the last two years, and she was still not entirely used to her own mutant phasing power. It was not long after Kitty had developed this mutant power that Kurt had first met her – by rescuing her from those that she had once considered to be her friends. Not that she had appreciated Kurt's efforts at first, since she had had a very good reason to suspect that Kurt had intended to harm her. Technically he had kidnapped her, and it was only with the help of a magic mirror that Kurt had been able to convince her of his innocence of all murderous crimes, and to convince her that he did not mean to cause her any harm. Then they had talked for hours, and Kitty had convinced Kurt to return with her to the Xavier's Academy for Gifted Youngsters, and to join the X-Men. Kurt had, reluctantly at first, agreed to Kitty's request. It had not been long before the X-Men had become his second family, and he had grown to love them in much the same way as he had once loved his own family.
Kurt looked down sadly. He missed his family so much. Jimaine, his sister in all ways that mattered, had been his best friend and constant companion. She had helped him along that difficult path from childhood to adulthood, a path made even more difficult by the fact that he was so obviously a mutant – and a mutant with several demonic features – in a world where mutants were at best grudgingly accepted. Not that Jimaine had ever minded Kurt's mutant appearance; she had had far too much sense, far too much compassion, to care about Kurt's unusual physical features. Kurt had been her little brother, as well as her acrobatic partner within the circus, and at times she had sided with Kurt against her older brother, Stefan. Kurt smiled sadly as he remembered Stefan. It was only in the last year of Stefan's life that Kurt had stopped idealising him, looking up to him as a source of wisdom and advice, but had started to regard him instead as an equal. Stefan had been everything that Kurt had longed to be when he had been a child; Stefan had been tall, clever, blonde and almost always able to get his own way. Stefan had possessed a level of cunning and intelligence that could surely only be attained by being surrounded by mutants and those skilled with magic, yet he had also always been kind and protective towards Kurt.
And Kurt had been indirectly responsible for his death, indeed, for the death of the entire Szardos Circus, except for Margali, who had been in Italy at the time that disaster had struck. The members of his circus, his circus family, had been so determined to protect Kurt that in the end they had all given up their lives protecting him. The pain was not as raw as it had been on that fateful day, nearly two years ago, but he doubted that the pain would ever truly go away – it was a dull ache in the centre of his heart that not even Kitty's light could completely cure. Kurt smiled sadly to himself. Stefan should be at his wedding, teasing him lovingly, and Jimaine should have been able to accompany Kitty on her many trips with Margali to the market, where they had apparently been critically examining wedding dresses. Both Margali and Kitty refused to let Kurt see the gowns that they had been examining, but Margali had eventually told him that she had decided to create the wedding dress herself, as no-one else could be trusted with the huge responsibility of creating a wedding dress for her own daughter.
Kurt sighed quietly. It was wonderful that Margali considered Kitty to be her daughter, but he knew how much she missed her own biological daughter, indeed, both of her children. Sometimes, Kurt had heard Margali crying in the night, and had teleported into her room to comfort her, trying to ease her pain as best he could. Margali did not blame Kurt for the loss of her children and her circus, but Kurt could only imagine that the pain that she had experienced from their loss must be even greater than the pain in the centre of Kurt's own heart.
"Oh," Kitty suddenly seemed to notice the sorrow within Kurt's yellow eyes, and placed her hand upon his cheek, stroking it lovingly. "You're thinking about your family again," she said, her voice full of compassion and concern, "I'm sorry."
Kurt smiled at her, trying to hide his pain as best he could. "I just wish they could be here to see this," he said quietly, "to wish me well, to tease me. I miss them so much."
Kitty merely hugged him tightly again. There were no words of comfort that could ease his pain, so she did not use any words, but just leaned her head against his shoulder, and rubbed her hands across his back, gently, lovingly. Kurt merely smiled at her. He knew that the pain he felt at the destruction of almost his entire family would never quite leave him, but when he was in Kitty's gentle embrace, the pain was bearable.
"I know it's been a while," he said quietly, "and I know that no-one can change the past. I just wish that things could have been different, that they could all be here now, to see you, to see what I've become."
"I know that you will never get over what happened back then," Kitty said quietly, "I just wish I knew some way to take your pain away."
"There's nothing…" Kurt's voice trailed off when he suddenly began to hear a very strange and unfamiliar sound. It was almost like thunder, or maybe distant drumming, a roaring sound, but one that did not seem to be natural.
"What's wrong?" Kitty asked, suddenly looking worried. "Is it danger?"
"I'm not sure," Kurt admitted, and wrinkled his nose slightly. There was the scent of smoke in the air, but it did not smell like a bonfire, "I guess I'd better go and see."
Kurt teleported closer to the sound and the smell, and then stared up in wonder at what he saw. It appeared to be a huge metallic snake made out of iron, with countless glowing eyes all along its body, and it was travelling faster than any natural creature could possibly move. He stared up at the strange object as it came directly towards him, and he suddenly realised that it was not going to stop; that it did not even seem to realise that he was there. Kurt knew that he had to get out of its way, to teleport or run away from the object, but he only realised this for one very brief moment, as the object continued racing towards him, then ploughed into him, knocking him out of its way, and out of consciousness.
"Is he seriously hurt?" It was Kitty's worried voice, "Please, tell me he's going to be fine…"
"It's not as serious as I had feared," Kurt did not recognise the second, male voice, but it sounded both relieved and concerned, "I think he's going to be okay."
"Thank goodness," Kitty said, and there was relief evident in her tone of voice.
"You'd think he'd have more sense than to get in the way of an oncoming train."
"Be fair," this was said by another unfamiliar voice, this one female, "they live in a pre-industrial society, so they would have never seen a train before, wouldn't have known what it was."
"Pre-industrial?" Kitty asked.
"Later," said the male voice, and Kurt felt gentle – and furry – hands upon his lower arms, "he's coming to."
"Its fine Kurt," Kitty said, "you can awaken now. We're with friends."
Kurt opened his eyes, and gasped in shock at what he saw. His head hurt, but he had experienced worse pain during his many training sessions with Wolverine, so he could easily ignore the pain. Yet he wondered if he had seriously injured his brain, for surely he must be seeing illusions. He stared at all of his companions, and then smiled weakly at Kitty, who was by his side, a worried look on her beautiful face. Beside Kitty was a woman who looked a lot like her; long, brunette hair, gentle eyes, high cheekbones and a kindly expression in her eyes – only she seemed to be older, as though Kurt was looking at Kitty perhaps five years from the present time. On her shoulder there was the small dragon Lockheed – not the purple toy dragon that Kitty loved so much, but a real, live, breathing, and slightly confused dragon. It watched him with curious, yellow eyes. On his other side there was an even stranger being; a male who looked a lot like Kurt himself – or at least, how Kurt might look in five years time. He had blue fur from the tip of his pointed ears to the tip of his pointed tail, a lean yet muscular physique, and yellow eyes that sparkled with both compassion and mischief. He was also wearing a white lab coat, and seemed to be some type of medical professional.
He grinned at Kurt, and winked at him playfully, "Congratulations, Kurt," he said, "you have the dubious honour of being the first person in your world to be run over by a train."
"Be nice," his female companion gently admonished, "the poor kid's clearly been through enough."
Kurt turned away from the unfamiliar beings, and looked at Kitty uncertainly. "Who…?" he asked.
Kitty smiled at Kurt, and then indicated her companions, "Everything's fine, Kurt," she assured him, "they're us, but from a different world."