Summary: Short One Shot. My interpretation of the riot before Kurt meets Professor Xavier. Better than it sounds.
Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men or Nightcrawler but if I did he would be loved by the entire world.
Shattered Sanctuary
Kurt's Thoughts
Professor Xavier's thoughts
Kurt Wagner was hanging upside down, his tail wrapped around a support pillar in the German church he was using as sanctuary. The room was quiet, the silence only punctuated by the hooting of owls. Kurt knew this would soon change, the mob would soon catch up with him and then all this tranquillity would be shattered like broken glass. The soothing presence in the church made his spirit slightly less self pitying. Finally Kurt heard noises from outside. First one voice, then two until finally a roar could be heard as the entire village descended upon the church. Kurt sighed, wrapping his arms around himself. The noise of the crowd outside was making him apprehensive, he could hear baying like the sound of thousands of wild animals' right outside the door. The banging of fists and pitchforks on the heavy oak doors was getting progressively louder, cracks were starting to appear in the old wood as the pressure on it became greater and greater.
Kurt loosened his tail from the beam and stealthily dropped onto the dust covered floor below. It had been years since anyone had used the church and now people feared it, believing ghosts and ghouls haunted it so great was their superstitious fear, now it was a haven for a 'demon'. Kurt scoffed
Demon, if I was a demon why would I be on holy ground.
Kurt simply wanted peace, he had only come to this village to learn about humanity, to try to be normal but all he had been met with was violence and prejudice. It made his blood run cold that these people were what he was trying to be, he didn't want to trade his open-mindedness for a chance to fit in, the price was too great. He knelt down before the altar, his head lowered in prayer.
Holy Father, please guide me for I am lost. Which path should I follow? Should I change for the sake of others or follow what I believe to be right? I may be killed but is this the path I should follow?
Kurt was a devout Christian, he had always believed in God and the son, always believed that whatever happened was the will of God. He was being tested, of that he was sure and whatever happened his faith in God would not waver but he was unsure of whether he should fight to survive or allow himself to be taken for the greater good.
The greater good? Why should I die so that petty prejudices can be satisfied? Equality, open-mindedness they are all gifts that God has given us and these animals are taking it in vain. Alright my decision has been made, please God give me the resolve to carry through with it.
Kurt's head was still bowed in prayer when the doors to the church finally collapsed under the onslaught from the rioters outside. Kurt jumped up and onto the wall, climbing up towards the roof. The flames of the torches made the points of the pitchforks shine, the screams of the rioters drilled into Kurt's brain, forever imprinting the night onto his brain. Kurt's eyes narrowed, these humans were primitive, anything unusual they don't understand and so they fear and try to destroy. Kurt hadn't hurt anyone, he had only come to observe and so they tried to destroy him. A hole in the roof provided Kurt with a convenient escape route form the baying mob underneath him who had started to throw sticks and knives up into the ceiling in an attempt to unseat Kurt from his perch in the rafters.
"THERE HE IS, DEMON!!!"
"I AM NO DEMON. My skin may be different, I may be different but I am no demon. I wish to observe why can't you understand that."
"Your lies are the words of the devil, Demon."
Oh great a priest, even he is damning me. I have come to observe, not harm people and still they say I am a tool of the devil.
Kurt stood on the roof, staring down at the humans below. He was purer than them, he had taken better care of the church than them, dared to enter it even though he had heard the whispers about ghosts and found it to be nothing more than some owls roosting in the rafters. He had tried to restore the church to a former glory and all he had gained for his troubles were sharp objects thrown at him and shouts and jeers of "Demon" and "Freak". Things like this made him loose faith in the decency of his fellow man. He had hoped the church would have offered him some kind of sanctuary from the mob but it seemed that the prejudices of mankind were stronger than the protection of the holy ground of the church.
"THERE HE IS! ON THE ROOF!"
Kurt sighed, he had been spotted. The treacherous moon had projected his shadow onto the ground below. Kurt crouched and ran on all fours across the roof tops, hoping to out run the crowds, he didn't want to hurt them but he wouldn't allow himself to be caught so easily. His footing slipped on the tiles of one roof and he nearly fell into the baying crowd below. He wrapped his tail around the guttering and pulled himself back up. The gasps coming from the crowd below would have amused him at any other time.
"There it is, Proof!! He is a demon, an abomination."
Kurt wished he knew who this instigator was, it was always the same voice shouting over and over again. He would have loved to gag the man; he was only making this situation worse. He came to the end of the line, no more rooftops to clamber over and no more running. The next five minutes would forever be a blur to him, he could remember shouting at the crowd, trying once more to explain that he meant them no harm but all he got was more shouts and murder attempts, finally he had enough. He realised his folly for trying to explain, for expecting anything less than hatred from them. He raised himself to his full height, tail curled behind him. If they wanted to fight him then so be it, his years in the circus had help increase his natural flexibility and acrobatic prowess to an extraordinary degree and if he was going to die then at least he would take quite a few of his assailants with him.
God, please protect one of you're faithful followers. I don't want to hurt these people but not fighting would be tantamount to suicide and that is one more sin I don't need on my soul.
He jumped off the roof straight into the crowd below, his arms and legs blurring as they shot out into the faces of his attackers but soon he was swarmed under the mess of arms, legs and weapons. Hard hits were coming thick and fast making every part of his body ache but he didn't stop, didn't dare stop because he would be killed. Suddenly everything stopped, blows ceased in mid-air and it seemed as if he was the only one moving.
A voice echoed in the silence. A Voice that seemed calming and soothing. The words were unnecessary, it was the tone that comforted him, made him easily want to place his trust in whoever was talking. He stood up straight and looked at the man. He was bald and in a wheelchair but his lips were not moving but the voice continued.
I am Professor Xavier. I am a telepath.
Telepathy, Kurt had heard of this but never experienced it.
I only wanted to learn what it meant to be normal
After this do you really want to be.
Kurt looked around at the frozen crowd. Torches lifted in the air, anger and hatred written plainly on their faces, all because he looked different to them. Humans were such bigots, so quick to hate different things, things they couldn't understand.
"You're right Professor, but who exactly are you?"
"I'm a teacher at a school for people like you, a school for mutants. These people hate you, despise you but they need you."
Anger flashed through Kurt.
Forgive me God for what I am about to say
"Need me, why exactly Professor should I help them after what they have done to me."
"Because you are better than them, they will learn to accept us but we need to show them that we are good, decent and here to fit in and not to try and dominate the world."
Kurt smiled, this was enough of an answer for him. God had just shown him his path and he was willing to walk it.
"Very well Professor, I will help these people."
Thank you Lord, please try to help me find my true purpose.
I hope that I've portrayed Kurt accurately. I don't know the back story to his character but this seemed to be, in my mind, what has happened before he meets Xavier. Please R and R, no flames please.