Kurt and the Brotherhood of Dysfunctional Mutants

AN: This is an AU fic based around my favorite character from the series: Nightcrawler… and how much I can possibly mess with his head. So, enjoy.

Warnings: This story seems to be rather Brotherhood-based and has some dark themes, so there will be harsh language. It's just part of some of the characters, though I'll try to keep it to the characters who would actually use such words. Also, this shows hints of being slash… hasn't solidified yet, but it's looking likely.

What would have happened if Kurt hadn't had the happy, loving childhood he did in the series? What if something had happened to the Wagners, leaving a young Kurt to fend for himself? What sort of people would have picked him up? Where would he be when Xavier came along with his ragtag band of mutants? This is my attempt to answer those questions.

This is set in an AU in which Kurt's path was completely different… the main difference being that Kurt lost his foster family when he was young, which meant that Cerebro never had a chance to detect Kurt's power, which meant that Professor Xavier never invited him to the X-men. Certain minor things with the rest of the X-men were different because of that (example: Rogue has no idea who the blue baby in her dreams is and "Middleverse" obviously never happened), but the general storyline from the first season was effectively the same. This begins near the end of the early second season episode "Bada-Bing, Bada-Boom"… in the AU universe, of course.

Episode 1: Escape Act

The most important thing was the performance.

Its crate was dragged out into someplace loud and bright, light streaming through the cracks in the wood. The announcer built up suspense, elaborating about a demonic beast captured in a small, nameless European town. Something thwacked against the walls of its crate, and it dutifully began the performance.

Scratch against the sides. Jump around a bit. Don't forget to growl.

Build up for the moment. Do it right, and you get to eat. Do it wrong, and Master will be angry with you.

"…stand back, folks, as we present to you the INCREDIBLE BLUE DEMON!"

It gave the walls a powerful shove, and the breakaway crate burst open dramatically, revealing the creature in all its horrific glory. Ratty blue fur, hackles standing on end like some sort of rabid dog… bared, snarling fangs under menacing yellow eyes… odd, cat-like hind legs and appendages with too few fingers and toes over a soiled loincloth…and to top it all off, an aggressively thrashing spaded tail. As if they were part of the performance, the crowd gave a collective gasp.

The demon spent a fraction of a second blinking into the overhead lights and camera flashes. It was a smaller tent this time… some sort of local fair. And there were a lot of teenagers.

The monster hated scaring teenagers.

A whip cracked warningly near its flank, and it resumed the performance. It whirled theatrically on Master with a growl and a flash of its fangs. This evoked a chorus of muffled screams from the crowd. Master was pleased by that: when he flicked the whip again, it cracked the air just above the beast. As long as it kept up a satisfactory performance, the lash wouldn't hit it directly.

"Back, you hellspawn!" Master yelled, playing the part of the brave demon tamer. He was dressed in a rugged costume that showed off his large, burly physique and dark, scruffy features. He grabbed up a cane and waved it around, as if that was enough to stop the creature if it really wanted to hurt him.

It wasn't. The demon had tried, a long time ago. What kept it from hurting Master now had nothing to do with any physical barrier.

The whip snapped against its flank, reminding it to move, and the creature leapt onto one of the raised platforms set around the small ring. The whip cracked again, and the demon leapt up to the next platform. The performance continued like that until it had reached a platform well above Master's head.

There, it gathered all the terror and pain it had been pooling since its last performance, and let it out in a long, throat-tearing howl.

If the audience cared to actually listen to it, they would have recognized it as the howl of a trapped, wounded animal. But no one ever cared. Instead, the crowd heard it as the hunting bay of a beast, and reacted with only fear.

"No one make any sudden moves, or he just may attack. Down, demon! Down!"

The whip flicked its pointed ear, and the creature let out an unintentional yelp.

Scheisse. Yelps were sympathetic. It would pay for that later.

Nonetheless, it continued with the performance, growling menacingly. It leapt up once more and swung by the tent's interior support ropes. It took a moment to revel in the sensation of flying the top of the performance always gave it: the only time it ever got to stretch and move like it yearned to.

It brought back hazy memories… of just standing in the sun, a benevolent presence nearby. And something more recent… being taught the trapeze on the edge of the Before-Life. The demon wanted to try some of those tricks again, because it found them pleasant… but Master would have none of that. The demon was a monster, not an acrobat.

After far too short a time, Master had pulled out the air gun, and was using it to "steer" the monster back down to the ground. It growled and made menacing motions in the right places, and it was only a matter of going through the routine until it was "tamed" and stuffed in a cage too small for it to sit up in, much less stand. Master flourished and bowed before the clapping crowd while the creature was wheeled away.

The beast could only hope it had been good enough to get food today.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Todd Tolansky cackled to himself, hopping out of the noisy tent, his arms loaded with wallets. "I love bleacher seats," he chuckled. "Total paydirt, yo!"

He glanced around at the stark evening lights of the Bayville High School fundraising fair, then hopped over to a tiny, darkened tent nearby. He peeked in, and found it empty and pitch-black. A second later, he had ducked inside, a single liberated wallet falling from his stack and landing in the dirt just outside. A moment later, a long, green tongue shot out of the tent and retrieved it with a slurp.

Todd settled happily just inside the tent, sitting down with his back against a crate. He started picking through the wallets one-by-one, emptying any contents of interest and tossing the rest over his shoulder. Cash, credit cards, credit and cash (score!)... ew, a used condom? Weirdo.

He tossed that wallet over his shoulder a bit harder than the others, and was just reaching for the next when something went "Ow" right behind him.

Todd jumped about four feet, then whirled and tried to peer into the darkness around him. "I didn't do nothin', yo!"

"Scheisse!" the voice said. It sounded scratchy and cracked, like an old tape-player that had just been pulled out of storage, or like the walls back at the Brotherhood boarding house, for that matter. "Don't tell anyvun you heard me speak… please." The accent was weird. Some European accent Todd wasn't sure of, except twisted and truncated by disuse. It was kinda scary to hear.

Todd squinted into the darkness, thinking he could maybe see the source of the voice. The multi-colored lights coming through the door flap reflected off vertical metal bars in front of him… a cage, set on a crate so it was two feet off the ground. Its top was at about Todd's forehead. And there, inside it, he thought he saw a shadow shift near the back. "Or what…? What's gonna stop me, huh?"

"NO!" A shift, and twin glowing yellow spots suddenly appeared in the darkness. Eyes, Todd realized, jerking back with a gasp. He pinwheeled his arms for a moment, then fell on his butt in the dirt and hay.

"Y-yer that… demony thing! You can talk?"

"No! I can't!" The eyes moved suddenly, leaping up to the front of the cage. The demon thing was flush against the bars. Todd could make out a light sheen against its fur. It looked a lot less scary up close… Todd had seen it in passing while he'd been lurking beneath the bleacher seats, but he'd been too preoccupied with peoples' pockets to pay much attention to the show. The rest of the Brotherhood and a number of the X-geeks had been at the side show, legitimately watching. Except Freddy, who got kinda weird about side shows… but that was neither here nor there.

"Yo, I'm pretty sure yer talkin' right now, yo. An' I ain't crazy. Yer talkin!"

The creature made a panicked noise. "Please don't tell… please. Zhey'll beat me and starve me. Please." The scratchy voice wobbled and broke at the end.

"'Ey, you cryin'?" Todd picked himself up, staring as the glowing eyes moved away meekly. They looked like they might burst into tears at any moment. Todd was suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. Crap. He had very little experience with crying things. Girls. Babies. Small animals. None of them stuck near him very long, so he had no idea what to do about this. "I won't tell anyone, yo, if it's like that. Kay? So don't cry or nuthin'."

"Svear?"

"We'll spit on it, yo."

A shift. The eyes turned back to him, this time in confusion. "Vas?"

"What?"

The two stared at each other in baffled silence. Todd and the demon hunkered in the cage were at about the same height, faces less than three feet apart. Todd wasn't sure what to make of it; just what was this thing? Was it a mutant? It wouldn't be the first mutant Todd had seen that was blue or that had fur… it'd just be the first time he saw those two things together.

The tail was kinda weird though. Now that Todd's eyes had adjusted, he could see it twitching behind the creature.

And then, the silence was broken by an unexpected voice from just outside the tent. "Hey, Frog-boy! You around here? Tremor-boy said you might be lurking around here somewhere." The demon shrank back into the back of the cage, its form disappearing back into the shadows except for the soft glow of its eyes.

Todd turned, startled, as one of the new X-geeks poked her head into the tent, spangles on her arms clinking lightly against one another as she pulled the tent flap aside. She glanced down at the conspicuous pile of wallets Todd had left on the ground, a sideways grin spreading across her face. "Knew I had you pegged for a pickpocket. Whatcha doin' hiding in here?"

"None of yer beeswax, X-geek."

"Never mind. I think I can figure it out." She bobbed her head, grinning as she stepped inside and looked around the tent. "Word on the street is you're good at… whoa, is that the demon?"

Todd dug a tennis shoe in the dirt as the X-geek stepped toward the cage, her expressive face displaying curiosity. The demon was pressed back against the far wall, almost invisible except for the yellow eyes that watched her fearfully.

"It's not so scary. You know, I heard it was a monkey they dyed blue and stuffed in a loincloth."

Todd snorted, staring at his oversized feet. Yeah sure… if monkeys could talk.

"Wonder how the little blue 'devil' would react to a little surprise…" she said mischievously. Todd looked up as she clapped her hands together, and something bright and buzzing appeared in her palm when she opened them. Both Todd and the demon shrank back, worried.

"Wha-what the hell is that?" Todd sputtered.

The X-geek smirked at him, tossing the little glowing ball up and down. "Nothing but a little firecracker, Frog-boy. It won't hurt it or anything. Not that I wouldn't be above putting this mangy thing out of its misery."

The demon looked at Todd with a panicked expression, which Todd returned with a confused one. What was he supposed to do? He was so ready to say "fuck this" and leave.

So why didn't he?

"Maybe ya shouldn't do that, yo."

"Just try and stop me." She leaned toward the cage, reaching to put the firecracker-ball-thing inside it. Todd lashed his tongue out, wrapping it around her wrist and yanking it back. The ball flew out of her grip and fell to the ground, bouncing and then exploding with a pop right in Todd's wallet pile. Leather and ripped cash flew everywhere.

"Aw, man. I was gonna buy food with that, foo'."

"Heh," the X-geek chuckled, flicking her wrist dry of Todd's saliva. She turned toward the exit, demon forgotten. "Come on, slimeball. If you want money, I got something else you might be interested in."

Todd cast one last glance at the demon, who looked at him with pleading eyes. Pleading for what? Todd made a helpless gesture. The demon closed its eyes sadly, and Todd lost sight of it in the darkness.

Confused and kind of sad (for some reason), but interested in the X-geek's promise of money, he left. If something howled out its loneliness in the darkness, it was swallowed up by the music of the carrousel.

o-o-o-o-o

"A yelp? What, did it hurt? Do monsters feel pain, demon?"

It curled in on itself, flinching as the strip of wood pounded into its back again and again. It bit back a whimper, because that was what had gotten it in trouble in the first place. Monsters don't feel pain. Monsters don't cry.

It could feel blood seeping down its fur from the fresh welts. Master enjoyed keeping its coat a bloody, dirty mess… it heightened the performance. The hay at the bottom of the tent was poking into its eye, but it didn't dare uncurl. Getting thrashed in the back didn't hurt nearly as much as in the front.

Except that monsters didn't feel pain.

It was nearing morning: the sounds of the local fundraising fair had long since stopped. Some distant noises could be heard as the ferris wheel was taken down to be ready for shipping. The fair was off to the next city as soon as they got their share of the profits from the event.

The wooden strip had stopped its assault. The demon swallowed, and was ready when Master picked it up by the scruff of its neck. The demon stayed limp, even as Master brought its face to his own. The creature lowered its eyes submissively.

"Your timing was slow, tonight. You're lucky you were working with a bunch of stupid kids, or else you might not be eating tonight."

The demon's eyes looked up hopefully, all on their own. Its gaze met Master's and it flinched, realizing its mistake a moment too late. A blow struck its cheek, pitching it clear across the tent. It stayed where it landed, only moving to curl around its empty stomach.

"What the hell have I said about meeting my eyes, demon?" Master stalked forward and gave it a kick in the ribs with a heavy boot.

"I'm sorry, Master," it wept. "I didn't mean to."

"And talking? Dammit, I thought we were past this little rebellious stage of yours."

The demon was hauled up by its scruff once again. This time, it kept its gaze squarely on its misshapen feet.

"You know better, demon. You feel like talking? Tell me why I've bothered to keep you for so long, you worthless little shit!"

The creature's shoulders shook with suppressed sobs, but it blinked back any threatening tears. Monsters didn't cry.

"You remember what happens when you try to leave, don't you? What people less generous than me do to a freak like you?"

It nodded.

"I protect you and keep you fed and watered, and this is how you repay me? Is this what you call respect, you ugly monster?"

It wanted to say how it was sorry, so sorry, it'd been a bad little demon, not worth the money Master spent to keep it… but doing so would violate Master's "no talking" rule. It hoped its body language conveyed it.

After a long moment of Master's glare boring into the top of its down-turned head, Master seemed satisfied. He flung the creature back into its cage and slammed the door. "I think a night without dinner will remind you to keep your mouth shut!"

With a definitive click of the cage's padlock, Master left.

It was only when it was sure Master was gone that the demon allowed itself to break down in tears…. But silent tears. It couldn't afford to let anyone else know of its pain. To show other people its pain was to break the performance, and that made Master angry.

Gott, it was hungry. It had gotten breakfast that morning, but nothing after that. Its stomach ached and twinged with hunger. It served the demon right, for slipping like that. It knew better.

The demon had lost track of how long it had been with this particular group… maybe a year, or a little more. The original one… the circus that had taught it all those fun tricks, had picked the creature up at age seven, but they had only kept it for a couple months. After that, its life had been a blur of pain and stares as it was shunted from sideshow, to private 'collector' and back to sideshow. Its current Master wasn't the worst of them, not by far. The demon could live up to his expectations, as long as it could keep up the performance.

It was all because of the pale boy earlier that night… the one who had surprised the demon while sleeping and heard it speak. The boy had brought back so many things… human interaction… vague memories of people not shrinking away from it, but instead reaching out tenderly. And that tongue thing he'd done, and the scary balls the girl had made… what was that about? Were they normal… or were they monsters like the demon was?

Gott, how old was it now? It couldn't guess. There were a lot of things from its Before-Life that slipped its memory now. It had had a home, but something had happened. Someone had loved the creature… sometimes, it dreamed of a soft brush running through its fur, a gentle rumbling sound filling its ears. It remembered… God. Praying and faith… and demons. It remembered a lot about demons, because no one ever let it forget that.

It'd had a name, too… but that was something that had been erased a long time again.

A howl bubbled up in its throat, but the creature forced it down. No… no, it couldn't afford to do that again. It needed to save all this pain for the next performance tomorrow night… saving it would make the performance better. Couldn't waste it now.

Something moved outside its tent, and the demon hastily wiped the wetness from its eyes. A moment later, it heard whispers approaching.

"…don't get why we're doin' this, yo." Was that… the pale boy? He was back? Why? "That psycho nearly got me totally busted. I don't need to another tick on my rec, yo,"

"Stop jawin', Todd," rumbled a second voice. "Which tent was he in?"

…'he'?

"This one."

A moment later, the tent flap opened and two figures stepped in. Even in the darkness, the demon had no difficulty seeing their features... judging by the way they hesitated and looked around, they didn't have the same benefit. One was the gangly, strong-smelling boy from before… Todd, the other had called him. The girl from earlier had called him "Frog-boy."

The other was a boy about four times bigger than Todd… he filled up most of the small tent.

Todd looked around nervously, as if afraid that someone was going to jump out and take him away. "Why we here, Freddy? I know what I said…. but he's just some freak in a freak show."

"Yeah, well… so was I." 'Freddy' lumbered forward, blocking the demon's view of everything else.

The demon automatically shrank back, wincing at the stinging pain moving sent across its back.

A meaty hand tried to wriggle its way through the bars, but it was too big to get in past the knuckles. "You in there, lil' guy?"

"Yeah, he's there," Todd said from somewhere behind the living mountain. "You can kinda see his eyes. All glowy n' stuff."

The large teen peered in for another moment, then went, "Oh, I see him. You don't gotta be scared. I wanna help."

"Here." A spindly hand snaked around the large boy's bulk. It held a half-full bag of something… something that smelled salty. "These might help, yo."

The bigger boy took the bag and looked at for a moment, then turned and snaked it through the bars with a thick finger. "You want some Cheesy Puffs? It ain't much, but it's all we got."

Scents wafted over. Salt. And something else… cheese? Not real cheese, but it was still better than the slop Master provided. This was human food, which was too good for the creature.

But it wanted the food so bad… it was so hungry, and it'd been so long since it had eaten anything remotely meant to be pleasant tasting. Maybe Master wouldn't be too mad about one little bag…

Carefully, it poked out a forelimb and inched toward the bag.

"C'mon," said the big guy. "They're good."

"Yeh," Todd said with a chuckle. "Ya better get 'em before Freddy changes his mind and eats 'em himself, yo."

The demon paused at the sound of the boy's chuckle. That was… a noise that it wasn't sure how to deal with. That was a happy sound, its memory told it. No one ever made happy sounds around the demon… not since the Before-Life. But the gangly boy had. He'd talked to it, and now he was making happy sounds.

"Aren't you scared of me?" the demon asked hesitantly.

Todd made the chuckling sound again, and popped out from behind the large boy. The demon could see a smirk on his face. "With the Blob, here? Man, you ain't gonna do nothin' to me. Freddy's like a walkin' tank, yo."

Freddy shoved the smaller boy back, but the demon could clearly see the fond smile on the larger boy's face, hidden from his compatriot by the darkness. "Knock it off, Toad. Who says I'd protect you, huh?"

"Bah, ya would," Todd returned in a sing-song voice. "Cuz I'm your 'Little Buddy'!"

"You been ramming your head into too many doors, Todd."

The demon listened to the banter, transfixed. It had never seen anything like it. The easy conversation between them made the creature yearn for something like that… what would it be like to have that sort of companionship? Or any sort of companionship?

Then, the demon realized something else: Freddy was looking over his shoulder… he was distracted. No one was paying attention to the bag. The demon surreptitiously crept forward, snatched the bag of snacks, and returned to the back of the cage. It had already brought the first handful to its mouth before it had sat down.

"Just the one door. Not my fault the boss-lady lined it with lead or somethin'."

"I think the lead's in your head."

By GOD the food was so good. Salty and cheesy and crunchy and spicy and the demon had never tasted anything so good. Things blurred as it got lost in the sensation, moving its hand continuously from bag-to-mouth.

"Heh. Think he likes it, yo."

"Poor guy. He's so skinny. Think they really starve 'im?"

"Man, I'm starvin'. Why'd ya have ta give the freak our last bag a' snacks, huh?"

"Cuz you said he was starved and stuff. Stop whinin'."

The demon looked up. It had worked its way almost completely through the bag, but a stab of guilt went through it. They were hungry too? Well, maybe not Fred… but Todd did look pretty skinny. Tentatively, the demon held out the bag to the smaller boy.

The boy blinked his deep-set eyes. "What, you serious, foo'?"

The demon lowered its head, worried about the boy's odd expression, but kept its arm extended. Then Freddy rumbled a laugh. At the noise, the demon dropped the bag and shrank back into its cage.

"You're both so weird," the big teen said through his laughs.

Suddenly, the cage jerked (the demon bit back a yelp), and a loud creaking could be heard. The demon looked up, and was shocked to see Fred bending the bars of his cage open. With his hands.

"C'mon," Freddy said when he was done, stepping back to allow the demon room to exit. "We're bustin' you out."

The demon didn't move for it. In fact, it pressed itself farther into the back, afraid of the wide open space between itself and the world. "V…vas? No, no, I can't leave. I'm not allowed to leave."

"Yeh, that's the point a' bustin' ya out," Todd drawled.

"No, I'm sorry. I can't. I… I need to stay here."

"They're keepin' ya in a cage, foo'! Why the hell would ya wanna stay?"

The skinny boy seemed to be getting upset by the demon's words. Maybe this was why it wasn't supposed to talk. It turned its face away submissively, but risked mumbling, "I'm safe here."

That made the pale boy blink in blatant confusion. "They beat you. That don't sound safe to me, foo'."

"It's better zhan being outside. People vould try to kill me."

"I ain't tryin' to kill ya, and Freddy ain't either. C'mon, we got a place where you'd fit in real good."

Was it possible…. It could leave its cage?

No. No, Master would catch it and beat it.

"No. I can't. I'm sorry. Don't be mad."

Freddy shifted and announced, "I'm bored o' this. C'mon, before we get caught. We can do all this freakin' out stuff later."

The demon did yelp when Freddy reached a meaty hand into its cage and easily picked the furry creature up by the ribcage. Next thing it knew, it was out of the cage (in-the-open-in-the-open-oh-God-I'm-in-trouble) and tossed over Freddy's shoulder. A moment later, Todd was tossed over the other one, and Freddy rumbled off with his two passengers as if it was nothing.

Todd smirked over at the demon. "Just sit back and enjoy the ride, yo. It's what I always do."

The demon was having difficulty doing that as they moved out through the empty fairgrounds. Everything was so open. Its breath came harsh in its throat, and it struggled against the large boy's steady grip. But then, it looked up and saw the stars… and that surprised it into complacence. The demon could remember looking up at them, a long time ago…. while someone who loved it held it close and whispered the names of the stars and the planets in its ears, and it had marveled at how big the universe was. And here they still were… half a world away and eight years later, shimmering steadily all along.

Fresh air swept across its face, carrying strange scents to the creature's sensitive nose. If it extended its natural spatial senses, it could feel the locations of the nearby tents and structures on the half-disassembled fairgrounds. And beyond those chain fences were things that the demon didn't have names for. It could see the structures in the distance, strange and scary and fascinating.

It could go look at them, it realized. If it left its cage and left Master, it could do anything it wanted!

But what about the people? They would hurt it.

A large, strong arm keeping it safe and secure… was that an illusion? A sly, green smile in the dark, promising things the demon didn't understand.

Free…

It was free.

He was free.

The odd peace was only a little ruined by Todd's tongue snapping out and grabbing a half-eaten corn dog out of the trash.