"N…nein. Bitte! Bitte! Es tut mir leid! Stop, stop!" The faceless people still held him down, binding ropes tightly around his wrists and ankles.
"Demon! iDemon!"/i they hissed. "You are not one of us,"
"Es tut mir leid!" Kurt shouted again. "I cannot help the way I am!"
"Demon!"
"Nobody else has a tail!" somebody shouted, and Kurt felt the sharp sting of a stone hit his left shoulder.
"Nobody else is iblue!"/i another voice, a woman's, shrieked, and another stone hit Kurt in the stomach.
"Nightcrawler! Nightcrawler, like the worm you are!" Another stone glanced off Kurt's face, drawing a thin line of blood.
"You have the hands of the devil! You do the work of iSatan!/i" This time the man deliberately drew blood from Kurt, brandishing a penknife.
"Nein! You don't understand! I follow the word of God, as you do!"
"Lies! It lies! Satan's servant on earth lies!" Now they strung him by his bound hands to a tree. "Demon! Lies! The demon lies to us!" they chantedover and over.
"Nein! Es tut mir leid!" Kurt protested. "Believe me!"
"We cannot believe the servant of the Devil himself!"
"But I'm not! Believe me, I follow God!"
"You take His name in vain! You cannot use it, Demon!"
"Stop, bitte! Es tut mir leid!" More stones, curses.
"Death to the Demon! Servant of Satan! Death!"
"Nein! Bitte, nein, es tut mir leid!" Kurt was almost sobbing with fear now, as several very strong men approached him as he hung there, holding knives and cruel looking whips.
"Bitte! Nein!"
"Hey kid, Kurt, wake up! I'm right here" the voice was distant, and Kurt could not see who had said it. Somehow he recognised the voice, but he couldn't put a face to it in his nightmare. His body was jerking; moved by an unseen hand. "Hey Kurt! Wake up! C'mon kid!"
"You tease me, mein Vater!" Kurt howled into the inky sky above him, face lit by torches his attackers carried. "You make me hear the voice of mein freund!"
"Kurt! Wake up!" Then Kurt was pulled from his dream, shivering and crying; into the waiting arms of the Wolverine.
"Shh, I'm here kid. Bad dream huh? Sometimes it's hard to tell if they really iare/i dreams."
The teen sobbed and continued to shake in Logan's arms, burying his face into his chest. Logan stroked Kurt's hair as he rocked him, like a child. Which he was, really. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"They…they tied me up," Kurt choked, "and cursed me, called me 'Demon' and 'Servant of Satan'. I tried to tell them I was sorry, that I can't help the way I look, but they wouldn't listen. I told them…I told them I followed God, as they did, but they said I lied. They…they hurt me. Stones, knives. Whips. I begged and begged them to stop but…" Kurt collapsed into fresh tears.
"I'm sorry kid. But it's over now. I'm here. Come on, I'm here for you."
"It seemed so ireal/i."
"Bad dreams always do." Kurt's tears finally began to run out, but he stayed with his arms firmly around Logan. Logan wasn't complaining, he was very fond of the boy. He liked the way he stood up to anyone calling him a freak. And his scent drove him crazy; the kid smelt so good.
"Dankeschön, Herr Logan, I must seem such a coward to you."
"No you don't kid. You had a nightmare, a bad one, I could tell. Nobody's going to think less of you for it. Least of all me."
"Oh…thank you again Herr Logan. But why are you in my room?"
"I heard you kid. You were shouting things in German. I was awake anyway, like I say, Bad dreams."
"But you can deal with them, Herr Logan. I can't."
"Yes, you can. You're coping very well. I can't even remember how old I am, and you're what? Seventeen?"
"Ja, seventeen. Look at me! A seventeen year old, crying over a stupid dream, like a five year old!"
"Kurt, you've been through a lot. More than most other people in this school. I think you have a right to shed a few tears now and again. Especially over dreams where you're suffering even more."
"Don't go, Herr Logan. Mein freund." Kurt blushed after he called Logan a friend.
"I won't, Kurt. My friend." Kurt looked up at Logan, through lashes still stuck together with tears. Logan smiled down at him, a genuine smile of affection. "Now don't tell ianybody/i I'm soft, you hear?"
"I won't tell." Kurt still looked up at Logan, and suddenly, shyly put his soft lips on to Logan's. He lingered for a second, and broke away quickly, a deep blue blush creeping up his cheeks. Logan dried Kurt's cheeks with the pad of his thumb, and laid them both down on Kurt's bed, pulling the sheets back over Kurt. "We both have to be up for school tomorrow kid, you should try to get some sleep." Kurt nodded, yawned and drifted off, Logan stroking his soft, down covered back until morning.