As always yada yada don't own yada yada Marvel or their characters or any other mentioned shows or things that I don't have money for besides this gorilla taped up laptop. Yes. This is my life. But at least I have these things so I can stop itching.
-xXxoOoxXx-
Sooooooooo. It's been quite some time people. I don't really know how much but it's been a minute, Any ways. For those of you who have been waiting for an update it's a different kind of update. I've restarted this story. Hated where it was going...Honestly I just hated it all together. These two chapters have been sitting on my laptop for some time and I'm trying not to be all lazy and stuff. So in honor of the end of Superhero month and the beginning of a new era. ha. Here you go. For those of you jest getting here. Enjoy the ride.
Special shouts to TimeXgone23 for being there in all of my brain fat moments.
-oOoxXxoOo-
You ever feel like there was something residing just underneath your skin, slithering away beneath the surface just out of the prying eyes of loved ones and friends. Unexplainably untamable in presence lurking, lying in wait for that moment when you're not paying attention to fully unleash and wreak havoc upon the world. Like a crocodile it would only let its presence be known when it was too late, the object of its attention clasped between the jaws of certain death.
The blue furred mutant standing alone on the cliffs edge held these thought running through his head. This thing, it, for he had not truly given the feeling a name certain if he had done so he'd lose himself to its cold clutch, had scared him greatly.
It had started just a little over a week ago before, well, before everything seemingly started to go to hell in a hand basket. Almost every night he had been plagued with nightmares, waking up in the middle of the night, fur slickened with sweat, a scream upon his lips. The only thing the blue mutant could remember from the night terrors, his name being howled through the tangles wisps of unclear visions. The cold grasp of fear had latched onto his chest every night thereafter not allowing him the sweet pleasure of being able to even attempt to return to slumber.
It was then that he had begun to have these thoughts, fleeting at most they arose at present with nothing to warrant the change in mood. A foreign anger that he had never once held within his heart was growing. So far he had managed to suppress the quietly growing rage none of his friends the wiser of what was going on although Kurt wondered to himself if that were the right way to go about things.
They were his friends, practically family whom cared about him, about each other, so why was it so hard?
A flash or coal red eyes. The smell of rotting flesh. Ashen skin sunken over a skeletal form. Black fur. Obsidian claws.
Shivering Kurt buried deeper into his jacket wishing he had remembered to bring a scarf at least. Leaning further over the railing Kurt took a few breaths trying to calm down his erratically beating heart just thinking of everything caused. He needed to get that image, those images, out of his head. The constricting feeling around his heart slowly dissipated, the ache in his lungs dying down to an irritating throb as he continued to slowly suck in fresh air. Oh how the wind felt good rushing into his lungs, like water purging the parched sun baked land of dryness.
The last few days had been little more than a blur of excitement Kurt would rather have forgotten, curse be long term memories. From fighting the Brotherhood, a constant Kurt felt wouldn't change less either of the opposing groups vanished from the face of the earth to a newer threat the furred mutant wasn't all too keen on dealing with. Demons, the others had taken to calling the group of deformed beings. Kurt possibly had been the only one not referring to their newest opponents as such; having been denoted with the moniker many a time in his more youthful days.
He was nothing like them. Foul creatures that only thought of tearing apart anything with flesh, with blood coursing through their veins. Ripping apart their very existence, no, he truly was nothing like them.
So why don't you tell them what's going on? Kurt's inner voice asked quietly. The furred male had been hearing the internal conscience more in the past few weeks than he had done in the last twelve years.
Demon.
That was the first word that had popped into Kurt's head as an answer. Out of fear for what they would say and think, he had kept quiet left to his own devices on dealing with the issue. Not just that. It was out of fear for what he would possibly find knowing that his internal anger hadn't started changing till they started dealing with the otherworldly beings.
A gust of heavier wind blew causing another shiver to pass down Kurt's spine his fur standing on edge to help aid in keeping him warm. Fall was quickly approaching, a little sooner than what he would have liked but one of his favorite holidays was soon approaching. Halloween. It had been no less fun pranking the younger mutants at the institute with Evan and Bobby their senior year of high school but they could only take a joke so far without the fear of Logan's wrath. Scott and the others, well, they were fair game and this year at the same college would be no different than previous.
It was just taking Kurt longer to get into the spirit this year. What with the nightmares and then-everything else.
The school had a fair the weekend before, getting ready for the spooky season of ghouls, and ghost stories. Bringing in a couple ghost hunters, crypto zoologists, and psychics, to one of their owns amusement, it was one in particular whom had caught Kurt's attention. Well more like she whom hailed him out of the group. It was subtle at best, an accidental bump in, quick apologies, and a note stuck into his jacket pocket.
It wasn't until he had gotten back to the dorm that Kurt noticed the neatly scribbled cursive writing on a black sheet of paper, purple ink with a crow water marked in the back.
-If you are tired of standing in the dark waiting bored within the shadows, Mr. Wagner, I can help show you just who you are. - Senora Martinez
With a quick flourish of a seasoned hand, the address and name of the shop had been written in pen on the back of the small card.
It hadn't been a secret to anyone that Kurt was curious about just where he had come from, being so different from the others and all. Not the only one covered in fur at the institute Kurt had been the only one born that way, spending the majority of his life either hiding whom he was or fighting for others to accept him for it. And truthfully who wouldn't be just a little curious as to where they had come from, who they were? A little under half of their population hadn't grown up with their biological family, Rogue out of that group not caring to even find her family.
Seemingly every day after getting the note Kurt had tried, to no avail, visit Senora Martinez. He had even skipped a few classes during the day in hopes of running into the older woman just for her shop to continuously have a big 'closed' sign on the door.
It had been five unsuccessful trips to the shop before he had given up on trying to venture off and meet with the older woman, wondering to himself if someone were playing a cruel trick on him. She had clearly stated for him to visit her shop and see her. Obviously he must not have been bored enough as the soothsayer had been away each time from her place of business.
Shaking his head to rid the thoughts always best less traveled, Kurt bit back another annoyed sigh. This was by far his worst attempt at relaxing in a long time, at a measly fifteen when he originally started at a twenty.
The older students hadn't made the past week any more bearable either. Sure Jean, their red haired second in command had made it the most that she wasn't watching them, though Kurt knew she was keeping tabs as best as a telepath could. However, the same couldn't be said about their fearless leader. Scott was many things and a Spartan was one of them when he wanted to be. Nicknamed the warden he had been checking in with the lot of them almost every hour or so whilst they resided outside of the dorm and away from his watchful eye.
The only two whom had left him and the others alone, largely in part of one not caring one way or another exactly what they did with their lives, were Jordan and Sawyer. The former was currently at home visiting his girlfriend and five year old daughter whilst the later was, well, Kurt didn't know, hadn't asked. Either way the two were clearly doing a better job of giving a wide berth to the younger students, having cut the metaphorical umbilical cord letting them breath.
And that's exactly what Kurt needed to do. Breathe. Get some alone time to think since not thinking wasn't an option. Look Out Point the only place he could do just that. Even if it were plagued with annoying thoughts at least it was just him and his annoying thoughts. Taking another deep breath Kurt let it out slower than before enjoying the fall crisp air. Just him, the setting sun, city lights, and the nice fall breeze…and…his bothersome buzzing cellphone.
Checking what had turned into the fifteenth missed call from the Warden, Kurt was tempted to throw the cellular device down the cliff face. That, however, would not be the brightest idea, since his current phone was the third in two months. He personally didn't want to explain to the Professor why he had to get another. Especially if it didn't involve a mission of any kind like the last had. Those were excusable.
/ Dies ist ärgerlich./
"Do you always talk to yourself in German?"
Nearly jumping out of his fur Kurt's heart practically pounded itself out of his chest as he wheeled around. He hadn't heard, let alone smelled, anyone coming up to the point. Relaxing upon seeing that it was only Evan, Kurt's heart eventually caught up to his thoughts. "What the hell, Evan? Scared the crap out of me."
"Hey. Your fault for not paying attention." Walking up to meet the blue-haired male at the guard rail, Evan leaned against it and looked out over the city much like Kurt. The blonde didn't want to admit that he had been watching his friend for a while, noting the tension of his normally relaxed body. If one paid enough attention they would notice by just the way Kurt's tail flicked or the slight change in his eyes what he was feeling or thinking. "Penny for your thoughts."
Startled out of his thoughts yet again by the skate boarder, Kurt glanced over before returning his attention back to the horizon. "Is that all they're worth nowadays?" Kurt's voice just barely missed the mark of being playfully put off.
"Hey," Evan said with a nudge to his friend's ribs successfully gaining a fanged smile. "That's with tacked on interest. And with the price of school-"
"Alright, alright." Kurt was pretty sure that he couldn't keep much from Evan. The spike throwing male was like a bulldog with a bone when it came to helping out a friend when they were down. Wouldn't let up. "I'm getting annoyed with all the extra unnecessary attention from Scott and the others."
"Well, considering that you were-"
"Yeah, I know, I know," Kurt said, cutting off Evan agitatedly, his recent spike of a good mood dwindling with the conversation. Clamping down on his anger less it get the best of him Kurt stared off into the horizon. Honestly, he should have seen all of this coming. Besides Rogue and Scott he was the third most vulnerable out of their group. Each one of his friends could hide just who they were without having to wear some form of device; one could only be that lucky.
He knew his vulnerabilities and apparently so did the Brotherhood as they took no time in trying to use him in their grand scheme of outing mutants to the world. Just a few days prior Mystique's marry band of misfits had attempted to jump the furred male, their sole purpose to either obtain his inducer or break it.
Things wouldn't have been that bad had they not been standing in the middle of campus at the busiest time of day. Good news, Scott and the others were able to diffuse the situation before campus security had been called. It was close, closer than Kurt had been to being thrown under the bus in a long time and he did not want a repeat of that.
"That was like three, four days ago since... whatever. Lance and the others have even kept their distance. Everything's been quiet." Kurt lent upon the rail turning his body to face Evan.
Evan could only agree with Kurt on that one. Even so, it was better to be safe than sorry, just not as safe as Scott had been trying to make everything recently. All of them were getting pretty annoyed with the constant checkups, even with the knowledge that the older mutant was just trying to keep an eye on them. He just needed to find a better way of doing it. "That's true, but you did hear what Scott and the others were saying?"
"Ja, I heard them." Kurt waved his hand around peevishly. "But I'm not going to be suffocated either."
Nodding his head, Evan sighed, knowing what Kurt was talking about. The Warden. Evan had gotten about seven phone calls himself including five texts. "He has gone a bit overboard, hasn't he?"
"A bit?" Kurt scoffed, his attention back to the darkening sky.
Stretching, Evan placed his hands behind his head before returning to the guard rail. "Think we should ignore him for a bit longer?"
"More like send him a half done text," Kurt spoke regaining some of his good mood. Hopefully this time it'd stay.
Catching the little hint of a smile on Kurt's face, Evan smirked himself before responding. "He'd completely lose it."
A calmer pause settled in between the two friends as they gazed off at the setting sun. There was a lot running through Kurt's mind, all too fast to be processed correctly and none of which he wanted to dwell on.
"Scott just wants to keep everyone safe... you know that, right?" Evan asked, breaking the silence and watching Kurt's reaction. "He is the leader and that's a lot of pressure on anyone."
Sighing, Kurt's tail went limp; whatever anger he had left simmering in the background of his mind lay defeated. "I know, but come on. The guy's like a super mother hen."
Chuckling, Evan shook his head at his friend's words. Leave it to Kurt to say something ridiculous like that. "We have class bright and early tomorrow. Come on, man." Patting Kurt on the shoulder, Evan turned around to walk back to the dorms.
About to follow Evan, the furred mutant stopped on hearing his name whispered through the air mingled in with the soft rustling of the trees. Whipping his head around to try and place from whence it came, Kurt came up empty.
Suddenly the wind blew harsher than before bringing with it the scent of sulfur, the whisper of a name mingled in with the dancing leaves as some lifted off from their twigs dancing into the night air.
Kurt
Stopping in his tracks Kurt looked about him trying to figure just where the voice had come from yet again. Not answering back, he had learned that from his mother long before, Kurt took a few seconds more to listen before resuming his walk. Not but half a pace was taken before the wind kicked in yet again, his name at the forefront of the onslaught cutting through his chest like a knife through butter.
Kurt
In a blink of an instant Kurt found himself in a familiar setting, the woods back home just behind his house. It was a small clearing with a large rotting stump just at the opposite side. A flash of white light and the area was surrounded in blue flames the heat from the fire making it near uncomfortable to even breath, the forest filling up quickly with dense smoke.
Kurt.
It was hard to see through the thick grey fog steadily growing, rising into the air until it was a massive plume over the whole forest. Kurt was rooted to the spot, his mind and legs just not cooperating with him to leave. Danger. This was danger. Why couldn't he move? Heart beating erratically Kurt all but stopped breathing as a dark shadow emerged from the flames its body covered in the searing inferno.
Kurt.
Closer it grew to the prone male as Kurt stood unable to do anything. A charred hand was held out, reaching, growing closer and closer still.
Kurt.
Blinking Kurt found himself back at Look Out point. Sucking in air, fresh air, he quickly put a cap on the fear still coursing through his body as Evan had turned around, just a few paces away. He was concerned, that much Kurt could get from the distance he was at. Either way he didn't like it.
"You alright?"
"Yea," Kurt spoke glad that he was able to keep the tremble from his voice. "Just thought I saw something." What the hell had that been? Kurt asked himself still feeling the ghost of the fire licking at his flesh. Pressing the button to his inducer Kurt proceeded to bury his hands in the warmth of his jacket pockets before catching up with Evan.
He really needed to get a handle on whatever was going on, and soon.
