CHAPTER ONE

A Vagabond

Twenty-year-old Kurt Wagner sat on the rail of his balcony. He gazed over the sparkling black ocean and the white dots of the lights and windows of Bayville. Kurt sighed as the wind ruffled his shoulder-length hair and the fine light blue fur covering his arms and face, he felt so alone on this balcony, and he knew that was how he was to remain.

It had been four years since the threat of Apocalypse, four years since he and his only girlfriend, Amanda Sefton. They had broken up because Amanda's parents had forced her to come with them to their homeland; they had left because they were afraid of Kurt. He couldn't blame them, he had given them quite a scare when he had met them, his image inducer had been stolen by Todd Tolansky and well, he doesn't exactly look human.

It had been four years since he could walk the streets without people running into stores when he passed. Four years since he had been able to be accepted as "normal" or at least to be seen as a normal person by his peers. People were afraid of him and his friends, they were mutants, freaks.

Kurt buried his head in his knees as the rain began to fall. He gently swayed his tail back and forth, and wiggled his ears to get the water off of them; he was defeated by the weather though, and became soaked in a few moments time. He looked at the sky; water ran down his cheeks and slid onto his neck. He squinted up at the clouds, the moon barely peeked between the dark clouds and reflected in his golden pupil-less eyes.

He was alone. Even the moon had the company of the stars in the sky, the clouds had each other, the raindrops, although they fell alone, were reunited with their kin in a puddle or in the earth. Kurt had no one but his shadow on his side, his silent shadow that reminded him that he was a monster, because even if his inducer was turned on, he couldn't hide from the sun, his tail and ears were revealed. The only thing like him was a shadow, his own shadow, a dark shape on a wall.

Kurt watched the raindrops hit the wood of the balcony. He was jealous of the rain. Kurt swung his legs around and jumped to his two-toed feet, his clothes clung to his fur as he shuffled into his room he turned around and closed the door silently. Bobby Drake was peacefully asleep in the bed across from Kurt's. Kurt sat on his bed, and stared at the paned door, the moon illuminated the rain as it slapped against the glass.

He couldn't sleep. He teleported himself into a tree with a bamf, the rain created a sort of music when it hit the leaves of the trees in the wood. The rain continued to fall long into the night; Kurt leaned against the trunk of the tree. The tree had others of its kind, as did the leaves. Kurt looked down at the ground and saw his shadow and the trees' shadows too.

Shadows.

Kurt teleported to the diving board of the pool, he sat cross legged and stirred the water with his demon-like tail. He stared at the water's surface, broken by the contact of the rain. He sat there for what seemed like hours, hunched over and staring at his right hand, and he formed a fist with it. He slumped over and fell asleep in the rain, sprawled on the diving board, his fingers dipped in the pool.

Kurt was awoken by the raising sun; the light made his shield his closed eyes. He pushed himself upright and rubbed his eyes. He stretched with a giant yawn and looked at the pool once more. The still water looked as if it was made of glass; he peered over the edge of the board and examined himself. His hair was soaking wet and his clothes were extremely heavy. He smiled at his reflection, and then he saw his fangs, no one else in the world has fangs, except his reflection. "At least you look exactly like me," he said to it, "At least you're also a monster," it replied; Kurt slapped the water with his hand and teleported to his room.

He took a quick shower and put on dry clothes. It was still extremely early in the morning, so Kurt watched an almost silent TV. He spread himself on the couch and flipped through channels. He stopped on the Five o'clock News. "Senator Kelly, of New York, is trying to pass a Bill for making Mutant Registration Legal for the United States of America," said the dark haired news castor as he shuffled the papers in his hand. Kelly had been the Principal at Bayville High when Kurt had attended there. He had wormed his way through the ranks in an attempt to get rid of all the mutants. Kurt frowned at the TV and flipped channels again.

His ears twitched as Kitty Pryde fell through the ceiling and into the chair behind him. She had recently gotten a new haircut, he long hair was now only chin length. Kurt didn't like her choice; the cut didn't really match her in his opinion. "Hey, Kurt," she said as he shoved his legs off the couch to join him. "Okay, what's wrong?" Kitty nervously looked at him, he continued staring at the TV, and a glazed look was hung over his eyes.

"Vhy do you sink anysing's wrong?" he mumbled.

"Well, you like didn't yell at me for taking up some of the couch." She smiled at his grumpiness.

"I'm not in ze mood for doing anysing today, Kitty," he sat upright. "I had a rough night."

"Okay. Jean and Scott are like coming home from college today."

"So I've heard. I recall zat you told me zis yesterday." He smiled, and scratched his head. She threw a pillow at him and ran to the kitchen, phasing through walls as she went. Kurt stared at the ceiling. He hadn't seen Scott and Jean for four years, and he wondered if they've developed stronger powers. Recently Kurt had developed stronger eyesight in the dark and he could now teleport five people with him. "Vhatever," he said to the plaster and with that he teleported to the kitchen for breakfast.