Stuff: Hello, hello! Yes, it is I, the Dragon of Mistakes...not really, but there's always genetics.
This is my first X-men fic, but not my first fic on this site. Anyway, about a month ago, I had this sudden urge to watch all the X-men movies, and because I wanted to buy movies 2 and 3 (coz I already own the first one), I couldn't find them. Funny that. So, I eventually got my hands on them and watched them nonstop, and became one of the biggest Nightcrawler fans!!! He was just a brilliant character that he finally got me back into comics after a long love affair with anime and I've been trying to get to Brisbane (Capital City here) to buy them (comics, that is)....I got a cool poster instead :D
Here's my story, not too angsty but just enough to make it my kind of story, and hopefully yours too. ENJOY, my freaky darlings (Yep, a quote from a cheeky but awesome invisible man)!!!
The chant echoed around his room as he silently prayed to the Virgin Mary that had been placed securely on his bedside table where he crouched in front of. As he stated the Lords prayer, slipping in and out of German, his odd tri-fingered hand kneaded softly the rosary beads in his lap. "Unserer Patres in Himmel, hallowed be your name. Ihrer Königreich komme, ihrer wirst sein fertig, fort Erde als in Himmel. Eingeben uns noch heute unserer alltäglich Brot. Erlassen uns unserer Sünden als wir erlassen derjenige wer versündigen uns. Ableitung uns nicht in Versuchung aber abliefern uns ab arg. Fürs Königreich, die Potenz, und die Glory are yours now and forever. Amen." The blue demon placed an invisible cross along his chest and shoulders and stood nimbly into his normal upright but slightly squatted stance. Every day since he had left the circus he had prayed to his Lord, looking for some kind of guidance, some kind of sign to show him the way, yet he is still too blind to notice that his Light had already shown itself in mutant form.
His Light stood silently at his room's door, awaiting him to finish and acknowledge her before she came in. She knew he was deeply religious, almost an extremist she had thought when she saw what he had done to his body even though the markings were beautiful, and didn't know what to expect if she went to his room without asking so had delayed her house welcoming until a week after Jean's apparent death. After that visit, she knew she had nothing to fear from the kind blue mutant and had kept regular visits to him everyday in the evenings, once the kids had gone to bed. She watched as he stood up, his tail swishing lazily across the floor, and knocked. He whipped around in fright but calmed when he saw the beautiful weather witch standing at his door. "Ja, Miss Storm?"
Ororo dipped her head to hide a small smile of amusement and looked back up with a fresh face. "You don't have to keep on calling me Miss Storm. It's Storm or Ororo." Her explanation was as gentle as her footsteps as she walked into his sanctuary. She glimpsed sadly at the idol of Mary and hoped that he would stop torturing himself with his religion for she had noticed he had etched in another symbol into his skin the other day. She wondered why but couldn't bring herself to ask; until today. "Can I ask you something, Kurt?"
Kurt waited patiently for Storm to settle on the edge of his bed before he did so himself and sat next to her. He faced her with a bright smile. He thoroughly enjoyed her visits and couldn't help himself but to crack a grin every time she came. "Ja, of course. Vatever you like."
Ororo wrung her hands together nervously and unclasped them to hold one of Kurt's hands tenderly. "I saw you take some bandages four days ago and saw a blood stain on your shirt." The blue mutant looked away, smile slowly disappearing as he realized his secret scar was going to be exposed. Ororo let go of his hand and trailed her own across his chest and rested it over his heart. "What did you do?"
His teeth shone against the moonlight as he spoke and tried to convince her that he accidently scratched himself but knew it was fruitless because she thought of him as an almost extremist Catholic and suspected him of another marking. She was right. "I-I sinned somesing terrible and somesing I am not proud of." Kurt looked back at Storm with sombre eyes. "It vas my own fault and I'm sorry you had to find out in such a vay."
Storm clutched her fingers tighter against his jackets lapel and persisted. "I want to see it." Kurt shook his head downwardly but she pressured him, in a soothing manner so she didn't frighten him, of course. "Please…" she begged almost in a whisper, "I want to see it."
Brushing away the mocha skinned hand attached to his shirt lightly, the Nightcrawler began to unzip his vest and loosen his shirt, letting them both float around over his tail and bed once he had finished, along with his jacket. His flesh would have been a beautiful flawless metallic blue if he hadn't have etched in his angelic symbols and the reddened bandage wasn't tied loosely over his chest and shoulder. With a flick of his fingers, Kurt managed to release the droopy dressing and reveal his fresh scar. The navy crust of the elegant mark had a slightly purple spider-web-like patterned hue surrounding it and was slightly bubbled and raised, obviously a sign of infection. "Kurt, lie down."
"Vas?"
Using as much tender force she could muster, Ororo pressed her hands down on Kurt, pushing him back onto his white sheeted bed. She looked around his room as Kurt looked at her, confused. On the far left wall hung the various coloured but tattered posters of Nightcrawler's time in the circus that Professor Xavier allowed them to retrieve from the church in Boston. They were possibly the only colourful thing in the room besides Kurt himself and his night table which had been decorated with an oak Virgin Mary, a redwood cross with studded metal belts around the inward corners of the cross where the two woods connected, and a single white rose. The rose had only been picked sometime today, judging from the bright green of the stem and the vibrancy of the petals and the fact that it wasn't there last night. Ororo smiled and wondered what it was significant for. "Your cut's been infected. Have you been near water at all?"
There was a pause on Kurt's behalf as he thought. "No, except ven I vas in the shower."
"Are you sure?" Storm voice her question in jesting accusation. She watched over the children and teenagers everyday in the gardens from her balcony and each day she saw the only blue mutant in the whole school perched on an old tall oak tree like a bird. The leaves offered little privacy for most had been stripped away to welcome in the snowfall of winter, so that left Nightcrawler to be overly-exposed to Storm's watchful eye. Two days ago she saw him wandering around the pond and watched helplessly, but laughing instead, as something spooked him and he fell back into the water. Out from the bushes came Jubilee and Siryn, the younger girl giggling and praising Jubilee on her shocking talents. Storm had to talk to those two about that.
"You saw, didn't you?" Nightcrawler looked over at Storm with a sheepish look that his large golden eyes often portrayed whenever he looked up whether he meant to look that way or not. Storm closed her eyes in affirmative and smiled. "Vat are you going to do?"
"Where do you keep all that medical stuff you took?" His hesitant gesture to his wardrobe and his making to get up seemed a little suspicious to Storm but she guessed she would do the same if someone asked to go through her wardrobe. She pushed him back down. "I'll get it." The clacking of her heels against the floor boards seemed like the ticks of a clock slowly clicking by as she got closer and closer to his cupboard. Small buds of sweat rolled down his face. Storm opened the closet.
The strict rays of the setting sun washed over and into the closet, illuminating the array of tattered and clean clothes and a single black folder. Lying beside the folder was a shoebox with the end of a bandage coming out of it. Assuming it was the stash of medi-care Kurt had borrowed, Ororo retrieved it. She also picked up the black binder out of pure curiosity. Holding it up next to her face, Storm asked what it was. "It's no'sing!" Kurt panicked and quickly teleported to retrieve it but was foiled when Storm sensed when he was going appear next to her and immediately hugged him so she would go wherever he went. His exposed shoulders shrugged her off, intimidated by her sudden contact and slumped down. "May I please have zat back?"
Her eyes softened from being wide from his sudden outburst to a lazy gaze of curiosity. She was itching to find out what was so special about this book that made the Nightcrawler get so worked up, but Storm knew that she couldn't resist his polite pleading or trust and handed it slowly back over to him. "What is it?"
Nightcrawler stroked the folder's black cover in comfort and answered truthfully, "I have been drawing lately, but I don't vant anyvun to see zem yet." Kurt backed away from Storm kindly, bowing the top of his body a fraction, and sauntered back over to his bed. He held the folder close to his chest and fingered the corner of the book as he sat normally. "Veren't you going to do some'sing?"
As if distracted by a butterfly, Ororo regained her composter after staring into space in Kurt's direction and walked back over to him with the shoebox full of medical supplies in her arms. "This won't hurt, I promise." With a cushioned thud, Ororo dropped the box beside Kurt, took a pad, surgical tape and a tube of Celestone cream and applied them all caringly on the wound. Ororo traced her cream-covered fingers over the raised skin of the symbol and asked, "Did you do this because you took the medical supplies without asking?"
The ex-circus member shifted his golden eyes at her in a matter-of-fact kind of way. "I took zem after I made my mark." His voice dropped ashamedly, "I made a mark for zem too."
"So why did you do it?" Ororo busied herself with sticking on the pad neatly so she did not have to look at Kurt with slightly accusing eyes.
Mutant or not, Kurt was nervous even sitting next to Ororo, let alone confess a sin to her but he knew it was the right thing to do. "I-I blame myself for letting Miss Gray drown. I could have tried harder to beat her barrier and save her but I vas veak. I vas too vorried about my own safety. I am a Faultier." Placing her hands delicately in her lap after fixing up Kurt's bandage, Storm looked across at him and quirked an eyebrow, question what he just referred himself to. "A sloth. Vun of the deadly sins and I vas veak enough to commit it." The teleporter sighed and stood; his sketch book firmly under his left arm.
Sympathy washed over Storm as she knew that Jean's death somehow affected the mutant standing in front of her and stood to him, placing a tender arm over his shoulders. She whispered closely in his ear words of comfort that she hoped would help him, "I don't think you're weak. I think you are just…" Storm thought of the right word to say, "…lost."
Nightcrawler rested his chin on his shoulder to look at Ororo in the corner of his eye. "You sink so?" Ororo nodded. "But I don't understand. I have done everysing to redeem myself yet I still feel a sort," gesturing with his right hand over his exposed chest, Kurt made a series of circles just above his heart to emphasize his point, "hole in me, like I'm missing something."
"What have you missed?"
"I don't know." Nightcrawler easily slipped away from Storm's grasp and began to finger the corner of his folder again.
"May I see what you've done?" Kurt shook his head. "Please?" Feeling hopeful, the African beauty strode quietly up behind the German and curled her fingers tentatively around the binder rings and slipped it out from under his arms. Kurt seemed to have given into her kind yet pestering pleads and followed her back to his bed, leaned timidly against the bed head, his knees drawn up closely to his chest, and watched her silently as she flipped through the pages of his art book.
Each page, it seemed to her, was carefully thought about and given full attention to as it was used. Not every page was devoted to religion though. Two pages next to each other were designed to portray the entire X-men league, including Rogue since he had taking a liking to her ever since she thanked him for saving her life. Including her, every member had been sketched down to their last feature and given their own special stance. Another page was so well drawn and coloured that Ororo was almost convinced it was a photo. On the page was the X-Jet with tornadoes trailing behind it and 2 fighter jets following it. It was a memory of his time in the jet.
The pages after that were dedicated to his faith and the scenery of Professor Xaiver's school ground. Ororo chuckled softly of remembering all those times she saw him in the oak tree, on the roof or just standing on a balcony with his book. He had been sketching the gardens and whatever activity was going on around in them. "I like vatching the children show zeir powers."
Storm smiled and peered closer at the picture of Jubilee, Kitty and a blue haired boy. The boy and Kitty were watching Jubilee show off an electrical orb in the garden gazebo. As she turned the next page, Kurt gasped. Ororo whipped her head to look at him before seeing the next page float down to reveal its picture. "What?"
Kurt bowed his head. "No'sing."
Storm shook her head and gazed down at the new page, her eyes growing large. There, in front of her, was a picture of her and Jean talking animatedly to each other in a forest of snow-drenched pine trees and a broken off wall in the distance. The wall, as it appeared, had a man strapped to it. A man named William Stryker. He was far away but you could just make out his features and the chains that held him against the wall. But that wasn't what Ororo concentrated on. She was far more interested in the large portrait of herself and Jean. Every feature, from the dimples of their smiles to the shadows drifting over their faces and bodies were done perfectly. But something wasn't quite right about their uniforms.
Looking closer, Ororo saw black and gray flames decorate Jean's X-men suit, whilst her own had electricity and an extremely small heart on her shoulder. Hoping she had not noticed, Kurt quickly stole back the folder and teleported over to his closet, tossing in the book and quickly shutting the door; he placed a hand over one of the doors to hold it there as well as keep himself up. His pointed ears twitched as he heard the soft clacking of Storm's shoes coming closer and closer to him. He felt the warm hand of hers curve itself over his bare shoulder and rest. "Thank you."
A shiver ran up the German Demon's spine as the African Goddess twisted him slowly around and forced his golden eyes to gaze upon her chocolate ones. He pressured more of his weight on his fawn-shaped legs as he tried to make himself smaller from embarrassment and a light purple shade played across his face. "O-Ororo…" His whole body felt like static tingles were dancing around inside of it when Storm brought her hands together in the middle of his chest, where his only patch of fur was, and leaned into him.
She felt his nervous warm breath on the tip of nose as she leaned closer in towards him; her lashes brushing her cheeks as she closed her eyes. In front of her closed lids was a very nervous Kurt Wagner. He couldn't remember the last time a female kissed him, but he could remember the sweet tingling sensation his lips felt when he was kissed. He wanted to experience that again, so he did. He closed the gap between himself and the weather-controlling beauty and pressed his lips to hers. His blue lids slowly slid down, relishing the moment between them.
Feeling as sense of hope coming from him, Storm pressed firmly onwards, opening her mouth for the blue mutant. Gentle swirling around in her mouth and trying to keep this experience going for as long as possible, Kurt allowed his tongue to caress and sooth Ororo's, calming both himself and her. From behind, Kurt's spaded tail swayed excitedly across the ground and grated the floor several times, earning the wood multiple deep scratches.
Hesitantly, and almost regrettably, Kurt tilted his head back and gazed upon Ororo's gradually opening lids; he smiled crookedly when her eyes finally saw him again. "O-Ororo…" He didn't know what else to say. Truthfully, this was one of the experiences he desired ever since seeing Storm in action at Alkali lake and her close touch when he teleported them both to save the Professor, but realistically he wished that he could give Storm back her kiss. She didn't have to waste such time on him; yet she did. "…V-vha…vhy?"
Storm offered a toothless but sweet smile for him and pulled him closer for another hug. As her arms wrapped around his waist, and feeling his smooth arms envelope her shoulders gratefully, Ororo felt her fingers brush across something of a latex texture. Knowing it was his scar and was more well-preserved than his chest wound; Ororo pressed herself more into Kurt and savoured the sense of his skin to her own. She pressed her cheek to his and whispered, "I love you, Kurt."
His tail, however obnoxious but brilliant it may be at times, sway excitedly as Storm's words tickled his ear. He thought the day would never come that a woman who wasn't forced to would say those three little words to him. Trying as hard as he could to stay cool Kurt couldn't help but smile widely, showing his sharp pearly whites to the world. "I have somesing for you, Storm."
Whether she was going to say it or not, Kurt was going to offer it anyway. He politely released their embrace and strode happily over to his bedside table, picked up the white rose and returned to her. Ororo, frowning a little at what Kurt was doing, soon brightened up when he proffered the white rose to her. She took it gratefully with a delicate touch and sniffed it. "It's beautiful. Thank you, Kurt."
"You're quite velcome, Ororo."
The Dark had finally found his Light.
Rest of the Stuff: I'm not sure if international people know what Celestone cream is, so just as a helpful reference, its a steriod cream (cold white cream that you put on burns, infections etc.) I got the idea of the story from my life actually...No, i don't self-mutalate! My leg was scratched deeply by a rusted mesh thingy (that metal stuff you put in before concrete for housing) and became infected...Sigh, the Days of our Lifes...man, I dislike that show. *Shifts eyes* Riiiiight, going a bit off-topic so I'll end it here. Also, if you've been on my profile before reading this story, you would have noticed that I do kind of speak German, so Nightcrawler was a perfect character for me YAY!!!
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Later Taters!!