Disclaimer: All I own is Rose and the words below.
A/N: Hey, long time no see! Seeing as I had originally planned for Same Old Nightmare to be a one-shot, it has taken some considerable thought and effort to figure out how to end it. So here we are the final chapter of Same Old Nightmare. I thank everyone who continued to read and support it. So without further ado, I turn it over one last time (for this fanfic anyway) to Mister Kurt Vagner. Enjoy! Here goes!
"So, like, you're out of luck." said a familiar voice as two hands appeared through the wall Azazel leaned against, pulling him through.
"Katzchen." I murmured with a slight smile as I turned to face my brother.
"Now zis scene seems familiar does it not, mein brozzer?" noted my brother as he turned slowly to face me. He shrugged off his coat. "Zough zis time ze outcome vill be different. Vith you gone, fazzer vill have to pay attention to me. Vith you out of ze vay Fazzer vill realize zat I am ze loyal and better sohn. I vill be ze one by his side as he takes control of zis vorld, not you."
"You honestly believe zat?" I asked in disbelief. "If our, correction, your fazzer loved you he vould have shown it by now. Vake up, Stefane. Azazel doesn't care about anyone except himself. He's using you. Zat's all men like him do, use people to get vhat he vants. Zey don't care vho zey hurt in ze process."
"Is zat vhat zat mutant zat belongs to Magneto told you?" sneered the monster that wore my brother's skin. The brother who had laughed with me, who had swung me up on his shoulders when I fell down, dried my tears, and encouraged me, that was not the man who stood before me now.
I sighed. I felt as if the very heavens were laughing at me as they watched me suffer as if I truly were a demon, eternally damned to live the same old nightmare over and over again. "Keety already told you, Frau Rose belongs to no one."
"Ah, ja. Your leetle girlvriend. You sure about leaving her alone vith Fazzer? If I vere you I vould be very vorried about her."
"Vell zen, it's a good zing zat I'm not you." I said, baring my fangs as I crouched into a fighting position.
"Are you going to kill me again, leetle brozzer?" He asked, watching me carefully.
"Enough talk." I muttered as I sprung at him, knocking him to the floor. My hands firmly placed on his shoulders. My spaded tail poised right above his neck. "You never vere no match for me, not ven I vas a child and especially not now. Ve X-Men are taught by ze best of ze best."
"Ze best of ze best who keep secrets vrom you? Secrets about your past, about your origins?" He growled back, his composure completely gone. "Zey made you zink zat you vere zis mighty hero, instead of vhat you really are."
"And vhat am I really?" I asked, pressing down on his shoulders, hard. My fingers dug into his skin. I wanted to know. I needed to know. "Vhat am I, Stefane?"
Stefane laughed. "You really vant to know, mein brozzer? Ze truth about vhat you really are?"
I pressed down harder, drawing blood. "Tell me."
"You…"
"-are Kurt Vagner." said a similar voice behind me. "A.k.a. the Incredible Nightcrawler. A good friend and a mighty X-Man."
"And, like," said another familiar voice, this time below me as an equally familiar pair of hands appeared through the floor clasping a collar around Stefane's neck before pulling him through the floor. In his place was a beautiful brunette with bright eyes and a dazzling smile. "my boyfriend."
"Kitty." I murmured, leaning in to kiss her.
"Good thing we brought those collars Forge whipped up before we left, huh?" said the voice behind me as I turned.
"Frau Rose."
"Who else?" She grinned, looking tired but otherwise unharmed. Wolverine entered behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"But, how? How did you get avay vrom Magneto?" I asked, confused.
"He never showed." Rose shrugged. "I was placed downstairs in a cage that I couldn't escape from. No matter how much I tried…"
Her face darkened a moment before she shook her head. "But I kept trying until Kitty appeared with Logan. Apparently they didn't account for her power."
"Poor guys had no idea." Wolverine murmured, shaking his head sympathetically.
"So, Kitty phased you out of zere?" I inferred.
"Yep." Rose nodded. "She phased me out and told us the situation. Logan alerted Charles telepathically, who told me to run back to the plane and grab the collars. After that, well, you know the rest."
"Vhere are Azazel und Stefane now?" I asked.
"On the jet with Charles. Don't worry, we restrained them." Rose added, noting my expression. "We'll put them in a secure holding facility once we get back to the states."
"So it's over?"
"Yes, Kurt." Rose smiled. "It's over."
"For now." muttered Logan, earning a glare from Rose as she looked up at him over her shoulder. "What? I'm only bein' realistic."
Rose rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's go home."
"I know you guys have been keeping parts of mein origin a secret und I don't blame you." I said, a few days later as I once again found myself in Professor Xavier's room with Professor X and Frau Rose. "I know you must of had good reasons for not telling me, but I'm not a child vho needs protecting anymore. Like Frau Rose said, I'm an X-Man, an equal. So, please, tell me ze rest of mein story. I know zat Mystique und Azazel are mein parents und zat I vas raised by Magali. But zere's more to ze story isn't zere?"
Rose glanced at Xavier, biting the inside of her lip. X looked up at her and they conversed telepathically for a few minutes until Xavier broke eye contact with a sigh, looking extremely tired.
"When your mother, Mystique, found out she was pregnant with you," he began, looking at me sadly. "she ran away from your father, Azazel, to the one mutant she thought could protect you both, Magnus. But, instead of helping her, Magneto…"
"Magneto… vhat? Vhat did he do?"
"Let me, Charles." suggested Rose, placing a hand on his shoulder. Xavier, placing his hand on top of hers, inclined his head. Rose looked from him to me; sadness filled her cat-like eyes. "You remember the time Rogue was having nightmares that turned out to be memories, your memories?"
I nodded. "I remember." All too well.
"We found out more than who was your mother that day." admitted Rose. "Charles and I visited Mystique at the school and confronted her. Charles obtained the coordinates of the castle that Rogue had seen in her dream from Mystique's memory. Logan and I went there, to Germany."
"Und vhat did you vind zere, Frau Rose?"
"The place was a wreck, but it looked like someone was… experimenting on mutants." Her eyes flashed with pain.
"Magneto?"
Rose nodded, her jaw clenched.
"So, vhat? He experimented on me?"
Rose nodded again after a moment. "From what we understand, yes. But that's all we were able to find out. The place was rigged to blow when we got there. There's nothing left. He's never one to leave evidence behind if he can help it after all."
"So, I'm a f…"
"I already told you." said Rose firmly, cutting me off. Her face relaxing into her natural warm smile. "You are Kurt Vagner, a.k.a. the Incredible Nightcrawler. Friend, X-Man, and my mentee's boyfriend."
I grinned back. She was right. "It's time I stopped dwelling on ze past. I am vho I am. It doesn't matter vho ve vere or vhere ve came from, but vho ve choose to be."
"That's right." Rose nodded.
"Thank you for telling me zough. I really appreciate it." I said sincerely.
"Of course." Xavier said, looking up at me with a slight smile on his face. "Like you said, Kurt, you aren't a child anymore. It's time that we treated you like an adult, like an equal."
Rose nodded. "Though, it may take Wolverine some time to adjust."
"That's vhy he has you." I smirked, making her smile.
"It's good to have that special person in your life." Xavier noted wisely. "Someone who will stay with you through the good, and the bad."
"No matter what." Rose added.
Xavier nodded.
"Speaking of zat special person," I said, my tail twitching back and forth with excitement. "I have a lovely girlvriend vaiting vor me."
"Then what are you still doing here?" Rose grinned, making a shooing motion with a gloved hand. "Get out of here."
I grinned back as I ported into the rec room where Kitty was sitting on the couch, a book in her lap.
"Hey there, Fuzzy." She greeted looking up at me with a smile. "You ready to go?"
"Ja," I answered back as she got off the couch and stretched her legs.
"Then let's, like go," She said as she walked over to me, enveloping herself into my arms. She looked up at me with that knowing look on her face. "You okay?"
"Yes." I could honestly say that I was. No more Same Old Nightmare. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I no longer felt damned, but blessed. I kissed Kitty. "I've never felt better."
A/N: And there you have it! I hope you all enjoyed. It was a long and emotional ride, but we got through it. Next to be updated will be Coming of Age. Til then, read review and show the love!