Kurt had plenty of time to look over maps, determine their route and placement on the globe, and run calculations through his mind. The beginning of the trip was benign, but his tension eventually grew over the ocean. Leonie noticed it, watching him in silence and concern.

The sun set before them, and soon everything around them was black. Nothing gave away where they were except for the gauges all around them. Kurt knew how to read them. But that didn't make him happy.

„Okay," Kurt eventually said. He'd already spent hours worrying. „This plane isn't handling the turbulence and resistance from the jet stream as well as I calculated." He cursed lowly. „Fool. This isn't the Blackbird."

„So what does that mean?" Leonie asked. Her voice was thick with grogginess, but she refused to sleep.

Kurt studied the map he had strewn out on his lap. „We're not making it to New York." He cursed again. „Hopefully I can steer us to Canada. We have a long hike ahead of us."

„How long?" Leonie asked. She knew geography as well as the next kid, but she wasn't well versed in North American distances. Crossing Germany was one thing. Canada was huge.

„Probably a few weeks." In the beginning of winter. In Canada. He'd need to find them some nice clothes. At least he'd blend in well, bundled up as tightly as everyone around him.

Leonie sat back hard into her chair at that. „Oh."

„That's by foot. Traveling every waking hour every day," Kurt continued. „There's a possibility we'll only have a few hours and this could take a couple months."

Leonie tried her best to hold back an appalled expression, but she was fairly certain she ultimately failed. Kurt noticed, at least.

„How good is your English?" he asked her.

She cringed. „Not very good."

Kurt bit his lip. "If I spoke it to you," he said slowly, switching over to the language, "would you understand me?"

Her face contorted into an almost pained expression. "Hi. My name is Leonie. Where is the nearest bathroom?" Her accent was thick, like she was talking through a mouthful of peanut butter.

„Mein Gott," Kurt breathed softly. „Although, to be fair, the only reason I speak English as well as I do is because Professor X dumped the language telepathically into my head."

„Do I really need to know how to speak English?" Leonie asked.

„Not necessarily," Kurt replied. His voice grew distant as he studied the maps again. This time, he made a slight adjustment to their flight course. „But it would still be a useful tool to have, or?"

Leonie sighed. „Okay, I should at least learn a few words. What is Nation in English?"

"Nation," Kurt replied. „It's spelled exactly the same way, believe it or not. But in English, the vowels are pronounced differently and the 't' is a 'sch' sound."

„Aaaaaay?" Leonie repeated back, confused. She tested the vowel on her tongue a few times.

„Less in the back of the palette and more toward the middle," Kurt explained. The Germans didn't have the same noise in their alphabet.

„Naaaaaay … schon."

"Nation." Kurt cracked a grin. „Close enough."

„Soldiers," Leonie requested.

Kurt repeated it back in English and received the same confused look. He belted out a laugh despite himself. Again, the Germans didn't have the hard g and he was certain Leonie didn't know where to place it in her mouth. "Nation. Soldiers," he repeated, speaking as clearly as he could muster. His voice was already accented in German enough that he couldn't school her perfectly in pronouncing the letters and sounds. His palette hadn't formed to the sounds and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the sounds perfect. „Using a 'djür' is close enough to 'g'."

Leonie brought her legs up to her chest in the copilot's seat and turned to staring out the vast blackness in front of them. "Nation. Soldiers." Kurt thought his accent was bad. He'd be surprised if a native English speaker would understand those syllables. She continued repeating the words, testing them on her tongue. Eventually, she turned back to Kurt. „Help me."

Kurt translated again. Her face practically lit up at the new words. These ones were easy.

„Help my friend?"

Kurt took his eyes away from the map and squinted at her. „Do you really think that will be necessary?"

„Doesn't matter. Help my friend." She paused. „Please."

Kurt sighed. "Help my friend, please. Or please help my friend." He swallowed. „You shouldn't ever need that one. Besides, the kind of trouble I get into isn't the kind I get helped out of."

„Isn't that why we're going to New York?"

Kurt cocked an eyebrow in her direction. „Yes."

She nodded firmly. "Please help my friend. Help me. Nation. Soldiers." She blinked, as if suddenly thinking something new. „Are they still called Nation in America?"

Kurt didn't look her in the eyes. „Yes. We beg the world for a unified peace and it's the villains that stand united. Against us all. Ironic," he said bitterly.

Leonie let him simmer for a moment and then changed the direction of the conversation to pull his attention away from the anger. „How much farther until we reach Canada?"

Blinking, Kurt ran a calculation through his head. He muttered softly as he mathed it out. „About half an hour."

Leonie squinted through the shield. „How will you know the difference between land and water? Everything is the same color and I'm assuming the electricity is out here, too."

Perceptive. Kurt frowned. „Good question. I'll swing lower in a bit and slow down my speed. Perhaps we should have waited to go wheels up at night." He forced a chuckle.

Without sounding alarmed, Leonie asked, „Are we going to die?"

„A crash landing?" Kurt asked for clarification.

„Yeah."

„No way. Well, not a bad one at least." He shot her a cheesy grin. The laughs and smiles that were so natural to him not so long ago felt foreign. But he realized that he needed to hold on to his jovial self before it was gone forever.

Leonie groaned.

„You know what they say," Kurt said. „Any landing you walk away from…."

„Please stop before you make things worse."

„Who? Moi?" He received a rather low-energy glare in response. „I'll have you know the worst crashes I've ever been in – and there have been a lot – were not caused by me. I'm safe!" Her expression told him everything he needed to know.

As the last few minutes of the plane ride wore on, Kurt ran scenarios through his head. Leonie's comment worried him. Even after he brought the plane dangerously low, cutting the speed to the bare minimum, he couldn't see anything in front of him. The end of the flight came quickly. Kurt felt it before he saw it.

He immediately let go of the yoke and teleported away from the pilot's seat. He grabbed everything they brought on the plane in two smooth movements, and then jumped to grab Leonie. She was awake, but he was moving so quickly she barely had the chance to ask what he was doing. The plane jolted beneath their feet, and Kurt nearly lost his grip on the girl. He shoved everything into her arms and she took it without hesitation. Without giving her any verbal warning, he teleported outside, sending himself in the opposite direction of the plane, using the path the plane had already crashed through to try and keep them safe. He vaguely heard Leonie screaming as he wrapped his body tightly around hers. His arms pulled tight around her chest and crossed arms. He could only hope that his larger body would keep her safe.

Within seconds, he saw the sparks and fledgling flames from the plane, now yards upon yards away from where they were. His shoulder, the bad one, hit the ground first, and they skidded across the ground. A tree provided their stop, none too nicely. Kurt lost consciousness as soon as his body hit the trunk.

He awoke to crying. And pain. A whole lot of pain. Kurt groaned as he tried to go upright, but a flashing pain on top of the other pain made him stop. When he opened his eyes, his vision swam. And the crying? Leonie was somewhere next to him, bawling into her fists to keep herself quiet.

„L-Leonie?" Kurt rasped.

„Kurt!" she squeaked. „You're alive!"

Kurt closed his eyes, letting the words process. „Are you okay?" He couldn't remember what happened.

„Yeah. I mean – better than you."

„What hurts?"

„Just some scrapes. I'm fine." She sounded much too worried. Her voice was quick to answer. She was lying.

„Head?" Kurt asked. He opened his eyes again to study her, but she wasn't clear. The sun was beginning to rise, lending some daylight, and it didn't help the fuzziness of his vision.

„My head?"

Kurt couldn't nod. Oh, how that hurt. „Yes."

„Fine." Kurt was certain that sounded more truthful.

„I … I definitely have a concussion," he mused. A lot of people that received a knock over the head wouldn't recognize their condition. Kurt, on the other hand, was having trouble sifting through all of the information thrown at him. He was completely ignoring sensory information to help the workload. „And …" He mentally took stock of his body. „Dislocated my shoulder. Bad shoulder. If I'm lucky. Probably cracked some ribs." He couldn't register the horror that crossed her face.

Kurt had to fight nausea as he spoke. The edges of his vision were black, the rest of it unclear. If he even tried moving any piece of his body, both the nausea and vision loss grew worse. „Leonie …"

„What?"

„How bad is it?" He grimaced when he realized those words didn't touch the question he really wanted to ask.

„You? I thought you were dying." Her voice hitched in another sob.

„I'm sorry," he said quickly. He meant it. He promised to keep her safe. For the most part, it appeared he kept her from immediate harm, but now what was she to do? „I'm not dying. Just give me a minute to get over … this."

„A minute," Leonie repeated flatly.

„Yeah. But … the crash."

„The plane is gone. There's hardly anything left."

Kurt was getting frustrated. What were the words he really wanted? „No. How many people? Are we safe?"

„No one is around. Just forest." Her eyes darted back and forth over his face. „But I don't think we're safe, Kurt."

„But no Nation." That's what he wanted to know. He couldn't do anything, let alone get them away from Nation.

„Nothing."

Kurt tried again to get up. His vision flashed completely black and his stomach threatened to turn, despite it already being empty of any contents. He refused to move the one arm, but used his better one to prop himself up. He made it up halfway and used his elbow to keep him in that position. His ribs protested every movement. It took his entire will to keep from screaming out of pain.

„You were stupid, Kurt!" Leonie screamed. She almost startled him back to the ground. „You almost got yourself killed!" More quietly: „You almost left me."

„Stupidity has nothing to do with this," Kurt grumbled. „Poor luck. Good luck. Depends on how you look at it. My body will heal, but we need shelter." It took him up until then to realize Leonie had draped the blanket around him. He still wasn't wearing a shirt. It was cold. Too cold to survive without somewhere sheltered to sleep.

„It gives nothing," Leonie growled.

„How far have you looked?"

„I couldn't leave you. I was scared."

„You should look." He swallowed. It wasn't easy. Not only did it spark some more pain, but he didn't have much saliva to swallow. He needed water, too. „I'm not sure I can." He couldn't feel much below the ribs yet. He wasn't sure what that meant. He refused to believe the worst.

Leonie shook her head fiercely. „I'm not leaving you!"

„You'll come back." Kurt's eyes followed his arm to his hand. Scrapes and invisible bruises, but intact. He couldn't look around to the other arm. The muscles tightening to turn his neck was excruciating.

„But …" Fresh tears again. „Kurt, I'm so scared."

„I know," Kurt acknowledged, „but you're brave, Leonie."

She leaned forward, hanging her head on her neck. „I'm not," she mumbled.

„You are." He thought he was using a firm voice. She wasn't responding to it. „Leonie." She looked at him through her hair. „Please? I can't move. We'll die if we're out here for too long."

„All this just to die."

„No! We didn't fly to Canada to die. We just need some shelter. Please." He couldn't support his weight anymore and lowered himself to the ground. „I need you to do this." Every breath hurt, his head and shoulder throbbed. His vision was fading, swimming with the nausea. Thinking, while vaguely clear for a moment, was becoming difficult. He couldn't argue anymore. She needed to make this decision herself. He wasn't awake for her resolution.

Kurt would periodically wake up throughout the day. He was lucky; the sun, even though the canopy of the trees, was fairly warm. His vision was too fuzzy to see anything when he did wake, and he was often quickly back asleep.

At some point during the day, he woke up enough to realize he needed to try and get at least one thing done. Despite the agony streaking through his torso and down his worse arm, he pushed himself to a full sitting position. Balancing was difficult, but possible. Using his upright position to poke around, Kurt forced himself to look at his right arm. The skin was ripped to shreds on the upper half, but most everything looked superficial. Grimacing against the blinding pain it caused, Kurt poked around the shoulder to see what the damage was there. He couldn't feel the head to his humorous; his shoulder wasn't dislocated. The pain was coming from further down his back, along the scapula. Fracture? The strong pain near the shoulder could have been a strained muscle.

Next, Kurt surveyed his ribs, gently touching each one to figure out just how many he had broken. Three caused him acute pain, all on his right side. He couldn't reach along his spine, so instead he skipped to the next set of bones within each. Every finger fall on his hips and legs fell on deaf nerves. Kurt squeezed his eyes clothes in silent prayer and lowered himself back to the ground. He couldn't deal with that problem yet.

Around nightfall, Leonie returned to him. She placed her hand gently on his better shoulder, tapping him lightly to try and gain his attention. Kurt wasn't sure how long she had been there before he acknowledged her. „Kurt," she whispered urgently, upon seeing him stir. The extra stab of pain through his ribs helped his lucidity.

„Liebchen?"

„I found a little abandoned cabin, about a mile down the road." What road? „I, uh, I kicked open the door and brought you some more blankets. How do you feel?"

„Not … good," Kurt said. His voice rasped painfully in his throat.

She readjusted the blanket already draped across him, pulling it back up to his upper torso. She added a second one from the little bundle she stole from the cabin. „Can you move? Get to the cabin?"

„No."

Leonie's eyes swept over him in concern. „What's wrong?" she asked softly.

Kurt set his jaw. The words didn't want to come. „Do you remember what happened?" he asked instead. „During the crash?"

„Kurt?"

„Just answer me."

Leonie looked back to where the remains of the plane lay. „You grabbed me. I didn't know what was going on. Next I knew, we were out of the plane. You held on so tight, but I think we hit a tree." Her gaze then studied the tree behind him. „You let go after that. You kept me safe, though." She breathed in deep and then looked him straight into the eye. „What's wrong? It's not just the shoulder and ribs, is it?"

„No."

„Kurt."

If he said it, it would be true. It couldn't be true. „I may have broken my back," Kurt nearly whispered. Leonie's expression drop was a reflection of his horror.

„How are you going to get to the cabin?" Leonie finally asked.

„I'm not."

Leonie sat back heavily from her crouching position, letting out a little wuff of air as she hit. „You're a liar, Kurt."

„I don't recall lying to you," Kurt said gently.

She snorted. „You said we wouldn't crash land. Not a bad landing. You're safe!" She pulled her legs into herself and tucked her head away behind her knees. „You said any landing you can walk away from. Well, guess what? You're not walking away from this one, Nightcrawler."

Her voice was so venomous, Kurt was beside himself with surprise. He couldn't even find it in himself to be angry at her accusations. He wasn't sure how he was getting out of this mess. He didn't think he could.

„Leonie. You should go back to the cabin."

„And do what?" she asked, her voice still sharp. „Wait to starve and freeze to death?"

„Look for help. Find a group of people that will take you in. You're a sweet girl, Leonie. You have a chance."

Leonie lifted up her face. Her cheeks were stained with dirt and tears. „And leave you to die?"

Kurt swallowed, clenching his jaw against the emotion building in his chest. „Yes."

„You don't think that won't shatter me inside? I'll be literally killing my hero." Another sob shook her body.

„No. You'll be saving yourself."

„You're a damn idiot, Kurt, but I'm not leaving you to die." She took a deep breath to calm herself, and then sighed. „I'll go back to the cabin tomorrow and see what else I can find there. But if you can't move, I'm not going to leave you." She let go of her legs and pulled out the other blanket she stole from the cabin, billowing it out around her. As it fluttered down, she dropped to her side and snuggled up to Kurt's side, pushing her body gently against his. He shifted his good arm to hold her, to comfort her for perhaps the last time in her life. She turned to look at him, gently resting her head on his shoulder. „If you die, no one around here will understand me."

"Parles-tu francais?"

„What?"

„Well, we're in Canada. There's a good chance someone around here speaks French as they speak English."

„Just German." She forced a small smile on her lips. "Und help me. Please help my friend."

„It gives no help for me." He tried to mirror her smile. „You need a new English phrase."

„My friend is a paralyzed idiot and I need food."

Kurt scoffed, and then adjusted his arm to pull her closer. The air really was cold with the sun gone. „We'll work on that one.…" She puffed out a little sound of amusement and snuggled closer to his body, simultaneously working up the blanket around her to keep her warm.

Sleep was no problem in his concussed state. When he next awoke, however, Leonie had left the nook of his arm and was nowhere to be found. The sun was up and shining through the canopy, though offered little warmth. The blanket Leonie had used over the night was draped with the other two over his body. The weight of the fabrics was a little restricting on his chest, but the warmth was necessary. He couldn't exactly move to produce body heat, and it had been a while since he had last eaten.

All he could do was wait impatiently for Leonie to show up again.

Time passed by slowly. His body was sore from bruises, fractures, and sitting still. Yet he still couldn't feel his lower back, legs, or tail. No doubt, he didn't have control of himself. He was already frustrated enough with his inability to move, he didn't need other problems stemming from it. Not that he had a choice.

After long last, Kurt finally heard noises other than the chirping of the winter birds. If it was Leonie, she had brought something bigger along with her. He tried to crane his neck to look, but the muscles pulled at his fractured scapula and proved too much for him to deal with at that moment. So he waited some more.

„Are you awake?" German words in Leonie's voice.

„Unfortunately, yes."

„I brought something from the cabin's shed. It turns out that whomever lived there was an avid gardener."

„What does that mean?"

„A wagon."

„My God, no."

„Do you have a better idea?" The wagon finally reached the edge of his vision, pulled in tow behind Leonie. It wasn't a wagon meant for kids, but an actual work wagon with big, air-filled tires. It looked like it would easily carry his weight, assuming he could even get into it.

„Just leave me here to die. The pain won't be worth it."

She stopped immediately, even though she was still a few paces away. „Oh yeah. Your shoulder is dislocated."

„No, I was wrong about that. Strained muscle but the bone is in place. The shoulder blade is definitely fractured. It's, uh, not as solid feeling?" He could feel the bone push against itself if he moved it just right. It was quite unpleasant.

She moved forward again. Slower than before. „And your ribs?"

„Three broken. Higher up the rib cage." He gestured vaguely with his good arm. „Not to mention, I still have a big hole that hasn't healed up here." He tapped the top of his shoulder lightly.

She lightly dropped the handle to the wagon and sat down beside him. „Where does the feeling stop on your body?"

Kurt paused a moment. „I'm not entirely sure. I have full use of my lungs, assuming I can breathe through the broken ribs." He felt down his stomach, trying to determine where he stopped feeling his own touch. „I'd say one of the last few lumbar vertebrate before my tail." He paused and looked her straight into her eyes. „Which means I have no control over my bowels and bladder."

„I know."

Kurt dropped her gaze and looked away. Did he have to feel shame burning at his skin?

„The cabin doesn't have running water, but it does have a hand pump. I can draw you a bath. We'll get you clean clothes and … and I don't know what else, Kurt. I don't know what I need to do."

„I already explained your options last night, is that not so?"

„Those were rotten options. So. We need to get you into this wagon. You weigh way more than I can lift, but I should be able to pull you."

Kurt eyed the wagon. It was tall. He held up his better hand to her. „Help me sit up." She swung a leg over his lower torso and grabbed his hand, grunting as she pulled. She did most of the work and it still wrenched him hard enough he almost let out an involuntary scream. As soon as she let go of his hand, he whipped it behind himself to hold him upright. His muscles worked along his torso, but using them brought extreme nausea. Then again, maybe that was vertigo brought on by the concussion. „Blankets," he said. He pawed at them with his weak arm, but he didn't want to stress his shoulder. Yet. Leonie obediently pulled them away. The cold air, now exposed to his warmed body, was a good motivator. With a sigh, he said, „Bring the wagon closer to where I can grab it. I'm going to need you to hold it steady. This is really, really going to hurt and I don't want to do it more than once." Again, Leonie quietly did as asked, stopping the wagon once it was lightly touching his exposed back. He reached up with his weakened arm, ignoring all the hitches of his broken bones. Even the bullet wound protested at being bunched up. The plastic wasn't as sturdy as he would have expected from a work wagon, but he hoped to dear God that it would hold his weight. He then trusted his abs to do as they were told and reached up with his good arm. Both hands were on opposite sides of the cart. He couldn't move any further.

„Kurt?" Leonie asked after a sizeable moment.

Kurt let silence stretch for a while. He couldn't work up the nerve to pull himself into the cart. „Have you ever heard me scream?" he asked.

„No…."

„I'm, uh, I guarantee I'm not going to … not…."

„What?"

Kurt breathed in deeply. As much as his ribs allowed him, at least. „I'm always conscious of my actions, but I do not have the capacity to keep my mouth shut in pain or rage. This is going to push the very limit of my pain threshold."

He heard Leonie swallow, even though she was out of his sight. „Um … why are you telling me this?"

„I'm merely preparing you. I've been told that my screams don't sound … human." He still couldn't work up the nerve. „Bones have nerves and feeling, which is a common misconception. Not on the inside of the bone, no, but the harder outside."

„Why are you telling me this?" Fear crept into her voice. It was higher pitched than before. He hated to ruin the feeling of pride she had in trying to help him.

„I'm explaining why I'm having trouble getting myself to do this. By pulling myself up, I'll be putting incredible strain on my broken shoulder. With as much dead weight my legs and therefore torso present, I wouldn't be surprised if I fracture it more."

„I don't think I need to hear this. I don't think I can take it."

Kurt's expression softened even though he knew she couldn't see. „I'm sorry. I just want you prepared. I can't go scaring you off now."

„So you look like a demon and sound like one, too."

Kurt tilted his head to the side. „I guess so." He then straightened up, tensing his arms in preparation. Again taking as deep a breath as his ribs allowed, he pulled. The pain was immediate. He couldn't remember the first fracture, but putting all of his weight on that broken bone made it feel as if he was splitting open at the shoulder. Even the bullet wound felt negligible in relation to the scapula. His ribs protested as well, though not as forcefully. He squeezed his eyes shut against the pain and it took every ounce of concentration to pull himself over the lip of the wagon and fight his body shutting down. He could still tell he was near blacking out without his eyes being open.

He didn't have feeling in his butt and couldn't tell if he'd pulled himself along the wagon enough until he did open his eyes. It was unnerving to see his legs and tail being pulled along like rags. They were his, but seeing them and not feeling them was very surreal. As soon as he got the majority of his body into the cart, he dropped himself to relieve the strain on his shoulder. The bone and muscle both continued screaming at him, but it was his voice from seconds before that echoed back from the trees. He breathed heavily, his ribs protesting every rise and fall.

„Oh, God," Leonie eventually breathed. Kurt tried to turn to see her, but thought better of it when his body protested. „Oh, God, you weren't joking."

„I really need better control of myself…." It was a lame excuse.

She didn't say anything in response, but she did walk into his view. Her eyes were wide. Without a word, she helped his legs into the cart, and then draped his tail across his lap. He eyed it morosely. She added the blankets and other belongings he had stuffed into her arms during the crash to his lap, and then returned to the area behind him, out of sight.

„Are you ready? I doubt this is going to be a very smooth ride."

He gripped the edge of the wagon with his good hand. It hadn't given out from under him, and for that he was grateful. He would have crashed heavily onto his already battered body. He may have given up. „As I'll ever be," he replied.

He heard her pick up the handle from the ground, and then felt the jolt of her pulling. She grunted hard against the strain. At first, Kurt wasn't sure if she'd be able to move him. He was a smaller man. He was a little less than average for height and very lithe in build. Then again, she was a smaller woman. She probably came up to his chin when they stood side-by-side. She sported the same thin frame as he did. She had youthful vigor on her side, but she hadn't been eating very well the past year, either. Kurt had retained some muscle definition from his heroing days. She didn't have that same advantage.

Fortunately, once she dug her toes into the ground, she was able to get his mass moving with the aide of the wagon. Her progress wasn't very quick, but they weren't racing against anything. If no one had found them yet, flagged by the crashing plane, Kurt didn't think anyone would. They had found a very remote area of Canada. So long as they found food, perhaps it was for the best.