Authors Note – Thanks for all the lovely reviews, it's great to know that you're enjoying this. XxPiotr's GirlxX – it makes sense that Kitty would not trust Kurt straight away, she's heard some pretty horrible stories about him, so he needs some way to convince her that he's innocent, which means showing her events from his past. Glad you find the idea interesting.

Now on with the story;

Stefan's Surprise

The first lights of dawn were filtering through the window of the caravan as Stefan shook Kurt into wakefulness. Kurt rubbed his eyes sleepily. "What?" he asked groggily.

Stefan put a finger to his lips, indicating for Kurt to be quiet. "I wanted to show you something. We passed the border some hours ago, now we're in the new land, there's something I want to show you before Mother wakes up."

"It's the middle of the night, Stefan," Jimaine moaned from the other side of the caravan, "couldn't this wait until morning?"

"It is dawn, therefore it is morning," Stefan reasoned, folding his arms over his chest, "and no, it couldn't wait until later. Look out of the window, both of you."

Jimaine gave him a wary glance as she strode over to the window. She gasped at what she saw. There were mountains and hills, and a forest of pine trees that stretched as far as the eye could see. Songbirds flew overhead, and the cool, crisp light of dawn gave the whole land an almost magical glow, as though they were entering some sort of enchanted kingdom. A waterfall, not that different from the one that had so fascinated Kurt across the border, gushed into a lake of clear water. The lake itself was so calm that it reflected the scenic view almost perfectly, as the sunlight gleamed on the water. Above the waterfall, at the very summit of a hill, there was a tall, black castle, complete with spires and turrets reaching towards the sky. It looked almost like a toy in the morning sunlight, but Kitty suspected that that it would appear to be quite eerie during the night-time.

"It's beautiful," Jimaine said, "an unspoilt paradise. Are we going to set up near here?"

Stefan nodded. "Half a mile or so to the west, there's a clearing there just outside the town. A perfect place for a circus."

"So is this your surprise?" asked Kurt.

Stefan shook his head. "No, little brother, that comes later. I just wanted to tell you about that castle up there," he made a scary face, grinning menacingly, and pretended that his hands were claws, "it's chateau de la mort," he said dramatically, "the castle of death."

Jimaine rolled her eyes, clearly not impressed. "It is?" she asked. "We're a bit too old to believe in horror stories any more, Stefan."

"No, I want to hear this," said Kurt, turning away from the window to where Stefan was being as dramatic as possible, which only caused Jimaine to shake her head in exasperation.

"It doesn't matter what you believe, Jimaine," Stefan said, pointing at the castle meaningfully, "that is the castle of death. Legend says that it is haunted by evil spirits, by creatures that committed murder in life, and are now trapped within its walls, unable to leave. On dark, cold nights, you can hear their moaning screams, and when there are storms, you can see witches riding their broomsticks above the castle, and cackling as they soar around the castle turrets."

"I don't ride a broomstick," Jimaine said pointedly, "I swing from a trapeze, and as far as I'm concerned, the only people who are going to be moaning in that castle are the tourists who have been charged too much and have failed to witness a single ghost."

Stefan deflated slightly at Jimaine's comment, and Kurt began to giggle. Sighing quietly, Stefan tried to regain his impressive demeanour, as he pointed to the castle once more. "You don't get tourists in places like that," he said, "or if you do, they don't come out again. That is a castle of complete evil, of death. And the interesting thing about it is that nothing living can enter there by normal means. The walls themselves keep strangers out by their ancient magic. You would need magic, or some other form of special power, to get in there, and to leave that unholy place." He gestured dramatically, and his voice suddenly became low and menacing. "Of course, very few manage to get out of there, and live long enough to tell the tale," he added.

Jimaine shook her head. "Just like every other haunted castle in Europe," she muttered, returning to her bed at the other end of the caravan, "wake me up when you have something important to show me."

Stefan deflated again, but Kurt tugged on his sleeve, and spoke quietly to him. "I liked your story," he said, "I thought it was scary and fun. Kind of frightening though," he added.

Stefan ruffled Kurt's hair playfully. "At least one of my siblings appreciates me," he said, making sure that his voice was loud enough for Jimaine to hear. She poked her tongue out at him in response. Stefan turned his attention back to Kurt. "I've still got to show you that surprise I promised you, haven't I?" he asked.

Kurt nodded, and Stefan walked over to a shelf that was filled with books and various pieces of paper. Moving a couple of books out of the way, he seemed to find what he was searching for, only to hide it behind his back as he turned his attention back to the confused Kurt. Jimaine walked over to Stefan, clearly curious about what Stefan's surprise might be. Stefan gave them both a dazzling smile, before turning his full attention back to Kurt. "Nightcrawler, meet Little Nightcrawler!" he said, pulling out something small and soft from behind his back.

Kurt took it, and grinned. It was a soft toy, between five and six inches high. It looked like a small, cute version of the Incredible Nightcrawler, complete with fuzzy blue fur, sparkling red and black costume, a long blue tail and yellow eyes. It also had Kurt's strange hands and feet, but there was nothing scary about the toy, it was the sort of toy that parents would be happy to give to their toddlers, cute and soft and completely harmless. Kurt bent it back, as though making it do a back flip. "It's pretty bendy, quite flexible," he said, "it's cute, really cute, but couldn't you have made it a bit more, I don't know, scary?" He turned it over in his hands, examining it critically. "It's supposed to be some sort of frightening acrobat, a death-defying performer, couldn't you make it look less like a toy and more like it's a scary creature of the night?"

Stefan shook his head decisively. "Now that's where you're wrong, little brother," he said, taking the doll back, "what I want with Little Nightcrawler here, is universal appeal. The sort of doll that will appeal to everyone, from parents wanting to buy them for their children, to lads buying them for their sweethearts, to those who just want to buy a physical reminder of our show. No reason to make it scary so that the very youngest members of our fans will not want one of their own, that would just be limiting our potential customers, so we make it as harmless looking as possible, while still making it look like the Incredible Nightcrawler. Good idea, don't you agree?" He grinned at Kurt.

Jimaine took the doll from her brother's hands, and examined it critically. "I've got to admit, he is rather cute," she said, turning the doll over and examining the stitching around the tail, "this might actually be a good idea," she sounded almost shocked, as though it was the first good idea that her brother had ever had. Stefan pointedly ignored this as Jimaine handed the doll back to him. "What does Mother think about this?" she asked.

"Margali's all for it," Stefan replied, "she wonders why it didn't occur to her earlier to sell toys from our shows, there's absolutely no reason why they shouldn't sell, at least, she couldn't think of a single reason. Besides, we need to make up the money we lost by not being able to perform our final show back across the border," he added.

Kurt looked down guiltily. "Because of me," he said quietly, "the final night is when we usually make the most money, when those who have not attended the show already realise that it's their last chance to see it. It's a shame we had to leave before the final show."

Stefan put his hand on Kurt's shoulder, and gave him a dazzling grin. "Why so glum, little brother?" he asked. "The circus is managing fine, even without the final night's takings, due to you. It's a new dawn, a new country, what better time for a new beginning?" He turned his attention back to the Little Nightcrawler doll, which he held out to Kurt. "And with these going on sale here, there's no reason why we should not be making even more money here than we did before. Of course, this is only a prototype," he added, "Margali said I should talk to you before I went ahead and created dozens of these dolls. So what do you think? Is the Incredible Nightcrawler prepared for me to start producing lots of Little Nightcrawlers?"

Kurt smiled up at Stefan as he took the doll in his hands. "I think it's an excellent idea, yes," he said, "after all, who wouldn't want to be immortalised in felt?"