X- Men Evolution

Destiny Magics

A/N Here's the next chapter, just as I promised. by the way, this was inspired a little bit by chapter 8 (Of Blood and Tears) of Blue by Nightcrwler's Shadow.

Disclaimer: I do not own X- men: Evo.

12. Blood and Comfort

"Okay, we've got to figure out what's up with Blue. He looks like he's halfway between here and death." Said Bobby.

"Charles," said Wolverine, "Do you think- Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

The dragon flinched, but didn't respond. She had crawled onto the tabletop and was scenting the area around Kurt's seat. She looked carefully. There! On the table and fork… "Blood."

"What?" Wolverine stood up and stomped over. The dragon looked up.

"There's a tiny amount of blood on his fork and on the table. Judging by his behavior as of late, I'd say he curled his fists so hard that his nails cut his palm, and got some of the blood on his fingertips."

"Logan, Hank, Ororo, Dragon, could we speak in my office? Now, please." Xavier left the table with a glance at each of the aforementioned instructors (…and dragon)

"Dragon, is this the beginning of what you saw?"

"Yes, professor. The light patterns have been sending me the same warning, in red, every morning. I've been on the alert, checking everything out. There has to be a trigger for this, it wouldn't start on its own. But there's nothing that I can find, I can't see nor hear nor smell anything out of place anywhere. Nothing in particular sets him off outside his room; we'd notice. There's no scent in his room but his own, and I doubt he'd deliberately keep something in there that would torture him. But he's definitely being tortured by something, and it's gotten bad. I doubt he'll just tell us, but we have to find out what."

"Yes. I hate to pry, but… there may not be another choice. What I'm most worried about is that when I probe into his mind, I'll unearth the memories bothering him. He'll end up reliving them… and that will break him even more, if he's not ready."

"Yes, it will. It will be a thousand times worse than the flashes he's getting now. But professor, if we know what's happening to him, we can help. If we make him deal with this on his own, he won't make it. If he would, I wouldn't be here. Only one rare person in a few million could overcome a past that's like a living hell without help. It nearly always consumes them."

"Dragon's right, Charles." Growled Wolverine, which surprised her- the dragon didn't think his usual attitude toward her would permit him to say so. "Even I needed some help from you. The Elf can't do this on his own."

"Kurt is going to need your help, Charles." Said Storm.

"Yes." The professor sighed. "Is there any way that this could be made easier for him?"

"Yes." Said the dragon. Xavier looked at her sharply. "Kitty. From what I've noticed, he really does relax a bit when she's nearby. I think it would help if she were there for him. But… we would need to tell her everything that we already know."
The professor nodded. "If you think that will help…"

"Sir, I think she'd do anything she could for him if she knew."

"Alright."

For awhile the five waited in the office, until Kitty walked through the door. "You called for me?"

"Yes, Kitty. We need to talk to you, but you must promise that you will not talk about this to anyone outside this room."

"Alright, Professor, I won't… what's this about?"

"Kurt." The dragon answered. Kitty looked at the dragon. The dragon looked at Professor Xavier, who nodded. "Okay," said the dragon, "I guess I'll start with exactly why I came here…"

Kitty phased through the door of Kurt's room. "Hey, Kurt, I… oh, God. Kurt!"

Kurt sat in something close to the fetal position, gripping his arms so tightly that tiny cuts and trickles of blood were all along them. Kitty ran over and pulled his hands away. Holding them tightly, she whispered, "What's hurting you, Kurt? what's bothering you so much that you're hurting yourself like this?"

He looked at her, his eyes dull with terror, sadness, pain, and a whole bunch of other things. "I can't tell you." He whispered back.

"Kurt, look… hold on a moment, and we'll talk about this. Before Kurt could protest or say anything else, she went to the nearest washroom and came back with the first aid kit (there was one in every washroom). She began to gently treat the cuts on his arms as she spoke to him. "Kurt, everyone at the institute knows something's bothering you. We can tell something's hurting you. Why won't you tell us what's wrong?"

"My past… is my burden to bear… and besides… you vould all hate me if you knew vhat had happened… vhat I did…" His voice shook.

"No, Kurt. We're your friends. No matter what happened in you past. We want to help. Kurt, we've already decided what we're going to do. You're going to stay home from school tomorrow, so that no one sees this. When I get back after school, the Professor and I will come in here. Whatever is wrong, we'll help you. I promise. But please, you have to help us help you. We want… I want… to see you get better. Wait one second." Kitty swiftly returned the first aid kit to the washroom and went back to Kurt's room. She took both of his hands again. "Kurt, whatever I have to do, I want to help you."

"You can't. You need to go. Zhere's no need for you to stay vith me. Zhe only von to deal vith zhis should be me. Zhis is not you problem-"

"You're right." Kitty cut him off. "I don't have to… I want to. You're my best friend, Kurt. you've been the best friend anyone can ever have. You do everything you can for me. The least I can do is the same. And if what I can do for you includes staying with you all night, keeping you from hurting yourself and making sure you go to sleep, then that's exactly what I'll do. I owe it to you- you protected me from Lance. I'm not leaving you, Kurt. Things will be okay, I promise. Now, come on. You look like you need the rest, badly." Eventually, with coaxing and repeating some gentle but firm commands a few times, Kitty finally got Kurt to lie down on the bed and shut his eyes. 'Whatever you're going through, I hope I can really help.' Kitty thought. 'I don't want anything to happen to you, Fuzzy.'

"Keety."

"Huh?"

"You should really go. I don't vant you to be dragged into this."

"Kurt, whatever you're talking about, I don't care. Whatever you're into that you want out of, I will gladly jump in to help you out. We'll get out of this together. Now stop talking; you won't convince me otherwise. Good night."

A/N there, there's that one. Well, as usual, please tell me what you think. Who knows, reviews may help me recover faster. ;p at the very least, they'll give me something to read while I lie around with a bag of frozen peas on my jaw. I'd appreciate it.