X- Men Evolution

Destiny Magics

A/N okay, here's the next chapter. Hehehe… there's a dolphin stamp on one of the pages in my binder. Sorry, that was random. Okay, I'll get to it.

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

14. Tortured Past

They went through the forest at a swift clip, following the dragon. Kitty felt completely lost, but the dragon seemed confident, so Kitty made sure to stay directly behind her.

"Any sign of him yet?"

"No, and I will tell you when there is, so please don't start repeating that question every few minutes."

"Sorry."

"Forget about it."

There were a few moments of silence before Kitty spoke again, whispering like before, and feeling like she'd panic or faint if she didn't distract herself by talking.

"You really lived alone since you were four?"

"That's right. That's when I mutated, and when I… lost… both parents. I got sick of people's reactions toward me, so I left populated areas, and raised myself. That was five years ago."

"No wonder you usually act so uncomfortable around us. Alone that long… don't you have any questions about things we have here- wait. You said five years? That would make you nine."

"That's correct."

"Strange, I thought you'd be older. You're very mature for a nine- year- old."

"That's what Kurt said, too. And, I actually do have a question about something Iceman said, but I'll ask later. Now isn't really the time."

"Right." Kitty whispered. Somehow, she'd almost forgotten the reason they were here during the conversation. Now that she remembered, her worry came back tenfold. "Do you think he's okay?"

"Well, my vision is tinted red, which can't mean anything good, but he's still alive. If he died… well, I'd know."

They ran in silence for a few more moments, then the dragon screeched to a halt so fast that it would have put the world's best braking system to shame. The rest of the huge team stumbled to a halt, all trying very hard not to trip over one another. A few people did end up on the ground, but luckily Jamie managed to avoid bumping into anyone and didn't make it harder with his doubles. The dragon looked quickly in a few different directions before turning slightly to her right.

"I've got him." she said, and charged in that direction. The team lost no time in pursuing her, hoping they still had enough time.

They had reached a tiny clearing and just caught sight of a snarling Kurt when something huge erupted out of the trees and leaped. Before anyone had time to react, it had Kurt pinned to the ground.

"Kurt!" Kitty screamed, and both Kurt and the creature looked at them. the creature, the team saw, was something like a lion, but ten times the size and with a jet- black body and red eyes, as well as massive fangs, and almost appeared to be made of smoke. Its body looked familiar… but somehow, the dragon couldn't quite place it.

"V- Vhat are you doing here? You veren't supposed to come!" Kurt choked out.

"Kurt!" Kitty yelled again. Several of the students launched attacks, but the attacks passed right through the creature, and it laughed.

"Perfect." It snarled. Its voice sounded like slabs of concrete being scraped together. "An unexpected but pleasant occurrence. I wanted you to suffer before I killed you; what better way than to make you reveal the worst part of you past to your friends, the people you wanted most to never find out?"

"Let 'im go!" Rogue yelled. The creature laughed again.

"No, I don't think so. And don't think you can make me- you can't touch me. Nothing you do will have an effect, just like your attacks a few moments ago. Now come on, little demon. Tell them what those notes are about. Tell them about Stephan. Tell them what you did, or I will start killing them instead of you, because I want to hear it come out your muoth!" it roared.

"Kurt." Kitty said again, this time sounding desperate. Kurt looked directly at her, then looked away from them all. Voice shaking, he began to speak.

"Vonce, in Germany, zhe villagers found out vhere I lived. I had to leave for avhile, ozhervise zhey vould have killed me and my adoptive parents. I told mein parents I vould be back vhen zhe… activity died down and zhe villagers decided to finish zheir demon hunt. Vonce I had left, I encountered zhe owner of a circus. I became an acrobat zhere, and everyvon zought I vas in costume. Zhe only vons who knew vere zhe owner and zhe ozzer two acrobats, Stephan and Jimaine. Stephan became like mien brozher, Jimaine like mien sister. Zhen von day, a few veeks after I came, zhe circus vas put under new ownership. Zhe new owner, Jardine, vanted me in zhe freak show. I tried to leave, but Jardine had me drugged and put in a cage. After a vhile, Jimaine and Stephan helped me to escape. Stephan called a friend of his from outside to help us escape, a friend he called, 'Tristan.' Vhen ve vere escaping to his friend's truck, zhe owner spotted us and brought out a gun. Jimaine vas shot and killed. Stephan went into a rage."

Kurt swallowed hard. The tremor in his voice had gotten worse, and his body now shook as well. "Stephan vas a mutant as vell. He looked normal, but vhen he got angry he got faster, stronger, and more vicious. He lost himself. Vhen I first joined, he told me all zhis and made me promise that if he ever tried ti kill somevon, I vould kill him."

The shaking in both his voice and his body had gotten worse. "In order to help me escape before I vas drugged again, zhey had been trying to get me out just before all zhe acts ended, because I vas alvays drugged right after. Zhere vere still people around, many of zhem small children… Stephan attacked everyvon in sight. I tried to stop him… but he had killed everyvon zhere already except for me, Jardine, and Tristan. I… vhen I started fighting him, I only wanted to stop him. I only vanted him to come to his senses. I… I never… I never meant to break his neck."

His own voice started breaking, and though the X- men couldn't see his face, it didn't take a genius to know he was crying. But he still wasn't done.

"Tristan ran. Many more people came. zhey saw all zhe bodies zhat surrounded me, and zhey … zhey assumed zhat zhey vere killed by me. By zhe demon… and Jardine told zhem zhey vere right. Zhey tied me to a stake and tried to burn me. At first I zhought I vas going to die… zhen, I shut my eyes and zought of home. And suddenly, I vas home. Even now I'm not sure how I managed… but zhe very first time I teleported, I made it back home in von try."

"So that's how you survived." Snarled the monster, who still had Kurt pinned down. "A few years passed and you ended up here, trying to start a new life. You should have died at that stake! You should have died for killing my friend Stephan!"

Kurt looked at the black monster, his eyes widening. "Tristan?" he choked out.

"You got it." Suddenly the creature unsheathed massive claws and took a swipe at Kurt, scooping him off the ground and throwing him into a tree, hard.

"X- men!" yelled Wolverine. "Stop that thing!"

A/N well… I'm going to stop it there. Sorry. ;p

By the way, I got the names Jardine, Jimaine, and Stephan from other fics that I've read. I don't know if they were actually a part of Kurt's past, but either way, I twisted them around to fit my uses.

I made up Tristan myself.

Well, if you want the next chapter, review! I will update faster with more reviews.