Author's Notes: As always, thanks for all the reviews, I'm glad you are still enjoying this. Hopefully this chapter will begin to answer some of your questions. Sweetheart14879 – I was initially going to write a sequel with Kurt and Kitty going on a quest, and Kurt finding out more about his parents as part of that quest, but for a number of reasons, I decided that this story works better without a sequel. I also intend to leave the issues regarding Kurt's parentage open, without tying up that particular plot thread. This is partly because I don't want to offend anyone, as gay rights activists might be offended if I make Kurt's parents heterosexual, whereas the far right might get offended if I make them homosexual (although, with Mystique being a shape-shifter, terms like heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual don't necessarily explain the complex nature of her relationships). There are some potential implications that some people might find offensive if I make it clear that Mystique is Kurt's father, since, according to some version of some religious traditions, sin is passed on via the male line. The implication of this is that Kurt was born without sin, and even though Kurt is a very sweet guy who is never intentionally cruel, he is certainly not a saint, in either the cartoon or this story. Therefore, I'll leave issues of Kurt's parentage open, and hopefully avoid offending anyone (in other words; I'm too much of a coward to do anything else).Pointyearsrule – Thank you for pointing out yet another error, I just hope there aren't too many mistakes that I've missed. It can be really annoying reading an otherwise decent story that is nevertheless ruined by constant spelling, grammar and continuity mistakes, and although I do check over my story before I update, it's clear that I am not always as accurate as I would like to be. Hopefully there are not too many mistakes within the following chapter, and if there are, I would like to apologise in advance, and hope that they do not ruin your enjoyment of the story too much.I'm glad that there are many features of this story that you like, and am always grateful for your reviews and constructive criticism.

Warning – Rather long and quite emotional chapter, with poor Kurt being tortured towards the end.

Uncertain Future

Kurt smiled happily to himself as Kitty chatted away about her family, telling him all about her parents, and how much she was sure that they would like Kurt. He really wanted to meet Kitty's parents and get to know them, but it was obvious that there was a great deal that needed to be done before he could accompany Kitty back to her family home. He had to clear his name, and he had to make the X-Men and everyone else realise that he was not a threat to anyone, but rather a harmless acrobat who had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then there was the Brotherhood; they would have to be dealt with in some manner, punished, maybe imprisoned, and in any case, made so that they could never hurt anyone, ever again. Then Kurt could spend time getting to know Kitty better, could try to understand these weird yet pleasant feelings he had whenever Kitty held his hand, laughed, or kissed his cheek. He really wanted to spend a great deal of time with Kitty, just to hear her laugh or see her smile.

"...So I'll show Xavier and all of the others the mirror," Kitty explained happily, "show them everything that you showed me. Then they'll know that you're good and that you never killed anyone. Then I can come back here, tell you what the X-Men said, and then you can accompany me back to the X-Men Mansion." She smiled at Kurt, and tightened her grip on his hand.

"Are you sure that you'll be able to find your way back here without any trouble?" Kurt asked, suddenly rather worried. "You don't want to travel alone on strange ground," he grinned at her mischievously, "you might get kidnapped by strange demons."

Kitty gave a little laugh. "I'll just follow the river from the town to the waterfall," she told him reassuringly, then pointed at Kurt playfully. "Besides, I think I can handle the strange demons," she said, "most of them are actually really friendly and nice, once you get to know them. I think they actually make really good friends."

"Well, if you have enough patience to listen to them and to give them a chance to talk, then I think you might be right," said Kurt, smiling at her happily, "they can make really good friends."

Kitty looked down, and blushed ever so slightly, suddenly appearing to be rather nervous. "And some of them," she said awkwardly, staring at her shoes, "the really nice ones, the really friendly ones, well, maybe, just maybe, after you get to know them for a long time and have been friends for months or even years, then just maybe," she looked up at Kurt shyly, her beautiful eyes shining, yet vulnerable, "maybe they could become, eventually, I don't know, maybe even more than just friends?" her voice was barely more than a whisper.

Kurt swallowed, smiled at Kitty, and somehow managed to avoid literally jumping up to the top of the nearest tree with joy. His fur tingled in that strange yet pleasant way it always did when he was very close to Kitty, and the almost unbelievable truth that she might feel the same way about him as he felt about her made him suddenly feel almost giddy with happiness. He imagined himself walking arm in arm with Kitty along a beach, soft sand under their feet, the sun gradually setting on the horizon, as he stared into Kitty's eyes. He could imagine himself kissing her as the waves crashed against the shore, and then they would return home, arm in arm, with hearts and minds full of each other, both oblivious to the trials and troubles of the outside world. Then Kurt would show her the world, take her to all the wonderful places he had visited while travelling with the circus, show her towns and forests and all the secret places where he used to play during his childhood. He would show her the Black Forest, a place of incredible beauty, of tall trees and numerous green plants, a place of fun and adventure. Of all the wonderous places that he had ever visited, it was still his favourite, and he was sure that Kitty would love it just as much as he did. Then he would show Kitty all of Europe and beyond; they would explore Africa and Asia, have adventures and create memories that they could tell their children and their grandchildren, who would listen with awe-struck wonder. It was a wonderful dream; but as Kurt stared back at Kitty, so beautiful, so clever, so brave, yet in some ways, so normal, he realised that his dream could never be more than just a dream. She deserved better, so much better than the life he could offer her. Even if he could clear his name, the fact remained that he was still blue and fuzzy, an obvious mutant in a world where mutants were at best grudgingly accepted. Kurt looked away from Kitty, and stared at the ground so that she could not see the tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, "you have no idea how much I wish it could be otherwise, but I think that it's best if we're never more than friends."

"You...you do?" Kitty asked quietly, sounding disappointed. Did she even begin to realise how difficult this was for him? Did she know that she was offering him his heart's desire, did she realise how much he wanted to love Kitty in every sense of the word, how much he wanted her to be the centre of his entire world? Still, no matter how much it hurt, Kurt knew that he could never love Kitty as more than a friend, not unless he could somehow disguise his appearance.

Kurt looked up at Kitty, and smiled at her sadly. "It's not that I don't want to," he told her sincerely, "believe me, you are quite possibly the most amazing person that I've ever met, and I've met people from all over Europe and beyond. Anyone with any sense would want to hold on to you, to treasure you, to love you," he gave a little laugh, "it's obvious that Lance has no sense," he said.

"You...you would not even consider...?" Kitty asked quietly.

Kurt shook his head. This was quite possibly one of the hardest conversations he had ever had, but he knew that it was necessary. "I would not want you to hate me," he told her quietly.

"I could never hate you," Kitty told him sincerely.

Kurt gave her an amused look. "No? You did only a few days ago," he told her meaningfully.

Kitty shook her head. "No, it was the Demon of Bayville I hated, the monster that's been hunting and killing people. Now it's the Brotherhood that I hate," she said sincerely, "not you, I could never hate you, not now that I've had the chance to get to know the wonderful, funny, charming person that you really are."

Kurt looked down at his feet. Was Kitty trying to make this as difficult as possible? No, she was not cruel; she just did not know how hard this was for him. "But you would end up hating me eventually," he told her gently, "if we were to ever have a romantic relationship. Look at me, I'm blue, I'm fuzzy, I have a tail. Even if I was not wanted for numerous murders, what chance would I have to go out in public places?" Kurt looked up at Kitty, and gave her a sad smile. "At least, any other night except for Halloween? In time, you would come to resent it, and who could blame you?" Kurt let go of Kitty's hand, and stroked her cheek gently. "Listen, within the circus, people are in a sense allowed to be a bit weird, a bit strange, it's almost expected that they will be rather quirky, but outside of it, people tend to be a lot less tolerant of those who are different. You deserve better than I can give you, however much I would like it to be otherwise. You deserve the world, you should be able to go to fancy restaurants and hotels, to dance the night away at fancy balls, and you certainly do not deserve to be stared at because you are in the company of a freak," he looked down, feeling as though his heart was shattering into a thousand pieces, "you deserve better than a partner who looks like a monster."

"I don't care about what other people think," Kitty told him sincerely, "I care about you."

"But you deserve it all," Kurt told her sadly. "Look me in the eye and then tell me that you don't want all of these things."

There was an awkward pause for a minute or two, in which Kurt wondered if Kitty would be able to meet his challenge, but inevitably Kitty was not able to look Kurt in the eye. She looked down at her shoes instead, and shook her head sadly. "You must think I'm really shallow," she said, sounding close to tears.

"No," Kurt assured her, "not at all, I think you just want a normal life. You deserve the chance to have a normal life, although being a mutant means that your life might never be as normal as you might have hoped." Kurt smiled at her as she looked up at him, and then he indicated himself. "But it's obvious that I can never have a normal life, and if I were to become more than friends with you, then you would also be unlikely to be able to have a normal life," Kurt sighed. "You might not mind at first, but eventually you would come to resent what I had denied you, the chances I had taken from you, and then you would come to resent me, in time maybe even hate me," Kurt wondered if this could possibly get any harder, "I could not stand that, could not stand the thought that you might come to hate me, so let's agree to just be friends. Good friends, maybe in time even best friends, but nothing more. I'd prefer that, than to ever earn your hate."

Kitty smiled at him, and blinked away the tears in her eyes. "You know, that's a really nice way of saying that you're not interested," she told him, "which still leaves me feeling important and valued. I guess I can agree to be no more than friends, if that's what you want," she sounded as if she was trying to be strong and brave, despite feeling really disappointed.

Kurt smiled back at Kitty reassuringly. He was doing the right thing, wasn't he? Kitty deserved so much more than he could ever give to her, and in time she would surely meet someone who was everything that she deserved, and she would fall in love with him. Then it would have to be enough for Kurt to know that Kitty at least thought of him as a friend, as after all, how could someone who looked like him possibly have the right to want more than that? Kurt stared at Kitty for a long moment, and felt his heart ache when he realised that Kitty was close to tears. He decided that he had better find some way to cheer her up, so he took three apples out of their basket, and began to juggle them. He smiled when he realised that Kitty was smiling, and watching him with fascination, as he continued to juggle. "Throw me some more," he told her, "nine's my limit, but I've been meaning to try for ten for a while now."

Kitty giggled and threw him a couple more apples, which he juggled high in the air along with the others. "Is it hard?" she asked, throwing him another apple.

Kurt continued to juggle as Kitty gradually added more and more apples. "At first," he said, "like anything, it takes a while to learn how to do it well."

"I guess anything worth doing takes time and practice," Kitty said quietly, as she threw him another apple.

Kurt nodded, and almost dropped one of the apples, only to catch it with his tail. "Try doing this while walking the tightrope," he said playfully, "and rather than use apples, use swords."

"That must have been quite difficult," Kitty agreed, throwing him another apple.

Kurt nodded. "At first," he told her, and then laughed as he dropped all but two of the apples, one landing right on top of his head.

"I hope you did not do that with swords," Kitty said, laughing as Kurt grabbed the apple from the top of his head, wiped it on his shirt, and took a bite out of it.

Kurt smiled at her, glad to see that she was smiling again, a genuine smile, not the sad excuse for a smile he had seen earlier. "No, I never juggled more than six swords," he said, handing Kitty one of the apples.

She accepted the apple gratefully, and took a rather small bite out of it. Kurt watched her for a moment, and then suddenly shook his head. "Wait, swords," he said. How could he have forgotten something so important? "I'll get you your katana and other weapons, there's no point waiting until morning to prepare for your journey back to the X-Men."

Kitty took another bite out of her apple, and nodded. "Besides, it's starting to get dark here," she said, staring at where the sun was beginning to set behind the pine trees, "and chilly," she added.

Kurt winked at her. "Then join me back inside the castle," he said, "if you're really lucky, I might even show you how to juggle six swords." Then he teleported inside the castle, and a moment later, Kitty phased through the wall to join him. Kurt led her up the stairs to the room adjacent his bedroom, where he kept all of the weapons he had managed to acquire. Kurt handed Kitty her katana, her knives and her bow and arrows, which she accepted gratefully. Kurt then grinned at Kitty, picked up the six nearest foils that he had stolen from the Brotherhood, and began to juggle them.

Kitty watched with amusement as Kurt pretended to drop a sword, only to catch it with his tail. "So, not only can just about anything be a weapon," she said quietly, "but even weapons can be changed into harmless tools which can be used to entertain others."

Kurt nodded as he continued to juggle the swords. "I'll teach you if you like," he said, "it's quite easy when you get used to it."

Kitty smiled at him. "I'd like that," she told him sincerely, "but not with swords, and not here, not where there's so many sharp weapons, I don't want either of us to get hurt."

Kurt caught the swords with his hands and his tail, and then nodded at Kitty understandingly. "With apples then," he suggested, "in the bedroom. Let's entertain Little Nightcrawler, he must be getting lonely all by himself.

Kitty gave a little laugh. "Poor Little Nightcrawler," she said playfully, "he must be lonely, let's go and give him some company."

Kurt nodded, and then teleported to the bedroom. A moment later, Kitty followed him by phasing through the wall. Kurt grinned at her, and threw her an apple. "Now, throw it high with one hand, and catch it with your other hand," he nodded approvingly as Kitty threw the apple high in the air with her right hand, and then caught it with her left hand, "and back again, just keep doing that for a bit," he said.

Kitty threw the apple high in the air, caught it with her right hand, and then threw it back to her left hand again. "This is easy," she said, throwing the apple high in the air again.

Kurt grinned and grabbed three apples, which he began to juggle using only one hand. "Wait until you try juggling six or more, then you'll see that it can be quite challenging," he said. "Are you ready to try another apple yet?"

Kitty nodded, and Kurt threw her another apple. "Now, carry on doing what you were doing before, but with both apples at the same time. Keep throwing them quite high, as it will make it easier when I add more," he said.

Kitty smiled as she tried to juggle both apples at once, but dropped one of the apples on the floor. Kurt laughed. "See, not so easy when there's more than one, is it?" he asked her, grinning at her playfully. "Don't worry; it took me a long time to learn how to do it. Watch me." He juggled two apples as slowly as he could, while Kitty watched him intently.

"Right, I can do this," said Kitty determinedly, throwing the apples high in the air, and catching one of them with her right hand. The other landed on her foot.

Kurt giggled as he watched her. "I think it will be a while before you can move on to using swords," he told her, giving her an encouraging grin, "don't worry, just keep practicing."

Kurt spent the next hour or two watching Kitty practicing her juggling, watching as she gradually improved until she was able to juggle two apples without too much trouble. Kurt grinned at her with no small amount of pride as she threw the apples high in the air, and managed to catch both of them most of the time. "You are a very good student," he told her sincerely. Unfortunately, she dropped both apples when he said that. Kurt merely shrugged. "Most of the time," he added.

Kitty did not seem to even hear him, as she was staring out of the window. Her face had suddenly become very pale. Kurt moved over to her quickly. "What's wrong?" he asked, suddenly concerned.

Kitty pointed out of the window. "Lights," she said quietly, "torches."

Kurt frowned, and then moved towards the window. He stared in horror at what he saw. There must have been a hundred or more flaming torches, moving towards the castle very quickly. Kurt narrowed his eyes, and saw that the torches were being carried by the townsfolk, who were yelling at each other, and claiming that they were going to stop the Demon of Bayville. Kurt swallowed, and shook his head in disbelief. The townsfolk did not know that he was here, how could they know that he was within the castle? He never walked near the castle, he always teleported from a distance of at least a mile away, and yet the angry mob were clearly making their way towards the castle, as though they knew that he was located within it. "How?" Kurt asked, suddenly feeling a sort of panicked sickness in his stomach.

Kitty shook her head. "I don't know," she told him quietly.

Kurt swallowed again, and then looked down at his feet. He saw the Romani magic curse that he had removed from Kitty's arm, and saw that it had begun to glow. He looked up at Kitty, realisation hitting him with the force of a magic spell. "Romani magic," he said, his voice barely above a whisper, "they must have been able to trace this Romani magic curse. Maybe that's what it was for all along."

Kitty stared at the glowing Romani magic curse, and seemed to be suddenly afraid. "But why would they?" she asked quietly. "I mean, the Brotherhood actually want to protect you, to keep you safe. Why would they try to trace you using Romani magic?"

Kurt shook his head, still feeling panicked and sick. "Does it matter why?" he asked, and noticed that he sounded ever so slightly hysterical. "Maybe they changed their minds. Maybe the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants got drunk one night and boasted that they had attacked me with my own magic, and the townsfolk figured out a way to use that magic to locate me. Maybe Lance got jealous and thought that I had kidnapped you away from him, and so decided that he wanted revenge. Does it matter why?" he demanded again, his tone panicked and terrified. Kurt stared at the Romani magic curse a moment longer. Why had he not buried it earlier? Why had he just left it there and ignored it? Kurt shook his head, trying to clear it, and then stared out of the window once more. The mob was close enough now that he could make out some of the Brotherhood members near the front of the angry crowd. The Brotherhood members were holding their flaming torches aloft, and calling out for Kurt's demise.

"But we're safe as long as we just stay in here, right?" Kitty asked, sounding rather panicked. "I mean, Stefan said that you couldn't enter the Castle of Death using normal means, so they can't enter the castle unless they can teleport or phase or something, right?" she asked hopefully.

Kurt shook his head, unable to think clearly. "I don't know!" he admitted. "Stefan was always playing jokes and telling scary stories, always teasing Jimaine and me, he could have been teasing me about that. The only reason I always teleported in here was to avoid leaving tracks, so that I could not be traced."

Kitty bit her lip, and stared at the glowing Romani curse. "It does not matter," she said after a rather long pause. "If the worst comes to the worst, we can just teleport a couple of miles away, so they can't find us."

Kurt closed his eyes, feeling close to tears. He had spent a lot of time and effort transforming the Castle of Death from an abandoned old castle into a liveable place where he could be quite comfortable, but Kitty was right, it was, after all, just a place. He had been planning on leaving there soon anyway, so it did not really matter that he would have to leave it all behind. He just felt sad that he would not have an opportunity to prepare, to bid a fond farewell to the garden and the river, and to pack supplies and rations. He smiled at Kitty. "You are right," he told her, "we just have to get away from the angry mob, that's all."

He stared out of the window once more. The crowd were practically by the castle, and were yelling at each other, calling for the head of the Demon of Bayville. As Kurt looked down, a couple of very young children suddenly ran in front of the angry mob. The crowd were too intent on wanting their revenge to even notice the toddlers, and it was obvious that they would not survive unless someone intervened quickly. "Those children, they'll be crushed!" Kurt told Kitty, and then teleported down, grabbed the children quickly just as the crowd were about to crush them, and then looked up at approximately one hundred angry faces that were all glaring at him. He let go of the children without a word, and watched as they ran away from him, both clearly oblivious that they had just come very close to death. Unfortunately, Kurt did not feel the same way. He stared up at the angry mob, petrified with fear as he stared at the flaming torches. His brain kept telling him to teleport, to run away, to climb up the walls, or at the very least to try and explain his innocence, but Kurt was too terrified with fear to be able to do anything except stare at the flaming torches, as they came closer towards him. He could not even attempt to resist as he felt himself being tied to a stake and felt the mob setting light to a fire below him. Instead he just continued to stare mutely at the flames. Kurt had long ago accepted that he would not have a long life, that it was only a matter of time until he made a deadly mistake, but he had expected to at least reach seventeen. That suddenly seemed very unlikely, as he felt the flames lick at his feet and begin to singe his fur. He had escaped from death twice already, once during infancy, and then when he had developed his mutant ability, when the circus had burnt to the ground. It did not look like he would survive this, however, as he stared, frozen with fear, at the flames. At least he had managed to save the children; they would be safe, which meant that his death would not be a completely stupid sacrifice. Kurt found himself unable to do or say anything as the flames continued to burn his fur. What was the point of all of his wonderful abilities if they could not save him from something like this? Still, it did not matter; there was nothing more he could do, and it looked like he would be joining Jimaine, Stefan and the other members of his circus family far sooner than he had initially imagined.