Author's note:

 Don't you just love cliff hangers? J Well, you've all been patient, so here it is! Thanks again to all who reviewed, GaruruBlue, Kurt is MINE! MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE! So THERE! :-p hehehehe.

Title: Disappearance

Author: Soli

Rating: PG-13/R for angst

Coupling: Kurt/Kitty, a little bit of Scott/Jean

Summary: When Kurt is kidnapped, the rest of the X-men have to save him….before it's too late

Dedication: For all the fans who have reviewed. Buddha bless!

Chapter Three: Lost

"What do ya mean he's disappeared?" Rogue screamed. Scott grabbed her arm in an attempt to calm her down.

"Easy, Rogue! Kill them after they tell us what happened." Storm and the Professor laughed nervously. When eight pairs of eyes (and sunglasses) turn towards them angrily, they realized that Scott wasn't making a joke. Both Scott and Rogue looked and were absolutely furious. Jean looked somewhat calm, but Xavier could feel the fury raging from her mind. Evan was probably the calmest out of the entire group. He had faith that Nightcrawler was a big boy and could take care of himself. Sure, he'd come home with a busted bone or two, but that wasn't exactly uncommon.

The real problem was Kitty. Xavier had to block off his connection to her mind after about three minutes. Kitty's mind was filled with angst and fear. She was frightened that something had happened Kurt, that he was hurt somewhere. She was scared that he wasn't just "blowing off steam." She was scared that she would never she Kurt again.

And then there was another part of her mind, a part that Xavier got a brief glimpse of before he broke connection; Kitty couldn't understand why she was caring as much as she was about Kurt's disappearance. She couldn't understand why she was as scared as she was, as upset as she was. Xavier couldn't help but smile.

"I'm sorry, Professor, but I fail to see exactly what is so funny," Scott's angered voice brought Xavier back to the real world. Xavier blinked.

"I'm sorry. I was just a little…preoccupied." He said, casting a glance at Kitty, who started to blush.

"Yeah, well, if ya done bein' 'preoccupied', Ah would liake an explanation! Where is Kurt?" Demanded Rogue, crossing her arms over her chest. Storm gave both Logan and Xavier a look that clearly read, " You can't make me." The Professor sighed. Since he was the only one who knew what had happened with Celebro, he knew that it was his responsibility to tell his students what had happened to their friend.

" Kurt never came home from his detention. When I called Principle Dakholme, she told me that Kurt had left school over three hours before."

"So? That Mystique is like, a self-centered, lying bi-"

"Kitty!"

"Sorry, but all I'm saying is that she might not telling the whole truth. What if she has him locked up somewhere? What if she's hurt him?"

"I would usually agree with you, Kitty, but this time, I believe that Mystique is telling the truth." Kitty opened her mouth to argue, but the professor gave her a stern look and she closed her mouth.

"As I was saying, since Kurt was obviously not home and not at school, we decided to use Celebro to try and find him." That got Logan and Storm's attention. Neither of them knew what Xavier had seen, and they both hoped that Kurt had only decided to go get drunk on some milkshakes.

" I have reason to believe that Kurt is being held against his will and that his life is in danger." Xavier ignored the collective gasp that went up in the room, and the looks of terror in his pupils' eyes.

" What I saw in Celebro was probably one of the most horrific places I have ever seen," he continued, "A place that people would call a 'Freak Show.' Whatever it is, I fear that Kurt is being used in some other way than bait."

Professor Xavier fell silent, remembering the mutants he had seen locked up in cages and the scream of pains that had ripped through his mind.

"We have to find him," Kitty whispered. Scott nodded.

"The problem is, where to start?" he said grimly.

Kurt had never experience so much pain in his entire, short life. The soreness of his bruised chest, the humiliation of being forced to wear rags and prance around in a cramped, filthy cage, the heart-wrenching agony of having people stare at him, pointing and snickering to themselves.

"Hey, Furry!" someone from the large crowd yelled. Kurt refused to turn.

"Hey, Furry, I'm talkin' to ya!" The voice grew louder, like it was right in front of him. Stealing a quick look out of the corner of his eyes, Kurt realized that his harassers were just a bunch of football playing jerks from his school. Kurt had often seen them walking through the halls, acting all high and mighty and-wait, was that that JV Quarter back over there? No, wait, nope, wasn't him. Good. Kurt thought angrily, That is the last thing I need, to see the boy who is taking Kitty to the dance. Even though I don't care. Kurt was shaken out of his short self-conversation by another "Hey, Furry!"

The voice belonged to the jock with dark hair, nearer to his left. He and his redheaded companion were eating hotdogs and jeering at the blue-fuzzed freak in front of them. Kurt felt his stomach tightened. He hadn't eaten since he had gotten to this hell-hole. How long had it been now? Days? Weeks? Years? Who knew. Kurt fingered the odd collar around his neck. He had realized that as long as he had the collar on, he wouldn't be able to use his powers. The problem was, there didn't seem to be a way to take the collar off.

"Hey, Fuzzy, do something interesting!" Mein Gott, are they all here just to torture me? Kurt thought miserably to himself.

Obviously, Jock #1 and #2 thought so.

"What a rip-off! We paid a lot to see this, and all we get is some big Smurf wannabe." The dark haired one complained. He threw his hotdog at Kurt with contempt. The hotdog would've hit Kurt's ear if he hadn't ducked.

"Hey, lookathat!" The redhaired one shouted. "Do it again, Dan!" Dan bent down and scooped up a handful of rocks. Without warning, he flung one like a softball, headed straight for Kurt's head. Once again, Kurt ducked. Dan threw another rock and Kurt ducked again.

"Cool!" Dan's companion shouted and picked up a fistful of stones. Pretty soon, the whole group was throwing rocks. Poor Kurt ducked and dived and did anything to miss being hit by the sharp stones.

When an especially large and sharp stone hit him on the side of his head, Kurt knew his luck had run out. He fell, clutching his head as blood seeped through his three fingered hand. He knew he wouldn't be able to dodge the rocks now.

But the rocks never came. Kurt glanced up and saw the group of boys staring at him.

"Whoa." Breathed one of the other jocks.

"Aren't freaks supposed to have, like, black blood or something?" Dan whispered.

"This is freaky."

"Let's get out of here."

As the group left, Kurt smiled a little. At least they had some humanity left. But for how long?

" Hurry, mein friends." Kurt muttered. "I don't know how much longer I can hold."

"Any leads?" Scott whispered quietly. The five of them were sitting at their regular lunch table, still trying to figure out where Kurt was. It had been about two weeks since he had disappeared. The teachers were giving them hell for it. Kitty's environmental science teacher, who was also Kurt's biology teacher, had asked her where Kurt was, and was he alright?

"Um…yeah!" Kitty had stammered. "He, um…he's got cramps." Ms. LuVie had only raised an eyebrow to this response.

"Kurt hasn't been to school for the past two weeks because of cramps?" She had replied in a disbelieving tone.

"Well, they're really… bad… cramps." Kitty had said sheepishly, and then quickly added, "We think he has food poisoning. Never know what they put in those German bratwurst's or whatever."

"Oh!" Ms. LuVie's disbelieving manner suddenly lifted. "That poor boy. You tell him to get well soon, alright? I remember when I had a bad can of tapioca. Took me weeks to-"

"Kitty!" Scott's harsh voice snapped her back to reality.

"Sorry." Scott gave her a hard look. Kitty looked away, ashamed. Evan grabbed her hand and glared back at Scott.

"Look, man, you're not the only one worried about Kurt, ok?" he said angrily. Kitty gave him a small smile of appreciation. Scott sighed.

"I know, but still…" his voice trailed off. Everyone knew what he was thinking; What if it was too late?

It's not too late! Kitty's mind screamed. He's ok! He'll be fine and he'll come home and be obnoxious and annoying and funny and make me laugh and…Kitty bit her bottom lip. Up until now, she didn't fully realize how much she missed Kurt. Kurt, you furry blue idiot, where the hell are you? She thought sadly.

"Ok, well, don't give up. Keep your eyes and ears open for anything that might give us a hint about where Kurt might be. Jean, have you found anything about any freak shows in the area?" Jean shook her head.

"Nothing. Whoever took Kurt is hiding him well." She said bitterly. Scott sighed again.

"Ok, well, keep trying everyone." He looked around at the downcast faces around him and for the hundredth time noticed the empty spot next to him. We need Kurt .Scott thought. More than we ever realized. You're our way of forgetting about the real world. You're the one who helped us laugh through the hard times. Come home safe, buddy.

From a shaded window, a blue-skinned woman smiled at the group of five teenagers huddled together at the lunch table.

"Just you wait, X-men." She purred. "Just you wait."