Kurt rounded the corner closest to where Cyclops had been standing just in
time to see the grandfather clock in the Professor's study pulling itself
closed like a door.
He cocked his head to the side and shot out an expression that seemed to say "Iz zat so?" While knowing full well that it was not so at all.
He heard the wheels of the Professors chair coming down the hall and then he heard the low rumble of Logan's voice. They stopped when they saw him.
"Kurt." The Professor smiled. "I heard you had a remarkable session in the Danger Room last night."
Kurt couldn't help but smile. "Ya, y-ou kno-w, I vas lucky."
"More like focused." Wolverine crossed his arms over his chest "You tossed me twice real good Elf, and I know for a fact that luck wont get most people anywhere near that far." Wolverine had the Elf by the eyes now "I KNOW what I SEE in you Elf. You've got potential."
Kurt felt his skin flushing and so he quickly shrugged, grinned, and excused himself.
"Vas tree times by my c-ount." He thought as he rounded out of sight.
And it seemed that his embarrassment might have irritated his red diamond patch, as he had a tremendous urge to rub it. Then his paranoia kicked in. What did Logan mean "I Know what I See in you."
What did he see? What did he know? What was behind the clock in the Professors Study? And what was up with Scotty Cottontail (Grab that cotton and turn tail and run!)?
Then a voice in the back of Kurt's mind whispered "Two times three, what did they see. . .The clock, the wolf, and the run-ning bun-ny?"
And as Kurt shook his head to clear it, he shook away only the nonsensical rhyming, and not the drive or desire to know.
He doubled back on himself as quickly as he could. Logan and the Professor were closing the study door and talking lowly inside.
"Damn shame this had to happen. Any of it." Logan said, traces of hurt in his voice.
"Indeed, but we must now face up to the possibility that Kurt is now who we hoped he was. Quite the opposite in fact." Xavier sounded worried.
"Listen. I like the Elf. If there's no other way, I want to be the one to do it." Logan let the statement hang out in the silence of the room.
"I'm not sure that's wise." The Professor commented after a moment.
"Listen, last night in the Danger Room. . ." Wolverine was cut short.
"I have come to the conclusion that, given the magnitude of what we're dealing with, there will be multiple . . ." He hesitated as though the words were distasteful "persons involved." He concluded.
The room fell silent behind the door as a soft creak indicated that the clock was again opening.
"So it's tomorrow night then?" Wolverine asked gruffly, as though trying to mask the emotion of his tone.
Xavier let out a slow exhausted sigh. "It is indeed my friend." And he sniffed as though he were on the verge of a sob. "God have mercy on us all."
And the clock eased closed again.
Kurt found himself sitting on his heels, leaning back against the study door. He might not have been completely sure what they were talking about, but it most definitely did not sound good or happy in any way. And he wasn't sure he'd ever heard Xavier make any kind of appeal to God before. AND THEY HAD MENTIONED HIM BY NAME!
He took two long deep breaths and released them slowly.
He knew where the answers were, and where he had to go to get them; behind the clock.
"If to-morrow ni-te is 'IT' then to-nite I see what's doun der." He decided before getting up and heading off to breakfast.
And that night he waited until everyone was asleep. He crept slowly around the inner folds of the mansion until he had arrived outside the Professors study. The door was locked.
He tried to stifle the noise, which seemed incredibly loud to him, but didn't seem to bring the house running. "BAMF!"
And he was in the study.
He had only to pull the clock by it's body to open it. A stone staircase spiraled out of sight. He took hold of the handrail and noticed another rail that perhaps the Professors chair might attach to, so it could slide down the stairway.
He crept around the cool passage cautiously. He wanted to retreat when he heard the voices and saw the light, but instead he simply froze and listened.
"Oh my stars and garters." Beast sighed.
"You know, if you say that every time you find something, it starts to lose it's meaning." Scott sounded annoyed.
"Lots of things seem to be losing their meaning around here Scott." Beast had a tired, worn tone in his voice.
"I just put my faith in the Professor." Scott replied.
"He's just a man Scott. He can make mistakes too." Beast stretched out and Kurt could hear his joints cracking "And this time?"
Scott jumped on the verbal opening "This time what?" He asked "This time he's basing his decision on everything we know, most of which you've told us. You examined that THING. You're the one that said it was Kurt, hell Beast, you did the DNA comparison. Give or take a few thousand years of natural evolution."
Kurt was listening intently from the shadows. Could it have been real? Could that thing have been in his room?
Scott was still grousing "You identified the residual time travel energies left on the body, so we know that Kurt goes back in time, several thousand years, and somehow lives through again until the present day."
"Yes. I actually think I may have discovered something else about that." A few computer clicks later Beast continued. "See this, right here? It's a sign of genetic manipulation as applied to Kurt's aging process."
"What kind of manipulation are we talking about? How extensive?"
"He could have theoretically lived forever." Beast sighed again.
"But kept evolving, becoming more like. . . Like that?" Scott sounded disgusted.
"Yes Scott. He would have kept growing."
"Then the Professor is right. Stopping Kurt now would stop everything he's about to become." Scott sounded reassured. "Even if the rest of it is just circumstantial."
"Circumstantial? Rest of it?" Kurt wondered. "Vot do hell?"
They had fallen silent, and Kurt was overcome with the desire to round the last corner and look in to the room. He crept slowly and close to the ground. He drew his head in to the light and looked up.
There he saw his own mutated and mutilated body lying on a cold metal table. Him, as he would look in too many lifetimes to come. His throat was laid open his head hung too far back. His arms hung lifeless off the table, and one leg hung askew, because it was resting on his massive lizard-like tail.
Kurt stood up slowly, trying only to see what instraments surrounded the ancient him on the table before him, just for the hope of getting a glimpse of what they might have been doing to 'him'.
And he immediately wished he had not.
The wall behind the body was full of diagrams, drawings, charts and references of all kinds. All depicting one thing; The Devil.
Someone had spent a lot of time and energy cross-referencing pictures and descriptions of the Devil through out history with this future image of Kurt. A chart on the wall mimicked Darwin's 'apes in to man' by beginning with Kurt, rising to the dead Kurt on the Table, and indicating that eventually he would have had wings.
Kurt's head began to swim. He had to sit down and breathe deeply. And suddenly a memory returned. The creature had set on him, cut it's own throat and stared deeply in to his eyes. He had felt electricity course through him and he remembered fighting to get out from under the other him.
Eventually he had teleported. He had told the Professor. Shown him. And the Professor quietly had Scott and Logan assist in cleaning it up. He didn't want to upset the other students. He wanted to keep it quiet.
He wanted Kurt to get a shot, to help him sleep, and after he had the shot, and every thing was cleaned up, Xavier wanted him to forget. He told Kurt, to forget.
Kurt clenched his fists in rage. How dare Xavier do such a thing?
He stood up, intent on walking around the corner and demanding to know everything. He stepped out, and found himself staring across the room at the very same 19th century woodcuts he had seen on his museum trip. He immediately recoiled.
"Dear God," He whispered "Vat if it's me?"
And as if in response a voice inside him called out "Not your self, no, not your self, who will you be if you cant be the Elf?" And deep inside Kurt shook in terror as he climbed silently and on all fours up the cold stone staircase.
Authors Note: Stay tuned faithful reader! We're heading for a knock down, drag out, mansion shaking good time when that little voice inside Kurt's head decides it's in charge and starts earning him a reputation to die for! You wont want to miss the dramatic ending to the battle for Kurt's soul! Coming Soon!
He cocked his head to the side and shot out an expression that seemed to say "Iz zat so?" While knowing full well that it was not so at all.
He heard the wheels of the Professors chair coming down the hall and then he heard the low rumble of Logan's voice. They stopped when they saw him.
"Kurt." The Professor smiled. "I heard you had a remarkable session in the Danger Room last night."
Kurt couldn't help but smile. "Ya, y-ou kno-w, I vas lucky."
"More like focused." Wolverine crossed his arms over his chest "You tossed me twice real good Elf, and I know for a fact that luck wont get most people anywhere near that far." Wolverine had the Elf by the eyes now "I KNOW what I SEE in you Elf. You've got potential."
Kurt felt his skin flushing and so he quickly shrugged, grinned, and excused himself.
"Vas tree times by my c-ount." He thought as he rounded out of sight.
And it seemed that his embarrassment might have irritated his red diamond patch, as he had a tremendous urge to rub it. Then his paranoia kicked in. What did Logan mean "I Know what I See in you."
What did he see? What did he know? What was behind the clock in the Professors Study? And what was up with Scotty Cottontail (Grab that cotton and turn tail and run!)?
Then a voice in the back of Kurt's mind whispered "Two times three, what did they see. . .The clock, the wolf, and the run-ning bun-ny?"
And as Kurt shook his head to clear it, he shook away only the nonsensical rhyming, and not the drive or desire to know.
He doubled back on himself as quickly as he could. Logan and the Professor were closing the study door and talking lowly inside.
"Damn shame this had to happen. Any of it." Logan said, traces of hurt in his voice.
"Indeed, but we must now face up to the possibility that Kurt is now who we hoped he was. Quite the opposite in fact." Xavier sounded worried.
"Listen. I like the Elf. If there's no other way, I want to be the one to do it." Logan let the statement hang out in the silence of the room.
"I'm not sure that's wise." The Professor commented after a moment.
"Listen, last night in the Danger Room. . ." Wolverine was cut short.
"I have come to the conclusion that, given the magnitude of what we're dealing with, there will be multiple . . ." He hesitated as though the words were distasteful "persons involved." He concluded.
The room fell silent behind the door as a soft creak indicated that the clock was again opening.
"So it's tomorrow night then?" Wolverine asked gruffly, as though trying to mask the emotion of his tone.
Xavier let out a slow exhausted sigh. "It is indeed my friend." And he sniffed as though he were on the verge of a sob. "God have mercy on us all."
And the clock eased closed again.
Kurt found himself sitting on his heels, leaning back against the study door. He might not have been completely sure what they were talking about, but it most definitely did not sound good or happy in any way. And he wasn't sure he'd ever heard Xavier make any kind of appeal to God before. AND THEY HAD MENTIONED HIM BY NAME!
He took two long deep breaths and released them slowly.
He knew where the answers were, and where he had to go to get them; behind the clock.
"If to-morrow ni-te is 'IT' then to-nite I see what's doun der." He decided before getting up and heading off to breakfast.
And that night he waited until everyone was asleep. He crept slowly around the inner folds of the mansion until he had arrived outside the Professors study. The door was locked.
He tried to stifle the noise, which seemed incredibly loud to him, but didn't seem to bring the house running. "BAMF!"
And he was in the study.
He had only to pull the clock by it's body to open it. A stone staircase spiraled out of sight. He took hold of the handrail and noticed another rail that perhaps the Professors chair might attach to, so it could slide down the stairway.
He crept around the cool passage cautiously. He wanted to retreat when he heard the voices and saw the light, but instead he simply froze and listened.
"Oh my stars and garters." Beast sighed.
"You know, if you say that every time you find something, it starts to lose it's meaning." Scott sounded annoyed.
"Lots of things seem to be losing their meaning around here Scott." Beast had a tired, worn tone in his voice.
"I just put my faith in the Professor." Scott replied.
"He's just a man Scott. He can make mistakes too." Beast stretched out and Kurt could hear his joints cracking "And this time?"
Scott jumped on the verbal opening "This time what?" He asked "This time he's basing his decision on everything we know, most of which you've told us. You examined that THING. You're the one that said it was Kurt, hell Beast, you did the DNA comparison. Give or take a few thousand years of natural evolution."
Kurt was listening intently from the shadows. Could it have been real? Could that thing have been in his room?
Scott was still grousing "You identified the residual time travel energies left on the body, so we know that Kurt goes back in time, several thousand years, and somehow lives through again until the present day."
"Yes. I actually think I may have discovered something else about that." A few computer clicks later Beast continued. "See this, right here? It's a sign of genetic manipulation as applied to Kurt's aging process."
"What kind of manipulation are we talking about? How extensive?"
"He could have theoretically lived forever." Beast sighed again.
"But kept evolving, becoming more like. . . Like that?" Scott sounded disgusted.
"Yes Scott. He would have kept growing."
"Then the Professor is right. Stopping Kurt now would stop everything he's about to become." Scott sounded reassured. "Even if the rest of it is just circumstantial."
"Circumstantial? Rest of it?" Kurt wondered. "Vot do hell?"
They had fallen silent, and Kurt was overcome with the desire to round the last corner and look in to the room. He crept slowly and close to the ground. He drew his head in to the light and looked up.
There he saw his own mutated and mutilated body lying on a cold metal table. Him, as he would look in too many lifetimes to come. His throat was laid open his head hung too far back. His arms hung lifeless off the table, and one leg hung askew, because it was resting on his massive lizard-like tail.
Kurt stood up slowly, trying only to see what instraments surrounded the ancient him on the table before him, just for the hope of getting a glimpse of what they might have been doing to 'him'.
And he immediately wished he had not.
The wall behind the body was full of diagrams, drawings, charts and references of all kinds. All depicting one thing; The Devil.
Someone had spent a lot of time and energy cross-referencing pictures and descriptions of the Devil through out history with this future image of Kurt. A chart on the wall mimicked Darwin's 'apes in to man' by beginning with Kurt, rising to the dead Kurt on the Table, and indicating that eventually he would have had wings.
Kurt's head began to swim. He had to sit down and breathe deeply. And suddenly a memory returned. The creature had set on him, cut it's own throat and stared deeply in to his eyes. He had felt electricity course through him and he remembered fighting to get out from under the other him.
Eventually he had teleported. He had told the Professor. Shown him. And the Professor quietly had Scott and Logan assist in cleaning it up. He didn't want to upset the other students. He wanted to keep it quiet.
He wanted Kurt to get a shot, to help him sleep, and after he had the shot, and every thing was cleaned up, Xavier wanted him to forget. He told Kurt, to forget.
Kurt clenched his fists in rage. How dare Xavier do such a thing?
He stood up, intent on walking around the corner and demanding to know everything. He stepped out, and found himself staring across the room at the very same 19th century woodcuts he had seen on his museum trip. He immediately recoiled.
"Dear God," He whispered "Vat if it's me?"
And as if in response a voice inside him called out "Not your self, no, not your self, who will you be if you cant be the Elf?" And deep inside Kurt shook in terror as he climbed silently and on all fours up the cold stone staircase.
Authors Note: Stay tuned faithful reader! We're heading for a knock down, drag out, mansion shaking good time when that little voice inside Kurt's head decides it's in charge and starts earning him a reputation to die for! You wont want to miss the dramatic ending to the battle for Kurt's soul! Coming Soon!