A/N Okay, back to the norm...sorta...whatever the norm is...^_^' Don't own X-Men or the song Hero by Chad Kroeger and Joesy Scott. Please, throw out song suggestions, anything cool will do and I'll think if it's usable. I'm running out of ideas myself here... Oh, and I will use 'Iris' eventually, just gotta think of where to put it. ^___^ BTW, does anyone know what happened to Kurt's adopted parents?
Chapter VI: Hero
I am so high, I can hear heaven
I am so high, I can hear heaven
Whoa, but heaven...no, heaven don't hear me
And they say
That a hero could save us
I'm not gonna stand here and wait
I'll hold onto the wings of the eagles
Watch as we all fly away
Someone told me
Love would all save us
But, how can that be
Look what love gave us
A world full of killing
And blood spilling
That world never came
Kurt woke up on the dawn of the twenty fourth, (even though he wasn't sure if it was dawn or not), seeing Victoria sleep soundly next to his shoulder. Putting a hand on the side of her face, her eyes blinked open slowly, smiling to see his face again. Standing up, he took her hand, helping her to her feet.
"I've got an idea," he proclaimed, Victoria rubbing her eye with her one hand.
"What is it?" she yawned.
"I'll explain later, just come quickly before ve miss it!"
"Miss what, Kurt?" she asked as her arm was jerked along, Kurt swinging open the door and running with her along the empty hallway. As they came across the front desk the woman with the wrinkly face looked up, noticing their disturbance. Before they reached the heavy wooden door, the woman got their attention by cough horsely at them.
"Excuse me, hun, 'think you're forgettin' something," she pointed out, reaching under the desk and pulling out a fifty, a twenty, and a ten dollar bill. Kurt let go of her arm, Victoria approaching the desk slowly and taking the money from her. "Our rate is only twenty bucks here. Since you only stayed a night, you can have the rest back."
"Oh...thanks..." she said, thinking the woman might have pointed something else out, like why she was wearing a sheet over her head and if she suspected a mutant she'd call the cops.
"No problem, kid," she said, picking up her magazine again.
She went back over to Kurt as she put the money in her pocket, both heading quickly out the door. Kurt lead her down the street as if knowing where he was going, Victoria somehow recognizing her surroundings within a few minutes. She questioned about it when she suddenly saw it. The church that is, and the doors Kurt lead her through to the priest standing at the back of the building facing the prayer candles. He looked surprised, wondering where they had been all this time.
"Kurt, we've been looking all over for you! Where have you been all day?" he asked.
"Fazer, I am wery sorry but I can only explain shortly. You see, zere are zes people who are after her, and I promised I vould protect her, but ve have no vhere safe to go except out of ze city. I say my up most apologies vhen I tell you zis but... Fazer...ve need money vhere ve're going..."
The priest stared for a moment, seeing the most sincere look he'd ever seen on a human being written in Kurt's eyes. He understood exactly what he meant, and nodded, showing them along to the back office. The priest dug into a drawer of the desk there, pulling out as much as he could find. Handing it to Kurt, he told him to take good care of it.
"If you believe it is the right thing, then I cannot refuse to help. You have been a great helper in this church for a long time, and you of all people have earned our extra charity money. Besides, the church is in the best shape it's been in ages because of you!" he paused for a moment, shrugging. "But may I ask, are you planning to join the circus?"
Kurt grinned, seeing the joke in his seriousness. "Somezing like zat." He patted the priest on the shoulder, beginning to get teary eyed. "Zank you, Fazer."
"You are very welcome, my son. Now go, be with god, and protected the one you promised to protect."
In this, Kurt took Victoria's hand, running out again as fast as they could go. The priest hoped Kurt knew what he was doing, but knew somewhere deep down he was doing the right thing...
It took about fifteen minutes of walking and running for Victoria to realize where exactly they were heading. She could hear the fog horns from incoming ships, the crashing off water coming upon the docks of the harbor. It wasn't just that they were leaving the city, but appeared to her that they were leaving the country.
She stopped dead in the middle of the streets, Kurt looking back in question when she did this. Her eyes planted to the ground, she clenched her fists, hoping she wouldn't hear the answer it was most likely to be.
"Kurt...for the last time...where are going?" she asked quietly, Kurt shrugging.
"I vas hoping you vouldn't mind but...My homeland?"
"Germany, Kurt? Don't you think I've tried that?" she inquired, looking up at him. "I told you, I've already been everywhere! There's no where to run, and if they find you with me they'll kill you too!"
Kurt paused for a moment, Victoria shaking her head. "Zen vhere did you zink ve vere going?" he asked.
"I don't know! I just...I don't know...I guess I was so caught up with it this morning that I would be safe somehow, but now that I can think straight...I see the reality and it's not what I hoped it to be..."
"I promised I'd help you," he said, taking her hand, "and I vill help you. Germany is a big place, surely zey von't be able to find us zat easily. But you have to trust me."
She sighed, nodding her head. "I trust you, Kurt."
He smiled, pulling her along again. With their luck, they might be able to find a barge heading over to Europe that they could hitch a ride on. From there, they could get a bus from wherever they landed and pay with the money they had for as far as it would go. They'd probably have to hike afterwards, but it wasn't a matter, so long as they got away safely.
That's all that mattered right now.
And they say
That a hero could save us
I'm not gonna stand here and wait
I'll hold onto the wings of the eagles
Watch as we all fly away
Now that the world isn't ending
It's love that I'm sending to you
It isn't the love of a hero
And that's why I fear it won't do
They came too early.
They suspected she might do something so drastic so came around noon. A cocky older teenager who looked like he didn't even pass high school replaced the old woman, staring intently at the small, portable TV planted on the desk. An Asian woman with her black hair tied back in a ponytail entered, walking up to him without gawking about. Putting her hands on the counters, she stared at him with her sunglasses adorning her face firmly.
"A girl wearing a sheet over her head, did you see her?" the woman asked.
"Huh?" he questioned groggily. "I don't know what you're talking about, lady."
She smirked, shaking her head. Reaching into her coat pocket, she pulled out a small, semi-automatic, pointing it at his forehead. "Maybe this will jog your memory. Now, have you seen her?"
"Dude..." he began, his voice beginning to shake. "I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Really?" She armed the weapon. "You sure about that?"
He hesitated for a moment shrugging as he shook his head. "Maybe...The old hag said someone odd left here this morning and that I should call the police if anyone else showed up."
"Do you know what room she stayed in?"
"Yeah, the boiler room!" he said, getting out the key and shakily handing it to her.
She turned without another glance, pacing off down the hall. As she came to the door, she didn't even bothered to open it with the key, but just kicked it down. Her facical expression did nothing, but anyone who had been there at the time could tell she was dreadfully angry. Coming back out to the main room, the kid asked for the key, but it was a big mistake. The woman stopped, twisting to her side and aiming the gnat him. He cursed as he ducked for his life, the woman shooting through the crummy wall. She almost grinned as she walked out, slamming the door behind her.
Putting the gun back in her pocket, she followed the sidewalk to a deserted alley, walking to the end of a dumpster and staying out of sight. Standing there was her comrade, waiting for an explanation on why she didn't have Victoria's head yet.
"Well?" he questioned with his iron teeth glinting.
"She's not there. She must've ran away again."
"Should have expected it...But where could she have gone?" he wondered out loud.
"To my guess she left the city, probably by boat."
"Yes..." he thought for a moment, scratching the top of his bald head. "Hmm...Where was that blue mutant from? I think she called it Kurt?"
"From the background we got on it, somewhere in Germany."
"Then that's probably where they're headed..."
"They?" she inquired in a monotone.
"Yes. Obviously she wouldn't have done this without any outside help, and he's the only one she could go too..."
"So they must be at the harbor," she pointed out.
"Precisely. Come, we still have time to catch them..."
By two o'clock, they managed to ask around and find one ship that was leaving to Italy. It would be enough, but it would take some time before the ship could leave and they could sneak on. They overheard others who were doing the same, but decided not to talk to them just yet, knowing that one of them just might rat them out for a clean getaway on the ship.
Around the time it was to set sail, they hid behind crates to get on when the sailors weren't paying attention. Kurt stared back to her, telling her now to worry and that he had the whole thing cover, (as he always did in those kind of situations). He told her to go when he said so, and when the time was right...
"Okay, let's-" he started to whisper, but glanced over his shoulder, seeing she wasn't there. Where could she have been, though, at a time like this? They were going to miss the ship! Kurt scrambled behind the crates to find her, but all he found was a piece of her coat snagged on a loose nail.
Back in an alley a few yards away, Victoria struggled to get free, a heavy arm wrapped around her neck. The man from before pulled her head forward from her hair, lifting up the sheet at the nape of her neck and that acid feeling returning once more. She would've screamed if only the woman didn't have her hand over her mouth, coming close to her ear as the serum dripped onto her neck.
"Kill him," she rasped, Victoria only growing angrier. She clenched her fist, finding the strength to just barely sidestep and get the man in the stomach, slipping past and running off. The woman would've gone after her, if only it hadn't been for the man putting a hand on her arm. "You didn't use all of it," she exclaimed.
"No need," he replied, straightening with a sickening crack of his spine. "It will only be delayed longer. The affect is still the same, but we can expect the whole crew dead before they even get there."
The woman nodded, walking off with him back into the deserted back alleys where their mutant beings wouldn't be noticed.
Victoria fond Kurt still searching among the crates, collapsing next to him. He asked where she had been, and she only shook her head in fear.
"We got to leave, now! They're here!" she said, and that was all he needed to know. He took one glance, seeing the sailors were too occupied to notice anyway, and took her hand, quickly leading her along to a hole in the ship others had gone into, ending up in the lower decks of the ship.
They found there spots next to, what they soon found out, about twenty other people in the cargo hold, everyone silent in the still strangeness of the moment. Victoria neglected to tell him about the serum in her neck, thinking it would worry him too much for something she thought wouldn't matter in the first place. They hadn't put enough to make her go crazy, so she figured there was nothing to be concerned about. But if she had only known the formalities of it all...
As the ship set sail, the chatter began between them all, though some, including themselves, stayed quiet for awhile. That was, until they were addressed by a young couple sitting next to them. A tiny woman smiling brightly at them, asking them what their names were. They both responded shortly, not talking much even if both of them chatted on to Kurt and Victoria. Finally, Kurt smiled, still not exposing his sharp teeth, but asking where they were headed.
"We're headed to Spain!" the woman said proudly. "We've heard their not with discrimination against mutants there."
"Mutants?" Victoria asked. "Do you mean to say...You're mutants?"
"Of course!" the man said. "Everyone here is! We're from a mutant activist group, but out supporters backed out when they heard Congress was considering signing that bill."
"See, this guy here has telepathic abilities, like moving things," the woman said.
"What's your power?" Victoria asked.
"Me? I'm reptilian."
Kurt gulped. "You mean like...snakes?"
"No, I wouldn't say that exactly," she smiled, winking. The only bizarre thing was her eye blinked vertically, instead of the normal horizontal.
"Say, are you guys, you know, against mutants or something?" the man asked.
"No, of course not!" Kurt replied, taking off his concealing hat and revealing his blue skin, yellow eyes, and pointy ears. "In fact, ve're both mutants."
"Blue skin! Cool!" the woman proclaimed, beaming.
"Wow, how did your parents react when you turned into that? Mine, they kicked me out of the house and sent me to boarding school. They said it was a 'phase', and I'd get over it with some good discipline. Ha, that was laugh."
"Actually, I didn't know my parents, and vas born like zis, unlike most who acquired such traits later on," he said.
"Oh, you poor thing!" the woman exclaimed with sympathy. "Well, if this means anything, I would give four fingers to have different colored skin! I'm mean, I'm reptilian, shouldn't I have green skin, at least?"
Kurt laughed, shaking his head. He took off his gloves, holding his hands up to the light to show them. "You know, ze funny zing about giving four fingers is...I vas never born vith zose four fingers."
"Oh my...Yes, you are a different sort, aren't you?" she smiled, the man nodding his head in the same respect.
"Don't vorry, I von't be offended if you zink it's strange. I've gotten used to it over ze years."
"No, it's not a bad thing!" the man said. "In fact, I bet you could probably do some great gymnastics with them!"
"Actually, not zat you mention it, I vas in the circus."
"Really? How cool!" the woman squeaked, giggling in excitement. "What a great job! What do you think, hun, should we join the circus when we get to Spain?"
"Let's think about it," he said slowly as the woman turned her head to him, Kurt shaking his head. "I'm sure we should probably know someone first before we go off doing that. Really, no offense to you, sir."
"None taken! In fact, my adopted family vas already in ze circus, so zat's how I got started in it."
"Oh...Bummer..." the woman huffed, shrugging. As if nothing could let her down, though, she smiled again, looking to Victoria. "So, you're a mutant too? What's your powers?"
Victoria did not answer, but only diverted her eyes to the floor, keeping silent. Instead, Kurt filled in for her, trying to get off the subject.
"She doesn't exactly like to talk about it much," he whispered, and they both whispered a word of understand back.
The almost meaningless chatter continued on as usual, however, until it died down when everyone began to drift off into sleep. Even their neighbors dozed off rapidly when everyone else did, Kurt setting his back against the steel wall next to Victoria again. She was still awake, staring at the floor with her head hung low. There was a long stillness, until Kurt reached into the pocket of his jacket, just remembering his bible was there. He was going to open it and start reading again, but stalled all of the sudden, his head being forced to look up when he heard a small sigh. Looking from Victoria, to his bible, and back again, he reached out and took her hand, finally placing it in her hands.
"Zis is my favorite book. It's brought me hope over the years, and I can see in your eyes zat you're lacking in zat hope. If one day I am not zere, and if you don't have anyone else to lean on for help, or anyone to trust, keep zis in mind."
She stared at the old, worn leather bound book, fingering the golden threaded words of its name with her right hand. Victoria shook her head, holding it back out to him.
"I can't accept it. You've lost too many things because of me and I don't want to be the cause of something even more important than I could ever dream of being worth."
"Nonsense," he smiled, pushing it back towards her. "Zere is more zan just zat one copy of ze Holy Bible in ze vorld, I'm pretty sure of zat. But in zis point in time, I can see you vill be needing it more zan I, am I right?"
She hesitated, but soon nodded, taking it towards her and putting it in her coat pocket, right over where her heart would be. "Thank you, Kurt. I'll take good care of it, I promise."
"I'm sure you vill," he said, and then crossed his arms, leaning back and shutting his eyes. "Now, ve have a long journey, you should vant to get some sleep."
She nodded again, sitting back as well but unable to shut her eyes. As Kurt fell fast asleep, she could only stay awake, in impending pain increasing in her head so much that she wanted to shill her voice at the top of her lungs. But all she could do was yell in her head, wincing as the pain got worse with every moment she sat there.
In fact, as the hours went on, she, as if against her will, unwrapped the cloth over her head, her one blue eye turning as black as it's counterpart. She arose as she held her head in pain, scrambling to get out, to go anywhere, just until her sanity came back to her again. Sadly enough, the one thing she never wanted to happen did, and that was Kurt waking up and seeing she was gone, going in search to where she had gone before her madness subsided...
And before she could realize that her very mission was to eradicate him...
And they say
That a hero could save us
I'm not gonna stand here and wait
I'll hold onto the wings of the eagles
Watch as we all fly away
And they're watching us
They're watching us
As we all fly away
And they're watching us
They're watching us
As we all fly away
And they're watching us
They're watching us
As we all fly away
