Here's chapter Six!!!!!  Thanks for all your reviews!! I'm up to 60 reviews!!!  Thanks!!!

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Chapter Six: Darkness Brings the Imagination to Life

            "Blau?"  The girl's eyes were wide, her mouth dropped open.

            "You're the girl from my dreams...."  Kurt shook his head, trying to clear away what had to be a hallucination.  I'm sick.  There's no way that Morgen is real.  I hope Dr. Heschler finds out what's wrong with me.

            "Was?  I mean, you're my imaginary friend.  You don't have dreams and you certainly don't close my door.  And I...I wasn't even thinking about you!  How can I be seeing you?"  She rubbed her eyes futily.

            "How can you be seeing me?  How can I be seeing you?  You're a dream.  Nothing more."  Kurt whacked himself on the shoulder with his tail.  "Ouch!  I'm not dreaming!"

            "Don't hurt yourself, Blau....What am I saying?  You're a figment of my imagination.  You can't feel pain!"  She ran her fingers through her brown hair, frustrated with him.  "Go away!  You can't be here when I don't ask you to be!"

            "I can go wherever I want!  You're the one that's a figment of my imagination!"  He stretched a hand towards her.  "See I can't touch..."  His fingertips met the solid flesh of Morgen's face. 

            "This is impossible!" both of them exclaimed.

            "I think...maybe...we're both real....  Or we could both be imaginary...."  Morgen seemed confused by her own thoughts.

            "Um...Why don't we start this again?  With introductions instead of accusing each other of being fake?"

            Morgen nodded slowly.  "I'll start...  Hi.  My name's Dawn Mittlere."

            "I'm Kurt Wagner."  Kurt held out his hand and they shook, staring astonishedly at each other the whole time.

            Kurt dropped into the chair next to her bed and stared at her.  His gaze freaked her out a bit, his golden orbs seeming to see right through her.

            "So, um... How are you?" Dawn asked.  She didn't know what else to say.

            "Fine.  I had a broken wrist this morning, but it's better now."

            Dawn was a little frightened.  Kurt's comment was preposterous.  He must have escaped from the psychiatric ward.

            "So...do you have any ideas as to how we knew each other?"

            Kurt tore his gaze from her face and looked at the wall for a second before his eyes travelled back to her.  "I think you're a mutant.  A telepath, to be precise."

            "I am not a mutant."  Dawn's voice was low.  "I'm not."

            "Well, one of us has to be a telepath, and it obviously isn't me.  I live with two telepaths.  One of them would have realised it if I was reading people's minds."

            "I'm not a mutant!  I can't be.  It can't happen!" 

            "Why not?"

            "Mutants are dangerous.  I watch the news.  And I'm not dangerous!"

            "I'm a mutant."

            "Obviously."

            "Have I ever seemed dangerous to you?  You've been talking to me for months!"

            "It's not just that!  Even if mutants aren't dangerous, everyone hates them!  I've seen the riots on TV.  The other day, there was a story about a mutant who'd been set on fire and killed.  I don't want to be a mutant."

            Dawn's words had brought back some painful memories for Kurt.  Set on fire.  He shuddered and realised that she was waiting for him to say something.

            "It doesn't matter if you want to be a mutant or not.  It's part of your DNA.  It's what you are."  Flames were still licking at him in his mind.  His heart wasn't in what he was saying, and Dawn could hear it.

            "Are you all right?"

            "I'm fine."  He pushed the memories away.  "It's just...  Do you think I really want to look like this?  To be a mutant?  I don't, but I've had to accept it.  You will too.  Telepaths don't have it so bad.  You look normal.  You can live a normal life."

            "And what happens the first time anyone finds out what I am?"  Her eyes were filling up with tears.

            Kurt didn't know what to say.  His own experiences told him what she'd face, and he knew better than to lie to a telepath.  He shook his head sadly and she started bawling.

            "Listen to me," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. 

            She kept wailing, and he was afraid that one of the nurses would come in and find him.

            "Dawn...."  She still ignored him.  "Morgen."

            For some reason, that got her attention. 

            "Morgen, I know of a place where you can learn how to use your special abilities.  A place where you'll be safe.  I live there."  His tail waved back and forth nervously.  "I'll talk to the man that runs it and ask if you can come with me when I go home next Sunday."

            "What if I can't go?  What if he doesn't want me?"

            "The Professor would never turn away a mutant in need, even if they were his worst enemy.  I promise that, if you really are a mutant, he'll let you come with me."

            "What if I get found out before then?  And someone tries to burn me at the stake or something?"

            Kurt winced at her choice of words.  "I promise to protect you.  I won't let anything happen to you."

            Kurt glanced at his "watch" to try and figure out if the Professor or anyone was likely to be home. As he did, he noticed that the reason his image inducer had cut out was because the batteries were running low.  He heaved a sigh of relief that it wasn't truly broken and started fishing around in his pockets for spare batteries.

            "What are you doing?" Dawn asked.

            "I have to turn my hologram back on before I can go call the Professor, or someone might try to run me out of the hospital.  The batteries are dead."  He finally found the batteries that he always kept in his pocket, and he replaced the dead ones.

            Grinning smugly, he pressed a couple of buttons on his image inducer and his "normal" image appeared.

            Dawn gasped.  "What...How'd you do that?"

            "I told you.  I have a hologram in this watch.  It makes me look normal so I can walk around without scaring people."  He stood and tucked his tail into his baggy pants.  "Now, I'm going to go make a phone call.  I'll be back in a little while."

            Dawn smiled through the tears that still coursed down her cheeks.  "You'll know by then?"

            "No.  The Professor will have to do a couple of things, but at least he'll know that he has to do them.  I'll come back as soon as I get off the phone."

            "Okay.  I'll see you soon, Blau."

            Kurt rolled his eyes.  Unfortunately, now was not the time to try and break Dawn of a months-long habit.  "I'll be back soon, Morgen."

***

            Kurt stood outside of the hospital, cell phone glued to his ear. 

            "Kurt, I don't think she's a telepath.  I would have noticed it if a telepath capable of talking to you from halfway around the world had emerged."  The Professor sighed.  "I do believe you that she's a mutant."

            "Professor, was dennkst du..." Kurt got cut off.

            "English please, Kurt."

            "Of course.  Vhat do you think she is, if she's not a telepath?"  Kurt tapped the ground with his toe impatiently.

            "I'm not sure.  I'm going to go use Cerebro to try and find out."

            "I should let you go, so you can try and find out vhat she can do."

            "Good-bye, Kurt."  Kurt could hear that the Professor was smiling.

            "Wiedersehen.  Oh!  And Professor?"

            "What is it?"

            "Danke."

            "You're welcome."

            Kurt hung up, feeling slightly confused.  How could Dawn have contacted him if she wasn't a telepath?  He shrugged to himself.  The Professor would figure it all out.

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