Kitty had lost her grip on Sinister as they plunged through the wall. It also seemed that they had weakened the wall as well. Parts of it were falling away an the heat was increasing again.
Kurt slid in to the room and stopped short. The Demon was blocking his path.
The cavern shook. And the earth broke open. The cavern filled with a nasty haze. Everything that could be seen through the black billowing smoke was distorted by heat and recognizable only by carnival fun-house standards.
"Fun!" The Demon demanded.
Kurt lifted his head to face him.
"Shut up!" Kurt screamed at The Demon. "I don't know vhy I didn't kill you long ago!" He shouted, drawing his sword.
What Kurt's fragile mind could not bring itself to comprehend is that no one else could see The Demon.
And The Demon – devious beast that he was – had positioned himself between Kitty and Kurt.
Kitty's eyes flashed with rage as she watched Kurt draw his sword.
"As if you could!" She shook with rage as she spit the words, crouching in to a striking position, preparing to attack.
"As if you could." Kurt heard The Demon say, spreading his arms wide as though offering himself as a target.
"Oh." Kurt smiled. "I can."
And he leapt toward The Demon.
"I am you." The Demon smiled. "Your destiny."
Kitty, incensed, leapt toward Kurt. She was intent on phasing him, face first, in to the floor.
"Not any more!" Kurt screamed.
He thrust his sword through The Demon's heart and twisted the blade. He drew it back in a flash, spun, and let loose with such a flurry of steel and rage that Kitty, even with her ability to phase, was afraid to proceed. She slid to a hesitant halt.
Kurt ducked then parried and struck downwards over handed through the empty air.
He watched The Demon as it tried to defend itself, as it tried to strike back, but it was no match for Kurt. In the end, The Demon wrapped his arms around himself, trying to hold his wounds closed. He fell to his knees and then lost all his color – turning an ashen gray.
The Demon moved his lips, as though trying to speak, and dissolved in to an invisible dust and vanished from Kurt's sight.
A small smile played upon Kurt's face. He was finally free.
Kurt lifted his eyes, and for a moment through the smoke and heat, he didn't know her. Then his eyes softened and he could see her clearly – no matter the obstruction.
He sheathed his blade without looking and smiled.
She shook with rage. Was he tempting her? Was it a challenge? A spark flared behind her eyes and she reminded herself that she had to kill him.
So Kitty lunged at him as the ground shook and groaned around them.
And …
Kurt let his head fall slightly to one side. His eyes shimmered with a love that was ancient to his heart. To Kurt, Kitty was bathed in the golden light of heaven that he had envisioned as a boy. She always had been. And silently, he chided himself for ever having lost sight of it.
She closed the distance between them, her mind set on her task, but her heart … unsure.
Every step seemed to be an eternity of doubt. What was he waiting for? Was he this sure of himself?
And, suddenly, he spread his arms, ever so slightly.
Her logical mind retreated in horror and mad animal fear as she became fully solid – as though by Kurt's command – and she slowed, taking her last two steps like a fool in fear of her life.
She stepped right in to his waiting arms.
And he wrapped his arms around her, gently.
And the memories flooded back to her.
Kurt – Laughing, hanging upside down by his tail. Making her laugh too. Years worth of laughter and friendship then days and nights of passion.
…Kurt …
The earth shook again and this time the wall fell in and the room began to flood with molten rock.
"Hold me." She whispered gently, and softly, as she phased them both to safety as the wall of magma passed right through them.
"Forever – if it be God's will." He whispered in her ear, seemingly oblivious to the threat around them.
And then – he kissed her – with years of repressed passion and a lifetime's worth of honest desire.
She wrapped hr arms around him and kissed him back.
He coiled his tail around her waist and she quivered under the memory of the far more private things he could do with his tail.
The world was burning around them, torrential rivers of red hot earth splashed the cavern and adhered in to place.
Instinctively, Kitty let her phase slip, just enough that they began to rise as the cavern filled in beneath them.
Another low rumble sounded below them as the walls continued to fall in under the fury unfolding below ground. And as they rose, the rumble became the soft drone of the puddle-jumper which was hovering overhead.
"Oh, for crying out loud." Logan looked down from the cockpit of the jumper to see Kitty and Kurt, wrapped in each others arms and the billowing black smoke of the volcano.
He put a hand to his headset. "How's he holding up back there?" He asked.
"He's okay. The bandages are holding." Blockage replied. She was strapped in to the second seat, her arms wrapped around Kent's unconscious form as he lay, heavily on top of her.
"Do me a favor and key the winch. It's a red control." Logan told her.
A moment later she found it and the line was lowered.
"This is gonna be close." Logan said to himself, but out loud, as he positioned the craft – as close as he could to the volcano.
"Come one Elf." Logan spoke quietly. "You got one more in ya, I'm sure of it."
Kitty pointed to the line and Kurt nodded, then wrapped his one arm around her waist and pulled her intimately close.
A thick billow of smoke engulfed them and Logan felt the added weight begin to pull of the little aircraft.
When the smoke cleared, sure enough, they were gone.
Logan pulled on the controls and headed for the next closest island.
