Sorry this took a few days more than I expected. My internet connection
went down. _
* * * * * * * *
Kurt slowly came to realize that the sun was rising outside his window. He watched the whole thing sidewise, from his curled up position on his bed. The yellow sun edged it's way across his vision and the faded gray light became piercing and golden.
Without a split second of sleep, Kurt had been lying in the exact same position for hours on end. Knowing that it was earlier than usual for him, Kurt gave up and crawled from his bed. His tail dragged along the floor, sore from it's exercise last night. Kurt held his head in his hands as he walked, trying to remember what had happened hours before.
'I remember the nightmare, then waking up with all the X-Men around me.' He rolled his shoulder as he swung open his door, noticing that it felt like the muscle had been pulled. 'What did I do last night?'
The hallway of the student rooms was quiet and serene this early in the morning, no line for the bathroom as Kurt was used to. Normally, he wouldn't have been up for at least two more hours, always sleeping in and waking up last, ending up at the end of the long bathroom line.
When he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, Kurt flinched. His white eyes were bloodshot, although it wasn't as noticeable as it would be on a normal person's eyes. He stripped out of his light clothes and stepped under the shower. His fur felt sticky from the sweat he had ended up drenched in during his nightmare. He scrubbed hard at the blue coat, letting the water refresh him.
When Kurt stepped out of the bathroom, he felt a little better, although his body still felt tired. He adjusted his uniform, knowing that he would be going to danger room training after he talked with Professor Xavier.
A quick port, and he was outside the door to the professor's study. He knocked and heard a soft "Come in." from behind the door. He opened the door and closed it quietly behind him, not wanting to awaken the other teachers and students.
The professor was sitting in the middle of the rooms, a calm smile on his face.
"Please Kurt, have a seat."
Nightcrawler teleported and ended up crouching on a couch, too nervous to sit down.
"Now Kurt, you asked me not to probe your mind, and I respect your privacy so I won't."
Kurt sighed and relaxed enough to want to sit down. He didn't quite know what the professor wanted, but he did hope that he would tell him what had happened the night before.
"Do you remember anything about last night?"
"No, professor."
"Alright, Kurt. Do you think you could teleport us quietly into Kitty's room?"
Kurt cocked his head to the side but shrugged out a yes and walked to stand beside the professor. Placing a hand on his wheelchair, they were suddenly inside Kitty's room.
The professor pointed to the headstand, above where Kitty's head was now laying peacefully on the bed. The gash from the night before was still fresh, as if someone had cut through it with a knife. Kurt looked horrified and silently questioned the professor.
Professor Xavier motioned that they should speak of it elsewhere, and Kurt safely ported them back to the study.
"Oh man! Who did that?"
"You did Kurt." Nightcrawler gawked at him for a few seconds before he seemed able to sputter out a question.
"How?" His voice was soft and high out of fear of what he may have done to poor Kitty.
"With that tail of yours Kurt. You did quite a few things with it I've never seen you do before last night."
"I-I didn't mean to. I'm sorry professor. I don't know what happened."
"Please calm down Kurt. I just wanted to ask you what you remember about last night."
"Well, I-uh...."
"You don't have to be specific Kurt. Just in general, what are the last things you remember?"
"I, I remember going to bed......then I had a dream...and the last thing I remember is waking up downstairs, with all of you around me."
"Do you remember what the dream was about?"
"Kind of...." Kurt saw the look on the professors face as he rested his chin on his hands, "That's the part I'd rather not talk about professor. It was just a bad dream, I've had it before, it's nothing to worry about."
"Alright Kurt. But if you decide you'd like to tell me about it, don't hesitate to come to me."
"I know professor. Out of curiosity, why are you so interested in what that dream was?"
"I think you may have been sleepwalking." Kurt snorted.
"Sleepwalking? Then how could I have done that to Kitty's bed." 'And who knows what other damage.' Kurt left unsaid.
"Well, you can teleport, and your body is far more agile than any normal humans, so that gave you far more mobility even though you weren't in control."
"Ah. Okay, thanks professor."
"Have a good day Kurt."
Nightcrawler closed the heavy wooden door behind him and began to wander around the mansion, surveying small bits of damage he assumed must have been his. On his way, he passed by Scott who was also up and dressed. The boy looked perturbed about something, and wasn't dressed in his uniform.
"What's up Scott? I thought we had danger room practice this morning?"
"We do, but we're out of milk. All the newbies are having a battle for the last bit in their cereal, so I'm running out to get a carton before Cannonball destroys the other wall of the kitchen."
"Other wall? Maybe you should stay to keep things-"
A loud explosion rocked the mansion, and Kurt fell forward against Scott, knocking them both to the ground. Kurt grinned and sat on top of Cyclops.
"Under control was going to be the end of that sentence, but I'm guessing you knew that already." Kurt grinned and helped Scott to his feet.
"I'm going to kill them."
"Gimme the money and I'll port out for some milk."
Scott paused for a second, but then pulled out a five and passed it to Kurt.
"Bring back as much as you can, hopefully the kitchen will still be there when you get back."
Kurt laughed and switched his inducer on, grateful for the illusion of a normal human self. With a flash of smoke he found himself standing in the alley behind a Fast Mart. He tried to look as casual as he could, walking out of the alleyway whistling with his hands in his pockets.
The small ring of the door announced his arrival, and he strode casually to the drink area, where the milk was. He grabbed three, juggling the bottles as he walked up to the register. 'If I could use my tail, carrying these would be a breeze.'
Kurt hastily threw the milk onto the counter, and the elderly man looked at him through thick glasses.
"Is that all young man?"
"Yes sir."
At the sound of Kurt's German accent, the old man looked incredulously at him, but Kurt just flashed back a bright smile. As the fossil rang up his three jugs of milk, Kurt's eyes wandered around the register area. Posters were hung up everywhere, for school plays and help seminars. One flyer in particular caught Kurt's attention. It was bright yellow and had pictures of people all over it.
"4 dollars and 38 cents." But the boy's eyes were glued to the poster.
It was a picture of him. The dark fur, the smirk, the devil tail. No one else in the world looked like him. And the faces around his, the attractive young man with spikey hair. Even the old frightening woman in the back. It was a poster for the circus in town for that weekend. It was his old circus.
"Excuse me young man, if you like it that much you can have it."
"I think I'll do that." Kurt haphazardly tossed the five dollar bill to the old man, who was becoming miffed at the rude customer.
Kurt let the change drop into his open palm, careful that the man didn't touch any of his three furry fingers, and grabbed the plastic bags of milk in his other hand. After shuffling his items around for a few minutes, he managed to snatch the poster with a free hand.
Walking out the door of the store, Kurt lightly bumped his shoulder against someone but didn't notice.
"Sorry." He mumbled as he continued to scrutinize every piece of information on the sheet. Intense green eyes followed the boy out, a look of curiosity on the other boy's face. Orange hair was gelled and spiked in different directions, a few sweeping over his face to obscure his eyes as he held his head down.
Kurt rounded the corner of the building and ported back to the mansion, with a few stops on the way, as he couldn't seem to concentrate on where he was going while he looked at the flyer.
Finally, the mutant ended up back in the foyer of the mansion and heard peace and silence. For a second.
"LOOK OUT!!" Multiple and five copies of himself ran out of the kitchen, tossing the milk bottle back and forth to themselves. Evan and Rogue chased after them, intent on getting the remaining bit of milk for their cereal.
Kurt quickly hid the flyer in a pocket and switched off his inducer, feeling safe at home. Multiple and his, well, multiples, ran straight for Kurt as he held up the bag of milk, as if to ward them away.
All six slid to a stop, and for a moment looked afraid. Then they saw the milk and grabbed the three bottles, running triumphantly back to the kitchen.
Evan just shook his head but then saw the expression on Nightcrawler's face.
"Hey man, you okay? You look down in the dumps." Evan took a careful step closer, holding his hands out in a comforting gesture.
"You don't have to treat me like some dangerous animal that might go off at any second you know." Kurt stormed past the two X-Men who were stunned into shock. Normally the blue elf was so optimistic and upbeat, apparently the night had taken more of a toll on him than those he attacked.
Walking into the kitchen, Kurt had arrived just in time for his eardrums to be blown out.
"STOP IT!" Scott bellowed, panting and attempting to hold part of the kitchen counter together.
"EVERYONE. TO THE DANGER ROOM. NOW!!"
"And I thought people were afraid of me." Kurt muttered as he walked over to crouch on the floor beside Scott. Some of the new students shot him odd looks. Amara slipped out of the kitchen fast, her eyes wide. The other students followed, the ones who weren't in uniform yet going faster.
"Hey Kurt, thanks for going out for milk." Kurt nodded and pulled the change from his pocket, extending his hand quickly out to give the money to Scott.
The leader of the X-Men flinched back, before quickly putting his hand out to catch the coins. He felt terrible, but Nightcrawler's actions were always so quick, he was still uneasy after the night before.
"I guess I'll see you in the danger room then." Kurt sadly bamfed out of the room and in front of the entrance to the danger room.
Logan was standing there, watching with his steely gaze as each student passed through the doorway. He saw Nightcrawler and motioned him in as well.
"Come on elf. Today's training won't be a long one."
"Sure." Kurt was still crestfallen at the way everyone acted towards him, but went into the danger room and walked over to the group of X-Men he always hung out with. Finally they seemed to be calming down, and acting normal around him again.
"Heya Kurt, you, like, ready to go?" Kitty's smile brightened Kurt's day, for she had always been afraid of him, and now when everyone turned against him, she seemed unfazed.
'Ha. Shadowcat. Un-fazed. Haha. Man I wish I'd said that one out loud.'
"Alright. Listen up. We're having a short session today, and you kids are lucky for it. We'll be doing a little non-power combat."
Everyone in the room groaned and mumbled, especially the new kids. Logan crossed his arms, and everyone was abruptly silenced.
"Now pair off. When each group has a winner," Logan paused and sighed, he didn't agree with the professor letting them off this easy just because most had lost a little sleep, "then we'll be done here."
Everyone cheered and quickly found opponents. Kurt hoped Shadowcat would pair with him, but she had grabbed Rogue, the two glaring each other down. 'I guess those two will always have a score to settle.' Next Kurt turned to Cyclops, but he and Iceman were already ready to go. And so it went for Nightcrawler.
Jean and Spyke. Berzerker and Jubilee. Cannonball and Wolfsbane. Multiple and Sunspot. Magma was the only one unpaired and so Kurt walked over to her, feeling like the last man picked.
"Ready to go Amara?"
The girl gulped and looked shakier than usual. Kurt didn't understand why she should be afraid, although he couldn't remember what had happened last night.
"Amara.....I didn't, hurt you or anything last night, did I?"
"Y-You don't remember?"
Kurt shook his head but their conversation was cut short as Logan yelled out "Go!"
"Guess we shall continue this later, huh?" Kurt got into a crouching position, and began to circle Magma. She took a few steps away from him, and Kurt would take a few steps forward. Back. Forward. Back. Forward.
Nightcrawler sighed heavily and stood up, crossing his arms. Amara had her back against one of the danger room walls, and their group was the only one who hadn't started yet. Jean and Spyke were already done, a very pissed off Jean Grey sulking beside Logan.
Kurt heard something with his sensitive ears and dodged out of the way as Cannonball came hurtling by. He slammed into the wall and everyone in the danger room turned to look. Rahne came by laughing at him, and Logan declared her the winner by default because Cannonball had used his powers.
"Come on Amara. I won't hurt you."
"You expect me to believe that after what you did to Logan last night?"
"Huh?" Kurt looked at Wolverine, who was watching the intense rolling of Scott and Bobby, who were wearing a whole in the danger room with their constant turning.
"What did I do to him?" Amara blinked and finally seemed to be warming up to Kurt again.
"You really don't remember, do you?"
"Hey you two! This isn't a chatting session, spar each other now or you'll both have to go against me!"
"Yeep!" Both chorused together, then turned on each other.
Amara took a chance and ran straight at Kurt, sliding at the last moment, taking out his legs. Kurt had to overpower the reaction of teleporting and felt himself land on the ground, hard. He stood up and leapt at Amara, knocking her back down. She wouldn't take defeat likely though, and brought her feet up to kick against Kurt's stomach.
Nightcrawler flew surprisingly far through the air, landing on his side and skidding a few feet. When he stood up, he shook his head a few times, trying to make the danger room stop spinning. He finally looked back at Amara, in time to see her shoe heading for his face. The blue elf didn't have a chance.
"Magma wins." Logan announced as he helped Kurt up from the ground, a confused look on the boy's face.
"Ish my thnose btheeding?" Kurt mumbled out.
"Yes." Logan rolled his eyes at the boy's attempts to see whether his nose was really bleeding or not.
The other sets of people finished their fights and Wolverine released them, yelling at most of them to ice or bandage one thing or another. The groups of students each went off to enjoy their Saturday and talked about what they were going to do. Kurt put his hand on Amara's shoulder to slow her down, she seemed to be rushing away. When his three fingered hand touched her, she jumped in the air.
"Oh, hey Kurt."
"Why so jumpy today Amara?"
"Well," she said nervously, shifting on her feet, "I thought maybe you were mad at me beating you."
"I'm not mad, you won fair and square."
"No I didn't. You went easy on me."
Kurt just blinked. He couldn't understand why Amara would even think that he would go easy on her.
"I didn't go easy on you Amara."
"Well, had you fought me like you did last night, I wouldn't have had a chance."
"Was....was I really that dangerous?" Amara stopped and pulled Kurt out of the rush of students. She pointed to Logan as he walked around the edge of the danger room, checking to make sure none of the security systems had been damaged in the session.
"Look at his neck." She whispered, Kurt's demon ears picking up the sound perfectly. He did, and for the first time noticed a slight bruise on parts of Logan's neck.
"Let me guess. I did that last night."
"You really don't remember? You jumped on Logan's back and wrapped your tail around his neck." Kurt looked down at his sore tail, now understanding why the muscles had become hard and painful. He rarely used his tail for anything other than hanging on, it was there for balance and to be used as a tail, not a weapon. In his whole life he'd never used it purposely to attack someone, but he knew it must have been strong to leave a bruise on Wolverine.
"Thanks for your help Amara. I may not be able to remember what I did, but I'm sorry for it anyway."
Amara smiled and gave Kurt an unexpected hug. He stiffened, mostly out of surprise, but soon the hug was gone and Amara waved back at him, a bright smile on her face. Kurt was glad that at least one of the X-Men had started to trust him again, and seemed to understand where he was coming from.
Kurt lagged behind after Amara left with the rest, waiting until he was alone on his way to his room before he pulled the flyer out of his pocket.
His eyes were again drawn to two specific figures. Himself, in a rather daring costume meant to emphasize his demonic features. And the boy standing beside him. The boy with the hair which stood up seemingly on its own. Fiery orange hair. His costume was made up of leather, black with red and yellow flames on the ankles. The flyer was all in black and yellow, but Kurt had the colors of that boy's outfit memorized. He had spent a large part of his time growing up in that circus, and they were his first family.
Kurt looked at where the circus was to be set up and realized it wasn't too far away. They were going to be performing at 8 on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday night. 'Hm, it's been a while, maybe I should go see them again. But we didn't exactly part on....good terms.' Kurt debated for a few minutes, chewing on his lower lip as he thought, before he decided to take a quick look at his old family before coming back to see what the other X-men were up to.
Kurt flicked on his inducer and thought about the area where the circus would be, then bamf, he was gone.
* * * * * * * * Thank you all SO much for reviewing. I got the 10 I needed, so this fic will be completed, although I don't know how long it may take. I will try and do it fast though. Keep reviewing people, and don't worry, Pyro will be making his real appearance in the next chapter. ^_~ I hope you enjoyed this, later people!
* * * * * * * *
Kurt slowly came to realize that the sun was rising outside his window. He watched the whole thing sidewise, from his curled up position on his bed. The yellow sun edged it's way across his vision and the faded gray light became piercing and golden.
Without a split second of sleep, Kurt had been lying in the exact same position for hours on end. Knowing that it was earlier than usual for him, Kurt gave up and crawled from his bed. His tail dragged along the floor, sore from it's exercise last night. Kurt held his head in his hands as he walked, trying to remember what had happened hours before.
'I remember the nightmare, then waking up with all the X-Men around me.' He rolled his shoulder as he swung open his door, noticing that it felt like the muscle had been pulled. 'What did I do last night?'
The hallway of the student rooms was quiet and serene this early in the morning, no line for the bathroom as Kurt was used to. Normally, he wouldn't have been up for at least two more hours, always sleeping in and waking up last, ending up at the end of the long bathroom line.
When he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, Kurt flinched. His white eyes were bloodshot, although it wasn't as noticeable as it would be on a normal person's eyes. He stripped out of his light clothes and stepped under the shower. His fur felt sticky from the sweat he had ended up drenched in during his nightmare. He scrubbed hard at the blue coat, letting the water refresh him.
When Kurt stepped out of the bathroom, he felt a little better, although his body still felt tired. He adjusted his uniform, knowing that he would be going to danger room training after he talked with Professor Xavier.
A quick port, and he was outside the door to the professor's study. He knocked and heard a soft "Come in." from behind the door. He opened the door and closed it quietly behind him, not wanting to awaken the other teachers and students.
The professor was sitting in the middle of the rooms, a calm smile on his face.
"Please Kurt, have a seat."
Nightcrawler teleported and ended up crouching on a couch, too nervous to sit down.
"Now Kurt, you asked me not to probe your mind, and I respect your privacy so I won't."
Kurt sighed and relaxed enough to want to sit down. He didn't quite know what the professor wanted, but he did hope that he would tell him what had happened the night before.
"Do you remember anything about last night?"
"No, professor."
"Alright, Kurt. Do you think you could teleport us quietly into Kitty's room?"
Kurt cocked his head to the side but shrugged out a yes and walked to stand beside the professor. Placing a hand on his wheelchair, they were suddenly inside Kitty's room.
The professor pointed to the headstand, above where Kitty's head was now laying peacefully on the bed. The gash from the night before was still fresh, as if someone had cut through it with a knife. Kurt looked horrified and silently questioned the professor.
Professor Xavier motioned that they should speak of it elsewhere, and Kurt safely ported them back to the study.
"Oh man! Who did that?"
"You did Kurt." Nightcrawler gawked at him for a few seconds before he seemed able to sputter out a question.
"How?" His voice was soft and high out of fear of what he may have done to poor Kitty.
"With that tail of yours Kurt. You did quite a few things with it I've never seen you do before last night."
"I-I didn't mean to. I'm sorry professor. I don't know what happened."
"Please calm down Kurt. I just wanted to ask you what you remember about last night."
"Well, I-uh...."
"You don't have to be specific Kurt. Just in general, what are the last things you remember?"
"I, I remember going to bed......then I had a dream...and the last thing I remember is waking up downstairs, with all of you around me."
"Do you remember what the dream was about?"
"Kind of...." Kurt saw the look on the professors face as he rested his chin on his hands, "That's the part I'd rather not talk about professor. It was just a bad dream, I've had it before, it's nothing to worry about."
"Alright Kurt. But if you decide you'd like to tell me about it, don't hesitate to come to me."
"I know professor. Out of curiosity, why are you so interested in what that dream was?"
"I think you may have been sleepwalking." Kurt snorted.
"Sleepwalking? Then how could I have done that to Kitty's bed." 'And who knows what other damage.' Kurt left unsaid.
"Well, you can teleport, and your body is far more agile than any normal humans, so that gave you far more mobility even though you weren't in control."
"Ah. Okay, thanks professor."
"Have a good day Kurt."
Nightcrawler closed the heavy wooden door behind him and began to wander around the mansion, surveying small bits of damage he assumed must have been his. On his way, he passed by Scott who was also up and dressed. The boy looked perturbed about something, and wasn't dressed in his uniform.
"What's up Scott? I thought we had danger room practice this morning?"
"We do, but we're out of milk. All the newbies are having a battle for the last bit in their cereal, so I'm running out to get a carton before Cannonball destroys the other wall of the kitchen."
"Other wall? Maybe you should stay to keep things-"
A loud explosion rocked the mansion, and Kurt fell forward against Scott, knocking them both to the ground. Kurt grinned and sat on top of Cyclops.
"Under control was going to be the end of that sentence, but I'm guessing you knew that already." Kurt grinned and helped Scott to his feet.
"I'm going to kill them."
"Gimme the money and I'll port out for some milk."
Scott paused for a second, but then pulled out a five and passed it to Kurt.
"Bring back as much as you can, hopefully the kitchen will still be there when you get back."
Kurt laughed and switched his inducer on, grateful for the illusion of a normal human self. With a flash of smoke he found himself standing in the alley behind a Fast Mart. He tried to look as casual as he could, walking out of the alleyway whistling with his hands in his pockets.
The small ring of the door announced his arrival, and he strode casually to the drink area, where the milk was. He grabbed three, juggling the bottles as he walked up to the register. 'If I could use my tail, carrying these would be a breeze.'
Kurt hastily threw the milk onto the counter, and the elderly man looked at him through thick glasses.
"Is that all young man?"
"Yes sir."
At the sound of Kurt's German accent, the old man looked incredulously at him, but Kurt just flashed back a bright smile. As the fossil rang up his three jugs of milk, Kurt's eyes wandered around the register area. Posters were hung up everywhere, for school plays and help seminars. One flyer in particular caught Kurt's attention. It was bright yellow and had pictures of people all over it.
"4 dollars and 38 cents." But the boy's eyes were glued to the poster.
It was a picture of him. The dark fur, the smirk, the devil tail. No one else in the world looked like him. And the faces around his, the attractive young man with spikey hair. Even the old frightening woman in the back. It was a poster for the circus in town for that weekend. It was his old circus.
"Excuse me young man, if you like it that much you can have it."
"I think I'll do that." Kurt haphazardly tossed the five dollar bill to the old man, who was becoming miffed at the rude customer.
Kurt let the change drop into his open palm, careful that the man didn't touch any of his three furry fingers, and grabbed the plastic bags of milk in his other hand. After shuffling his items around for a few minutes, he managed to snatch the poster with a free hand.
Walking out the door of the store, Kurt lightly bumped his shoulder against someone but didn't notice.
"Sorry." He mumbled as he continued to scrutinize every piece of information on the sheet. Intense green eyes followed the boy out, a look of curiosity on the other boy's face. Orange hair was gelled and spiked in different directions, a few sweeping over his face to obscure his eyes as he held his head down.
Kurt rounded the corner of the building and ported back to the mansion, with a few stops on the way, as he couldn't seem to concentrate on where he was going while he looked at the flyer.
Finally, the mutant ended up back in the foyer of the mansion and heard peace and silence. For a second.
"LOOK OUT!!" Multiple and five copies of himself ran out of the kitchen, tossing the milk bottle back and forth to themselves. Evan and Rogue chased after them, intent on getting the remaining bit of milk for their cereal.
Kurt quickly hid the flyer in a pocket and switched off his inducer, feeling safe at home. Multiple and his, well, multiples, ran straight for Kurt as he held up the bag of milk, as if to ward them away.
All six slid to a stop, and for a moment looked afraid. Then they saw the milk and grabbed the three bottles, running triumphantly back to the kitchen.
Evan just shook his head but then saw the expression on Nightcrawler's face.
"Hey man, you okay? You look down in the dumps." Evan took a careful step closer, holding his hands out in a comforting gesture.
"You don't have to treat me like some dangerous animal that might go off at any second you know." Kurt stormed past the two X-Men who were stunned into shock. Normally the blue elf was so optimistic and upbeat, apparently the night had taken more of a toll on him than those he attacked.
Walking into the kitchen, Kurt had arrived just in time for his eardrums to be blown out.
"STOP IT!" Scott bellowed, panting and attempting to hold part of the kitchen counter together.
"EVERYONE. TO THE DANGER ROOM. NOW!!"
"And I thought people were afraid of me." Kurt muttered as he walked over to crouch on the floor beside Scott. Some of the new students shot him odd looks. Amara slipped out of the kitchen fast, her eyes wide. The other students followed, the ones who weren't in uniform yet going faster.
"Hey Kurt, thanks for going out for milk." Kurt nodded and pulled the change from his pocket, extending his hand quickly out to give the money to Scott.
The leader of the X-Men flinched back, before quickly putting his hand out to catch the coins. He felt terrible, but Nightcrawler's actions were always so quick, he was still uneasy after the night before.
"I guess I'll see you in the danger room then." Kurt sadly bamfed out of the room and in front of the entrance to the danger room.
Logan was standing there, watching with his steely gaze as each student passed through the doorway. He saw Nightcrawler and motioned him in as well.
"Come on elf. Today's training won't be a long one."
"Sure." Kurt was still crestfallen at the way everyone acted towards him, but went into the danger room and walked over to the group of X-Men he always hung out with. Finally they seemed to be calming down, and acting normal around him again.
"Heya Kurt, you, like, ready to go?" Kitty's smile brightened Kurt's day, for she had always been afraid of him, and now when everyone turned against him, she seemed unfazed.
'Ha. Shadowcat. Un-fazed. Haha. Man I wish I'd said that one out loud.'
"Alright. Listen up. We're having a short session today, and you kids are lucky for it. We'll be doing a little non-power combat."
Everyone in the room groaned and mumbled, especially the new kids. Logan crossed his arms, and everyone was abruptly silenced.
"Now pair off. When each group has a winner," Logan paused and sighed, he didn't agree with the professor letting them off this easy just because most had lost a little sleep, "then we'll be done here."
Everyone cheered and quickly found opponents. Kurt hoped Shadowcat would pair with him, but she had grabbed Rogue, the two glaring each other down. 'I guess those two will always have a score to settle.' Next Kurt turned to Cyclops, but he and Iceman were already ready to go. And so it went for Nightcrawler.
Jean and Spyke. Berzerker and Jubilee. Cannonball and Wolfsbane. Multiple and Sunspot. Magma was the only one unpaired and so Kurt walked over to her, feeling like the last man picked.
"Ready to go Amara?"
The girl gulped and looked shakier than usual. Kurt didn't understand why she should be afraid, although he couldn't remember what had happened last night.
"Amara.....I didn't, hurt you or anything last night, did I?"
"Y-You don't remember?"
Kurt shook his head but their conversation was cut short as Logan yelled out "Go!"
"Guess we shall continue this later, huh?" Kurt got into a crouching position, and began to circle Magma. She took a few steps away from him, and Kurt would take a few steps forward. Back. Forward. Back. Forward.
Nightcrawler sighed heavily and stood up, crossing his arms. Amara had her back against one of the danger room walls, and their group was the only one who hadn't started yet. Jean and Spyke were already done, a very pissed off Jean Grey sulking beside Logan.
Kurt heard something with his sensitive ears and dodged out of the way as Cannonball came hurtling by. He slammed into the wall and everyone in the danger room turned to look. Rahne came by laughing at him, and Logan declared her the winner by default because Cannonball had used his powers.
"Come on Amara. I won't hurt you."
"You expect me to believe that after what you did to Logan last night?"
"Huh?" Kurt looked at Wolverine, who was watching the intense rolling of Scott and Bobby, who were wearing a whole in the danger room with their constant turning.
"What did I do to him?" Amara blinked and finally seemed to be warming up to Kurt again.
"You really don't remember, do you?"
"Hey you two! This isn't a chatting session, spar each other now or you'll both have to go against me!"
"Yeep!" Both chorused together, then turned on each other.
Amara took a chance and ran straight at Kurt, sliding at the last moment, taking out his legs. Kurt had to overpower the reaction of teleporting and felt himself land on the ground, hard. He stood up and leapt at Amara, knocking her back down. She wouldn't take defeat likely though, and brought her feet up to kick against Kurt's stomach.
Nightcrawler flew surprisingly far through the air, landing on his side and skidding a few feet. When he stood up, he shook his head a few times, trying to make the danger room stop spinning. He finally looked back at Amara, in time to see her shoe heading for his face. The blue elf didn't have a chance.
"Magma wins." Logan announced as he helped Kurt up from the ground, a confused look on the boy's face.
"Ish my thnose btheeding?" Kurt mumbled out.
"Yes." Logan rolled his eyes at the boy's attempts to see whether his nose was really bleeding or not.
The other sets of people finished their fights and Wolverine released them, yelling at most of them to ice or bandage one thing or another. The groups of students each went off to enjoy their Saturday and talked about what they were going to do. Kurt put his hand on Amara's shoulder to slow her down, she seemed to be rushing away. When his three fingered hand touched her, she jumped in the air.
"Oh, hey Kurt."
"Why so jumpy today Amara?"
"Well," she said nervously, shifting on her feet, "I thought maybe you were mad at me beating you."
"I'm not mad, you won fair and square."
"No I didn't. You went easy on me."
Kurt just blinked. He couldn't understand why Amara would even think that he would go easy on her.
"I didn't go easy on you Amara."
"Well, had you fought me like you did last night, I wouldn't have had a chance."
"Was....was I really that dangerous?" Amara stopped and pulled Kurt out of the rush of students. She pointed to Logan as he walked around the edge of the danger room, checking to make sure none of the security systems had been damaged in the session.
"Look at his neck." She whispered, Kurt's demon ears picking up the sound perfectly. He did, and for the first time noticed a slight bruise on parts of Logan's neck.
"Let me guess. I did that last night."
"You really don't remember? You jumped on Logan's back and wrapped your tail around his neck." Kurt looked down at his sore tail, now understanding why the muscles had become hard and painful. He rarely used his tail for anything other than hanging on, it was there for balance and to be used as a tail, not a weapon. In his whole life he'd never used it purposely to attack someone, but he knew it must have been strong to leave a bruise on Wolverine.
"Thanks for your help Amara. I may not be able to remember what I did, but I'm sorry for it anyway."
Amara smiled and gave Kurt an unexpected hug. He stiffened, mostly out of surprise, but soon the hug was gone and Amara waved back at him, a bright smile on her face. Kurt was glad that at least one of the X-Men had started to trust him again, and seemed to understand where he was coming from.
Kurt lagged behind after Amara left with the rest, waiting until he was alone on his way to his room before he pulled the flyer out of his pocket.
His eyes were again drawn to two specific figures. Himself, in a rather daring costume meant to emphasize his demonic features. And the boy standing beside him. The boy with the hair which stood up seemingly on its own. Fiery orange hair. His costume was made up of leather, black with red and yellow flames on the ankles. The flyer was all in black and yellow, but Kurt had the colors of that boy's outfit memorized. He had spent a large part of his time growing up in that circus, and they were his first family.
Kurt looked at where the circus was to be set up and realized it wasn't too far away. They were going to be performing at 8 on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday night. 'Hm, it's been a while, maybe I should go see them again. But we didn't exactly part on....good terms.' Kurt debated for a few minutes, chewing on his lower lip as he thought, before he decided to take a quick look at his old family before coming back to see what the other X-men were up to.
Kurt flicked on his inducer and thought about the area where the circus would be, then bamf, he was gone.
* * * * * * * * Thank you all SO much for reviewing. I got the 10 I needed, so this fic will be completed, although I don't know how long it may take. I will try and do it fast though. Keep reviewing people, and don't worry, Pyro will be making his real appearance in the next chapter. ^_~ I hope you enjoyed this, later people!
