Note: I don't own Kurt Wagner, or any of the other X-men. They belong
to Marvel. I know that I am skewing his story, but it was all done for
fun, besides it is basically what Evolution says. This is before he comes
to Xavier's for training, and safety, obviously. I made up the names of his
parents. They only one who is mine is the history teacher, Mr. Steger
(Thank you Dr. Steger).
A golden glow, a slice of hope against the blackness of the night, initiated a ray of sunlight through the windows of the quiet suburb in upper New York. As the morning brightened, people began to awaken. They went out to grab the daily news, and kissed children good-bye as they left for school. It was a typical American suburb, which was why the German immigrants had chosen this place. Several months ago they had settled into a colonial style house in a cul-de-sac with a huge oak in their front yard. Neighbors had graciously helped the family of three move in, and their children all climbed in the oaks wide branches. The Wagner's were well liked in the community.
"Guten Morgen Kurt," Arabella Wagner smiled as her son cam down the stairs, running a hand absently through his short strawberry-blond hair. At thirteen, he was a star gymnast and a loving son, but in the back of her mind was a shadow.
They had discovered him while he was still a baby while out for a walk by the local river. How he had survived, the Wagner's had now clue, but they had taken him in and made him their son. What he didn't know, what his father didn't even know, was that a village had spotted a demoness just upstream. From her sister she had discovered, that she had had a baby in her arms when the villagers had begun to chase her, but both she and the child had vanished. Arabella figured that her lovely Kurt was that child, and she knew the mutant gene emerged during puberty.
"Guten Morgan, mother," digging into the pancakes he piled on his plate, causing his father; Christian Wagner to giggle as he emerged from his paper.
"America has made you hungry I see," he said.
"He's a growing boy," Arabella smiled, sitting down herself.
"I don't know why I'm so hungry all the time," he said.
"Your thirteen Kurt," his father replied.
"How was your night, dear?" Arabella asked.
Kurt groaned, "Nightmares and every time I woke up I kept having flashes of pain all over."
Arabella's heart went to her mouth, "Where?"
"My hands, my feet, my back, my face, just everywhere, then it would die down for a while," Kurt answered, shrugging.
"Did you take medicine?"
"Didn't seem to work, but I'm feeling fine now."
"I have to go to work," Christian rose, placing the neatly folded paper on the table and picking up is briefcase. Hugging his son he wished him a good day, kissed Arabella and left.
"Guess I have to go to school," Kurt replied, grabbing his book bag and standing.
"Son," Arabella stopped him, "you know that whatever happens we still love you."
"Mom, I know all about these changes that boys go through," sighing he made a move to leave.
"I'm just-worried-about you," she said, looking him in the eyes. "You- you're special."
Kurt gave his shy smile, "Danka."
Arabella watched her son walk down the drive, and wondered what the future would bring for him.
"So, the Volga Germans came to the Volga by the Colonization plan of Catherine the Great of Russia, leaving their Holy Roman Empire for a more secure place," Mr. Steger expounded to his history class. Kurt shook his head, trying to bring his mind back to the lesson. It was about Germans, after all. For all his trying nothing seemed to put the growing uncomfortable feeling threading through him, quickly turning to low-level pain. For the past two periods and lunch he had been able to ignore, now he was beginning to feel dizzy and uncomfortable in any position.
"Kurt, are you alright?" Mr. Steger asked, stopping beside his desk. "I thought you would like the lesson."
"I don't feel all that vell sir. I had a bad night and a vorse day," Kurt said, grimacing as another lance of pain flickered down his back. Shifting in his seat, Kurt continued, "I'd like to go home sir."
"You may be excused to go to the nurse, Mr. Wagner," he said, "please call if you must stay home again tomorrow."
"Danka, I vill."
Slowly, Kurt made his way towards the nurse's office, but each step shot pain up his legs. He felt wrong, as though he were in the hospital just about to have surgery to correct something he had no knowledge was even incorrect. Weaving slightly, he steadied himself on the wall, and notice he couldn't separate his fingers. His first and second were stuck together, has were the third and fourth. He could give the Vulcan salute, but couldn't spread his fingers out.
: Vat the? Vhy are they stuck? He thought, slowly pushing himself away from the wall. Only to have the agony of his feet and back to flare up, sending him sprawling to the floor. : Something's vrong? Something's very vrong, I need to get home as soon as possible. If the others see me like this: Kurt only had a vague impression on what the other students would do if they caught him. Still the thought of being seen made terror course through him, erasing the pain for a moment. :I vish I vas outside:
A rushing sensation, of moving through an immense amount of space in a moment, the smell and heat like the inside of Hades, and Kurt found himself, laying under the trees in the front of the school.
"Kurt!" His mother called from their car, "I had to come! Get in!"
Once more, he felt the rushing sensation, and was in the car without moving his muscles. His mother was rolling down the window, wrinkling her nose and swishing the air. She murmured to herself, then speed off.
"How did you know to come?" Kurt asked, as the pain died for a moment
"A mother's hunch," she replied, looking a bit uneasy.
Not replying, Kurt could only watch the outside, still feeling ill. Bringing his hand up to rest on the windowsill, he noticed that the fingers weren't just joined together, but gradually merging. His feet felt squashed inside his shoes and he longed to take them off, not to mention it was getting very uncomfortable to sit. Once they returned home, he moved to his room and shut the door. Taking off his shoes, he saw that his feet were elongating and changing much the same way his hands were. Sitting down, he rubbed his ankles, only to grimace has he shifted his weight. : What am I sitting on: Pulling down his pants, he glanced behind him. Only to find the beginnings of a dark blue tail had been what was causing discomfort.
"Mein Gott!" Stumbling uneasily towards his dresser, Kurt could only watch has the face he had known morphed into something foreign. His strawberry hair became blue-black, and gradually fine blue fur covered his entire body. Ears growing into points, canines lengthening, sharpening, and his eyes becoming a glowing topaz with no visible pupil, until finally the uncomfortable sensations stopped.
"Vhat am I?" He circled, trying to figure out how he could look so different. : Vait a moment, I should be falling over, but I'm able to valk. In fact I feel like I've been like this all my life: His tail twitched behind him, mimicking his puzzled mood.
"Kurt, dear, are you feeling alright?" His mother's voice came from the hallway.
"Yes," he answered, "never better. I'm just-feeling a bit blue."
Arabella opened the door, "Well there's no reason to feel."
"I-um, meant that literally," Kurt, replied, turning his head to look guiltily at his mother. She stood there, unable to move, eyes riveted on the demon before her.
"What have you done with my son?" Her eyes lighted with anger at the situation. Unable to handle the sight that she had lost the boy she had loved for so long, she reacted by turning the anger on him.
Kurt raised his three-fingered hands and slowly backed up, "I don't know what you're talking about. I know I look different, but I'm still your son. Please, I need help, I don't know what's happening to me."
"Give me back my son," she launched herself across the room. Ending up with a face full of purple smoke, and Kurt in the hallway where she had been before.
"Why are you so mad? I-I don't understand," Kurt stammered, but he'd been around Arabella too long to expect an answer. When she had her anger unleashed, it was best to move out of the way. He ran. Using hands, feet and acrobatics he flipped and tore through the house. Slippery has a cat, he used his tail to turn at on a dime as his mother vainly tried to grab him, convinced a demon had possessed her son.
"Arabella!" His father's voice carried up the stairwell has mother and son knocked over a vase that had been in the family for several years upstairs. Christian Wagner made it to the stairs just in time to be on the bottom of a pile when his wife and a strange blue creature skidding into him.
"Hello father," the blue creature said, looking repentant. "Could you stop mother from trying to tear my tail off please?"
"What is going on?" He said, voice surprisingly even. Struggling out from underneath, he helped Arabella to her feet, and then held her as she glared at the scared and sorrowful boy.
"Arabella," Christian said, "the last time I checked local folk-lore demons had goat hooves, bat wings, horns and bright red eyes. Kurt may look strange, but he is no demon. He's going to have enough problems without his own mother trying to murder him."
Kurt uncurled from his place on the floor, "You, you know who I am?"
"Well, unlike usual changes, your voice hasn't changed that much, and you knew enough to run from Arabella instead of trying to fight. Besides, I don't know," he scratched his head, "somehow you should look like that. I don't question God."
"I should?" Kurt cocked his head, trying to understand.
"Can you sit down now like a civilized lady, or are you the one possessed," Christian asked his wife before addressing Kurt, "There was something we should have told you on your birthday."
Arabella winced, and nodded. She was careful not to look at her son as they moved to the living room. Christian sat on the love seat with Arabella beside him, while Kurt crouched on another chair, tail wrapping around the chair leg.
"First of all, you know that you are not our blood-son?"
Kurt nodded.
"We found you when you were a child, abandoned on the river near our old home. There had been rumors of mutants in the area, and I had a hunch that someone had figured out their child was a mutant, and got rid of it," Christian said, "Got rid of you. Kurt, we don't know who your true mother is, or your true father is, but we did know that you probably were going to be different."
"What is a mutant?"
"I've been working on that ever since you came into our lives. Your mother has known about it too, but." he turned to his wife.
"I, I didn't expect this. I'm sorry, I was just frightened, and scared. I didn't understand what was happening and I was angry that God would dare do this to you," Arabella said.
"I think I understand," Kurt answered, "I surprised you." He paused in thought, the spade tip of his tail twitching, " I guess I'm going to have to get used to that. I'm not going to be able to go back to school, or even to church for that matter. If I scared you, I can't imagine what the priest would do if I came in for communion."
"We can bring you the Eucharist, and you can be home schooled," Christian said. "Now, everyone has mutations, but recently there have been people emerging who have mutations that give them powers. Powers like ESP and abilities to control the elements. Most of them are human, but they were born to human parents."
"I'm not human?"
"Kurt, our own history has shown that the one who looks like the most handsome human can be a demon," his mother said, "What counts is what is in your heart, as cliché has that is."
"I need to think about this," Kurt said, slowly unfolding from his crouch and standing.
"So do we son," said his mother. She came over and hugged him, "so do we."
A golden glow, a slice of hope against the blackness of the night, initiated a ray of sunlight through the windows of the quiet suburb in upper New York. As the morning brightened, people began to awaken. They went out to grab the daily news, and kissed children good-bye as they left for school. It was a typical American suburb, which was why the German immigrants had chosen this place. Several months ago they had settled into a colonial style house in a cul-de-sac with a huge oak in their front yard. Neighbors had graciously helped the family of three move in, and their children all climbed in the oaks wide branches. The Wagner's were well liked in the community.
"Guten Morgen Kurt," Arabella Wagner smiled as her son cam down the stairs, running a hand absently through his short strawberry-blond hair. At thirteen, he was a star gymnast and a loving son, but in the back of her mind was a shadow.
They had discovered him while he was still a baby while out for a walk by the local river. How he had survived, the Wagner's had now clue, but they had taken him in and made him their son. What he didn't know, what his father didn't even know, was that a village had spotted a demoness just upstream. From her sister she had discovered, that she had had a baby in her arms when the villagers had begun to chase her, but both she and the child had vanished. Arabella figured that her lovely Kurt was that child, and she knew the mutant gene emerged during puberty.
"Guten Morgan, mother," digging into the pancakes he piled on his plate, causing his father; Christian Wagner to giggle as he emerged from his paper.
"America has made you hungry I see," he said.
"He's a growing boy," Arabella smiled, sitting down herself.
"I don't know why I'm so hungry all the time," he said.
"Your thirteen Kurt," his father replied.
"How was your night, dear?" Arabella asked.
Kurt groaned, "Nightmares and every time I woke up I kept having flashes of pain all over."
Arabella's heart went to her mouth, "Where?"
"My hands, my feet, my back, my face, just everywhere, then it would die down for a while," Kurt answered, shrugging.
"Did you take medicine?"
"Didn't seem to work, but I'm feeling fine now."
"I have to go to work," Christian rose, placing the neatly folded paper on the table and picking up is briefcase. Hugging his son he wished him a good day, kissed Arabella and left.
"Guess I have to go to school," Kurt replied, grabbing his book bag and standing.
"Son," Arabella stopped him, "you know that whatever happens we still love you."
"Mom, I know all about these changes that boys go through," sighing he made a move to leave.
"I'm just-worried-about you," she said, looking him in the eyes. "You- you're special."
Kurt gave his shy smile, "Danka."
Arabella watched her son walk down the drive, and wondered what the future would bring for him.
"So, the Volga Germans came to the Volga by the Colonization plan of Catherine the Great of Russia, leaving their Holy Roman Empire for a more secure place," Mr. Steger expounded to his history class. Kurt shook his head, trying to bring his mind back to the lesson. It was about Germans, after all. For all his trying nothing seemed to put the growing uncomfortable feeling threading through him, quickly turning to low-level pain. For the past two periods and lunch he had been able to ignore, now he was beginning to feel dizzy and uncomfortable in any position.
"Kurt, are you alright?" Mr. Steger asked, stopping beside his desk. "I thought you would like the lesson."
"I don't feel all that vell sir. I had a bad night and a vorse day," Kurt said, grimacing as another lance of pain flickered down his back. Shifting in his seat, Kurt continued, "I'd like to go home sir."
"You may be excused to go to the nurse, Mr. Wagner," he said, "please call if you must stay home again tomorrow."
"Danka, I vill."
Slowly, Kurt made his way towards the nurse's office, but each step shot pain up his legs. He felt wrong, as though he were in the hospital just about to have surgery to correct something he had no knowledge was even incorrect. Weaving slightly, he steadied himself on the wall, and notice he couldn't separate his fingers. His first and second were stuck together, has were the third and fourth. He could give the Vulcan salute, but couldn't spread his fingers out.
: Vat the? Vhy are they stuck? He thought, slowly pushing himself away from the wall. Only to have the agony of his feet and back to flare up, sending him sprawling to the floor. : Something's vrong? Something's very vrong, I need to get home as soon as possible. If the others see me like this: Kurt only had a vague impression on what the other students would do if they caught him. Still the thought of being seen made terror course through him, erasing the pain for a moment. :I vish I vas outside:
A rushing sensation, of moving through an immense amount of space in a moment, the smell and heat like the inside of Hades, and Kurt found himself, laying under the trees in the front of the school.
"Kurt!" His mother called from their car, "I had to come! Get in!"
Once more, he felt the rushing sensation, and was in the car without moving his muscles. His mother was rolling down the window, wrinkling her nose and swishing the air. She murmured to herself, then speed off.
"How did you know to come?" Kurt asked, as the pain died for a moment
"A mother's hunch," she replied, looking a bit uneasy.
Not replying, Kurt could only watch the outside, still feeling ill. Bringing his hand up to rest on the windowsill, he noticed that the fingers weren't just joined together, but gradually merging. His feet felt squashed inside his shoes and he longed to take them off, not to mention it was getting very uncomfortable to sit. Once they returned home, he moved to his room and shut the door. Taking off his shoes, he saw that his feet were elongating and changing much the same way his hands were. Sitting down, he rubbed his ankles, only to grimace has he shifted his weight. : What am I sitting on: Pulling down his pants, he glanced behind him. Only to find the beginnings of a dark blue tail had been what was causing discomfort.
"Mein Gott!" Stumbling uneasily towards his dresser, Kurt could only watch has the face he had known morphed into something foreign. His strawberry hair became blue-black, and gradually fine blue fur covered his entire body. Ears growing into points, canines lengthening, sharpening, and his eyes becoming a glowing topaz with no visible pupil, until finally the uncomfortable sensations stopped.
"Vhat am I?" He circled, trying to figure out how he could look so different. : Vait a moment, I should be falling over, but I'm able to valk. In fact I feel like I've been like this all my life: His tail twitched behind him, mimicking his puzzled mood.
"Kurt, dear, are you feeling alright?" His mother's voice came from the hallway.
"Yes," he answered, "never better. I'm just-feeling a bit blue."
Arabella opened the door, "Well there's no reason to feel."
"I-um, meant that literally," Kurt, replied, turning his head to look guiltily at his mother. She stood there, unable to move, eyes riveted on the demon before her.
"What have you done with my son?" Her eyes lighted with anger at the situation. Unable to handle the sight that she had lost the boy she had loved for so long, she reacted by turning the anger on him.
Kurt raised his three-fingered hands and slowly backed up, "I don't know what you're talking about. I know I look different, but I'm still your son. Please, I need help, I don't know what's happening to me."
"Give me back my son," she launched herself across the room. Ending up with a face full of purple smoke, and Kurt in the hallway where she had been before.
"Why are you so mad? I-I don't understand," Kurt stammered, but he'd been around Arabella too long to expect an answer. When she had her anger unleashed, it was best to move out of the way. He ran. Using hands, feet and acrobatics he flipped and tore through the house. Slippery has a cat, he used his tail to turn at on a dime as his mother vainly tried to grab him, convinced a demon had possessed her son.
"Arabella!" His father's voice carried up the stairwell has mother and son knocked over a vase that had been in the family for several years upstairs. Christian Wagner made it to the stairs just in time to be on the bottom of a pile when his wife and a strange blue creature skidding into him.
"Hello father," the blue creature said, looking repentant. "Could you stop mother from trying to tear my tail off please?"
"What is going on?" He said, voice surprisingly even. Struggling out from underneath, he helped Arabella to her feet, and then held her as she glared at the scared and sorrowful boy.
"Arabella," Christian said, "the last time I checked local folk-lore demons had goat hooves, bat wings, horns and bright red eyes. Kurt may look strange, but he is no demon. He's going to have enough problems without his own mother trying to murder him."
Kurt uncurled from his place on the floor, "You, you know who I am?"
"Well, unlike usual changes, your voice hasn't changed that much, and you knew enough to run from Arabella instead of trying to fight. Besides, I don't know," he scratched his head, "somehow you should look like that. I don't question God."
"I should?" Kurt cocked his head, trying to understand.
"Can you sit down now like a civilized lady, or are you the one possessed," Christian asked his wife before addressing Kurt, "There was something we should have told you on your birthday."
Arabella winced, and nodded. She was careful not to look at her son as they moved to the living room. Christian sat on the love seat with Arabella beside him, while Kurt crouched on another chair, tail wrapping around the chair leg.
"First of all, you know that you are not our blood-son?"
Kurt nodded.
"We found you when you were a child, abandoned on the river near our old home. There had been rumors of mutants in the area, and I had a hunch that someone had figured out their child was a mutant, and got rid of it," Christian said, "Got rid of you. Kurt, we don't know who your true mother is, or your true father is, but we did know that you probably were going to be different."
"What is a mutant?"
"I've been working on that ever since you came into our lives. Your mother has known about it too, but." he turned to his wife.
"I, I didn't expect this. I'm sorry, I was just frightened, and scared. I didn't understand what was happening and I was angry that God would dare do this to you," Arabella said.
"I think I understand," Kurt answered, "I surprised you." He paused in thought, the spade tip of his tail twitching, " I guess I'm going to have to get used to that. I'm not going to be able to go back to school, or even to church for that matter. If I scared you, I can't imagine what the priest would do if I came in for communion."
"We can bring you the Eucharist, and you can be home schooled," Christian said. "Now, everyone has mutations, but recently there have been people emerging who have mutations that give them powers. Powers like ESP and abilities to control the elements. Most of them are human, but they were born to human parents."
"I'm not human?"
"Kurt, our own history has shown that the one who looks like the most handsome human can be a demon," his mother said, "What counts is what is in your heart, as cliché has that is."
"I need to think about this," Kurt said, slowly unfolding from his crouch and standing.
"So do we son," said his mother. She came over and hugged him, "so do we."