Woo! Another Chapter and it's only been, like, a day…or two. *Shakes head* Anyway, that's not the point, the point is I'm posting another chapter. Why? Who cares! I did!
Anyway, Kuja: Thanks for reviewing, and here's the update!! Yeah, aliens. Isn't it great?
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She was walking, an odd sensation since something in the back of her head kept informing her irritably she should be in her bed back in the Institute's infirmary. She shook her head and raised her hands, pushing away on either side, as if trying to push away the voice.
She was shrouded in a mist, another odd thing since she was walking down a darkened corridor in the Institute; or at least that was what she thought. That was what it looked like, anyway. It seemed unreasonably long, and quite wide too. In fact, the more she looked about her, the more she felt she was not in the Institute.
She also felt she was floating on air; she had the distinct sensation of euphoria, as though someone had just given her a massive dose of painkillers. Her lips curved in a vague, bemused smile, and she realized that her wing was completely painless and folded naturally against her back. She spared it a glance and shrugged. So it was better…okay, it was better! Cool! She took a deep breath and the feeling of floating increased.
She glanced down. She…was…floating. Several inches above the mist-shrouded floor. That was never good. Then, something that felt like a warm and pleasant breeze swept up from behind her, and she felt herself drifting down the corridor. If she had been in right mind, she would have struggled, but she was too hopped up on her feeling of euphoria to care. In fact, she even giggled as the breeze swept her out of the corridor and into a great bowl, like an auditorium or amphitheatre.
Abruptly, the breeze cut out, and she dropped, but not far, nor hard. She did not even hit the ground, remaining instead hovering an inch above, half-braced for an impact. She looked about, but the mist had thickened, and though she couldn't see walls or a ceiling around her, she got the distinct impression of a vast space.
Three things happened suddenly, in quick succession. First, something moved in the mist off to her left, noticed more by the stuff swirling in its wake than actual movement of its body. As she turned dreamily to stare at it, she fell with a bump to the hard ground, uttering a small cry of pain. Then, as if it had been a taught cord suddenly cut, her euphoria lifted, so fast it was nearly painful. She blinked and looked around.
"What the he-?" Her question was cut off as the mist directly in front of her stirred and a dragonish, horse-like head came out, regarding her through milky-white eyes. The thing snapped at her, revealing fangs, and reared back, turning away. She had a glimpse of a skeletal body and wide, leathery, bat-like wings before the mist closed again. She scrambled to her feet as the ground bucked beneath her, knocking her down again. Something zoomed up out of the mist and began whirring around her, so fast she was quickly dizzy. She had a blurred impression of that damned Quicksilver, who paused and waved jauntily before speeding away. The ground bucked again and punched up into the air under her, tumbling her off backwards. She thwacked her head on a rock and saw stars as she landed upside against a boulder.
She groaned and tried to get up, but a searing, shooting pain in her previously injured-then-uninjured wing stopped her and left her gasping for breath as bit her lip against the pain. Fireworks exploded in the back of her skull but she ignored them as she attempted to right herself. When she finally had gotten her head above her knees and her vision had cleared, she was surrounded, though by what she cloud not tell. They looked suspiciously like orcs, from Lord of the Rings. Instead of charging like she vaguely expected them too, they just sort of…merged together into a monstrous, troll-esque creature, but before it could do anything else, it fell apart again, into a swarm of little green dinosaurs, which scattered away like leaves in the face of a breeze.
She tried to struggle to her feet just as a twisting plant erupted from the ground beneath her and lifted her into the air, dangling her by an ankle. She kicked at it and just as quickly as it appeared the plant disappeared, but she remained floating upside down in the air. She looked around; the X-Men were gathered beneath. It was Jean holding her up, using her telekinesis! But they were not helping her, they were laughing at her, pointing and jeering, calling her a freak and an outcast, a reject of humanity-and Kurt was standing at the fore, pointing and laughing more loudly than the others! She felt tears of humiliation and betrayal sting her eyes, and flung her wings forward; to try to block them out, send them away-
Kurt sat up in bed, a scream that was not his own echoing in his head and a burning pain in his shoulder so intense his eyes began to water. He glanced at his bedside clock long enough to convince himself that it was still was the middle of the night, and shoved his blankets off him. The pain had subsided to a throbbing ache, but he, himself, was not wounded. He hopped out of bed, and bamfed down to Janella's infirmary room.
She was sitting up, arms around her knees and tears coursing down her face. She was rocking back and forth, injured wing lying limply to one side, part of the delicate structure that held it immobilized shattered. As she moved, it moved too, and each time it did, a renewed throb of pain lanced through his shoulder. Her tail was lashing back and forth furiously behind her, and her uninjured wing was half furled and tensed.
"Janella?" Kurt took a hesitant step forward. She looked up, and winced away at the sight of him, flaring her wing protectively in front of her.
"Go 'way," she mumbled. He shook his head, and took another step.
"Vhat is wrong, fraulein?" he asked quietly. She shook her head and shrunk farther away.
"Go away," she repeated more firmly. Her voice was filled with fear, fear of…him.
"Vhat?" he asked again, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"You…you were…" She broke off, burying her head in her hands, but he took it as a good sign that she had folded her wing behind her.
"I vas vhat, Janella?" he said, moving closer.
"Making fun of me," she whispered quietly, so quietly that a normal person would not have caught it. "With all the other X-Men. In my nightmare!" She began sobbing harder. Kurt, very tentatively, put his arm around her shoulder. She leaned against him and began crying into his shoulder.
"Zhere, zhere, it's all right, liebe," he told her reassuringly. "Zat's all it vas, a nightmare. Nightmares aren't real."
"Sometimes they are," she told him belligerently.
"Vell, if zat's ze vay you're going to think, I might as vell go back to bed," he said, pulling away. She shook her head and clung harder to him, looking for all the world like a frightened young child.
"Don't go," she whispered quietly. Kurt was thoroughly confused now. She had just gone from telling him to go away, a sentiment he was used to hearing from girls, to imploring him not to go. He wanted to roll his eyes, but refrained from doing so. Girls were so…weird. She held tighter, still obviously frightened, and he did his awkward teenage male's best to comfort her (which was actually pretty good, considering the relative emotional blockheaded-ness of most boys his age). He put both arms around her, listening patiently while she related her dream to him.
"Zat sounds truly creepy," he assured her when she was done. She nodded agreement, taking in a deep breath. She was calmer now, as if the telling of what frightened her made it less tangible.
"I think I can safely say it was the weirdest dream I ever had," she said breathlessly, adding, "and I've had some pretty weird dreams before. Believe me!" She grinned slightly, brushing residual tears from her eyes and sniffing half-heartedly.
"Oh, I do, don't vorry," he said. "I've had some veird dreams myself in my time…mostly involving omelettes." She stared disbelievingly at him.
"Omelettes?" she asked skeptically. He laughed.
"Ja. Vacky, no?"
"Very wacky," she agreed with a nod. "Y'know-" she yawned widely, "-omelettes are quite…" She trailed off, and he was surprised to see that she had fallen back to sleep. He stared down at her for a moment then carefully eased her down on the pillow. She settled down, sighing happily and falling more deeply asleep. He stood up and turned to go, but paused and looked back for a moment.
Unsurprisingly, she looked every bit as innocent as she had that afternoon, and he had to admit she did look better for their little jaunt outside. He could not be sure, but in the dim light, she appeared to be glowing faintly. Prompted by some internal instinct, he bent and kissed her quickly. Furious blush hidden by his blue fur, he turned and quickly teleported back to his room.
He went so fast; he did not see the contented smile that curved her lips.
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Awwwwwwwwwwwwww! I love the ending of this, though that dream freaks me out! *Bounces around* *Sigh* How come the only active muses at the moment are Kurt and Mythos? They won't leave me alone about this. They won't shut up!!!!
Kurt: Vell…ja. Ve like zis story!
Mythos: I like the direction it's going in….heh heh heh.
Peachy. 9.9 Just review, peoples, okay? Thankies!!!
Disclaimer: I want chicken, I want liver, Meow Mix Meow Mix please deliver!!! In other words, no own-ie!