Christmas Eve: Kurt's Revelation

 Kurt sat by the window with a cup of tea, disappointed. Oh, he had enjoyed playing with the children earlier, and opening the Advent calendar, and all the usual Christmas Eve activities. He loved seeing all his friends together.

Logan was the problem. After they had gotten warmed up by the fire, four days ago, Logan got a gleam in his eye and told him he had business to take care of. Yesterday was the first time Kurt had seen him since then, and Logan refused to tell him what, if anything, he had planned. He'd laugh, or tell him to be patient, and finally this morning to "have faith, already."

That had driven Kurt to sulk by the window with tea, to keep Kitty from offering him her awful leftover cocoa. He was already feeling miserable enough...he didn't need a stomach ache as well.

A weary voice said, from his left, "Hey, Kurt? You okay?"

"Bobby?" The Iceman stood in the doorway, leaning against it for support. He looked dreadful, as drained as Kurt had ever seen him. Instantly, all of Kurt's problems dropped away. "You look...are you okay, mein freund?"

Bobby forced a smile and gave a short laugh, rubbing his face. "I guess they'll believe me now when I tell them I age forty years every Christmas Eve, won't they?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. Bobby had been playing his "I Am Santa Claus" trick at every possible opportunity, until two days ago. Hm. Had Bobby been on a mission? "What have you been doing?"

He sighed. "Kurt, I have been working my ass off, and I think the only way to get it back is to go to my room and sleep for eight days. So I'm gonna." He stumbled and nearly fell, but Storm swiftly appeared and steadied him.

"Don't worry, Kurt. I will take care of him. He was supposed to let me know when he was back." This was said pointedly to the wilting man in her arms, who smiled sleepily at her and waved to Kurt as she carried him off.

After fifteen minutes more, as he was trying to choose a video to occupy his time, Logan stuck his head into the room. "Hey, kid. How ya doin'?"

I will not let him get to me. I will not. I will not. "Fine," he snapped back.

"Hm. Sounds like ya aren't in the mood for a little surprise I got together for ya. That's okay. I'm sure you'd rather watch," he paused for a moment, "Rugrats Christmas..."

Kurt dropped the tape and stood up. "No, no. That's okay."

"Nah. Don't want to spoil your fun."

"Logan," Kurt nearly growled, "I'm ready to see it now."

Logan shrugged. "If you say so. You're gonna need to get your coat on."

Kurt put on a coat, then, at Logan's urging, a thick hat and boots and a scarf as well. He followed the man out onto the grounds, walking until they reached an opening into one of the vast stretches of wilderness on the school property.

"This is where I leave you. Follow the trail and ya can't go wrong. Keep quiet and move slow and steady. Oh, and keep this in your pocket." He tossed Kurt a small metal device that looked insanely complicated. "Compliments of Beast."

Kurt slowly put the thing into his coat pocket. "Thank you."

Logan nodded. "Merry Christmas." He turned and walked away, and Kurt entered the wilderness.

There was no cleared trail, but there were footprints to follow...they were Jean's! He walked slowly, inhaling the cold crisp air, and followed in her footsteps until they ended by a rock. He leaped onto the rock and waited quietly.

After a few minutes, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He remained still, and soon a deer moved into his field of vision, followed by her fawn. The light seemed to focus in on them, and he looked up to see clouds clearing away and moving to different places in order to better pick out the doe for him. He smiled. Storm must have gotten Bobby to bed all right.

The two animals moved toward him, eating steadily, until they were nearly under his hand. He dared a gentle touch on the adult's head, and she started and ran. She was warm and wild. He felt joy welling up from within and decided to look beyond the rock for the next clues to follow.

About thirty feet out and to the west, he found some prints made by someone's boots and followed them. A sound reached him first, a tinkling, sparkly sound of ... running water? A warm stream of water rose out of the ground in the small clearing ahead and ran out to the east, and green, fresh smelling earth filled his head and heart with hope for spring. This, too, was its own place of beauty. He enjoyed it for a few minutes, and then returned to picking out the next trail.

He almost missed it. A load of snow had fallen from a tree and obscured the beginning, but he saw the marks of small clawed toes to one side...Lockheed?

Lockheed's trail was hard to follow, especially since the small creature had apparently decided to fly a couple times, forcing him to cast about to find it. But he did, and soon heard a faint sound and saw beautiful colored light ahead.

He stopped at the edge of the large clearing and sank to his knees, his mouth open, tears leaking from his eyes. The place had been transformed. Ice, much of it colored, filled in many of the gaps between trees, imitating stained glass windows. Snowy figures of saints were present with flickering (and, sadly, extinguished) candles before them. Fallen branches and trees had become a makeshift crêche, holding figures of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. Ice prisms flickered this way and that as Storm highlighted the ice angels, each with one real Angel feather...the small stone with a Communion cup and a Christmas cookie on it...the forest animals wandering up to the crêche and eating the food that had been put there for them...Lockheed perched proudly above the crêche, breathing fire at strategic moments...and the wooden sign, hanging up above the arched entrance Kurt had approached, carved by claws, saying "All Mutants Welcome Here." Banshee and Siryn's voices sang quietly, ringing from the icy prisms in the clearing, old Christmas carols in German.

Bathed in the love of God as shown by his dear, dear friends, Kurt wept and prayed and sang quietly, filled with joy, without realizing that time was passing.

He finally noticed he was cold, and would have been colder if Lockheed hadn't been near him, warming him, when Sean's voice broke off from singing and told him to come back to the mansion. He followed Lockheed out and spent the next few hours tracking people down and thanking them, warmed by his memory of the forest.

Logan was not to be found anywhere, and no one knew where he was, other than that he wasn't at the mansion. He did, however, leave a note on Kurt's pillow saying, "You're welcome, and remember that supposedly your God created the world outside of your church, too."