Childish

Disclaimer: I do not own Kurt Wagner, or any of the X-Men Marvel comic/movie/cartoon characters that may be mentioned in the duration of this piece of writing. However, Amy and her family and friends are owned by me, as I thought them into some sort of abstract reality, so no stealing them.

Chapter 6

Amy grew up, as all children do. She never got sick again, with anything else. Not even when a nasty flu epidemic went through the town and almost everyone was out but her. She started taking marital arts classes, taking good care of herself as best as she could. She tried to train like the mutants had, and she thought that she was doing a pretty good job. She got friends, and even had a date here and there. Her next two birthdays passed with much success, every time Kurt came with more than just his own presents. Kitty got her clothes and makeup, Xavier and Jean often got her more intelluctual things like classic thinking games and puzzles of many kinds. On her fifteenth birthday, there was even a small present from Logan, a tiny swtichblade.

She felt that it was on her birthdays when she grew up the most, or at least, when she noticed it the most. Knowing that there were other people out there that cared about her made her feel like everything in the world was okay, and as long as she knew that, there could be no harm done to her. She carried that aura with her everywhere.

The day of her Sweet Sixteen came with a large storm the night before, so she was exuberant with energy and she wanted to do something. She planned on taking Kurt out to dinner, knowing that he had some kind of an image inducer, something that the Professor had thought up for him. He had e-mailed her to tell her that he needed to finishe a mission first, so he would be a little late, and she occupied herself by beating one of his favorite games. After she did that, she waited by reading a book. She was starting to get worried, because it was already seven in the evening and he still wasn't there.

So she went downstairs and did everything that she could. She cleaned, she washed clothes, and even started making dinner for her mother, but he never showed up. After ten, she went upstairs and sat at her window with it open, wishing him with all her heart to be there. She checked her e-mail, but there was nothing from him. She didn't know what was going on.

She cringed when she thought about it. Every hour that passed by killed something in her, and her heart became hardened. Her thoughts turned from wishing him there to regret and betrayal.

' He's found something better to do. He's forgotten all about me and he doesn't care anymore. I'm not important to him anymore.' Every little thought of hers drove her to tears, and finally she went crazy.

She went to her closet and took out all the things that he had given her, from the pirate outfit to Nobeard's twin to the things that she had gotten from the rest of the mutants. With careful aim, she threw all of them into the tree house, through the small door. Then she went downstairs and got the extra gas tank out of the garage and climbed up the ladder, pouring the gas all over the gifts and the house and the tree. From the very base of the tree, she struck a match and set the base on fire, watching it run up the trunk to the tree house. It took a while for it to catch, and when it did, she ran.

She didn't watch where she was running, she didn't care anymore, she just ran, crying lonely tears.

* * *

Kurt walked up the path, making sure his human image inducer was on before knocking on the door. He had wanted to surprise her this year by taking her out to dinner. He wanted to make this year extra special because he had missed last year. The mission that he had gone on had taken a toll on him, and beat him up pretty bad. His left arm had been broken, as well as his collorbone. He had to rest for two months before Xavier had even started thinking about letting him out again. He had spent all year planning her birthday this year, and he wasn't going to let anything ruin it.

He knocked and waited. Her mother opened the door.

" Is Amy here?" He asked hopefully, but she only shook her head and started to close the door. " Could you tell me where she is?" He asked.

" Amy's been at the hospital for the past six months." She said, her voice quiet and harsh as if she didn't speak much anymore. " She's been institutionalized."

Kurt didn't know how to react to this information. It must have shown on his face.

" Are you Kurt?" Her mother asked, and he nodded dumbly. " Come in. She told me to tell you some things."

Kurt walked in as if he had never seen the place, and indeed he had never seen it in this state. It was like she was just moving in, there were boxes all over the place and things on the floor. None of it was Amy's. He sat at the kitchen table, the only thing that was familiar to him.

" Last year on her birthday, Amy went crazy." Her mother started. " She set fire to the treehouse and ran away. She tried to pass it off on the lightning storm that had been happening, and the police believed her, but I knew better." She shook her head and a spark of motherly condenscence showed in her eyes. " About four months later, we had a really bad storm. It knocked out the whole town's power, everything was dark. I went to go check on Amy in her room since she gets kinda wierd during the storms."

" She was laying on her bed, tucked under the covers like she was asleep, but when I came closer and shone the flashlight on her, I saw the blood. It was everywhere. I freaked out and called 911, and they came just in time. She had slit her wrists, and then crawled into bed. The doctors said the only thing that had saved her was that her blood started clotting and it stopped the bleeding, but if it had been a few hours more, the clots would have disentegrated and she would have died."

Kurt was reeling. This was his Amy she was talking about. His darling little Amy. The one with the shining red-gold hair and blue eyes and the smile that lit up the room. He had saved her life once, but when his hung in the balance, hers had failed again.

" The hospital has a rule that suicide attempts, if they survive, they have to go through therapy before being released back to their families. Amy was okay with this for a while, until she started getting angry at her therapist. Things started flying around without her touching them. She kept saying that she needed to come back home and get on with life, but that they were keeping her there and she was dying because of it. It was finally when she threw the therapist into the wall when the state decided to send her to an institution."

Kurt nearly screamed. His hands clenched in on themselves and he gritted his teeth. Amy was a mutant after all, and they had sent her to the looney bin because of it!

" Is there a chance-" He cut himself off before he started screaming at the woman and calmed himself down again. " that I could see her?"

Amy's mother stared at him for a while until he looked away. It was painful to see her mother's eyes, because they were Amy's eyes. Her mouth was in a thin line when she finally nodded. " I have to go see her today anyway. She'll be happy to see you." She said, grabbing her car keys off the table and walking to the door, Kurt trailing in her wake.

* * *

Amy looked up dully from the off-white table that she was sitting at. Her mother was supposed to come to visit her today. Her mother. The bitch that had put her in this place. That bitch.

" Amy?" Someone called her name with undertones of fear in it, and even though it was male, it wasn't one of the staffers. She knew that voice, vaguely.

She looked up with stony eyes and was shocked rigid in her seat at the person next to her mother in the doorway of the small room they had for visitng hours.

Kurt.