"Mother…" Kurt mumbled in his sleep. He awoke with a start his blue fur plastered to his body by sweat. He had been having the same nightmare for two weeks, ever since Rogue had pushed Mystique over the cliff. It consisted of his mother calling out to him and then she broke into pieces. It wasn't particularly scary but, it was practically what happened. 'Damn you Rogue!' he thought. All she had to do was simply touch the stone figure, but her bitterness wouldn't allow her to do even that. Why did she have to push her? That was the question he had been asking himself for the last two weeks.
Kurt had seen Rogue very little, but the times he had seen her she didn't look at all remorseful. She had been hanging out with the new girl, Amazon, a lot. Amazon was insane but, he had to admit she had good reason to be, at least. She had grown up in a very secluded rainforest after being abandon by her parents as a baby. A tribe of men hating women had found her and related her arrival to a prophesy of a shaman. Amazon had been trained from the time she could walk to when she came to the institute to protect the tribe at all cost. She had become cold and deadly. Her icy blue gaze freaked most of the other students out, but when she wasn't looking directly at you her pale milky skin and wavy black hair were quite attractive.
Rogue liked her though because she wasn't exactly the best conversationalist and she didn't expect too much from anyone else. Rogue needed that right now. Then Kurt realized that Rogue had pushed Mystique over a cliff and banished any sympathetic thoughts toward her. When he couldn't get back to sleep he decided to go to the kitchen for a snack.
When he arrived he was disappointed to find that it already had an occupant. Amazon was drinking a cup of coffee at the kitchen table.
"Couldn't sleep?" he asked her.
"No" she replied, "Bobby was down here about an hour ago and told me to try a cup of coffee or two."
Kurt choked on a gulp of milk that he had just poured. He looked at her and was almost tempted not to tell her. Almost. He hadn't forgotten about the time last week when Bobby had shaved his legs while he slept. It grew back in a day or two, but it was the principal of the thing.
"Coffee doesn't vork if you're trying to get to sleep. In fact it does the exact opposite." He told her.
"Figures" she said. "You know I had a bad feeling about trusting him. Especially when Roberto started to laugh?"
"Vhy did you do it then?" Kurt questioned
Amazon thought for a moment and then answered. "Rogue told me I needed to be more trusting."
"Imagine her saying that." He said in a sarcastic tone.
"What do you mean? Rogue is very insightful." She inquired.
"I mean that Rogue doesn't trust anybody, not even her own mother." Kurt snapped at her.
"Look it probably isn't my place…" she started.
"Yeah probably not." Kurt interrupted.
"…but do you even know what Rogue has been going through." Amazon continued barely noticing his interruption.
"What's wrong with Rogue?" Kurt asked not able to mask the concern in his voice.
"She's been having some trouble and she's thinking about leaving." Amazon stated easily.
"Vha..vhy..she can't…she's the only family I have left here." He said.
Amazon looked at him knowingly, "Then maybe you should tell her that."
He thought about it for a moment and knew she was right even if he didn't want to admit it. He hated the fact that he had to forgive and forget, but knew he would be grateful later.
Amazon got up to leave, "Well I've got to go take care of a little ice boy who thinks he's funny. Goodnight."
"Hey Amazon…Thanks." Kurt thanked her.
"No problem," She said, "and please call me Selene. It's my Christian name and I really prefer it to that silly name the tribe gave me."
Kurt nodded as she walked away. He couldn't help but think to himself that Selene was just a little bit weird.
Kurt got up and put his glass in the sink. As he was walking back to his room he heard a muffled moaning sound coming from the bathroom. Who ever it was they sounded like they were in pain. Kurt decided to knock on the door and make sure that whoever it was, wasn't seriously hurt.
"Go away." Kurt was surprised to hear Rogue's voice.
"Rogue vhat's vrong? Are you hurt?" Kurt asked.
"Just go away Kurt. Leave me alone." At this point Kurt heard Rogue cry out in pain. Before Kurt even thought about it he ported into the restroom. What he saw shocked him to speechlessness for a moment. Rogue stood in front of the mirror leaning against the sink crying. Though that in itself was shocking for the cold, hard, psycho bitch that was Rogue, but her appearance was what shocked him the most. She was part blue and scaly and partly herself. As he stood there watching she returned to her normal self.
"Rogue what's going on? Vhy did that just happen?" Kurt asked her with concern in his voice.
"It's nothing Nightcrawler just a little gift from our dear Mother." Rogue told him in a scathing way. Kurt was about to reply when rogue cried out again. Her features shifted once more to those of Mystique who started to speak, but was cut off when she clutched her head and fell upon her knees as Rogue.
Kurt all at once understood. When Rogue had touched Mystique something similar had happened. Somehow Mystique's powers were trying to manifest. Kurt reverie was ended when Rogue ran to the toilet and started to throw up. He held her hair as she vomited. When she turned and sat against the wall with her head in her hand and her knees in her chest he asked, "How long has this been going on?"
"Since ah touched her at the concert." Rogue said and Kurt knew who she was talking about. Rogue looked up, her makeup was running and she sniffled.
"Rogue I'm so sorry I didn't know." Kurt apologized.
Rogue looked at the opposite wall and then at him, "Nobody but Ororo, Logan, and the Professor know. The Professor thought it would be better for everyone and ah agreed."
"You should have told me. I'm your brother. We're family." Kurt said indignantly.
"Well lately it seemed like you wished we weren't." Rogue looked down at her feet as she said this.
"I'm sorry. I was just angry. You pushed our mother off a cliff for crying out loud. Anyway, I'm over it now. I talked to someone tonight. She was…very helpful."
"I guess I'm glad to hear it. I'm sorry I couldn't…wouldn't help Mystique." She tried to continue, but was cut off by a high pitched scream. They looked at each other and ran into the hallway to see Bobby white faced and scared. Roberto came out into the hallway from the room he shared with Bobby screaming. They stared back at their room in terror.
Scott who was the first one out of his room asked "What's going on here."
"There is…something…in that…room," he said "It was screeching and scratching at the door. Then we saw it. It was glowing white. This place is haunted."
At this point Amazon emerged from her bedroom and said, "Why Bobby you look like you've seen a ghost."
Bobby realized then that Amazon had used her psychic powers to make them think they saw something. He looked quite indignant standing there in his boxers along with Roberto who had seen fit to take his blanket with him. Amazon at this point decided to use her powers again to tell them in their minds, " The next time you decide to mess with a foreigner make sure that she can't make you pay dearly."
Wolverine who was in charge because the Professor and Ororo were away led Bobby and Roberto away to give them a lecture and what was sure to be a harsh punishment for waking everyone in the Mansion up for one of their stupid pranks.
Kurt looked at Amazon who gave him an overly innocent smile. He was impressed not only had she gotten revenge on the two by making them scream like girls, but she also insured they wouldn't mess with her again by getting them punished by Wolverine. This night just kept getting better. He looked at her again and said, "You are my kind of girl. That had to be one of the best plans for revenge I've ever seen. Let's go down to the kitchen and you can tell Rogue and me all about it."
"Okay," She said, "I'm glad you two are talking again."
They walked down to the kitchen laughing together.