As always yada yada don't own yada yada Marvel or their characters or any other mentioned shows or things that I don't have money for besides this gorilla taped up laptop. Yes. It's still taped up. She works. I write...when I have ideas. And time. Always time. ::cough cough:: excuses ::cough::

Disclaimer- Most if any/all chapters associated with OC will contain cursing. This does not reflect a lack in his or my vocabulary. I just find them appropriate sentence enhancers to convey emotions otherwise stated with blank facial expressions.

Thanks once again to TXG although you was duuuuuumb late bruh. Extra dumb late. lol. But you are still loved, and forgiven. XD.

We should be picking up smoothly now. Should.

P.S To those reading Effects of Black and White. I apologize for the past due update. I noticed it's been over a year, and I have not forgotten about the story. My muse is on sabbatical...That is all. Enjoy.

-xXxoOoxXx-

An eerie laugh filled with the promise of death and decay.

Kurt

A blood curdling scream. Sound of bones crunching, breaking, shattering.

Kurt

Bolting up in a cold sweat, Kurt placed a hand over his rapidly beating heart as if to keep it from jumping out of his chest. Pictures of a singular incident several years ago ran around in his head as if the event had just occurred. Fire singing fur. Heat. So much heat and pain. The shouts of enraged people. Shaking the images from his mind Kurt quickly glanced around the room to see that Bobby and Evan were still sound asleep, snoring coming from both the skater and electronic wiz. He sighed with relief.

Normally the furred male's nightmares were never this…horrific. Maybe that was too dramatic of a word as Kurt tried to ease the erratic beating of his heart. Kurt had been stuck in the throes of the nightmare to witness something even more horrific than his ill treatment at the hands of scared ignorant people. The death of his friends and family.

What started off as a quiet peaceful scene had changed drastically within seemingly five seconds, all of his friends relaxed at the park on their second to last day before heading to school. Things had rapidly changed, the scene switching to a dark and dirty back alley, fear consuming his every being as a much younger version of himself teleported behind a trashcan, the sounds of angry townspeople not far behind. Escaping the near clutches of the angry mob yet again Kurt soon found himself in a clearing. One which he couldn't remember having ever been in before. Not in his waking experience at least.

Fire flickered and he was in a different scene. One with crashing water, black and murky against large jagged rocks, what should have been white foam tinged a deep red. His friends and family where each held in the clutches of misshapen creatures that soon morphed into the people Kurt's dreams where nearly always plagued with. Hunters. One by one they were shot and thrown over the cliffs starting with Evan as he was forced to watch their lifeless bodies get swallowed by the sea. After Evan, it had been everyone else in the institute, Scott, Jean, Rogue. One by one their lifeless eyes staring into his soul.

Monster.

Demon.

Devil.

Thankfully Kurt had woken up before his mother and father had been killed. Between that and he hadn't screamed in his sleep, getting better at stopping himself now. It would be hard to explain to anyone what he had been dreaming about and not be found to be a liar, especially Jean and Sawyer, two walking lie detectors. None of them knew just exactly what he had gone through growing up looking the way he does, although they could imagine, could try to piece things together. It just wasn't a subject Kurt liked to delve into too much.

Running his hands through sleep-tussled hair, Kurt threw the covers to the side, opting to stretch his legs. Maybe a walk around the suite would clear his head a bit. If not at least give him something else to do for a while. It was better than sitting in the dark, thinking about what happened years ago. Thinking of what could happen. The what if's.

Slowly opening his door, Kurt padded down the hallway on bare feet, his tail swinging slowly from side to side after him. He had decided to put on a shirt knowing that in spite of his fur, the living room was ridiculously cold compared to his shared bedroom, owing to the broken heater that should have been fixed two weeks ago. Getting to the threshold leading to the living room, Kurt stopped upon seeing a figure seated at the island separating the kitchen and living room illuminated by a bright light off a laptop.

His eyes had already adjusted well to the lack of light filtering into the living room what with the street lights on below their window but the extra help was appreciated on figuring out just who else was up at this hour.

Sawyer?

The older mutant was typing away at his pc; glasses perched at the tip of his nose seconds from a freefall off his face. Still dressed in his button up shirt, slacks, and shoes it was a sure sign he hadn't even remotely made it to bed.

Somehow, and Kurt didn't know how it happened, but Scott had managed to depress just about everyone sorry enough to have ventured back to the dorm after the comedy show. Something about keeping tabs on them and the like but in all honesty, Kurt couldn't bring himself to fully listen to the irate male. Tabitha had threatened to seek Jean on their team leader effectively silencing any and all of his argument, valid or not.

After that was when Sawyer had finally gotten back from his 'dinner date' with Jordan. What else could one call going out with their best friend to an expensive fancy restaurant? Bobby and Evan mercilessly picked at the two bringing the mood back up after their initial outing to the comedy show case. The banter between Bobby, Evan, and Jordan was a welcome, whilst everyone else watched the older male become flustered to the point of threats.

Staying up later than they should have Rogue, Kitty, and Tabitha hadn't gone back to their rooms till around one that morning. It wouldn't have been a big deal, except they had to be up for class, bright eyed and bushy tailed for the wonderful joys of math at eight.

"You should at least try and get some more sleep," Sawyer spoke, his calming voice carrying over to the furred male's ears.

"Think that ship has sailed mein freund," Kurt spoke making his way into the kitchen only to receive a knowing look from the older mutant before Sawyer went back to his work.

Kurt internally sighed.

The nice thing, Kurt thought when talking to Sawyer, the older mutant never pried when there were words left unsaid during a conversation. Least he never had much reason to do so, his empathy giving him more than what could be said. Sometimes though, Kurt wasn't too sure the male was paying much attention these days. Much of his time, when he was even on campus, was spent either in class or in the dorm suite working on projects.

Sawyer had near effectively removed himself from their world much like Warren though the angelic male at least joined them on missions from time to time. Sure Sawyer still gave well advised advice whether it had been by request or just through his own device; the raven haired ex-leader otherwise just took a backseat with anything relating to Professor Xavier and the X-men.

Kurt hadn't understood it at first but had at least seen enough to know something had happened between Scott and Sawyer leading the empath to defect from the group. That was the one and only time any of them had seen Sawyer in a rage, his anger visibly rolling off him in crimson waves.

Black murky water crashing into jagged rocks.

Crimson sea foam.

Crimson.

Blood.

Snapping himself out of the still fresh nightmare Kurt quickly shot a glance at the elder male who had remained oblivious to Kurt's fluctuating emotions and fast beating heart. Taking an inaudible deep breath Kurt held it for a few seconds before letting it out, his exhale drowned out by Sawyer's steady typing.

"What are you doing?" Peering over Sawyer's shoulder Kurt could make out a series of numbers and graphs that made little to no sense to him, paragraphs typed underneath each picture.

Blowing up one of the graphs Sawyer stared at it for a bit before playing with the lines trying to, at least in Kurt's opinion, get it to look more realistic with the numbers below. "Waxing my car."

The playful tone underneath the sarcastic remark was not missed as Kurt found himself smirking as well. "I was hoping you were baking a cake."

Chuckling, Sawyer rolled his eyes at the obvious statement from the furred male. If there had a choice between watching TV or eating all day any one of them would have picked eating, Kurt somehow managing to put away pounds of food a day. "Maybe latter this week Sweet Pea."

About to comment on the annoying nickname the empath had seemingly stuck him with since day one, Kurt stopped on seeing Scott enter the living room wiping sleep from his eyes fully dressed. Annoyance colored his face for only a moment as he met eyes, so to speak, with the smiling empath.

"Must be a mission," Sawyer chirped before returning his attention back to his laptop. Kurt glanced over to the elder male before his attention was pulled to Scott whom spoke.

"Get dressed Kurt." Ignoring Sawyer, the brunet made his way back down the hallway no doubt to try and rouse the others from their sleep.

It was going to be a long day. Kurt sighed as he made his way back to his room. A very long day.

-xXxoOoxXx-

"You kids have fun now," Sawyer shot at them before he closed the door, voice too cheerful in Jordan's opinion.

"Ain't nothing fun about being woken up at ass o' clock in the morning."

"Doubt that's even a real time," Bobby said to Evan not bothering to keep his voice down so the Tight End couldn't hear him.

Chuckling, Evan followed suite, a large smirk on his face at the older male's expense. "It is in Jordan land."

Sending a heated glare towards the two Jordan grumbled. "If I wasn't so tired." He was not happy about getting woken up so early in the morning to do….whatever it was the Professor felt was so extremely important that he had to call them in. He had a perfectly nice set of new recruits that desperately needed to get their feet wet. Why continue to harass them? It didn't make things better that he had practice bright and early in the a.m. so whatever this was it had better damn well be important Jordan thought as they exited the dorm catching up with the girls who were surprisingly out and ready before them.

"Isn't it about time you hibernated?"

Growling at Bobby who just couldn't seem to shut up at this point Jordan started walking to his car gripping his duffle bag just a bit tighter in his hand. "Right after you get whatever's on your face taken care of."

About to wipe at his face Bobby stopped in mid motion realization coloring his features. "Jerk."

"Don't you forget it," Tabitha chimed in patting Bobby on the back mockingly as she sped up to catch Jordan.

Stopping in his stride to his vehicle Jordan looked down at the blonde female one brow raised to study her before he shrugged. "You're riding with me."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Tabitha smirked before punching Jordan none too gently on the arm. He either didn't feel it or didn't mind as the psychic continued his walk pressing the unlock button to his SUV on his keys.

"Told you he liked her better than us," Bobby mock pouted.

"That's because she doesn't say dumb shit," Jordan threw over his shoulder ignoring the warning look he had received from Jean no doubt about his language. She had admonished him many times about his colorful choice of vocabulary, especially around the younger mutants, to which he proceeded to reply with more colorful swears.

"Wha-"

Patting Bobby on the shoulder Evan shook his head. "Just let it go. Come on."

With Tabitha in the front passenger seat that left Kurt, Evan, and Bobby to the back for which none of them minded much. It was still better than riding with Scott and Jean. Kurt cringed at the thought.

"Seatbelts children."

"You do know in New York State we don't have to-"

Turning around in his seat to look at the technical wiz, Jordan had what Kurt long ago dubbed the non-amused dead fish stare, sarcasm leaking heavy in his voice. "There comes a time in every driver's life where eventually they will have to make a hard brake, screeching tires, scorched pavement, the noise we all love to hear during the summer holding our breaths for the resounding sound of metal on metal."

Blinking in confusion Bobby shook his head unable to comprehend just what Jordan was talking about. The older male was downright hard to understand at most times of the day but this was downright ridiculous. "What are you-"

"The point my dear ice wielding jabber jaw, is that you must always be careful on the roads especially while braking. Whether that be for a kid running across the street to retrieve a ball, trying to avoid some idiot driver who can't for the life of them see a stop sign, or simply stopping not to hit a squirrel trying to get a nut. The list goes on. When that happens your body is still moving at the speed in which the car was moving. Now you are officially risking my life by becoming a projectile not wearing your safety harness. Seatbelt. Now. Or walk. Choose wisely."

There it was. The quick switch into the Jordan they all knew and tolerated as his deep voice grew darker by the second almond shaped eyes narrowed to near slits.

"Jackass." Mumbling to himself Bobby glared at Tabitha who outright laughed at the ice mutant's plight. He snapped his seatbelt on. "Happy?"

"Never."

They drove out from the curb and followed Scott down the street.

-xXxoOoxXx-

Staring out of the window Sawyer watched the two cars drive off towards the institute not turning his eyes away until the red of the taillights could be seen no more. Removing his glasses the empath proceeded to wipe them down with the hem of his shirt before replacing them upon his face, the smile that was once there now gone, swallowed by a frown.

Walking back over to the island Sawyer picked up his phone then preceded to rifle through the contacts before stopping on the one he needed. Extracting his Bluetooth from his pocket the raven haired male placed it into his ear as the number dialed. The line was quickly picked up. "I'm on my way now." Already in motion to put back on his vest Sawyer listened to the voice on the other line as he finished getting dressed grabbed his hat and keys and left the suite.

A hastily written note was left stuck to the back of the door.

Don't wait up loves. –M.A.D-S