AN: I usually put these at the bottom, but this likely won't make sense without this. The Kurt mentioned here is Phoenix. Marionette is the Kurt from the previous chapter. Yay for POV changes.
Kurt has always known he was different.
After all, one of his earliest memories was sitting on his mother's lap, held close while she showed him how to pull a ball of fire into existence and roll it across his chubby little fingers...
He was six when she died, the fire within her tired of being kept banked and burning out of control. But before she passed, a shrunken, big eyed figure in a huge hospital bed, she warned him of what life had in store for him.
The world had no love for its super powered children. Too many people were willing to hand you over to be poked and prodded and dissected. It's why his mother had died after all. She had known what was wrong, but she hadn't dared to tell the doctors...
"Choose wisely my little Kurt... Don't let them know what you are. It's not going to be easy, but I want you to promise me, that you'll be more then I was. That you'll do me proud."
He had promised, terrified of what his mother had become.
The years passed and he forced himself to keep his powers hidden. No one questioned the number of 'accidental' fires that happened around him. His father never noticed his fixation with the dancing warmth of the fireplace. He ignored the other children and their taunts in favor of learning more about his one and only friend...
It all changed in sixth grade, when he first met Noah. The boy, with curly hair and a smug smirk, had found him in the far corner of the playground, practicing his control. And he had smirked and said "I knew there was something weird about you."
He'd been about to get angry, to lash out at this person who'd intruded on his private moment... Only suddenly he wasn't looking at a boy, he was looking at a puppy, with black fur and yellow eyes.
It was his first encounter with Noah Puckerman and his first encounter with a fellow powered child. Noah was a shapeshifter, like everyone in his family and Kurt loved being around him. Part of his power was a healing factor, and Kurt finally had someone he didn't need to be careful around.
They kept their friendship hidden, both of them bright enough to know there was safety in privacy.
Until seventh grade, Kurt Hummel wanted to be a superhero. After all, wouldn't saving the world make his mother proud?
But then... Then it happened. Years later, he still couldn't get the order of events right. He just remembered being surrounded by people so much bigger then he was, and those hateful words he always told himself were lies. Then pain. So, so much pain and blood and his bone sticking through his skin and sharp kicks to his body and then Noah and fear and anger in his eyes and the copper sweet taste of blood on Kurt's tongue. Then blackness.
He came to curled up against Noah's furry side, kept warm by his presence. He was glad for the shifter's strength when he carried him home. Thankfully his dad was working and the teachers hadn't cared to notice what happened. They didn't talk about it, not that day, not ever.
After that, Kurt Hummel no longer wanted to be a hero. He wanted to make people suffer, the way he'd suffered.
But some good came of it. That day was the first time Noah kissed Kurt and the start of Noah wearing his mohawk. It was much easier to hide hand prints burned into hair when there wasn't hair to burn after all.
They kept that hidden too. Noah couldn't protect them both, not from his current position within the middle school hierarchy. They knew that.
But Noah could take control of things. He started going by Puck, working out more and taking over the bullying of 'lesser beings'.
He made sure no one hurt Kurt again, not like that time. Instead, he suggested tossing 'the fag' into the dumpsters.
None of the other future jocks seemed to notice it was always the paper dumpster.
Kurt's world changed again freshman year of high school.
He'd been aware of others like himself and Noah throughout middle school, but he made no effort to find them. He was a little afraid and a little shy and more than happy to focus on Noah.
And then he'd met Mr. Schuester, who'd smiled an odd smile and asked if he wanted to join Glee Club and mentioned he might enjoy being around others who shared his interests.
So, he'd gone. And been thoroughly surprised.
The cross section of the school population was impressive and had thoroughly confused him. Up until Mr. Schuester stood up, smiled and said "I figure by now you've figured out this isn't actually a Glee Club. I've asked you all here because you share something. A special something."
"We have super powers." That came from a boy in a wheelchair, who arched an eyebrow.
"Exactly Artie. I'd like to invite you all on a little... adventure."
Their mild mannered, cheerfully oblivious Spanish teacher was neither mild mannered, nor oblivious. It turns out he was a rather famous villain known as Demon Vine who was lying low until the heat died down. And he wanted to pass on some of his knowledge. He wasn't the only one either. The reason he'd chosen Lima was the fact that his old partner Valkyrie was already an established presence there. Why no one had realized Coach Sylvester was a supervillain was a mystery...
For the first time in his life, surrounded by others who were just like him, Kurt felt at home.
They met three times a week, twice officially and the third time more secretively. They planned things, establishing who and what the school would see them as and who and what they really wanted to be.
It was three months into the school year when Kurt's vanity mirror changed.
At first he didn't notice it, too busy planning heists and training his powers and looking forward to making his villain alter ego feared across the world.
Who noticed in the mirror, when your skin looked a touch too pink, hair a touch too short, eyes a touch too dark?
And then he saw his mirror-image crying. And so he asked "Are you alright?"
It was the start of something strange and wonderful... The other Kurt, who he called Marionette, although not to his face, because he was always having his strings pulled and jerked about, was so lonely and so desperate for companionship.
Kurt had never felt that himself. He'd always had fire to keep him company and then Noah and now all the others...
So he offered an ear to listen and a friendly face to talk to. He pitied this other Kurt after all, who seemed so alone, even surrounded by other people.
When the new guy, Sam Evans, joined their group (brought in by Finn, who'd found him plotting in the locker rooms, the same way Mr. Schuester had found him...) Kurt made a decision.
The other him needed an out, a way to some place safe. And while he knew most of them were far from sane and even farther from normal, he also figured they'd be better company...
So, he'd made the offer, after a particularly bad day. Told Marionette to knock three times on the mirror when he wanted to take him up on it, and then set to work.
He'd already told the rest of the team about him and enlisted their help in setting things up. While they were being grounded after the utter nightmare of their job in Bolivia (Which Kurt still sometimes had nightmares about... He'd never been so grateful that Sue Sylvester was on their side...) they'd worked everything out.
Marionette, covered by one of Matt's illusions, would become Coach Sylvester's nephew. If that alone wasn't enough to keep him totally safe, both the football players and the Cheerios would put the word out he wasn't to be bothered. The three super geniuses, Artie, Brittany and Finn, set to work developing some gadgets to give Marionette his own powers.
It kept them busy and distracted from their annoyances, and gave them time to heal and so Mr. Schuester and Coach Sylvester both encouraged them.
And then... Then came the knocking.
One look at the other's face, tears pouring down his cheeks, pain clear in his eyes made the fire within him burn white hot.
"Pack your things."
He managed to get the words out, and then activated the gate the others had built around his mirror when he'd first brought up his idea of bringing Marionette into their world.
While he waited, watching as Marionette packed, he made some calls. He wasn't going to try and deal with this alone...
"Got everything?" That earned him a numb nod. He wanted to know what had happened, but now wasn't the time... First get Marionette to safety, then demand answers...
"Then take my hand." He shivered a bit as he pressed his hand through the cool strangeness of the mirror, felt the other Kurt take his hand and then he pulled.
And then he was staring at himself, and hugging the other close, petting soft brown hair and whispering soothing nonsense.
Marionette was his now. Theirs. And the fools who were stupid enough to let him go were never getting him back...
AN: Next chapter will be covering more of Kurt's interactions with Phoenix and the others. So things that don't make total sense now might make more after that. (Including the powers they have and the thing that happened in Bolivia) Also, my apologies for the block of text, since the formatting is ignoring what I tell it to do...
Disclaimer: Still don't own Glee sadly. Still have no control over Kurt getting pounced on by attractive men and ditching uniformed hobbits...