Kurt sat astounded at her powers. Could there really be such a thing as a demon? In the stories Kurt had heard demons were always evil, cruel beings that found joy in others suffering. Yet, Nym was not like that, at least not to Kurt. In fact she had taken him in and shared her story with him. There was no way that she was a demon, at least not an evil one. Besides to him she looked more like an angel.
"So, can you do anything like that?" Nym said sticking the branch into the soft dirt beside her. Kurt could only shake his head slowly. He wanted to say yes, wanted to be like her, wanted to show her that he too was amazing and worthy of her praise.
"Well, I guess that it doesn't really matter anyway. Oh, look, the rain is letting up some." She said pointing out of the den of trees behind Kurt. "I always love the smell of fresh rain. I seems like the world is being cleaned, like if I go outside nothing would hurt me…" she trailed off yawning.
"Are you tired?" Kurt asked scooting closer to her to get a better look at her face. She nodded glumly.
"Well it is pretty much night time." She said leaning back against part of the broken tree and giving into another yawn.
"It is?" Kurt asked whipping his head around and staring out into the forest. It was true that it was dark, but then with the storm clouds it had been dark out for a while.
"What's wrong?" She asked putting a tiny hand on his shoulder. A shiver went up Kurt's spine from her touch.
"It's just that…well…my mom and dad are probably really worried…I kind of ran away…and well…" He trailed off looking at the ground.
"Oh…" the tiny sound echoed through the makeshift den and hit Kurt's heart in a way he didn't know was possible. For in that small whisper a deeper meaning of loneliness was rooted.
Kurt turned back and saw her head turned away from him. His face fell; he hadn't meant to hurt her. He didn't want to see her sad. Just as his blue hand was about to reach over to her shoulder her face snapped back up and a smile was plastered on it.
"Well that's great! You have parents! Yeah, you should probably get home then; they are probably worried about you and stuff. Do you know the way back to the road? Just don't fall in the mud again!" she said all of this in a rush before standing up and walking out of the shelter in a hurry. Was her poorly masked sadness because he had somewhere to go and she didn't? Or was it that she was truly lonely out here, running from 'saints', sleeping under trees, and eating god knows what?
"Nym… I… I mean I didn't mean to…" Kurt stumbled over his apology but before he could finish she turned back towards him and shoved her hand over his mouth. In a flash she was pulling him back under the fallen tree. She pushed him into a corner and pressed herself up against him. Kurt's face was on fire, what in the world was she doing?
"What are yo-" Kurt tried to ask before her hand came flying down to cover his mouth once more. Her face glared back at him and her expression was once of fear. At once Kurt tensed up and pushed himself further back into the den. Something outside of the fallen tree had made her fearful, her, a self-proclaimed demon.
"Could have sworn I saw something…" A gruff male voice said above the tree den. Nym's whole body froze and Kurt could hear her heart beating like a drum.
"Don't worry we'll find that little bitch." Another voice answered. "No one can hide from the eyes of god!" The second voice sounded older and farther away that the first.
Kurt listened as the footsteps got further away from their hiding place. He felt Nym relax a little.
"There you are you damned demon!" the gruff voice yelled. Suddenly a face came flying down into the opening of the tree den followed by large hairy arms reaching inside.
"You found her then?" the older voice asked.
"Yeah, and there's another thing with her!" the big man said trying to reach his bulky arms under the fallen tree with no prevail. Kurt realized that, while it was easy for them, two little children to get in and out of the den, it would have been hard for even a smaller adult to squeeze in between the large rotting trunks.
"Damn! Can't reach them! Get out here you demons!" the man yelled again this time trying to lift the fallen trees out of his way, but their bulk was to immense for even his bulging arms.
"Shut up Clerk! Just smoke them out and let's get on with it. Besides corpses will be easier to keep locked up than live devils." The older voice ordered.
Kurt's heart jumped out of his throat at those words. Were these men really going to kill them?
"Move over!" Nym whispered shoving her hand to the back of the tree den. The sound of sparks was coming from the other side of the fallen trees. Nym jutted her other arm out behind her and pointed it towards the men. Suddenly, dirt and rocks came shooting out of her palm. Kurt's head snapped back to look at her other hand, which was moving in circles around the back of the den. She was actually absorbing the dirt from the back of the den and shooting it out at the men, making another exit and stalling the men's fire.
"Damn you!" the gruff voice called through a mouth of wet earth. Nym swiftly pulled Kurt out of the new exit she had made and ran in to the forest, dragging Kurt behind her.
"After them!" the old voice shouted. Kurt heard thundering footsteps behind him and did not dare to look back.
"Run faster!" Nym ordered making a sharp turn to the right and then swerving back to the left. Kurt gladly obliged. His body was built for speed; soon he was in front of her trying to predict her movements so they could run side by side.
She made a hairpin turn and Kurt heard a loud thud behind them and a curse spew form the gruff man's mouth. He must have fell, Kurt thought a bit of pride in his step. As he glanced behind him Kurt saw the tree line not a hundred feet from them.
"The road!" he shouted, instinctively darting off to the end of the forest.
"No! Don't!" Nym yelled darting after him. But Kurt didn't hear her pleas for him to stop, to come back.
Kurt's body leapt forward, his mind was focused on only one thing, the road and the promise of his home at the end of it. Just as he neared the end of the forest Nym's words finally struck him.
"Kurt! Wait don't!" her voice pleaded with him as she gasped for breath trying to catch up to him.
Kurt glanced back at her, a smile strung on his face from seeing the end of the forest.
"Damn demons!" the thundering man's voice boomed from the shadows behind Nym.
"Run! Nym, he's right behind you!" Kurt yelled his voice laced with concern and fear for her.
Nym caught up to Kurt and stopped at his side trying to catch her breath. The loud footsteps and curses were getting closer. Determined to save Nym Kurt grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward out onto the road.
Suddenly Kurt was filled with a confident feeling, he knew where he was!
"That tree! And those rocks! I know where we are!" Kurt said excitedly glancing down at Nym. However, instead of the relieved expression he had expected from her a fearful one now overtook her face. Nym began to try to pull her hand free of Kurt's.
"Nym? What's wrong?" Kurt asked leaning down towards her scared face.
"There you are!" the large man yelled pushing a small tree out of his way to get out of the forest and onto the clear road.
Kurt didn't have time to think; he just tightened his hand around Nym's wrist and ran down the road that he knew all too well.
"Kurt, please!" Nym begged her small body thrashing around as Kurt pulled her forward unmercifully.
"Get back here!" the man ordered his own breathing coming out in gasps.
'Heh, weakling!' Kurt thought, quickening his pace. He barley felt tired at all. His legs sprang with a swiftness he hadn't known and his body easily pulled Nym's weight along.
"There! That's my house!" Kurt shouted down to Nym, picking up their pace. He darted into a bush that marked the turning point for his home's dirt driveway. The big man behind them swore as the tripped trying to make the same swift turn.
Kurt could now see his house and his body leapt with joy, his parent's cart was at the house! They must be home from the market! Oh, how happy they would be to see him! And Nym too, he couldn't wait for them to see her!
"Stop!" the loud man yelled, still fighting his way through the thorny bush that Kurt and Nym had easily slipped by.
Kurt darted away from his house and into a small run down shed. He pulled Nym through the broken opening in the side of the shed and let go of her arm. He jumped on top of a barrel and looked out the half broken window at the side of the shed.
When Kurt had been little he had used to play inside of the shed, hiding from his father when he didn't want to do chores. The shed was pretty much useless, the front door was nailed shut and Kurt's father had never gotten around to fixing the decrepit thing up. The only entrance was a small hole half in the wall of the shed and half in the ground, just big enough for a small child to slide through.
"Ha! We're safe in here!" Kurt said triumphantly, listening for Nym's response. When she didn't say anything Kurt assumed that she was merely catching her breath. Kurt watched as the big man finally freed himself of the bush and started to walk around sweeping his block like head back and forth trying to find a sign of the two children. The big man saw the house nearby and kept his distance. Kurt assumed it was because of the large rifle that his father always kept on the gun rack right outside of the door.
"He can't find us, what an idiot!" Kurt laughed. Suddenly a loud grinding noise ripped through the air. Kurt spun around only to find that Nym wasn't in the shed. His body raced around the tiny space lifting old tarps and knocking over boxes trying to find her. Then he saw it, the hole that they had used to get in was now filled back up. Kurt raced to the door and tried to pull it open, tried to understand what Nym was thinking. Why would she leave him? Why did she seal him in here? Suddenly Kurt heard the big man shout in surprise, Kurt ran to the window to see what had caused his outburst.
"Nym?" Kurt almost whispered as he saw her standing in plain sight of the big man near the window of the shed. The man had obviously spotted her and was trying to make his way through another tangle of thorns to get to her.
"Why?" Kurt yelled banging his hands against the window. His mind was reeling. It didn't make sense that she would leave him here, not when they were both so close to safety.
Nym turned to look at him. Her eyes set in a heartbreaking gaze and her mouth stitched up in a sad smile.
"You're not like me Kurt. You're not a demon; you have somewhere to be safe. I don't want to hurt you, or your parents. Demon's like me are better left in their own hell." With that Nym turned on her foot and ran into the forest. The big man had freed himself and was in hot pursuit of her. All the while Kurt banged his fists on the shed calling out to Nym. Hoping that in some way, in anyway, this wasn't happening.
…
Kurt's parents found him in the shed soon after and his father ripped open the door. They had been so worried all day for their son. The blood drops around the cart had forced them to imagine the worst. Yet, now, here was their son yelling from the inside of the worn shed in their yard.
When they had first heard his voice his father had come running, slinging the rifle over his shoulder. He had seen a large man running into the forest and had fired a warning shot in his direction. Then his father followed the wailing to the shed where he saw Kurt crying through the window.
The next few days were heartbreaking for Kurt's parents. Kurt wouldn't eat and hardly slept. After they had gotten him out of the shed Kurt's father had had to knock him out because Kurt kept screaming and trying to dart into the forest.
Over the next few months Kurt began to open up to his parents about what had happened to him. He made no mention of the little girl with red eyes, only that he had found out that he was not like other people. His parents had apologized profusely to him claiming that they just didn't want o hurt him. Kurt held no ill will towards his parents and instead cherished them more than he had before. But, Kurt was changed. Whenever he went outside he made sure to wear a large coat or cloak to hide his image from the rest of the world.
It wasn't until his fifteenth year that he learned about his ability to teleport. The first time he did it he had been thinking of her, of the branch, of the day she left. Not a year later an invitation had come in the mail offering Kurt the chance to study oversees at Xavier's Institute for the Gifted.
…
It hadn't been a though transition for Kurt into his new school. He had been learning English from his mother for the past few years and besides the school was amazing.
He no longer had to wear a frumpy cloak around outside; instead the Professor had given him an image inducer which allowed him to spend his days at Bayville High School along with the rest of the students at Xavier's Institute. But, the most important discovery had come from a single word, the word that labeled him for what he, and all of the other students truly were, 'mutants'.