Their re-entry left a loud echo to resound around the large wooden room. Kurt's eyes raced around the space, taking it all in. The strong scents of aged books and polished wood hung in the air making it seem stagnate. A fire roared quietly in the middle of the room surrounded by several large armchairs. The darkly stained wood of the floor, bookshelves, and desks left the space in a constant dim light. Even as the fire danced, casting the shadows of the plush chairs and ancient bookshelves, Kurt could sense there was no one in the room, yet.
"Kurt?" Nym asked her voice muffled. At once Kurt realized what he had been doing, basically squishing Nym to his chest, and let go of her shoulders.
"S-sorry!" he stammered, still gripping her hand. Nym gave him a small smile back and gripped his hand even tighter, her small fingers barely encompassing his own.
"Wow… pretty spiffy place…" Nym whispered out as she slowly craned her head to see the entire room.
"Uh, yeah, the Professor really likes these kinds of old fashioned things. I guess this mansion used to be in his family before he turned it into a boarding house for us." He answered trying his best to keep the racing anxiety from his voice.
"Kurt?" the Professor's muffled voice called from outside the door to the lounge. Kurt instinctively tugged Nym behind himself. "May we enter now?"
Kurt glanced back at Nym; her face seemed raw, etched of stone, as though she was becoming something else. "Nym?" Kurt whispered the worry evident in his soft voice.
"I'm fine Kurt, just let them in." Nym answered her voice coarse like gravel.
"But…" he tried to counter, trailing off as he realized he didn't know what to say. "Kurt?" Storm asked her voice softer that the Professor's and full of concern.
"Ah! Sorry, you can…you can come in." Kurt stuttered out. He had meant to make his voice sound more authoritative, more like a protector's should. Instead he heard a scared little boy's word come from his lips. Kurt inwardly chastised himself for not making a good impression but his worries were thrown aside when he glanced back at Nym. She stood behind him, her body tightened. She slowly backed herself up until she was leaning a large wooden reading table, her hands coming up to cross over her stomach. Her eyes were stiff and her jaw strained as she looked to the door.
Kurt had no time to process her actions before the door swung open and the Professor, Storm and Logan walked in. Logan stopped by the doorway and settled himself to lean against its frame, hands folded over his chest and a glare hanging from his eyes. The professor stopped near the fire, being sure to keep his distance.
"Hello, Kurt, Natalie, would you like to take a seat?" Storm asked, setting down a small tea set, as she bridged the gap between Kurt and the Professor. Her soft voice made Kurt want to relax, to just give in, but he held his ground.
"No we're fine standing," Kurt answered backing himself up to stand closer to Nym. "And her name is Nym, not Natalie."
"My apologies." Storm amended, seating herself near the fire in a large armchair as she set out the cups and began to pour the tea.
"Where's Dr. McCoy?" Kurt asked, his nerves straining. He wanted Dr. McCoy there, to back him up. The doctor seemed interested enough in keeping Nym safe and at the institute and at that moment Kurt wanted any and all the help he could get.
"I thought I told you to call me Hank." Dr. McCoy said as he ambled through the doorway. Kurt's eyes lit up and he gave a small smile full of relief. "Ah, and it seems I made it just in time for tea." He added seating himself opposite of Storm with his back towards Kurt and Nym before grabbing a tea cup and taking a long sip.
"Now that we're all here we can begin." The Professor said as Storm handed him a tea cup. She made her rounds, giving Kurt a teacup and placing Nym's on the table near her. Logan refused with a grimace at the cup Storm tried to hand him.
Kurt lifted the cup to his lips and let the warm sweet liquid wash down his throat, it felt good to be warmed from the inside. He glanced over his shoulder to see Nym slowly sipping the tea as well, her cheeks slightly flushed from its warmth.
"Well, let me just start off by apologizing for your rough treatment upon our first meeting." The Professor began. Kurt grimaced slightly as all the implication those words meant. Nym nodded but her face remained ridged as stone. 'Does she know? Does she realize that he tried to kill her?' Kurt asked himself, his eyebrows knitting together in worry and regret.
"Yes, that was quiet the nasty bump on her head." Dr. McCoy said a slight smile on his face as he kept his eyes on his tea. Logan let out a rough cough that took on a rolling growl at the end in response. Dr. McCoy merely smiled wider into his tea.
'What are they doing?' Kurt asked himself. The tension in the room was growing from an argument that Kurt had not been witness to. 'Did the Professor and Hank already argue about this?'
"In any case," the Professor interjected putting a halt to Logan and Dr. McCoy's passive aggressive spat. "She is here now."
"Yes, please Kurt won't you take a seat? You look so uncomfortable standing like that." Storm said, motioning for him to join her on the sofa. At once the room seemed to stiffen. Behind this simple request Kurt sensed a deeper meaning. His heart began to race when he realized everyone was looking at him, staring him down in one way or another, daring him to make a decision. It hadn't escaped Kurt's ears that no one had asked Nym to sit down. They were treating her as if she was air, a thought that had his blood scorching.
Kurt twisted his head to the side to catch a glimpse of Nym; he needed to see how she perceived all of this. To his surprise Nym wasn't looking at him at all. Instead her head was drawn slightly downward to stare at the bottom shelf of a nearby bookcase.
'Doesn't she even care?' he inwardly exclaimed overly frustrated with her current lack of interest in her survival. Then he saw it, her hand that had been leaning on the side of the table was now embedded in it. The carpet around her feet was scrunched up and puckered around her toes; she had been absorbing everything she was touching. Nym wasn't scared, no; she was primed, for an escape, for a fight.
Kurt snapped his head back around, trying not to let the worry show on his face, he didn't want the others to notice how ready to clash she was.
"No, I'm fine standing. Professor, and, not to sound rude, but I would prefer to talk about what will happen now that Nym is at the institute." Kurt answered, narrowing his eyes and evening out his voice. In his own ears he sounded strong, or at least firm, in his resolve.
"Yes, of course, we do have to discuss the current living situation." The Professor answered intertwining his fingers. Again the Professor had skipped over mentioning Nym in his statements. 'Does he really hate her so much?' Kurt asked himself his heart sinking to think that the Professor, a man he had looked up to, could be so quick to judge another.
"She should stay. After you went to all that trouble to find her." Dr. McCoy replied, his voice carrying a certain amount of venom. Logan let out another low grumble from his doorframe post.
"Yes, it is true that we were looking for her," The Professor answered shooting a glare at Dr. McCoy before locking eyes with Kurt. "However, we did not intend to bring her to the institute."
"What do you mean?" Kurt half whispered still caught in the Professor's gaze.
The Professor let out a sigh and his hands, once folded in front of his face, lowered to clasp their respective armrests in a tight grip. "What I mean was that we were not planning on bringing her back with us. Kurt, I did not want you to have to hear this from me, but, seeing as how she," The Professor nodded towards Nym, " has not told you why we were chasing her I have no choice but to inform you myself." The Professor stiffened shooting a hooded glare at Nym, who was still reading the book titles on the shelf seemingly ignoring the conversation.
"But, Professor, she did tell me. Nym told me why she's here, how she got to America and why she was running from us." Kurt answered trying to keep his voice firm even as it filled with uncertainty.
The whole room fell silent as a toxic feeling settled over the room. Kurt's eyes swiveled around to each of the adults before him. Logan's mouth was set into a hard line, his lip curling down slightly as though he were suppressing a growl. The Professor glanced back at Storm with a look of pity in his face. Storm in turn slowly shook her head in what appeared to be disappointment. Kurt couldn't believe this; they were all treating at him as though he was nothing more than a horridly ignorant child! In desperation Kurt turned to Dr. McCoy, surely the doctor didn't feel the same way as they did. Yet, the haggard grimace on Dr. McCoy's face told Kurt otherwise. Kurt felt the blood drain from his face leaving a sudden chill to take his body.
"I don't understand…" Kurt finally said, anxiety building up inside of him, threatening to spill forth in tears and screams.
"Kurt, you know that I am a very accepting person. I have let many students into this institute that were confused and even violent." The Professor explained his voice taking on a softer tone. "However, I'm afraid I cannot allow someone of her…kind to live under this roof."
The blood began to return to Kurt's face, that was what they were so worried about? Her kind, what did the Professor mean? Sure, Nym had admitted to killing a man in her youth when that man was tying to hurt her and he was sure her record for theft wasn't clean but how could they out rightly blame her like this? 'Maybe it's because the Professor can't read her mind so he doesn't know what really happened, maybe that's why they're all so spooked about her. and then there was the instance of her hurting the
Professor…' Kurt said to himself, connecting what he knew together.
"Professor, I understand your concern, but, Nym is a good person. She wouldn't hurt anyone that she didn't believe was going to harm her. You haven't withheld shelter for the other students that have defended themselves." Kurt finished letting a small smile of relief crawl to his lips.
Kurt had expected the adults to sigh in reprieve, to smile back, to do anything but give him that pitiful stare.
"Kurt, I…I do not believe that your…friend…has been entirely honest." Storm said slowly, her brow knitting together in a somber gaze.
"What? I-I don't…" Kurt answered back, trying to understand what they knew and he didn't. His eyes settled on the Professor, whose face had become tightened, etched in frustrated lines.
"Kurt, she," The Professor spat sending a daggered glare to Nym, "has been part of an underground mutant organization that strives to overthrow humans. She has been helping them since she got to America. This organization has been raiding government buildings, performing terrorist acts and killing people for the past five years."
Kurt was lost, no scratch that, he had completely vanished. Like a blind man in a snow storm grasping at straws. Nothing made sense, everything was insane, inane, horrid, confusing and completely and utterly out of his hands.
"What…?" Kurt began, but couldn't seem to finish. He wasn't even sure what to ask about anymore. Fear ran rampant through his veins. A fear of the truth that the Professor was telling him, a fear of how the other adults agreed with his claims and a fear of how very silent Nym was being.
"I'm sorry," Storm began, her fingers running circles around the tea cup she held as her eyes met Kurt's, "Sorry that you had to learn about her past this way, but-"
"You're wrong!" Kurt screamed interrupting Storm. His voice was laden with despair and doubt. It couldn't be true, none of it, it was all a lie right? 'She told me' he thought glancing back at Nym, her eyes still downcast, 'She told me everything… didn't she?' Kurt's world crashed down around him as Nym raised her head to meet his desperate gaze. Those eyes, those stone carved red eyes, hardened from a life of destitutions and disappointments stared back at him. Nym denied nothing in that gaze; there was no remorse no regret, only a blank stare, an empty dwelling that had long ago been abandoned.
"Kurt, we understand that this is difficult for you to hear. It's not easy for us to tell you these things. We are going to ask for your cooperation now Kurt." The Professor said, his voice growing lower. Kurt's head shot up, Storm was standing, cup no longer in her hands. The Professor stayed where he was but a swift tension was rising in his features.
'Kurt, surely you see now. You see that she cannot be allowed to go free, to live with us, to stay here. We need to stop her from hurting anyone else. Please Kurt; do not make this any more difficult than it will already be.' The Professor pleaded mentally to Kurt.
The sound was sudden, like a door slamming shut, a balloon popping, a skull being cracked. Kurt turned on his heel in what seemed like slow motion to see Logan growling as he leaned over Nym's body. She was bent at the waist, twisted in half, her legs hanging limply from her hips. Logan's right hand held her head to the wooden table she had been leaning on; a large crack in the wood had formed under her skull as her bright pearly hair splayed out around her body. Logan's other hand anchored his body to the table, his knuckles glowing white from the pressure. Splintered pieces of wood fell from Nym's hands where she had been absorbing the table. It wasn't until the air around him had stopped spinning, until Logan had stopped growling that Kurt saw the pool of blood begin to overflow form the crack near Nym's head that he fully grasped what the Professor had meant.
I am very sorry for the lack of updates. I intend to solve this problem and I hope to not have it happen again.