A/N: OK, here we go with another X-Men chapter. After this the story will have one more chapter and probably an epilogue of some sort.

Chapter 7 – Gone

As the darkness faded, Logan and Professor Xavier found themselves back in Charles' study. John was sitting in a chair, his eyes were closed, his breathing shallow. It was fairly obvious that John was still coming out of his trance-like state. After a few seconds, John gasped and breathed heavily, the strain on his mind having taken a toll on him physically as well as mentally. The youngest mutant's breathing settled down slowly, and once it did, he opened his eyes to look at the two men.

Neither of them could believe what they'd just seen, if he had simply told them about it they would have thought he was lying. The fact that they had witnessed it as he had so many years ago, however, gave them an appreciation and confirmation as to the accuracy of his life. John gave the two men a small smirk. "I've been on the run from them since."

"Do you know how they found you four years ago?" Charles wasn't particularly happy about that development. John knew he wouldn't be, but he had a right to know the risks.

"As far as I can tell, my mental defenses were down when I was undergoing the surgery. During that time, the other psychic mutant was able to track me down on behalf of the Organization. I know he didn't do it willingly, to some extent, they can control the abilities of the mutants with those collars. All he would have had to do was pick up a trace of my presence and the General and his men could have guided his powers in that direction."

Logan had been silent the entire time John and the professor were talking, processing what he'd just seen. Suddenly he realized that the power John had shown on the ship was much greater than what he'd shown in their sparring match. "You held back this morning, didn't you?"

John knew this question was coming, but he didn't want to answer it, so he chose to ignore it. "It should be safe for me to be here at least for a few days. The other mutant's power isn't as strong as mine, and his range even with that machine is limited more or less to Europe."

Charles realized quickly what John was doing, and decided to play along. "Well, for now then, you can stay here."

"Thanks, but I shouldn't stay too long. They may not know exactly where I am, but they're probably aware I came to the United States. If that's the case, with their knowledge and resources, they will find out about this place fairly quickly."

Charles sighed and sat back in his chair. "You're probably right, but as long as you are here, we will help you, if you'll let us. This Organization may be a problem for our kind, and for this Institute, but it isn't a problem that we can't solve, especially with your help."

John smiled at the professor and stood up, preparing to leave the room. As he did so, Logan stepped in his way. "John, did you hold back in our fight this morning?"

"Let it go, Logan. It's not worth obsessing over." Charles knew why Wolverine wanted to know. He also had an idea of why John didn't want to discuss it. Because of this, he was genuinely concerned about what was going to happen of Logan pushed the issue.

"Let it go? Charles, the entire reason for that duel this morning was to find out what he was capable of. If he was holding back, we didn't find out a damn thing! Now, you may know how big of a potential threat John here is, but I don't and it's supposed to be my job TO know!" John had slipped around Logan as he was speaking to Charles, but Logan grabbed his arm and spun him back around, now shouting at the younger man. "DID YOU HOLD BACK TODAY?"

"YOU'RE GOD DAMN RIGHT I DID!" The frustration and anger in John's voice surprised even Logan, forcing him to take a step back, as John stepped toward him. "You want to know how big a threat I am to this place? If I thought I was a threat I wouldn't have come here! You're pissed off about me not giving you everything I had? Well look at what me holding back did to Kurt!" John's anger had begun to dissipate, being replaced by sadness and sorrow, but the fire in his eyes remained. "If I had gone against you all out, you would be sitting in a bed right next to him! And yes, you would have survived, and yes you would have recovered fully, but it would have taken about a week, and for that week you would have been in an amount of pain I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy!"

John sighed and backed away from Logan, then continued his rant in a calmer voice. "The fact is, I made a mistake earlier today, and because of that mistake, Kurt is lying in a bed downstairs. That is my burden to bear, not yours and not anyone else. You want to yell at me for holding back, Logan? As far as I'm concerned, I didn't hold back enough!" With that John turned and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Charles wheeled himself around to face Logan, speaking as he did so. "Well, all things considered, that went better than I thought it would." By now he could see the shock and a few other emotions on the mutant's face. "What's wrong?"

"He... He blames himself for everything that's happened in his life. He blames himself for the deaths of all those aboard the Euphrates, for the deaths of the people in Africa, for all those he's killed believing he was giving justice to the world." Logan looked Charles in the eyes now, and Charles could see the anger and worry had been replaced by sadness, and the psychic realized that as John had been yelling at Logan, he was also projecting his emotions. "He has more hatred and contempt for himself than I could ever have for him."

"Then more than anything, he needs our help now, not our accusations and scrutiny." Logan nodded at Charles' statement.

"I'll need some time to think about it all, but you're probably right, Chuck." With that, Logan excused himself from the room, leaving the telepathic mutant to his own thoughts.

John didn't want to admit it, but Logan had a point. They knew nothing about him, and the test this morning had been an attempt to find out more information. He hadn't wanted to yell at Logan either, but the strain of having two other people in your mind had severely tested his nerves, and Logan's insistence on getting answers had completely fried his last one.

He had spent about ten minutes in the greenhouse replaying the events of the day in his mind. Now, after having stopped at the kitchen for an energy bar and something to drink, he was making his way down to the medical bay to check on Kurt. He knew that Storm and Kitty were somewhere in the basement of the mansion, he could sense their presence, but he hadn't been to that area and he really didn't want to disturb the two of them at this time.

As he entered the bay, he nearly ran directly into Beast, who was only saved by his own agility. "Oh, hi, John. I wasn't expecting any more patients today. Did you need something?"

"Actually, I wanted to see how Kurt's doing. I didn't have the chance to earlier." Beast looked at John for a second then motioned for him to follow. The two walked into the room across from where John had been the night before.

Kurt was laying on the table, unconscious still, with his shirt removed and his entire chest area covered in bandages. John sighed and slumped his shoulders down, looking like a scalded dog as he walked up to the blue-skinned mutant's side. He looked closely at the wounded elf, then at Hank. The doctor immediately understood without being asked what John wanted to know. "I wasn't lying earlier. He will make a full recovery, other than some possible scarring." He motioned to the bandages. "He's going to be sore for a couple of weeks probably, and it'll be a while before he can walk around without any bandages."

John nodded and looked at the bandages. "So, what are you using to treat the burns anyway?"

"Typical lotions that most hospitals would use. I also gave him a shot of painkiller, so that he won't be so sore when he does wake up." At John's somewhat curious look, he elaborated. "He should be coming too in another hour or two, I'd say."

John nodded again, but asked a question that surprised Hank slightly. "You have any Kamaline leaves?"

"Uh, yes, actually I do. Ororo likes to keep some on hand for her arthritis. Why do you ask?"

John looked at Hank questioningly, apparently he hadn't thought of the weather witch as being old enough to be suffering from that ailment yet. He shrugged though and looked around. "Can you bring me some of those and some aloe?"

Hank was now the one unsure of what was being asked, but responded anyway, fetching the items for John, who had grabbed a small bowl and what appeared to be a small crushing utensil. "What are you going to do, John?"

John took the leaves and started to crush them up in the bowl, adding a small amount of water to the solution and in the process, creating a paste. "The Kamaline leaves are a good herbal remedy for arthritis, but they have several other uses. Mixed with the aloe as a painkiller and water to make the paste, and you have a topical solution used by some tribes in Africa and India to soothe burns and reduce scarring. It's actually a quite effective treatment for sunburns."

Hank looked at John surprised. This was a remedy he'd never heard of. John looked at his shocked expression and commented. "One thing we were all taught in the Organization was herbal medicine, in case something happened while we were in the field. I don't know any of the high tech stuff that is used in regular hospitals, but I can treat quite a few wounds and injuries from plants, herbs, and animal parts."

Dr. McCoy nodded his understanding and stepped back to let John work. "I'm impressed, I've never heard of that remedy."

John glanced at the blue furred mutant, then back to his work. "It's not commonly known. As I said only a few tribes in Africa and a handful of people in India do." Satisfied with the paste he'd made, he moved over to Kurt and looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry, doctor, but in order to put this on, I'm going to have to remove the bandages."

"And clean off the cream I put there, I suppose." Hank sighed, realizing that he was curious to see if the younger man was right. John just smirked at him and helped remove the bandages.

"Actually, those creams shouldn't hurt it any." At Hanks curious expression, he added. "The medicine you already put on him will help heal, this solution is more of a soothing medicine. There shouldn't be any interaction." He began rubbing the paste on Kurt, then added. "In fact, I read somewhere that it could actually help speed up the healing process on a burn like this."

Hank watched John work, keeping an eye on his movements and helping where he could. "You know, Kurt has an increased metabolism, it could affect the salve."

"It could, but I don't think that it'll do too much. It isn't a potent drug like morphine or anything that's controlled." By now, John had almost finished covering the burn with the salve, and he and Hank started to replace the bandages. As they did so, John looked once again at the burn. "I really screwed up this time." His comment was barely a whisper, but Hank heard it anyway. Before he could say anything, the door opened and Kitty walked in.

"What the FUCK are you doing here?" Neither of the two men had heard her come in, and John was busy with his treatment that he had lost track of the female. As such, they both turned to see her, surprised and shocked both at her sudden appearance and her outburst. She looked at Kurt's unconscious form as John tried to reply.

"Katherine, I'm sorry, I'm just trying to.."

"Trying to what? Finish the job?" Kitty walked up to John, not afraid of him. "Listen up and listen good. I don't give a FUCK who you are. You came here and you hurt my boyfriend. You are a problem that needs to get the hell out of this room and OUT OF OUR LIVES, NOW!"

"I..." John started to reply to her, but something within him suddenly came to light. Instead he simply bowed slightly to her. "As you wish." And with that, he excused himself, barely missing Storm as she walked through the door. As she looked around the room and noticed the fuming young mutant, she sighed.

"I didn't know he was in here, Hank. I'm sorry." Hank had finished replacing the bandages by now, and walked over to the silver-haired mutant. Kitty, once Hank had moved, pulled up a chair and sat down by her boyfriend's bed, taking his hand and holding it closely as she tried to hold back tears.

"It's all right. We should leave the two of them alone. Besides, I have something I would like to discuss with you." With that, the older mutants left the two teens to themselves.

"Dammit, Chuck this is a mess we're in now, isn't it." Charles had been able to sense Kitty's return to the medical bay, and her instant projection of intense anger. Knowing what had happened earlier in the day between them, he immediately knew that that was where John had gone. When he'd relayed this information to Logan, the mutant had gone for the door, but Charles had stopped him before he got to far, because he had been able to hear the conversation through Kitty's mind.

"I don't know John well enough to know what he's going to do, but if he thinks it's no longer safe for him to be here, I don't believe he'll cause us any trouble."

Logan looked at the professor curiously. "You don't expect him to just leave, do you?"

Charles looked at his friend and smiled slightly. "He reminds me a lot of you, Logan. He's not that bad of a person, but he has done bad things. The difference between you two is he still remembers all of those things he's done, and he regrets many of them. He was honest when he said he doesn't want to cause us any trouble, and I do believe that if he thinks he is, he will go."

"You don't want him to, though."

"I think that it is best for him to remain here. I worry that if he does leave here things will be much worse for him."

"And the fact that he's as powerful as you are in the telepathy department means that you can't track him, so if he does leave, he will be on his own."

"Indeed. I worry that there are those outside the Organization who wish to use his power for their own gains, and will do whatever it takes for that to come to fruition."

"You mean like the Brotherhood?"

Charles sighed at this question. "Yes, a mutant as powerful as John would be a great asset to someone like Magneto." The psychic became silent suddenly, as if thinking about something.

"What is it, Chuck?"

"I don't know. I get the impression that when it comes to John's past, things are more complicated than they appear."

Logan sighed as Charles revealed this information. "You know, that isn't a comforting thought."

"No, it isn't. But for now all we can do is wait and see what happens." With that, the two men left the room.

"Ugh..." The sudden sound startled Kitty. Looking around she realized suddenly that she must have fallen asleep sitting next to Kurt. The blue mutant was now awake, and was looking around.

"Kurt! You're awake!" She stood up out of her seat, leaning over and kissing his forehead. He moved to hug her, but groaned in pain, as the movement pulled on the burned skin of his chest. "Oh, sorry, Kurt! You all right?"

"I'm sore, but I'll be all right." Kurt looked down at his bandaged chest. "Ugh, the price I pay for stupidity, I suppose." He laid his head back against the pillow and closed his eyes again.

"Yeah, well, you don't have to worry about him causing you any more trouble, I hope."

Her words caused Kurt to open his eyes and stare at her. "Kaztchen,(1) what did you do?"

"I told him to go away and leave you alone and in peace." Kitty had thought that Kurt would be happy for what she'd done, but instead he shook his head and sighed.

"Kitty, you shouldn't have done that. It was my fault I'm here, not his." Kurt groaned as he tried to turn toward her, and a new voice spoke up.

"You know, you really shouldn't be moving much, you may aggravate your injuries." Both mutants looked to see Dr. McCoy and Storm had returned. It was the doctor who'd spoken, though he was halfway smiling. Storm wasn't quite as enthusiastic about the situation, however.

"Dr. McCoy, how long till I can go? I want to speak to John."

"What? Why would you want to speak to that bastard?" Kitty's anger was showing through once again, and Hank just nodded at his furry patient.

"Let me look you over once again, and you may leave." He paused and looked at Kitty. "If you don't mind, I'd like to do this in private." The young female nodded and left the room, along with Storm, and Hank turned back to Kurt. "Sorry about that, but there may be a problem with John."

"Vas?"

"I talked to the professor a few minutes ago. It seems that John was already blaming himself for your injury, and apparently Kitty's outburst a couple hours ago toward him may have done more damage to any relationships here than we know."

"What do you mean? Where is he?" Kurt was worried now. He wasn't sure how John was going to react to his injury, but if he had been beating himself up over it already and Kitty had added her anger to his misery, Kurt knew John was likely to become even more depressed.

"We don't know. His mental barriers are on par with anything the professor can create, so he's pretty much invisible if he wants to be. And it seems that right now, he wants to be invisible."

Kurt groaned at this news and started to climb off of the bed. As he did so, Hank grabbed him and helped him off, then brought Kurt over a sweatshirt to put over his wounds. His shirt had been removed so they could get to the wound, but the rest of his clothes were still on him. "I'm sorry, I had to cut the shirt off to get to the wound. It had a large hole in it anyway, though, so..."

"That's all right. I probably won't want to wear anything too tight with this wound anyway, will I?"

"No, you won't." Kurt looked at him and smiled, then turned for the door. Hank sighed and followed the younger mutant out the door. Standing outside, having a conversation of their own, were Storm and Kitty. Together, the four of them went to the elevator, as Kurt had mentioned that he wanted to get a shirt of his own since the sweatshirt he was currently wearing was a couple sized too big for him. When they reached the elevator, they were surprised to see Logan and the Professor on it.

"What's going on, guys?" Kurt asked the two.

"We were coming down to see you, and to see if John was down here still." Logan's comment seemed strange. He was never a caring person when it came to others, and he almost never showed concern toward strangers.

Kurt wasn't happy about any of this, he just shook his head and got on the elevator, followed by the others. It was actually Hank who spoke up. "We haven't seen him since Kitty and him had their... discussion a couple hours ago." This comment caused Kitty to wince slightly. She was starting to get the impression that the others believed she had overreacted, however she wasn't going to back down to anyone without a good reason.

The elevator reached the second floor in silence, and the six mutants exited one by one, as Kurt led them to his room. When they entered, they all stopped in their tracks. The room itself was undisturbed, but on Kurt's bed were the clothes that Storm had given John earlier that morning, folded nicely as they had been when they had been acquired earlier. On top of the clothes was a letter, which Kurt picked up and began reading. After a minute, Kurt looked up. "Oh no."

"What is it, Kurt?" Professor Xavier was curious about the sadness in Kurt's voice, and was rewarded for his question with Kurt handing the letter to him. He then grabbed a shirt off the table and teleported away before anyone could say anything.

"Where's he think HE'S going?" Logan spat angrily. It was bad enough he was running around loose, but the fact that he was wounded made it even worse.

Professor Xavier nodded, then began reading the letter, which he noted was handwritten by John.

"To Kurt, or whoever else may read this:

I am sorry for all of the trouble I have caused since my arrival last night. I had come here seeking refuge from the wars I've been fighting all my life. I had come seeking an escape from my past, from who I am. The events of today have made me realize that doing this was wrong. I see now that I can't escape my past, and I can't run from it. The only thing that I can do is face it. So, that is what I am going to do. I know where this path will take me, and I know what waits at the end of it. Odds are I won't survive, but this is something I should have done four years ago. Once again, I am sorry for everything. Gott schutze dich, mein Freund.(2)

John Kerogi"

After reading the letter to the others in the room, everyone's reactions were the same, though for different reasons. All of them were concerned and worried about this situation. It was the professor who spoke first. "Logan, go get Kurt and John and bring them back here."

"Yeah, sure, Chuck, but where did they go?"

"Kurt's gone to the train station. I would have to assume that he realizes that its the only way for John to leave town other than on foot or in a car, neither of which, if he's heading to Europe, will do him any good."

"You got it, bub." With that Logan was gone, leaving the others behind.

"What about the rest of us?" Kitty was just as worried as the rest of them, though his concern was more for Kurt than John.

"Hank, get the medical bay ready, whether Kurt or Logan finds John or not, I fear we may need to use it."

"Sure thing, Professor." With that, Dr. McCoy left the room as well. Charles then turned his attention to Kitty's question.

"As for you and Storm, I think the three of us need to have a talk."

A/N: Chapter 7 done! And it only took about a week! Go figure.

More translations, because I'm using a LOT of German in this story.I should note that Kamaline is a word I just randomly used, as far as I know, nothing like that actually exists.

(1) Kitty- It seemed appropriate that Kurt would use this word occasionally. In all honesty, I have to admit also that I saw this word, or one similar at least, in another fanfic used by Kurt to reference Kitty, and I did like it.

(2) May God protect you, my friend.

Thank you to the people who have added this story to their favorites. To ShadowQueen1996: Thanks for the review.

Next chapter will be mostly at the train station. Will Kurt find John or will someone else find him first? And what will Logan do?