Notes: OMG, look at all the time that's passed! D: You know those people who have all this stuff to do (job, school, kids or a significant other, etc) and can still update regularly? Yeah, totally not me. Haha, sorry. I'm not dead though!

Consider this chapter an interlude, or something. 'Cause the shortness of this chapter and the action in the next kinda made it that way.

Blackbird

Chapter 6

Kurt found himself watching Kitty. He was monitoring her activities, making sure she was eating like she normally did, making sure she wasn't attacking someone out of misplaced anger.

But Kitty actions didn't indicate anger, not even sadness. She seemed more worried than anything else. He sat at one of the stools in the kitchen as she paced around the island, occasionally giving Kurt a considering look. Finally, she sighed and sat next to Kurt, with a slightly guilty expression on his face.

"You know Mystique is back, right?"

Kurt nodded, his tale flicking in agitation.

"Well, remember the last time she came back? What if she's making them do stuff," she continued, wincing a bit at her word choice.

"It's a thought that did cross my mind," he said after a moment, "but the Brotherhood are relatively harmless."

"Yeah, but when she's not around," she added, giving Kurt a pained expression.

He returned her look with a wary frown, looking away when Kitty started biting her lip.

"We have to tell the Professor."

Kitty nodded but asked, "Will he be mad? You know, about not telling him sooner?"

"I have never seen the Professor angry..." he trailed off.

His tail wrapped around the stool's legs before unraveling. Kurt stood up and started heading out the kitchen. He heard Kitty's footsteps trailing behind him.

"Now?"

"We won't do it otherwise," he replied as they reached the hallways.

OoOoO

The Professor, as Kurt expected, was incredibly calm as Kitty told him everything that might be relevant to share. But from the corner of his eye, Kurt could see Ororo's increasingly worried expression and Logan's oddly expressionless face. When Kitty was finished, Xavier turned his attention to Kurt.

"Do you remember what was in the shopping carts, Kurt?"

Kurt frowned and looked down.

"There was a lot of supplies to make a first aid kit, some snacks, and..." he shook his head and continued, "a few disposable phones... and that's all."

Xavier nodded, his frown turning grim.

"Thank you Kurt. Kitty."

An obvious dismissal that the two teens weren't offended to receive. Kurt and Kitty all but ran out of the Professor's office, heading down to the kitchen again. Knowing that the X-Men weren't types to just let things lay, they might as well get enough energy for whatever it is that they were going to do later on.

OoOoO

The surprise came when the Professor decided to see the Brotherhood's plan go into action, rather than stopping them before even reaching their location. He said that there was something more different about the way they were currently operating, even with Mystique back in charge. And what with the team being a bit out of practice, it was best to wait this battle out.

Kurt was willing to wait but there was still that fear that this may be a mistake. That not stopping them now meant that multiple consequences for the X-Men and all other mutants. He couldn't help but think back to when the Brotherhood was temporarily considered heroes. Then the whole fiasco that happened afterward because they decided to wait it out.

The thing that made Kurt worry was that grim expression that entered the Professor's face when he told them of his decision. It was as if he knew something wrong would happen but that he had no other choice but to stay on the sidelines.

What would even make him do something like that?

OoOoO

During the night, Kurt was upside down on the ceiling relaxing. He watched as the light from outside snuck through the lights and altered the shadows in his room. He stared at the very plain sheets, focusing on one particular corner. His eyes drifted to one side of his bed where there a small pile of books sitting on the floor. All of them except one were textbooks and notebooks from school. The last one was a tiny bible that he had with him when he lived in Germany. He trained his eyes on the bible, particularly the folded red paper sticking out of it. A flier for the circus, he knew.

Kurt closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he could hear someone running towards his room. He knew it was Kitty by the softness of the sound. He squeezed his eyes, as if the action would freeze time, and sighed when Kitty phased through the door, calling out Kurt's name.

"Kurt, you have to come out here. You need to see this."

The urgency, Kurt knew, should of made Kurt rush into action, but instead he kept his eyes closed. He could feel her stare, but aside from the clenching and unclenching of his eyes and hands (that Kitty wouldn't of been able to see regardless), he didn't make any other outward signs of acknowledgement.

"Kurt?"

Finally, he opened his eyes and stared down at Kitty, her blue eyes seemed to glow in this setting and her face was still flushed. And while he knew he should say something, he could only think back to a time when that exact look that she was giving him right now use to take his breath away when he was younger. He blinked, then shook his head, trying to break that train of thought.

"I'll be down in a while," he told her, watching as the anxious look on her face turned to concern.

"You ok, Kurt?"

"Yeah," he replied, as her concern mixed with skepticism, " I'll be down in a while."

She nodded, obviously still wanting to say more, and towards the door, giving Kurt a parting glance before finally leaving.

Absently, Kurt wondered if he would actually see Wanda tomorrow.