Hunted and Hated

An X-Men Evolution Fanfic by Quill N. Inque

I do not own X-Men.

Chapter Six: Fugitives!

Kitty's drowsiness vanished instantly. "W-What?"

Kurt clenched his fist. "Go. Now. I'll try to hold them off as long as I can, but you need to get out of here."

"Never," his friend said quietly, her voice laced with steely resolve. "I will not abandon you, Kurt."

"Do you WANT to die?" Kurt asked harshly. "They're bound to know if you helped me, Kitty! They'll kill you, too!" His golden eyes brimmed with tears. "I don't care what happens to me, but I won't see you die just for my sake." A loud crashing sound signaled that yet another window had succumbed to the Inquisition's onslaught, and flames began to lick hungrily at the curtains.

"I could not live with myself if I did as you asked, Kurt," Kitty replied. "Twice I say and done: I will NOT leave you."

Bam.

The wooden door to Kitty's house buckled under the impact of some kind of heavy object. Kurt drew in his breath softly. "They brought a battering ram," he murmured. "Any ideas, Kitty?"

"There is always the cellar."

"The what?" Kurt looked confused.

"I bought this house from a man who used to run a winery here," Kitty whispered. "When he moved out, he left an empty wine cellar beneath the house. I use it to store spare fabrics when I am not using them."

"Can we get there without anyone seeing us?" Kurt's voice was made rushed by urgency.

"I believe so," Kitty concurred, gesturing toward the back of the house. "That is assuming, of course, that the rear exit is not blocked by soldiers."

"We'll have to take that chance," Kurt said, nodding. "If the leader of these men is who I think it is, then he will be too caught up in his fanaticism to think his strategy through."

"And who is this mysterious man you know so well?" Kitty inquired as she opened the door ever so slightly.

The mutant's glittering eyes narrowed in anger as he followed her through the house, his pace quickened by the roar of the blaze. "Trust me, Kitty, you don't want to know. Pray that you will never meet him."

Her surprise at Kurt's cryptic response was muted when Kitty saw that the Inquisitors had indeed left a route of escape open to them. "You were right," she said gleefully. "This way!"

Kurt needed no further encouragement, but his flight to freedom was almost halted by a Spaniard who had just begun to empty his bladder in Kitty's roses. The man's head turned at the sound of the door creaking open, and he fumbled with his breeches as he reached for his sword. "Stop right the-"

BONK!

The Inquisitor's eyes rolled into his head, and Kitty threw away the shovel that she'd used to silence him. "I do not believe he will be giving us away," she stated matter-of-factly, "and perhaps this will teach him that my roses are NOT a chamber pot!"

Kurt took a minute to rob the unconscious man of his sword. "I've got a feeling we might need this later one," the mutant stated as he buckled the weapon around his waist. "Now come on!"

Before Kitty could stop him, Kurt's soft, velvety fingers wrapped around her own, and the two fugitives made a mad dash up a nearby hillside. A slight gasp escaped her, and Kitty was surprised to find that the touch of Kurt's hand was not entirely unpleasant, and small jolts of pleasant electricity flashed up the girl's arm as the two friends made good their escape.

The hill itself was a challenge. It was steep, angled, and covered with boulders the size of a man's fist. It had probably been the site of a quarry in days gone by, but now it only served to make Kitty's progress all the more exhausting. Kurt didn't seem to have any problems, and Kitty felt somewhat ashamed that she looked so weak in comparison to him. Then again, it makes sense for him to have such endurance, seeing as how Kurt has been on the run for most of his life.

Kitty's breath was coming in gasps as she and her friend neared the crest of the hill (Privately, Kitty thought it would actually qualify as a small mountain), and the girl's exhaustion served only to distract her from the task of fleeing for her life.

A moment of terror made Kitty's chest constrict painfully, and in her panic, she lost her footing. The bones in Kitty's ankle cracked audibly, and the young woman couldn't help crying out in pain.

Kurt was at her side instantly. "What is it?"

Agonized tears squeezed from his friend's eyes. "My…ankle…" Kitty managed to say between gritted teeth.

Any self-consciousness Kurt would have normally possessed vanished with the urgency of the situation, and his strong, muscular arms scooped Kitty off the ground, bridal-style. "It's all right," Kurt tried to maintain a calm tone of voice, if only to reassure her. "Now let's put some distance between us and them."

Kitty took one last look at the inferno that had once been her home, uttering a strangled, despairing sob before passing out from her ordeal. Inwardly, guilt washed over Kurt in a nauseating wave. This is all my fault…

Moments later, the unfortunate mutant had vanished into the vastness of the forest, leaving not a trace to denote that he was ever there.

No trace, except for a single, solitary teardrop.

A/N: I know it's a short chapter, but I needed to get this out of the way while I had the chance, since I need to study for a Biology test on Friday . But I'll tell you right now, I'll be a PEPSI-DRINKER before I let such things interfere with this story!Anyway, I WILL have the next chapter up by Friday, come Hell or high water!

And Quill N. Inque always keeps his word…