Yay for quick updates! Thanks again for great reviews!

Dislaimer: Don't own x-men.

Warnings: Same ol' but there is some stronger swearing near the end. It has its purpose. Sorry to anyone who is offended.

"One's friends are that part of the human race with which one can be human."

-George Santayana

bamf

The sound was barely louder than a whisper as Kurt fell on the wet pavement. His body was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. He was crying, but not out of anger or pain, but because he had lost the last piece of normalcy that he had; a family. The moment he bit down on Scott's arm was the moment that he lost everything.

He struggled to pull himself off of the ground as the rain pummeled his back. His arms shook greatly as he pushed up his small body into a sitting position, leaning against a wooden box. He pulled in his legs and tail, sitting in a ball, trying to conserve body heat while the rain drenched his tired body. Shivers ran through him as the cold seeped into him through his fur and clothing. The only warmth he could feel were the hot tears of loss that flowed down his furry cheeks.

He picked up his tail and inspected the spade. No one would see it if they weren't looking for it, but to Kurt it was as visible as a giant in a crowd of midgets. On his tail was a long, faint scar. It still made him cringe when he thought about how much it had hurt when they villagers had put that nail through his tail to keep him from running. They hadn't cared that he was merely a child, having just turned five; they had thought he was a possessed individual. Even worse was that when a regular exorcism hadn't worked, they conducted a harsher, more physical one, believing he was just possessed by a stronger demon.

Then, that man showed up. He could handle the torment of the villagers, he even forgave them, but that man was what haunted him.

Kurt pushed the thoughts away; he didn't want to think about that, but his words still rang in his mind when he slept. 'I will release you from your pain.'

Kurt hugged his tail and knees closer as a gust of wind blew and pushed the cold deeper into his body. He was soaked and knew if he didn't get out of the rain soon, he could get seriously ill. He looked around and tried to figure out here he had teleported to. He saw the water's edge, lights, crates, nothing really that distinctive. Then he looked down and saw lettering in below the puddle that had accumulated around him.

"Bayville Shipping Yard," he read aloud. I'm at the docks and that means warehouses! thought Kurt. He turned around and tried to see though the sheets of rain that pounded mercilessly on the grey concrete. He could barely make out the silhouette of a large, sheet metal building about a hundred yards away, a building that would have been invisible to anyone else. Gottlob (1) for night vision, thought Kurt.

Unable to teleport, Kurt quickly looked around to see if anyone else was out in this hellish weather, but when sighting no one, he ran on all fours to one of the warehouse's windows to peek inside.

The interior was quiet and dark. Kurt moved to one of the side doors, and finding it locked, knew what he had to do, even if he would regret it. He closed his eyes, concentrated on accumulating any spare energy he could find, and with a pained grunt, teleported inside the building where he fell unconscious to the cold, wet floor amidst the wooden storage boxes.

"Jean, professor, have either of you, like, found anything yet?" asked Kitty nervously.

"No," said Jean irritably, "and I will tell you the same thing I told you two minutes ago. We will let you know when we find something, otherwise let us concentrate."

Kitty sat back in her chair and crossed her arms before looking at the rest of the X-men that were in the x-jet. Rogue was sitting silently, looking out the window as if she were going to see Kurt somewhere far below. The only other occupant in the plane, other than Hank, who was flying, was Scott. Even through his ruby sunglasses Kitty could tell his mind was reeling; that he was mentally beating himself up for causing Kurt to leave.

Kitty got up and went over to sit by Scott. "You know it's not your fault, right?"

Scott continued to stare at his bandaged arm. "How can you say that?" he asked sadly. "You were there, too. You saw how I disobeyed the professor's orders and touched Kurt. If I had just left him alone like the professor said, Kurt wouldn't have reacted that way and felt he had to leave."

"But you have to think of why you went to Kurt, he wasn't breathing, remember?"

"I know," he said sadly, "but look at what happened." Scott looked out the window. "What if we don't find him?"

"Scott, he left without money, clothes, or food," she began to reassure. "He'll get hungry and cold in a few hours and, like, come home. We'll apologize, talk to him, and maybe, like, even get him to tell us about the dreams."

"Yeah, but I still should have listened to the professor. If I had, maybe Kurt wouldn't have…"

"Listen, Scott," she interrupted, "if you hadn't done what you did, like, I would have. When you said he wasn't breathing, I actually wanted to go to him, but, like, you scared me when you yelled. I phased into the floor." She smiled and let out a small laugh. "Better you than me anyway. Like, by the looks of things, he would have torn through my arm. You at least won't break like a twig like I would."

Scott let out a small laugh as well. "Yeah, he's stronger than he looks. Who knew he had a death grip like that?"

"Like, not me," said Kitty. The two fell into a silence that lasted for a long while before the silence was broken by Scott.

"What if he doesn't forgive me?" asked Scott.

"For what, like, trying to help him out of his nightmare?" said Kitty sarcastically.

"Not just that, for everything," he said. "I'm always harping on him about keeping his inducer on. Maybe...maybe he thinks he is a monster because I make him feel like he looks like one. What if he thinks that we all think he's a monster because of his appearance? Me telling him to always hide what he looks like doesn't help! What if he thinks we really are afraid of him?!" said Scott, becoming more frantic with every word.

"Whoa, Scott," said Kitty placing a hand on his arm, being carful not to touch his bandages, "like, calm down. Where is all of this coming from?"

Scott took a deep breath and let it out to relax himself. "It's something I've been thinking about since dinner last night. I tell myself everyday I have to back off when it comes to Kurt, but then he does something like dancing on the table with his tail showing or turning of his watch and teleporting out of school. It just irks me that he would take chances like that. I just...I just get so..."

"Mad?" Kitty finished for him.

"No, scared!" he said causing to look at him confused. "I worry about what would happen to Kurt if he was exposed. I remember how we reacted when we first saw him, and I can only imagine what mutant-haters would do if they saw him. Look how they treated us and we look like them. I just have images of Kurt in some experimental facility pop into my head every time he pulls something like that! I'm such a bad friend."

"Scott, don't say that," cooed Kitty.

"But I am," he said. "I probably confuse him with duel standards. I tell him to look human when we are in public, but want him to look like himself in the mansion. I don't want him to be ashamed of what he is and what he looks like, but I still tell him to hide it."

"But he knows why, Scott," she said gently. "I think we all give Kurt less credit than he deserves when it comes to that area. Don't you think he's thought about what will happen the first time he's seen? He's probably played the scene in his head, like, a thousand times and in just as many ways it could turn out. I don't think you confuse him, Scott, like, I think this whole situation confuses him in general."

"He just takes so many chances."

"But I don't think he means to," Kitty said. "Think about it, like, this is the first time in his life that Kurt hasn't had to hide from everyone. This is the first time he has ever had friends or been able to go to school. The things we are able to do everyday and take for granted is, like, the greatest gift Kurt has ever been given."

"I just want him to feel like he's normal," said Scott sadly, "especially around us."

"And I think he does, well, before tonight," said Kitty. "If he didn't feel normal around us, he would always be thinking about his difference, always watching out for something that would expose him. These accidents that he has show that he, like, forgets that he is different every once and a while and lets his guard down. But, I think what I said tonight, like, really hurt him. I broke the trust we had and I just can't forgive myself for saying what I did."

"You think he'll forgive us?" asked Scott.

Kitty couldn't help but smile at the reverse of roles. Scott was normally the one giving her advice, and now, she felt like the older mutant, but her smile faded. "You, yes," she said, "but me, I'm not so sure."

There was another pregnant pause, but this time it was Jean that broke the silence.

"Professor, I got a glimpse of Kurt's mind," she said, squeezing her eyes shut tighter in an attempt to get a grasp on Kurt. Suddenly, she gasped and her eyes shot open.

"Jean," said the professor urgently, "what is it? What did you see?"

She stared at the professor with a look that was nothing short of utter terror. "Oh my God! Professor, we have to get to him now!"

"Ah!" yelled Kurt as he gasped and opened his eyes, sitting up so quickly that it made his head spin. Ugh, that was not a very good idea, Genie (1), he thought holding his head until the room stood still again.

He pulled himself into a sitting position; knees pulled to his chest as he leaned against one of the wooden boxes, wrapping his tail around his ankles. He had never woken up utterly alone before. There was always a breakfast table full of students or his mother working in the kitchen that he could go to. He didn't like this, but he knew he would have to get used to it. He was alone now.

He looked down at his wrist and cursed; he remembered he had smashed his watch last night and didn't grab his spare before he left. Now he would have to go back to sleeping during the day and venturing out at night. Looks like his friends the gargoyles were going be reacquainted with their long lost pal.

Suddenly, Kurt's ears picked up a noise that brought him from his tired state to complete alertness. They were faint, but they were defiantly coming from somewhere in the warehouse. Kurt was trying to figure out what the noise was when several more of that same sound joined the first. Schei (2), footsteps, and by the sound of it, there's a lot of them! thought Kurt anxiously.

"Damn, man, we was so close!" said a voice.

He began to get up in an attempt to scale the wall before the group found him, but his hopes were crushed as all of the lights flashed on. His only hope was to teleport out. He closed his eyes again and concentrated on finding even the smallest amount of extra energy to let him move one more time. This caused the room to spin again, but unfortunately didn't result in movement.

His world still spinning, Kurt listened to the conversation so he could determine if the voices belonged to any kind of threat. "I know, dog. Damn, we almost had that little muthafucka," came another voice, different from the first.

"Ran outta bullets, too." A third.

He held his head in his hands as he tried to steady the world again. These guys were definitely a major threat; sounded like gang members. Mein only hope is that they do not find me, thought Kurt.

He pulled out the hematite rosary that he always carried from his pocket on the inside chest of his uniform. Storm had been kind enough to add that little feature to his uniform per his request. He held the crucifix close to his lips and began to silently pray the prayer he had recited so many times.

Der HERR ist mein Hirte, mir wird nichts mangeln.

Er weidet mich auf einer grünen Aue und führet mich zum frischen Wasser.

Er erquicket meine Seele. Er führet mich auf rechter Straße um seines Namens willen.

Und ob ich schon wanderte im finstern Tal, fürchte ich kein Unglück; denn du bist bei mir, dein Stecken und Stab trösten mich (3)...

But his prayer was cut short and his heart nearly stopped.

The footsteps were getting closer…

Here you go Anony.Lover, another cliffhanger for ya! Ok, so the next update won't be until next week; Tuesday, maybe Thursday. I'm taking the weekend off. Sorry. Have a good Memorial Day weekend!

Translations

1- Genius

2- Shit

3- Psalm 23 in German

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me...