August 18, 1992
"Amanda?" Kurt asked.
Amanda looked up at him. Kurt was a mess. She knew that meant that she must be too. She could feel the grit building up on her skin, and the way that her eyes stung couldn't be good either.
He'd barely said anything to her before tucking her inside a convenient, abandoned building some way from the fighting. She had still been able to watch the fight in the square though. Amanda had watched with bated breath as the cop cars had come in, almost screamed every time she saw someone shoot at Kurt.
"Amanda?" Kurt said.
He held out his hand. Amanda reached out and took it. She got up tentatively. Kurt touched the side of her face. The dirt smudged under his fingers.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
She flicked her eyes up so that they met his.
"I'm not injured," Amanda said.
Kurt winced. He understood what she meant.
"Amanda, I didn't mean for this to happen," he said.
"I know," Amanda said.
He put his arm around her shoulder. Amanda pressed her hand against his chest.
"Can we walk?" she asked.
Kurt's teleportations made her feel dizzy, and Amanda felt sick enough as it was. Kurt nodded and the two of them began to walk towards he square.
"I...I didn't mean for you to get caught up in all of this," he said.
Amanda looked at him, waiting and wondering. What was he going to say to try to make all of this go away? What could he say?
"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you," he said, "But...I couldn't figure out a way...I'm not part of this."
Kurt gestured around with his hands. She could see the back of the plane now, see the square that she had walked through earlier that day blasted to pieces.
"This is my family, what my family's been doing for years," he said, "But I never...I never intended to be part of this. And the last thing I wanted was for anything to happen to you. I just...there's so much more at stake then just me. I couldn't tell you."
Amanda shook her head.
"Kurt, that's not...that's not important," she said.
Kurt stared at her. Amanda stopped walking. She put her hands on either side of his face.
"Kurt, I get why you couldn't tell me," she said, "I agree with you not telling me. I mean...I don't think that Tony Stark tells Pepper Potts everything that goes on with the Avengers."
Her hands slid to his shoulders.
"But...Kurt...I just...we all nearly got killed back there," Amanda said.
"It looked a lot closer than it was," Kurt said, "Really."
His voice was so earnest that Amanda could almost believe him.
"You nearly got killed a couple of times," Amanda said.
"Like I said," Kurt said, "It wasn't as close as it looked."
She shook her head.
"I don't think you understand what I'm saying," Amanda said, "Kurt, do you know...do you know what it would feel like if you got hurt? If you died?"
"That won't happen," Kurt said.
Amanda swallowed and looked around her. She saw the destruction in the square, remembered the crashes and the explosions. It was all almost too much to even think of. Amanda hadn't grown up to believe she would be around that sort of thing.
"Kurt," she said, "I love you."
She wrapped her arms around his waist.
"So just keep telling me that," Amanda said, "And make me believe it."
He pulled her head up and kissed her. Amanda squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out all of the smells and tastes of the battlefield that surrounded Kurt. She tried to focus on the image she'd always held of him, the goofy, shy, polite artist who looked at the world in a way she envied.
The kiss ended and Amanda bowed her head.
"Don't you dare get hurt when I'm not around to lecture you," Amanda said, "Okay?"
"Got it," Kurt said, smiling weakly.
Amanda nodded and leaned on his chest.
"Please take me home," she said, "And we can...we can talk after all of this is over. Maybe they'll give you a ride this time."
"That isn't going to be an option."
Amanda turned her head and saw David coming up to them. He was still wiping blood off his face.
"What do you mean?" Kurt said.
"Uncle Scott talked to me," David said, "Amanda...they've seen you with us. If we take you home right now...then it's likely that they'll just come after you."
"David," Kurt said.
She heard that pleading tone in his voice. Amanda understood. She wasn't sure how much more of the madness she could take. Amanda had, when she'd watched films, wondered how the husbands and wives of soldiers and cops felt while they waited for them to come home. She'd never thought that she'd had to portray that kind of strength herself.
David gave a firm nod. She wasn't sure who she was seeing at the moment. She'd always seen David as standoffish, a little cold, but a decent person. Now a lot of that coldness was in full force, as though his exhaustion was building walls of some sort.
Amanda wanted nothing more to protest what was happening. She couldn't stay with them. She didn't know about planes or fighting or anything like that. Her skills were limited, and at the moment they seemed woefully inadequate.
She saw Kurt nod though, his whole face looking as though it were sliding down some great cliff.
"Kurt..." Amanda said.
Kurt closed his eyes.
"Amanda, I can't let you get hurt," he said.
She wanted to tell him that she wanted to go home. Amanda thought about her family. She had already gotten caught up in all of the madness. She couldn't allow them to get caught up in it too.
So she forced her fears away and nodded. Amanda wasn't sure if she could manage words for the moment. David smiled at the two of them, and for a moment she could see him as he'd been. He seemed tired, as though he were carrying some sort of great burden that he couldn't share.
Then his eyes closed up again.
"Kurt, Uncle Scott wants to know if you can see if there are any transistors in the cargo bay of the Blackbird," David said, "Jean says she needs to replace one and then we can get going. It's kind of difficult to move around up there."
Kurt gave her a worried look. Amanda waved him on, feeling the fear swelling up inside her. Kurt bit his lip as Sharon walked up. Her clothes were covered in grease, but her eyes were shining.
"I'll stay with her," Sharon said, "You and David figure out the transistors."
Kurt looked like he wanted to protest, but David put his hand on Kurt's shoulder.
"She'll be fine for five minutes," David said.
Kurt looked glumly at her. Amanda waved him on again, this time managing to smile. He smiled back before walking away with his brother.
"How are you feeling?" Sharon asked.
Amanda shrugged. She wasn't feeling talkative.
"It's difficult, getting caught up ins all of this," Sharon said, "I mean, I'm hardly a stranger to all of this, but I wasn't supposed to be as connected, as involved, as I ended up being."
Amanda still didn't say anything. Sharon didn't seem bothered by this.
"It's probably harder for you than anything I went through, anything I might be feeling right now," Sharon said, "I at least knew about all of this before it started."
Sharon leaned against the wall.
"When I was a child, there was this story," Sharon said, "I heard it in so many different ways, but the elements all remained the same. It was almost as though it was a kind of fairy tale for us, the X-kids."
She laughed and tucked some white hair behind her ear. Amanda continued to stare forward, her ears hearing every other word of what Sharon was saying.
"Story goes that there were a couple of people," Sharon said, "They set out to save the world. They succeeded, but some people decided that the way it had been achieved...that it wasn't good enough. That they hadn't really won. So they went off, and they formed those guys."
Sharon jerked her head in the direction of the blue woman and the two people with her. Amanda glanced at them before turning her attention back to Sharon.
"After that, where there had been seven, there were only five people. Four of them were mutants, and four of them were guys. The fifth was a woman, a former analyst for the CIA," Sharon said, "After some misunderstandings, she got married to the leader. The X-men were supported by their partnership, the united strength that they always showed. The husband led and the wife shored up his position. She helped train the others. Those two people, in a few years, became David and Kurt's parents."
Amanda bit her lip and looked at Sharon. Sharon continued talking to the air, almost as though Amanda wasn't there.
"As for the other three, they were pretty much kids when it all started," Sharon said, "The oldest was eighteen. The other two were fifteen. One of the younger ones fell in love with a girl. They got married. She died in a car accident soon after having his kid. Freak accident."
She waved her hand.
"Before my time," she said, "As far as I know they were happy together, but the marriage didn't last long. Not even a year before she died."
Amanda bit her lip harder. She had a feeling that she knew what that meant.
"The other guy, he married another mutant," Sharon said, "She was a soldier in her own right, a fierce fighter. They make a pretty tough team. You haven't met their kids yet, but that guy with the goggles? He's that guy's brother."
Amanda stopped biting her lip.
"This is interesting," she said, "But why are you telling me this?"
"I'm getting to that," Sharon said, "Now, the last guy, he kind of leaves the group after a few years. Settles down, leads a pretty normal life for a while. Meets a human woman, falls in love. Then one day the X-men accidentally bring a fight to his doorstep when one of them gets injured. His girlfriend had no idea. She had to deal with everything at once."
Sharon's tone was still matter-of-fact, but Amanda could hear her heartbeat pick up.
"What did she do?" Amanda asked, "How...?"
Sharon looked down.
"No clue how she handled it," she said, "All I know is that she did handle it. She stayed with him, and things got worse after that. She was just a normal woman, trained to be a secretary, not a war aide. But..."
Sharon raised her head and met Amanda's eyes again.
"I think that there's a kind of strength that can't be taught when you love someone," she said, "I think that sometimes, no matter what the consequences, you just have to stick it out."
She thumped her chest.
"I think it comes from within you, deep down, and if you think about it, you'll find that you have it," Sharon said.
She pushed away from the wall and touched Amanda's shoulder as she went by.
"You're not doing so bad for someone in shock you know," Sharon said.
Amanda smiled, the first genuine one she'd had in hours. She paused.
"I think I know where this story is going," she said, "But did these two have any children?"
Sharon laughed. She tossed her hair and continued towards the Blackbird.
"You're looking at her," Sharon said.
