A/N: Would you look at that, I actually logged in to this old account to update and upload some stuff! In case you're still alive on this site and think I abandoned any of my stories, I DIDN'T. It's just been a rough decade. Rough life, really. But I'm still creating and hyper-focusing on everything related to X-Men: Revolution (or generally Project: Revolution as I nicknamed all related stories and comics as a whole). Just go to my /jenhunter to be up to date, but I'll be posting here, too.

The three officers were now forming a semi-circle in front of her, and the line of chairs propped against the wall was two steps behind her, leaving her with no escape route, especially with hands cuffed behind her back. She continued to glare at the men, and just as one of them stepped forward and reach to her arm, there was a sudden BAMF right behind her, and she felt a gust of air hit her from the small space between her and the chairs.

The officers yelped and started fumbling for their weapons with looks of terror on their faces. At the same time she instinctually tried to turn around but hands grabbed her bound arms firmly and stopped her; her head also turned as much as she could but the person behind her shifted further to the side, barely but evading her gaze.

"It's me, I'll get you out" Kurt's familiar voice was rushed and nervous but collected. "Just take a deep breath!"

With everything happening so fast, she barely registered what was going on but hastily inhaled. Then she felt a tug at her entire body, a sudden tightness around her chest as she was swallowed by darkness; before she knew what was going on there was a forest in front of her eyes and then the sensation and darkness repeated.

Now she emerged in the main aisle of the old church, feeling like she was punched in the guts and unable to inhale. The little inhale that she did manage only made it worse as she started to choke on the leftover sulfur around her, involuntarily bending in half.

She felt the hands that held her by her cuffed arms break the fall as she went down to her knees, gasping for air and fighting sudden nausea.

"Hold your breath for a moment, let the air out, then breathe in slowly" she heard Kurt instruct nervously behind her.

She did as he said, and as she stopped trying to force her lungs to work for a few seconds, she felt the tightness in her chest ease on its own. She slowly sipped the air into her lungs and let it out.

"Holy fuck. How can you just casually do this-" she started turning around just to be faced with a BAMF and a cloud of sulfur fumes. This time she immediately stopped breathing and listened for the second BAMF as she gave the air around her a few short seconds to clear out before she continued. "I felt like I'm about to puke" she stated, her eyes now turning to the spot where she heard the second BAMF.

"The first few times are the worst for everyone for some reason" she heard Kurt's voice come from behind the nearby pillar. "Sorry about that, I couldn't think of any better way to get you out."

"Are you kidding me?" the girl plopped onto her ass on the floor, her hands trying the cuffs behind her back. "You saved my ass. I'll happily throw up my guts a million times over to not get sent back. Thanks a lot!"

Wagner scoffed happily. "I'm glad I could help."

"You did" she exhaled with relief. "I could use a bit more help, though. Do you have any idea how to get those cuffs off of me or do I need to try breaking my bones like they do in the movies?"

Kurt 'hmm'ed in thought. "If I take time to focus I should be able to teleport the cuffs off of you."

"Great!" the girl clumsily clambered to her feet hands-free. "Come on, then!"

There was a moment of silence. "Can you close your eyes for me?"

"Kinky. But why do I feel like that's not necessary to get the cuffs of?" she asked, silence responded her. She exhaled. "Fine."

Fallen closed her eyes and waited. At last, she heard the rustle of Kurt's clothes moving closer, but not the sound of his steps as he walked so quietly.

"Move your arms as far away from yourself as you can" he told her softly.

As she did that, she felt a gentle tug on the cuffs. "Just don't take any part of my body along" she scoffed nervously.

"I'll try to leave you at least with one full arm still attached."

"That's not what they mean when they say you take someone's hand, you know."

Wagner chuckled. "Okay, ready? Stay still."

She did, and after a moment she heard the BAMF, and the pressure from Kurt pulling the cuffs away from her suddenly disappeared. Another BAMF sounded further behind her as she dropped her arms and finally was able to bring them to her front, easing her sore muscles into it.

"Can I open my eyes now?"

"Ja."

She did, the daylight a little blinding at first. She looked back and around, but the presumably-blue boy was tucked away somewhere she couldn't see.

"Thanks again" she said, massaging her wrist. "I mean it, Kurt. Thank you."

"You're welcome" there was a soft smile bleeding into the tone of his voice. "I'm glad I could help."

xXx

28.08.2009

"I need to switch locations, they could be keeping an eye out for me in Munich area now. Come with me" she urged intensely. "What else do you have to do? Stay living in this church?"

"I don't know, but I can't just go with you" he said, exasperated.

"Why? Because you'd have to reveal to me?" she asked, and the lack of answer spoke for itself. "Listen, sooner or later it will get cold. And you probably know it gets really cold in this area. Cold enough for you to freeze to death, easily!" she gestured with exasperation equal to his own. "We both stand a better chance if you come with me. So if you're going to trust anyone ever again, let it be now."

"Fallen…"

She sighed deeply. "You've got until tomorrow night to decide. Then I'm out of here" she said and marched out of the church.

xXx

The night wore on, and she took the time to collect her snares and everything else she wanted to take along. It certainly looked like a difficult hike if she's going to have to carry all of it alone. The more time passed the more she grew convinced that she would, indeed, have to carry it alone. All because Kurt was nowhere near aware that she already has a very detailed idea of what he was hiding. But the more she thought about it, the less she liked the idea of leaving him behind.

She went to sleep at last, and woke up when the sun was well in the sky. And she woke up fully set on what she was going to do.

She made it to the church in broad daylight. If he stays awake throughout the night for their meetings, surely Kurt must sleep through most of the day.

She quietly slipped into the church and for a moment just listened. The lowest rustle could be heard from the nook by the ceiling, like someone stirring in their sleep.

She took her time to quietly make it across to the ladders and she climbed up, one quiet step at a time. When she finally reached the top she confirmed that Kurt was, indeed, asleep.

xXx

Kurt's consciousness drifted back to him slowly, his eyes opening and absently absorbing the haze; colorful lights seeped through the round stained glass window beside his sleeping bag and casted a soft glow in the dusty air, creating a dreamy atmosphere. For a moment he was just calmly drifting at the edge of sleep and awakeness, and then he started noticing something off the corner of his eye.

He sat up with a gasp and his chest caving in on itself as he realized someone was sitting near the foot of his sleeping bag. His eyes wide and heart beating out of his chest he stared at Fallen.

She was resting back against the stained glass, her face turned to him and a serious expression that he couldn't decipher.

"You couldn't hide from me forever" she stated in a numb voice.

Kurt's heavy breathing was getting worse, he felt like he's suffocating.

BAMF.

BAMF.

He was in the first, stumbling down to his knees, hand resting against a tree. He breathed in sharply, feeling like the fresh air pushed tears out of his wide-open eyes.

xXx

A few minutes passed by and he heard the door of the church; he looked down into the valley to see Fallen come out and look around. She spotted him there, by the trees, and headed his way.

Kurt bit his lips to stop the shiver of his chin and wiped his eyes. He climbed to his feet, although they felt so weakened right now that he needed to support himself with one hand on the tree as he walked around its large trunk. He stopped at the opposite side to where Fallen was coming from and rested his back against the bark.

He could hear her steps come closer.

"Come on, that game is over" the girl said, sounding tired. "Come on out, we need to talk."

But despite intellectually being aware that his secret was out, he wasn't ready to face her and unpack whatever emotions he'd find in her eyes, her face or her body language. Much less was he ready for a conversation.

"Please, just… go" he told her faintly.

"Go?" she asked, frustrated. "Listen, if you think it was kind of shitty of me to just go into your sleeping area and sit there so you'd have to face me at last- then I'm not even going to argue with you on that. It was shitty. I am a shitty person sometimes. I'm happy to apologize to for overstepping my boundaries- later. Right now, I need you to understand something."

The girl moved closer, and Kurt's heart skipped a beat. He maneuvered his step around the trunk to stay at the opposite side of it.

"I did it because now that I might be 'wanted' in the city, I need to get away from here, and for some reason you made me give a shit about you so much that I didn't like the idea of going without you" she said. "And since your progress towards revealing yourself was slow, I felt like you left me with no other choice than to be an asshole. Love it or leave it, but I wasn't going to leave you behind without at least trying to rush things enough that you would be ready to come with me in time."

She stopped trying to follow him around the tree.

"Can you stop? There's something else you need to know" she said and stepped on, but he continued to move away from her, tears once again silently pouring down his cheeks. "I need to talk to you, seriously! Hey!"

Her couple of faster steps caught him by surprise, and suddenly she emerged into his view, her hand grabbing his wrist before he managed to put the tree between them again. He tried to pull his hand away, but his limbs felt weak with emotion and the girl stepped in front of him.

"Hey, calm down… I'll let you go, but I need you to stay and look at something" she said in an urgent, but calm voice. She used her other hand to pull and unfold a piece of paper from her back pocket. At first, Kurt was too busy trying to look anywhere but at her and squirming away from her in general, but then his eyes briefly caught a glimpse of the images she was showing.

He stopped struggling against her, now frozen still with his eyes wide open and glued to the printed page.

"I had my suspicions for a long time" she said low. "I didn't want to freak you out before I knew for sure."

"W-what is this…?"

She took a few breaths and gently loosened her hold on his wrist, but instead put her hand lightly holding onto his upper arm in fear of him teleporting away again.

"It's a show" she said softly. "It existed here long before you came here… I don't know how it's possible. But from what little I knew about you and saw of you I figured… that's you in that show" she looked down at the papers. "And I had no idea what to do with that information…"

His open wide eyes shifted up to her, a million emotions overflowing. "When did you figure it out…?"

She grimaced apologetically. "Basically just after we met… But I wasn't sure until I saw you…"

He looked away, his eyes searching for something frantically for a moment. "So that's why you wanted to see me…" he whispered, stepping back. "You wanted me to trust you to confirm this…"

"Kurt, I wanted you to trust me, period" she said immediately, knowing she needs to act fast before he spins it in his head into a reason to run away from her. "I wanted to confirm or deny my suspicion, yes, but that's not why I talked to you… and it became so much more in the meantime. You became so much more to me" she said.

He kept stepping back, now turning his back to her and shaking his head. "This can't be true… It's not possible… It must be some kind of a trick…"

"I don't know what any of this means or if it's a trick or how it's possible" she said low and walked up to him. "But I'm not here to solve you like some kind of a puzzle… I'm here because you're my friend" she reached to his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. "So whatever is happening, we can figure this out together…"

He slowly turned around, revealing tears falling down from his eyes. She met his golden eyes and for the first time he just held her gaze out in the open.

"I'm sorry I kept my suspicion from you until now" she said softly. "There's no manual to situations like this… And I have little experience being someone's friend, too. So… All I can say is that I thought it'd be for the best and I'm sorry if it wasn't."

Wagner's eyes broke off the contact as he looked lost for a second, his chin shuddering before his eyes stopped on the printed pages. "So this is… really from a show that exists?"

"Yeah" she smiled humorlessly.

"So am I… a copy from this? Or is this copying me?"

"I don't know" she squeezed his arm reassuringly. "But we'll try to figure this out."

Now Kurt's eyes hesitantly shifted from the pages to the girl's hand on his arm, and then to her eyes. "Will you… really be my friend?"

Her shoulder slightly slumped at the heartbreaking look in his eyes. "I thought I already am."

She saw his chin shudder right before he turned his back to her and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "Thank you."

They were quiet for a lingering time. "So… where do we go from here?" she asked faintly.

At last Kurt turned around to her, his eyes still glistening with tears. "...Is it still okay for me to come with you… wherever it is you go?"

She met his eyes. "Of course" she smiled briefly at him. "But since we have some… new developments… And I still need to get us some supplies from the city… It's okay to stay another day or two, so if you want to see it…"

He looked at her with worry.

"The show, I mean" she whispered.

Kurt's eyes shifted to the printed papers. "Ja… I… I think I should."

Fallen nodded faintly. "Let's wait until nightfall. Can you teleport us into a closed net cafe?"

Wagner slowly nodded. "Ja, I can do that if you can show me where one is."

"Okay, good" she exhaled. "Maybe it's best if we catch some sleep until then. It might be… a long night."