This story is now on Tumblr as of March 2017. Don't freak out if you've seen it there. Yes, it's under the same username: Winekita.

Reasons for this story existing are at the bottom in the afterthought A/N. I didn't want to talk your heads off before getting to the story itself.

I own nothing you recognize as canon in any X-Men universe. The cover picture is also not mine. It is from osatokun's Tumblr. She is an amazing artist. Go check her out if you'd like to see more of her work.

*~The Road to Recovery~*

Feat. Kurt Wagner (aka Nightcrawler) and Ororo Munroe (aka Storm)

The hug had helped. To a degree.

Kurt was much more open to Jean now. He could speak to her without the preacher-like tidbits like a normal person—albeit a normal person that speaks very softly and timidly—and sometimes cracked a smile.

Ororo also got to see that smile when she visited. She tried a different approach than before: letting Kurt say what he wanted, never pushing him to say what she wanted to hear from him. Pushing only made him nervous and frightened, and Storm realized that even though she really needed her old friend back, she'd have to go at his pace.

Speaking of friends, Ororo realized that her and Jean's running around in his mind must have allowed his memory to come back a little. Almost instantly, he could name everyone in the room when Jean and Storm had returned. The only one he'd had difficulty with was Logan, but that was completely understandable. He was still a bit skittish around a larger group, so Ororo asked that any visitors come one-at-a-time or in pairs, never more than that, and never more than five in a row.

But Kurt was not well. Not even close. There were times when he'd go back to his corner and just stare at the wall, completely depressed. Sometimes he'd shy away entirely from Ororo and Jean, asking to be alone. Other times he'd break down crying and beg everyone to go away. He was still very much broken, but at least he was finally on the mend.

The only problem Ororo had was that she felt he was still hiding something. Of course, what she and Jean had seen in his mind could not be unseen, and it was very haunting, but that couldn't be it. She knew Kurt. She knew how he bounced back from terrible things. He'd seen and gone through way worse things than what had happened in Germany. Hell, even when he had been dead and abandoned Heaven he'd worn that devilish smile and flirted with her. And when he was down, he somehow found help in his friends, even from Logan if given the opportunity.

Though the massacre in Germany was painful to look back on, Storm knew her old friend couldn't have shattered merely from that. It also didn't explain how he'd ended up in Dr. Sinister's clutches. Perhaps the massacre had been the final straw, or maybe Dr. Sinister had tortured him so much that he'd finally broken then? Only Kurt knew what had officially broken him, and if no one else knew, no one could help him completely through this.

Ororo sighed and leaned against a wall, rubbing her fingers against her temples. She wanted her old friend back so badly. She needed him, by her side and in the upcoming battles for mutantkind.

She looked around the dark hallway, half-wanting to turn around. She was almost to the infirmary. At 9 o'clock at night, most of the school was asleep, with only the adults staying up to do late night things (ie: Logan drinking in the kitchen). Normally, Storm would either try for a late-night workout in the Danger Room, or attempt to relax in her in-room greenhouse before bed. Tonight, for some reason, she thought she'd mix it up and visit Kurt.

If she said she wasn't nervous, she'd be lying. Visiting Kurt this late would be a gamble; She had no idea if she'd get to see 'her' Kurt, cowed Kurt, or just plain traumatized Kurt. She'd been informed by Forge that the night brought some terrors to the blue mutant now, mostly in the form of nightmares. Catching him in a nightmare would break her heart, she knew, and a tug at her emotions was probably not the best idea before bed.

She entered the infirmary anyway, pushing the nervousness aside. When her eyes fell upon the blue mutant, she frowned sadly.

Kurt was asleep, curled up in a tight ball on his bed over the blankets. His tail, which was wrapped around one of his legs, still heralded white bandages from the surgery, though they would be off any day now. His medium-length hair was disheveled, as was most of his fur, which suggested constant tossing and turning already. Soft whimpers escaped his lips, and his brows scrunched up. His tail-tip flicked around, but the rest of the appendage did not unwrap itself from his leg.

Suddenly, a violent shiver shot through Kurt. An arm batted weakly against an invisible enemy, and he moaned for something to stop. His tail uncoiled and writhed around in the bed, and his legs twitched as if he meant to run. His breathing became shallow, almost raspy. Tears formed around the corners of his tightly closed eyes.

Ororo hated this. She hated seeing her best friend in pain. He doesn't deserve this.

She cautiously bent down and shook his shoulder. Kurt's eyes immediately snapped open. He yelped and shot out of the bed. He crawled over to his usual corner and cowered, sobbing and covering his face with a hand.

"Kurt," she said softly. "It's just me. Ororo. You remember, don't you?"

Her friend lowered his hand, but did not look at her. Ororo scooted forward a little, glad to see that he didn't react badly to her presence.

"I'm sorry I woke you," she apologized. "But I couldn't stand it knowing you were suffering from a nightmare."

She placed a hand on his shoulder. To her surprise, he didn't shrug her off. She slowly crawled closer, daring to bend her head down further to try and look at Kurt's face. She smiled softly.

"Mr. Wagner," she said in a mock-serious tone. "What have I said about you frowning? It doesn't suit you at all."

The world's tiniest smile rose up from the shadows of Kurt's face. "Hello, Ororo," he rasped.

"There's the Kurt I love." Storm brushed away Kurt's bangs. "Sorry for the late visit."

"It's fine." He shrugged and slowly unwound. His tail swished a little, bumping against Ororo's leg.

"You know Forge offered to give you some medicine to help you sleep better," she tried.

Kurt shook his head. "Nein. I…I don't want it."

"Wanting and needing are two different things."

Kurt met her eyes with a dark expression. "Needing and deserving are two different things."

Storm froze at that. He thinks he doesn't deserve that kind of help? "Why don't you deserve it?"

"Because I could not save them…" Kurt drew his knees up to his chest, setting his head down upon his arms. "I could not do anything. I promised I could protect them, but…I failed them all!" His body shuddered as he began to sob again.

Ororo drew her friend into a hug. She stroked his hair as he cried softly into her shoulder. "Kurt," she said softly. "I know what you saw was horrific. If any one of us saw that alone it would hurt us as much as it did you. But it wasn't your fault. You had no idea, and neither did we."

Kurt moaned into her shoulder, "B-But…what is the point, then? Why do we fight, if more people—more innocent mutants—are dying than we can save!?"

Ororo didn't know how to answer that at first. Then, she spoke softly, "Because eventually it will be the other way around. If we fight to protect, people will see. Bobby had saved an inhuman when we rescued you. That inhuman, in turn, has spread the word that not all mutants deserve to be punished."

Kurt had stopped crying. Ororo knew her argument was a weak one, but it must have been enough to calm her friend.

"Kurt," she continued. "I know it's hard. We all have to face the reality that for every one mutant we save, there are probably many more suffering. We need to stand up and keep fighting for their rights and freedom to live, and in time it will happen. It's a long, grueling road that we must keep going down." She didn't know if this was for Kurt or for herself anymore. Her own doubts about her decisions on mutant protection echoed in her mind. "But we can't go down it alone. We are a family, Kurt."

She gently lifted his chin up, forcing him to look at her. "All of us."

Kurt's eyes watered. He lowered his head and began to cry again. This was possibly the most Ororo had seen her old friend cry in a very long time. She held him close and allowed him to let it all out. Tears fell silently from her own eyes, but she kept her silence. Kurt needed a strong friend to cling to right now.

Finally, after long minutes of sobbing and even more long minutes of steadying his breath, Kurt pulled away. He wiped his eyes and shyly looked at Ororo. His tail twisted nervously in his lap. "I…" He cleared his throat. "I would like to…have some of that medicine now. The kind that helps me sleep…"

Ororo smiled. "I'll get Forge."

Five minutes later, Kurt was once again curled up in his bed. Forge had pumped some medicine into his arm, and the blue mutant was starting to drift into a dreamless sleep. Ororo had stayed in the room, promising to do so until Kurt was fully gone.

Her old friend was beginning to look peaceful. She reached over and brushed a curl away from his face, tucking it behind his ear. One golden eye opened, locking its gaze onto her.

"Rest, Kurt," she prompted. "You'll be okay."

He closed his eye again, snuggling into his thin blanket. Ororo was about to leave when she heard a soft voice whisper, "Thank you, liebling…"

She smiled. "You're welcome."

The road to recovery would be a long one for Kurt Wagner. It would take a while for him to build up enough strength and confidence to even leave the infirmary on his own. But, with time, he would be himself again. With time, he would be able to give his friends that dashing, carefree smile he used to have. He would once again become the shoulder for others to cry on and be their voice of reason.

A/N: Okay. Finally I finished that. Now for the reason I wrote this in the first place. It's a long-winded thing, so be prepared for a mini-rant if you're actually going to bother to read below:

I can't stand it…

As much as it hurts to see poor Kurt all hurt and suffering, I just cannot stand how blatantly Marvel has decided to IGNORE WHAT JUST WENT DOWN!

Okay.

I understand they're getting a move-on with Apocalypse Wars, and I absolutely cannot wait to find out what happens in issue 9, because that ending in the future setting was amazing! But seriously, I have two major issues with something. One issue is what I addressed with this one-shot. The other is just a personal preference that in the past annoyed me but now just makes me laugh.

First is Kurt's trauma...

I'm not ranting about how the reveal over his traumatic experience was. I'm ranting about the aftermath.

It literally went from Kurt rejecting everyone and not recognizing them on a surface level to suddenly he's all better with a hug from Jean.

No.

Did we not just go through a giant ordeal in Kurt's mind? Was he not crying in a corner when Jean and Storm exited his mind? Perhaps them running around in there fixed Kurt's memory of his friends, which I'll accept to a degree if it actually had been written out as such. HOWEVER, one issue later he's already running around saving mutants and helping out on missions.

I'm no expert on traumatic experiences, nor have I ever had one, but I'd say this is not very believable. We still don't know what happened between Germany and Mr. Sinister catching Kurt, so there had to be more to his breakdown than just that. I will admit that there's obviously a time-skip between issues 7 and 8, but it couldn't have been that long. I'd say a month, tops. It takes a while to build up someone's confidence, and Kurt's had a history of self-doubt when it comes to failing at something—especially when he fails at protecting someone. He has been broken—very broken—and suddenly he's all better? I cannot, and will not, accept that.

So, I brought all of you lovelies out there this story.

It didn't explain him fully getting better, because that's not what it should be. It's a behind-the-scenes look before #8, because I think we all need a little bit more of it. Maybe in the future issues we'll get a better look at poor Kurt and how he's holding up, but for now we only have what was released and it is extremely unsatisfying.

Also, here's the other issue that makes me laugh that I had mentioned before:

Can we just all agree that Kurt's new uniform is literally a modern version of Tom Cruise's 1985 Legend outfit? Besides the gloves and boot-things Kurt needs to have in every outfit, the only difference (sans colors) between the two is Kurt's red and blue tunic-y thing that kinda just sits there over the chainmail. I'm not gonna lie, it looks awesome. BUT Y U NO HAVE PANTS!? Both of you, Tom and Kurt…seriously. I can't walk across the street in Hawaii in shorts without my legs getting bitten in five different places from skeeters, and Kurt's just running around in the world with no pants like he did in the later Excalibur volumes. I know he's got fur, but come ON! How has he not attracted mosquitos and chiggers and fleas and all sorts of buggies crawlin' up his legs with no pants? He has sexy legs, no denying that, but he shouldn't be showin' 'em off like he's a Victoria's Secret model every time he wakes up and puts on his top-heavy uniform. Ever since I watched Legend and discovered the link between the outfits, this pants-less thing has just become the funniest thing to me! So, where the design choice first annoyed me, now it just makes me laugh. Now if only he'd actually take it off and wear civvies like a normal person…