There is an extended disclaimer, so if you find it annoying, just start reading after the dotted line, okay?  Thanks.

Although I am a huge fan of X-men: Evolution, I have two younger siblings who are not.  Therefore, I apologise for any mistakes in the timeline or characters.  Also, I'm Canadian.  I'm assuming that school in the United States is the same as it is in Ontario, so again, I apologise for any mistakes (like me forgetting the name of every teacher at the high school.)  Next point:  I haven't taken German in six months, so I'm sorry if I screw that up.  Last.  I don't own the X-men characters or their universe, but I may add some of my own, made up locales over the course of this story. 

I make this up as I go along, so no word on potential pairings yet, if I put any in, but Kurt's the main character.

German translations appear at the end of the chapter.

Thank you for your time, now, on with the story.

************************************************************************

The Darkest Hour

Chapter One: Midnight Wanderings

                Kurt sat on the roof of the mansion, staring up at the full moon.  It was such a peaceful object, the moon.  It didn't go to Danger Room sessions or fight evil.  It just sat up there, quietly.  Sometimes, Kurt liked to sit where it was peaceful, away from the other kids, with their rapid-fire English.  It made his head spin, especially when everyone was arguing.  The roof was safe.  If he slipped, which was highly unlikely, he could just 'port himself to the ground, or back up to the roof.

                Every so often, Kurt shivered as the cool night breeze ruffled his fur.  He knew that he should go back inside.  He was tired, and he still had homework to finish, but he didn't want to.  He argued with himself, knowing that he'd be in trouble if his English marks got any lower.  They'd started slipping, along with all of his other grades, about two and a half months before.  Finally, he convinced himself to go back in. 

                Bamf.

                He was back at his desk, staring at the copy of Antony and Cleopatra that was sitting open in front of him.  He hated Shakespeare.  English was hard enough, and Shakespeare seemed to have spoken something else.  Normally, he'd have asked someone for help.  Trouble was, no one else seemed to know what Shakespeare was talking about either.  They were just really good at making it up.

                He looked at the page again.  Something about an asp.  And a...a baby?  The woman was feeding a baby to the snake?  That made no sense.  Even Shakespeare wasn't twisted enough to kill little kids.  He took a deep breath and re-read the page.  Wait...maybe the snake was biting Cleopatra?  The baby was the snake?

                Kurt slammed his head against the desk in annoyance.  How did a woman give birth to a snake?  Metaphors, he thought grimly.  How I hate them.

                An hour later, Kurt finally had his summary of the last scene done, and he hoped that it would make more sense to his teacher than it did to him.  He looked at his clock.  It was almost 1:00 in the morning, and he still had to read a chapter for History.  He wished he hadn't left the History for last.  It wasn't fair, the other kids didn't have to work as hard as he did.  They only had to glance at a page and they'd understand it.  He often had to read the page two or three times to make sense of it.

                "Danke," he hissed aloud as he saw that the chapter was only two pages long.

                Finally, at 1:30, Kurt curled up in his bed and turned out the light.  He was so exhausted that he completely slept through his alarm, making him later than usual.  Logan finally came to get him.

                "Elf, you're late."

                "Was?  Das ist sehr früh!" Kurt moaned and rolled over, not even opening his eyes.

                "Nein, Elf.  Das ist sehr spät. Extremely late, in fact.  You better get yourself downstairs, now, or you're not going to get a ride to school."

                Finally, Kurt opened his eyes, and was surprised to find himself bathed in sunlight.  He sat up quickly and dove onto the floor, into the middle of his heap of clothes.  He'd meant to do laundry the night before, and he had trouble finding a clean outfit.  Before he got up off the floor, Logan had left.  Kurt jammed his school books into his knapsack and 'ported to the bathroom. 

                He knew he was extremely late, because there was no line-up.  Then, he 'ported to the kitchen to grab some fruit or something.  He had found a few apples and was about to go out to the driveway when the Professor came in.

                "Aren't you forgetting something?"  He looked pointedly at Kurt's wrist.

                "Scheisse!"  Kurt disappeared with a bamf, and grabbed the image inducer off of his desk. 

                The car was starting to move when he got out front, but Scott stopped it long enough for him to get in.  He sat next to Rogue and quickly put his "watch" on.  A button press later, he was "normal human" Kurt Wagner.

                He sighed and Rogue looked at him curiously.  He chose to ignore her and looked out the window, resting his head on the back of his seat. 

                Suddenly, someone was shaking him.  "Kurt, we're here."  Rogue's face was right in front of his when he opened his eyes.

                He blinked, clearing his vision.

                "It must have been Scott's Danger Room lecture that sent me to sleep."

                He smiled at his pathetic attempt at a joke, then he calmly got out of the car and walked into the school.  Rogue watched him, and shook her head.  Kurt had gotten fairly quiet lately, and he was always tired.  She was worried about him, but he wouldn't talk to anyone.

***

                "We're sorry, Dawn, but it looks like the paralysis is permanent," the doctor told the girl after the sixth surgery in two months.

                "You knew that weeks ago.  You just had to put me under the knife again."  The theirteen year old glared bitterly at the doctor.  She was so sick of lying in the children's ward of Krankenhaus Berlin.

                "We still had hope.  It's just...this surgery was a last shot, and there's so much scar tissue on your spine now that further attempts to repair your spine would be cruel and unnecesary.  The best thing for you is to put you in occupational therapy, to teach you how to live independently."

                "Go away.  I'm sick of your crap."

                "Dawn, we need to discuss this."

                "I'm only a kid.  Find a grown-up to tell."

                "You know that you're a ward of the state.  Would you rather that I talked to your case-worker?  She probably wouldn't explain anything to you."               

                "I don't care.  Just leave me alone."

                She turned her face towards the wall, effectively ending the conversation.  As soon as the doctor was gone, she closed her eyes and set off to find one of her imaginary friends.  Fortunately, Flamme was available.  She spent the next several hours telling Flamme about how much she hated the doctors.

***

                Mrs. Smith, Kurt's English teacher, looked at him over the top of his Shakespeare summary.  As usual, when looking at the German teenager, her expression was one of mixed pity and anger.

                "Kurt, did you have a monkey write your assignment?"

                "No.  I did it last night."

                "I can't read your writing, as usual."

                "I am sorry.  I was up until 1:30."

                "Your habit of leaving your homework to the last minute is appalling, Kurt.  You are going to fail this class if you don't shape up."

                "I am trying.  Der is just so much homevork, and I have trouble vith it."  He hung his head.  "I am overvelmed just trying to do the reading.  Writing is even harder."

                "I understand that, but if you did your homework when it was assigned..."

                "I often have three or four classes of homevork every night.  And the more I do, the more der is."

                The teacher shook her head in frustration.  Until recently, Kurt had been an excellent student, but now he was a clown in class and, on the occasions that he actually did his homework, it was only a quarter right.

                "Go on.  You don't want to be late for your next class."

                He went out the door and sped off for German, which he had transferred into when his grades started slipping, in the hopes that he might be able to bring his average up.  He made it just as the bell rang, but the teacher still marked him down as tardy.

                He walked calmly to his desk at the back of his class.  He'd get yelled at again tonight, when the school called.  It was the fifth time he'd been late for class this week, and he'd already skipped two detentions in the hopes of getting some work done in the library.

                As soon as he sat down, he fell asleep.  It was unfortunate for him that he mumbled some German curses under his breath while he slept, because he woke up with the teacher standing over him.

                "Geht nach das Büro," the teacher said.  "I have had enough of you, Kurt."

                Reluctantly, Kurt got out of his desk, picked up his knapsack and left the room.  The office.  Great.  The last thing he needed was a suspension.  He'd been trying really hard to catch up in his classes and now he had to go to the office.

                As he walked, Kurt toyed with the idea of just leaving.  No more clowning around to hide the fact that he felt alone.  No more Logan yelling at him for sleeping in, or having a messy room.  No more Storm shaking her head in disappointment when he got into trouble.  Passing the main entrance to the school, he watched his reflection in the glass.  No more pretending to be...normal.

                The notion passed and he went into the office.  The secretary picked up the phone.

                "Do I need to call Miss Munroe?"

                "Most likely," Kurt said, trying to smile.

                "Another joke go wrong?"

                "No.  I have turned over a new leaf."  He stood proudly.  "Unfortunately, it vas the wrong vun."

***

                An hour later, it was official.  Kurt had received a one week suspension.  Storm, driving him home, started speaking to him.

                "Kurt, I know you're trying just as hard as you always have.  I've seen your light on at all hours of the night and heard you swearing at your homework.  Despite all that, you're failing your classes and you've become exceptionally quiet.  You're not yourself at all.  Is something the matter?"

                Ja, he thought to himself.  I don't have a clue why I can't do my work, I'm always tired and I'm sick of always having to hide behind this stupid image inducer.  And I'm fed up with having everyone look at me weird when I don't hide.  Out loud, he said, "Nein. I am just very tired."

                He could tell that she didn't believe it, but she just let him drift off into his silent reverie.

*************************************************************************

That has got to be my crappiest first chapter ever.  Oh well.  Hopefully someone will take pity on me and review.  If not, I'll post the next chapter anyway.

Danke= Thank you

Shiesse= Shit

Das ist sehr früh.= It is very early.

Das ist sehr spät.= It is very late.

Krankenhaus = hospital

Geht nach das Büro. = Go to the office.