EPILOGUE—WALKÜRE

We returned Jim to his home and family on the Fon du Lac Reservation in Minnesota. Of the children, four of the boys decided to go home, too, leaving us with Julian Keller, Noriko Ashida, Cessily Kincaid, the blind girl named Ruth Aldine, Brian Cruz, David Alleyne, Santo Vaccarro and the quintuplets, Celeste, Esme, Irma, Phoebe and Sophie Cuckoo. They accompanied us along with Remy, Emma and Laura back to the mansion.

On the trip back to the school, I sat by Kurt and tended to him as much as I could. Hank was able to use the first aid kit in order to patch up my leg properly.

Even though Wanda had mustered the concentration to revive Kurt (caused by the amazing judgment of God, of this I was now certain), he was still severely injured, and he'd needed extensive surgery. It was a good thing that Wanda had brought Jean back on accident, so that she and Hank could work on it together. Kurt had awoken from the anesthesia thirty minutes before I came to visit.

I knocked on the doorway of the medical bay, as there was no real door. Kurt's was the only currently-occupied bed. He was shirtless, but his torso was wrapped snugly in gauze.

"Hey," I said quietly.

He looked up at me. "Hello."

I limped over to his bed and seated myself in the chair beside it. "How are we doing?" I asked.

"All right," he said. "My chest hurts, but other than that, I'm fine." He grimaced a little.

I couldn't help but be pleased. But there were so many things on my mind. I decided to start with the first one. "Mystique…"

"I know. She was in here just a few minutes ago."

I could tell that he didn't want to discuss this, so I neglected to pursue it. Instead I focused on my newfound frustration with him. "Say, does your arm hurt?"

He looked confused. "No." I punched him hard on his left arm. He hissed in a breath and gave me a "what-the-heck-was-that-for" look.

"What the hell were you thinking?" I stared at him imploringly.

He sighed. "I would say that I wasn't but that would be a lie. The truth is, when I saw Creed aiming to kill you, I just thought…'Not her.'" He squeezed his eyes shut. "Not her." He opened his eyes again. "I suppose I could have done better, though. I'm an idiot."

"You are an idiot," I agreed. "But it's okay. You're the kind whose stupidity saves people. It saved me. So you're my idiot." I paused for a moment. "Kurt…do you remember anything of what happened? Anything at all?"

Understanding crossed his features. "Kind of. It's fuzzy, though. I remember…a tunnel. I was going down a long, dark tunnel, and there was a light at the end. It felt like I was floating toward it, and though it got bigger, it happened slowly, like I was just taking a stroll. Then Wanda appeared in front of me. She told me that I had to turn back. I asked her why, and she said that I wasn't finished here yet. She said that everyone needed me, that you needed me…She told me that she couldn't take me, and that I had to come back myself. And then there was a still, small voice, telling me that it wasn't my time, ordering me to return. That made it easy to turn my back and head in the opposite direction. And then…it was like waking up from a dream."

"Oh." So Wanda hadn't told him what I'd said. I was half-relieved and half-disappointed.

Kurt's bed was rather large for its kind, and when he saw my partially sad expression, he patted the spot on it next to him. It was relatively easy to hoist myself onto it. I sat beside him, my legs spread out in front of me.

He took my right hand. "Promise me something," he said. "Promise me that we will never be pulled apart again."

A mild confusion made itself at home in my brain. "I can't guarantee that. I mean, we're bound to be apart sometimes." I hated that, but it was true. "After all, we're two separate people."

"No," he disagreed. "Not two." Abruptly, he reached over, took my other wrist and pulled me on top of him, supporting my weight so that I didn't hurt his chest. "Now we are one."

Heat flooded my face, and I felt a little dizzy.

He noticed this and chuckled lightheartedly. "Oh, and guess what else?" he went on conversationally.

"What?" I queried, dazed.

Without warning, he rolled over so that he was on top of me, resting comfortably between my legs from his hips down. He leaned down and pressed the side of his face to mine. "I love you, too," he murmured. He pulled back to look at me, his expression so filled with true adoration and triumph that it took my breath away.

I knew that now was my moment, but how was I supposed to do this? I decided to wing it. No longer fearful, I gazed into his eyes, shifting my eyes to his lips as I placed my left hand at the back of his head. I licked my lips once, as they were dry from anticipation, and looked back into his eyes. Then I leaned in, closed my own eyes and gently kissed his mouth.

Fireworks.

I pulled back after a couple seconds. I left an inch or so between us.

The look on Kurt's face was one of gratefulness, and he was smiling faintly with those unbelievably soft lips of his. "Wow." His voice was barely audible. He opened his eyes to stare at me.

I felt warm all over. "Pardon my enthusiasm."

There was a kind of passion reflected in his eyes, and he came closer to me. "I like your enthusiasm." He kissed me, and I inwardly exalted.

My God, this was so incredible. Everything—his mouth, his body, the way his hands felt running through my hair, on my face and my scars…I loved it all. It felt like defying gravity, like flying. It was the best I had ever felt. I twined my fingers into his hair as I lost myself in moving with him, breathing with him. I never wanted to let this moment go.

Then his muscles tensed and he broke the kiss, a pained expression on his face. "Carefully now, Elyon. Ow."

I flushed. "My bad." Slowly, he got off of me, and the heat subsided from my face. "Just so you know," I said, "I'm not sorry about that."

He smiled at me softly. "I'm not sorry, either." He lay down again, wrapping his arms around me and holding me against his side as he stroked my arm. He seemed very pleased. I knew that I was.

I reached up to touch his face. "I love you." I was glad that I didn't have to be afraid to say it anymore.

He looked at me fondly. "And I love you."

"How much?" I wondered. I scooted up so that our heads were at the same level, and I lay on my right side to see him better.

"I couldn't tell you that," he said simply. "I could say 'as much as there are stars in the sky,' but that amount isn't even close to being great enough to compare."

The sound of that appealed to me. I shifted so that I was on my back once more. "Enough to kiss me again?"

He propped himself up on his elbow and tenderly brought his lips to mine. I smiled under the kiss, and I felt him smiling, too.

We heard someone clearing his throat. We broke apart and looked to see Logan and Bella standing in the doorway. Logan's eyebrows were raised, and Bella' own chocolate brown orbs were wide.

I blushed furiously. "Oh. Hey, guys." The downside of the infirmary not having a door.

Kurt glowered at them. "Verlasst uns bitte." He resumed our kiss, and I practically melted into him.

"I would love to leave you two alone," Logan said. "Believe me."

Kurt glared daggers at the couple. "Why are you still here?" He was clearly annoyed. I didn't blame him.

"We have some Cerebro files on a new mutant," Bella said calmly. She'd regained her composure. "We need Elyon to take a look at them."

With a scowl, Kurt conceded. He went back to his original position, allowing me to get up. As I followed Bella and Logan out, I gave Kurt a little wave, but something didn't feel right.

We were halfway down the hall before I said, "Give me one second!" Then I sprinted (as well as I could) back to the infirmary.

I skidded to a halt by Kurt's bed. He looked up at me quizzically. "Elyon, what—"

I silenced him with a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll be right back."

He was glad to hear that. "And I'll be waiting," he promised. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Then I ran back down the hall. I had a job to do.

A/N: Aw, a sweet ending, right?

Well, just as I noted above, this is the conclusion. The story is finally over! At last, I have finished a story which is longer than twelve chapters! But please, hold your applause. I have one more question for you, and it's very serious.

So, do you all want the sequel, or do you want to come up with the rest in your wee little noggins? Be sure to tell me in your reviews!

Auf Wiedersehen, meine Freunde!