Evan was working his way down the hall. Someone else must be in this wing
of the house, he hoped. The world outside seemed to have gone mad. Hail had
put out many of the upstairs windows, and the wind was whipping through the
house, stirring curtains and shadows on the walls.
"Hello?" He called out "Anyone?"
"Ya." The darkness replied "I-m he-re"
"Kurt?" Evan (or was it Ethan) replied, casting his eyes around to find the voice. "The Professor. And the others, they're looking for you man. They say you're sick."
"Se-ek?" The voice paused as though considering.
"Yeah. The Professor, he sounds worried." Evan told him.
"Maybe." The voice paused again. "Maybe ve shoul-d tell him I vee-l fine."
"Sure." Evan cast his eyes around the room "Kurt?" He called out again "Where are you man? I can't see you."
And a mad laughter rocked the room for just a moment.
"Oh, Goo-d H-ide-a." Kurt whispered from far too close to Evan's right ear. "Gue-ss Wh-o?" He asked, sounding not as all like himself, and clawing at Evan's eyes from behind.
Evan let out a high pitched scream that seemed to slow the storm outside for a moment and then redouble it's fury.
"And dun't call m-e a ma-n. I'm no-t a ma-n." Kurt grabbed Evan up by the back of his head and heaved him violently toward the stairs. "Now, Tr-y no- t to die." Kurt told him "I'm try-ink to do dis right."
And Evan painted a bloody trail by going face first down the stairs. Much to Kurt's delight he was convulsing and moaning in pain when he reached the bottom, so he was quite obviously not dead.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this Elf." The low voice rumbled from the hallway. "But if someone's got to put you down it might as well be someone who cares."
"Tou-ching, re-ally." Kurt covered his heart and let his head fall liltingly to one side.
And Wolverine dove with a startling speed, his claws sprang in to place. He felt Kurt's hands close around his wrists but Wolverine thought little of it, it was too small for the Elf to flip him in here, and he was too heavy to stop by simple force.
Of course, he never dreamed anything like this could come from Kurt.
Kurt teleported, taking Wolverine's hands with him.
Logan pulled the bloody stumps up in front of his horror stricken face just as the Elf materialized behind him, sinking the three adamantium blades, of his own left hand, through Wolverines midsection. And then, kicking Wolverines knees out from behind, and driving the claws deep in to the floor, pinning Wolverine to the ground as he collapsed forward.
"I mus-t hur-ry." Kurt whispered, fearing Wolverine would die too soon and ruin his plans, he turned down toward Kitty's room, and sprinted off, still carrying Wolverine's right hand and claws.
In the back of his mind a small voice called out "Here kit-ty, kit-ty, kit- ty. Pret-ty Kit-ty, Pret-ty Kit-ty Pret-ty Kit-ty." And it brought a rough sardonic smile to his face immediately.
Kitty heard the Professor's telepathic warning. She knew something was horribly wrong, what with the weather outside and the occasional screams from within the mansion. Could this really all be Kurt's doing? Surely the Professor could be wrong on occasion, right?
And when she heard Kurt calling to her she knew it must have been wrong, all of it. He sounded hurt, and nearby. Kitty edged around the doorframe cautiously. Until she saw Kurt crumpled on the floor, just down the hall.
Forgetting all pretense, she ran to him, dropping to her knees, and asking him "Kurt, are you okay?"
It was dark, too dark to see his clearly, but she could still see the love that shone in his eyes when he raised his head to smile weakly at her. "I'd al-vays ho-ped" He said, "H-Our first keess wouldn't be h-our l-ast"
And he raised his head feebly.
She leaned in and kissed him very softly, fearing now for his life and safety, hoping only to comfort him until help arrives.
His three fingered hand cupped her head close and he kissed her more passionately, drawing her in closer by running his fingers down the back of her neck.
She barely felt a thing, save for surprise, when he brought Wolverine's claw up between them, sinking it in through her stomach and up, under her ribs.
She pulled back, registering only surprise to find him brandishing a twisted smile "O'v cor-se, ve cant alvawys git vat ve vant, can ve Kitty?"
And with that Kitty took three quick inward breaths, the light left her eyes, and she fell forward, dead, in his lap.
And Kurt suddenly sprang up, thrashing, feeling smothered beneath the weight of her and the weight of what he had done.
It wasn't for a full three of four seconds until he realized he was alone, in his bed. The soft red glow of the digital clock told him he had been asleep for less than two hours. His danger-room fight with Wolverine less than four hours old.
He rubbed his face and the back of his neck.
"Oh, god!" He thought, smelling the odor. He picked up his wet clothes and tossed them in to the bathroom, closing the door. "Vet Elf." He shook his head to clear it "Gro-ss!" He felt wide-awake now.
He slipped downstairs to the kitchen and found the chocolate milk mix and a large glass.
"Trouble sleepin?" The gruff voice asked.
"Ya." He said sourly. Wolverine was probably the last person he wanted to talk to right now.
"Nightmares, hunh." It was a statement, not a question.
"How did chu. . ."
But Wolverine didn't let him finish. "I used to be the king of bad dreams." Wolverine tried to smile but something inside was weak and forced due to the true nature of the statement.
"I think any time you push your limits you get new ones." Logan sat down next to him, his coffee cup smelling of some sweet liquor and the Professor's Hazelnut blend of Coffee. "And that can be pretty frightening." He eyed the elf for a moment "'specially if you're capable of being a little frightening yourself." He concluded.
Kurt shook his head and squirted his syrup in to his milk. Maybe it did make sense in a Wolverine sort of way. He had shown them all that he was more dangerous than they imagined. Maybe it did stand to reason that now his fears were different now. It wasn't the fear of them finding out. It was the fear of going too far.
"You don't have to talk about it." Logan told him. "I know I didn't always." He took another swig of his flavored coffee.
"You-'re righ-t, I don-t vant to tal-k abo-ut it." Kurt agreed, stirring his milk.
Logan smiled and stood up, walking toward the next room, a newspaper folded under his arm, and fresh cigar in his mouth.
"But Lo-gan?" The Elf stopped him before he left the room.
"Yeah Elf?"
"I'd kee-p an eye on your claws ven ve spar ag-ain." Kurt told him, taking the first sip of his chocolate concoction.
"Why is that?" Logan was sizing him up, just a little.
"Be-cause I 'ave it on go-od a-tority dat I could jus' teleport avaw vits dem." He leveled his golden-orb eyes across his glass at Logan and watched the unconscious shiver of sympathetic understanding pass through him.
"I'll keep that in mind." Logan replied back cautiously and shaken, his cigar hanging rather lifelessly now from between his lips. And he turned, obviously deep in troubled thought, to go and finish his paper.
EPILOGUE: (Four days later)
Steel flashed and clashed. It was the sound of metal gnawing on metal.
"That's good Elf, Keep it up." Wolverine pushed hard, toppling the Elf who simply rolled backwards until he was on his feet again.
Kurt's sword flashed in the mock sunlight of the Danger Room. He liked training with the sword although secretly, he suspected that Wolverine wanted to be sure that if he was teleporting with any steel blades they were Kurt's own.
"What happened then?" Wolverine prompted.
"Den it was y-ou. We fought at de top of da sta-irs." Kurt bounced and rebounded off the wall, passing over Wolverine's head and slicing down. Wolverine crossed his claws overhead and the only result was the sound of steel on steel.
Kurt swept low with a leg and almost caught a piece of Wolverine before he jumped. Logan shifted to bring himself down on the elf and Kurt let loose with a side-kick from the floor.
His foot planted itself firmly in to Logan's chest but didn't stop him. Instead, Kurt let loose another kick, this time to the stomach, and then vanished.
Wolverine stumbled one step, but it was enough. Kurt was behind him now.
Wolverine felt his left knee give as the Elf went for the takedown. A second later he became aware of the pressure of Kurt's foot behind his other knee.
Using all his training and balance, Wolverine caught himself on the ball of his still sable foot and let his forward momentum become a spin that whipped him around to face Kurt.
He brought a fierce backhand with him but Kurt sank low and quick, and it missed but it made Kurt retreat two steps.
"And?" Wolverine prompted again.
And suddenly the Elf was on him. A series of five teleports, all designed to reflexively and instinctively draw a person off balance. Each 'port was accompanied by a sword strike, the first four of which were met with the nasty edge of an adamantium blade.
The fourth however was not. The sword flashed on each side of Logan and he felt nothing for the first second, then he felt the tell-tale wet warmth of a sword strike.
Wolverine looked down. Kurt had slashed him across the top of his right wrist and the bottom of his left. Had he been trying to, he could have severed both. It showed an amazing control of the blade thanks to his inhuman balance.
"And den h-I to-ok you-r h-ands off."
Wolverine looked at Kurt quizzically.
"In da dream." He added hastily.
Wolverine nodded. "Right." He said, flexing his left wrist "In the dream." He adopted that look that said he had had enough for today and Kurt noticed, relaxing his stance and putting his sword under his arm to pull off his gloves.
"So that pretty much did me in, hunh kid?" Wolverine smiled.
"Vell, nooo. . ." Kurt felt a little embarrassed. "See y-ou la-ter."
Kurt tried to beat a hasty retreat.
"Well, kid, what happened. . ." But Kurt was gone and Wolverine was alone. "Kid probably killed me twice." He said out loud to no one in particular, watching his wrists heal.
Meanwhile Kurt was rounding the inner folds of the mansion hoping not to run in to Kitty. He had managed to avoid her almost since he had the dream.
It was not his lucky day.
"Kurt!" She called out and he winced slightly before turning to face her. "I brought you notes from Mrs. Brickman's class. You've missed it almost all week." "Ih, I kn-ow." He smiled weekly.
"Is something wrong Kurt?" She asked blankly.
"No." He realized it was true. "No." He said again, just to be sure, and he was. Nothing was wrong. He felt his mood brightening considerably.
"Y-ou kn-ow Ih've be-en tak-ing les-sons." He held out the sword, to make his point.
"Yeah, only everybody's been talking about it. Mr. Logan won't let anyone watch. He closes the blast shutters on the observation room." Kurt hadn't really noticed, but she was right.
"So have you learned anything yet?" She was absolutely mesmerizing some times.
And Kurt stood up a little straighter and leaned in as though about to share a great secret.
"Th-ere is on-e secret to vinning a s-ord fi-te." He told her, gesturing slightly to the sword so that it had her attention.
"What's that?" She asked, distracted.
"Stri-ke fir-st." Kurt said. "h-And mean I-t."
He went to kiss her, to press his lips to hers and create a balance to that horrible dream reality, to let the man inside step out and past the insecurities of child hood.
"Kitty." Scott called from the end of the hall. "You're going to be late!"
And Kitty turned her head away, leaving Kurt with a face full of ponytail. "Right!" She called back "Just a second."
"We're going to the mall." She told the now somewhat recovered Kurt. "Want to come?"
"Nex-t ti-me." He told her.
And she bounced off down the hall.
"Nex-t ti-me." He told himself. "Nex-t ti-me."
This plot line resumes in the (more than likely) inappropriately titled "Brunch with Mutants" by the same author.
"Hello?" He called out "Anyone?"
"Ya." The darkness replied "I-m he-re"
"Kurt?" Evan (or was it Ethan) replied, casting his eyes around to find the voice. "The Professor. And the others, they're looking for you man. They say you're sick."
"Se-ek?" The voice paused as though considering.
"Yeah. The Professor, he sounds worried." Evan told him.
"Maybe." The voice paused again. "Maybe ve shoul-d tell him I vee-l fine."
"Sure." Evan cast his eyes around the room "Kurt?" He called out again "Where are you man? I can't see you."
And a mad laughter rocked the room for just a moment.
"Oh, Goo-d H-ide-a." Kurt whispered from far too close to Evan's right ear. "Gue-ss Wh-o?" He asked, sounding not as all like himself, and clawing at Evan's eyes from behind.
Evan let out a high pitched scream that seemed to slow the storm outside for a moment and then redouble it's fury.
"And dun't call m-e a ma-n. I'm no-t a ma-n." Kurt grabbed Evan up by the back of his head and heaved him violently toward the stairs. "Now, Tr-y no- t to die." Kurt told him "I'm try-ink to do dis right."
And Evan painted a bloody trail by going face first down the stairs. Much to Kurt's delight he was convulsing and moaning in pain when he reached the bottom, so he was quite obviously not dead.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this Elf." The low voice rumbled from the hallway. "But if someone's got to put you down it might as well be someone who cares."
"Tou-ching, re-ally." Kurt covered his heart and let his head fall liltingly to one side.
And Wolverine dove with a startling speed, his claws sprang in to place. He felt Kurt's hands close around his wrists but Wolverine thought little of it, it was too small for the Elf to flip him in here, and he was too heavy to stop by simple force.
Of course, he never dreamed anything like this could come from Kurt.
Kurt teleported, taking Wolverine's hands with him.
Logan pulled the bloody stumps up in front of his horror stricken face just as the Elf materialized behind him, sinking the three adamantium blades, of his own left hand, through Wolverines midsection. And then, kicking Wolverines knees out from behind, and driving the claws deep in to the floor, pinning Wolverine to the ground as he collapsed forward.
"I mus-t hur-ry." Kurt whispered, fearing Wolverine would die too soon and ruin his plans, he turned down toward Kitty's room, and sprinted off, still carrying Wolverine's right hand and claws.
In the back of his mind a small voice called out "Here kit-ty, kit-ty, kit- ty. Pret-ty Kit-ty, Pret-ty Kit-ty Pret-ty Kit-ty." And it brought a rough sardonic smile to his face immediately.
Kitty heard the Professor's telepathic warning. She knew something was horribly wrong, what with the weather outside and the occasional screams from within the mansion. Could this really all be Kurt's doing? Surely the Professor could be wrong on occasion, right?
And when she heard Kurt calling to her she knew it must have been wrong, all of it. He sounded hurt, and nearby. Kitty edged around the doorframe cautiously. Until she saw Kurt crumpled on the floor, just down the hall.
Forgetting all pretense, she ran to him, dropping to her knees, and asking him "Kurt, are you okay?"
It was dark, too dark to see his clearly, but she could still see the love that shone in his eyes when he raised his head to smile weakly at her. "I'd al-vays ho-ped" He said, "H-Our first keess wouldn't be h-our l-ast"
And he raised his head feebly.
She leaned in and kissed him very softly, fearing now for his life and safety, hoping only to comfort him until help arrives.
His three fingered hand cupped her head close and he kissed her more passionately, drawing her in closer by running his fingers down the back of her neck.
She barely felt a thing, save for surprise, when he brought Wolverine's claw up between them, sinking it in through her stomach and up, under her ribs.
She pulled back, registering only surprise to find him brandishing a twisted smile "O'v cor-se, ve cant alvawys git vat ve vant, can ve Kitty?"
And with that Kitty took three quick inward breaths, the light left her eyes, and she fell forward, dead, in his lap.
And Kurt suddenly sprang up, thrashing, feeling smothered beneath the weight of her and the weight of what he had done.
It wasn't for a full three of four seconds until he realized he was alone, in his bed. The soft red glow of the digital clock told him he had been asleep for less than two hours. His danger-room fight with Wolverine less than four hours old.
He rubbed his face and the back of his neck.
"Oh, god!" He thought, smelling the odor. He picked up his wet clothes and tossed them in to the bathroom, closing the door. "Vet Elf." He shook his head to clear it "Gro-ss!" He felt wide-awake now.
He slipped downstairs to the kitchen and found the chocolate milk mix and a large glass.
"Trouble sleepin?" The gruff voice asked.
"Ya." He said sourly. Wolverine was probably the last person he wanted to talk to right now.
"Nightmares, hunh." It was a statement, not a question.
"How did chu. . ."
But Wolverine didn't let him finish. "I used to be the king of bad dreams." Wolverine tried to smile but something inside was weak and forced due to the true nature of the statement.
"I think any time you push your limits you get new ones." Logan sat down next to him, his coffee cup smelling of some sweet liquor and the Professor's Hazelnut blend of Coffee. "And that can be pretty frightening." He eyed the elf for a moment "'specially if you're capable of being a little frightening yourself." He concluded.
Kurt shook his head and squirted his syrup in to his milk. Maybe it did make sense in a Wolverine sort of way. He had shown them all that he was more dangerous than they imagined. Maybe it did stand to reason that now his fears were different now. It wasn't the fear of them finding out. It was the fear of going too far.
"You don't have to talk about it." Logan told him. "I know I didn't always." He took another swig of his flavored coffee.
"You-'re righ-t, I don-t vant to tal-k abo-ut it." Kurt agreed, stirring his milk.
Logan smiled and stood up, walking toward the next room, a newspaper folded under his arm, and fresh cigar in his mouth.
"But Lo-gan?" The Elf stopped him before he left the room.
"Yeah Elf?"
"I'd kee-p an eye on your claws ven ve spar ag-ain." Kurt told him, taking the first sip of his chocolate concoction.
"Why is that?" Logan was sizing him up, just a little.
"Be-cause I 'ave it on go-od a-tority dat I could jus' teleport avaw vits dem." He leveled his golden-orb eyes across his glass at Logan and watched the unconscious shiver of sympathetic understanding pass through him.
"I'll keep that in mind." Logan replied back cautiously and shaken, his cigar hanging rather lifelessly now from between his lips. And he turned, obviously deep in troubled thought, to go and finish his paper.
EPILOGUE: (Four days later)
Steel flashed and clashed. It was the sound of metal gnawing on metal.
"That's good Elf, Keep it up." Wolverine pushed hard, toppling the Elf who simply rolled backwards until he was on his feet again.
Kurt's sword flashed in the mock sunlight of the Danger Room. He liked training with the sword although secretly, he suspected that Wolverine wanted to be sure that if he was teleporting with any steel blades they were Kurt's own.
"What happened then?" Wolverine prompted.
"Den it was y-ou. We fought at de top of da sta-irs." Kurt bounced and rebounded off the wall, passing over Wolverine's head and slicing down. Wolverine crossed his claws overhead and the only result was the sound of steel on steel.
Kurt swept low with a leg and almost caught a piece of Wolverine before he jumped. Logan shifted to bring himself down on the elf and Kurt let loose with a side-kick from the floor.
His foot planted itself firmly in to Logan's chest but didn't stop him. Instead, Kurt let loose another kick, this time to the stomach, and then vanished.
Wolverine stumbled one step, but it was enough. Kurt was behind him now.
Wolverine felt his left knee give as the Elf went for the takedown. A second later he became aware of the pressure of Kurt's foot behind his other knee.
Using all his training and balance, Wolverine caught himself on the ball of his still sable foot and let his forward momentum become a spin that whipped him around to face Kurt.
He brought a fierce backhand with him but Kurt sank low and quick, and it missed but it made Kurt retreat two steps.
"And?" Wolverine prompted again.
And suddenly the Elf was on him. A series of five teleports, all designed to reflexively and instinctively draw a person off balance. Each 'port was accompanied by a sword strike, the first four of which were met with the nasty edge of an adamantium blade.
The fourth however was not. The sword flashed on each side of Logan and he felt nothing for the first second, then he felt the tell-tale wet warmth of a sword strike.
Wolverine looked down. Kurt had slashed him across the top of his right wrist and the bottom of his left. Had he been trying to, he could have severed both. It showed an amazing control of the blade thanks to his inhuman balance.
"And den h-I to-ok you-r h-ands off."
Wolverine looked at Kurt quizzically.
"In da dream." He added hastily.
Wolverine nodded. "Right." He said, flexing his left wrist "In the dream." He adopted that look that said he had had enough for today and Kurt noticed, relaxing his stance and putting his sword under his arm to pull off his gloves.
"So that pretty much did me in, hunh kid?" Wolverine smiled.
"Vell, nooo. . ." Kurt felt a little embarrassed. "See y-ou la-ter."
Kurt tried to beat a hasty retreat.
"Well, kid, what happened. . ." But Kurt was gone and Wolverine was alone. "Kid probably killed me twice." He said out loud to no one in particular, watching his wrists heal.
Meanwhile Kurt was rounding the inner folds of the mansion hoping not to run in to Kitty. He had managed to avoid her almost since he had the dream.
It was not his lucky day.
"Kurt!" She called out and he winced slightly before turning to face her. "I brought you notes from Mrs. Brickman's class. You've missed it almost all week." "Ih, I kn-ow." He smiled weekly.
"Is something wrong Kurt?" She asked blankly.
"No." He realized it was true. "No." He said again, just to be sure, and he was. Nothing was wrong. He felt his mood brightening considerably.
"Y-ou kn-ow Ih've be-en tak-ing les-sons." He held out the sword, to make his point.
"Yeah, only everybody's been talking about it. Mr. Logan won't let anyone watch. He closes the blast shutters on the observation room." Kurt hadn't really noticed, but she was right.
"So have you learned anything yet?" She was absolutely mesmerizing some times.
And Kurt stood up a little straighter and leaned in as though about to share a great secret.
"Th-ere is on-e secret to vinning a s-ord fi-te." He told her, gesturing slightly to the sword so that it had her attention.
"What's that?" She asked, distracted.
"Stri-ke fir-st." Kurt said. "h-And mean I-t."
He went to kiss her, to press his lips to hers and create a balance to that horrible dream reality, to let the man inside step out and past the insecurities of child hood.
"Kitty." Scott called from the end of the hall. "You're going to be late!"
And Kitty turned her head away, leaving Kurt with a face full of ponytail. "Right!" She called back "Just a second."
"We're going to the mall." She told the now somewhat recovered Kurt. "Want to come?"
"Nex-t ti-me." He told her.
And she bounced off down the hall.
"Nex-t ti-me." He told himself. "Nex-t ti-me."
This plot line resumes in the (more than likely) inappropriately titled "Brunch with Mutants" by the same author.