Separation
Part One: The Day The Sun Stopped Shining
Kat Warrior
OK, this is the short chapter. And unless you've read my last fanfic,
"Someone to Watch Over Me" you'll be confused.
Kurt Wagner yawned loudly, showing his upper and lower rows of sharp, pointed teeth as he plopped over backwards onto his bed. The feeling of the cool, white sheets and the soft mattress colliding with his blue fur was beyond refreshing. He and the other X-Men had had quite the day trying to keep up with the Brotherhood and conceal their identities as best they could.
He opened his closed amber eyes when he remembered something. his bedroom light. To save himself the trouble of getting up and going to the light switch and then tripping on his way back to the bed in the dark, he simply teleported to the switch and back to his bed again. Unfortunately, his aim was off and he wound up on the floor beside his bed.
"Woo! I must be more tired than I thought," he grunted as his pulled himself onto the bed. "I can't even teleport across the room properly!"
He finally rolled over on his side and pulled the blankets up to his chin, now facing the digital clock. It was almost eleven, but that was no wonder. He had arrived home late from stopping a terrorist and then had to finish a truck load of homework. Sometimes he wished that the Xavier Institute provided private schooling, but that would make them appear even more suspicious to the public.
With his mind wandering, Kurt finally fell asleep.
***
"Kurt, are you OK?" Amanda asked her friend at lunch. "You don't look so well."
"That's because I don't feel so well," he admitted, rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes.
"Not just because of Biology Lab today, huh?" she asked, still looking concerned.
"What happened in biology?" Kitty asked, not knowing what could have taken place to make her teammate ill. Liz was quiet, looking at Kurt with concern. She had gotten over her own fear of dissecting things in Biology because of his encouragement, so what had bothered him?
"We dissected earthworms today and Kurt was my partner. Some of the other students and the teacher kept referring to them as 'night crawlers' and it made him sorta uneasy." Amanda tried to explain without bringing back the memory too vividly for her boyfriend.
"And the smell didn't help any," Kurt added with a sigh. "I almost lost my breakfast!"
"No wonder you're not eating like you usually do," Jean murmured. "I'm sorry."
"Geez," Liz thought, cringing. "And I thought I had it bad my second day here when we dissected the frogs..."
"Thanks," Kurt mumbled as he continued to play with his food.
"So, what's the other reason you don't look so well?" Amanda asked, getting back on topic. "Is there anything I can do?"
"I was up too late," he sighed in reply. "I'm thinking of taking a nap today in study hall." Since he didn't think he could eat much more, he dismissed himself.
"I think there's somethin' else bothering him," Rogue mumbled, jabbing her fork into her food.
"What?" Kitty asked, not sure what else could be wrong with her furry friend.
"Mother's Day is this weekend," Rogue pointed out and didn't say a thing more. She didn't have to.
***
After lunch, things seemed to go like normal at Bayville High. Everyone either went to or skipped their afternoon classes like usual, and there was the common chatter in the halls in between classes. Until the beginning of the last hour...
Scott was busy reading out of the government book when he heard some of the kids murmuring something near the window. He glanced over, trying to act nonchalant. He was quite startled to see Mystique outside, but he looked quickly away from the window as if it was no big deal. After closing his book, he got up and asked permission to use the restroom.
"Guys, I think we need to be outside in uniform," Scott panted into his watch.
"I know," Kurt's voice informed him as there was a BAMF! not far away. "My study hall is right next door to your class and I sit by the window. I saw what was going on."
"Oh?"
"Ja. The Brotherhood and their ringleader are here to settle some scores with us X-Men. But we can't fight them out there. We need to take this where no one will see who we really are."
***
Kurt, in his Nightcrawler form, teleported out to where Mystique was and tried talking her into relocating the battle somewhere more private. He alone could do this, being the only X-Man who would be unrecognizable in uniform. The fact that Kat Warrior was still very early in training also made him the only candidate.
"We must move this fight elsewhere," he pleaded, shuddering as he spoke to the woman he could hardly stand. "Innocent people could be seriously hurt."
"So much like your foster parents," Mystique sneered. "So...soft. Very well then, let's take this to gym, shall we?"
Before Nightcrawler could blink, Mystique had vanished, likely taking on the form of an organism small enough to scurry into the school unnoticed. He turned to the sound of chattering to see some students peering and hanging out of the windows of the school, trying to see what was happening.
"He did it! He made her leave!" someone cried victoriously.
"No! He's in league with her! They're both going to kill us all!" someone else declared.
Kurt sighed and teleported to the gym, not wanting to hear anymore.
***
Upon arriving, the blue-furred mutant was surprised to see the brotherhood, Mystique, and all the other X-Men gathered; and the members of each team were busy locking the doors, likely to keep the other students out of harm.
"Well, X-Men," Mystique hissed. "Shall we commence?"
"She's up to something," Kurt thought. "Why would she come here just for a fight? There's got to be another reason."
***
"You've paid me well, Mystique," Karl Ravens murmured from his hiding place under the benches in the gym as he aimed his small gun. "I won't let you down..."
But who would he hit? She wanted him to shoot at least two of the X-Men to get them out of commission and out of her way. She had warned him not to take out the blue furry one or the girl with white streaks in her hair, threatening his life if he did so. That left very few other choices...
***
Liz Richards growled to herself as she sat on the grass outside the school on the field along with the rest of the student body. Well, most of it anyway. A few kids were missing, and she knew every one of them: Evan, Rogue, Jean, Scott, and Kurt. It bothered her that she couldn't be in the school helping as Kat Warrior, but none of the other new recruits had been allowed to, either. At least that made the Xavier institute look less suspicious. She needed to find a way to ease her boredom, now...perhaps she should speak to Amanda.
She scanned the group of sophomores and then the whole crowd before coming to a horrible realization. Amanda was nowhere to be seen.
"She must have stayed in the school! This is terrible! She can't defend herself!" Liz thought desperately. "But what'll I do? I know she'll be miffed at me if I snitch her out and tell the teachers she in there...but wouldn't the teachers already know that? Should I go in for her or trust Kurt to take care of her if she finds him? Well, at least she's not from the Xavier Institute. If one of the 'normal kids' is missing, it'll make us look less suspicious..."
***
Amanda panted as she made her way down the dark, deserted hallways. She just had to find Kurt, even if it was only to tell him that she loved him and ask him to try to be careful. She had seen him talking to the blue- skinned woman and was likely one of the only students who knew what was going on.
"The gym," she murmured. "They have to be in the gym..." She ran up to one of the doors and peered cautiously through. Yes, there they were. Kurt was fighting with Todd Tolensky...she tried the door but couldn't budge it. There had to be another way!
***
"Give it up, ya stuffed animal," Toad sneered at Nightcrawler. "Da Brotherhood ain't walking away from here with their tails between their legs."
"Neither are the X-Men!" Kurt argued just before teleporting out of the path of Todd's long, sticky tongue. He couldn't help but wonder how he always wound up fighting with Toad.
Toad leapt onto Nightcrawler, knocking him over. The younger mutant grunted as he hit the gym floor, but he soon recovered and used his large feet to kick Toad off of him and into a wall. Todd hit the wall with his feet and used the impact to launch himself off again and right back at Kurt, who had just finished standing.
Kurt side-stepped Todd easily, but the older boy turned and shot his long tongue out at Kurt before the blue mutant had a chance to turn around and face him. Nightcrawler gasped in disgust and lack or air when the warm, slimy appendage wrapped itself around his thin, furry neck.
"Say bye-bye, Fuzz-boy," Toad taunted, even with his tongue occupied. He wasn't going to kill him, of course. He didn't want Mystique to kill him in return. But if he could cut off Nightcrawler's air supply long enough for him to go unconscious, capturing him could be a snap.
Kurt grunted and gasped as he clawed at Toad's tongue with his gloved fingers. He was startled to feel a hand on his shoulder and his body fazing right out of Toad's grip.
"Kitty?" he questioned, turning around to see the young brunette smiling at him.
"You're welcome," she said, and then she hurried off to help someone else.
***
Amanda grunted as she tried the cafeteria entrance to the gym. No, that didn't work, either. She had tried every entrance possible! Or had she? She suddenly remembered that there was a door outside leading to the storage area behind the gym's bleachers. She could get there easily by going through the outside door of the cafeteria.
In no time, she had left the cafeteria and was prying open the back entrance to the gymnasium. It hadn't been locked, but it was heavy and seriously needed to be oiled. After what seemed like forever, she had it open just enough to squeeze through.
She grunted as she popped into the gym and hit the floor. She quickly recovered and began looking for a way to get in front of the bleachers. After picking through various pieces of sports equipment, she found herself in a passage right next to the bleachers. She crouched down, getting a good look at the battle. Amid the chaos, she soon spotted Kurt. He was hard to miss, being the only X-Man with blue fur and a tail. He was still going at it pretty good with Todd Tolensky, and it looked like he might actually be winning.
Amanda spotted something under the bleachers, and she couldn't help but wonder what it was. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was a man with a gun. Kurt and his friends were in more danger than they thought! She had to do something!
She looked up and noticed that Kurt and Todd were slowly making their way in her direction. Maybe she could get Kurt's attention and warn him...
"Kurt!" she called out, leaping from her hiding spot and dashing to his side. Nightcrawler and Toad each stopped, looking quizzically at the girl.
"Yo! This is mutants only!" Todd protested. "Unless she's another X-Dope we didn't know about."
"Amanda?" Kurt gasped. "How'd you get in here?"
"The back door," she admitted. "I had to come see you and tell you something, but I have more important news, now. There's a man with a gun under the bleachers! You and your friends are in real trouble!"
***
"That brat's blowing my cover!" Karl growled. "Congratulations, Girly, you just earned yourself the prize...a free body piercing!"
His finger pressed in on the trigger.
***
"Amanda! Look out!" Kurt cried, throwing her out of the way. He didn't have time to blink, let alone teleport, before a bulled hit him in the center of his chest. He cried out in pain and shock as he fell limply to the ground.
Amanda screamed and everyone, even the Brotherhood members, turned to see what had happened. After the moment of shock, the X-Men rushed over, though none could beat the speed of Mystique.
Kurt moaned as the gymnasium whirled around him, and faces became blurred. Voices...all ringing through his head...the last thing he saw Amanda's face, tears streaming from her eyes.
***
Liz looked up at the sky past the brim of her black cap in curiosity. Clouds were moving in out of seemingly nowhere and blocking out the sun. Odd, there hadn't been a cloud in the sky until now...
"Storm?"
***
Mystique rose to her feet, the limp and bleeding Kurt in her arms.
"Brotherhood, move out," she ordered darkly. As the Brotherhood made a mad dash for the door, Mystique took on the form of a griffin and flew out of the smashed skylight of the gymnasium, still with Nightcrawler in her arms. Blood dripped from the injured boy to the floor.
The X-Men could only stare as their dear comrade was taken away from them.
Part One: The Day The Sun Stopped Shining
Kat Warrior
OK, this is the short chapter. And unless you've read my last fanfic,
"Someone to Watch Over Me" you'll be confused.
Kurt Wagner yawned loudly, showing his upper and lower rows of sharp, pointed teeth as he plopped over backwards onto his bed. The feeling of the cool, white sheets and the soft mattress colliding with his blue fur was beyond refreshing. He and the other X-Men had had quite the day trying to keep up with the Brotherhood and conceal their identities as best they could.
He opened his closed amber eyes when he remembered something. his bedroom light. To save himself the trouble of getting up and going to the light switch and then tripping on his way back to the bed in the dark, he simply teleported to the switch and back to his bed again. Unfortunately, his aim was off and he wound up on the floor beside his bed.
"Woo! I must be more tired than I thought," he grunted as his pulled himself onto the bed. "I can't even teleport across the room properly!"
He finally rolled over on his side and pulled the blankets up to his chin, now facing the digital clock. It was almost eleven, but that was no wonder. He had arrived home late from stopping a terrorist and then had to finish a truck load of homework. Sometimes he wished that the Xavier Institute provided private schooling, but that would make them appear even more suspicious to the public.
With his mind wandering, Kurt finally fell asleep.
***
"Kurt, are you OK?" Amanda asked her friend at lunch. "You don't look so well."
"That's because I don't feel so well," he admitted, rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes.
"Not just because of Biology Lab today, huh?" she asked, still looking concerned.
"What happened in biology?" Kitty asked, not knowing what could have taken place to make her teammate ill. Liz was quiet, looking at Kurt with concern. She had gotten over her own fear of dissecting things in Biology because of his encouragement, so what had bothered him?
"We dissected earthworms today and Kurt was my partner. Some of the other students and the teacher kept referring to them as 'night crawlers' and it made him sorta uneasy." Amanda tried to explain without bringing back the memory too vividly for her boyfriend.
"And the smell didn't help any," Kurt added with a sigh. "I almost lost my breakfast!"
"No wonder you're not eating like you usually do," Jean murmured. "I'm sorry."
"Geez," Liz thought, cringing. "And I thought I had it bad my second day here when we dissected the frogs..."
"Thanks," Kurt mumbled as he continued to play with his food.
"So, what's the other reason you don't look so well?" Amanda asked, getting back on topic. "Is there anything I can do?"
"I was up too late," he sighed in reply. "I'm thinking of taking a nap today in study hall." Since he didn't think he could eat much more, he dismissed himself.
"I think there's somethin' else bothering him," Rogue mumbled, jabbing her fork into her food.
"What?" Kitty asked, not sure what else could be wrong with her furry friend.
"Mother's Day is this weekend," Rogue pointed out and didn't say a thing more. She didn't have to.
***
After lunch, things seemed to go like normal at Bayville High. Everyone either went to or skipped their afternoon classes like usual, and there was the common chatter in the halls in between classes. Until the beginning of the last hour...
Scott was busy reading out of the government book when he heard some of the kids murmuring something near the window. He glanced over, trying to act nonchalant. He was quite startled to see Mystique outside, but he looked quickly away from the window as if it was no big deal. After closing his book, he got up and asked permission to use the restroom.
"Guys, I think we need to be outside in uniform," Scott panted into his watch.
"I know," Kurt's voice informed him as there was a BAMF! not far away. "My study hall is right next door to your class and I sit by the window. I saw what was going on."
"Oh?"
"Ja. The Brotherhood and their ringleader are here to settle some scores with us X-Men. But we can't fight them out there. We need to take this where no one will see who we really are."
***
Kurt, in his Nightcrawler form, teleported out to where Mystique was and tried talking her into relocating the battle somewhere more private. He alone could do this, being the only X-Man who would be unrecognizable in uniform. The fact that Kat Warrior was still very early in training also made him the only candidate.
"We must move this fight elsewhere," he pleaded, shuddering as he spoke to the woman he could hardly stand. "Innocent people could be seriously hurt."
"So much like your foster parents," Mystique sneered. "So...soft. Very well then, let's take this to gym, shall we?"
Before Nightcrawler could blink, Mystique had vanished, likely taking on the form of an organism small enough to scurry into the school unnoticed. He turned to the sound of chattering to see some students peering and hanging out of the windows of the school, trying to see what was happening.
"He did it! He made her leave!" someone cried victoriously.
"No! He's in league with her! They're both going to kill us all!" someone else declared.
Kurt sighed and teleported to the gym, not wanting to hear anymore.
***
Upon arriving, the blue-furred mutant was surprised to see the brotherhood, Mystique, and all the other X-Men gathered; and the members of each team were busy locking the doors, likely to keep the other students out of harm.
"Well, X-Men," Mystique hissed. "Shall we commence?"
"She's up to something," Kurt thought. "Why would she come here just for a fight? There's got to be another reason."
***
"You've paid me well, Mystique," Karl Ravens murmured from his hiding place under the benches in the gym as he aimed his small gun. "I won't let you down..."
But who would he hit? She wanted him to shoot at least two of the X-Men to get them out of commission and out of her way. She had warned him not to take out the blue furry one or the girl with white streaks in her hair, threatening his life if he did so. That left very few other choices...
***
Liz Richards growled to herself as she sat on the grass outside the school on the field along with the rest of the student body. Well, most of it anyway. A few kids were missing, and she knew every one of them: Evan, Rogue, Jean, Scott, and Kurt. It bothered her that she couldn't be in the school helping as Kat Warrior, but none of the other new recruits had been allowed to, either. At least that made the Xavier institute look less suspicious. She needed to find a way to ease her boredom, now...perhaps she should speak to Amanda.
She scanned the group of sophomores and then the whole crowd before coming to a horrible realization. Amanda was nowhere to be seen.
"She must have stayed in the school! This is terrible! She can't defend herself!" Liz thought desperately. "But what'll I do? I know she'll be miffed at me if I snitch her out and tell the teachers she in there...but wouldn't the teachers already know that? Should I go in for her or trust Kurt to take care of her if she finds him? Well, at least she's not from the Xavier Institute. If one of the 'normal kids' is missing, it'll make us look less suspicious..."
***
Amanda panted as she made her way down the dark, deserted hallways. She just had to find Kurt, even if it was only to tell him that she loved him and ask him to try to be careful. She had seen him talking to the blue- skinned woman and was likely one of the only students who knew what was going on.
"The gym," she murmured. "They have to be in the gym..." She ran up to one of the doors and peered cautiously through. Yes, there they were. Kurt was fighting with Todd Tolensky...she tried the door but couldn't budge it. There had to be another way!
***
"Give it up, ya stuffed animal," Toad sneered at Nightcrawler. "Da Brotherhood ain't walking away from here with their tails between their legs."
"Neither are the X-Men!" Kurt argued just before teleporting out of the path of Todd's long, sticky tongue. He couldn't help but wonder how he always wound up fighting with Toad.
Toad leapt onto Nightcrawler, knocking him over. The younger mutant grunted as he hit the gym floor, but he soon recovered and used his large feet to kick Toad off of him and into a wall. Todd hit the wall with his feet and used the impact to launch himself off again and right back at Kurt, who had just finished standing.
Kurt side-stepped Todd easily, but the older boy turned and shot his long tongue out at Kurt before the blue mutant had a chance to turn around and face him. Nightcrawler gasped in disgust and lack or air when the warm, slimy appendage wrapped itself around his thin, furry neck.
"Say bye-bye, Fuzz-boy," Toad taunted, even with his tongue occupied. He wasn't going to kill him, of course. He didn't want Mystique to kill him in return. But if he could cut off Nightcrawler's air supply long enough for him to go unconscious, capturing him could be a snap.
Kurt grunted and gasped as he clawed at Toad's tongue with his gloved fingers. He was startled to feel a hand on his shoulder and his body fazing right out of Toad's grip.
"Kitty?" he questioned, turning around to see the young brunette smiling at him.
"You're welcome," she said, and then she hurried off to help someone else.
***
Amanda grunted as she tried the cafeteria entrance to the gym. No, that didn't work, either. She had tried every entrance possible! Or had she? She suddenly remembered that there was a door outside leading to the storage area behind the gym's bleachers. She could get there easily by going through the outside door of the cafeteria.
In no time, she had left the cafeteria and was prying open the back entrance to the gymnasium. It hadn't been locked, but it was heavy and seriously needed to be oiled. After what seemed like forever, she had it open just enough to squeeze through.
She grunted as she popped into the gym and hit the floor. She quickly recovered and began looking for a way to get in front of the bleachers. After picking through various pieces of sports equipment, she found herself in a passage right next to the bleachers. She crouched down, getting a good look at the battle. Amid the chaos, she soon spotted Kurt. He was hard to miss, being the only X-Man with blue fur and a tail. He was still going at it pretty good with Todd Tolensky, and it looked like he might actually be winning.
Amanda spotted something under the bleachers, and she couldn't help but wonder what it was. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was a man with a gun. Kurt and his friends were in more danger than they thought! She had to do something!
She looked up and noticed that Kurt and Todd were slowly making their way in her direction. Maybe she could get Kurt's attention and warn him...
"Kurt!" she called out, leaping from her hiding spot and dashing to his side. Nightcrawler and Toad each stopped, looking quizzically at the girl.
"Yo! This is mutants only!" Todd protested. "Unless she's another X-Dope we didn't know about."
"Amanda?" Kurt gasped. "How'd you get in here?"
"The back door," she admitted. "I had to come see you and tell you something, but I have more important news, now. There's a man with a gun under the bleachers! You and your friends are in real trouble!"
***
"That brat's blowing my cover!" Karl growled. "Congratulations, Girly, you just earned yourself the prize...a free body piercing!"
His finger pressed in on the trigger.
***
"Amanda! Look out!" Kurt cried, throwing her out of the way. He didn't have time to blink, let alone teleport, before a bulled hit him in the center of his chest. He cried out in pain and shock as he fell limply to the ground.
Amanda screamed and everyone, even the Brotherhood members, turned to see what had happened. After the moment of shock, the X-Men rushed over, though none could beat the speed of Mystique.
Kurt moaned as the gymnasium whirled around him, and faces became blurred. Voices...all ringing through his head...the last thing he saw Amanda's face, tears streaming from her eyes.
***
Liz looked up at the sky past the brim of her black cap in curiosity. Clouds were moving in out of seemingly nowhere and blocking out the sun. Odd, there hadn't been a cloud in the sky until now...
"Storm?"
***
Mystique rose to her feet, the limp and bleeding Kurt in her arms.
"Brotherhood, move out," she ordered darkly. As the Brotherhood made a mad dash for the door, Mystique took on the form of a griffin and flew out of the smashed skylight of the gymnasium, still with Nightcrawler in her arms. Blood dripped from the injured boy to the floor.
The X-Men could only stare as their dear comrade was taken away from them.