Chapter Three

Gripping his broken image inducer, Kurt hesitantly walked to where Professor X was at Cerebro. "Ah, Professor?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, Kurt, what do you want?" Professor X answered, typing on the computer.

Kurt took a few steps forward, then paused. "Uh, I sort of…well…broke the inducer," he said, wincing at the last three words.

Professor X stopped and turned his wheelchair around. "And how did you do that?"

Kurt hesitated again and didn't look at the Professor. He didn't like lying, but he didn't want to say he had no powers either. He was frightened he might be forced to leave if he no longer had any mutant abilities, and if he did, he hardly had anywhere to go.

"I don't know," he murmured, "it sort of just stopped working."

Professor X held out his hand, and Kurt placed the watch in his hand. "Sorry," Kurt said softly, hoping he believed it. At least it was Friday, so even if it was temporarily broken, he didn't have to worry about going to school.

"Alright, I'll fix it, you may go. I think Logan was looking for everyone for a training session."

Kurt suppressed a moan, and nodded, feigning a smile. "Yes, Professor."

He left the room, and sighed, hanging his head. Oh man, I'm going to die…

As quietly as he could, he tried to make it to his room without being seen by anyone. If I act like I'm sick, I von't have to go to ze session.

"Hey, elf, I thought I made it pretty clear, everyone's to go to the Danger Room. Everyone includes you." Logan growled, and Kurt flinched, whipping around and instantly muttering, "I don't feel well."

Logan eyed him, and shook his head. "Ya look fine to me. Come on,"

Vell, it vas worth a try…Kurt sighed, and followed Logan to the Danger Room, where Kitty, Amara, Bobby, Jamie, and Jubilee were waiting. Bobby was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, as if he'd been waiting for hours.

"Alright," Logan said, after a reluctant Kurt joined the rest of them, inching his way towards the back of the group. "Today is practice in defending your teammates. Each of you will go through the course once with a partner, and you'll have to protect them, as they'll have to protect you. Got it?"

The six nodded, and Kurt stepped back as Logan paired them into two. Kurt sighed in relief as he wasn't put with Kitty, but instead Amara, and even more so because they were picked to go last.

Logan left the room and appeared minutes later in the control room above them. Kurt paid close attention to the way the course worked, and decided that possibly he could get through without using his powers.

Kurt looked back, to where the first group, Kitty and Bobby stood panting, their hands on their knees. Kitty looked at him and half-smiled. Kurt raised his eyebrows, surprised to see she hadn't been faking it, at least not obviously. Oh man, he thought. She was going to be watching him. If he messed up, she'd probably laugh non-stop at him. She's going to laugh at me for running through zis thing like a baby.

He sighed, and winced as Jamie and Jubilee finished, also looking exhausted.

I am going to die! He thought, feeling a pang of fear is his stomach. Not only would he probably make a fool out of himself, but Amara might get hurt because of him. They were supposed to be protecting each other! Not cowering in fear while the other one fights. He hesitantly followed Amara into the course, Amara instantly using her powers to fend off a metal claw. "Kurt, what are you doing?!" she hissed, seeing her teammate frozen in fear. "Help me! Teleport!"

"I—I can't!" Kurt admitted, flipping backwards and away another weapon. He clenched his teeth, his head pounding, once more trying to teleport. Still, nothing happened.

Something slammed into his back, throwing him against the floor. "Oof!" He grunted, struggling to his feet. Breathing hard, he looked desperately at Amara, but she was busy. Kurt narrowed his eyes and pushed Amara out of the way as an electric blast shot at her. She cried out in pain as she landed onto the floor, frowning and getting to her feet. "Why aren't you doing anything!?"

"I'm trying!" Kurt gasped. He gripped her shoulder and closed his eyes, concentrating on nothing other than teleporting. He felt Amara rip away from him and heard her grunt as she placed her hands out in front of her, shooting magma at one of the weapons. Kurt flinched back, darting away from it.

Gasping, he desperately fought to help Amara, who was barely able to take all of it on by herself. Again pushed to the ground, Kurt, dazed, blinked and saw Amara caught in one of the metal claws. He looked over at Kitty, who was watching them, her body bent forward slightly as if about to run out and help them.

Kurt turned his head back to his partner, kicking the claw and forcing it to release her. Amara fell, and looked at him. He stumbled backwards, his head aching and everything feeling as if it were in slow motion.

Amara tugged on his hands, whispering, "Come on! We're almost there! What's wrong?"

Kurt clenched his hands into fists and tried a last time to teleport. "Let's go!" Amara said, and he realized he hadn't moved. She gasped, fending off another weapon. Kurt jumped back, holding his hands in front of him.

"Elf! Use your powers!" Logan said over the intercom, his tone urgent. He looked down at the furry mutant, a look of complete confusion on his face.

Overwhelmed and sprinting out of the way of another obstacle, Kurt shouted, "I can't!!"

Logan's eyes widened and he took a step forward, his mouth open in unheard words as Amara yelped, "Kurt, look out!" He hardly heard her warning. Before he could turn around, or even think, something metal hit slammed into him from behind, and he grunted, crumpling to the ground. Still in shock, Logan typed on the computer, shutting everything off. He exited the room, surprised as to what had just happened.

"Kurt!" Amara cried, bending down over her fallen friend. She shook his shoulder gently, and he moaned. He turned his head, and his eyelids fluttered for a moment, then were still.

Bobby and the others were too confused to move, staring as Logan opened the door and ran over to the two on the ground.

Kitty gasped, taking a step towards them, her eyes wide. She stopped, speechless and amazed as Logan carefully lifted Kurt's limp body and carried him out of the room. Unable to move, she stood where she was, her mouth open.

"Kurt…" she whispered, concerned.

==__==

After having him checked to make sure he was alright, Logan set Kurt down in his bed, surprised as Kitty slowly made her way into the room afterwards. He shrugged and began to go see the Professor.

"Hey! What happened?" Scott stopped him, glancing into Kurt's room.

Logan didn't answer for a moment, as he wasn't completely sure either. "Uh, the kid had a problem with his powers in the Danger Room," he said.

Scott took a step back, and murmured, "Oh, no…"

Looking at him strangely, Logan raised an eyebrow. "What?" He slowly asked, almost hesitantly.

Scott shook his head. "Eh…this morning, Kurt was having issues with his teleporting. It looked like he could hardly use it anymore."

Logan stared blankly at him. "Ya know, that would've been a good thing to tell me a little bit earlier."

Scott winced. "Sorry, I didn't think it was that big of a deal! I mean, he's always messing around, I thought he might have been joking about that too. He was really upset about Kitty…"

Logan nodded. "Yeah. He told me he didn't feel well earlier; I guess I shoulda listened to 'em." With that, he turned, leaving Scott alone in the hallway. He looked into Kurt's room again just as Kitty walked out, her face expressionless. "You okay?" Scott asked, and Kitty turned towards him. As if she hadn't seen him before, she blinked, and absentmindedly said, "Oh, uh, yeah. Fine, just fine."

Scott watched her go, and then left himself.

==__==

When Kurt opened his eyes, his headache instantly returned, and he moaned softly. "…huh?" he muttered, managing to sit up, leaned against his pillows. He placed a hand on his head and looked around, realizing he was in his room.

He struggled to remember what had happened, but it was just a blur. He hated being confused, although most of the time that's what he was.

Kurt, could you come down to the Library, please? Professor X's voice flooded into Kurt's mind, and he cried out, pressing his palms to his temples. "Ah!!" he grunted, shaking his head in pain. He'd never had a problem with Professor X's telepathy before, but then again, he'd never had a problem with his powers either.

Hoping the Professor didn't do that again, he weakly staggered out of his bed, holding onto the door as a wave of dizziness flooded over him. He blinked hard and stumbled down the hallway. Again gripping the door for support, he entered the library, where Professor X and Logan were waiting. Leaning against the wall, he said, "Yes, Professor?"

"Kurt, are you having problems teleporting?" He obviously knew the answer, and yet he asked anyways.

Kurt sighed. "Yes." He admitted. "It's not just zat…I…I can't at all."

Logan crossed his arms and Professor X raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I didn't want—eh, I don't know…" he said, quickly remembering his real reason, and quickly changing his words.

Logan frowned. "Well, ya should of. You almost got killed out there; Amara too."

Kurt looked down, still against the wall. "Sorry." He murmured.

"It's alright," Professor X said, "But does that explain why your inducer is broken?" He had a hint of amusement in his voice, as if he thought this whole thing was funny.

Kurt nodded. "Um, ja. Sorry." He said, suddenly dizzy again. He moaned softly, and slid an inch down the wall, his knees bent.

"Alright, go rest." Professor X said as Kurt placed a hand on his head. "But when you're feeling better, we'll find out what's wrong with your abilities." Kurt raised his head and nodded, although he wished desperately that he could just teleport into his bed and sleep for a month. He didn't know why he felt so bad, he just did.

He carefully walked back to his room, struggling not to trip over anything. Finally reaching his bed, he collapsed into it, pulling the covers over his head. He groaned quietly, closing his eyes. He drifted into sleep, thinking about how stupid he must have looked in front of Kitty.

Vhy can't I do anything right?

Well, that was chapter three! Hope you liked it! Over 2,000 words. Happy is me, :D.

Should be updating sometime this weekend! Review please! Again, not that hard, lmaoo.

Danni