The Gaze and the Glance

Hello Everyone, welcome to my newest project. Which I already changed the title of because there were like, three other stories about Nightcrawler with the same title. I don't like to seem like I plagiarize. :) This is a story about X-Men (In case you haven't already determined that), specifically, Nightcrawler and my OC, formally known as Eclipse. Basically, it's just a little sweet friendship/romance story about the two. Now, the important stuff. A: I have no idea what story arc this is really in. It's got elements of several (And nobody is dead yet). Mostly the newer ones I suppose though. Not so much the cartoons. Essentially though, it's one I made up for the most part, but there will likely be references to actual comic events later. B: In my story, Eclipse/Julia is portrayed as Kurt's first kinda serious romantic interest, so no mentions of Amanda or Wanda or anything like that really, mostly because I didn't want to complicate matters for myself too much. :) C: Kurt's personality is kind of a mix of several of the versions of him. This is mostly because I find different aspects of his personality useful for different parts of the story. So I blended. Anywho, that was a long one. So, I have most of this written already, and thus, will try to update once a week or so as I clean it up and such.

You can find links to pictures of Julia in my profile. Please keep in mind I in no way claim to be an artist, and I drew them myself, so the proportions and such are a bit wonky. Also I have no scanner, so I had to take photos of them and upload them. :)

Disclaimer goes here. "The Gaze and the Glance" is from a book I read a couple years ago. Can't remember the title.

Chapter 1

It's really terrible to be gifted in times like these. Julia thought as she kept her head low, passing yet another Purifier arrest by the MRD. Sure, they arrested them, but very rarely did a jury convict the anti-mutant crazies, and even if they did, it was usually only a slap on the wrist for collateral damage. Didn't anyone notice how wrong this was? Or did no one else notice how much the Purifiers had in common with the Nazis? Maybe no one else in the gathering noticed because she was the only one in the crowd who filled the definition of 'gifted'. Granted, she also had a highly destructive potential to her powers, which she supposed made it a moot point. If she were a normal human, she wouldn't want someone who could morph into a living void wandering the streets either. Which is exactly what she was; a potentially dangerous phenomenon wrapped in the body of a human. Julia had learned, at a very young age, that she was able to literally transform her body into some kind of dark, plasma-like material. She became an amorphous black-body of herself, capable of not only absorbing energy, nearly all forms of it, but she also became nearly indestructible, her body always managing to bend and prevent or absorb impact. This power had saved her life once, but even now she wondered if it was really so benevolent a mutation. She glanced at her fingers, letting only the very tips shift into the shadowy black form; potentially dangerous, just like everything else about her. The void substance she could shift into also made for a sharp, effective weapon; as indestructible as the rest of her. She could probably fight the Purifiers, if she wanted to. They probably wouldn't be able to hurt her.

Still, was it worthwhile to get involved with the fight when she alone could make so little difference? Her particles became unstable in her shadow form, as she called it. The longer she held it, the better her chance of losing control and absorbing all the energy around her, even that within the human body. And not only that, if she stayed fully transformed too long, her molecules literally started to pull themselves apart. Left unchecked, she figured she would simply vanish into invisibly small particles of shadow floating around, probably never to be reunited again. She would cease to exist, and that scared her more than the possibility of death; death at least had the chance of an afterlife included. And if she did pick a fight with the Purifiers, she knew it would be long one. She couldn't risk allowing herself to become unstable that way; if she did, she would end up doing more damage than good.

I wish...I wish I could do more though. I don't like just sitting on the sidelines.

She crossed the street and entered her apartment building, pressing the button for her floor. As it stood, she couldn't help much, so for now discretion would have to prove the better part of valor, and she'd just have to stay out of the way, and off the Purifiers' radar. She could only act defensively, anything else was too risky.

She had only been reading on her couch for an hour or so when she heard more sirens down in the street. She recognized the wail as different than the one the police usually used.

More MRD? Is it some sort of Mutant uprising? Curious, Julia set her book aside and walked to the window, but being on the seventeenth floor she was much too far away to see anything clearly. She could only sigh, and pull the curtains closed, hoping they didn't start going door to door again.

As she turned, an unusual sound and a smell like brimstone reached her ears and nose, and before she was able to fully turn and register what the it was, her coffee table broke under the weight of what appeared to be a man. She shrieked slightly in surprise, stumbling backwards while her powers instantly acted on the defensive, her body morphing partially into it's dark state, her right arm melting into a claw-like appendage, prepared for attack. However, she held back rather than lashing out with no questions, this stranger still hadn't so much as twitched, which for the moment meant he wasn't a threat. Her eyes began seeking out where he had gotten into her apartment, or where he had come from, but other than the coffee table, everything was still in tact. How had he gotten there? She crept a step closer, unsure of whether it was the smart thing to do, but knew that her powers would act defensively again if he became a threat; she would either absorb or avoid the attack. She hoped anyway.

"Uhm...Excuse me? Can you hear me?" She knelt next to him on the floor, and reached out to touch his shoulder with the hand not converted into darkness. He didn't react. She rolled him from his side to his back, and was unable to contain a gasp.

He's...He's blue...? And...fuzzy? It wasn't the most unusual thing she had ever seen, considering her own arm at the moment, but she certainly hadn't been expecting it either. Then again, this probably explained how he had managed to appear in her living room out of nowhere without breaking any windows or walls. He must be mutant, and his powers must have been what got him there. That didn't really explain what he was doing though.

"Uh...hello? Are you alright? Are you running from the MRD and the Purifiers?" At the mention of the MRD, his eyes fluttered, and he groaned quietly, though he still seemed to be mostly unconscious.

He must have bumped his head, Julia decided, glancing him over quickly and not seeing any sort of other injury. During this quick diagnostic, she was alerted to the fact that his uniform, or so she guessed it to be, was marked with an X, and she recognized the symbol from various news reports. The X-Men, some sort of rebel force of mutants, if memory served, though she tried not to watch TV too often, it was far too depressing these days. Gingerly, she reached beneath his head and her fingers found a swollen knot at the base of his skull. Had the MRD given it to him, or had he managed to hit her coffee table that hard? Regardless, I don't think he'll be going anywhere soon. She ventured a glance to the shadow swirling around her arm, and concentrated enough to change her hand back. And I'm not about to turn him back out like this. Suppose I should at least get him off the floor.

Julia hooked both her arms under one of his, and successfully managed to get him up enough to slide his torso onto the couch. He looked very slight, but was deceptively heavy. She turned to heft his legs up as well, and was met with not only feet possessing only two toes, but a tail as well, complete with a point, like the classic devil-tail. After the shock of how he had shown up though, it didn't surprise her all that much. She was starting to think she might have a guess as to who he might be.

She headed for the kitchen, deciding an icepack was the best bet for the bump on the head, until she looked up what to do with a concussion, just in case. As she dug around in the freezer for the icepack, she was shocked for a second time that night to hear a thud from the living room. Thinking perhaps the Purifiers were breaking in, somehow knowing her guest was here, Julia dashed into the living room, only to find he was awake and standing, but leaning heavily on the couch arm, and his yellow, pupil-less eyes were staring around the room. They had an odd glow to them, luminous even.

"Vho are you?" His voice was slurred, and he had a pretty heavy accent, but Julia understood well enough.

"It's okay. I don't want to hurt you. Were you trying to escape the MRD?" He seemed to ignore her, his eyes traveling the room again, as though only just then realizing he didn't recognize it.

"Vhere have you taken me?"

"I didn't take you anywhere. You just showed up here and fell through my table, and- wait!" He was striding in an off-kilter, uncertain fashion towards the window, and though she noticed he didn't walk quite like a normal person that was the least of her worries. She would guess he was planning to leave the same way he had gotten here. Julia sprinted across the living room, not seeing how teleporting, or whatever he did, was a good idea when he couldn't even walk a straight line. "You shouldn't be up! You took a bad bump to the head, and your-" as though on cue, he stumbled, badly, only staying on his feet because Julia managed to catch him by his arm. "Your equilibrium is probably pretty off. You need to rest. Listen, you're safe here, I won't turn you in, I promise. You're one of the good guys right? The one they call Nightcrawler?"

Unfocused gold eyes turned towards her, but she was unable to tell if he had caught any of it. "Vhy?"

"Why?"

"Vhy are you helping me?"

She shrugged. "I don't see any reason not to. I don't think you meant to end up in here, and I don't think you meant to do me any harm. Did you?" She asked, lowering him gently back onto the couch. He seemed more keen on staying upright, so she propped a pillow up at his side for him to lean against.

"Nein. I don't mean you any harm."

"Okay then. Besides, I don't like what the MRD or the Purifiers do. I was getting an icepack for your head, okay? Do you want some painkillers or something?"

"I vill be fine," He responded, the slur fading with each passing moment. The goose-egg must not have been as bad as she first thought.

"My name's Julia by the way."

"Yulia?"

"Julia."

"Jyulia?" He tried again, and managed to get a little closer, but she imagined it must be difficult with the accent, finding herself smiling at the effort nonetheless.

"Never mind. Julia or 'Yulia', it's all the same to me." She approached carefully, not wanting to startle him with any quick movements or anything of the like, and leaned over him to place the icepack behind his head. "So...do you have a name? A real name I mean. Or is it just Nightcrawler?"

"Er...It's Kurt..." He watched her with utmost caution as she carefully arranged the ice against the back of the couch. "You...you are not bothered by the vay I look?"

"Well, I'm not going to lie, you are a little unusual...but I've seen a lot of weird things lately. Blue fur and a tail are hardly going to freak me out these days. Really, I think I'm a little more concerned as to why you're here."

"Ja...sorry about de table. I vas aiming for the roof."

"So you were trying to escape?"

"I vas trying to help the other vones the Purifiers had cornered, but de MRD interfered, und tried to arrest all of us."

"I see." Julia nodded, stepping away. "And then you took a nice knock on the noggin and couldn't quite figure out where you were going when you were escaping, right?"

"Ja."

"Well, you made it about three-fourths of the way up, so you were pretty close." She shrugged. An uncomfortable silence fell between them, and Kurt, as she now knew his proper name to be, watched her cautiously the entire time, as though he expected her to pull out a gun and try to kill him. Or dart for the phone and call the MRD. The fact that he didn't trust her was painfully obvious. "Uhm...so...nice weather we're having, right?" Her perfectly lame attempt at a joke managed to amuse him, Kurt's mouth tilting up in the smallest of smiles.

"It is."

"Uh...sorry, that was kind of stupid. Are you hungry or something? I'm all out of small talk."

"It's alright."

"It's no big deal. It's about dinner time anyway, I might as well just make a little extra."

"I meant it vas fine you don't vant to talk to me."

"No, no...it's not like that. I just...I'm not really sure what to say is all. You know, it's hard to have a conversation with a stranger."

"I know I'm making you uncomfortable. It's alright. I vill leave as soon as my head is better."

Julia sighed slightly as she turned to the kitchen for a second time, thinking to heat up the leftover lasagna in her fridge. She couldn't really blame him for being skeptical of her. Because of the way he looked, she could guess kindness hadn't been forthcoming in Kurt's life, and trust probably didn't come any easier. And of course, these days, it was only worse. Mutants now were prosecuted the way witches would have been in the old days. She had gotten pretty lucky, and managed to seem normal until she felt threatened, Kurt didn't even have that.

"Do you like lasagna?" She questioned, leaning her head around the half-wall between the living room and kitchen. She wasn't all that surprised to see Kurt trying to stand up again, but upon seeing he was caught, he sat, trying to hide what she guessed was a swirl of dizziness by placing the icepack back on the bump on his head. With his tail. That was interesting, she hadn't guessed it to be prehensile. As though sensing she was watching it with a keen interest, Kurt tucked the tail out of sight by his feet.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize. Really, I promise I'm not going to freak out. I'm almost a little jealous for all the times I wished I had an extra arm. I bet it's pretty handy." He gave her another look of pure skepticism, as though thinking she was surely mad.

"It is...handy I mean," He agreed after a moment.

"Like I said Kurt. I've seen a lot of crazy things since this mutant witch-hunt started. So long as you don't plan to hurt me, I don't mind you being here."

"I vill not hurt you."

"Then it's fine. I have no intention of turning you in to the MRD or anything."

"You're a very veird girl."

"You'd be surprised how often I hear that. Now really, do you like lasagna?"

As interesting as Kurt's tail was to Julia, his hands were equally as intriguing. Though he only had two fingers on each hand, not counting his thumbs, they still seemed to work exactly the way a five-fingered hand did. He also had very, very good table manners, but that was beside the point.

"You like movies," Kurt observed, apparently finally feeling it was safe to return her attempts at conversation, nodding towards her collection of DVDs on a nearby shelf.

"Yeah, a lot actually, always have. Do you?" She tilted her head curiously towards Kurt, who was looking at his food rather shyly.

"Ja. I like old movies though."

"What kind? I mean like, do you have a favorite genre? Mine's sci-fi."

"Er...action I suppose." Kurt shrugged, still looking at everything besides directly at her, then returned to poking at what was left of his lasagna.

She smiled when she caught on to his nervous expression. "Really Kurt. You can relax. I promise I'm harmless."

"Vhat if the MRD finds me here?"

"Then we're both going to be in a lot of trouble. But you shouldn't worry so much, I doubt anyone knows you're here." Julia answered simply, gathering up the dinner plates and taking them to the kitchen.

"I don't vant you to get in trouble because of me."

"It's okay."

"It's not okay," Kurt insisted, standing from the couch, and seeming much more steady than he had the last time he had tried to stand as he followed her into the kitchen. "I von't put you in danger Jyulia."

"You're not putting me danger." Not anymore than I usually am anyway. It occurred to her then that Kurt didn't seem to realize she was a mutant too. She had assumed he would have guessed, but now she realized the only time she had really displayed her powers, he had presumably been unconscious on her floor. Julia turned to him, thinking she might as well 'fess up to it so he didn't feel like it was all on his head, but before she could even formulate the words, there was a knock on her door.

"Vere you expecting anyvone?" Kurt asked, golden eyes narrowing in the direction of the door.

"No, not really-"

"Ms. Hayle, open up please, it's the police. We've had a report of a disturbance."

"Ugh. I spoke to soon," Julia groaned, setting the dishes down in the sink and turning to Kurt, who looked ready to bolt in any given direction. "How's your head? Do you think you can get out of here?"

"I...I don't know."

"In that case, you better hide." Julia decided, grabbing hold of Kurt's arm and dragging him to the bathroom, which happened to be furthest from the door. "Can you go from room to room?"

"Er...ja, I think so."

"Then just keep moving around in case they search the apartment, alright?" She shoved him gently into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him, barely catching his nod in her direction. She got the feeling that Kurt's head was probably fine, and he was staying more for her protection than his own safety. She actually found it quite touching.

"Ms. Hayle? Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes, sorry, just a moment!" She returned to the living room at a dash, and pulled the heaviest book she had from her shelf, dropping it in the middle of the table splinters, hoping that provided an explanation for them, as she certainly didn't have time to hide the mess. She then strode to the door, greeting the two police officers at her door with a smile. "Hello, what can I do for you?"

"We've had a report of a disturbance in your apartment, something about a crash? Is everything all right Ms. Hayle?" The taller of the two, a blonde, spoke first, while his partner, a smaller, dark-haired man remained quiet. Though his sharp, almost black eyes unnerved Julia.

"Uhm...yeah, everything is fine. My downstairs neighbors are a little paranoid is all, what with the mutant crisis and everything."

"That's why we're here ma'am. One of the mutants being apprehended this afternoon escaped, we're canvassing the entire building. It could be hiding here."

She was hard-pressed not to correct the 'it' to a 'he', but held her tongue, knowing that saying anything would not only endanger herself, but probably Kurt as well. "Well, I haven't seen anything or anyone. It's just been me here since this afternoon."

"You can't be too careful miss, we should search your apartment, just to be safe. You can never tell what those muties are up to or where they're hiding."

Yeah, right under your nose. She thought bitterly, even as she stepped aside to allow the officers in to begin their search. Refusing them would likely only give rise to suspicion, which in turn would probably lead to the MRD showing up and tearing her home apart. Though she wanted nothing more than to turn them away, or give them a taste of what a pissed-ff mutant looked like, she resigned herself to tagging after them, and saying what she figured they would expect to hear from a totally normal, mutant-fearing American.

They bought, or at least, seemed to buy, the explanation of her coffee table being very old, and her dropping the book on it being the reason it was in pieces, and they proceeded through the rest of the apartment in a similar fashion, asking the occasional question.

And then, the moment of truth occurred. They arrived at the closed bathroom door, and Julia hadn't realized she had been holding her breath until after the short one reported back that it was empty. Kurt had dodged them, thank goodness. There was a faint hint of smoke and a sulfur-like smell, but neither of them chose to mention this fact; she only hoped it was faint enough for them to pass it off as bad water or mold something.

She tried not to look too relieved or too anxious as she escorted them back to the door.

"Thank you for your time Ms. Hayle, we're sorry to disturb you over nothing. And don't worry about the escaped mutant, the MRD will have it hunted down by morning, they're monitoring the area for any activity. Have a nice night."

"Same to you officers, sorry my neighbors wasted your time this way," She replied, as courteously as she was able, shutting the door swiftly behind them and locking it again, leaning her back on it slightly. "Kurt?" She called softly into apartment.

"I'm still here," He answered after a moment, stepping out of her bedroom closet. Odd place for him to be, but she supposed that was next best hiding place after the bathroom. He looked at her in a way that seemed almost sad. "If dey find out you lied to them, you vill probably be arrested."

"I know."

"Vhy do you vant to help me?"

"Look I...I just don't like what the Purifiers do, alright? And I don't like that the MRD never seems to actually punish them; they're cruel, and they're unfair, and they're hurting a lot of innocent people, mutant or not. And I just...I don't want them to hurt you. It's not like you've done anything to deserve it."

"You are a very kind person," Kurt said quietly.

"Hm. And earlier you were telling me I was weird. Which is it?" Julia prodded with a smile

"I dhink it must be both."

"Fair enough." Julia continued to smile, and went back to the kitchen to finish up the dishes, and then get a trash bag to finally clean up what was left of her coffee table. Kurt followed her once again, only this time it was to pick up a towel and dry the dishes as she finished washing them. "Hey, thanks."

"It's no problem." He shrugged, setting the dishes in the rack by the sink. "Uhm...Jyulia...may I hide here for the night?"

"Is your head still bothering you?" She asked, concerned. He seemed to have gotten his balance back, but maybe he was still too off to teleport properly, though she wasn't sure what to do if that were the case. She wasn't exactly a doctor, least of all for mutants.

"No, it's just that...dey said they vill be monitoring, and they vill probably know if I move much further than I did a moment ago. Und if they do find out I'm here, it vould be my responsibility to get you somewhere safe."

"Oh. Well, yes. I don't have a problem with it. I mean, you'll have to sleep on the couch of course, but I don't mind."

"I...I vouldn't ask to sleep anywhere else," He muttered, as though offended she could think he would.

"I just wanted to clarify, that's all." Julia shook her head, finding his apparent shyness towards her terribly endearing. "Hey, Kurt, can I ask you something?"

"Yes?" He still seemed rather apprehensive as he turned to her.

"I don't want to upset you or anything, but have you always been...you know, blue? The way I hear it, mutant powers don't usually develop until you're older. So, did you just...change one day?"

"Er...no. I have alvays looked this vay." He seemed suddenly embarrassed, or perhaps ashamed, looking down at his odd hands with a frown.

"Oh...I shouldn't have asked. Uhm...that was really rude wasn't it? I'm so sorry, I was just curious, and I couldn't help-"

"It's alright. You vere much more polite about it dan I am used to."

"It's been hard for you, hasn't it?"

"It is hard for all mutants to live in this vorld."

"I suppose that's true. Especially now," Julia agreed, passing him the last dish. "But you know what I think Kurt? America isn't called the 'melting pot' for nothing. Someday it won't matter what you look like, whether you're mutant or human, we're all going to be so mixed together that no one will be able to find anything to hate. Or at least, that's what I hope."

"It's a nice dhing to hope for."

"But you don't think it will happen?"

"Hm. Not in my lifetime at least," Kurt said, folding the dish towel carefully and lying it on the counter. "But it is still a nice thought." He offered her a smile, though his expression still seemed somehow sad. Julia felt a deep pang of sympathy for Kurt, and a spurt of anger at the world that had always been, and probably always would be, so unfair to him. And her as well, should she ever be exposed.

"Well, anyway, for what it's worth, I think your tail is cute." He went still, and if she were to guess, she thought he must be blushing by the purplish tint in his cheeks. "Uh...did I say something wrong again?"

"Nein...forgive me...nothing about me is called 'cute' very often." He shook his head almost violently.

"Guess you'll just have to take my word for it then." Julia smiled. "But I think it's true."

Once the kitchen was clean, Kurt followed her once again to offer his assistance in cleaning up the coffee table, and also offer to replace it, but Julia just shrugged it off. She had bought it at a garage sale anyway, so it was no great loss to her. With not much else to do, she put in a movie, a Humphrey Bogart classic, hoping it was to Kurt's taste, and they passed the next hour and a half in companionable silence.

As the clock started to push toward ten, Julia rose and found extra blankets and a pillow for Kurt, though she couldn't find him anything he could possibly wear for pajamas. He insisted he would be fine, and she didn't argue too stubbornly, seeing as he really didn't seem to mind.

"Well...uhm...good night then, I guess. I don't know how well you'll be able to sleep though, I've never tried to sleep on this couch, I don't know if it's comfortable," Julia said, setting the pillow and blankets on the couch in some semblance of a bed.

"I vill be fine. Gute nacht, Yulia." He touched her hand for the briefest second, and with a last smile for him, which he did not return, she was behind her bedroom door, wondering still about her strange guest.

Long after she had fallen into a peaceful sleep, Nightcrawler paced relentlessly and silently through the living room, his tail twitching methodically and thoughtfully, fading in and out of the dark as he did, save for the seemingly glowing eyes carefully tracking every shadow that passed. He had put this woman in danger, and he would not leave until he knew she was safe. Those police had been a ruse, and he knew the Purifiers, and likely the MRD as well, had fixed his location. It was only a matter of time before they made their move; and though he hoped they would wait until Julia was a safe distance away, he also knew their patience was thin. And he knew they would take her as well, simply for hiding him, regardless of how it looked to the press if they dragged a perfectly normal woman out of her home.

He perched now on the window sill, balancing as only he -and perhaps Spiderman- could, and watched the people move about in the street below, wondering which could be threats. It had been a long time since he had made what he would dare call a friend on his own, and even longer since he had made one so easily. Even with other mutants, it usually took several encounters to grow accustomed to his appearance. But Julia had not been bothered. Not the tail, the fur, the eyes, his lack of normal digits, none of it seemed to faze her in the least. She had been kind to him in a way so few others had, precious few.

And because of that, he would be vigilant. No harm would come to Julia so long as he could prevent it.

Julia awoke the next morning to her long raven hair in its usual mess, and the smell of something cooking, though she couldn't decide what, from the kitchen. For a moment, she panicked, not remembering who would be in her house, but then it all came rushing back. That had to be Kurt.

She grabbed her robe from the foot of the bed and pulled it on over her tank-top and boy-short undies, stepping out into the living room and running her fingers through her hair in hopes of taming it slightly. She found Kurt was indeed in the kitchen, spatula in hand.

"Are you making breakfast?"

"Ja." He turned to her, looking slightly embarrassed. "It seemed a good vay to dank you. But I vas not sure what you vould like, so I made pancakes. Somevone vonce told me you could never go vrong vith pancakes."

"Hey, I would have settled for poptarts, you'll get no complaints from me." She wandered closer, observing him absently. "You're a man of many talents Kurt."

"Learning to cook vas a necessity."

"Why?"

"I am on my own a great deal of the time. I can't expect to be fed."

"Aren't the X-Men a team though?"

"Yes, ve are. But ve are not always together." Something in his tone made Julia think it must hurt to be separated from his friends. Then again, they were probably the only allies he had from a world that would as soon hunt him down as look at him.

"Did you sleep at all?" She asked, changing the subject when she noticed the couch blankets were undisturbed.

"I couldn't. Not vith the Purifiers and MRD hovering all night."

"Are they still around?" Julia asked, nervous for more reasons than she cared to admit.

"I don't know. I haven't seen them for nearly an hour, but I doubt they vould simply give up." Kurt looked to the window as he spoke, though the sky looked clear and undisturbed by any aerial surveillance.

"How's your head?"

"Much better, danke." Kurt softened slightly when he turned back to her, but then the sad expression came back. "Vould you like me to leave?"

"No, of course not. You made breakfast, the least you could do is stay and eat it with me," Julia assured, stepping around him to get to the cupboard which held the plates. "Why would I want you to leave?"

"Perhaps you don't find my tail as cute in the light." The casualness of the statement went straight through Julia's heart.

"Kurt...listen, I can't pretend to understand, but I'm really not the sort of person who judges so easily by appearance, and it's really not my place anyway. This is what's normal for you, and that's okay. I meant what I said, I think your tail is a very endearing feature." She sat her hand lightly on his shoulder in a patting gesture, and for the first time, Kurt didn't seem scared of her touch.

"Hm. If everyvone thought the vay you do, mutants vould have a much easier time."

"Uhm...mutants. Right. About that. Kurt, there's something you should probably know about me-"

Similarly to the previous night, Julia was interrupted by a knock on the door, only this time, there was no announcement of whom it might be. Annoyed, she crossed the floor and glanced out the peephole, only looking long enough to see the guns and the Purifier tags on their shirts. Oh no...

"Kurt! Run!" She wheeled around to him just as the door behind her was thrown open by a kick from one of the men on the other side, one she happened to recognize from last night. Figured the police force would have a few Purifiers mixed in their ranks. They had known Kurt was here the whole time. As she had feared he might, Kurt ignored her plea for him to escape and instead ran for her, shoving the Purifier nearest her back into the others with a well-placed foot.

He grabbed Julia by the shoulders, likely planning to teleport them both out into safety, but the Purifiers had long ago started developing ways to deal with their mutant prey, and those still standing slapped what she would have first thought to merely be a net over him, but when he didn't escape, she figured it must inhibit his powers, and with the two burly men putting their full weight on him, Kurt couldn't very well struggle his way out either.

"No! Don't hurt him! He wasn't doing anything!" Julia shouted, seeing one raise a fist, probably planning to make Kurt stop struggling, one way or another. "He wasn't hurting anyone!" She started toward them, though she wasn't entirely certain what she expected to gain from it, without making the situation worse by exposing herself.

"Shut it lady," Growled one of the men, one of the ones who were also police officers, grabbing her and forcing her arms behind her back, and slapping what she could only assume were handcuffs on her wrists. "We're taking you too."

"What? Why?" Julia turned her head to give him a petrified look, wondering if her secret was finally out.

"For harboring the mutie over there," He replied gruffly, jabbing a thumb at Kurt, who was still flailing violently, even under the weight of an additional officer trying to hold him down.

"She hasn't done anything vrong!" He argued, but was pointedly ignored by his captors, all three of whom muttered some very cruel threats down at Kurt.

"It's illegal to hide mutants wanted for arrest, you goblin freak." The officer/Purifier holding Julia snarled in response.

"He's not a goblin you jerk, he's a person!"

"It's a freak of nature lady, and that's all. Get it out of here!" He added to the ones trying to keep Kurt restrained. Julia wasted not another second in deciding what was the right course of action, nor did she waste another breath trying to convince them to leave Kurt alone. It was obvious it was not going to happen, they were clearly settled on their cause. She wrenched her arms away from the officer behind her, not wanting to accidentally absorb his energy, though it was no less than he deserved, and for the first time in a long time, released the mental cage she kept on her powers. She felt the shift rippling over her molecules, her skin turning the deep, inky black. Her amorphous hands slid from the handcuffs easily, and she whipped around with one arm formed into an ethereal blade. She slammed the blade against the chest of the stunned officer behind her, though her blades never actually cut people, and she could only hope she had managed to at least knock the wind out of him.

"Crap! The chick's one of them! Base, we've got a second mutie on the loose!" One of the officers trying to drag Kurt toward the door shouted into his radio while raising a gun towards her, firing aimlessly. The kinetic energy of the bullets was absorbed into the compact void her body had become, and they mostly fell uselessly to the ground, though some merely passed through her, her matter automatically displacing itself slightly to avoid damage; though they did manage to put plenty of holes in her bathrobe and tank-top, which was a shame. She hit them both with the same blade as the first one, careful to hit them in torso-area so she didn't accidentally kill them. Once they were down, and she was satisfied they would stay that way, Julia shifted her arm back into its human shape, and focused on returning her molecules to their normal state. She dropped to her knees, pulling the mutant-proof net off of Kurt, who was looking at her in what seemed to be pure shock.

"Jyulia...you...you are a mutant?"

"Er...yeah. Sorry. I didn't mean to keep it a secret, I tried to tell you yesterday. And this morning. But I didn't really know what to say, and I-"

They both turned at the sounds of footsteps in the hallway; without another word, Kurt reached out and took her arm, and a puff of smoke later Julia found herself on the roof, her body reeling at the sudden change. That had felt like falling down a pit that suddenly opened beneath her feet, and falling forever, but upwards, and the whole thing had been mashed into the few nanoseconds it had taken them to reappear on the roof. She had literally felt herself disappear for a moment, to leave her version of reality for only the briefest second. She wasn't sure whether she was more shocked at how teleporting had felt, or the fact that she had survived it.

"Are you alright?" Kurt questioned.

"I think so...I'm just not entirely sure my insides came with me." She nodded, trying to smile as reassuringly as she could, while assuring herself that she was solid once again. "I guess...hiding didn't do you all that much good, huh?"

"So it vould seem." Kurt nodded, getting to his feet and walking to the edge of the roof, peering down at what she guessed was the raid going on in her apartment. "It vill not be long before deir back-up comes for us. I'm sorry about this Jyulia."

"It's not your fault. It was only a matter of time before I was discovered."

"Vhy didn't you tell me?"

Julia only shrugged, contemplatively fiddling with one of the rings she was fond of wearing. "Like I said, I wasn't sure how to tell you, I've never told anyone. My powers developed really early, ten or eleven if I remember right, and ever since, I've had to hide them, and I've gotten really good at it. Back there was probably the most I've ever used them in one day in the last ten or fifteen years. Until this whole Purifier/MRD thing started, I'd almost stopped thinking of myself as a mutant, because I had repressed my ability so far. But now...well, I guess I don't have that luxury."

Kurt looked at her with a strange expression in his eyes. "Vere you embarrassed? Even though I am a mutant too?"

"No, that's not it. I'd just gotten so used to hiding it...I didn't think it really mattered one way or the other anyway. Mutant or human, I still would have helped you Kurt."

Whatever he had been looking for in her answer, this seemed acceptable to him, and he turned back to look over the edge of the building again. "I can get you out avay from here," He said softly, "-but if I do, you vill probably never be able to come back. I can take you somevhere you vill be safe, but only if you vant me to."

"Even if I wanted to try and stay here, I don't think I could anymore. Hell, I was getting sick of pretending to be the girl next door anyway." Julia answered him with a shrug. "I don't suppose I can manage a change of clothes first? I'd rather not go on the lam in my underwear and a bathrobe, especially considering it's full of bullet holes."

"You can't. But I can. They're probably spread out enough that they von't notice me. I vill be back in a moment." True to his word, Kurt vanished in another puff of smoke, before reappearing almost as soon as it faded, holding a pair of her jeans, a t-shirt, a jacket, and her favorite boots in his hands. Or rather, the jacket was hanging over his tail, but it was all the same to her. "Vill these do?"

"Yeah...this teleporting thing of yours is really impressive, I've got to say. Can you go anywhere you want?"

"Not anyvhere," Kurt answered, handing the clothes over. "I have to know vhere I'm going, or at least be able to picture it clearly."

"Is that why you ended up in the closet when you teleported out of the bathroom?" She twirled her finger, bidding him to turn around, which he did promptly, a purplish hue present in his cheeks again. Julia said a moment of thanks for tank-tops with built-in bras, which she almost always slept in, and the fact that she had worn socks to bed as she started to dress, feeling a little awkward about doing so on her rooftop. At least it was tall enough that she couldn't expect anyone to see her, and she trusted Kurt not to peek.

"Ja. I saw the room on my vay past, but didn't notice the closet. I meant to teleport into the corner, but that vas vhere the closet vas."

"You've probably never had to worry about a driver's license or anything, huh?"

"I can only go about a mile or two at a time." Kurt shrugged.

"Still, it's such a neat power. I wish I could do that."

"Yours is nothing to scoff at. It vas very amazing Jyulia."

"Hm. Amazing..." Julia repeated the word quietly to herself. The human world wouldn't think it was amazing, they would think it terrifying. Just as they thought Kurt was terrifying. But he thought differently, and somehow, that made it hard to care about what the rest of the world's opinion. "Alright. I'm good to go." She leaned down and zipped up her boots, straightening again to face Kurt. "So, how are we getting to this safe place of yours?"

"I vill have to teleport us, und it vill take more than vone trip. If you need to stop, tell me."

Julia balked slightly at the thought. As much as she was envious of the teleporting ability, she hadn't had such a fun experience with the last time. She didn't know if she wanted to feel that again, like she temporarily stopped existing, it honestly freaked her out a little bit. But, it also seemed more prudent than trying to find some other means of escape, especially considering they were currently twenty-one stories above the ground; factor in the back-up and MRD on their respective ways, which surely involved helicopters, and it started to seem like the only way. Besides, she trusted Kurt.

"So...do I just hold onto you then?"

"Ja, if it does not bother you-" The self-depreciating tone was coming back, but Julia was quick to cut him off, stepping close enough to Kurt to slide her arms around his neck.

"Will this work?" She smiled when, for a moment, he seemed too surprised to speak.

"Ja...this vill...be fine." Hesitantly, he set his hands on her waist lightly. "I vill try to make it quick."

"No hurries over here." She smiled and linked her hands behind his head, then gasped as the roof and everything around her faded into swirling black smoke, and she once again felt as though she dropped into nothingness; before just as suddenly being dumped back into reality. She blinked, trying to clear the smoke from her eyes, and when it did, she found herself to be looking at a tree over Kurt's shoulder. They were in the park, nearly six blocks down from her apartment, under the cover of a group of willow trees. "Wow-" Was all she had time to say, before there was another puff of smoke surrounding her, and this time, though she was prepared for it, she still didn't really like the feeling of leaving her plane of existence. Though she could feel nothing of herself, nothing of her surroundings, she could somehow still feel Kurt, still knew he was there, and she tried to focus on him, on his seeming solidity in the swirling maelstrom of things that were there and yet somehow weren't, as they appeared and reappeared in various places along the route Kurt seemed to know by memory alone, never really looking around to get his bearings. She wondered if she felt so uncomfortable in this in-between world because it was so similar to how she felt when she started to lose control of her power.

"Ve are almost there," He said quietly near her ear. "Ve can stop if you vant."

"I think you had better. I feel like half of me is back in the park still," Julia mumbled in response, though she wasn't sure her voice was working properly; she wasn't even sure if her brain was still attached to the rest of her. Quite unprepared for, the world around her materialized again, though she didn't dare let go of Kurt until she knew for certain she was re-oriented and able to stand on her own two feet. "Whoa." She gazed around the environment, which had become a sunny country lane, void of any life save for birds in the trees, chirping their little hearts out in surprise at the two mutants' sudden appearance.

"You didn't need to hold onto me so tightly. I vould not have dropped you."

"Oh. Sorry." She slid her arms away from him, realizing Kurt had let her go a good thirty seconds ago and was waiting for her to do the same; and that she had managed to practically climb onto him she was clinging so close. "Where are we now?"

"Salem Center, New York. It is only another mile to the institute. Ve can valk from here."

"That was insane. How do you do that all the time without getting sick?" Julia questioned, following Kurt's lead as he turned and started down the side of the road. It seemed, where ever in Salem Center they happened to be, he wasn't worried about being spotted.

"I did get sick at first. But vith practice it gets easier. I have had a long time to practice."

"Oh good, I thought it was just me. You said institute a second ago. You don't mean, like, an asylum, do you?"

"Of course not. It's a school."

"School?"

"Ja. For mutants. It vas meant to help young mutants learn to control their powers, but now it is a haven for all who need shelter."

"Which I'm guessing is a lot of us by now."

"Ja. But some still prefer to hide instead."

"I know the feeling. Is this school where the X-Men are too?"

"Some of us." Kurt nodded, and offered nothing further than that. She did want to know more about him though, and the other X-Men, she couldn't help but be curious. Before she could decide how to proceed, he spoke again. "The Professor vill vant to meet you first."

"Professor Xavier?" She guessed, having heard tell of his famous school, though usually only from the bigoted politicians who wished to see it closed.

"Ja." Kurt stopped momentarily before a gate, pressing a series of buttons which she guessed meant the place had security. That was reassuring.

One last thing: Kurt's accent it mostly by ear from the movies/cartoons. So...if it's terrible, the whole story is written like that, and I really don't feel like changing it. So...Sorry. :)