Subject: [OTL]: (X-Men, Kurt, Logan, Kitty) Only Human Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2000 19:51:32 -0800 From: Saille Here's another one. If you notice a pattern, yes I like Nightcrawler. Right, Rex? :D I was wondering what happened around and during the six-month gap at the start of Claremont's run to make Kurt leave the X-men, so this was my take on it. Feedback, please. This one's probably PG too. > Disclaimer: Marvel owns the X-Men. I just play with > them. I'm making no money from this and I have no > money to be sued for. Only Human By Saille She stood at the mansion window. One of the Professor's Rolls Royces wound its way down to the gate and turned onto the road. Soon it was out of sight, lost among the dark trees and fog. She started as a hand dropped onto her shoulder. "Well? Is he gone darlin'?" "Yeah..." "Did you find anything out? Is he just blowin' off steam or is he serious?" "Dammit! I don't know Logan!" She jerked away from him. He stiffened. "Hrrrmmm...Ya don't have to snap my head off!" His voice softened, his hands dropping to his sides. "I'm just as worried as you are..." Kitty brushed the tears off her cheeks with an impatient hand. "This isn't supposed to happen...not to him! He's always been the stable one. When everyone, everything else falls apart he was always strong...as strong as Cyke or Storm..." **** "I don't know Katzchen..." his voice was soft; his accent pronounced. He unfolded gracefully from his gargoyle-like perch on the sofa and paced across the room. The rain had stopped. A thick fog rolled across the wide green grounds of the mansion. Kitty waited. Kurt stood stiffly in front of the window, his back very straight. He studied his three-fingered hands, not even looking out the window. "All my life I've been different," he stared at the floor as he spoke, eyes glowing dimly in the semi-darkness. "As a child it was sometimes painful to be stared at by strangers, to have parents take my playmates away. Later, I grew to relish my uniqueness - God made me this way for a reason, I accepted that. "The High Evolutionary took that away. I could not keep my balance without my tail...I was no longer an acrobat. The loss of my teleportation power was not as disconcerting as the rest." He turned suddenly and looked at her, his smile pained her. "Katzchen, I looked in the mirror and saw a stranger. I did not like that stranger. All I am is the sum of my mutations. Without them...Kurt Wagner didn't - doesn't - exist. Ever since then...I..." He ducked his head and turned his face to the window. Not quickly enough for her to miss the tear that slid down his cheek. Kitty felt her own eyes fill. She reached out to him, sliding her arm around his shoulders. She pulled him to her, trying to comfort him but unsure what to say. "Kurt, that's just not true. You're a great person. And you're the same person inside with or without blue fur." He smiled down at her, his eyes bright. Gently he craned his neck down and kissed her forehead. His lips tightened against her skin. "I'm leaving the team, Katzchen." He pulled free of Kitty's now-leaden arms, stepping backward away from her. Without meeting her wide eyes, he exited the room with a muffled implosion of air and brimstone. He was gone.