Nightmares

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Dedicatedfollower467
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Nightmares

Post by Dedicatedfollower467 »

Kurt jerked awake, his eyes wide, his chest heaving, sweat creating little rivulets in his fur. He threw the covers off as though they were chains that were constricting him. Sitting on the side of the bed, his legs dangling, he rubbed his forehead.

It had been an awful nightmare. He had been inside that cage again, crouching on the straw. That had been bad enough, but then Stephan stood there on the other side of the wall, shouting at him, “You killed me! You killed me, you murderer!”

He ran up to the bars, wanting to explain, hoping to tell his brother what had happened, searching for closure and solace. But then a whip flew out of nowhere and slashed him across the face. Kurt turned and saw a tall, hideous demon holding the whip.

“You’re one of us, Nightcrawler,” the demon said, “You proved that long ago.”

And then scrabbling, slimy claws poked up through the ground and attached themselves to his legs and thousands of demons were pulling him down, dragging him downwards to the depths of hell.

Kurt shook his head and stood up. He went down to the kitchen and got himself a glass of milk and a piece of bread with butter before going back to sleep.

*****

“Sentinels,” Bobby complained as he slipped past Kurt, “I hate these guys.”

The Sentinel Kurt had been fighting suddenly short-circuited and toppled, nearly taking him down with it. Kurt teleported away just in time, throwing a nasty glance over his shoulder.

“Sorry, Nightcrawler!” Kitty called as she phased out of the increasingly large rubble heap.

“Was that the last one?” Bobby asked.

“I think so.” Kurt surveyed the wreckage. Here came Logan, his claws still glinting with metal scraps, and there was Peter, throwing the last bit of a defeated Sentinel over his shoulder. Not a single one of the monstrous machines was still moving.

Scott climbed over, gathering them together again. “Good job,” he said, “But we’re not done yet. The professor said there was another mutant nearby. Spread out and search for her.”

The X-Men turned away and started looking for the girl.

Kurt was plowing through the rubble on the other side of the square when he heard Bobby call out, “Uh, guys? I think I found her.” Kurt teleported next to him.

She had been hidden quite well. Kurt didn’t even see her until he was almost on top of her. The girl has squeezed herself into a jagged crack that was at most two inches high and four inches long. Her toes were the only things that didn’t quite fit. They looked like a row of faceless bald heads.

Scott bent down, grabbed one of her toes, and began to pull. She stretched ludicrously, like gum. Kurt jumped forward, horrified.

“Cyclops!” he said, “What are you doing? You could hurt her!”

“I’m just helping her get out,” Scott said, “She’s stuck.” As he spoke, the girl tumbled to the ground, thoroughly ruffled.

They all stared at the girl. Kurt thought she was easily the youngest mutant he had ever seen. She couldn’t be more than eight or nine, and she was probably more like six or seven. There were tear streaks on her face, and her large brown eyes were wet.

After a few minutes, Scott said, “Well, let’s get her on the Blackbird and head back home.” He beckoned to the girl and she stood, following them back to the jet and the mansion.

*****

Professor Xavier’s voice wormed through Kurt’s head. Though he’d been here nearly three months, he still hadn’t gotten used to the constant nearness of that man. [She is six years old. Her parents are dead, and her name is Margaret, Meggie for short.]

At this point, Kurt didn’t care. He was tired and sweaty, it was late at night, and all he wanted right now was to get into the shower, then go straight to bed. Normally he would have made an effort to reach out to the girl, but he was exhausted.

[That is all right, Kurt.] The professor spoke inside his head again. [You don’t need to talk to her. She will most likely be quite frightened of your appearance, so I suggest you don’t introduce yourself until someone else at the School has made better friends with her.]

[Okay.] Kurt teleported straight into the shower, locking the bathroom door. It was always a race to get to the shower first, and Kurt always won.

*****

Kurt gasped and nearly screamed as he woke up. That dream! For some reason it was even worse than before. He couldn’t quite remember the details, but he was pretty sure that this time around, Jimaine and Margali had also been accusing him, blaming him for Stephan’s death.

Every night since coming here he’d had that dream, though with a different variation every time. Alone in his room, it seemed much more real and frightening than he could ever express in the daylight. Part of him wanted to switch on the lamp, but he knew he didn’t need it, his night vision was fine.

Whenever he had bad dreams as a child, Margali would always make him walk to the kitchenette in the trailer and get a glass of milk and eat a piece of bread with butter. It was her way to make nightmares disappear from the memory. So Kurt walked down to the kitchen, looking for a hint of home in the comforting food.

He sat at the kitchen counter, drinking his milk and eating his bread. Here, in the dead of night, without any lights on, Kurt could almost make himself believe he was back at home in the trailer with Margali and Jimaine and Stephan. But his night vision was better than that, he knew that this was not the kitchenette, that the house was too big to be the trailer.

Then he heard a slight sound from upstairs, a sobbing. Somebody, Kurt realized, was having a nightmare. None of the other X-Men ever had nightmares, at least, none that made them cry like that. And no X-Man had a voice that high. It had to be the little girl, Meggie.

Kurt remembered his first night in the School, alone and frightened in the dark. He hadn’t known where the kitchen was then. All he’d wanted that night was for Margali to come in and turn on the light and hug him gently. He had known that he was acting like a baby, but it was the way he’d felt all the same.

Kurt set down his glass and walked up the stairs, then down the hall until he came to Meggie’s room. He remembered the professor’s warning about his appearance, but decided to disregard it. Slowly, he opened the door a crack and peeked around it.

She was sitting in bed, sobbing, shuddering and hugging herself. Kurt couldn’t stand it. He crossed the room in four long strides, sat down on the edge of her bed, picked her up in his arms and held her to his bare chest.

Meggie clutched his neck and sobbed into his shoulder, curling up to him. Kurt gently patted her hair, whispering, “It’s all right. It’s all right. I’m here; no one’s going to hurt you.”

Her sobs slowed and stopped, but she shivered against him. Kurt wrapped his arms around her. “Please turn on the night light,” she whispered.

Kurt hesitated only a fraction of a second before he switched on the little lamp by the side of her bed. If she was afraid of what he looked like, there was nothing he could do about that.

Meggie looked up into his face, and then down again, placing her head again his chest. She began to stroke his fur. “You’re so soft,” she whispered.

Kurt held her gently and then stood up, taking her down into the kitchen. He fixed her a glass of milk and a piece of bread with butter, and then he held her while she ate. He held her until she nodded off, and then he took her back up to her room and tucked her into her bed. Gently, he kissed her forehead, then switched off the light and went to his own room.

The End

(Author's Note: This is not an entry for the Fall/Winter Challenge.)
~Def.
"A dedicated follower of nothing." -- graffitit artist in Brick Lane, London, England.
Right across the lane from the demon and just down the wall from Wolverine.
RIP Kurt Wagner. You were the character who brought in me into comics, who introduced me and inspired me. Now your death has sent me away again. Wherever you are in the Marvel Universe, I hope its someplace pleasant.
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Nightmares

Post by Angelique »

D'awwww! That's so cute!
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Post by Elfdame »

I like sweetness. Good job, and you gave depth to his character in very few words with things like the snack and the visual descriptions.
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Nightmares

Post by BitterBamfing »

This is so sweet I think it gave me a cavity good job :D
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Post by Dedicatedfollower467 »

:D Thanks for the comments guys!

So Meggie's not too Mary-Sue-ish for you?
~Def.
"A dedicated follower of nothing." -- graffitit artist in Brick Lane, London, England.
Right across the lane from the demon and just down the wall from Wolverine.
RIP Kurt Wagner. You were the character who brought in me into comics, who introduced me and inspired me. Now your death has sent me away again. Wherever you are in the Marvel Universe, I hope its someplace pleasant.
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Post by BitterBamfing »

No not really but then again I don't know much past she is a cute little mutant girl that has been tramatized by sentinals and that isn't too mary-sueish to me.
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Post by Dedicatedfollower467 »

Well, she's a little sue-ish in my mind because I sort of only made her up so that I could make Kurt interact with a little girl as opposed to one his own age or older.

But I do kind of like her -- she's really a very normal sort of child with a couple of bad things that happened to her.
~Def.
"A dedicated follower of nothing." -- graffitit artist in Brick Lane, London, England.
Right across the lane from the demon and just down the wall from Wolverine.
RIP Kurt Wagner. You were the character who brought in me into comics, who introduced me and inspired me. Now your death has sent me away again. Wherever you are in the Marvel Universe, I hope its someplace pleasant.
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Post by BlueVelvet14 »

this is such an adorable story!!
i wish kurt could come into my room and turn on my nightlight for me when i was younger XD

~Velvet :D
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Post by Nachtkriec »

:read:computer that was a good fic!
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Nightmares

Post by Master of Chaos »

Awww. That was sweet. :D
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