Chapter 15: Nightcrawler vs. Avalanche

Disclaimer: Kurt and Kitty would be together in the show if I owned it.

A/N: Hey, here’s a surprise, another Kurtty chapter! Amazing. Don’t you just love it when these things happen? I promise action will come. Oh, and just a warning, Lance lovers, you are going to hate this chapter. Kurt lovers (especially Kurt beats Lance lovers) something tells me you will all be cheering when this is over, I cheered when I wrote it, and that wasn’t such a good thing as I was writing it in the Library. Oops.

Quick notey-notey before I begin the chapter, this is not for Lance or Lancitty lovers (neither the story, nor the chapter). So if you’re just going to write “Why’d you do that to Lance?!” or “WTF?! Lance and Kitty are together in the show!” I have three words: Suck. It. Up. And stop reading (well okay that’s six words).

For all Lance and Lancitty haters (like myself *evil chuckle*) oh, you’re going to love this.

Kurt tossed and turned in his bed, sweat slicking his fur down against his skin. With a choked gasp of air, the elf shot up in bed, and leapt up to the ceiling, clinging to the chandelier. His eyes flickered around the room, taking in the normal views of his bed, desk, closed balcony doors; everything was as it had been when he had gone to bed that night.

With his breathing back to normal, if a tad heavier, Kurt crawled down the wall and fell onto his bed with a groan.

That was the eighth night in a row he’d had that stupid nightmare. It seemed the only decent rest he’d gotten was on Sunday when he curled up with Kitty in her bed and he couldn’t do that every night.

With a resigned sigh at the lack of the rest, he threw his legs over the side of the bed; grabbing his black t-shirt from where he’d tossed it when he got into bed, Kurt pulled it over his head and was about to open his balcony doors when he paused.

The memory of waking up in the Infirmary, with a distraught Kitty at his bedside was still firmly engraved in his mind. Not wanting to take any chances, no matter how slim they seemed, he turned and walked out into the hallway, heading to the rec. room instead.

Not bothering to turn on a light, he vaulted the back of the couch and lay sprawled along it, staring at the shadow covered ceiling.

Kurt didn’t know how long he laid there before the sound of soft footsteps alerted him to someone else’s presence.

“Anybody here?” a soft voice piped up which he recognized as Kitty’s.

“Hey Kazchen.” He greeted, sitting up and looking over the couch to see Kitty silhouetted by the moonlight that came in from a window in the hall.

“Kurt?” All she could see was a pair of glowing, yellow eyes. Walking over, she wasn’t surprised when a soft hand was placed on her shoulder.

She smiled, knowing he could see it, and used her sense of touch, plus Kurt’s guiding hand to go around the couch and seat herself next to him.

Cuddling into his side, she spoke, “What’re you doing up this late anyway?”

She felt Kurt shrug. “Can’t sleep.”

“Me neither.” She whispered softly.

“Vhy, might I ask?”

“Nightmare.” Was her answer.

She heard him sigh, “Same here.”

Kitty yawned, “I was too scared to stay upstairs, so I came down here, and I thought I heard someone come down earlier anyway.”

Kurt grinned a little, “Yeah zat vould have been me.”

Kitty giggled, and ran a finger over the spade of Kurt’s tail where it rested on her lap, her friend’s ‘fifth limb’ as it might have been called, was wrapped around her waist. “You wanna just stay down here for the night?” she asked, and was glad her eyes had adjusted somewhat so she could see Kurt’s smile in the dim light.

“Sure.” He lay back on the couch, and Kitty made herself comfortable half next to him and half on top of him. With her head on his chest she could hear his steady heartbeat. A blanket was draped over the two of them by Kurt’s tail, before it wrapped itself back around Kitty.

“Nacht Katzchen.”

“Night Kurt.” Kitty placed a kiss on his cheek, “And thank you for staying with me.”

He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her to him, “Anytime.” The two fell asleep; both much more relaxed than when they had come downstairs.

Kitty stared at the blackboard with the focus of someone searching for the meaning of life. Apparently she had found it and the meaning of life was muffins. Yep, it was the feared Home Ec. Class, and Kitty was all but begging to leave. Apparently, though, the Gods had no sense to get her out before she blew up the school and her classmates.

The bell rang shrilly, and Kitty rocketed from the room, glad to be out. Unfortunately, in her rush to leave, she all but ran into one of the new boys, a certain Lance Alvers.

“Hey, you’re Kitty Pryde right?” Lance grinned while Kitty just nodded; a confused expression on her face. “Well, maybe you and I should go out sometime.” He grinned again in what he must have thought was a sexy way.

“Uh, no thank you.” Kitty attempted to go around him, but the boy just got in her way.

“Now, come on. Don’t be like that.”

Kitty glared up at him, “Would you leave me alone.”

Lance shook his head, “No can do, Pretty-Kitty. So, hows about that date?”

Kitty turned and walked in the other direction, she could leave her books in Kurt’s locker; besides, she had her money for Lunch with her anyway.

“Come on! One date; what could it hurt?”

Kitty turned with her fists on her hips, “Leave me alone! I don’t want to go out with you, so stop following me!” she turned and all but ran down the hallway, leaving a fuming boy behind.

Kitty was still angry about her run in with Lance when she got outside, her arms empty of Lunch as she’d seen the boy in line.

She turned a corner, when someone’s hand gripped her arm; she turned on her heel and viciously slapped whoever it was.

A long line of German expletives came a few milliseconds after.

Kitty’s anger evaporated when she saw Kurt with a hand to his cheek, cursing in German, and Spanish, and Latin, and finally in English. “Shit, Kitty! Vhat vas zat for?!”

Kitty immediately felt awful, “Oh God, I am so sorry, Kurt! I thought you were someone else!”

“Ach, who, might I ask?!” he gently touched his stinging cheek with a wince, that girl had a wicked arm.

“Lance Alvers, his been bugging me and asking me to go out with him. I am so sorry, I totally didn’t mean to, are you okay?” she reached out and touched his furry cheek through the hologram.

He flinched, but nodded, “Ja, zank God for holograms and fur zough, no vone vill be able to tell if you gave me a bruise. Hate to have to explain zat vone.” Kitty nodded, but still felt awful. “Vhere’s your Lunch.”

She sighed, “Didn’t get any because he was in line.” She crossed her arms, but any anger she had left was gone to be replaced by a sense of trepidation. She’d seen him watching her for a while now, and it was really starting to creep her out.

Kurt grinned, “Vell, I didn’t get any either, so you can come vith me.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her back to the cafeteria.

Kitty scanned the Lunchroom, but didn’t find any sign of her stalker. She breathed out a sigh of relief and allowed Kurt to steer her through the Lunch line.

After having bought herself a salad and a bottle of mineral water, the two went back outside to sit underneath a tree. The Sun was bright that day and the shade was a blessed relief.

Kurt devoured his meal, while still having decent table manners. It really was quite a feat, while Kitty ate her food at a more sedated pace.

“How long has zis guy been bugging you anyvay?” Kurt asked.

“Well, he’s been watching me for a while, he’s followed me to my classes, at first I thought it was just a coincidence, but there’s no way his schedule matches perfectly with mine. Today was the first time he spoke to me; ugh he is such a creep!”

Kurt gave her a small smile. “Don’t vorry, nozing vill happen to you. I promise.”

She smiled back at him. “I’ll just call you my guardian elf.” She reached over and messed his hair.

“Hey! What iz zis, abuse ze Elf day?!” he chuckled and ducked away.

“No silly, it’s only Tuesday…abuse the Elf day is always Friday!”

Kurt grinned and leapt away from her, “Zen I must start running now!”

Kitty giggled and jumped on him, tackling him to the ground before he could get away. “Sorry Fuzzy, but you aren’t going anywhere without me!”

Kurt grinned up to her, “Is zat a promise?” he whispered softly; the line had now been blurred between playing and seriousness.

She smiled down at the boy, she could feel his fur through the shirt he wore, and while it appeared that he had five fingers, she could still count the three as they were placed on the back of her neck.

“Yeah, that’s a promise.” She whispered softly.

The shrill ringing of the bell shattered their moment and the two grabbed their trash to throw it away.

Kitty, much to Kurt’s surprise, followed him to her locker. “I had to put my stuff in your locker, sorry.”

He grinned, “Nein, not a problem Katzchen.” He spun the dial and opened his locker, pulling out his friend’s binder and textbooks. “See you after class zen.”

She nodded and took her things, “’Kay, and Kurt?” he turned his head, “Thanks again.”

He smiled, the hologram showing his fangs ever so slightly. “Anytime.” She smiled at the reminder from the weekend; she’d gotten the most relaxing sleep ever that night.

With that parting smile she turned and headed back down the hallway, leaving behind a very happy elf.

Marie searched the parking lot for sign of her friends, but besides Kitty who was at her side, the boys were absent.

“Where are they?” Kitty shrugged, still searching.

“Hey Pretty-Kitty.” A familiar voice sent chills up her spine, but not in a good way. She turned around to come face-to-face with Lance, who was flanked by Todd and Pietro, even if the latter was looking fairly reluctant.

“What do ya’ll want?” Rogue glared at them.

“Nothing, just want to talk to Kitty.”

“Well I don’t want to talk to you. What part of leave me alone, don’t you understand?” Kitty shifted the weight of her backpack to put her hands on her hips.

“Come on, Pretty-Kitty. Don’t be like that.” Kitty didn’t want to listen to him anymore and turned to head down to the parking lot, dragging Rogue with her.

“Hey! Wait up!” Kitty quickened her pace, a little scared this time. When the pounding of Lance’s footsteps didn’t leave, the girls broke into an all out run, taking a sharp turn around the building in hopes of losing him.

They were nearly to a door when the ground started shaking underneath them. At the sudden loss of balance, they toppled like a house cards, nearly falling on each other.

Looking up, they saw Lance had his arms out and his eyes had rolled back almost completely in their sockets.

“Y-You’re a mutant?!” Kitty was shocked.

“Yeah, and I know you girls are too.” Kitty swallowed, too scared to even phase. “We’re part of the Brotherhood of Mutants, and I know you live with that Xavier guy. You should join the Brotherhood; mutants need to rule over everything, and everyone. Not co-exist peacefully.” he spat out ‘peacefully’ like it was some sort of poison.

“Look, Ah don’t care who you are, or what club ya’ll belong to but leave us alone!” Rogue stood, giving Lance her best death glare.

The boy gritted his teeth and opened his mouth, about to reply, before something slammed into his back with what, to him, seemed to have the force of a speeding freight train.

Lance fell to the ground hard, and whatever it was that had hit him, flipped in the air to land in a crouch in front of Kitty and Marie.

“She said leave zem alone!” Kurt hissed; while he still wore his hologram he looked furious.

Lance shook his head and looked up, “Who the hell are you?” Apparently, while he knew about Kitty and Rogue, he didn’t have anything on Kurt.

“Nightcrawler, and if you come any closer I’ll kick your ass.” Kurt didn’t leave his defensive position.

Lance rolled his eyes, “Well, Nightcrawler, I’m Avalanche, and I don’t care what you say.” Kurt growled, and it sounded quite strange coming from an otherwise human looking boy. Apparently, it shocked Avalanche enough for him to freeze for a second.

“I’m going to tell you vone last time. Leave now.” Kurt ordered, but Lance simply stood, completely ignoring Kurt, and starting forward.

“You asked for it.” The girls heard Kurt whisper harshly, and in one fluid movement, the hologram was down.

Several things then happened in quick succession: Lance froze, a look of fear on his face, Kurt snarled and leapt forward, dropping a swift punch to Lance’s stomach, who, shocked out of his daze, swung back. Kurt ducked underneath the hit, and swiftly kicked Lance’s legs out from underneath him. Falling to the ground, Lance caused a small tremor, which Kurt leapt over, disappearing in a cloud of black smoke.

Avalanche looked around, wildly, but Nightcrawler was nowhere to be seen. He turned his glare on the girls, but had barely gotten his balance back when he was hit from the back yet again. He turned, but nothing was left but a quickly disappearing cloud of smoke.

He went to turn to the girls but Kurt reappeared and disappeared, nailing Lance in the chest with a two footed kick. It went on like this for a few seconds, Lance not making any headway, and Kurt remaining unseen.

By the time Kurt reappeared for the sixth time, Lance’s lip was split and it would be hard to find skin underneath all the bruises that were appearing. Kurt glared at the boy who cowered, unable to stand properly.

Nightcrawler’s eyes flashed as he spoke curtly, “You never touch zem again.” Kurt’s voice was devoid of the laughter and gentleness it regularly held, and Kitty felt a small shock of fear envelope her for a second, even if he wasn’t speaking to her.

Lance nodded and shuffled backwards before hightailing it away. Kurt growled and turned back on his hologram.

Evidently, he was still furious as he took Kitty’s and Marie’s wrists in a semi-tight grip. He all but dragged them to the car where Evan was waiting.

Spyke opened his mouth to speak when he saw them come up, but Rogue shook her head furiously and Evan snapped his jaw shut, opening the car door, allowing Kurt to send Marie in that direction. The Goth and the skateboarder jumped in the backseat, buckling themselves in and remaining dead silent.

Kurt pulled Kitty over to the passenger side of the car and didn’t even pause to open the door, choosing, instead, to pick Kitty up and put her in the car. He stalked around the side and leapt in himself, starting the vehicle.

No one spoke as Kurt drove them to the mansion. Rogue exchanging notes with Evan in the backseat to explain what happened.

By the time they reached the Institute, the atmosphere was heavy and tense, Marie and Kitty still trying to come to terms with the fact that Kurt, the fuzzy elf who was always so calm and collected, had been so furious he looked every bit a demon.

Parking the car, Kurt turned it off and got out before teleporting away.

Kitty let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding and got shakily out of the car. Evan got out quickly after her, taking hold of her elbow to steady her.

“I didn’t know Kurt would actually do something like that.” She muttered, trying to figure out why she was shaking so badly.

It came to her quickly, she was scared, absolutely terrified, and of Kurt. She sniffed, jumping a little when she felt Evan wipe away some of the tears that had started down her cheeks.

“The way I see it, he was pissed that that Lance guy was trying to hurt you.” He whispered and Kitty nodded.

“You’re right, it’s just…”

“A shock?” Rogue supplemented and Kitty nodded.

“I need to talk to him.”

Evan nodded, “Alright, we’ll see at dinner?” Kitty nodded, trying to smile and wiped away the remaining tears on her face. She ran upstairs, deciding to start in his room.

She struck gold at that point, sticking her head through the door she saw his balcony doors were open, and beyond them, the silhouette of her best friend.

“Kurt?” she called quietly as she stepped inside, wishing she wasn’t shaking so bad. “Kurt? Are you okay?” she walked outside, keeping her eyes on her friend’s still frame.

Coming up beside him, she looked up to see he was staring out over the ocean, his face blank and expressionless. “Kurt?”

His eyes flickered over to her for a second before he looked down, avoiding her gaze. “I’m sorry, Keety, I didn’t mean to…”

“Stop.” She silenced him, “What are you sorry for? Are you sorry for protecting us?! For standing up for us?! For what?!”

“For scaring you.” He whispered and looked away, his eyes glinting for a completely different reason this time.

She swallowed and placed a hand on his knee, “Yes, you scared me, you absolutely terrified me.” He looked down, letting tears track down his face and through his fur. “But you also protected me, and helped me. You kept your promise.”

She smiled softly. “I’m not mad at you, I’m thanking you.”

He finally looked over at her and he carefully climbed off the railing, before enveloping her in a hug that she returned quite fiercely. “Ich liebe dich.” He whispered into her hair.

Kitty didn’t know what he was saying, but it still sent shivers up her spine, in a good way this time, she later reflected.

A/N: Chapter fifteen, what do you think? Okay, now, if you don’t know what ‘Ich liebe dich’ means, you’re going to have to wait a little while to figure it out.

Please review!