Every Breath You Take
folder
X-Men - Animated Series (all) › Het - Male/Female
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
18
Views:
3,689
Reviews:
13
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
X-Men - Animated Series (all) › Het - Male/Female
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
18
Views:
3,689
Reviews:
13
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own X-Men Evolution, or any of the characters from it. I make no money from from the writing of this story.
With Every Step You Take
Author’s Note/Disclaimer: I’ll be going down some very dark paths in this fic. I love Kurt. And we always hurt the ones we love. Don’t we? “Every Breath You Take” is a song by the Police from the eighties. I used to love the song. More than a decade later I listen to the lyrics and realize just how creepy they are. I think it’s perfect for this story.
BTW: This Kurt Wagner is the Nightcrawler from XMen Evolution and hasn’t had quite the rough life his comic book counterpart had. At least up until now.
Rate and review please! You've heard that somewhere before haven't you?
05/24/2007 – I just found a major error on my part that had made all the character’s internal thoughts invisible when posted online. I usually refrain from pulling up my own stories so as not to inflate the hit counter, but apparently I need to proofread online.
{This means character’s internal thoughts.}
**This means projected thoughts, as in telepathy.**
Chapter Sixteen: With Every Step You Take
Adrienne was kept sedated in the infirmary for forty-eight hours, then was slowly weaned off of the sedatives on the third day. Her injuries were not serious, but she was given antibiotics to prevent any infection. In the mean time, the Professor and the XMen were mystified and worried over Kurt’s erratic behavior. He would swing from self-destructive depression to homicidal fury with no warning and they didn’t dare release him from his cell. The Professor’s attempts to touch his mind were hampered by the power damper and the intensely unpredictable nature of his thoughts. And it simply wasn’t safe to turn the damper off and allow him to roam freely.
Adrienne’s sedated mind was also of little help and Jean and Ororo were dispatched to search the cottage for anything that might explain what had happened. They were able to piece together some of what had happened from what they found there. They also found Adrienne’s collection of texts and her notes. On a hunch, Jean also grabbed the book of mythology from the bedroom, carefully leaving the twig between its pages.
It was Hank who sat watch over her, grading some papers when she first began to stir. He noted the change in her breathing, long before she opened her eyes, but chose to let her feign sleep as she regained her bearings.
{Where am I?}
She searched her memory for recent events. The smell of antiseptic brought a confusing jumble of memories tumbling back. She lay still as she sorted them out, putting each in order.
{I’ve been here before.}
This was where she’d been after the escape. Where they had argued over her. Kurt brought her here.
{Where is Kurt?}
She nearly opened her eyes to look around, but she didn’t want to reveal herself yet. Kurt…he had brought her here and his friends had separated them forcibly. There had been no chance to explain her injuries.
{As if I could. What have they done with him?}
She remembered her gift lashing out…then what happened? That was a blank that made her uneasy. She opened her eyes slowly and glanced around before sitting up.
The only other occupant was a large, blue-furred man wearing glasses and…grading papers? She spotted her books and notes piled on a nearby rolling table. She reached for it, to pull it closer. That was when she noticed the IV needle in her arm. She hissed in reaction to the tape pulling at her skin and the man looked over his glasses at her.
“Good afternoon. How are you feeling?”
“Thirsty.”
“Ah. Allow me to get you something to drink.” He rose and walked over to a nearby sink to fill a paper cup with water. He then handed it to her. He was careful not to touch her as he did so.
“Thanks.” She drank the water thirstily while he watched her. When she was done, he took the cup from her and tossed it into a wastebasket. He pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down.
“Do you remember what happened to you, Miss Porter?”
“Adrienne… Yes, I remember.”
“Adrienne, can you tell me what happened?”
“I’d rather not.”
“Perhaps you would be more comfortable talking to someone else? Ororo perhaps? I can call her.”
{I was right. She’s one of them.}
“No thanks. Where’s Kurt?”
“You needn’t worry about him right now. You are safe.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s being detained. We have taken measures to ensure that there will be no more attacks.”
“You locked him up?”
{I was afraid of this. What will being locked up again do to him?}
“We have facilities to handle mutants who have become…dangerous.”
“I have to see him.”
“I can’t allow that. His emotional state is extremely volatile. He has been quite violent at times. We were hoping you might be able to help. I’ve looked over your notes and the files you acquired and frankly I haven’t been able to make much sense of them. I take it something went wrong.”
“You could say that.”
“I understand an experience like this must be traumatic, but it would be very helpful if you could fill in the gaps.”
“You think he raped me.”
“Are you saying that this…” He gestured to indicate her injuries. “Is the result of a consensual encounter? I find that hard to believe.”
“I could have stopped him at any time.”
“We found the ropes, the abrasions on your wrists and ankles…”
“I can’t be raped unless I’m drugged or unconscious. I never lost consciousness.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would you allow him to do this to you?”
{I can’t explain that I needed to show him that he could trust me. That my…feelings…were unconditional.}
“It’s nothing compared to what I did to him. Payback’s a bitch.” She shrugged and picked at the IV tubing, eyes following it to the bags hanging from the rack. Her eyes narrowed as she read the labels.
“It’s common for victims to blame themselves…”
“I’m not the victim.” She looked back at him. “How long have I been here?”
“Three days. I think you should speak with someone…”
“You drugged me.”
“You were very distraught when Kurt brought you in. Your powers were out of control. You were sedated for your own protection and ours.”
“Maybe.” She looked away from him, thinking about how she had fallen apart. She felt the first few pricks of tears, but willed them away firmly.
{You’ve had your wallow. If you’d held it together, you wouldn’t be here and Kurt wouldn’t be locked up.}
He decided to change the subject. His eyes lit upon the book of mythology lying on top of her notes. He reached for it and opened it, pulling the twig from between the pages. He had wondered if the passage marked there had some significance.
“So few young people care about such things anymore.” He skimmed the passage marked with the twig. “Ah, the minstrel and his bride. You are familiar with this myth?”
“Intimately.” He blinked at her choice of word. Interesting.
“Indeed. I am teaching a course on mythology this term. In fact, I was grading essays on this very story. I have seen a variety of interpretations, some of them quite misguided...” He sighed and looked up over his glasses at her thoughtfully. “I wonder – what lesson do you think this myth is intended to impart?”
“The lesson depends on the listener.”
“True enough, I suppose.” A thought occurred to her that raised some interesting questions and might yield a few answers.
“Is Kurt taking your class?”
“Yes. He is.”
“What was his interpretation?”
“Hmm…let me see.” He walked back to his stack of papers and rifled through them. “I would not be surprised if he did not turn in the assignment. His study habits have suffered since he returned.” He pulled a paper from the stack. “Here it is.” He scanned it. “Quite the diatribe. ‘He has been cheated of his rightful place at her side and so the whole world must suffer in his grief.’ There’s quite a bit more in the same vein.”
{Kurt didn’t write that. *He* did.} She was missing something important here, she needed to think.
“I’d like to look at my notes again.”
“Of course.” He moved the table over her bed and returned to grading his papers, watching her from the corner of his eye.
Adrienne flipped idly through her notes as her mind sorted through the implications. One last piece of the puzzle fell into place.
{Unconditional means unconditional. I accepted Kurt, but I rejected *him.*}
She ran through the memories of their training sessions and their times alone, tried to sort which of the two was present from moment to moment. Had she only shown affection for Kurt? *He* was the result of the training and was only supposed to awaken when triggered. At what point had the alter who existed only to accept orders become something more?
{You can’t love one without the other.}
She turned the answer over and over in her mind. Kurt’s friends seemed determined to keep them apart. Keeping him locked up was likely to make his mental state even worse – it would probably trigger the trauma of their training sessions.
{I have to get him out. I’ll be able to keep him under control. But I doubt they’ll believe me after this.}
She pushed the table away slightly and reached for the IV tube. She quietly shut the valve and pulled it loose. Then she gathered the hospital gown around her and prepared to slip from the bed.
“What are you doing?”
“I have work to do.”
“You should remain in bed.” He rose to stop her as she expected him to. “You haven’t completed the course of antibiotics yet.” She ignored him and stood up.
He moved to intercept her as she began to step away from the bed, placing a warning hand on her shoulder. She reached up as if to grasp his hand, but instead laid her own on top of it.
“Where is Kurt?”
“You should get back in bed. The Professor will…” Adrienne sent a powerful shock through his hand and he swayed as his body absorbed the impact. He pulled away but she followed him.
“Where is he?” As his hand dropped from her shoulder, she grabbed it and sent a second, more powerful jolt through him. He sank to one knee, then rose with a snarl and reached for her.
“Shit!” She raised her arms to defend herself and tried to back away, but the now enraged Beast caught her. She panicked, releasing her gift with full force and he crumpled at her feet. She knelt and checked to make sure he was still breathing.
{Brilliant. Fucking Brilliant! At least I didn’t kill him.} She looked around. {I need some clothes.}
She began searching the cabinets, keeping a wary eye on the unconscious Beast. She found someone had left a change of clothes for her in a cabinet and she hurried to put them on. She was kneeling, putting on her sneakers when someone opened the door.
BTW: This Kurt Wagner is the Nightcrawler from XMen Evolution and hasn’t had quite the rough life his comic book counterpart had. At least up until now.
Rate and review please! You've heard that somewhere before haven't you?
05/24/2007 – I just found a major error on my part that had made all the character’s internal thoughts invisible when posted online. I usually refrain from pulling up my own stories so as not to inflate the hit counter, but apparently I need to proofread online.
{This means character’s internal thoughts.}
**This means projected thoughts, as in telepathy.**
Chapter Sixteen: With Every Step You Take
Adrienne was kept sedated in the infirmary for forty-eight hours, then was slowly weaned off of the sedatives on the third day. Her injuries were not serious, but she was given antibiotics to prevent any infection. In the mean time, the Professor and the XMen were mystified and worried over Kurt’s erratic behavior. He would swing from self-destructive depression to homicidal fury with no warning and they didn’t dare release him from his cell. The Professor’s attempts to touch his mind were hampered by the power damper and the intensely unpredictable nature of his thoughts. And it simply wasn’t safe to turn the damper off and allow him to roam freely.
Adrienne’s sedated mind was also of little help and Jean and Ororo were dispatched to search the cottage for anything that might explain what had happened. They were able to piece together some of what had happened from what they found there. They also found Adrienne’s collection of texts and her notes. On a hunch, Jean also grabbed the book of mythology from the bedroom, carefully leaving the twig between its pages.
It was Hank who sat watch over her, grading some papers when she first began to stir. He noted the change in her breathing, long before she opened her eyes, but chose to let her feign sleep as she regained her bearings.
{Where am I?}
She searched her memory for recent events. The smell of antiseptic brought a confusing jumble of memories tumbling back. She lay still as she sorted them out, putting each in order.
{I’ve been here before.}
This was where she’d been after the escape. Where they had argued over her. Kurt brought her here.
{Where is Kurt?}
She nearly opened her eyes to look around, but she didn’t want to reveal herself yet. Kurt…he had brought her here and his friends had separated them forcibly. There had been no chance to explain her injuries.
{As if I could. What have they done with him?}
She remembered her gift lashing out…then what happened? That was a blank that made her uneasy. She opened her eyes slowly and glanced around before sitting up.
The only other occupant was a large, blue-furred man wearing glasses and…grading papers? She spotted her books and notes piled on a nearby rolling table. She reached for it, to pull it closer. That was when she noticed the IV needle in her arm. She hissed in reaction to the tape pulling at her skin and the man looked over his glasses at her.
“Good afternoon. How are you feeling?”
“Thirsty.”
“Ah. Allow me to get you something to drink.” He rose and walked over to a nearby sink to fill a paper cup with water. He then handed it to her. He was careful not to touch her as he did so.
“Thanks.” She drank the water thirstily while he watched her. When she was done, he took the cup from her and tossed it into a wastebasket. He pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down.
“Do you remember what happened to you, Miss Porter?”
“Adrienne… Yes, I remember.”
“Adrienne, can you tell me what happened?”
“I’d rather not.”
“Perhaps you would be more comfortable talking to someone else? Ororo perhaps? I can call her.”
{I was right. She’s one of them.}
“No thanks. Where’s Kurt?”
“You needn’t worry about him right now. You are safe.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s being detained. We have taken measures to ensure that there will be no more attacks.”
“You locked him up?”
{I was afraid of this. What will being locked up again do to him?}
“We have facilities to handle mutants who have become…dangerous.”
“I have to see him.”
“I can’t allow that. His emotional state is extremely volatile. He has been quite violent at times. We were hoping you might be able to help. I’ve looked over your notes and the files you acquired and frankly I haven’t been able to make much sense of them. I take it something went wrong.”
“You could say that.”
“I understand an experience like this must be traumatic, but it would be very helpful if you could fill in the gaps.”
“You think he raped me.”
“Are you saying that this…” He gestured to indicate her injuries. “Is the result of a consensual encounter? I find that hard to believe.”
“I could have stopped him at any time.”
“We found the ropes, the abrasions on your wrists and ankles…”
“I can’t be raped unless I’m drugged or unconscious. I never lost consciousness.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would you allow him to do this to you?”
{I can’t explain that I needed to show him that he could trust me. That my…feelings…were unconditional.}
“It’s nothing compared to what I did to him. Payback’s a bitch.” She shrugged and picked at the IV tubing, eyes following it to the bags hanging from the rack. Her eyes narrowed as she read the labels.
“It’s common for victims to blame themselves…”
“I’m not the victim.” She looked back at him. “How long have I been here?”
“Three days. I think you should speak with someone…”
“You drugged me.”
“You were very distraught when Kurt brought you in. Your powers were out of control. You were sedated for your own protection and ours.”
“Maybe.” She looked away from him, thinking about how she had fallen apart. She felt the first few pricks of tears, but willed them away firmly.
{You’ve had your wallow. If you’d held it together, you wouldn’t be here and Kurt wouldn’t be locked up.}
He decided to change the subject. His eyes lit upon the book of mythology lying on top of her notes. He reached for it and opened it, pulling the twig from between the pages. He had wondered if the passage marked there had some significance.
“So few young people care about such things anymore.” He skimmed the passage marked with the twig. “Ah, the minstrel and his bride. You are familiar with this myth?”
“Intimately.” He blinked at her choice of word. Interesting.
“Indeed. I am teaching a course on mythology this term. In fact, I was grading essays on this very story. I have seen a variety of interpretations, some of them quite misguided...” He sighed and looked up over his glasses at her thoughtfully. “I wonder – what lesson do you think this myth is intended to impart?”
“The lesson depends on the listener.”
“True enough, I suppose.” A thought occurred to her that raised some interesting questions and might yield a few answers.
“Is Kurt taking your class?”
“Yes. He is.”
“What was his interpretation?”
“Hmm…let me see.” He walked back to his stack of papers and rifled through them. “I would not be surprised if he did not turn in the assignment. His study habits have suffered since he returned.” He pulled a paper from the stack. “Here it is.” He scanned it. “Quite the diatribe. ‘He has been cheated of his rightful place at her side and so the whole world must suffer in his grief.’ There’s quite a bit more in the same vein.”
{Kurt didn’t write that. *He* did.} She was missing something important here, she needed to think.
“I’d like to look at my notes again.”
“Of course.” He moved the table over her bed and returned to grading his papers, watching her from the corner of his eye.
Adrienne flipped idly through her notes as her mind sorted through the implications. One last piece of the puzzle fell into place.
{Unconditional means unconditional. I accepted Kurt, but I rejected *him.*}
She ran through the memories of their training sessions and their times alone, tried to sort which of the two was present from moment to moment. Had she only shown affection for Kurt? *He* was the result of the training and was only supposed to awaken when triggered. At what point had the alter who existed only to accept orders become something more?
{You can’t love one without the other.}
She turned the answer over and over in her mind. Kurt’s friends seemed determined to keep them apart. Keeping him locked up was likely to make his mental state even worse – it would probably trigger the trauma of their training sessions.
{I have to get him out. I’ll be able to keep him under control. But I doubt they’ll believe me after this.}
She pushed the table away slightly and reached for the IV tube. She quietly shut the valve and pulled it loose. Then she gathered the hospital gown around her and prepared to slip from the bed.
“What are you doing?”
“I have work to do.”
“You should remain in bed.” He rose to stop her as she expected him to. “You haven’t completed the course of antibiotics yet.” She ignored him and stood up.
He moved to intercept her as she began to step away from the bed, placing a warning hand on her shoulder. She reached up as if to grasp his hand, but instead laid her own on top of it.
“Where is Kurt?”
“You should get back in bed. The Professor will…” Adrienne sent a powerful shock through his hand and he swayed as his body absorbed the impact. He pulled away but she followed him.
“Where is he?” As his hand dropped from her shoulder, she grabbed it and sent a second, more powerful jolt through him. He sank to one knee, then rose with a snarl and reached for her.
“Shit!” She raised her arms to defend herself and tried to back away, but the now enraged Beast caught her. She panicked, releasing her gift with full force and he crumpled at her feet. She knelt and checked to make sure he was still breathing.
{Brilliant. Fucking Brilliant! At least I didn’t kill him.} She looked around. {I need some clothes.}
She began searching the cabinets, keeping a wary eye on the unconscious Beast. She found someone had left a change of clothes for her in a cabinet and she hurried to put them on. She was kneeling, putting on her sneakers when someone opened the door.