Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

And here's another jump. From the clouds of gray smoke near the fountain, an unusual humanoid figure landed on the street tiles, whose blue skin practically merged with the walls of the houses of the night village. His ears were pointed, his two-toed legs were more like goat hooves, a long tail with a sharp anchor-like tip protruded from base of his back, and there were not five, but three fingers on his hands.
The enraged inhabitants of Winseldorf believed this creature to be a demon, terrifying with its fangs, but in reality it was just a tortured young man whom people wanted to kill because of something they did not try to understand. The young man's clothes were torn, his legs down to his trousers were covered in black mud, and he himself was extremely exhausted.
The strange young man began to look around in horror, and his yellow eyes without pupils rushed towards the people running towards him.
"Animal!" - they shouted, throwing a small log in his face with such force that he fell backwards and went blind for a second.
Rising to his feet and looking in horror at the crazy people, the “demon” again disappeared in a puff of smoke and materialized on the street, where he saw on the wall the shadow of a furious crowd shouting curses. Having teleported again, he misjudged his jump, which is why he fell from a considerable height in some alley. Suffering from pain, the young man moved closer to the wall and began to rub his head, which was sore due to the blow with a log, while from the street on the right side of the alley, hateful screams were heard from people: “Mutant! Demon! Freak! Monster!”
But something terrible happened: one of the villagers, who had short brown hair and brown eyes, noticed him.Peeking around the corner of the house, he shouted to his friends: “He’s here!”
The poor guy gasped in fear. He was terrified and tried to go deeper into the alley, but he didn’t even have enough strength to stand up. His whole life flashed before his eyes in an instant: how he grew up in the circus, how he performed as an acrobat, and how circumstances separated him from his home.
The three people were getting closer. One grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him off the ground, while another man with a reddish beard and greenish eyes swung a strong wooden board with the words: “This is the last city you terrorized, demon!”
Why did he leave? He had to understand: only circus would have accepted a freak like him, no matter how bad it has become. Now he was doomed, and a long and painful death awaited him at the hands of not only these people, but also the angry crowd that was surely about to come here.
He was preparing for his fate when at that very moment the people seemed to freeze.

Chapter Text

Amazed by the unexpected rescue, the young man freed himself from the villager's grip. He looked at the man frozen like a statue in surprise until a voice from the end of the alley said: “Kurt Wagner...?”
That was his name. Kurt looked back in shock and saw a man with a shaved head, dressed in a black turtleneck and a brown jacket, who rode towards him in a wheelchair. All that he could say was a simple German: "A?...Was?"
The man spoke in English: “Do not fear out. My name is Charles Xavier. I've come to offer my help.”
This couldn't happen. Not a single person would ever want to help him, because to everyone he was a monster. Kurt would rather believe that this was his dying vision than that it was actually happening.
Tense in his posture, he replied in English: “I do not believe you. People never want to help me.”
To these words, the man in the wheelchair said with a slight smile: “So allow me to be the first.”
It seems that this man did not tolerate hostility towards him because of his appearance and, oddly enough, was quite friendly. Besides, Kurt had no choice. Even if we assume that everything that is happening is his hallucination before leaving for another world, he decided to take advantage of this opportunity, despite all the doubts that engulfed him.
"Okay, I agree," Kurt replied, still maintaining a tense posture and trying not to show his tail.
“I’m very happy about this. Let’s get out of here. I’ll guide you. And don’t worry: with me, no one will harm you.”
They left the alley and Kurt followed his mysterious savior. It was difficult to walk, because after long chases and numerous blows from the villagers, his legs hurt badly, as did the rest of my body. Out of anxiety, the “blue demon” crossed his arms over his chest, hiding his hands.
"Take your time Kurt, you look pretty exhausted. I take it you understand English well?" - said Xavier.
“Yes, I completely understand you and, in principle, I know many languages, but let me ask. Did you make those people freeze like statues? And why did you come for me?” - Kurt became interested, still, just in case, maintaining a body position that is closest to a simple human one.
"Yes, I have the gift of telepathy. Don't worry, I will return people to their previous state as soon as I get you out of here. Like you, Kurt, I am a mutant and wish our species to prosper."
Mutant? Kurt was not particularly surprised by this word, since from birth he did not look like a human. Even people were cursing him like this just some five to ten minutes ago, but he became interested and asked: “Mutant? What do you mean?”
“Mutants are the next stage in the development of humanity, Homo Superior. Thanks to the X-gene, a person at a certain moment, usually during puberty, awakens special abilities. Believe me, there are many like you, Kurt. Unfortunately, ordinary people are not yet ready to accept mutants, but I want to change that...”
Kurt wanted to continue listening, but something made him look around in horror. A crowd of angry people armed with torches, pitchforks and even pistols, which pursued him as well, froze in the middle of the street with faces full of hatred. From the realization that they all wanted and still want to kill him as an unholy demon, the blue mutant simply froze in horror...
"Kurt Wagner. Everything is fine. I won't  allow anyone to hurt you." - Xavier brought him back to his senses, - “I’m very sorry that you had to go through this.”
“Thank you. Don’t take it as rude, but can we end the conversation?”
"Of course, if you need silence, then I won't mind."
In just a couple of minutes they reached the fountain where Kurt had been half an hour ago. And then, looking at his dirty feet, he suddenly wanted to wash them, and at the same time drink water, which is why Kurt could not take his eyes off the precious source.
“If you need to go to the fountain, you can go. I’ll wait,” Xavier said, “Just be careful: it can be slippery.”
"Did you read my mind?"
"No way, I'm not that careless with my gift. You just have very expressive body language."
The monotonous process of removing frozen lumps of dirt from feet and washing away stains (and also leftovers of tomatoes and rotten eggs thrown at him) in the water of the fountain partly helped to cope with the tension in body. In addition, he quenched his thirst and perked up a little by splashing his face into the cold water.
Continuing their path all the way to the edge of the forest, Kurt and Xavier approached a huge combat aircraft that looked like a black raven.
"We'll fly... on this?" - Kurt was surprised.
"Yes, please welcome aboard the Black Bird!"
It was an amazing sight: the plane was quite spacious inside, the lining was light blue, and on the seats there was a cross symbol, similar to the one that the mysterious telepath had in the wheel rims of his wheelchair. Kurt sat down in one of the front seats and Xavier handed him a blanket.
"Sorry for interrupting you earlier. Can you tell me more about why you came for me? Judging by this plane, you take part in some kind of... combat..."
"You are observant, Kurt, but don't think anything bad. How do you like the offer to become a student at my Institute for Gifted Youngsters and join the X-Men team?"
"X-Men?"
"A team of heroes that I have created to fight threats to the world and defend the rights of mutants. You will be able to learn to use your abilities for the benefit of those who have also suffered from discrimination. Of course, you will begin training after you recover from your injuries."
“I’m flattered that you consider me gifted. If you mean teleportation, then I got it not too long ago, and I still don’t fully control it. I accept the offer. I still have nowhere to go...”
"Every mutant is gifted, not cursed, Kurt. Unfortunately, not everyone either understands it or uses these gifts for good purpose. Believe me, I promise to do everything in my power to make sure that what happened to you today doesn't happen again and that you don't feel unsafe just walking down the street."
Xavier took the pilot's seat and the Black Bird quickly took off. Kurt looked thoughtfully out the window, trying to comprehend what had happened and gradually falling into a doze, interrupted by disturbing visions of furious villagers chasing him.

Chapter Text

The Institute for Gifted Youngsters was perhaps experiencing its rise. The first X-Men team won many victories, and Xavier decided to accept new members. This decision had both positive and negative consequences. Now the new recruits were training with Cyclops in the Danger Room.
"Oh, gods!" - Storm screamed, encountering another of the deadly weapons of the sophisticated training hall.
"Ororo, are you...? Oh, oops!" - the Colossus was worried, colliding with a wall that appeared out of nowhere.
Wolverine, who was dodging lasers at the time, found the newcomers' inexperience somewhat amusing.
Fortunately, Ororo and Logan overcame the obstacles they faced. Peter, unfortunately, through carelessness fell into a magnetic trap.
"Stop the program!" - Cyclops commanded. The walls, lasers and other weapons instantly disappeared, after which the Danger Room took on the appearance of an ordinary spacious room with walls covered in bluish metal.
“Not bad at all, Storm. Colossus, I advise you to be more careful in your training!” - Scott said.
"Aren't you going to tell me anything, Summers?" - Logan asked sarcastically.
“Wolverine, please don’t say anything...” the leader of the X-Men sighed.
"Sorry, venerable sir, but I will talk, but for now I'll go get some air."
Meanwhile, Xavier decided to use Cerebro, hoping to find a new member for the X-Men. The device was turned on, and among the many projections the telepath saw a terrifying picture. He saw a frightened mutant whom people wanted dead only because he was different from them. Xavier realized that he needed help.Cyclops left the Danger Room in a gloomy mood. Logan went to the motorcycle.
"They quarreled again over Jean, or what?" - Peter asked Storm, walking to the elevator to go take a shower.
“Perhaps...” Ororo answered him.
In the corridor they met Xavier, whose face showed concern. The heroes wondered what was bothering him and where he might be heading at in time like that.
"I'm flying to Germany, friends. One mutant and your possible ally needs help." - The telepath immediately answered all their questions.
"Do you need our help?"
“I can handle it myself. Besides, the one I want to help is extremely scared and he is not ready for contact with other people.” - Xavier replied and left.
“I don’t know anything about this guy, but I’m already scared for him,” Peter said quietly.
"Me too. If not Charles, then may the gods help him." - Ororo agreed with him.
Having boarded the Black Bird, the founder of the X-Men hoped that he would have time to fly before Kurt Wagner was brutally killed. Every minute counted.
Having flown to the place where he last spotted Kurt, Xavier entered the territory of the village of Winseldorf bordering the forest and telepathically scanned the area. What was happening horrified him: angry people, both in small groups and in a whole crowd, pursued one frightened young man, considering him a demon only because of his unusual appearance. Indeed, human fear of otherness can take horrific forms. Unfortunately, this didn't surprise him too much.
As Xavier moved deeper into the village, the poor mutant was increasingly driven into a corner.He pulled into the street where he found Kurt after another teleportation, and noticed a group of three angry people heading towards him. And at the very moment when the red-bearded man raised his hand to strike, the telepath paralyzed everyone who wished the young man death.
He remained calm, but Kurt was still extremely alarmed and shuddered from any sudden movement in his direction. Because of what he had been through, the young mutant trusted no one and was skeptical that anyone could truly care about him. In addition, he was afraid to show his inhuman features, such as a tail, three-fingered hands or fangs, with which he almost bit his tongue and lips out of worry.
The example of Kurt Wagner made Xavier once again remember what he stands for, and think about how the X-Men need to help those who are at risk of being discriminated against from birth just because they are different from others.

Chapter Text

Soon Kurt and Xavier arrived. They exited the plane into a spacious hall, where also other vehicles were.
"I hope you're feeling better now, Kurt?"
"Yes, a little. Is this the Institute?"
"Of course, but let me show you inside."
They walked into comparatively narrow corridors with metal walls.
"The medical department is on the right, you should get your wounds treated."
“Thank you, I’ll definitely go there. What’s that noise? It sounds like there's some kind of... fight?”
To the left, gunshots, mechanical creaking and other sounds could be heard from the strange door.
“This is training of the new members of the X-Men. If you want, you can meet them...” Xavier stopped, because from Kurt’s even more alarmed face it was clear that he was not yet ready for contact with others.
The blue mutant gasped in fear when he heard people coming out of the Danger Room, and with the permission of the telepath, he hid behind a wheelchair.

"Hello, X-Men. Where's Scott?" - Xavier asked.
“He went with Jean to New York to meet Bobby and the rich guy,” Logan answered and, sniffing the slightly sulfur-smelling air, asked, “Who is this here with us? Is it really the German you flew after?”
"Yes, his name is Kurt Wagner. He has the ability to teleport. But for now he has no desire to contact anyone, so please let him be alone."
“Okay, Professor,” Ororo and Peter answered.
"How was your training?"
"Great. I didn't mess up this time!" - Colossus rejoiced.
“Yes, we worked together much better this time,” Storm added.While Xavier was talking to the recruits, Wolverine used his sense of smell to see a projection of a scared blue guy with pointy ears. What he saw did not surprise him at all, but, on the contrary, seemed something very familiar. He would like to go behind the carriage and look at this elf, but Xavier made it clear that they should leave.
"You can come out, Kurt. They're gone."
Having got out from behind the stroller, the young man sighed with relief.

Xavier led Kurt into the "civilian" building of the Institute, showed the dining room, library, shower, elevator, avoiding meeting other students, allowed him to go into the storeroom, since the young man needed thread and fabric to mend torn clothes, and led the young man to his room.
“If you need to change anything in your room, then tell me. I’ll need to go somewhere for now. Don’t forget to treat the wounds in the medical department.”
"Of course, but for now I just want to be here."
"Of course, I wish you all the best."

Xavier left and drove to the garage. Getting into the car, he dialed the phone number and called:
"Hello, Mister Stark. This is Charles Xavier. I hope the image inducer is ready?"
“Oh, is it you, Charles? I made the inductor a long time ago. Do you want to pick it up?”
“Yes, I’ll come to you in an hour. Where should I go?”
"Go to the Stark Industries building, I'll hand over everything there."

And the professor went to New York. He had long ago ordered a camouflage device from Stark in case a mutant with a pronounced external mutation needed to blend into the crowd. He had the idea of giving the inducer to Hank, who recently suffered a second mutation, but he left for research. He had to take inducer and meet the first class as fast as he can...

Meanwhile, Kurt looked around the room. It was quite spacious and had a by no means poor interior, which is not surprising for a mansion of this kind, and on the left there was an exit to the balcony.

Lost in thought, he began to look at his inhuman body at the mirror, and screams of furious people were louder and louder in his mind:

"This is a devil!"

"You saw his tail? And its... demonic hooves!"

"It has horns, I swear!"

"Don't touch me, disgusting creature!"

"Kill it!"

Every of these screams were accompanied by memories of him getting hit, burned or cut and this torture didn't even seem to end while somewhere in the subconsciousness, despite Kurt's will, an obsessive thought said:

"Why was I born with body like this? For what do I still live?"

He tried to lie down on the bed and collect his thoughts. It would seem that he even managed to fall asleep, but memories of how people were afraid, despised and persecuted him constantly popped up in his head, which is why he woke up in cold sweat and jumped up every several minutes.

After another ghost of the past, Kurt teleported to the floor, grabbing his head with his left hand and the blanket with his right. Paranoia began to get the better of him. It's all too good to be true. There must be some kind of catch here...

And then some metal figure smashed a hole in the wall, and Kurt, screaming in fear, teleported to the balcony. More precisely, he grabbed the bars of the balcony.

Chapter Text

After training, Storm, Colossus and Wolverine went to the living room to hang out and watch TV. More precisely, it was Ororo and Peter who communicated and learned about the wonders of American television while Logan stood on the sidelines.
A blue-eyed African woman with white hair and a large-sized Russian watched TV shows with some interest, came across comedies and dramas of varying levels of quality, and were frightened by horror films of varying degrees of lousiness.
"By, what a horror!" - Peter exclaimed.
"Yeah... And why do people like making horror movies so much?" - Ororo agreed.
And while the credits of the next scary film read “The film is based on real events that happened to Count Eric Wagner in Germany...”, they remembered their possible new comrade.
"Do you think everything's okay with that guy, Ororo?"
“I don’t think so. Since Charles asked not to disturb him, he had good reasons for notifying us about this. But I hope that we can get along with him.”
"Me too."
Ororo and Peter went to the elevator to go up to the second floor to Rasputin's room, as he promised to show his drawings. However, Logan also entered the elevator and walked towards the room where Kurt Wagner settled and where the Professor asked not to enter for now.
Storm shouted to Wolverine, "Logan, what are you doing?"
"I'd like to pay our newbie a visit."
“Xavier asked us not to bother him, since he doesn’t want to contact anyone yet. Apparently, he said this for a reason,” Ororo reproached Logan.
"I understand, but the guy can't hide forever.Is it really impossible to even talk through the wall with an elf?”
"What do you mean?"
And while Storm was trying to stop Wolverine, Colossus inhaled a little of some kind of smoke, from which he sneezed and accidentally took on a metal form, breaking through the wall of the same poor fellow from visiting which the weather goddess was trying to stop Logan.
All that the company (not counting Wolverine) was able to notice was a frightened scream and sulfur-smelling smoke mixed with a bright flash.
“So that’s where the smoke came from!” - Colossus screamed.
"Where did he go?" - Storm was worried.

Chapter Text

Kurt landed on the ground in a panic and jumped in the first window he saw leading to the first floor, ran to the pantry and hid there, wrapped in the blanket he had taken with him. He was shaking all over with fear and begged not to be found.
Logan, smelling the blue guy's location, went into the storage room. Ororo followed him.

"Wolverine, stop! Can't you see he's scared?"

“That’s why we need to get through to him, otherwise the guy will drive himself to his grave!”

"Hey, товарищ! Please forgive me for breaking your wall!" - Peter suddenly interrupted their discussion.

Kurt chose to remain silent, but colossus-like young man still noticed the figure wrapped in a blanket and gently pulled the stranger to his feet.

“Sorry for scaring you. We can take you back,” Ororo began to reassure the young man, “We won’t harm you, I promise. My name is Ororo, this is Peter, and this is Logan."

At the same time she thought: “Why is he so worried? Why is he afraid of us?"

Since the blanket was quite large, the young man was not visible at all, and only a small hole was left near his face for viewing.

“I beg, if only they don’t see anything...” Kurt was thinking, but then Peter accidentally pushed the rack, dropping a couple of things, and out of fear, he jumped to the side, causing the blanket to slide off, exposing part of his face. Not this...

And he would have been paralyzed by horror if excruciating pain had not howled in his head again, in which he grabbed his head with his hand, exposing his fangs. Realizing what he had done, Kurt quickly closed his mouth, biting his tongue, his lip, and the hand with which he was checking the leaking blood and which he was trying to hide along the way. "I urgently need to go to the medical unit..." - he thought and teleported.

The team (with the exception of Logan) didn’t even really have time to understand what happened.

They suddenly saw a face that seemed to blend into the darkness in the pantry. Only the eye, which seemed like an empty yellow sclera without a pupil, and a long fang with bleeding lip underneath were distinguishable.

Then the guy disappeared again in a puff of smoke. But one thing was clear.

"I'll have to agree with you, Logan. We will need to make contact with this young man by force, because otherwise there is no way to help him,” Ororo concluded.

Chapter Text

Xavier arrived at the Stark Industries building. It was an unusually modern-looking skyscraper. Pepper Potts, Tony Stark's employee, immediately greeted him and led him into the building along the handicapped passage.

Xavier found himself in the entrance hall, where Stark was on the sofa, while away the time, discussing with Vakanda's king T'Challa, Captain America and the other Avengers about the activities to find the villains who had escaped from four prisons.

"Hello, Tony Stark."
"Oh, Professor Xavier," Stark greeted him, standing up from the couch and holding out a small white box, "Image Inducer, just as you ordered."
“Thank you. Finally, I can use this development for a good cause. Have you checked the functionality of the device?”
"Everything works perfectly! It's a pleasure doing business with you."
“Thank you for offering me this technology! I am also very glad that you decided to abandon the production of weapons and team up with other heroes to fight threats to humanity. You have changed for the better since our last meeting...”
"Oh, don't flatter..."

“Remind me who this guy is? Isn’t he the head of a school for mutants by any chance? Something was written about it in the newspaper recently!” - Wasp was puzzled.
“This is Charles Xavier, the founder of the Institute for Gifted Teenagers, Janet, to be precise...” Hank Pym corrected her.
“What kind of mutants? I wouldn’t call this man in the wheelchair a mutant,” Thor intervened in their conversation.
Captain America also listened because he remembered something...

"In this context, Thor, mutant means Homo Superior, that is, people who, due to a congenital abnormality in the genome called the X-gene, have supernatural abilities. The X-Gene occurs in one in seven people." - Hank explained to him.

“Then why is this the first time I’ve heard about them?” asked Thor.

"I'm afraid this matter is beyond our jurisdiction, Thor." - Tony answered.

"Unfortunately, the relationship between humans and mutants is an extremely sensitive issue due to discrimination from the former and backlash from the latter, such as Magneto, so it's really hard to intervene in." - Ant-Man explained.

"You're completely right, Henry Pym," Xavier joined the Avengers' conversation, "But I want to change that. I believe that peace can be achieved between mutants and humans."

"I hope it works out for you." - Hank shook Xavier’s hand, “I’ve read your works on mutation, and I sympathize with your views, as well as the position of Henry McCoy. By the way, I hope everything is okay with him? I’ve heard about his second mutation...”

“He is currently conducting another study. I hope his mental state has not worsened since our last consultation...”

"I think I know what you mean, Professor," Captain America chimed in, "During World War II, one of my allies was an extraordinary man named James Howlett. His hands could come out with claws and his wounds would heal on their own. Also I wish you luck in asserting your kind's rights."

Xavier was surprised by what he heard. Of course, he suspected that due to the powerful healing factor, Wolverine could be more than one hundred years old, but for him to fight side by side with Captain America himself...Perhaps they should have organized a meeting: it could help with restoring Logan's memory. He was also happy to hear about the return of Steve Rogers.

"I knew one mutant too. Her name was Ororo." - Black Panther shared his experience, “She had power over the weather. I heard that one tribe in Africa revered her as a goddess, and she gave them rain.”

"Does Midgard really have its own gods? Truly the Earth is full of wonders." - Thor was surprised.

 Xavier's face suddenly darkened, as if sensing something.

"I am pleased to meet you, but I have to leave. I am needed at the Institute." - Xavier ended the conversation with more calm face.

While the professor was being seen off by Pepper Potts, Hank Pym decided to ask Stark something: “Tony, let me ask you: what is the image inducer for?”

“This is a device that allows to apply a holographic projection to a person for camouflage. Xavier ordered it from me a long time ago. Since Xavier needed this device right now, it seems that he took in a mutant whose appearance is very different from a human...”

“Oh, I don’t like this...” - Hank’s heart sank at the thought of how cruel people this poor human being might have had to face...

Chapter Text

Kurt teleported to the medical department. The body ached excruciatingly from head to toe, and all the large and small bruises and cuts seemed to howl. “I should have decided to treat the wounds right away... Everything hurts so much...” Suddenly he heard the steps of others approaching him. From adrenaline, without any signs of fatigue, he ran inside the medical unit, hid under the blanket and prepared for the meeting.

"Kurt Wagner, please listen to us. You need help and we won't hurt you." - Ororo tried to reason with him, simultaneously trying to restrain the radical Logan.

Kurt went deeper and deeper into the room. He urgently needed to treat his wounds, but he could not show himself in their presence. He just couldn't...

Meanwhile, Peter’s heart ached from what was happening. It was he, in fact, who was to blame for this whole situation and he would like to leave Kurt alone, but he could not. Even through the blanket he could feel how wounded the poor fellow was as he lifted him to his feet. All of his shoulders were bruised and scarred, one of his sleeves seemed to be missing, and he could barely stand. It is unlikely that he will be able to help himself on his own.

"Wait, what is this big guy doing?"

Therefore, unexpectedly for everyone, Colossus dragged the guy to the hospital bed, sat him down, and then began to slowly pull off the blanket.

"Sorry, please, товарищ, but you urgently need to be patched up..." Kurt tried to escape, but Peter was still able to pull the blanket off his face.

"Only not this..."

Of course, the X-Men were amazed by what they saw, but not for the reason that Kurt himself thought.Of course, the guy had blue skin, strange circles framing his eyes and pointed ears (they couldn't see his eyes and fangs, since Kurt covered them), but if not creepy, then, at least, strange appearance was nothing compared to how intimidated and wounded the poor guy was. The color of his skin made it hard to tell, but there was a huge bruise on his head, and Kurt himself looked like he was getting ready to be hit.

"Your name is Kurt, right? Can you hear me? We just want to help!"

Kurt tried to crawl closer to the wall, but he was suddenly struck by an excruciating headache, which made his eyes sparkle and made it impossible not to scream.

When he realized that he had opened his eyes and bared his fangs again, his breathing only increased. But suddenly he saw a metal figure, which, it seems, he had already seen...

"And again, I'm sorry for breaking through the wall and scaring you. It hurts me to do this, but I have to continue..."

At first, Kurt felt a little calmer, but he tensed again when this iron colossus began to pull the blanket down to his waist. When Peter got to the hands, Kurt again saw a memory of how a furious woman shouted at him: “Don't touch me with your disgusting hooves, unholy beast!”

In a panic, the blue mutant, leaning on the wall, pushed the colossus with his feet, which, surprisingly, knocked him down. But this only made things worse as Kurt "fell out" from under the blanket, revealing his inhuman digitigrade legs and tail.Shouts of angry people "Demon! Monster! These are the hooves of the devil! Kill him!" were heard louder and louder in his head, and his breathing became faster and faster, until everything suddenly turned calm in Ororo’s arms.

"Kurt Wagner, you are safe. You are not in danger."

"What? You're not afraid of me? You don't consider me disgusting? I'm... I'm...mon..."

"It would be absurd to consider you a threat, because it is absolutely clear that you are the one who is afraid of us."

These words triggered something in Kurt. First, tears rolled down his cheeks, and then the anxiety and fear that had accumulated in him lately poured out into deafening screams, accompanied by continuous shudders of his body.

From his heartbreaking scream, everything in Ororo turned upside down. In this regard, sadness, pain, agony, misunderstanding, despair and horror were heard. However, she didn't allow herself to let Kurt go. No matter how much Kurt squeezed her in a state of nervous breakdown and hurt her back with his hands, she understood: in this situation he was the one who was suffering.

The screams of agony soon gave way to sobs with holding head with hands, and the sobs gave way to surprisingly, considering everything, articulate speech: “Why did these people hate me? What did I do wrong? Why did I have to go through this?”

Peter’s soul also hurt from what was happening: he was scared to even imagine what the guy had to go through. "Here's the poor guy..."

Logan wasn't as surprised by what was happening as the others. On the contrary, it reminded him strongly of something...

And then Kurt passed out.

Chapter Text

Colossus put Kurt on a hospital bed, and then Ororo said with horror:

"I don't even know what to begin with."

To say that Kurt was injured is to say nothing. Despite the fact that a good half of the damage was not visible on the blue skin, all body was in bruises. There also were three deep puncture wounds on the left arm and a big narrowing cut on the right. Upon closer inspection (and when became clear that Kurt was covered in some kind of fur), a couple of burns and a lot of small and deep scratches and cuts and healed and fresh scars were seen. Mouth was all in blood.

Peter could say that Kurt seemed to have been beaten by the crowd, but he was frightened by the fact that, most likely, that was the case.

All body felt really exhausted and weak but even while being unconscious Kurt was shaking until he woke up in cold sweat:

"Where am I? What happened?"

"You had a mental breakdown and then passed out. It's honestly fascinating that you came conscious in condition like that." - Ororo answered.

"I think I won't be able to sleep now. Where are medicines?" - Kurt tried to stand up but failed.

"Don't stand up! You're already so bad!" - Colossus panicked.

"Agree. Couldn't you help me to treat wounds?"  Kurt no longer rustled from every movement in his direction, but he was still quite wary. His voice was hoarse and with strong accent and he tried to keep steady face expression hiding his body every time he had the chance and looking away despite it was not clear where he is looking at.

Then they began patching wounds. Kurt moaned every time when another injury was touched and it was obvious that he had a huge headache, but he still applied a lot of bandages himself. 

Kurt didn't know what to feel. He suspected these people to feel hidden fear and disgust to him but, at least, it was safe to be with them in the same room. The man named Logan who wore strange medalion, however, seemed to look at him with some kind of deja vu and kind of compassion, like he understood Kurt's situation and wanted to talk with him face to face. And there was also another feeling Kurt couldn't understand...

By the end of the process, the “blue demon” looked more like a rag doll, and considerably shabby due to torn sleeves of his shirt and holes in his pants.

“Thank you." - said Kurt wanting others to go away at first but then said, - “I would like to talk.”

Team didn't know what to say, but Pyotr began:

"What happened to you?" 

"I was beaten ... by rageous mob."

"For what?"

"Just because they decided that I am a demon."

"How long is this happening to you? When did your mutate?"

"To be honestly, I look like this all my life."

Team was terrified by thought what this young man has faced. But then Ororo made an offer: 

"Kurt, can I provide you to your room?"

Chapter Text

Ororo decided to provide Kurt to balcony in his room. There was a beautiful night sky partly covered with clouds. She supported Kurt since it was hard to walk for him.

"It is beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yes, I feel calmer like that."

"That's nice to hear. Don't you want to tell me anything? Don't worry, I won't judge you."

"Tell honestly, do you feel disgusted looking at me?"

"No. Why should I feel like that?"

"Don't lie. I look disgusting and it can't be otherwise. Do you feel that, right? How do you honestly see me? You see a vile creature in me, am i right?" - Kurt felt himself terrible looking at his deformed three-fingered hands that were disgustingly huge in comparison with Ororo's neat hands.

"I don't see disgusting creature but I see a poor soul that was told that he is monster for a very long time despite it is not true at all."

Kurt didn't know what to say.

"Don't ever consider yourself as something inhuman. Because even now I see that you are more human than most people I have ever known."

She understood that Kurt needed to hear it much earlier. But it felt that Kurt didn't take her words fully seriously, and she even knew why.

"I suppose that you feel some kind of envy while looking at me, don't you?"

"Yes. Because I suppose you all weren't beaten up by people wanting to kill you. If Xavier hadn't been there, I would have been already dead. I know that it is wrong feeling, but it all just seems so unfair..."

"You have the full right to feel like that. If it calms you, I myself owe my life to Charles. Back in the days when he could walk, Xavier saved me from the King of Shadows, a terrible spirit who tried to use me as his thief...”

"The thief?"

" I became the best thief in Cairo after what happened to me and my parents... They haven't survived..."

"I'm sorry for touching the nerve. I didn't know."

“Don't worry, this isn't your fault. As I have already said, I appreciate humanity you preserved despite all the suffering you have endured. You deserve respect, at least, for that.” - Ororo said, taking Kurt’s hand, which, despite it seemed cumbersome, was very gentle and soft, yet scarred. Kurt, gradually overcoming his worry, took Ororo's hand in return.

"And I would be honored to be on the same team as you."

"Thank you Ororo, I really appreciate it."

"Kurt, товарищ, sorry to interrupt, but can I repair your wall?" - Peter approached them.

"It's okay, we were just finishing up." - Kurt and Ororo said together.

"I also want to give my drawing to apologize for everything that happened today!"

Kurt admired the riot of colors and feelings that the Russian guy put into his painting of sunset.

"Is that good?"

"This is amazing! You are very talented!" - Kurt squatted down to look at it but then understood that his pose wasn't human and than sat on the bed.

"What's wrong, Kurt?" - Ororo was worried.

"Nothing. I just feel awkward when people see that I stand not like human."

"Why is that non-human? I sit like that too!" - said Peter, joining the talk and also squatting down, - "It's actually pretty nice to me that someone else sits like that."

"Well, I meant other things," - said Kurt looking at his legs and striking a more comfortable but inhuman pose on the bed with tail around him, - "Like, honestly, it's more convenient to me to go on all fours sometimes but people don't usually react well at this."

"You have the right to walk how you like! It's obvious that you have unusual legs and there's nothing wrong with that! I'm even interested, do you have any footwear for legs like this? Sorry, it's just too interesting to me!"

"Actually, no, since my legs are digitigrade. I had one pair but these were more socks than boots and I can't wear human footwear without staples." 

"That's so interesting!"

"You don't consider this something gross or... demonic?"

"Of course, it's unusual, but I can say that it looks pretty natural. Actually, I can't understand people that perceived as a demon or monster. You look like a blue shabby cat mixed with mountain goat to. Maybe that's because I am atheist, though...", and then Pyotr added, - " I'm sorry that you have gone through this. You didn't deserve that."

"Thanks for your sympathy."

Then Pyotr talked with Ororo quietly.

"We've got to go now. Can I hug you?"

"I would be gla..."

Kurt even moaned because Peter was hugging him too tight.

"Sorry! I forgot about the wounds! I hope I didn't break anything?"

"Don't worry, I've got a flexible spine. Additionally, my back was aching, and I needed to somehow straighten up. Thanks."

"I also found a cane for you in the pantry!"

Peter and Ororo left the room. Despite being tired, Kurt felt a lot of joy. But then he saw that Logan came in to see him.

"Hello Logan, was there something you wanted to tell me? You weren't very talkative."

"So, how are you, elf?"

"It's better already. Admittedly, no one called me that, but, staying on topic, I think I should thank you."

"Why suddenly?"

“I suppose if you hadn’t decided to pay me a visit, I would still be shaking in horror in my room. In addition, I feel that you understand me like no one else and I'd like to know why."

"Because I know what it's like for you to be treated like an animal." - Logan said, showing off his metal claws. Looking at them, and then at the medallion, which looked more like a dog tag with some kind of number, Kurt realized with horror what Logan was hinting at.

"What and how did this happen to you?"

“You are quick-witted. I don’t know very much. I don’t remember practically anything before I got into the Weapon-X project.”

Weapon-X? Judging by what he saw and heard, some wanted to make a weapon out of Logan. Kurt didn't know what was worse: the fact that Logan was used as a guinea pig, or the fact that he didn't remember anything about his past life after that.

"Thanks for sharing this with me, Logan."

"You're welcome, elf."

"Kurt, Logan, go to the dining room. Ororo and I have prepared a surprise!" - Peter called them.

Chapter Text

Kurt, Logan and Peter walked to the elevator to the first floor. And meanwhile the Colossus was worried about one thought.

“Kurt, I think it’s hard for you to talk about this, but I just can’t understand: if you look like this since birth, where did you live then?”

And it was really hard for Kurt to think about this, but now he understood that he finally needed to speak out.

"I don't mind answering this question, but only when we get there. Okay?"
"Of course..."

When the boys reached the dining room, Ororo met them and led them inside. Inside, there was a tape recorder on the kitchen counter and a deck of cards on the table.

When the team dispersed, Kurt began:
“Remind me, Peter, what was your question?”

"Where did you live if you've looked like this since birth?" - The Colossus already regretted asking this question...

"Kurt, are you sure you want to talk about this? You have every right not to talk until you think you're ready." - Storm was worried.

“Don’t worry, I’m ready. Besides, I need to talk a long time ago,” Kurt was about to start, but Ororo handed him a mug of warm cocoa, “Oh, thank you.”

After drinking half a glass, Kurt began: “So, let’s continue. Like you, I am a mutant, but for me it all started from birth. As far as I know, I was born on the estate of Count Wagner, and because of my appearance, people immediately began to persecute my blood mother, who threw me into a waterfall. I know nothing about her. Soon I was caught from the river by the Romani woman Margali, who raised me as her own son.She was not generous with details about how she found me, and usually simply said that she fished me out of the river that led from the Wagner estate, hence my last name, but since rumors about Count Wagner, who was killed just in time of my birth, had spread throughout Germany, she had nothing to hide. Margali, in turn, worked as a fortune teller in a traveling circus, in which I grew up. Thanks to my good physical abilities, by adolescence I began performing in the circus as a star acrobat under the nickname Nachtkriecher, or Nightcrawler, if to translate." - Kurt paused to gasp for air.

“I hope your life wasn’t too hard...” Ororo became worried, remembering her own past.

“In fact, my childhood and life in the circus were quite happy when I didn't try to think about what awaited me outside the circus. We traveled a lot around Europe, and I saw many interesting places. But around a year and a half ago everything went wrong..." - and now Kurt got to that part of his life that he least wanted to remember.

“A dishonest man named Jardini came to our circus. He wanted to make a freak show out of the circus, in which I was to become his main exhibit. I actually surrendered to him as a prisoner, as he blackmailed me with the lives of my loved ones.It seems that he pumped me up with some kind of drugs, since I remember almost nothing from this period, however, what I still remembered, I would like to quickly forget,” Kurt remembered how he sat in a wooden cage in a freak show, like some kind of animal, which is why he grabbed his head with his hands, “Miraculously, I still managed to escape, which was helped by the ability of teleportation that had awakened in me, but it didn’t end there. Since I had nowhere to go, I tried to sneak into people as secretly as possible in order to at least find food and water. The longer I wandered through the forests and cities, the more people bumped into me and the more rumors about me as the deadly demon began to circulate wherever I went, until I reached Winseldorf. I would have been beaten to death by residents of this village if Xavier had not come..."

Ororo and especially Peter did not even know what to answer, because they were completely horrified by what they heard, and therefore they simply quietly stood up and hugged the poor young man.

“Kurt, since after the loss of the circus you had no place anywhere, the Institute will become your home,” Ororo swore.

"Thank you. I didn’t even realize how long I needed a place where I wasn’t considered something disgusting, deformed, ugly..." Kurt answered and, hugging them back, burst into tears, "because I myself had already begun to believe that there was no place for a freak like me anywhere, but now I remembered that I want to live... Live without self-loathing because of how I look like, with the feeling that someone cares about me... Thank you ..."
These were tears of joy that hit Kurt with all its might.

When the guys finally calmed down, Peter decided to explain what he and Ororo decided to prepare.

"So, Kurt, we realized that you need a warm welcome, so we want to offer you a game of cards with food, drinks and music. Don't worry, I'll definitely finish the wall! How do you like the offer?"
"Sounds attractive. Let's get started!"

Ororo took up the cards, and Peter turned on the tape recorder, and while he was trying to insert the disk, Kurt began to laugh surprisingly loudly.

"Kurt, what's with you?"

“It’s just that the lyrics to the song that is playing now are complete nonsense!”

“Do you understand what is being sung there? What language is this anyway?”

"It's Spanish. It says, 'En la gran ciudad, tú и yo... te quiero comer'. It means: 'In the big city, you and me... I want to eat you'... Honestly, I'm even scared to imagine it!"

“Oh, I understand! I came across a song where it was sung: “And no problem, I'll just eat you!” That song still creeps me out... Wait, how do you know Spanish?”

“Knowledge of other languages is very useful when you spend your whole life travelling all over Europe. I learned French, Italian, and English this way.”

The Colossus was even slightly envious: “Wow, you’re a polyglot! Xavier had to telepathically teach me English, but you already know English!”

“I didn’t know that Xavier could teach other languages with his telepathy. It’s a pity, he doesn’t work as a foreign language teacher, he could make a fortune,” Kurt joked.

“Now, finally, I installed this disc. I hope you like it, Kurt, this music is so, so to speak, warm! I really like this group, it’s called “Kino!”

"I'd be glad to listen."

"I shuffled the cards. Peter, it seems you were offering to play the fool?”

"Great! What are we going to bet on?" Logan suddenly said.

“Logan, can we just play for fun?” - Peter did not like Wolverine’s proposal, since many of his friends were ruined by gambling.

“Come on, it’ll be completely boring!”

“Logan, I’m also not interested in games with bets, and Kurt already moves with great difficulty and is unlikely to be able to do anything on a bet, so try playing for a bet yourself some other time,” Ororo ended the discussion.

“Okay, I agree... What are the rules? Maybe we should play poker after all?”

“Now I’ll explain everything as best I can. Everyone will be given 6 cards from a deck, and the task will be to get rid of all the cards. After the cards are dealt, one of the suits will be trump, that is, it will cover all the others. The one with the most cards left will lose."

After Ororo dealt the cards to everyone and the trump suit (hearts) was decided, Colossus was quite surprised by something.

“Wait, are there really fives in this deck?”

“Pete, is this the first time you’ve seen a five in your life?”

"Yes... Ororo, can you tell me how many cards are in this deck?" - Pyotr was amazed.

"Fifty-four, I checked." - Ororo confirmed.

“Мама, I've bought the wrong deck! I’ve never seen more than thirty-six cards in a deck in my life!”

“Peter, don’t worry so much. It’s just that the standard number of cards in a deck is 54, whereas in Russia where you live, I suppose, a deck of 36 cards is more popular in games,” Kurt explained to him.

“Wait, so we have cards from two to ace of four suits, and then what about the remaining two?”

"These are black and red jokers. Since the trump suit is hearts, the joker which is the trump card will be red."

“Oh, thank you, just this is the first time I’ve seen such a deck!”

And finally they started playing. It was incredibly fun when Kurt swore at his tail which showed his dissatisfaction with the cards he received and when Logan began to flood Peter with cards and he had to take them, and when, because of Ororo, Logan himself turned out to be a “fool,” and the music was very soothing, although there were also some very incendiary tracks.

Kurt’s sharp face had changed a lot compared to the moment of his arrival: it became much more softer and calmer, and his glowing pupiless eyes seemed to be smiling. With every minute, Kurt felt more and more happiness due to the fact that he was convinced that he still had a place in this world.

And the idyll of their company would have continued if not for the boy’s voice asking: “What the... heck?”

Chapter Text

Xavier, alarmed by the signal he received, decided to find the first cast of X-Men, which was in New York at that time.

"Hello, Scott, where are you? I'd like to meet."

"Hello Professor, we are located near Central Park. Where can we drive to?"

"Can we meet at Coney Island?"

"Fine, Professor."

And while Xavier was driving up to Coney Island, in one cafe, from which the song “Living on a prayer” was heard, two young people were having a conversation.

“Damn you, it would seem that the vacation has just begun, and it’s already time for me to go back to Britain!”

“Yeah, I’m sorry, although I’m running out of it too. I hope we’ll see each other again sometime, Pete.”

"I hope so too. I quite like you, Chris."

After drinking a mug of coffee, they went to their apartments, but “Chris” came across someone whom he would not have expected to see with his own eyes in such an ordinary setting - Warren Worthington III, the heir of a large American company. 

Warren at this time was talking with Bobby, who had already prepared a couple of jokes that he wanted to show to the newcomers upon returning to the Institute, Jean and Scott, to whom Xavier had already approached by this time.

"Hello students, I hope your meeting went well? Did I disturb you?"

“Not at all, everything went great!” Warren responded to Xavier as he approached them. “It was nice to meet again after a short break, and we would like to meet the newcomers you decided to join our team.”

“Yeah, I especially want to make fun of them!” - Drake added.

"You'll find time for it, Bobby, but right now there might be some help needed there."I felt a powerful emotional surge from the Institute, and perhaps one of our newcomers is now very bad. So I ask you not to go to the second floor to the room facing the sea. Jean, can I see you for a minute?"

"Of course, Professor."

Stepping aside, Xavier continued: “I believe the last of the new students, Kurt Wagner, suffered a psychological shock. He suffered terrible persecution because of his pronounced mutation and would have been killed the day before if not for my intervention. His mental state is one of the most disastrous I have encountered, and is also extremely unstable, so in the worst circumstances I may need your help."

"Of course, Professor, I will do whatever it takes."

The same “Chris”, who was standing nearby, listened to this conversation with some interest. He had heard a lot about mutants and Charles Xavier, and for some reason this topic was not an empty phrase for him. And just at the moment when he finally decided to go to the apartment to get ready to return to Germany, the wind, as if fulfilling the will of fate, brought a familiar name to his ear...

“Professor, can I sit in your car? I don’t want to share a car with Scott, he’s so moody like someone played black metal on his nerves!” Drake asked.

“Of course, Bobby, but try to be tactful from now on. Warren, would you like to come with us?"

"I don't mind. Let's go!"

And while Jean and Scott got into his car, and Bobby and Warren sat down with Xavier, the professor himself felt some kind of nagging feeling of guilt emanating from a young man with brown hair in a raincoat walking away down the street. But for now, Charles had another priority.

While the original X-Men were traveling to the Institute with their professor, Xavier received a call.

"Hello, you are Charles Xavier, founder of the Institute for Gifted Youngsters, right?"

"Hello, you're right. What do you want?"

"I know my question sounds a little absurd, but could you arrange a meeting for me with Kurt Wagner?"

Xavier was a bit shocked. "How do you know him? What do you need from him?"

“Kurt Wagner was once my friend, but then I treated him extremely unfairly. I want to apologize to him, and I think I won’t have any other chance than now.”

Xavier realized that this was the same young man whom he had noticed before leaving, but something still bothered him: “I'm afraid his condition is too severe for him to be able to contact anyone. He has been through a lot...”

“Believe me, I understand this like no one else. I generally doubted that he was still alive. I will fulfill any of your conditions, you can erase everything that is necessary from my memory, but please let me see him...”

"Okay, drive up to the Institute. I'll let you know if Kurt is ready to make contact."

"You have no idea how grateful I am to you."

While Xavier was on the phone, Bobby and Warren were discussing their latest pastime.

“Oh, Warren, you were right when you suggested not going to that film! It’s so mediocre!”

“Are you talking about that horror movie about the German count? Since the film is forgotten within an hour!”

“Yeah! Luckily, at least everything looked more or less normal!”

"The only good thing about this movie is that I am aware of the rumors it's based on!"

"What are these rumors?"

"At one time, I heard them from meetings of the elite from different countries. The German Count... Eric... or Christian... Wagner was very rich and well-known among high society, but soon after he married a certain... Darkhelme, or something... and conceived a child with her, he was found dead. The circumstances of his death are unknown. According to one version, his new wife gave birth to a blue demon instead of a child, and the Count, seeing this, died of horror, and the mother with the demon were killed. According to another version, the count was killed by his wife before the birth of the demonic child, and she herself took on a devilish form during childbirth, and these two demons were still killed. This story, as far as I know, is a very popular horror tale in Germany. I still lean towards the second version in its more realistic version. I think that woman simply got married for convenience and killed the count to obtain his fortune, and the story of the birth of the devil is an exaggeration of the superstitious people who lived in the area."

“Damn you, you even told it more interestingly than in that film! Although it’s funny to learn about rumors about a demon from an angel!”

"Hmm, yeah..."

Finally, the first X-Men arrived at the Institute.

"I can finally get rid of my fetter!" - Warren rejoiced, taking off his cloak and freeing his wings.

Meanwhile, Bobby entered the Institute in order to find newcomers in the living room or in the corridors, because on the first floor it was not forbidden to go anywhere. So he entered the dining room and was about to yell for fun, as he had tried in other rooms, but then a strange picture appeared before him. Sitting at the table and playing cards were a big guy with a hand the size of Bobby's own body, a guy with sideburns (I guess this was the same Wolverine that Scott was complaining about), a white-haired and blue-eyed African woman and... a blue devil? Moreover, most of these guys looked very shabby...

Naturally, Bobby asked: "What the... heck?"

The company was alerted by a sudden voice from the door, and they turned to Bobby, not without a feeling of awkwardness.

"What's going on here?" - Bobby even prepared to attack, because what if the newcomers are trying not to lose their souls to the devil? After all his adventures as an X-Man, he wouldn't be surprised...

The “Devil” jumped out from the table in fright and pressed himself against the extreme wall, while Ororo and Peter blocked the passage to Kurt.

“What are you up to, young man?”

"Who's that blue guy over there? What's he doing here?"

Logan has released his claws.

"He's definitely not the enemy. Between the two of you, he's the one who sees you as a threat, not the other way around." - Ororo answered.

“Yes, this poor fellow’s already beaten up!” - Piotr supported.

Seeing how the blue devil, all covered with some kind of bandages, looked at him in fear, Bobby realized that this guy did not pose any danger: “Okay, I believe you, I’m sorry, I strained in vain!”

"Logan, is this Bobby?" - Peter suddenly decided to ask Wolverine.

"Yeah."

“Listen, why does he have a name like a dog?”

"Excuse me, what?" - Bobby was outraged by such impudence.

“It’s just that we call dogs Бобик in Russia, it’s somehow strange for me to call you that...”

“Firstly, it’s a nickname. Secondly, it’s not Bobik, but Bobby. Thirdly...What the hell?"

While Pyotr Rasputin and Robert “Bobby” Drake were dealing with the cultural contradiction, and Kurt, discouraged by this situation, decided to drink water, Warren entered the dining room: “Why are you shouting here?”

Kurt rubbed his eyes with water and said, "Ororo, please pinch me."

Having experienced considerable pain even from a small pinch, he sighed with relief: “Phew, I don’t imagine him, and this is not my dying hallucination...”

"Kurt, don't scare us like that! You can barely stand!” exclaimed Peter.

“I must admit, for the first time I was mistaken for a guide to the next world...” Warren was surprised, “Wait, what’s going on here?”

The situation was awkward to say the least, especially when Scott, Jean and Xavier walked into the dining room.

“What happened here while I was away?” Xavier asked, not without some indignation. “I felt a powerful emotional surge. I hope nothing bad happened?"

“Except for a broken wall, one nervous breakdown and fainting, everything was quite civilized,” Wolverine immediately answered.

“Thank you, Logan,” Kurt, Ororo, and Peter cut off.

While Ororo explained the situation to Xavier, Kurt adjusted one of the bandages, and Warren decided to get to know this unusual young man better.

"Sorry if we made you tense."

"No problem." 

The guy was groaning in pain, adjusting the bandage on the puncture wound on his arm, and he was all in bandages and looked very exhausted. It was surprising that he was still conscious. The guy with the appearance of a blue-skinned demon had sharp facial features and dark straight hair hanging down the sides of his head, his voice was pleasant to the ear with a strong German accent, and his clothes were very tattered. Surprisingly, this guy was very similar to the very demon about which he had told Bobby rumors just recently.

"My name is Warren Worthington, but just call me Warren. What's your name?"

"Kurt. Kurt Wagner."

And then Warren found himself in shock, just like Bobby, who was drinking water at that moment, who choked and froze half of the face of Peter, who was sitting next to him, with the water he spat out. 

“What surprised you so much that you spat water at me?”

“It’s just that Warren was just telling me an hour ago rumors about the rich man Wagner from Germany whose wife killed him and gave birth to a blue devil...”

“But I couldn’t even think that there was even a grain of truth in these rumors.”

"Unfortunately for me, rumors about the case of Count Wagner did not arise out of nowhere."

Kurt didn't like to think about those rumors. Because of their prevalence, he at one time regularly came across all sorts of tales and stories about a blue monster terrorizing people at night, because of which his self-loathing, which arose from the understanding that no one would be happy with him outside the circus, as was shown by the incident with a friend from childhood, only grew stronger. Moreover, it was probably because of these rumors that people searched and pursued him so eagerly when they heard from eyewitnesses about how they saw the blue demon.

The entire first team was slightly horrified by Kurt’s condition, with whom something clearly happened that they didn’t want to know about. They got along pretty well with the rest of the newcomers. Jean and Ororo, who had already crossed paths before first cast's trip, became especially close. 

Xavier, meanwhile, noticed that Kurt's psychological state had improved significantly during his trip.The anxiety and pain that reigned in his head, although not completely, were replaced by calm and even joy, and this was visible even without telepathic analysis. Kurt began to move much less stiffly, and peace was visible in his softened face, although it was somewhat disturbed by the fact that Warren, without knowing it, touched upon his sore subject. However, Kurt again became calmer around the other newcomers. It was a good sign.

And then Xavier got a call again:

"Hello, Professor Xavier, I've arrived. Will Kurt be able to come to the meeting?"

"Hang on a little, please."

He turned to Kurt, "Kurt, I'm sorry to interrupt. Can we go out for a while?"

"Of course, Professor."

"Great! Kurt, you go while I fix the wall!" - Colossus suddenly exclaimed and went into the pantry. 

Bobby didn't understand at first: "Wait, which wall?"

Peter replied: “I just accidentally broke the wall in Kurt’s room.”

"Oh, right."

Xavier and Kurt meanwhile walked down the corridor.

"Kurt, would you mind meeting someone? I'll make sure you don't get hurt."

"Who exactly, Professor?"

"I'm guessing it's someone you know and he wants to talk to you."

"You have interested me, I agree."

Kurt was puzzled. Who of those who knew him could come here, especially here, since he arrived in America less than a day ago? Fortunately, he does not have to worry that this someone will harm him: the professor will not let anyone to do it.

Xavier at this time answered the mysterious guest:

"Kurt agrees to meet. Wait at the gate."

"Thank you, professor Xavier."

The gate opened, Kurt walked through the courtyard near the fountain, and a young man with brown hair and blue eyes, dressed in a leather cloak and gloves, appeared in front of him. Suddenly this young man, from whose shocked eyes tears began to flow, said:

"Kurt...?"

And then Kurt’s eyes widened in realization of who was standing in front of him.

"Christian...?"

Christian was his only friend outside the circus. One day Christian came with a black eye and said that his father had beaten him for being friends with him, and that he could not be friends with a demon, and after that they never saw each other again. For Kurt, this day was the first major blow in life, after which he realized that there was no place for him in the big world, and this trauma reverberated in his soul all his life...

At the present time, Christian could not find a place for himself: he was shaking, tears did not stop flowing from his eyes, and the expression on his face, no matter how hard he tried to remain calm, screamed about the feeling of guilt that he felt, looking at all the wounds of his friend.

In a shaking voice, covering tears with a hand, he began to say: "Kurt, forgive me... I heard about the Jardini's freak show... I shouldn't have abandoned you as a child... Because it's clear that my black eye from my father back then was nothing compared to how you were tortured in the circus and how people beat you to death just for being not like them... I was a fool rejecting you... I've failed you..."

Kurt came closer and answered:

"I have never blamed you for that. Your life was threatened by your father and you just wanted to be safe. But if you wanted to apologize, you did it in the best possible way."

The friends hugged each other with tears in their eyes, and Christian continued to speak out:

"I'm sorry you had to go through all this... I should have found you sooner... I'm so glad you're still alive..."

“Christian, if you continue in this vein, then I will begin to think that I have already died and gone to heaven, and you are the angel of tears Cassiel...”

"Since when do you know so much about angels?"

“Before Jardini came, I did a lot of things out of boredom. I’m more interested in how you knew I was here?”

“I was here on vacation, and when I was about to go pack my things, I came across Xavier with his, I guess, students. I was interested in the topic of the relationship between mutants and people after I found out what happened to you, so I recognized them and, after eavesdropping a little, I accidentally heard your name. It seems that fate itself wanted us to meet.”

“I’m glad to meet you again knowing that you've accepted me. By the way, what time is your flight?”

Christian looked at his watch and answered: “In three and a half hours... For God’s sake, I haven’t even packed my things yet! Although...”

“No, you should go, you, at least, need to get to the airport in time. Just give me your phone number so I could call you. You can at least write it down on my sleeve, there's almost nothing anyway!” - Kurt said, holding out his left hand, on which the sleeve was torn to the elbow.

"Okay," Christian replied, taking out a pen to write down his phone number for Kurt, "Looks like you've been recruited into the X-Men?"

"Yes."

"I have heard about their accomplishments. Keep in mind, they are engaged in dangerous work."

“I realized a long time ago that I will never live normally. But now there will be meaning in the madness of my life, and this is all that matters.”

"Good luck with it... Take care of yourself."

"Good luck to you too..."

Christian got into the car and drove very quickly towards New York.

"...at least to get to the airport on time."

Chapter Text

Kurt returned to the Institute building, where Xavier was waiting for him. 

“Looks like your meeting went well?”

“It couldn’t have been better.”

"Oh Kurt, hi, I fixed your wall!" - exclaimed the Colossus, who had just descended to the first floor.

"Great... What's that noise?"

Meanwhile, Drake tried to give girls absurdly large split-toe high heels.

“Bobby, don’t you have anything better to do?” — Jean was restrained, but indignant.

“Come on, try it on!” - Bobby answered.

"They're not even my size, are you kidding me?"

“But there was no other option, they are so fashionable, it turns out! Or at least let Ororo try!”

“Bobby, this is not funny at all!”

“Actually, I need them. Can I have them? - Ororo suddenly intervened.

While Xavier went to see Cyclops, Ororo walked up to Kurt and Peter.

"Kurt, excuse me, could you try on a pair of shoes?"

“I'm not sure they'll fit me. Have I already mentioned that I don’t have the best relationship with human footwear?”

"I think they'll fit you."

And they fitted. Kurt couldn't even believe his eyes at first, constantly bending his legs one at a time to check if they would tear, especially since he was very comfortable in them and didn't need staples to fix his legs in the correct position.

“You know, wearing shoes is such a strange feeling...”

“Dude, haven’t you ever worn shoes before?” Bobby shouted as he walked out of the dining room.

“Well, without any tricks, yes... Have you tried to find shoes for such feet?” Kurt replied, taking off his shoes and showing off his two-toed feet that walked on their toes.- “Speaking of shoes, do you have braces?”

“Which ones exactly? For construction? “Have you decided to organize reconstruction because of the destroyed wall?”

“No, I mean ice-climbing braces to keep your foot securely in place... Damn, I completely forgot... Just an FYI, I need to find a leg bandage and something to make socks out of...”

“Hmm, it will be difficult to wear anything with legs like that...”

“But now it’s clear who might need such shoes,” Warren intervened in the conversation, slightly joking.

Meanwhile, the German song “Pimmelman” started playing on the tape recorder, from which the disc had already been taken out, and Kurt laughed again.

"Kurt, what's in the text this time?" - Colossus asked shrewdly.

“Believe me, it’s better for you not to know about this!”

"What's happened? It’s just an ordinary song!” - Bobby asked incomprehensibly.

“I’m afraid it will be too indecent for me to explain this...”

“Yes, just “Pimmelman” means “Dick-Man”, what’s wrong with that?” “Logan waved his hand sharply over his shoulder in the dining room.

“Why did you say that? What is it being sung about then?” - answered Bobby, who could no longer perceive this song the same way as before.

“Oh, bub, I can translate more!”

“Logan, at least you tried to pretend that everything was okay!” - Scott blurted out irritably.

"It's none of your business what I say, Summers!"

"Calm down, both of you!" - Jean reassured them.

“What kind of cat ran between them?” Kurt whispered to the rest of the team. 

Peter replied, "As far as I'm concerned, Jean and Scott are a couple, but Logan is also interested in Jean and Scott is jealous of her."

"Got it, thank you."

“So, Professor, where am I?” - Cyclops continued.

"You were talking about the Whirlwind chase you saw in New York."

“Yes, that's right. If only because of him and other mutants who escaped from the “Big House”, MRD did not begin a more aggressive fight against mutants..."

“I share your concerns, Scott. With recent events and the criminal activities of mutants using their abilities for evil purposes, the government's relationship with mutants could become very tense."

“Yeah, something crazy has been going on lately!” Bobby intervened. — “Either about a hundred supervillains escaped from three prisons at the same time, or because of some graviton, New York almost flew into the air, and then Captain America returned alive! I’m actually keeping quiet about the events on Gamma World last week!”

“Correction, Bobby: there are four prisons,” Scott replied.

“Sorry, but could you tell me more? Especially about Captain America: didn’t he die in 1945?” - Kurt asked with such a questioning expression on his face, as if Shakespeare was being read to him in Chinese. 

Everyone turned sharply in his direction.

“Do you have problems understanding English? Everyone knows about it!” - Bobby asked incomprehensibly.

“I think even if you said it in German, I wouldn’t understand much…”

“You don’t even know about the Gamma World? Even my grandmother in Siberia knows about it...” asked Colossus with obvious concern.

"Nein..." Kurt replied, clutching his head in his hand, his eyes widening even more and his face showing even more confusion. - “What happened during these one and a half years?”

"Dude, where have you been since you don’t know anything? In the forest with the bears?”

“No, but very close, namely, somewhere between a rock and a hard place. More precisely, between firearms and pitchforks. To put it mildly, I haven't had a chance to follow the news," Kurt replied not, looking at his bandaged hands.

"Oh my God... Well, what the hell...

However, here the entire original X-Men cast was in shock.

“Does anyone have a newspaper with news of the latest events?”

“You should have asked for the radio! Don’t tell me you’ve never used the Internet!”

“I know about the Internet, but I rarely had access to it. It’s difficult to provide Wi-Fi in a traveling circus...”

"Even better..."

Everyone decided to sit down at the table because, as the famous saying goes, they didn’t want to fall down later.

“I, of course, understood that the world continued to live its normal life while I was being persecuted, but so much happened...”

“Don't worry, Kurt. I also didn’t understand a lot when I first arrived at the Institute,” Peter tried to cheer up Kurt. “For example, I didn’t know anything about Captain America. That is, I heard about it, but I didn’t understand what was so special about it...”

“Professor, where do you get these people from?” — Bobby was amazed.- “Hmm, with this composition you can’t attack Magneto: one has metal bones, the second has the ability to turn into metal, and the third is not the case when he at least won’t die in the near future in this state...”

Logan, Peter, and Ororo began to look at Bobby with varying degrees of indignation on their faces, but Kurt asked with interest, "Who is Magneto?"

“You could say he is Xavier’s longtime friend and ideological enemy; he wants mutant domination over humanity.”

"Let me take a guess: he controls magnetism?"

"Yeah."

"I understand..."

Warren chimed in, “Listen, Kurt, since you're going to need a whole week to recover, you can relax soon. As a last resort, you can call me."

“Thank you, but I hope to start training as soon as possible. By the way, can I go outside?”

"Certainly."

Kurt walked to the elevator and climbed to the very top of the Institute, then climbed over the wall onto the roof and began to admire the sunrise and breathe in the fresh air, while thinking about how much he still had to catch up on.

Chapter Text

Soon Cyclops came upstairs to Kurt.

"Kurt, how are you here?... How did you get up there?" - Scott exclaimed in surprise when he saw the newcomer on the roof.

"Climbed?" - answered Kurt, who was already going down the wall.

"Wall climbing? Not bad..."

"Is there something you wanted to tell me, Scott Summers?" Kurt had already been told about Cyclops as the leader of the X-Men team.

"You can contact me as you..."

Kurt was interested.

"Glad to see you at the Institute. I hope you find yourself in the X-Men." - Scott said surprisingly warmly, placing his hand on Kurt's shoulder.

Cyclops couldn't help but see himself in this guy, at least to some extent. Like him, Scott was once afraid and did not find a place for himself with his mutation. Scott had nowhere to go but to Xavier, and neither did Kurt Wagner. While Scott can lead a normal life with special glasses to block the rays, Kurt seems to have virtually no way of living without facing prejudice from others because of his appearance. He simply has no other choice but to fight for his right to live, and therefore, the X-Men will probably become, and perhaps have already become, the meaning of life for him. Scott hoped that the Institute would become the home for Kurt that it had become for himself, and he wanted to do everything in his power to make it so.

"Thank you, Scott. I really appreciate your hospitality." - Kurt answered, again feeling warm in his soul from the fact that someone understands what he is like, because, judging by what Xavier said, Scott also had nowhere to go due to uncontrolled optical rays.

"Should I walk you to your room?"

“I’ll get there myself, but thanks for the offer."

Kurt reached his room, where, in turn, Angel was waiting for him.

"Hey Kurt. I must say, Peter did a good job repairing your wall."

The wall was actually well finished, although it may have helped that when the Colossus broke through the wall, it didn't leave behind any dust or small pieces.

"Yes, he got it done quickly."

“By the way, Kurt, maybe I can tell you where to throw these clothes? Otherwise I’m afraid they're no good anymore!”

"Actually, I was thinking about fixing it." Kurt replied, sitting down on the bed and pointing to the sewing box with other supplies.

"Why not just throw it away?"

“I need something to do while I recover, sewing is relaxing. Besides..." - Kurt's face, looking at the clothes torn in persecution, began to express a certain determination, - "I need a reminder of why I am here and what I am fighting for."

"Then I understand... It’s good for you to rest if you decide to go to bed!”

“I’m just about to!”

"Then I'll go!"

Warren left, and when Kurt was about to go to bed, Xavier came in to see him.

"Sorry Kurt, can I disturb you?"

"Of course, what did you want?"

"I want to show you something." - Xavier replied, holding out a small open white box containing some kind of oblong device.

"What is this?" - Kurt asked, taking the device in his hand.

"Try to activate it."

Kurt pressed the button and suddenly took on the appearance of a light-skinned young man with blue-black eyes and hair. Looking in the mirror, Kurt saw the very appearance in which he imagined what he would look like as an ordinary person.But since he could still feel his three-fingered hands, apparently it was some kind of trick of the light created by the device.

"Is this some kind of holographic device?"

"Yes, it's an image inducer. I ordered it from Tony Stark a long time ago in case any of the students with a bright external mutation need to merge with other people. I hope you find it useful."

"Thank you, Professor," Kurt replied, turning off the inductor and placing it on the table, "I'll use it wisely, but hopefully I won't have to resort to using it too often."

The professor considered Kurt's reaction to the inductor given to him as a good omen. Xavier would not have condemned Kurt for abusing the device after what he had experienced, but the fact that Kurt had resisted the temptation to take on a "normal" appearance meant that Kurt no longer perceived himself as some kind of inhuman or vile creature undeserving of human treatment, as it was when they first met.

“I should have told you this earlier... Thank you. Back then I was in the alley, I was scared that I was going to die and thought that I couldn’t hope for anything better, that I was a freak who had no place in this world, but now... I have a place that I can call home, people I want to take care of and who will take care of me too, and the understanding that my mutation is not my curse and that I have the right to happiness, no matter how I look... And for that I will be forever grateful to you, right up to my last days...” Kurt spoke with tears in his eyes, but then these tears were replaced by the fire of determination, “But most importantly, you gave me a future, you gave me a purpose... purpose to live. I want to fight not only for myself, but also so that no one goes through the same thing that I had to face. I want to become the hero that you became for me and that I have long dreamed of becoming. So now my answer to your proposal is firm: I want to become your student and join the X-Men.”

"I'm glad to hear that. As a X-Man, what code name do you want?"

Kurt responded in less than a second: "My code name will be Nightcrawler."