Panther - A Nightcrawler Fanfiction

39) Old Wounds

Emery sat down in the kitchen Sunday morning. She'd never made it through an entire week of classes here at the Institute before. Now that she had, she realized how much work it was.

"Emery," someone said pulling out a chair at the table.

She didn't have to look up to know it was Chet. Shit, her defenses had been down. "What do you want, Chet?" she asked sliding her chair back as he sat down.

"I want you to stop avoiding me."

"I'm not avoiding you right now am I?" she snapped.

Chet sighed. "We used to be best friends. Hell, we used to be lovers. And now you won't even pass me by in the hallway."

Emery just stared at him, her food sitting on the table, and her feet up on the chair.

"Please Emery, I'm trying to fix things," he begged.

Emery didn't respond to him.

"I want my Em back."

"Your 'Em' is dead." Emery stood up.

"As long as I'm your last fuck, you're still mine," Chet taunted.

 "I don't know what I ever saw in you," Emery hissed and whirled out of the room.

"Emery!" Chet shouted behind her, but she was already gone.

She didn't want to be with Chet. She didn't want to be in a relationship with him, nor did she want to sleep with him whenever either one of them got the urge to. That 'Em' was dead as far as she was concerned. Chet used to be nice. He used to be a really great guy, but ever since the day he betrayed her trust... he's been different. Emery was different too. And this 'Em' wanted someone who wouldn't betray her. The fur on the tail stood on end as the purple sparks popped away from her body. She was peeved, nearly pissed off at the implied idea that she would be that Em again, but she was focused on finding the one thing that would calm her down.

She walked until she found herself outside of Kurt's room. She barged in, slamming the door behind her. 

Kurt startled, propping himself up on his elbows. He'd been trying to sleep in, on the one day a week he could actually do that.

Emery didn't stop walking towards him. The purple sparks went out the instant they hit something. They were harmless but did not appear to be.

"Em... Emery," Kurt stuttered, surprised at finding her in his room and sparking at that.

She climbed onto the bed and in one smooth movement lifted her leg over Kurt and seated herself in his lap. Her hands rested on his chest, bristling the fur there. He blushed, immediately overly-aware that he slept in just his boxers.

"Emery what..."

She crashed her lips onto his, effectively cutting off his question.

Kurt found that he was okay with this. His right hand reached up to her head, his fingers finding the spots behind her cat ears and rubbing little circles. He knew she would start purring if he did so long enough. Emery tilted her head back slightly, causing her lips to disconnect from his. He could feel her breath on his lips as the purrs escaped her.

"What has gotten into you," he whispered softly. She hardly ever initiated the kisses that they shared.

"Chet."

Kurt froze.

"Chet," he said flatly. "What does Chet have to do with this?" he almost growled.

Emery sat back, eyes downcast. "I don't want to be that girl anymore," she whispered softly. "I don't want..." her voice dropped out. Tears formed in her eyes. Kurt sat up fully, pulling her into a hug. She buried her face in his neck.

"What did he say to you?"

Images of Chet earlier flashed through Kurt's mind. He jolted when he realized what Emery had wanted to do to try and erase her past with Chet.

"Em," Kurt said softly. "I don't think you're going about it the right way."

She pushed him away and rolled off him onto the floor, where she landed sitting against the bed. She drew her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms around them, and her tail curled around her ankles.

As long as I'm your last fuck, you're still mine.

The words kept floating around her brain. It was a simple fix; at least, she thought it was. Sleep with Kurt, and the next time Chet challenged her like that, she could shoot him down and crush his hopes of her belonging to him. And the sooner she could crush those hopes, the sooner he could move on with his life: exactly like she wanted to do with hers. Wasn't that a win-win situation? Emery got Kurt, and Chet could move on.

The floor beneath her began to stain with plasma, spinning and spiraling plasma into a portal. She yelped as she fell through it.

"Emery!" Kurt rolled to look over the edge of the bed, but the portal was almost closed. Kurt groaned. Couldn't they have a normal day? Just one blasted uneventful day? He sprung out of bed, wiggled into a pair of pants, and yanked on a shirt. Then he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

~

Wolverine sat in a chair outside the special jail cell holding Marcus Preed.

"So Bub, you gunna tell me why you kidnapped the little kitten?"

Marcus laughed bitterly.

"Look, I can dice you," he let his claws out with a metallic chime. "And I wouldn't think twice about it."

"Oh but you'd never get the answers you wanted then now would you, Logan."

Logan growled and slammed his arm against the bars to scare Marcus, but Marcus only laughed.

~

"Emery fell through another portal of hers," Kurt told the Professor. "I don't know if she did it on purpose or not, but she... she yelped when she fell. I don't think she was expecting it."

"Are you sure, Kurt?" the Professor asked.

"Yes," he closed his eyes, pulling the memory of the portal to his brain. The Professor took the invitation and peaked into Kurt's brain.

"Well, that is definitely a portal, but I do not believe that it is of Emery's making."

"You don't?"

"Emery tends to favor a purple color. That portal was red."

~

Marcus looked through the bars at Wolverine.

"I needed a pawn," he smirked. "And she was just wide open: all the pain inside of her, the insecurities, and the fear. I've been inside her brain: every nook and cranny of it. I know all of her secrets, and I've felt all of her emotions. I know that girl better than any of you x-men," he sneered.

Wolverine frowned at him. "What are you talking about? What did you need her for?" he growled.

Marcus sighed and backed up.

"I needed her to kill Sabertooth. My powers are aging rapidly within this body. This body is... old. It will crumble soon. But hers... her powers could change fate, could change the world."

Wolverine growled at the mention of Sabertooth. "I've been fighting that beast for years. That's my fight."

"No," Marcus growled, furious. "She was my love first! She was to have my child! You have no right avenging her!"

"She's not the only one that needs avenging through the death of Sabertooth, Bub." Wolverine turned and walked away.

"This is my purpose! Not yours!" Marcus screamed after Logan. Logan never turned around.

~

Emery landed in a place that was pitch black. Nothing. She cast her mind out and found nothing but one speck of resistance. No one had such a small signature, or such a high resistance: not Jean, not Marcus, and not the Professor. Only one person held a more powerful mind than her own.

"Hello, Emery," a voice floated out of the darkness. "Remember me?"

Emery looked up in fear at the figure in the dark.