Panther - A Nightcrawler Fanfiction

33) Heartache is a Lonely Road

[Author's Note: I had someone ask me what Panther's ears and tail have to do with her powers. My response is this: What do Kurt's blue skin, tail, and other abnormal features have to do with his power of teleportation. Nothing. It's for story purposes. Please remember to keep an open mind. A closed mind is no fun to have or to have around. Thank you.

{5.20.2013} Edited through and corrected errors that I found

X-men Characters in this chapter: Multiple (Jamie), Wolverine (Logan), and Nightcrawler (Kurt)

StormFireGirl's OC: Bio-Hazard(A.J.)

OCs: the Shadow (Marcus), Chet, RandomCarDude, and Panther (Emery).]

Emery kept walking until she found a road with cars passing by. She used her mind to convince a driver that he wanted to pull over and see her more closely. She then used her powers to knock him unconscious and put him in the backseat of the car.

She wasn't utterly heartless.

She took the driver's seat and programmed the GPS in the car to Chet's home address. It told her the trip would take about two hours. That was fine by her.

~

Kurt had returned to the vehicle empty handed and sullen.

"Where's the kitten?" Wolverine asked from the driver's seat.

"Gone."

"What do you mean gone?" Wolverine asked with a slight growl to his voice.

"I mean, she's gone. She walked away and might never come back."

'Shit,' Wolverine thought. 'The Professor ain't going to be happy to hear this bit of news.'

They drove back to the mansion in silence. Multiple and Bio-hazard watching Marcus. Sure enough, Emery's restraints had faded away. It was a good thing they had tied him up with rope too. Wolverine didn't speed for once, and Nightcrawler just stared solemnly out the window. They had completed their mission. Emery was free. But they hadn't accounted for the possibility that Emery didn't want to go back to the mansion. A.J. had been right, Kurt realized, as an emotional pain shot through him. Emery hadn't needed to be rescued. She hadn't wanted to be rescued.

They arrived back at their home two hours and fifteen minutes later. Logan heaved Marcus over his shoulder and said he was heading off to see the Professor. A.J. and Jamie climbed out of the car after Kurt, unsure of what to say since there wasn't anything they could do. A.J. took Kurt's hand to get his attention.

"She'll come back," A.J. told him. Kurt just stared at her blankly. "She will," she insisted before letting Jamie coax her away and into the mansion.

"Ich bin mir nicht sicher," he whispered to himself before teleporting to his bedroom.

~

Emery parked the car in the school parking lot. The guy would wake up later to find himself fine, and all of his possessions still there.

Emery headed off in the direction of Chet's house. It was about a ten minute walk from their old high school, and she had walked there enough times to have the path memorized. It was even ingrained into her muscle memory; she didn't need to think much about where she was headed.

His house was white panels, with a grey tin roof. The flower beds held a multitude of colorful blossoms. Emery walked around back and cast her mind up into Chet's bedroom.

'Die, die, die, die, die, die, die,' she heard Chet's mind. So he was playing video games. She figured he would still be at home. She climbed up the tree in the backyard. This is how she'd snuck into Chet's room in high school. She was at Chet's window within a minute, her powers aiding the movements of her hands and feet through their familiar processes. She eased the window open and gracefully swung herself into the room, landing in a crouch with a soft thump. Chet looked up in surprise as she rose to a standing position.