Aurora

Part 12

The funeral was small, with only a group of Kurt's closest friends attending along with the X-Men. A catholic priest read passages from the bible, and some psalms; there was music, but not a lot. She hadn't known that he was religious. She hadn't known a lot about him. Neither did he about her yet he was still so selfless to save her life in trade for his own.

It rained for days after the service, but she wasn't sure if it was just Ororo's way of dealing with the loss. The whole institute seemed as though it was mourning his death. No one had been in his room since that day. It must have been dark anyway, the hole in the window had been boarded up to stave off the elements.

Aurora thought a lot that week. She didn't speak to many people and just followed the motions of her daily requirements, returning to her room to cry and sleep; but even that didn't help, for even her dreams were filled with him.

She'd noticed a plaque being mounted on the wall of the lobby entrance, which had an inscription of his name, code-name, his lifespan, and a small passage about him. It was placed where everyone would see it, next to the plaque of another named John Proudstar, aka Thunderbird.

Every day, Kitty came to her room to bring her down for meals, and every day she barely ate a thing. She missed Kurt, and she hoped that his faith had been true to him, so that he would be in a better place, with her parents. Why was it that people just seemed to die around her?

***

The last thing that Kurt remembered was the blistering pain of his mind being ripped apart by the hex, being unable to breathe for some reason, and the warmth of Aurora's arms around him accompanied by her soft, teary voice. Why was he so cold? The pain had numbed slightly as he'd tried desperately to hold her back tightly, wanting her to stay close to him. He was so tired... Perhaps if he'd close his eyes...

And then there was nothing.

He could recall being in a state of nothingness, although feeling as though he was being watched, judged even. But that was all that he could remember from that stage. The next thing that he knew he was in a blindingly white space. Once his eyes adjusted, they widened in shock. The purest of all beauty was before him, the soft pink sky of dawn greeted him as small birds fluttered from their nests in trees, lush green grass poked up between his bare toes. He smiled and scrunched them, feeling the grass move with him. Looking up again and observing more closely, he saw that he was stood near the edge of a cliff with a beautiful bubbling stream flowing from the forest towards the edge and falling into nothingness. Wait, nothingness? He looked down over the edge of the cliff, only to see more fluffy clouds below him.

"Vhat is zhis place..." He muttered the words underneath his breath, but they were still answered.

"My friend, this is heaven"

***

The incessant hammering on her door suggested that Kitty wanted something, perhaps lunch. She looked over at the clock to see it read ten. Maybe not then. She'd lost track of time.

"Kitty, just phase in." Her friend entered and by the look on her face, she was not amused by the state of her room.

"That settles it," She sighed, picking up some of Aurora's clothes strewn across the floor. "We're going to the mall."

Miraculously, Kitty had managed to make her look acceptable to the outside world. She had tamed her hair, and used a bit of makeup to cover the dark circles around her eyes that had been left from crying.

"Kitty, why are we here..." The words were almost an effort for her.

"To get you some new clothes, I swear I saw your sweater crawl back into the shadows when I opened your door. It'll make you feel a bit better."