The Story of a Weary Soul

[meepdog]

This'll be an Earth 213 (if it doesn't already exist) fic, a place I made up (thanks again, Rowena, for explaining all that for me). Also, this is most definately not cannon, so I've taken the liberty to change many, many things. You'll get to find them out as you go along, it really isn't hard.
This fic'll be rated PG to PG-13, just to warn you.
ANGSTY!
FLUFFY!
BUT MOSTLY ANGSTY!
Disclaimer: Don't own X-Men, not even Joshua Foley (Elixer) or Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler), the two main characters in this fic.
Summary: Just when he thought that his life couldn't get any worse, someone comes along who shows him just how bad it can really be- and how to find joy in even the worst of times.

The Story of a Weary Soul
Chapter One: Chess

A young man sat at a chess table in the park. In front of him sat all the pieces, staring at him, mocking him. His hair and skin color was black- not African-American black, not Middle East black, but as black as the deepest shadows, blacker than the darkest night. Black, as one last work of spite, one last remnant of Sinister and Stryker's terrorist organization, HYRDRA.

It wasn't always like that. He was so easily identified as a mutant...

Of course, he had trouble deciding which was better or worse- the golden skin or the black one. They were both simply dreadful, or so he thought. He wished that he could at least look normal, like he once did, and still somehow retain his powers. One day, he had a normal appearance. The next, he was gold. And not even an hour after he got the golden skin, had he traded it for black.

It was HYDRA's fault. They had invaded the school, they had almost killed Laurie. He had saved her, and it had cost him his identity. He was the literal golden boy. And even then, HYDRA had to go off and kill the Professor. Xavier was dead. But HYDRA, Stryker, and even Sinister, were all dead with him. That was his fault. He had watched the Professor topple from his chair, and had wanted revenge. He had gotten it, and lost the gold. At first he had been relieved. He had thought, that as the gold color melted off him, he would be normal again. Not so. His new skin had seeped through almost before all the golden skin had slipped off.

Sulking, and lost in his own thoughts, Joshua Foley, a.k.a. Elixer, didn't notice the older mutant slipping up behind him.

Joshua had lost his parents to Sinister, and among the X-Men, one of his friends had commited suicide, two had been killed, and one was now among the Brotherhood.

The older mutant had now taken a seat across from him. It wasn't until he coughed politely that Joshua looked up. The older mutant had extremely short blue fur, a ragged scar starting just above one eye and running down to the top of his cheek, and his ears looked as if the ends had been roughly cut off. He was apparently having trouble sitting, leaning forward and wincing.

He folded his hands on the table and opened his mouth to speak. Joshua saw that he had three fingers on one hand, but only two on the other. It looked as if the third had been cut off. "Do you need help?"

Joshua looked at him. Here was a mutant as obvious as him, and apparently this other mutant had gone through some pretty tough times as well. "No, thanks."

Golden eyes closed briefly, as if the blue-furred mutant was trying to think of something else to say.

"I'm all right. Really," Joshua said firmly, hoping that he'd give up and walk away. He didn't know what he'd said or done that would make this guy think that he had to talk, or something.

"Where do you go to school?"

"What makes you think I go to school?" Joshua narrowed his eyes. Maybe if he acted unfriendly enough, he would go.

"Then where did you go?"

"I never said I didn't go anywhere."

"Xavier's?"

"What?" Joshua's eyes widened for a second. "Why would you think that?"

"Well, you're obviously a mutant, and Xavier's is nearby... I also happen to know that this park is a popular hang-out spot for Xavier's whenever they're out of school."

"Great."

"So, do you attend Xavier's?"

"I used to." Why couldn't this guy get the point? What did he want?

"Kurt Wagner." The other mutant surprised Joshua Foley by stretching out his hand to shake and introducing himself. "And you are?"

"Joshua Foley," Joshua bit his lip. "Why are you talking to me?"

"It is not good for one so young to run so far and be so angry."

What did he just say? What was he talking about? "Shut up!" Joshua cried, standing up. "You giv eme one good reason why I should go back!"

"Your friends."

“They die!”

“Your duty.”

“It’s too hard!”

“That’s what makes it worthwhile,” Kurt leaned forward. “Do you want to know how I could tell that you were an X-Man?”

Joshua remained quiet. To be honest he hadn’t even thought about that.

“Because you act as if the weight of the world was on your shoulders. That often happens to superheroes.”

“But there are many different groups of heroes,” Joshua frowned. “Why did you think I was an X-Men- not that I’m saying that I am- instead of any of them?”

“First, you are mutant. Second, you are a young mutant. Third, there is Xavier’s nearby, and like I told you, this is a favorite hang-out spot for most of the young mutants there,” Kurt leaned back in his seat, wincing slightly as he did so. “And if none of that gave it away, then there’s always the fact that Ms. Frost asked me to talk you into going back.”

Joshua’s anger returned. “Why? I’m done with the X-Men!” Then a thought occurred to him. “Wait…” A foggy memory of a picture he had once seen in Ms. Munroe’s (better known to him as Storm) office was coming back. He had been in a great deal of trouble (let’s just say that it involved a mutant named Wolfsbane and leave it at that), and she was in charge of his detention. He had noticed the photo- it was a picture of a much younger Storm and Cyclops- as well as two others. One was a young woman named Jean Grey-Summers, Cyclops’ deceased wife. She had brilliant red hair and a smile that made Josh like her instantly. The other person looked a lot like a demon, which was what made Josh stare at it so much. However, the more he looked, the more the man started appearing less like a demon and more like a person- albeit a person with a spade-tipped tail, blue fur, yellow eyes, pointed ears, and three fingers on each hand (he was behind Storm, hugging her close). It was then that he realized that the ring younger Storm had worn when the picture had been taken was the very same one which older Storm kept hanging around her neck. It looked a lot like an engagement ring, and indeed Storm herself had verified that she had been engaged to that man in the picture, some time ago. When he had asked her why that man wasn’t around anymore, her reply was simple and short. “Kurt left.”

Kurt Wagner looked a lot like the younger ‘Kurt’ in the picture, and indeed he was living up to a lot of the older X-Men’s descriptions of a ‘Nightcrawler’ (Wolverine, however, called him Elf), whom they mentioned occasionally, and whenever they talked about ‘Nightcrawler’ (‘Jean’, ‘Colossus’, and ‘Cannonball’, too), it was in a fashion that was very similar to whenever the Hellions or New Mutants brought up Santo (Rockslide- suicide), Kevin Ford (Wither- Brotherhood), Danielle Moonstar (Mirage- dead), or Si’an Coy Mahn (Karma- dead). The Professor would probably be treated in much the same way, Josh knew, but he had left Xavier’s right after destroying those who had condemned Xavier to death. What if this Kurt Wagner guy was the same Nightcrawler often mentioned? It only made sense- anyone who died or left the X-Men were often brought up with either pain, fondness, or anger.

“Are you that Nightcrawler guy?” Joshua asked rudely.

“Ja,” Kurt cocked his head, puzzled. “How did you know my name?”

“They talk about you sometimes, and I’ve seen some old photos.” Joshua tried to see how this guy could be the very same Nightcrawler Storm had been engaged to so long ago. No spade-tipped tail, no pointy ears, and one hand only had three fingers, and unless the guy shaved all over, his fur was unexplainably shorter than it appeared to be in the picture. “So, what happened? In those pics you had pointy ears and a tail.”

“Do you want me to tell you?” Kurt asked, stretching. He was wearing a beaten denim jacket, a plain black shirt, and faded jeans. The shirt rode up some, revealing a series of very nasty scars on his stomach, leading up, growing thicker as they got higher. Joshua didn’t want to see the rest of them under Kurt’s shirt. They looked as if someone had cat him with a knife, over and over again, and then there were scars that were obviously from burns- nasty ones, too… Joshua’s breath caught. What had happened to this guy?

“Yeah, I do,” Joshua leaned forward. “I want you to tell a bit about your time as an X-Man- I know you were one once, Iceman told me- and I want to know why you left. I want to know how you got those scars, and I want to know more about Jean Grey-Summers, Colossus, and Cannonball. Tell me how you got those scars. Tell me what happened to your tail. Tell me,” here he paused, not sure what to say. “Tell me about Ororo Munroe, and her son, Aaron Wagner- is he your son too?”

“Vhas?” Kurt blinked. That was lot... "It isn't a nice story..."

"I want to hear it. I want you to convince me that it's worth it to go back to the X-Men when you won't."

"It won't be pretty... I am such a weary soul..."

"Go on!" Joshua frowned. "Tell me the story of a weary soul."

There you go. Chapter One, complete. Chapter two, under way... Just gimme a bit... I'm doing four stories right now. The Other Side of the Line, this one, and another I call Xanderville, and adding a little more to Something Wicked This Way Comes, turning the last one from a one-shot to a story about the New Mutants and the Hellions.

[Edited on 9/7/06 by meepdog]

[Rowena]

Yeep, poor Kurt!!! No tail, no pointy ears, missing finger....no tail!! Whatever happened to him, it can't have been pretty. You make some interesting points in this story--I like that bit about being able to spot a superhero because he looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Just a word of caution, though--be careful not to overload yourself with stories! I have a tendency to do that, so I know if you're not careful about pacing yourself you can end up totally swamped! You have a good start, though! I look forward to finding out what you have in store!

[meepdog]

Yeah... Well, I'm afraid that I've got bad news for anyone who likes this story (and anyone who wants me to add more to Something Wicked This Way Comes). This story will be placed on temporary hiatus (did I spell it right?), at least until I complete On the Other Side of the Line, and Something Wicked This Way COmes will not evolve from a one-shot to a full-fledged story until this one (The Story of a Weary Soul) is complete.
The reason? 'Cuz, as I forgot to mention (:doh! *kicks self over and over*), this story is the sequel to On the Other Side of the Line, and it basically tells what happened between the time On the Other Side of the Line ended and where this one picks up. Originally it was set so that I could go a few chapters (during which time I'd finish On the Other Side of the Line) before it would start to actually sound like a sequel... Does that make any sense to you? Sorry if it doesn't, I'm explaining as well as I can. But I've had to re-do all my notes, 'cuz I lost the old ones, so everything kinda changed a little bit...
Something Wicked This Way Comes CURRENTLY tells you what Wither is doing while Elixer is talking to Nightcrawler, but EVENTUALLY it will (once I add more chapters) tell you what happens after this fic...
...Do I need to do an overview? 'Cuz after re-reading this note, even I am confused.
On the Other Side of the Line is the first book in the trilogy, and I will putting my all into finishing it.
The Story of a Weary Soul is book two, and will not be updated until I finish the first book.
SOmething Wicked This Way Comes is book three, and is currently a one-shot, although, after I've finished book two, it will change from a one-shot into a much longer story.
Just as a side-note, after I've finished book one, I may also post little one-shot stories, which aren't important enough to be mentioned in Kurt's flashbacks or which couldn't find a way in them, and they will be set either before On the Other Side of the Line, or after it.
Sorry, if there's STILL any confusion, just say so here, or PM me, or something, and I'll see if I can't explain more thoroughly...
:doh!:doh!:doh!:doh! I still can't get over how stupid I was to forget to tell you all this BEFOREHAND... DARNIT!!!

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that the darkest night is one of those little one-shots, and don't worry about Xanderville... maybe after I finish the trilogy I'll post chapter one of Xanderville... maybe...

[Edited on 30/7/06 by meepdog]

[HoodedMan]

Well, I found it to be a pretty good fic, meepdog, and I'll be sure to read more when it comes back from hiatus! I look forward to more.