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He was fleeing for his life, hoping and praying for a miracle, for a safe place to hide, for at least a place to ’port to where he could hide and catch his breath for a minute. But this city was utterly foreign and all the buildings way too tall; in his desperation to get away he couldn’t spot anywhere to be safe so he just kept running, the mob of people behind him getting closer. Far too soon he would have to risk bamfing blindly, no telling where he would end up properly.

He cast a desperate glance behind him at the mob of people – fifteen? Twenty? They seemed more every time he turned – and turned a corner, tail whipping out behind to keep balance.

And he ran straight into someone, almost falling over as he bounced off a strong chest, but a hand shot out to steady him.

“Hey, hey, easy there.” Fear made faces blurry; all Kurt saw was a silverblonde hair and the shadows of four or five other people standing there.

“Sorry! Sorry!” He gasped, trying to get free before the mob caught up with him or these people realized what he was.

But it was too late; the blurry face under the silver hair suddenly jolted as whoever it was that held him caught sight of blue skin, red eyes, and sharp, sharp teeth. The hand that had been steadying him loosened his grip as if it had been burned.

“Wohaa, you’re a mutant!” And suddenly the other people in the little group turned towards him with interest just as the mob that had been following him came the corner.

“There’s the mutant, get him! Hold him!” They screamed at the group and Kurt tried to run again, but somehow Silverhair was already there, blocking him.

“Don’t run, little buddy.” He said, easily blocking Kurt’s attempts to run past him.

“What’s the problem?” the other young man in the group that had caught Kurt stepped up in front of Kurt, but it was the mob he was addressing. It looked almost like he was….shielding Kurt. A black skinned woman stepped up next to the goggled man while the last member of the group, a red-head girl, stayed back next to Kurt.

“That’s a mutant! A freak! And we’re gonna kill him before he causes any trouble!” The mob approached. Some of them held bats and Kurt started whipping around frantically looking for a way out, but he was trapped in an alley and the buildings here were so tall….

“Look at it! It’s a devil!” Someone screamed and suddenly the red haired girl shouted back.

“He’s a human! As much as anyone of you!”

“Just leave him alone and we’ll let you walk away from here.” The dark skinned girl said calmly but there was something happening, like an approaching storm, Kurt could feel every hair on his body trying to stand on edge. The boy with the goggles where fiddling with them, still standing between Kurt and the mob, just him and the dark girl.

The mob laughed, darkly, and came closer. Kurt crouched down, despair overtaking him, wrapping his arms around his head to protect it from what he knew must come, prayers tumbling from his lips.

“And what would you do about it?” They sneered.

Red light, too intense too look straight at, tore through the night and a beam of laser cut into the asphalt at the mob’s feet. A second later lightning struck a trashcan next to them, spraying them with waste. The mob was silent for less than a second; then they turned tail and ran screaming from the alley.

The red-head girl kneeled next to Kurt who was still crouching, staring with wild unbelieving eyes at the scene.

“It’s alright Kurt.” She smiled gently. “They are gone now.”

“How did you know…” he stammered.

“Telepath. I can read minds.” She looked up at the man with the goggled. “I am Jean and this is Scott. You saw what his eyes are like. And Ororo here is our weather goddess.”

“Not a goddess.” Ororo crossed her arms. “Just a mutant. Like you.”

Kurt slowly got up, glancing at the four people surrounding him and then down on the ground and his own blue, clawed, two-toed feet.

“Not quite like me.” He whispered. Then he looked up at the fourth person, only to find another normal face looking at him.

“I’m Pieter.” Pieter said, misunderstanding the look. “I’m just fast. Like, really fast.” Kurt blinked and the next second the silverhaired boy was eating from a bucket of popcorns that hadn’t been there before. He offered the box to Kurt, who just stared at it.

“Kurt, do you have anywhere to go tonight?” Scott looked at the very worn and very strange clothes the blue mutant wore; some kind of circus outfit, totally inappropriate for the cold autumn weather.

“I…” Suddenly exhausted Kurt leaned back on the brick wall. “I should go home. Home to Germany. My mother….she must be so worried.”

“Dude, Germany is like on the other side of the ocean.” Pieter shook his head. “Not even I can get you there tonight.”

“I can….” And suddenly Kurt disappeared, just to appear a few meters away, curling up again as if he’d done something dirty.

Pieter dropped his popcorn bucket.

“Teleporting?! No way! That is so cool, man!”

“You can’t do that all the way to Germany.” Jean reached out a hand for Kurt, who shied away from it. She let her hand drop. “Kurt, you are exhausted, and hungry and cold. You have nowhere to go tonight. Please follow us back to our school. You can sleep there tonight and I’m sure professor Xavier would love to meet you.”

“And you can borrow a phone. Call your mother and say you are alright.” Ororo added.

“I…shouldn’t talk to strangers…” Kurt frowned.

“Dude, we’re not strangers, we’re mutants like you! That makes us like a brotherhood –“ Pieter saw Ororo’s look “- sisterhood. Siblinghood. Family, anyway.” He tried to put his arm around Kurt’s shoulders only to have the other mutant bamf away in panic, even further down the street. “You are almost faster than I am!” Pieter added impressed.

“Look, ignore the idiot for now.” Scott sighed. “Please come with us. We wont harm you.”

It took some more coaxing but finally they got the blue mutant into Scott’s car, huddled up in Pieter’s jacket in the middle of the backseat in between Jean and Pieter whom he seemed to be slightly less scared of than Scott and Ororo. He was curled up like a wet cat, eyes frantically darting everywhere as if to be certain he could escape if he wanted to and fear was radiating off him in *waves*. You didn’t have to be a telepath to feel it and Jean felt so sorry for him.

They stopped for food at a drive-through burger and Kurt stared at his burger as if he’d never seen anything like it before. Then he devoured it with such a frenzy that Jean wondered when he last saw food. Pieter must have thought the same because it took an inordinate amount of time for Kurt to finish his fries while everyone else ran out really quickly. Almost as if Kurt’s fries where filled up continuously from everyone else’s.

Exhaustion took its toll and by the time they drove up to Xavier’s institute Kurt was drowsing and even drooling slightly as his head dropped against Pieter’s shoulder. Pieter didn’t seem to mind but sat absolutely still and only Jean knew what that cost the spazzy man.

But the second the car engine was turned off, Kurt woke with a startle, staring around wildly.

“Come now.” Ororo opened the door to let them all out. “We’ll take you to the professor.”