Holy hell. I'm the laziest thing on Earth. This update was due THREE AND A QUARTER YEARS AGO.

Forgive me. I have reread the whole thing, realized how it's full of plot-holes and overall a pretty sucky fic with bad grammar and vocab… However, you people are just irresistible with your reviews. Also I feel really ashamed to abandon a fic like this; so I'm just gonna come up with an ending for this and later type up an epilogue. Sometime. Yeah.

At least this is the longest chapter yet. Hooray. (Although I feel bad for writing not much at all. In my upcoming Naruto fic, there's a chapter that's four times as long as this one, including the Author's rants. I suck XD)

And maybe sometime in the XXXII century I'll actually forget my damn laziness and reedit this a bit. You don't have to tell me, I know it needs a lot of it.

This chapter is inspired… By the thousands of Naruto fanfictions I have read. Not to mention all the anime I have watched. So, prepare for typical Japanese anime attitude: lots of cheesiness, and friendship wins over all evil!! LOL.

Oh, yes, before I forget. I haven't watched X-men Evolution for… Well, let's say two years. I have lost the DVDs on which I had the episodes, it has been translated into Hungarian here and is not as enjoyable as the original one, AND I have been watching anime, reading anime fanfics and studying 24/7. But only when I was not busy being a lazy bastard. XD So, there might be some OoCness.

Chapter 24: Tenderness

(by MikoKriszty)

(dedicated to my Grandfather who died three day ago. R.I.P., Дедушка Вова… )-': )

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Rogue felt her hands trembling. How… How could Kurt see through this? Were his fake memories so well thought through that he could tell the difference? Was Magneto that sneaky?

That bastard…

Rogue's thoughts were interrupted by a hand taking hold of her wrist, and she felt pain; Kurt twisted her arm and was holding her hostage, having an iron grip on both her wrists behind her back.

"I have no idea where we are or who you are, and frankly, I don't care. All I know is you being here means Mother being hurt. Tell me what you have done to her. Now"

Feeling a fuzzy tail wrap around her neck, Rogue was grateful for all the training they have had in the Institute. Having a panic attack now would not be to her advantage.

Being unable to move, she could do nothing but look back at the blue mutant with pleading eyes.

"Kurt, please, you have to hear me out-"

Just as she was about to try and reason with the boy again, Rogue's luck ran out.

She had just felt Jean's protective shield disappearing.

"Well, this is most definitely not my day…"

All the images came rushing back. Kurt immediately let go of Rogue's wrists, and grasped his own head in his hands. His eyes betrayed utter panic.

"No… What is this again… This is also your fault, isn't it…? Why do you people keep doing this to me… Everyone keeps hurting me, just like they always have…"

As the images were flashing all around them, speeding up until they were nothing more than spots of color, too quickly changing to be definable as a whole. Rogue had to use up all her mental power just to stay put and not get separated from Kurt. She felt like she was in the middle of a huge hurricane… A hurricane by which Kurt seemed to be completely unaffected.

Just as her energies were about to run out, she noticed the wind becoming gentler; she rammed her eyes shut and focused all her energy to hold out until it died down. When she glanced around again, she realized that the images have stopped at a particular one.

The scenery was quite astonishing; there were mountains all over the horizon, she was standing in the middle of a field, on beautifully green grass. She could see farm animals in the distance, and could feel their not too pleasant odor, too. Not too far away was a neat little house, complete with a balcony, a terrace and a backyard with some vegetables and cages, probably for rabbits or chicken. She could hear a river flowing somewhere closeby.

That's when she recognized the place. It was another memory from her nightmares; the place where Kurt was found after the dreadful accident.

"So… This must be where he spent his childhood…" She mused. She lifted a hand to brush the bangs out of her eyes and realized something else: she shifted back to her original form. It seemed while focusing all her energies on staying inside Kurt's subconscious, she forgot to focus on her shape-shifting powers. She decided not to waste any energy on changing; she might run out of it completely, not to mention that Kurt already knew she was not Mystique.

Before she could have decided on any course of action, a woman in her forties came out of the house, holding some laundry. Rogue frowned as she noticed something else in this too-idle scenery: some kids, hiding behind some bushes, with what appeared to be rotten eggs and tomatoes in their hands.

Not waiting for the kids to commit what prank they were obviously planning, Rogue decided to interfere.

"Hey, you punks, what the hell do you think you're doing!"

The preteen and younger kids jumped in surprise, and looked at her horrified. The woman dropped her laundry; it seemed she did not notice the children, and thought Rogue had shouted at her. She kept staring at her and then began making cross-signs over her breasts with her hands, while muttering something in German.

Rogue felt like sweatdropping. She knew gothic must have not been a common style here, but c'mon! She's no spawn of the devil, no matter what that – apparently slightly off in the head – woman seemed to think.

She saw movement from the corner of her eye. Turning, she made an even more shocking discovery: a four-year-old Kurt must have been making his way out of the nearby forest, but at the sight of the Goth he also seemed to freeze up.

Boy, he is soooo cute with those wide eyes of his!

Her second of out-of-characterness ended as the woman marched up towards Kurt, and slapped him hard in the face. Rogue gaped as the crazy female screamed him in German, not understanding anything except the words "Gott", "Dämon" and "Satan". (God, Demon and Satan)

Another slap, to the small boy's other cheek this time, was all that Rogue needed.

"Stop it, you bitch!"

The woman stared at her, her right hand flying through another and another cross in front of her chest as Rogue approached them, fury practically flowing off of her in waves. When she was a mere 5 metres away, the woman let go of the tiny boy and ran back into her house.

She watched the crazy female leave, and saw that the troublemakers were out of her sight, too. She turned back to the trembling figure in front of her and was saddened the little boy inching away from her.

Not even needing the memories of the feelings Mystique gave her, Rogue smiled warmly and squatted down.

"Hello"

The boy stopped moving away, but didn't stop trembling. Rogue figured that despite her appearance, she must have been the only person to be nice to him, so he must be confused.

Kurt mumbled something, but Rogue couldn't understand anything. She tried to explain this by shaking her head and pointing at her ear.

Kurt seemed to forget all fear, and his curiosity was peaked by her actions and kindness. He approached her and took a peek inside her ear. Not seeing anything, he spoke some more German that Rogue could not understand. She giggled; the little boy was really too cute for his own good! How could that ignorant witch act like that…

And just like that she remembered why she was there at all. These memories were false ones; Kurt had lived happily with his step-parents, who were really kind to him considering him being a mutant and all… Well, as happily as a blue fuzzy elf could, anyway. What she heard from Kurt, these people did all they could to make his life more bearable; he had once told Rogue how grateful he was towards them, and how he felt he could never repay their kindness.

This did not stop her from feeling pity towards this other, sadder Kurt. All throughout his short life, it seemed no one showed him any kindness, and the hell from which everyone assumed he escaped from was actually here, in this beautiful place, on Earth.

Rogue felt so sad for the little boy. She knew exactly what was it like, not knowing human contact. She knew she had to save her friend from these memories, and help him return to the real, more happy ones.

She interrupted the little boy in his ranting and hugged him.

Kurt seemed to freeze up, and his trembling returned tenfold. He tried to wriggle his way out of grasp, but she just held him more, pouring all her gentleness in her actions. His attempts to break away grew weaker, and then disappeared; Rogue then sat back on her butt, and brought the boy in her lap. She cradled him, well, as much as she could cradle a four-year-old, and without a word, she simply held him, comforted him, caressed him in an attempt to make the boy feel warm, wanted, loved.

Feelings that she hoped would awaken the old Kurt, for he was the only one who could recognize them.

A few tears of happiness escaped Kurt's eyes; being hugged with so much affection was the happiest moment he could ever remember having. He desperately held to this person, this warmth, this safety… He felt himself drift towards sleep, but he did not resist; falling asleep at that moment felt like making it last forever.

One second before everything collapsed around her, the gothic girl heard a male voice that filled her heart with joy and reassurance: everything would be alright afterwards.

"Rogue…"

(Yeah… If this chapter doesn't reek from "I have read too much tiny-Naruto-being-bullied fics" then I don't know what does. LOL)

I didn't want to end it here, but it's just too perfect. Since I suspect me not uploading the epilogue for some time XD, here are some hints: it will take place some weeks after this chapter, with everyone living happily ever after. Hooray.

I'm gonna label this as complete, although I WILL write one more chapter for this. It's gonna have 25 chapters, like my math-crazed side demands. LOL

Anyway, as always, review!