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The Winding Way, part 3: Swamp Gothic
Limbo: A dimension out of time. It is a place that the green-skinned woman with the ram horns on her head knows well. Her name is Margali Szardos and she is the Earth’s Sorceress Supreme. Approaching the entrance to the great palace, Margali comes across Brad and Roger, two giant snake guardians that appear to be sleeping. A former Custodian of Limbo, Margali knows that Brad and Roger are enchanted guardians who don’t sleep, but are in fact paid to stay awake and protect…Amanda Sefton…Margali’s only daughter, and the current ruler of Limbo.
With a wave of her staff, the palace doors open and Margali makes her way through the giant citadel searching for Amanda. Through the years, Margali has always maintained a somewhat tempestuous relationship with her children - her daughter Amanda sometimes known as the new Magik, her deceased son Stefan, and her foster child Kurt Wagner also known as Nightcrawler. As Margali’s journey along the Winding Way progressed and her knowledge of magic deepened, she has been both good and evil. But throughout, she has always been…a mother.
Margali hears someone say ‘I’ll ask you nicely once more - where is the sword?’ The voice comes from Amanda’s bedroom, and Margali races to her daughter’s chamber, only to discover it a mess, and standing over a bound, battered and bruised Amanda is the demon Nightmare. He smiles upon seeing Margali and exclaims ‘Well, well, well…this party just got much more interesting!’
A reality away, in Winzeldorf, Germany. It is a town with a seasonal circus at its center, hidden in the dark forests of Bavaria. It is a place the mutant Kurt “Nightcrawler” Wagner knows well, for as a boy, he lived here, working as a performer. But that was a long time ago. Kurt searches the destruction and finds another person also slaughtered. He wonders who could have done this and why. Is it because of him? They were his friends, and now they are all dead.
Except for this one, a large man who is helped over to Kurt by Kurt’s friend and teammate Logan a.k.a. Wolverine and Nurse Christine Palmer. Logan points out that the large man is alive, but barely. Christine asks Kurt if he knows him, and introduces him as Feur, the Fire Eater. Kurt replies that of course he remembers, when Feur exclaims that they used to call him “The Amazing Nightcrawler”, and asks him if he remembers that. Kurt replies that he does, and suggests to Feur that he doesn’t talk, as he is hurt. ‘…they…they came…’ mutters Feur, to which Kurt asks Christine how bad Feur is injured.
Christine replies that it is impossible to tell, and explains that she has bandaged all of his external injuries. Logan declares that this is bad, and reveals that he called Cyclops, who is coming in the Blackbird. Kurt asks Feur if he heard that, informing him that one of his friends is coming to take him and the others to a hospital. ‘You’ll be fine, you see?’
Soon, joined by Scott “Cyclops” Summers, leader of the X-Men, everyone arrives in Munich. Feur lies on a stretcher, wearily, he informs Kurt that they were looking for a sword, that they said Kurt had hidden it. Nightcrawler asks Feur who he is talking about, to which Feur replies ‘Creatures…monsters…tearing apart the circus, torturing us…’. Kurt is shocked, all of this because of him? He claims that he doesn’t have any sword, as Feur adds that he begged the creatures to stop, but that they said wouldn’t stop until they found the sword. Kurt thinks that this is madness, that the only sword he knows of is ‘In America next…to another circus where you lived for a time…in Florida’ utters Feur.
(Flashback takes place after Kurt left Germany, before he joined the X-Men)A teenage Kurt Wagner and several others arrive in Florida, where a dirty man asks them what they think - ‘a little different from Germany, huh?’
(Present)Kurt asks Feur if the monsters said that they were going to Florida to do what they did in Winzeldorf. Feur replies yes. Kurt, Logan and Christine just look at each other.
Inside the hospital, Cyclops is talking to his lover and teammate Emma “the White Queen” Frost, over the X-links, explaining that he doesn’t want to communicate telepathically with her, he informs her that they are still up in Munich and that the last of the casualties have been unloaded and checked in. Emma asks Cyclops something, to which he replies ‘No, not because it makes me feel inferior, because…’ the subject is changed when Emma asks about Kurt and Logan, to which Scott informs her they have finished bringing survivors off the Blackbird with “that Christine person” and now they are…’Actually, I don’t know where they are. Why?’
At the Xavier Institute, Emma tells Scott, ‘Light of my life’ not that she wants to be an “Emma downer”, but that she just overheard their teammates thoughts, and while he is playing nursemaid in the emergency room, the others have stolen the Blackbird!
Inside the Blackbird, Christine tells Nightcrawler that she is confused, and points out that he is an X-Man, so why couldn’t he have just asked Scott to borrow this plane. Logan informs the Nurse that it isn’t that simple, for Scott Summers is a good guy, and if they told him where they were going, and what might be waiting for them down in Florida, he would turn this into an X-mission, whereas this more of a private affair. ‘Right, Elf?’ Kurt doesn’t say anything, instead, his mind has drifted back to the past….
(Flashback)‘Kurt, are you listening?’ asks Jardine, the distasteful owner of this circus in Florida. Kurt apologizes, explaining that he was just missing someone. ‘your lady friend? The hottie acrobat who turned down my offer? Who didn’t want to - how did I pitch it? “See the world?”’. Kurt informs Jardine that Amanda wanted to come, but that her mother wouldn’t let her go. ‘Her path led elsewhere…’.
Jardine motions Nightcrawler to his new home. Kurt looks horrified, and seeing the cage which Jardine has set up for him, with his name painted on it and everything, Kurt tells him that he is not a freak and doesn’t belong in any cage. Jardine comes up behind Kurt with a needle and stabs it into his neck, telling him that he knows exactly what he is ‘Mutants freak - and I know exactly what you can do’. Kurt cries out, rubbing his neck, Jardine informs him that he wont be able to use his powers with sixty cc’s of that drug - a mutant suppressant which cost him a lot, coursing through Kurt’s veins. Kurt falls to the ground, and Jardine leans over him, informing him that he will pump it into him every day and every night for as long as he pleases to keep him from teleporting anywhere, and keeping him nice and docile for the crowds.
Later, a very docile Kurt is naked and caged, with lots of people staring at him. ‘Mommy, what is it?’ asks one small boy. ‘Don’t stare, Philip, it’s rude’ the mother replies, before admitting that she doesn’t know what it is, except that it is some terrible, unlucky thing that doesn’t deserve any better she suspects. ‘It looks…so sad, mommy!’ the boy exclaims.
(Present)Inside the Blackbird, Kurt is preparing to jump from it, and Christine asks him if he is sure this is such a good idea. She points out that he is clearly under duress, not to mention does he even know where he is going?
(Flashback)Late at night, the young boy, Philip, makes his way to Nightcrawler’s cage, and introducing himself, he assumes that Nightcrawler cannot talk. Starting to pick the lock, Philip tells him that it is okay, he doesn’t need to talk, because he knows what Nightcrawler is ‘What you really are, I mean’. Philip exclaims that he is a mutant, like they show on the news and tells Kurt that it is okay, because he is also a mutant, and his special power is to be able to see other mutants, like there is a special light around them. The door to the cage opens and Philip explains that is why he came back, because they have to help each other, no matter what.
(Present)Despite Christine’s protests, Kurt has dropped from the Blackbird with some sort of glider attached to his back. Though he doesn’t remember exactly where Jardine’s circus is, he has a loose idea, so with the closest airport for the Blackbird to land some fifty miles away in Citrus City, Kurt thought it would be better for him to scout ahead. Gliding through the sky, he approaches the circus’ vicinity in lazy circles, of course he could teleport, but the glider also folds into a tent, and it might be useful to someone later, Kurt decided.
Finally landing on the moss and mud of the Cypress Swamps in Central Florida, Kurt comm-links with Logan and Christine, giving his friends directions and a homing signal to follow, for he would have to wait for them to find him - though there is still the matter of Jardine to deal with.
(Flashback)Jardine is in his caravan and pours himself a drink, muttering that Nightcrawler couldn’t have escaped alone, the lock must have been picked. Suddenly there is a bamf and the smell of brimstone fills the caravan. Fear spreads across Jardine’s face and Kurt tells him not to turn around. Jardine mutters that Nightcrawler came back - gone four days, escaped in the middle of the night - but now he has come back.
Kurt wraps his tail around Jardine’s neck as Jardine asks him why he came back - did he finally realize that no matter how far he runs, this is where he belongs, that however long he leaves them for, he will always return to the swamps.
(Present)Kurt makes his way through the swamps, recalling that when he escaped Jardine’s circus was on it’s last legs, even drugged and addled he could remember that - and the night that he went back, four days after the little boy freed him - and he threatened Jardine.
(Flashback)Kurt kneels on the desk in front of Jardine, pointing out that he could kill him now, and no one would come to mourn him. ‘You wont though…’ Jardine utters, to which an angry Kurt replies that he wont, because he believes in redemption and he believes people can change. ‘People?’ asks a confused Jardine. ‘You, monsieur’ Kurt says, before informing Jardine that he is going to give him two weeks to discharge any employees that are being kept here against their will and to stop mistreating the ones that stay. By doing this, he should become a better person.
(Present)‘Of all the thing I could’ve said or done…’ Kurt thinks to himself, of course he wasn’t an X-Man yet and didn’t know any better. Kurt feels that he should have shut Jardine and his circus of horrors down, but as he arrives at the dirty circus, it seems the years have done that for him. Looking around at the run-down and decaying circus, Kurt thinks that it looks like something out of a story by Ray Bradbury - the Carnival that Time Forgot - and he notices that the people, the “Carney’s” are so beaten down, they barely look up at him. However, at least they are alive Kurt decides, and their home is intact, not ripped apart by…those creatures. Kurt thinks that either poor Feur was wrong, or that this is just the calm before the storm, and either way, he has to find Jardine and warn him that something wicked this way comes.
Back in Limbo, Nightmare is chained and hanging from the ceiling. Margali tells him now that he has regained consciousness, and since she has stopped him from torturing her daughter, which she adds is a terrible mistake he made leaving his realm and coming into their in his physical body, now that he is trapped, Margali strongly advises him to tell them ‘Why you’re looking for the Soul Sword’ concludes Amanda.
‘The Soul Sword? How…Baroque-sounding’ Nightmare exclaims, informing the Szarods’ that he has no unearthly idea what they are going on about, before asking them to kindly loosen his restraints. ‘Don’t. Lie. Nightmare.’ Amanda tells him angrily, reminding him that he came to Limbo, willed her guardians to sleep, ambushed her, tried to brutalize her into telling him where she had hidden the Soul Sword, when her mother arrived and subdued him with her magic.
‘You’re saying words, and I’m hearing them, But again - I haven’t the foggiest what you mean’ Nightmare claims, adding that he doesn’t recall doing those things. Amanda turns to her mother and tells her that Nightmare isn’t lying, for the spell she put him under - ‘Was superfluous, since, as everyone knows, Nightmare never lies’ the demon claims. Before telling Amanda that since he is here in her boudoir, and they are both utterly convinced of his villainy…Margali understands what Nightmare is getting at and supposes that someone is doing something to Nightmare, using him as a puppet and making him come after her daughter.
Nightmare points out that if it were a possibility, it would have to be someone incredibly canny and powerful. Amanda points out that Nightmare wasn’t after her, but the Soul Sword. ‘Some things you bury - you hide and pray they’ll stay hidden, but they never do…’ Margali utters, surprising Amanda, who thinks that her mother may know what is going on here, when suddenly, she announces that she just felt a shifting happen along Limbo’s fault lines. Nightmare announces that he did as well, ‘By the Eye of Agamotto - did we just have a team-up?’ he jokes, before Amanda tells suggests to Margali that if someone is trying to get hold of the Soul Sword, they have to warn Kurt - wherever he is!
Back in Florida, Kurt climbs the stairs to Jardine’s trailer, and the first thing that hits him is the smell. The whole place reeks. Kurt calls out to Jardine, asking him if he is here, even before Jardine replies, Kurt can hear an intense, incessant buzzing of flies. An elderly man turns to Nightcrawler, telling him that he has a funny idea of what two weeks is. Kurt claims that he meant to keep his promise and come back, but…his thoughts trail off to his brother Stefan who went on a rampage and killed a group of children, forcing Kurt to kill him.
Kurt asks Jardine what happened here, and hobbling along on a cane, Jardine explains that time happened, that the swamp grew up around them and people just stopped coming. Jardine looks and smells diseased - is that a cloud of flies swarming around him? Jardine reveals that there is only him and a handful of people left, just a skeleton crew barely holding on. He coughs as Kurt tells him that he and everyone else that is still here has to leave. ‘Pardon?’ asks Jardine. Kurt tells him that they have to leave now, but Jardine asks why they would want to do that.
The infernal buzzing messes with Kurt’s concentration, and he struggles to tell Jardine that something just destroyed his home in Winzeldorf, and he thinks whatever did it is coming here next, maybe to do the same thing. “Maybe?” “You think?” asks an unconvinced Jardine. Kurt grabs the crone by his dirty shirt and tells him that he doesn’t understand but he will die. ‘Die? Look at me, freak…at this point, don’t you think I’d welcome death?’ Kurt points out that there are still others here, but Jardine tells him that they are hangers-on and freeloaders, and declares that if something is coming, he wants it to - ‘And damn us all to Hell’.
Just outside the entrance to Jardine’s run down circus, the Man-Thing, Carrion and Vermin, followed by a host of zombies, are swiftly approaching….


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The Winding Way, part 4: Wicked Things
At a run-down circus in the Californian Glades, X-Man Kurt “Nightcrawler” Wagner thinks to himself that the absurdity of the situation is almost unbearable. For years ago, the diseased, fly-bitten man standing in front of him, Jardine, held Kurt hostage, drugged him and made him perform in his freak show of the damned. Standing inside Jardine’s trailer, Kurt informs the old man that he is trying to help him, and in between coughing fits, Jardine replies that he doesn’t want any help.
‘But they’re coming to hurt you!’ Kurt points out, to which Jardine looks at him and asks ‘Who is?’ The things coming are the same ones that tore apart Kurt’s childhood circus in Winzeldorf. He replies that he doesn’t know what they are, just creatures. Jardine wants to know why it is he that the creatures are after, and while Kurt knows that for some reason these creatures are attacking his past, he replies that he isn’t sure, but it is because he lived here for a time and they are looking for…his voice trails off, causing Jardine to walk up to Kurt and ask ‘What? Looking for what?’
Kurt recalls that one of the survivors in Winzeldorf said something about a sword, and informs Jardine that he thinks they are after a sword, but points out that it doesn’t matter now, he just needs to get Jardine and everyone else who is still here somewhere safe and then they can sort through this conf - Kurt doesn’t get to finish the word, “confusion”, because both he and Jardine hear it.
They hear it, outside the trailer - the sound of people screaming. A frightened Jardine asks Kurt what is happening, but Kurt angrily mutters to himself that he is too late…again. Suddenly, the trailer shifts ever so slightly, its boards and beams creak, like an old house settling. ‘What have you brought here, Nightcrawler?’ Jardine asks. Kurt thinks that it feels like the eye of the hurricane is passing over them. ‘Answer me, freak. What have you -’ suddenly Jardine shuts-up, his mouth and eyes go wide, as does Kurt, who doesn’t answer the old man - the hurricane does.
Kurt barely has time to register the fact that the creature known as the Man-Thing has burst into the trailer, but he orders Jardine to get behind him. Kurt’s eyes lock with those of the Man-Thing, and what the Man-Thing senses is fear. Fear triggers its burning touch. The Man-Thing grabs Kurt, who pleads ‘Please, if you can understand me…’ But Kurt reminds himself that he is a hero and shouldn’t feel fear, yet as the Man-Thing’s burning touch forces down on him, he screams. Kurt grabs Jardine and tells him to hang on, before they both vanish in a burst of brimstone, leaving the confused Man-Thing behind.
Kurt’s teleportation power sends he and Jardine out into the circus, where Kurt quickly removes his burning jacket. Jardine begins coughing again as he asks ‘What was that thing?’ Kurt thinks to himself that it was what he was trying to warn Jardine of, one of the many wicked things tearing the old circus apart. Zombies roam the circus, terrorizing the workers and patrons, an elephant has been set loose and is on a rampage while fire burns the Ferris wheel.
‘You filthy freak! Why don’t you just give them what they want?’ shouts Jardine, pointing accusingly at Kurt. ‘Give them the sword so they’ll leave us!’ As Kurt teleports away, he thinks to himself that he cannot give them what they want, because he is not sure what sword they are looking for.
Kurt bamfs above a group of Zombies who are about to attack a woman, while thinking that they might be after the Soulsword… he encourages the woman to run and hide, just before he spots another creature who is crushing the circus’ strong man. Kurt teleports in between the two to separate them. Faced with his new opponent, Kurt wonders what is next. ‘Who’re you supposed to be - furry Smurf?’ asks the creature.
Kurt tries to remember what it is that his good friend Colossus likes to say: “Sometimes the best thing to do to a problem is hit it as hard as you can”. Kurt tries that approach by punching his enemy in the face, but the evil creature just grins back, ‘Nay, you’re Dead-Meat Smurf’ he declares, before swiping at Kurt from both directions. Although he is big and tough Kurt thinks “he is not the brightest star in the firmament” as Emma Frost would say, and so he leaps above him, whacking both sides of his enemy’s head.
‘I’m gonna like eating your brains!’ Kurt’s opponent tells him as he rubs his throbbing head. Kurt realizes that this creature isn’t going down, no matter how hard he hits him, therefore he is wasting his time, after all, this guy isn’t the one orchestrating the attack on people. Someone cries out to god, as Kurt reminds himself that people are dying. As he bamfs away, his foe asks him where he thinks he is going.
Kurt arrives beside a villain, a monster, he knows - Carrion. Carrion stands over a helpless young woman with his death touch. His hands begin to cause the woman to waste away. Kurt realizes that the woman needs medical attention, and lucky for her, he has his friend Christine Palmer running towards him, ‘I’ll take care of the woman, you take care of that thing!’ Christine shouts. Kurt is relieved to see Christine, who has been with him all this time. Christine went from being a potential ex-girlfriend to being a friend for life.
Nightcrawler races towards Carrion, ordering him to let go of the woman, he leaps up and kicks Carrion off her, while thinking that Christine has stuck with him since this strangeness begun, and her being here with him is a very good thing, for it means she and their other traveling companion have caught up to him from dropping off the X-jet.
The “other” travelling companion is of course the X-Man known as Logan a.k.a. Wolverine. Kurt grabs Carrion’s wrists, as he knows he cannot let Carrion’s hands near his own bare skin. While nearby, Wolverine declares that the one thing he hates more than light beer  is hordes of rampaging zombies. The rugged X-Man unsheathes his claws, and grins, ‘Luckily, I ain’t got no place else to be!’
Kurt knows that Wolverine can more than take care of himself, so he turns his own attention back to Carrion, holding him to the ground with one foot placed on the villains neck. Kurt tells him that there will be no more games, no more hurting people, and asks him why he is doing this and what it is he is looking for. ‘Your death…’ replies Carrion eerily. ‘Typical’ Kurt thinks to himself, while knowing that it cannot be that simple because if that is the case, then why wouldn’t they just come for him - why attack every place he has ever lived?
‘The Sword…’ replies Carrion. Kurt is annoyed at yet another mention of what he assumes to be the Soulsword, but as he expresses this to Carrion, the strangest thing happens - Carrion, for some reason, falls asleep. ‘What now?’ Kurt wonders, while supposing that Carrion is no the only one throughout Jardine’s circus that he will discover is asleep. And sure enough, “Gator Grant” is on the midway and suddenly starts to sway on his feet.
Back at the trailers, the Man-Thing’s rampage goes quiet, as still as a lake, and behind the tents, Wolverine’s fun is cut short. ‘Oh, you gotta be kidding me’ Logan mutters as all the Zombies around him stop moving and return to their “natural” state of un-deadness. Carrion slips from Kurt’s grasp, an unholy dead weight, and Kurt watches as Jardine’s circus performers flee into the surrounding swamps, leaving Kurt, Wolverine, Christine and Jardine awake and confused. Christine points out that all of the creatures are asleep. ‘Asleep like babies - baby monsters, but you know what I’m saying’ jokes Logan, while in between coughs, Jardine asks Kurt how he did that.
Suddenly, three very powerful beings descend upon Kurt and co, with one of them declaring ‘He didn’t do anything…we did’. Kurt glances up to the sky sees his foster sister and former lover Amanda Sefton, her mother and his foster mother Margali Szardos and the being known as Nightmare. Kurt thinks to himself that for someone who isn’t officially in the super hero business, Margali certainly knows how to make an entrance.
Christine stares in wonder, mumbling ‘And this is…? I mean they are…?’ ‘I believe the term is “Deus Ex Machina”’ Kurt explains. For how else would you describe the eleventh hour appearance of the Sorceress Supreme Margali, the beautiful Amanda Sefton and the dubious Nightmare?
Margali informs everyone that they can inform Nightmare for putting the creatures to sleep, to which Nightmare remarks that it wasn’t hard, for most of them were, in fact, dead, which is of course the biggest, deepest sleep of them all, adding that he will take credit for the dream that he has trapped them in - they are all underwater, beneath a sheet of ice they cannot break.
Wolverine exclaims that this is all sweet - and is about to comment on how Nightmare doesn’t usually fight on the side of the angels, so why today, except Kurt interrupts and asks the question. ‘Oh, honestly’ mutters Nightmare, reminding everyone that he is an immortal entity, not a perverse member of the X-Men’s rogues’ gallery, so he goes wherever he is needed. Nightmare adds that even the densest paranormal can tell you that whatever is happening is enormous.
Margali agrees, but Amanda exclaims that it is beyond enormous, and informs her brother that there have been rumblings throughout her realm of Limbo and in the other astral planes. ‘Rumblings?’ asks Kurt. Amanda explains that the rumblings are of a serious imbalance - a shift on a cosmic scale. ‘I hate this touchy-feely magic stuff…’ mutters Logan.
Nightcrawler is confused, and points out that these things are happening to him - Vermin attacked him, then Man-Thing and the others came after him, attacking his past. ‘I keep asking this, but why? Amanda declares that it is for the same reason that Nightmare attacked her. ‘Ahem’ mutters Nightmare. ‘The same reason Nightmare was manipulated into attacking me’ Amanda corrects herself.
Kurt has so many things he wants to say and asks Amanda what Nightmare attacking her has to do with this, and why it keeps coming back to haunt him - before demanding to know how the Soulsword fits into all of this. Amanda informs him that the Soulsword is exactly it. Kurt pauses before saying to Amanda ‘You do realize that this is part of why we broke up, Amanda? Your inability to give me a straight answer about anything’.
Before Amanda has a chance to reply, Margali, addressing Kurt as she always does: ‘Son’ she informs him that whoever is orchestrating these attacks - someone incredibly powerful and working behind the scenes - is trying to get to the Soulsword through him. Kurt listens, and hears the words his mother is saying. But he doesn’t grasp their full meaning. However, a cold wave, a premonition washes over him - blood will have more blood.
Nightcrawler states that he knows some things about the Soulsword, before his voice trails off. Amanda exclaims that it is a weapon. ‘An occult weapon’ Margali adds, before explaining that sorcerers use it to cut down any who block their progress along the Winding Way - the path towards magical enlightenment and empowerment. Margali exclaims that, like the Spear of Destiny, it has passed through many hands and served many masters.
Margali reminds everyone that Illyana “Magik” Rasputin was the original custodian, then Victor von Doom wrestled it from Kitty Pryde when she was its keeper, and even Margali herself possessed it once. ‘Demons and sorcerers have killed whole armies to obtain it…’. Amanda reminds everyone that she now assumes the heavy burden of the Soulsword when she became the latest Magik and guardian of Limbo. Jardine asks Amanda if she has got the Soulsword then, to which Amanda reveals that Kurt does.
‘No I don’t,’ Kurt replies, to which Margali tells him not to get upset, and informs him that the Soulsword has corrupting properties, so if there is even a whiff of evil in whomever holds it…her voice trails off. Amanda reveals that the Soulsword also acts like a lightening rod, attracting the worst of the world, the most power-mad beings, so if she had kept it in Limbo, where it is traditionally held, then the nether-realms would be constantly under attack.
Jardine asks Amanda if she gave it to Kurt, and he is now hiding it, to which Kurt realizes that is why he and his homes have been under assault, however he is adamant that he doesn’t have and that he never had it to begin with. Margali hesitates before asking her son if when he dreams and when he remembers, he sees a trunk, buried in his subconscious. Kurt replies that he does. Then the pit in his stomach widens.
Amanda, who once went by the name “Daytripper” to parody that of her brother’s informs Kurt that the trunk is a psychological echo of the truth, and is what his enemy - or enemies - have been “seeing” in his thoughts. She exclaims that what the enemy has been looking for is an actual trunk that he might have left somewhere, when really…her voice trails off.
‘Wait - what truth, Amanda?’ Kurt declares. Nightmare suddenly mutters that this could go on for hours, and reveals to everyone who didn’t already know that the Soulsword is inside Kurt, adding that it has been there for a very long time. Kurt is upset, ‘You’re…you’re lying. Someone here is -’ Margali cuts him off, informing him that they are not lying, but that they have been keeping the truth hidden from him, but they are not lying.
‘Here, let me show you!’ Margali exclaims as she reaches into Kurt’s chest, which brings back memories of a game he, Amanda and their brother Stefan used to play as children: in the dark, they held peeled grapes in their hands and pretended they were eyeballs. They cooked spaghetti and noodles and told each other that it was dead man’s brains. As Margali pulls from Nightcrawler the Soulsword, just like Arthur pulling Excalibur from the stone, it doesn’t hurt a bit. Once it is removed though, it feels as if an amazing weight - a burden Kurt hadn’t even been aware of - has slipped from his shoulders.
The Sorceress Supreme holds the Soulsword high and Jardine asks if he can hold it, just to say that he had. Margali holds the sword close to her and points out that they hid the sword inside Kurt because he is unpolluted. ‘You reek of evil’ Amanda blurts out bluntly. ‘And actually, now that we’re discussing body odor, something else too…’ remarks Nightmare quietly, as Jardine has another coughing fit, he mutters ‘I’ll take that as a compliment, ladies’
But suddenly, Jardine, in a voice not quite his own, exclaims ‘And don’t say I didn’t ask nicely’. Kurt is reminded of the flies, and quickly orders everyone to get back away from Jardine, for the flies are familiar to Kurt, and suddenly Jardine vomits millions of flies from within him. Kurt realizes that Jardine looks as sick as he does because he has also had something else inside him - something that is finally revealing itself.
Nightcrawler realizes that this enemy is going to look for another host and immediately claps his hands over his ears, shouting for everyone else to cover their eyes and ears. Everyone does as Kurt suggests, and the flies swarm around them all, before thankfully, dissipating. There is only one question left, Kurt thinks to himself, before asking if everyone is all right, if everyone made it.
The ram-horned Margali still clutches the Soulsword as she checks Amanda, while Christine looks over at Wolverine, who is being awfully quiet. Nightmare helps the weak Jardine to his feet, and exclaims that at the risk of being a killjoy, the evil is still here. Kurt wonders where - and in whom?
Christine now walks over to Logan and asks him if everything is okay. Kurt realizes what is going on and warns Christine to get back. Christine turns to Kurt and asks him why, when suddenly Wolverine swirls around and pops his claws right into Christine’s back. Everyone watches in horror as she falls to the ground like a rag-doll.
‘Logan! Why?’ exclaims Kurt, but the ferocious being standing over the body of Christine Palmer snarls ‘”Logan”? Yes, Logan’s in here with the rest of us. We’re Hive. And we’ll kill as many of you as need be to get to that sword!’


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The Winding Way, part 5: Conclusion
California, Kurt “Nightcrawler” Wagner, Amanda “Magik” Sefton, Margali Szardos and Nightmare stand in shock. For Wolverine a.k.a. Logan has just shoved his claws through Nurse Christine Palmer, a friend of Kurt’s. But something is different about Logan - Kurt has seen the expression before, enraged, insane, full of bloodlust. Full of evil.
With his healing factor, Wolverine’s body is very nearly indestructible, and even when not possessed by a demon named Hive, he is a killing machine, through and through. Kurt looks at Christine, who is looking up at him, obviously in pain, tears stream from her eyes. This is one of those touch choices that X-Men have to make periodically: stay to help the innocent and wounded, or try to keep the enemy from doing any more damage.
Nightcrawler bamfs into action, teleporting towards Logan as his foster sister and former girlfriend Amanda calls to him. Kurt urges Amanda to help Christine, as the possessed Wolverine tells Nightcrawler that he wants the Soulsword or else he will slaughter all his friends. Kurt uses his mutant ability to teleport in several short bursts across the circus he worked in for a very short time, knowing he has to get Logan away from the others and the Soulsword before anyone else gets hurt.
The destination is the hall of mirrors, where Kurt drops Logan off and teleports once more so that Logan cannot hurt him. The possessed Logan, with adamantium claws outstretched makes his way through the maze of mirrors, muttering that he loves games. ‘So where are you hiding, mutant?’ Kurt thinks that it is like playing Marco-polo in the pool at the X-Mansion, only the stakes are much higher. Logan / Hive tells Kurt that this is lunacy, for they can smell his sweat and hear his pulse. ‘We can feel your fear’.
Hive tells Kurt that the only reason he is still alive is…’Actually, we can’t think of a single reason why you should be’. Kurt wants the demon Hive to keep talking, so maybe he can figure out why all this, and why Hive, feels so familiar. Hive tells Kurt that they don’t mind this stay of execution, ‘What’s a few more moments? We’ve had this date since…well, since you brother, at least’. Kurt stops in his tracks. The penny finally drops and the years collapse around him like a house of cards. The past begins to flood over him, memories upon memories…
(Flashback)
It is a few days after Kurt’s escape from Jardine’s carnival. Kurt is inside a payphone, phoning Winzeldorf so he can tell his beloved sister, Jimaine what has happened. ‘Jimaine? Jimaine are you there?’ Kurt asks through the phone.
Huddled in her room, the young woman who will be known as Amanda Sefton asks Kurt where he is. Kurt asks Jimaine why she is whispering, to which Jimaine reveals that it is their brother, something awful has happened to him. ‘However troubled Stefan was before, its much, much worse now’. Kurt asks how much worse it could be, to which Jimaine explains that Stefan says demons are after him, stalking him and telling him to do terrible things.
Jimaine tells Kurt that she cannot talk for long in case Stefan hears her, and urges Kurt to come home, for she has been having nightmares - the most unspeakable visions. Kurt urges Jimaine to stay as far away from Stefan as she can, and promises to be home as soon as he can.
Kurt managed to get to Germany by teleporting onto a departing airplane then teleporting off it, he arrives in Winzeldorf, exhausted - and too late. For Stefan kneels before a fountain in the town square holding the body of a child in his arms. The pool surrounding the fountain is colored blood, with the bodies of more than a dozen other children floating in it too.
Flies buzz around Stefan Szardos, ‘Brother…the Amazing Nightcrawler… home, home, home…’ The moon shines brightly above Kurt as he asks his foster brother if he is all right, explaining that Jimaine called him - suddenly, Kurt sees the bodies in the fountain and asks his brother what he has done. ‘Why?’ asks Kurt as Stefan drops the boy from his arms and gets to is feet, claiming that her had to. ‘But these are…these were children!’ Kurt exclaims.
Stefan declares that they aren’t children, that they only look that way, but he knows the truth about them. Kurt pause before asking his brother ‘What truth?’ Holding a knife in his hand, Stefan points to his head. ‘The voices inside my head…they told me…’ he begins. Kurt thinks that his brother is deranged - something inside him whispering into his soul.
Stefan exclaims that they weren’t children, that underneath they were demons, monsters he had to kill before they rose up and killed others. Kurt decides that if he can talk to Stefan slowly, then this can end without any further bloodshed. Kurt calmly tells Stefan that he understands and asks if he can hold that knife for him. Stefan hands the knife to Kurt, remarking that it is over now, so he thinks he can give it to him.
In the coming years, Kurt will ask himself over and over “Why did it have to happen?”  - why did that child whom Stefan thought was dead, whom fate had spared - why did he chose that moment to shudder back to life? Indeed, the boy coughs - but why couldn’t he have stayed still five seconds longer? Enraged, Stefan turns back to the child. ‘What? Alive still?’ he exclaims.
‘The Devil! The Prince of Lies - playing dead!’ shouts Stefan as he runs for the boy. Kurt however is young, and could have done a number of things - teleport to the child then teleport him to safety, to teleport to Stefan then teleport him away where he could have done anymore harm. ‘You’ll die as surely as the rest!’ shouts Stefan, while Kurt calls out to him.
There isn’t time to think, for Stefan’s knife flashed in the moonlight ass Kurt reaches out to him. ‘You don’t understand…you’ll never understand!’ Stefan shouts. Kurt wraps his arms around Stefan’s neck to pull him back away from the child - then there is a crack - and the gruesome sound of bones breaking will echo across the years for the rest of his life.
Flies start billowing from Stefan’s lifeless body, as Kurt stands over him, holding the child safe in his arms, warm, as Stefan’s body grew quickly cold. Kurt remembers the vow he had made to Stefan some months before… ‘Promise me, brother, if I ever start to change, start hurting people….promise you’ll stop me no matter what it takes’ ‘I…all right, Stefan, I promise’.
(Present)
Kurt backs up against a mirror and wonders if Stefan had known something demonic would take control of him and force him to…’force me to…?’ Was Hive there all those years ago?
Hive tells Nightcrawler that even though he isn’t saying anything, they can hear the wheels inside him turning. ‘So many questions you must have…why did we whisper sweet nothings into Stefan Szardos’ ear? Why didn’t we possess him the way we possessed this body? Or did we? Did we, at the last moment, take hold of Stefan’s body and twist his little neck around until it broke, broke, broke?’
Hive, in Wolverine’s body still, stares into a mirror and asks Wolverine if he has been blaming himself for nothing all these years. Forever trying to wipe his brothers blood from his hands. Hive boasts that Nightcrawler will never know the answers, unless he hands over the Soulsword, which Hive will have one way or another, he boasts.
Nightcrawler hopes that Hive will keep talking so he cannot hear him approach, when suddenly, Kurt bursts through the mirror behind Hive / Wolverine, shattering glass everywhere. Kurt knows he could do a number of things here, and leaps onto Wolverine’s back. If Kurt were fighting a non-possessed Logan, he wouldn’t be able to do this, any of this. But since Hive doesn’t know how to use Logan’s body the way Logan does….
Kurt teleports himself and Hive / Logan onto the roller coaster tracks, with Hive boasting that where they are taken, they will keep coming until - suddenly, there is a loud crack, as Nightcrawler snaps Wolverine’s neck. ‘That’s for Stefan, whether you killed him or not’ Kurt thinks to himself as flies begin billowing out of Wolverine’s body.
Kurt teleports back to where the others are. Nightmare, who is still tending to Jardine, asks where the hideous Hive is, pointing out that he surely isn’t dead. Kurt explains that Hive are trapped inside Logan’s body while it heals, which wont take much longer, before asking where Christine is. ‘Not to worry, handsome…she’s in good hands’ the beautiful Amanda declares.
Kurt sees Amanda standing over Christine’s body in a brilliant blue light, and asks his foster sister what she is doing. ‘Saving her life, lover boy’ Amanda replies, remarking that you watch enough episodes of E.R. to know you can adapt your magic to just about anything. Amanda explains that she is slowing down Christine’s beating heart while she makes her wounds close, regenerating the torn tissue and replacing the lost blood. Kurt thinks that he could kiss Amanda - maybe after all this is over, he will.
Kurt asks what has happened to Logan’s soul with Hive possessing his body. ‘Tsk. What do you think I’m doing here, Nightcrawler? Prepping the floor show?’ asks Nightmare, before Nightmare reveals that he is astral-projecting at the moment, searching the nether-realms for wherever Hive has displaced Wolverine’s mind. Nightmare exclaims that he has found it. ‘Oh dear’ he adds. Kurt asks if Logan is somewhere awful, to which Nightmare replies ‘Appalling, Nightcrawler. You can’t imagine’.
On the astral plane, Wolverine stands on a small hill, green grass covers the ground for as far as the eye can see. Birds fly across the blue sky lined by puffy white clouds and rainbows. ‘Logan…? Wolverine…? Weapon X…? Whatever you’re calling yourself these days’ Nightmare asks. ‘S’up, bub? Welcome to my idea of Hell’ Logan replies. Nightmare tells Logan not to despair, pointing out that he isn’t in control of his body right now, but that something’s going to happen soon, hopefully, and then he will be able to jump right back in. ‘Oh don’t worry about me. I can do that easy’ Logan snarls.
Back in reality, Kurt asks Nightmare about Logan, to which Nightmare mutters that he is surly, but will survive, assuming that Hive can be dispatched of course. The green-skinned ram-horn wearing Margali steps forward and declares that he can. ‘How? Tell me, Margali!’ Kurt exclaims. The Sorceress Supreme explains that hive can be defeated with that which he seeks - the Soulsword!
‘Please, mother, Logan’s body is healing - ‘ Kurt begins to say, before Margali interrupts, proclaiming that there are two kinds of beings who covet the sword. Magicals such as herself, and demons like Hive, and before him, Belasco, who has come after the Soulsword many times. Margali reminds Kurt of how the sorcerer Gravemoss possessed him in order to wrest the sword from Kitty Pryde because he wanted to use it to kill anyone who stood before him on the Winding Way.
Amanda reminds everyone that it took their combined might to defeat Belasco after he had wrest control of the Soulsword, and suggests that this might Belasco’s revenge, adding that demons work together all the time, so perhaps Hive is Belasco’s lackey. Kurt thinks to himself that it is a possibility, but somehow it doesn’t feel right. Margali hands Kurt the Soulsword, informing him that it will kill Hive. Before he teleports away, Kurt asks what will happen to Logan, to which Margali explains his body will remain intact, for the Soulsword can only hurt and destroy supernatural beings.
Kurt teleports back to the roller coaster track, where Hive / Wolverine is clicking his neck back into place and exclaiming that they are eager for their booty. Nightcrawler pauses, before telling Hive that it doesn’t have to end this way, that he doesn’t have to die by the sword’s blade. ‘Is that what’s going to happen?’ asks Hive. ‘By the Nine Rings, you truly believe such a thing, don’t you?’
Kurt asks Hive who it is that is making him do all these things, pointing out that he is not powerful enough on his own, and was hiding in Jardine’s body while Man-Thing, Carrion and the others - Kurt stops talking, for Hive causes Wolverine’s body to hurl, and millions of flies pour from Wolverine’s mouth. They begin to buzz around Kurt, ‘Poor deluded Nightcrawler…with no body to strike, what can you cut? Poor, poor pawn…what can your sword do now?’
Kurt thinks that he can do plenty, for he knows that the Soulsword doesn’t just cut with its blade, it also burns with a cleansing fire. He swipes the sword through the mass of flies, most of them disperse, for they are simple insects, buzzing in confusion. But one of them isn’t a fly at all - and he finds it, grabbing it in his fingers.
Kurt looks down at the grotesque fly demon known as Hive and tells him that he wants the truth - who is ordering all this - Belasco? Hive asks Kurt if he thinks Belasco ranks higher than they, before remarking that Belasco is a soldier as much as they are. ‘Who then?’ Kurt asks, threatening to kill Hive. Hive reply that they think he might kill them anyway, to which Kurt asks them to tell him if they killed Stefan.
‘Yes. Or maybe we made you kill him. Either way, he had to die’ comes the reply. ‘”Had to”?’ asks Kurt. Hive tells that there is so much he doesn’t understand about who he is and what is going on here, before revealing that Stefan Szardos was assassinated. Hive then explains that all those times Belasco came after Margali and Amanda, it wasn’t merely to get the Soulsword, it was also to kill them both.
But this time, Kurt was the target. Hive declares that killing Kurt was as much their mission as finding and taking the Soulsword back to…the fly’s voice trails off, ‘No, that would be telling’. Kurt asks if all these attacks have been related, ‘And the scales fall from St. Paul’s eyes…’ says Hive. Kurt points out that Stefan’s death was years ago, as was what happened with Belasco.
Hive knows this and informs Kurt that these wheels have been turning for a very, very long time - even from when before Kurt was born. ‘Strategies have been in place for centuries…a war is brewing - has been for millennia. Battle lines are drawn’. ‘What war?’ asks Kurt. ‘The war before End-times’ replies hive as Kurt releases his grasp. Hive informs Kurt that the other side has been stacking the deck in its favor for centuries, collecting weapons like the Soulsword, dispatching those who would stand in its way….
‘Stefan, Amanda and Margali?’ asks Kurt. ‘You as well. You might not be related by the blood, but you’re cut from the same cloth’ Hive points out. Kurt is about to ask Hive why they told him all this, to which Hive tell him to let them ask a question - what if they are lying - or what if it doesn’t matter what he knows because it is too late, or…’What if we don’t want our side to win? What if the thought of that happening scares even us?’
Hive declares that whatever the case, it doesn’t matter because - suddenly the fly’s body begins to convulse - this is how a demon is killed from afar. Like a hot sun exploding. Like a firefly blinking out…’. Kurt looks at his hand where Hive - he…it…they - was killed from afar. Like everything else that has been happening to him. Wolverine finds himself back in his body and asks his friend what happened.
All that’s left are more questions, so Kurt teleports himself and Logan back to the others and asks if Christine is all right. Amanda tells him that she will be fine, before Nightmare announces that he doesn’t feel Hive’s presence anymore, ‘So kudos on that front’. Margali asks of the Soulsword, to which Kurt replies he is keeping inside of him until… ‘Until when?’ Margali asks. Amanda exclaims that this is over now, right? With Hive gone they are safe. Ominously, Kurt tells his sister that he thinks it is only beginning.


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Happy Birthday, Kurt!
Sunday. Not far from the Xavier Institute, there is a place Kurt Wagner a.k.a. the X-Men’s Nightcrawler visits every so often. Always on a Sunday, usually in the late afternoon. It is a small chapel of a home for the elderly and infirm. These people, like the priest saying mass, happen to be blind. It is a very specific, very special place. ‘I want to talk to you today about doubt’ begins the priest, while Kurt thinks that he is a very eloquent speaker, recalling that the priest told him he lost his sight in a hunting accident when he was six. ‘Doubt in a world which our belief - our faith - is shaken every moment of every day…’ His words calm Kurt.
Monday.. ‘Well, Hank?’ Kurt asks as he sits on an examination table in the lab of his friend and teammate, the Xavier Institute’s resident doctor, Henry “Hank” McCoy. Kurt thinks to himself that Hank is also one of the Xavier Institute’s most centered, practical presences. The X-Man codenamed “the Beast” informs Kurt that the good news is the burns he received from the Man-Thing are healed and probably won’t scar. Kurt asks about the cuts on his chest - the ones he got from Vermin. Beast replies that they probably will, but that he has it on a very good authority, ‘Now how did Bobby put it? - “Chicks really dig scars”’.
Kurt thinks that sometimes Hank is too good for the rest of them, they are all disasters, emotionally arrested, petty and insecure, while he…just isn’t. Hank informs Kurt that as for the rest, all the tests came back clear, meaning Kurt is physically 100%, well, almost. ‘So can I…?’ begins Kurt, which causes Hank to sigh, before telling Kurt that he can start training again, before suggesting that he might give it one more day before he does so. Hank mutters that he will never understand why even the non-Alpha males on the X-Men love playing at getting themselves killed. ‘Thank you, my friend…for bearing with the rest of us’ Kurt thinks to himself.
Tuesday. The Danger Room is closed for “business”, so Kurt and his dear friend Wolverine a.k.a. Logan do this the old fashioned way. As Logan lunges at Kurt, Kurt can tell he is holding back. But it doesn’t bother him, for contrary to whatever Hank thinks, this isn’t about killing each other. Kurt just wants to sweat, to get his blood pumping. He is trying to do this without teleportation, so it is just fighting, matching each other blow for blow. After a while, it is almost a relief when Kurt hears a quiet, familiar voice announce ‘I think that’s maybe enough for today…okay, boys?’. Kurt and Logan look up to the console room and see Kitty Pryde, and Kurt thinks ‘When have I ever been able to say “no” to you?’
Wednesday. ‘Is this absolutely necessary? I feel slightly ridiculous,’ remarks Kurt as he lies down in front of Scott Summers and Emma Frost - a.k.a. Cyclops and the White Queen, respectively - the co-headmasters of the Institute. Kurt smiles at Emma and exclaims that he thinks he should probably be telling her about his mother. ‘Welcome to my life’ Scott’ chimes in, but Emma tells them both to shush. Kurt thinks that since his harrowing (as it’s come to be known), there has been concern that there is some kind of boogeyman or other hiding in his cerebellum.
Kurt asks Emma what it feels like, to which the sultry White Queen replies that searching through his mind is like flipping through a card catalogue or letting grains of rice slip through her fingers. Kurt sits up as Emma announces that, at any rate, he is clean, besides the Soulsword, which she believes is actually making him younger, there aren’t any foreign bodies in his corporeal self. ‘I didn’t think so,’ Kurt remarks, to which Emma smiles and tells him that some of those stray thoughts she tripped over suggests that perhaps they should talk about his mother….
Later that day, Kurt is in the realm known as Limbo, which is ruled by his foster sister Amanda Sefton, with whom he has a very complicated history. Amanda has been through a lot in the years Kurt has known her, and Kurt recalls a time when she was a flight attendant, but is now known as “Magik”. Kurt and Amanda are riding on two strange creatures, while Amanda explains to Kurt that including Limbo there are several so-called Nether Realms. ‘The Land of the Dead, the Land of Dreams, Heaven and Hell…’ her voice trails off, remarking that there are others he doesn’t even want to know about.
Amanda reveals to Kurt that when Hive was going after the Soulsword, she felt, and Nightmare also felt, disturbances spreading across Limbo. There were cracks and fissures in the walls, separating it from the other mystical territories. Kurt asks how serious that is, to which Amanda replies ‘Extremely,’ and adds that Nightmare said he has seen crossovers - souls from Heaven and Hell - passing through his kingdom. ‘The Land of Dream?’ Kurt asks. Amanda confirms that, and declares that if Nightmare is speaking true, if the numinous boundaries are breaking down, then what is happening now in the Nether Realms could start affecting the Earth. ‘Your Earth, Kurt’. Amanda exclaims ominously.
Thursday. These past few days, Kurt has been keeping to himself and heading up to his room after dinner. There, he reads and catches up on his journal. His phone buzzes and it is Cyclops, who informs Kurt that he has been going over his reports and has a question or two for him, asking if he would mind coming down to the library. Kurt is tempted to decline, but glancing at the calendar, he sees the date. He sighs, knowing some things just aren’t worth fighting against, and replies that he will be right there.
Approaching the library’s ever-so-slightly open door, Kurt tells himself that he has to act… “SURPRISE!” exclaim the Uncanny X-Men as Nightcrawler enters the library. There, Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, the White Queen, Beast, Polaris, Havok, Shadowcat, Colossus, Psylocke, Lockheed, several others and Nurse Christine Palmer, who is standing with the cake, all smile at Kurt. Looking at Christine and the cake, Kurt thinks that she probably baked it herself. Everyone begins singing “Happy Birthday”, but Kurt is still watching Christine, and he begins to wonder why he stopped himself from feeling for her what she felt for him.
Christine approaches Kurt and tells him to blow out his candles and make a wish. Kurt draws a breath, when suddenly, all around him, everything and everyone, goes still. Kurt remembers this as a trick of Professor X’s - putting people on pause, and his first thought is that Charles Xavier is here, that he has come to surprise him. But then Kurt feels how cold it has suddenly got. He hears some shuffling downstairs in one of the parlors, and begins thinking back to one of his fateful birthdays of the past - the one he spent trapped in an inferno, fighting for his soul. Not fun.
Kurt opens the door, knowing that if it were an enemy, then the Institute’s defense system would have gone off. Kurt pulls the Soulsword out of himself, and enters the room, ‘Hello?’ he asks. Someone is sitting in a chair by the fireplace and with an eerie voice, tells Kurt that he can put the sword away, that he is not here to fight him. Kurt approaches the mysterious being, who explains that unlike his cousin, Hive, he is not interested in taking the sword from him. ’Distant cousin, by the way, several times removed’ he adds.
‘Who - who are you?’ Kurt asks, puzzled. The being clad in red turns slightly in the chair. ‘Who am I? Oh, I think you know…’ he exclaims. Kurt pauses, before his mouth drops open, and he utters the name ‘Mephistopheles’. The powerful super being gets to his feet and grins, telling Kurt that there is no need to stand on ceremony, ‘Mephisto!’ he exclaims, before claiming that he was going to pick Kurt up a gift on the way, but that the nearest mall closed hours ago.
With the Soulsword outstretched, Kurt asks Mephisto what it is he wants and what he is doing here. ‘I came to talk’ Mephisto replies, while Kurt thinks to himself that Mephisto is another demon - or perhaps the Devil himself. ‘Not inside me house!’ Kurt shouts, ready with the Soulsword.
‘Fine - is outside better?’ Mephisto asks, and the two immediately appear outside the mansion, with Mephisto informing Kurt that he is a teleporter also. Kurt asks Mephisto, before he says anything else, what of his friends back inside. Mephisto informs Kurt that they will be fine, that all he did was stop time around them for a little while. ‘Did what?’ Kurt asks surprised. Mephisto nonchalantly remarks that he can do much more than that, revealing that sometimes, in certain rare cases, he can even bring people back from the dead. As Kurt returns the Soulsword into his body, he declares that he knows better than to say “That’s impossible”, but asks at what cost.
‘Ha! Very good, Nightcrawler!’ Mephisto remarks, declaring that these things always come at a price, don’t they. Mephisto suggests that they walk and take in some of this crisp night air. They walk side by side, with Kurt biting his tongue, his skin crawls - and the grass literally withers beneath Mephisto’s feet. Then finally, Mephisto begins dealing.
Mephisto begins by explaining to Kurt that what Hive, whose real name is actually Halphas, about the “End Times” before his untimely death…he wasn’t lying. ‘The Unholy Wars are almost upon the Earth, Nightcrawler’ Mephisto exclaims ominously. Kurt informs Mephisto that his Sister and Mother had already said as much, as they have felt celestial and infernal shifts taking place, like tremors before and earthquake.
Mephisto tells Kurt that that not only his family, but he himself has felt them - more than felt, actually fought them. ‘I have?’ Kurt asks, surprised, and telling Mephisto to keep his hands off, as the demon lord place one of his hands on Kurt’s shoulder. Mephisto reminds Kurt of the encounter he had with the demon Pazuzu with the coven that was trying to free Pazazu and his thirteen brothers. Mephisto grins wickedly as he declares that Kurt never found out what Louis Child’s, the cults leader said to Seth, one of the sacrificial children. ‘Did you?’
“I learned about the fourteen demons from a book I found at Barnes & Noble of all places, in their occult section. The book described the ritual to set the demons free…” is what Child’s said. Mephisto informs Kurt that, ironically, Child’s had never set foot in that particular bookstore before. ‘Coincidence? No…you know better, Nightcrawler,’ Kurt asks Mephisto if what he is saying that someone made Child’s go into that store and “accidentally” find the ritual. Mephisto replies that someone strongly suggested it, to, say, get Child’s to free the fourteen demons who would have been the side of Darkness’s first attack - its vanguard.
Kurt thinks to himself that this insane, some sort of supernatural conspiracy going back to…to…suddenly, he recalls the ghosts in the subway, and asks if they were meant to be part of the war also. Mephisto replies that they were mere opportunists, that the membranes between words are weakening, becoming porous and things are starting to get through, things like ‘The spirits of the restless dead’ Kurt asks. Kurt points out that he was there to stop them, and asks if it was another coincidence as well. ‘Hardly’ Mephisto replies, reminding Kurt that in both cases he was asked to help by…Storm!
Narrowing his eyes, Mephisto asks Kurt why he supposes that Storm got the idea he would be the perfect person to investigate these incidents of the supernatural, that the X-Men should even be involved at all? ‘I…I actually don’t know,’ Kurt admits. Turning away, Mephisto exclaims that he won’t utter any of their names aloud, but that he will say the so-called “forces of good” can be as manipulative and self-serving as the “forces of evil”. Mephisto mutters that it is appalling that Kurt hade to do their dirty work and was given no choice in the matter.
Kurt pauses before asking Mephisto what the point of telling him all this is, if he really doesn’t have a choice. Mephisto informs Kurt that he does have a choice and that he is giving him one. ‘All you have to do is nothing’. Mephisto suddenly creates an illusion behind himself of several enormous water demons rising through the streets of a city, and grins, telling Kurt that when the war begins, when the trumpet’s sounds, the walls come tumbling down and the great Leviathan crawls out of the water…’All you need to do is stand aside’.
The illusion disappears and Mephisto declares that he knows there is no chance Kurt would defect to his side, so suggests he become a conscientious objector. ‘In exchange for what?’ Kurt asks, wanting to know what he gets out of it if he doesn’t participate. Mephisto tells Kurt to spare his loved ones, his friends and family, to make sure they escape the slaughter - ‘Protect them in a way only someone on this inside would be able to’.
Grinning wickedly, Mephisto creates a smoke image of Nightcrawler and Amanda Sefton’s deceased brother, Stefan Szardos, and reveals that he will bring him back to life, making him how he was before his soul became corrupted and he murdered those children. ‘I’ll grant you, in other words…your greatest wish! I can do that, believe me, I can -’ before Mephisto can say anything else, a furious Kurt punches him in the face, drawing blood.
‘I’d sooner burn in Hell myself than make a deal with you, Mephisto’ Nightcrawler exclaims through gritted teeth. ‘War, then?’ Mephisto asks, wiping his face. ‘WAR!’ declares Kurt. Mephisto begins to fade away, waving some powers at Kurt he mutters ‘As backwards as all the rest…you’ve just made a cataclysmic mistake’.
‘ - Make a wish and blow out your candles, Kurt!’ exclaims Christine. Kurt looks around and slightly confused, finds himself back in the room amongst his friends and teammates. Time is unfrozen, but Kurt just tries to tell himself that he imagined the last ten minutes, but glancing at the window he sees a grinning Mephisto, and he knows better. ‘Come on Kurt, the wax is dripping all over your cake!’ Christine exclaims.
Kurt Wagner takes a deep breath, then says a prayer - that wherever his brother is, he is at peace and that he will stay that way. That when the trumpets sound, when the walls come down and the Leviathan emerges from the sea…’I am strong’. That his faith always remain strong, even when he is full of doubt.
Shortly later, ’Kurt…?’ asks Christine as she walks outside and finds Kurt huddled behind a tree. Christine asks him what he is doing outside, if he isn’t enjoying his party. Kurt replies that he, but explains that he is one of those people for whom celebrating their birthday isn’t a priority. Christine smiles, ’Hmmm, doesn’t like musicals and doesn’t like celebrating his birthday. No…we would’ve never made it’.
Kurt looks at Christine in the eyes, telling her that is something he has been rethinking, if she is still - Christine interrupts so he doesn’t have to say anything more, revealing that she is leaving, moving back home. ’You mean…?’ he asks, to which she explains she is moving back to Tucson, as her mother is there and she is going to get her old job back, adding ’How many times do I have to almost die before I get the message “leave New York”?’
Kurt tells Christine that he isn’t sure what to say, ‘That you’re sad? That you’ll miss me?’ Christine suggests. ‘I am - I will’ Kurt exclaims, before a sad-looking Christine adds ‘That we had a good run?’ Kurt replies that they did, despite everything. Leaves blowing around them, Christine remarks that it turned awfully cold awfully fast, as Kurt leans into her, ‘One more thing, Christine…’ he adds. ‘What?’ she asks, before they kiss, while Kurt thinks to himself ‘That our story isn’t over…not be a long shot’.


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Nightcrawler
His name is Kurt Wagner, better known as Nightcrawler. He has fought the good fight on this world and many others. He has helped save the universe - and then he died. But that isn’t the end of the story. Fate, it seemed, had other plans, and brought him back to life.
Nightcrawler teleports, an explosive BAMF signaling his mutant power, as he leaps through the air towards Wolverine a.k.a. Logan, his best friend. Both men hold staffs in their hands, and Wolverine sports a new costume. One of Wolverine’s mutant abilities was a healing factor that allowed him to survive any wound. But not long ago, he lost it. ‘Gimme a break, Elf!’ Wolverine snorts to his friend as he attempts to strike, but Nightcrawler teleports away. ‘How many times we tussled? I know how you think!’ Fast as ever, he raises a hand to where Nightcrawler teleports up behind him. Despite his teleports being instantaneous, Logan is there to counter Kurt’s attack.
A staff held by his tail, Kurt attempts to attack Wolverine that way, but Wolverine blocks the strike. ‘Nope - that won’t work, either - or this’ Logan adds as he blocks another attempt. Wolverine lunges, but Kurt ducks, ‘Impressive as ever, mein freund’ he remarks. ‘Perhaps now’s the time to up the game’ Kurt grins as he flips up behind Wolverine, who looks up, annoyed.
They are dueling in the Danger Room, big enough to house a jumbo jet with the technology capable of creating any reality imaginable. Evaluating Wolverine and Nightcrawler’s performance are three of their teammates - Ororo “Storm” Munroe, Dr Hank McCoy a.k.a. the Beast and Dr Cecilia Reyes, who watch room the observation booth. They are all smiling, as the Beast comments on how Kurt is hitting Logan - too fast for them to even count. The Beast adds that Nightcrawler is trying to find a weakness in Wolverine’s new armor. ‘He better be careful. He’s starting to make Wolverine mad’ Cecilia points out. Storm reminds Cecilia that Logan is a teacher now, and he knows how to control himself. ‘That was before he lost his healing factor, Storm.
Perhaps we’d better -’ the Beast begins, when suddenly, they hear a SNIKT, signalling that Wolverine has popped his claws. ‘Oh, no!’ Cecilia gasps. Down in the Danger Room, Nightcrawler realizes that he has pushed Logan too far, as Logan slices Kurt’s staffs with ease. ‘Logan - no!’ Kurt calls out. ‘I don’t play games, runt’ Wolverine snarls.
Kurt knows that Logan’s claws are forged of adamantium and can cut through anything. When Logan unsheathes his claws, he cuts through his own flesh - in the absence of his healing factor, the pain must be excruciating. Kurt doesn’t know whether Logan is testing himself or testing him. ‘I’ve only just come back to life… I’d like to enjoy it a little while longer’ Kurt thinks as he quickly teleports behind Logan and calls out to him, telling him to top this.
Suddenly, a crack of lightning whips down and separates Wolverine from Nightcrawler. Rain beats down, too, and Storm hovers over them, ‘Listen to him, Wolverine. I will not warn you again’ Storm instructs Wolverine, before informing Cecilia that Logan requires her skills as a physician. Reyes runs into the rain-drenched Danger Room, while Wolverine assures Ororo that he is fine. ’Let me be the judge of that, Mister’ Cecilia orders.
Wolverine explains that he just lost his temper. ’Look at your hands. That’s not rain dripping down, it’s blood!’ Cecilia points out. Logan sits down and lets Cecilia check his hands, assuring her that he will be fine. ‘Keep this up, you’ll be dead’ Cecilia tells him. ‘It’s my problem’ Wolverine points out, adding that he will find a way to handle it. Cecilia suggests that he needs to find a way to accept his new limits.
Nightcrawler watches Wolverine as Storm drops down beside him. Kurt looks concerned and as the rain continues to pour down, he remarks that he is not used to seeing Logan bleed - not like this. Kurt adds that he remembers Logan as the X-Men’s anchor, the constant they could always depend on. ‘And now he’s mortal, just like the rest of us’ Storm points out. ‘Whatever that means’ Kurt remarks.
Storm kneels in front of Kurt and touches his face, ‘How about you?’ she enquires. Kurt grins and replies that he isn’t dead - which pretty much says it all. Storm stops the rain and creates a gust of wind to dry everyone off, while telling Kurt ‘Think about that, my friend. You’re not the only one who’s bent the rules of life - and defied fate’. Kurt asks if perhaps that is the X-Men’s stock in trade, and Storm reminds Kurt that he is a man of faith, perhaps Logan’s cushion. ‘His healing, is it gone for a reason?’ Storm wonders. ‘Perhaps the time has come for him to make a choice, to truly decide who and what he is, and face the consequences. Maybe the same goes for you?’ Storm suggests.
Nightcrawler takes some time to explore the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. He thinks to himself that so much has changed since he first came to the school, but in truth, hardly any time has passed. But to Kurt, it felt like a lifetime. He smiles as he passes through a corridor, recalling that back then, there was barely a dozen of them, between the original team of X-Men, and the new. He looks a photograph taken when the All-New, All-Different X-Men were assembled. Kurt is balancing on a banister, kissing Storm’s hand, while Colossus, Thunderbird, Sunfire and Banshee stand nearby. Wolverine keeps to himself, at the back of the group, and Cyclops and Professor X look on.
Kurt remembers that on their first mission, they lost Thunderbird, and then they lost Jean soon after. ‘It seems like life with the X-Men has only one possible outcome’ Kurt decides.
Suddenly, an alarm sounds, ‘That bell - class change!’ Nightcrawler realizes as he quickly leaps into the air and clings to the ceiling as students start to pour out of the classrooms. Quentin Quire passes Eye Boy, who looks up and sees Nightcrawler clinging to the ceiling. Anole and Rockslide also notice him, when suddenly, Genesis notices him and shouts ‘Hey, look - that’s Nightcrawler!’ Sprite is with Genesis, and admits ‘He creeps me out’. Mercury looks up and tells Sprite not to be so lame. She extends her malleable boy upwards so that her face is close to Nightcrawler’s and tells him that she is so happy he is back. She introduces herself as Mercury and asks him if he remembers her. ‘Of course I remember you, Cessily. And it’s good to be back’ Kurt replies.
Kurt hears a voice in his head: ‘That almost sounded convincing, Kurt’ someone tells him telepathically. ‘Rachel!’ Kurt thinks, and he sees his long-time teammate hovering beside him, in astral form. Rachel greets Kurt, who tells her that it is good to see her. ‘Likewise’ Rachel replies, adding that there is a rumor his is joining them as a teacher. ‘That’s Storm’s idea’ Kurt explains while Mercury waves goodbye. ‘You’d do well here -’ Rachel begins, before telling Kurt to watch his back, as a lobster-like mutant races along the ceiling. ‘Yikes!’ Kurt exclaims, moving back. ‘Clear a path! Fast mover coming through!’ the odd mutant calls out as he scuttles past Kurt. ‘Now that’s something you don’t see every day’ a wide-eyed Kurt remarks to Rachel who replies’ Bet you figured you looked weird and tells him that he should see Rico work in zero-g, revealing that he wants to be an astronaut. ‘NASA will love him’ Kurt remarks, but Rachel tells Kurt that Rico has a wicked sense of humor, and suggests they meet back at his place and then she can fill him in on the other new students.
And soon, inside Kurt’s quarters, Kurt and Rachel sit on the sofa, two large pieces of artwork behind them, one depicting the X-Men team shortly after the originals and All-New, All-Different X-Men met, and a second of the original Excalibur. Several pairs of yellow eyes can be seen peering out of the shadows in the room. ‘And I thought we were weird’ Kurt remarks to Rachel. ‘Not even close, my friend’ Rachel replies, before telling Kurt that she likes what he has done with the loft, noticing the acrobatic rings and bars hanging from the ceiling. Kurt explains that just the keepsakes are his, the design and furnishing he owes to Ororo. ‘Beats living in a lighthouse’ Rachel remarks, referring to their former Excalibur headquarters. ‘I dunno, we had a good time with Excalibur’ Kurt replies, before asking Rachel if she has spoken to Kitty lately. Kurt adds that it is hard to believe that Kitty is in hiding somewhere with Cyclops and his own school of new mutants.
‘So many things changed while you were gone, Kurt’ Rachel replies, sipping a hot drink. She hangs her head and tells him that it makes you want to keep a tighter hold on the things that have stayed the same. Rachel puts the mug down and announces that she has to go, as she has a class. ‘I’m really glad you’re back. I missed you’ Rachel tells Kurt, kissing him on his head. She gets up and starts to leave, while Kurt replies ‘And I, you’ as he picks up a photo frame sitting on the side table. Rachel glances back and asks Kurt if he has any plans later, as they could go to dinner. ‘I’ll let you know’ Kurt replies as he looks down at the photo of Amanda Sefton.
Manhattan, a beautiful blonde woman walks along the sidewalk. She suddenly glances back ‘What -?’ she remarks, noticing something - or someone - move in the shadows on the rooftop across the road. The glamorous woman then enters an apartment building, and when she gets into her own apartment, ‘Who’s here? Show yourself or I’ll -!’ she threatens, but sitting lying on the sofa is Nightcrawler, a toy Bamf is with him, and several real Bamfs dart about on the sofa too. A glass of champagne is held up by Nightcrawler’s tail as he smiles and remarks ‘Guten abend, fraulein’.
‘Kurt!’ Amanda Sefton exclaims at seeing her foster brother and ex-boyfriend. She drops her bag and coat and rushes over to him. ‘Amanda!’ Kurt calls out, arms extended, they embrace. ‘I’ve missed you’ Kurt tells Amanda. ‘You’re alive!’ Amanda replies, while glancing at the Bamfs who smile at her. ‘You noticed’ Kurt remarks, while Amanda tells him that they are going to celebrate. They then kiss passionately.
Suddenly, the living room window is smashed as a large creature in a red and gray armor bursts through. ‘What? Someone you know?’ Kurt asks, shocked. ‘Totally not!’ Amanda replies, before asking if this is a friend of the X-Men. The being fires a blast of energy, knocking Kurt and Amanda back into the group of Bamfs who are flung about the apartment. ‘Apparently so, since he’s shooting at me!’ Kurt declares, adding that he is generating some kind of kinetic pulse blast. ‘Can you just say “zap ray”?’ Amanda asks as she falls to the floor.
The intruder turns his attention to Amanda and fires a disc at her. ‘The girl is clear - and now she’s caught!’ he boasts as the disc releases coils which wrap around Amanda. Kurt calls out to her, concerned, and before her entire body is trapped, he touches her hand: ‘Gotcha!’ he exclaims as he teleports Amanda and himself out of the apartment. The Bamfs follow, and everyone falls into the apartment complex swimming pool, outside. ‘I hate it when you teleport!’ Amanda calls out as they fall into the water. ‘You didn’t used to’ Kurt reminds her as they come up for air. Amanda points out that she was younger then, and didn’t know any better. Kurt tells Amanda to stay here, while he deals with the behemoth. ‘Not a chance. He broke into my house. He threatened me. I’m going to help take him down’ Amanda replies. The Bamfs look on, concerned, while Kurt looks Amanda in the eyes and tells her that she isn’t - as she is the target, the monster is here for her. ‘I’m not about to let that happen’ Kurt assures Amanda as he teleports away. Amanda frowns and glances at her ruined hairdo, while the Bamfs look at her, unsure.
Back in the apartment, the intruder swats several Bamfs away, ‘You creatures are an annoyance - but you cannot defeat Trimega!’ he boasts. ‘That’s my job!’ Kurt exclaims as he teleports into the living room, armed with his staffs, Trimega laughs: ‘By hitting me with sticks - hah!’ Kurt leaps over him, and hits him with the staffs, ‘You’d be surprised by what the right man can accomplish with the right tools’ Kurt replies. He kicks Trimega in his chest and explains that even armor has its weaknesses - as does the man who wears it. ‘A flawed presumption, freak - that will cost you your life! Trimega declares, and Kurt looks very concerned as Trimega raises his hand towards Kurt, energy blast ready at close range. But, Kurt teleports just in time. ‘I don’t think so’ he tells himself as the blast strikes the ceiling.
Kurt teleports behind Trimega, he knows that the trick to using teleportation in a fight is to hit hard and so quickly that the adversary has no chance to respond. Kurt bounds over Triemga’s head when the villain turns to fire another blast. Behind Triemga now, Kurt whacks him in the face with the stick. But he decides that this isn’t good, as he is striking with all his strength, to no effect.
Suddenly, Kurt sees the ceiling, where the force beam struck, is starting to collapse. The Bamfs teleport up to the ceiling and hold it up, saving Kurt, who, distracted, is struck bny Trimega. ‘Fool!’ the villain calls out. ‘Your fists cannot defeat me!’ Trimega declares as he attempts to strike Kurt again, but Kurt darts backwards, and Trimega’s fist strikes the floor. ‘The only thing you can do is run!’ Trimega calls out as Kurt teleports away from him. ‘Actually, I had a better idea!’ Kurt replies as he grabs Trimega by his arm and teleports him, then throws him with all his strength at the collapsing wall that is already badly cracked from the energy blast that Trimega fired at Kurt earlier. ‘Time to go, my friends!’ Kurt tells the Bamfs who all teleport away from the ceiling. Gravity does the rest, as the ceiling collapses on Trimega.
The Bamfs dart away, pleased with themselves, although Kurt doesn’t think Trimega is out, he is just too big and tough. Even worse, the effort Kurt made has cost him - he hurts all over. Suddenly, ‘Kurt! Are you all right!’ Amanda exclaims as she teleports into her apartment, wearing one of her old costumes, serene energy swirling around her. The Bamfs smile at Amanda, and Kurt bows and kisses Amanda’s hand, ‘The better for seeing you’ he tells her, and adds that she looks lovely. ‘Better than my apartment, that’s a fact’ Amanda points out, before asking where the robo-creep is. Kurt informs Amanda that they dropped a wall on him, but that he didn’t think it would keep him down so long. ‘Cheerful’ Amanda replies. ‘Realistic’ Kurt remarks, before asking Amanda if she has no idea why Trimega came after her.
‘My powers and skills are based on sorcery, you know that. This guy was all high-tech’ Amanda points out. ‘What have I to do with that?’ Amanda asks as they check the rubble. The Bamfs search through it, but look puzzled when they can’t find Trimega. ‘Unless - someone wanted to attack you from a perspective you couldn’t see coming’ Nightcrawler suggests. ‘And against which you had no defense’ he adds. But they cannot find Trimega in the rubble. Kurt supposes that he must possess a capability to teleport, and wonders where he went, and how the two of them should respond. Amanda tells Kurt that she has no answers for the first, but that if this creep was after her, perhaps she isn’t the only one in danger. ‘I want to check on my mother, Margali, to make sure she’s safe’ Amanda announces. Kurt tells her that he thinks it is time to call in the X-Men, but Amanda frowns and replies ‘No’. Amanda tells Kurt that if this is family business, then family should deal with it. ‘Question is, how d’you feel about that?’ she asks. Kurt takes Amanda by her hands and assures her that where she goes, so does he.
Amanda casts a teleportation spell around herself, Nightcrawler and the Bamfs, and as the serene energy encase them, Kurt calls out ‘Racing across the globe to save the day once again? It’s as they say: some things never change!’


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Can We Go Home Again?
Flashback images:
For as far back as he can remember, Der Jahrmarkt was Kurt Wagner’s home. It was a small one-ring travelling family circus and it was wonderful. Wherever they went, they made people laugh and gasp and cheer. Perhaps they weren’t the greatest show on the planet, but they had fund - and so did their audience. Kurt remembers being at the forefront of a spectacle taking place in the ring, with scantily-clad men and women performing astonishing acrobatics, and the audience goes crazy.
Kurt recalls his mother - Margali Szardos, who gave him, a foundling, a home. He grew up at the circus, it didn’t matter that he looked strange - in a circus, strange is normal. What mattered was that he felt loved. Kurt played with Amanda, who was another rescue, as Margali watched over them with another man, a man who trained them in the skill of acrobatics. Amanda became Kurt’s best friend, and together, they learned their craft - until the day came for Amanda to make her debut in the ring.
‘Wish me luck, Elf!’ Amanda exclaims as she hugs Kurt and kisses him on the cheek. ‘You don’t need luck. You’re the best’ Kurt smiles. Amanda has held a very special place in Kurt’s heart ever since.
Present
Winzeldorf, a small town, high in the mountains of Bavaria. The sun is rising over the quaint village, nestled on two sides of a river, which appears orange under the glow of the rising sun. A bright light glistens down one of the cobblestone streets, and from it, a portal opens, and Kurt “Nightcrawler” Wagner falls through, accompanied by several of the little blue Bamfs, and the glamorous Amanda Sefton. Kurt examines his surroundings and tells Amanda that her spell brought them right back to where his life with the X-Men began. ‘Why am I not surprised? Fate has a wicked sense of humor’ he points out. Amanda reminds Kurt that this is the carnival’s off-season home, so where better to start looking for Margali? They peer down the street, as Kurt remarks ‘Where indeed?’ and explains that he no longer believes in coincidences.
Kurt holds up a portable device, and crouches down amongst the Bamfs, reminding Amanda that Trimega attacked with speed, power and tech, so she had no chance to defend herself, and if not for himand the Bamfs, she would have been taken. ‘We caught him by surprise. Next time, I doubt we’ll be so lucky’ Kurt adds. An image appears, projected from the device, it is Margali, and Kurt tells the Bamfs that they need to find her fast. Another image - of Trimega, who Kurt tells the Bamfs to keep their eyes peeled for him. Some of the Bamfs teleport away, while Kurt and Amanda start to walk down the street, the remaining Bamfs scampering around their feet. ‘Nice little army of minions you’ve got there’ Amanda remarks. ‘And I only had to die to get them’ Kurt replies.
Shortly, Kurt and Amanda are sitting at a table on the sidewalk. Other patrons at the café are seated nearby, and the locals go about their business. ‘So, is this how you deal with fear?’ Amanda asks Kurt. ‘No, hunger’ he tells her, adding that the town hasn’t changed, although there are fewer pitchforks than he remembers. Amanda assures Kurt that thanks to her illusion spell, all people will see when they look at the two of them are people like themselves. Indeed, the illusion depicts Amanda and Kurt in civilian clothing, and Kurt appears as a human, while the Bamfs are nowhere to be seen. Amanda remarks that it hasn’t really been that long since Charles Xavier recruited Kurt, to which Kurt replies that it seems like a lifetime. Amanda realizes Kurt isn’t himself, and asks if something is wrong. ‘Not really. I’m just… remembering’ he replies.
Flashback
Amanda’s debut on the trapeze: she stands on the tall platform, so beautiful - the audience loves her. So does Kurt, as he looks up at her, excitedly, while Margali and the older man watch from the sidelines. Amanda had trained so hard for this moment, and she leaps off the platform as the trapeze swings down towards her - she grabs it, but then - it snaps! There is no net and Amanda is very high up - the fall will kill her. Unless… he does it - Kurt teleports into the air, and grabs Amanda, telling her to relax, that he has her. ‘Kurt? What’re you doing?’ Amanda gasps. ‘Saving you’ Kurt replies as he teleports them both to the opposite podium.
Kurt didn’t think about what he was doing - it simply happened - and the audience was stunned. But Kurt and Amanda don’t care, and they kiss. When they pull away they see that the crowd is cheering. ‘They must think my rescue was part of the show!’ Kurt suggests. Amanda asks him how he did it, but Kurt tells her that he doesn’t know. ‘Can you do it again?’ Amanda enquires. ‘The way they’re all cheering - I sure hope so’ Kurt smiles, as he and Amanda wave down to the crowd - marking Kurt’s beginning as Nightcrawler.
Present
‘You’re smiling’ Amanda tells Kurt. ‘Remembering - your opening night on the trapeze’ Kurt grins back. ‘You saved me, Elf’ Amanda recalls. ‘I’ll always save you, Witch’ Kurt assures Amanda. Leaning across the table, he takes her hand and stares into Amanda’s eyes. The Bamfs are under the table, one of them eats a biscuit, and they look up as Amanda pulls away from Kurt, asking him why he didn’t give her the chance to do the same. ‘The life I chose wasn’t for you - we both knew that’ Kurt remarks, to which Amanda tells him that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t come when she was needed. ‘It’s not like I knew what was going to happen’ Kurt points out. Amanda tells Kurt that she loves him, that she should have had the chance to at least try and save him. ‘Who knows? Perhaps that’s why I’m back? To give us another chance?’ Kurt suggests, when suddenly, the other little Bamfs return.
‘Oh, for goodness sake! Your little doppelgangers certainly know how to spoil a mood!’ Amanda declares. ‘They mean well’ Kurt tells Amanda. ‘And I have a temper’ Amanda replies. Kurt assures Amanda that the Bamfs like that passion in her. ‘So do I’ he adds, while Amanda asks if there is any word on Margali. Kurt crouches down as the Bamfs gather around him, and he tells Amanda that there is no sign of her - nor Trimega, but what they have found is Der Jahrmarkt. Kurt suggests to Amanda that they should check it out, as perhaps someone at Der Jahrmarkt will have word of Margali. Amanda hangs her head and tells Kurt that she will follow his lead, then. ‘Is there a problem?’ Kurt asks. ‘Can’t answer. Casting a spell’ Amanda replies as she avoids the question, surrounding herself, Kurt and the Bamfs in a brilliant light, she teleports them all to the circus.
‘It hasn’t changed’ Kurt remarks as he examines the circus surroundings. A large big top tent, and several smaller tents and caravans. ‘Wish it had’ Amanda mutters, to which Kurt asks her what is wrong. Amanda reveals that there was an argument between her and Margali, and that things were said - the kind that can’t be taken back, even if you wanted to. ‘Thing is, I don’t’ Amanda admits. Suddenly, a large burst of flame roars towards Kurt and Amanda. ‘Look out!’ Kurt tells Amanda, grabbing her and pushing her to safety.
The Bamfs are knocked aside with them, when suddenly, a large fists slams into Nightcrawler. ‘Who are you? Why you come here?’ a large, muscular man asks as he lumbers towards where Nightcrawler landed. Kurt looks up and sees Haus looming over him. Kurt thinks of Haus as a walking battering ram, with fists that can shatter skyscrapers. Even though the Almighty blessed Haus with the strength of a titan, his brain never grew beyond that of an innocent child. Kurt recalls that when he and Amanda were growing up, Haus was their friend.
Apparently, things have changed. Amanda sees Haus reach down to grab Kurt, so she calls out to Kurt, telling him not to worry - but as she raises a hand to cast a spell, ‘Do nothing, girl!’ a short-haired woman snarls as she extends her arm, wrapping it around Amanda like a snake. ‘Haus, I’ve restrained this one! Get the other!’ the woman calls out. Kurt looks over and sees the woman who has snared Amanda - it is Gummi, which is German for “rubber”. The woman’s body stretches as several Bamfs race over to her, and Kurt remembers that Gummi can stretch herself almost without limit, to an extent that rivals Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, and Gummi was also their friend. She is also wicked dangerous in a fight - as the Bamfs quickly learn when she grabs one of them by their tail, and uses the Bamf against the others, swinging the small creature, slamming it into the others, while a wide-eyed Amanda watches.
Haus, meanwhile, has picked Kurt up and slammed him into the ground. ‘It’s me!’ Kurt calls out, realizing that if Haus lands a solid hit, his new life wil be over before it has barely begun. ‘Strange thing is, I’m almost tempted. But if I do that…what will happen to Amanda?’ Kurt thinks to himself. He gets to his feet and realizes that the performers are acting like he is a monster. Kurt has to fi nd out why - starting with the natural leader here, their fire-starter, Feuer. As Feuer appears behind Kurt, other circus workers start to look over at the commotion, and although Feuer’s first shot caught Kurt and Amanda by surprise, it won’t happen again, as Kurt teleports just before Feuer breathes more fire at him. Kurt appears behind Feuer and grabs him, ‘It’s me, Kurt Wagner! We’re friends, man - what ar eyou doing?’ Kurt asks. ‘Kurt Wagner’s dead!’ Feuer exclaims.
Feuer’s body starts to get hot as flames appear on him, causing Kurt to leap away. ‘OW!’ Kurt shouts, while Feuer fires beams of flame from his eyes, boasting ‘We won’t let you sully his memory!’ Kurt teleports again, and dodges the fire beams, which strike Haus as he was running towards Kurt. He is huge, but not invulnerable, and his cream tells how much the eyebeams hurt. Haus responds like any child, by trying to make the pain go away. Slamming his fists onto the ground, he knocks crates and cars over. Feuer leaps into the air, while Gummi is knocked off-balance by the impact. She loses her hold over the Bamf. Kurt knows that he has to find a way to stop this, before someone really gets hurt. He looks over at the Bamfs and sees that they are trying their hardest against Gummi, but they literally cannot get a grip on her. She grins as they try and attack her, but she just starts to wrap them up in her coils, like Amanda.
Kurt teleports over to Gummi and realizes that she expects him to be no different. ‘You are no match for me, demon’ Gummi declares. ‘Fool! D’you think you can hurt me!’ she asks as Kurt wraps his arms around her, ‘Not me, no’ he tells her as he teleports himself, Gummi and the still-trapped Amanda away, ‘It’s all in the timing’ Kurt thinks to himself, and he re-appears right in front of Haus, who raises a fist - and brings it down to strike Kurt, who makes another quick teleport, escaping the blow, which instead slams into Gummi’s face, causing her body to convulse, she spins out of control, and loses her hold over Amanda and the Bamfs. ‘My hero’ Amanda smiles as Kurt re-appears. Teleporting to her, he grabs her and they land, ‘You mean that?’ Kurt asks. ‘Yeah right, be real, Elf’ Amanda tells him as they look over and see that Gummi has fallen on Feuer, the two are tangled together.
‘Now what?’ Amanda asks. Kurt tells her that they appeal to their friend, and he turns to Haus. ‘You hurt Haus! Haus will hurt you - bad!’ the strongman declares. ‘Haus - no!’ Kurt calls out. ‘Look at us, you know us. It is Amanda and Kurt. We three have been friends. All our lives. Why would you hurt your friends?’ Kurt smiles, while Amanda waves at Haus. ‘Haus - knows you’ Haus realizes, suddenly claming down, he then boasts that he is happy as his friends have come home, and he wraps his large arms around the two. ‘Being squished here’ Amanda complains. ‘Give him his moment. You’ll be fine - I promise’ Kurt assures Amanda.
Shortly, Kurt, Amanda, the Bamfs and the circus performers are in a tent. Kurt and Feuer are having something to drink, while Haus smiles as the Bamfs climb over his body, and Amanda uses her powers to untangle Gummi. ‘You were dead, Kurt’ Feuer remarks. ‘I’m an X-Man. For us, it seems, that trick hardly ever works’ Kurt replies. ‘For a man of faith like you - that must be hard. I’m truly sorry, my friend’ Feuer tells Kurt.
Kurt announces that it isn’t always their place to comprehend the will of the almighty, as theirs is to follow where his path leads and hope for the best. Feuer enquires as to what brings Kurt here, and Kurt explains that they are looking or Margali. He asks Feuer if he can help them. Amanda raises her arms, ‘Enough of this foolishness, Margali! Stop playing your stupid games! Show yourself - now - or Kurt and I are gone!’ Amanda calls out.
The green-skinned, ram-horned Margali Szardos calmly steps out from behind a curtain. ‘Such tone. Such words. I remember, child, when you and Kurt used to call me Mother’ Margali declares. ‘Yeah? I remember when you used to deserve it’ Amanda retorts. Margali is quick to claim that she doesn’t know what Amanda and Kurt are talking about. ‘I walk the Winding Way - I have no trick with automatons’ she reminds them.
Kurt informs Margali that the Trimega came for Amanda, so they wanted to make sure it didn’t come for her, also. Feuer reminds Kurt that Winzeldorf is their home, that they live here in peace. ‘You guys save creation. We just make kids laugh’ Gummi points out. Amanda creates an illusion of Trimega so that everyone knows what he looks like, and explains that he was pretty determined. ‘You sure he doesn’t look familiar?’ she asks. ‘Cool - blaster boy!’ Haus exclaims. ‘No, Haus. This isn’t one of your toys’ Feuer assures his friend.
Feuer then tells Amanada that he is sorry - they don’t know what Trimega is. ‘How about you, Margali?’ Amanda asks, frowning. ‘Child, I told you -’ Margali begins, when suddenly, Haus is struck from behind by a blast, knocking him over and sending the Bamfs flying through the air. ‘That - hurt!’ Haus exclaims. ‘I’m sorry, my friends. It appears we’ve led our adversary right to you!’ Kurt gasps as he and the others step back in the tent as Trimega moves towards them. ‘So this time we stomp him, right, Elf?’ Amanda asks. But Trimega lumbers forward and exclaims: ‘Bold words, little witch-girl - and false hope. Trimega has come for you. All who try to stop him - SHALL DIE!’