driftfleet | (no subject)

[She rests heavily against him for the moment, giving herself over to his support, but she knows she's not the only one in need of support here. He knows too. She can tell through his every reaction. She breathes out and it makes a shaky sound.

Maybe she didn't need them, but she wanted them.]

How could he? [There's an edge of anger in her voice but it's only there trying to mask the disappointment, betrayal, and loss. It's not succeeding.] I showed him pictures of my parents. [The ones she got at the tree with Kurt. She specifically wanted to show Erik. He came to her birthday party and she took him back to Winn's room because it was something she wanted to share with a man who would go on to choose Apocalypse.]

He was weak. [And Kurt's tone has teeth in it, the judgement spit out between them. Hearing the pain in Kitty's voice makes him want to find Erik again and rip his head off his shoulders. Only the memory of choking when Sascha glitched and came for him stops Kurt from doing just that; the Sheol had no desire to hurt him. Erik, he has no doubt, would kill him.

Kurt shifts, his tail looping around her knees. When he speaks, his voice is greatly gentled from the disdain he showed for the man they'd both come to accept.] We all trust the wrong person least once in our lives. I've done it too; I trusted him, too.

I feel like I'm trying to set a record. [Starting with Piotr letting their students die and then killing her because she didn't phase when she trusted him. At least the betrayals are getting less damaging each time? Tyki just murdered a friend of hers and probably because he was bored more than to get at her. Though he did leave an arm for her like a sadistic puppy.

She gives Kurt a squeeze. She's hurt, but she didn't mean for Kurt to have to comfort her like this. Not when he was always closer to their world's Erik. She knows this must be worse for him. Especially when he's so fresh from such dark places and times. He doesn't deserve to have his trust broken like this.]

We miss our team. [The easiest reason for trusting the wrong people here.]

Not the worst record you could go for. [The words are mumbled, Kurt catching himself before making a badly placed joke about Kitty landing on her feet. It's difficult to remember she's dead when he can hear her breathe. He should know better than anyone that breathing is no indicator, but Kitty is still so vibrant. It makes him even more furious at Erik; a betrayal of this magnitude hurts, but it's no less than he deserves for what he's done. Kitty's done nothing to deserve this heartbreak, betrayed no friends for the sake of revenge.

His tail tightens briefly around her knees in response to the squeeze, Kurt misunderstanding it as a request for more comfort (and the gesture is a comfort to him as well.)] I'd kill to have Jean with us. [Because she was the last one standing other than Kurt. Because even with the source of Apocalypse's power inside her, she'd stayed the course. Because Erik doing what he did validates every fear Kurt held about Xavier and they have no telepath here they can trust.]

[She'll gladly accept the added comfort even if she meant to provide it. Seems like it all evens out in the end.]

She'd be the one to get us out if anyone. [She doesn't really believe the words as she says them. It's more of a fond compliment. She knows their captors can modify their powers at will. Erik and Charles don't have their full extent of power. Not that she really wants to think about Erik right now even though he's all she can think about.]

I wonder if she'd like National City. [It feels more like a fairy tale than a plan. Escape a dying world and her own death with a handful of friends and teammates to live happily ever after with her boyfriend in a world that may have it's troubles but isn't in rubble either. She wants it to give her comfort and support in the hard times, but much like prayer it feels hollow to her. But that doesn't make it any less of a nice dream.]

[Kurt doesn't believe it either, because he won't let himself hope. Better to be prepared for the scenario of Jean being trapped with them as the best outcome rather than let himself dream that the woman who bent two cosmic forces to her will would be able to overcome this too.

(He doesn't let himself think of the Ororo that was here, or the spark of hope that lit when she vanished so quickly after arriving. If anyone could find a way out--)]

Oh, probably. Or she and I would run off into the woods together. [He says the latter with a strained chuckle, knowing how it sounds phrased like that and knowing Kitty would get the joke. Of all the men on their side or the other, he's always been the least likely to try absconding with Jean Grey.]

Uh huh. [Knowing exactly how likely that is as in not at all. At least not romantically. But she will have ties to stay there in that city with Winn. Even if it is just Kurt coming along she can't imagine him staying in Winn's apartment is going to be a comfortable arrangement for the three of them. The thought of him slipping away wouldn't surprise her, but she also doesn't like it. She wants him close. She needs him more than he might realize. Being a mutant in their world was hard enough. What's it going to be like when they are the only two in the world. Sure, there are aliens and other people with powers apparently, but it's not the same. And Kara hides who she is. The time when Kitty was hiding who she was was the darkest and hardest time in her life, brief as it was. She can always be herself with Winn, but with Kurt he also has a deeper understanding of what that's like.]

Not allowed. We all live happily ever after together as long as it's a fantasy.

Oh, all of us? My my Katzchen; I knew you were gathering a harem, but I wasn't aware you'd expanded your criteria.

[Teasing like this is going to get him swatted and he knows it, but it's so much better than feeling her shake. Indulging the fantasy is better than facing the reality that, even if they have a choice in the end, he might not. He has no way of knowing whether their captors grabbed him before or after he'd successfully closed their world off from the rest of the multiverse; he was a bit too busy dying to notice. Going with Kitty could mean dooming every world that's ever been, including Winn and Kara's.]

[You are getting an eye roll. Who knew she'd be up for an eye roll tonight, but here she is. Well done, Darkholme. But wait, your prize doesn't end there! You are getting that swat! It's lacking in any real energy, but it's there.]

You know what I mean.

[Is it terrible she'd risk that doom to keep him? She's terrible if it is, because she would.]