As soon as I swung open my bedroom door my nose was filled with the mansion's thick musky air. Too tired to attempt teleporting, I trod softly along the quiet hallway until I got to the top of the staircase. My ears began to fidget slightly at the giggles and thumping feet of the bustling crowds of students below, causing a sharp-toothy grin to form on my face. It was like this most of the time for me, as I never work up early enough to experience the mansion in it's peaceful morning state, especially on weekends.

I walked down the stairs, my still exhausted tail thumping loudly every time it hit the step below and went to make my way to the kitchen to see what was left for brunch.

"Hey elf."

I spun around instinctively, now within the kitchen doorframe, as I recognised the less-than-welcome nickname that had been given to me by none other than -

"Logan, guten morgen," I responded, my morning voice sounding deeper than I had expected. "Vhat can I do for you?"

"The Professor, Storm too, they want to see you in the Professor's office," he stated, voice tinged with it's usual annoyance. "It's about a mission too so you might want to get suited up." he finished, examining my pizza stained track pants rather judgmentally.

"Ja danke," I replied teleporting too my bedroom to change, my empty stomach wailing in protest.

I got dressed quickly, pulling on a blue T-shirt and jacket and a pair of loose brown pants and teleported a few metres outside the Professor's door. I ruffled my hair a bit and neatened my bangs and was just about to knock when I heard the Professor's voice inside my head, urging me to enter his office.

I pushed open the door and poked my head through.

"Guten morgen Provessor," I said with a small uneasy grin. I wonder what kind of mission he would be sending me on? I couldn't remember a time when the Professor had personally sent me on a mission, even though I had got caught up in many anyway. The Professor shot me a warm smile to mask the glint of worry in his eyes.

"Good," the Professor glanced down at his watch. "Afternoon Kurt." He finished his warm smile growing slightly wider.

I glanced sheepishly towards storm as I heard her mask a small chuckle.

"Let's not waste time then," The Professor began. "It's clear that you are a valuable asset when involved in missions, even if you were not organised to be there, and it has come to my attention that you are old enough and practised enough to be a beneficial member out in the field."

"Vow.." was all I could mutter as I felt a heat rise to my blue cheeks. "Sank you Provessor, I veally don't know vat to say.. Erm, does zat mean I get to go on za mission?"

"Indeed it does. In fact, you get to go on a mission immediately."

***

"You don't need to be nervous," Storm broke the silence with an encouraging smile, noticing my nervously fidgeting tail and the numerous times I had checked my seatbelt. "As the professor said, we are just going to pick up a low class mutant... They don't seem to be causing too much trouble either, it should be a smooth process."

"Ja." I responded, uncertainty evident in my voice. I wasn't even sure why I was so nervous, it's not like I hadn't done things much more dangerous than this before. I suppose I just wanted it to go well, so that I don't let the professor down. It was still a mystery though as to why the professor chose now to send me on a mission. He had plenty of opportunities before, it was so out of the (hahaimsofunny). I glanced over at storm, observing her through my lashes as she flicked various switches and pushed a sequences of buttons, starting the jet engine.

When the engines had almost finished warming up I gathered up enough courage to ask about the professor. "Ezcuzme, Miss Storm, I vas just vondering vie zi Provessor chose zis mission to be my first?"

Storm turned and shot me another warm smile as the jet's lower hatch thumped closed, saying "I'm sure he has a very good reason."

***

"These are just about the coordinates," Storm stated, braking the two hour long silence and jolting me from a shallow sleep.

I glanced out the windows that lay in front of me and saw that we were more or less in the middle of nowhere. Dense forest stretched at least 20 miles (30 km for us aussies) in every direction except for a main road I could see that cut a winding path below us and stretched on forever only to disappear on the horizon. It was early in the evening now, but the thick layer of clouds that lingered around us, threatening rain, indicated that the sun had retired hours ago. Within moments we reached a large clearing where Storm began to ease down the jet. I noticed at the edge of the clearing there stood a large worn down church.

Memories came tumbling back. The day I had ran, the night I was found, when I was saved.

"So zis is vie I vas sent on za mission.." I muttered to myself.

The engines calmed and shut off and we both both exited the jet and began heading towards the church.

A single rain drop grazed my cheek as waves of memories began to spill over the wall I had built inside my mind, about the night four years ago.

Blood. So much blood. Shouting. Blurs. And me. Drifting in and out of consciousness. Appearing and disappearing, no idea where I was going. One word ringing over and over in my mind. Escape.

"Kurt?"

We were standing at the church doors. Storm had a worried expression on her face.

"Kurt, is everything okay?" She questioned, words laced with concern.

"Ja," I replied replacing my concern with a toothy grin. "I'm still a bit drowsy, zat's all."

"Alright," She said not completely convinced. "The mission is simple, find the mutant and bring them back to the Professor. Keep your eyes open and your ears up okay? And if anything happens, if something goes wrong, I want you to zap yourself straight back to the jet and call for help. Understand?"

I nodded, her commanding tone calming me a bit, "Ja, I understand."

"Then lets do this."

She gave the large door a solid shove and with a small groan, it inched open. We both entered just as the rain began to fall heavily, it's patters echoing through the immense emptiness of the structure. Uprooted floor boards were sprawled around like splintered sprinkles on a cake and the roof no longer fought against rain allowing small streams to dampen the maroon carpet below. It smelt of old books and distantly of incense but despite its faults it was truly a beautiful sight. It's creamy cracked walls shone with happiness of days past and candles that had once been burnt for those in need stood tall, desperate to be lit. Bibles of many colours were stacked amongst the pews like rainbows against a stormy sky and a large marble structure depicting Christ upon the cross stood untouched against the back wall.

It was much different from the church four years ago.

Cold. Scared. So cold. Escape. Rain pelting down on me, stinging my exposed skin. Something in the distance. A building. Escape. Shelter. Safety. Strangers. Mutants.

Warmth. Safety. Escaped

The night I had escaped from hell and the night I had been rescued by the Professor and the rest of my friends. I hoped I could do the same for this mutant, as they had done for me.

But there didn't seem to be any sign of movement in this church, or any sign of life at all.

"Could they have already left?" Storm asked no one in particular looking rather disappointed.

I was about to confirm her doubts when a golden light hit the corner of my eye. A small fluttering candle, sitting on the corner of a table at the top of a stair well heading down into enclosed darkness.

"Over zere." I signalled to Storm.

We made our way towards the stairwell and I began to descend it when I realised I couldn't hear Storm's footsteps anymore. I turned to see her still at the top of the landing, a look of fear mixed with disappointment masked her face.

"Miss Storm?"

She was silent for a moment before admitting, "Kurt, I-I'm claustrophobic (

I glanced down into the tight, dense darkness than back up towards her.

"Zat's okay, you vait here, I'll be right back," I stated with a brave face.

"No Kurt, it's too dangerous, what if something happens to you and I ca-"

"It's okay," I reassured her not believing my words one bit. But I couldn't drag her with me and there was no time to wait for help to come either, besides it's meant to be a simple mission. "As you said, I can just zap out of zere if anything goes wrong, Ja?"

I started back down the stairs before she could argue, the space around me growing smaller and smaller and smaller...That's when it all went wrong.