“I don’t want it to be fake,” Kurt admitted in a whisper. There were things about that world he wished he didn’t remember. There were things he wished he could undo or at least not remember doing and feeling justified in doing. The world was in chaos there under Apocalypse’s dominion, but there was beauty to it as well that he wished he had here. There were people he felt he had now lost by leaving that place and he didn’t know how to mourn their loss while celebrating returning to this world.
When Raven offered to help him sort things out, Kurt looked up at her almost hoping she would answer his question without him having to struggle to find ways to ask it. After a long pause, he shook his head. “I can learn how to walk again by myself,” he whispered, not wanting to disregard her suggesting, but it was the last thing on his mind at the moment.
“I know that will all take time to sort out. But. There is a question you can answer for me.”
Kurt looked back up at Raven. Now that she wasn’t blue with bright red hair, he felt the resemblance wasn’t so blindly obvious. If he’d ever bothered to consider it, it would have been an easy thing to figure out.
“I found you beside your parents.”
“Why are you calling me by my first name?”
Kurt drew in a breath spoke slowly while he watched Raven’s face as he told her, “In the other world. I wasn’t raised in the circus by Margali Szardos. My last name wasn’t Wagner,” he watched her, wondering if she knew what he was trying to say. “I was raised by my birth mother there.”
“Don’t be afraid to ask for help, alright?” The woman repeated, reaching a hand out to cover one of Kurt’s human ones. It was so strange to see him with five fingers, that had only been a trait Anna Marie have had.. Ever since he was born, Raven had only known Kurt to have three on both hands! Those tiny little things curling around her own, the tiny smile, his bright eyes-
Now wasn’t the time to think about that. Her boy was right here, in front of her.
The circus didn’t raise him. Could a different family have found him? Or even-
Yes.
There it was.
She kept him in the world he had been in. Not only did she keep him, but he had grown up under her protective wing as well. She had been his mother like she had always wanted, and he had.. well, Raven’s crazy and messed up life to deal with.
“I didn’t know how to tell you.” The shapeshifter blurted out, feeling a great weight coming off her shoulders. No longer did she have to hide, no longer did she have to keep things guarded. Her daughter could finally have her brother, and they could be siblings. They could all be a family-
“I’ve wanted to ever since I saw you in that cage fight, but I never found the right moment. I’m so sorry, Kurt.” Oh god, she could feel tears pricking in the back of her eyes. She couldn’t cry! She shouldn’t- not yet. She needed to be strong as she always was. For her son. For her daughter. For her family.