Dedicated to Luba for keeping the flame alive. Thanks, m'dear. :)

The Storm Blows Itself Out

by ALC Punk!

Amanda Sefton turned away from the accusatory tone of her sometimes lover and blinked back the tears that were threatening. "Yes." Her voice was going then, thready. She fought it down. "I did. Do you know what she did, Kurt? What our *mother* did?" She whirled back, the pain and shock and utter terror she'd experienced the day she'd gone back showing in her eyes.

Kurt Wagner drew back from those dark emotions, a bit shocked. "It doesn't matter, Amanda--"

"It damn WELL does." Her voice lowered to a hiss. Her eyes blazing. "I came back to find every sorcerer ahead of her on the Winding Way DEAD. DEAD and their souls inexorably tied into HERS. They were never going to be free unless she died." Amanda fought the tears. "An unending death, Kurt. In torment for eternity."

The blue-furred gentleman blinked at her, then turned away to gaze out into the smoke-filled pub. From the corner a phrase from the jukebox drifted to him. "I'm sorry, Amanda. I had no idea, I--" He shook his head as he turned back. "I wish I could have been there for you."

"It's not the end, Kurt. You have to know it all. You have to know why I was gone." Amanda took a shuddering breath and released it. She reached for her drink. "I--I left to find out if they were free."

Kurt studied his beloved, waiting for her to finish preparing herself. The bleakness he'd seen in her eyes had frightened him. He wished never to see that look again, he doubted he'd get that wish.

"I--do you remember when the three of you, Kitty, and Piotr--came back from Limbo? Kitty thought it was a test of some sort." Amanda paused to sip from the lime and tequila concoction. "I began to wonder if it was. You see, if mother had died, I would have felt it. Even in the state I was after locking the demon back up, I would have felt it. I didn't."

"She didn't die. She was sent to Limbo, wasn't she--the Soul Sword?" Kurt realised as he asked that he had thought these questions before, but hadn't wanted to know the answers until now.

"Yes. Belasco had her." Amanda flinched at the dark look that came into Kurt's eyes then. "I freed her. And then I locked the Soul Sword away."

It took Kurt a minute to realise what she meant. "Was it quick?"

"Quicker than Belasco would have allowed her. Yes," Amanda's eyes flickered slightly with irritation at the look on Kurt's face. "I killed my mother. Happy? She was SUFFERING Kurt. She would have been dead eventually. Maybe after a year or two, depending on how long Belasco wanted a play thing. Or if he gave her to his minions."

"Then..." Kurt's voice trailed off and he looked down at a three-fingered hand, thinking.

Amanda waited, sipping her drink and hoping that he wouldn't tell her to get lost. For if he did, she wasn't sure her heart could handle it. Not in the fragile state it was in, she'd crack. Something would fracture.

And then the Soul Sword would have its purchase.

"Amanda, my dear, I," Kurt sighed, his eyes turning very solemn. "I would enjoy the honour of this next dance, please."

A pause. Amanda stared at him, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. Kurt's eyes were teasing, now, laughing. "I-I," She started, stuttering in surprise at this cmoplete turnabout of emotions.

"Yes?" His eyes turned serious and he took her hand. "I don't condone it completely, I can't. But I understand. Now, may we dance, milady?"

A bit of that old swashbuckling allure was back. Amanda's lips twitched. "Why, yes, m'sieur," she said, adopting a very deliberately fake French accent. "I'd like to dance. Are you planning to twirl your mustache?"

And they both laughed, light, joyous. Happy. And something dark and slimy slinked away, muttering that it would wait. There would be other times and places for it. it had infinite patience and time.

----
Finis.

Author note: btw, all the titles for these little vignettes are a line in the Pet Shop Boys song "It's Only the Wind" "When life is common/I have no doubts/no angry drama/a storm blows itself out..." I thought they rather fit. :)

When Life is Common [ ] I Have No Doubts [ ] No Angry Drama

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