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Greatest thanks to my brother from another mother for bestowing an infectious prompt upon me and all the wretched jokes that accompanied his insightful comments. You've been a great help and an ass at the same time.

The rest of my gratitude belongs to my dear family who has an immaculate sense for recognizing each highlight and "I saw the light!" moment of my writing, reliably and effectively ruining every single one of them. You've been an invaluable teacher of forced multitasking (which I still fail at spectacularly).

Thank you, guys, for harassing me at the most unfortunately-picked times imaginable but standing by me still.
Love you.

St. John Allerdyce was a survivalist. And this might be a very sucky way to begin one's story, but he was nothing but cut-the-crap kind of guy, so go deal.Where was he again? Ah, yes. Good at the pretend game, he knew how to play tough; easily irked when deprived of a fire source. Bad-tempered, really. All of these stellar qualities went well with him being a realist to the bone. Wrap it up and ship it off.He wasn't confessing all that out of some twisted delusion of having a chance at redemption, though. Wanting to save his tar-dark soul? No. It was only so that when he says that he's done morally questionable things to pull through, it would be clear that it was no slip up, not a 'few times' kind of deal. He's actually done them more often than not. Not that he counted; just saying. That was what he meant by being a survivalist. That was what this was about.The main point here? He kept on going. Always found a way. Pushed. Squeezed in. Got his hands dirty. Gritted his teeth. Whatever it took. Morality was overrated where he lived; nobody abided by it anyway, so why should he? He was just a 'misfit' trying to get by, same as the next guy from a broken home.On the streets and on his own. Making it, no matter the circumstances. That was the source of his pride. He might have turned out brash as a result, distrusting on a good day and suspicious round the clock, but who gave a shit. Certainly not him, not when it kept him alive this whole time.When the X-men found him, he didn't feel elation; not even relief and he was far from thankful, too. He suspected the worst and he kept on running from them until they corralled him in and got him on their overly flashy and disgustingly impressive jet.They took him in; full of reassurances that he'll be alright from then on, that he'll be safe now. Who were they to tell him that? Who were they to be so sure about it, to have balls to warrant that? What was the guarantee? Their skin-tight black&yellow spandex? If so, allow him to doubt the empty promise, because those were a sight for sore eyes – literally, just to make them sore.Everything would work itself out and quite naturally in its usual, wary and solitary way, though (after all, once you lean onto someone, you're only bound to fall sooner or later) – if only they didn't have Bobby Drake on their "team" already.The guy was way too cheery and overly friendly. Optimistic. An impersonification of a 'Think positive!' attitude, "Not made from concentrate, one hundred percent natural". It was almost like he was shooting for some such ad twenty-four seven. Think about the descriptive adjectives for a straight-laced goody two shoes from suburbs; you name it, he's that.Everything was perfect.Everything was dandy.
Bullshit.
He couldn't stand the guy. The poster boy irritated him; got on his nerves like no one else before. John was way too pragmatic to join this sort of let's pretend. But when dear Bobert started cracking, show that not everything was quite so well in his lala land… That's when John took real notice and interest.You see, he couldn't be arsed to give a flying fuck about some fake looser, but a kid who had his whole life perfectly lined up and sorted only to get "screwed over" by mutation his parents wouldn't take well to? That was John's kind of real that he was willing to interact with.Sure, Drake was still a sunny boy with majority of views intact and therefore headdesk-ishly naive, but he wasn't all plain "guy next door" (quotation marks because same door actually) anymore. And while John's own personality and stands had been torn down or have crumbled and been rebuilt time and time again, making him into who he was (coincidentally basically the opposite of his roommate), he and the Snowflake there suddenly had a link of communication and it held ever since then. Thus, their companionship begun.It didn't hurt they both were element-sensitive – that wasn't to say their co-existing was a cakewalk, though. After all, like Ice and Fire, they too were diametrically different. Just a small example to draw a picture here: while Bobby was afraid of his abilities, scared of his element, John felt an undeniable thrill whenever setting free his own; he loved to see fire reign over anything in its way, watch it burn strong.Ultimately, their mindsets resulted in both of them failing and it was all for the best that they were roommates in the end, because accidents.Reason number two was that they were a good "confidence boost" and "recklessness dampener" (whatever) respectively for each other, too. That's what their instructors said, but if anybody asked John what it was for him, he just simply enjoyed coaxing Sub-Zero ("Very funny, you pyromaniac." "C'mon, that was weak. You'll have to do better than that, Ice Cube.") out of his shell, letting his fire frolic with its counter element. Negative and positive of the same, if you wanted to get poetic.Of course, there was also the aspect of them both being young and as such, hormone-driven, too. He was always open to some serious self-exploring opportunity. Safe environment for that wasn't a given, not for him, and even less so in combination with someone begrudgingly-trustworthy (i.e. with no other agenda hidden behind the forementioned romping between the sheets).It was nothing; just fooling around – one that was kept secret from their teachers and anyone, really, since Bobby-boy was too chickenshit to admit to a healthy dose of experimenting himself. John couldn't care less; he wasn't the guy's keeper after all.Until he somehow turned out to be. What was worse? Without him even expecting it. You see, the thing was… he kinda screwed himself over. For all his puffed-up chest and big shoulders about how he was prudent and cautious, he landed himself in a swamp (or moving sand if he'd so chose to rather stay dry; same difference, though) right there. Knee deep and it was only a matter of time until it swallowed him up whole.It was all the Ice-berk's ("I'm not stupid, John!" "Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night.") fault. If he wasn't so pure and open and easy to approach – hell, he, approaching him all of his own! – in the first place, John wouldn't have fallen into this trap.Who was he kidding. He blew it. Big time.But it was still all good, right? What he meant was, there was no rush or anything. They could simply keep at it the way they had up til now with Ice Ice Bobby none the wiser and everyone chilling, pun intended.He should have known that he was never meant to have a happy end. Not ever (as if life hadn't showed him enough indications to that already) and definitely not with Snow White on top of that. When had he sunken so low as to think he even could?
Shame. Shame on you, St. John Allerdyce.
As he was forced to witness and live the changes that wafted in after Rogue's appearance and continued presence, years of evolved camaraderie and any ease connected to it began to shrivel.He had suddenly more free time on his hands than what he knew what to do with, his subconsciousness developed an almost uncontrollable need for a facepalm at least once per every 24 hour mark, his teeth were bound to rot any day now with the diabetes-inducing teenage romance developing before his eyes and he better man-the-fuck-up right now, because he did not make it this far only to become a sob story.So, he watched with skeptical interest as Bobby, encouraged by Rogue's supporting words, froze his mother's disgustingly milk-ruined coffee instead. John knew long before they had even opened their mouths, what side Bobby's parents would pick, what their reaction would be. He could not keep his sarcastic thoughts pointed at his roommate from emerging then.Why did you think, all of a sudden, they won't mind? We talked about your bigoted parents so many times… You think that you having a girlfriend like a good, normal teenage boy somehow neutralizes your negative mutant points?If not knowing better, John would say Bobby did it on purpose just to fuck with him. Nobody could be that sickeningly foolish after all. And the Drakes? He silently dared them to surprise him; to call their "Art teacher" out on his blatant lie even. To prove him wrong.Which would be when Wolverine got shot in the head right infront of them. That did surprise him, John will give them that.An unexpected rush of everything followed right after and with startling clarity.One too many black eyes.Sleeping in a cardboard box, freezing (nobody cared).Broken jaw.Stealing a pack of matches the first time around – to get to feel at least a bit safe (they were too tricky to operate, to strike with shaking hands, wrong move there wrong wrong wrong).Hungry, impotent anger.Running away.The breath; foul and heavy with booze.First fire (pure accident please!).His mother on the floor, bleeding (never fighting back; just taking it run!).Heavy hands.Cops chasing him back into slums (you'd have to know it here better to catch me, assholes).Bloodshot bottomless eyes. A vortex about to swallow him up, too.Events flashing before his mind's eye at random and in no chronological order.His heart not having a foggiest how to deal with the overabundance of adrenaline that jumped up out of nowhere."And the rest of you, on the ground. Now."He could almost physically feel Wolverine, right before his feet, lifeless.See Bobby, lying down, obedient."Look, kid. I said, on the ground."Rogue, too; docile.They can't be serious. Why were they kidding themselves? They were gonna die here."We don't want to hurt you, kid."Really. The fucking cop just shot Wolverine. If they won't protect themselves… They're dead. If he's not gonna do anything now…He gulped. Palmed his zippo; the warmed-up steel that bit slicker with sweat. Or sick memory?
C'mon, Pyro, show up. Fight.
In the pit of his stomach, hot magma twisted and curled, warming him up until he could almost sense the licks of unborn fire on his fingertips.There.He won't lie down. Not until he's six feet under.   A/N: So I’ve found something of a themesong for EoS I think. If you’re wondering, you can check it here.

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When he’d chosen The Brotherhood, he knew what he was getting into – well, at least the basics. The life of an insider was far from idyllic, but that wasn’t what John expected or even asked for.The Brotherhood of Mutants was a radical organization, that was without a question. Any other group John could compare it with were the X-men and those two couldn’t’ve been more different. The Brotherhood went with militaristic type of modus operandi, willing to do “what was necessary”. X-men were basically Greenpeace fellowship attempting to convince everyone to sign peace treaties by appearing non-threatening, whimsically risking their lives and being on their best behavior the rest of the time.Neither of them was without a dark side.Sometimes he had to wonder why the world seemed to always take only black or white side, insisting on being such, although in reality, both of those were a great mix of shades of gray. Pretentious liars, all of them.John had no problem openly admitting that he belonged amongst the darker lot (not anymore, no more hiding); probably the reason why he never fit into the to-be pow pow power rangers’ group of eager students at the mansion.It was refreshing to find his place here and so easily. He was amongst people who’d grown up through, more or less, the same and therefore the inner rules amongst them were pretty much the ones he knew well already. Made it easy to navigate through and to find his way around many of them without being caught, too. No neat, polite shtick he couldn’t get used to at the prep-school. The Brotherhood was more of a welcoming place to him than the school ever was.For all the negative portrayal of ‘Magneto’s army’, the place wasn’t all viciousness and bloodthirst or whatever the outsiders had them for. It had its order and a well-functioning system that actually discouraged from infighting. Competitiveness was encouraged, but not the kind that would be to the detriment of the organization.True, not exactly a breeding ground for everlasting friendships, but that wasn’t what John joined for anyway so, the absence of a “friendly support group” (or even an individual) didn’t raise a wave of sudden regret or anything.After the Alkali Lake, it was a somewhat downtime for The Brotherhood. The “quiet before storm” Magneto called it, which “would be a waste not to use to their advance”. Cue Magneto’s most loyal, shapeshifting leutenant having been entrusted with his training not much later.He was to get better at his art. However, Mystique made it no secret that she was reluctant to take him up as her student.“Just train him, my dear. Let him feel what it truly is like to be a mutant with no bounds or shackles on.”So she did (as simple as that).Which only brought him back to the observation business; it was only natural. Rubbing two braincells together would be enough to see why. He didn’t know a thing about the woman – anyone here, really, so watching shit was a key point to self-preservation.So he did (as simple as that, yes).While Mystique wasn’t the easiest to start with, it couldn’t go any other way since she was the person he spent the most time with now. Better make it count.What he learned pretty fast was that she would never go against Magneto’s wishes or commands, but she was also high enough in the foodchain that she felt secure enough to tell her own opinion. He liked the promise of that. That said, even after getting with his facts-hunt as far as he was probably ever gonna get, he would not pretend to understand her – she was an enigma in her own right. But she sure was one not to be messed with, that was a given.When the shapeshifting menace wasn’t training him, she was out on some “errand” or other or chided (i.e. kicked asses of) those who were challenging the rules here. Which supplied him with at least tidbits about her fighting style. Better than nothing and nothing it would be, because for one reason or another, the woman didn’t spar with him – ever. She was just basically showing him ropes and waited if he’ll climb or fall.In no time at all, she proved to be a no bullshit kind of woman. Focused and always finishing whatever she started. According to the local grapevine missions included. Good news for his training that; not so much for him. That trickster could change from calm to Fury itself; posed to hateful in a blink of an eye. Yeah, not an ad for fun times. She was fair, though – if offensively.As for Magneto, he got used to the man being elusive not only to his enemies but also his followers. That was not to say that they never saw him, no. Magneto regularly checked on his footsoldiers and those who were higher up, got to see him in person and even more often since they got called to him whenever he needed them to carry out any of his orders.That said, the organization’s residents were still more in contact with Mystique. Being second in command turned you into something of a bridge between a leader and the rest fo the merry band. Speaking of.Considering his own “run-ins” with her and personality preferences, the conclusion couldn’t be anything less than as blunt as the person it was about. Mystique was endearingly unpleasant in his eye, but it was clear that the feeling wasn’t a shared one. Either people seemed to respect Mystique or fear her and keep their mouth shut. As for the other side of the fence, there was no need to even get into that.Watching her and Magneto interact, her (already noticed but doubted at first) endless loyalty to him came as a honestly dumbfounding factor. Trust, that people like them didn’t give easily or that often at all was passed over almost like a common currency. But that couldn’t be it.Mystique wasn’t a person who would blindly follow anyone – of that much he was sure. He’d put his hand into fire (or icebucket, whatever) on that one even. Seeing her do it, though, was like being given a cue and he found himself following her example.She was indirectly telling him how to behave; act and react to certain aspects, how important each of them was in the large scale of things. That wasn’t to say that he mindlessly followed. It was just something he himself could trust to. Not to Magneto. Not to Mystique. But to what showed through between them.If there was something worth reliance for her, he’ll play it the smartest (and safest) to go with it.For now.

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Saying this came as a surprise would be a grave understatement – which spoke in and of itself.He always prided himself for being able to plan ahead. In scale of seconds, minutes, days… it didn't matter. You always had to have something to work towards to; to keep you going. John's main mantra demanded lots of tiny little steps, which, in turn, required him staying smart and ahead of the game at all times.However, forgive him for this particular "slip-up", for no matter what and how much he'd been able to perceive risks and expect or anticipate them in the past, this would never occur to him even as an option – a possibility, not to mention probability.And now, here he stood, before Magneto, his new safeguard of a future, feeling like offering his own innards to a vulture.
Are you hungry, o mighty scavenger?
But calling Magneto a 'scavenger' would be even graver of mistakes, while also ungrateful. Now, John could easily do 'ungrateful' despite all the accommodating understanding he received here. It still wouldn't have changed the fact that the elderly, yet vital mutant didn't have to wait for his enemy to get weak. Magneto wasn't afraid to attack even those at full strength. All he needed was a good opportunity.Was that better? Did it even matter? What option did he have other than to show his cards and hope for the best?He hated the word. Hope. So pretentious and flimsy. His view on this was pretty simple. You don't get what you won't fight for (teeth and nails included and necessary in some cases); and with no endless source of energy, you gotta pick your fights, too. That was all there was to it, really. That was John's truth. Hope was for the weak.Now though? He needed safety more than ever; stability. It didn't matter how sick it made him. Why? Because this demanded baring his throat, slap cuffs of compliance on his own hands; pass over his submission, become someone's puppet, truly. All that, all at once to receive one concession. Life loved to drive a hard bargain, but who cared about the bitch. He's not rolling over. Not for her at least.
Fuck.
The conversation he was currently engaged in, will decide more than a single chat oughed to. Even worse, the exchange was a sick, dangerous game; a play with fire you have no control over once you start it."Allow me a slight bit of astonishment at the news, young Pyro. I never quite expected to hear such a thing."
Like I planned this, old man. Praise the Lord for no telepath in here while at it as well, John, shall you?
"Just when we accepted and initiated you into the Brotherhood no less." Actually, he's been with them for two months already, but he was far from willing to ruin his chances by correcting Magneto."But I concur, truly. Youngsters are full of surprises, indeed. Our kind above anyone else."Betting on the charismatic mutant that he met on the X-jet to reappear wouldn't be his first choice, but it was the only one he had. Was Magneto going to be the one to tell him different, after all?"New generation... Time truly does fly." Magneto got up from his steel chair to take a few leisurely steps forward, thoughtful. "Never expected it to happen so soon. Not in such manner, anyway. But then, it only proves that we are the next step in evolution and homo superior is slowly taking its rightful place in the world. The only thing left is to make space for it to be able to bloom and take its natural course.""Is that a yes?""It's not a no." Sharp eyes rested on him again then, "Before I decide on my final answer, you'll have to tell me more than this, Pyro. Will you?""Yes." Same sick circle again. Did he see any other way to safely do this? That would be a 'No'."The genesis?"
Shit.
It's not like he didn't expect the question. He just hoped it wouldn't matter. That Magneto would be too busy celebrating the oncoming birth of mutant messiah or whatever his mind would decide to come up with.He didn't want to think about before. It didn't matter. It wasn't supposed to matter. It was supposed to not matter. Whatever. One big thick line drawn and that should've been it.But it wouldn't fade anyway, would it now? It could change Magneto's final decision. For good or bad?"Pyro?" The tone was clear, though. The man wanted an answer and he wasn't used to be kept waiting. Nor giving second chances. A vague answer wouldn't do either.Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck-"Iceman."The raised eyebrow was mocking him.Does he think I'm so ashamed of it that I wouldn't be capable of admitting that part?He had it wrong."And me." Magneto would be hard-pressed to get him shamefaced (or anyone on that account, really). It was somewhat reassuring that Magneto couldn't know everything like someone else, though.His voice was steady when he reiterated:"The genesis is me and Iceman."This was the easy part at least."I see… Good." Obviously satisfied enough, Magneto absentmindedly let his hand travel over the surface of the smooth metal table on his left, "Two elementals… I wonder if that had something to do with this miraculous… conception. Mengele must be turning in his grave, if only because he won't get to see this."At that particular comment, John's stomach did the turning and he wasn't even the one of the two of them, who got through concentration camp treatment, who lived to tell the story from his own personal experience. He didn't like history, but he had a knack to remember all the sickos. His mind was a masochist."Would he be a problem?"John was still a bit thrown that, for a second, he thought Magneto was still talking about the crazy Nazi 'doctor'. He thankfully shook that one off soon enough.
Focus.
"No. No, he doesn't know.""And how could he, right? My my… What a young god you indeed are, Pyro."How long will I be one? Or 'be' alone? And will the 'miracle' be part of me still? I need that answer."Hmm… I cannot spare any of my soldiers from fight, I'm afraid. Each member of The Brotherhood has to prove themselves and help our cause."
Was that a test? Was it? Was it a question he was supposed to answer or rather keep quiet? Was he- Shut up, John! Let Pyro talk.
"I can fight.""Even with a child inside you? Won't it be too much of a distraction, strain to you?"
Was Magneto taken by the idea of the triumph of mutant generation or not? What did he want to hear?
"I can fight," he firmly repeated, pouring every drop of conviction he had in his body into it.Magneto gave him a long, assessing look, before calmly agreeing at long last:"Yes, Pyro, you can."

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The very moment he realized what's up, he didn't have to wait a single second for his survivalist instinct to kick in.
Get rid of it.
Even logically, instincts aside, it would be more trouble than it's worth.
Get rid of it.
He had no reason to keep it, no "bright lit future", no happy, stable family with a house and white picked fence for it to live in.
Get rid of it.
It was a deathtrap in making.It was better to choose the easy way out.The sound that left his mouth back then was an ugly, ugly laugh. 
 
 Magneto divulging his condition to the hardass siren only made sense since she was in a position that basically demanded her to throw him around on a daily basis. Looking back, it was probably hell of a luck that she stuck to theory and non-contact parts of the deal so far.When it happened, Mystique eased up on certain aspects of the training, but that was all. Until she silently handed him what on first sight looked like an underbust corset or something before his next venture out of the Brotherhood's nest."Custom made and bulletproof" she said. That still did not rule out the 'corset' part. But as he later on got to find out, the contraption was, in fact, quite comfy and easy to wear and soon enough his new clothing particle upgraded from being degrading but useful to feeling much better with this on.As for Magneto, he had no idea what the man planned in regard to the bun in the oven, but – unbiasedly speaking – there was still more than enough time for any real need of and the man apparently had such opinion, too. So far, it was almost like he never said anything which was as welcomed as it was disconcerting. Mystique kept him on his toes alright (she made him truly, madly and deeply hate surprise attacks), though, so he was far from falling behind in caution.Throughout all of this, he was presented with many opportunities to betray The Brotherhood. He was also very much aware of the fact that at least half of those were deliberate. He didn't take any of them up. There was no reason to. 
 
 It was way too easy to hear those 'All that could've been avoided if you'd used protection.' selfrighteous know-it-alls. The fact that he didn't care shit about those didn't mean he'd pass up an opportunity to throw their "wit" right back at them.So first of all, what guy would even think about the possibility of ending up pregnant? Huh? Of course, now would be a perfect moment to dig the educational nails deeper, draw the smarty-panty "You should've been careful anyway so as not to risk getting any STDs." ace out of their sleeve.Look. Saying "practice safe sex" is nice and dandy, but when left without an access to the "safety measures", John felt pretty solid in saying he was not the only one who sinned against that particular commandment.Now, he wasn't an idiot, okay? He had his stash of condoms alright, but even that was bound to run out. And it had. And when he took a look at his options, choosing what he had sounded like a much better one. A small recap of facts here:Bobby was like a frigging freshly fallen snow, alright, so on that side of the barricade John was pretty safe and nothing could happen to him. As for the times he himself was with someone, condoms – and the access to them – were never an issue. He wasn't as reckless as majority thought, so there you go for being responsible.And the other choice he had? He sure as fuck was not gonna go to Dr. Grey and ask her for some.
We just wanna make some balloon animals for shit and giggles.
Sure.Knowing the bunch of superheroes, she belonged amongst, Dr. Grey would keep tabs on the condom count and whatnot with Scott patting her shoulder in silent approval. If the guy did actually speak, John would bet it would be something like:"They are still kids anyway. They have no business having sex so early on."
That's where you're wrong, Summers. No wonder you're seeing red non-stop with blueballing it hardcore throughout your youth, jackass. Not all of us have such aspirations, though.
Even if he suggested a fieldtrip to Storm, it was only destined to end in shambles. He could see it in his mind's eye clearly:"How about a fieldtrip?""Sure. Where'd you wanna go?""Drugstore."Yeah, so not happening.With the number of clearances each excursion had to go through before getting the green light, it had real fat chance of being the answer. He actually managed to pilfer a few rubbers on their last trip (after he successfully shook off the leash the faculty members had on them), but nothing to write home about. Not to mention, with how irregularly they ventured outside the walls, that was no way to sustain demands of a teenage body.And since teachers were yet to leave a basketful of preservatives lying "carelessly" by the main door or the staircase (since a flat-out bold statement was out of question) ... Okay, that would probably fly in a different kind of institution, not school. The fact stood, though.So, there. Life on mansion wasn't as non-problematic and idyllic as they would have you think.He took a look around himself now. Dark dingy and cold stone walls, on the borderline of a living space; awfully reminiscent of the feeling one gets from sewers, really (what).
Gilded cages or sewers…
Keeping your head above the water was what was truly important. He had his corner here, his place, a well-earned pinch of respect and Mystique as an instructor (take that, Summers!).  A new page in life with a little postscript from its previous chapter. Nothing he couldn't handle.

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They were sitting in the back row of the Holy Trinity Church, listening to the man with the "voice of reason". Who would have guessed that on a late Thursday evening stroll, they'd stumble upon a community action meeting. Lucky for them that they weren't humans and therefore could join the local crowd.Really catchy flyer there, John thought sarcastically, in truth not impressed at all.Now honestly, this meeting came about at the best possible time. Magneto was pondering effective and most bountiful ways how to broaden The Brotherhood's ranks for some time already; the news about the mutant cure only played into his cards. Spotting an opportunity, Magneto was far from someone who would let it pass by. No, they were here with intent, not by a coincidence. And he?For all his critical thoughts about the local mutant community's 'invite', he was intrigued and wondered how this meeting would go about. Even if nothing more was to come off it, it was genuinely interesting to join low-lives again even if consisting of purely mutant masses this time around. And once again, he got confirmed that this was his true playground.No, the mansion wasn't for him, not really. All the pretty things and stuck-up rules; those were someone else's life. He knew who he was, where he truly belonged. It didn't make him any lesser being, unworthy or undeserving of a better life. He just wasn't a pretentious prick.Stealing a glance Magneto's way, he'd bet the Brotherhood's leader will make his move soon enough; he had that coldly amused glint in his eyes. And sure enough, his guess didn't even take that long to be fulfilled.Magneto, finally finding that perfect moment to step in, did so with grandeur that was inherently his and he in turn followed the man like an extension of one body, effectively securing Magneto's place on the proverbial spotlight by walking straight over to the gaunt man that had the dais for himself.Not anymore. Giving him a warning look, he placed himself next to the 'sensible' sod in case he'd have to step in and stop any attempt of his to get the stage back. It also allowed him to have visual of the whole room, seeing everyone clearly and with no obstructions.His role here was simple. Be Magneto's personal guard. That being said, he was to stay out of the whole affair unless someone tried to attack Magneto physically or with their abilities outright. Burns of his creation and of any degree were to remain absent until then – Magneto made himself more than clear about that before they even stepped into the church ("It's a discussion, Pyro. As such, things can sometimes get heated, but it doesn't mean we need to overreact."). So he just waited until Magneto said what he came here to say before taking his leave again.Following right after him, his street upbringing didn't allow him to let his guard down even then – more like especially with his back to the crowd. And as if testing exactly that, there came the challenging words:"You talk really tough for a guy in a cape."Not a second later he was face to face with an Asian guy sporting a shorn head and tattoos – way closer than appreciated. Not one to be intimidated, he flicked a handful of fire into existence in a warning."Back off." The fire might not be allowed to feast, but it was still a useful and effective instrument of discouraging people from any rash and silly ideas.Not missing the slight flinch back caused by fear (or possibly respect), the reaction didn't awaken any interest from the element. No challenge was boring after all.There was no reason to kid himself as to think the guy feared him. Acknowledging the power of fire he wielded, sent a thrill through his body all the same, though. That being said, he was far from idiotic as to get carried away by that. He was here to prove himself worthy and capable of multitasking; he's gonna do the job and goddamn well at that.Dousing the fire again, he steered away from challenging back, choosing to openly size the guy up instead."If you're so proud of being mutant, where's your mark?" A tall, inked Latino chick used the same brash attitude as her predecessor, stopping right infront of Magneto himself. John wasn't worried about that since Magneto could fling or motivate her away by her piercing alone (not to mention her prettily studded collar) any moment he chose to."I have been marked once, my dear, and let me assure you no needle shall ever touch my skin again.""You know who you're talking to?" It was high enough time for these mutants to show some respect. He'd bet Magneto let them get away with all of this only because they were still at the gathering of people that he was hoping to recruit. Makes bad impression when you metal-whip their fellow "Omega" whatever.There must've been some spunk in the gangster wannabe that spoke first after all because all at once sharp needles emerged from his skin."Do you?"
Oh, cute. Like hell I'd be scared of a little hedgehog. Take one step closer and I'll fry you, though.
The protective strike just then wasn't as much for Magneto's safety as it was for his own child's, though. He's grown attached to his little hitchhiker embarrassingly fast and now? Not even two feet were between him and the human-sized needle pillow.
He must've been his gran's favorite for sure.
John hated any mutant being so close to him as of late. Mystique and Magneto were the only exception and even them rather out of necessity more than anything else. Still, it didn't stop certain… urges in him.Knowing very well not to look for a fight was one thing; being greatly tempted not to listen was another. He could never force his cocky nature down completely (well, he never really tried), therefore even now, he silently dared the Sleeping Beauty's nightmare impersonified to try something.There was that familiar thrill in him; he was itching for a fight. His power thrummed just beneath his skin, eager and Sonic the Hedgehog didn't seem inclined to stand down either.
Come on.
It could've turned into something really dangerous if Magneto hadn't started the process of diffusing the underlying tension with a calm, composed question of his own:"And what can you do?" Which prompted a whoosh right between him and the overprotective loverboy.Well, yes, they were here to recruit, not brawl. He forced himself to ease up (at least on the outside) and turned half of his attention to the domina again who reappeared where she started her little whizz-by."So, you have talents."
What a talent you have there, Pyro.
So much like what he told him what felt like ages ago.
You're a god among insects. Never let anyone tell you different.
Yet not the same."That and more. I know you control metal and I know there's eighty-seven mutants in here, none above a class three – other than you two."You can sense other mutants and their powers?" At her slight nod, Magneto leaned in to her closerAs John heard what he asked the girl next, John's eyes flared with interest as well.Mystique will be back with them again soon.Visits to holy places might have something to them after all.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

On the very same day that the mutant cure got released and available to the public, Magneto learned where to find Mystique and he promptly went to get her from her imprisonment on wheels.Seeing the master of disguise alive and well had nothing on her reporting the findings of her mission as if she had never been locked up in the first place. The woman wasn't only unbreakable, but unshakable, too."Do we still want to proceed with the gathering's location? It's quite a bit away from the nearest shortcut to the Alcatraz..." Hearing her rough, business-like voice, shouldn't be as soothing or feel like balance of his world had been restored again, but he'll take it.It wasn't the first time that things got a bit out of his hands; what was important was to be able to roll with the punches, though. In the grand scheme of things, this detail was one big 'Whatever' since they were complete again and they could get back to work."Everything's already set in motion, my dear; it would be rude to our guests. No, we'll follow our plan. There's no reason to be concerned about having to change them. What's a bit of travelling in exchange for our victory?"Confidence was dripping off that statement like there was no tomorrow and yet, it only made him wonder if Magneto truly believed that or if it was one of those times when he spoke mainly for show of competence and strength. It was hard to guess from the man's poker face most of the times.When the turn came to release the remaining prisoners, he gladly grabbed the roster.Then it all went to shit.One moment he was taking the piss out of yet another helmet, the next Mystique was going down.Magneto called the gun to him before he himself even managed to step infront of her. He did send a surge of gluttonous element in retribution right after, though.None of it mattered. When he turned back around, Mystique was already human; the change sickeningly fast and over sooner that it had any right to be.It was chilling to see her so… not right. Almost as if she was disfigured. Coming to think of it, he had never seen her shifted. He knew she could do that, but this whole time, all he encountered was deep blue and sharp yellow.This wasn't who she was.
What have they done to her?
"You saved me." Magneto sounded stunned as well, but he turned away from her all the same."Erik?"Barely a whisper.A shaky hope.It made Magneto to turn back around, though. Maybe-"I'm sorry, my dear. You're not one of us anymore."That was the first time John really thought Magneto was a monster.He couldn't believe what he just heard. He and the woman didn't exactly connect, but she was still his teacher. Even more, this was Mystique lying on the floor!But Magneto only threw the gun to the ground in disgust before walking away with the rest of them.And he? He stood stuck in place, feeling off.Then he did what felt like the most insane thing.Kneeling down beside her, he told her before swiftly getting up on his feet. Out of instinct, he dived for the discarded gun and not a moment too soon either."What are you still doing over there, Pyro?" Magneto was apparently ready to leave this place and, hazarding a guess here, probably something silly like headcount made him realize he's one Brotherhood member short.One, huh.His heart was still beating like crazy, because none of his actions were anything the brain told it about in advance, no heads up whatsoever. To be fair, his brain wasn't quite informed either.
Keep going.
Hand rising higher in the air, he showed the weapon. "Might be better to keep it.""Ah, the evidence of the lies they feed us with. Indeed."He didn't protest against the deduction, reasoning behind his dawdling.Reaching out, Magneto gave the "evidence" a silent command.Pyro didn't fight that either.Gun landing into Magneto's palm, the man beckoned to him regally."Now, come along."So he did.Undirected, encompassing rage had flared inside him as shock finally took a backseat. Undirected because while Magneto wouldn't get any brownie points from him for dropping Mystique like that, humans weren't any better. Shooting "mutant cure" (yeah, fuck that) at them, coming up with a way to do that in the first place sure as hell didn't win them any favors.Mutants were obviously a virus to them. Well, if they were so eager to call them names, how about humanity being the real virus? Huh? Planet got fucked right over under their rule; ecosystems, their precious laws and "morality" and whatnot and nobody held them accountable. They deserve a Judgement day, too!That's what made the stream froze up.
Them?
This is exactly what Magneto wants. And what he'll get when he'll speak to public about this, his matter-of-fact brain supplied.Decidedly looking forward, he could not not feel his own vicious satisfaction. To an extent. Currently, he was downright resentful, okay, but even at this moment, he knew he had to to stay smart – now more than before."Such a shame. She was so beautiful."There were no safenets. No prompters. Both sides were dangerous; being where he was, didn't change a thing about the fact. All Magneto wanted was a radical change – one worth leaving even your most loyal behind apparently.One measly mutant, a fire handler dependent on its source?He was no one. He didn't feel like a god at all. Not when any misstep had the potential to fuck him over.As they were leaving Mystique and the wreckage of a prisoner transport behind, the familiar half-mocking, half-challenging voice asked:
What are you made of, St. John Allerdyce?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Sometimes she led him through the moves and sometimes Mystique meditated and he… he wondered how well that crap worked with oncoming danger. Honestly, he had half a mind to test it. To send a thin rope of barely adolescent flames her way – or light up one loner close to her and wait what would happen. Nothing lethal, not even big. But instead of doing just that, he was in a weird place here.

He never had a problem testing any of his previous teachers, pushing boundaries. But Mystique was a whole another case and he couldn't bring himself to disturb her.

"Stop staring."

There was his answer anyway.
 Lying on his cot, head pillowed by one arm while the other rested on his stomach, he stared at the grey, uncompromising ceiling.Mystique was a vicious hardass, but anyone who'd spend any prolonged period of time with her would see how determined she was to keep safe those close to her heart, willing to do anything for, well, him. She was a fighter with a spirit as wild as it was loyal.Loyal like a faithful dog only to be put down after being of no use anymore.They both seemed to fall for wrong people – or had about the same wretched taste in men. Close your eyes and pick one.As he had been standing there, above a frighteningly human Mystique, nobody had called him out on failing to notice the guard who shot her. He hadn't had any guilt trip stirring him into action either (he'd seen damn zilch of what had been coming because of a blind spot). It had been even an ideal opportunity to step up, take Mystique's place or whatever. It was ironic, bordering on surreal, because on a subconscious level he'd known that he was safe – at that point of time.There had been no need to risk any of this, no reason to risk it all.Thinking that helping Mystique was the most insane thing he could've done back then was true to his past self. Quite clearly, he hadn't even stumbled upon the idea of setting Magneto's cloak on fire, but it didn't change how the decision felt back then. That wasn’t to say he regreted it.How easy was it for Magneto to basically declare that Mystique 'died'. To go with it; accept it. Move on. She saved Magneto's mutant supreme ass only for the man coldly turn his back on her in response mere seconds after the deal.While he himself and Mystique weren't exactly the best pals, she earned each bit of his respect while Magneto represented those who were revered for their previous deeds that you didn't even witness yourself.Look where it got you.

Magneto was the first person that told him he's worth something who he actually believed to. Going with 'Pyro' instead of 'John' ever since then wasn't that big of a sacrifice.

The longer he stayed in the Brotherhood after that, the easier he saw through the crusade they were on, saw how meaningless and hollow it was. Who was Magneto doing this for when he was willing to throw even his most trusted lieutenant under the bus? How many of the newly recruited members will see the fruits of it, if it even comes to that? They were either The Brotherhood of misplaced trust or desperation. John refused to be a part of either of those; not really, not for ever.This wasn't what he wanted for the little stowaway. There wasn't much on offer here, but he had aimed for reaching at least the very basics; solid ground. It hadn't seemed so farfetched an idea when he had taken into account the attitude Magneto'd exercised around Mystique. He thought, all he had to do was paint the tot important to Magneto’s cause, make them important enough to the man. Now, that goal wasn't visible even on the horizon of fucking hypotheses.
Might as well ask for the impossible, Allerdyce.
Everything was suddenly spinning way too fast, way too dangerous and The Brotherhood wasn't a safe place anymore. Well, it never was, not really, but now especially. The white noise of it and anxiety inside him was slowly eating him up.It wasn't connected to Mystique's "death" alone. He'd even say that it had more to do with each day more pressing, more suffocating weight of being controlled; being someone's pawn. What happened to Mystique was "just" an eye-opening factor that started the chain reaction.Snorting humorlessly, he tossed a well-used tennis ball against the wall of their so-called meeting room again.Were they truly that much different, Charles Xavier and Magneto? Two master manipulators playing a game of chess with no other concern than to win their way, no matter the cost. Screw Charles Xavier's "all shall be well" – as long as you fit into his plan – vibe; maybe that was the problem back then, why he didn't fit in; he never fell for that bullshit. Screw Magneto' silver tongue, too.There was more than enough to come to terms with. His attempts to rid himself of the suspense by blowing shit up in the training hall worked only partially, though, and definitely not as well as he'd wanted or needed. The tension never really left his body and it was only a waiting game as far as he was concerned anyway. He could keep up a pretense alright but in a long run, change was inevitable.Hearing approaching steps of several people at once, he sent the ball for the last rebound before feeding it to the voracious element called forth from the fireplace nearby, obliterating the thing like it was never there in the first place.Time for the meeting.

"So what do we do?" They were in the middle of discussing the exact details of how to proceed next, or more precisely Magneto just boasted how he knew that humans "would draw the first blood" and John was more interested in what was gonna happen now.Yes, his opinion about the man was still not favorable, but he also wanted to get back at humans for turning Mystique against her will and both, merged together, reflected in his tone.Getting to know as much as possible was important. Therefore, instead of thinking how this meeting could not end soon enough, he was asking questions."We use this weapon as a lightning rod to bring countless more to our cause."No, Magneto didn't care one bit about what happened to Mystique. She did, however, make for an outstanding martyr for his plans. She was more, though; even he knew as much."Come, we have an army to build." But nothing was ever that easy, was it? It was then that the news of a class five mutant came and looking at Magneto, he knew exactly who that was."Where is she?"Yeah. He knew."Juggernaut, Callisto, Arclight and Quill. You're going with me. I think it's best if you stay this one out, Pyro."He had half a mind to ask why, to make sure it was only because Magneto wanted his proof of mutant superiority safe, not risking it "ceasing to exist" near that class five mutant – which might very easily happen for all he knew and considering the facts. Class five mutant was more than rare and more than dangerous, he had no illusions about how things could go south very easily there.With all the newly joined Omegas around and present, though, he'd only sound like someone who wasn't sure of his status here (might as well fling himself off a cliff for all of the same effect would it have). He could not risk that, no matter how true that assumption would be.Also, getting left behind presented a golden opportunity for something else.  Unplanned, but important.He gave a simple sharp nod in acknowledgement.It never hurt to seem more loyal.There was no stopping the thought that it didn’t exactly win you any favors either.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

She didn't want him for a 'student'. She'd outright refuse to waste time, bother with something that would only slow her down, if it wasn't Magneto's wish. Not mincing her words when making her own assessment of his skills ("He's more controlled and swayed by the fire than the fire is by him."), her stance on the issue was pretty clear by the tone she used alone (you could count on her not to sugarcoat anything, that’s for sure). But he was used to not being up to someone's expectations, too.

The first lesson was a dealbreaker and both of them must've felt that. He sure did. She showed him what to do and he copied her. Made mistakes. Tried it again. And again. And again again again and again until she showed him another move. She never bothered to correct him.
Mystique must've been laughing on the inside, enjoying the comedy way too much to make it stop by showing him the right way to do it. At least, that’s what he thought about the whole deal. But either way, the fluid and brazen trickster continued to teach him in the end.Outside the gym, she kept to herself and he never disturbed her unless he had to, so they mostly interacted with each other strictly through trainings. When Mystique started dropping hints of meditations of all things, he nipped that crap right in the bud ("Not exactly my style." "Suit yourself."). Him detesting the discipline didn't have much to do with hating it for being boring, more with it presenting such a foreign and ungraspable concept to him that he'd sooner chew on grass for supper. Oh, and they were boring.
It might have felt like he just fucked up right after that particular conversation a bit, but they continued on with their regular lessons after that without a hint of an issue.

He couldn't take long, he knew. He'd barely have enough time to stay for an hour and then it was back to The Brotherhood. His stealthy escape took more time than he'd anticipated (not to mention liked), but at least it was a clean job and he won't have anyone on his case the moment he gets back. Preferably even after that.When he opened the familiar, noticeably banged up door of the flat, the revealed space (as far as he could see, that is) was disappointingly empty. Putting the grocery bag and the travelling one, that was thrown over his shoulder and full of even more supplies, down by the door, he slowly ventured further into the silent emptiness.The flat wasn't a large one by any means, but it had lots of angles and hidden corners. Fucks you right over when you're looking for someone here. Like he currently was.Nothing.Granted, the place was pretty sparse to begin with, but you'd know and recognize the signs of somebody living in a place even in only a partially furnished shithole like this one. An indent where a person had been sitting on a couch. A window which was left open carelessly. The cupboard or cabinet doors slightly ajar. Plates or mugs out; even a single spoon.He wasn't even going for the outrageously obvious signs like footprints on the floor or boots in the hall. But as much as he looked around, everything looked undisturbed, even covered with a generous layer of dust, still.Then he spotted the residue, dried-up ring. One caused by a mug that had been placed directly onto the table instead of a coaster and then it was only by a pure muscle memory and quick reflexes that he managed to counter the familiar whoosh of air rushing by his ear.

"What's the flat for?"He's been sitting on a beat-up couch for the past fifteen minutes (after unpacking all the supplies he'd brought with and busting his "safe" in the wall so that Mystique would have some cash on her – on top of the money he'd hidden around the flat) to appear as nonthreatening as possible. Which, speaking of.Mystique, in clothes, stood propped up against a wall that was the nearest to a window and in the middle of her worst act of cool he ever saw. Absent blue, no leaning and that right there was a fire escape behind that window; yes, he noticed (and already knew about anyway).This was weird. Bordering on surreal, honestly. This body was obviously as strange to her as it was for him. But all the same, she was alive.As sharp as ever, too."In case my illegal passanger turned out to be human."When he had decided to keep the little bugger, way before he even had the "knocked-up" talk with Magneto, he wondered about the probability of them turning out to be mutant. But even by the time that the Moses dialogue came about, there was still no evidence that they would, which only prompted further questioning.How could Magneto be so certain then that the tot will have powers as well? There was no other reason for the man to allow him to keep it, so how? But then again, maybe the man wasn't, not really, since he was yet to make any public announcement in that regard.Best case scenario was that they would be, since the alternative was them ending up being 'just human' and Magneto losing ground for whatever he's planning in regard to having a confirmation of them being the next step in evolution. It wasn't hard to guess how that would go over and what it would mean in the long run.That's what he had thought and taken stock of; what he had reacted to and what led him to continue preparing his furtive escape plan – which brought about and included the flat."Are they?" The real question, hidden and unvoiced, was clear."Don't know yet."He didn't avert his eyes, nor could she stare him down. Although far from being capable of predicting how she'll react, the flat was still very there, he'd done what he'd done, and he didn't feel any remorse about it.Looking at her, this seemed to be it, though."We'll head for the woods soon, probably sometime tomorrow." He offered by the way of keeping the conversation going."You shouldn't be telling me this.""Yeah, I shouldn't."
Whatever.
"I will take him down." The statement didn't count amongst those things that hit you out of the blue – not when there was enough of a reason for it. What was unexpected, however, was the timing. Any person that would take in all of her preemptive moves, would assume she'd go for a heavy defense now. On a second look, though, she probably had a complex plan of procedure how to reach her set objective already.Mystique might look different, but her tough-as-nails nature was the same, ringing through her every word. "I'll give the information to the government."This woman sure could shake some serious shit off and go straight for revenge.Didn't he think about leaving the Brotherhood as soon as possible recently? This was an ideal setup to go for it; a chance to get out. One with the highest probability of ending successful even, considering the person involved. But was it really? He currently had a pretty crappy vantage point to be able to make any kind of solid assessment of situation, least of all an informed one. No matter which one was true, though, a timely warning went a long way."Magneto went to check some mutant. One that's class five." Will she still go for it?"Class five?""All I know is that he seems to know her. Hard to say if it's a friend or foe, though." Short on facts, there wasn't much to supply her with, but a decisive reply came anyway:"…It doesn't change anything.""Superb. If you want a laptop out of me, I have to dissapoint you, though. These are all my reserves," Reserves for his way out, "so you'll have to write your whole Fuck off dissertation on Magneto in an internet café.""You think I'm not serious?" There was a note of anger infused in her question, but he had no problem setting these particular facts straight."I think you're deadly serious." He hadn't spent that much time with her overall, but he sure as hell knew that she was rarely joking – if ever."You don't mind? Aren't you gonna tell on me?" She was clearly intrigued by his lack of devotion (that would've eventually screwed him over the same way it did her, hey, who wouldn't want that). To his defense – screw defense."I don't care. All I know is that if you wanna do this, you better work quick. I don't have the foggiest about any future steps of his; no one does." Nobody gave him a reason to have faith in their cause, to remain. Why would he then?"Just... If you're really gonna do this, be careful, okay? Keep safe." Realizing that sounded way sentimental, he reiterated:"Die and I'll get you up only to kill you again because these are all the money I managed to scrunch up. You owe me to stay alive now."Her hackles rising was a sight to behold – and fear. Usually.This was truly weird."I don't like owing people." Don't we all."Well, you better not die then," Checking time, he grabbed his jacket before getting up. Might as well get out before this shit gets any weirder. "I have to go." It wouldn't do to get found out missing either.Leaving the flat was a strange affair anyway.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When Magneto came back with Dr. Grey again, John felt an instant urge to be cautious.She was odd. There was definitely something off about her – not only different, she was… He knew a danger when he saw one. He couldn't point a finger at anything specific, but he trusted his instincts more than facts anyway.Cue him, keeping his distance and staying as far away from her as possible. It wasn't like Dr. Grey would want to have a chat with him anyway, that was for sure. He'd never been everyone's favorite like Bobby was, so on that side, he was pretty safe.Magneto wasn't giving any clues as to how was he supposed to act around her either, so John just went with his gut feeling and kept on the move. There were much more important things to stress on about, especially now with all the preparations underway.What Mystique took care of when still present, he took up in her absence – at least part of it, and even that was more than enough to keep him busy. If he didn't know better, he'd say that Mystique had to have a bunch of doppelgängers at her disposal (if only for necessary various skills) to get shit done in time and it wasn't laziness speaking. He busted some serious ass here, alright. Something always coming up, needing solving, watching over or handling."She shouldn't be here with us." Over the time Omegas spent with the Brotherhood, Callisto proved that she knew a thing or two about survival. She wouldn't be so twitchy for nothing. He kept on walking anyway, though, because Magneto did. That wasn't to say he ignored the fact that they both had a hunch of something being up. "Her power is completely unstable."That John had no idea about. Alarms going off and all out in his head, he barely managed to keep his disinterested face. It was one thing to find out Dr. Grey was level five mutant (come on, basic math here), it was shitload of difference learning she's unstable (and Callisto wouldn't lie about that).Dr. Grey was giving him some serious creeps even before the chick mentioned anything. Having his suspicion confirmed?Magneto, on the other hand, looked completely unaffected still."Only in the wrong hands."Whose are the right one's though? Where did this certainty that his own could keep her balanced come from? Could it be trusted? Where was any proof? Were there any hands that could really do that, hold her back?But since they were having this discussion:"And you trust her? She's one of them." Could they trust her? What was she exactly now anyway? What happened that all of a sudden, she's on their side?"So were you once." He was fully aware of the possibility that his comment might come back biting him in the ass and was ready with a comeback. Time to assert his allegiance."I stuck with you all the way." He needed stronger words than that, though, he could feel it. "Would have killed the professor if you'd given me the chance." There.The hand on his chest that stopped him from going any further came completely unexpected."Charles Xavier did more for mutants than you'll ever know. My single greatest regret is that he had to die for our dream to live."He couldn't bring himself to even hide his surprise and disbelief. That was the man who coldly turned his back on his right hand. How could Charles Xavier be more important to him than someone who stood by his side and had his back?

Seeing that familiar face near the Washington Public Health Clinic amongst the protesting crowd caught him unawares and like a hit to solar plexus at that.Fuck.Unable to force down his smile, he at least turned it into a cocky one.
Get your shit together.
"Getting the cure so you can go back home to mommy and daddy?" As if those parents were worth it. No, Bobby was here because of someone else.He looked… older. Worried sick. Responsibility sure made a number on him. Or was it all the work of his chronic runaway of a girlfriend?"I'm looking for someone." Bobby stepped closer before remembering to look over to the line of people to actually have a look. Nice. The tone gave the answer away, though.So, it was her.But even then, knowing what he did, being where they were, how come this moment felt like nothing had changed between them? He had never left, and they were still the two roomies who fooled around. It seriously messed with his head.Bobby probably didn't notice any of that, so John went with a sure buzzkill for the safety of them both."Oh, I get it. Your girlfriend. I figured she'd want the cure. She's pathetic." Temperature dropping was a sure sign of his words having enough of a bite.There we go. One Iceman up. Bobby was always so damn easy to read. Riling him up? Piece of cake.He flicked his own fire into existence in an answer to the frozen-up fist."Come on, Iceman," Yeah, like that. That's it. "Make a move."He couldn't have the man himself, but he still could have a wildly pumping blood and the thrill of a fight with him. He was eager to get it started; so close…But Bobby shook his head. He shook his head and turned his back on him. A sudden wave of anger, starting up from within his belly and rolling over his body was well on its way to consume him whole, as he shouted over the crowd after him:"Same old Bobby. Still afraid of a fight!"He was sent here to wreak havoc? He sure as hell could cause a fiery mayhem!

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Magneto was speaking to the gathered, fight-willing mutants and John was fighting hard to keep his thoughts in check because 'Phoenix', nee Dr. Grey stood just about ten feet to his left. Searching through the crowd, face by face, helped heaps as he found out.He noted as much features and details amongst the crowd as possible. He forced his breathing even. After all, he was only searching for anyone suspicious.Like a fucking Wolverine.He tried to banish the thought, but as he glanced Phoenix's way, she already had her eyes on the man.
Did she read that off my mind? Why was he here? Was it- because Dr. Grey was here, of course.
He stopped himself just in time and damn miraculously enough, Phoenix soon took to the woods (along with Wolverine, he noticed) and he could get a breather. The speech ended not long after that and Magneto dissapeared into thin air – or so it seemed – as well.Bloody hell. Way to behave like a greenie. Just let them slip by without noticing jack all. The forest covered heck of a lot of land here and he had no idea whatsoever where exactly they skulked off to. He took a wild guess, picked one random tree and went in that direction.It was probably just a case of forbidden lovebirds on a rendezvous since Magneto, as far as he knew, was ignorant of Wolverine's presence, but it paid to not underestimate anything. Like fucking woods and how far they stretched.
Who would you even join if there was a fight?
After about a half an hour of fruitless search around the remote edges of the camp, he chose to use the opportunity to regroup himself. Wolverine was a big boy anyway. One that could regenerate from anything it seemed. Come back from dead even.He remembered one particular instance after Striker's attack. He had really thought the man joined the choir invisible. Now it was almost humorous, however, back then it was anything but.He held a deep kind of respect for who Wolverine truly was. There weren’t many people who he could say that about and certainly not from the X-men bunch, yet, here we are. Wolverine was strong, and he had a badass vibe like nobody's business, but that wasn't the reason. No.It takes a thief to catch a thief. John was insignificant next to the man, but they both fought the same war. Wolverine emitted an aura of someone centuries old (without any wiseass bullshit as a bonus) and he survived all the way.And then he had dropped dead. Just like that.That was the memory. But now he knew better and he’ll do better to get his own shit back together before the big event's up. Because nobody was gonna look out for him.Time to gear up.

Alcatraz burned and shrieked. Once the battle begun, there was no space for a single stray thought or loss of concentration. All-or-nothing deal if you ever saw one; that's what the scenery, every breath and every move was.No matter what side you were on, you had to give your all if you wanted to stay alive. Even those amongst them, who were yet to join the fight could feel it, sense it. Sniff it. It was like an acrid smell attacking your nostrils. Inescapable.So when his turn came, he set the levitating cars aflame. Metal projectiles, offered up in a twisted imitation of a game, got burned to their cores as he played a good little soldier for once because he didn't want to be one more dead body rotting on this blasted piece of land.Another car propelled. Another target to hit.Somewhere along the way, he seemed to have forgotten; naively diving to save someone who he knew jack all about, not minding his business, letting things get out of his hands. Again. Each time he did so, he paid the price and this time was no different. This was the cost. This… "merciful" slaughter with uncertain end.He got himself here. There was no stepping back now, only pressing forward.Even through Iceman.He took in the brand spanking new leathersuit of his opponent.
Finally allowed onto the playground, are we.
He could've made fun of him, if the guy hadn't brought along a deep sense of maturity with him. Good for him. Both of them forced to grow up faster than their years; might make for an interesting fight at least.When the freshly initiated X-men didn't dare to get things going even this time around, only standing there in his traditional stubborn-yet-tucked-tail manner, he gave it a go himself, drawing flame to his side. He wasn't in the habit of taking ages before kicking shit off. And off it went.A mighty torrent of fire shot straight at his opponent. Sending it off with efficient elegance was a must, though; Magneto was strangely adamant on him learning the power of sophisticated intimidation real well.
"You have to make them watch, unable to tear their eyes from their destruction. Gain fear with every single move you make, young Pyro, and they will not dare to attack you lightly."
So he did.Only to be met with an equal level of power, smashing against his own. Now was not the time to pull punches and they both seemed to be aware of that. It also didn’t go amiss that he was still pissed off at him.He knew what he was supposed to do. Make a show. Make everyone watch their triumph. The Brotherhood ascending, taking its rightful place at the top of the foodchain. This duel was currently the main entertainment here and he was hella conscious of one particular watchful pair of eyes boring into his back.Leaning into the current, it didn't take long to be able to almost hear the little telltale snaps.Try as hard as Bobby might, John's fire was melting the ice, tearing through it. The signs were miniscule as of now, progress slow but sure. He could sense it. Sense his element's predominance. Fire had still enough of hunger to spare and sooner or later, it was gonna swallow its adversary up.John expected more; a much harder fight. Bobby should be able to do better. But then again, it was a long time since they fought each other and as much as he didn't know about Iceman, he himself got hell of a practice under Mystique and Magneto's tutelage.He saw the weak output of ice infront of him, the unconvincing resistance. Bobby’s strain.Damn, he couldn't kill him.He had no problem with the idea of defeating him, but, fuck, not killing him. And Magneto won't accept any less.Fuck. God, fuck!Their powers kept snapping at each other, his fire biting off large mouthfuls of its freezing opponent, no, of its prey and there was nothing, nothing–
Use your brain. Think!
Okay, so... there's no way he'd be able to let up without Magneto noticing. X-men were way too fair or hopeful to jump in and safe their buddy's ass, which left him empty handed.Wait.No. That was out of question.No.
Definitely not.
Keeping the fire stream steady, he watched as it fed on its counter element. He couldn't do that. He… he could draw it out like this – not that they had time for that. Who was he kidding, he was grasping at straws here. He knew there was only one option viable.Doing anything else than going all out full-force was out of question.
Jesus fuck.
Blasting the heat up, he began shortening the distance between them to accommodate his wretched weakness.Closer.Pulse shooting up, heart scratching at his throat. Anger. Anger for what the shitty asshole makes him do it, unawares.Closer.Bobby on his knees; a silhouette barely seen through the flames.
Fuckin' fight back, you dumbass! I'm serving you an opportunity on a silver platter here, fuck'ssake!
Getting close and personal about now…I swear, Iceman, if you fuckin' punch me, it better be to my face, he thought as he made his last attempt at pissing off the guy enough to push back. He always knew the magic words after all.That being said, getting knocked unconscious wasn't part of his plan.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

He was supposed to fight any incriminating thoughts, but he couldn't remember… Phoenix. But even realizing she was right there, he somehow knew that she couldn't read his thoughts this time around.

Standing there and listening to Magneto's flowery, yet catchy pre-fight speech and seeing all those mutants cheering along was a high contrast to the Washington and still, all that noise reminded him of his encounter with Bobby anyway.

This was what he was left with. He'd chosen this. He should be proud of being where he was now – amongst the few that had the honor to stand on the hill with Magneto and Phoenix (props for keeping up the top level of making impression).

Instead, he watched all those faces below – mutants who made quite a noise – loud and rebellious, and wondered why nothing was happening. Why? They were here longer than he even expected and this was the best opportunity.

Did she change her mind?

Was this really what awaited him?
Wait.
This time around?
 He shot up in his bed, feeling disoriented and thrown. Then he realized he was actually on a couch."The same one?" A bored, female voice came through the darkness from his left, to be precise from the opposite corner of the room. Rough, but familiar; welcomed for the relief the recognition brought.With the last reverberations of the past still stubbornly covering his eyes, he threw the covers off with a shaky (bloody shaky!) hand. Forcing his tense body to get up, he then proceeded to wrap his head around the present and where he was once again."Want some coffee? I want some coffee." Of course that his legs would be unsteady, too; at least his voice was neutral.Making his way over to the kitchen noodle (impossible to call the cooking space anything else), he flipped the light on. What. Mystique was up anyway.Speaking of, undeniable plus of having her as a flatmate? She left you the fuck alone. She didn't push – not even after three weeks of repeated wake up calls. This would be just another night of that particular memory reoccurring in his dreams. Not nightmares, not really, since there was nothing really scary in there to-
Uncertainty.

Confusion.

Stop.

A castaway; abandoned in a crowd of strangers, standing on a pinnacle of war.

Alone.

Get a fucking grip.
He filled the kettle with water before setting it on the gas stove. They seemed to share a morbid sense of humor, proven especially by this particular kitchen appliance. There. His mind finally switched onto a safer topic as he lighted the fire underneath with a single snap of a finger.This was pretty much the only abnormal outward change brought about by his 'condition' – he was capable of creating fire now. Or as Mystique put it, the tiny tot was doing it for him. If that was true, they had a loving relationship down to pat already.Other than that, there were thankfully no power fluctuations or misbehavior. This flat wasn't much but burning it down wasn't on John's list of what needed to be done either. Third in a row; that was the number of their current place in line of apartments that they already moved through. The hideout John pointed Mystique to after she got turned was the first and also the one John basically crawled back to after the Alcatraz. They kept on the move ever since then.Mystique managed to secure her own savings while mutantkind versus humanity’s short war had been still raging. Apparently, it took more time to get to than a rundown flat with a bit of extra cash squirreled away inside a wall. John could understand that; over the years you develop much safer and intricate ways to secure your getaway plan. But it all worked out for them in the end, so no harm done."What would you do if somebody took up the flat already?" Mystique once asked him. 
"I'd rob the place of course," he snorted, before divulging his true plan of operation in such a case. "I'd get my shit and get the fuck out."

Looking out the tiny window by the sink with a view into a dingy street, he half-distractedly marched on with his answer.

"Make their heads spin and minds boggle at the mystery of having
a fucking hole in the wall and all their shit intact." Then, it took him much longer to admit almost in an enigmatic way: "I knew the flat was still empty. Wouldn't sent you here otherwise."
 Filling himself a small cup with long black, he hefted himself up on the kitchen counter before taking a sniff. This was another, undeniable positive, things considered. While willing to limit the dosage, what with him being up the duff, he was glad that he didn't have to give the coffee up altogether. The kid sure loved him, is all he was saying.Glancing over to Mystique's corner of the room, he saw her staring into the ceiling without a single muscle twitch.Whatever floats anyone's boat.That said, he honestly had no idea what the fuck were they doing still together. Mystique had to have much better options what to do than play a patron, minder and meditation guru to him – oh yes, they did the dirty M deed a few times by now. He still wasn't a fan, but he did learn from his past, too.When he'd been stuck in the Brotherhood that oughed to have its very own set of quotation marks, he didn't know any other way to get rid of the encompassing and full-body-binding tension aside from burning shit up. Attempting meditations didn't even crossed his mind then and even if it did, A) you couldn't exactly wing that sort of thing and B) his past self would most definitely argue that he wasn't that desperate.Now, however, he would be an utter idiot to choose ignorance and pretend that there's no possibility of a similar situation happening again. He needed to have a reliable source of equilibrium at ready for when shit hits the fan next time. Not that the knowledge made learning the pretzel practice any easier.Twiddling his thumbs while sitting on his ass like a frikkin' Buddha took up an ungodly amount of time, too, and it felt like it must've cut off half of his lifespan every single damn try. All the more reason for him to go outside and stretch his legs while making use of the time he could still move swiftly enough and glide through the crowds. Yeah, pick-pocketing; good ol' times. Full of memories – and new financial resources. He rather didn't get into anything dirtier so as not to end up in an unnecessary tangle. He wasn't in a position where the risk would be worth it. This had to for now.If anyone expected him to go and get a job in a bloody supermarket, they were nuts. Just thinking about being stuck in an office, working nine-to-five was close enough to make him vomit a rainbow. Interacting with people nonstop, dealing with snobs and snots alike on a daily basis, packing their shit in a bag? Yeah, not-fuckin'-likely. Ever. The place would go down in ashes, that's for sure. He had more experience with shady kind of jobs anyway. Not exactly something you'd write on a job application sheet.Stealing another glance her way, he took a sip of his gloriously bitter coffee.He had half a mind to openly ask her. Don't you have places to be? But then again, they were probably both stuck in this weird kind of limbo, not just him. She wasn't The Mystique anymore, after all. Must fling you in a space unknown. It sure as hell was weird seeing her… pink. There was no problem recognizing Mystique in her, but the body was something he was still getting used to. Bet she was too.So there they were, together and somehow stuck at the hip while – whether he wanted or not – he was the one being helped to."I don't like owing to anyone." He hardly had to explain the sudden comment and the knowledge of that was something of a surprisingly reassuring force.."You better not die then." Honestly.He snorted in reply.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

So... I'm without my laptop since Thursday. (I use the term PC and laptop interchangeably. I shouldn't, but I do, still) Therefore any further development of EoS will have to wait until further notice since I have no idea when I'll have access to another medium worthy of trying writing on (typing on my phone seriously sucks). I honestly apologize to all the serious readers here.Thank you for your understanding and hopefully see you all soon.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Mystique was a fascinating mutant. If he wasn't gay, he'd tap that. What. She might be older, but that only meant more experience. Anyway, the first time he saw her in action was a pure cinematic experience. Also, downright scary.

Dexterity of an insane level.

Razor-sharp focus.

Pure efficiency at all times.

She was a weapon. A siren. She was as fluid as water; emitting the air of calm like a motionless surface of a lake while fully capable to turn into a tsunami wave that could kill you in a blink of an eye, any minute.

She had a zero bullshit tolerance like nobody else, but most of all and above all of this, she was proud of being mutant. Proud of how she looked like – flaunting it in everybody's faces, really. He had to wonder if she's always been like that. Personally, he doubted that, but in her case, he wouldn't put it past being a possibility either. Add in her own brand of romantic strike – a fighter with spirit as wild as it was loyal – and you got a winner. If you were into women, that is.

He wouldn't pretend to understand her. She was an enigma in her own right. Despite all the character traits and skills noticed and mentioned, there was still much more to her – hidden away. A secret she kept to herself and only her.

Unknown.

It's been a couple months later when the proverbial kick in the balls came the same way as all such things do. Out of the blue and with hell of an accuracy.He was just beginning to entertain the thought of a career as a meditation instructor. Seriously, it didn't even sound half bad anymore (sign of madness right there). Under Mystique's tutelage, he had improved more than enough by now to make it work and the practice didn't require much of movement which, as of late, sounded about fan-fucking-tastic. Definitely not a bad idea, that's for sure.He wasn't even that far along but his body probably didn't get the memo; damned stairs were killing him, because each time he stepped on them, it felt like his balance wasn't only off; it was non-existent. Swear down, he'll make sure the next flat they choose will be on the first floor. At least he could still walk down the street pretty easily.Which was exactly what he was doing now. Mystique wanted to meet up in the city on the way back from her job. That is, from 'Alisa May's job in Trask Industries.You can take us out of Arcadia, but you cannot take Arcadia out of us. God knows that woman fit the bill. Never say that Mystique could not turn any negative into a positive and wring it out for all its worth. As a mutant, she would be hardly able to work there. As a human? She was truly something else. That being said, still a dangerous game to play.As he turned a corner to enter a small square where they were supposed to meet, he slid back behind it the very next second, hugging the wall as he recognized the familiar group of people standing there already.Storm. Peter. Bobby.Shit.His heart decided to go for a mad dash right then and there, pulse not that far behind.
What were they doing here?!
Well, it was obvious what – not many reasons to stand in a not so frequented area of the city which, just so happened to be on Mystique's way from work. Yeah. Speaking of, she wasn't there yet, but she's gonna be. Any minute now.Should come from south, his instincts helpfully supplied the only useful information he had.His eyes jumped to the street in question and sure enough, there she was, and she was yet to notice the danger, having the three wannabe heroes in her blind spot and fuck fuck fuck-What now? He was only slightly closer to her than they were. Running to her or make an escape route his way? Did they know where they lived?
Shit, can't risk it.
In a near unison with her highheel making a clack sound on the very border of the square, a big fireball landed at the X-men's feet before a wall of fire rose up one meter further down, separating them from Mystique and what was more, effectively erasing the direct route to her."Run!" He shouted as he himself started towards her. With a corner of his eye, he got a glimpse of Storm floating up, Iceman running through the barrier (didn't think that one through, Allerdyce) straight for Mystique and he could clearly hear Peter gearing up while choosing to rather run around. At him.Oh flame.
C'mon. Bring it.
Kicking up the dust in earnest, he swiftly drew up a mental map of this part of city in his head, reminding himself of all the side streets and shortcuts. He'll need them, very soon. There was no way he'd outrun Colossus without some streetsmarts and as much as he managed to catch those X-rays of Sunshine by surprise and divide their forces, them scattering made it hard to keep track of them in turn, which was so not a good thing.Meanwhile, Mystique took off her stilettos (he might propose to that no-nonsense woman afterall if they make it out of here alive) and got even more of a head start back the way she came from. Gotta remember he's their designated obstruction annihilator.Quick look to his right assured him that, yes, he still had Colossus on his back. At least he already gained a bit on his mentor and Iceman thanks to the guy himself who was forcing her to evade ice snares left and right. Which, as could be expected, prompted remaining, regular pedestrians to panic. Those who weren't fast enough as to get the hell out of dodge didn't hesitate to scream and then scram ASAP.Close enough to be useful now, he returned fire. While not much precise, the unexpected heat on his back did throw Iceman slightly off course.
Where was Storm?! Where, where-
He looked up in hope of spotting her, only for a second, before almost physically feeling…He dodged wildly, automatically slipping into a dingy gap between two buildings, just barely a couple of feet wide. It sported bright light of another street at its end and right then it was the best fuckin' place he ever had the honor of squeezing through.Not a second later, he heard bricks getting the brunt of Colossus weight behind him when the guy tried to follow. Enough of a proof that he'd obviously moved out of the way at the last possible moment.Colossus inadvertently losing his momentum by that impact gifted him few precious extra seconds to distance himself from him and make his way out of the narrow space in record time.Only for his overworked lungs and overheated, sweaty skin to notice it was getting unnaturally windy. A clear indication that Storm wasn't far, although he still didn’t see hide nor hair of that woman.Catching a sight of Mystique on his right, however, he started to rush over to her. He could clearly hear loud steps picking up behind him, he had no intentions on sticking around and wait for them to catch up.With all limbs still intact, gaining on Mystique and her own pursuer wasn't that hard, considering she and Iceman were in the middle of a weird stand-off. He watched as she turned behind her to throw one of those dangerously pointed shoes of hers at Iceman, sidestepping a blast of ice mere hairsbreadth after only to swiftly slide over to him. Sweeping Bobby's feet from beneath him, she got a wicked hit in before taking off again.Just as he reached out with his arm to presumably send a freezing missile her way, she threw the second shoe, her own projectile effectively rendering the opponent out of commission for another few extra seconds. Those things were truly a weaponry in their own right – especially with Mystique's aim.Few shoe-beats later he finally managed to catch up to her, throwing a few curveballed fire spheres of his own behind them to discourage anyone from pursuit or even to at least slow them down.Breathing hard now, he wasn't willing to acknowledge Mystique's controlled, regular breathing, thank you very much. Glossing over the fact instead, he laboriously got out:"Where to?""Crowd. And definitely not that way," Her chin indicated the direction right ahead, the one they just started running in and where, not a blink later, a small tornado went for a touchdown. Nothing out of ordinary in the middle of a city."Left!" Her voice could be barely heard over the wind, but he still went and-
- FUCK!
That was close.Getting blocked off by a lightning mere inches away from him was, shit, not as bad as having been struck by it, yeah. Cool.Shit, woman, chill. You've got Iceman on your team; chills for free, fuck'sake.It was only by a sheer miracle that his ability to be sassy survived the experience. Honestly, though, it was more forced than he'd like.However, the proverbial devil appeared not long after that. Out of thin air – literally, landing an uncomfortably short distance away from them.Mystique tugged on his arm and he followed, falling back in step with her only to get confronted with the rest of the Xanax squad.They all stood at an intersection now and man, he'd never yearned for people crowding a place like right now, but instead, it reminded of a setup for a ghosttown here. There wasn't any more time for taking in the scenery, though, because Iceman didn't waste time to go for his revenge.By sheer miracle, John wasn't too late to shield Mystique from the cold torrent with his own body. Casting a current of power of his own, he didn't have to wait long for response.So much alike, so reminiscent of a time not that long ago and yet different. Because this time around, John couldn't afford to lose like on Alcatraz.As his body begun heating up with the prominent use of his power, it got rid of the last remnants of thawing ice on his hoodie as a side effect.Nobody seemed to be keen on invites today since only a handful of seconds went by before Mystique shouted:"Your twelve!"He automatically reached out with his free hand in the pointed-out direction, dividing his element's attention between the two, before even checking. When he did look, it was to spot Colossus obviously stopped in the middle of his charge at him. Taking the sight in, he subconsciously kicked the power output heading the Russian's way up yet another notch.Giving the musclemass in metal wrapping the same treatment that his teammate got wouldn't be enough. The additional boost wouldn't hold him back forever either, but it'll slow the bodybuilder down. Focusing more on pressure than heat was the key; Colossus couldn't get hurt by fire anyway.The fact that he faltered a bit on the side that was staving Iceman off wasn't that important; he could take it. As long as he'll keep them away. He just had to do that; slow them down as much as he could while coming up with a plan how to get them out.Fire blazing, the element demanded more leeway to fight, to defend more effectively. He was far from one not to go with that. Giving fire what it wanted, familiar hunger flared up inside him. Hunger that felt like his own; so much, so tempting, but to give in would mean losing this battle as a whole; he could sense it, feel it in his bones. Been there, done that. No, that won't happen again. Ever.Concentration and muscles straining to their limit, he called on clarity. With sweat running down his neck in an almost unbearable focus, he pushed through; pushed against forces trying to box him in, determination flaring.Standing sideways to both Iceman and Colossus with Mystique having his back, he couldn't help but wonder. He shouldn't have that much power to begin with. How–Then he felt a sudden crack in it, the fire weakening and yeah, he so didn't have this one.
You had to ask for it, didn't you.
"Pyro?" And just hearing Mystique, it clicked in his brain straight away.Storm.He won't be able to hold Iceman and Colossus off for long either; they were slowly but steadily breaking through the heat, getting closer to him."Tell me when?" It was half-question, half-something else. Not hope, no. Mere calculation of luck. Because he couldn't live this long, get so far to die now. Hardly now.No answer came, but it wasn't what he needed anyway. She'll tell him at the right time.Slicing pain started to gradually shoot up through what felt like every muscle fiber inside his limbs, uncomfortable pressure built up and went through his body with each protracted, crawling second that followed and passed.He could swear that the crackling of lightning sounded from right behind his ear when-"Now!"They both moved at the same time, bodies synchronized almost as one. He away from the line of impact of icy element and Colossus himself, Mystique fluidly to the side while helping to spin him around faster with a firm grasp on his side.Straight to fireblast Storm in her sternum.They took off as fast as they could right after that.No matter, he would recognize that sound anywhere.Turning around in the middle of his escape run, he fire-blocked an armful of a freezing matter heading his way.Melted the other one aiming for Mystique. The next one.There was no time!The next.Colossus was lying on the ground, still shaking off the collision with torrent of ice, but Storm was already getting on her feet and-
Shit!
He fired a missile that was bound to singe Bobby's shoulder before once again running for it.Halfway exhausted already; barely capable of following Mystique's steps and figure that disappeared behind the nearest corner mere second ago. His lungs wheezed while his mind single-mindedly urged him to get lost before-Stumbling as all air left his lungs from a sudden force.He slowly looked down in shock.There was an icicle. Firmly embedded in his side. Sticking out of his body.He was blinking uncomprehendingly, sluggishly at the thing; stuck in place and time. What followed was more of an out of body experience than anything else.His arms glided down before issuing an order with a simple backward motion. An unmistakable heat from his veins planted a triple lined mock imitation of X on the asphalt behind him, a big-ass fiery obstruction between… them.His head didn't move, didn't turn; there was no looking back. He did, however, felt the intent and after, the warmth of something sizeable on a fiery scale. Nearby and not unlike a damn half-a-dozen of bonfires. He knew what he called forth. He might have not seen it, but he knew.Then and only then did his body limp after the last person left.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Not that long after he arrived to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, as soon as the dust settled, John came to a disappointing conclusion. The school was a bore.

It might sound fucked up, but he missed the danger of the streets there. It was no wonder then that he soon became the local instigator. A smartass and pain in the ass in one package; "a dick". Whatever that would rub people the wrong way whenever he felt like it. He was purposefully looking for a conflict and it was Bobby and Bobby again who always pulled his ass out of trouble even when John didn't need nor want him to. In turn, he repaid the courtesy with the exact opposite.

They became somewhat of a welcoming committee for the new mutants at school. While Bobby was his friendly nice self, John went for the bad boy vibe laced with a bit of show-off himself. They always came up with a new way to greet a newcomer. So, them, "trying to impress" Rogue was perfectly normal and up to standard. Except Bobby was smitten. It didn't take John (and the whole rest of the school) long to realize that.

If he wanted to practice alibism and pretend innocence, he might have said that Magneto exploited his weakness, his state of mind that day in the X-jet; his easily impressionable teenage mind. All that load of bullshit and fairly easily. However, the truth was way more profound and simple than any of that.

He's made a choice and that was that.

No lie, though; he had gotten caught off-guard by the unexpected acknowledgement and even more so, the undivided attention that wasn't faked either. Someone finally seeing him. It's been a long time since anyone looked at him like that.

He had been still trying to find himself when he and Magneto had the talk; trying to find his place in the suffocating crowd of known, yet distant, diametrically different people. They all might as well be aliens for how it felt being stuck amongst them most of the time. They simply didn't get each other, if he were to put it mildly. So even back then, with the X-jet full, it felt like there was no one there, only more and more oppressing vacuum.

Why was he there again? How did he fit in? He did not seem to belong, no matter what he tried. Anything he did was wrong. He did not conform to the norm and no wonder – he had his own damn head. Not important to anyone there either. He was just trouble to them – like some kind of infliction; merely to be ignored. That's exactly what he thought before he addressed Magneto – thinking screw it, might as well talk with the bad guys.

He wanted somebody to notice. To say something. To stop him. But everyone was busy with whatever and he? He found out that the "bad guy" might be the very solution he was looking for. Magneto showed interest in him, without John needing to jump through any hoops first.

Joining the man wasn't a decision born out of idealistic thoughts. It was just time to move on and there was nowhere else to go. Admittedly, it didn't hurt that the man saw worth in him, even if probably only that bit which could be useful to his cause. John could live with that, though. Not the worst odds he'd made do with.

It took hell of a bitching and being overall nuisance to make the woman finally let him see and treat her injury. Turns out that while Mystique successfully avoided getting turned into a damn fine ice block, her dominant arm didn't escape the brunt of the freezing attacks unscathed. Considering the amount of arctic power thrown her way, it was still pretty admirable that her arm suffered only from a second-degree frostbite with only one small area looking well on a border to third. It did render the limb rather useless in such a state, but all in all, still good score in his books.His side hurt like a motherfucker, but it wasn't like he could actually properly reach it himself (definitely not the point of entry, that's for sure), so he just gritted his teeth and concentrated on the current issue at hand. Mystique must've been well aware of the fact, too, because in exchange for his careful warming-up of her hand until it looked good again, she had sewn his gaping side back together.It would be much better if the icicle had been sealing the wound until they could switch their attention and efforts to it, but even after he dropped his body temperature to the lowest degree possible, it took next to no time for it to melt.Once he successfully annoyed her into agreeing to the much needed damage control, neither of them said a word through the whole ordeal. It was that strange kind of mutually agreed-upon and preferred silence. Neither of them was really into the idea of small talk, what with her being… her and him clenching his teeth while mentally listing off shit that would make sailors blush. He pointedly refused to think about anything else than the pain, anything much more terrifying than the bloody peephole in his side, with determination only that stubborn-ass survivalist side of him was capable of.Couple pain meds later (for both of them), he was a proud owner of orderly lined stitches and after grabbing a premade snack each, a unanimous, equally silent decision was made to just hit the sack and call it a day. Or at least he thought so."Why did you help me back then really?" As recent as their run-in with the X-men was, there was no doubt that she wasn't talking about that. There weren't that many times she could be speaking about either. Honestly, he could rather save the plural, so it wasn't hard to figure out what was she talking about. It was a safe topic, too."I respect you." The truth. Simple. From a corner of his eye, he could see she appeared to believe him, accepting the fact without a hitch. But it hadn't been all there was to his seeming brush with madness on that busted prison on wheels either, was it. And she seemed to know it, too.He never had a problem to voice exactly what he thought of anyone or anything (unless it would land him in such deep shit he wouldn't be able to get out of – he wasn't an idiot), but somehow, he found himself having trouble finding words good enough; give his reasons a proper form, one in which they would be clear and easy to understand. His brain activity was currently showing a very impressive flatline, he was awfully tired and the painkillers didn't help any in his search for clarity either, so he just went with the thoughts that skipped right over his tongue."There are things... Somebody kicking the bucket for having been dealt bad cards. Drunken assholes living well into their 80's while young kid gets cancer." It took him a moment to continue."You were supposed to be done after that transport." Die even? No. She would have survived. She was a fighter; a soldier with an unbreakable spirit, that's who she was. Maybe the process would be harder, but she would pull through. Most definitely. Probably. "You were to get screwed over by life." There. More spot on."When I found out about the tot…" What? Where did that came from? Too much information, fuck. His brain backpedaled so fast that he drew a blank when it made a full stop. The silence didn't last as long as the last time, though, since he was urged to cover up his fuckup as fast as possible."Life is a player. Full of tricks and 'I don't give a fuck's. Always trying to pull one over you until you're six feet under." Staring into the darkness around them, he lethargically listened to the sounds of cars passing by their street, not really taking any of it in and in no hurry to finish his rambling. The pills he took were a disappointing mediocre, but apparently still good enough to subdue him, blunt some of those sharp edges of his.Mystique might as well be already gone; having been bored or annoyed with his nonsense already for all the sound she made. Right now, he couldn't care less, though. About anything. Shit was just blank. Pointless staring, aimless talk and a feeling of being stuck in a void surrounding his body. Not mind, though. Because his mind decided to share a fuckin' epiphany of life now."What I think is, when life shoves a 'Fuck you' right in your face, you ought to say 'Fuck you, too' right back. Ruin that bitch's plans as much and as often as possible.""Is that why you decided to keep your child as well?" Her voice effectively cut through the weird nothingness and sharp focus returned to his senses all at once. So fast, in fact, that his head was sent for a good spin.Shaking the resulting vertigo off, he regained his focus. Hell of a good it did for him.Turning his head her way, he took in her lying figure and closed eyes before refocusing on the question at hand.As with everything complicated, there wasn't an easy answer or only one deciding factor. A sentiment-loaded, flimsy photo being one of them wasn't something he wanted to reveal, though. To anyone."What can I say? Hell of a stellar parent already." He didn't want to talk about this particular topic – at all. Not when-"Do you think you're still…?"Bullseye. No surprise there, not when it came to this woman.What he tried so hard to avoid thinking about found a way to weasel itself to the surface via Mystique's words anyway, catching up to him with vengeance. Thousands of thin, miniscule prickles materialized inside his chest all at once, each one sliding deep into his flesh with painful ease as he inhaled sharply. Glass shards or a claw ripping into his ribcage sounded like a sweet mercy in comparison just then."I don't know." And what was the most nauseating thing about that was how frightened it made him feel.He could hardly go to a hospital and there was no way of knowing, of finding out here – no such technology handy and no biological signs of anything going or being wrong either, at least as far as he could tell.When it came to chicks, miscarriage was fairly easy to spot, his mind supplied in a detached, calculative manner. They bled when they weren't supposed to and you just knew something went tits up. Was he to expect the same from his body though? Would it expel the foetus the same way it would if he were a gal or is he to experience a dead child rotting away inside his body with no way out until it'll make him deadly sick, too? Which one would be a bigger torture?He could still feel the firm bulge in his stomach, but while it might have been comforting in theory, it wasn't like they were moving (like they started to do just days ago), so in all factual transparency, they could be dead already with him non the wiser.The shiver that seized his whole body escaped unnoticed by sheer work of luck (tch) since Mystique had her eyes closed. He double-checked.They were, most probably. He was constantly tested after all; dared to prove he can pull through and come from the experience stronger. In the large scale of fuck off's that life sent his way, the small bundle of unexpected hiding inside him was just a tiny "obstacle" of no import. The thought of loosing them, though, made him piss-scared all the same. He felt stretched way too thin, way over his limits. And yet, here he was. Somehow still breathing. Somehow still coping although it felt like anything but.
I should be used to this. Know what to do, how to act.
Instead, sitting there, stiff and unwilling to make even a slightest sort of motion that could make it any worse, he waited.Their conversation effectively died down after that.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

At the very beginning of their cohabitation, a revelation of an enormous scale hit him hard and fast, altering his view of the universe forever.Mystique couldn't cook for shit.Up to that fateful day when he'd found out, it was his firm belief she could do anything. Call him crazy but watching her handle whichever issue just came up ingrained that conjecture into his brain. Man, was he wrong.Any type, form or shape of culinary action was just a big no no. In fact, any such attempt deserved a full-on danger zone sign. So, it was either a canned food, takeaway or him taking one for the team and putting on an apron for the day.Since they were trying to stay low (even more so now if that was even possible), rotation system was applied. They couldn't very well have a delivery guy over every day, nor could they do groceries often and he sure as pickles wasn't gonna eat non-perishables more than three days in a row if he could help it. So, simple math and voila.While not exactly a favorite past-time of his (he actually didn't care one bit about it), for some incomprehensible reason, cooking stopped any nagging memories.Sometimes he wished he could cook the shit out of it all.Sometimes he had to repeat his most basic mantra, which had been apparently starting to falter, fray around the edges without a regular reminder.
Look ahead. Not behind.
And sometimes… Sometimes he might have been more open to their meditation sessions than before.

For the duration of the week after the X-men hit them, his whole body had been unable to relax, drawn tight with fearful anticipation and anxiousness both as he and Mystique agreed that if anything were to truly go south, there would be a clear enough sign – or signs – of it in the next few days. When those failed to appear, it was far from soon enough. Instead, his body took its sweet time to show that it was fine after all. And while the wait had been driving him mad, bordering on batshit crazy, the proverbial gifted horse turned out to be the greatest thing that ever happened to him.Because until that exact point in time, he thought he knew damn well what being terrified out of one’s mind was like. The thought... He honestly thought he knew what fear is. Now, though, he knew he’d had no clue at all. Because being scared for one’s own life seemed like a breeze, a fuckin’ walk in a park next to fearing for someone else.But they were alright.

So. He might have swallowed a watermelon. At least he looked it. The change also marked the end of his career of a thief for the foreseeable future but considering that they recently moved to a new location, the missed enriching opportunities were a small, inconsequential price to pay in exchange for the gain. Drawing possible attention to them now, would be a mistake only a beginner would make. Securing safety was no small feat and any action that could jeopardize it now would be a dumb move. Staying hidden without a single twitch, that was how they'll be as safe as they could and were gonna get. Anything else could wait.Truly, if he was religious, he would be obliged to count his blessings now just for the simple fact that Mystique went along with it. She was a woman of action – mutant or not. Being stuck in one place with no purpose wasn't for her, wasn’t how she rolled. Hiding? Sure. With no agenda going on in the meantime? No way.And wasn’t that one of those few truths that held in life, he thought amused and completely unsurprised one week later when it seemed the timing for their Copperfield routine was just right after all, because she appeared to be hard at work writing down what she learned throughout her stay at Trask Industries.After the Xavier's Circus had arrived in town, full of chilling show of strength which nearly rendered one half of their duo thunderstruck, 'Alisa May' didn't return to work. In fact, as soon as they recovered enough from that exciting performance, they skipped town.But lying low would be a naïve concept to begin with without the device Mystique possessed. She never showed him, but apparently the thing could basically hide you from anything except the five basic human senses as long as you were in its vicinity. It didn't erase one's ability as the Alcatraz kid did (temporary or not), neither did it work as a shield exactly. It just… made you disappear on some, to him unknown, level. No wonder the X-club didn't expect him when they've come for Mystique.His guess was it had to be something of a mutant nature of its own since after asking why she hadn't used it for infiltration of Trask Industries in her past, Mystique told him she couldn't. Very illuminating, yes, but that was Mystique in a nutshell. She didn't spill her guts just for a nice smile. One would have a higher chance at succeeding with a sharp knife, heck of a lot of skills and shitload of luck to achieve that – and only in the actual gut-spilling anyway.No matter, what was important was the information, that Charles Xavier (alive again) or Callisto or any other similarly gifted mutant could not sniff him out while he was near that thing. Mystique's word on that was good enough for him (and the fact that ever since a certain fiasco no one had knocked on their door).Being how he was now (fat to the point of reminding of a reversed tortoise), the newly instated house arrest didn't grate on his mind as much as it would normally do. Speaking of, just from the overall perspective, the tot sure was to be born under a lucky star, because the timing and all the tight corners evaded couldn't mean anything but. That wasn't a reason to rest on those proverbial laurels, though.Waiting until Mystique finished writing the current vomit of text, his question landed in the very midst of the pause in her typing:"Do you truly think he's done for?" Magneto. Although all kinds of obstacles and setbacks they’ve encountered ever since the Alcatraz, it wasn’t like they – anyone – he could forget about the mastermind. The man that could make metal bend to his will didn’t gain his reputation without being able to support it. For decades. John wasn’t an idiot, so he needed as reliable assessment as it would get. You couldn’t get closer to that than Mystique.The sound of mechanical rain delayed even longer as Mystique obviously decided to give him her undivided attention, sharp gaze included."He lost his power." As calmly and evenly as the words were stated, the unvoiced "but" began taking form."Not an answer."She turned away from him then. Staring at the screen of her laptop, she conceded in a dispassionate voice:"No. No, he’s not. He won't. Erik Lehnsherr wasn't born to be caged, captured or held in. Just for that, for his past, he'll escape." She started to gently but determinedly abuse her keyboard again just to add a killing blow in a "by-the-way" manner of speech. "And if there's any way to get his power back, he'll find it."He rather decided to react on the "confined" aspect of information he just got."I though he's just watched over in some sort of house for seniors.""He is. The government keeps close eye on him, though." She didn't bother to look back at him anymore and the artificial, mechanic click-clack of a summer rain turned into a sleet.
So a prison without actual walls.
No matter, the only effect her admission had was sprouting yet another question."Was it worth it then?" If she knew he'll get out… even if it was to be far in the future… Wasn't that too much of a hassle, danger to take? The retaliation was bound to come. Full force. She couldn't have been ignorant of that either."Yes."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It was in their eighth (or ninth?) flat that one Elemental Allerdyce was born. Vocal like her father, that had to be said; but as for the deal itself, John might call himself lucky to have Mystique handy because as much as evolution thought about how to get the bun in the oven, it all forgot about the way out. Far from being squeamish, though, Mystique readily cut him open and they replayed good old Little Red Riding Hood.
Really. Fuck you, evolution.
Now if everyone would kindly give him a break and let him sleep it off; he was ready to pass out.The last thing his fading consciousness grasped was a light weight being placed on his chest and then he readily and quite gladly blacked out.

The first time he actually saw his daughter, he could take in all the finer details. The tuft of blonde hair on top of her head, the almost invisible eyebrows, almost unfairly cure button nose, pouty mouth… It was probably way too soon to be able to tell who she took after appearance-wise and in which aspect of it, but he didn’t mind any of that because none of it really mattered. Because while she was frighteningly small, her healthy set of lungs served as a reliable reminder that she'll be just fine. She was an Allerdyce all right.

Parenting soon proved to be the bane of sanity.As loath to admit it as he was, way too often he found himself not knowing where his head was. He'd love to be that "I've got all this sh-stuff already figured out and well in hands while Zen about it" kind of parent, but in his case, the truth was somewhere completely else. Entirely. He wasn't talking the other side of the globe. No. He was talking Neptune.There was not enough sleep, often times not even the bare minimum, Eli seemed to grow an inch every day ("You're overreacting; it's only every month."), have shouting monologues of a thoroughly disappointed royal and man, if he's never gonna see a diaper ever again after he's done raising his tiny monster, it'll be too early.But then she'd smile.And vomit all over him.Or they'd be both lying belly down on the floor – she with her head curiously up, him having his own simply propped up on his forearms; just watching each other.Or making faces.She'd fix his hair with a daring, revolutionary fruit puree styling...substance – "Straight From My Snack-spread To Your Hair" brand.He would slip on another glob of puree that was mistakenly (or maliciously since genes) disposed onto the floor.And she would give a gurgle of laughter.And he would hold her close.He wouldn't give it up for anything.

Mystique took to the presence of a child in their ragtag household surprisingly well. Considering that there was an almost permanently crying child (either in a good way or a bad way) in the flat, Mystique's cool honestly wasn't only awe-inspiring – it was downright foreboding. And how right he was.She swore that the slaughter that followed the second he told her he wouldn't be averse to picking up where they left off with his training, wasn't influenced by any of the inadvertent mayhem caused by raising a child, but he was no fool. She was exacting her revenge. And as much as he needed to get back in shape (seriously, how easy would X-men have it now), his body was screaming at him that this regime's impossible by the end of the first week.You'd think that she'd give him at least the courtesy of quick death. He was under no illusion that she couldn't end him (and also his suffering) the very first day. But no, she was taking her sweet time, making it. Painfully. Slow. He felt like dying – except ever reaching the positive after-effect of it.Then his tempered mind kicked in again, addressing his whole system to work through the worst of it, to get back on his feet. Fitness might be a term which his body was yet to achieve, but now, he had his head back in the game. It oughed to get easier.It didn't. Whether it was Mystique personally serving his ass to him at hand-to-hand ("Here?" "You can't expect that each time you fight somebody, there'll be an arena handy.") or a struggle at reaching allotted amount of reps given, which equaled him having to start from the scratch again. At least it felt that way. Not even his ability seemed to be on par with what, according to Mystique, it should be. Which, whether it was true or not didn't matter, because it was Mystique. Meaning you just do it anyway if you know what's best for you.He wasn't one to listen to just anyone, but if there was one person who wouldn't bullshit him and make sure he'll stand against the X-men at full strength the next time their paths cross? It was her. It was a new kind of motivation for him, especially with Eli now around, too. That motivation came handy since his condition before the little fire was born basically vetoed any kind of serious sparring, so nowadays, he had to work twice as hard to "catch up".

Eli was a tiny but overly energetic bundle of joy and he often needed to tire her out somehow. Getting her curious and catching her attention on something solid (so to say) was killing two birds with one stone since without any distraction, she made her discontent very clear. That's why he came up with sort of a game for his daughter in the first place.As he was sitting right infront of Eli, he called the flame from a nearby candle (what, she liked them) into his hand and when she grabbed for it, he made the flame skip over onto his other palm, hidden behind his back, while she wondered where did the little flame go.He switched his hands several times like that, but he made sure to quit it well before the game could stop being fun and wondrous to her; he didn't do it to make her fussy after all. So usually, he let her touch the flame before dousing it with a softly murmured promise of “later”.Funny observation? Watching him getting his butt kicked obviously amused her enough, too, judging by the fact that most of those times, she was on her best behavior. What can he say. Daughter of her father, with every passing day more and more. She seemed to be entranced by fire the most, still, though.
Me and you both, tot.
He had come to leaving one small flame close to her when she was falling asleep as well. In fact, learning how to do that (as in create a flame that wouldn't spread while staying lit, untended until he decided otherwise) was probably the smartest and most useful trick he ever learned with the element.High enough time to figure at least part of this out.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

His time with his daughter ran out sooner than it had any right to. Not that life cared.The "coincidental" run-in with Erik Lehnsherr – or was it Magneto again? – outside a supermarket of all places was anything but. He had to have his powers back. How else would the man know where to find him? Callisto was the only answer to how the man could sniff him out so easily and Callisto hated humans; she wouldn't associate with them no matter who they were before. Why, a perfect fit for each other, those two.No, Erik Lehnsherr was Magneto again. No matter how he managed to get his ability back, this man was one with his powers again.And he was screwed. Which was only proven with Magneto's badly disguised recruitment through "only paying visits to my old acquaintances" before dropping the bomb."I came to offer you the opportunity to join the Brotherhood again. I must say, it wasn't easy to find you, but I'm willing to spare resources on valuable allies."
And merciless power on eventual enemies as well for sure.
You don't say No to Magneto. Not in his situation."But you must forgive my manners. How's your child?"
Shit.
He was aware of this meeting being a possibility, something that could – and most probably would – happen sooner or later and all that came with it, but the question still froze the blood in his veins. Which would be an admirable achievement if you applied a bit of humor. Any other time, that is. Any other time, fuck!He took a shaky, deep breath, forcing himself not to shoot off his answer."It was stillborn."
Did he fool him? How much convincing could he truly be? Did it work?
The moment that followed was charged with tension.Magneto's brows furrowed."I'm sorry to hear that." And he actually sounded it. Didn't change the fact that it was most certainly for a different reason than a loss of any regular child. But as long as his lie held, he didn't mind that detail one bit. Keeping Eli safe, that was what mattered.            He gave a curt nod in reply.Magneto's assessing look following that was a pure trademark thing. Quite a contrast to his eventually chosen approach. Cutting to the chase wasn't one of Magneto's characteristic traits, but he was apparently willing to skip all his smooth-talk if deemed more suitable – more useful. Maybe he thought he's got nothing to lose now. Easier to reel in. Therefore…"What do you say? Are you with us, Pyro?"

He would be surprised that the man bothered to find him if it wasn't for Eli. Who was officially dead now – and he'll keep it that way for as long as possible. 'Never' sounded like a great idea, but he wasn't so ignorant as to think he could pull that off. No, he'll be forced to reveal the truth; or the bubble of his lie will pop of its own. One way or another, one day… a month from now, a year? Ten? But then again, maybe by then they’ll be someplace it won't matter. Someplace nobody finds them. Someplace nobody would care.
Building castles in the air again, Allerdyce? Might do something for it first.
Like appropriating that occluding device Mystique had, grab his daughter and make a run for it (what; she had no use for it anyway). Except he had no idea how it looked like, which would make the stealing a bit hard.Mystique wouldn't stop fighting for mutants' cause either. Ever. That much was plain. Favoring to stay right in the midst of it, in the eye of the storm, mutant or not. Which ruled out the second option. Asking her to leave that for a promise of a life of a recluse somewhere in the woods? Yeah, out before it could even get in.And the most straightforward approach? They did have a history – if brief – but certainly not one that would afford him any right to ask for something so priceless. So, yeah, he didn't think so. Especially now. Because Magneto getting back his powers brought about one more unknown.Looking at Mystique, currently sitting on the couch, bent over her legs that were propped on the coffee table and painting her nails, he wondered if she might turn back, too.She was awaiting that, hoping for it; he could tell. That hope was making her twitchy without actually twitching; vibrating out of her skin. At first, he couldn't pinpoint what exactly was happening, where the slight tension in the air came from. It wasn't like the signs were obvious. In fact, they were imperceptible – something you would overlook easily. He noticed them only because he was an associate of hers for some time now, therefore he knew for a fact that every, no matter how insignificant move she made had a purpose and the air around her, one riddled with tension – any shift in it had its meaning, too.Ever since he told her about his encounter with Magneto and what was said ("I didn't know there's cure." "There isn't."), she was restless. Not out of worry, he soon realized, no. She was alert, prepared and ready – to welcome her mutation back into her body. She was brimming with nervous energy, but so far, there was no indication of that happening anytime soon. And John was getting worried for more reasons than one now.Look, just because he had no scruples about potentially robbing her didn't automatically mean he didn't give a fuck.Anyway, he'll have to join Magneto soon. In a week's time actually. Saying that now sounded like such a short time for… everything. For spending those seven days with Eli. One hundred and sixty-eight hours for securing safety for her. Even if he had more time, though, there wouldn't be more options than the one he came up with. He wasn't a fan of that choice. And what a "choice" it was.However, Mystique was still a human, therefore not really fit for taking care of his little girl even in case she'd agree (doubtful). Kids had accidents and it was normal. Mutant kids had accidents, too, and it was normal as well. It just needed that extra safeguard – at least in the case of a child with an affinity to a rather violent element. Personal experience. He couldn't very well ask the woman to go to the lion's den with Eli either, though.His eyes traveled over to Al's tiny form lying bundled on his bed, fast asleep. That still didn't change an ounce about the fact, that Eli had to go there. Would go there. Alone.Mystique was just finishing her pedicure when his mouth finally opened:"She has to-""I know." Her tone was harsh, almost as if saying "Don't make an idiot out of me". Nothing unusual.He nodded silently, keeping at it for a bit longer. Just leaning on the wall, hands going for his pockets."I'll be joining Magneto soon." He said that just because he had nothing else to fill the silence in, really. Mystique knew about this part, too, no doubt after all."He's only using you." She started putting shit she didn't need anymore back into her toiletry bag without any order, not even glancing his way to throw the remark at him properly."I know." But did the knowledge of being just a pawn even matter? Magneto or Charles Xavier… This was all just a chess game to them; that's what this reminded him of at least. He says those two should've fucked it out, get rid of the tension, make love not war. It was even fitting for their golden era and Mystique could've gotten her turn in there, too.Call it a sign or whatever you want to believe in, they should've just done that. Hell, they should get their smart asses back in time (so many mutations and no time turner? – unlikely), get their heads out of said asses and stop dragging everyone down the freaking rabbit hole, would they be so kind. Of course not."Do you truly believe that it's the best way to protect her?" The blue eyes were startingly piercing with the intensity of past yellow, but without any real edge to it. Instead, they seemed simply curious."How else could I do it better?""Join the X-men?"A lopsided smirk was his answer.It was a running joke amongst them. When it came to the Team Awesome, neither of them had any inclination or desire to belong amongst the superheroes; no feeling of regret about a ruined opportunity to become one. Because it was nothing even remotely close to what and who they were. But that was enough of that.
I need to get Eli to safety before I leave.
"I was thinking about paying a visit to Charles Xavier."Did she read his mind?"You hate it there." Mystique never told him. She did mention the mansion once or twice in that snarl of hers, however. Mystique didn't want to go back to the mansion – of that, he was damn sure and really, he was far from one to hold it against her or try to make her reconsider."Might make it at least a bit interesting." Dry amusement right there with no apprehension whatsoever. At least that's what she projected, what she let him see."They tried to get you not that long ago." Was that really such a great idea, her returning to that place?"That too." That glee of hers looked dangerous. For who he wasn't sure yet, but dangerous, nonetheless."You don't have to." He wanted her to. He wanted someone with Eli who he could trust more than to anybody else. X-men were "the side of light", but what happens when people, misled or manipulated most of their lifespan snap when triggered? Yeah, shit hits the fan, that's what.Xavier's Elitist Mansion was very far from what he wanted for Eli. Safety with no bullshit ideology sucking you in? You'd think that wasn't so much to ask for. But realistically speaking, it was the only passable and possible option. She might not be treasured there, but she'll be kept safe. X-men's politic views might still be laughably idealistic, but one thing was for sure – they protected innocent.As long as Magneto won't find out about her, it'll be fine. She didn't mean anything to the X-men, she'll be well-hidden in the shadows of unimportance. Just a kid. A kid with early-manifested mutation, but just one of many kids there nonetheless.Meeting Mystique's still strange, unnaturally blue eyes, he realized there was no real discussion to be had about it at all, of which her next words spoke even clearer:"Nobody could've made me if I didn't want to myself."Presented that way, there was no argumenting that.

Standing by the gates of Xavier's estate, hidden in the shadows of the trees nearby, the place should probably bring up all sorts of memories, but he was way too preoccupied by holding onto his daughter with desperation that only grew with each passing second.Still sane enough to recognize this as the best option available; that didn't change the fact that every instinct inside him told him to run. Run and hide someplace where nobody would find them. He wasn't sure if he'll be able to let go of her anymore either."Think they'll take her in? I mean, will they really keep her? Maybe she's too small-" They went over this quite a few times already before they even left their current flat. Honestly, he was surprised she didn't put a wrench to a good use against his skull already. Maybe that would stop him."They'll take her in."Mystique was strangely agreeable.
Sure. Nothing to worry about.
"Pyro."
She was so tiny. She should stay with him!
"Yeah."He still didn't let go. He couldn’t make himself pass her over. He should. He knew he should."John."Mystique never called him by his human name.Somehow, quite miraculously, his fingers started moving, slowly releasing their grip on Eli while at the same time, his mind continued to protest, making unrealistic claims.He could keep her safe. He'd find a way.
You already did that, remember? This is it. You finding that way.
Eli was sound asleep. And just watching her, all of a sudden, he felt an all-consuming need to see her eyes for the last time before he leaves… He couldn't wake her up, though. She was always grumpy when somebody did that, he reminded himself with painful warmth filling him.Swallowing down the lump in his throat, he took a deep breath. Let Mystique take the most precious thing away from him. One of his hands appeared to be unable to separate from the blanket Eli was swaddled in and when urged, it only slid higher, to touch Eli's cheek.He shouldn't be this weak. No – he oughed to be stronger, damn it.
I'll come back for you.
"I'll be back for her."Mystique humored him, probably only out of pity."Make sure you will."
I will.
He kissed Eli on her forehead before quickly turning around and leaving without a single glance back while the hole in his chest was growing wider and deeper with each step leading him away.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Rogue was supposed to be the answer. She was perfect. Sure, a runaway, but considering it seemed to be a running theme for him, the fact held no weight. Rogue wasn’t like the other girls either – well behaved, yes, but also someone who was decisive and rebellious with a self-sufficient streak, too. Soft, but never hesitant when she made up her mind about something; instead, firm and sure in the way he acted.She wasn’t a typical girl. Not that she was a tomboy – far from it. Her clothing style was enticing more than enough without resorting to a plunging neckline that would show her cleavage. She certainly held enough feminine vibe to make heads turn when she entered the room. But more than that, the said heads turned because of her aura of mysterious and since she kept mostly to herself alright, the trend continued without a hitch, too.For one, he was lucky that she not only noticed him, but also agreed to date him despite her fear of hurting anyone she touched. There was also the indisputable detail of managing to snatch her right under Wolverine’s nose that could not be ignored. With Rogue being so very obviously smitten with the man, it had to be some heavy luck at work, too. He was willing to ignore any of that, though, as long as she stayed with him – that happy he was. Or at least he thought so.Her support when he finally told his parents about being mutant, they both trying to work around the whole no-touching business… They had something wonderful going on – before it all burned in ashes as fast as phoenix dying but instead of being reborn, the thing just froze over and never got back warm again.He thought they had a good handle on the no-touching, that they had it under control. They’ve been working on it and around it at least. Sure, there were some issues, but it wasn’t like they were in a rush. The next thing he knew, Rogue was gone and when she got back, there was only half of her, her not being a mutant anymore. Add in all the deaths that happened in the meanwhile and the rollercoaster that those put them all through and you had a pretty standard, yet hardcore teenage drama on your hands. None of them handled it well. The changes, feelings brought about by that, new responsibilities…It was like the Alkali lake released a flood of bad, although they managed to escape the real one. Just the deaths alone; he had a hard time accepting them. All of them. It came as a sort of an avalanche. First, it was Dr. Grey. Scott died not long after which hit him especially hard since Cyclops had always been a role-model to him on top of being close to an older brother to him; someone you wanted and hoped to make proud of you and be like them at the same time.The reason why he "latched" onto the guy so much might have something to do with him knowing he wouldn't receive any sort of acceptance of his mutant self from his parents, but he got that and much more from Scott almost immediately after arriving at the mansion. The man offered him a friendly smile and support he had been desperately craving – that support he could only dream of at home.All adults at the Mansion were fairly busy – either with the X-men business or with classes they taught, but that understanding and acceptance, that never disappeared, and Bobby never forgot who he received it from the most either.He still visited the man’s grave to take strength from the source he always had been getting it from even if now it was only superficial and kind of empty, looking at it from rational point of view, since the body was never really found.Dr. Grey returning only took a turn to go downhill soon after when she turned into a 'Phoenix', killing the Professor before dying herself, killed by Wolverine in return. He thought Pyro dead by then, too, what with all those people around them on Alcatraz disintegrating and then no word whatsoever about the fire-wielding mutant, and it was just too much. Too much of losing. Too many people he cared about dead. They might have won the battle on Alcatraz, avert an all-out war between the mutants and humankind, but at what cost.Throughout it all he felt fairly alone while trying to help others to cope. What a joke. Well, it kept him busy at least and it helped him a bit, too, in the end. But it didn’t feel that way at all when they got back from there. No. All of that just fell onto him like a collapsed brick wall, finished off with a generous layer of concrete. It was suffocating. Dark. With no source of light or hope to draw another breath from. And he just needed help with coping. He needed the support he was supposed to generate and give himself.That was the time when Kitty truly stepped in. Because as much as Rogue tried to help, she wasn't one of them anymore. She couldn't understand the feeling of guilt eating him up alive, because he was supposed to stop this. Any of this. He had the powers, after all. He could have. She didn't have them anymore, though, so she couldn't understand where he was coming from; not really. So, he spent more and more time with Kitty instead of with Rogue.They talked. They talked a lot and it slowly began to help. Meanwhile, his relationship with Rogue deteriorated at about the same pace. Partly thanks to his absence in terms of being a proper boyfriend, possibly – or undoubtedly – even thanks to all that time spent with another girl, although they truly merely talked and at most leaned onto each other when things turned gloomy again.His breakup with Rogue came as no surprise to anyone and him hooking up with Kitty later on didn’t probably either. It didn’t work out quite that well either, however, so in the end, they’ve decided to keep to their friendship instead and all luckily worked itself out in the end, at least relationship-wise.Kitty was the first person he told he was gay to as well. Ever since they stopped dating, their talking sessions took turn for any and all inconsequential topic when need be, jumping onto anything at all instead of being skipped and the time spend with some other activity, something that would surely be more productive. It became sort of a routine that surprisingly brought positive results to both of them.They began to relax more again, Kitty especially after the Professor got back and him… Well, when he returned from the mission devoted to capturing now human Mystique, let’s say they had a new topic to talk about. But while he “waxed poetic” about the mad dash to capture the ex-mutant, all his mind was capable of thinking was that John was alive – which was a chapter all of its own and better left alone unless he wanted to fall down the rabbit hole. The important part was, things were getting back to normal – something reminiscenting normal at least now. And he could finally breathe a bit again.So there they were, him just going down the stairs with Kitty by his side, aiming for the main doors since they both had a craving for some unhealthy snack from a bistro in town when the said door opened on their own accordIn stormed… well, Storm, almost passing by in a blur before, not long after, a strange raven-haired woman entered. Emerging from behind the door fully, he immediately noticed she was carrying a baby in her arms, but he didn’t catch much else since she, too, passed them by quite swiftly, somehow fluidly, if not in any hurried manner, and right behind her was the Professor, presumably whisking their visitor off to his office.Then he nearly stumbled on empty air where he expected a step to be, but he hardly noticed any of that because he just realized he recognizes the woman.Mystique.It was Mystique. Here. With a baby.He almost didn’t connect the necessary dots since the new look, if stunning, was quite unremarkable coloring-wise, especially next to the previous version. It resulted in somewhat of a gray mouse vibe, someone utterly forgettable. Add in the baby and it throws quite a wrench at figuring out you’re faced with the infamous ex-shapeshifter.He might have been on a mission to capture her, but she didn’t make any sort of impression on him other than the fact that she wore extra sharp heels either. Her new “unremarkable” look would easily earn her a clean slate if she didn’t have an apparent tendency to stick her nose into what she’d been used to stick it in still.Finishing his trip down the stairs safely, all he wanted to do was to go and spy out what she had to say to the Professor and what was it about the baby, his and Kitty’s trip to the town completely forgotten now.Until he looked around to check for anyone who might be watching him and encountered a trusting pair of brown eyes which were similarly set alight now like his must’ve been. She was ready to find out what this was about, too.They were way past the age of spying on “their elders”, or at least attempting it since it’s been long found out that it’s hard to spy on most of the X-men for obvious reasons. They shouldn’t do it. It’s not like the Professor wouldn’t tell them if it was something important; he always did.Her raised eyebrow asked a clear question before she simply grabbed his arm, sneaking out with him through the main doors. After all, this mission demanded an untraditional approach, one that would be hard to predict. Not to mention that Kitty had been found out several times already eavesdropping while using her ability.Off to locate the window of the Professor’s office they were.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

They knew exactly where to look for, but still, it took them a while to get there. Keeping silent the whole way over, or at least as silent as it could get, they appeared to stay unnoticed by anyone so far. When they were approaching their destination, Kitty gave a silent sign to ‘stop’, military style, when the window entered their field of vision. Slinking to the wall in question the window was mounted on, she hugged it before becoming one with the thing the very next second. He had no idea if she in fact used her ability to be completely literal about it or if she was just that good at blending in with her surroundings, but he’d put his money on the latter, since the former was the reason why they took such a detour and went the whole way around in the first place.The window was luckily halfway open and although he could hear some voices, they were nearly indistinguishable (apart from the fact that one was male and the other female) and the exact words were impossible to catch altogether from where he was standing. As if on cue, Kitty signaled to him to crouch even lower and follow to where she was. And while he still couldn’t believe what they were actually doing, he drew closer all the same.“And what about the child?” He heard Professor ask as clear as day just then.“She’s going to be a part of the deal, too.” Professor and Mystique were already half-way into the conversation; that much he could gather.“So, you’re going to share with us what you’ve found out in exchange for…?”“For sharing any and all information you manage to get with help of the one’s I’m going to pass over to you and our safety. Mine and hers. Namely, immunity and the right to stay until I choose otherwise.” The low-pitched, smooth-as-steel voice was decisive, and it cut straight to the point with no detours whatsoever.“How can I know the information will be worth it? You’re a fugitive that government searches all over for, after all. Your presence would put my students in great danger. I can’t let you stay indefinitely.” Was the Professor really seriously considering it? What was it that he though Mystique might have been able to get her hands on at the Trusk Industries? How much was it worth? It was one thing to send a couple of X-men to capture her in order to question her, it was a whole another deal what was happening now.“You don’t, you know it’s not my presence that’s the real problem and I’m only asking for a year tops. Quite a lot less than your retro animal project.” What? Who? And was she serious to come here to look for a deal with them not really offering anything? What he meant was, there was no guarantee that she really knew anything useful, so far, not even one detail was offered up as a sample, as a proof to barter with. That was one hell of confidence. And calm to go with an insult at the same time.The Professor didn’t take the bait.“Who exactly is she?” Neither he, nor Kitty dared to look over the edge of the sill out of fear of being spotted; it was more than risky enough that they were even here, considering the ability of the seasoned mutant involved. Thanks to that, they had no way of knowing what sort of expression either of the two room occupants currently sported, but it was safe to say they had a pretty good idea, since the voice tones sounding through the air worked quite well as a mirror.“Not your business.” It was an invisible fight of wills right there. Mystique was obviously determined not to give up any information, and Professor? Well, he seemed to be his patient self; on a crusade that could take ages but would yield some fruits in the end. Persistence in its finest.“It is mine, however, if I am to shelter and protect her, Raven.” He always wondered what could be such a bottomless source of calm and how one could find that level of inner tranquility. He was probably way too instinctive to achieve it anyway, though, so it was ages ago that he decided he’ll rather go along what he was born and gifted with, hoping that hard work and winging the rest of it would be enough.“It’s Mystique.” The placidity of the correction would be a serious rival to the one of the Professor, but clearly, the ‘Raven’ nickname didn’t please the woman.“I know you.”“It’s Mystique.” Brusque reaction for something so trivial and yet... Sharing a look with Kitty, it was clear she had no idea what this was about either. He could liken it only to John pushing somebody’s buttons – real well, but at the same time, it was somehow something else, too. But that’s not what they were here for and apparently neither the Professor, because with the next question, it was evident, he let that one go in favor of getting back to the bone of the matter at hand:“Who is she?” While still composed and collected, Charles Xavier was relentless. Mystique must’ve realized that she’s really not getting out of this one, because her answer took some time before resounding through the room.“She’s John Allerdyce’s sister.”
What?!
He exchanged a furtive look with Kitty, whose eyes spoke exactly the same. Shock stared right at him and they were probably lucky that this wasn’t any of those comics where an ill-timed gasp of surprise revealed one’s location. They were actually able to hold any sort of audible reaction in and then, the Professor was luckily speaking again.“I wasn’t aware of any such addition to the family.”Kitty continuing in their silent eye conversation presumably wanted to know if he had any idea. Shaking his head in answer, because he honestly didn’t have a clue since all John ever told him was very little and it mentioned only the time before he fled from there, he latched onto the next words spoken, hungry for more information:“Her parents kept it hush hush since she turned out to be a mutant, too. An early bloomer.”“The mutant gene is passed on by males, not females.” That one, he knew what it was about. John’s father was, indeed, out of the picture. He wasn’t sure to what extent, whether he was dead or just left, but he certainly wasn’t in the picture when John’s mother decided to move them to America. Some kind of father-esque figure was in the household later on, though – not sure if stepfather by law, but there was someone, although again, John never given any specifics. It was all more of a feeling, really. But there definitely must’ve been someone now since, hey, a baby.“Feel free to congratulate Mrs. Allerdyce for great picks, then.” The more he listened to the dialogue, straining his ears for any signs of anything more than he usually did, the more he realized how alike the woman and the Professor were, yet completely different. While, in the beginning, he saw them only for their differences, now he could pinpoint the similarities, too.They both tempered their attitude with generous amounts of selfcontrol, but while Professor was predictably coolheaded by nature, Mystique was someone temperamental. Both were only employing methods – whichever those were – of keeping their tempers (or telepathy in Professor’s case) in check, but in her case, it was fairly harder, since the rudiments were more on an aggressive side, Allowing for her sarcastic steak to survive even in hostile territory of being “zen”.Or maybe that was just all out wrong assumption – he was known to made those, too.“How did she end up with you then?” He – and by extension Kitty probably, too – could hear the characteristic sound of the wheelchair moving from the spot – not closer to the window but not further away either.“The mother contacted Pyro, basically shoving her his way.”“Curious,” The professor mused, picking his next words without a rush. “Getting back in contact with her after so many years?” He was clearly speaking about John and yeah, coming to think of that, it was pretty weird. John usually avoided any talk about his parents if he could help it and he never sounded fond when he couldn’t.“I agreed to share information about Trusk Industries.” Exclusively, her tone added to the sentence.“One might think you’re hiding something.” It was tough drawing a full picture without visual. Without it, all the conversation was were even, self-possessed tones next to sharp and cold ones. There was no body language to read which he was coming to realize, he relied on a lot, to the point of being dependant on it. Bodies revealed volumes and right now, he was missing any of those give-away signs badly.“I am hiding a lot. Every information can be used, be valuable to someone.”“I’d like to know.” He could almost taste in the atmosphere flowing out of the room through that single window that the Professor was pushing against something.“No.” Something unshakable.“Even if our deal would fall through because of that?”Unbreakable, too, it seemed, he thought as tense silence fell over the room for quite some time before-“Would you mind joining us, Bobby?”
Oh fuck.
He probably had a deer caught in headlights kind of look on his face, because he definitely didn’t expect this continuation of the conversation. How? Well… dumb question, of course.Professor clearly knew he was there. The tone he used to ask the question… that was pure knowledge. The only saving grace was, the voice stayed its polite self, but he wasn’t as naïve as to thin that would absolve him of ramifications. There will be consequences. “Sure. Uh, right away,” he answered, half mumbling, too, because he still felt kind of bummed, yet he couldn’t risk giving a tardy response, otherwise the Professor might feel the need to check whether he was here alone. There was no need for more people under the bus.He waved his hand blandly for there to appear an icy staircase leading to the office’s window. He truly felt like a little kid caught after breaking the neighbor’s window and now, he felt silly for even doing this, succumbing to his curiosity that he usually had a good hold of. And now he was a disappointment.Arriving at the top of the stairs, he jumped the rest of the way down off the windowsill into the office, before the Professor added fluidly:“And you, too, Miss Pryde. Please.”Goddammit.He managed to resist closing his eyes in defeat or even sighing. Instead, he offered Kitty a hand to grab onto when mounting the stairs, too. It would be way too disrespectful to barge in through the walls. Well, more that their found-out spying already was.She accepted it with a grateful if awkwardly apologetic smile, which was understandable since not everyone had a great affinity or relationship with slippery surfaces and considering she probably felt this was her fault. That was ridiculous since the initial, actual first step of their prying routine might have been her work, but the idea certainly wasn’t. That is, the thought occurred to them both, she only acted faster on it. But it didn’t really matter now.Before too long, she stood at his side by the window, inside the room with the Professor and Mystique opposite to them. The Professor behind his table and Mystique standing infront of it, completely ignoring the chairs which must’ve been offered to her prior to their arrival, since Charles Xavier was next to his ability also known for his manners.“Bobby, would you and Miss Pryde mind carrying young miss Allerdyce to the infirmary for a general checkup? I believe me and my honorary guest have a deal bit more to talk through.“S-sure. Of course.” Piped Kitty in turn.John really had a sister. He still couldn’t quite get over the revelation, although he heard the news quite a bit ago. But then, the shock was largely mitigated by their stealth routine and hoping for nicking even more information."I think not.” That was Mystique, stating her clear disagreement with such course of action. “Not before I have your word. Do we have a deal?”The Professor inclined his head a bit, meeting Mystique’s eyes before giving his answer:“I believe we do, yes. Now, if you’d allow…?” It was a cue for Mystique, easy to read, to pass the bundle over and if he was to be honest, he fully expected Kitty to readily go over and handle their part of the procedure. Girls tended to be crazy about getting to do that, holding and cooing at a baby, right? It wasn’t some kind of a misogynistic, gender-role prude in him speaking, they just loved to do it, right? At least he operated under that honest belief.But Kitty stayed where she stood, and although they were the identical distance away from Mystique, it still felt like she was way back behind him than he was at that moment. Checking what was up, he saw her utterly frozen in place, eyes as wide as saucers for whatever reason, so he just mentally shrugged his shoulders and made the necessary steps forward himself.He reached with his arms over, to take the baby wrapped in evidently soft, pastel green blanket from her only for the baby to escape those limbs as Mystique took a step back.“Make sure she stays unharmed.”“We’re not monsters.” It wasn’t his intention to sound self-righteous and luckily, his voice chords did listen to what he actually wanted to convey, instead of giving that holier-than-thou vibe. He was quite proud of how it came out, but Mystique quashed that feeling of accomplishment in one second flat.“Everyone says that before turning into one.”And he didn’t know why it was so important to him right here right then; after all, what did her opinion matter, but he was determined to prove her wrong about that all the same.“She stays unharmed. I give you my word… Mystique.” So yeah, maybe he was still a bit bitter about her heels. It certainly wasn’t in any way an attempt to ingratiate himself to the woman, but at the same time, in a strange sense and even stranger way, he hoped she’d take his words more seriously if he did the same.She was one of the bad guys, but in the past months, he developed a high weakness sense of not condemning some of them just for that difference alone. And anyway, they were talking about a baby here. It was the surest, easiest thing he could promise to the “enemy” side.“You did ask me to take care of her,” Professor added his own bit.And whether it was Professor or his own words, some of it must’ve truly work, because Mystique actually did pass him the baby over a bit later.Mystique was reluctant to do that, but that could have many explanations, her having many reasons for that. Like not trusting a guy enough not to drop the bundle. But instead of pondering about many more, he took over from her as soon as she gave him the space. When he was younger, he did some babysitting and surprisingly, his limbs remembered the right positioning quite quickly.Stealing a glance down at the almost frighteningly small and sound asleep girl, he recognized first few Allerdyce trademarks. At least he presumed they were family trademarks since they sure as hell were a carbon copy of John’s own looks. She had her brother’s hair and he’d bet that mouth must definitely be inherited from their mother because it was identical to John’s; there was no way of it being otherwise.It felt unexpectedly good to have these familiar features so close to him, to see them again.“I’ll come by to get her in a bit.”Right. Fuck.He mentally shook off the fog that surrounded him for a moment and catching him off guard before meeting the eyes of the ex-mutant before him.He gave a mere nod in silent acknowledgement before looking Professor’s way and after getting an almost imperceptible nod from him in turn, he joined Kitty on her way to the door.“Oh!” They were almost out the door when he remembered, “And her name?”“It’s Elemental.” At what must have been their pinched, disbelieving looks, she conceded another bit of information, clearly deemed as unimportant enough and not considered any sort of a game-changer, utterly emotionless: “Erik named her.”Sure. Whatever. That guy was weird and radical enough to do that.“If you’ll excuse us,” The Professor interrupted any further conversation and he clearly recognized it for their cue to leave.
You, Miss Pryde and I will talk later.
And just like that, he got briefly reminded that there’s going to be a discussion of their trespassing of another’s privacy. Hoping that it would be otherwise was pointless to begin with since the Professor had too much of a great memory for that to happen. However, for now, all of them had things to do, sort through and deal with.Looking up from the small, feather-light bundle in his arms, he gave a short nod of his own before leaving the room with Kitty having his back as usual.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When Kitty had started to wonder which infirmary should they try first in search of professor McCoy, the decision was easy. He knew for a fact that Dr. McCoy would be currently in the X-men infirmary instead of the regular one on the grand floor for students, because he heard him mentioning having to run some tests “downstairs” earlier in the day, so underground it was.It wasn’t exactly a rushed tempo that they decided to employ, but it wasn’t a slow one either. Somehow, getting caught by a crowd of teenagers just exiting their classes, carrying a baby wasn’t something either of them seemed willing to experience. For several reasons. In his case it was because he could imagine what hell would rise when others found out this is John’s – the traitor’s – sister. And the question about who she is would come.It wasn’t that he thought they would actually hurt her – but they probably wouldn’t be much nice either. In these few minutes it took them to leave the office and get well on their way, he became strangely protective of the small bundle to allow that. Because it wasn’t her fault. None of it. Also, it, this, reminded him a bit of him and Ronny when they were little; him being the older, protective brother, making sure nothing would happen to his baby bro, too. Guess he had the instinct ingrained in him since day one.As for Kitty, whatever her reason was, she seemed to be on the same boat with him in regard to any witnesses. Therefore, the best course of action was to leg it to the elevator as fast as possible and he didn’t have a single doubt that if the rooms preceding it weren’t classrooms, she’d gladly drag them through the walls as well, just to get there even faster. As it was, they were walking through the empty halls, hearing the faint, muted conversations happening behind the walls, inside the classrooms they passed by. “Doesn’t seem like an Allerdyce, huh? I mean, she’s quiet.” Halfway to the elevator, Kitty finally spoke, and he was honestly surprised it didn’t happen sooner. He noticed her furtive and repeated glances, her looking over, obviously curious about the small traveler he was holding and still, up to that point, she didn’t say anything. Her words now struck him as an odd thing to say, though.“She’s sleeping.” Not to mention that he didn’t remember John being noisy – aside from that lighter of his. Sure, opinionated, not afraid to say what he thought; that was him. But even then, not all of such cases made it outside their room. John didn’t bother saying a single word when he knew it won’t change anything. When he instigated some kind of conflict – that was loud, but not necessarily John himself. He, in fact, stayed mostly silent, contrary to what seemed to be the popular notion, which was mainly the work of the others simply not getting to know the real John. Not that many people liked him because he was constantly attempting to piss them all off – and succeeding. Man, did the guy know their buttons. So, okay, Kitty saying John was a handful or whatever the comment was supposed to mean exactly now? Completely understandable, when one thinks about it. John was just… complicated.And he should really stop thinking about him. But it was kind of hard to do that when he’s holding the guy’s sibling. It was exactly that kind of coincidences that didn’t care about what you oughed to do or not. Like he hadn’t thought about him enough already…The following sigh that escaped his lips was entirely unintentional.“What?” And of course that Kitty would notice and pry. She was way too curious to let something be.-To unhook her claws, a familiar voice remarked.A virtue of hers, as she loved to retort whenever someone pointed it out outright or teased her about it.“Nothing. Just thinking.”“About?” Yeah. Hoping that that answer would absolve him of having to answer her was a silly notion. For how much he appreciated and even genuinely enjoyed their conversations in the past, right now their history apparently came to bite him in the ass.They did talk about a lot of things and John was one of the topics as well; him leaving them to join Magneto, the face off Bobby had with him on Alcatraz. But he omitted some parts as well. Like seeing John in Washington. Or the other side of him and John. That unexpected stumbling on each other by that hospital felt like a part of that, was a part of that; part of them being more than roommates. And that capture mission not that long ago… that was definitely something he didn’t want anyone to stick their nose in. Because he lost there. Because he hoped…He shook the memory off, rather deciding to focus on the present. Looking back at her, he noticed that she was still waiting for his answer. Damn. So much for getting far from that one.“What could Magneto want with a baby?” He fired the first question that came to mind and sounded as a good enough cover.He might have had told her, sort of confide in her, that he’s gay, but that was no reason to tell her everything. He didn’t need anyone judging what was between John and him, what they’ve had. First, it was enough of a mess as it was; second, it was unnecessary and even more pointless to bring any of it up or mention it since he blew it completely, and third, it was no-one’s business anyway. As much as he enjoyed the company here and liked the people around him, he knew for a fact that anyone from here, from the Mansion would judge, intentionally or not. Kitty included.Kitty proved to be a great friend, he liked her a lot, but she simply wouldn’t understand. She would side with the general opinion on this, too. And what would that be? Most probably that all of these feelings oughed to be long gone by now, dead. But instead, they were stubbornly refusing to budge like the person they were about was known to do. He couldn’t change that. John was like fire in that aspect – all-consuming. He fought against it before and look how that worked out for him – two ruined “normal” relationship attempts and one more as a bonus on top, one that truly mattered, which he abandoned and ignored the first opportunity he got.So would he mind them knowing so much? Yes and no. In the past, he would be pretty uncomfortable with being laid bare in such way infront of them, infront of anyone and everyone, really, and that was a pretty mild way to say it considering his previous denial and fight for being something he wasn’t to begin with. But after telling Kitty, the wave of relief that hit him when she understood and accepted it in the way one did an ordinary, not-wrong thing, an enormous weight of years’ worth of hiding dropped off his chest. It made it easier to come to terms with it. All of it. And finally, the enormous pressure from before started to crack and dissipate until it disappeared altogether over time.He had no idea if others knew, but they had to at least suspect, he guessed, by now. After all, what sort of guy passes up on girls like Rogue and Kitty? Whether they put two and two together or not, everyone still behaved the same way, treated him the same, too. So if they did know, he presumed nobody really cared and honestly, he was glad and more than fine with it.That couldn’t be said about others meddling into them. That part was only his. His to keep, his to suffer through whenever remembering, his to protect. As far as others knew, he and John were just good mates, friends that ended up on opposing sides. It should stay that way.“Maybe another Conversion machine?” As luck would have it, unbeknownst to Kitty, she offered up the best diversion from that topic possible; the simplest, genuine reaction to his made-up lie was enough. Shoving remorse and previous thoughts to the very back of his mind, he gladly went along with it.“Rogue was his best shot and she’s out now. And he never tries one thing twice. It must me something else.” Kitty gave a thoughtful nod before offering another option.“She’s powerful?” A deliberately obvious glance his way at his chest level was a clear indication of who she was talking about.“Wouldn’t professor say something? Not to mention, would Mystique, human Mystique manage to get her hands on her if she was that important to Magneto?” The sentence had way too many ‘her’s in it, but he couldn’t bring himself to call a baby something like Elemental. That was just plain cold, a striking contrary to the word’s very meaning.“He might not know for sure. Maybe that’s why he’s sending us to bring her over to Dr. McCoy for the ‘checkup’,” The air quotes in her tone were easy to spot and what she was trying to relay with that as well. “And as for Mystique, she could’ve done that before she got turned into human?”Honestly, he wasn’t so sure about that. That is, if it would add up age-wise. Just by how tiny the body he was holding was, he wouldn’t be going around with such generous thoughts about her age. On the other hand, he had no idea whatsoever how to guess kids age. Well, no, kids were easy to guess and sort into age groups for him, what with the influx of them here at the mansion each year, but babies… He had no practical experience with that, with them, so really, what did he know. He had to concede – partially:“In the end, we’ll find out it wasn’t the prisoner transport guard who shot her but Magneto himself. And it’s a checkup.” Plain old regular one. Well, regular for mutants – which still equaled basically the “human” one with only a few more things to check for.Finally arriving and stopping infront of the panel that hid the elevator, Kitty promptly did the honors of activating it before they both stepped in. With a quiet swish of the sliding panel closing behind them, the small capsule with its cargo of three started to descend.“Wouldn’t he if she’d really done it? He’s Magneto.” She asked next while leaning over a bit to take a closer look at John’s sister, apparently having gathered enough courage to let her curiosity get the better of her, studying the sleeping bundle for a moment before straightening back up again.“She should have a real name.” He knew exactly what she meant. ‘Elemental’ might be admittedly pretty cool for a grown-up mutant superhero (or a supervillain, considering who named her), but for a baby, it was quite a poor choice. It sounded insubstantial and shallow, lacking any deeper meaning, rendering the name into something of no importance.He was genuinely surprised John agreed with it. Well, it’s not like he knew John was big on names or anything, but come on, who would let their sister be named ‘Elemental’? But then again, people do name their daughters ‘Ruby’ for example, too. A precious commodity, true, but still just a rock. And he got a bit off topic with this one.In his opinion, the whole thing with whether Mystique stole John’s sister from Magneto or not was a moot point altogether since it could be a false assumption as well as truth, though. He said the very thing, too.“I don’t know. I don’t know what else he’s capable of than what we’ve already seen. But back on our way to Alkali lake he and Mystique seemed as thick as thieves. He obviously trusted her and relied on her a lot. It’s hard to guess if he would truly shoot her.” Then, he couldn’t help but add: “She has a name. It’s just a clunky one.”“What about a nickname then?” The interest she showed spoke a lot in favor of the bundle he was carrying. If she had more, enough people to protect her from the potential malice of others once they are told who she is… He had to double check first, though. Find out what side she was standing on.“Warming up to her already?” Why everything reminded him of a battlefield, lately? He couldn’t even relax in the mansion; not really, not fully. The reminder of keeping constant vigilance in case something would hit, the need to check everyone was alright, making sure no serious infighting and preventing it if he could help it, kept him on his toes and way too tense for any real rest to have chance to happen.True, he always had such tendencies – to care for others, he guessed. Be it his classmates, friends or the younger kids that he was merely meeting in the halls. It was something he just… did. Hardly anything special. But this… This was a different kind of feeling; this need no assure himself everyone’s fine. Because there was no sort of tension in the years before – well, at least not like this one.The closest he could get to describing it was feeling like something’s about to happen and he had to be ready for it. He was well-aware of how ridiculous that thought was, but it wasn’t like he could just stop feeling it. He had no idea when it started either, only that it lasted at least several days already since he noticed, and still kicking strong.It wasn’t the best kind of feeling to have when at the presumably safest place he could be at, where he should be able to let his guard down. But everything became warped and twisted in the last year, even more so in the last months, so this wasn’t such a surprise. It was weird feeling it twenty-four seven even around the closest people to him still, though.“Nobody deserves to be called ‘Elemental’ at her age.” Kitty’s voice pulled him back out of the spinning thoughts that could only go downhill from there before she interrupted the joyride.He had to agree with Kitty. ‘Elemental’ was truly a heavy one to bear. Not to mention that ponderings about a name were a much better choice that drowning in the kind of thoughts he had before. He gladly switched to that, letting the strange uneasy feeling slither over to cower somewhere in the corner in the background again. A nickname, huh?
Elemental E-le-men-tal Ele…men…tal Element…al…
“Ele sounds quite nice.” Kitty added thoughtfully after a while and in time with the elevator doors sliding open again, letting them step out into the underground section of the mansion. As they begain their short journey to the infirmary, he couldn’t help but think it sounded like the name of that magazine girls here loved to stick their heads in and leave them there, too. This called for a diplomatic approach, though.“Maybe she wouldn’t want to be a princess, but a little tomboy instead. She is John’s sister,” He could go ahead and point this fact out to her without any apprehension since Kitty already knew anyway. “How about something more neutral?”“Like?” Uh-oh. He’s not touching that one. That tone spoke of danger hanging overhead.“I don’t know,” Deflect was what he needed to do right now, so he shrugged his shoulders for a good measure, too, “What about what Mystique said, though?”Kitty either didn’t notice or she simply accepted the return back to the original topic since it was much more important one. He personally was just glad it worked. Girls could be scary.“Sounded valid to me. You know, it all makes sense. She’s trying to seek safety where she can actually get it, what with Erik Lehnsherr disappearing right under the government’s nose and the word going around about Magneto being back. She’s human and he’ll definitely want a revenge on her since she was the one who leaked all the information about his hideouts and whatnot. The only piece she can barter with are the information about Trusk Industries. But…”That wasn’t all Mystique mentioned, but he guessed it was better leaving Kitty focused on the main matter alone. Pointing and directing her towards… well, anything else would be to the detriment of what he was trying to keep hidden. With Mystique here, though, the person he saw John last with, with his sister in his arms, with all the thoughts resurfacing even stronger than ever before, he felt a desperate need of someone he could talk about John to, though. Mystique clearly knew more. Even just a bit, just a hint would maybe help him find John… Did he managed to meet up with Mystique again after the chase in the city? Was he alright?
“Going soft on me, Iceman?” John spared him a glance from underneath his fringe before turning his attention back to the matter at hand.

“Is it bad?” Maybe the secret sparring session wasn’t such a great idea. Controlled environment was better, safer; they should’ve told Scott Summers, ask him if he could watch over-

“It’s just a scratch, no need to be melting. It was a good hit.”
Stop.“But?” Forcing the memory back, he continued where Kitty left off, encouraging her to finish the thought. Clearly, there was something nagging at her, a reason for her obvious hesitancy. And he needed to focus.“She could be lying, too.” Was what the petite brunette said in reply as they entered the infirmary at long last.He expected the large, burly man and his thunder of a welcoming voice the moment they stepped in, but instead, they found the room abandoned, with no telltale coat of cerulean hue in sight.Dr. McCoy wasn’t here. But taking in the work unfolded – well, more like scattered over the work benches – they both briefly examined, it was safe to presume he’s going to come back sooner or later. Looking down, checking on his passenger to find she’s still out like a light, he held high hopes that they could afford the wait. He honestly had no idea how to go about a crying baby and as far as he heard, there’s lot of crying overall when they’re involved. He’d bet that the new environment and unfamiliar faces won’t be any consolation either – more like all the more reason to ramp it up.Thankfully they weren’t in danger of that happening, not now at least, so there was that, but he was painfully aware that he got distracted by checking on her and he oughed to come up with some sort of reaction to the lying discussion sometime about now. There was no reason for them to leave their conversation unfinished after all, since they’d be merely kicking their butts here otherwise. But having spent the time on checking on the baby instead, he went with the simplest of reactions of them all, hopefully not sounding as distracted as he’d been. Waiting until Kitty took one of the two empty and therefore available chairs and leaning on a wall himself, he then went ahead and merely asked:“About?”“Anything? Everything?” She shrugged her shoulders before making a half spin on her rolling chair, clearly not knowing what else to do, bored already. She was as impatient as John used to be. Perfect, the sarcasm countered which was no better.“As if there’s not enough variables even without that option already.” His state of mind clearly showed through the words that left his mouth this time around and it was just mere coincidence that the mild exasperation and the cause of it could be interpreted entirely falsely and still sound valid.So, the question was, as for the lying, would she? Of course that Mystique would, but what exactly was it that was worth lying for if she truly did? What part of what she said would be the false part? Would she do that only to mess with them or in order to hide something? What?It must be a pretty similar list of questions running through Kitty’s head, too, because before not too long, she let out a commiserating sigh.“I guess we’ll never know, huh?”“If we are, we’ll have to wait for it.” He strained his ears to catch any sort of sound signalizing someone – preferably Dr. McCoy – is coming, but so far, no such luck.“I can wait. I just hope it won’t come biting us in the butt sooner.” Suddenly, Kitty checked her phone before jumping up, cursing:“Oh shit. This took longer than I thought. I gotta go.” He straightened up as well, mildly curious.“Plans?”“Just… Meeting up with Piotr.” She explained hesitantly and if that wasn’t clue enough, her addition was, “For training.” And that blush was for training, too, for sure. The thing was, you never have to explain further like that unless you’re trying to cover up for something.He was glad for her. On the outside he kept an ignorant look on his face, though.“Don’t let our failed stealth mission hold you up then. I’ll manage it from here,” He went over and nudged her in the direction of the sliding doors leading out of the infirmary.“Hey,” he called after her when she was almost through the door, “Would you remind him about the group movie night happening tonight? He can’t possibly spend every Thursday evening drawing stuff. He should join from time to time; guys are starting to get suspicious that he’s avoiding them. You know they’re a good bunch.”She gave him a warm smile which counted as a promise of a positive response before it even came.“Sure. See you there.”Then she left and he kept standing there, waiting for Dr. McCoy to reappear. Looking back down again, he mused aloud:“So… It’s just me and you here now, huh?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Elemental’s presence in the Mansion turned out to be an unexpected torture. She could be mostly found in Mystique’s company exclusively, therefore he didn’t press his luck by coming closer at those times, but he still knew that John’s sister was there. Here. And it wreaked havoc on his mind. Any thoughts of keeping… everything at bay perished with that as well and he began having trouble getting enough sleep, hell, falling asleep at all once again.It didn’t help matters any that he found out the little bundle damn adorable either.There was zero missions to go on to and just basic amount of training sessions with others, so except the usual duties and responsibilities that fell to him, it was mostly just him alone with his thoughts, watching as others spend their day with various hobbies while he felt genuinely hollow inside.For all it was worth, he masked it well – or at least nobody ever came over to him to ask what the hell was wrong with him, so there’s that.He still wasn’t sure what to call their youngest resident – not that anybody else was either, but they didn’t seem particularly bothered by it while he found himself trying to catch Mystique in the act of calling the baby by any name. However, she either always knew somebody’s watching or she didn’t call her nothing at all because… yeah, she didn’t call the tiny tyke anything at all. Not in his presence at least.So he took it upon himself to decide that himself. Mind you, only on the inside and not that he ever shared – not to mention forced – anybody else to go with it, but it didn’t take him long to start calling that little cherub with wispy blonde hair “Al”. He imagined, hoped, that John wouldn’t’ve minded that. He imagined, hoped, a lot of things when it came to John.

Then, one day, Al woke up and decided that the best course of action would be to scream the whole Mansion down. Just like that.“I take it back. She might be an Allerdyce after all,” Kitty noted. Of course that she was referring to her own words about Al back the very first day of her stay here. He remembered. And at times like these, he couldn’t help but feel conflicted. He didn’t like when people spoke about John that way, but at the same time, he couldn’t exactly expect anything else.Somebody might ask why was he talking to her, to them, when he didn’t agree with what was said about John. The truth, however, was that he couldn’t talk with anybody here about John or demand to speak about the blonde differently. The facts never changed. These people here were Bobby’s family – his true family; the one who stood by him, who was supportive of him. And John… John left the way he did. He fought them on the Alcatraz and he never tried to redeem himself to get back with them – and honestly, he doubted the firecracker ever wanted to do so – that he regrated what he’s done, no matter how much Bobby would want that to be true, to be different. Everything different. So much…

Al didn’t stop screaming.As much as everyone thought that it’ll pass, whatever it was, the tiny bundle just cried herself hoarse, falling into uneasy sleep before waking again and starting anew. She turned extremely fussy fast, then she started making a downright mess of each and every feeding time.At first, Dr. McCoy’s diagnosis was only a slight fever, him being nothing but optimistic about it passing fast with a little help. After all, there was nothing else wrong with her, nothing at all, just the slightly elevated body temperature, therefore the prognosis wasn’t entirely unfounded. Except the fact that nobody seemed to tell Al about that one, because things didn’t proceed accordingly. At all.Instead of the issue resolving itself like it was supposed to, she almost entirely stopped eating. Anything they put in her mouth quickly made its way out either as a result of her continuous cries or her slapping it away in a moody swipe before it even made it there. The small amount they managed to get into her wasn’t really worth mentioning overall and with no break to that routine, soon, Bobby was more than genuinely worried.What was worse, nothing seemed to be a culprit. No obvious cause. No matter how many times he asked Dr. McCoy, the answer was still the same. No matter what test the man did to find out what was wrong, everything came back with no issue showing through. For all intents and purposes, Al sported a clean bill of health. Except she obviously didn’t. And she was only getting worse and worse, barely mewling in his arms, the sound weak and sad.

Figures that once they got to head out to visit Dr. McCoy’s friend who might have had a better idea about what was going on with Al at long last, they run into Magneto. Not stumble upon him or anything. They literally seemed to run smack into his group of evil. That being said, there was no doubt in Bobby’s mind that even this altercation must’ve been somewhat carefully orchestrated by the man all the same.The Brotherhood had been making some noise for some time by then, but nothing remarkable overall so far. Bobby also had heard the rumors about Pyro being supposedly with them again, too, but it was just that – rumors, nothing confirmed. Until now, that is.His personal hang-ups aside, this was the worst timing for the Brotherhood showing up, however, because now he found himself in the middle of a genuine fight with a baby cradled to his chest with a limited amount of options for viable defense.Their group was quick to shuffle him into the very back by stepping infront of him and Al, but that hardly meant they were safe. The only saving grace here was that Al was fast asleep and that kid could sleep like a log lately which seemed to be the case this time as well. He wasn’t surprised; she screamed what sounded like her very lungs out not an hour ago before they found themselves here in this mess.There was no viable cover to dodge behind close by, so what they were currently doing was trading hits with Magneto’s posse and Bobby helplessly covering in the background. No matter how much he wanted to help, he thought it wise not to draw any attention to himself by actively joining the fight. That was until a very familiar element rushed over to lick at his boots.What the-Sharply looking up, his eyes were quick to zero in onto a familiar figure.John.Breath catching inside his throat, he was hard pressed not to- he didn’t even know. Shout. Laugh. Ask. Which, neither of those were a smart choice in the middle of a fight. But God, did he look good.Alive.His hands subconsciously twitched around Al, which luckily reminded him just what he was actually doing here, forcing his mind to get back into the game. Gathering her up even closer to his chest, he went back to shadowing Peter’s movements since he was acting as the closest protective wall infront of him and Al.He couldn’t keep his eyes off John for long, though, his gaze keeping on skipping over to him whenever there was even a slight chance.John’s face was carefully blank, absent of any expression, but his whole body screamed tension at the same time. And if Bobby could read something in his life it was John’s body. And yet, there he was, with the hem of his left pant leg catching on fire next.Quickly putting it out the sight of that charred spot caught him off guard. Well, clearly, not just the sight of it, but still, what the hell-Glancing back up, he saw John in the middle of sending a damned torrent of fire down Storm’s way before producing yet another missile, way smaller in comparison, sending it his way in such a manner that could only be called… stealth?Well, nobody seemed to notice, that was for sure.And Bobby ended up being the victim of it once again, what with him not having much of a chance to avoid it unless he wanted to expose himself even more than he already was. What made the fact all the more staggering? He merely ended up with a singed off boot strap. What gives?Then he looked back down on the strap in question, startled. It was the one on his left boot. Again. In fact, all of the received hits landed on his left.The realization was startling.Telling.And then he noticed. There truly was no place to hide to his left. None at all. However, to his right…Due to both groups trading hits and Magneto far from ever holding back, a sizable part of the left wall partially crumbled, not only offering sporadic hiding opportunity in its chunky rubble (part of it already in use by him and Kitty) but more importantly, further down, he caught a glimpse of an entrance. Where to, he wasn’t quite sure, but it had the makings of someplace that offered much more safety than his current spot. Sizing the remaining structure with critical eye, it seemed stable enough. Clearly the part that wasn’t stable or strong enough (at least from where the fight was taking place) was already torn down and only the very guts remained.He tried to catch John’s eye in hopes of getting some sort of tell from him directly, but he seemed to be ignoring him entirely, already in another spot himself and attempting to wreck havoc on the far-right side of X-men defense along with several other Brotherhood members.Shooting another glance towards the hidden spot, Bobby silently gestured to Kitty what his intent was and getting a nod of understanding in return. Done with that, he didn’t hesitate any longer before beginning his stealthy retreat. It’s not like he could help in the fight.He would rather if Kitty was the one doing the honors, what with her being able to move through walls if necessary – way better option for Al if anybody asked him – but for some reason, Kitty never truly seemed to warm up to her and Bobby… He did. For many reasons.Shaking the thoughts off to keep his mind clear, in the game and ready for anything, he could only watch as his fellow X-Men held their own in a fight while he made his way closer and closer to the safety.Wolverine, Storm and Peter held their ground on the frontline, Kitty doing her best to cover any remaining stragglers, occasionally jumping in to join with any of them to add that extra punch that only a Shadowcat could. They were doing good if not great since the talk about Magneto being back? Definitively confirmed now.Once he finally reached the entrance, he previously got a glimpse at, he let out a sigh of relief. Pulling at the loosened bits of blanket, tucking them back close and snug around Al again, he checked her temperature. It hadn’t got any better, but also no worse so far. She was also still deeply asleep. Thank god.It was a genuine miracle that neither all the ruckus around, nor his thundering heartbeat woke her up. Al had to be truly exhausted and while that was definitively something to be worried about, right now, it did them good. It was important that she wouldn’t make a noise.Making sure that nobody followed him, only then did he let his eyes explore what laid ahead of them.The entrance apparently connected to a long hallway and Bobby’s best guess was that it must be some kind of a maintenance tunnel. At first glance, it didn’t inspire much trust in him, what with it being bathed in darkness, but there was visible light coming from the end of it. Mind you, it was ways ahead, but even if nothing else, it will get him further away from danger. Once he’ll get out he’ll get back to the X-jet to be able to contact the others again. They could regroup then if necessary. Right now, the priority was to get Al to safety.Mind sufficiently made up, he let the dark, dingy hall surround him in its damp embrace.

“Freeze, Drake.” And damn, that dry voice whispering directly into his ear nearly brought him to his knees alone. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand right up as warm breath landed on his skin. Then, an arm appeared in his field of vision, coming from behind him, tearing through the darkness – and wielding a flaming sphere. A clear gesture to warn him off from doing something stupid. He couldn’t see the other hand, but it was no doubt ready to engage in a fight like the one right before him.Only then did the disembodied voice continued, cold and even: “And please, don’t take that as an invitation.”There was that familiar dry sense of humor. There was also that hint of challenge, that cocky nature of his that John could never skip out on, no matter how many times he’s been chastised. But it still sounded wrong somehow and Bobby couldn’t help but want, desperately want for it to change back, to sound right, to be as he remembered… Or turn around. Yeah, he’d settle for being able to turn around and see John. Damn, his head was a mess. So was his sanity as it seemed, because he was this close to say “fuck it” and turn around all the same – if it wasn’t for the warmth coming off of Al’s tiny body lying in his arms.“John-“ He finally managed to breathe out, but John just steamrolled right over that with forceful demand:“Now tell me, what the fuck do you think you’re doing taking her outside the Mansion’s walls.” Apparently, he was meant to answer the very next second because when he struggled with where to even begin, with how much to say and just the very thought of speaking with John again – with John who Bobby had no clue, no hint at all about being even still alive – when it took him a moment to wrap his head around all of that, John pressed further:“What gave you such great idea, huh?” John could earn easy money teaching the art of modulating one’s voice just so that it screamed “You bunch of idiots” no matter what language or words you’d use. That thought died a swift death, however, once Bobby actually taken in the slightly different nuance to it. There was anger weaved into every single word there but not the regular anger, no. The real dangerous kind, something bordering on madness. It made Bobby’s brain seize John’s demand, immediately on a quest to supply the only possible answer, answer that could soothe the fire before him.“She’s sick. We were on our way to get help.”“What.” He still couldn’t see him; nothing except his hand. He wanted to see him. Focus.“She has this fever that we were unable to break or even reduce no matter what we tried. It’s only going steadily up so we-” There was a sudden flick and movement of the light source, the sphere of fire moving to the side to make space for a body suddenly appearing right infront of him, whilst the fireball merely continued to levitate nearby.John.Finally. He looked… He looked alright. Up close like this he looked… tired. Stretched too thin. Stubborn still. Cold. Alive.“When did it start?”Swallowing down the emotions running amok inside him, he forced his eyes to leave the blonde’s face, refocusing on Al’s tiny form instead. Yeah, much safer.“Two days ago. It wasn’t that-” Before he could even get to that part of the explanation of how it wasn’t so bad at first and that only later she’d started getting weak at a rapid pace, John was already on him. Well. On Al.“How bad?” He didn’t even get any time to answer because the blonde was already checking Al’s temperature himself, pressing the back of his hand to her forehead so gently… But John was right. Al was in danger and there was no time to waste.“Was she near any fire recently?”
What? What does that have anything to do with her falling ill?
“Uh? Well, I don’t really-”“Was she or not?!”
What the hell was going on here?!
John positively looked like he could tear a head off a Sentinel right then and there. He was never this… this… unstable? What happened? He got that this was his sister in danger but, damn, how did anyone even get their hands on Al with John being this overprotective? How did anyone manage to separate them in the first place?“I-I don’t think so, no.”The answer prompted John into action. Expertly finding his way through the layers and folds of the blanket Al was wrapped up in, John uncovered her chest before placing his hand on it.Bobby could only marginally feel some residual warmth which was the only tell of what John was currently doing. But how could any sort of power transfer possibly help here? However, John seemed to know what he was doing – or was very good at acting like it. It was always hard to tell those two apart with him.Once done with whatever-exactly he was doing, the blonde then proceeded to form an actual flame, if little, above Al.“Don't douse it,” Was the clipped instruction that came next before adding an unexpected, much softer assurance: “I'll keep it aflame.” That tone didn’t last long. At all. “Now go!”“Come with us.” The words were out before Bobby even had a chance to think about them, about their weight or consequences – about how absurd they might sound to John. John, who was quick to let him know exactly what he thought about that.“You're a riot, Drake. Now, get going.” There was a fireball back in John’s hand, the blonde clearly done here and with this conversation both, back to being ready for anything.“But the others-” He needed to explain-“I'm not a charity, Drake.”“Well, I'm not leaving them-” Admittedly, he was ready to do just that before John showed up. What he actually hoped to accomplish with this stalling was to gain enough time to change this, to make John change his mind. For John to actually consider come with him.But with John calling him “Drake”? When was the last time John even called him that? Back when he himself was the brand-new arrival at the Mansion? Bobby couldn’t even properly remember, that’s how long it was since the last time. All the harsher it sounded each time John said it now.And maybe it was because all of this useless pondering of his that he missed it. Missed John doing whatever it was that he’d done which resulted in bars dropping down from the ceiling and blocking his way back to the rest of his team.And John.“Looks like you’ll have to afterall,” The blond commented dryly from the other side before turning on his heel and starting on his track back to where, as far as either of them knew, the fight was still raging full force.An unstoppable urge to get to the other side of these bars was suddenly coursing through his body instead of blood, parting his mind like a scalpel.He could get back. He could get past those bars. With just enough time, he could-“Don’t be stupid, Drake, and get her the fuck out of here.” John was a good distance away by the time he called those parting words over his shoulder. Then, flicking his fireball out of existence, his slender figure got swallowed up by darkness once again and he was gone.

“Guys. Anyone hear me?” Finding himself in the X-jet at long last, he could finally make the call to the rest of the team. Al in his lap, he sat by the communication panel and waited for an answer. It didn’t last him long, though, and soon, he was back on his feet again. He still kept the station within an arm’s reach, but there was no doing any better right now.Being here, surrounded by everything X-men again, he only just realized how valid the worry about them was since he didn’t have a single clue what the hell had been going on while he was gone. At the same time, as much as he genuinely hoped everyone was alright, only then and there did he realize how little they were on his mind during the little reunion from mere minutes ago. While he’d been with John again.The guilt flooded him soon enough whilst he was waiting for their reply, but he still knew; he knew that the feeling oughed to be way heavier, way greater than it was. No matter how much he cared, however, the feeling just… didn’t grow, his brain, his… his brain clearly unapologetic about the whole situation and already done with it. But it wasn’t that he didn’t care, dammit! He did. He did care a whole lot and then some and – goddamn, what was even this mess?! Why did it have to be such a mess?! Everything. Anything.Hell, he almost had a panic attack once the flame John provided for his sister unexplainably extinguished itself out of existence. Literally, one second it was there like a silent guard, the next? Gone. Didn’t he say he’ll keep it aflame? Did something happen? Could anybody maybe at least talk to him so that he won’t go completely crazy over here?His hands shot to his hair, burying in there and it felt more like frustration itself tugged at them rather than his own fingers; that tense he was, doubting even his capability to move digits properly.Luckily for whatever that remained above his hairline, this was the moment the comms crackled a bit before Storm’s familiar and even cadence came through at long last.“Yes, Bobby. Where are you?” The sound seemed to be kind of wonky on her side of the comms, maybe a bit of too strong acoustics at play there, too.“X-jet. Got Al out, ready to head back to you if you tell me where to meet you.” His muscles tense, ready to propel him out of there in no time, he was just putting Al carefully down on a seat, already thinking about how to secure her there sufficiently, safely, before the next incoming response stopped him halfway through:“No, stay put. Were heading back already. We'll see you there in a bit. We’re also bringing company.”
Company?
“Should I ready the weapon systems?”Storm was clearly about to respond with something because the comms opened from her side, but Peter’s voice made it through the channel faster. It was muffled, the most probable culprit of that would be him standing some distance away from the microphone, but still clear enough for Bobby to catch the words:“This one won’t need it.”And that’s how just minutes later, he found himself staring at John being dropped inside the cargo bay, unconscious and with hell of a nasty gash on his temple.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

One positive outcome out of that day was that at least Al was back to her bubbly, healthy self. True, after their encounter with Magneto, they had to switch to another meeting point to have Al checked-up, but then it was a smooth sail. By the time the doctor saw her, Al was already better even if not yet completely out of woods. However, after some consulting with the woman sporting a lab coat, therefore obviously the very friend Dr. McCoy sent them to, it seemed that all Al needed was some engagement with her powers. Which weren’t showing through any mind you – at least to their knowledge. Regardless, the great doctor was convinced that even being nearby actively used powers – “Safe-ones, mind you.” – not to mention direct interaction with them, it would greatly benefit her.It didn’t take all that long for her words to be proven right. John’s own intervention was undeniably more knowledge-based than what had met the eye at first. John…Bobby gulped uneasily, hoping that at least the other, younger, students passing by him in the hallway won’t catch up on his mood. He could pretend that nothing was wrong. He could still look after them, be the support when they needed one. He could. He will.John was currently being held in the underground infirmary. Bobby was told that John’s secured to one of the operating tables there and he knew even that much only because Kitty told him.Strapped down to it with a generous number of restraints, she said.Kinky, was what John would undoubtedly say.Painful to even think about, is what Bobby would say.If Kitty meant for that information to be reassuring, he had no idea. If it, indeed, was the case, however, she overshot. Bobby would rather skip on this particular knowledge. Or maybe not. Lately, he’s been having trouble deciding on anything, really. One thing that he was sure about, though, was that the mental image of John being this vulnerable and helpless put even more pressure inside his head.Bobby himself wasn’t allowed in there. He could go down alright – go to any other room on the sublevel, but the infirmary’s door was firmly closed to him. Professor’s orders. Although he did personally ask Bobby not to go there – which consequently made him the only exception with denied access.As much as he wanted to be angry about that, a good part of him was glad. Because he honestly wasn’t sure what he’d do then. He wasn’t sure of himself. Of himself being strong enough not to let John get away. Help him escape. Because in that particular aspect, the urge he felt back in the tunnel to get John back, then the confusion and conflicting emotions once he got aboard the X-jet, those were yet to release their hold on him, yet to disappear. And if he was conflicted before, he genuinely had no idea what to call the current state anymore.Throughout the entire flight back, John had stayed unconscious and Bobby couldn’t keep himself from regularly turning in his seat, his eyes finding their way to the slumped figure, checking on the blonde no matter how much or how often he berated himself for that alone. Looking back, he wasn’t surprised that somebody noticed and shared the knowledge with the Professor, resulting in his current exile from the infirmary.And maybe it was truly for the better because Bobby didn’t tell them about what had happened in the tunnel either.Way to go, his mind praised him, uncharacteristically sarcastic and it wasn’t even said in John’s voice this time to make it… what? Make sense? Understandable? So that he could hide behind that good old memory excuse? Maybe it wasn’t John’s memory at all that kept on hunting him ever since he left – or rather, it was Bobby hiding behind that memory – John having been ever the instigator, ever the one questioning everything – resulted in Bobby having a perfect excuse not to accept what was truly going on inside him.Maybe that was the real reason why whenever he actually tried to force the admission of him and John having met in that dingy hall, he just… couldn’t. And wasn’t that familiar territory. The secrets he kept from his friends and The Professor and everyone just kept on adding up to the pile that was there already. He never thought he’ll have so many.

It was a handful of days later and as he was looking down at Al, Bobby still couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe John was, in fact, here. Not exactly how he imagined that going down but after the initial shock eased off, there was no stopping the wave of hopefulness that was back on the rise. Because John was addictive and Bobby… well. But that was far from all to it.John was like a pool. You just couldn’t help but approach it and once there you either swam and had a great time or you drowned. Furthermore, you could get into all sort of shenanigans in there and it was hell of a fun and exciting, but once the thrill of endless games wears off, you get to realize that what you actually enjoy the most is simply swimming in there. Because pool is great all on its own...God, he sucked at this. In fact, he shouldn't be allowed to touch parables at all from now on – not even with a yard stick. In fact, it fully deserved to be added to the Never Ever Attempt Again folder that John had came up with for him. Back then, Bobby – unwitting and gullible as he was – dared to question as to why. The answer?“Because it’s literally painful to watch, dumbass.”Yeah, there was no denying John’s propensity to be dead-honest (whenever it suited him, that is), which threw hell of a curveball into the game (and the first punch to a lot of fights). Not that John himself ever thought twice about that. He always seemed like he couldn't care less about what other people thought about him as a whole.Combine it with him loving a good challenge, sometimes way too much, and that's when things usually went downhill and ugly. Because the guy was stubborn and he was quite opinionated about the whole backing down business, too.When put like this, John sounded positively abysmal. Except the feelings that stayed were proof to the contrary. Somehow, even with all the bad remembered in stark light and full sharpness, the resulting leftover emotion from those years of John’s presence at the School was… happiness. Bobby had been happy. Because not all of that was bad. Far from it. He just realized it too late.And clearly, I’m unable to live in the moment anymore either, he mentally berated himself, far from the first time that day.As for Al herself, she didn’t seem to mind or care either way, though. What she did was merely studiously watch him instead, her gaze expectant and trusting, as if he was some kind of a performer who was supposed to bring all the good and fun things her way.Looking into those huge, unguarded eyes, there was really no surprise that he felt this great urge not to disappoint – to keep that expression of hers shine and keep it on her face for as long as possible. He could still remember Ronny being that age. Being exactly the same.What can one do other than do their best not to betray that sort of trust?So, lifting his hand several inches above her face, he turned it palm down before closing his eyes. Focusing, Bobby was very careful to tweak such an infinitesimal amount of his power that he might’ve as well be making something out of literally nothing at all.In any other case, he would be fully confident in his control and grasp on his power but with someone as tiny as Al around, nerves, a healthy amount of precaution and whatnot became a real thing again. It seemed he wasn’t the only one hesitant in using their powers around her either. But then he felt it working – exactly like usual, exactly like he wanted it to, and those thoughts were gone again.Opening his eyes, it was just in time to see a small snowflake make its way down onto Al’s face. The girl looked so genuinely perplexed that there was no fighting a grin off his face. Then she sneezed and just like that, the snowflake that had just landed on the tip of her nose was gone again.Oh no. It seemed a time for hesitant waterworks.“Uwa?” There could be no doubt about her being sad about the sudden disappearance, but she was a tough kid, keeping her tears confined to the corners of her eyes. So far.He hurried to create a brand-new snowflake again and just like the first one, this one started its slow descend towards Al’s face immediately after popping into existence. And the wonder! The sheer wonder that painted Al’s face! There was no sign of any tears, none whatsoever anymore. It was just this cute girl reaching out, trying her clumsy best to catch her new toy, rapt attention and all.He should’ve known how this was going to end. Needless to say that the next couple of minutes were spent by recreating one snowflake after another for Al’s amusement. But as all things have to end sooner or later, it came to the point where he knew Mystique’s going to come get her little protege, not to mention him having actual responsibilities left to tackle today. And so the next time Al threw him an expectant look once the latest snowflake fell victim to the warm temperature of Al’s skin, he merely shook his head slightly, trying to subtly tell her that, no, no more snowflakes today. Which…She grabbed his hand next, the very source of all the previous snowflakes, before freezing him with her expectant gaze again.“No,” he told her gently.She patted his hand a couple of times before arguing her case:“Agaga.” There was no way fighting off a smile at that, but he stayed firm by his decision:“No. No more today, Al.”She grabbed his finger next before pulling his whole hand towards her. Once that within her reach, she turned his hand around to look and see there truly were no more snowflakes there. Then came the silent patting again.She either didn’t understand what he was saying or pretended not to. The stubborn, determined look she shot him next convinced him to lean towards the later. The little devil.He ruffled her wispy blonde hair in turn, and he could just imagine how, were she a bit older, she’d grunt like a little unhappy camper. It only made his smile grow wider. Lately, these moments spent in Al’s company were the only times he was capable of genuine happy emotion; capable to forget for a while. All the less of a happy camper he was whenever it was time to leave again. To top it off, it was still him who had to convince her about how great an idea that was.“I really gotta go, Al. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Snowflakes again tomorrow,” Trying to bribe his way out of this might not be the best idea, what with what that would teach her, but he couldn’t bring himself to be stern with her.The only answer he got to that was her pushing his hand up above her head before shaking it with all her baby might. The message? Loud and clear.“Tomorrow,” He promised again.There was no way of knowing how exactly she managed to understand that, but he could pinpoint the very moment she did. She pinned him with these huge doe eyes – did that even fit with her eyes being that all-around blue all babies had? Yes, it did – before proceeding to start shaking his hand again which was pure exercise in futility-That is, until snowflakes started falling down on her.His eyes went wide.What the-She just gurgled, laughing merrily as the snow kept on coming.

He should’ve expected it. He really should have. Sooner or later, it had been bound to come down to this. That didn’t mean Bobby dealt with it any better once it hit.The day didn’t even get a chance to reach more than a bit over its halfway point, Bobby heading over to grab a lunch (out of habit more than anything else) when he got called into the Professor’s office. Which used to be more of a John’s specialty, his mind supplied readily, tirelessly providing him with all sorts of such reminders at every opportunity. This was getting worse and worse.It was like a damn reverse take on – what was it? Out of sight out of mind? Well, somebody should add a warning that one sighting was enough to end up being bombarded with random thoughts like the one from not a minute ago to a point of it becoming something of a constant, spicing up everything, every single thing you did, here and there. And that’s a work of one sighting – in person at least. Should he stop going into the observation room then? This was slowly taking over all his thoughts…No, definitely not, he rejected that proposal immediately, although not having a single good reason for that, doing a great job of ignoring that fact at the same time. He was slowly going mad over here. Prime example of that? The Professor’s been talking to him for quite a while already and Bobby had no idea whatsoever what even a single word out of the man’s mouth was. Exercising a great deal of effort to change that, Bobby purposefully shifted all of his focus towards the man. And just in time, it seemed.“All we managed to gather so far, the only foothold we found is his sister. He seems to care a great deal about her. Keeps asking to get to see her in fact.”Oh no.No no no no no.He didn’t like where this was going. At all.Also, was this why he’s been seeing Mystique having hushed or cryptic conversations with the Professor on so many occasions in the last couple of days?On the outside he barely managed to keep his face unmarked by any emotion but on the inside, all hell was breaking loose. He was panicking. He was panicking fast.“Bobby. We need to find out what Magneto’s plans are. We need to find that out in order to be able to protect others and I’m sorry to say, we’ve already wasted a lot of precious time.”Right. When it came to this kind of information, time was of the essence. The sooner you got your hands on any sort of knowledge about the moves of your enemy, Magneto especially, the greater was the chance that you could still prevent or intercept them.Bobby knew that. He knew all of that. But he was pretty damn sure he also knew what the Professor wasn’t saying, yet indirectly asking of him. What he was supposed to say to John. What he was supposed to barter with. And it wasn’t him meeting his sister.“You want me to tell him we hurt Al if he won’t cooperate, don’t you?” His voice wasn’t the strongest at that moment but at least he called it and addressed the elephant in the room. Not even the thought of getting to see John at long last could overpower the ugly feeling he got from this.He honestly didn’t think he could do that. They, the X-men didn’t do this sort of thing, period. They were the good guys, that’s why Bobby always wanted to become one. Even just pretending, even just the thought of pretending felt all kinds of twisted.“I don’t-” Standing infront of the large wooden desk the Professor sat behind, he was about to tell him about not being sure that he could do that when the man himself surprised him by an answer that was completely different that what he was steeling himself for.“No, Bobby. No, I would never ask that of you as long as there’s another way. I have no interest in hurting any of you unnecessarily, I hope you know that.” The Professor’s voice carried warmth and its inflection was as measured as ever. It was calming, the same way it had been the very first time he heard it, the very first time he met this man who made sure Bobby didn’t feel like a freak anymore, who gave him opportunity to become better.A nod.“Please, let me also assure you no harm will come to little Elemental from our hands. She is an innocent and we’ll do everything we can to protect her but unfortunately, right now, we have no other way of convincing Pyro to cooperate. I can feel Magneto’s planning something big again and we don’t have time to spare. We need to stop him.”Another nod, this time with Bobby more present.He always believed in X-men’s cause. In what they were fighting for, in what they were doing – not only for other mutants but for the rest of the world as well. It wasn’t like he suddenly lost all his faith in what they were doing here, what the Professor fought for and built over the years, no. But at the same time never in a million years would it ever occur to him that they would ever actually consider doing this – faked or not. Was that childish of him to think so?But even after the Professor’s assurance, that still left him with the question: if he’s not here to be the one telling John…“Then who-”“I’ve already sent Peter in. He was a much safer choice in our situation. But you are needed now, Bobby.”
Peter? And “already”?
Then what did the Professor need him for then? What else could’ve he had in mind for Bobby – especially after sharing all of this?“Why?” Bobby simply didn’t get it. He hadn’t seen John ever since the X-jet so how was he any relevant now?Then it downed on him at once, though, landing with a smack. Before the older man could offer up any answer of his own, Bobby uncovered the mystery himself:“John’s angry.”Having solved that puzzle, the realization didn’t bring him any relief, though, because apparently, Peter had already faux-threatened John with harming his sister and- all of a sudden, it was all making sense, in a terrible way.“He’s mad,” Bobby repeated, mind processing the facts before continuing, “Too mad to say anything about Magneto. And nobody’s able to get him to calm back down.” Filling the blank spaces in, once he said that he knew he got it right. It felt right, as wrong and bad as the actual situation was. It fit.“It’s like you said, Bobby,” The Professor confirmed, “That’s why I wanted to ask for your help.” With those eyes steady, looking directly into his, Bobby knew no judgement will come his way no matter what he decides to do. Which was wholly unnecessary when you come to think of that since there was really only one answer to that, no matter how much his stomach was churning.“Of course, Professor. But how?”“If he still has any level of trust left towards any of us, it’s you Bobby.”In other words, he was to use their years of friendship, their shared past. And just like that, he could feel something inside him on a verge of breaking – this great pressure insisting on seeing it severed. It wasn’t how he wanted-He took what he hoped was a subtle, even breathe in no matter how ragged it felt.Calm down. It doesn’t have to be so bad. It can’t be so bad, he tried to convince himself, now actively forcing forwards all the memories of the times he was the one to talk John down from something in the past.
Maybe it’ll be just like that, no need to make a mountain out of a molehill.
Right. He was making it way bigger than it needed to be. It didn’t have to mean anything. And it’s not like he could turn his back on X-men either.Still, something was already telling him that he’ll need to wring their past dry if he was to be successful. What that something might be?Just for recapitulation, John didn’t budge an inch when asked to spill Magneto’s secrets. That’s what’s been apparently going on all these days ever since John was captured. That’s what’s been happening while Bobby was stuck with supernanny duty, overwatching the younger kids. He was stuck with that because others were too busy getting through to John – with no success to show for it but rather the opposite.Yeah, he’ll have to wring that thing real hard. As much as he could still feel reverberations from being relieved at the knowledge that he won’t be the one telling John about what was in store for Al, this didn’t feel that much better. He was crap at tricking people, too, which only meant everything he’ll do and say in there will have to be true and genuine from the get go while, at the same time in perfect alignment with the lie about Al to keep up the consistency (there was literally not a chance that they’ll manage to keep off the topic). How he’ll pull that one off, he had no idea. John’s going to love him for that either way, that’s for sure.“Before I can let you go in there, however, you need to be made aware of everything.” That wasn’t ominous at all.“What do you mean?” He asked, although what he thought inside was There’s more?! But of course there was and he oughed to try to take it all in stride.“I’m afraid more mistakes has been made in regard to Pyro than dragging young Miss Allerdyce into this.” He didn’t like the sound of that. There was also a palpable note of regret in there when Professor said this, which only made Bobby feel more apprehensive about what he was about to hear.“There have been numerous attempts to talk Pyro back down from his anger. No matter our best efforts, our words proved to have no effect on him, we tried using some light sedatives but I’m afraid it only made him all the more… unhappy with us.”And now they expected his words to work.Shit.“You are aware of me being hesitant as to involve you in this, Bobby, since I know this situation isn’t easy on you,” Yes, that was the reason why he wasn’t allowed near John to begin with; Bobby remembered that conversation well enough. “However, I truly believe we have no other choice now.”Right. No pressure then.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

How come it went so wrong, so bad so quickly?“You want to control me...” John’s voice was low and like a gravel as he spat the words out in disdain.Bobby couldn’t be here for no more than ten minutes and he was feeling like falling down the rabbit hole already. Before he even stepped through those doors, he knew the plan was all kinds of wrong, but he still went along with it. Now? To say that it could have gone better? No. Shit was going downhill real fast, that’s all anyone could say about this.“You want to command me...” The tone was downright dark and full of despise now, rising in strength and conviction and yet, the voice was eerily calm – if shaking. Yeah, there was no doubt about him being furious.It was almost as if the tripwire was already set and once Bobby unwittingly tripped it, the whole avalanche was on his ass. Except this avalanche wasn’t made of snow but gluttonous fire instead.There was no way of getting a word in edgewise anymore. Well, he could say all the words he wanted, but none of them would be heard.“You cannot tame fire!”The body that was trapped, tied down to the table underneath it suddenly began trashing like a wild animal, making hell of a ruckus while doing its best to get out, get free.John seemed entirely gone. Gone in a rage zone. Instead, there was this manic persona that didn’t know anything else but an all-consuming anger and hunger to break itself free. And then, with a snap of one of the straps that were holding him down, he finally had enough of a chance to do that and where, in the hell, did he get that fire from?!But Bobby was already dodging behind another table to avoid getting burned to the crisp. Wherever and whatever that source was, it didn’t matter anymore. John was fully armed again.He caught the soft snick sound coming from the doors and he exhaled a silent sigh of relief. Thankfully, the others that had been watching this from the room next door had the presence of mind to lock the door, saving him from trying to attempt that from this side.He could hear John getting up, and after stealing a glance over the corner, he saw that everything that’s been keeping John confined and stuck in the horizontal position was gone or lying in scraps, useless.Now with pure fire on the loose, it was exactly like the blonde had said not a minute ago. Or rather a time to prove whether it was true or not.

“Bobby?” He could hear Kitty’s voice. He could feel somebody checking the burns he got. He could feel them taking care of it even though he himself didn’t think they were all that bad to begin with. What was bad was this exhaustion and its tireless attempts to pull him under. He tried to focus his best on the question at hand definitively, though.“Huh?”“You alright?”He was already fast asleep.

Bobby woke up hours later when his body was done pushing him for rest and after asking the first person that he stumbled upon, which so happened to be Peter, he found out that nothing of essence had changed since the last time he was awake. That at least made his mental sum-up of what led to the current situation less lengthy and he didn’t need anyone to tell him much extra either which was a nice bonus.God, but his head was still killing him. And it felt like only getting worse with him actively trying to remember everything that went down. That said, Bobby couldn’t exactly fault his body for that since he knew it wasn’t anything pretty.Once John had managed to free himself, the infirmary soon turned into a viable inferno with Bobby providing the only exception and line of defense. Which had only made him glad that he gave in and went with Dr. McCoy’s recommendation to clip a transmitter to his ear – “Just in case, my boy.” – because it made it hell of an easier to team up with the others outside and collectively agree that moving John into isolation ASAP was the priority now.Danger room ended up being chosen for that purpose, the only thing that remained was to get John there. John, who had already made a sizeable hole in the two way mirror the infirmary sported. Way easier to get through than reinforced metal door, that was for sure.By the time they made it to the other room in varying degrees of roughened state, the others were already gone, safeguarding escape roads and leaving the rest, meaning the delivery straight to the Danger room, up to Bobby alone. The hall was spacious, but not nearly spacious enough to make it a wise decision to try and intrude on two elements fighting one another all over the place, as random and rampant as one can ever be.John was downright savage and had no qualms about anything, whilst Bobby’s milliseconds of hesitation had consequences on his body and in a form of some additional complications alike. There was no wonder that all the extra energy it cost him to steer John in the right direction without hurting him instead of just eliminating a target, resulted in his self-inflicted slumber the moment his body knew it was safe to do so.The result of this whole clusterfuck?John was successfully confined to the Danger room, Bobby felt wrecked and they still had no answers.You might say that their plan didn’t work quite as well as they hoped for.

He attempts to go inside the Danger room a couple of times to hopefully talk John down from his rage, but all he gets in answer is either fire trying to gobble him down or a new burn. Literally.No matter how hard he tries to calm him down in there, all they end up doing is duel until Bobby decides it best to stand down and leave.Pyro never stops raging on in there.Bobby’s well-hidden insomnia starts taking its toll.

They monitor him from the observatory. It was a room loosely connected to the Danger room and one reserved for evaluating performance inside the other. It was a place sporting the whole plethora of technology just for those exact purposes, so they have a wide range of options of how to keep track on John.They can obviously watch the visual recordings, but among others they also have eyes on John’s heart rate, stress levels and mental engagement, all of which helped a great deal whenever Bobby asked to be allowed back in with John. But as none of his tries bore fruit, they were now basically left to watching these charts splayed all over the screens just… waiting him out. Waiting for “Pyro to just… calm down”.That is, until Mystique got involved.At this point, Bobby is something of a constant presence inside the room and yeah, he’s already got today’s assurance of “We’re just waiting for Pyro to calm down, Bobby.” from Storm done and over with and there really isn’t anything much for him to do other than stare but he refuses to move and nobody forces him to, so he guesses he’s going to continue being the local gargoyle for at least a bit longer.Bobby didn’t expect that day being any different than yesterday. Maybe that’s why this day did turn out actually different. You know… just to be contrary. Cue the Professor entering through the door. It’s the first time Bobby saw him here. And right after him…Mystique.Bobby’s head promptly went up from where it had been propped up on his knee. Wha-“Hello Bobby,” The Professor greeted with his trademark miniscule smile and Bobby barely managed to mumble a greeting of his own back, still kind of stunned before the man turned to Storm who was today’s choice of person actually overlooking the data running on the screens.“Any changes?” The Professor asks Storm once his wheelchair finds its way to stop right next to her, the man cool as cucumber even though Storm was clearly as surprised by seeing the ex-Brotherhood member as Bobby was. To her credit, she quickly regained her composure, however, her eyes going back to the Professor before answering, nice and even:“None, really.”“Have you gone through his power readings?” Mystique joined the conversation without hesitation, the words demanding and yet even. Her voice was hard. Not necessarily harsh, just… hard. Bobby took notice of how Storm looked the Professor’s way for guidance and only after his slight nod, she gave in:“They don’t make any sense.”“Show me.” Mystique was obviously not deterred one single bit from asking questions. That is, if that could be called a question…Storm frowned, but the Professor was ready to prevent any more outbreaks than already happened it seemed, because just like a calming force in the middle of a brewing storm, he chimed in:“It’s fine, Ororo. Show her.”
How come Mystique was suddenly allowed here anyway?
Storm must have been thinking something along the same line judging by her face, but she still did what was asked of her. Turning one screen towards the other woman, she clicked a couple of buttons on the keyboard before nodding to the screen. Mystique took up a spot on Storm’s other side stopping right next to her, confident and unbothered as she scanned what was showing on the screen.“Any particular reason why he became this aggressive?” Was the first thing she said after a while in the selfsame flat tone she used before, but now Bobby recognized the severe front for what it truly was. It wasn’t any actual attempt at intimidation but rather the way, the manner, this woman was used to speak.Bobby found himself thinking that it might change once she finds out about what they’ve done. He wasn’t afraid, though. It wasn’t that she thought her harmless, oh no. He knew perfectly well what she was still capable off even as a “mere” human, but he didn’t fear what she might do anyways. Mostly because he was already beating himself up, therefore she didn’t present any serious competition in that department. Not to him.“What do you mean?” Storm went straight for defensive which turned out not to be such a great idea because Mystique latched right onto it like a bloodhound on the scent of a deer. Her very next words only proved that.“I mean, what did you provoke him with?” Her gaze became challenging in one second flat, unwavering and firmly fixed onto her white-haired opponent.Bobby shot a curious look Professor’s way, but the man seemed to be deep in thoughts – his or somebody else’s, it was impossible to tell.Getting up, Bobby casually made his way over to the other three occupants of the room. Just in case.“We didn't-” Bobby studiously kept his eyes from jumping to Storm, because that would be like a damn banner with “Bulls-eye” written on it – in capitals and everything. He was still curious about what Storm’s going to finish that sentence with, but apparently, he was the only one since Mystique cut her off:“Cut the crap, weatherwitch. You notice something strange on these?” At which point, she nodded towards the screen she was previously offered to perusing. The tone of her voice said enough: She did. And she wasn’t interested in any sort of bullshit either.When Bobby glanced down at the data shown, it took him a bit to understand what he was seeing, what she was hinting at. But then he saw it – the power fluctuations. They were basically all over the place in the beginning but as of late, the recorded output just kept on steadily rising, long past flirting with dangerous levels according to John’s last recorded maximums. No wavering there either.“Shouldn’t that be the other way around?” At first, he didn’t even realize he spoke aloud; all his brain was stuck on was the fact that if they were waiting for John to cool it, these numbers didn’t add up – or rather, they would have much bigger chance of getting them the wished-for end result if somebody flipped them over. As of now, John was basically a ticking time-bomb. How did that happen?!"What are you keeping him away from? What did you tell him?” By now, Bobby had no doubt that the woman had an idea about that as well. She clearly wasn’t letting Storm off the hook any time soon either judging by her fiery eyes – and words.“Professor?” This was getting out of hand real fast Bobby didn’t even know where to start to try deescalating things. Some directions would be good. From someone Mystique might actually listen to would be great and preferable, too.Luckily, that simple address was enough to lure the man’s mind back to present, the Professor quick to assess the situation, too, which made Bobby wonder if the Professor’s mind had been actually truly gone somewhere else. But then again, Charles Xavier was always more than met the eye.“Why are you so sure we are, Raven?” Ever the calm and reliable presence in any situation, conflicts included, the Professor went ahead and took up the role of a mediator even in this case.He and Mystique locked in what seemed to be an inner dialogue then and there before the woman picked up where she left off as if nothing ever happened and Bobby’s eyes were the ones who tricked him.“He wouldn't get so out of control for no reason.”“Funny you talk about control,” Storm chose to add her two cents to the debate then, “He was telling us we want to control him and yet here you are-”“Not out of my control,” The look Mystique sent Storm’s way at that was positively scathing. “His own.”“How do you know he has such a great one?” This time it was Bobby who asked this, not able to stay out of the conversation any longer. He was genuinely curious about the answer, too, because no matter how Bobby felt about John, there was no denying that John’s always been something of a loose canon when it came to self-control. Or altogether.“I was teaching him meditations,” Was yet another flat, factual answer. “Now, do you want to find a solution to this or interrogate me instead? Seems you can’t decide.”Meditations? John and meditations?His brain couldn’t wrap a single braincell around that one. He felt like he couldn’t really blame Storm for snorting skeptically in response.“That kid hates meditations.” Her tone was flirting with the edge of an actual challenge. She clearly didn’t believe what was Mystique claiming here. However, all the ex-mutant reacted with was unapologetic wit and folded arms:“No, he abhors them. Detests them. I still taught him.” She might’ve as well said “It doesn't change a thing.”, her whole posture like a Great Wall of China against Storm’s doubtful stare.“Apparently not well enough.” Bobby was starting to think there must be some sort of history between these two – other than them being used to stand on opposing sides.“Storm.”That simple admonishment that came from the Professor seemed to successfully steer the conversation back on its proper track because from then on, Mystique proceeded to ignore Storm’s presence altogether. Instead, turning her sharp eyes on the man who held the real power to decide in this matter, she adapted quick, dropping that whole bucket-load of dislike and stuck to the basics when she frigidly began to reason again.“I know how well he learned or not. You pushed him over, so you might stop being self-righteous alibists and tell me what you said to him.” Or maybe not so frigidly after all.Either way, her words seemed to uselessly slide off of the Professor’s composure and not for the first time, Bobby felt something very close to envy while observing that because it seemed like he was the only one struggling with guilt here. Which couldn’t be possibly true, but all the same, it was his poker face that still needed to be worked on, weak as it was.He could literally feel it breaking at her direct accusation – little cracks showing on his face and the only saving grace in this situation was that Mystique’s back was turned to him, providing with a generous opportunity to fix his features back into something… less telling. Less see-through.The familiar soft hum drew his attention right back, Bobby watching the wheelchair move around the room, reminding him of a man who needed to pace a bit to sort his thoughts through. When the Professor turned back around to face them all again, though, his face was same as usual.“How good was his control?”Good.“Just ‘good’?”This time, Storm got ignored by both Mystique and the Professor. It took a while before the professor conceded.“We might have hinted at possibly hurting his sister if he won't cooperate.”We didn’t mean it, though! Tried to desperately claw its way out of his throat but at least that Bobby was able to suppress and instead, he kept his silence.Meanwhile, Mystique’s face assumed this great cold and calculating look and held onto it for a bit before commanding:“Get her in there immediately.” As if she had all the right to order them around.Oh. But then Bobby saw it. Even through the shock of what she just said, he finally saw what the Professor had actually done there. No, the man hadn’t conceded anything – at least nothing Mystique already didn’t suspect. What he’d done in fact was try to get at what she was keeping from them. Because she clearly knew something, something more regarding this which was only proven by her reaction.“Like hell we will.” Seriously. These two women… That said, however, Bobby wasn’t such a great fan of that idea either.“You'll have hell here if you won't,” Mystique continued on, stubborn just like somebody Bobby knew, damn, but something in her voice was chilling enough to make him consider… No. There was nothing that could possibly justify or make sense of throwing a child, a baby, to the fire currently raging inside the Danger room. Nothing at all. Most probably, it was just Mystique trying to get her way. Why was she so invested, anyways? Why does she care?Which would be exactly the moment when her voice went straight back to clinical and indifferent.“You want him to stay alive. Yes or no?”So it wasn’t about John at all.Was she worried they wouldn’t handle this well enough and she’d end up a dead casualty as a result of it?“Why?” He found himself asking faintly anyway, stuck on this feeling of not-right-and-yet… but this was Mystique they were talking about. Who can say she’s not just trying to trick them here? But for what purpose? What purpose could killing an innocent baby, one she herself fought to protect, have?Bobby did his best not to connect this “child” with Al’s cute face, but it was a fight long lost. All the more insane this whole demand of hers sounded. It was simply outside the realm of possibility. Doing that to any child was, but especially Al. Al who they knew, who Bobby himself…Looking up to say something, anything to make damn sure the ex-mutant knows they weren’t about to do anything of the sort, he caught her and the Professor in the middle of what had to be either a duel of minds or a mental argument or both. Whatever it was, it didn’t stay that for long, though, because the raven-haired woman cut to the chase with that sharp ruthlessness that was her own:“Get her in there or you’ll drive him mad like you did Jean.”
Wh-the what now?!
But then he looked over to the Professor and… And for the first time ever, Bobby saw this sure, steady presence that’s always been his cornerstone shudder.Then, after a prolonged pause, the verdict came:“Storm, call the others.”

You can’t be serious, Professor. You can’t put her in there. Please!
Taking a note from what he saw and dangerously close to sounding like Wolverine whenever X-men plans didn’t strike his fancy, he attempted a mental connection, pleading. Pleading, because it was still in fact him and not Wolverine and pleading again because while Bobby would be the last one to think John being far too gone, far too bad to get back, that didn’t mean he thought it safe for a baby to enter the lion’s den. Even he could acknowledge that. John didn’t exactly have a good hold – or any, let’s be honest – on his ability right now and to-
Calm down, Bobby. That’s precisely what I’m calling the meeting for.
Yeah, alright. Okay. But then again, what was with what Mystique said last? Was there really a reason-
All in good time, Bobby. All in good time.

The meeting couldn’t have possibly gone any worse. Well, it had no way of going good, that’s for sure – what with their decision either ending up bad for Al of for John. So far, nobody came up with a solution that would result in something else. Bobby was all for staying optimistic no matter the odds they faced, but here, there didn’t even seem to be any space left for that. All this talk about whether to put Al in there with “Pyro” or not was slowly but steadily driving him mad. Just the fact nobody here ever called the blond by anything else but “Pyro”…“…Bobby said he thought he saw John's eyes blazing,” the arguing continued on, this time in Kitty’s hesitant voice and damn, maybe he shouldn’t’ve shared that after one of his visits to the Danger room. More than likely, it was a play of light or whatever, anyway and now it was being used as a fodder-“Well, the kid's quite angry, nothing strange about that.” Bobby could literally hear Wolverine shrug that off and yes, please, everyone ignore it, what if they’d decide to get rid of John, decide he’s not worth the trouble-“I mean literally,” Kitty insisted and, in that moment, Bobby couldn’t help but not like Kitty, not a single bit. There was a reason why he didn’t mention it to others.“And?”“His eyes weren't weird in any sense when he’s been in the infirmary,” It was Dr. McCoy’s voice that filled the dots in, thoughtful, “And he was lot of angry back there, too.”No, thoughtful was definitely bad, pleaseignoreit, thoughtful was bad because what if-“So? Does it mean anything?” Storm asked as she leaned over Beast’s shoulder, now both of them looking at the various data spread before him together.“I don't know.”At that, Bobby internally let out a huge sigh of relief, ready to pass out.

In the end the discussion did, in fact, bring about one idea that everyone deemed worth trying. “Everyone” meant everyone except Bobby. To be fair here, there wasn’t much he would be satisfied with and this idea that was okeyed did not involve Al in any sense so there was at least that. When it came to John’s involvement in it, though…“I still don’t think it’s safe.”“We’ll have control over everything, there’s no reason to worry about it.”
Everything except John.
“Are we ready?” Dr. McCoy asked what seemed to be the room in general. He was standing by a screen, one that Bobby knew displayed John’s readings. There was also the central monitor which was focused on current going-ons inside the Danger room, camera’s lens focused on John’s figure.After receiving a nod from Storm the bespectacled man started the process:“Everything looks steady here, go for it, Storm.”Storm who was sitting behind a screen of her own, was in charge of keeping an eye on John’s power readings and…“Lowering oxygen levels inside the Danger room…now.” Saying that, Storm started typing on the keyboard lying before her.That’s exactly what he argued with them about. This was the idea. There was an indisputable argument in there, actual facts behind this, sure. Fire did need air. It might depend on air to exist, true, but so did human body.And maybe he had sounded too involved in this, maybe that’s why the others overruled him, but that was a pretty damn valid point to consider, too! Consider and walk over, apparently.He still understood where they were coming from; if John didn’t calm down himself, they still needed to do it for him. Right, but the means to achieve that... how far was still ‘reasonable’ to push? How could a person know that, decide that?And maybe it also irked him a bit the decision about him, Peter and Wolverine being left unoccupied – or in Storm’s words “at ready, just in case”.What were they expecting that’s going to happen exactly? They were basically suffocating John. The only thing they’ll have to deal with will be a passed-out body at best, not a raging fireball. They said it themselves – fire cannot survive without air.“Hank?”“Noth-damn! Shut it off, Storm! Shut it off!”No matter how fast their tutor typed the order in, by the time her previous command was canceled, all of them could only watch John passing out while blazing fire continued to rage and circle around him.By the time they were exiting the elevator on the ground floor, Bobby was ready to combust. He wasn’t allowed near John again (nobody was, his brain rushed to set the record straight, although nobody asked it to do that either), they were back to guessing how to solve this (Bobby decidedly refused to think about any of those proposed ideas), he was most definitively ready to stop feeling like this (like being torn apart in two opposite directions) and of course that would be the moment Mystique chose to pass by. What a coincidence.“Maybe you should make up your mind whether you want him alive or not,” She added the last proverbial nail to his coffin with a knowing, level gaze and he was so done, right here right now, that his imagination was doing a great job (tricking him) of convincing him the words were meant for him alone instead of their whole group.Watching her retreating back in that moment, he felt like there was no point pondering how exactly did she get this brand-new info and this fast. He didn’t feel like the knowledge would make any difference.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The very next day they put Al inside the Danger room.For some reason, the Professor seems to trust Mystique on this one, most seem to think it’s worth a shot, Bobby is still dead tired to put up big enough fight one-man-squad style and no one else backs him up on arguing that this is just batshit crazy.So not only did he have to watch John getting suffocated in one second flat yesterday, today’s program was bound to get even more spectacular. Seriously, though. His frayed mind could not take much more of this madness. He stayed inside the observation room along with all the others anyway.They watched as an enormous tsunami of flames heads straight for the toddler like a flood. Ravenous, angry and wild, reaching out with its claws towards the tiny bundle, about to swallow the offered sacrifice whole – then turning tame all at once.Not attacking but caressing instead. Welcoming.His breath caught.It was downright weird how palpable was the care of the element – of all things – towards Al. It looked as if it was checking up on her, nuzzling her and how could fire possibly do that? It was so obvious that everybody saw. Yeah, it wasn't only Bobby, judging from the looks of people around him.It was Wolverine who actually voiced what probably every single one of them present here must’ve thought by then:“Yeah. I don't think she's his sister.”

Couple of blood tests later had proven just that.

Mystique was back to her status of enemy since she was the one who told them Al was John’s sister and she obviously lied about that. So no matter the fact that she warned them about what they attempted with John himself just a day ago, these hot and cold vibes they were getting from her didn’t inspire any sort of trust. And yet, when she asked the Professor to be allowed inside the Danger room herself… he agreed. What was their deal?Did she promise him to tell who Al’s mother was? Because that’s what they’ve been trying to find out about ever since the staggering revelation of John being a father now. A father…Bobby didn’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, it might explain how come he was so hung up on Al himself – other than her being adorable to the point of being illegal. She did remind him of John this whole time, too. A lot. But she was just fun to be around long before Bobby knew any better. And talking about knowing better, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to find out about who Al’s mother was. That thought alone brought about a shock of its own. Bobby genuinely had no idea that John was into girls… too.Sure, they both tried to impress Rogue on her first day here and he did some pigtail pulling with some other girls here and there as well but John never seemed… heck, serious about any of those? In any of those instances. It was more of a something he did in jest, to entertain himself with while not spending any real attention on it after. So, Bobby always kind of assumed… Which made John’s mystery girl all the more interesting.Unique.Terrifying.

Mystique didn’t cash in her promised visit rights straight away. Instead, she regularly frequented the observation room, keeping an eye on how things looked like inside before, after couple of days later, she chose to brave it.In those two days John got himself not only back on his feet but also more present in mind that he was before. Throughout every single instance when Bobby had gone in there before the near-fateful oxygen intervention, the blonde hadn’t ever uttered a word. Attack after attack merely spilling out of the tips of his fingers, the human body reminding more of a puppet on strings than someone alive.Now, John was often times seen whispering something to Al, although none of their microphones in the Danger room managed to pick up on what exactly he was telling her. To be fair, whispering right into an infant’s ear was positively subtle enough to excuse the technology in this case. That selfsame technology did not, however, have any trouble spying on Mystique. Her own entrance inside the room had a shaky start, however.Looking back, the woman probably knew something of the sort was going to happen because all she did, once inside, was stop at the door, remaining unmoving as the panel slid behind her. And as a whirlwind of flames raced towards her. Not unlike what happened with Al – except this time, the fiery mass acted up instead of taking care, clearly not motivated enough to listen.Maybe it was due to the lack of familial connection. One way or another, the ex-mutant ended up on the receiving end of a nasty burn thanks to this, literally, more than warm welcome. To her credit, she remained unphased although it must hurt like hell.It was either her lack of reaction to it or her getting marked itself that seemed to force enough control onto the blazing element, though, because right after that, the flames backed off. Enough to allow Mystique come closer even which was, up to that point, completely unheard of.John’s element seemed much calmer ever since Al joined him but it was still showing signs of unrest – huge signs. Not to mention John still didn’t let any of them in; never bothering to stop his ability assaulting whoever decided to try get through the door. Clearly, if he wasn’t allowed outside, no one was allowed inside either. Until Mystique, that is.That wasn’t to say his element was fully under control yet – as was proven just then and there. The closest Bobby would get describing it? He’d say John and his fire had a fragile agreement on things. On key things. Anything that didn’t belong amongst those key things…It was painful to be left to merely observe this, without being allowed to help. They used to work so great together, seamless. Like this interlocked failsafe mechanism to each other when something got out of hands. Way before they turned into something even more. To be able to see John only through the screens…
At least you get to see him.
At least he gets to see him, yeah.And so he did; following Mystique’s slow approach with his eyes glued to the monitor, leaning in once she stopped, still quite a distance away from John and Al sat on the floor, but clearly the closest she dared to go. At least it made picking up on their words easier.“Not that it’s not nice to see you but what exactly are you doing here?” John’s voice was hoarse and raspy from unuse – or from all the shouting he’s done before, still. It held no animosity, however, which was much more than could be said about any of his previous vocal inputs aimed towards anyone else.“They think I can tame you.”Was that really the reason why the Professor allowed her in there? Did they strike some sort of deal? Why didn’t he tell them? But the longer he watched her, the more was Bobby convinced it was more likely she tricked them again. She must’ve known that once she gets in there, there won’t be able to get to her, not in time.In time for what, though? Did she have some sort of message for John? Was that it? Then he froze when a sudden realization hit him. John joined Magneto again after all. Was she there to hurt him then? For siding with the man? Just recently, it was pretty much established that if anyone wanted to hurt John, they could target Al and that would work like a charm. She could’ve done that. Long before she got here even. But maybe she wanted to get them both?But then he remembered – Mystique was human, not a mutant anymore. Those black hair and pink skin weren’t just a pretty face picked to make infiltration easy, this was actually her. And next to Pyro, who was currently still in the midst of his “temper tantrum” as Logan loved to call it before they found out what Al just is to the blonde, even her still very much present hand-to-hand skills would fall short. Especially with Al in John’s lap. If anything was clear to everyone after their… failed attempt at extracting information, it was that John’s pretty much ready to level the whole world – including himself – to the ground to protect Al.No, this couldn’t be it. But there had to be something. Mystique was intent on something, he could tell. Not that her body didn’t always give that vibe of a snake coiled before an attack, but there just had to be some sort of scheme at play, some agenda. Why else would she want to go inside?Bobby felt a wave of frustration coming on already because either way, all he could do was still the same old thing – merely watch.He almost missed John’s simple nod of acknowledgement to that taming comment but since his next words took him a while to ask, Bobby’s inner thoughts didn’t cost him anything else.“Can you?” His hand never stopped caressing the top of Al’s head.“I can. If you let me.” What sort of answer was that? Was she or wasn’t she supposed to calm John down then? By the looks of it she couldn’t give two you-know-what about that. Why else would she say this to John?“So what’s the deal? You trust them?” John’s tone was nothing but skeptical.“No, but they wouldn’t let me in otherwise.” Mystique had apparently have enough of standing in one place, switching it for languid, deliberate steps here and there, back and forth. John’s eyes followed her like a hawk. Flames begrudgingly allowed her to pass through.“So am I supposed to let you?” His head went to the side, oddly curious. Dangerously curious. Not that it gave Mystique any pause.“Not yet. In time, though. You might also want to consider other… aspects of your current position before acting accordingly.”“I’m always thinking about them.”“Good.” She made another turn, looking over her shoulder back at him apropos of nothing:“They’re trying to find out who Al’s mother is by the way.”Bobby’s body immediately straightened up in his seat at that remark, muscles tense. Who told her?! How come she knew? They made damn sure that she was never around anything – spoken or else. Damn that woman.For a fraction of a second, John’s eyes went wide there, mouth opening to react before, as if cutting himself short, he swallowed what might’ve as well been a fly with calming properties because his next words were as even as his expression serene. Also, totally un-John-like.“I see.” The flames around him still went a bit crazy, though. Bobby found himself relieved at the sigh; their liveliness much more familiar than what he could gather from John’s face. Maybe the blonde wasn’t all that different from what he remembered after all. That thought made Bobby feel foolishly hopeful, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.“Any idea how close they are with that?”Nowhere, that’s how close they were so far.“I think it will take them a while yet.”“What’s ‘a while’?”“Better count with the odds, Pyro.” The unspoken “You know that” rang loud and clear in there as well.“No need to go all optimistic on me, woman.” He surprisingly snarked back easily. Then, his shoulders hunching back a bit, all the playfulness went up in a smoke and he sighed: “See you soon then?”“Might be a bit later considering they were no doubt listening in on this.” The dry tone spoke of her amusement. She wasn’t worried. Not even a single bit.John merely gave a nod to that and as for Mystique, she clearly took that as her cue, of them being done here, so she turned on her heel, heading straight for the door. John’s flames surprisingly stayed curled up around him and Al this time around, letting the confident woman out of their grasp.“Hey, Mystique.” John called out after her when she was almost back to the door and Mystique actually turned around, although it didn’t look she’d do so at first. It took the blond a bit to speak up again.“Thanks.” The word was loaded with more than the mere sentiment that met the eye.“Don’t go weak on me, Allerdyce.”He seemed to take her words at their face value, silently watching her leave.Well, if nothing else got answered today, it seemed that John and Mystique appeared to be friends, not enemies.

Not for the first time that week, Bobby can hear somebody’s angry voice coming from down the hall and before he even turns the corner he’s mentally preparing himself for landing himself in the role of a mediator in yet another teenage conflict.Lately it wasn’t just him who was getting on edge, but teenage dramas… yeah, those never left the playfield of life to begin with so one might as well take it in stride and hope that Siryn wasn’t involved (that would certainly hurt) and that the guys involved would decide to engage at least half-a-braincell in favor of agree to disagree instead of an all out brawl or a shouting match (again – ouch). What he hoped for the most, though, was that he could settle the dispute fast and be done with it because he was almost at the stairs, this close to getting to his room and so ready to just… shake the façade of this reliable, grounded persona off and just be… himself.John never really liked that part of him. The ‘ever-composed guardian shtick’ as he called it. He also rather enjoyed provoking Bobby until he lost it and “shown his true colors”.
“Perfect is overrated. And weak.”
It was only because of yet another one of these flashbacks that he was too late to realize who he in fact walked in on.“You were supposed to help us, not him!” It was Kitty. Her familiar voice was successfully camouflaged by the whispery hissing she was currently employing at-“I only agreed to make him accessible for your interrogation again.” -Mystique.Well, daring against all wisdom alright. You know, the usual. As if to prove his point, the petite brunette didn’t let up:“Which you didn’t do either.”“No time limit was set out in the deal. For all intents and purposes, I did not break or breach the agreement in any way, so, be so kind and unhand me before I’ll do it myself.” And Mystique clearly had to be bound by some kind of proviso about infighting there, too, because there’s no way she’d ever ask or hesitate before doing just that otherwise.“Kitty.” It was time to make himself be known because, with some luck, that could still be enough to break this off. Therefore, keeping his tone light, he strode over to them before sighing and giving something of a less subtle look to her hand when it remained stubbornly clenched around Mystique’s arm.While waiting for Kitty to get her head out of her ass, for Christ’s sake as if they need any more conflicts here, he racked his mind to come up with any topic to keep up the friendly vibe even towards the older woman. Friendly, huh…“How’s Al doing?”“Perfectly fine, I believe, seeing she’s with her parent.” Her answer couldn’t be any colder or more detached, but even that short time it took her to answer was enough for Kitty to finally “unhand” her. His eyes skipping from the ex-offender of a limb in question back to Mystique’s face, he suddenly realized he had nothing more to cover the conversation with:“Uh, good.”His eyes automatically shot a subtle look to her feet. High heels. Yeah, he still had a pair of those – hers – fresh in mind (and other places). He knew it was useless to hope she’d suddenly start wearing flats or something. Dangerous. Still dangerous.When he looked back up, there was this smirk on the woman’s face all of a sudden, something he’d liken to a praying mantis aura compressed into that one single expression, before-“Charmed.”And then, she up and left. Just like that.Huh.“What the hell are you doing?!” Kitty burst out in such a spectacular way that Bobby had to remind himself to remain calm. There always had to be that one person in every equation that kept a cool head if there could be any chance of resolving the issue at hand.Therefore, taking a deep breath he made his way sound as neutral as it would go.“No, the question is what were you thinking you’re doing?”Clearly, this day wasn’t done with its arguing quota yet.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Mystique regularly visits the Danger room now despite being in the crosshairs not that long ago (and still). It’s something of an ongoing process while taking a risk of allowing her going inside since she was the only person John allowed in. What’s more, each time she’s in there, they meditate together – without a single complaint from John whatsoever (the sight all kinds of weird to Bobby). And as for the blonde himself?Pyro keeps switching between calmly holding his daughter while meditating and combusting in flames, attacking anyone who tries to enter. He also develops a habit of sleeping with his back strictly towards the door, shielding Al snuggled against his chest. The flames are always up then, guarding them both. Nobody could snuck up on those and by next second, John was already awake and ready to defend. Which was kind of a huge change ever since Al got involved. Or rather, ever since Al was by his side and not away from him. Instead of an all out fighting mode, Pyro seemed to be on mere defensive now. Which wasn’t any less powerful, mind you, it was just… different.They are still yet to find out who Al’s mother is or what could’ve possibly happened to her.

It was still hard keeping his thoughts from going back to a lot of things each time he stole even a brief glance at John on one of the screens (and that right there didn’t make him sound like a stalker at all, of course not). Some wise man would most probably tell him that “Past’s past.” and that there’s no use chasing after it or something along those lines, but let’s set the record straight here – most of the times, it wasn’t like he could stop it from happening.Did other people’s minds work like that? One simple command and everything, every thought and memory lines up in order, no slackers, no rule breakers or AWOL cases? Hell, he didn’t even know why his brain chose to go with military simile here. Having a lock or any sort of overrule trick up his sleeve when it came to this? Yeah, not a chance. Not in his case. Not to mention he didn’t want to. Not anymore.Therefore, it stood to reason that his brain won’t stop bombarding him with nuclear weapon-sized unresolved issues and fuckups that he’d ever done. And boy, was there a lot to pick from. There was one in particular that stuck with him, though…After Wolverine had gone to get Jean back – twice – and try to save her that second time despite her having killed the Professor, a single yet merciless thought began haunting him. Persistent and constantly nudging at the edges of his mind like the very person it was about and same as that person, he couldn't fight it off.
Why did you never do that?
By now, after all this time, that question was as deafening as the water that had flooded everything in a rush before surrounding the X-jet back at the Alkali lake.The argument that the idea never even crossed his mind was only half true. Because it had and he had done that. He did it for Rogue. For pretending. For something faked.
But not for John.
It never crossed his mind in John’s case. That was the truth. Or the second half of it.Why did he never thought to do it? Was it because back then he was still so ashamed of what he was desperately trying not to be? Was he that hurt by the fact that the closest person he had left him? Was it his ego? No. The answer was frighteningly simple, yet strong in its familiarity.
Because John was always the one who did all the fighting.
All the good and all the bad. He never needed saving, that's why. Could the realization get any worse? But of course. Because it never even occurred to him, that possibility. That John needed anyone.Now it sounded ridiculous – everyone needed someone, right? – but John was always so… John.That didn't change the fact that back in the days, Bobby had been basically a glorified fire-extinguisher in case of any of John’s “mishaps” happening, reading the blonde well enough to be able to run interference in any of those cases after having grown together joined at the hip like they did and yet, not even once did it occur to him that maybe, John wouldn't leave if there was somebody to stop him to begin with. Not in a sense of fighting him, no. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced all it would have taken would’ve been to ask. Fucking ask.Because John was a walking minefield, a "ticking timebomb", but what undid him – every single time – whenever his control slipped were the most simplistic solutions. Things, that were so minimalistic that they seemed almost of no importance. Meaningless to anybody else but him. They had their value, though. They translated into something else inside his head, something worth stopping for. Something worth changing his mind and doing one-eighty in one second flat.Half of those times, Bobby himself had no idea what it was; he just knew what to say. Innately. Somehow.Until he didn't.The one time he should’ve the most, he blanked. He didn’t notice, skipped on his cue, on the knowledge that he was supposed to say something. To do something. Was he really so useless?
You never even tried to get him back.
Guess that's a yes.But he did, he did try to get him back.
Only it took them fighting for real against each other, the rest of what happened on Alcatraz, grand chase through a city, way more than just a couple of months overall and resulted in an icicle stuck in John's side.

Good job.

“Maybe you've punched in way too much crap to exclude, big guy.”Bobby was really of not much use in a laboratory. He wasn’t even allowed to do anything (other than look) inside the mansion’s laboratory, period, therefore nowadays, he simply melded with the background, taking a spot somewhere out of the way and basically just waiting for science miracles to happen. It was just a lot of waiting for Bobby as a whole lately. By now it felt like a well-worn routine to him.It would make him feel bad or even downright guilty for not being any better at Biology – it’s usually how things go with him in such instances – if he didn’t know exactly how bad he was at the subject. Sure, he could still ace a test, but that was basically all there was to it.Wolverine didn’t strike him as a particular expert either, but the guy still came up with something to say on that matter anyway. As he had just proven.“That’s impossible,” Dr. McCoy was quick to deny, his words infused with such conviction and bewilderment that Bobby held no doubt the man was genuinely perplexed by all of this instead of being too prideful to admit there were too many filters up like Wolverine just suggested. “I literally put in a simple command to search through all females in our combined database.”Yes, they were back to trying to look up who Al's mother was with the help of a bit of Al’s DNA and their database, but the technology still seemed adamant about not wanting to work.There’s been a moment once – a single second, really – when Bobby considered Mystique as the possible mother but that thought died in flames as fast as it appeared.She might’ve been the one who brought her here, who was this silent sentinel around her, but yeah, no. Definitely not. Especially after he’s seen her and John interact with each other. Then, most definitively, after remembering that urban chase of theirs.Walking over, Wolverine sided up to the other hulking man, a look of concentration on his face as he tried to stare the keyboard before him down into submission.“How does this machine work again?”“You have to fill in the data into the form-"“Lucky I'm not fond of doing that then, right?" Bobby couldn’t properly see over Wolverine’s shoulder what he had done exactly, but whatever it was, it was very brief since the telltale click of an enter signalizing the start of a new search came almost the very next second.Did he even manage to check mark anything in there before hitting that button?The answer to that question came soon enough.“Logan, you can’t just search through the entire database-”“Why not?” That simple comeback sounded like a genuine challenge of the system. Not the other man’s work, but rather the customary way in which things were done.“There’s around seven-point-five billion people in the world – in this database. It will take forever to compare the DNA and find the match.”“Maybe, but maybe that's also exactly what we need.” Wolverine was sounding like he always did whenever having one of those hunches of his and just like that, Bobby knew that now it would be damn near impossible to steer him away from that now. The most probable result of even trying to attempt such a thing would be him shaking them off.Dr. McCoy seemed to be of the same opinion since he chose to go with the smart approach. Which was to reason the man into conceding.“What do you mean?”To which Wolverine pulled a full house just like he always did:“What if John's lady isn't registered as a female, but as a male instead?”
Wai-what?!
“Why would anyone-” It doesn’t click inside Dr. McCoy’s head at first and neither in Bobby’s but the ex-cage fighter id quick to clear that up for them.“Transgender? Intersex guy? Look, I've seen a lot over the years and I’m not even talking about mutants here. Guys in dresses and girls wearing pants and ties aren't as much of a rarity or a kink as public would want them to be. They just are. Maybe the kid’s lady's one of them.” Then, he finally seems to take Dr. McCoy’s expression fully in, sudden understanding dawning on his own face, amused grin and all.“You’ve never been to any seedier place than is your laboratory, were you, Furball?” Were it allowed, he’d definitely pull a Cuban cigar out of a pocked and lit it right then and there, puffing at it entirely way too pleased with himself.To Dr. McCoy credit, though, he didn’t back down a single bit.“Well, seems there’s no denying both of us were clearly busy with different pastimes in our youth, my boy.” Quite some diplomatic riposte if Bobby ever heard one. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who thought so.“Ah, that was a good one, grandpa,” Wolverine grinned, almost proud.The other man only gave that light-lipped smile of his but Bobby could see the full radiance of the emotion hidden behind it.All of that ease was gone the second warning sounds started blaring, blasting through the room.“Looks like it won’t take forever afterall.” It took Wolverine’s comment for Bobby to realize that the awful sound was in fact directly connected to the search they were conducting and in the midst of here, instead of alerting to some sort of oncoming danger. Then, it hit him just what the sound in regard to that meant. Could only mean.They found her.They found the girl.His mind kicked up from zero to one hundred in a blink of an eye, he himself not even capable to keep up with it, with the thoughts and doubts and fear, a gaping vast space in the middle of chest reserved just for that single occupant to freeze him from the inside and not in the good way and he must’ve seriously spaced out, spectacularly at that, too, because both Wolverine and Dr. McCoy were now staring at him as if he’d just grown a second head.“Bobby?”Little did he know that wasn’t the reason behind that at all.

Turns out there was no girl at all.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Silent and unmoving, Bobby watches Al sleep peacefully in John’s lap, holding onto his finger as the blonde meditates. He’s looking at the screen that holds everything… everything he never thought he wanted, needed, this desperately until just recently. Yet he feels half-full, half-empty. Yet he has no way of approaching that image, getting close to it. So he just… stays there, watching.

After the others found out, the Professor agreed to Bobby’s request to be allowed inside the Danger room again. Bobby holds no hope for a happy family reunion, but he just wants to be close. Closer. He needs to be closer.The next handful of days see him through a series of spotty visits. ‘Spotty’ not only because of their varied timing but also because they never take long. In fact, they were pretty short, especially in the beginning. The very first one ended up with an impromptu trip to the infirmary right after opening the Danger room’s door because, clearly, John wasn’t keen on visitors. Or he just didn’t appreciate Bobby’s presence. It was hard to tell at that point.However, after an indeterminable number of misfires – more on his part than John’s Bobby suspected – he got to a point where he was allowed to stay inside. Barely even a few feet away from the entrance, but he was there. Being let to stay there without any sort of retribution coming his way for that.John, in his true stubborn fashion tended to claim the middle of the huge room, unwilling to be intimidated into a corner, although during his initial attempts Bobby’s presence seemed to do just that. Or rather than intimidating the blonde, John simply deemed the very opposite end of the room much more to his liking, unwilling to be any closer to him than he really had to be.Bobby couldn’t exactly fault him for that. That said, however, he couldn’t very well let this be either. Let it end like this. Not to mention he genuinely missed Al. Long before he found out she was his… too. Yeah, he still might have some trouble saying that as well. But he did feel robbed of her presence. Therefore, one day, having upgraded to shortening the distance by half at that point and steeling himself for possible bad reaction, he encouraged a single, tiny snowflake into existence before sending it John and Al’s way.Only for it to be immediately vaporized out of existence by a whip of a flame gobbling it down. Well, if nothing else, it garnered John’s full attention. With sharp, wary eyes boring into him, he slowly extended his arm out before propping it on his knee, palm up as if in offering.No reaction.He let another snowflake pop into existence right there in his palm.Nothing.It was wholly possible if not probable that John couldn’t even see what he got there, but if he could snap the previous snowflake as fast as he did, he most definitely could feel any surge of Bobby’s power – or anything with its signature on it.Nudging his new creation to take up to the air, he guided its glide over the vast space again.This time, it took John longer to snuff it out. In fact, he allowed it to get hell of a lot closer to them than the one before, letting it do its thing until it apparently made a mistake of pushing it, encroaching on forbidden territory.Swift as the blade of an unseen knife, the flames that minded their own business up to that point, swallowed it whole and that was the tragic end of that attempt.The next one met almost exactly the same fate except it got even that bit closer before John decided to take action. Which, coincidentally, was not before Al managed to notice it.“Agaga!” And John’s eyes narrowed as he realized what Bobby just did.Because there was suddenly no stopping Al from reaching out towards Bobby now, her recognizing him as the source of that snowflake. The girl was undeniably excited and ready to play and the longer John refused to let her, the closer they were to a tantrum of an epic proportions. He seemed to be painfully aware of that, too, because he reluctantly relaxed his hold on her.The second he did so, she was rushing over to Bobby and for a baby, she was damn fast.Although her immediate thrill shining through what must’ve been every single pore on her body Bobby didn’t dare to even think about picking her up. No. He was painfully aware of John’s eyes locked on him for that. Like a hawk waiting for its prey to make a mistake – or like a hawk who was daring him to try lay a finger on its youngling, there was no doubt about what would happen if Bobby did that.Which he was all too happy to skip out on, showering Al with snow and making her giggle instead. He was already feeling kind of bad – or maybe more like a dick – for having done this (although it was far from an underhanded move on his part, come on, John saw everything) and for being this happy about it working but it did work and there was nothing that could make him regret it. Keeping some insignificant distance from Al? Yeah, he could do that. He could handle that.

It comes to a point when only Bobby keeps on visiting, and each of those times, he’s allowed that bit closer and each of those times they end up staring at each other. John's regularly the one who stares Bobby down. No matter what questions are thrown at him – he doesn’t answer to any of them, in fact, he doesn't speak at all – it soon turns into pure staring contest before Bobby has to leave again. And while in John’s case this whole thing might be all about being ready for a trap to go down or whatever, Bobby has some genuine trouble to keep himself from having a meltdown right infront of the guy.So instead, he avoids John’s gaze now, choosing to steal mere glances at him when the blonde’s not looking. Like a damn schoolboy.It only ends up being yet another torture, too, because while in the beginning, Bobby had to literally fight for being allowed to stay here with no time to stew in emotions, now he’s drowning in them each time he looks up.Today’s no different. Well. Almost.John’s unusually not aflame this time around. Al’s flopping and flipping around next to him as usual, however, and he’s… he’s still looking worse for wear. Bags under his eyes and definitely skinnier than Bobby remembers him ever being, but at the same time, in that moment, all Bobby can see is alive. Yes, that word is becoming his new constant – and he has no qualms about that either.It’s not until Al wiggles over to him that John snaps from his meditative state or whatever, but by then she’s already crawl-wormed her way onto Bobby’s lap and who is Bobby to push away someone this cute. Hey, he holds no responsibility for this, okay?As if to demonstrate exactly that, his hands go up in a universal gesture for “I didn’t do anything” long before John has even a chance to stab him with a look (because no, we don’t deal with the playground-kind of a piercing gaze here, no; we stab right through instead, no questions asked).As for Al? She headbutts him for all his trouble. Not that he dares to let his eyes leave John’s face and look at her since there’s still a real danger of him burning him up to crisps and while he didn’t forget what his ability is and that he can defend against that, he’d rather skip this whole tango routine altogether. His lower ribs aren’t happy campers, though, that’s for sure (surprisingly, Al doesn’t make any sound signalizing gaining any sort of head injury).This standoff lasts for a minute before John sighs like an actual human being – no, like the John he remembers – shoulders hunching a bit. There’s still tension in them, though, even as he shuffles a bit around before speaking up:“Come on, Eli. Good job getting over there, now bring it home.” Voice raspy and somewhat stilted, John pats his legs in clear encouragement.But ‘Eli’ has already made herself all too comfortable on her newly acquired throne called Bobby’s lap, patting his knees while said throne is still stuck gaping like a fish on a dry land because suddenly, John is talking now and Al – Eli – is sprawled on him and he wasn’t expecting either of those things to happen today. Or, you know, ever. And Bobby is holding this tiny baby, knowing what he knows now, and it feels utterly surreal. All of it.As he looks up to purloin yet another snapshot of a glance at John, he’s directly met with familiar eyes instead, the view paralyzing his body while turning his brain into one of a simpleton. And same as with Al claiming him all by herself, he’s not responsible for what comes out of his mouth next either.“Hi.” This wouldn’t happen in a half-decent movie. Hell, this wouldn’t happen even in a half-decent sitcom. What kind of a bumbling idiot says that – just that – anyway? Apparently, he does.It’s more than understandable when John shakes his head, disbelieving snort closely following.“Cut the crap, Drake. What’s your game?”He could kind of see why John and Mystique got along so well. And could John maybe stop with the “Drake” thing?“My game? This isn’t a game, John! Not to me!” Bobby wasn’t ready for such strong surge of frustration that spilled out with the words, surprising himself.“I know they sent you here.” John was calm, yet insistent. As if stating simple facts and merely demanding honesty; demanding confirmation. No accusation, no nothing and still, it made Bobby go on the defensive because he wasn’t sent here!“Nobody sent-”“Bobby, do you hear me?” The voice comes right from within his ear and all of a sudden, he gets this feeling like none of what’s happening is real, can’t be because he’s apparently wearing a stealthily hidden communication device in his ear while with his family and why would he ever do that? Why would anyone do that? Have that?No.He shook his head, hoping it will force things to make sense again. To go back to how they were. Him, John and Eli.“I came here because I wanted to,” He manages to get out with some difficulty, floundering. Maybe if he’ll ignore it-“Bobby, just do what I say if you hear me,” And it’s the Storm’s voice again, clearly far from gone – or going away. “Leave. Leave now. Take Elemental with you.”Things start getting twisted because he knows now, he remembers that he entered the room with the tech, he put it inside his ear himself but not because he wanted to steal Eli away. It was just in case things go bad because he intended to get a lot closer than ever before and “what if they’ll need to come up with some serious maneuvers and strategy to get him back out of there” and so he agreed to wear the damn thing and then completely forgot and-In a matter of seconds, the whole scene, the whole picture turned upside down and there was no going back.“You want me to believe that?”“Bobby, take her and get the hell out.”“It’s true,” The muscles of his jaw started flexing with the power he was grinding his teeth with at what they wanted him to do, to just leave, as he did his best to save this, save them.“I doubt it.”“What are you doing, Bobby?” And now it was Kitty whose voice sounded in his ear, “You need to get out. Come on, Bobby, come back.” And wasn’t that just a parody of the very brief relationship they shared right there. Because he couldn’t stay with her back then because of John. He couldn’t “come back” now because of John, too. He wanted to save this. He wanted not to fuck this up again.Maybe what did it was a slightly far away look. Maybe he took too long to come up with any sort of reply (entirely too possible since it was hard to tell time right now). Maybe his body betrayed what was actually going on by some sort of twitch or by being too stiff or maybe it was something completely different. Whatever it was, it made John become suspicious.“Let her go, Drake.”“Just take her and get out. Please, Bobby.”“No. Wait. John, no.” He was half talking to Kitty and half to John at the same time now, trying to convince them both – hell, all three, himself included – that he actually knew what he was doing here."Put. Her. Down. Drake." John looked positively livid now and it hit Bobby lightning fast that John must’ve just realized the others were talking to him. Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit. What was he supposed to do now?!
Bobby…
And once he heard the Professor’s voice inside his head, it became just too much."I said NO!"And then, it was as if a whole another entity was the one watching John pull out his trademark zippo, the one Bobby also brought to him some days ago as a peace offering of a sort. He remembers how he had pleaded the Professor to be allowed to do that, arguing that John was obviously capable of keeping his fire on indefinitely anyway – with or without the thing so how could possibly hurt. If anything, it’ll show their good will and willingness to reach an agreement, he said.Now, the small metal rectangle made its way into John’s palm, and there could be no hopeful thoughts about any sort of agreement anymore as John gave his last warning:“Drake. You let go of her right now.”
NO!
He had genuinely no idea whether it was spoken aloud or not, but once he could feel himself getting back from that weird out-of-body experience, he refocused on John with his own eyes again and definitely speaking with his mouth now, he shouted: “John, wait!”The zippo had been already flicked open, fire dancing in the palm of John’s hand and ready to thrive. The blond did pause, however.“Okay! Okay. Look. I'm putting her down.” And he proceeded to do just that. He was glad that the comms stayed silent and there was no stopping the wish for them to stay that way forever. As abandoned as that left him feeling on one hand, on the other he needed t fix this and yeah, none of those voices would help him with that. “I just- I'm sorry. I just wanted-” John didn't wait for him to finish. Instead, he grabbed for Al like a wild animal, getting its cub back, immediately getting up on his feet right after.Al let out a confused gurgle, her tiny arms flailing, reaching out in Bobby's direction; what with him being suddenly several feet away from her when just seconds ago, she was being held by him.“- to hold her a bit longer,” He finished lamely, murmuring into the ground, before following John’s example and standing up, too.He could literally see John’s wheels turning at that, brows frowning. He could also see the moment it all clicked together.“You know she's yours.”The flame didn’t go away. Not at first at least. It wasn’t snapped out of existence, merely send to levitate by John’s side instead and even then, only for him to be able to get a better grip on Al. She was getting bigger.“Yeah.”Somehow, John’s display of his fiery element surrounding him seemed way more deliberate now.“How.” John’s tone was as flat as before and he wasted no time on any extra words either. It was almost like talking to a self-checkout and not John at all. If he didn’t see the blonde with his own eyes, hear that familiar voice, he would be already expecting getting a total for his purchase.It sounded nothing like what John embodied ever since Bobby can remember. It was also a staggering contrast to what Bobby had briefly chanced on seeing when Al had crawled over to him. Seemed ages ago now. Seemed like a place, a point in time, he desperately wanted to go back to.Knowing all too well that there was no way to do that, however, he did his best to at least answer John’s question.“Database search,” At least that one, he didn’t need to explain. “At first, we had no luck with that. for obvious reasons.”When John didn’t react, saying nothing to any of that, Bobby couldn’t keep his mouth from adding:“You knew we were trying to find out who her mother is.” He saw it himself, Mystique telling him about it.It wasn’t an accusation. Or maybe a bit. But not quite. And certainly not concerning what he just said, not truly. It was all about John leaving and from all the moments this inner, festering hurt could pick from to emerge and add up to ruining things, it picked now.There was never a sure way to predict John’s reaction and this time was no exception.“To say a friendly hello, I bet.” Sarcasm or no sarcasm, Al was definitely picking up on the mood because instead of fussing, she curled herself as deep within the curve of John’s neck and chin as she could, unnaturally quiet. John’s arms only flexed that much more firmly, securely around her at that.“John-”“I'm not giving her up. I'm not giving her to you.” The words and stare that landed on Bobby there were definite, intense eyes just daring him to challenge that. All the years of unapologetic confidence something that had been so often confused with arrogance, stood right before him, personified. For all the vibe John emitted, he might as well be a huge brick wall, ready to throw some of the left-over material at him at a moment’s notice.Why was it that he seemed to be literally incapable of ever finding the right words? Thinking that, he decided to stick with the simple – also because there really wasn’t time to come up with anything better."I don't even want that!""They do."He felt as if slapped by that. There was nothing for him, no other option he could respond with other than one.He stayed silent.Because he was crap at lying, remember? And because he didn’t want to lie anyway. this was about to blow up in his face either way. All he could do now was to just get ready for it."I don't want that," he whispers after a while of nothing happening and against his better judgement. John always had this great ability of making him nervous with prolonged silences. He had this whole thing going on with it and Bobby always crumbled if left exposed to it long enough. Like right now.Which would be how he got here, basically naked, defenseless, and waiting for the onslaught.“Leave.”Fuck.His insides giving a sharp twist at that single word, his breath got effectively knocked out by that single word. Fuck, this was way worse than any of the burns John gifted him with in the first week. It was worse than anything he could remember.Unable to bring himself to speak, he stayed put, sending John a pleading look instead.The only answer he gets is John drawing up a fiery wall between them, then rigidly turning and walking further into the room. Further away from him. Bobby doesn’t even expect him to speak up anymore, but then John does and it’s without even turning back around and he merely asks:“Aren’t you gonna stab me in the back again?”Bobby leaves.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

He wished John wouldn’t have said that.

The others aren’t much impressed with him either. Kitty and Peter steer clear of him entirely, each time Storm looks his way, he swears he can see disappointment in her eyes although her overall expression is more on the sad side than anything else. Dr. McCoy seems at a loss of words for once whenever he and Bobby even meet in a hallway, which would be damn funny any – literally any – other time considering his career and as for the Professor, he decided it’s not such a great idea for Bobby to visit the Danger room anymore which spoke volumes in and of itself.The only ‘normal’ reaction comes from Wolverine of all people. The guy just continued to act the same as ever. Except the initial half-awkward pat on a shoulder and succinct commentary of “Life sucks, kid.” once Bobby got out of that room, it was like nothing happened. When Bobby realized he tends to gravitate towards the guy lately, it gave him hell of a pause at first but yeah, if Rogue’s crush is the only person left not looking at him like he just killed the neighbor’s cat in cold blood? He’ll take it.He’s not allowed into the observation room anymore either, but from what he heard, John’s back to making a bonfire out of himself and Mystique being the sole exception who gets to step over the threshold of the Danger room.Yeah. John’s words and all of this included was well-deserved, but he still wished… he wished he could’ve saved this.

If there was something one could count on, it was time keeping on doing its thing, not waiting on anyone no matter what was happening in anyone’s life.Days flew by in something of a uniform fashion and everything stayed pretty much like how things were left before. What was different about it, however, was the fact that Bobby couldn’t really bring himself to care about having been turned into an X-outcast anymore.It was funny because when he was younger, he always dreamed of being part of the X-team, of doing all of those awesome, heroic things people like Scott Summers, Dr. Grey or Storm did for all the others. He lived and breathed the idea of becoming one of them one day. Then it happened and it was as great as he imagined and then more and even when things turned bad, Bobby enjoyed them trying to solve whatever problem they were facing. Now, however, it all felt… lousy. Yeah, just that.As if he didn’t feel like shit already. Maybe he was coming down with something? Early burnout?Speaking of burning… His brain was damn fast to pick on that one and there was no stopping it from flinging Bobby down the rabbit hole once again.Fate had a sick sense of humor, that was the only possible answer to this, to everything that had been happening. Him and John… Who’d ever come up with that? They were so unlike each other that it was probably truly bound to happen only to fuck everyone up and show them how bad of an idea it was to begin with.A grotesque variation on love. The Phantom of The Opera’s bad guy wasn’t nearly as disfigured as this was. Seriously. They were all kinds and flavors of fucked up, Bobby mused but even as he thought that he couldn’t bring himself to wish for it to go away.He wished he hadn’t fucked up. He wished John hadn’t said… Well, Bobby wished for a lot of things, but he didn’t want this, them, to go away.That was probably the reason why the pain kept on returning and with vengeance, him causing it to have no reason to leave because he didn’t want to let go of this.He could’ve had a beautiful girlfriend that cared about him, something his parents could be proud and happy about, maybe become a future role model to the younger students here, someone worth that status, but none of that sounded tempting like it did before. Not anymore.Perfect is stupid, he agreed with a memory of long ago.Somebody knocking on his door cut through his train of thoughts, effectively making it all disperse in a haze of useless nonsensical segments until nothing remained.
Did someone really…?
Nobody came by his room these days. Was it just his imagination playing tricks on him then?After a bit, the insistent sound came again.Well, that sorted that one out.Getting up and off his bed, he shuffled his way over to his door, hoping none of the kids cracked their head open falling down the stairs or something, another one coming to ask him to come help with cleaning the blood and hiding the body.Opening the door, he had to chide himself to drop John’s sense of humor – just in case his visitor truly turned out to be one of the kids. Then he finally looked up.“Done with feeling bad for yourself or should I come again later?” Mystique asked, leisurely leaning on his doorframe.

This was all kinds of fucked up and he didn’t even really know why he was going through with it. Oh, he knew all too well why he had agreed to supply the opportunity for this, but why did he come up with this condition? Oh yeah, he knew the answer to that one as well, so maybe the real question was, once again, when did it occur to his brain it’s such a great idea to take an active part in the grand escape itself? Because that was exactly what they’re doing right now.Mystique’s taking care of providing distraction inside the Mansion, so it’s just him, John and Al out here. Hopefully. Nothing was indicating that they’ve been found out already, so off they were sneaking over to the wooded part of the grounds since long stretches of lawn with no cover whatsoever would be impossible to clear without getting noticed.He’s feeling a bit on edge because everything’s going eerily all too well. Bobby wasn’t one to ask for problems, but yeah… it’s weird. And great at the same time. For how much serious this is, he and John running together? It reminded him of when they were younger, always on some kind of a mission doing their utmost best to spy on adults.This should definitely feel more dangerous. Or maybe he should get his head out of his ass, shake this funk off of him and pay attention, maybe then he’d be able to actually tell if there was something wrong, some kind of trouble or not.They weren’t stopping anywhere unless they truly had to like when checking their surroundings before having to traverse a patch of grassy, open land. It was strange and at the same time telling how despite having led separate lives for a whole year, they had no trouble whatsoever finding their place next to each other. Sometimes it was John who would lead the way and then, they’d smoothly transition to Bobby switching up with him when he knew about a better way around something.They worked like a well-oiled machine and that was with John having had no qualms about letting Bobby know what he thought about him joining up for the run. Ever since then, they kept silent – which was kind of a must, considering what they were up to anyway.That said, John’s disgruntled expression the moment Mystique had smuggled him outside and over to who turned out to be Bobby hidden in the bushes (“Classy, Drake.”) didn’t inspire any spark of hope for…anything.Therefore, in that moment, Bobby had convinced himself that he had insisted on coming along on this part of the escape routine so as to find out what weaknesses the mansion’s defense had. It was his only defense mechanism against the blow and seeing that they still had to get John and Al out, it was better than any other alternative.There was a lot to evade or trick and then there was still the issue of getting past the main gates. Or rather past a different, less conspicuous and frequented spot would be preferable. The thing was, nobody wanted another attack like the one from Striker, so here Bobby was. Yeah, that was it. It had nothing to do with the ever growing dread the closer they got to the said gates.The whole escape did not take nearly as long as something of this scale oughed to. It flew by in a blink of an eye and now they stood by the wall surrounding the grounds and this was probably the last time he gets to see them both. And Bobby, against all of his better judgement, couldn’t fight off the sudden need to stall.“What are you going to tell her when she asks who's her other parent?” He didn’t even know how that came up in his mind first before it was out. But now that he said it, he found himself wanting to get the answer to it as bad as if it was his only lifeline.To John’s credit, he didn’t mock him about any of possible particulars which led to this question. He didn’t mock his timing either. He seemed genuinely surprised in fact. For a second anyway. He smoothed out his expression quick, however, back into its default form, ever-guarded blue eyes boring into his.“She won’t.”Of course she won’t. As if that made any sense. But clearly, to John it did. Bobby decided not to comment on it, though, because they didn’t have much time left and he was desperate for… anything, really. Well, maybe except for a fight which would most probably break out of he did. he didn’t want that.Shifting his weight from foot to foot, he glanced sideways at the wall before shifting his gaze back on John as he couldn’t quite let the topic go.“Then what will you tell her when she asks how she got here? Or she won’t ask about that either?”That seemed to hit a bit of a nerve with the blonde.“I’ll tell her I spawned her myself, alright? Is that enough for your hurt vanity and ego? I won’t lie to her about anything. She won’t ask about her father because she won’t miss anyone.” His voice was merely an angry hiss by the end of it.“Only because she won’t know better!”John didn’t hesitate to shoot him a scathing look, one that had this whole “Could you maybe shout any louder? I’m sure there’s still someone in the mansion left who didn’t hear you.” thing going on. He didn’t leave, though, so clearly, he was up for this discussion. He was proven right.“Would it be, though?”“What!” Okay, maybe he was getting a bit frustrated here. But just the way John answered-!“Better. Are you truly interested in her, in having a daughter or are you just pissed off that I didn't come running to you, telling you about her?”Bobby was flabbergasted. And speechless.“You see? That's a wrong answer and even an asshole like me can see it's wrong. So, you better drop it before you get burned.” The words were harsh, unapologetic – exactly like the person who spoke them.That was apparently all he was going to get as well, because John turned his back on him after that. Literally. Coming closer to the wall, John carefully shifted Al onto his back and at the sight Bobby realized he didn’t even get to hold her for the last time and-The blonde didn’t wait on any help from Bobby, instead jumping up on his own, fingers finding a good enough hold at the top of the wall first before starting to pull up until he was able to hoist himself up completely.And all Bobby could do was stare. Everything was just slipping through his fingers again.He didn’t expect John to hesitate once at the top of the wall. For whatever reason he did, though.“Hey, Drake.” Bobby really missed all the silly nicknames John used to call him in that moment.“Yeah?” John was looking down from above at him and for a bit there he looked like he wanted to say something before changing his mind.“You’re a good guy." The second it left his mouth, John slipped down to the other side of the wall. And he was gone.Bobby never thought hearing that would ever feel bad.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Six months later…
 Being outside like this, in the middle of nowhere and breathing this fresh, cool air, Bobby couldn’t help but take a second and just bask in it. The serenity of this place also made him reminiscent on past once he started on his track again, however, in a relaxed, casual manner. It was a lot different to reminiscent nowadays. Less urgent. Less stressful. Less harmful. Less guilt infested.The past couple of months… It truly allowed him to grow. To make up his mind about a lot, to become the person he wanted to be. It was something of a process over the years, that’s for sure, but now, he could finally feel himself being at the stage where it all made sense, that made it all worth it. Well, at least he hoped so.So as he made his way through the snow-covered landscape, cheating against nature only a little bit with his power to make for a smoother, easier passage through the generously layered blanket of snow, he let his mind loose itself a bit down the memory line. It closely pertained to the reason why he was here to begin with after all.Ever since he could remember, he always felt this compulsive need, had this persistent notion and yearning at the forefront of his mind. When he was still at home with his family, it was of being the best son he could possibly be, one his parents could be proud of. When he arrived at the mansion, it changed into becoming an X-men and with that the best version of himself he could ever be which in turn would allow him to be able to help other people. But how could he achieve that while being what he was around John? With his... arrangement with John? He had genuinely believed that he wasn't supposed to want to do any of it. How could he possibly be gay and a good son or gay and an X-men people could rely on or even look up to?So he chose firm denial. Focusing on having great scores at school, becoming a better fighter, better boyfriend, better X-men, better anything else, that would make it disappear or at least make up for it. He didn't want to be gay, because he was mutant already and wasn't that enough on his plate alone?He could still remember the paralyzing fear he felt back then. The thought of losing his friends if he’d tell them. He already lost his parents due to being mutant. Mutants couldn’t very well shun him for being one of them, but they could sure do so for that secret. So he didn’t tell anyone. And then it was back to the good old excuse: Maybe, maybe it was all just his imagination. A mere confusion or a phase; just teenage hormones and experimentation.Then he told Kitty because she deserved better.Then Al happened along.And John was back.And marking it all down like this, hindsight truly was 20/20. Simple. Sorted and crystal clear.Checking GPS to make sure he didn’t steer off course, he looks up, scanning the horizon. After another minute or two, he is finally able to catch sight of what was promised to him off in the distance. A somewhat partially hidden silhouette of a cabin is calling him from his eleven o’clock and from then on, each step he takes closer to it gets easier and easier, almost as if the snow’s gone altogether (and it’s entirely possible that his powers had something to do with that).The structure is half-swallowed by some of the heavy branches of trees standing nearby, making it almost look like a mere entrance straight into a tree line itself. It must be the only manmade habitat in at least an eight mile radius around here and it looks tiny even without that natural camouflage it has going on there, but it could not look an better to him even if it were thrice the size or bearing neon lights spelling warm welcome (well, coming to think of that, those neon lights would actually make it way worse).What feels like no time at all, he finds himself at the front of this cabin, taking everything in.On closer look, the wooden building can’t deny being of an older date and its style is more on the simplistic side, spared from any attempt at something elaborate. While that might be to the detriment anywhere else, here, it made the whole picture look homey already and he hasn’t even seen the inside yet.Speaking of, Bobby isn’t quite sure what to expect now to be honest. Doors bursting out with flare like in the movies? He did not, after all, bother to muffle any of the noises he made during his approach here. That was also the reason why he stayed a respectful distance away from the door; he didn’t want to get smacked in the face by them for one, and second, it was unclear what sort of welcome he’s going to receive here, so he might as well stay put.Keeping himself busy with studying the chopping block stationed off to the side on the right before switching to two small windows with no movement behind them, he waited for a bit before establishing that, well, it was probably time to brave the cave himself now.There was no doubt about someone being inside, what with the chimney merrily puffing up smoke up into the sky, and once Bobby stepped inside, it got only further confirmed. There were sounds coming from all over the house and in some cases, it was difficult to guess what exactly it was that he was hearing or what was making them but that didn’t change anything when it came to the overall verdict.Definitely occupied.But still nobody crying murder at him or even rushing his way with a shotgun (something befitting these parts). Alright. Guess he was meant to go explore and investigate. So engaging all of his senses, he dives straight in.Right from the moment he managed to close the doors behind him, he could feel pleasant warmth trying to sneak its way under the layers of clothing he was wearing. Surely the work of a fireplace he could already hear crackling from somewhere deeper in the cabin.As for the room he was currently in, it didn’t take long to gather that this space must be something of a little hallway. Barely large enough to fit three people in at the same time, with only one door leading further into the house, it didn’t offer any other choice than to venture ahead, therefore, grabbing the door handle, he did just that.Wow. This space was thoroughly heated. Understandably much more so than the hallway, the room temperature was enough to make him consider shaking some of his layers first before continuing his explorations, but he persevered.Looking around the room, it was surprisingly spacious. Surprisingly, because it must be taking up a good half of the cabin’s layout, if not more. It was also the very room with the very source of all this warmth – a tiny fireplace, however, clearly with a lot to give. Count in the fact that the cabin sported barely a handful of windows all of which were on the small side and it wasn’t hard to understand how was the heat preserved so well within the cabin despite its location being in the middle of nowhere submerged in white.Keeping to the whole minimalist vibe of the place, the only other furnishing this room sported was a table, a single chair right by it, a lone twig of a library stationed in a corner and an unmade bed smack middle the space. Placed on any (and all) of the available surfaces, there were glasses or glass bottles of various kinds, shapes and sizes, clearly skipping on any particular care for esthetic side of things, each of them housing a little flame simply… sitting at the bottom.No petrol.No wicks.No nothing.Just the flame.Pulse skyrocketing, Bobby’s left with barely enough braincells surviving the rush to remind him that there still were noises left to identify, coming from somewhere behind a corner but oh my God, Mystique didn’t lie! She had been actually telling the truth!Heart still racing, he now turns towards the sound of water splashing and something completely unidentifiable over to his left as if that was his new lifeline. It was slightly muted by something of a wooden partition slash wall which run parallel to the length of the room but only to its halfway point. He can’t hear any voice to speak of, to marvel at, but he knows, he knows-He doesn’t even realize his feet led him over to where the partition ended, the only place that could possibly reveal what’s hidden there. Not until he’s standing there, staring at John’s slightly bent back doing dishes of all things.It was just so... domestic. Normal. And yet, at the same time, weird because-“Took you long enough to get your ass in here. What, enjoying the snow, Drake?”A steaming hot shower after a long, trying day – that’s what John’s voice sounded like. Just the sound alone felt like a damn hug after so long of being away. Damn, did he missed it. He didn’t care how much of a sap it made him.“If you knew I was there-” Apparently, he was destined to being cut off. Thoughts or words, John didn’t seem to differentiate or care about either.“Expecting warm, boisterous welcome, were you? Maybe some ‘fancy meeting you here’ thrown in there somewhere as well?”Said like that, it was ludicrous, especially when Bobby did not think that to begin with.“No.” But he did, maybe, envision this moment going a bit different. Nothing specific, no words in particular that John was supposed to say, nothing like that but… different. He wasn’t prepared, had no comeback ready for this, that’s for sure.Putting a freshly washed plate on a drying rack, John wiped his hands on a dish cloth lying nearby before finally turning around.“What are you doing here, Drake?”Staring at you like a bumbling idiot it seems. But there was no helping it.John looked good. Great in fact. No more bags under his eyes, no sallow skin, no tension gripping his whole body… Despite Bobby intruding on his home, there was this… ease that radiated from the blond. Sure, John didn’t loose any of his bite, still sharp and getting straight down to business as if cutting deals with mafia, but there was still no denying that. The closest Bobby could get to describing it was John being genuinely comfortable; content to be moored here.“Kitty got your tongue?” Ah. Damn that guy.“I wanted to see you,” Leaning back on that all-in-one kitchen unit and all, “Both you and Al.” Speaking of…“Are we your detour after a nearby mission, Drake?” John was faster with his next question, however, one that gave Bobby a pause because he was running through his head all possible ways he could answer with, trying to find the best option. Once set on one at last, he committed.“Not that nearby.” He was fully reinstated back into the X-men team again afterall (although he had never been officially demoted) and this came with that. “But yeah.”If he knew something about John, it was his preference for facts and honesty.“How did you even find out about this place?” That was kind of a loaded question and Bobby couldn’t keep himself from shifting his body weight from one foot to another uneasily.After John’s mysteriously successful escape from the Mansion, Mystique didn’t stick around for long either and much with the same flare as her student, she disappeared into the night. Just like that.X-men tried to find out how exactly could’ve both such events happen, but soon, they were faced with much more pressing issues to focus on. World always seemed on a verge of proving its determination to end and they had to do their best to prevent it from happening.What nobody knew was that Bobby might have helped Mystique out a bit with pulling a runner.Cue his presence here.But should he really tell John about that? Deciding to err on the safe side, he kept it as vague as possible.“Mystique might have said something.”“I don’t know what she was thinking letting you know about this place.” It was obvious he was speaking more to himself than giving a response directed at Bobby, but he decided to take it at its face value all the same.“Maybe that she could trust me?”“She wouldn’t,” John was quick to disabuse him of that notion, “Sooner, she’d work out how to make a trap out of this.”“For you or for me?” Bobby had his doubts about Mystique wanting to hurt John, what with her helping him the entire time he was stuck at the Mansion, but he did his best to stay open to all possibilities, no matter how small and improbable.“For whoever trying to outsmart her.” With that said, he seemed to be done with the topic because his next words skipped right over onto a completely unrelated territory:“What do you want?”The answer to that was easy. You. Bobby, however, figured that wouldn’t fly quite so well with the blonde standing infront of him, so instead, he changed that up a bit:“Talk.”“I didn’t mean you.” John was looking at him as if Bobby was being intentionally difficult – or dense, for that matter – here.  And did he just look a bit disappointed as well?
What?
Bobby really felt like he needed to defend himself here. Did John even know what he himself said before?“You just-”“What do you, X-men, want from me aside from getting me back into your clutches which is not gonna happen by the way?” John reiterated, half-patient half-exasperated there and now it made sense. Well, kind of. Did he really think Bobby would bring them here, even after helping to break him out?Judging from how his body went that slight bit tense just now? Yes, he did.“I’m not here on behalf of them.” There was a reason why he hadn’t come here sooner, why he waited until after this last mission. He wanted to come here alone. He came here alone. But John seemed to be deeply convinced about the opposite already:“Excuse my unwillingness to believe that they would let you come here otherwise.”“They don’t know. Not about me coming here and definitely not about you being here.”“Oh, they sure do.” Immediate opposition was where the life was around here it seemed. God, but John hasn’t changed a bit. Bobby told himself he’ll be glad about that again once they get past this and it won’t be so annoying anymore. There was a rightful outrage surplus regarding this, right-the-fuck-here.“I didn’t-”“Xavier.”One simple word was all it took to stop Bobby dead in his insulted tracks.He also didn’t miss John’s obvious reluctance to call the man “Professor”, but this was not the time to wonder, least of all question the reasoning behind it.Opening his mouth to challenge that – he closed it back up again.“He wouldn’t.”He was stunned beyond belief once the words left his mouth and he himself could hear a note of uncertainty in there. But he wouldn’t. Would he? Would the Professor really do that? What was worse, there was really no telling if he already did.“We shall see, shan’t we.”“Where does that leave us then?”“Where do you think?” John turned around to grab a mug full of dark liquid, taking a sip without any hurry.“I came here, John.” He genuinely didn’t know what else he was supposed to do, so what if his tone read “cut me some slack, would you”. But of course John wouldn’t.“Congratulations on that.” To say the blonde was entirely unimpressed with that would be an understatement. Bobby didn’t even mean it like that, damn it!“Can you maybe stop being a dick for a second?”At that, John’s eyes went up from his mug, directly meeting Bobby’s with confidence, unhesitating. And they just looked at each other for a good while.Bobby had no idea what John might be possibly seeing and although he didn’t avert his eyes, the longer they styed locked like this, the more he wanted to know. Right when it was starting to enter the sphere of unbearable, John broke the silence:“Who do you see yourself as?” There was no need for adding that only genuine answers were allowed but Bobby needed to make sure he understood the question right first to be able to answer it.“What do you mean?”“Who are you?” John’s eyes were still locked with his, as if telling him beforehand that he’ll be holding him accountable for whichever, whatever answer will come forth. There was no judgement, no spite. Not in his voice, not on his face – not even in how he was holding his body (which was a big one with John). Only a simple question remained.“I…just an ordinary guy.”Because he still didn’t see himself as someone special, not really. He might be a mutant but that didn’t make him special he was just… himself. Just Bobby. But then he remembered what he’d been doing before coming here; the responsibility but also the ability to finally fulfill his desire to help others. Yeah, he was that, too.“An X-men.”His eyes broke the eye contact right after saying that because he knew how much John despised them and he didn’t want John to see how much Bobby was actually proud to be one. Still.But with that answer, with that part of him came also John himself. John who was with him long before that, back when Bobby only dreamed about becoming one. John who was this unique, brazenly honest spark in his life – one that was utterly undiluted, too. John who was as important to him as the very purpose of X-men and then some.So, straightening back up, he found John’s eyes again before saying the next part, changing up their dynamic a bit, what with him being the one challenging the other this time around:“A sap that loves you.”And as much as John was clearly attempting not to move an inch, this was the time his hands automatically went to fold on his chest. Fuck.But then, Bobby got to notice a whole another thing. This whole time, intentionally or not, John’s body was shielding his view to a something of a niche where what looked like a cross between a crib and a car seat was stationed. It was made of wood, and looking inside it, Bobby finally got a glance at the third, youngest party here.“A… a father.”She’s grown so much. Her blond tuft of hair not a mere tuft anymore, too. She slept through this whole discussion peacefully and apparently had no interest of stopping anytime soon either.When Bobby looked back up again, he genuinely had no idea what to say. How to explain. What to choose. If he was even supposed to pick.“I’m all of those. I can’t…”“You know I can’t go back with you.” John’s voice was even, unfaltering. Not forbidding, no. Merely stating a fact that will never change. Informative and forewarning at the same time.“I don’t want us to end.” And how rich was it of him to say that when he’s been the one to fuck it up in the first place? Also, John would be well within his right to have some serious words to say about the “end” part specifically as well. Or safe himself the effort and just, you know, punch him straightaway instead.Officially, whatever it was he and John had going back then stopped basically nearly the very second Rogue got onto the scene, but somehow, they didn’t end, not really. No matter what happened ever since then and throughout the whole period John was away, Bobby still felt… connected to him. Not that he hadn’t tried his hardest to cut it off like the idiot he was, but even when he was with Rogue or Kitty, the two of them were still there like a current hidden beneath the surface.He didn’t want to see it, feel it, back then but here he is, back to the undeniable power of a hindsight.Mentally preparing himself, he did his best to psych himself up, get ready to silently endure the berating of his lifetime for putting his foot in his mouth like this – but it never came.Instead, there was a long silence to go through. Bobby almost wished for that railing instead.“…Then that’s where we are.”After that tense crater of time he just had to spent wondering, he couldn’t keep himself from wanting more than that.“What sort of answer is that?!” Which, startlingly enough, spurred the blond into moving forward, stopping toe-to-toe with Bobby.“A genuine one. Take it or leave it.” He slapped his chest and as he removed it, already on his way to retire to the other room, Bobby could feel something falling off of there. Instinctively catching the object mid-fall, he glanced down.At a condom.

“Harder.”Burying into that tight, sweltering heat with feelings alone, feeling home, wasn’t enough apparently. He didn’t even get enough time to adjust properly when a reminder came:“God-damn harder.” Husky voice urging him on, all he could do was comply – or at least try his best. Licking his way up the side of John's neck, his hold on those narrow hips turned into a death grip as he shoved inside.The drawn-out groan which followed was the only accolade he was going to get, he knew that, but fuck, was that enough. More than enough. As all good things tend to end, however…“If that’s all the intensity X-men got to offer-” Hips snapping like a rubberband, he forced his way in to shut him up.

When Bobby awakes the next morning, the room’s noticeably colder than the day before. One look at the fireplace reveals the culprit. There are just embers left there, dying their slow death already, one by one, only adding to this whole impersonal feeling that has taken over the whole room now that the warmth’s gone.All those glasses that had been lit with fire yesterday? They are showing their empty stomachs to him now as if they’re doing it on purpose, hungry for sustenance of the day before like he finds himself to right then and there as well. Speaking of fire…Looking around for John, he catches some movement from the corner of his eye, turning it into an all-out sighting just as John’s emerging from behind the partition. He’s fast to notice key details it provides as well.“What’s going on?” Shooting up into a sitting position, he has time for nothing other than that before John comes up to him, unceremoniously dumping Al into his lap with succinct instruction of “Hold her.”.So now they’re staring at each other, both him and Al in shock and him that extra bit of glad on top of that for the sheet still present between them.There’s no time to focus on that, however; not when there’s clearly something wrong since John’s holding a duffelbag, its full dimensions telling, and what with Al being fully clothed, too.Or not, Bobby immediately corrects himself as a miniature winter jacket and pants land on his head and in his face, respectively.“Make yourself useful, would you.” The words aren’t harsh but they are certainly rushed.It doesn’t take a genius to realize there’s an intent to leave and whatever is about to come with that, Bobby feels ill-prepared for, underdressed as he is.Therefore, after carefully laying Al down next to him on the bed, he starts the search for his clothes, then gradually getting dressed bit by bit.“Want to elaborate on this?”In the meantime, John’s picking up things from here and there, stuffing them into a ratty backpack, zig-zaging all around the room. With the blonde looking positively busy, Bobby entertains the idea that it might possibly distract John enough to be more open about sharing information.“Not particularly.”
It was worth the try.
“You’re leaving.” Pulling his T-shirt over his head, he’s quick to realize it’s not actually his because the thing’s way too tight everywhere.“You are, too, if that makes you feel any better.” And Bobby knows that even the mere idea is dumb, is not what John meant at all but hearing that, it made him think and once there, he could not stop-He has no time to ask before John adds: “Separately.”Right. Sure.Busying himself with a secondary search around the room instead, he reminds himself there’s no point being disappointed about it. As for the top-hunt itself, the room did not reveal any other T-shirt, so he keeps the current one on, shrugging it off. It won’t be the first time they shared. He just has to remember to change back to one of his own before returning back to the Mansion.His brain seems to be unable to give up on the previous topic quite as fast. Or easily.“I could – Maybe I could stay with you for a bit?”That finally makes John stop in his tracks, Bobby can gather as much. Eyes resolutely focused on the remaining heap of unearthed clothes; he does his best to transfer what’s on the bed back onto himself. He has no idea if John’s fooled.“Even If you’re right and Xavier really didn’t read your mind and isn’t on his way here, you have to return from your ‘business trip’,” As he says that, John goes back to his thing, the speed of it the same, however, he appears more composed now. The other possibility to what he just said doesn’t come much later.“And if he had, you have to get the hell out of here asap anyway, otherwise you’ll risk turning into a double-X.”Done with his own clothes, Bobby turns towards his toddler of a daughter to tackle what John tasked him with next – and just in time because, like every proper toddler, she made her silent, stealthy way over to the edge of the bed, her intent read loud and clear.Therefore, it’s valid to say, Bobby had been a bit distracted by fishing Al out of possibly very hurtful pool of trouble. But not that distracted. Or was he? What was it John just said?“What?” Bobby can swear he followed one hundred percent – up until that last code-word.“Ex. X. Men,” John’s eyes twinkled with amusement as he was explaining it, “You’re so lucky you’re pretty, otherwise this would be grounds enough to upgrade you to triple-x status.”This one Bobby got.“Seriously, Drake.”“Could you…” He knew he had no right to ask. None at all, but… “Could you stop calling me that?”Bobby turned genuinely confused when John wordlessly walked over to him only to start leaning in. Towards him. Then it clicked and Bobby was pretty sure John was going to kiss him. At the halfway point, hormones kicked in full force and he was more than ready for it already, come on, he could feel his warm breath on his cheek, nose brushing against his, so close-“Maybe next time.” Lips barely a hairsbreadth away from his, almost touching with each syllable – that’s all he got.All he was going to get apparently.Bobby had to close his eyes, willing his focus to shift onto something that at least still had a chance of panning out. It wasn’t going so well.“Now, get a move on.” Was the last thing John said being this close before straightening back up. Then, he returned to the spot where he had left the backpack lying on the floor.Watching John quickly fastening everything up went a long way to him being able to get back to his own work at last. He continued to at least partially watch the guy with a corner of his eye – him throwing the backpack over his shoulder next. Him going to grab the duffle bag after that, proceeding to basically do the same with it he’s done to its predecessor and, once happy with the result, grabbing it only to disappear into the hallway, fast to reappear again.Bobby was just making silly faces at Al while finishing zipping up her jacket when he noticed John writing something down on a piece of paper before putting it in his pocket. Turning around, he caught Bobby staring, but he didn’t let anything show either way.“You two done over there?”Simply nodding in answer, he picked Al up, all successfully dressed in her baby blue jacket, badass black pants, cute silvery cap with a pom-pom above each ear (hidden treasure of one of the jacket’s sleeves) and rainbow gloves (a hidden treasure inside the hidden treasure). They were ready to go alright.Which wasn’t such a great thought to begin with. Luckily for him, John didn’t give his brain time to start up any rant.“Give her here, I’ve got this.” John was by his side in a blink of an eye, arms already reaching out.“I can carry her.” And maybe he also didn’t want to let go of her sooner than he had to.“I’m sure you can. But you can also check if anybody’s outside. Without her in your arms.”“Check the window?”“Check my ass.”“Bossy.” He grumbled.“Do I need to kick your butt out the door or what?”So the next couple of minutes saw him checking the perimeter outside, Bobby going through the motions, before he could confidently state – or rather shout back – that the coast was clear. But once John emerged from the cabin with Al and the bags both, a whole another thing emerged with him as well.“When will I get to see you again?” He didn’t really wanted to ask, but he most definitely didn’t want to not ask.And that was the moment the slip of paper from before came into play it seemed, what with John passing it over to him after having fished it out of his pocket.“What is it?”“A slip of paper, asshole,” It was said in a tone that directly translated into “What do you think it is.”“Can you take the fucking thing now?”And maybe all that grumpiness was well-afforded, seeing how John had Al strapped to his chest, backpack on his back and the large travel bag hanging off his forearm since it slipped down there, the opposite hand still holding what now appeared to be an offensive piece of paper. Bobby would’ve offered to help but in his mind’s eye, he could see John already bristling at the idea and he didn’t even utter a single peep about that yet.He folded.“Alright.” Taking it from John’s slightly cold fingers, he studied its unassuming form. Torn of on one side, linked and with spacing between those lines that any other standard notebook paper had.Making sure to word the question properly this time around, he asked again.“What’s on it then?” His hands were already on the task of finding out, halfway to unfolding the note – but John’s own stopped them.“Don’t.” Once having served its purpose, the hand was gone again, only leaving him wishing it stayed. Leaving him wishing both John and Al stayed. But Bobby knew better. Swallowing, he looked up and this time, John offered up the answer without any prompting needed.“It’s your clue to where we will meet in August. Read it then.”“August? It’s already-”“Next year, idiot.”“But-”“You wanna do this? You gotta be smart about it.”Bobby had no words ready for that, so he merely stared at John with Al hanging off his chest, not for the first time realizing just how close he is to not see them. Again. It didn’t feel like getting any easier with practice. Not this.“Off you go.” And right there, Bobby could just imagine John calling him an Iceman again. It had this suddenly cut-off end going on and he couldn’t help but let his imagination run wild for a bit there, yearning for a better send-off than this, even just slightly, in that smooth voice of his. Off you go, Iceman.He didn’t ask why he had to leave first.He didn’t protest either, no matter how much his insides were trying to fight their way out of his body for it, having a different opinion about that.Leaning down instead, he kissed Al’s chubby cheek goodbye.Straightening back up he got barely enough time to meet John’s eyes.“You better not.”Right.Turning around, Bobby guessed it was really the time for him to get going and with that he made his first couple of steps out of there. John was never into overly (or at all) emotional, dragging goodbyes and clearly, that hadn’t changed. Not to mention it was truly better like this.Right.Then this awful thing hit, crushing fear overwhelming him at once and chilling him to the bone; everything inside him revolting at that anew and he whipped back around.“You sure it’s there?” Almost panting with the sudden panic, he had to ask.“Guess you’ll have to wait to find out.”“And you’ll be there?”“Guess you’ll have to wait to find out about that, too.”They were already a good distance away from each other (how Bobby managed to mistake that for “a couple of steps”, he had no idea) and Bobby found himself wishing to be back there to be able to shake that infuriating-“It’s there.” Bobby waited, then for a bit longer but nothing more came. Heart painfully desperate, he said the words himself instead.“I’ll be there.”John didn’t answer but he stayed put for a bit there, merely looking at him. Then he turned around to start trudging his own way in the opposite direction. Wordless and just like that.Bobby thought about watching him leave for a second there, but deciding against it, he told his legs to get on with it, making a new track of his own in the crunching snow, each step rendering the distance between them greater and greater.There was no reason to watch. This wasn’t the end, after all. He kept repeating that to himself and with each time he did, the pain lessened up a bit. Or maybe he was getting better at pretending. But he continued to hope nonetheless.This wasn’t the end.