Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, all right belong to Stan Lee and the respective owners and keepers of the characters.
Sheila in the Snow
Standing on the sidewalk, Saint John Allerdyce was smiling. It was strange, for though the man known to his friends and enemies as Pyro was often smiling it was the circumstances and kind of smile that was surprising. Pyro was smiling, a full fledged teeth showing smile, while watching a girl. Smiling while watching a girl was not in itself something strange it was simply that Pyro, an at times crazed pyromaniac was standing in the extremely heavy snow fall smiling a real smile at a girl he didn't know. The girl herself wasn't terribly remarkable either. Brown eyes and hair looking so plain that most people probably didn't notice her in normal circumstances. But at this time she was as far from normal as was that she probably thought she was completely alone out at one in the morning in the snow, she had no reason not to be doing as she was doing, spinning, and laughing, her face raised towards the sky. Snowflakes clung to her clothes, her eyelashes, her hair and still she stood there, eyes partially closed smiling up at the sky as it dropped crystallized water onto her skin. Pyro watched in awe, not completely sure why he felt like a player in the moth to a flame analogy and surprised that for once he was not and did not want to be the flame.
A snowflake landed on the girl's nose and Pyro found himself with the unshakable urge to kiss it away. Finding that he really couldn't stand to wait any longer, he walked toward her. His smile slipping into a more comfortable smirk, he walked towards her, words flowing forth from his lips as smoothly as fire itself. "'Lo Sheila, a bit late to be out and about don' ya think?". The girl looked up at him, her smile almost slipping from her face. It didn't, however, and she looked him directly in the eye without any hesitation. Enjoying her boldness and ignoring her lack of response, he moved forward and wiped a melted snowflake from her cheek. Tensing at his approach but seeming to be surprised at the lack of pain at his touch she opened her mouth and responded to his original inquiry "although it seems to be quite past your bed time, I really don't have any place better to be". Seeing the slight uneasiness the subject had brought, Pyro responded with a change in subject and commented in a slightly inimical fashion, "you seem to be rather fond of the snow and ice, Sheila". With a small shiver, the girl replied "I like snow as much as the next person but honestly it's too damn cold."
An easy grin came over Pyro's face but before he could see if this girl was anything like he was beginning to see her as, he needed to see just how she would react to his element. Pulling out his lighter he watched as her eyebrows rose and a slight pout came across her face, showing her confusion. Smirking, Pyro flicked the lighter open and watched happily as fire washed them both in it's warm glow. Calling upon his powers, Pyro began manipulating the fire. First he moved it in different patterns and then when he was sure of the girl's attention he shaped it into a flower. Seeing no revulsion or contempt in her face he smiled and slowly allowed the fire to flicker out. Noting an expression of loss similar to his own at the fire going out evident on her face, Pyro leaned forward and asked in a quieter, huskier voice "So then Sheila what do you say to telling this poor, innocent little aussie your name and what you're doing out at this time of night ?" Without a moment's hesitation, she responded "first off, you may be an aussie but I sincerely doubt you are anything that relatively resembles innocent. Secondly, if you want to know my name you'll have to tell me yours first, thirdly, I happen to be out at this time in the morning, might I add, for a very good reason." "and what might that reason be?" asked Pyro. With a small forlorn smile, she replied "that's a rather long story." Refusing to let up, Pyro responded "well I have all morning as you've kindly clarified for me so how bout we sit down and you tell me this long story of yours.". A blush flushes across her face as she sees she's just made a big deal about a topic that could have been avoided. Trying to talk her way out of it didn't help either as she barely managed to stutter out an "I-it's n-nothing" before Pyro had her seated on an annoyingly well placed bench.
Turning his full attention to her, Pyro grinned and used a hand motion to motion her to begin her tale. Seeing that nothing she did or said in protest would make any difference, she sighed and began her tale. "I'm seventeen years old, And I'm an empath; a screwed up one, but an empath all the same. Before my mutation fully manifested I was completely unaware of my power's existence. The only difference between me and a normal person was the fact that I sort of attracted trouble. If someone was hurting or crying or had some emotional issue I was the go to girl for it. I was okay with it for a while but then as my mutation reacted more violently, I, well let's just say I went through a rather unpleasant time. Mostly, the issue with all of that is that it screwed with my powers. So here I am here, explaining my issues to an aussie I just met." after seeing her sigh again, Pyro knew it would take some prodding to get her to finish her story. Smiling mischievously at her, he asked like a child "what happened next" and that was all it took. A small tear rolled from the corner of her eye and she began where she left off. It was my birthday last year when I was informed of the extension of the havoc that had been wreaked on my powers." seeing Pyro's confused look she explained "the excess emotions that I had dealt with when my powers were developing, especially the really strong ones influenced what kind of emotions I can feel. Mostly I feel the negative emotions; pain, sorrow, suffering, anger, anguish. If it hurts, I feel it, and if someone is feeling it in even a small amount, it's all I can feel. My abilities allow me to pick up on the emotional vibes everyone is giving off and because of what happened as they matured, my natural buffer between their emotions and my own is relatively thin. A couple months ago, everything came out in the public. The whole school found out about my power. Mostly no one really cared, I was just invisible in a slightly different way. My friends seemed fine with it but everything came to a head last night. To make a story short I'm not really allowed at my own graduation tomorrow. I'm not really allowed to stay in town any longer, or ever again."
Seeing the pain so evident on her once smiling face made Pyro's heart almost break. Pulling the girl beside him into a hug he hid the falling of his own tears. Trying to liven up the mood even if it was with a stupid question, Pyro asked "but why exactly are you here", indicating the surrounding area. Sniffling, she gave a watery chuckle and replied "well, here as in here was just because it seemed like I didn't have anywhere else to go, and it was on the way to the tattoo parlor." you were going to get a tattoo, Sheila?" he asked slightly shocked. "Yeah, I still am, actually, and maybe get an eyebrow piercing, and maybe even cut off a portion of my hair." Looking at her in shock, Pyro moved his hands to hold her at arms length and cupped her face on his hands. "No" he said shortly "no eyebrow piercing and you leave your hair as it is" he said in an authoritative voice before quietly adding "nothing should mar such a pretty Sheila's face." Surprised, she smiled and hesitantly hugged him. Pulling back and beaming at him she asked shyly, "would you go to the tattoo parlor with me?" Seeing her face made it difficult but Pyro managed to respond, in a fake cajun accent no less "as my mate the rajun cajun would say, as much as it pains moi to refuse such a belle femme's request…" returning to his aussie accent, he finished "I've got a better idea" Grinning, he continued to elaborate. Pulling a sharpie from his pocket, he said "I can give you a tattoo as of this sharpie and, if you don't like it you can black it out and I'll pay for your tattoo and breakfast too, what do you say Sheila?" "sure" she replied, still in a partial daze. Grinning, Pyro took her hand in his and said "first, though, I would like to officially introduce myself. My name is St. John Allerdyce and you, sheila, may call me Pyro." Without giving her any time to respond, he pulled her sleeve back and began to use his sharpie on her wrist. When he was finally done, she pulled her arm back to inspect it. To her utmost shock, Pyro had written in bracelet fashion around her wrist two words. "John's girl" then, as she gaped at his sharpie work, he leaned in close to her ear and whispered "did you know that in some cultures fire means the same thing as love?" Smiling her acceptance of his statement and the words inscribed on her wrist, she allowed Pyro or John as she would usually call him in the near future to wrap his coat around her and to take her hand and lead her towards his apartment all the while explaining his elaborate plan to "crash your graduation, I'll give you a Pyro version make over which will include lots of leather and maybe a bit of fire and we can show up on a motorcycle, oh, maybe I'll borrow Remy's" and so he continued all the way to Pyro's apartment, his Sheila's new home.
Hey! Willow here, I figured I'd put this at the bottom. Thank you so much for reading and possibly reviewing this fic, I really appreciate it. This is the second one I've published and the first one I've written about an oc. Sorry if there were any errors, this story just kind of hit me and I finished writing it at four in the morning and uploaded it about thirty minutes later so yeah. I was thinking about making this into a story and was wondering what you guys thought. If you think I should, please review or email me at the link on my profile, also, if you do think I should turn this into a full fledged story then the Sheila will need a name and I'm open to any and every suggestion.
-willow
