Author´s note: Set after the events of X 3. This is Kitty´s side to my story Homecoming. There were some pieces of it written on my computer for some time now. The new film got me into the X-Men again, so I started to continue it. You should probably read Homecoming before this, but I think ist can stand alone. I hope you have fun.
Disclaimer: The characters and concepts of X-Men are owned by 20th Century Fox, creator Stan Lee and Marvel comics. I own nothing and this is just for fun!
Embers
- Chapter 1 -
Kitty stood on the bridge, watching the things die down on the island. It had been strange. Knowing that Dr. Grey was there, destroying everything around her. All the time she had known her, she had only done good. She had been an X-Men, too. Before she went with Magneto.
Logan had gone and tried to stop her. Kitty hoped that he was still alive. As if somebody could have survived this.
Bobby shifted beside her. He had lost the ice that had suddenly coated his body. It had been an amazing sight. But she was not sure if she liked it. Too cold to touch.
She watched as the soldiers came back with their guns, going to the island, looking for some mutants of the Brotherhood.
"We should go, too. Maybe they will run into trouble." Not that she really believed that. Everything and everyone must be dead by now.
She could see Bobby nod. She grabbed his hand for a moment.
"Then let´s go."
Together they went back. After a short while they separated to cover more ground. She walked over the debris, getting surer every moment that no one could have survived this. And just as she wanted to turn around and finally leave, she saw him.
St. John Allerdyce.
He was half buried under all that rubble and his eyes were closed. She was not even sure if he was still alive. But she had to look. Even if he was a traitor who had joined the Brotherhood, he was still a human being. She had to see if he could be saved. So she crossed the rubble and knelt. "John."
She could see him open his eyes with difficulty, he was obviously trying hard. Then he was focusing on her for a moment.
"Kitty." His eyes closed again.
If nobody helped him he would not survive for long. She looked around for somebody who could help. Should she go to the soldiers? No, not if there was another way. She would sentence him to a life without his power. And after all, she was not his judge. So this was just the last option.
Out of instinct she felt for Johns head, but he was strangely cold. She had to hurry.
Bobby would help her. After all, John had been his closest friend once. Kitty all but ran to get to him.
"Bobby, I need your help."
And without asking, like they were trained to do in a situation like this, he followed. Until they reached John. Suddenly Bobby stopped.
"No."
"Bobby..."
There was a pause and finally Bobby answered. "Tell me why, after everything he has done?"
For a moment she could not believe what she was hearing. Time was of essence. "Bobby, we have to get him out of here."
"Kitty, why should we do this?"
"He was your friend, too."
She could see that Bobby was taken back, that he was maybe thinking of old times. Finally he nodded.
He helped her as she phased John through the rubble.
John was in a bad condition. Much worse than she had thought. A beam had gone through one of his legs and she could tell that he had lost a lot of blood. And his hands looked strange.
Kitty looked up to Bobby, but he was already leaning down, taking up John in a fireman's carry. Then walking to the bridge. She went behind them, watching what John was doing. He was awake, but barely.
Suddenly Bobby stopped.
"Who are you carrying away? This is one of the Brotherhood."
The soldier before them was nervous. She could tell by the way he moved his cure gun and let his eyes dart around. That was dangerous. He could shoot first and then be sorry later.
Kitty went in the front and stood between the man and Bobby. Normally she was not seen as a threat by men. And maybe she could try to talk to him. Talk him into letting them pass.
"No, he needs medical attention, don´t you see that?"
But the soldier was getting angry now.
"This is a terrorist. He will get to the doctors, when we decide that it is time, not you."
She had to be calm, trying not to raise to the bait. So Kitty took a deep breath, to calm herself. She just wanted to answer, when she heard Logan behind her.
"We take care of our own. Go, see to the others."
She looked around. He looked terribly. Not that he had any wounds on him, but his clothes were torn and his eyes... Oh god, his eyes. They were so sad. She knew he had loved her. But so much pain...
And then Logan went in front of Bobby, showing his claws to the soldier. And the man got the message and finally went away.
Bobby began to walk again. She could tell that he could not go on for much longer. The weight of John´s body was wearing him down. Kitty watched him from the side. Not only Logan had been through a lot today. Bobby had to fight against his once best friend. A fight to the death if she had gotten it right. And now he was using his last resources to carry this man out to safety. No wonder he had been reluctant to do so. But in her mind it was still the right thing to do.
She tried to talk to Logan.
"The plane is destroyed. We need an ambulance and Dr. McCoy."
Logan nodded and went before them, getting everyone out of their way. And finally they reached the ambulances. Most were already in use, but Logan managed to scare the medics and the driver of one of the ambulances away, so that they could use it.
Bobby lay John on one of the stretchers and nearly broke down beside it.
Kitty hurried to find Dr. McCoy. It took her some time to localise him and she felt panic grow inside her. If she could not find him then what? Go to the soldiers?
But then he was there, talking to Ms. Munroe and one of the human officers. About something related to the attack on Alcatraz. She tried to get his attention.
"Dr. McCoy. Can I talk to you?."
He turned around and smiled at her.
"Hallo Kitty, why?"
She looked at the officer, then decided to tell something unsuspicious.
"Someone is injured and needs help."
Dr. McCoy turned worried.
"Who, Bobby?"
She did not dare to correct him and simply nodded. So he turned to the officer.
"Sorry, I have to go, but we will discus this later. Ororo, if you don´t mind?"
Then he followed Kitty through the people who were around the ambulance. She could practical feel his surprise when he found Logan standing beside the car, practically guarding it and Bobby sitting in the open door, looking still exhausted, but otherwise unharmed.
Kitty tried to apologise. "Sorry, Dr. McCoy, I could not tell you who was injured. It would have caused too much problems."
Dr. McCoy smiled. "Who could you be hiding here? Magneto himself?"
Then he went into the ambulance and stopped, turning around again in shock.
"We could not leave him there. He would have died." She hoped he understood.
"You could not." That was Bobby´s voice. And she could not tell if it was a praise or a reprimand.
"Yes, I could not leave him. Please help us?" She practically begged. Why, she was not sure. It was not as if she had ever been close to John. Ever. Or that she ever would.
Dr. McCoy shook his head as if he still could not believe this. Then finally with a sigh he nodded and went to work. "But you have to help me."
So she went in. She could tell while Dr. McCoy was examined him, John was kind of awake. Barely, but his eyes were partly open and she could tell that he was feeling the pain.
"We have to stabilize him, until we get back to the mansion. There I can tread him. I gave him some pain medication, so he can sleep."
Turning his back to John, Dr. McCoy looked her into the eyes and shook his head. That was the moment she realised that he did not believe that John was going to make it.
She looked down to John and saw his eyes closing. Maybe the last time.
They were on the road for over a day now. It was hard to drive with an ambulance to the other side of the country.
Logan was driving and Bobby sat with him in the front. Dr. McCoy and her were caring for John. Who was still alive, after all.
Where the others had gone to, she had no idea.
Kitty wished she could have Bobby here with her. Just to simply lean against him and close her eyes. Breath in his scent. After the battle with all the adrenaline in her body she could do what was necessary, but now she was getting tired.
"Come, sit down and sleep a little. There will be nothing to do for you for the next hours."
She looked up to Dr. McCoy.
"You don´t need my help?"
There was a sad smile on his face.
"There is not much to do for us here. If he survives this journey... Well, he is young and strong. So we will see. Without a medical facility it is difficult to predict the outcome."
There was a short pause.
"If he were every other mutant, we could go to a normal hospital... Well, maybe not with Magneto or Mystique..."
She nodded and sat down. In the last days there had been too much death all around her. People she had known well. She did not need another.
Her eyes closed. She was just so tired...
Suddenly the car stopped and she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Kitty, wake up, we are there. I need your help now."
She came around, as the door of the ambulance opened and Logan was standing outside. They were in the garage, near the elevator to the underground.
"Take the I.V. Please."
She did as she was told, helped getting John out of the ambulance. They rolled him into the elevator and after a short ride into the examination room. There Dr. McCoy took the I.V. out of her hands.
"I think I will take it from here. You look too tired."
He smiled at her, but seemed to be concerned. And she was tired.
"But I..."
He shook his head. "In this condition you will be no help. Go, get some sleep and when you are awake again, maybe you can help me out."
Dr. McCoy had been right of cause. She was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow of her bed. No worrying about John or Bobby or someone else. Just sleep.
And she slept for over twenty-four hours straight. When she finally woke up, she felt good.
Until the thought about Alcatraz and what had happened there hit her again. So much hurt and so much pain.
She got up. Time to meet the others.
It was morning, so she went to breakfast first. There were many of the students already present. And she could see Bobby, who was trying to eat some scrambled eggs. He was not really eating much, just picking at it. She got her own meal and set beside him.
"Hi Bobby." She smiled. And he looked back, trying to smile, too.
"Hi!"
Suddenly Dough called over the table. "Hi Kitty, you all right?"
She smiled to him. She liked him, even if she would rather be alone with Bobby. Something was bothering Bobby. And she would like to know what that was.
"Yes. I just had to sleep a little."
Dough lowered his voice. "We heard that you brought someone back here. And Miss Munroe is not too happy about that." He winked at her." Wonder how that is going to turn out."
She smiled back at him. But inside wondered. Was Bobby worrying about some fallout? If anything it hat been her doing. Hers and maybe Logans, if she thought about it closely.
She ate thinking if she would get in trouble. No, she decided. John had been injured. She would not let him behind. The X-Men would not do such a thing. So that was not what troubled Bobby.
So she just had to wait to catch him after the breakfast. Wait and listen to the others, gossiping about the events that happened over the last days. After breakfast Bobby excused himself.
"I have to go to classes." Which was obviously a lie. After all, they had classes together and school would not start for over an hour.
So she followed Bobby. He went to his room and entered without him realising that she had followed. She stood outside his door for a moment. And then knocked.
After a moment came a quite "Come in." Still too polite to let someone waiting outside his door.
She entered and saw him sitting on his bed. Looking at the other bed in the room. The bed who had not been made for some time now. Johns bed.
She had almost forgotten that he had lived here. Right in this room.
Of cause Bobby was in a jumble. John had never been a close friend to her. So him being here in the mansion again did not faze her. But him and Bobby had hung around a lot. Until John had left. Until John had tried to kill Bobby on Alcatraz.
She sat beside him and took his hand. "It´s hard. I know."
Bobby leaned against her a little, squeezing her hand.
"Yes. And you know what is the hardest? When I remember the look in his eyes on Alcatraz. They were so hard. He really wanted to hurt me... And now he is here, right under the same roof as we are. And I don´t know what I should be thinking."
They sat for some time in silence. After all it was her fault that he was going through this. She said the same thing she had said in Alcatraz. "He was your friend." After a moment she continued. "Let us hope that he remembers something about that again."
They sat there in silence for some time. Then they heard a knock, followed by the door opening.
Logan stood there. "Come on kids. We have a meeting and we think, you should be part of that."
They followed Logan into the headmasters office. When they entered Miss. Munroe was sitting in her chair, looking out of a window to the grounds.
As she heard them enter she turned slowly to them. She watched each of them for a moment. Then she begun to talk.
"I have spoken to Pyro. You were all successful. He will be staying here under the conditions we have proposed."
Kitty looked at the others. Logan was lighting his cigar. From him she got nothing. But she suspected he knew what Miss. Munroe was talking about. Bobby just had the same questions in his eyes as she probably had.
But as far as she could figure, John was at least going to survive. If they had made a deal with him he had too. And that was all she really cared about.
"What deal did you make with him?" Trust Bobby to ask the right questions with the right amount of politeness. But when she looked up to him she could tell that he was troubled. About as much as Miss Munroe herself if she was any judge.
"Pyro is staying where we can control him. And while he is healing he has to become a student of this school again. And of cause we will not give him any fire to burn this building down."
"What do you mean with where we control him? And how is that going to work out?" Bobby was asking.
Miss Munroe sighed. And was quiet for a moment. So Logan filled in for her.
"She means that he is staying in his old room again. In your room Bobby, to be precise. So you can have an eye on him. And in school the teachers are watching." He looked at Kitty. "And because he is so behind in school he will have to be coached. There is where Kitty comes in. So there will be no time for him to get some crazy ideas."
"No!" "Is this going to work?" Bobby and Kitty were both talking at the same time.
So Storm begun to talk again.
"If we don´t want to hold him in out basement for the rest of his life or give him to the government to cure, I don´t see another way. The way things are now, we can not let him simply leave. And yes I think it will work. He knows what will happen otherwise. And he has nowhere to go now. With the state the Brotherhood is in."
She looked Bobby in the eyes. "You wanted to be an X-Men. See it as a duty to us. Or to an old friend. Don´t you think you could do it for John?"
Kitty noticed that she had called him John this time. Was it just to sway Bobby? Or was she seeing behind his mask of anger? After all John had been her student just some time ago. Before the mansion had been attacked and they all had to run.
Kitty could see Bobby´s shoulders fall down. He had given up his opposition. She smiled at him. He was such a good guy. And she really loved him. She reigned in her thoughts. There was no place for that now. And she was not sure if he felt the same about her. After all it had just been one kiss.
"Yes. I think I could try."
"And you, Kitty?"
"Of cause." She had no real history with John beside sitting in some of the same courses at school. Or seeing him while eating. They had not been friends nor had they been enemies. They had simply ignored one another as far as possible. Nothing that could hinder her in any way.
"Where is he now?"
"He is still down in the basement with Dr. McCoy. There is still some medical treatment to do as far as I am told. But he will be coming up shortly. Will you be ready?"
"Yes."
Storm looked everybody in the eyes.
"I want this to work. The alternative could be a disaster. Good luck to all of us."
With a nod Kitty and Bobby left the room. Logan stayed behind. Obviously he wanted to talk to Storm alone.
Outside of the room Kitty took hold of Bobby´s hands.
"How are you feeling."
"Oh, I don´t really know. I would never have thought that me carrying him out of Alcatraz would amount in being room-mates with him again. Funny how that turned out."
"But you will do it. It is the right thing to do."
"The right thing... When it comes to Pyro, that could become very difficult. But yes, you are right. I will do it."
He sighed and then smiled a pained smile.
"If he is coming in to stay for a while in our room I think I should get his old things out of the attic. Even he needs some things."
She laughed. "Yes do that. I will meet you at lunch."
He nodded and left. This would be much hard work to get Pyro on even ground with them again. But she thought it was worth it. Under all the resentment she felt for him in Bobby she knew Bobby missed his friend.
With that thought she turned and went to her own room. School after all would start soon.