Author's Notes:
Enjoy!
Empathy of Fire
A dull, machine produced hum deafened the silence that had existed in the factory. Occasional echoing metallic thuds punctuated that buzzing. The dark in the corners was an impenetrable cloud, the faint glare of emergency lights on metal the only light.
But in one of those black corners, the faintest outline of two forms huddled together could be seen by one of sharp eyesight. If you were to get nearer, you might have seen the tiny flame cupped in one of the figures' hand. Even nearer and you might chance to see the almost surreal gold reflection in the other's eyes. Nearer still, you would have heard the sound of the first figure flicking a lighter open and closed.
Click. Click. Click.
The second figure shifted her position, showing her discomfort in a non-verbal manner. She'd been crouched motionless in the same position for over an hour, not daring to move, stiffness finally taking it's toll. The second figure let out the faintest of chuckles, a rueful grin spreading across his face.
Click. Click. Click.
"Do you think they're gone?" he whispered, the sound barely carrying over to the girl's gently pointed ears.
The girl's eyes darted to the side and back quickly.
"I'm not sure." she said finally "I still hear people out there, but they might just be the night crew. Besides, my dad said he'd come get us when it was safe."
"Hm." He replied vaguely.
Click. Click. Click.
"I'm sorry." The girl said suddenly. The boy looked up sharply.
"Why?"
"It's 'cause of me we're down here. Me and my lousy temper."
He rolled his eyes, and put the lighter away.
"Don't give me that. I'm surprised that it wasn't me who snapped first and torched the guy."
"I got us in trouble." She grumbled.
"Understatement. But at least we're alive."
"How do you take things so lightly, John?" she demanded, slightly awed "We almost get killed and now you're all 'oh, well, big deal.' How do you do it?"
He shrugged, and made the flame in his hand larger. The orange fingers of light traced across his own handsome features, making his blond hair gleam and blue eyes sparkle. It also, however, revealed an odd looking, nearly alien face to which the girl's voice belonged to. Fur grew at the corners of her jaw by her ears. Her features had a feline cast to them, and her brown eyes had a gold sheen to them in the concentrated light. The pupils of her eyes were slits in the presence of the immediate firelight. The only completely human thing about her was her hair, dirty blond and falling out of the knot on the back of her head.
"I guess….I guess that's how I cope with things. You know what I mean?"
"Maybe." She leaned back against the wall and yawned widely, showing the small fangs among the rest of her teeth. "I'm beat."
John glanced at his watch. "We've been here for over two hours." He arched a quizzical eyebrow "You're not tired, are you, Kayeth?"
She glared at him through half-lidded eyes. "What gave you that inkling?"
He smiled a bit lopsidedly. "Don't know."
A yawn soon followed his statement.
"Now who's tired, eh Pyro?"
"Shaddup." He grumbled, and Kayeth giggled.
"That's it. I need about two weeks of sleep."
"Don't forget me." He amended, and allowed his leaden eyelids to close. But before the soothing oblivion of sleep swallowed him, she spoke again.
"Hey, John?"
"That's my name." He muttered groggily.
"Can you tell me about your parents?"
The sudden statement woke up about half of his brain. Unfortunately, that half apparently did not control speech. All that came out of his mouth was a highly unintelligent sounding 'Huh?'.
Kayeth sighed with just a bit of impatience. "You've never talked about them….what were they like?"
He gave himself a mental shake, and attempted to answer coherently.
"They were nice, I guess." Kayeth snorted. "Okay fine, I'll be more descriptive. My mom was always there to talk to. She'd always help me feel better after I had a bad day at school or something like that. And my dad, he could be strict at times, but he cared still. Both of them freaked at first when my powers showed up, but after they got used to the fact things went back to normal. They still cared about me even though I was a mutant. From stories I've heard, that's rare."
A trickle of something ran down his face, and he wiped it away quickly. "I miss them. A lot."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I guess, if you believe in it, they're both up there," he pointed upwards vaguely at the darkened ceiling "Watching."
"I believe in heaven and all that." She said sincerely, her feline eyes glimmering more than they usually did.
"Even though you're a mutant?"
"Even though I'm a mutant." She sighed, and held her hands out. Her clawed hands "Even though most people judge by appearances, I believe He doesn't. It's a small comfort in a place like this." She smiled wistfully. "I know my mom's up there too."
"You're mother is…desceased?" he sounded surprised "You've never said anything about her."
Kayeth swallowed hard, and looked away. John bit his lip and prodded again, hoping he wouldn't offend her. But, after all, he'd told her about his parents.
"What was she like?"
"She was my best friend." She inhaled sharply, as if repressing emotion "She cared, about me, about my dad, about everybody. She was like your parents, one of the few people who actually look past appearances to what's really there. She was human…but she had the heart of a mutant." She swallowed again "That's why…that's why they k-killed her."
He reached over and patted her shoulder awkwardly. "Who?" he asked softly.
"The FoH. The Friends of Humanity. Them and their 'Weapon X' muties." Her face twisted in a grimace "And I know which one of them is the murderer."
She looked straight up at him, her gaze all but boring a hole through him.
"He's on the X-men right now. That's why I hate them so much."
He nodded. Now he understood a bit more why she hated so much. Bitterness. The want of revenge. He knew how she felt.
Kayeth heaved a sigh and closed her eyes. "There you go. We've both spilled are guts. Now let's get some sleep before—"
Her sentence halted abruptly as she threw her head upwards and sniffed the air. John's eyes widened momentarily in concern.
"Who is it? Should I put the light out?" he asked as the silence became too much.
She shook her head. "No. It's my dad."
He breathed for what seemed like the first time in the past few minutes. "Good. Now we can get out of—"
A large figure dropped down in front of them with surprisingly little noise. John jumped a few inches, but Kayeth stayed unruffled.
"—here."
The figure, or Sabertooth, straightened up.
"Come on, kids. The mob's gone."
"Thank goodness." John grumbled, stretching his numb legs out before him, wincing as the blood rushed into them, making them stiff. To his sleep-deprived sense of humor, he saw Kayeth with the same problem. With little to no grace they both clamored to their feet. Then, as quietly as they could manage with unresponding limbs, they made their way out of the factory.
It was strange, he recalled later. He'd learned more about the real Kayeth in those few minutes than what others learned in years. Maybe because she had been half asleep like him, and her defenses lowered. Maybe the weight of those memories had become too much and had come out just like that.
That's how he'd been when he told her about his parents. He worried she might start showing pity for him. Or tell the others. But a hunch overruled his logic and said she'd keep his secret if he'd keep her's.
She'd asked him how he could take things so lightly. He didn't, it was his way of coping, he'd told her. Now he knew her way of coping as well, acting tough and fearless. The real emotion came out when the facade crumpled in fear. He knew how she felt.
It'd felt good to have someone else know. To have someone else understand.
More Author's Notes:
For those who didn't catch it, John is Pyro. The Pyro. Kayeth is a made up character, who also appeared in 'Long-Distance Birthday'. This was written solely to develop her and John's character. No, these two are not romantically interested. They're just best friends, or will be.Thank you for reading! Tell me who you want the next chapter to focus on in your reviews!