Sugar Maple
Summary: He told her to wait for him under the sugar maple. Kitty/Pyro oneshot.
Timeline: Several years after X3, based on the AU proviso that John rejoined the X-Men.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything
Author's Note: Written three years ago. I was given the prompt 'sugar maple'.
"I'll be fine," he said, trying to push her away from the exploding building. "I have to do this. Just get everyone else out. Go!"
She shook her head, clinging to his arm, protesting that it was too dangerous, refusing to let go until he pressed his lips to hers and made a promise: "Wait for me under the maple tree. I'll come back."
Kitty had watched the leaves on the sugar maple near her window turn fiery and fade back to green five times since that day. Five autumns, five years. She gave up hope of ever seeing him again, and let herself finally accept that he was gone. She tried to get on with her life - studying, teaching, saving the world - but always at the back of her mind was John, and the tree under which he had first kissed her. Where he had first told her he loved her.
The sixth fall came, and one day there he was, just as he promised. Five years late, battered and broken, but still there: waiting for her under the maple tree, the leaves blazing like flames in the dying sun.
Fin