The Boy Who Destroyed the World

an original X-Men Movieverse fan fiction

written by: jennifer s. a.k.a. assassinelektra

Disclaimer:

I do not own the X-Men movies or comics, or their characters. This is a fan fiction story meant only for the enjoyment of myself and other X-Men fans.

Title: The Boy Who Destroyed the World

Genre: Action/Adventure, Romance, Angst

Setting: Right after X-Men 3: The Last Stand

Pairing: John/Kitty

Rating: Teen

Author's Note: There are definitely X3 spoilers. And yeah, I ship Kitty/Peter, but this idea occurred to me after seeing the movie. Plus I don't want Pyro dead…I imagine this will be a short fic though.

"Once there was boy who had vibrant glow, but as it goes, someone took it from him."

AFI "The Boy Who Destroyed the World"

"There was thunder, there was lightning, there was wind, there was rain, there was fire, there was crying - it was something like all hell has broken loose."

Eddie Ho

Chapter 8

She was alone at last. Kitty had run through every wall the school had, and she had ignored everyone who asked where she was going or tried to stop her. She was glad that John hadn't followed her. The last thing she needed was him and his arrogant, don't-give-a-damn comments.

Now, in the small woods surrounding Xavier's school, Kitty Pryde fell to her knees, breathing heavy from running. And the sobbing began. Her entire body trembled with it as she cried.

In all the years she'd known the X-Men, she had never once felt this helpless and afraid. All she wanted was to go back home and be normal again. Maybe become a dancer or a computer programmer, but not this, not this pathetic, lost little girl who was trying to appear as if she were stronger than she was.

Her throat was starting to hurt as she wept, but Kitty ignored the discomfort and didn't bother to try to stop. She needed this, this release or whatever the hell it was. And even so, she knew it would do no good in the end.

He was going to die.

That realization hit her so hard she nearly fell over. And the weeping continued, her chest hurting as she heaved. It hurt so much to know what she knew. She had seen the virus from stage one to the end. The Legacy Virus they were calling it. But a legacy was something you handed down to a future generation, not a process to eliminate them.

She hadn't wanted to believe it when he'd told her. No, she hadn't wanted to see the truth, what had so plainly slapped her in the face days before when she'd started to notice him weaken.

"Take anyone." She muttered through sobs. "Take anyone, but not him." She was a teenager, what did she know about love? Enough to know that Peter Rasputin meant more to her than anyone ever had.

And now he was going to die.

He had told her not to worry, to just forget about him and help the others. But how could she not worry? She wished she could take the pain for him, could put herself into his place.

She hadn't told John, because she hadn't wanted to admit it aloud. Not yet. But now, alone, there was no denying it. The tears were falling down her face as she tried to calm herself down and failed.

Eventually, the tears began to slow, and Kitty sat up, staring at the ground. She felt numb. What was there to feel anymore? He was going to die, and she'd never get the chance to show him how much she really cared.

XXXXXXXX

John didn't ask where she'd run off to. He didn't want to know. He already had some idea of why, so the where wasn't really important. So he just waited, waited for her to come back.

She did. Eventually. Two, maybe three hours later. And she was a mess. More than before. Kitty didn't say anything. She just laid down on her bed, and then she phased through it, laying underneath it.

"You okay?" He asked quietly.

When she didn't answer he crawled underneath the bed and laid down next to her, following her empty gaze to the bed above.

"You were wrong." Kitty told him, eyes still staring up blankly. "There is an end to every story."

He turned his head to look at her. Was she sick? Did she have the virus? John didn't dare ask, and he silently cursed himself for wondering at all. Because he was caring again.

"What happened?" He finally asked her, watching her face for anything that would give it away before she even spoke. But, she did a good job of hiding whatever she was feeling. Or maybe it was just that she was too tired to show any emotion at the moment. He wasn't sure.

Kitty, not really up for talking about what she had just wept over, turned her face to look at him. Even in the shadows the bed above cast she could see the slightly concerned look on his face, and she noticed how he tried to hide it.

"That night, when you showed up all beaten," He winced at her recollection, "I just wanted to walk through you and forget about you."

"That's something you don't hear every day." He muttered.

"And when you said that you deserved it," She continued, "I tried to believe you." He gave her a look of confusion. "But I couldn't." She glanced back up at the bed, mostly to avoid seeing that look in his eyes—the one that told her he was really listening.

"It's not the type of person you are." He concluded.

"That's not it." Kitty said, closing her eyes for a moment. She sighed. "I just want to go home."

He wanted to reach out and do something, hug her maybe. He wasn't sure exactly, but he wanted to comfort her, give her the idea that, even if it wasn't completely true, things would get better. But the sound of her sharp voice playing over and over in his head like an old vinyl record stopped him.

"Don't ever touch me again."

He opened his mouth to say something, he hadn't even been really sure of exactly what, but was interrupted by her bedroom door flying open.

"Where the fuck is he?"

Kitty stood up immediately, phasing through the bed. "Bobby!" She said, just as surprised to see him as John was to hear his voice. Bobby glared at her, gave her a warning glance that said he wasn't playing around.

"Where is he?" He demanded again.

"What are you talking about?" Kitty asked him. This was honestly the very last thing she needed. She just wanted to lay under the bed and forget about the world, but Bobby had a way of ruining things for her sometimes—her reason for not ending up with him ultimately.

"Don't pretend you don't know who I'm talking about!" He yelled. "Where's Pyro!"

"Now that," John moved out from under the bed and stood up, "Is a name I haven't heard for a while."

Bobby looked at John, then back at Kitty, and she could tell by the look on his face that he had been hoping it wasn't true. And now that he knew it was, he felt more than betrayed.

The ice flew though the air so fast that Kitty was barely able to grab John's arm in time to make it phase through both of them. Bobby stared in disbelief as the wall behind them froze in a matter of seconds.

"No." He told her, completely furious with the entire situation. "No, you get away from him! Stop protecting him!" Kitty moved to stand in fighter's stance just like she had with Jubilee.

"Bobby, stop it!" She yelled.

"Get out of my way!" Bobby screamed, both hands held out in front of him, ready to freeze the hell out of John. "He's dangerous!"

"No, he's not!" Kitty argued, and those words bit at John's soul. She reached around her back and pushed him back towards the wall as she took a step backwards.

"He's killed people!" Bobby yelled. "Now get the hell away from him!"

"No! He's cured!" Kitty shouted.

"I don't give a damn!" Bobby told her as he lunged towards them. Kitty, having not expected him to strike out against her, hadn't phased through him and was thrown to the side, hitting the ground hard enough to knock the breath out of her.

Both Bobby and John looked over at her with wide eyes, waiting for her response. She sat up slowly, catching her breath—which was a bit painful—and looked at Bobby, eyes narrowing. She stood up slowly, favoring her right side where she had landed.

"Kitty, I didn't mean to…" She glared at Bobby and he stopped his apology.

"Bobby, get out of here." Kitty told him, and the exhausted tone of voice had returned. He looked at John, gave him a warning glance, then looked back at Kitty. "I'll be back for him." He told her before reluctantly leaving the room. She locked the door behind him, then slumped down onto the floor in front of it.

"Are you okay?" John asked, walking over to her cautiously. She was still holding her side, trying to make it seem like it was normal to do so, like she wasn't trying to make the pain go away.

"I'm fine." She told him quietly.

He leaned down to her level, unsure of what to do next. "Stand up." He told her, and Kitty reluctantly did so. But, when he reached for her shirt and started lifting it up his hands phased right through her.

"What the hell are you doing?" She demanded, glaring at him.

"Calm down." He snapped. "I'm not trying to take advantage of you, okay? I just want to see if you broke some ribs." She looked at him, unsure for a moment, then nodded.

John carefully lifted her shirt up a bit, stopping at the top of her ribs—respectably—and inspected the bruise that was already forming. His fingers touched lightly to see if the bones were out of place, and she pulled away. John looked up, surprised to see a smile on her face.

"That tickled." Kitty told him.

He gave her a slight smile, relaxing now that he knew she was okay. "Put some ice on it and you'll be fine." John told her. She didn't dare ask how he was such an expert on injury, because she already knew the answer.

"I didn't think Bobby would try anything like that." Kitty admitted, suddenly looking a bit embarrassed.

"Yeah, well Bobby's an asshole." John muttered. "I've been saying it for years, but no one seems to…" He paused, looking at her. "Why'd you do it?"

She shrugged. "I didn't think it was fair for him to fight you without your powers." Kitty told him. That wasn't exactly the entire truth, but it was all she was willing to admit.

"I'm not fucking defenseless!" John snapped, glaring at her.

"I never said you were." She replied, a bit irritated by his tone. She'd just saved him and he was yelling at her. How fucked up was that? "I just wanted to help…"

"I don't need your help!" He yelled, and behind them the small candle on her desk flared up. They both glanced over at it in shock.

Kitty turned her face back to look at John, eyes wide. "Did you just…?" He nodded his head, looking just as surprised as she was.