There's a slight chance that I maybe felt a little guilty that it had been so long since my last upload and went and wrote two chapters within the span of a week. Perhaps. Sorry about that! And after such a cliffhanger. Here we finally learn what happened to Pietro at the end of Chapter 7!
Warnings: There is some pretty brutal violence committed against a child in this one. What can I say, Sabretooth does not hold back.
Ican't move.
Pietro didn't want to panic. Panicking never solved anything. He could feel his hands tightly tied behind his back, the rope chafing his skin raw. The teenager forced his eyes open to reveal an empty church.
He pushed himself into a sitting position, trying to get a sense of where he was. There was dried blood cresting the left side of his face and staining his silver locks a dark red. Pietro felt a brief moment of dread as he wondered for the first time where his teacher could possibly be.
"Look who's awake." A deep voice mockingly addressed him. The man attached to it made his way into view from behind where Pietro was currently struggling to stay upright. His long greasy hair and giant build did little to distract from his massive fangs.
"I hear you've been a bad kid."
"The fuck… are you," Pietro spat. Normally he would try to be a touch more courteous, but he seriously doubted this man would care at all about the language he chose to use.
The man grinned sinisterly, grabbing Pietro's chin and forcing it up to look into his eyes. His breath smelled like something had crawled down his gullet to die long ago and was currently halfway through decomposing.
"I'm Sabretooth. Better behave yourself before daddy gets here. I can't kill ya… but if you end up a little scuffed along the way, who's to say it was my doing?" Pietro took the opportunity to spit in Sabretooth's face. The man growled, roughly slapping the silver haired teenager. The resounding crack echoed around the empty pews.
Sabretooth got up and moved away, pulling out a phone. Pietro ignored the stinging in his cheek, pulling at this restraints while the monster that was holding him had his back turned. He didn't want to even consider the possibility of seeing his father again. He was getting out of here long before he showed his long absent face.
I'm going to have to try something new, he thought as he started to vibrate his hands. He and Professor X had theorized not that long ago that if he got moving fast enough, he would be able to pass right through solid objects. No better time to test it than the present.
Pietro gritted his teeth as he felt his hands slip straight through the restraints. He was on his feet in less than a second and running before any normal person would even notice he was untied. Unfortunately for him, Sabretooth was not a normal person. The battered teen felt a sharp tug as his leg was held back with a strength far surpassing his own.
"What did I just say about behaving yourself?" Sabretooth growled, pulling the leg out from under Pietro so the boy was hanging upside down. He tried to kick his captor with any strength left to him, but the man simply laughed. Sabretooth roughly smashed the leg he was currently holding onto the ground.
Pietro saw white.
My leg, he thought numbly. Do I have a leg. He knew he should feel pain, especially with the disgusting angles his right was now positioned at, but he felt nothing.
"I won't give up," He murmured dreamily. X-Men didn't give up. He wasn't going to disappoint his new family by thinking he defected. If I can't make it out of here, I'll die trying. That didn't sound so bad at least. Pietro pulled himself forward slowly, using left arm to drag the weight of the rest of his body.
"Pathetic," Sabretooth scoffed. He watched his captive carefully, deeming him no needing restraints. A moment of lucidity overcame Pietro and he stopped attempting to crawl towards the faraway exit.
"Did you kill her?"
"Who? The bitch in the car with you?" That feral grin appeared on his face once more. "Yeah. I sliced her up real good to send a message to those X-Freaks you've been staying with. Doubt they'll listen, but at least it was fun for me." Sabretooth leaned in close to Pietro so the younger caught every word. "And you know what the best part is? I would have never found you two if it weren't for how" he licked his lips suggestively "sweet you smelled."
My blood. As if on cue, Pietro's adrenal left him and he felt the full extent of his injuries, including his shattered Fibula. He couldn't help; Pietro screamed.
It's my fault. My fault. All my fault.
His head ached and he wanted nothing more than to disappear. Pietro was aware peripherally of Sabretooth watching his pain in glee in between checking his phone. The only thing Pietro hated more than himself in that moment was the monster who had had so much fun tearing apart his life.
Sabretooth's gleeful expression soured, his nose twitching as he caught a scent. He grabbed Pietro by the neck, throwing him back the couple of feet to where he had began this monstrous ordeal.
The pain of the impact was almost enough to make him pass out again as he gasped for air. A loud echoing broke him from his panting as he angled his head to see none other than Wolverine pushing his way through the entrance.
"Sabretooth!" Pietro had never heard such anger in Wolverine's voice before. Is he mad at me? The thought flitted briefly across his mind through his delerium.
"Long time no see, Wolverine," Sabretooth held an equivocally calm tone, his eyes narrowing.
"I'll give you one chance to let the kid go before I break your neck."
"Sorry," Sabretooth had started walking towards Wolverine as well, the two speeding up as they got closer. "Magneto would be pissed if I let his brat grew up with his arch nemesis."
Those were the last words before Wolverine leaped. Sabretooth dodged easily, Wolverine's claws slicing through the nearby pews. Sabretooth jumped and the two went rolling in the other direction.
"This is a holy place," Pietro chastised to no one in particular. His head swam as he tried to keep his eyes on the two fighting. "Well not as much for me. I'm Jewish."
"Pietro!" Pietro didn't remember turning his head, but suddenly he was staring at Cyclops, whose expression was one of the utmost relief. "Are you okay? Can you move?"
"Um..." The silver haired teen considered for a second. Could he move? His head was so fuzzy. "I do not think so..." He dragged out his words as he tried to make sense of them. In his opinion, the crashing of breaking furniture wasn't helping.
"Scott..?" Angel had appeared next to Scott like an… well, an angel.
"We're going to have to carry him. His leg..." The way Scott trailed off did not bode well for the current state of his body.
"I don't feel so great guys."
"We know, Pi." Angel knelt down and stroked his hair softly. "We're going to get you home and pretty soon this will all feel like a bad dream."
"It already feels like a bad dream." Pietro hadn't meant to say that out loud.
"What have we got here?" Sabretooth's snarl made the two heroes heads shoot up. Wolverine was no where to be seen and there now seemed to be one less wall than before (though honestly, Pietro couldn't really claim to have the best memory at the moment).
"Two little X-Brats." The villain's eyes were dangerously narrowed as his mouth spread wide to show his massive teeth off. "You better get away from the little demon spawn I have to deliver."
"I would say you need to get away," Angel had floated into the air. Pietro didn't know that the older teen even had the ability to look menacing.
"Pietro is coming home with us." Scott was quiet and strong like always, standing resolutely despite the fear he must have at facing someone who had just taken out Wolverine. "Take one more step and you'll wish you hadn't."
"You think you can scare-" The flash of red was astounding. One second Sabretooth was smirking as he slowly approached, the next he was flying through the air. Angel wasted no time, punching Sabretooth to angle him through a window. When the beast moved to pull himself back in, Scott shot off another optic beam, forcing him further into the surrounding woodland.
"I think we bought some time." Angel landed next to Pietro as Scott continued to peer anxiously out the window. "We have to move him. Now."
When Angel attempted to grab him in his arms, Pietro couldn't help but let out a tiny whimper. Warren heard the sound and paused, his expression unsure for the first time that night. He tried to readjust his grip, but every time his leg moved and inch, Pietro couldn't help the cry of pain.
"Let me grab him." Wolverine pulled himself through the open wall, limping, but clearly on his way to healing already. "You keep an eye out for Sabretooth with Cyclops."
"Logan..." Pietro trembled a little as the rugged man effortlessly scooped him up. He pushed his head into Wolverine's shoulders, not truly believing what was happening. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault, kid." Logan wasn't usually one for comfort, but Pietro supposed this wasn't a typical situation. "We would never let the likes of Sabretooth or Magneto get you. Not now, not ever. Do you understand?"
Pietro nodded, the tears he didn't know were on his face slowing down. Despite the situation, he couldn't help but feel safe in Wolverine's arms.
Pietro was going home.
When I set out to plan this chapter, it was originally going to be longer. I was going to include the aftermath to all of this mess that's happened, but I figured it deserved some more space to breath, so instead we have this. I apologize if my fight scenes aren't very good. To be fair, this was from Pietro's perspective and he had a concussion through most of the chapter (if that wasn't obvious).
I doubt the next chapter will be released half as quickly, but hopefully it won't be as long as the wait in between Chapters 7 and 8. Once again, sorry. Anyways, that's all for now.
See ya~
