XXXXXX

Keeping his eyes on the stars, John didn't even bother looking over at Bobby as he opened his mouth to respond to his former friend's question.

"I'm not running from anything."

"Right. So, are you going back to Magneto?"

"No. I don't think he'd want me back since I blasted him off the roof."

Bobby raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Sorry you missed it."

"Are you staying here then?"

John laughed a little. He wasn't even sure if he was going to take Dr. McCoy's cure, let alone know if he was going to stay here or take off again. But he wasn't going to let Bobby know that.

"That's a pretty stupid question, Bobby. I have no plans on staying here. I left this place remember? Having to come back here was just a speed bump for me."

"Why did you leave, John? No bullshit excuses, just tell me why."

"I would have thought that Rogue showed you my letter."

"She did." Bobby responded. "But you can't put this all on me and Rogue. You left, you're the one who left."

John laughed again.

"Right, it's always me. Whatever, Bobby. Think what you want."

Bobby shook his head.

"You're always testing everyone. You have people here who care about you, but you push us all until we push back. Don't you ever quit, John? Don't you get tired of it?"

"Don't you get tired of trying to save everyone?"

"I've never saved anyone."

"I said try."

"You're an asshole, you know that?" Bobby said while glaring at him.

"That's not exactly breaking news."

"So if you're not going back to Magneto, and you're not staying here, what are you going to do?"

"Maybe I'll work on a farm." John replied, sarcastically.

"I'm being serious."

"What do you care where I go?"

Bobby flinched, then turned to him.

"I never stopped caring, John. I was never the one with issues about caring for someone, that was all you."

"Right, because I'm the one that found the only person in the school that couldn't be touched to fall in love with."

"Oh, so that's it? You were jealous?"

"I was never jealous of you two!" John snapped as he turned and glared at Bobby. "It's not about you, or Rogue! I didn't fit in here, I never will."

"You never tried to fit in!" Bobby yelled back. "You were always looking for a reason to be pissed off, to get angry! You don't want to be happy here, because then you'd have no reason to lose control!"

John continued to glare at Bobby for a few seconds before turning away again and looking back up at the sky. He looked down at his hand and focused for a second before creating a tiny flame in his palm.

After another few seconds of silence, Bobby spoke again, his voice a little quieter this time.

"I missed you, you know? I think it took you leaving for me to realize that we balance each other out pretty well. Don't you think?"

"I've been fine." John responded. "I didn't miss anyone here."

He was lying. He tried to tell himself the whole time he was with Magneto that he didn't miss anyone here, but he did. Bobby however didn't look upset by what John had just said. He just a deep breath and lightly kicked at a piece of dirt with his shoe.

"We were never going to make it, were we?" Bobby sighed. "We were always going to end up like this."

"No one really has it all together, Bobby. It would only make since that it'd be like this. We've always been opposites in everything else, now this. You're the hero and I'm the villain."

"You're not a villain, and I'm not a hero. I couldn't even save you."

"Don't be yourself up over it. Not everyone wants to be saved."

Bobby was silent, so John closed his hand, putting the small flame out and turned to walk back inside. There was no point in staying out here any longer.

Hours later, John was laying on his bed in the infirmary with his hands folded behind his head, still wide awake. He couldn't sleep, he could only think about what he was going to do, if he was going to take the cure or not.

He didn't want to die, John knew that deep down. But he didn't want to take the chance of loosing his powers. He would be nothing without it. Being a mutant was the only thing he had.

Slowly, John closed his eyes as he continued to think.

XXXXXX

John was back in Queens, standing in front of his childhood house, burning to the ground. Suddenly he heard a noise from the ruins of the house. Someone was walking out of it, slowly walking towards him. When he finally got to where he was standing, he stopped right in front of him.

John was staring at…himself.

"Time to say goodnight Johnny. Your mind only has room for one of us." Pyro grinned. He suddenly lunged at John, taking him to the ground. Pyro then started slamming his fist into John's face.

"How could you even think about taking that cure? You're nothing without me!"

"Hank said there's only a small chance I'll lose me powers," John cried while being punched, trying to reason with Pyro.

"It's still too much of a risk. Don't you remember the things you did?"

Pyro grabbed John's neck and forced him to turn his head. John was now looking at himself on the front porch of the Drake house, just after the officer shot Logan in the head.

"You know all the dangerous mutants you hear about on the news? I'm the worst one."

Pyro then formed a fireball and sent it straight at the cop. He kept going, hitting the other cops with blasts of fire, blowing up cop car after cop car. Feeling the rage grow inside him.

"It was me who did that, not you. I was there when you needed me…I made you do the things you couldn't."

John forced Pyro off of him and jumped up to his feet.

"I have to take it…I'll die if I don't." John said, trying to convince himself.

"You can't risk loosing your powers."

"What will my friends do if I don't take it?"

"You don't have any friends." Pyro snarled.

"Oh yes he does," said a familiar voice.

John turned around to see Professor Charles Xavier sitting there in his wheelchair. His warm smile across his face, the same smile he had when he first met him.

Slowly, Scott Summers appeared right beside him. Then Ororo, then Hank, then Bobby, then Rogue, and finally Remy.

"Concentrate…Pyro is fighting to control you." The Professor said.

Before he had a chance to say anything a huge fireball then engulfed all of them. John watched in horror as they all turned to ash. He looked up to see Pyro standing behind them, a sadistic smile on his face. John screamed in rage as he ran towards him, tackling him to the ground and began punching him as hard as he could.

"You think it's that easy to get rid of me?" Pyro laughed as John continued hitting him with all the strength he had in his body. "You can't get rid of me. I made you."

"I can be you," John said while stopping his assault. "But I have a choice…a choice! And I choose to be me!"

Pyro laughed.

"Who the fuck wants to be John Allerdyce?"

"I do!"

John then began slamming his fist into Pyro's face again.

"I do." He said again, softly to himself before he stopped hitting Pyro. That's when he heard another voice in his head. This time it was Magneto.

"What's your name?"

"John."

"What's your real name John?"

John then formed a fireball in his hand and stared down at it.

"Pyro."

John shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts away. He looked down, Pyro was starting to fade away from beneath him.

"My name is John Allerdyce. My name is John Allerdyce!"