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:
CHARACTER DEATH in this chapter.
Yeah I just realized I didn't warn you guys before the chapter where Pete died. Sorry about that. Anyway, you're warned for this chapter, so read at your own peril and don't hate me.
"Once there was boy who had vibrant glow, but as it goes, someone took it from him."
AFI "The Boy Who Destroyed the World"
"We cannot tear out a single page of our life, but we can throw the whole book in the fire"
George Sand
Chapter 26
"I'm giving you one more chance." Magneto announced, looking at John. "And then there will be no more chances." He turned his eyes to give Kitty a dark glance. "You're not going to win this time."
John looked at the floor, the inner struggle between his mind and his heart increasing tenfold. His hand jerked when the lighter snapped out of his grip and into Magneto's hand, and John glared at him. He was defenseless now, and John knew it too. He'd need Kitty's help to get them out of here. Or maybe…
He focused on everything around him, trying to ignore Magneto completely and find that one little hint of what he was looking for in the bastard's home. He could feel Madrox's eyes watching him, amused probably that he'd taken his place so quickly. But he did not concern himself with anyone else in the room, John just stood there.
And then she spoke.
"John."
His hazel eyes glanced up at her, dark and deceiving. He'd give nothing away that he didn't have to just yet. "Why?" She asked, and the tone of her voice was so sad, so damn desperate and hopeless all at once, that he just wanted to reach out and wrap his arms around her. But he didn't.
And since he wasn't going to give anything away, John had no answer for her that he could say aloud. But Magneto didn't care.
"By all means, enlighten us." The older mutant said in agreement, waiting for John's answer.
John tried to push them out of his consciousness again and focus on something in the distance, something faint that might just work if he could only…And there it was. He paused, focusing on it, hoping he could actually do this, because he'd never tried anything like this. Then John looked up at Magneto, and there was danger in his eyes as he smirked at his old mentor.
Magneto, recognizing that look and knowing what it mean, became wide eyed and stood up to leave the room. But he was too late. Fire born from a simple spark filled the room, and John grabbed Kitty, covering her body with his, shielding her from the flames.
XXXXXXXX
"Smokin's bad for ya." Rogue commented, having walked a bit fast to catch up to Logan. He raised an eyebrow, looking at her from the corner of his eye.
"Look, I know you have this theory that I…" Everyone jumped back in surprise as Logan's face exploded.
Rogue tore one of her gloves off, grabbed Bobby, and iced Logan's face before anyone else had the chance to react. And once he was standing there, glaring because his frozen face was charred, they waited for him to heal. It was still an amazing sight to see.
Once Logan's face was healed, he wiped it off—using his shirt—then glanced at what was left of his cigar. "What the hell?" He snapped, throwing it to the ground. There was no reason to stomp the flames out, because there wasn't a single spark left in that cigar anymore. "I swear, if I get interrupted smoking one of those one more time…"
"It's John!" Storm announced as she took off running. Only she'd watched the actual direction the flames had been going in, and only she had noticed how controlled they seemed to be. She was, to say the least, proud of her former student. This, after all, had been one of the lessons she'd taught—go for the source of your ability and use it any way you can. Maybe he hadn't slept through every lesson.
Bobby stood there for a moment, looking at Rogue, surprised at how quickly she'd reacted. For a moment she thought he was mad at her, and she even started to apologize.
"Bobby, I'm sorry, I…" She paused when she saw his smile.
"That was fast thinking." He commented, and they followed after the others, running faster to catch up.
XXXXXXXX
John stood there, looking down at Magneto where he'd fallen to the ground. There were balls of flame in each of his hands, perfectly controlled, fed by the hatred and fire he now had for someone he'd once looked up to.
"You were right." John told him. "My way of thinking changed." He took a step towards him. "My thought process is sane now."
Madrox, who had only just recovered from the blast enough to stand up, looked down at his charged clothes, then glared at John. He started to split, but John threw some flames at him without even having to look. "Don't move!" He said, tone demanding that the other mutant listen. And he did.
Kitty stood there, looking at John, a mixture of fear and pride and relief all at once washing through her mind. She too had seen that look on his face before; at Alcatraz. But something was different this time—he wasn't just annoyed, he was downright pissed off.
"Don't you EVER go after the people I care about!" John yelled, throwing a ball of flame at Magneto that he only just dodged. "I followed you around, I watched your fucking back when you didn't think anyone was trying to hurt you, I fought for you when I didn't even really understand why!" He yelled, face getting as hot and red as the flames in his hands. He threw some more at Magneto, who caught the tail on his arm this time and grabbed it in pain.
"I gave up everything for you!" John yelled. "And what did you do?" He asked. "You threw her aside as soon as she was cured." Kitty had no idea what he was talking about, but it didn't seem to matter because Magneto did.
"She wasn't one of us!"
"She was, and you fucking knew that!"
"You don't understand…" Magneto started to stand up and John kicked him back down.
"Don't understand?" He asked, looking down at him in disgust. "I understand perfectly. You're sick. Beyond help. Someone just needs to put you down, because there is no way to fix what you are!"
The flames in his hands grew in intensity and size, and that fire in John's eyes blazed of pure hatred. "Your turn to lose everything." He muttered, speaking to Magneto.
"John!" He glanced at Kitty. "Don't kill him!" She said.
John looked back at Magneto, meaning to ignore her, but the sound of her voice was haunting. "He's evil!" John argued back, having to yell over the crackle of the fire in his hands to be heard.
"But you're not!" She said. The flames died a little and he looked at her in disbelief. "You're not a bad person, John. Don't do this." Was she really begging for Magneto's life?
"He would have killed you!"
"But he didn't." Kitty reminded him. "Please. Let's just go." She held her hand out for him to take.
John was torn. Torn between wanting to run away with her and wanting to stay and finish the job. He'd imagined this moment for a while now, and to have it so damn close and not succeed was frustrating beyond belief.
That moment of hesitation gave Magneto some time to recover slightly from his burns. He had his hand held out before him, and the desk he'd sat behind flew across the room and hit the far wall, pinning John in the process. Kitty watched with wide eyes, then glared at Magneto. And as she tried to walk towards him, Madrox attempted to get in her way.
But Kitty hadn't just practiced walking through walls in the Danger Room. She grabbed the hand Madrox tried to grab her with and flipped him over her shoulder hard, twisting his arm and breaking it. He cried out in pain, but she just kept walking towards Magneto, completely disregarding him once the threat was gone.
And she finally understood why John would feel it possible to kill the man. Magneto had hurt the one person she cared about more than anything else in the world. And he didn't look at all sorry. In fact, the bastard was smiling.
Seconds later, thrown to the ground by what felt like three different pairs of hands, she was looking up at Madrox's multiples, and Kitty knew why Magneto had been smiling. The room was now filled with multiples of the annoying mutant, and John's flame had been taken out with his fall. Once more, Magneto had the upper hand.
"Kitty!" With strength she didn't even know he had, John threw them off of her and grabbed her, pulling her towards the wall quickly. When she just stood there, he looked at her in confusion. "Why the hell aren't you phasing us through the wall?" He asked, still out of breath from being thrown across the room.
Kitty's eyes had tears in them. "I can't." She told him.
"What?" He asked, hand moving to hold her face, trying to comfort her even though he wanted to know what the hell was going on.
"He modified Stryker's formula." Kitty explained. "He temporarily cured me…"
"I told you to stop calling it that!" Magneto yelled, and both Kitty and John turned to face him again. Then, the entire building started to shake, and the smile on his face told them that it was Magneto's doing.
"What the hell did you do?" John demanded.
"Just called in a few reinforcements." The older mutant answered.
XXXXXXXX
"Logan!" Storm tackled him and threw the both to the side before the Sentinel's foot could crush them both.
"I really wish you'd stop doing that." Logan commented, brushing himself off as he stood up. Then he noticed why she'd thrown him aside, and his claws were unsheathed in an instant.
"How did they find us?" Angel asked, and Logan motioned for them to be quiet while he studied the large robots. They seemed oblivious to the mutants' presence, and their movements were almost…forced.
"Magneto." He finally concluded. And why not? They were made out of heaven only knew how much metal…
"This isn't good." Storm echoed.
"No, it really isn't." Logan agreed. But after watching them for another few seconds, his face changed and he didn't seem worried any more. He seemed curious. "They don't know we're here yet. Or at least he doesn't."
Storm looked to him for an explanation, then followed his line of sight up to the Sentinels. It was true, they were walking away from them. Completely disregarding the building around them—which had begun to crumble and weaken at the foundation—they just kept walking forward. The almost disastrous step hadn't been on purpose at all.
"But why would he bring them here?" Bobby asked. "Doesn't he know they go after mutants?"
Silence as they all thought for a moment, and then a look of understanding crossed his face and Logan took off running in the direction the Sentinels were headed, easily passing them and continuing on in that general direction. "Logan, what is it!" Storm asked, as they all took off after him.
Warren, feeling less than adequate on foot, took to what air space was given—following just beside the colossal robots to use the space they created. Rogue glanced up and noticed him, admired the grace with which he flew, and momentarily envied him. And when she looked back down at Bobby—who was just ahead of her—she noticed the falling wreckage that had been the ceiling all too late.
Rogue took a running leap towards her boyfriend, and for a moment she was flying. And then her hands impacted with his back, sending him flying forward, clear of the large debris. But she wasn't so lucky.
At least 1000 pounds of metal and rock slammed down on Rogue, crushing her into the already unsteady ground. Bobby, regaining his breath, noticed that everyone had stopped following Logan and had turned around. He got to his feet as quickly as his queasy stomach allowed, then screamed in horror, tears coming to his eyes. And Bobby never cried.
XXXXXXXX
"What did you do?" Kitty whispered, her question directed towards Magneto, who seemed quite pleased with himself.
"You will help me reprogram them." He told her. And he spoke calmly, as if nothing that had just occurred had really happened. Like John hadn't burned the shit out of him and Madrox, like the Sentinels weren't walking on the building, crushing it with each step, like the fucking floor wasn't trembling because their weight was just too much.
"You're going to get us all killed!" Kitty screamed, starting towards Magneto. It was John's hands on her shoulders that kept her back from attacking him. "Do you realize what you've done?" She screamed. "You lose control of them for one second and we're all dead!"
"I will not lose control." Magneto assured her. "Unlike others," He glanced at John, "I truly understand my power."
One of Madrox's multiples reached towards Kitty, but John kicked his feet out from under him and started beating the hell out of him before he got close enough to even touch her.
But she was too focused on Magneto to notice, too horrified that any human being—mutant or not—could be this ridiculously selfish and stupid all at once. "They were programmed to adapt to our abilities, you dumbass!" She screamed.
XXXXXXXX
Logan looked near tears. She'd only ever seen him like that once—when the Professor had been killed. But now, he was looking down at Rogue, brushing her hair away from her eyes so that she could see them, and he actually looked like he was going to cry.
He reached for her hand, to hold it without the glove, but she stopped him. "Won't help." Rogue said, gasping the words out. Even she knew she was beyond Logan's healing power. "But thanks."
Logan looked at her, horrified that there was nothing he could do. He'd felt it when she had, their special connection born from the time he'd saved her life, brought her back from the dead. He'd felt it. But he couldn't feel anything now, and he knew that was because she couldn't either.
"Bobby…"
"I'm here." He assured her, holding her gloved hand. She turned her head to look up at him, just needing to know that it had worked, that she'd been able to save him. And the building was still crumbling around them.
"Logan, we need to get out of here!" Storm told him, tears streaming down her cheeks. "We can't stay here much longer!"
Warren reached for the wreckage, meaning to lift it off of Rogue, but Logan's hand on his arm stopped him. They already knew she was gone, and they didn't need to remember her by whatever mangled mess she was underneath. Right now they would focus on the beauty of her face, the way she seemed to oddly be okay with this, because everyone she loved and cared about was okay.
"Bobby, I love you." She told him. And he would have answered, but her own words were the last thing she ever heard.
Logan stood up and slammed his fist into the nearest wall, and Storm took a step backwards, looking like she was about to fall. Warren caught her arms and kept her steady. And Bobby, completely in shock—the survivor's guilt would come later—stared down at the woman he'd loved.
Maybe they were just kids, and yeah, maybe they hadn't even known each other for that long, but what he'd felt for her had been real. And now she was gone.
Because she had saved him.