Pietro sat in "their" spot.
She left him. She left without a goodbye. No real warning, so much for promises. He shouldn't have believed it as much as he did. He turned the dream catcher over in his hand. He'd taken it earlier with no one noticing. He was so close to just beating something to get his aggression out.
"Dreamweaver… You said you wouldn't….. You said it with conviction Melissa… You promised. So why? Why didn't you at least say goodbye?" Before going to the Institute he'd seen Kurt and Evan talking. Listening in he found out his Dreamweaver had overheard a conversation and left in the dead of night. Pietro knew that all he could do was wait….for now.
********************************Montana Reservation***************************
"Come on Sabriell… Wake up.. Answer!!"
:Ring:
"**Yawn** Hello?"
"Sabriell! This is Melissa. Listen I need you and Jeffy to pick me up at the bus station," she said.
"Yeah. **Yawn** Sure thing Lil' Cuz…"
"Now! And please don't tell Aunt Alice yet!"
"Now? Okay then," Sabriell said as she got up and to wake up Jeffery.
"What is it?" he asked when he saw his sister standing over him.
"Come on. We gotta go get Melissa from the bus station." Jeffery doused her with water using his powers. Before she could say anything he said,
"Think on your last statement. HARD."
"Holy Shit in a handbag! Get dressed, we gotta get out there, NOW!" she said running out to change into something that resembled clothes.
****** A few minutes later on the road
"Thank God I put Storm in with Jessi last night. She was complaining about the monsters again… That sure covered us for this…." She sighed as she pulled out of the reservation.
"Why? Why would Melissa pop up at like four in the morning anyway? Her last letter said she was planning on coming around when Bobby was… Something is just not right… She's doubting herself again… This question is what," Jeffery said watching the scenery fly by outside the jeep.
"Here we are Great Falls Greyhound Station. Where do you think she is?" Sabriell turned to where her brother was sitting but his door was swinging and he himself was looking through the crowd for their cousin. A sobbing mass threw itself into his arms.
"Melissa? What happened? I thought you were happy…" Jeffery asked her trying to calm her down. A murmured 'I was' was all he got.
"Mel!" Sabriell called running over. The expressionless look was painful. For someone who had talked about how happy they were, this was definitely a terrible sign. "Melissa? Come on, love… Let's get you home…"
"Do I really have one?" she asked quietly.
"Of course you do! Come on Melissa," Jeffery had a look of horror and rage on his face. He looked to Sabriell who was also wearing a similar look. 'Someone, will be in severe pain for hurting my cousin.'
*****************************************************************************
"I want to know exactly what happened," the professor said to the people gathered before him. Kurt and Evan were glaring at their teammates.
"Please tell us. Why did Melissa run away in the middle of the night?" Orroro asked them. Logan and Hank were looking foreboding. Logan never had the chance to even meet the girl yet but this was record timing for someone to leave the institute.
"We don't know Professor," Scott said.
"Yes you do! She overheard you four talking to us about how you thought she was dangerous and wanted to talk to the professor about her and she flipped!" Evan retorted before anyone else could even let Scott's statement sink in.
"You thought Melissa is dangerous?" the professor asked them. The four nodded. Xavier chuckled. "Melissa is more scared of you than you are of her. She's terrified, actually. She's seen the hatred toward mutants first hand. Her step-father is an activist on the subject as well as her mother."
"Then why did she come here the way she did?" Jean asked. "They would have let her."
"They're members of a mutant hate group… That is part of the reason she came. She refused to let them know where she was going so she left there in the cover of night then as well. She came here for the protection of the distance. Melissa feared for her life and came here before we had originally agreed. She's running blind in search of someone to accept her for herself, as many of you were in your own ways."
"But she's afraid to totally be herself as well. She sees herself inferior and hates the thoughts of us acting like we accept her and yet don't. She knows me and Kurt accept her but left thinking it best for us if there was no argument about it. She wouldn't even talk to us, she formed an illusion of herself asleep and we thought she was…" Evan explained.
"Ve promised not to tell of her past because she vasn't entirely ready. Ve still kept it… But ve vant the chance to go after her Professor," Kurt told him.
"If she doesn't want to be here, where'd she go?" Kitty asked, knowing they couldn't search blindly.
"Home," the two said simply. The look they shared was that of an inside joke.
"Y'all actually know where she is?" Rogue asked shocked.
"She was letting us in. We couldn't care less if she was from Hell as long as she was nice. She apologized so many times for that Fear Ball thing; I can't remember how many it was. She is so afraid that she's going to be hurt like she was by Ronald and her mother again that she would go to any lengths to avoid it. Even running away again and again." They stared at Evan. Kurt was silent but Evan was really mad, and making perfect sense.
*****************************************************************************
"Melissa Adrienne Moonwolf!" her Aunt Alice said shocked as she and Jeffery came down the stairs the next morning. Jessi grinned and Storm ran over to the girl and licked at her face. Melissa's face remained neutral throughout though. Sabriell looked at their mother. Alice ran over and wrapped the child in a crushing hold. Melissa started to cry, just spilling buckets, as she returned the hug. "Oh, baby doll what are you doing here?"
"Had to come home…" she whispered. "Couldn't take it anymore… Had to come home.. But I miss him!!" she sobbed. Jessi came over and hugged her cousin's waist and whispered a sorry.
"Who do you miss?" Jessi asked turning big green eyes to Melissa's blue ones.
"Pietro… I miss him so much Aunt Alice…. I want him back!" she sobbed.
"Calm down a bit baby… Calm down and eat and then you and I," she looked at her older two children, "and Jeff and Sab too, will talk. Jessi, you and Storm will go over to Amy's okay?" Jessi nodded returning to the table. Melissa calmed down enough to eat and then the four of them sat in the living room.
"Mom, what are we gonna do? If Helga and Ronald…" Sabriell looked at her cousin who sat quietly leaning into Jeffrey's hold. The two had always been close, and if what the shaman had said near their births, the two would only be closer as time went on.
"I've almost gotten custody…. That's not my concern. Who's Pietro?" she asked Melissa. The girl looked up at her aunt.
"He's was very sweet to me, a very good friend. He, he promised that he wouldn't let anything happen to me… I met him in Bayville… He… he… he… probably hates me now though! I promised but couldn't keep it!" she broke down sobbing again.
"Then I'll call the mansion, tell them you are safe and ask them to send him out or let you talk to him," her aunt said walking toward the phone, always with logistic answers. Melissa got a deer-in-the-headlights look before running over and stopping her aunt.
"No! They don't have Pietro! Pietro… was with the Brotherhood, the rival or enemy or something of the Institute. He and I met and were good friends before we found out where we stood on the subject. They'd hate me more then they already do if they found out about him!" she cried a pleading look in her eyes as she looked at her aunt. She nodded an understanding, and told her she still needed to call the Professor that helped her niece just a few weeks before. Melissa reluctantly agreed.
*****************************************************
Three days passed and Kurt and Evan had both tried calling Melissa, yet she refused to speak. Evan had explained how he and Kurt fit in to Jeffery who wasn't pleased that they were 'harassing' his cousin. He had apologized and told him that Melissa had shown up early that morning at the station and that she'd been sobbing when they picked her up. Evan said that he knew the two had been close since Melissa talked of him often when she was there. Melissa noticed the look on Jeff's face when he got off the phone. Her cousin wanted to meet Evan and Kurt, but mostly Evan and it caused her to smile slightly. Sabriell was content with shopping for new clothes for her cousin. Alice went out of her way to make her happy and little Jessi kept telling everyone that her cousin would only be happy when her heart was better. That child was smarter than most gave her credit for. That and she was a mutant that dealt with emotional waves. She knew things about emotions and everyone knew she was usually right. Melissa on the other hand spent her days with Jeff riding around the fields, hills, forests, and such around the reservation on her horse, Wolves bane. Jeff offered to take her anywhere but there was one place she had yet to visit that puzzled the family and those who knew them best. She never once visited her father's grave.
It was chilly and slightly foggy on the fourth morning when the door opened to reveal the brown-haired teen clad in jeans, a blue long sleeve tee shirt, and a jacket. He brought in his bag and called good-morning to the occupants. Melissa looked over the banister at the boy that clasped Jeffery, then Sabriell in hugs. Jessi had spent the night at a friend's house so she wasn't there. Alice called them to the table and Melissa started her slow decent of the stairs.
"It's great you're here Bobby!" Jeffery exclaimed.
"Great to be here! It's always felt like home over the summers," he said smiling. Sabriell and Jeffery's smiles didn't reach their eyes. "What's up guys? You two seem blue."
"Aren't we all?" Melissa asked from behind him.
"Mel? Someone pinch me! I think I'm dreaming! Melissa you're okay!" He jumped up to hug her. She hugged him back, a small smile spreading on her lips. The others knew that she had only really smiled while flying on Wolvesbane. "How, when?" he stopped and hugged her again.
"Bus.. four days ago.." she told him.
"But what about Ronald and Helga?" he asked.
"Mom's getting custody. The kicker is where she came from," Jeffery said with a snort. Bobby looked at her expectantly.
"Xavier's Institute, Bayville, New York…."
"No way! I'm there during school! It'll be great to have yo-"
"I'm not going back."
"What are you talking about?"
"Jean, Scott, Rogue, and Kitty made it painfully clear I was not wanted. I left at night to avoid questions…"
"What about Evan and Kurt?"
"The ones who try calling and Melissa blatantly refuses to converse with?" Sabriell asked.
"I didn't want to hurt them… I had to leave though.. Much easier to leave when one isn't told you have to…"
"But the Professor… Surely he made it clear that it was alright.."
"I spoke with no one of my departure. Alice called when I got here to relay that I was safe again. I have no real desire to go back except the pain of separation from a dear friend I found there. I don't wish to speak on it…" she said going into the kitchen.
"Who's she missing?" he asked.
"Pietro or something along those lines…" Sabriell said in a low voice.
"Maximoff?" he whispered shocked as he sat back down.
"Yes, she misses him greatly…" Jeffery said. "You aren't mad that she likes him are you?"
"Why would I be? Kitty hung out with Lance for a long time… And then there was Rogue who came from that side… Tabitha doesn't know what side she wants to be on… No one should be mad at her…. Time to get used to it is all that's really needed but no one, you know mad."
"She thinks you'll all hate her…" Sabriell said. "That's part of why she left."
"I'll have to change her mind on that," Bobby said. "You don't know if she told him about out here do you?" At the shrugs he sighed. "Maximoff is always looking for a challenge. This is just like something he'd do, come and find her that is."
"Hmm… Be interesting to meet him after all she's said about him…" Jeffery mused as Alice came back in.
"Melissa's gone out again," she told them.
"What? Why?" Bobby asked. "Where?"
"She's been riding Wolvesbane almost non-stop since she arrived. It's really the only thing that makes her smile right now, flying cross the fields on his back…" Sab told him.
"Jeez guys! Come on, we gotta get her back to the way she was!" Bobby said.
"We know THAT Bobby…" Jeff said rolling his eyes.
"Then let's eat and then do it!" Bobby said. Jeffery agreed with a laugh. Bobby had a grin on his face. Sabriell and her mother both groaned.
**************************************************************************
Melissa listened to the thundering of the hooves as she rode. She had ridden from the barn, through a small bit of the forest, and now, out onto the plain area. She let the sounds drown out the memories as she tried to out run them. A flash of a smile, white-silver hair, blue eyes with that gleam. She urged the horse faster with a frustrated cry.
"Melissa! Wait up!!" Bobby cried as he urged his horse to try and catch up with hers. Jeffery was right behind him.
"Mel! Please! For the sake of all of us!" Jeffery yelled. Melissa slowed her horse down.
"Woah, slow down Wolvesbane…" she murmured. Jeffery and Bobby each pulled up along one side of her.
"Why are you running from us?" Bobby asked her grabbing a hold of her reigns so she couldn't just run again.
"I'm not running from you. I'm trying to outrun a memory…"
"Pietro can forgive you Melissa… I may not know him well, but if he made a promise to you, he'll keep it. He's a man of his word."
"And one that holds my heart," she whispered.
"I know," the two boys said. She looked between them shocked then smiled brilliantly.
"Okay you've made your point," she told them. They nodded smiling as well. "Race you to the canyon," she said as they took off together laughing just like old times.
*************************************************************************
Bobby and Jeffery had gotten Melissa sociable again, much to everyone's relief.
"You know that going back with me in the fall, it'll do you some good," Bobby told her as he pulled himself onto the roof. Melissa looked away from the starry sky with mountains and trees to look at Bobby with a smile.
"Of course. And I very well might." Bobby rolled his eyes, when she had returned to watching the sky, as he reached over the edge of the roof and took some blankets from Jeff.
"You will Pietro's there…"
"But does he hate me?" she asked looking to the two boys as they spread out blankets so they could watch the stars together.
"I don't think he would," Bobby told her as she looked out over the reservation. "What do you wanna listen to?"
"Anything…" she sighed. A long pause of music and breathing happened before Melissa's cry broke their silence. "LOOK!"
"What?" Jeffery asked scrambling over to see what she was pointing to.
"Is that a car at the gate?" Bobby asked joining them and squinting. Melissa used her powers to form binoculars and took a look, nodding.
"It's a taxi!"
"Who's in it?" he asked Jeff who had taken the binoculars.
"Dunno… he's real light skinned though…"
"Jeff, there's two kinds of light skinned. Bobby white and mixed Melissa." Bobby finally got a hold of the binoculars while the cousins bickered.
"Whoever it was, just went into the police station," Bobby said. "Officer Red Eagle will be ever so happy to have a visitor this late." Melissa moved over and sat on a blanket as Jamie O'Neal's "There is No Arizona" started to play. She sang along, remembering when she sang it with the boys in the back of a truck heading for the rodeo.
"Hey Dreamweaver!" Jeffery said breaking into her thoughts.
"How long has it been?" Bobby asked plopping down beside her.
"What been?" she asked confused.
"Barrel racing!" Melissa smiled as they climbed down the drainpipe and headed towards the stables.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
"Alright son. What can I do for you?"
"I'm looking for someone," the teen told him. "Do you think you can help me?"
"I reckon. Why are you looking though?"
"To keep a promise officer. I've got to keep my promise."
"Who is it you be looking for?"
"Melissa Moonwolf," the pale boy said.
"John's little girl?" the officer asked. Alice told his wife just yesterday that the girl seemed mostly well now. "You've made a promise to John's kid?"
"She's not a kid! She's sixteen now and yes I made a promise to her!" he reminded the man. "Just point me in the right direction, please."
"There's a big white and blue house, two stories and an attic. Talk with Alice. She should know whereabouts Melissa roams," he said pointing down the street towards where you could easily see there was a bonfire that way. The teen thanked him as he left.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
"Come on Jeff!" Bobby told him from the fence. "It's just a bale of hay!"
"Get your ass out here and move one!"
"As much fun as it is rolling around in the hay with you is-"
"WOAH! TMI guys!" Melissa said as she led a saddled Wolvesbane over.
"Sorry Mel. Oh here I'll help!" Bobby said helping Jeff to move the bales as Melissa helped Wolvesbane warm up.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
"You want to know what?" Sabriell asked the boy standing before her.
"To know where Melissa is. I was told to come here and ask Alice." Alice walked out of the kitchen, Jessi following her. She wiped her hands on the apron she wore.
"Sab, take her back in the kitchen." She nodded and did so. "Who are you and what do you want with my niece?"
"Pietro. And I want to keep my promise to her." Alice looked at him sternly.
"Anything else?"
"And to ask why she didn't keep her promise."
"Which was?"
"To say goodbye… and to come back."
"Sabriell! Take him to see Melissa." Sab came out and nodded. Jessi peeked out and smiled at Pietro. She knew what him being here would do for her favorite cousin. "You can leave your stuff here Pietro. I'll take it up to the spare room and you can stay here."
"Thank you Alice," he said smiling.
"Not a problem. Melissa has too few friends, any and all are welcome in my house," the woman smiled.
"Come on. They're at the corral," Sab said slipping on some shoes and walking past him. Pietro set his things down just inside the door and followed the older, darker girl.
"So you're Sabriell?" he asked her as they walked.
"And you're Pietro. I'm gonna warn you now, kid. My cousin becomes upset by you in anyway and I hear about it, I will make so you're deeper than six feet under."
"I'd do it to myself first," he countered.
"Welcome to the Reservation family bud," Sab said slapping his shoulder and stopping by some fences before a horse and rider thundered past. "You'll have to wait till she's done of course."
Pietro's jaw dropped as Melissa sped around before stopping and waiting by a gate, which a boy closed behind her.
"READY! SET! RELEASE!" yelled Bobby's voice. Pietro looked over and saw the ice mutant. The gate swung open and Melissa shot out of there like a shot and began circling the bales of hay while Bobby looked at something in his hand. Melissa finished and ran through the gate and brought the horse to a trot around to cool down. "Mel! You beat your time from the last rodeo!" Bobby called to her.
"You're kidding me! She hasn't ridden since then. Let me see that!" the other boy demanded taking the stopwatch from him. "Shit." Melissa smiled as Wolvesbane stopped and munched on grass. A loud crack sounded suddenly and Wolvesbane started to buck.
"MELISSA!" Bobby yelled running over towards her before jumping back before he was kicked.
"Mel, get off!" Jeffery told her coming over by Bobby.
"NOW! He's gone bronco!" Sab called jumping the fence and running over, Pietro on her heels.
"Wolvesbane stop! Whoa, boy! Wolvesbane!" Melissa pleaded with the horse pulling the reigns. "WOLVESBANE!"
The horse started to buck harder before going to roll with her on its back. Sab looked away quickly, Bobby covered his eyes with a wince while Pietro and Jeffery were pulled to watch with horrific fascination. Melissa pulled the reigns the other way and Wolvesbane stayed upright. Pietro let out a sigh as Melissa handled the horse perfectly. "Come on boy… Calm down for me," she said gently as she started to smooth his neck. Wolvesbane calmed enough for her to get down but she paused and pulled something from his flank. "Why does it look like someone is STILL out to get me?" she asked as Bobby and Jeffery came over to look at what she had in her hand. A small dart, with red feathers on the end.
"We'll head to the lake. That way you can clean the wound and all," Jeffery said. Bobby looked to Pietro and winked. Pietro arched an eyebrow as Melissa remounted and the boys mounted horses as well. Sab whispered that he was to follow them. Pietro nodded and speed after the three other teens.
Pietro watched as Melissa rode her horse right into the water before taking off the reigns and saddle. She laughed as the horse shook its head shaking water on her. She took some soap and a cloth and led the horse out and started to clean its wound.
"Why am I not at all surprised to see you?" Bobby asked Pietro.
"I don't know. Because you're friends with Melissa perhaps?"
"Hey I know Sab's warned you and all, but I'm gonna too. Jeff probably will when he meets you and Melissa is out of earshot. Don't hurt Melissa."
"I'd kill myself before I let harm come to her because of me," Pietro hissed at the other boy.
"That's good. Saves us the trouble," he joked.
A small shriek came from the lake as the two turned to see Jeffery laughing at a very wet Melissa. "WHY YOU LITTLE!!" Melissa yelled chasing him around before he was shoved into the water where he sputtered and swore. "Serves you right," she said with finality.
"Excuse me, but if I don't join in soon they'll get suspicious and well, you know the whole questions thing… I'll distract Jeffery for a few minutes so you can surprise Melissa. Is that okay with you?" Pietro nodded watching the cousins roughhouse in the water before Bobby jumped in knocking them both over. Melissa got away enough to sit on a rock near the edge of the lake and watch the two. Bobby whispered something in Jeffery's ear before dunking him under water.
Suddenly a hand clamped on her shoulder and she shrieked whirling around ready to jump up and fight but then she just kind of stared.
"Surprised?" Pietro asked with a small smile.
"V-v-v-very," she managed to get out before pretty much lunging at him and latching on to him. "I thought for sure you would hate me for leaving!" she said, her crying evident in her voice.
"I was so scared you wouldn't come back…" Pietro said holding her tightly to him.
"I had to leave. Scott, Jean, Kitty, and Rogue…. They, they didn't want me there… I had to leave… I would have stopped by your house, but I didn't know what I would say…." She said clutching tighter to him. "I was so afraid that you wouldn't want anything to do with me because you thought I lied!"
"It doesn't matter now… I have you and I'm gonna keep you safe…"
"I missed you so much… I was so scared that you wouldn't forgive me…" Melissa said into his shoulder.
"Nothing is going to go wrong.. I'm here… I'm gonna keep my promise. I swear that I'm going to keep my promise."
The two looked back the others when they heard snickering.
"It's so… sappy…" Jeffery said holding in a giggle. Melissa made a bucket of mud appear above him and cover him. "This… Means.. WAR!" he cried spraying them both with water. The four horsed around late into the night having fun.
Things were definitely going to be a lot more interesting around the reservation as the Fourth of July neared….