The heart, which pounded so rapidly, now calmed in its beating. A flowing, rhythmic pattern was now the focus of his body and all he felt was security.
"Professors, I can't tell you how much this means to me. I don't want anything to happen to any of you, but if I go up against her alone, something terrible will happen anyway."
Pyro trailed off in his thoughts. A fleeting thought crossed his mind.
Mystique was right. This is a battle that we cannot win. Someone is bound to die; but if someone dies, that someone will be me. I'll make sure of it.
As he proclaimed his personal sacrifice to himself, John felt Xavier enter his mind. The melodic voice of his mentor filled every crevice of John's being and he was immediately released of all negative thoughts. Professor X assured him that everything would be fine.
Now, the powerful thought said, tell them about your guest.
And John's heart sunk.
How was he going to do this without someone pouncing on Mystique? Logan was too close, Scott had a quick trigger-hand, there were ample windows for Storm to attack through, and Jean, when properly motivated could kill anyone she wished! Pyro knew that he had to approach the issue carefully. He had to get all of the adults to promise that they wouldn't attack. After all, it had been Mystique that informed him of everything. He couldn't just let her be attacked.
John cleared his throat and began to explain:
"Um, Scott, Logan, Jean, Ororo... I want you to meet someone." He paused for a moment and grabbed Mystique's disguised hand. He watched out of the corner of his eye that Wolverine was ready and alert. Pyro held his lighter and clenched it tightly; if he needed to use it, he had to be quick.
"I need to ask all of you to stay in your seats and be calm about this matter, because resorting to violence is not the way that this needs to be handled..."
"Who is she already, Kid?"
Nervous as anything, John turned to Wolverine and gave him a pleading look.
"Mr. Logan, I need to ask you especially to stay seated. I don't want you to hurt her."
Taken aback by being addressed politely by the teen, Logan sat back in his chair. He couldn't help but feel that he had met this girl somewhere before. Her scent was familiar but he couldn't place it...
"This woman here helped me with everything I know and I owe her more than I can say. She has informed me of Dark Phoenix's plot to obtain me and she has vowed to help me in any way necessary." He sighed. He knew that he had to reveal her, and now was the time.
"Everyone, this is Mystique."
Before he had announced her, John thought that Logan would jump up and slice her to pieces. He could imagine Scott whipping his hand to his visor and smashing a huge beam into Mystique, but never did he even dream that Jean Grey would be the first to act.
Faster than he had ever seen her move, Dr. Grey leaped from her seat and focused on the shape shifter. Her dark eyes stared intently on the disguised mutant in front of her and she engaged her telekinesis.
Mystique began to lift into the air; her hands wrapped around her neck as if an invisible assailant was strangling her. Pyro's eyes darted between the two mutants and he acted more quickly than he ever had in his entire life.
In one fluid movement he sharply flicked his lighter open, exposed the flame, and directed it toward Jean.
It all happened faster than anyone else could react.
The minute ball of fire stopped just short of Jean's eyes, but the intensity of the blaze caused her to shut her eyelids, breaking the connection to Mystique. Then before his friend could fall, Pyro darted underneath Mystique and caught her falling form.
"I asked you not to react, Professor!" John yelled at his teacher as she opened her eyes.
Furrowing her eyebrows, Jean appeared as if she was about to retaliate, but she did otherwise.
Probably Xavier's doing, Pyro thought.
John didn't speak again until Jean straightened herself. A small blush formed on her pale skin and her dark eyes fell downcast to the floor.
"I'm sorry, John," she almost whispered. Then without another word, she fled out of the room.
"You'll have to excuse her, Pyro," Scott explained hastily. "She's upset about all this Dark Phoenix stuff; you know everything that happened..."
John nodded and pretended to feel more sympathetic than he really was. He knew about Jean and her hardships with the entity. He had heard the stories numerous times and they had lost their flavor. He might have more emotions now than ever, but he still was a teenager with a short attention span for the "boring".
Shaking the thoughts away, he nodded at Scott and put on his best empathetic look. It seemed to work, for Scott smiled and turned to exit the way Jean had left.
After Cyclops was gone, John still felt a lingering sense of tension in the air. He knew that Scott didn't like the prospect of Mystique joining the X-Men, but it was something that he had to deal with. As far as Pyro was considered, the shape shifter might be their only way to succeed. As a matter of fact, Mystique wasn't even really joining the X-Men. She had made it clear that she was helping Pyro and only Pyro. Then something else rose to his curiosity: Had this relationship blossomed into something larger than it had started out to be?
"Mr. Allerdyce, you're free to put our new guest down."
Returning to reality, John realized that he still held Mystique in his arms.
"Oh, sorry," he mumbled and placed her neatly on her feet. Without the other adults seeing, she quickly flashed him a grateful smile and returned to her seat.
The whole time, Logan had been watching intently. He so wanted to leap up and plunge his claws into her sickening blue flesh. Ever since their first meeting, he knew that she was no good. She had smirked at him seductively while they fought.
While she was kicking my ass, He thought blandly. But something else nagged him in the corner of his mind: What if Mystique wasn't loyal to Pyro? What if she was playing both sides? It wasn't unlike her to be doing something like this. She could be leading the kid on just to get closer to him. Wolverine grunted to himself; the blue bitch had seen just how tightly she had him wrapped around her fingers. After all, he had caught her from falling, saved her from Jean's telekinetic wrath... What else would he do for her?
"We need to keep this close to us only," Storm said sternly. "We can't just tell the children that a Brotherhood member is in the school. I don't think the students would know what to do."
Everyone nodded, including Mystique. She knew that she wasn't being discriminated. In fact, she couldn't care less. But she found that what the white-haired witch was saying made sense.
"No one will know that I'm here, I can assure you," Mystique said, speaking fully for the first time. She still assumed the form of another person; later, she would be able to change, but until then, she must stay in disguise lest the children find out about her and become worried that their safety was in jeopardy.
"I'm glad to see that we are all agreeable in the matter. Storm, please escort Mystique to where she shall be staying. Pyro, you know where your dorm is, I assume?" Xavier gave a brief wink to John and the teenager nodded.
"Then all is settled. Everyone, you are dismissed. I fear that we have a most difficult predicament on our hands and we all need to be well rested." He turned his gaze upon Pyro and spoke again, "And please don't do anything overly exhausting, Mr. Allerdyce. You, out of all of us, must be the most aware."
John acknowledged his Professor's statement and made his way out of the room with Wolverine right behind him. Storm and Mystique exited the same way, but turned down a different hallway when Logan and John went to their rooms.
"So when did this friendship begin?" Wolverine asked with less care than anyone else would have.
John needn't think. He knew exactly when they had first truly connected. On the helicopter.
"On the helicopter? You didn't do anything like..."
"No, Logan," John chuckled lightly. "We didn't do anything like that. I just spoke to her and... it all made sense. Well, not all of it; there's still a lot that she needs to tell me, but I'm getting closer. She's opening up to me. I can't explain how good that feels."
Wolverine's mouth twisted into a grin and he patted the teen on the back.
"You just be careful, Kid," he said firmly but kindly. "If anything happened to you, the smart-ass punks of the world wouldn't know what to do." He ruffled John's hair and turned into his room. Before he closed the door completely, Logan watched as John entered his dorm room.
If anything happens to him, Mystique, Logan thought dangerously, there will be the Wolverine to pay.
