97 reviews!!!! Yay!!! Thank you! Action, action, lot's of action! This is the 2nd to last chapter of the story! Epilogue is next chapter . . . be sure to read to the very end of the epilogue though . . . even after the story's officially over, because a little surprise will be waiting! ^_^ I'll shut up so you can read the story. Also, this is going to be a very long chapter . . . just warning you . . .

* * *

John made a move to help him, an instinct. But then he drew back. This is the guy that would have had them hanged, so why not let him have what's coming to him? So he watched, analyzing the power of Blaze. He glanced over at Rogue and Bobby. Still knocked out cold.

John sighed inwardly. Guess he was right after all. Can't trust that the X- Men would come to the rescue. Can't trust anyone, period. They'll only disappoint you.

Blaze enjoyed this, enjoyed the fact that she was causing him pain, just as he had caused her pain. But it was taking a long time . . . why wasn't he frying?!

Suddenly, the enormous amount of fire she had thrown at him was being thrown back at her! She was caught off guard and she was thrown off her feet and hit the ground hard.

She got up and muttered, "Pyro!" But when her eyes fiercely locked onto John, he was staring back and forth from her father to her, surprised.

Her father's arms were outstretched. Suddenly, he brought his hands close to himself and stared at them, his mouth opened and panting for breath.

He stared at his hands, and suddenly he felt . . . warm.

"I haven't done that in twenty years . . ." He said. He suddenly felt . . . whole again. Like a part of him had been missing for twenty years and suddenly it was found. When he had disowned Liz . . . even more had been chipped away.

Blaze was staring at him in disbelief. "You . . . You're a mutant?"

"Yes." President Johnson said, as if not believing it himself.

His wife, in the meanwhile, was trembling uncontrollably. "You . . . you led me to believe that you were human! How can you be one of . . . THEM?!"

Rage gripped Blaze again. He was a mutant, yet he commits crimes against them and acts all superior?

"You may be immune to fire," Blaze said slowly, walking slowly towards them, "But SHE isn't." And then she threw a flame streamer at her mother. But then, the flame streamer shot off into the distance.

This time it wasn't her father, though. It was John.

"Sorry, Blaze," He said, "But you kill someone, it's all over for you. And that's not going to happen if I can help it."

John had been reluctant to help out her father, but now he was more concerned about helping Blaze.

"You're next." She snarled.

"Now, we can be all nice and stuff and talk about this . . ." But suddenly, Blaze threw a fireball at him, which John dodged.

". . . or we could do it your way and fight." John took out his lighter and made a fireball of his own.

President Johnson got up and ran at his daughter.

"Oh come on . . . you'll just hurt yourself that way." John said, and threw his fireball at the President, catching him in the chest, and causing him to fall down hard. He yelled in pain and clutched his leg.

"Oops." John said sheepishly while creating another fireball.

Blaze created two fireballs, one in each hand.

"That's not fair!" John exclaimed.

"In this world, nothing's fair." Blaze prepared to launch a fireball at John when suddenly she yelled and clutched her head in pain.

John turned around wildly, seeing a flaming figure in the air slowly descending onto them. It was surrounded by flame, but once it landed onto the ground, it could be identified as Jean Grey. Her eyes had fire in them, and she seemed to be behind it.

"It's about damn time!" John complained.

Jean gave John a famous adult "shut up" look.

"What are you doing?" John asked.

Jean seemed slightly annoyed, but she was able to answer his question while keeping her hold on Blaze.

"I'm opening up her mind so she can hear people's thoughts for a moment. Your thoughts, actually. You're the loudest."

"Oh . . . hey! Wait! What's that supposed to mean?" John demanded.

"And I'm trying to calm her down, that's the key to all this." Jean explained.

"How do you know that?" John asked.

"You talk too much." Jean said.

Suddenly, a loud rumbling could be heard. John turned his head, the sweat pouring down his face. Tanks were rolling in and stopped behind them. Coming from the rear were fire trucks.

Out of the fire trucks came the X-Men. Nightcrawler teleported in front of John with a puff of smoke, holding on to Rogue and Bobby, who were awake. But once the blue mutant set them down, Rogue let out a gasp of pain and fell to the floor.

"Rogue!" Bobby exclaimed.

"I think something's wrong with my ankle," Rogue said between gritted teeth.

A military man climbed out from the passenger seat of one of the fire trucks.

"I'm Colonel Stevens. Everything will be explained soon. First we need to get the President and First Lady to a hospital." Blaze's Uncle said.

"Wait a minute, I want her finished off!" The President ordered.

"Yeah? Well you'd better leave her the hell alone if you don't want America to know that their anti-mutant president is a mutant himself!" The Colonel snapped.

President Johnson's mouth was open, and he looked furious. "You-you went behind my back and sided with these . . . abominations!"

The Colonel's gray eyes narrowed. Though he was pretty young for a Colonel, only in his thirties, his face was lined heavily. He had let his friend run his reign of anti-mutant activists and not said anything long enough. He had watched him throw away his own daughter for unwillingly inheriting the power that pulsed through her handed down blood. The blood of her father himself. No more. It's time things changed around here.

"He's delusional. Medical Team, take him and the First Lady to the hospital and ignore any orders he gives. His mind is fragile, and you don't want to harm it, do you?" His gaze narrowed menacingly at the medics, making sure they'd do what they were told.

A young man emerged from behind the Colonel. He was also wearing an army uniform.

"Yes, Private Lyman?" Colonel Stevens asked.

"Sir . . . don't you know whose those people are?" Private Lyman asked nervously, glancing at Blaze on the ground, Jean, and a glaring John.

"Yes, Private, I know who they are," The Colonel answered coolly.

"Colonel Sir . . . these people, these X-Men, they are the ones who killed my father at Alkali Lake!" The young man explained angrily.

"That was not us," Kurt Wagner corrected in his thick German accent, "that was Magneto and Mystique, and they are not X-Men!"

"They are mutants all the same," Private Lyman said gruffly.

"You listen to me, Private," Colonel Stevens said, looming over him, "these people may be our only chance, so push whatever feelings you have behind."

Suddenly, Jean whipped her head around, her red hair moving gracefully onto her shoulders. "It's no use. She's too far gone."

"What are you talking about?" John demanded.

Jean shook her head. "It's not something I can just fix. It's tied to her emotions, and if I try to work form the inside it might damage her mind permanently."

"I've got a simple solution." Private Lyman announced bluntly. He quickly whipped his gun out, cocked it, and fired at Blaze.

"Stand down soldier!" Colonel Stevens shouted, but it was too late.

Jean focused her energy on moving the fast bullet out of their way, but in doing this, she averted her concentration away from Blaze.

Fireballs surrounded them from in the air, and it started to shower onto them. Fire rain. John strained to use his powers and avert the fireballs elsewhere, but there was too many to cover all at once. His heart skipped a beat as he realized his partially developed powers wouldn't be enough to stop it.

But suddenly, a huge burst of water hit Blaze full on and she was thrown into a flaming building. They all turned their heads to see who it was, but Jean already knew.

"Pyro." She scowled.

John turned his head to her, but she wasn't looking at him. He followed her gaze to his older self, smirking slightly as he held the fire hose.

"What? You should all be thanking me for saving your sorry asses." Pyro smirked in satisfaction.

Jean looked thoughtfully at him. "YOU could go in and help her . . . you're powerful enough." But before Pyro could even utter a word, Jean's scowl deepened, "But then, of course, the only reason you saved us to save your past self . . . if he dies, you never exist."

Pyro tapped his cranium in ironic likeliness to Magneto tapping his helmet. "You telepaths . . . dead useful, but so annoying. I could help, but it'd be so much more fun to leave it to you goody-goodies. See ya." He turned around and began walking away.

John angrily began to follow him, rage surging through him. He saw Bobby getting up too; Bobby wouldn't let New York City burn, or let their new friend die.

But Jean warned them off telepathically.

~ Leave him. ~

Bobby raised an eyebrow quizzically at his old Professor, but he went back to Rogue, who had medics fixing her up. John, however, advanced on the Phoenix.

"What're you going to do now?!" John demanded. "You can't fix it, so who can?!"

"It's an emotional tie," Jean explained, "maybe one of us could go in for a pep talk, but we'd get burned . . . and I know I'm needed out here."

"So who . . . oh . . ." John trailed off, suddenly realizing what his former teacher was hinting at.

"You're the only one on our side who is immune to fire," Jean said, "You can try."

"As much as I hate to admit this, but what if he fails?" Colonel Stevens asked, making sure there wasn't any backdoors.

"We'll be ready . . . as a last resort." Jean said solemnly.

* * *

John entered the flaming door, feeling the crisp fire on his skin. He felt its warmth, but it didn't hurt him.

Inside, John could barely see anything through all the smoke of the burning building. He squinted, ignoring the dust was constantly kicking up into his face. He could see a very faint black outline of a person . . . but then it was gone. He looked all around him, searching for the figure. Suddenly, a hot fire streamer hit him hard in the back. John painfully crashed into a wall, hitting his mouth. He put his hands to his lips and saw blood.

Blaze emerged from the flames, a smirk playing on her lips. John was reminded of the way his future self had smirked . . . it bothered him. Something was weird about his evilness, and the steroid Blaze had been injected with.

Blaze, with an enormous amount of strength, picked John up by his shirt and slammed him into the wall. John coughed as dust entered his mouth.

"You think you can beat me?" She sneered in a very un-Blaze-like way. "You're nothing but a loser. Even your so-called friends were tired of you . . ." This struck a nerve.

John kicked her in the stomach, and she gasped for breath. He had knocked the wind of out her. She recovered quickly and glared at John. Her eyes lit up, and suddenly fire on all four sides came crashing in on John. But inside the wall of flame, the firestarter rolled his eyes and wondered if that power boost made her stupid. At first he felt sorry for her, but now he was just plain pissed off.

"Fine." Blaze scowled as her fire attack didn't work. "Guess we'll have to do this the old fashioned way . . . with fists."

John grinned. He had no problem with this. Fist fighting is a guy's-and his- special area. To survive in Australia, he had to be good at street fights. There's no way he could get beat by a girl in fist fighting . . . even if she is more powerful. But he assumed that just meant boosting her fire power.

He cracked his knuckles and looked up to where she was. She was gone.

What? He thought.

Suddenly a fist appeared out of nowhere. Luckily he dodged it time.

Stupid! John cursed himself. He was being too cocky . . . one of his traits. John had also forgotten that Blaze was trained by the X-Men. And she'd made a fool of him by kicking his butt the first time he met her. Of course she was a good fighter.

He swung his fist hard at her, but caught only air. John could hear Blaze laughing.

"So slow! I thought you were going to be tougher than that!" Blaze laughed.

"I am," John growled, his teeth clenched.

"Seems to me like you're just a tough guy on the outside. Inside . . . you're putty. Poor John, what a tragic past. Get over it."

John felt like screaming. He hated those psychiatrist types of sayings . . . always evaluating and judging. He especially couldn't stand this one . . . because he had a feeling that some of the things she said were right. It was like she had slapped him in the face. And to make things worse, the smoke was so thick he could barely see his fists in front of his face! He had no idea how Blaze could see through this.

Then, he sensed something. Something was behind him! He sidestepped out of the way, and Blaze fell forward, intending to deliver a punch. John grabbed her and returned the favor by slamming her against the wall too. He held her tightly against the wall so she couldn't move. To stop her from kicking him in the very sensitive spot all boys had, he stepped on both feet.

"Oops . . . did I make big bad Pyro mad?" She smiled cruelly.

"You know what?" John said, finally fed up with it, "I try to save your ass, and you want to insult me?" (A/N: *sigh* John does swear a lot . . . ignore his dirty mouth, although ass isn't that bad a word . . . *ponders* back to the story!)

"That's the idea."

"Cut the crap, Liz," John said, calling her by her real name, "you and I both know this isn't you. And you're going to die if you don't stop this!" Maybe a reality check with do that emotional thing that Jean was talking about. Truth is, he hadn't the slightest clue what he's supposed to do.

"What was the Pyro philosophy? Better die with a bang of power than die weak?" Blaze retorted, but she blinked a couple of times. Her eyebrows were knitted together and she looked confused. She looked at John as if she didn't know where she was and why they were in a burning building.

John sighed with relief. It worked. But then, the flame in her eyes and the scowl were back. Blaze made another fire streamer and it got John off her. She kicked him and he hit the wall near a window. The window shattered and shards of glass fell onto him. He felt nauseated, and almost felt like fainting.

Blaze charged at him, intending to finish him off.

It's over, He thought, I failed. Maybe I really am a loser . . .

But a survival instinct, the Pyro inside of him, told him that it was not over, he could still win. All he had to do was keep fighting . . . never give up. He endured during the painful years in Australia, and he can endure the pain and win here too.

His bloody hand caught a piece of glass. He made sure the sharp part was exposed. He prepared to use every last of his strength and mutant power on this. His survival.

Blaze was charging towards him quickly, and John slowly stood up, supporting himself with the wall. She almost came onto him, but then John pulled his hand up and felt the glass hit flesh. Blaze screamed in pain as the shard cut deeply into her right cheek. John was glad that he didn't hit her eye. He threw the glass down to the floor and pushed her away from him, back into the endless smoke.

But then, John heard a creaking noise and noticed that one of the pillars holding up the roof was going to fall! Blaze was right under it, blood streaking down her cheeks. Her finger, soaked with her red blood, was held up in front of her face. She was staring at the blood, as if unable to believe that it was there.

John was feeling pretty weak and drained; but the adrenaline had defiantly kicked in and he was able to move quickly and push Blaze out of the way. But he tripped over one of the loose boards and fell. He tugged at his shoe, but it was stuck. John's heart pounded as fear gripped him. He tugged at his shoe even harder, but he could hear the creaking of the floorboard above him. Suddenly, something hot scorched his foot and pulled his foot free. But then, the floorboard came loose and it began to fall, bits of debris falling with it.

He put his hands over his head to protect himself, as he couldn't move out of the way in time, but it never fell onto him. A burst of fire shot the board and it hit the wall on the other side.

To John's surprise, he saw a panting Blaze with her arms outstretched towards where the board was. Sweat was trickling down her forehead.

Suddenly, Blaze wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, suddenly bursting into tears, something she didn't do often. A mixture of tears and blood flowed down her face.

"Oh my god! Thank you! I couldn't do anything, I'm so sor-"

But she never finished her sentence, and John felt pressure onto his shoulder. He set her back straight and saw that her eyes and closed. John was worried, but when he felt her pulse, he was relieved to feel one . . . though faint.

John was dead tired, but he found the strength to pick her up and proceeded to walk through the door of fire.

* * *

Bobby had waited outside anxiously with Rouge, whose leg had been wrapped up. Colonel Stevens, who they found out, was referred to by Blaze as "Uncle", insisted on taking Rogue to the hospital, but Rogue refused. Bobby was impressed with his girlfriend that she could stand the pain just to wait.

Rogue had been holding her gloved hand in Bobby's, and he gave it an extra squeeze. She turned her head and smiled, but she still looked worried. Everyone had been standing impatiently, waiting for them.

Bobby glared icily at Private Lyman, who looked very ticked off with too assault rifles pointed at him.

Jean's powers seemed to have grown a lot since he remembered . . . when she had "died". Bobby had been watching her, knowing she knew exactly what was going in there. Her facial expressions seemed to change constantly. Sometimes she'd flinch, but her face mostly stayed in a worried expression. But then, she sighed in relief and looked ahead.

Colonel Stevens, Rogue, and Bobby all stared into the distance. At first, through the smoke billowing out of the home, they couldn't see anyone.

A distant figure appeared through the smoke. It was John. And he was carrying a limp Blaze.

Bobby got up to his feet and dashed over to help his friend.

"Is she-?" Bobby asked worriedly.

John shook his head, too tired to speak. He gratefully handed Blaze over to Bobby. His knees trembled, and he blacked out before he hit the floor.

* * *

John woke up with a massive headache. He groaned and rubbed his head, pushing his brown hair back. He was back in the medical room. His dark brown eyes searched the room, but no one was in there, except for a mass of red hair near him, wrapping something on his/her arm.

The person turned around to reveal a beautiful girl with shinning red hair and green eyes flecked with . . . red? She looked somewhat familiar to John.

Not to mention hot! John thought.

She noticed him watching and said, "You're Pyro, right?"

"Yeah. And you are . . .?"

"Rachel Summers." The redhead answered.

"Summers?" John asked.

"Yeah, Cyclops is my dad, and Phoenix is my mom. Or One-Eye, if you're Logan."

"That's . . . interesting." John said, slightly unnerved.

"Well . . . see you."

He got up and walked towards the sliding door after Rachel, and bumped into Rogue.

"John!" Rogue gave him a hug, "You're okay!"

"Uh . . . yeah." John mumbled. But then he smirked as he caught the slightly jealous look from Bobby.

"So, where our crazy friend?" He asked.

Rogue looked uncomfortable. "Um . . . well . . . she's not speaking to anyone. I think she's feeling pretty guilty right now. Me and Bobby went to talk to her and told her it was okay, but it didn't work. Jean told us to leave her alone for a while."

"She was pretty upset." Bobby added.

"I'll go," John offered.

"But Jean said-"

"You always do what you're told?" John smirked, echoing what he had told Rouge at Alkali Lake.

Rogue smiled. "Most of the time. But we're learning. After all, we did save you from drowning against my . . . Marie . . . future Rogue's wishes?"

John shrugged, and asked where Blaze was. Bobby told him, and he headed above ground.

"Maybe there's hope for him yet," Rogue remarked, grasping Bobby's hand. He squeezed it and leaned into her ear.

"Maybe. But let's now worry about John right now. Or Blaze." Bobby whispered.

"And what are you trying to say?" Rogue asked sadly, "You know what happened when you-"

Bobby swooped in and touched her lips. He had missed the soft kiss they had shared at his house . . . they've been able to do pecks, but nothing like before . . .

Rogue wanted to pull away, but both her power and Bobby's kiss was addicting. She held on and enjoyed the moment as long as she could. Once Bobby felt the pull of her destructive power kicking in, he released her, and they both blew out icy breaths, smiling widely.

(A/N: Couldn't resist putting a tiny B/R moment in there! ^_^)

* * *

Blaze sat outside in the lot behind the shop, the cover for the X-Men's underground base. She sat on a comfortable white bench, staring at the beautiful clear night. She could see the stars, which was unusual in New York. But after the fiasco that she had caused, not many people had any electricity.

It was a peaceful night, and the breeze was warm. Blaze was in the middle of a daydream when she felt someone sit down beside her.

"Hey." John said.

Blaze closed her eyes and didn't answer, pain emerging straight from her heart. Just go away, She thought.

"So . . . we've taken on a vow of silence have we?" John joked.

She rolled her eyes on instinct.

"Nice night." John tried again. "Weird though, how it's so peaceful when hell broke loose today. And national security has been breached or whatever, and-"

"Do you ever shut up?!" Blaze groaned finally.

John smirked. "When all else fails, annoy and you'll defiantly get a response."

Blaze couldn't help but crack a smile. Then she said, "I'm sorry."

"Of course you're sorry. Everyone's sorry. But we know it. I don't know why you're beating yourself up about it."

"Not that."

". . . You're NOT sorry about sending all of New York in flames?" John asked skeptically.

"Of course I am, stupid. I meant what I said to you in the building. I remember everything."

"And then you called me stupid? What kind of apology is that?" John asked again, smiling.

Blaze was getting fed up now. "Look, I'm just saying I hope I didn't hurt your feelings back there . . . to add insult to injury. If I did, I'm sorry. That's what's really been bugging me."

"What happened to that Colonel guy?"

"Through some connections, the X-Men were able to send him to his mutant wife . . . and his child."

"How are you? I mean, after being injected with the steroid thing, it's gone right?" John asked.

Blaze stared blankly at the stars for a moment before answering. "No. You saved me just in time before I . . . died. Most of the steroid burned out, but there's still some left. So I have to be very careful when getting angry, or I could cause it to spark up again. But thanks to you . . .thanks for saving me."

John turned to face her, and noticed the gash he had left on her cheek.

Blaze slowly touched it, fingering the wound. "That's going to be a scar."

John changed the subject. "So what are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're probably going to be on America's Most Wanted . . . you do still have AMW in this time right?"

Blaze nodded. "I don't know . . . I've been living and hiding my powers, why not just hide all together?"

Suddenly, John had an idea. "How about . . . you come back to the past with us?"

Blaze turned to him, surprised. "What?" She thought about it, but then slumped down on the bench, "It won't work. It might screw up the past. I already screwed up the present . . . your future . . . I don't want to screw up the second chance!"

"Are you sure?" John asked. "Didn't the snowman's future self say that you had a hand in this?"

Blaze shrugged. "Maybe it was just the fact that I helped you not be evil?"

"Are you saying I was evil before?!"

"No!"

John leaned back, staring up at the dim light from the stars. "Well, if you did come with us . . . it'd be cool, even if you tried to kill me. When Bobby and Rogue get all snuggly, I could hang with you . . . because they do the boyfriend/girlfriend thing a lot."

Blaze smiled. "That would be cool. Truth is, I don't have that many friends. Sometimes it feels like my life's just been this huge struggle against the world and my family. But I'm just afraid of what might happen if I do go and isn't meant to . . ."

"What if you are? Oh well, at the very least I can see you again in 20 years! Maybe the future will be better for you anyway."

Blaze's smile suddenly became sad. "In a way. Once you change the future, it won't change this time line. This future wouldn't be saved if you changed it. It would just create another time line . . . with a Blaze there too, but it wouldn't be me. The Blaze there will probably never meet you, Bobby or Rogue in the past. Maybe in this time, though, we'll win . . . eventually."

John just stared at her, confused.

"Didn't you study time physics? I guess you didn't have that information back then . . ."

"Even if we did, do you really think I pay attention in class?"

They both laughed, and as they laughed, the stars seemed to twinkle.

* * *

Rogue stared nervously at the large time travel portal in front of her. It was like a huge oval mirror with multi-colors and electric sparks flying out form it time to time.

Jean, Scott, Marie, and Blaze were there.

"Bye!" Rogue called, and then, she nervously walked into the vortex, Bobby shortly following her.

John was about to follow them, when Blaze called him back.

"John . . . what side are you going to choose?" Blaze asked.

"What . . . oh. I never really thought about it." John admitted. "I kind of had other things on my mind, you know . . ."

"Just . . . can you promise me something?" Blaze asked.

"Sure, what?"

Blaze leaned in and whispered something into his ear.

"Can do." John said, smiling. "Oh . . . hey, Jean?"

"Yes, John?" Jean answered, making John feel like he was in class again.

"Do you think Blaze could come with us to the past?" John asked.

"John . . ." Blaze trailed off, wanting to stop him.

Jean shook her head sadly. "She doesn't belong in that time, John, sorry."

"But Bob's hologram said . . ." John argued.

"I know, John, I'm sorry, but it can't happen!" Jean said, setting the rule down firmly. John and Blaze both knew there was no use arguing further. "Now, go back to your own time . . . and try to fix things now that you've experienced what would happen if you don't change, okay?"

"You'd better not!" Marie added threateningly to John.

"You heard the ladies." Scott said, with his usual Scott-ness.

"Yeah, yeah. Bye, Liz." John kissed her on the cheek. "Had to make a Hollywood-worthy disappearance to make for all the crappy movies in this time." He grinned.

Blaze rolled her eyes at John.

He stepped close to the time travel machine, his heart beating fast. Those sparks coming out of the machine looked very painful . . .

"Remember! You promised!" Blaze called out.

John saluted before plunging into the time machine.

After he disappeared, Blaze let out a sad sigh. Marie put an arm of comfort around Blaze. "I'm sorry, hon, but you know in this war, some sacrifices had to be made. And we couldn't risk someone who wasn't meant to be there altering reality."

"I know." Blaze said sadly. But she couldn't help thinking back to what John had said before . . .

What if she was meant to go back with them in the past?