Unlikely

Chapter Seventeen: Defining Reality

Once off the Bayville Highschool campus, Pietro skidded to a stop, and caught Mia as she tripped to a halt in front of him. She gave him a startled look, as though just taking notice that he existed, and then looked down at his chest, as there was no space between them to look at.

"Um…" She mumbled.

Realizing her meaning, Pietro quickly released her, and at the unexpected freedom, she fell. She hadn't been standing in a very sturdy pose, so he had been the only thing really holding her up. And then her legs felt like gelatin, which wasn't helping matters much. Nonetheless, Mia suddenly remembered why she had just sped out of school in the first place, and scrambled to her feet before Pietro could comprehend what was happening. She stumbled as her panicked thoughts and gelatin-like legs mixed.

"Whoa," Pietro murmured as he caught her around her lean stomach. "Calm down there. What's with the rush?"

"Maggie," Mia answered distractedly, trying to push past him and at the same time not taking notice of him, but Pietro tightened his grip around her. "She's in trouble, I need to get to her. It can't come true, I won't let it."

"Mia." She had never heard Pietro speak her name before, and that alone made her pause to look up into his face. He gazed down at her coolly, a small smirk on his lips as sapphire eyes met pale violets. "Just relax, okay? Calm down and we'll find her." Struck dumb by his soothing tone and actual manners, Mia could only nod numbly. "Now, what about Maggie?"

"I had a vision. She's crossing the street, and… and…" She faltered and the tears beginning to well in her intriguing eyes startled Pietro. He could guess what happened in the vision.

"Alright. So where does the vision take place? And how do you know it wasn't just a nightmare?" He asked a bit nervously. He had rarely seen a girl cry. Tears always unsettled him. He didn't want Mia to cry. It was probably this last thought that made him lift his right hand and catch the first tear as it began to streak down her right cheek. "Were you asleep when you saw it happen?"

She nodded slowly as she took a step back from him and quickly wiped the back of her gloved hands across her cheeks and under her eyes, smearing her black eyeliner and making her eyes look larger in the process as her make-up took on a dusty-effect.

"Yeah, I fell asleep, but it wasn't a nightmare. I wish it was and I hope that's all it becomes. It takes place right outside her middle school, somewhere along the street."

Pietro nodded, glad that she had recovered before she had really started to cry. He took her hand and turned, but before beginning to sprint, he turned back to her. "Get on my back. I can go faster than if I just dragged you."

A light blush filled her cheeks as she looked down at her skirt and mostly bare legs, but Pietro ignored this as he turned and crouched, bouncing on his toes as he waited. After a second, he felt Mia's lightweight on his back and he straightened, holding her legs securely, then sprinted off at his lightning speed.

In only some seconds, he skidded to a halt, and dropped Mia.

He hadn't meant to, he had just forgotten that most girls were used to being handled with certain finesse. But before he could turn around to apologize to her, she was back on her feet, looking around worriedly for any sign of her younger sister.

Pietro leaned his back against a stop sign and folded his arms over his chest as he watched her do this in silent amusement. "School won't be out for another half hour, so you might as well relax until then. The buses aren't even here, yet."

This seemed to calm her down some, and after looking around another minute or two, she finally walked over and stood near him, her pale violet eyes trained on the Middle School building across the street, while Pietro silently continued to watch her.

"Thank you for doing this, Pietro." He barely caught her murmur.

He shrugged unconcernedly and looked away from her. "I was ditching class anyway. This just gives me something to do. So how do you know it isn't just a nightmare?"

"Because I haven't had nightmares since I was eight, and even then I can't be sure they were just bad dreams. My hair didn't turn this color until my real powers kicked in."

"You mean your hair hasn't always been silver?"

"No. It used to be brown like Maggie's. But then I had my first overload, and by the time I figured out I needed to cover my skin to keep the visions from flooding me, my hair was like this. Explains why my dad's hair was silver…" she added in an undertone. "'Course I never knew him. His power killed him, way back when."

"What power was that?"

She glanced at him. "Mine."

Startled, Pietro took a hesitant step toward her, before he realized what he was doing and stopped himself. "You mean your days are numbered?" He tried to sound unconcerned, but knew Mia had probably caught it, unless she wasn't paying attention again.

She looked back across the street to the doors of the school. "My dad killed himself. He couldn't take having the visions. Everyone's days are numbered, in one way or another. My visions are proof of that."

"Have you ever…?"

"No," her tone was cold. "I'm all Maggie has left. Maggie is all that's kept me from giving in, and I won't let fate have her, not until I'm dust and her fate is out of my hands." It seemed Mia wasn't even talking to him anymore. It was more like she was telling these things to her self, making private promises that Pietro couldn't know the real meaning behind. A long silence went between them, and the first Middle School buses began to arrive. Suddenly a ghost of a smile passed Mia's lipstick-maroon lips and she began cleaning up her make-up around her eyes. "I must sound like a walking soap opera."

"Yeah, kinda." Pietro admitted quietly, and then asked hesitantly, "What happened to your mom?"

Again she glanced at him, and Pietro had the urge to step out of her kicking range.

"It was always my mom, Maggie, me and Grandpa John. One morning, Mom and Grandpa John wouldn't wake up. I already knew what had happened to them, even if I was too young to understand it. Carbon Dioxide killed them. I got Maggie and me out of the house, then went next door and called 9-1-1, but the ambulance came too late. They saved Maggie and me, though, probably because we were just kids or something. Maggie was barely a toddler back then, and I was only six." She looked back across the street. "I saw a lot of your memories on the way over here, so I owe you that much. A burden for a burden, aye?"

Without exactly thinking of his actions, Pietro stepped towards her again. She turned toward him and took a hesitant half-step back, her expression showing her question at his doing. Ignoring this, Pietro lifted his left hand and gently brushed his thumb under her left eye, cleaning up her make-up for her.

"This is bugging me," he grumbled as he lifted his right hand and cleaned up the dark make-up under her other eye.

Mia watched his eyes as he completed the task, and then he met her gaze, his hands still resting on her cheeks. Maybe it was the dramatic cliché of everything that had just happened and of all she had said, but slowly Pietro leaned towards her, his hands sliding down her cheeks, one going to hold her neck in a ginger touch while the other crept down her side going to hold Mia's thin waist.

Pietro relaxed his straight posture as his eyes slowly closed and their lips little by little inched closer.

Author's note: Just another filler. [sigh] Build up the suspense, drain it away…

Preview of Chapter Eighteen: The Pain of Heartbreak and the Happiness of Repair

Pietro lost his temper. "It was just a nightmare! Will you calm down, already?"

But Mia wasn't listening. Instead, she was watching in stark terror as the car sped towards her younger sister, whom had seen her from across the street and run out to greet her, but tripped and fallen in the middle of the street. There was no way Maggie would be able to get up and out of the way in time. It was just as in the nightmare…

"No!" Mia screamed, running out into the middle of the street just as her younger sister got back to her feet.

Disclaimer: I don't own any copyrights to X-Men: Evolution. I only own this plot and my original characters.