Trial by Fire
Chapter Eight: Extinguished Trust
Time seemed to stand still as Amara and John kissed, and the pool of hot chocolate on the floor was forgotten. Everything around them was dulled, but the other was heightened: their world contained only them, and their lives were only made of what was happening just then.
Amara felt the fire inside her burn stronger and brighter, and somehow she could sense John's reaction as well. It was as if they were linked, and everything that was happening to Amara was happening in John as well, and vice versa. Every thought - not that there were many - word and idea flowed from Amara to John and back again, forming a never-ending circle so that eventually neither of them knew where one of them ended and the other began.
They were one, one great fire that had only begun to burn.
Everything that had happened before was not even a candle to what they were feeling now. Their bodies and minds flared up, sparking and crackling into flame, that primal essence that made Amara and drove John to do his acts.
Fire.
Finally, like the fire that was such an important part of their lives, they ran out of air, and their world seemed to slowly extinguish, and they reluctantly pulled apart, breaking the magic that had surrounded them.
They dared not speak; but their eyes spoke for them. Amara's in particular, for it was she who had been feeling this need, this connection, the strongest. She had felt it long before the fire angel appeared before John, but that did not matter. They had found each other.
*
"Any word, Charles?"
Xavier lowered the Cerebro interface slowly, and bowed his head slightly. "I'm not sure," he replied quietly.
"What do you mean?" asked Ororo. "Couldn't you find her?"
"For a moment I thought I had found her, but then, I lost her. Something seemed to be. . . blocking me."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that something - or someone - may not want her to be found."
*
Back at the motel (man, that did not sound right!) John and Amara were still reeling from the after-effects of that kiss. After all, it is not everyday that you find somebody who is so much like you, yet so different; someone who seems to complete you, in a way that does not make any sense at all, yet you trust that this is what is right.
Trust.
Now there was something that was bothering Amara, now that she was separated from John - for the moment, at least.
How could she trust someone who she knew was wrong for her in every single way possible - and was her enemy?
Some people would have asked her, what did a trivial thing like that matter, when you have found someone most people never would? Why spend time worrying about that - something which might never even happen, when you have something so magical, so wonderful, so beautiful, right in front of you?
What matters more - the possibility of a future which may not even happen?
Or the here and now?
Amara did not know.
On one hand, she had her duty as a student of Xavier, of one day being an X- Man, whose job was to protect humans and mutants from those who wished to do them harm. If she was to turn her back on that, would she be giving up her only chance to convince humans that she was not their enemy, that she did not wish them harm, that she was no evil?
And then there was John.
John, who was watching her right then, his eyes filled with concern, and such a gentle sweetness that it was all she could do not to kiss him again. John, who had made her feel more alive than she had ever felt before, and who had filled her with fire, making her burn like a thousand suns. John, who she knew then and there would be a great part of her life, even if he was not there to share it with her.
Could she give him up?
If it came down to it, would she give him up?
Would she choose to forsake what she knew was right, and not help those in need, as she had been trained to do?
Or would she choose to walk in a world of cold and darkness, live a life without fire, and without John?
Amara did not know.
*
"Have they heard anything?"
Jean shook her had. "No, they haven't."
Tabitha kicked the wall. "Damn it!" She sat down, and nursed her now sore foot.
"It's your own fault," Scott reminded her.
Tabitha scowled, but said nothing.
"Listen," said Jean, getting up from her seat. "I know that you're worried about Amara, but there's nothing we can do right now. We have to wait for Professor Xavier and the others to do their jobs. And if - when - they find something, we'll follow their lead."
"I know," grumbled Tabitha. "But I just hate this. I hate feeling so -"
"Helpless?"
Tabitha lowered her head. "Yeah." She went back to looking at her foot.
*
"Amara?"
She looked up at the sound of the voice. It was John, of course. He was the only one there. But still, hearing his voice seemed strange, and like a surprise. She was new to all of this. But so was John. He was as confused - and amazed - as she was, she realised with a start. Something like this would be a shock and surprise to anyone.
"Amara?"
Amara smiled at John. They barely knew each other, and yet he already cared for her, wanted to protect her.
Barely knew each other. . . no, thought Amara, that was not right. They may have only met a few brief times, but that did not mean that they did not know each other. They knew each other better than even they could comprehend.
It was as if. . . Amara struggled for a way to describe it. . . as if they had already spent a lifetime together, knowing each other, being with each other.
And then they had been torn apart. Torn apart for so long that neither of them remembered, or even realised, that the other existed. Until they were suddenly reunited, and everything just came flooding back. It was painful and wonderful at the same time, and Amara loved that. It was like fire, dangerous and beautiful, able to create and destroy.
It was like fire.
Just like them.
*
Scott stopped in the middle of his twenty-third time of pacing around the room when Logan and Hank came in.
"Oh, come on!" cried Kurt, who had been watching, with a group of the other students. "One more time, and I would have been twenty dollars richer!"
"You know what that means, Kurt. Pay up!"
"You can pay Kitty later, Kurt," said Hank. "But now we've got to go get Amara."
"What?!"
"You heard what he said," replied Logan. "Xavier just got a reading on where Amara is. You know what comes next."
"Yes, sir!"
The students raced to get to their respective changing areas, and get into their uniforms for what they assumed would be an easy mission.
Hank and Logan remained in the room for a few moments.
"What's wrong, Logan?"
"We should have waited."
"Why?"
"I had my money on twenty-five."
*
The X-Men leapt from the X-Van and looked about, confused.
"This is the last place I got a reading on Amara," explained Professor X. "Everyone fan out, and look for her."
The X-Men nodded, and went on their separate ways. Storm and Jean took to the air, Shadowcat went straight through a wall, Nightcrawler disappeared in a flash of smoke, Cyclops and Iceman went down the main road, while Wolverine and Beast went down an alley. Boom Boom and Berzerker went down another alley, and Shadowcat came out through a wall.
"What's wrong?" asked Professor X.
"Rats! Gross!" Then she went through a different wall of a different building.
*
Jean was the first to find her.
She had used her telepathy to call for Amara from the air. "Amara! Magma! Amara!"
Finally she got a reply. "Jean?"
"Oh, Amara! Thank goodness you're safe! We're all worried about you!"
Amara's mental voice sounded confused. "You are?"
"Of course we are! Where are you?"
"Down here," came the gentle reply.
Jean looked around from high above. "Where? I don't see you."
"Hold on. I'll come outside."
True to her word, a few moments later, Jean could see Amara come out from a building.
"Everyone!" she called mentally. "I found her!"
"Good work," came Professor X's voice. "We'll be with you soon."
"All right." In the meantime, Jean floated back to earth, landing just in front of Amara.
"Hi, Jean." Amara just stood there, staring at her. There was something different about Amara, something that Jean could not place. But that did not matter. Amara was safe.
"Amara. Are you all right?" she asked.
"I'm fine." Amara's voice was listless, and it sounded as if she was reluctant to return home. "Really."
It was about then that the rest of the X-Men showed up, and the relief on their faces was obvious when they saw that Amara was safe.
"Come on, girl," said Boom Boom. "It's time to go home."
"Yeah. About that. . ." Amara's voice trailed off, but no one really noticed, as they were busy watching another figure that had just stepped out from the shadows behind Amara.
Wolverine growled as the one he knew as Pyro approached. "What are you doing here?" he asked, waving his claws menacingly.
John shrugged his shoulders. "Free country, isn't it?"
"Amara, come here," said Storm. "We'll protect you."
Amara looked around. She saw John, but looked past him. "From what?" she asked, turning back to face the X-Men. "I don't see anything."
"Are you crazy?!" demanded Iceman. "Pyro's standing right there!" When he saw John take a step forward, he shot an icebeam in front of his feet. "Don't take one more step! I'm warning you!"
John ignored the warning, and with each step he took came another blast of ice. It seemed he did not care about any attack that was thrown his way. So much so he did nothing as Cyclops reached for his visor, ready to blast him. . .
"STOP!"
The cry stopped everything, and everyone turned to look at Amara.
"Just stop! Don't hurt him! He didn't hurt me!"
"But Amara!"
"Just don't!" To make sure that no one did anything more to put John in danger, Amara took a few firm steps until she was standing in the way of any more possible attacks. "Don't hurt him. Please. He hasn't done anything to me."
The adults looked at each other. "All right," said Beast eventually. "We'll just go. Come on, Amara. Let's go home."
"No."
Every pair of eyebrows belonging to the X-Men (except for Cyclops', whose were hidden) shot into the air. "What?!"
"I'm not going home."
"Why not?!" everyone said at once. But as they spoke, they got their answer.
John came up from behind Amara, until he was standing next to Amara. And everyone's eyes became as wide as dinner plates (again, save Cyclops) when they saw him intertwine his fingers with Amara's.
"You've got to be joking!"
"No way!"
But when Amara slowly shook her head, they knew that she was not joking, and that it was for real.
And that was when Amara knew that she had lost their trust. It had been extinguished.
Just like a candle.
Chapter Eight: Extinguished Trust
Time seemed to stand still as Amara and John kissed, and the pool of hot chocolate on the floor was forgotten. Everything around them was dulled, but the other was heightened: their world contained only them, and their lives were only made of what was happening just then.
Amara felt the fire inside her burn stronger and brighter, and somehow she could sense John's reaction as well. It was as if they were linked, and everything that was happening to Amara was happening in John as well, and vice versa. Every thought - not that there were many - word and idea flowed from Amara to John and back again, forming a never-ending circle so that eventually neither of them knew where one of them ended and the other began.
They were one, one great fire that had only begun to burn.
Everything that had happened before was not even a candle to what they were feeling now. Their bodies and minds flared up, sparking and crackling into flame, that primal essence that made Amara and drove John to do his acts.
Fire.
Finally, like the fire that was such an important part of their lives, they ran out of air, and their world seemed to slowly extinguish, and they reluctantly pulled apart, breaking the magic that had surrounded them.
They dared not speak; but their eyes spoke for them. Amara's in particular, for it was she who had been feeling this need, this connection, the strongest. She had felt it long before the fire angel appeared before John, but that did not matter. They had found each other.
*
"Any word, Charles?"
Xavier lowered the Cerebro interface slowly, and bowed his head slightly. "I'm not sure," he replied quietly.
"What do you mean?" asked Ororo. "Couldn't you find her?"
"For a moment I thought I had found her, but then, I lost her. Something seemed to be. . . blocking me."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that something - or someone - may not want her to be found."
*
Back at the motel (man, that did not sound right!) John and Amara were still reeling from the after-effects of that kiss. After all, it is not everyday that you find somebody who is so much like you, yet so different; someone who seems to complete you, in a way that does not make any sense at all, yet you trust that this is what is right.
Trust.
Now there was something that was bothering Amara, now that she was separated from John - for the moment, at least.
How could she trust someone who she knew was wrong for her in every single way possible - and was her enemy?
Some people would have asked her, what did a trivial thing like that matter, when you have found someone most people never would? Why spend time worrying about that - something which might never even happen, when you have something so magical, so wonderful, so beautiful, right in front of you?
What matters more - the possibility of a future which may not even happen?
Or the here and now?
Amara did not know.
On one hand, she had her duty as a student of Xavier, of one day being an X- Man, whose job was to protect humans and mutants from those who wished to do them harm. If she was to turn her back on that, would she be giving up her only chance to convince humans that she was not their enemy, that she did not wish them harm, that she was no evil?
And then there was John.
John, who was watching her right then, his eyes filled with concern, and such a gentle sweetness that it was all she could do not to kiss him again. John, who had made her feel more alive than she had ever felt before, and who had filled her with fire, making her burn like a thousand suns. John, who she knew then and there would be a great part of her life, even if he was not there to share it with her.
Could she give him up?
If it came down to it, would she give him up?
Would she choose to forsake what she knew was right, and not help those in need, as she had been trained to do?
Or would she choose to walk in a world of cold and darkness, live a life without fire, and without John?
Amara did not know.
*
"Have they heard anything?"
Jean shook her had. "No, they haven't."
Tabitha kicked the wall. "Damn it!" She sat down, and nursed her now sore foot.
"It's your own fault," Scott reminded her.
Tabitha scowled, but said nothing.
"Listen," said Jean, getting up from her seat. "I know that you're worried about Amara, but there's nothing we can do right now. We have to wait for Professor Xavier and the others to do their jobs. And if - when - they find something, we'll follow their lead."
"I know," grumbled Tabitha. "But I just hate this. I hate feeling so -"
"Helpless?"
Tabitha lowered her head. "Yeah." She went back to looking at her foot.
*
"Amara?"
She looked up at the sound of the voice. It was John, of course. He was the only one there. But still, hearing his voice seemed strange, and like a surprise. She was new to all of this. But so was John. He was as confused - and amazed - as she was, she realised with a start. Something like this would be a shock and surprise to anyone.
"Amara?"
Amara smiled at John. They barely knew each other, and yet he already cared for her, wanted to protect her.
Barely knew each other. . . no, thought Amara, that was not right. They may have only met a few brief times, but that did not mean that they did not know each other. They knew each other better than even they could comprehend.
It was as if. . . Amara struggled for a way to describe it. . . as if they had already spent a lifetime together, knowing each other, being with each other.
And then they had been torn apart. Torn apart for so long that neither of them remembered, or even realised, that the other existed. Until they were suddenly reunited, and everything just came flooding back. It was painful and wonderful at the same time, and Amara loved that. It was like fire, dangerous and beautiful, able to create and destroy.
It was like fire.
Just like them.
*
Scott stopped in the middle of his twenty-third time of pacing around the room when Logan and Hank came in.
"Oh, come on!" cried Kurt, who had been watching, with a group of the other students. "One more time, and I would have been twenty dollars richer!"
"You know what that means, Kurt. Pay up!"
"You can pay Kitty later, Kurt," said Hank. "But now we've got to go get Amara."
"What?!"
"You heard what he said," replied Logan. "Xavier just got a reading on where Amara is. You know what comes next."
"Yes, sir!"
The students raced to get to their respective changing areas, and get into their uniforms for what they assumed would be an easy mission.
Hank and Logan remained in the room for a few moments.
"What's wrong, Logan?"
"We should have waited."
"Why?"
"I had my money on twenty-five."
*
The X-Men leapt from the X-Van and looked about, confused.
"This is the last place I got a reading on Amara," explained Professor X. "Everyone fan out, and look for her."
The X-Men nodded, and went on their separate ways. Storm and Jean took to the air, Shadowcat went straight through a wall, Nightcrawler disappeared in a flash of smoke, Cyclops and Iceman went down the main road, while Wolverine and Beast went down an alley. Boom Boom and Berzerker went down another alley, and Shadowcat came out through a wall.
"What's wrong?" asked Professor X.
"Rats! Gross!" Then she went through a different wall of a different building.
*
Jean was the first to find her.
She had used her telepathy to call for Amara from the air. "Amara! Magma! Amara!"
Finally she got a reply. "Jean?"
"Oh, Amara! Thank goodness you're safe! We're all worried about you!"
Amara's mental voice sounded confused. "You are?"
"Of course we are! Where are you?"
"Down here," came the gentle reply.
Jean looked around from high above. "Where? I don't see you."
"Hold on. I'll come outside."
True to her word, a few moments later, Jean could see Amara come out from a building.
"Everyone!" she called mentally. "I found her!"
"Good work," came Professor X's voice. "We'll be with you soon."
"All right." In the meantime, Jean floated back to earth, landing just in front of Amara.
"Hi, Jean." Amara just stood there, staring at her. There was something different about Amara, something that Jean could not place. But that did not matter. Amara was safe.
"Amara. Are you all right?" she asked.
"I'm fine." Amara's voice was listless, and it sounded as if she was reluctant to return home. "Really."
It was about then that the rest of the X-Men showed up, and the relief on their faces was obvious when they saw that Amara was safe.
"Come on, girl," said Boom Boom. "It's time to go home."
"Yeah. About that. . ." Amara's voice trailed off, but no one really noticed, as they were busy watching another figure that had just stepped out from the shadows behind Amara.
Wolverine growled as the one he knew as Pyro approached. "What are you doing here?" he asked, waving his claws menacingly.
John shrugged his shoulders. "Free country, isn't it?"
"Amara, come here," said Storm. "We'll protect you."
Amara looked around. She saw John, but looked past him. "From what?" she asked, turning back to face the X-Men. "I don't see anything."
"Are you crazy?!" demanded Iceman. "Pyro's standing right there!" When he saw John take a step forward, he shot an icebeam in front of his feet. "Don't take one more step! I'm warning you!"
John ignored the warning, and with each step he took came another blast of ice. It seemed he did not care about any attack that was thrown his way. So much so he did nothing as Cyclops reached for his visor, ready to blast him. . .
"STOP!"
The cry stopped everything, and everyone turned to look at Amara.
"Just stop! Don't hurt him! He didn't hurt me!"
"But Amara!"
"Just don't!" To make sure that no one did anything more to put John in danger, Amara took a few firm steps until she was standing in the way of any more possible attacks. "Don't hurt him. Please. He hasn't done anything to me."
The adults looked at each other. "All right," said Beast eventually. "We'll just go. Come on, Amara. Let's go home."
"No."
Every pair of eyebrows belonging to the X-Men (except for Cyclops', whose were hidden) shot into the air. "What?!"
"I'm not going home."
"Why not?!" everyone said at once. But as they spoke, they got their answer.
John came up from behind Amara, until he was standing next to Amara. And everyone's eyes became as wide as dinner plates (again, save Cyclops) when they saw him intertwine his fingers with Amara's.
"You've got to be joking!"
"No way!"
But when Amara slowly shook her head, they knew that she was not joking, and that it was for real.
And that was when Amara knew that she had lost their trust. It had been extinguished.
Just like a candle.