I don't own X-men: Evolution
St John Allerdyce was dreaming.
In his dream, he stood within a burning ring of fire. Across from himself, in her natural human form, was Amara. She was beautiful; smiling kindly at him, she held her arms out in a wide embrace.
He stepped forwards to take her into his own arms when a sudden gust of wind made the fire flare upwards, and Pietro appeared, smirking, behind Amara. In a trice the speed demon had spun the girl around, and was now passionately kissing her, holding her hands behind her back and ignoring the way she struggled against him.
Jealousy and rage welled up inside John, and he was about to rush forwards when he realized that he couldn't move or speak any more. It was as if he had become stone; he could only watch, helpless, as Pietro deepened the kiss, and Amara's struggles grew weaker.
Another movement caught his eye, and he looked on as Amara's friend—Roberto, was it?—rushed in, pulling Pietro off of Amara. John felt a surge of gratitude towards the Brazilian boy, and relief in that Pietro no longer seemed to be around. He himself seemed to be moving away from the flickering light of the flames: The last things that John saw were Roberto and Amara looking into each others' eyes.
Pyro stirred slightly, groaning as he did so. His whole upper body—ribs in particular—ached, as if someone had been kicking him. He relaxed again, wincing as his muscles loosened.
"John? Are you awake?"
Amara...her voice seemed to come from right beside his right ear. He became aware of his back being against something warm and comfortable...most likely her front. He laughed a little in his head. This was exactly how she had woken up.
"Yes luv, I'm awake, but...wot happened? I can't seem ta remember much beyond Pietro comin' inta the cell..." He trailed off uncertainly. Pietro! He turned to face her, his eyes burning intensely as he remembered fragments of his dream. "Wot did he do ta you?"
She avoided looking in his eyes. "Nothing much," she mumbled, "Nothing compared to what he did to you. John, he used his speed to nearly kill you! I swear, he must be crazy or something." Her voice gained clarity and volume as she spoke, "He was punching you even after you went unconscious! It was all I could do to make him stop!"
"Wot did ya have ta do to make him stop, then?" He raised an eyebrow, his voice hardening as his insides shriveled up with fear. If Pietro had made Amara do something...and using him as persuasion...
"I—"Her voice faltered as she raised her eyes to look into his, clearly intimidated. But she kept going strong. "Nothing, John. All he did was to suggest things, no more than that."
Her cheeks coloured a little under his stare, and she burst out, "Will you stop looking at me like that? Do you think I'd lie to you? I don't even know why I have to tell you that in the first place! What are you, the Spanish Inquisition?"
Pyro forced himself to close his mouth after her furious tirade. Amara's powers may have been gone, but her temper still wasn't. But with Pietro, who knew?
"Are ya sure?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "Duh. What, you think I wouldn't NOTICE?!" Very embarrassed and very frustrated, Amara wasn't really sure what to do. So she changed the subject.
"Hey, your arms don't look like they're bleeding anymore." She reached forwards.
"Yaaaagh! Wot the bloody 'ell are ya tryin' ta do, sheila?!" John scrambled back out of her reach, glaring and with both hands protectively covering his biceps.
"Oh, stop your whining. It doesn't hurt that much." Amara said coolly, trying not to smirk. Teach him to doubt her!
"Yes it bloody well did! Ya didn't hafta go and...Oh, never mind." He said disgustedly as she started giggling, then went on in a quieter tone. "I can't stay mad at ya, 'Mara. Thanks fer not lettin' Pietro kick me ta death."
She stopped laughing, but continued to smile. "You don't think I'd let him beat my poor, defenseless boyfriend to a pulp, now could I?"
"Defenseless? I'll show you defenseless!"
Amara yelped and laughed as Pyro went after her: finally catching her in his grasp, he...
"Nope, not this cell." Scott slammed the tiny viewing grate shut again. They were getting down to the last couple of cells: Amara and Roberto had to be in here somewhere!
From behind him, he heard Kitty yell as she phased back out of the second last cell. "I found Roberto! But he's with that Remy guy!"
Rogue winced, "Shhh! If anyone hears us down here, tha distraction up there will all be for nothin'!"
"Well, what should I do?"
"Get the both of them out." Scott said wearily, tired of his teammates' constant bickering. "Rogue vouches for the Cajun. I've never personally met him, but the Professor says he'll co-operate."
Kitty nodded and walked through the metal, reappearing in a moment with a very weak-looking Sunspot and a tall, ruggedly handsome Cajun, who grinned wryly. "We almost had de hinges off, homme. 'Nother few moments and we woulda been outta there ourselves."
As Rogue went over to Remy, Scott and Kitty turned their attention to Roberto, who was leaning on Kitty, looking exhausted. "What's the matter, Roberto?"
"Magneto...he gave us this serum that made us lose our powers. Temporarily, that is. Anyway...I really need to get back in the sun. Powers kicked in a minute ago...been in the dark too long..."
Scott took action decisively. "Kitty, I want you to phase Sunspot out of here as fast as you can, get him into the sun and protect him until he feels better. Then go join the rest of the X-men out front: they may need you."
He turned to the last cell as Kitty vanished with Roberto. Amara had to be in this one...Ignoring Remy and Rogue's lip-lock –how they did it, he didn't want to know—he slammed back the covering of the viewing grate.
"Wha...?"
Remy broke away and smirked, hugging Rogue for all he was worth. Damn, he loved her so much! In response to her elbow in his ribs, he turned to look at Scott, who was looking, aghast, into the cell where Remy suspected that John and Amara were held. Definitely where Pyro and Magma were held: flickering firelight reflected off of Scott's visor, and the door was turning an interesting shade of red as it sagged and melted from the apparent heat inside.
The softened metal gave way to an optic blast, and the full scene was revealed.
A ring of fire burned, the flames perhaps three feet high, around St John Allerdyce, the heat apparently not bothering him one bit, though the hot air currents tossed and tumbled his messy red hair as if it really was fire.
In his arms, her face uplifted to meet his downturned one, was Princess Amara Aquilla of the Nova Roman Empire, wreathed in the blaze of her own Magma form, her back to the onlookers. They were kissing passionately, sitting on the small ring of concrete that wasn't destroyed or melted from the heat.
Even Rogue was gawking, though she recovered herself quickly. Scott, on the other hand, was settling quickly into a state of deep shock. "What the blazes" --Gambit winced at Cyclops' word choice—"is she DOING? Pyro's our enemy! He works for Magneto! He's crazy! Amara, get over here now!"
Amara didn't even respond; Pyro raised his head to look over the top of Amara's hair and grinned at the three mutants. He winked slowly at Gambit, then raised his hand slowly; the flames grew from three feet to five, from five feet to seven.
Before the flames completely cut him off from view, Pyro gave Scott a glare that clearly said "Piss off", and then turned his love struck gaze back to Amara's face, desire burning deep within the aquamarine of his eyes.
"Well, dat's dat." Remy shrugged, keeping one arm around Rogue's waist. "Best be off, den."
"But what will we do about...about..." Scott gestured helplessly to the cell: the concrete was nearly liquid from the heat.
"What about them?" Rogue interjected, leading Remy past Cyclops to the stairway.
He sighed resignedly. "Fine. I suppose nobody will really be able to hurt them, what with that heat going on. Back to fight the good fight, now." He jogged away, back upstairs.
A/N: smug smile How's that for flufferific? I realized halfway through writing this chapter that I was turning it into a "Let's watch Pyro suffer!" fiction, so I erased and re-wrote it. Maybe I'll write a fiction like that, but I won't let it destroy the Fluffyness-that-is-Amyro of this particklear story. Now, on to the review answers!!
Lady Sir Henry Morgan: I'm your 100th reviewer? Wow, I'm amazing. Lol. Wales? I'm soooooo jealous!! Yes, she forgave him. It was necessary to the plot...without forgiveness there is kaputski. Which means nothing. :)
amyroffl: I'm guessing that means you're an Amyro Fanfiction Lover. Hmm...thanks!!
kitty on fire: Gambit is amazingly sexy. In fact, he's too sexy for that trenchcoat. Well, I hope I've kept your funeral at bay by updating with this chapter, hahaha.
Pietro's Kitten: Yes, yes he is bleeding. I needed to make the readers think "Omg! He's DYING! AAAAARGH!" Well, not really. Actually, not at all. I was more driving for a quiet appreciation of Pyro's amazing...uh...toughness. Even though he got the snot beat out of him. He's still a cool guy.
Pyro Lady: I'm on your favourites? You're too kind. Yeah, Jonda does sorta make sense, but I like poetic justification, and I think that Toad should get Wanda. Just because he's such a cute little nasty reject. I haven't written any Jonda's, no. Hey, don't sweat it about the spelling; the little review box-thingers don't seem to have spellcheck lol. As long as you spellcheck your fanfictions you're okay in my books :)