Title: Trial By Fire
Author: furygrrl
Archive: Just ask first
Disclaimer: Not mine
Chapter Four
It seemed as if summer had finally arrived.
The breeze was soft, mild to the touch, and fragrant with the scents of new warmth and growing things. It streamed through the boughs of the nearby trees like elemental fingers, pulling sound from the leaves as it whispered past; a soft, sibilant hissing that only faded as the wind did.
When the last rustle had quieted, the sweet whirring of countless crickets filled the void, their simple efforts echoing through the dew-beaded blades of grass so that it was impossible to tell where one song began and another ended.
Or so thought a musing Todd Tolansky.
He crouched at the edge of the slightly wet field, crunching on some of those former nocturnal 'musicians' with as much appreciation for their flavor as he'd had for their symphonic talents, smacking his lips loudly after swallowing. "Tasty," he murmured to no one in particular.
Pietro turned to the younger mutant, the irritated look on his pale face obvious despite the darkness that pressed in from all sides like an inky curtain. "Must you do that?" he hissed, arms folded against his uniformed chest, foot tapping impatiently against the spongy ground.
"Yeah...you gotta keep that stick up your ass?" Todd quietly shot back, sliding closer to Lance who was seemingly dozing against a tree, on the off chance he might need protection.
Pietro glared at Todd's slinking form, eyes blazing with reflected starlight at the poorly offered insult, before turning back to the expanse of field that stretched out endlessly into the night.
Fred, sitting on the sodden earth a few feet away, swatted at the mosquitoes that were starting to whine past his face. "How much longer do we hafta wait here, anyway?" he groaned, big hand slapping at his cheek when he felt something land on it.
"How should I know?" Pietro responded, foot still beating a rapid tattoo against the grass, not bothering to look over to his teammate.
"Well, he told you to bring us here, didn't he? He must've told you something about tonight's little excursion," came Lance's mocking voice moments later.
Pietro spun about angrily. "I told you a gazillion times already – he didn't tell me anything! Just where to go, when to be there, and that we were all expected. Stop trying to insinuate that I'm in his confidences, 'cause I'm not!" the white-haired youth snapped, hands going to his hips in his exasperation.
Lance's eyes slid open at the other's hushed outburst, chocolate brown orbs deepening to pools of midnight within the shadows of the overhanging tree branches. He smirked, conveying wordlessly just how much he believed Pietro's vehemence, which was, of course, not at all.
Pietro's fists clenched at his sides, hating that lopsided grin and the silent message behind it. He was just about to let Lance know just how much he despised it, when a shadow darker than the rest began to descend from above, detaching from the black sky and coming to rest within the Brotherhood's midst.
Each boy straightened up with wide eyes, all previous thought fleeing at the sudden appearance of the mentor they hadn't seen in months.
Magneto's booted feet made no sound as they came in contact with the damp earth. Once grounded, a flick of a gloved wrist flung his concealing cloak outward, revealing the gleam of body armor that encased him from neck to knee, the helmet he usually wore nestled casually in the crook of his left arm. Eyes as piercingly bright as Pietro's took in the assembled quartet with a barely restrained eagerness, a look that none of the boys – not even his own son – had ever seen cross his face before.
"I am glad you are all here," Magneto intoned into the silence, the crickets having ceased their early summer serenade the moment he'd arrived. "Glad that you, the first of my children, will be privy to the birth of a new era for mutant-kind," he continued, moving close enough to Pietro so that he could place his hand on the boy's slender shoulder.
Pietro, proud that he hadn't flinched at the unexpected contact, glanced up to the man he barely knew as a father, licking his lips before venturing to speak. "Wh-what exactly do you mean by that?" he managed, inwardly despising himself for being intimidated of his own flesh and blood.
Magneto's eyes, nearly colourless against the night, flicked down to meet the identical pair gazing up at him questioningly. He felt his lips stretch slightly in response, the barest hint of a smile gracing his chiseled features, and then he turned back to look out over the meadow that lay behind him.
Lance, Todd, and Fred came to stand next to the father and son, following the older man's stare until each of them were able to pick out the subtle lines that indicated a structure of some kind in the distance. A shadow that had gone unnoticed until one's attention was specifically directed to it.
"Watch...and learn," Magneto replied softly, not able to disguise the expectancy that accompanied those few, cryptic words.
A minute or two passed, quiet descended once again, uneasy and tangible - one that not even the night creatures were wont to disturb, and still the group stared out from their position against the tree line that bordered the field.
Lance swallowed nervously, about to ask what they were supposed to be looking for, when a white flare suddenly caught his eye, glittering brightly against the velvet tapestry of night.
A shooting star, he thought immediately, about to dismiss it as nothing out of the ordinary...until the gleaming speck began to grow. "What the hell?" he mumbled without thinking, watching as the errant light soared high over his head, and then out across the glade, becoming brighter with every passing second.
And then stopped dead in mid air.
Right above that building... Lance realized, his initial surprise fading beneath the onslaught of apprehension that suddenly tightened all his muscles at once.
In the time it took him to register that strangely disconcerting thought, the star began to move again – only now, it was plummeting towards the earth with a speed that rivaled even Quicksilver's talents. Its pure whiteness of only moments before became streamers of crimson and orange as it surged more fully into view, the colours trailing behind the glowing body like the tail of a comet.
A fearful voice blurted out "It's a fireball!", and Lance felt his head nod in agreement, unable to tear his gaze away from what he knew was about to happen.
The fireball, it's reflected light now fully illuminating the building, struck its target with the force of a warhead, the instant of impact flashing so brilliantly that it blinded those not prepared, the sound of destruction rushing through the ears of the distant spectators seconds later.
Lance threw an arm up to shield his night-sensitive eyes from the glare, staring in open-mouthed amazement as flames ripped through the rectangular structure hundreds of yards away, subsequent explosions from whatever the building housed causing the ground beneath his feet to tremble faintly.
"Holy shit, yo!" Todd yelped, clutching at an equally frightened Fred, burying his face against the larger boy's protruding stomach.
The gently caressing evening breeze was now an intensely dry warmth fanning past them, no longer smelling of the moist birthing of a new season, instead bringing with it an odor of acrid smoke, of hot metal, making their eyes burn and stealing the tears that blinked forth in response.
Lance inhaled sharply without thinking, taking in a breath of tainted air that made him cough, the taste of ashes flooding across his tongue. He scowled and spat, rubbing his arm across his mouth for good measure, feeling his eyes widen as the flaming ruin suddenly flared with new life.
"What is that?" Fred boomed in alarm, pointing towards the fiery maelstrom in the distance with a shaking hand, Todd clinging to his arm like a burr.
It was as if the fire, having consumed what it could from the building's shell, was pulling back into itself, raising upwards from the devastation, its multi-hued tendrils of flame slowly coalescing into one shining golden form that moved with a mind of its own.
Awe-stricken, the members of the Brotherhood watched as the fire began to shape itself – as two great wings flapped into existence on either side of a radiantly glittering body, and a beaked head suddenly screamed to life atop a sinuous flaxen neck.
"Wh-what is that?!" Fred repeated shrilly, holding tight to Todd, as the giant firebird swept itself up to hover over the massive bonfire it had created.
"Mankind's judgement, come sooner than it expected," Magneto's silkily pleased voice whispered, startling the boys who had almost forgotten his presence.
They all turned to level shocked and questioning stares at him, waiting for him to explain what they were witnessing more fully. But his lips, quirked into a smile of extreme satisfaction, were pressed close together, offering no further information.
To Pietro, the serene look his father wore was more easily read than any other reply would have been. He planned this...whatever just happened was all his making...
Trying to decide whether he should take pride in that fact, or allow the uneasy fear that never left the pit of his stomach take precedence, Pietro glanced back to the firebird, just in time to see another incredibly huge form pull itself from the rubble.
A giant man-like creature was struggling out of the ruined cavity of the blazing building. With glowing red eyes and skin the colour of soot, it seemed a macabre child ripping free of the womb, its enormous hands shredding the remaining structural supports that were impeding its escape.
"Holy shit..." Lance whispered, unconsciously echoing Todd's statement, stunned by the latest turn of events.
The firebird, having noticed the much larger survivor, let out a raucous shriek that echoed across the field, and then swept down to do battle with it. Talons entirely comprised of flame gripped the creature's face and, before the more ungainly participant could even retaliate, ripped it from its squarish-shaped head, sending a shower of blue sparks dancing across the sky.
The giant shuddered wildly, arms flailing uselessly as it still struggled to rise to its full height, until it slowed and stopped moving completely. Listing dangerously, it swayed lifelessly for the space of several heartbeats before gravity won out, sending the massive thing crashing down back into the charred ruins it had crawled from, the thunderous shock wave felt by all five distant observers.
It fell...and moved no more.
Realizing that no other enemies were forthcoming, the bird let out another shriek – this time one of victory – and started to make its way from the carnage that lay beneath it...directly towards where the Brotherhood was standing.
"Why's that thing coming over here?" Todd choked out, fear making his voice jump several octaves.
Lance, equally as unnerved by the approach of the fiery beast, wanted to reassure his younger friend, but couldn't put such thoughts into words. He was too transfixed by the wings of living flame getting ever closer, expecting to soon feel the rush of heat, the acrid smell of hair beginning to singe, only to belatedly note the surprising absence of either sensations.
The bright creature dipped low in the sky and eventually glided down to the field, landing less that twenty paces away from its night-hidden audience. It then seemed to stretch, a silent and graceful spectacle rearing up against the dark - wings fanning out, head angling back, the cruelly hooked beak yawning wide - until the flames grew faint, beginning to fade and shrink, dwindling to near imperceptibility but for a solitarily glowing figure at its center.
"No way," Lance breathed, stunned beyond all measure as that shining body stepped free of the lingering tendrils of flame and began walking unhurriedly towards him and the others. "There's no way that - that thing - could be human!"
"Bite your tongue," Magneto murmured absently, his words lacking the angry indignation he so obviously meant to convey. He moved forward to intercept that approaching figure, his hand outstretched and beckoning. "She is no more of that verminous rabble than any of you are - less so, now that she has come into her full powers."
She? Full powers?
The questions formed in each of the four minds not yet privy to the full nature of the situation, but there was no opportunity to speak them.
The radiant specter had slipped past the trees and was, even now, touching her fingertips to Magneto's upturned palm, the shroud of luminous firelight obscuring her identity rolling off her body like rivulets of red-gold water to swirl around her feet in a puddle of writhing flame.
"A most remarkable display, my dear," the older man was murmuring to the girl, his hand closing around hers with a decidedly proprietary air.
With her back to them, it was an elemental disrobing that did nothing to assuage the apprehensive curiosity of the wary boys standing nearby - all Lance was able to discern was a cloud of scarlet tresses, drifting on the heated air currents surrounding the woman's black and gold sheathed body. An outfit, he noted with the vague appreciation of a teenaged boy, that seemed to be less clothing and more a glittering second skin, so tightly did it cling and cup her curves, leaving only the smooth expanse of her bare arms visible.
Laughter, throaty and darkly amused, suddenly resounded, wafting from the female like an audible perfume. "I gathered you'd approve of my methods, though something tells me that your young men are rather enjoying the view afforded by my new uniform with far greater appreciation," a tantalizingly familiar voice purred.
"Propriety is often forgotten in the presence of the divine," Magneto demurred with a faint smile, using his grip on her to slowly spin her about, presenting her to the rapt audience nearby.
Lance reeled as if struck, the gasps of disbelief from his housemates hissing from either side of him, as a well-known face finally turned to regard them - though looking somehow changed since the last time he'd seen it. He quickly assessed the girl's features, trying to discern what the anomaly was.
The high cheekbones, the straight nose, the porcelain skin - all were the same, as was the lush bow of her mouth, despite the smile that had curved it into something altogether wicked. It wasn't until he met her eyes that the difference was discovered, and instant uneasiness surged through his blood.
Eyes that should have been the clearest, most vibrant of greens, now held the muted glow of smoldering embers, a more pronounced, flickering inner flame dancing within their depths the longer he stared.
As if pleased by the stunned reactions her unveiling had garnered, the girl smiled more fully, showing the gleam of even, white teeth, and then blinked. When her lashes fluttered up, the fire was gone. Only dazzling green remained.
"It - it is you!" Pietro's breathless voice was the first to break the silence.
The girl bubbled with laughter, fire flaring once again in her eyes and threading through her hair like streaks of molten gold, the incandescent nimbus surrounding her bathing the youths' forms in a backwash of light and forcing them to squint. She sauntered towards them with a rolling, exaggerated strut, starlit fingers of one hand reaching out to touch Pietro's clenched jaw, the other moving to stroke Todd's cheek even as the younger boy cringed.
"I'm not the girl you once knew," she told them in a gleefully hushed voice, as if sharing some amusing secret. "I've been reborn."
Lance tried not to flinch when one of those bright hands cupped his chin next, its mate trailing over Fred's girth almost teasingly, but a pair of blazing eyes turned on him a second later, and fear shriveled his insides despite his resolve.
The girl seemed to know exactly what effect her nearness was causing, and a grin split her lips as she leaned into the Brotherhood's leader, both hands reuniting when they met over his heart to press against his chest. She angled her head, positioning her mouth next to the trembling boy's ear, and, though she whispered her words, every person there heard what she said as clearly as if she'd shouted.
"Fear is good," she hissed sweetly, "but worship is better."
Her warm breath tickled his skin until she pulled away to eye all four faces with a darkly joyous expression, every part of her shimmering radiantly - until, like a switch had been thrown, the flames wreathing her suddenly extinguished as if they'd never been. Her frame shuddered and she gasped, an indecipherable sound of protest following directly after.
She swayed, touched a hand to her brow in confusion, and then her eyes rolled back in her head and she crumpled to the ground - or would have, had Magneto not intercepted her, helmet falling to his feet unnoticed as he scooped her limp body into his arms. He gazed down at her face, eyes hooded but obviously concerned, before looking up to the Brotherhood who had seemingly overcome their faintheartedness, and were now creeping towards him.
"It's past time we departed," the older mutant finally said, the discarded helmet rising up behind him and settling on his silvery head as he adjusted the girl's slight weight. "I would suggest you all do likewise," he advised before striding purposefully into the forest.
"So...you're leaving? Just like that?" Pietro blurted out, confusion making him bold. He traded a look of stunned surprise with his teammates. "We don't even get some kind of explanation?"
His father hesitated. "I will be joining you in Bayville for a time," he finally replied, turning to look over his shoulder. "All will be explained then."
"Is she..." Pietro swallowed nervously. "Is she coming with you?"
"Delicate negotiations require a woman's touch," Magneto said enigmatically, as if those words would somehow explain all. He started walking again, his final words, now tinged with laughter, floating behind him on the cool evening breeze.
"Who better to conduct them, than Jean Grey, the first of my Acolytes?"