A/N: Woo, it's the last chapter. Yay! I finally updated. Yay. I'm so lazy.
Thanks: burningchaos, Silverone3
:nine:
None of them wanted him. None of them appreciated him. He didn't belong with the X-men and they didn't want him there. What was John going to do? There was nothing he could do, except sit there, unwanted. No attention was spared for him. He didn't matter to them and he knew it. And he just wanted to get away from it all. Rogue and Bobby hated him and he knew it.
He thought he would forever be stuck where he wasn't wanted. But he chance came to leave. The X-men went to go fight their battle and the three 'kids' were left behind. They had to stay there. They obviously weren't good enough for the action. John was sick of being treated as kid by them. They all thought they were better than him.
And even worse, he was stuck with those who weren't exactly willing to be friendly with him. It was awkward and there was a lot of silence. John started flicking his lighter cap on and off. That was nothing new to them. Bobby and Rogue tried to make small conversations with each other. John watched them intently, as he continued to make the clicking sounds.
Click.
He watched those he once cared about. And maybe they once cared about him, too. He wasn't sure about anything anymore. They seemed to try to ignore his presence, but they knew very well he was there.
Click.
Rogue. Marie D'Ancanto. He once tried to feel something for her. He wanted her affections. He wanted her for himself. He had charmed her, but in the end, she chose Bobby without even a second glance towards him. She was always so kind to him. She tried not to make him feel left out. She tried to understand him. Well, at least she tried. But she did give up. John didn't need her.
Click.
Iceman. Bobby Drake. God, he had loved that boy. He still did, although he didn't think it was that appropriate anymore. He wondered if Bobby could ever still care about him. Not now, a voice told him. Bobby did once care about him. He remembered all the times they spent together. It was real love. It was beautiful. But John had put an end to that, quickly. He did regret it. But now, Bobby didn't love John. He didn't love John that night when John told him how he felt. No, he didn't love John then. He had once loved him, but not anymore. All his love belonged to Rogue, none to be spared for John. He was going to miss Bobby…
Click.
One final click. It would be the last click they would ever hear. He stood up. It was time to leave.
"That's it," John said, taking the two by surprise. He opened the exit to the jet and grabbed his sweater. And Bobby tried to stop him, sounding angry. A part of him still enjoyed getting a rise from Bobby. But that would be the last time he would ever see him. With one last look, he left the two of them with no intention of going to help the X-men. He would go where he was wanted. He just wasn't sure if that place existed.
Some small part of John wished that Bobby had stopped him. That would have proved something. But the moment Bobby let him go, he knew there was nothing there. The moment he let John leave, John knew that Bobby had made a decision. Bobby had chosen Rogue, no matter what John's feelings may have been. John didn't want to think of it as running away, but he didn't want to be there.
And in those moments of the sudden pain, he didn't care if he died. He had felt happiness with Bobby in his life, and that was something that he refused to die without. The pain ended, and he wasn't going to die after all. He had nowhere to go and his thoughts were stuck on that certain blonde boy.
He wandered for a while, before hearing the sounds of a helicopter. Magneto. John went with Magneto and Mystique. While standing in that helicopter, he decided he would try and forget the past. He would forget the X-men and Rogue. He would forget his feelings for Bobby. He wouldn't be that weakling St. John Allerdyce anymore. He would be Pyro and he wouldn't be affected by the charm of Bobby Drake anymore.
And while sitting in that room, reflecting for one last time, John took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and with the release of that breath, he let his anger leave. He would have a new beginning and he would no longer dwell on the past. Bobby did make a decision. He picked Rogue. And now John would make a decision. He would forget Bobby. Bobby Drake would only be a boy of his past. Bobby Drake would fade away to that far away memory that lingers in his occasional dreams. In the end, it would just be himself.
Click.
John closed his lighter. He stood up and stuck his hands in his pocket. He walked towards the door and opened it, taking only one last look at the plain, white room.
"Goodbye," He muttered, one last time. Not to the room, but to the memory of Bobby Drake. It would no longer haunt him. He wouldn't be held down. John closed the door and started to walk.
The future was starting to look brighter, already.