Authoress's notes: heh. Sorry for lateness. I had a major Mathematics exam on Thursday and I spent over a week preparing. So sorry.

This chapter has a tiny surprise -- oh, hell, who am I kidding? We all know it's going to happen. Buuuuuuuuut... I've decided to do it a different way. Yeah, I know, all you comics-fanatic can sue me. I won't mind. :::grins::: Oh and please don't get all nitpicky about the medical facts or whatever... I don't have time to properly research stuff like that O.o

Reviewers' Response:

chelsey-pudge – really? You're not pulling my leg? You actually LIKE the training sessions? YAY!! :::hugs you::: I thought it was ... pathetic. I'd filled 4 pages with one telepathy lesson. Heh. But at least you liked it! So I'm happy :D

the littlest weasley – yay, someone more thinks I've gotten the characters IC! Sorry Bobby and Rogue don't have much fic time; I'm not such a big fan of them. But they'll be at the Halloween party... that's a promise :) Welcome to VR, btw.

Pyro Lady – glad you liked.

xImmortalx – you do know that you can just add me to your Author Alerts and you'll get an alert whenever I review, don't you?

Chapter 11: Resurrection

Part I: Ice

John Allerdyce shivered slightly and then frowned at himself, not wanting to display any signs of weakness in front of Magneto and Mystique. He pulled his coat tighter around himself and looked grimly out the jet's window. How the Brotherhood had managed to acquire a jet was beyond him; all he knew was that Magneto and Mystique had done it somehow and they now took great care in maneuvering it down onto the ground next to the frozen lake.

He shivered again; this time not from the cold but from the memories of this place from three years ago. He still didn't know exactly what had happened; all he knew was that barely minuets after he had left the X-Men's Blackbird he had crumpled to the snow in exquisite pain. A while after that, Magneto and Mystique had picked him up, and he had joined their Brotherhood. The Brotherhood of Mutants. That was his family now. Magneto was far from a father-figure, true, but at least with them there was no feeling of pity from others. No false protection or lies about peace between mutants and humans...

Bullshit, though Pyro. Fuck it, Xavier didn't know what he was talking about. The war's coming, and with Xavier's attitude, we aren't going to have much of a hope against the rest of the world... He smiled to himself. He was on the right side of the war. His smile melted quickly as the jet lowered. This was his chance to prove himself to Magneto, he knew it. Nothing had been said, and he still knew nothing whatsoever about what he was to do, but he was determined to do it right.

As if on cue, the jet landed silently on the snow, and Magneto turned to him. "Come with me, Pyro. There is something here with which I requite your help."

Pyro followed Magneto across the snow, Mystique walking behind them. They reached the frozen lake, where nearby, under several hundred feet of solid ice and rock, there lay an abandoned old military base. Pyro shivered inwardly again, wondering what Magneto 'needed his help' with.

"I have a job for you, Pyro," said Magneto softly. Pyro looked at the man's face, the expression of which was carefully blank. "Under all this ice, there is a young woman buried in the snow. I believe she is still alive."

"You mean – Jean?" said Pyro, his eyes wide.

"Yes, Jean Grey," said Magneto, smiling slightly. "I believe her body to have been frozen in the flood... her mind, however... her mind may have wandered. Being frozen, he body might have survived." He gave the boy – young man – before him a sharp look. "We need to get her out of this ice."

"You mean –?" Pyro looked at his hands, feeling the heat already building there at his thoughts of using his gift again. Having ... evolved, as Magneto had termed it, Pyro had progressed in his abilities. He now was able to completely create fire, instead of just manipulating an existing flame. Tiny tongues of fire danced at his fingertips. "Where?" he asked Magneto, determined to prove his worth.

Magneto smiled. "Around this area," he gestured at the ice around them. "I believe she is under the ice, somewhere in this thirty-feet-radius. Once you go deeper, we'll be able to check for sure."

"Okay then." Pyro smiled, and a flame flickered to life in his hand. Magneto and Mystique backed away, clearing the aforementioned thirty-feet-radius and leaving Pyro to his task. Pyro pushed their images out of his hind, focusing completely on the task at hand. The flame in his hand intensified. With a burst of fire, he directed it at the ice in front of him.

The ice began to melt instantly, creating pools of cold, rapidly-warming water. Pyro felt a thrill or excitement, born of finally letting his gift escalate to full use. He pushed harder, melting ice faster and faster.

-X-

"Do you think this'll work, Eric?" Mystique said as she and Magneto set up camp. They would be here for a good few days, after all.

"I believe so, yes," said Magneto, calmly guiding the metal rods though the loops of their tents and pitching them on a patch of ice-free earth. "Pyro will do his best. He is anxious ... he wants to prove himself. I could see it in his eyes. And even if he does not succeed in melting the ice enough to find the girl, ordinary flame-throwers are always an option."

"All right then," said Mystique. "I'm going to gather some firewood. We need a fire going; it'll get much colder by nightfall.

Magneto nodded, and set about lowering a number of heavy metal crates from the jet, unloading provisions for the next few days.

-X-

Back on the frozen lake, Pyro moved into the large hole he had melted in the ice, landing with a slight splash as his boots hit the puddle-riddled ice floor. He stood there for a moment, regaining his breath. He had been flaming for nearly an hour now, and he was getting tired. His fire had been steadily thinning, but he promised himself he wouldn't stop until it diminished completely. He felt someone observing him from the rim of the hole.

Magneto dropped a heavy scarf into Pyro's arms. "The lower you go, the colder it will get, Pyro."

"Thanks," Pyro wrapped the woolen scarf around his neck. He turned away from Magneto, back to his task. He concentrated on the feeling of heat in his heart, on the comforting warmth of the flame that was his soul. The flames shot out from his hands with renewed vigor. Up behind him, Magneto smiled. Pyro was dedicated to his task. He returned to the camp, where Mystique had already gathered enough wood and was arranging the sticks and logs inside a circle of stones. By the time he reached the tents, she was rummaging through bags and crates, a frown on her face.

"Whatever is the matter, my dear?" he said.

Mystique lifted her face to him, still frowning. "I seem to have misplaced the matches," she said.

Magneto chuckled. "You for get with whom we travel," he said. "I shall call Pyro."

"Huh?" came Pyro's voice from just behind them. Mystique raised an eyebrow at him.

"Aren't you supposed to be melting ice?" she said coldly.

Pyro shrugged. "Nature called. When you're surrounded by ice and water, a full bladder's a bit hard to ignore."

"I see," she said, though the icy tone had not had not left her voice. "Well, be of some use and light this," she pointed at the pile of wood.

Pyro raised an eyebrow at her this time, and wordlessly pointed a finger at the wood. The flames enveloped it, and after a few moments Pyro stopped. The wood had caught fire rather reluctantly, being wet, but the heat of Pyro's flames seemed to have dried it enough. Pyro grinned.

"Good," said Mystique, turning back to the metal crates. "Now get back to melting that ice."

Pyro frowned. "Not until I've gone to the bathroom," he said, walking into the trees.Mystique rolled her eyes. "Boys."

-X-

Pyro stopped, panting, and sat down on a ledge of ice producing from the wall. He had left half-a-dozen such ledges so far, up the walls of the steadily deepening hole, so that he wouldn't get stuck inside. He felt rather suffocated in the pit of ice ... perhaps he was claustrophobic?

He shook his head. Never mind. He knew there was still plenty of ice to melt, and he wasn't such a fan of it. He sighed and decided that, to entertain himself for a while, he would carve stairs, instead of the ledges he had made so far.

He pointed deftly. A thin tongue of concentrated fire shot out, carving out blocks of ice. He heard an exasperated chuckle from behind him, and looked up to see Mystique, looking amused. She stepped down, using the ice-steps he had just finished carving.

"Nice touch," she said looking around at the hole he had melted so far. "Do you plan on making furniture as well?"

"No, I don't think so," Pyro replied lightly. "I just wanted to get out of this hole easier."

"Well, I'll admit it's original," she said. Then she handed him a steaming thermos full of coffee. "Drink up; we can't have you freezing solid down here."

"Thanks, I guess." Pyro took a sip of the hot drink. "How far under do you think she is?"

Mystique gave him a sharp look. "Quite deep. You'll have to work very hard to uncover her."

Pyro looked up as a flake of snow landed on his shoulder. "I think we'd better cover the hole while it's snowing ... I don't want to start all over tomorrow."

Mystique nodded. "We've unpacked a roll of canvas; I brought it so we can stretch it over the opening."

"Good," Pyro nodded. "Let's do that now, it's already starting to snow hard. If we cover the opening then maybe I can keep working a bit more –"

"No." Mystique's tone was final. "Magneto sent me to get you; he doesn't want you tiring yourself out today. You need to keep your strength and your fire for the next few days."

"Um. Okay. Let's get that canvas, then." He climbed the ice-staircase. On the ground next to the rim of the hole was a large roll of canvas. He grabbed one end and heaved it over the hole. With Mystique's help, he secured it in place with large iron pegs, thrusting them into the ice.

Mystique stood up when they finished and beckoned to Pyro. "We've erected the tents and built up a fire."

"All right, I'm coming."

They reached camp, where Magneto was levitating three cups of soup over the fire. "Ah, there you two are. How goes the melting?"

"He's doing quite well," Mystique said, surprising Pyro slightly.

"Good," said Magneto, and guided two tin cups of the soup to them. Pyro took a sip of the steaming stew, feeling it warm him up almost instantly. It was canned soup – not gourmet, but hot. He looked around. He wasn't surprised to see three tents; Magneto and Mystique liked their solitude. They might discuss their plans together, but they would not spend the night in the same tent... He took another sip of soup, wondering if he dared to ask Magneto about his plans.

"So," he ventured, "what're we doing with Jean when we find her?" Pyro almost regretted opening his mouth as Magneto fixed him with a keen gaze.

"We are going to inform her of recent events," he said simply.

"Um. Okay..." Pyro took another sip of soup. "What time is it?" he asked suddenly.

"It's late enough," replied Magneto. "Go get some rest. We will wake you up tomorrow."

"All right." Pyro retreated to his tent, finding it small but equipped with a good sleeping-bag, separated from the cold earth by a roll of canvas, similar to the one he and Mystique had covered the hole with. His bag from the jet was there as well. He grinned, taking out his CD-player, sliding a disc in and putting the headphones over his ears. He felt better with the music pounding loudly in his ears. He slid into the sleeping-bag and lay down, tapping a finger on the CD-player in time to the bass beat.

-X-

The next few days passed much like the first. Pyro worked his ass off, in his opinion, melting the snow which had gathered on the canvas during the night with a few short, controlled bursts of flame each morning. Then he would pry it off and climb into the pit of ice, which was steadily getting larger.

Each time Mystique would bring him a meal or call him up for a round of canned soup. The fire at camp was kept burning throughout the day; Mystique saw to that. She would go out in the morning and return every few hours with a stock of good wood. Other than that, she took to simply walking in the frozen forest, both enjoying the silence and checking the territory.

Magneto sat in his tent most of the time, thinking and planning. Pyro often wondered what was going though the elderly man's mind, though he knew there was no use asking him. So he left his tent each morning and headed towards the icy hole. He climbed into it and started up his fireball. Holding out his hands, he controlled it cleanly, enlarging it and moving it across the walls of ice. Water streamed down; Pyro quickly directed the ball of flame to the floor, effectively vaporizing any hint of water. Like this he worked: quickly and silently; and every day the hole got deeper.

On the fourth day, Magneto came down into the hole with some unknown device. He walked in a circle around the bottom of the pit, a quiet beeping emanating from the device. At one point in the lap, it emitted a louder, more urgent beep. Magneto smiled.

"That is the direction you must go, Pyro," he said, pointing at the wall of ice directly in front of him. "Start a tunnel here. Be sure to go carefully; we can't have you buried if the ice should cave in."

"Right." Pyro nodded. As Magneto climbed out, Pyro held up his hand. A fireball burst into life. Holding it in the air between his hands, he let it grow and expand, then pushed it at the ice in front of him. It began to melt instantly, forming a niche. Slowly, Pyro let one hand drop. Controlling the large fireball with his right hand, he slowly formed another, smaller one with his left. Directing that smaller one at the floor, efficiently vaporizing the water that had streamed down, he let his subconscious take over it. The small ball of flame zoomed around the floor of the ice hole, turning any hints of water into steam. All the while the larger fireball carved an ever-growing hole into the wall.

After working that way for quite a few hours, Pyro stepped back out of what was steadily becoming a tunnel in the ice. He was just about to work out how to widen it a bit when Mystique came down the steps, carrying his usual thermos of coffee. He took it with a nod of thanks. She set something on the floor: a long wire, with small electric lamps hanging from it every few feet.

"Once you get far enough that it gets dark, get these lamps in. Use these:" she handed him a box of pegs, "to hold them up on the ceiling. Be careful. The last thing we need is for you to bury yourself in there."

"Thanks so much for caring," he half-grinned at her. She rolled her eyes and stepped out of the hole.

Pyro sighed, drinking deeply from his thermos. A rush of warmth and caffeine filled his stomach, and with the thermos still in one hand and a newly-conjured fireball in the other, he moved it over the edges of the tunnel, melting, widening the entrance. Heeding Mystique's instructions, he set up the lamps as soon as he was far enough inside the ice. The cold blue lights gave it an eerie look, but Pyro shook that off and continued his work. The sooner he found something, the sooner he got out of this pit of ice.

Exactly one week after he had first started, Pyro began to think the ice was changing colour. He shook his head and looked again. There seemed to be something darker in the ice, a few feet deeper. Carefully, he melted the ice around it, until a pale blue hand was exposed. Pyro stared at if for a moment, then raced back through the tunnel. Holding his hands above his head, he pushed out a bolt of fire. Within seconds, a forty-foot-high pillar of flame could be seen, even from a great distance.

Back at the camp, Magneto and Mystique both put down whatever they were doing and headed out onto the ice. The pillar of fire disappeared as they reached the hole and proceeded to climb down into it. Pyro looked up at them and said, "I think I've found her."

Authoress's note: the Halloween party IS coming up shortly. I promise :)