Title: Savin' Me
Author: UnderThePaleMoonlight
Summary: A girl runs away from her old life once she discovers she's a mutant. She meets an extraordinary gentleman, joins him, and meets an even more extraordinary boy. She wants to help him, but maybe he isn't the only one who needs saving. . .
Setting: Post X2 through post X3
Pairings: Pyro/OC, slight Magneto/Mystique, slight Gambit/OC
Rated for: Language and mature content in future chapters.
A/N: This is my favorite chapter so far. Thanks to everybody who's reviewed so far. I really do appreciate it. You get to see the other part of Ava's powers her, which, in my opinion, is the best. Please review when you're finished reading, but no flaming please. Again I say, I will not read your bitch-fest. Thanks and enjoy!
Brown eyes struggled to open from deep slumber. When they finally opened, Ava was unsure of whether she really was awake. The room was completely dark, to the point where she couldn't even see her own hand in front of her face. She was warm and content beneath the large cotton blanket, but forced herself off of her cot to turn on the single light bulb that hung from the ceiling. She stumbled blindly across the room, hitting her foot against her backpack and hissing loudly in pain. Her hand swung through the air wildly until she felt the string in her hand. She pulled down harshly.
She instantly regretted it. The second the light flashed on, she was temporarily blinded. She cried in pain, holding her face in her hands.
Definitely one of my finer moments.
Once her vision returned to normal, Ava looked around the room for her backpack, which laid in a lime-green heap by her feet. She dug through for clothes: no matter how empty or packed the steel mill may have been, she wasn't going to crawl out in a little spaghetti strap tank top and boyshorts.
Ava finally settled on a plain white t-shirt. She tugged it over her head, trying to smooth her thick brown curls at the same time. She kicked up her jeans from the floor and caught them mid-air, pulling them on. She desperately wished she had a mirror, so she could at least see if she looked somewhat presentable.
She sighed: her room wasn't exactly what she imagined it to be. It had previously been a small storage room when the mill was still in use, so it only had a single light bulb for a light source. The floor was concrete, and it was bare with the exception of a cot and a box next to her "bed."
As Magneto had told her the night before when he showed her the room, "It's not exactly the Ritz Carlton."
He got that right.
Ava wasn't a materialistic person, but she had grown up in a wealthy neighborhood with most of the luxuries any teenager would want.
Boy, did she miss those luxuries now more than anything.
She had no idea what time it was, but judging by the lack of activity and people, she figured it was still early in the morning. She hadn't seen any windows, so there was almost no way of knowing whether it was day or night, morning or evening.
Her feet moved involuntarily, taking her to the Lair. It was dead. No activity, no Magneto, no Toad, no Mystique, no Gambit, no nothing.
Ava walked around the giant room slowly. She marveled at the sheer size of the place. Little things like that always amazed her. The attention span of a five-year old, her mama used to joke.
It was so quiet, the only sound being her bare feet slapping against the hard, cold floor.
Click.
Ava snapped her head back. She distinctly heard something.
Snap.
She heard it again. She turned in another direction. Where was it coming from?
Click. Snap. Click. Snap.
Ava was panicking. She was in a giant, deserted room, by herself, and there was a scary noise coming from somewhere.
She was afraid.
She spun around, desperately listening for where it was coming from.
It had stopped.
Eerie silence. Not good.
Something grabbed her bicep.
"Hey!"
She screamed. It was the man from Richmond trying to rob her again.
Ava twirled around, and screamed even louder.
Large roots jutted up through cracks- no, more like holes- in the concrete floor. She was horrified to see a young man, lifted a good five feet off the ground. The roots were wrapped tightly around his wrists, his ankles, torso, and even tighter around his neck. His eyes were wide with fear, a strangled noise gurgling from his throat.
Ava was frozen with fear. Her mind was frantically screaming, Let him go!
I don't know how to!
Tell them to let go of him!
"Let him go!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. Her throat was raw from screaming.
Almost instantly, the roots seemed to shrivel up. They crawled down the young man's body, causing him to hit the ground lifelessly. They slithered back down into the gigantic cracks that now decorated the concrete floor.
Ava raced over to the young man. She could just barely make out his back moving ever-so slightly, and if it wasn't for his loud, ragged breathing, she would have thought he was dead.
He propped himself up on his elbows. Ava held out a hand to help him.
"Oh my God! Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! Are you ok?"
He backed away as she knelt down to help him. "Don't!" he wheezed. He gasped again, muttering something similar to, "Jesus fuckin' Christ."
Ava sat there, unsure of what to do, as the young man hacked and gasped for air. She took her moments of uncertainty as an opportunity to take in his appearance: brown hair streaked with sandy blond that stood away from his face, a lean body- almost opposite of Gambit- that apparently had some tone to it, a handsome face, and remarkable hazel eyes that were large and frightened.
"Good morning, Ava."
She gasped at the sound of Magneto's voice. Fear took over. What if he was angry with what just happened? What if he kicked her out?
She jumped up and words began spilling from her mouth. "I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean for this to happen. He came up behind me a-and those things grabbed him. It was all an accident! I-I'm sorry, I really-"
Ava never finished her sentence as she heard Magneto chuckle. He was helping the young man off the floor, who appeared to be breathing normally, still taking the occasional long breath.
Magneto waved a hand at Ava. "No worries, my dear. Accidents do happen." He looked to the young man who was trying to regain his composure.
"So Pyro, it seems you've already met Ava, our new member."
The boy took another long breath. "If that's what you'd like to call it, sure."
Ava held out her hand to initiate a handshake. Pyro stepped back as her hand came forward, watching it warily. She bit her lip and retracted her hand.
Magneto laughed heartily at the interaction between the two. "Well, now you've met everybody, Ava." His pale blue eyes glanced at the several large cracks in the concrete. He sighed.
"Now, about that floor. . ."
00000000000
Ava crunched on her granola bar, then sipped her water. Magneto had told her it was about late morning, so despite her lack of appetite, she went to the kitchen to eat a small snack. The room had originally been a break room, complete with a fridge, oven, and microwave.
She was still shaken up over accidentally attacking. . .Pyro. Yeah, that was his name.
She heard footsteps in the hallway. She looked up to see who had entered.
Pyro, of all people, had already taken a few steps inside the kitchen when he noticed Ava sitting at the table. He looked at her in fear, and his feet automatically back-pedaled him through the door.
She dropped her granola bar. "Wait!" she called. She had never apologized for what had happened.
He cautiously re-entered the room. He had a slight scowl on his face. "Yes?"
"I. . .uh. . .I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier. It really was an accident. That's only the second time that's happened. The first time, I got attacked by some guy trying to mug me. When you grabbed me, I thought back to that. . .and well, yeah. . .I really am-"
"Whatever," he interrupted with. He made his way over to the fridge, pulled out a soda, and sat in the seat across from her.
Both sat in silence, Ava eating her granola bar, Pyro slurping his soda.
"What's your favorite color?"
She glanced at him, confused. "What?"
He smirked, placing his soda on the table. "I don't like awkward silences."
"I can tell," she retorted.
Odd.
Something moved across her foot.
Ava raised an eyebrow at Pyro. "Are you playing footsie with me?"
"What the fuck? No, why?"
Then what. . .?
She looked beneath the table. A large cockroach sat, nestled on top of her toes.
Shrieking, she pushed her chair away from the table and kicked her foot, trying to get the insect off. Pyro jumped out of his chair at her sudden outburst, yelling. She succeeded in flinging the bug across the room, hitting the wall and bouncing to the floor. She whimpered as it scuttled behind the oven.
Good. It can burn to death.
She heard Pyro laughing. She glared at him. "What's so funny?" she snapped.
He caught his breath and his smirk grew even wider. "What's the matter, Princess? Can't handle a little cockroach?"
Princess?
Ava shook her head, trying to ignore the feeling of creepy-crawlies under her skin. "No," she said firmly, picking up her bar and water, "It just surprised me." She stormed through the door. "I'm taking a shower."
Pyro watched her leave, still laughing quietly to himself.
"Whatever you say, Princess."
A/N: Aaand scene! Ok, so for all you Pyro fanatics out there, there's your first dose of Pyro in all his sarcastic glory. I tried to do the best I could, hopefully it was good enough? Please review, no flaming, same old, same old. Thanks for reading!