Lead the Way

He felt a strong rumble from above shake his entire cell. It shook him violently from his quiet sleep. He had been dreaming of her. Breath hot against his lips; hands scorching lines up his thighs. When a loud crashing noise invaded his dream, John sat up quickly; looking around him for signs of damage.

He listened hard, trying to hear what was going on upstairs. He heard hundreds of stomping feet; it sounded chaotic. He could hardly tell one noise from the other and it made John nervous.

A second later, Kitty fell through the ceiling and landed on her feet in front of John. John quickly took in her appearance. She had a large gash on her cheek that was trickling blood onto her black and pink leather X-Uniform. Her hair was messy and was sticking to her face. The expression she wore told John that there was obviously something bad going on.

"Kitty, what's going on?" John asked, panic in his voice as Kitty knelt down in front of him. Inches away from his face. He could see subtle tear tracks on her cheeks and he could practically feel her shacking.

"Trask ordered a full Sentinel attack on the school." She said, her voice trembling violently. Even though John knew something like this would happen someday, he still felt genuinely shocked.

"Come on, we gotta get outta here." Kitty said quickly. She reached for his hands and before he knew what was happening, she was phasing his hands through the chains. John looked up at her in amazement as he touched his wrists. She smiled at him quickly and stood up. John couldn't help but stare up at her in awe of the leather outfit. The way it perfectly accents her-

"We've gotta be quick. Let's go!" She said, snapping him out of his thoughts. She helped him stand up. He was right, he did tower over her. A barrage of feelings started to overwhelm him when he realized what she was doing. He was a killer, her enemy; yet, she came back for him. He saw her hand something to him and when he looked down, a smile came over him. It was a small, red Bic lighter. He looked up at her.

"Just in case." She said with a playful smile. John nodded slightly and reacted by grabbing the soft spot underneath her jaw and pull her towards him. His warm lips smashed into hers. She now realized he wasn't only called Pyro because of his gift. He felt like fire. For a few sweet moments, they forgot about the world that was falling down around them. It was just them and now. Weeks of exchanging subtle moments and fractions of smiles all lead to this one mind-blowing kiss. When he pulled away from her, he looked into her soft brown eyes. They were glistening with tears and hunger.

"Just in case." John said in a soft whisper. Kitty smiled and took his hand. They both phased through the cell walls. He was finally seeing the world outside of his cell and the feelings of freedom were overwhelming.

"We have to hide somewhere." John said as they both dodged a chunk of the ceiling that had fallen near them.

"There are some abandoned buildings a few blocks from here." Kitty said as they stepped into the elevator and headed to the upper levels of the mansion.

When the elevator opened out into the main hall of the mansion, John was reminded of a very similar event from his past. Students were running in every direction; screaming and crying. John was overwhelmed by the sounds of screaming. Kitty took John's hand and they started running through the crowd, trying to get to the door. When they past a window, John suddenly stopped and stared. Outside, in the distance he saw one of the Sentinels. Gigantic blue and red machines shooting lasers and missiles in every direction.

"Why are they here?" He asked, as Kitty stopped at his side. She was panting as she lifted her hand to grasp his forearm, trying to urge him to look away.

"They came for Jimmy." She said quietly. John gave her a quizzical look.

"Leech." She said finally. John breathed in deep and found himself being dragged through the wall in front of him. Seconds later, the cold hit his skin and he shivered. Everything felt louder out here, screaming and rushing of student's footsteps as they fought to escape.

John could see at least six Sentinels in the near distance. He could also make out some of the powers that were being used against them. The sky had grown dark and lightening charged down from the clouds, striking one Sentinel. He heard a gasp from beside him and saw a missile headed straight for him. John unconsciously pushed himself in front of Kitty. He lit his lighter and felt the fire rush from the lighter into himself. Finally, he felt truly warm. He felt as if someone had breathed new life back into his body. He didn't feel like a cold prisoner anymore, he felt free. He felt the fire move from his body into the air, where his flames collided with the missile. The heat melted them to nothing in mid-air.

He turned to look at Kitty, who was looking off into the distance. At her teammates and then back at John. He could see that she was making a difficult choice right in front of him. Take John to safety or right. When their eyes met, he could see her confusion clearly.

"Come on." She said, slipping her hand back into his. Before he could say anything, they were running again. They didn't bother dodging anything, they just phased through it all. The feeling of phasing through solid objects was one that John couldn't quite get used to. They were passing through trees, benches and fences and after a few minutes they were outside the school grounds. The paused on the sidewalk for a moment before running across the deserted street.

They ran for so long, John couldn't keep track of the minutes. Though, no matter how tired they were; they didn't stop. They were panting and their hands were slick with seat but they didn't let go. They passed countless buildings that they could have hid in but Kitty just kept running. So John did too. They tried to put as much space between themselves and the Sentinels as possible.

Finally, after what could have easily been an hour; they stopped. The building in front of them looked diseased. The door was rusted shut and the windows boarded.

"This looks good." Kitty said as she walked towards the building, bringing John along behind her.

"Yeah, if you wanna become infested with fleas." John said sarcastically, even though in his head this was as good a place as any. They walked through the wall and found themselves standing in a practically empty room. There was only a dirty mattress placed in one corner. They walked towards it, and John sat down with a groan. His legs felt stiff from running. Kitty sat down next to him. He let his hand drift over to her knee, where he rested it. His gaze fell on his bracelet. Yellow, orange and red. He looked up at her face, where her cut was still bleeding.

He quickly took off her hoodie and used the fabric of his sleeve to whip away the blood. She winced a bit from the pain and he quickly apologized. When he was done, he ran his thumb over her tender cheek. She looked at him with a look he couldn't quite read. She looked sad and excited at the same time.

"You saved me." She said in a tiny whisper. John took it in; it was such a loaded statement. Shouldn't I be saying that to her? For now it didn't matter what she meant; all that mattered was that they were both still alive. John's hands left her cheek and tangled themselves in her messy brown hair.

He kissed her with such tender softness that Kitty barely felt it at first. They didn't kiss with urgency; it was just them and now.

They had both been saved.