A Place Called Home

Part Two

He seemed taller than she remembered. The blond was gone from his hair and it was the old dark brown again. Not slicked back though; it was just combed very neatly, making him look serious and dignified. The black suit he was wearing also did its part in transforming his appearance from the punk boy she had known to this disturbingly quiet man. And that was what troubled her about this mature Pyro. He was too still, too controlled. All the fire seemed to have gone out of him.

When he looked at her and welcomed her to the Governor's residence, his eyes held absolutely no emotion.

"Allow me to introduce you to Gaea," he told them, very polite and very proper. Kitty couldn't believe that this was the same boy who used to get into fights as naturally as breathing.

A little girl, about five years old or so, looked up at her with wide eyes. She was clinging to Pyro's hand. "Hello," Gaea greeted her shyly.

Peter knelt down and smiled at her. "Hello, Gaea," he said. "It's very nice to meet you. My name is Peter." He handed her a brightly wrapped box. "Warren, Angel, asked me to give this to you when we met. He hopes you'll like it."

She brightened at the mention of Angel's name. "When is Mister Angel coming back?" she asked. "I want to fly again."

"Not any time soon, I'm afraid," Peter answered. "But I promise that he will definitely come back to see you and take you flying again." He took Kitty's hand and pulled her gently forward. "This is Kitty. She can't fly but she can walk through walls, and on air. Maybe the two of you could be friends.'

"Really?" She looked excited at the walking through walls part.

"Yes. Maybe sometime."

The little girl's smile faltered at the cool note in Kitty's voice. Pyro frowned at her, surprised by her attitude. She just met his gaze impassively. Peter got to his feet and shot her a glance of disapproval. She pretended not to have noticed.

"It's past your bedtime," Mystique told Gaea. "Now thank the nice man for the gift then off to sleep." She gave a signal and two aides rushed to take charge of the child.

"Thank you," she said, smiling at Peter. "Goodnight." She didn't look at Kitty.

"Shall we go in to dinner?" the shapeshifter invited. Pyro took her arm and escorted her to the dining room, Kitty and Peter following behind them along with the other guests.

The conversation was genial as the two X-Men got to know the ruling Council of New Hope Island. Except for Pyro and Mystique, none of them had been members of Magneto's Brotherhood. They were men and women born with the X gene, who had found a home on the Island and who now did their part to make sure that others of their kind found the same.

One of them was a woman named Allona Biers. She was a firestarter but she couldn't control the fire. She was the opposite of Pyro who could manipulate fire but who couldn't create it.

"So there I was," she was telling a story now to illustrate that point. "The whole house was just going up in flames and I was trapped inside and completely panicking. Then Pyro came in and the fire just started dying down and he looked so furious at me. He said, 'The next time you try anything like this again, I swear to God I'll have you cured!' And that was absolutely the last time I tried to heat water with my powers instead of doing it the old-fashioned way on the stovetop."

The company laughed at this anecdote. Pyro, though, wasn't amused. "You were very careless," he told her. "The whole south side of the Island could have burned up."

"Yes," she said contritely. "I know. That's why I've been working very hard to control it. And you've helped me out a lot with that." She smiled at him till he stopped scowling at her.

Kitty had a sudden flash of insight. The two of them were lovers. It was in the way Allona looked at him, the charge in the air whenever their glances met. She saw that Mystique was studying her, and she just knew that the other woman was aware of her history with Pyro.

"Miss Pryde," Allona turned to her, "I understand that you and Mister Rasputin used to go to school with our Pyro here."

She nodded. "Yes, we did." She sensed that Peter had gone very still beside her.

"What was he like back then? I bet he was the most uptight boy in school." Her eyes twinkled at Pyro teasingly.

"On the contrary," Kitty said. "He was always in some sort of trouble with the teachers. He spent half the time in detention."

"Really? I find that a bit hard to imagine, knowing the way he is now."

"People change," Pyro said quietly. He looked right into Kitty's eyes when he said it.

"They do," she agreed.

The others at the table were confused by the undercurrent of tension between the two of them. Peter looked very uncomfortable while Mystique remained her usual contained self.

Pyro broke the stare. "That was an excellent dinner," he said. "Shall we retire to the drawing room, ladies and gentlemen?" He stood up, and everyone followed his lead.

"Your residence is lovely," Peter complimented, trying to revive the convivial mood of the evening.

"Thank you," he replied. "We have Worthington Industries to thank for it, actually. Angel has been very generous with all the aid he has given to New Hope."

"Is there somewhere I can go to freshen up?" Kitty wondered.

"Here. Let me show you," Mystique offered. Kitty walked after the shapeshifter and she was led to a simply-furnished powder room. The older woman didn't leave her, though. She watched as Kitty cooled her face with some water and reapplied her make-up.

"Congratulations," Mystique suddenly said.

"For what?"

She approached Kitty then reached out to tug gently at her necklace. There was a ring strung through it. "You may not be wearing that on your finger," she said, "but I know an engagement ring when I see one. Very nice." She smiled maliciously. "Did you come all the way here just so you could throw that in his face?"

"No," she denied. "I didn't come here for him. I came here for me."

"What? To get closure?"

"It's none of your damn business." She regarded her old enemy with defiance.

"All right." Surprisingly, Mystique nodded and backed away. "I have to thank you, though," she said. "He became the man he is now because of you. You taught him the one thing that Erik and I somehow never managed to teach him."

"And what is that?" she wanted to know.

"You taught him to be cold."