A Place Called Home
Part Three
She had changed. The girl he had known was a woman now. A sad and angry woman, who seemed more untouchable than ever, and not because of her mutant power to become intangible. The only time he ever saw her exhibit some softness in her demeanor was when she was with Colossus. With everyone else, she was cool and distant. He supposed that he was to blame for that.
Since she had arrived on the Island, except for the night they had dinner, she had stayed out of his way. She had gone about her duties, helped out where she was asked to, and even presented reports to the Council; and she had done all this with efficiency and professionalism, but without a single spark of her old personality. There were times when he wanted to grab her and shake her, make her angry, make her react, anything. Anything at all, anything but the way she drifted through the days like a ghost.
It was her fifth week on the Island when he finally got his chance. He found her standing by one of the windows that lined the hallways of the residence. She was staring out at something intensely, and there was an expression of such pain on her face that he felt it himself. Silently, he crept behind her and took a peek at what had caught her attention.
It was Peter. He was laughing while he played with Gaea in the garden.
"Why don't you just give him one of those?" he asked. "I'm sure he'd love it."
She turned around and looked at him with such venom that he was taken aback. He thought she was going to say something to him, probably something hurtful, but instead she just phased and walked right through him.
"That's right," he said. He had had enough of her attitude. "Ignore me. You're very good at that. God damn it, Kitty! Come back here and face me."
To his surprise, she did just that. She came back and she hit him with all her strength.
He wiped away the blood from his cut lip and gave her a mocking grin. "Feel better now?" he asked.
With a low growl of anger, she attacked him. They phased through several rooms then she tossed him with a neat little move and he crashed against a table, very solid again. "You bitch!" For the first time in years, Pyro felt a rush of strong emotion. He hit her back and, for the next few minutes, they fought bitterly, exchanging blows with abandon. He discovered that she was an extremely skilled fighter, quick and wily. He wasn't as proficient in hand-to-hand combat, but what he lacked in finesse he made up for with brute strength. Though Mystique had failed to instill the discipline of the martial arts in him while he was her pupil, he had experienced no difficulty in picking up her dirty tricks. So, despite the fact that she was the better fighter, he still managed to beat her.
She stared up at him, bruises already forming on her delicate face. He thought she had never looked so small before.
"Kitty?" He was stricken with horror and remorse at what he had done. "Oh, God. Kitty, I'm sorry." He tried to reach for her but she flinched away from his touch.
"Don't! Get away from me!" she cried. "I hate you!"
"Kitty, please. I didn't mean it." He knelt before her.
"Get away!" she screamed.
The door burst open, and Allona and Mystique came in. "What happened here?" Allona exclaimed. She saw Kitty and she gasped. "Good Lord!" She rushed to help Kitty to her feet. Her eyes were wide with shock as she looked at Pyro. "What did you do to her?"
He couldn't say anything. He just stood there.
"Peter," Kitty said. "I want Peter." She started to sob brokenly.
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Pyro didn't move from his chair when Peter Rasputin smashed into his room later. He merely waited and he didn't make a sound as the steel Colossus grabbed him and threw him against the wall.
"You son of a bitch!" Peter picked him up and slammed him against the wall again. "How could you do that to her? Why do you keep hurting her?"
"Just kill me and get it over with!" he begged. "Do it!"
With a sound of disgust, Peter dropped him. "You're not worth it," he spat. "We're leaving tonight. I'm taking her away from here and away from you, and you are never going to be able to hurt her again. The X-Men will know about what you've done, and I don't care whatever the consequences may be but I will make sure that you will pay for this."
"Then go," he said, his voice low and bitter. "Take her away. Marry her, have babies, live happily ever after. God knows she deserves it. After everything I've done."
Peter changed back to his natural form. He regarded Pyro with a furious yet pained expression. "You don't even know all that you've done to her. You weren't there. You didn't see what she was like when she came back."
"I was in jail," he responded. "Where she sent me. Of course I wasn't there."
"Then let me tell you what you missed." The other man spoke harshly, and each word seemed to burn into Pyro's soul. "She wouldn't let anyone touch her or get near her. She didn't want the doctors examining her to check if she had been abused. She didn't want the prosecutor to use that against you. She begged Storm and Beast to give you another chance, and she fought Bobby, defending you. She wrote to you every single day. I know, because I was the one who mailed the letters. The other X-Men tried to keep her from contacting you, but she asked for my help so I helped her. Then every day, she waited for you to write back. But you never did. And then one day we just found out that you had rejoined Magneto, and do you know what happened then? She just collapsed. She hadn't been taking care of herself or eating properly, because she had kept thinking and worrying about you. That was when we found out that she was pregnant. But she was so weak that she lost the baby, and she almost died. The doctors had to do something to save her. What they did made sure that she could never have children anymore. And I've done my best to pick up all the pieces and put them back together, but I know it's never going to be all right again because you'll still be there between us and just the memory of you destroys her every time. So don't you dare talk to me about happily ever after. We are never going to have that because of you."
"I never read her letters," he confessed. "I was angry and hurt, and I didn't want to think about her. So I threw them away as soon as I got them." He looked at Peter pleadingly. 'Let me see her. One last time before you go. I need to explain. I need to tell her."
"No." Peter shook his head. "She never wants to see you again."
"Come on. Please."
"No. It's too late, Pyro. It's all over."
