This is the big chapter so I hope you guys enjoy it. Also, I wanted to thank those of you who took the time to review or to read this. I really appreciate it!

After everyone else had gone to sleep, Pietro lay awake on his bed, staring up at his ceiling in the darkness. Lance had made it very clear that he wasn't going to follow Magneto's orders, which only added to the already growing doubt that he had. Now he wasn't so sure he was going to either. With the way everything was going lately, maybe it was just better for him to leave it all behind. It was either that or convince Lance to go with them to the Institute, which Pietro couldn't see happening anytime soon. Even though Lance and Pietro hadn't been on what you could call good terms recently, but he still considered Lance his best friend, and he couldn't see himself leaving Lance at the boarding house while he and the rest of the Brotherhood joined the X-Men. Finally, after making the grim decision to run away in the morning, Pietro shut the heavy lids to his vivid blue eyes and fell asleep.

Pietro woke with a start a lot earlier in the morning than he would have liked to someone banging on his door and yelling frantically. He sat up groggily and was about to yell something rather impolite back when he smelled smoke. Jumping up quickly he opened his door and when he saw that the air was thick with smoke his heart skipped a beat. Rather than asking Wanda what happened, who was now banging in Lance's door, he rushed downstairs and saw that there was fire in the kitchen, and the glow of the red-hot flames was starting to spread to the living room. If it made its way to the front room, the door would be blocked and there would be no way for them to escape. They couldn't call 911 because the phone had been disconnected weeks ago since they never bothered to pay the electric bill. Panicking and knowing that they had to get out of the house now, Pietro turned around to run upstairs and smacked into Toad who was surprisingly fully dressed, and just standing and staring at the fire.

"Todd! What the fuck are you doing! Get what you need and get outside!" Snapping out of it, Toad shook his head in agreement and turned to go out the front door. At the top of the stairs Pietro saw that Wanda had managed to get Lance up, and they were both trying to wake up Blob, whose door was locked. Wanda finally broke the doorknob using her powers, and Lance pushed open the door. Before Lance could go inside Pietro blocked his way.

"Get out of here! I'll take care of it!" Both Wanda and Lance silently agreed, knowing that it would be easiest for Pietro to get out. Lance went into his room to grab anything that had any value to him which included the keys to his jeep, before racing down the stairs.

"Be careful brother," Wanda said softly, putting a hand on Pietro's shoulder, and following Lance's lead downstairs, not taking any belongings with her. Pietro stared after her in wonder, thinking that what she had just said was the nicest thing she ever had since they had been reunited. Sirens wailing in the distance brought Pietro back to reality and he went to get Blob.

"Fred! Wake up! We have to go!" Pietro yelled. The giant Blob stirred and grunted.

"What's going on?" he grumbled.

"There's a fire, we have to go now! If you don't get your big ass out of bed right now you are going to die!" That seemed to get the point across. Blob jumped up as fast as it was possible with his out of shape physique. Pietro couldn't help, but feel sorry for Fred as he watched his teammate struggle. They both made their way out into the hallway where to Pietro's horror they saw that the fire had spread and was blocking the door way. They were trapped. The smoke stung Pietro's eyes, and he started to choke, his lungs in desperate need of fresh air.

"There's got to be another way out of here," Pietro mumbled, pushing past Fred and going into his room. Looking frantically out the window, Pietro noticed someone standing near the bushes in the distance. His window was looking out from the backside of the house so he knew that it couldn't be Wanda, Lance, or Toad because they were in the front with the jeep. He squinted trying to see more clearly in the dim morning light, but quickly went back to finding a way to escape when he heard Wanda yelling. After figuring that their best bet would be to use the drainpipe to get down, Pietro went to get Fred. When he turned he saw Fred was already standing in the doorway,his face expressionless.

"Pietro, you have to go," he said, not looking Pietro in the eyes.

"I know we have to go…"

"No," Blob said shaking his head, "You have to go. I can't fit through the window." What he was saying took Pietro by surprise and it seemed like he was actually seeing Fred for the first time. He knew it was true that there was no way Fred was going to be able to fit through the window, but leaving him meant that he was leaving him to die.

"But…" Pietro started weakly.

"No," Fred said again, "Just go, or we're both going to die here."

"I can't."

"I said GO!" Fred pushed Pietro toward the window and opened it for him. Pietro was about to argue back when he saw the resolve in Fred's face. Instead his mouth just hung open as he gaped at Fred at a loss for words. The fire had made its way up the stairs and Pietro could see it crackling in the doorway behind Fred, a reminder of just how little time they had. Sadly he climbed through the window and looked back at Fred one last time who was slowly waving back, as the fire crept in the room around him. Pietro shut his eyes and carefully climbed down the drainpipe, trying not to think about anything but surviving. He landed on the ground softly, and made his way to the front of the house in a daze. The firefighters had arrived and were hooking up the hose. Lance, Wanda, and Toad were huddled by the jeep where one of the firefighters was talking to them. Pietro staggered over to them, looking up at the place they had lived for what seemed like forever being eaten alive by flames as he walked.

"Where's Blob?" Lance asked interrupting the fireman. Pietro tried to think of something to say, but his silence told them everything. Toad quickly looked away, but Pietro could see his eyes filling with tears. After all, Fred was his best friend. Wanda stared angrily at the ground her arms tucked firmly around her sides. This was all too much, Pietro could feel his mind slipping from reality, from this nightmare. He stared at the ground intensely, ashes from the fire swirling softly around him, wishing that the ground would open up and swallow him. Anything to getaway. Maybe he could still run...

"If there's someone in there, then I'm sorry to tell you kids that it's probably too late. We'll do everything we can, but for the meantime, do you have someplace to stay? A relative's house or something?" the fireman asked, looking at each of their faces sadly.Pietro looked up at them too, leaving them was not an option, at least not now.Wanda, Lance, and Pietro exchanged a look. They had no choice now but to go to the Institute.