Combusting Hearts
Chapter 22
So many things were going through Logan head as he stood at the edge of the hill. He had found the skid marks from Elaine's bike, even in the darkness. He knew that she must have gone down over the hill somewhere and he was scared of what he would find. As he stepped forward to go down the hill, he felt something under his boot. Leaning down, he found it to be her bracelet, the one that she never took off.
"Elaine…" he whispered, holding it in his large hand.
His hand tightened around it as he bit back a yell, sliding down part of the hill, and walking down the rest of it.
"Elaine, Elaine, can you hear me!" he called out, looking around him.
She had to be there somewhere, she just had to be.
"Elaine!" he called again, but he got no answer.
He growled in frustration as he walked around trying to find any trace of her.
"What the…"
His brows furrowed as he stepped forward through the brush, finding a small piece of fabric, no doubt from her shirt. What really got him was the smell of blood on the ground in various spots.
He sniffed the air a few times, before his body went rigid. A growl soon came from his throat as he looked around closely, bringing his claws out.
"Sabertooth," he growled.
His eyes shifted around as he took a few steps here and there. As he sniffed the air again, his shoulders slowly fell a bit, his claws returning back as well. Sabertooth was no longer there. Although, he smelled someone else, Magneto.
"Damn you!" he yelled, tearing into a tree.
He stood there for a few minutes, calming his raging breath as he slid down the tree. He sat there, staring down at the broken bracelet in his hand. He knew that they had taken her from here, but he just didn't know where they had taken her to, and it was tearing him apart.
After a few more minutes, he got up and looked around some more, coming across her helmet. There was a little bit of blood on the inside, but luckily, not very much. The visor on it would also have to be repaired later as well since it was cracked a bit. The bike was the last thing that he found. It was completely destroyed, but luckily far enough away that he knew that she had not been part of that. He knew that she had probably been thrown from the bike and rolled down the hill.
"Elaine…"
T
When Logan got back to the mansion, it didn't take long for the Professor to realize what happened.
"Magneto's got her," Logan grumbled, his grip tightening on Elaine's helmet.
"We'll find her, Logan, I promise," the Professor said, carefully placing his hand on Logan's arm.
Logan just sighed, before walking out of the room, soon bumping into Gambit. He felt bad when he saw the look on the younger man's face. There had been a faint spark of hope in his eyes as he came to Logan.
"Wolverine, did ya find her? Did ya find, cheri?" he asked with a hopeful tone.
Logan just shook his head no, holding out the bracelet for Gambit to take.
Gambit's heart fell when he saw the bracelet, but took it from Logan's outstretched hand nonetheless. He held it there for a moment, rubbing his thumb over it. He was absolutely heartbroken as he stared down at it.
"Cheri…" he whispered, bringing the bracelet to his chest.
"The Professor says that we'll find her," Logan told him, before walking off down the hallway.
Logan just couldn't stand there any longer. He had his own issues to deal with now, he couldn't deal with Gambit's too.
T
I don't know when I finally woke up, but it felt like days. I woke up to the sound of the flicking of metal, something that I had heard in high school a couple times, a lighter perhaps?
I groaned though when I opened my eyes, the light stinging them.
"So, you're awake, finally," said a voice.
It was a guy, a guy maybe a few feet away from me. I was correct when I opened my eyes and found him sitting in a chair to my left. He had a lighter in his hand, flicking it open and closed.
I groaned as he continued flicking his lighter.
"Can you please stop that? Just for a bit?" I asked, holding my head.
"Why, I bother you that much?" he nearly laughed.
"No, it's just my head is killing me at the moment," I whispered, making him finally stop. "Thank you," I said, closing my eyes.
"The names Pyro, what's yours?" he asked, holding out his hand.
I knew that Pyro must be his other name, so I nodded my head and shook his hand.
"Nova, my name is Nova," I said, making him smile.
"Nice name," he complimented me, flicking his lighter open again, but he didn't close it this time.
Instead, he flicked it, starting a small flame. I stared at it for a moment as he placed his hand over it, manipulating the fire.
A fire wielder. I thought, staring at him.
"You like playing with fire," I whispered, catching his attention.
"Of course," he grinned, making interesting shapes with it.
I smiled a bit as I watching him, finding entertainment in the changing shapes of the flame. For some reason, watching these flames put me at ease, but I didn't know why. Maybe because it was a bit more familiar to me, but I don't know.
"Magneto says that you're a class 5, so what can you do?" he asked, staring at me.
"You don't wanna know…"
"Oh, but I do," he said, leaning forward a bit in his chair.
"I can do more than one thing," I said, staring at the flame for a moment, before slowly making one of my own.
He stared at it enviously, wishing that he could create flames of his own.
"I haven't really practiced with this much, I've been more worried about my other powers," I said quietly, laying back on the bed that I was laying on.
"You mean that's not all that you can do?" he asked curiously.
"No…it's not," I said, closing my eyes.
"Cool, can you show me?" he smiled, a hopeful look on his face.
"Not in here I can't, it's too dangerous," I told him, turning my head to look at him. "Which reminds me…where am I?" I asked, realizing that I had yet to even think about it.
I blamed in on grogginess and the fact that it had something to do with Mr. Lehnsherr.
"All that I can tell you is that you're somewhere safe, so don't worry about it," he told me, a small smirk on his face.
"Hey, Pyro?"
"Yeah?"
"What's your given name?" I asked.
He gave me a slightly disgusted look for a moment.
"Why do you wanna know?" he asked, playing with his lighter.
"Just curious is all. I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," I said, trying to compromise.
"Fine. It's John," he said, before giving me an expectant look.
"Elaine," I smiled half heartedly.
"Nice to meet you, Elaine Nova," he said, trying not to laugh.
I smirked at this.
"You too, John Pyro."
T
Gambit groaned as he laid on his bed, looking up at his ceiling.
"Where are you, cheri?" he whispered, looking over at the bracelet laying on his nightstand.
How he missed Elaine. He missed her so much. He was worried about her, worried that something truly terrible had happened to her. What was worse, he didn't know why she had run off like that. The only evidence that they had found in the house was a half-eaten ham sandwich laying on the kitchen table downstairs.
T
"Hey, John?" I asked, watching him freeze up for a moment.
"What?"
"Um…I need to use the bathroom," I whispered in embarrassment.
"Oh! Um, sure, come on," he said, quickly standing up from his seat to help me up.
I whined when I stood up, falling against him.
"Easy now," he chuckled, helping pick me back up a bit.
He then placed my arm over his shoulders, holding it there as his other arm went around my waist.
As we left the room, I noticed that there were no windows to be seen at all, just lights keeping everything lit. This caught me off guard a bit.
Before I knew it, I was in the bathroom and back out again and against John.
"Um, John?"
"What?"
"Can we…go outside?" I asked, hoping that he would say yes.
"Why would you want to go outside? It's cold out there," he said, giving me a funny look.
"I know that, but please?" I begged, just really wanting to go outside.
I knew that I had won when he let out a sigh of defeat, moving back into the room to get my jacket. I smiled once I had it on, but I had no shoes, so guessing that those kind of got torn up in the fall. Especially, since they had become very flimsy to begin with.
Once we finally got outside, I realized that we had been underground. I shivered when my feet met the cold remnants of snow on the ground, but I guess I was getting used to it given the fact that I had recently done this many times before.
"Aren't you cold?" he asked, walking me over by a tree.
I just shook my head stubbornly, pulling my jacket tighter around myself. I was cold, but I wouldn't admit it.
It was nice though, standing in a forest with the green trees all around me, the leaves blowing with every breeze. I hadn't been out in a place like this since I was about 14. I remember running away and hiding in the woods for about a week one time. The family that I had been with was horrible, so I just ran away. I had packed up what little I had, taking some food and just running. It was all that I could do at the time was just run. Run away from my problems and fear…like I did this time. I had run away from Gambit like a scared child.
"Hey, um, Nova?"
"…"
"Nova?"
"…"
"Elaine!"
I jumped when I heard his voice, turning to look at him.
"Huh?"
He sighed, rolling his eyes for a moment.
"I called your name like 2 times and you didn't answer," he said.
"Oh, sorry…I'm not used to being called Nova very often," I explained, sitting down beneath the tree, pulling my jacket closer to my body.
"I just wanted to know, exactly what happened that got you here?" he asked, sitting beside me.
I nearly flinched at the memory, closing my eyes painfully at the thought. I felt like crying.
"I…I…someone…someone that I was close to…he…mmm," I couldn't finish as tears started to fall, my body shaking.
"Hey," John said, placing his hand on my shoulder carefully, "He didn't hurt you did he?" he asked, slowly trying to check for any hidden bruises.
"N-no, not exactly…" I whispered.
"He didn't try and touch you did he?" he asked, getting slightly angry.
"He…he tried to force himself on me," I nearly whimpered as I sat there, glancing over at John for a moment.
He looked furious.
"Well, if I ever see him, I'll fry his ass," he growled out, his hands clenched into fists.
Moments later, I saw Sabertooth walk out from where we had come. They exchanged a few words before John went back inside, leaving me here with Sabertooth.
I shivered as I stared at him, having him watch me carefully. I felt myself scoot back a couple inches as I sat there, pulling my jacket around myself even more if possible.
I heard him let out a faint growl, although, it didn't sound menacing like the other times that I had been in his presence. I then watched as he walked over to me and dropped his large pelt on top of my head.
I didn't know what to do as I sat there, pulling the thing off of my head and looking at it. I looked up at him, only to find him smirking at me.
"Put it on frail," he growled softly.
So, not wanting to anger him, I wrapped it around myself. I pulled my feet up as much as I could, keeping them away from the cold.
I smiled at the warmth that the pelt gave me, warming me up and blocking out the cold.
"Um…thank you," I whispered, knowing that he heard me.
She's stronger than she looks. Sabertooth thought.
Ok, there was the awaited chapter 22. :) I hope that everyone enjoyed it and please remember to REVIEW? I love hearing feedback and REVIEWs. I also want to thank everyone for all of the support they been giving me. And I always enjoy your replies Bite. Anyway, thanks everyone. -waves to hamster-