xXx

Mystique fired her gun upwards, causing half the ceiling collapsed. Thankfully most people dodged the debris or were unaffected by the large cement chunks (thank goodness for superpowers) I saw Kitty grab a large group of heroes and phased them to keep them safe. Remy and I were quick enough that we avoided getting squashed. The ceiling coming down was enough of a distraction for the Brotherhood to start to make their way through the crowd to the ring where the criminals were kept. From the doorway, two boys no older than thirteen, stood together. They were bald and whiter than snow. Obviously mutants. They raised their hands up in unison, and from their hands a fog escaped and floated over the heroes. Instantly it put at least four fifths of the heroes to sleep. It would have probably done the same to me and Remy had we not been around the edges of the fog.

"Mystique, don't do this!" Cap yelled. To my horror I saw his leg was trapped under a large block of cement, trapping him.

"You've been holding the leader of the Brotherhood for too long, sapien." Mystique hissed as she high kicked Spiderwoman in the face. "But don't worry, we're not here to spring the rest of these criminals. Just Magneto."

"Oh that's a load off our minds." Ironman, also unaffected by the fog, said sarcastically. "You're just want to free one of the world's top ten most dangerous terrorists. No big deal."

Mystique rolled her eyes. "The sad part is that you actually believe that you're funny. Blob, take him out."

Blob grinned menacingly. "My pleasure."

I couldn't take it anymore. I lunged towards the mutants, towards Eric, but Remy grabbed me around the middle and dragged me out of the room.

"Remy! Let me go!" I fought his hold, but he ignored me. "I have to go!"

"Leah, Ah have to get yah ta safety." Remy replied seriously.

"Are you kidding me? The Brotherhood's in there and just took out half of New York's heroes! They need help!" I yelled, privately thinking, I have to talk to Eric.

"No, Leah, listen to me!" Remy grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. For a moment I stopped my struggles. "That's the Brotherhood! They know 'bout yo' blood and they've been look'n for yah! Yah can't let 'em see you!"

One surprise after another.

I hate surprises.

"You know about my blood?" I couldn't stop myself from blurting out.

"Yes, all de X-men know." Remy said impatiently. "That's not de point-"

"The Brotherhood knows." I interrupted.

"Yeah cher, and they don't like the idea of someone be'n about ta take away their mutations." Remy answered grimly. "They've killed people fo' being less of a threat ta mutants."

I let out a breath, blowing my bangs out of my face. "Well damn. Just add them to the ever growing list of people who want to kill me."

"Leah, yah have ta take this seriously!" Remy said forcefully, "Ah'm not going ta let yah get yo'self killed!"

There it was again. That burning intensity in his eyes.

"Remy, you don't understand." I begged, "Eric's with them."

Remy's face took on a confused and slightly disgruntled look.

"Who da Hell is Eric?"

Before I could explain, running footsteps interrupted. From down the hall I could see the Brotherhood exiting the room and Magneto was with them. They were being chased by only seven heroes (made sense, seeing as there were still the other criminals to control). I took a chance while Remy was distracted and sprinted after them.

"Cher, don't!" Remy yelled, but I was already gone.

I followed them out of the bunker which held the entrance portal to Prison 42. The night was cold and black. The heroes had engaged the Brotherhood. Giant Man struggled to get a hold of Avalanche while Tigra was getting her ass kicked by Sabretooth. Blob was attempting to chew through Ironman's armour. Mystique was using some device on Magneto's handcuffs, the one's that prevented him from using his mutant powers. The moment she got them off them, everyone was screwed.

Not if I had anything to say about it.

I felt in my belt loop for my 'secret weapon'. Since the incident with Daken, I had taken a syringe from the MedBay and loaded it with my blood. I kept it in a device much like an Epi-pen, so I could carry it around safely. Just in case.

My blood could take away anyone's mutation. Even one of the most powerful mutant's on the planet (I think, anyway). I had taken away other people's powers before. But those people had been willing. Could I take away someone's power who was unwilling?

The handcuffs fell to the ground. It was now or never.

I ran at them, pulling out my needle. But before I even got fifty feet of them, I was tackled to the ground. I let out a gasp of pain as claws dug into my shoulders and the air was knocked out of me. A giant wolf pinned me down, its hot breath in my face. It snarled and lunged for my throat.

"Eric, please" I whispered.

Recognition filled the one green eye, and the wolf leapt off of me. He looked over to where the Brotherhood still fought to make sure none of them were paying attention. He then grabbed the shoulder of my jacket in his mouth and dragged me off into the trees.

Once we were in the cover of the trees, Eric let me go. He shifted in the blink of an eye and Eric stood above me in his naked human form. He regarded me as I stood, not saying anything. But the moment I stood, he grabbed me into a hug and held me as if he'd never let me go.

"Eric, oh my God, Eric!" I placed my hand gently on the side of his face which was so scarred and met his one eye. And then I started beating on his bare chest like there was no tomorrow.

"YOU JERK! YOU COMPLETE JERK! HOW COULD YOU LET ME BLEIVE YOU WERE DEAD YOU SOB! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU PUT ME THROUGH?" I bellowed, hitting him. "You let me think you were dead for a whole bloody year!"

"Leah, calm down!" Eric grabbed my arms and attempted to hold me still.

"CALM DOWN? Eric, do you have any idea the hell you put me through?" I cried, tears running down my face.

And then I kissed him fully.

"Wow," Eric let out a long breath. He brushed my black and white hair away from my face with care. "So it only took me dying for you to kiss me like that."

My face reddened. "You ever let me think you're dead again without actually being dead, I will go so berserk on you, your grandchildren will feel it."

Eric gave me a cocky grin. "It might be worth it if you kiss me again."

I felt a cold wave of guilt flow over me as Remy floated into my mind. I had only been kissed by him a day before and now I had just kissed Eric. What I didn't know was if I felt the guilt for kissing Remy or for kissing Eric. Who had I wronged? Both probably. God, I am such a horrible person.

I looked down in my guilt, unable to face Eric.

"It's pretty bad, huh?" Eric said softly. I looked up to see him covering one side of his face with his hand with embarrassment. "I look like roadkill."

I grabbed his hand away and looking fully into his face. "Eric, I don't care about that. All that matters is that you still have your life. Anyone who doesn't see things that way is a complete idiot."

Eric gave me a true smile.

Mushy time over, I decided. We're in the middle of a huge battle and we can catch up later. I took Eric's hand and tried to pull him towards the sounds of the fighting. " Now come on, we have to get back to the X-men and help."

I tried to pull him along, but he resisted me, refusing to move.

"No Leah." He said in a cold voice so unlike his own.

I turned to look at him with shock. His expression wasn't the sweet, thoughtful one I knew but an unknown cold and snarky one. "Eric?"

"I'm not going back to those bastards Leah." Eric said, backing away from me.

"Those bastards?" I repeated, completely shocked.

"They all left me to die Leah. They used me and left me. And now I look like this." Eric touched his scarred face and let out a short humourless laugh. "Some heroes."

"Eric…" I bit my lip. What could I say? "None of us knew you survived. If they had-"

"Did they even look for me?" Eric interrupted harshly.

I opened my mouth to defend the heroes but quickly shut it. I look down and answered. "I don't know."

"What a bunch of fakes." Eric snorted.

"Give them another chance." I begged. "Come back with me! Please!"

That made Eric lose his cold, snarky look. He once again looked like my Eric.

"Leah-"

"Eric." I grabbed his hand. "Don't leave me again."

"I can't."

That made me unbelievably angry. Everything I've been through the past year, I had never just said 'I can't'. I didn't wuss out like that once. I knew things were hard and life wasn't fair. Eric had been through a lot, I wasn't denying that, but I wasn't going to let him get away with that.

"Don't give me that Eric! Of course you can!" I shouted. "Please, just-"

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Eric insisted, getting angry. "Don't preach to me about things you know nothing about Leah! God, you are so brainwashed by the X-men that you can't even open your eyes and see what they did to me! They're not heroes, they're cowards!"

I made my face completely neutral and turned away. "Fine."

I turned and started to walk away.

"What?" Eric moved in front of me, blocking my path.

"I said, fine. I can understand you being angry, but I can't understand you not trying to fix things." I said calmly. "I want you to be in my life again Eric, more than anything, but if all you want to do right now is be angry at the world, I can't help you."

Eric looked at me, completely stunned.

I began walking again. "Once you decide that you want to fix things, come back to me. I'll be waiting."

This was all a bluff. There was no way I was losing my best friend again. He obviously needed help and I wanted to give it to him. But he had to ask for it.

Eric began to shake and his face turned harsh. He grabbed my shoulders and pushed me against a tree. The look in his eyes made me think of a wild animal. It reminded me of the look in Daken's eyes and I was afraid.

"Leah, don't walk out on me. We can be together-" Eric's voice was getting rougher and rougher, sounding more like a bear talking than a man.

"Eric, you're hurting me!" I squirmed.

"You have to come away with me Leah!" Eric was now shaking me. "Leave the X-men and come with me!"

"Get away from her!"

Eric's grip on me tightened as Remy pushed through the trees towards us. He held a glowing card in his hand and his face looked deadly serious.

"Let the girl go. Now, s'il te plait." Remy ordered.

"Who the hell do you think you are, X-men?" Eric snarled, pushing me behind him in almost a protective manner.

"Who da hell do Ah think Ah am? Ah was about ta ask yah the same question." Remy said coldly. "Where Ah come from, it is considered impolite ta go 'round naked, rough handle'n girls and scream'n in der faces."

"Yeah, I bet where you come from its also cool to marry your cousin." Eric growled.

"Eric, stop!" I scrambled away from him. "Remy, it's okay, I got this. Go help the X-men, I'm fine."

"Ah ain't leaving yah here cher." Remy said softly.

Eric looked between us, and his face became even angrier.

"LEAH'S IN NO DANGER WITH ME!" Eric roared, lunging at Remy. In mid air he changed back into a huge timber wolf. He knocked Remy to the ground and was attempting to tear off his face, but Remy used his metal staff to hold him at bay.

"Yeah, yah'r do'n a great job of proving that, hamburger face!" Remy groaned, fighting to push Eric off of him.

"Stop it, both of you! This is stupid!" I shouted. Frantically, I picked up a rock and threw it at Eric's furry shoulder. "Eric, stop being an idiot and get off of him! Somebody's going to get hurt!"

I might as well have just fanned my face uselessly and said in a girly voice 'Boys, stop fighting over me!', for all the good that it did. Men could be such idiots.

"Fang, you found the antimutant!" A slimy, whiny voice cheered. I looked over to see a small man with greasy hair and green tinged skin, crouching like a frog in one of the trees. "Awesome, bro! First we gots Magneto back and now we can finish her off!"

Toad, a member of the Brotherhood, leapt at me. I guess he had thought I'd be an easy target seeing as I had no mutant powers because he was totally unprepared for the solid kick I delivered to his face. He shrieked and grabbed his nose, which had blood running from it.

"Bitch broke my nose!" Toad wailed. He spat a slimy substance at me, but I did a backflip into a tree branch to avoid it. Once in the tree, I reached into my belt for the explosive pellets I collected from the armory and started whipping them at Toad.

"Eeek!" Toad hopped this way and that to avoid the pellets. "Fang, you hold her here, I'm going for back up!"

And off he hopped. Remy threw Eric off of him and leapt up. He hurried to my tree to make sure I was alright before turning to glare at Eric, who was in his human form.

"Cher, we got ta get yah out of here." Remy said in an urgent voice.

"Leah, he's right." Eric raced to the tree as well. "The Brotherhood wants you dead and I don't know if I can hold them all off."

"Hold em off? More like hand her over." Remy glared coolly at Eric. "Yo' just Magneto's lapdog, don't pretend yo' ain't."

"Shut up, you illiterate gator fucker." Eric snarled back.

"Eric, are you really with the Brotherhood?" I asked quietly.

His face looked momentarily guilty, but he smoothed it over before looking up at me.

"Yes." He answered, his green eyes holding mine. "But I'm not going to let them hurt you, Leah."

"How can you be with those people, Eric? They're terrorists." I said in a weak voice.

"I just, they- Leah, they're not as bad as the X-men make them out to be." Eric argued.

"Oh yeah, kill'n people and blow'n up buildings ain't that bad. We just be'n prejudice." Remy rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"How about you just shut your mouth and get her out of here?" Eric snarled, getting in Remy's face. "I'll distract them and you get her back to the bunker. Do you think you can handle that?"

In response Remy lit up a card and held it to Eric's face threateningly.

"Knock it off!" I jumped down from the tree and pushed the two young men away from each other. "Eric, please, come back with us."

Eric shook his head. "We'll see each other again soon Leah."

He grabbed me and pulled me close. He kissed me forcefully. The kiss wasn't pleasant at all because he was so rough with me. Added to the fact that it felt like he was doing it more to mark his territory than out of care for me.

"Look after yourself." He said gently to me, before casting a glare at Remy. "And you? Stay away from her, she's spoken for."

With that Eric changed into a timber wolf and snapped out to bite Remy's arm. Remy let out a yell and tried to throw a charged card at Eric, but he was already gone. Remy swore and pulled up his coat's sleeve to examine his bloody arm. I grabbed a roll of gauze out of one of my belt pockets and tenderly wrapped it around his arm to control the bleed.

"Are you all right?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah, dat ignorant pup couldn't hurt me." Remy answered, though I could tell he was just trying to sound tough. "De stupid mutt ripped my coat sleeve, though. I love dis coat."

"I know, I'm sorry about him." I apologized. "He isn't usually like this. He's changed."

Instead of responding about Eric, Remy said "We better get mov'n, cher, we can't trust him to keep de Brotherhood away for long. We have to get yah to safety."